Fall Festivities

Just wanted to get some pictures posted of what we did this fall. Enjoy!

Where is time going so quickly? And Trip to the Children's Museum

How can it possibly already be October? I'm less than one week away from starting the third trimester and we still haven't picked out a name for our new little guy! I even had a dream that the baby could talk to me through my stomach and still wouldn't tell me what name he would like.

I've been trying to be good about getting pictures (since I did it with Aiden). Although I think I am not all that cute pregnant. My skin gets splotchy, my hair goes limp and won't curl or do anything else, and I always look tired. Hopefully these pictures are small enough that no one is looking that close! It's about time to take another one.

17 weeks

19 Weeks

22 Weeks

24 Weeks

On September 24th we all headed over to the local Children's Museum for a free day at the museum. It's a pretty cool place. Aiden loved the shadow wall. You stand up against a wall and a light flashes and then you can walk away and still see your shadow on the wall. Unfortunately, you can't really get pictures of it. But I got pictures of everything else.

Aiden continues to love preschool, and his first parent teacher conferences are coming up in about two weeks. So are his first school pictures. It's been amazing to see how much he learns and how much some outside influence can do. He tried cucumbers with snack because one of the other kids said they loved cucumbers, and guess what? Aiden likes cucumbers. Go figure, I've been trying to get him to try them forever!

Aiden's Birthday Week

Aiden wanted a car theme birthday this year. He was really excited about decorating and it was fun to see what he thought would be neat. He helped me make the banner. I made it so that the cars can come off so we can use it again.

Aiden also had very definite opinions about the cake. It had to have 5 cars since he was turning 5.

We got Aiden a bike and he got to ride it for the first time.

Some other snapshots from the party:

On Aiden's actual birthday on Wednesday we went over to a local place called Zonkers. I had a pass for him to play in the bouncy houses and he had a blast.

Aiden wanted me to take a video of him reenacting one of his favorite clips from Mythbusters where they slip on banana peels. Unfortunately our camera doesn't take great video, but oh well!
Here is the mythbusters clip:


Here is Aiden's version:

The party was a get together with family because Aiden had requested going to the zoo instead of having friends over. So the Saturday after his birthday we headed to the Kansas City Zoo.

Five Years Ago Today

Five years ago today I was looking into this sweet face, and Aiden was looking right back at me, with those eyes and the long dark eyelashes. All I could think was "I'm a Mom!" Now all I can think is it's been five years already! He's definitely not a baby anymore, not even a toddler!

Happy Birthday my big 5 year old! I've loved every minute since you were born (yes even the waking up in the middle of the night and potty training). It has been an amazing journey watching you grow, I just hope the next five years feel like they go a little slower. I love you!

It's A Boy!

We found out last week that we are having a boy, and we are so excited. Aiden was telling me today that he hopes his brother will like to play with him. It was the first ultrasound Steve was able to go to and everything looks perfect. Exactly what you want to hear. I pulled out the clothes we saved from Aiden. Oh my goodness they are so tiny! Amazing how quick you can forget how little they come. Now we are just on the hunt for a car seat and the perfect name.

New Baby Hayes!

We are so excited for a new baby! I know ultrasound pictures usually kind of look like a blob, but the Dr. said the baby's head is at the top there next to the round empty circle. You can actually kind of make out an arm too just below the head. Compared to Aiden's first ultrasound this one looks alot more like a baby :)





The due date right now is January 6th. Aiden is pretty anxious and keeps asking when "that person is going to come out of my tummy." He is convinced it's a girl. I asked him why, and he listed off a bunch of his friends who all have sisters. He said that brothers just need sisters, guess you can't argue with that logic. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.





The news of a new baby has been long awaited in the Hayes house. Anyone who has been around kids any amount of time knows they can teach you more than you feel like you ever teach them. I expected that when Aiden was born, and he has taught me so much, but I never knew I could learn so much while waiting for a child. This last year has been kind of rough for us in a lot of ways...Steve was laid off, we made a huge decision to leave behind a home and friends and move a long way away looking for work, and there were other trials. Trials that for me emotionally I thought were too big to get through.





I had a miscarriage about the same time Steve found out he lost his job. I don't think there is anything that can prepare you for the loss of an expected baby. One moment we were planning how life would change and the next that was all taken away. I know I wrote in my journal a few weeks later that I couldn't understand why. I wasn't learning anything from this, what was the point. I'm not saying I fully understand now, there still seems to be this hole and there are still moments when what was lost hits me all of the sudden. But I have learned some things:





As it says in the Bible in Ecclesiastes there really is A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. I tried to ignore my emotions often. Thinking it wasn't fair to Aiden or Steve or who knows who else. But we were sent into this life to learn the good from the bad and to experience the joy and the grief.





Our expections of how our lives should be may not always be in line with Heavenly Father's better view of our life, even if what we hope for is a good thing. I am not saying I am not happy. I am, but I honestly expected things to be different at this stage in my life. I think this is the biggest obstacle I've had to come to terms with; righteous expectations that are not always fulfilled when we want them to be. There is a sense of peace that comes not from giving up on those righteous hopes, because they will be fulfilled eventually, but in realizing that it may not happen on our timetable.

We feel so blessed that this pregnancy has been normal so far and can't wait till January!

Aiden's Odd Sleeping Spots

So Aiden's never been a wonderful sleeper. He never took naps regularly and has always stayed up later. I even complained about it to his pediatrician at his one year check up and the pediatrician said some kids just need less sleep, but he was big and strong and healthy so not to be concerned. Although some of Aiden's recent choices in a place or way to crash are sometimes a little concerning.


Example Number 1: Yes, he is really asleep like that holding his cup of water. Funniest part about it was that just seconds before he was bouncing on the bed asking a million questions.

Example Number 2:

So you get a sense of where this is and what Aiden had to do to get in there. It is under his bed, but there is also a tote under there that leaves only about 2 feet of space and the bag in front of Aiden is full of library books. The box that looks like it is leaning on his head is usually completely upright. We know this odd sleeping spot was at least a little planned since the blue blanket on top of him is his favorite blanket that he had to pull out from under his pillow on the bed. It was the middle of the day. We thought he was just playing in his room. When it got quiet...too quiet...

This one I just added for fun because he enjoyed sleeping out in a tent in Grandma's backyard so much that he then slept in his little indoor play tent at home for 3 nights straight. (I should have snapped a picture of that). We seriously considered letting him continue to sleep in his little tent because he didn't get up once in the middle of the night while he was sleeping in it and actually slept past 7 am all three nights. But I guess the magic wore off because he wasn't interested the fourth night.

April and May Hayes Happenings

I can't believe it's almost June already! We've been keeping busy here. Steve got a new job working for Sprint (hooray!) We are moving into an apartment on June 4th.

We have renters renting out our home in Idaho Falls. Never thought we would be landlords...I think this upcoming tax season might be the year to get someone to help us with our taxes, between my business,moving, living in two states, and getting rental income I have a feeling it might be a little more frustrating than it usually is. We had lots of Easter celebrations. Aiden and I got to go see the Kansas City Civic Symphony downtown in the Folly Theatre. He really enjoyed it and was really intent on watching the whole time. His favorite instrument to watch was the Timpani. He also commented on all the conductor's crazy hand movements. And we did lots of other fun things as shown in the pictures below.

Family Portrait

Just had to share Aiden's drawing of our family. Aiden explained that he is the little one in the middle holding Mom and Dad's hands. I'm so glad he is finally drawing pictures of people. He is more of a numbers, figure out how it works kind of guy, and most of his drawings are roller coaster plans, buildings, cars or houses.

Who Does Aiden Look Like?

So I came across this funny website where you can upload pictures and figure out which parent the child looks more like. Sadly the only pictures I could find of Steve and I alone were from our wedding! Looks like I need to get a few more pictures of us individually. At any rate the meter said Aiden looks more like me, which I thought was funny since everyone says he is a mini Steve. So who do you think Aiden looks more like?

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

Playtime

We spend a lot of time going to parks. Here are just a few pictures we've taken over the last little while of our park adventures.

I had fun updating the look of our blog this week too. I'm so ready for spring and seeing lots of green again!

Steve's Birthday!

Steve had a good birthday I think :) He had BBQ steak for dinner and I made him a German chocolate cake. We had family over for cake and ice cream. He got more ram for his computer from my family, candy from Aiden, a new belt from me and cards and money.

Popcorn Popping!

Aiden watching the popcorn popper. Almost more fun than the movie we watched for movie night!

Moving Day!

So I know I'm posting things a little backwards...We had lots of help moving, and we couldn't have done it without all the help. We had this small window when there would be good driving weather, plus Steve flew standby and got back to Idaho a little later than we had hoped. Thank you to Steve's family, it's amazing how quickly everything gets moved when you have lots of good help. Thank you especially to Josh and Emily who came over multiple times to help pack and clean and brought us food when our kitchen was empty, and to FarrDell for fixing up things around the house after we left.






Aiden loves this picture of Alexis and Caleb he calls them his brother and sister. He sure will miss getting to see them all the time.

Empty House

We've moved back to Olathe KS, so our house in Idaho Falls is now empty and up for sale. It's a little sad to see it empty, it's really the only house Aiden ever knew and the first house Steve and I bought together. But if anyone knows someone who is looking to buy, this house would be great for a couple, younger family or sunbirds. It's down the street from the temple and the master bedroom is huge. There is also lots of storage in the basement and all of the appliances are included.

The mls listing:

http://www.navicamls.net/displays/?n=359&i=3453682&k=sOYbqA

Self Portrait

So I've been really bad at posting (I've got lots of stuff to share), but I had to share Aiden's self portrait really quick. He loves taking pictures and I got frustrated with him taking not so flattering pictures of me. So he took one of himself.

Aiden loves taking pictures so much that he made a camera out of his k'nex (which he also likes playing with) The top spinning portion is what powers the camera so the camera "never needs batteries, just his fingers spinning it around".