Johnathan's first Christmas!

This Christmas was by far my most favorite because it was Johnathan's first Christmas! We took a trip up to Dallas to hang out with our families over the holiday, and as always had a wonderful time.

Christmas Eve was spent at my grandma's house, which is a tradition over 30 years old...obviously I haven't been there quite that long, but for as long as I can remember we've been going there, and it's one of my favorite things about the Christmas holiday. One special thing about Christmas Eve is the "Christmas Play" that is put on by the kids in the family. This year there was a live nativity set, and as we all sang Christmas carols we were able to look upon the scene of Mary and Joseph with Baby Jesus (Johnathan!), and the other characters in the Christmas story.

Christmas Day was enjoyed at my parent's house...and after going through the many traditions that make up Christmas morning, we enjoyed hours, yes hours of opening gifts...one, by, one! It's so much fun to be able to watch each person open and enjoy their present, thank the giver and so on. We usually start with the youngest person, watch as they open a gift, and then the next in line gets a turn. This year with the addition of more little people (i.e. the grandsons) there were even more persons waiting their turn. It was fun to watch Johnathan and his cousin Miles open their toys. Holidays are just so much better when there are little ones running (and crawling) around.

The day after Christmas was spent with Aaron's family. We were fortunate to be able to have pretty much all of the family gathered together, with the exception of Aaron's grandmother who stayed at home the spend Christmas with her sister. Johnathan's cousin, Ava, is certainly a bright spot in the Aldape family. She is about 16 months old, and is a walking & talking little cutie pie. A Christmas tradition in Aaron's family is the tamale dinner, which we enjoyed way too much! I just love tamales, especially on Christmas when they're served with queso, guacamole, tortillas, beans and rice. Let me tell you, the Aldape family does the tamale dinner proud!

I took a *few* hundred pics over the course of our holiday, and have a few of my favs here. If you want to see more you can add me as a friend on facebook...I have most of them there since it's a bit faster to upload them that way. Much love to you all, and Happy New Year!!!

"Mr. Fun" Strikes Again!

If you've read my previous posts, you may remember the incident where Aaron declared he was the "fun one"...making me hold down Johnathan while he received a round of shots. Well, "Mr. Fun" has had another victory. In Johnathan's newly acquired and limited baby vocabulary, an age-old question has been answered...will he say "Dada" or "Mama" first?...well, Dada, of course! Yes, our dear boy has chosen to appease Mr. Fun by saying Dada!

Pretty much from the time of Baby J's birth, Aaron has been saying "say Da-da, say Da-da" over and over when playing with Johnathan. I started out a counter-attack by trying to influence Johnathan to say "Mama", but upon thinking further, I decided that I would try to help him out to say Dada too...so maybe this is a victory for both of us! I'm not sure if Johnathan realizes what he is saying, since he says Dada in the same sentence as "baba" and "gaga" and so on, but it does sound sweet to hear an actual word coming out of his precious little mouth. Oh, and speaking of his mouth, he is about to add a tooth to that gummy little smile of his. He has been a little on the fussy side lately, and when I looked into his mouth yesterday, I saw a tooth that is right under the surface of his gums. Maybe by Christmas we'll have a one-tooth-wonder! Haha!

I can't wait to get to see so many of you who read this over the Christmas holiday. That reminds me...I had better get back to finishing up my gifts. I'm almost done! Hooray! Love y'all!

Happy Heaven Birthday, Sweet Gideon

Dear Gideon,

Hello, sweet son. Happy Heaven Birthday! As I woke early this morning to take care of your little brother, my thoughts were of you. It has been five years since you were ushered quietly into Heaven. Five years where not a day goes by that I don't think of you. Five years of wondering what you'd be like, who you'd look like and what your little voice would sound like. I miss you, I miss you so much. There is something very special about you, and I want you to know that you are so loved. Do you hear Mommy and Daddy tell you "I love you" every night? I hope so. The "I love yous" at the end of our prayer time each night will have to suffice until we can tell you in person. Oh, how wonderful that day will be.

We are already telling your little brother, Johnathan, about you. When J. is a little older and can understand more, we plan on having a birthday party on your birthday each year to celebrate your life. We'll have one on Daniel's birthday too. I can already tell you that you are going to influence your little brother in such a positive way. It will be so easy to be able to tell Johnathan about Heaven because he'll know that you're there. I know that he'll want to come to know Jesus, and I know that someday he'll get to meet you in person.

Gideon, you hold such a special place in my heart. You are the one who made me a mommy, and I treasure that more that you'll ever know. I love you so very much, and your daddy loves you so much too. You will always be the purest expression of our love for each other. You are so special, and you always will be.

I know that you're having a wonderful 5th birthday today. I bet the angels are throwing you a great party! Five years in the presence of The King, now that's pretty amazing! Give your brother Daniel a kiss from us and kiss your other siblings too! We love you, sweet son. Happy Birthday.

Love,
Mommy, Daddy & Johnathan

Perks!

Yesterday evening we enjoyed one of the perks of being part of the doctor community...the annual Christmas party! We have received a few invites this holiday season to attend one party or another, and last night we took up the offer to attend the Family Practice "Christmas Jingle Ball" held at the Texas State Aquarium! It was pretty awesome to have the whole aquarium to ourselves, and seeing as it was the Family Practice party, we brought Johnathan along as well, which was a blast for him...he loved looking at all the fish.

There were beautifully decorated tables set up close to various large fish tanks. We ate dinner while watching all the colorful fish swim by. There was even an aquarium guide to answer any questions we had about the fish, and also to tell us interesting facts about the fish we were watching. Dessert and coffee was served in the underwater dolphin viewing area, and again there were nicely decorated tables set up right in front of the huge tank where the 3 aquarium dolphins spend their time. It was beautiful.

After dinner and dessert there was dancing up in the main part of the aquarium. We danced a little, and enjoyed watching some of the other children who were present dance too. (The adults, not so much fun to watch, but the kids were precious!)

***Side note*** During the course of the evening, I had to go nurse Johnathan. I had to go into the ladies restroom and just stand in a stall while feeding him. You have NO IDEA what women will talk about while taking a bathroom break. I heard everything from "Oooh, did you see Dr. ---- come in, he said (blank) to me" to a woman describing the affair she was having! I could not believe it! To top it off, I had finished nursing J., and the affair lady was still talking to her girl friend about all the hassle of sneaking around. I was debating whether or not to step out of the stall and thus embarrass the lady who probably thought it was just her and her friend in the restroom, or to simply wait until they left. I did have a dilemma of my own though. My dress was not nursing friendly, and although I had unzipped it on my own, I couldn't get the zipper back up while holding Johnathan. So, I popped out of the bathroom stall, surprised the two women standing there washing their hands and said "Can one of you hold my baby so I can zip up my dress!" They did so happily (although slightly flushed). My dilemma was solved! I'm pretty sure those ladies left the party right after because I did not see them when we returned to the dancing. I was still in shock over the incident when I walked out of the restroom. Strange and sad indeed.

After the party ended @ 11 we ended up going to IHOP with two other couples and their children. The kiddos slept while we adults enjoyed some more talking, food & coffee...lots of coffee! ;) We got home around 1:30 am, fully satisfied with our first experience of being part of the exclusive medical community.

***Also, I did take a ton of pics, but don't want to post them right now because the outfit that Johnathan was wearing is going to be debuted to many of you in person! Just know that we were all lovely, Johnathan was totally adorable and the hit of the party...seriously, we got probably 100 comments or more on how cute he looked!***

Enjoying Life

The older that Johnathan gets, the more "routine" life becomes...and I'm not saying that is a bad thing, in fact it's great! It's nice to sort of know how our days are going to go, and although there is always an unpredictability about them since he's a baby, we have started to get into our "groove" and enjoy each day of just living life! Our days go something like this: Wake up call (from Johnny, not me!) around 7:30 am, Breakfast for Johnathan/Coffee & Bible study for Mommy, Play time for Johnathan/Housework for Mommy, Nap time around 10:00 for J./more clean up time for Mommy, Up from nap around 11:30-12:00 and then lunch for both of us, Hanging out together until around 3:00, Nap time for Johnathan (and sometimes me) from 3:00-4 something, Snack time after waking from nap, Daddy gets home, Playing with Daddy until dinner which is usually at 6:00, Bath time after dinner, and then Bed time around 7:30. And it doesn't stop there...our nights are almost always predictable too! After putting Johnathan to bed around 7:30, I can count on him waking up to nurse around 11pm, 1am, 4am and then he's up to start the day again at 7 something. Yep, he's still a night-time nurser, and although I've thought about trying to stop that, I think that I'll just enjoy the time I have with him because he's already growing up too quickly as it is.

Here are a few pics that I took yesterday and today. Yesterday he was "helping" me do the laundry, and today's pics were from breakfast...he was learning to catch the puffs in his mouth in the last picture...just kidding, but that's what it looks like!

Sensory Integration

What better way to let a baby explore their environment than to let them play with their food! Yesterday I let Johnathan do just that! So, while I was making his baby food (yes, I finally started to make his baby food...and it's sooo easy & a lot less expensive), I let him enjoy some sensory integration. As you can see, he pretty much ate it up...the experience that is, as it is sort of hard to pick up mashed carrots with your fingers! At the end of everything, he was covered head to belly button with carrots and green beans, and I had made about 2 weeks worth of veggies to be put into the freezer. A win win situation for everyone!

Our Most Thankful Thanksgiving Yet

This Thanksgiving was our most thankful Thanksgiving yet...and you can see why! Although in the past we've had much to be thankful for, this year was extra special because of the addition of our sweet Johnathan. We enjoyed being with part of our family this past Thursday, and after stuffing ourselves with the abundance of food that was prepared, we relaxed on the farm where we spent Thanksgiving day. The farm is run by Kayla's brother-in-law and sister, and they raise cattle, hogs and chickens. It was such a fun day, and Johnathan really loved seeing all the animals.

The days after Thanksgiving were spent enjoying time with Johnathan's Tio and Tia, David & Kayla and Johnathan's sweet cousin, Ava Joy. She had a lot of fun playing with Baby J., sharing her toys, giving him "sugars" and even attempted to do his hair! She is such a girlie girl, and is always happy and smiling. We had so much fun watching her walk around, hearing her talk and enjoyed lots of her sweet kisses. She is just precious.

Although this post is a few days past Thanksgiving, our hearts are still very thankful for each and every one of you. You enrich our lives, and we are so grateful for the love that all of you show to us...especially to our sweet boy.

Here are some pictures of our Thanksgiving holiday. We love y'all!

Pop goes the Paci!

Yesterday Johnathan was playing with his pacifier, and I took this cute video. I love the sound his paci makes when he pops it out of his mouth. Pretty precious, huh?!!!

Johnathan attacking Jessica!

Here is a precious video of our little Monkey monkeying around with Jessica. I love it!

Visitors!

We had the privilege of having over one of my favorite young ladies this past Saturday. My friend, Jessica Heydrick, was on her way back home from the valley and called me up Saturday afternoon to see if she could come by. Of course! We had a good couple of hours just hanging out, talking...and lots of playing with Johnathan! I took the most precious video of Johnathan laughing his head off as he attacked Jessica. I'll try to post that later. In the meantime, here are some sweet moments of them together.

Time to retire...

...the swing! Johnathan used to be content simply swinging in his swing. Recently though he has figured out how to climb out of it, and if it weren't for being strapped in I'm sure he'd have face-planted on the floor by now! A few days ago I caught him in climbing mode, and took a few shots of him being mischievous. I especially love the grin he has in the last picture. Priceless!!!

His Royal Cuteness!

Maybe as his mother I am a little biased, but you have to admit that this little guy sure is a cutie-pa-tootie! Yesterday he looked especially adorable after I spiked up his hair with some of daddy's hair stuff (Auntie Gwen, you would have loved it!). I really love this first pic where you can see how beautifully long his eye lashes are...oh, this little man sure has me wrapped around his chubby little finger!

In the Doghouse

Nope, this post isn't about Aaron misbehaving *wink*, it's actually about our dog, Bo. The bookends of my day on Sunday were a matching set. Both filled with anxiety and frustration at that dang dog. And, as much as I would love to keep Bo outside in the doghouse, I can't, and here's why...

...Sunday morning dawned bright and beautiful. I got Baby J. up, let the dog out to do his business, made my morning cup of coffee, and before I sat down to enjoy the beginning of my day I went to bring Bo into the house. Well, I looked outside in the backyard, and no Bo. Front yard, same story, no Bo. He had run away from our home for the very first time the day before, so I packed up Johnathan in the stroller and took a walk hoping to try and find him where he had been the previous day. I didn't want to wake up Aaron because he was starting his night shift that night and needed the extra rest. So, out we struck looking for our "lost" dog. I was certain that we'd find him the next street over, but after searching his normal walking route we still hadn't caught sight of him. Defeated, we started for home to get Aaron up so we could drive around looking for him.

After Aaron woke we again headed out. We drove to the nearby park, and while we saw 3 yellow labs, none of them were Bo. Then we headed to drive the route that Aaron takes when he and Bo go for a jog. Still, no Bo. As a last resort, we decided to take a look where we occasionally walk down by the ocean. Lo and behold, there was Bo, soaking wet from his morning swim in the ocean, happy as a clam! We were so thankful that 1) Bo hadn't been hit while crossing 4 lanes of traffic to get across to the water, and 2) that he was able to make it back up the seawall after swimming. After giving Bo some very firm "no's" Aaron walked him home, and I drove back with Johnathan.

The "books" of my day, in between the bookends, were great. I spent time with my wonderful husband and son. Got caught up on a few things around the house. And, in general, just enjoyed the day.

Fast forward to 10:30pm Sunday evening. Aaron was at work, Johnathan was asleep in bed, and I was just about to head there myself. So, I let Bo out for his evening bathroom break, took my vitamins, brought in the laundry and, wanting to make sure that I didn't leave Bo out too long, I opened the door to let him in...except that he wasn't there!!! Aaahhhh! I called Aaron to tell him what had happened, he told me to call my aunt who I did not want to call figuring she'd already gone to bed. Anyways, at Aaron's insistence I called her cell phone, no answer. I called her home phone, no answer. Finally, and reluctantly, I called my uncle's cell and he sleepily answered "hello?" I then explained what had happened, asking if my aunt could come over and watch Johnathan while I went to look for Bo. She was more than happy to come (thanks so much, Aunt Jennifer!) and arrived a little before 11:00pm. We ended up getting Johnathan out of bed so we could drive around in her truck looking for Bo...our second vehicle is not working, or else I would have loaded up Johnathan right after Bo went missing to look for him. I was expecting another long search for Bo, but no, he was less than a block away, again, as happy as a clam. I jumped out of my aunt's truck, and after he slunk over to me, tail between his legs, I gave him some less than friendly slaps on his head and walked him home. What a day!

Thankfully Johnathan was able to go back to sleep fairly soon after I got him back in bed, and hopefully my aunt was able to as well. After I simmered down I was able to fall asleep too, and Bo, well he acted just as if nothing had happened...but must wonder why I now have to babysit him while he does his business in the yard. Needless to say, this warranted a call to the vet, and pretty soon Bo will not be quite so macho as before, and hopefully will stick around home a little better.

Entering a New Era

Yesterday was the beginning of a new era here in the Aldape household. The era of Cheerios! I tried giving some to Johnathan a couple of weeks ago, and although he seemed to like eating them, he couldn't quite get them into his mouth all on his own. So, yesterday, while preparing dinner, I decided to give it another go and poured out quite a spread of those tasty little o's. Baby J. immediately picked up a handful and stuffed them into his mouth...and he kept on going. I think I gave him about 3 "refills" of Cheerios, and though some ended up on the floor a lot went into his mouth. It was pretty cute to watch him feed himself. He seemed very pleased with his new ability, and I was able to make dinner without a hitch. Nice!