Summer has TWO kids now! ( A blog of learning how to balance the fun of mothering )

A new( ish ) photo and random( Ness )

 :) 

First the random. 

We're trucking along here at Chez Aiello!  Things are great:  Mike is working on HHN, Harry Potter and other events at Universal.  I'm working 3 days a week at Universal still doing the Horror Makeup Show and loving it.  Even though I'm away from the kiddos, it's SO nice to have days where it's just me and other grownups.  My sketch group had a VERY successful run at the Orlando Fringe this year, and now we're waiting to hear if we are getting accepted into the New Orleans Fringe Festival.  I'm not going to lie, I'm fairly excited about it, even though I'll be away from the family for four days!!!  I've never left the kids when it's just been me and not Mike and I leaving, so it should be a learning and interesting experience.  Of course Mike's gone on numerous trips by himself, but he's never had to take care of the kids by himself for longer than a DAY!!! Eeeep!  So, we'll see what happens.

  Caden is doing so awesome.  He's growing up in leaps and bounds.  We've become very insistent with him on becoming self-sufficient, a concept he's not *fully* endorsing at present.  He's a boy and a somewhat lazy boy at that, so learning how to dress himself, put on his own shoes, brushing his own teeth, get his own juice, and wipe his own butt are things that he feels are things mommy and daddy should be doing for him.  We've laid down the law though.  We've told him these things he'll have to start doing ALL the time when he turns four, which is in approximately in 3 months.  I'll keep you posted on the progress.  His swimming is going, well, swimmingly!  He's learning the freestyle stroke and the butterfly and his instructor is very pleased with his progress.  It's also a great way for him to exercise as he is ADDICTED to video games and would stay inside playing them at any and all times.  We of course limit his time- he's only allowed to play the XBOX for ONE hour on Saturday and SUnday only......but he asks to play EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

 " Is it the weekend yet mommy? "

Ugh.  Some days I rue that day we brought it into our home.  I know if we don't stay on top of this he will be one of those kids who doesn't eat or sleep because he's playing video games.  He's just naturally good at them- great hand eye coordination on this kid- but I know, and so does Mike, that he cannot and will not make them his sole entertainment.  He's just got to learn some balance.  He will. We're good parents.  We will MAKE him learn balance. LOL.

 Paige- um, does not miss a meal.  Or sleep.  She eats and sometimes sleeps and is altogether a sweet and extremely calm baby.  FOr a baby who doesn't sleep very well, she's very good natured.  Well, let me revise that.  She naps.  IN the DAY.  :)   No, she does sleep at night, but she wakes up 3-4 times to eat.  Really.  She takes bottles almost all those times.  I know. I Know, we shouldn't enable her, but her ped. said that she's just a " Big, hungry baby" and she still needs those feedings.  She's eating rice too- she gobbles it up- it did not take her long to learn how to open her mouth  and swallow.  LOL.  My Big Hungry baby.

Don't believe me?  Observe....

:)

take care all.

New photos cha cha cha!!

I hope these two are close, close CLOSE their whole lives.  I love seeing how Happy each of them gets when they see each other.

 Sitting in the Exersaucer, though ours is not quite the COOL one that Auntie Christina has at her house!!  Paige is loving it and getting stronger in it every day.

4 month old woes, teething and other sundry things.

 First, a photo.

HOw cute is she?  Almost as cute as her brother.  ;)

This little miss has been keeping me on my toes with her constantly shifting attitude. ( Just like a girl I guess? ) ONe day, she's totally laid back, happy to be put down, playing with her toys, happy in her swing, and the next, she's MAD as heck, wants to be held CONSTANTLY and wants to be with mommy all the time.  I mostly attribute this to teething- she's been drooling and chewing on her toys all the time- and also to her developmental milestone period with her trying to roll over and grabbing at toys.  She's not as good a sleeper as Caden was- by this point he was basically sleeping all night- but if we go a night with her only waking up 2 times then we've had a good night.  :)

 She is really a doll though, and goodness how she LOVES Caden, her Auntie Christina ( who keeps her while I'm at work ) and Christina's daughter Madison.  She's fun, and sweet, and so much more smiley than Caden was at this age.  ALl those other issues aside I think she's on her way to having an easy going personality like her daddy.

Let's get to Caden now, shall we?

  He is really coming into his own these days.  He's becoming WAY easier to reason with, and a LOT more fun in general.  He's swimming all the time and is getting pretty darn good at it.  He's getting better at playing with other kids, better at taking turns and is getting *very* interested in writing.  So much so, that we 've been devoting time to tracing letters and sounding out words- I'm trying so hard to not pressure him in doing it, and so far my laid-back approach seems to be working as Caden will immediately refuse to do anything he thinks may make him smarter.......except for playing the Xbox that is.  He is becoming amazingly good at playing those Lego Xbox games, creepily so.  Like, he played the demo of one in a Game Stop store and the employee working there could not believe he ws only 3.  We limit his game playing time to weekends and then only to one hour at a time.  He knows that when the timer goes off, play time is done.  So far, he deals with it with a *small* amount of protesting.  He ADORES Paige though, and loves when she laughs and smiles and cranes her head around to see him- he pretends he doesn't sometimes though, which is just like a boy.  Harumph.

:)

All in all, things are well at the Aiello house.  I'm still working 3 days, Mike's job is going very well- he still has one and in this economy that's a good thing.  

More Paige photos.

Why??  Because it's fun!!

Who looks like her big brother?

Random post....

 I know I haven't posted anything fun- I tried to post the link to the beautiful video Mike made me for Mother's Day, but unfortunately Youtube and their crap won't play the music that accompanies the vid, so here are some pics instead.  

* If you ARE on FB and are my friend then you can check the video out!! *

My Daddy with his faves.  :)

Paige with her GodMama ( my best friend Laurie ) and her God"sister" Lucy.

Cool Pic of Caden from Easter.

LOVE this- caden with his " Beard and Mustache".

3 months....already.

*sigh*

Really?  Already?  I can't believe how fast the time goes.  I know people say that all the time, but when you're dealing with a little one, it *really* flies.

Paige Marie.  She's SUCH a good baby.  After that learning curve of learning a newborn's particular ways, we've all settled into a ( temporary ) routine.  We've weaned her onto a bottle since I've gone back to work, and she took to it like gangbusters.  None of the drama that her older brother gave us, she'll take any bottle, any nipple, any time, any place.  She's so easy going, hardly ever fusses unless she wants to be held or tired and she's sleeping very well.  Her normal bedtime is between 8 and 9 and she'll sleep until 2 or 3, eats then goes right back down to sleep.  Again, none of the drama her older brother used to give us with the constant rocking him back to sleep EVERY time he woke up.  ;)  Speaking of Caden, she puts up with his constant attention- the head rubbing, the face poking, the smothering hugs and wet kisses- she deals with it all by favoring him with a gigantic grin whenever he comes around.  She LOVES LOVES her swing and will nap in it as many times as we put her in it.  The bouncer she likes less, but she's learning to like her floor gym as you will see from the photos.  Since she's seeing more of the world around her, she's starting to take a stab at grabbing for things.  Oh and talking...this girl is going to be a chatterbox.  She loves to coo and gurgle at anyone and everything it's really the most adorable thing you've witnessed on the Earth.  She's been trying to sit up- she really is, curling her body in a crunch whenever she's propped up- but rolling over is eluding her.  Her friend Mackenzie who was born on the same day is already rolling over from back to front, but Paige still isn't interested.  Caden was a late roller-over too, which I attribute to their laid back natures....or the gigantic size of their bodies.  :P  She's 15lbs and 25 inches and seems poised to be the exact size that Caden was at his 4 month appointment which was 16lbs.  Me and my largish children.

  This past week was my first week back to work, which oddly I felt great about.  Obviously I miss her but I know she's in good hands.  My friend Christina who is Mackenzie's mama is taking care of her for me the two days I have to work and then on sundays when I work, the kids are home with Mike.  He actually had his first whole day alone with both kids this past sunday and looked a tad haggard when I got home that evening.  I was like, HELLO???  Welcome to my world!!  Hee hee!!

Anyhoo, enjoy the pics and the update.  I will be back soonish with more photos. 

xo

Swimming lessons Part Deux!!

Look at how far Caden has come in ONE week!!!

I am so proud of this little man, even though he cries and pitches a fit at home before we go.  Then he's awesome when he gets there......harumph.  Kids.

Here he is showing off his floating prowess....not too bad for a 44lb. kid!

Here's Miss Penny the most Amazing swimming instructor EVER, giving him a Pep Talk about what he's about to do.

 He's SWIMMING!!!!! 

And swimming under the water!!!

Paige is unimpressed with her big brother's accompolishments.

We are off again this morning for more swimming fun- He goes every day for two more weeks until they do the big end of lessons where he goes in with all his clothes on to see how he can manage a situation if he were to really fall in a pool.  He's really a trooper and I am so proud of him. 

Caden Starts Swimming...a photo chronology.

 1. Nervous but excited-  We went early to watch the other kids taking their lessons and that *might* have been a mistake as most were screaming their heads off.  I tried to keep it light by taking pictures but as you can see in the photo, Caden was not fooled- note the grimace of fake happiness.

2. Thumbs UP!   " C'mon Caden, " I say.  " Give mommy a thumbs up before you get in the water. "

He complies.

3. The lesson begins-  Caden has a chat with his instructor Miss Penny.  She thinks he's a hoot and a half out of the water but she's going to be hard on him as he is a 3 year old who is a wussy about getting his face in the water.  That is all about to change.....

4. Clinging on in abject Fear and Misery-  This is *after* Miss Penny uncerimoniously dumps him under the water.  She then goes on from this point to succeed in getting him to close his mouth when he goes under, something we've been trying to get him to do for a year now.  After 2 or three times getting water in his gullet, he keeps his mouth closed and proceeds to swim under water to the wall and another instructor.  I clap and cheer.  He sees me and cries.  Ah, progress...

5. Learning to FLoat on his back- After the trauma of going under the water, Miss Penny takes pity on him and tries to teach him to float on his back.  He's game to do it but refuses to put his arms out so he looks like he's about to do some crunches in the water.  Miss Penny is satisfied that he's at least not crying, so she accepts it.

That ends our first lesson on the first day.  I wanted to take an " after " the lesson shot, but he needed some serious TLC and I hated to stick a camera in his face when he was so buoyed up by his nervous/scared energy.  The good thing is, is that he goes every day for four weeks, so I will keep taking photos to track his progress.  He was glad to see photos of himself in action and kept asking me, 

 " You so proud of me Mama? " 

Of course I was.  SO very proud.

I love my baby Paige.

 

Caden and Paige.  Brother and sister.  After 9 weeks Caden is completely smitten with her.  

 " Mama!  Mama!  Baby Paige is crying again. "  ( he says when she makes any sort of noise ).

 " Mama!  Mama! I Think she fussy again.  I think she need to eat Mama.  Eat at your boobs. " ( this is usually accompanied with a giggle ).

 " Mama!  Look!  She smile at me!  I think she loves me. "  ( this is said with a gigantic grin ).

She really does love him.  When he comes close to her, she bursts into the biggest smile, kicking her legs with happiness.  He really loves her too.  After a few sketchy weeks getting to know her, and getting to understand she wasn't taking his place, he settled into his role of Big Brother.  He watches her for me in small increments, talks to her in the car when she's upset, and sings to her.  He dances silly dances for her, and starts up her swing for me when we put her in it.  He constantly wants to touch her- which is a little dicey since he NEVER wants to wash his hands - but touches her so sweetly we almost never have to remind him to do so.  He's eager to give her a bottle, and when I go back to work and she's getting bottles more often and taking them a little better, he'll get to do it.  Right now she fights with all her might against taking the bottle, so she needs a persistent adult to do it.  

   When I look at the both of them I can hardly breathe sometimes with the amount of love I have for these two little beings.  I hope beyond hope that they will always be close, that they will always have each other's backs  and that they will one day look at these photos and know how much they loved each other, even when one of them didn't even know what Love was.

 Oh, and as for me- I love being able to say, 

  " Those are my Kids. ".