Second half of Fall Break ...

After we got back home from Gatlinburg,  Mike went back to work on Wednesday, and Aiden woke up with a fever, blah! Guess the trip hoarded some new germs his little body wasn't use too. Plus he was just worn out from the trip.  So the runny nose, and low grade fever didn't really keep him down, he still was on the move!  The last time he had a fever and cold, he was really whiny and wanted to be held all the time.  This time he did surprisingly better, only wanted to be held some of the time and even played some.  Now the fever is gone, but the runny nose remains, and I noticed him wheezing some.  He started coughing Thursday night before bed and sure enough, Friday morning he had a hard time breathing.  He tried to cry Friday morning first thing, but had a really hard time doing even that, I heard him, on the monitor, gasp for air after he'd let out a cry, so I got in there pretty quick, got him changed and sat down with this little machine.

Yes this little guy is cute, but I really hate that we need him so badly sometimes.  Aiden is doing better now, but is still having a little trouble breathing and is still coughing some, so this little panda will stay out for a while. :(

Though Aiden was somewhat better, we decided we'd go get pumpkins. So we headed down the road to the Freeland's patch! Aiden had a blast looking at all the pumpkins, gourds, hay bales, etc! I have to admit, it probably didn't do him any good being outside in the breeze, but he had fun and it was for only 20 minutes.  And how could he pass up on all this:

I could not get Aiden's attention to save my life, but how could I when there was so much to look at around there!  I'm sure he's never seen anything or experienced anything like all of that before, so I can chalk it up to being another great first for all of us! :)

Firsts ...

As we were going through this adoption process, I would get a little sad  from time to time at all the firsts I'd miss, Aiden's  first tooth, first laugh, first everything.  So in the last 7 months, WOW he's been with us for 7 months now!  As I was saying, in the last 7 months, we've seen quite a few firsts I guess, but this last weekend, we took our first family trip as a family of four! That's a major first if you ask me! ;) This past Saturday we left for Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. Since Aiden had never been in the car for more than an hour ride, I was a bit nervous, actually, the idea of the whole trip made me very nervous. We left around lunch, after about an hour in the car, Aiden finally fell asleep.  Pretty peaceful ride, but after only an hour Aiden woke up.  I was sitting in the back with him, so I kept him occupied with snacks, tickle sessions, and a drink.  He did great! Oh btw, hubby borrowed this awesome ride for the short trip.  Love those perks!

We finally arrived at our hotel in Pigeon Forge, settled in and walked down the road to get something to eat.

  Dinner was great, Texas Roadhouse! Went back to the room to get ready for bed. Aiden had other ideas.

Since Aiden had never slept in anything besides his bed at our house, my only other option was to borrow a Pack N Play from a friend of mine, Thanks Lee Ann!!! :) I was so nervous on how he would sleep in it.  He's not the best sleeper really, so I was of course worried, I'm a nutcase like that! The little guy was really tired that first night, I gave him a bath, put his pj's on, then laid him down on my bed with me. He rolled around a bit, then he was out, fell asleep on me.  I layed him in this:

and he stayed asleep till around 4 am.  Heard his usual cry at this time, but he fell back asleep - yah!  He woke the next morning around 6:30! Awesome! So his first in a Pack N Play went well.  The hotel had Disney Junior, I was more excited about it than Aiden was but I caught this little picture when he was watching it the second morning.

Taylor was bored waiting on the rest of us to get ready so this is how she spent her time.  Aiden I guess thought it was funny.

After breakfast we took off up the hill to Gatlinburg.  If was the first time Aiden had spent so much time in his stroller. I guess there was so much to look at, he did awesome!

After leaving Gatlinburg, Aiden crashed in the car on the ride back down the hill, got to the hotel, I put Aiden down for his nap in the P N P and Mike and Tay went to play put put golf and rode go carts.  After that was dinner time, walked up the road for dinner and back to get ready for bed.  Aiden was super tired that night, went to sleep on me again, put him in the P N P,  and woke the next morning happy.

We left for home but made a stop at the Knoxville Zoo.  Aiden did awesome there too.  Towards the end of the walking we let him out of the stroller to run around a bit, and boy did he run, poor little guy wore himself out! Here's some pics.

Red Panda Bears! They were so cute!

Bottle feeding the babies!

So we had a great weekend.  It was great to get away, and we all enjoyed some of Aiden's firsts, so did he!

Dedication ...

This past Sunday, Oct 2, 2011, was Aiden's Dedication at our church.  Bro Bill, our pastor, asked us to come down front to introduce Aiden to the church.  What I didn't know  was that he wanted me to give a short explanation on our journey to Aiden.  After Bro Bill introduced us and said a few words, he read this scripture:

After a few words from Bro Bill, he asked me to say a few words about our journey to Aiden.  What seemed like 20 seconds, I'm sure was 2 minutes.  I just hit the high notes, "Four years ago ... " blah, blah, blah.  I could have stood up there all day explaining all the details, sweat, tears, and blood we shed for our journey to Aiden.  There was so much more, but if anyone wanted to know details, then they need to read this blog, from beginning to end.  Of course, now I can think of a few other things I wished I'd said up there, but what I said was fine, or so I was told by my mother! Thanks mom! :) The grandparents were all there and counted for. So glad they could take part  in this special day.

Bro Bill asked before the service if he thought Aiden would let him hold him.  I said maybe, maybe not.  Well, the time came and Aiden went right to Bro Bill.  It may have been that Aiden was in total shock, standing in front of all the congregation, but nonetheless, he did.  And it was the best sight and warmed my heart!

One last little tidbit,  when I was giving my little summation of our journey to Aiden, the last comment I made was that we were hoping to finalize his adoption before the end of the year, go to court and he'll be ours forever. At that moment, Aiden looked at me, and as I was saying "he'll be ours forever, he's perfect"  I smiled and Aiden smiled back at me. It was the sweetest thing! We will be his forever and ever.  Aiden is perfect, perfect for us.  I could not imagine life without him now.  He fits in so well with us, never would have imagined it being that way, but it's happened.  Can't believe 6 months ago we met Aiden for the very first time.  Now, I get numerous hugs a day, endless smiles,  and ever got a sweet little kiss this last week.  I'd rather not say my life is complete, but it feels complete with all of us in his life!

You need to read this ...

I just had to post this.  Take the time to read it.  It's a fellow AP's blog post and is definitely worth reading. It's a must! I insist!! Read it now!!!

http://stickysloans.blogspot.com/