Sunday Grad Party

Sunday morning we headed back to my mom's house for a brunch with the family again. We ate A LOT and it was all awesome. I gave Aiden a little of the egg casserole even though it contained egg whites (I'm a rebel) and he loved it. At the end of the brunch, we said goodbye to the family and headed off to get ready for Alex' graduation.

The ceremony was great. It was HOT, but it was nice to get back to the old school and see Alex finishing up this part of his life. I asked him how it felt knowing he was done with high school. His reply was "Ask me again when I'm done with track. Right now it doesn't feel any different because I'm not completely done." The state track meet (and Alex' final track meet) is this weekend. Then it's all over!

Sunday after Alex' graduation, my dad through a party for Alex that was aimed more at friends. Travis invited some of his family to come, so it was great to see them one last time before we left for Texas again.

Ariel, Aiden and Joyce (Travis' grandma)

My dad, Bill (Travis' grandpa) and Travis


Alex playing bags with a friend from high school
(He was playing against another friend and his band teacher! I couldn't believe a TEACHER came to his graduation party. So funny.)



Aiden stayed up really late, but he was a trooper. Travis FINALLY got him to fall asleep around 9:30, but then he didn't want to risk him waking up again.

The next morning we got up and ate breakfast. We hung out at my dad's and packed up our luggage. Then we headed over to Steak 'n Shake for lunch. We went all out with burgers, fries and shakes. Ugh, mouth-watering. I originally thought Steak 'n Shakes were only in the north, but I found out there is one north of Houston. It's not really something I would travel that far for, so basically this is something we can only get when we are in Illinois. There are two restaurants in the Champaign-Urbana area alone. They are everywhere up north. Yummo! Although, not really something I'd like to work into a regular part of my diet. We weren't hungry again until landed in Houston after 9pm.

Aiden did great for the plane trip back. Unfortunately, we did not have Ariel and her MP3 player to help put Aiden to sleep. In the end, Travis was able to get him to settle down by covering up his ears as he cradled him. There were three seats together, so we knew some unfortunate soul would get stuck sitting next to a baby on the plane. We were able to claim a row first, that way whoever sat next to us was most likely doing it by choice.

A guy who had been traveling all day chose to sit next to us. He said he had kids (who are already grown at this point) that he had flown with when they were little. He said he knew what it was like and didn't mind sitting next to us. In the end, he bought US drinks. We told him that WE should be the ones buying HIM a drink since he got stuck sitting next to someone else's fussy baby. He insisted and we graciously took the adult beverages.

There was a little bit of a fiasco after we arrived in Houston. Ariel had a layover in Tennessee that was postponed an hour, so we went to pick up the car from parking and then pulled back around to grab Ariel. On her way out of the baggage claim, some guy was following her picking stuff up off the ground. Turned out, Ariel had $100 worth of quarters in her bag and she had sprung a leak. She ran back to pick up as many as she could find, but was still upset when she jumped in the car. There was no way to tell how much money she had lost during the flights until she could get home and count it. I still haven't heard the verdict.

We stopped for fast food one last time (oh I get SO TIRED of it during vacations) on the ride home. Robert met us at our house so we didn't have to drive Ariel all the way down to Galveston. When we walked in the door, Aiden's face lit up and he actually sighed in relief.

Visiting family is always a much needed trip, but it is GOOD to be home.

First Steps

I decided to go with the video that has less falling in it. If you'd like to see more walking, with ouchies at the end, you can go to the Vimeo website to see the rest.

Our little man can walk! from Nicolette Ward on Vimeo.

Saturday Grad Party

On Saturday, after Alex' track meet, my mom threw a graduation party and invited all of our family. This was the first time we got to see her house since she moved out of the house we lived in during high school. It was also the first time we have seen our extended family since Travis and I got married three and a half years ago. It was insanely awesome to see everyone and finally meet several of their kids...

Jason, Jenny and Holden

Aiden has always seemed to adore the big kids. He follows along with them with his eyes, since (at this point) he is unable to run after them. Here he is playing with Holden, Mia (belongs to my cousin Matt and his wife Christy) and Ryan (belongs to my cousin Michelle and her husband Mike). All the kids were so cute. It reminded me of when I was little and my cousins and I would run around playing during the holidays.

Holden found some binoculars, which he then proceeded to look at Travis through them. From 3 feet away. With the binoculars facing the wrong way.

The hostess, Pierre and I

Mia and Ryan eating St. Joseph-Ogden High School colored cupcakes.

We had such a great time at the party, but had to head to bed around 10pm. We just don't have the energy we once did. I suppose it's a good thing we headed back to my dad's so "early". Aiden had fallen asleep at my mom's, but just WOULD NOT go back to sleep at my dad's. After an hour of attempting to coax him to sleep, Travis gave in and decided to take Aiden for a drive. He was gone for about 40 minutes before he came back with a sleeping baby. ROUGH NIGHT. And not for the same reason we used to have rough nights. HA.

Let the Toddling Commence

Travis finished taking down the storm shutters and put the solar screens on the rest of the windows this weekend. I feel like I live in a whole new house now. There are things I see outside, that I never noticed before and frankly it's making me a little jumpy. We have an oleander bush outside our kitchen window. Last night I went out to the kitchen in the dark to get a glass of water, saw the shadow of the oleander blow outside and freaked for a moment because I thought it was a person. Hopefully that jumpiness goes away soon.

Also completed this weekend? Repainted the non-storm shutters. You know, the decorative kind that flank each window. The next chore that will hopefully be completed prior to Aiden's party, is repainting the trim on the outside of the house. One side has taken a thorough beating over the years and is in desperate need of a touch up.

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In more important news...

AIDEN CAN WALK. Well, not really, but sort of. He took his first steps this weekend. I mean, there has been the occasional 'I think I can take one step from the coffee table to the ottoman', but never more than one step on his own. This weekend he was all over it. I took a video of it, but I still need to upload it. Sadly, it ends in Aiden crying because he falls down before Travis can catch him. =(

Still - it is a happy thing!! He is doing really well about standing on his own. Usually he does it while playing at a toy, but this weekend he did it when we let go of his hands in the middle of the room. After a moment, he realizes he is standing on his own and slowly lowers himself to the ground.

Amazing! AMAZING I tell ya. Having a kid is the best.

Green House

Travis, replacing our old, hole-filled aluminum screens with fresh, new, nylon solar-screens.

Solar screens: before and after

I can't wait until Travis finishes the rest of the windows. It is so amazing being able to see out our windows so well. Although, I do have this constant, irrational fear at night that there is a Peeping Tom outside my window. That means I have to make the rounds through the house and close all the blinds every night.


Note to all my friends: Never knock on my windows at night. I will be forced to beat the crap out of you until my fear subsides.

Fri/Sat in Illinois

Friday afternoon, Aiden and I went over to Chrissie and Jordan's so Aiden could take a nap. Chrissie got home soon after and the boys were there shortly after her. Here's Audrey making her funny face with Mom.

I can't get this photo to turn sideways, but I really wanted to show it. Chrissie and Jordan have this ridiculously huge bean bag in their living room that's called a LoveSac. For some reason, it's not large enough for someone (not sure who, because that thing is large and in charge) to lay in, so they bought a matching ottoman to go with it. Audrey was keeping Aiden company while he drank his bottle after his nap.



That night, the boys grilled out while Chrissie and I did our best to catch up. After dinner, we played a card game called Golf.


Our time together was too short! In the morning, we left for Travis' grandparents' house so we could visit with his dad's side of the family. Aiden quickly took to Sean, Travis' brother (9 years his junior). Travis' grandma Joyce kept fake punching Sean with Aiden's hand and he thought it was The Funniest Thing in the World.

I am doubtful that you will be able to tell, but I noticed on this trip that all the Ward boys have bright blue eyes. I truely had not realized this. Beautiful blues!

Curt, Sean, Travis and Aiden Ward

We ate lunch in the tiki bar that the grandparents made. They made it entirely on their own and it is amazing! It is reminiscent of a Margaritaville cafe, if you know what those are like. After the BBQ we ran across town to see my brother's track meet. This was the first time (and probably last time) that I ever saw Alex run competitively. His running skills are insane. I do not comprehend why anyone would ever run by choice. Alex does it at least five days a week.

The race we saw was the 1-mile. My brother was disappointed to hear he ran it in 4 minutes and 43 seconds. ... ... ... WHAT?! I don't understand what is disappointing about that. That is INSANE. I'm lucky if I can get through a mile in 11 minutes. And Alex can do it in less than half that time. !!! It looked horribly painful though. All the guys had these twisted faces, every muscle in their body tensed. My dad pointed out that Alex had his head slightly lilted to the right. I guess that means he was tired. He had already run 400 meters that morning in a relay. Alex' personal record is 4:37, which doesn't sound that far from the 4:43 he got that afternoon. Apparently in running time, seconds can mean the world.

Alex is the one in the center of the photo wearing the maroon uniform. This was just the practice start.


Papa G kept Aiden busy with this book so I could take the opportunity to see Alex' race.

Here are the runners as they came around the track the first time. You can sort of see Alex' head tilted to the right. Funny how my dad picks up on those things.

He ended up 8th out of something like 17 runners. I was impressed, even if Alex wasn't!

Thurs/Fri in Illinois

If I thought traveling was hard before, I had no idea what I was getting myself into with a baby.

Chris and Alexa loaned us this nifty contraption. We added the wheeled-cart to the back of Aiden's car seat so we could get through the airport without a baby on our hip. Though getting through security was a horror show. We had to take this apart so it would fit through the x-ray conveyor belt. Then we had to take all the liquids out of Aiden's diaper bag (I had prepared for this by putting it all in a ziplock), take our and Aiden's shoes off, take our laptop out of the bag and empty our pockets, all at the security gate. Add to that, 50 irritable travelers waiting in line behind us, constantly pushing our stuff forward, and you get a LOT OF STRESS.

Aiden did pretty good on the plane. We took everyone's recommendation to feed Aiden a bottle during take off and landing to help his ears pop during the pressure changes. The only bump in the road was when nap time arrived and Aiden decided it would be more fun to be awake than to go to sleep. After 30 minutes of a cranky baby, Ariel asked if she could let him listen to her MP3 player. I was unsure that Aiden would allow us to put ear buds in his ears, but he didn't even seem to notice. He went STRAIGHT to sleep while I listened through the other bud to make sure it didn't get too loud for him. I will definitely be trading out the laptop (Aiden preferred to hit the keyboard over watching the show) for our i-Pod next time.

When we arrived in Chicago, we took a shuttle to rent a car. We chose a mid-size this time and ended up with a 2010 Chevy Malibu. It was a nice little car that thankfully fit all our luggage. Our driving time to central Illinois was fairly short since we landed in Midway, which is on the south side of Chicago. We dropped Ariel off at my mom's and then we headed over to Travis' grandparents' house to meet them and Travis' mom and step-dad for dinner. We hung out for a minute a their house so everyone could get some time with Aiden, especially since this was the first time Travis' grandparents had met him.

For dinner, we chose a local pizza restaurant that I make sure to hit up every time we are in town. It is THE BEST thin crust pizza I have ever had. I can't get enough of it. After dinner, we sat in the yard for a few minutes so Aiden could see what nice grass is like. We have nothing but rough, itchy St. Augustine grass here in this part of Texas. It hurts me to sit in it, so I'm sure it would be rough on Aiden's skin. The Kentucky bluegrass that covers most lawns in Illinois is far more enjoyable to lay in.

That night we stayed at Brenda and Rich's house in the country. We got to watch a good old fashioned thunderstorm roll in across the corn fields. The rain is softer there, and the lack of humidity is amazing. Brenda and Rich have a great porch that runs across the entire back side of their house, along with comfy chairs for us to rest in while we watched the live nature show. I miss that.

Friday morning, I dropped Travis off at his favorite burrito place in Champaign. He met our friend Jordan (Chrissie's husband) for a relaxing day of golf and beer, while Aiden and I were off to meet Chrissie for lunch. It was hilarious trying to get out of the U of I campus. It's been so long since I have driven around the area that I lost my bearings for a moment and had to get directions from Travis.

Chrissie was ecstatic to meet Aiden, but lunch was short. She had to get back to work. After that, we met Alex and my dad "for lunch" at Monical's (different location than the night before). I put quotations there because I didn't eat but a couple bites of pizza since we had already had our meal. I just had some time to kill and it happened to fall during Alex' lunch hour.

Papa G and Aiden

My brother Alex and my dad's bunny ears

After the lunches, I ran a couple errands for Chrissie (so she could get home quicker after work) around St. Joseph, the town I grew up in. It was surreal to see all the places I used to go as a kid. So much has changed. I have seen some of the changes before, but I always forget about them until I am back in town. There are different restaurants, which is always a big deal when you grow up in a town that is so small it is actually considered a village. I saw a couple people I went to high school with, but none that I was good friends with.

To be continued...