A Pinkowski Playdate :)

We visited the Pinkowski family this past weekend with the Alva's and had a great time catching up and running all around their house.

I got a text from Mike after we were gone and had left a toy. It looks like only one thing got left behind last night. 

On a side note: For a while now, a small portion of the back of Aiden's hair seemed to be growing faster than the rest. It was becoming undeniable, he was slowly but surely developing a rattail. I trimmed it off this weekend, BUT not before braiding with Emily.

A Hampton Weekend

The Hamptons visited last weekend from Saturday to Tuesday. We even got a surprise guest, when at the last minute Ali decided to make the trip as well! We ate delicious food at Russels, drank wine, margaritas and beer, played at the park, fit in some shopping and playing at the mall, and attempted a day trip to Stevens to ski/snowboard (unfortunately we turned around because of massive crowds). 

We even got some house work done. Andrew and Tracy ripped up all the entry way tile on Sunday. With the two of them, it took under 2 hours. They even tiled half of it Monday, getting through the few tough cuts around the stairs. They strategically tiles so that we could still walk over the tile while it set.

Andrew and I finished tiling on Thursday after work, and this weekend I grouted and he put the trim back up. Here's the final product and the before pic which is how's it's looked since we moved in (almost 5 years ago!). 

 I added a chair rail to the kitchen and painted the top half the same color as the entry way. I also hung up paintings I brought from Indiana. 

Aiden always likes to see what I'm doing in the kitchen . He knows how to get food from the pantry, is excited to see what's coming out of the microwave, loves to wash his hands and wants to watch whatever is cooking on the stove (which is rare lately). Just recently he's even started "helping". I put the step ladder up to the counter and he climbs right up. He pours ingredients in bowls, stirs and samples things I'm prepping. He seems so happy to be part of the process and know what's going on.

Outside and Little Friends

The weather has been getting a little warmer and the days are slowly getting longer, so we've been able to play outside more which Aiden loves. He will find his shoes and sit by the door willing it to open and yelling. He pushes his wheeled toys around the court or we go to the park at the top the of the neighborhood or Grass Lawn Park a mile away.

Aiden loves day care! Many days when we arrive to pick him up we get a quick hi/hug and then he runs off again.

All the kid's painted "kleenex mailboxes" for valentine's. We brought bouncy balls for all Aiden's friends and made a fruit plate to share.

Harper says "Aiden, you're such a good boy!"

Aiden loves to feed the the cats. He will evenly distribute his toys amongst the two dishes, sometimes it's toilet paper, sometimes it's actually cat food. He spilled walnuts on the floor and began carrying them piece by piece to the dishes while I cleaned up.

Snow Day!

We got a few inches of snow (for one day). My friend came over with her one year old and the little ones experienced snow for the first time. We borrowed our neighbors sled to drag the them around the yard. Aiden was skeptical of the stuff for the most part. It was tough to walk through.

 He quickly ditched the too-big gloves.

You can't hold one without the other... it's just not fair!

Trying out the sled. Harper like it much better than Aiden. 

He did face plant into the snow while trying to grab it.

A Little of Everything

Just practicing his knife skills...

 

What is this?! Some delicious muffins from Emily Speca, and they were a hit!

We went to Andrew's office to "help" him relocate his desk since he has officially switched from Test to Dev. Very exciting for Andrew!

I visited Sarah in Portland this past weekend. It was a quick trip but we fit in a lot. We ate at Sauvage and Pix Friday night. Saturday was a killer workout and then my favorite meal experience at Harlow where everything we at was vegan and gluten free. It was phenomenal! The Hawthorne Mac was equal if not better than any mac & cheese I've had. We also had Lemon Poppy Quinoa Pancakes, African Peanut Stew, BBQ Tempeh and a Warrior Smoothie. Then before I headed home we went to Edgefield for a drink and to wander the grounds with Sarah's friends. (I completely failed at getting a picture of the two of us, sad day.)

 We started to redo the entry way. Andrew took down all the hooks and patched the holes while I continued to paint the never-ending stair rails. 

 I painted.

 And bought rails and a shoe cabinet from Ikea to replace all the hooks. My purses fit into the cabinet now, and I there's extra room in the bottom drawer. I think I'll hang the mirror but I set it up there just to make sure I liked it.  We're not planning on using the shoe cabinet for shoes, but for concealed storage. Our shoes will continue to be on the floor. We're not going to kid ourselves that we'll every put them away. Overall our entry is much more functional now.

I also finished painting the stair rails (almost entirely). There is a small portion in the loft that still needs to be finished and next to the carpeted stairs.

 To completely finish the entry way we need to lay the new tile we bought and then we can put the baseboards back up.

I'm excited to note (for myself really) that I have officially stopped pumping at work. Yay! It had really begun to feel like a chore and the 2-4 oz I was getting just didn't seem worth it. I dropped down to pumping once a day about a month ago, but I still wasn't into it anymore. Aiden still nurses before bed and a little more on the weekend. For daycare we send goat's milk and he has whole milk. It seems to be working out well for all of us :)  Aiden had his 15 month check-up last week he weighed in at 22lb 4oz and 31.7 inches tall. Everything was great! He can start taking a multivitamin which is great because he always wants one when he sees Andrew and I taking them in the morning. Plus, it will ensure he's not missing any calcium, vitamin D (no more drops) and a little extra iron (since goat's milk can be low in that).