Blurry Weeks

The past few weeks have been a blur!!

The major issue: We had a long weekend for President's Day and relaxed around the house to recooperate from Zach's long season and my volleyball filled weekends. Monday we went out to lunch at Applebees. I ordered a southwest chicken pasta with spinach leaves- it was AMAZING and ate the whole thing. Zach had the Fiesta Chicken with rice and he seemed to like it. Skip to volleyball practice that night- I felt fine until the ride home. I started having major pregnancy symptoms like cramping, acid reflux, etc. All things that I never really had that bad with Aidan's pregnancy- I was MISERABLE. I got home at 10-went straight up to the shower and then laid down in bed. By 11 I was running into the bathroom to throw up. We thought that might be the end of it, so Zach got me some cheerios and some water. Within the hour that was gone too. Pretty much every hour on the hour I spend a little time in the bathroom throughout the night- so I took the next day off. Poor Zach has gag-reflexes that made him almost start gagging from hearing me. Food poisoning while pregnant was awful for me and everyone else in the house. Every since then, I still feel like I am catching up.

Zach is starting to enjoy the quiet life, since basketball is done for now and he is able to get home every day around 4:15. We are both able to ride to school together (except for days that I have to go straight to volleyball) and save some gas money! I have been having a really hard time on Mondays and Wednesdays (vball days). I really do regret volunteering to coach this year, considering that I am driving around an hour each way to get to/from practice and I only get to see Aidan in the mornings when I meet up with Dayna. Come the time that I get paid for it, I might not regret it- but it is definitely too much on my plate right now; however, it is like genetically in my body that I am incapable of quitting something if I told them that I would do it. Good news though, is that since Zach's season is over he is able to get Aidan home early and play with him all night, so even though I am not there, he does get quality daddy time.

Last night Aidan fell asleep on Zach after playing so hard when we got home. For those of you who don't really know him, he NEVER does this. He will only fall asleep in the car seat or in his bed. He is always too afraid he is going to miss something to ever fall asleep in a different place, but Zach wore him out! And yes, he has jeans and no shirt on- we like to instill white trash in our children at a young age :-)

More in Aidan news, our goal was to try to transition him to a big boy bed in March. AHHH! It IS march! I'm not so sure he is ready, but we might try naps in there and see how it goes. But, I am NOT buying another crib so we are going to figure something out. Lord knows the child can physically climb out of his crib, but he has no desire to. He just sits in there and talks to his Illinois pillow and his blankets and stuffed animals. We will see....

He seems to have already figured it out though. I was upstairs with him doing laundry and he was playing in his "big boy room"- I walk in to see what he is doing and he is just laying on his bed with his head on his pillow talking to his toy truck.

We are finally starting to figure our routines in our house out- we did a MASSIVE cleaning on Sunday and got soooo much done. It still feels like we haven't fully moved in because not everything is perfect yet, but it is getting there.

Hence the reason why we needed a major cleaning. Hurrican Aidan destroyed our living room.

Things that make my baby boy happy :-)

This is at Chick-fil-a Dwarf House with my Poppy and Deanie. I can't tell you what Deanie was doing but whatever it was it made him laugh hysterically. This picture is absolutely hilarious and makes him look so much chunkier than he really is (which makes me love it that much more!). The cheeks are deceiving!


Playing the piano that my poppy bought for me when I was little is his favorite thing to do at my mom's house. He jams out! He bangs at the keys and laughs and laughs for long periods of time. And, as any parent knows, anything that can hold a child's attention for even five minutes is so worthy of doing OVER AND OVER AND OVER again!

Last Home Game Eva

Long time no talk! Sorry about that. But, the most important thing happened a few nights ago that all of you need to know about.... My dad had his last home basketball game EVER!! He is retiring after 31 years in education/coaching. These are a few of the pictures from Tuesday night's big win!!

Lining up the chairs before every game... OCD

Papa and Aidan

They gave him a rocking chair with his name engraved on it.

As you can see... he didn't get those cheeks from my dad.

Ally we need to get Emily's copy of this picture- I think hers came out better.

By the way- we are going to be in the White County paper... I am going to be famous :-)

Future STAR

He moves so quickly that you can't even capture him well on camera

Will now give kisses. BEST FEELING EVER! Getting a kiss from your child who actually means to give you one!

Pre-Game pep talk

Losing at the end of the 1st quarter

Winning 27-25 at the end of the 1st half

Winning 47-31 at end of 3rd quarter

Won the game 63-45!

Post game press conference!

Post-game radio interview

I can't believe there aren't going to be any of his games next year!! It is such a part of him!

For the rest of this season: They had a coin flip with North Hall for 2nd/3rd and they ended up winning it. So, now they play thursday and if they win they go to STATE!! WOOHOO!

Hi Grandpa and Papa!

We don't ever get to see Aidan's granddads enough - one is travelling and one lives in Sautee-Nacoochee, GA (yes, deliverence country). So here are some videos for you both to look at to catch you up a bit.

Aidan was supposed to be going down for a nap.... yeah right.


Eating the camera


Crawling


Pulling up and laughing

Squealing

Ice Storm 2011

There is something about Zach and I that seems to bring about ice storms each January/February of the new year. Last year, we had Ice Storm 2010 in Lawton. That one, I have to admit, was worse on the trees and the house, but was not too terribly bad on the roads. This one was pretty bad on the roads.


What all started out as a pretty snow storm.....

Aidan was already asleep by the time the snow hit.

But we did take him out to play in the snow/ice for a few minutes the next day. He was not so sure about it....

Again, is a little uneasy about this white stuff....

Dad shows him how to eat it... followed by a face of a child who just ate a lemon.

Looking like a pudge in his snowsuit.

Daddy and Aidan

Mommy and Aidan

The whole family.

Even Uncle Aaron was there to play.

Well, school was cancelled for a total of FIVE days straight, and we are out today for MLK day. So Tuesday is going to be miserable!!! We have been in school for three days this semester and that was almost two weeks ago. I barely remember what I taught so I FOR SURE know that the students remember NOTHING so re-teach time.

In the beginning of the week we were pretty much stuck inside and couldn't drive anywhere- so needless to say we had LOTS of beloved quality time. It was great to be home another week with Aidan and Zach. We did try to venture out a few days towards the end of the week. I decided to go to the mall to exchange a few things (exchange= successful ; traffic on way home = NIGHTMARE). It was starting to get dark on the way home, which means people start FREAKING out and decided to leave their brains at home. The highway was a nightmare so I decided to go back roads. Bad decision, about an hour down the road (approximately 4 miles) there was a street shut down, so I had to turn around anyway and get on the highway. It took me about three hours to get home.

We bought some new furniture from Rooms to Go so we had to get rid of the old couch that we had. On Friday we took it to Adam's house (Zach's brother) to keep in his basement until Aaron (other brother) wants it. Both Adam and Tiffany were at work (haha) and we tried to get the truck up the icy driveway- bad idea- it started sliding backwards so we had to carry the couch up the driveway (my arms still hurt- I'm not used to this heavy lifting anymore).

Now that the ice storm is over- I am probably losing my nice long break in February to replace the snow days. Not exactly sure of it, but I am willing to put some money on it. Yuck.

Christmas Morning Aidan Style

Miska Mouska Mickey Mouse! Aidan is an avid Mickey Mouse Clubhouse fan so Zach found him a little toy that talks to him. These are some Christmas morning pics!

Loving his stocking

Go Tigers!

Not sure why I forgot to rotate this one. But he apparently liked the baby food in his stocking.

More presents than Zach and I got ALL of Christmas :-)

Helping Dad with the wrapping paper

Too many toys!

Zach got a John Mayer DVD for Christmas...they both really liked it....

Jabba the Hut

Choo Choo, College Tours, and Memphis

Merry Christmas to me: Zach planned a whole little get-away to our favorite city of Chattanooga the night before we left for Memphis and Nashville. We stayed at the gorgeous Choo Choo Hotel downtown (it's an old railway station that has been converted into a hotel. It is so amazing!). And he totally proved that he listens by taking me to the Enchanted Garden of Lights at Rock City- I have been begging to do that!

At this point it was about 30 degrees and dropping by the minute.

(although you can't tell from what Zach is wearing)

This pic was actually taken at the end of the night and Aidan was so OVER it.

The whole thing was a lot of fun to walk through- they did a great job!

Aidan actually looking at the camera = success

Favorite picture of the night.

Whole family in front of the Fairy Land Caverns.

Aidan kept leaning to the left the whole night- my left shoulder started hurting!

On our way to Nashville Aidan started getting cranky = food time! So, we stopped off at the exit that MTSU is off of. So we figured we would make a mini-stop out of it and go see the campus and stadium.

Here it is~

In Nashville we stayed the night with Sherry and John and got to see Kathleen and Mickey. It was so good to see them since it has been TOO long since the last time!

Since Zach has a thing about seeing all of the SEC stadiums we had to drive by Vandy and check it out too. Aidan is starting the college tours early!

The stadium

Pretty cool wall mural on the way out of town.

Off to the FedEx Forum to see the Tigers play Corpus Christi on Monday night.

Before we went to the game, Emily, Ally, Zach and I went to Silky's on Beale Street where we met a nice man who has been sober for 19 months :-)

Also, Dear Morgan Freeman: (since he is an avid reader of the ZSDarling blog) can you please update your website to say that your restaurant on Beale Street has been closed for TWO YEARS??? We had great plans and had already checked out your menu- come to find out your restaurant no longer exists even thought the outside light was still on.

Emily and Ally at the game

Seriously Memphis? This is your performance going into Georgetown on Thursday?

Zach and I at the game.

Funniest thing I have seen in a while at the Tiger bookstore.

A pic of Calipari (the old coach at Memphis who totally jumped ship and went to Kentucky and never got even a slap on the wrist for all the crap he violated yet Memphis got all their wins taken away the year they went to the Finals- boo Calipari!)

Finishing out the college tour.

My mom and dad both went to Rhodes and played basketball there in Memphis.

Papa and Aidan in the Memphis Tiger gear- complete with a basketball rattle.

Memphis Christmas.

Nana and Aidan (his great-grandmother)

4 generations. Dad, Nana, Aidan, and me.

More Christmas

Modeling the new backpack/book. SO cute!

Puppy dog from the Andersons

(he slept with it the whole way home from Memphis)

Papa and Aidan