Shootin' Hoops

In the words of Kai-Lan, moments like this make my heart super happy. :)

Shootin' Hoops from Kimberly Cotter on Vimeo.

The Haircut

Granted, it's not Aiden's first haircut; Daddy's been doing a great job of trimming him up now and then, and with the rate that this kid's hair grows, that's actually been about 6 times. But with Aiden's 2-year pictures fast approaching, I wanted to make sure he had a nice looking head of hair. So off we went to Cookie Cutters in Powell. Aiden got to sit in a fire truck and watch The Backyardigans, as well as eat a sucker (fail) and M&Ms (win). All things considered, I think he did a great job, and he looks pretty cute, too! I apologize for the quality of the first two photos--obviously they're from my phone. And the third is about the closest we've gotten to a smile all weekend. I'm hoping all of our moods lift soon...

The White Death

It snowed. A lot. Ten inches at our house, according to a mixed measure by both Mike & I. I've said it before and I'll say it again--I hate this crap. I had to reschedule my Pampered Chef party because of it, and now many people who could have shown up today cannot make it on Friday night (the only other February day available). I'm considering opening up the other three bottles of wine sitting on my counter that were for the party just to lighten my mood.
Apparently Aiden shares my utter dislike of the white stuff as well; we took him outside with every intention of building a snowman and all that fun winter stuff, but he was less than happy, so we only "played" for ten minutes before heading back inside. I'm guessing the fact that my bad aim resulted in a snowball hitting his face didn't help much either.
Our plans are now to stay inside, eat some warm food, do some laundry, and catch up with some more house cleaning. I sure hope February doesn't take its time getting out of here.

Ear Infections and Bubble Baths

Yup, Aiden has his first ear infection, as a result of an especially nasty cold. He started coming down with it Sunday at my parents' house. He hasn't been interested in eating ANYTHING, which is especially frustrating to the mommy of a child who doesn't eat well to begin with. He's also had a horrible cough and a faucet of a runny nose, and by Tuesday morning, he had begun to pull at his left ear. Mike stayed home with him yesterday (BLESS him) since I had recently used quite a few sick days of my own and didn't want to appear as a slacker at work. We did take him to a lunchtime appointment with Dr. Brown, who assured us we had caught the infection early. So Aiden has his first presciption--we made it nearly 23 months without one!
Even though his two-month checkup is in about 7 weeks, we discussed a little of Aiden's developments. Dr. Brown seemed very happy that our little squirt had gained 2 pounds since his last checkup (I wanted to point out that was with his clothes on, but I kept my mouth shut), and said he's doing well with his own little growth curve. That helped lessen my worries a bit. He did say we should try to get more protein in his diet, which made me giggle because we have quite the little vegetarian on our hands. But I may have found the answer--dry-roasted edamame! One of my colleages sent some home with me, and Aiden LOVED them. Looks like we'll have to invest in some of those little soybeans.
I'm posting some photos of Aiden with one of his new loves--the bubble bath. Enjoy! :)

My Mommy Loves Me

Yeah, I totally knew that already. But she surprised me this last weekend when we went home for a visit. My mom has an amazing talent--she makes the MOST beautiful quilts. She's been doing it ever since I've been around, and I'm oh-so-jealous of her ability to put colors together. I think it was a few months ago that I asked her if she could make a quilt to hang on the wall in our house. She laughed me off, saying something about not being able to afford her. So imagine my surprise yesterday when she took me into the computer room and told me, "You can pick one!" Stunned, the first words out of my mouth were, "Do you have something to tell me? Are you going to be around in six months?!" Again, she laughed me off, explaining that she while she didn't have the time to make me a custom quilt, she was willing to part with a few of her "babies" so that each of us could have one.
At the risk of sounding a bit cheesy, now that I've got the quilt in my home and up on the wall, I feel super special. It's not everyone that can boast about the beautiful creation of their mother's hanging on the wall. But this post is serving a dual purpose--I'm proving to my mom that her "baby" isn't crumpled on the floor or providing a cushion for the cats.
While we're on the subject, I know my mom loves my son, too, since she created this one-of-a-kind baby quilt for him. No worries, Mom--he may not be sleeping with this, but it's on the wall of his future big-boy room, so he'll be enjoying it soon enough! :)