Christmas to Now

Christmas came as fast as it went. It seems like as the months, weeks, days go by, it gets faster and faster gaining momentum. It is hard to believe that the kids have already had 3 Christmas's, Layla is learning to pee on the potty 4 out of 5 times, they are understanding emotions, making new friends, and learning to feed the new puppy as one of their chores....of course with my help or the poor dog would have all the food at one time.

Christmas.

So lets start....Christmas was great except on Christmas eve Layla was crying and i could not get her to stop. Kendall picked her up and well we found out why...she was sick. She would have the flu for 24 hours and be fine, Aidan picked it up late Christmas eve and his lasted a little longer into Friday. Despite that, the kids still enjoyed their gifts, the family around them, and soon bounced back to eating the cookies and rice crispy treats they had made with their Grandma Gail.
The kids love playdoh and got a whole new pack of it, so most the time we had them occupied with that so we could get some card games in throughout the weekend at Gails. I am thankful the kids got well and bounced back and that nobody else caught the flu from them. We are pretty sure they got it from a friend of theirs that recently had a flu shot and well...got the flu...and passed it on kindly, just like Layla and Aidan did last year when they got the flu shot.

New Years.

New Years we spent back home at a friends house. We had a group of us to celebrate the New Years, and included the kids by planning a sleepover at the house so they could attempt to stay up as late as they could. 10:30...i was impressed. We had the little party favors, a dance party led by Layla to the spice girls debut album, and just played games and hung out. It was a good time and its hard to believe how much our group of friends have come in the past 3 years...we now prefer hanging out at our own houses laid back instead of the past which was huge parties, a lot of time with people there we didn't know.

The kids had fun and talked about it all day before...Layla insisting to wear a princess dress...Aidan just talking about his Bobbob time. The kids enjoyed the party favors, the little horns, and playing with their little friend Karl's toys.

New years flew by and now its hard to believe we are in the second week of January 2009. My life gains speed daily. Layla's speech is incredible and Aidan is trying his best to catch up...on the flipside Aidan's physical development is insane, he is definitly our little daredevil. It is hard to keep him from jumping off things, sumersaulting into chairs, and running too fast he runs into doors because he can't slow down.

January.

This year started as busy as last year left us. Kendall started a new fulltime job at a bank here in town, he is training to do teller work, loan applications, and so much more since he will be working in a smaller branch that only has 3 other employees to share the work load. He is still doing real estate part time, we are making by with what we have and i am still looking for a job that will fit within our schedules. I work on the weekends when needed which is nice to get some extra money for groceries or whatnot. Right now its cheaper for me to stay home then pay for childcare for two toddlers...I am working on learning the alphabet still, numbers and counting...with Layla we are potty training 101, she refuses to miss anything that is going on so i have moved her potty seat out into the living room where she will sit just fine and go. The kids love each other but some days they seem to just get into the sibling rivalry, so much that Layla's ear has been bruised, Aidan has had a bump on his head, and its hard to believe they can switch from hugs to pushing and hitting.

We recently adopted a puppy from the local animal shelter here. He is much younger than we werre really looking for but is pretty good at the housetraining since his previous owners had worked with him before turning them over to the shelter. He is a three month old Border Collie/Lab mix and is a sweet heart. They named him Batman and we felt that name fit him and he already knew it.

The kids adore him, and he loves them. There are times throughout the day, they will all three just run in circles around and around the house chasing eachother. Wears all three out. He is very playful but not full blown hyper which is perfect for us. We are beginning to work with training him and teaching him the habits we would like. He seems to always be at my ankles when i am walking, he will not leave more than 10 feet diameter around me, so i encourage this by taking him for short walks around the front yard and street to teach him to stay by me without a leash.

He sleeps next to our bed at night on his pillow and is always concerned when he hears the kids cry over the monitor...he will run into the room with me and lick whichever one is crying on the hand or face...whichever is closer. Last night i felt him scratching at the bed, i figured he needed to go outside, i started to get up when Layla began to cry...he must have known something was wrong. I ran in there to find blood all over her face, and hands. I was scared...what had made her bloody at 2 in the morning??? I picked her up and carried her to the living room where the light was on and noticed it was a bloody nose. I am worried, for i am not sure she hit it on anything, since she was on her back covered up in her blankets..so i ruled out falling out of her bed.