Mother's Day

The morning of Mother's Day, we took it easy in the house. We cleaned the sand off our stuff from the beach and I watered the plants. Nap time was a disaster though. Since Aiden learned how to climb out of his travel crib the night before, we didn't even waste time setting it up. Instead, we let him run around in his room until he fell asleep - which ended up being on the floor directly in front of the door.

He woke up shortly thereafter, just in time to go to the Bayou Wildlife Park with the Yeager's. We stopped for Frapuccino's since hot coffee at home just wasn't doing it for me in the heat. We stopped at the Yeager's house only long enough for them to jump in their car to lead the caravan.

After you pull into the gate at the wildlife park, you are instantly surrounded by various ungulates and ostriches. We rolled the windows down and turned off the radio to get a better feel for the environment. For those of you who don't know me that well, I am distressingly afraid of birds. And I can assure you that the larger the bird gets, the larger my fear. However, I was totally okay with that ostrich being on the other side of our windshield. He stopped right in front of our car, so we had to stop and wait for him to continue his stroll. When he finally did, it was towards my open window. I was having flashes of him attacking through my window, pecking at my face and taking off my finger. I quickly rolled up my window and squealed for Travis to do the same for Aiden's window.

Don't worry. We survived.

After we got to the parking area, we left Zach and Kenley in the tram while the rest of us headed over to the petting area. Of course, there were plenty of random gazelle/antelope/deer-like animals lying around on the way.

Right next to the petting area was the giraffe enclosure. The boys really wanted to feed those giraffes. After reading the giant sign that says "DO NOT FEED THE GIRAFFES" we convinced them to give the goats a try.

One of the larger ones kept barrelling over the boys to get to the food bucket. And this black and white one in the lower portion of the photo above kept threatening to head butt when we got close to the female and her kid. Risky business.

After 15 minutes, we hopped on the tram with Zach to see the rest of the animals in the park. The ride kept going and going and going. I was surprised at how big the place was actually.



Linsey was right with me when it came to the ostriches. We both leaned our faces away from the large bird and Linsey made sure to protect her young (little Kenley was sleeping in her car seat the whole time).



Then there was this bad boy:


The tour guide told us that Goliath was new to the park and he did not yet know how to feed from the buckets without getting his horns tangled up in the tram bars. I thought he looked just fine on the outside of the tram.

Aiden seemed very interested in the camels. He thought most of the animals were pretty cool. He kept looking at the ostriches and screaming, "Ducky!" Ha! I even conquered my fears a bit and fed an ostrich. Actually, I ended up feeling more in control when I was feeding them because then I knew were their beak was going. Which was in the bucket and not in my face.




Luke was a little nervous about the horse ride, but he quickly decided riding a horse was totally worth it and gave it a go.



Aiden was not feeling so brave. The woman that walked the horses let us sit him on the bigger one for a photo. That was about as far as he was willing to go.




Check out this log in the pretty algae:

If it was an alligator, it would've bitcha!

Mother's Day on the Beach

Every year on the Saturday before Mother's Day, we go to the beach. In 2009, when I was pregnant, we went with the Ramby's and in 2008 and 2010 we went with the Luck's. This year, we met the Luck's again and brought Jenna with her two kids.

We were good about applying sunscreen the moment we got everything set up on the beach (canopy, tent, tables, chairs, toys and food). In the end, I forgot to apply any sunscreen to my scalp, so it is scorched. And I forgot to reapply to my back, so that's a little tender as well today. Sara was rocking a serious tan before even setting foot in the sand:

Jenna's son Brian and Sara's son Logan put their shovel hands together to create a castle city:

Aiden was not interested in getting into the water at first, but after watching Logan and a couple other boys playing he hopped right in. I finally had to pull him out after about 30 minutes because he was so cold. He was purple all over and shivering, but he really wanted to keep playing.

There was so much seaweed on the beach. I cleared a path through the dried algae so I could get back and forth without having that stinky nastiness crunching underfoot. The cool thing about the seaweed though, was a couple of the girls found a nudibranch floating amongst the debris. I was talking to a guy at work about that this morning and he said there were tons of them in the seaweed. He freaked out and thought they were leaches though. LOL!

Here were all the girls in our group on Saturday, plus Aiden and minus Landry.


Travis and Jenna, enjoying some fun in the sun...

Travis and the newly thinned out JR...

JR has lost over 80 pounds through diet so far. Sara recently blogged about it, so check out the photos she posted over there.

Jandi is always so great with Aiden.

The best part about the trip to the beach this year, was Aiden's ability to entertain himself and follow the bigger kids around. The worst part was that he got really cranky an hour and a half after his normal nap time, so we tried to lay him down in his travel crib in the tent. He wouldn't have anything to do with it. He cried for about 30 minutes and then sat and talked to himself for another 30. Eventually we just got him back out. At least he sat down and took a break. It was the only time I was really able to get him to eat or drink anything.

Around dinner time, we headed over to the Luck's rental house to shower. It was a great rental house. I'll have to get the number from them if we can come up with a reason to rent a house on the beach. They had travel size soaps and shampoo and toothpaste for the bathrooms. Toilet paper was stocked and they had bath and kitchen towels available. There was a really cute outdoor seating area, complete with radio/CD player and speakers. If you can fill it with a few families, then it is totally worth the price!

Unfortunately for us, Aiden learned how to climb out of his travel crib while we were at their house. We couldn't just lock him in the room because he figured out how to turn the door knob as well. Finally, I broke down and just let him come outside with us. The problem was he wanted to walk all over the place and all I wanted to do with sit and relax. After about 15 minutes of that, I gave up. Travis and I locked Aiden in his car seat and got on the road home.

We got Aiden in bed around 8:30 pm. That's an hour past his normal bedtime without a daytime nap. I think he did pretty good with the lack of sleep. I was more frustrated with his activity level than anything else. All-in-all, it was a great day though!

Another yard critter documented

Some more from my time in the yard:

The tiniest grasshopper... Look closely...

Remember those alien fingers I posted before?

Well, they turned into full-blown, fresh, new palm fronds:

Future home of our new patio:

Travis finished puting in the form boards last night and leveled the soil. The next step is getting a truck load of rock and sand to lay underneath the pavers. We are hoping to borrow a soil tamper from our neighbor, who just laid a patio in his backyard. If not, we'll just go buy one. It's cheaper than renting a compactor and we won't be rushing to finish in a weekend to avoid further rental charges.

Turns out our project might get postponed a bit. We are going to continue the patio, but the stucco wall might not get done as soon as we'd hoped. My dad was supposed to come down to help us build it this month, but work got out of control and now he probably can't come until the end of June. The good news is that takes some of the strain off Travis' shoulders because he was pushing to finish the patio before my dad came. Now he has a little more time to do so. Which is excellent since this weekend is Mother's Day and we have lots of plans, and the following weekend we will be in Houston for Micah's birthday party.

My dad offered to mail us the money so we could start working on the fence, but Travis doesn't have any experience with textured exterior walls. It would be nice if my dad could be here for that, not only for advice, but for the labor as well.

I'll tell you one thing, wall or not, as soon as that patio is down, I'm sitting on it.

I've got a ticket so ride with me

Aiden's transition into the new daycare has been a roller coaster. When Travis picked him up Monday night, the teacher said he did great all day. Tuesday morning, I sat with him for 15 minutes before leaving and he handled it like a champ. The teachers said he did good again that afternoon.

Wednesday morning he screamed and cried and did NOT want me to go. I told him I loved him and that he would be fine and I left. When I picked him up that afternoon, the teachers said he did not do well that afternoon. They said just about everything would set him off crying. We've seen the same attitude at home.

I'm not sure if this attitude problem is the daycare transition or if it's because he's sick. We've been wrestling with either allergies or a severe cold (congestion and cough) in the House of Ward for the past week. Travis had it first, but then I got it 10-fold. I almost completely lost my voice Tuesday night. Aiden has a cough and I can tell his voice is not at full strength. I'm going to give him some Motrin before school today to see if that helps at all.

I took a few photos of Aiden playing in the sprinkler last week and wanted to share...

Weird

Princess Diana and Prince Charles were married on July 29, 1981. The following year on June 22, Princess Di gave birth to Prince William. I was born a month later on July 13. Then on September 15, 1984, Princess Di gave birth to Prince Harry. The following month, Ariel was born on October 22. My parents felt like their life was following the royal couple's.

August of 1997, I was gearing up for my Sophomore year of high school. I was sitting in my bedroom at my mom's house, when I caught the news about Princess Diana dying in the car crash. Four years later, I was getting ready for class in my Sophomore year of college, when I got a text from my dad to check the news. I turned on that same TV in my bedroom and sat in that same bed to watch the second plane crash into the World Trade Center, live.

Fast forward 10 years to the huge Royal Wedding of Princess Di's son William and Kate Middleton. Not even three days later, the death of Osama Bin Laden, a major player in the tragedy of 9/11, is all over the news.

I feel like some of the memories in my head will be forever tied together.

The Decision to Change

When Aiden was 6 weeks old, I had to go back to work. We found a woman who was a stay-at-home mom, recommended by a friend. It turned out that she didn't agree with the way we were raising our son, and because of that, she refused to do as we asked. We wanted him on a sleep schedule (which he was doing great with at home) that required waking him up if he overslept. She refused. She said, "You never wake a sleeping baby." There were a number of issues and in the end, we chose to switch him to a daycare.

We knew we wanted to do that eventually anyway, so he could have more of a school-like routine and other friends to play with and push him to keep up. Unfortunately, it happened after only two months with the stay-at-home mom.

I really liked his teacher in the infant room. Not so much with the teacher in the toddler room. I have wanted to get Aiden out of that daycare ever since they moved him out of the infant room and into the toddler room. His teacher was never very friendly with me. She always seemed a little bitter. And I felt like all I got from her at the end of the day was all the bad things Aiden had done.

The only reason we didn't move him right away was because I worried about him having to transition too frequently. He was only in the toddler room for a week before I wanted to move him, but he was having troubles adjusting to the one nap a day. Plus he was still getting used to his new teachers, the new classroom and the new kids. Soon after that, there was a biting epidemic at the daycare. Biting happens. I understand that. It's just that I was unhappy with the way they dealt with it. Instead of following the biter(s) around, they just scolded them after the fact.

We went months without any huge problems with the daycare. My main complaint at that point was the amount of television those kids watched. The TV is always on. Always. When I drop him off in the morning, the TV is on. When I pick him up after work, the TV is on. On Fridays, I would come in at various times between 3 and 6 pm and the TV was ALWAYS ON. The only times it was off was during nap time and when they went outside to play.

It was so frustrating. TV is not recommended at all for children under 2 years old. And after 2, they're only supposed to get 1-2 hours per day. Now, I am not completely against television watching for kids under two, despite those recommendations. That said, I don't want him watching it ALL DAY, EVERY DAY!

I refused to let Aiden watch TV in the evenings because that's all he did during the day. On some days, that was really hard. I generally have an hour and a half after I get home, to make dinner, give Aiden a bath and get him in bed. That means there is no dawdling around with the dinner making. I would give anything to be able to turn that TV on Aiden's cranky days to give him some serious distraction while I make the meal.

Well, my time has come! We finally switched Aiden to a new daycare. And guess what? They don't even HAVE TV's. How amazing is that?! Yesterday was his first day, and when I dropped him off, the teacher had big Duplos out for the kids to play with before breakfast is served at 8 am. Imagine that. An activity to entertain the kids that's not electronic.

The daycare/preschool has various activities they do throughout the month that the parents are invited to attend. For example, this Friday is a Mommy & Me Breakfast, in honor of Mother's Day the following Sunday. Then, at the end of this month, the kids are putting on a circus performance for the parents to view. So cute!

They also have ride-on toys for the toddler group to play with when they're outside. And when it's raining, they find some fun indoor activity for the kids to do, like playing with shaving cream. No TV!

The logistics of it are a little cumbersome. The new daycare is close to my work. Since I am always the one to drop Aiden off in the morning, and more often than not I pick him up in the evening, that means I won't have to drive as far. The problem is it's really far from Travis' work, so he will mostly likely never help me out in that area. I'll probably end up making the drive down to Galveston if I ever take a sick day from work. I guess the good side is it means Travis will have to go home and get dinner started. Right?!

Monday morning was rough. I walked him in, checked him in at the computer station and then walked him back to his room. I sat in the room with him for 15 minutes while the other kids shuffled in for the day. He sat at the table and played nicely with the other kids. He cried once when a kid took his stack of Duplos, but I gave him more from the center of the table and he was fine.

The real crying started when I had to leave. I gave him a hug and a kiss goodbye and he seemed okay. It wasn't until I got up to walk away that he started screaming "Mommmmyyyyy!!!" and holding his arms out for me. The teacher got down and gave him a hug and I walked out quickly. I dropped off the start-up paperwork at the front desk and then walked back to his hallway. I didn't have to walk to his room to hear him still crying.

Ugh, it was heart wrenching. All I could think was that I should have sat with him for a little while longer. I wish there was a way to save him from stuff like that, but there just isn't. He will have to go through things in his life that I cannot protect him from. I just need to come to terms with that.

When I was on my drive to work after that, I remembered he had still been sleeping in a crib at the old daycare. The new daycare puts the kids on mats at his age. He slept on the mat a couple times at the old daycare, but I still wanted to give them a heads up. I got lucky and Aiden's teacher answered the phone. I couldn't hear any screaming in the background, but I made sure to ask if he'd stopped crying. The teacher assured me he was doing fine.

I just gotta breathe...

Travis Makes Me Laugh Sometimes

Travis was looking at Aiden's Easter check from Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Hooser (they are so good to Aiden!) when he asked, "Should I wake Aiden before I leave in the morning to have him sign off on his check with a crayon?"