Category: All things Aidan

Happy Birthday Honey

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Today is my friend’s daughters birthday… what makes this birthday different you might ask…Well:
My friend and I were pregnant at the same time actually due the exact same day this was in 2012.
But then Logan passed away and left room for so many emotions. I still remember her heavily pregnant standing under a tree at his funeral.
Today is that friend’s daughter’s birthday and at the back of my mind it will always tug at my heart strings, he should be here too, they should be playing together and things should just be different you know!
But at the same time she gives me this weird feeling of heart peace, like when I see her even if it is just a picture, I have a connection to him. I kinda know “okay this is the stage he would have been now” and that way he sorta lives on.
I know it sounds all kinds of self serving and strange, but a grieving heart is a selfish thing it looks for anyway to mend itself, to feel okay for a minute.
Her and Aidy have hit it off since their first meeting when he was still a “baby baby”. She automatically goes into big sis mode, too cute.
The little girl is stunning like her ex-model mom and a bubbly peoples-person like both her parents, she is such a joy to be around and although they are actually moving over the seas soon, I hope that she will always be part of my life…
I’m soooooooo cyber stalking them!!! “SKYPE ME SKYPE ME SKYPE ME, hehehe

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY!

From baby to toddler – room redo

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Despite having a sick and cranky baby on our hands we managed to finish Aidan’s room this past weekend. What do you guys think? He loves it especially the touch light which he can turn on himself and the ball pit I fashioned out of packing foam and patterned duct tape…A job well done I think, as my “client” couldn’t be happier:)
The new look room sorry about picture quality-I used the baby clothes on canvas his aunt made as wall decor and have a small little chalk board with his big bro’s name hanging from the bigger chalk board – I know the room looks a little crowded from this angle but it really isn’t 
Place for all his teddies and books-the front of this Murphy bed was looking scruffy so I updated it with denim duct tape
The play area-yes that is a pink pony next to the rugby ball , it  used to belong to my sister and kids are far less sexist than adults – The bed can fold up if he ever needs more play room
above his bed
Aidan and Taylor enjoyed the Club house-Aidan has since removed the club house sign and ate it…boys!
We got the cardboard house at Mr Price home ages ago because it was on sale and I knew we would find a use for it 
This is the ball pit I made using those foam boxes you get inside cardboard boxes when you buy appliances and patterned duct tape to make it look nice and keep it sturdy.
Not too sick to get up to mischief – I know I’m supposed to paint the house but thought it looked cute just the way it is

Bye Bye Baby Room

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Creating  Aidan’s room  was a whole lot of fun!!! and it became a way for me to connect with the whole “we are having a baby” thing!
But the “baby room” is becoming a little impractical now that he is older.
Yes, he is only one, BUT his mother has a Decor Diy addiction  it needs to be done.
At the moment the cute bunting on the day bed in his room gives him Tarzan fantasies as all he wants to do is hang on them, the bouncy chair and mobile are not needed and all his cute stuffed animals wresting partners are in a box out of reach while I decide what to do with them.
The most dangerous of it all is that my kid seems to think his crib is a jungle gym – I have caught him on the arm rest of the feeding chair trying to hang off the bars of the crib….more than once!
So enter this weekends plan! I want to de-clutter and make the whole room a little safer for the little explorer  more “toddler like” and who knows maybe if he has a designated play area the rest of the house can stay clean for longer – a girl can hope hey…

Here are some of my pinterest inspirations:  Just watch how I ignore all this and do my own thing….I’m a pinterest fail, I am

(click on the pics for links)

sewing idea: bed storage. Pretty sure the original intended use is for kids... but I'm thinking I'd LOVE this for my ipad, glasses, books, cell phone, jewelry I forgot to take off before climbing into bed. I MUST make this.
I wonder if his gran is in a sewing mood

DIY Play House - Now that's a cool upcycled cardboard box house.
a less girlie version, like without the random bunnies 

Google images of "____ silhouettes", print on back of scrapbook paper and cut out. Frame. Simple and cute!
Would go well with those canvases covered in baby clothes his aunt made
Owl Bookends
I’d use stuffed animals for this maybe, seeing as I’m lazy he has quite a few 

Oil Pan Magnet Board
This looks so Awesome! now to find a giant to loan me his baking sheet

Brag book: Not a baby anymore

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So last night Aidan was sitting in the corner with his favourite truck making “car noises” as he pushed it up and down and you know what? I cried!!!
Maybe it’s because Logan was due early June or because Aidan is growing so fast or even more likely, because I’m certifiable…. regardless of the reason, the result was tears.
He walks now, all over the show…a vast improvement from THIS VIDEO but JUST as cute.  He is rapidly approaching (might have arrived and I’m just in denial) that “not a baby any more” stage and I’m all torn up about it.
 I’m proud as heck don’t get me wrong;  He toddles over to the bathroom when we tell him it’s time to brush his teeth and insists on sharing his bottle with  SCOUT (a teddy that is personalised with Aidan’s name and favourite things and which interacts with him) he can even press the buttons and make Scout sing and talk without my help.
He will pick up a crayon/pen/a stick even  and ask for a page (pashe). He believes all balls need to be kicked and that he can argue his way out of a disagreement.
ME: “Aidan get away from the fridge”
HIM: “mama don’t *words I don’t understand* *various hand gestures* no don’t” and then opens fridge.
He is strong willed and  no longer wants to be carried (us walking people don’t do that – unless we are tired then mom isn’t allowed to put us down).
He thinks outside the box this kid, like when I asked him a couple of months ago where the light is and was concerned that unlike other kids he didn’t point at the light, he pointed at the wall, but pretty soon I realised what he was pointing at was the light switch.
Or just last night when I asked him to “Show daddy how Scout sings” expecting him to press the teddy’s hand and get it to sing, but instead I was met with Aidan “showing how Scout sings” by mimicking what the teddy did earlier, and breaking out in song himself.
He is such a joy and I love watching him grow, but I won’t lie . . . sometimes, just sometimes I miss baby Aidan






Weaning Mommy

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I never saw myself as the breastfeeding type as I’m neither a Stepford wife or a hippie (In my mind those were the only types that breastfed their kids)…
The thought of someone drinking milk produced by my body just never appealed to me, it’s all rather weird and cow like I thought.
Why then am I so sad at the thought of giving it up?
We started the weaning process last week and I find myself feeling so sad about the whole thing.
Growing up I  don’t remember seeing people breastfeed much….I know my mom didn’t (Only recently discovered that this was a medical decision not a personal one) and to be honest I can’t even remember if my aunts did.
I remember making bottles for my cousins though and sneaking a spoon of dry formula for myself…it tasted yummy (Nan I think it was) as I clearly didn’t understand the financial implications of my “taste testing” – formula does not come cheap.
I also remember being sent to the pharmacy on the corner to buy teats, nothing fancy like we have now, shaped like a breast and with special vents, just a run of the mill teat that you had to poke a hole into yourself at the risk of messing it up and having to buy another one.
The only breastfeeding I clearly remember was that of the young unwed mothers living in my grandmothers street.
I remember overhearing gossiping old ladies remark that they had to wash nappies and breastfeed because they were not smart enough to wait to have jobs or get guys who could afford kimbies (disposable nappies) or formula —- this was before cloth nappies became the “in thing” again.
So I think in the back of my mind breast feeding was classed as a last option , a go-to because you couldn’t afford anything else.
That view clearly changed. Hearing the health benefits I decided to breastfeed with Logan already (taking the I’ll try my best, but if I can’t I won’t hate myself approach) and by the time Aidan was here I had picked up pumps, special blankets, a feeding chair and a bunch of tips from my already breastfeeding friends.
I had a rocky start, as I just didn’t seem to produce enough. Aidy was in the NICU and I was allowed to stay with the sole purpose of feeding him, so it became increasingly important to “get milk” because if I couldn’t feed him I’d be sent home.
I wanted to stay, so I pumped like crazy (almost being reduced to tears when another new mom requested a second bottle while I could barely pump a tablespoons worth) I drank home remedies and had him practice suckling, I even took meds.
Maybe I was haunted by the fact that I could never feed Logan-he had to have donated milk (Later my friend donated milk on his behalf when she weaned her twins…heart warming to say the least)
By the time we got home I contemplated exclusively expressing because suddenly my milk was too much and feeding him was traumatic for both of us. Milk went everywhere as poor Aidy coughed and sputtered and promptly learned to BITE DOWN….Most mornings I woke up covered in milk despite breast pads and don’t get me started on the pain.
But soon things sorted themselves out and we got into a grove, he ended up having formula in the day (while I was at work) because I could not pump enough and because the specific (crazy pricey) formula was said to help with reflux.
But every morning and evening he would drink from me and it became “our thing”
Something only I could do for him-Our US TIME.
But I had always said I would stop breastfeeding when he turned one, a walking “talking” toddler with a mouth full of teeth was just never part of the deal (personal preference)
I’m hoping this will encourage him to eat more and help him get to sleep without me having to go and cuddle him at 3 in the morning.
 So far so good, he is getting used to it, even if he tugs at me now and again asking for “juice” (weird I know-I say milk he says juice) but he seems to be “getting it”
As for me, I guess I will have to find another way to have “us time”
But all being said and done, I’m glad I gave this breastfeeding thing a go and I feel blessed that I could because I’m well aware that many woman are not as lucky.

HAPPY MONDAY ALL!