Pic from my mom's camera from last two weeks ago.. Very cute I think!

Ahhhh, this is nice!

Okay, ya got me out here, now what?

Peek a boo Isabella!

BUBBLES!!

Lookin' at the fishies

Isabella fell asleep on the boat ride

Doug, with a THE hat.... even in 90 degree weather

Blog Makeover

do you likes?

Join the Club

Aiden joined many new clubs this week. He joined the "Lake Goers" club, which is the most fun, the "Rice Cereal" club and the biggest bestest club of them all.... the "SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT" Club!!!! FINALLY, he sleeps through the night, and its been the past couple of nights, so we know its the new trend. He'll sleep from 8 or 9PM to 5AM!!! You know what that means! Kevin and I get to renew our membership to the "Sleeping through the night" club!

Anyway, there's more fun things to share, and many more pictures to post, but it is past my bedtime, so I'll post more tomorrow, and yes, I know my title pic isn't working, I don't kow how to fix it. Any suggestions?

Isabella

Lake Baby

3 hours not well spent.

Aiden had ANOTHER doctors visit today. 2 of them actually. First we went to the neurologist to see what's wrong with his mouth. When he cries or smiles big one side of his mouth does not pull down. The neurologist didn't really have much to say about it. It doesn't affect his eating and he can use that corner of his mouth to make an "o" and purse his lips together, so instead of doing scans (which require radiation) and MRI's which require sedation (either of which you want to do to such a little guy) the doc opted to just let it go, and do nothing. It doesn't appear to be harmful at this point, and he said that its not a brain thing because its just that ONE part of that ONE nerve. Its not a heart thing because other symptoms would have shown themselves by now. Basically, he thinks that a nerve was injured in the womb and that it is permanent and there is nothing we can do about it. But that is okay really because you can't even really tell there's a problem until he really gets crying hard. It shouldn't affect his speech. So that was that, at least we know its not linked to anything more serious, which was the point of the whole appointment, really. Our appointment was at 9 am. We didn't actually SEE the doctor until 9:30 mind you. When you have a 5 month old with you 30 minutes can be the difference betwen smiles and Devil horns.

Then off to the pediatrician to see why he has been sick a lot. We were told "come on by after your neurology appointment. to see Doc. XXX" So we did, and we ended up waiting an HOUR AND A HALF! Turns out that the doctor was in back wondering "the neurology appointment shouldn't have taken this long" and when we registered with the front lady she never sent Aiden's chart stuff back. She didn't REGISTER US! So she just watched us get pissy and pissier in the waiting room.

Aiden hasn't been "healthy" for longer than a 2 week period since he was born. He had RSV in March, and never really totally kicked it. He catches every bug out there. I expect kids to get sick, but this was just too much sick. The doc gave us a "preventative" medication. Its a med we give to him through his nebulizer once a day, whether he is sick or not. She also gave us an oral steroid to kick start this other med.

So hopefully he'll be feeling better soon again! When he starts feeling better, we're moving on to Rice Cereal. I'm hoping this will lead to sleeping ALL NIGHT! a girl can wish.

Fathers day is around the corner! So here is a HAPPY FATHER'S DAY wish goin' out to MY DADDY and my baby's DADDY!! Dad and Kevin you're the best! Love ya! XOXOXOXOXOX

SITTING LIKE A BIG BOY!!!!

sup?

I see you too!

HIIIIII MOOOOMMMMMM!!

I'll miss workin' with you Blake a Roo!! Thank you!

Devil's Run

It was a blast! Aiden loved the parade... for the first 20 minutes anyway. He watched all the cars go by and watched all the older kids attack eachother for the tootsie rolls. This was also Isabella's first parade where she got to EAT the candy! It didn't take her long to get the concept that if she wanted that candy, she had to fight and dive for it. She was very adorable!

In the pics of Aiden, you can see Ambers cute little pregnant tummy too! too CUTE!

Saturday, we all went to the street dance and we got to see peeps that we don't get to see very often, so it was a lot of fun. I'll post pics of the cars later... I don't have time to fight with blogger to post pics... is it just me, or is it frustrating. Most of the time, the pics won't post for some reason. hmf.. its free I'm not gonna complain.

First Parade!

seriously though, mom, no more pictures okay?

mmmmm... CANDY!

best sound in the whole world!

yeah, its with my cell phone, so its not the best video.. and yeah, the program plays stupid music over it, but its the only place I (well okay my mom) could find to host the video for some reason, it has something to do with my phone...but its still really cute!

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

me and Aiden

us and the Bishop

He was there for confirmation ceremony before Aiden's babtism

Amber and Ben are Aiden's Godparents.

Me and Alicia

Me, My mom and my sister, Alicia

Grandpa O'Brien, Aiden, Kevin, Grandpa Keck and Great Grandpa Hammond

Our Family

My Family (pre Kevin and Aiden)

4 generations

Giving himself his Nebulizer treatment...

Me and Aiden

Happiest sick baby ever

I took Aiden to the doctors AGAIN today. He's had a bad cough for a while, and he's been acting pretty fussy lately. Turns out, he has a good reason... he has an ear infection, not to meantion he got RSV again... or should I say, it never really left, just lingered until another bug (bronchitis) came around. But he's on medication, and I can see the difference already. Tonight, he was all smiles for most of the evening, it was one of the best days we've had with him so far. So we got pics to proove it! he didn't really cry once tonight. He went to sleep around 8:30 after his bath and meds, and he's out.

So he's still on Prevacid, he's taking penicillin for the ear infection, and a steroid to help with the inflamation of his lungs.

Hopefully he'll be all better by Sunday, Babtism day!!

BIG SMILES!

Apparently, I'm HILARIOUS!

mommy coodies.

Triathelete... the new me.

So there I was, in the final strech of the road... one more turn, I could see the finish line! After running 5 miles, swimming 1 mile, pogo sticking 500 times, and biked 10 miles... 22 hours later I was just about to cross the finish line when "it" happened. My bike tire hit a patch of gravel (put there by my arch nemisis, I'm sure....) I went FLYING through the air- when i landed, every bone in my body felt like it was going to shatter! Then everything went dark, and I passed out. When I came to, there was Kevin hovering over me, saying that I was fine, just a small concusion, and a torn Maniscus, nothing a small surgery can't fix.

Okay okay, so by now you've probably discovered I'm a big fat liar.... I don't have an arch nemisis, everyone likes me!!!

Okay, no really. I did hurt myself. My left knee to be exact. But the WAY I hurt myself is far less interesting and far more embarassing then the story above... the story I've been sticking to for the past five day. Here's what really happened:

There I was kneeling next to my bathtub... scrubbing away. Thats when I heard it.... a very loud BANG!!! I looked behind me, there he stood, a 11 foot MONSTER.... all grey, and bald... with two large oval black eyes, and a small petit lengthy body. He covered my mouth to muffle my screams, and he took me to his "leader". Everything went dark and I passed out.
When I came to, Kevin was telling me I was okay... just a torn maniscus... nothing a little surgery can't fix. Seems the aliens just wanted to tear my knee apart to see how it worked and they didn't put me back together the right way.

okay, seriously though....I did hurt my knee, and I might have to have surgery. I have an MRI on Monday. It hurts and it is way swollen.

But enough about me. Aiden is STILL sick... he is having a hard time breathing and he is a VERY fussy baby. The doctor refilled his Rx for his Nebulizer meds so we can start giving that to him. He's been throwing up once in a while because he coughs so hard. His eyes are red, and his nose is stuffy and we think he may be even teething already. He chews on EVERYTHING and has a little white bump on hi lower gum line. he's drooling like crazy. We bought him rice cereal to try when he gets better (so he doesn't throw it up) I'm excited... the next step to LONGER SLEEP TIMES!!

Jan is gone this week from work so I work lots, which is prooving to be very hard with a bum knee. Its been crazy at work, we have new people starting and some people leaving, and we're getting ready for an inspection and the list goes on and on... but it'll get better, it always does.

I'll post more pics some day. Aiden's new "bed" time is like 6pm... he set it himself, we're trying to break that habit, as he is fully rested and ready to party at 2am. So there isn't much time for pics. He rolls over from his tummy to his back, and half way the other way, so he'll be rolling over completely soon enough.

But I gots to go, I'm going tanning... Trying to help these nasty stretch marks go away. Plus its my "alone" relaxation time. I know, I know, it causes cancer..... don't lecture I know its bad for me.

OH YEAH! and Aiden's babtism is May 20th at St. Joesephs church at 2:30.... refreshments and goodies follow.... everyone come, it'll be fun!

Bumbo Chairs: Best things EVER!

Aiden's "Born to Rock" in his Bumbo chair (recommended by his Physical Therapist) with his spikey new 'do'

grandma got BIG smiles!

Happy Earth Day!

HA!!!! America can get on with their normal ways of life....

Sanjaya is GONE! FINALLY, the 'fun' of voting for the worse wore off, and people FINALLY decided that Sanjaya wasn't worth it, he sucked so bad, it wasn't even funny enough to keep up with the fake votes! We all win!

Poor Aiden is sick... AGAIN! He has the worse cough ever, and his breathing sounds worse than when he had RSV. I brought him to the doctor on Monday when this all started, but she listened to him for 10 seconds and said "he sounds fine to me"

Last time a doctor said that, he was in the hospital a week later with RSV.

at that time, yes, he didn't sound too bad, but of course as soon as we left the clinic and made it back to Nanny Karissa's he was coughing up a storm. He's stuffed up, you can hear the phlem in his throat and chest. I feel so bad for him, because he wakes up coughing, so he isn't getting any sleep, and his throat hurts, his eyes are watery and he's sneezing like crazy! I can't wait for his 4 month apointment on Monday!

The weather has been BEAUTIFUL the past couple of days, I think we're finally over the whole snow thing. today marked the 10 year anniversary of the "FLOOD OF '97" for Grand Forks. I didn't live here then but I can't imagine how much that sucked! It was the one of U.S. largest flood evacuations before Katrina!! And no one died in Grand Forks, thats amazing considering they evacuated like 50,000 people! ANyway, some of the photography of the flood is amazing... There are probably lots if you google. it....

have a good night@

chillin'

Easter Baby!

Yes, I know.... a little lame, but you have to admit, he's really really cute!

his new play gym.

Parker

This is Parker, she is my cousin Trista's daughter. Isn't she CUTE! She'll be 1 in May

What a F#%*ed up day!

Sorry for the language, but my gosh, what a day I've had! Of course, I"ll write in semi-Cliff's notes so you don't get zombie eyes from staring at the computer screen too long reading my post...

8:00am: I'm at work, one hour into my shift, I'm stocking the coffee bar area. A gentleman comes up to me "excuse me, Miss, there is a lady out by the end entrance and shes bleeding, she needs help!" So we both run down the hall and I see this lady slumped against the building outside. As I walked toward the door, I see blood smeared on the glass, I open the door and see lots of blood. I bent down and asked her what happened, she says she fell and really hurt her arm. Her coat and glove are soaked in blood. I told the guy to dial 911. She said she was in room blah blah blah and her sister was in that room so I should go get her. So I did while the guy stayed with her. I was gone 2 minutes and when I got back, the guy was gone... whatever. The lady's sister came out in her nighty and bare feet. She sees her sister, realizes how serious it is, and goes back to the room to put clothes on so she can go with her to the hospital. So this woman (who is a RN) is staying remarkably calm...while she says "I'm losing too much blood, I feel like I'm going to pass out" So I keep talking to her as I rubbed her back, and she leaned against me and I'm thinking this ambulance is taking too long (even though it was only like 3-5 minutes it felt longer) so they come, cut off the sleeve of her coat... and I couldn't see everything but she had a compound fracture, her bone obviously broke through her skin. I stepped away, because, I'm can take blood okay, but not that much and not when my heart was already beating a million miles a minute and I was already shaking cause it was scary. Anyway, she got to the hospital, had to have surgery, and Jan talked to her and she was doing okay. She was really really lucky, the artery didn't break, it just stretched, otherwise she could have been A LOT worse off... and her nerves are okay I guess. Phew. And as far as we can tell, its not the hotels fault or anything, it looks like she just tripped up the curb and fell way wrong.

Okay... so I go back to breakfast and by this time, its time to start cleaning up. This lady comes down and asks if its okay is she can make a waffle. This usually makes me mad because, c'mon people... anyway, I'm okay with it because she's really nice. She sits in the corner and answers her cell phone while she's eating. As she's talking (kind of loud actually) I hear that her voice is starting to quiver, and then it turns into sobbing "I just miss home! I'm feel like crap, I look like crap...." more and more and more. She's crying all a lone. I'm thinking "what the hell do I do" So I ignored her and kept wiping tables like nothing was going on. Just me and a crying woman in the corner. Hm...but then she left, and I've never felt so cold hearted. I mean, its only human to reach out to people and comfort them when they're crying, but a total stranger I overheard on her cell?

THEN.... after I was done cleaning I was doing stuff at the desk, and this guy came in. He told me he was just waiting for someone. Then, of course, he had to tell me who, and why.... him and his buddy, who got totally wasted last night and are hungover today, are being deployed back to Iraq for the 3rd time and they leave today to get there tomorrow evening. He's leaving his 4 year old twins, who he was away from for the first year of their life because he was in Italy. He is a Col. in the Army. ALthough he was interesting, and I enjoyed his stories, he kept talkiing, and talking, and talking... about eveything WAR.... and man, this guy is all about blowing up the entire middle east to just end it all. he's all about the war and he is US military to the core... great, but I have a till to count, laundry to do, papers to do, things to email and fax.... then he gets on his phone and on the top of his lungs starts screaming at the poor PFC on the other side. "DO YOU KNOW WHO THE F*$! I AM!! YOU NAME DROP MY NAME RIGHT NOW TO THE Mother F*$!er SITTING ACROSS FROM YOU SO SHIT GETS DONE AROUND THERE" He went off for at least 3 minutes and then he called someone else and did the same thing for another 5... by that time he was screaming into the phone and so then I said "excuse me, Sir" and gave him a "shhh... " look like I didn't want to SAY anything because pfew... I didn't want to be his next victim. So he lowered his voice and went into the entrance. I mean how rude, I was on the phone for part of his ranting, and I'm sure the guest anywhere in the hotel could hear him!

Anyway, I left work and though "thats enough crazy day for me" I picked up Aiden and went to his PT appointment. His head is getting less flat on his right side, and his facial palsy looks better. She said he is doing very well and probably won't even need a helmet. YAY!!!

Then we got home, and Blake and Amber came over and we watched American Idol. Sanjaya sucked, even if Paula said it was "nice" and Simon said "Im going to regret this, but you weren't bad" he better not win. I'll never watch AI again!

now I'm going to bed. Tomorrow is my day off. GOOD!

Doug and Jas, Tab and Derek went to the Type O Negative concert tonight in Minneapolis. Hope they had fun! Can't wait to hear about it.

Sorry, that wasn' t so much Cliff's notes, hope you got through the whole thing okay!!!

Oh, and Aiden went to the doc. yesterday, he weighs 11lbs, 7.6oz!

Little Mr. McScreamer

Aiden definately has found his voice... and knows how to use it. He found that his voice can get him instant attention if he shreeeeeeks as loud as he possibly can. Its actually pretty funny because you can tell when he's about to do it because he'll make little fists, close his eyes, take a deep breath and let it all out with all his little lungs can handle. then he opens his eyes wide to see if you're listening to him, and then he repeats. He usually only does it when he's hungry, or when he wakes up and no one is around. He's starting to make some sort of sleeping pattern. He takes a nap at Karissa's from about 1-3 or 4. I'm sure she's happy about that because that's Isabella's nap time, so she gets a break! Then he'll sleep from about 5-6ish at home and then he's zonked out at about 8 or 9.... and then the night goes okay... by okay, I mean he isn't really fussy, but he doesn't sleep for more than 1 hour increments. To make a long story short, we're working on the whole sleep thing.

So this whole Sanjaya thing has my panties all up in a bunch. I almost don't even want to watch American Idol because of the idiots that are throwing the competition out the window and vote for Sanjaya, knowing damn well that he sucks. Gina went home, so now my two favorites are gone, and I'm sure they feel like they got ripped off, they have to watch as Sanjaya is making a mockery of what they DESERVE... and thats my little rant. Freakin' idiot. I wouldn't be surprised if, when he DOES get voted off, he gets stoned to death by an angry mob.

My mom and Dad are in town for Easter (just another excuse to see Aiden) but I'm excited because they're taking him tomorrow night and staying at the hotel. My mom said that gives us time to work on a little sister for Aiden... first of all, NO ONE should have to hear their mom say that, its creepy. Second of all... It'll be a while before Aiden gets a puppy, let a lone a little sister. Then for Easter we're eatin' ham and all the fixins. I work this weekend too... yucky. I feel like I see my co-workers more than I see my son... I guess thats just the way it goes though.

Anyway, I've been trying to take pics of Aiden, but my camera isn't saving new pictures. I have no clue why. I spent an hour today trying to figure it out, I guess I'm just gonna have to get a new camera!