Crazy Hail Storm

We have had some crazy weather today.  Over the course of the day it has gone from sunny and in the 80’s to the crazy hail storm we just experienced! We did suffer a few small holes in our siding, and a number of dings and dents in our deck, but nothing too major.

Here are some of the photos from our yard.

              

Aiden's New Ride

We recently decided to return Aiden to a rear facing position and needed a new car seat that would accommodate a child his weight and height. More on that later, but right now I just want to share a picture of him in his new seat.  It is a Graco My Ride 65 Prentis.

He loves this seat.. and so do I! It looks so comfy and I feel so safe with him in it!

My Little Musician

Aiden and I are visiting Mickey and Gigi’s house for a few days while Tal is out of town.  So far, Aiden is having a GREAT time.  He has particularly enjoyed “playing” the piano. He loves to sit on the bench like a big boy! He will play one “song”, stop and turn the page, and play some more… it’s so sweet.

Maybe I have a budding musician?!

        

He was very tired at bedtime tonight, and made the transition to sleeping upstairs rather easily.  Hopefully naptime tomorrow will go just as smoothly.

We miss Daddy, but we are looking forward to our visit!

Because we all need a daily dose of cuteness..

I had to share a few cute pictures from yesterday and today.  Aiden is hard to photograph these days.  He just moves too much, too fast! So, when we do get a few good ones I feel that I need to share them.

Aiden loves him some sidewalk chalk. However, lately he has been testing to see just what ELSE the chalk will mark on. And, since it IS just chalk and will wash off with the rain, we let him for the most part.  We love seeing his artwork everywhere!

  

These are two “caught in the act” pictures.  For the record, his DADDY let him draw on the Ford.. I wouldn’t let him do that.. Daddy is a push over though!

Another thing Aiden enjoys is greeting Tal at the door when he gets home from work.  He LOVES his Daddy and is always so happy to see him.

  

How sweet is that smile?!

And finally, there comes a time in a boy’s life where he has to learn a very important skill.  Something that will stay with them for life. He has to learn to DUNK his Oreos in milk! Aiden dunked (and ate) his first Oreo cookies Monday night – and he LOVED it.. I mean, who wouldn't?!

     
              

Two days with no TV have gone well so far, I can’t believe how peaceful the house seems without it! Looking forward to the rest of the two weeks!

Television woes…

We’ve recently decided that Aiden was way too preoccupied with the television.  He’d want it on all the time, would watch it instead of playing, would watch it from the table or scream if it wasn’t on, he’d give you the remote and want you to channel surf until he saw something he liked…  and we knew this wasn’t going to work.

So, we’ve decided that there will be NO television while Aiden is awake for at least the next two weeks. No cartoons, no videos, not even shows for Mommy and Daddy. I’ve started laying a throw blanket over it so that Aiden truly gets the message, “We are NOT watching TV!”

So far, it has worked.. he has rediscovered his toys and only asked for the television a couple times. I know its going to be hard for him, because I know that its hard for me.. but, it was just getting way out of hand.

After the two weeks, we will revisit the idea, maybe allowing occasional TV time, but hopefully we can prevent it from getting back to that crazy… “All TV all the time” mentality that he was developing.  At least the weather is nice, Aiden would much rather be at the park than inside watching cartoons anyway!

FINALLY feeling better…

Aiden spent the first half of last week battling an ear infection.  He woke up last Saturday morning in a lot of pain, so we took him in to see the doctor. She put him on antibiotics and over the course of the week he began to feel better.  We started off the week with LOTS and LOTS of tantrums and crying but now he seems to be back to his happy self!  He has even slept very late the past few days. He slept until 9 o’clock twice this weekend! It’s hard to believe that MY early bird was still asleep at 9 o’clock.. it was nice to sleep in, granted.. but it was still VERY strange!!

He was even feeling well enough Friday night, that he entertained himself long enough to allow me to cook a REAL meal.. I mean one that didn’t come from a bag, box, or even the freezer!

This is how he entertained himself while I cooked.

I also would like to point out the cute plaid dinosaur on his shirt that matches his plaid deck shoes.. He LOVES those shoes.. he stares at his feet when he is wearing them and carries them around when he isn’t. I like them too.. He’s so stinking cute in them!

Aiden also dealt with several new teeth coming through last week. So, if the ear infection wasn’t enough to make Aiden a grumpy, miserable baby, the new teeth pushing through his gums put him over the edge.

The good thing is that I’m relatively sure that there can’t be too many left to come in right now. I mean, he has a mouth full.  At last count, I could see 12 teeth that were all the way in. There are an additional 4 that have broken the surface and are well on their way to becoming part of that toothy grin that I love so much. Here are a few pictures that somewhat showcase Aiden’s full set of teeth.Granted, you can’t see all of them, but you can get a pretty good idea, besides, he’s just too cute in his pajamas, eating his breakfast!

     

I would say to look past the crazy bed head.. but his hair pretty much looks like this all of the time.  I guess he got Daddy’s red hair with Mommy’s curls. Yeah, I think its cute.

I have one more picture from today to share. 

Aiden has never taken any interest in wearing hats. It’s just not his “style” I guess.  He has always ripped them off as soon as I put them on his head, so I just stopped trying. Lately, however, he has been very interested in anything that Mommy wears on her head.  Of course he loves sunglasses.. most kids love sunglasses and I have some pretty cute pictures of him wearing my glasses. Today he decided he wanted to wear a headband. He almost got it on correctly and it was pretty cute. Even though, I’m sure in 10 years he’ll really dislike the fact that we took these pictures.

Again, this was taken with the cheapo phone.. and the quality really leaves a lot to be desired.
  

All in all, we have had a wonderful weekend at home.  We so very rarely have those!  We played at the park, grilled out, had a lots of family time. Its so nice to have our cheerful little guy back, and its ALWAYS nice to spend some quality time with my little family!

Balloon Fun

This should probably be backdated, since this video is from Tuesday of last week, but it was on my phone and this is the first time I’ve been able to upload it.

Aiden got a balloon with his Valentine’s day “basket”. He loves it. It is a monkey and I tied it to a travel size sunscreen bottle so that he has a little handle.

(yes I know that is ghetto, that is how I roll)

Anyway, this is him enjoying his balloon.  This video was taken while Tal was out of town and you can see Cherish in the background being very amused by my little clown. He liked the attention he was getting!

Note: The quality of the video is terrible, it was taken with my cheapo phone in my dim living room. You cannot get Aiden to perform on demand so you have to work with what’s handy!

Barnyard Noises & Other Entertaining Sounds

 A conversation between Aiden and Mommy on the way to “school” this morning…

Me: Aiden, that’s a bird. What sound does a bird make?
Aiden: TweetTweetTweetTweet (note this is all one word with no pauses)
Me: Good! Now, how about a cow?
Aiden: mmmmmmoooooooo (in the highest of pitches)
Me: Great!! What about a monkey?
Aiden: Ah Ah Ah (he then giggles and squirms around “like a monkey”)


I tried to continue this conversation but couldn’t get a response.  It seems that the church where he goes to “school” had come into sight and he was staring out the window, grinning ear to ear.

I so enjoy my time at home with him, but it makes me so happy to see him so excited to go play and spend time with other children his age. I really like the fact that he gets so excited to see his teachers. He just laughs and loves on them.. I really think the people at the Ridgecrest Play Pals program are doing an awesome job!

Speaking of entertaining sounds, Aiden has a new word that I just LOVE.. He is very big with the “please” right now.  Yesterday our waitress sat a basket of biscuits down in front of us (Aiden’s favorite) and he pointed to them, looked at me, gave me his toothiest grin and asked “please?!” It was too precious.

Another sweet moment was when he held the Valentine Ryleigh gave him up, kissed her picture and said “Awe, Ry”  It had been a while since he had seen her and I think he was missing his friend!

Rather conversely, we have had a growing number of NOT entertaining sounds around here so far this week.  As Aiden has been recovering from his ear infection (it is MUCH better now), he has become KING of the tantrums.  Yesterday, it was because I wouldn’t put juice in his milk cup, and then again because I wouldn’t put Yo Gabba Gabba (or GABBA as he calls it) on the TV. This morning it was because I didn’t get breakfast to the table in time.. Yes, he has a 5-6 minute tantrum because he was not served his breakfast in a timely manner.. sigh.. It could be the ear infection, or just the age he’s at.. or maybe its because while he was sick DADDY spoiled him!! hmmm…

He’s my sweet boy most of the time though, with lots of pucker lipped kisses just for his mommy.. I wouldn’t trade a minute of it!

Introductory Post…

Introducing our family blog!

This is the new home for all things Pierce Family related! Hopefully this will be a good way to keep up with all the cute things Aiden is doing these days, a way to keep everyone up to date on what’s going on in our lives and hopefully.. a pretty good read!
So lets start by giving a little information as to how we got to this point in our lives…

Tal & Melissa

Tal and I started dating in early 2007

Then we were engaged in December of 2007

And.. were married on December 13, 2008
(then we honeymooned in St. Lucia)
                

And THIS is us as of Valentine’s Day 2011.. Still with the big goofy smiles…

Aiden James Pierce

Aiden joined our family on October 7, 2009… He weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces and hasn’t slowed down growing since! He is our sunshine with his bright blue eyes and crazy red hair, his toothy grin, and chunky chunky tummy.. I don’t know how we ever lived without him!

While we were waiting for him to arrive…


  
At the hospital…

Aiden’s first Christmas

Smiling so big at 4 months…

Oh, he LOVED those ears…

He’s always loved phones.. he’s 8 months here

A very healthy eater!!

And a very healthy MESS maker!!

Happy First Birthday!!
 

And That brings us to 2011… He makes me smile!
    

Hobbes & Leah

And finally we come to Hobbes and Leah. They are our adopted fur babies and they think they own the house.. that is, when Aiden is asleep.

Here they are as babies.. and as full grown cats… they are truly part of our family!

 

So that brings us up to the present. Hopefully, this blog will grow on a daily basis, as Aiden is always doing SOMETHING that needs to be written down and remembered!