When Aiden and I get in the car in the mornings to go to daycare / work , I let him bring a cup of water and a snack cup of dry cereal . He usually has cereal leftover that he eats during the ride home . That way he 's not miserably cranky when we get home and I have a minute to make dinner before a meltdown . The water , however , is generally too hot to drink in the evening after a day baking in the car . But the other day , he had Goldfish crackers for some reason and he was asking for a drink of water . I felt bed for him with his dry , cracker mouth so I tested out his water . It was cloudy that day , so the water was only warm . I decided to go ahead and let him have a drink . I handed him the cup and told him he could have a drink of it , but it was hot . He took a drink of the water , took the cup out of his mouth and stared quizzically at it for a minute . Then he looks at me and says , " Coffee ? " The kid thinks any hot beverage is coffee . Cracks me up every time . Continuing with Aiden 's tendency to generalize everything , he thinks all skulls are pirates . He has a book about pirates and we 've watched Pirates of the Caribbean a few times . He 's noticed the skull and crossbones on the black pirate flag , so now he associates it with pirates . With Halloween being right around the corner , there is an abundance of skulls around . He is constantly screaming , " Pirates ! " I look around for a pirate only to find a skull of some sort . At least I know what he 's talking about now . He also wants to go to the store every day after daycare . Sometimes when I need just a few items , I 'll run by Target on my way out of town . Aiden loves it . I 'm not sure why . I guess we frequently stop in the toy section for a birthday present and he gets to play with everything . Maybe that has something to do with it . To go to the store we have to pass a statue . So when he gets in the car , he starts screaming , " ' Tore ! ' Tatoo ! " Most of the time , I have to say , " No , we 're going to go past the trains and then go home . " Statue and store , or trains and home . Funny what my life has reduced to . ; ) Sunday morning we took Aiden to get his second professional haircut . I have trimmed his hair tons of times and he generally does okay for me . But when a stranger touches his head ? WATCH OUT . We went to the same place we went last time . He wouldn 't even sit in the car chair . So the hair dresser had the brilliant idea to have Aiden sit in Travis ' lap while he got his hair cut . Both Travis and Aiden wore a cover - up to prevent hair from getting all over their clothes . I gave Aiden a suckers and the hairdresser put Spiderman on the mini - TV . Aiden chose Spiderman . Next time , I 'm choosing Toy Story . Aiden tends to get uninterested during the parts of Spiderman when the main character is not in costume . That was less than helpful during the hair cut . But it did help little bit . When he was distracted , Aiden didn 't mind the hair dresser at all . She cut the majority of his hair with scissors , then cleaned up the edges with clippers . I had to hold Aiden 's arms down during the clippers . He looks so much older to me with his hair cut this short . I think I 'm going to grow it out again . At least a little . This was a lot shorter than I was hoping . At least he 's all cleaned up for the wedding this weekend ! I have some photos I really want to share . Since I didn 't have time to load them last night , I 'm going to show you a fun video instead . Hopefully I 'll find the time and energy to get them up tonight . Bahhhh . . . The ABC 's are a big part of my life right now . Aiden sings the alphabet all the time ( several sections of letters are mushed together , but he does pretty good ) . He has toys that sing the alphabet . And there are lots of toys and books around the house that teach him the alphabet . I 'm just going to bring you into my world a bit . Another great weekend under the belt ! Travis worked Saturday morning , so Aiden and I tried to take it easy . Aiden wanted to play outside , so I figured I would attempt to work in the garden again . I still had those dead tomato plants that need to be pulled up . I put on socks , tennis shoes and wore Travis ' Home Depot gloves . I am going to a wedding this weekend and it will just be Aiden and I , so the last thing I need is some fire ant bites slowing me down . I was in the middle of pulling up the second plant when Aiden starts screaming , " Ouch ! Ouch ! " And it was fairly frantic . He was looking at his foot so I immediately assumed fire ants . Sure enough . I am KICKING myself , for putting socks and full shoes on myself , but not on my son . SO STUPID . The fire ants were in ever crevice of his sandals . I was trying to simultaneously smash the ants as I pulled that sandal off his foot . After they were all mashed , I ran inside with him to wash his foot . I don 't know if that actually gets rid of anything , but I do know the cool water helps soothe the burning . Aiden never cried through the whole thing . I was freaking out more than I think I ever have with anything related to Aiden , but I was mostly silent . I just kept saying , " Ohnoohnoohno . . . " After a thorough rinse , I saturated his right foot in Benadryl spray . I blew it dry and counted the welts . TWELVE BITES . UGH . I put socks and tennis shoes on Aiden before we went back outside . While Aiden played in the garage , I went out to murder the culprits . He had full on stepped in a giant fire ant hill . I did a walk through of our yard and found dozens of hills . I killed the hill by the garden and then called Travis to ask him to get something we can sprinkle on the entire yard . I really wanted to keep Aiden off his feet , to prevent swelling if that was going to happen , so we took a walk to the park with him in the wagon . When we got to the playground , I realized the majority of the playground was covered in fire ant hills . The two playgrounds that we frequent near our house belong to schools that have been vacant since Hurricane Ike . It is very obvious that they are not keeping up with the playgrounds . Aiden was mad we had to leave , but I explained that there were lots of bugs that might bite him there . Travis was home soon after Aiden went down for a nap . That afternoon we met the Ramby 's at Palm Beach . It was the last weekend we could use our season passes , so we wanted to take our last chance . We got lucky and got front row seats at the wave pool . That meant we got to sit under an umbrella with our feet in the sand while Aiden and Blair ran in and out of the wave pool . PERFECT . It was dinner time when we left the park , so we stopped for dinner . There is a new Chinese buffet that opened on the island that I 've been wanting to try out , so we went there . I wasn 't impressed . I know most people are not impressed by Chinese buffets in general , but I love them . We used to eat Chinese food ALL THE TIME in Illinois . But we quickly turned to Mexican food as we moved closer to the border . Aiden got to bed 30 minutes late that night . As we were laying him down , he started scratching at his ant - bite - ridden foot . He has a habit of scratching mosquito bites as he falls asleep , causing them to eventually bleed . I know how painful it is to scratch fire ant bites , so I went ahead and gave him a dose of Benadryl . He slept in until 7 : 15 the next morning ! That is a HUGE deal seeing as he has been waking up at 5 : 45 for a month now . That 's what time our alarms start going off on weekdays , so I 'm sure that 's what has started this horrible habit . But I DON ' T want to wake up at 5 : 45 am on weekends too . Too bad we can 't take him to the water park every afternoon ! Yesterday when I was driving home from work with Aiden , I had a moment of road rage . I was in the middle lane , coming up on a PT Cruiser that was following a big rig in the right lane . RIGHT as I was about to pass them , the PT pulls in front of me . No warning . I slam on my brakes and mutter , " Really ? ? " I check for cars over my shoulder in the left lane , see no one coming , so I pull over into the left lane . The PT pulls in front of me AGAIN . " REALLY ? ! UGH ! " I slam on my brakes AGAIN as the PT driver looks at me in his side mirror . I check over my right shoulder for oncoming cars , I flip on my blinker and as I 'm turning back forward the PT SLAMS on his brakes . Dude . Are you trying to kill us ? At this point , I have to swerve into the middle lane to avoid an accident . As I 'm passing the wacko on the right , he throws the car into the left exit lane . GAH . So glad we made it out of that alive . A minute later , I 'm in the right lane two miles from our exit . There 's almost no one in that lane , so I decide to pass on the right . No reason to cross two lanes to pass a guy in the middle lane , just to get back over in that right lane for my exit . But as I 'm getting ready to pass the guy in the middle , he speeds up , so I can 't pass him . At the same time , a truck pulls onto the entrance ramp . I try to gas it to avoid both vehicles , but there wasn 't enough time . So again , I have to slam on my brakes . From the back seat : " Really ? " I swear , I am not usually a brake slammer . I generally drive about 70 mph . I know that is above the normal posted speed on the interstate of 65 mph , but in my defense , at least a third of the other vehicles on the road are staying up there with me . I just had a particularly crazy drive home . I find anything related to evolution very interesting . I 'm sure it has something to do with whatever it is that makes me a happy scientist . I came across this article that speculates that having wrinkly fingers from being in water too long has a purpose : The wrinkles provide increased traction . So when you 're wet and probably slippery from the water , don 't fear ! Your wrinkly fingers are here ! Sunday was just as fantastic . We had originally made plans to go to the beach with my new co - worker , but it started raining . RAINING ! ! We are months overdue for some rain , so it didn 't bother me in the slightest . Instead , we went over to my co - workers house and let the kids run rampant . Travis got called out on a job before we left the house , so he wasn 't able to go with us . After a couple hours of play , we headed home . Aiden and I ate sandwiches on the ride home so all he had to do was climb in bed when we arrived . Travis pulled up immediately after us . I was exhausted . Aiden has been getting up once a night for as long as I can remember . It 's probably only been a couple weeks , but it feels like forever . So after Aiden fell asleep , I passed out as well . Travis watched football in the living room all by his lonesome . But I know he enjoyed a few hours to himself . I woke up to my alarm an hour and a half later and hopped in the shower . I could have slept the rest of the day away . It was dark in my room because of the rain . PERFECT napping weather . Aiden woke up soon after I got out of the shower . We decided to go to Marble Slab for ice cream . We got Aiden a cup of vanilla mixed with M & M 's and assorted sprinkles . He almost ate the whole thing . Thankfully he was full about the time it turned into a bowl of ice cream soup . Travis and I had waffle cone bowls . I tried a combination of mocha ice cream mixed with graham crackers . It was awesome and I 'd like to go back right now and have more . RIGHT NOW . It was still raining when we got home . Still raining ? So weird . I let Aiden run around the yard and play in the rain . He loved it . I folded laundry in the garage and then attempted to do a little gardening . Yes , in the rain . We have a bunch of tomato plants that have not survived the drought and I figured it was time to pull them up . I had pulled up the second plant by the roots and was banging the dirt off when I felt a bunch of stings on my hand . I looked down to realize what I thought was dirt was actually fire ants . There was a nest of fire ants in the roots of the plant and I had pissed them off . I ran inside to wash my hands as quick as I could . I don 't know if the venom sits on the outside of the skin at all , but I figured it couldn 't hurt . Turns out I only got bit three times on my left hand . Twice on my pinky and once on my ring finger . Thankfully it hasn 't swollen out of control like I 've done in the past . But it 's still bad enough that I can 't wear my wedding rings . For dinner we had BBQ stuffed baked potatoes - one of my favorite Texas meals . It is so much better with real BBQ , not the kind in a tub from the grocery store . Either way , it hit the spot ! We had an excellent weekend . We shook things up a bit and went outside of our normal routine . Travis was on call last week and this past weekend , which meant he had to work Saturday morning . We had a birthday party to attend for my friend Katie 's two - year - old son at 2 pm , so I put Aiden down for his nap an hour early . He actually fell asleep . I 'm pretty sure it was magic . When 1 o ' clock rolled around , I called Travis to see if he was going to be home soon . He said he was going to be a little late and since he was going to have to drive separately because he was on call , we should just go on without him . Aiden woke up a few minutes later , we got dressed and on the road . The party was really fun . It was at Moody Gardens in Galveston . They had a party room that was filled with many toy stations , all provided by Moody Gardens . There was a Moody rep that stayed in the room and showed the kids how to do the various stations . Katie supplied pizzas for everyone to eat . Moody provided a giant cake and a bowl full of punch . Travis showed up about 30 minutes into the shindig . We played in that room for two hours and then slathered on the sunscreen . As we walked outside , the rep handed each child a shovel and bucket and we headed over to Palm Beach . Palm Beach is a really great outdoor water park for smaller children . There are lots of sprinkler areas , shallow pools and even a couple water slides . We 've been there once before and loved it for Aiden . Overall , the party was awesome . Katie didn 't have to plan anything or clean up afterward and it was WAY cheaper than we 've paid for an at - home birthday party . There are other options aside from going to Palm Beach . You can also go to the aquarium or the rainforest . I 'll definitely be keeping that place in mind for Aiden 's future birthdays ! We stayed for an hour at Palm Beach and then had to leave . I sort of overbooked us for Saturday ! We hopped in the car and stopped to change and grab a few things from home . Then we headed over to the Yeager 's for a BBQ . They had a few other friends over as well , including Chris and Blair . Blair , Luke and Aiden ran around the house like madmen for the majority of the evening . We ate brisket and deviled eggs . For dessert Linsey made a layered strawberry shortcake mix . It was awesome . The evening was a hit . I was shocked to look at my phone and see it was 9 : 20 pm ! We were walking out to the car and I noticed Aiden was walking really funny . I though he was goofing around , but when Travis attempted to put him in his car seat he started screaming about being poopy . Sure enough his butt was stinky . Linsey let us come back inside to change his diaper on a flat surface , but I 'm sure she was regretting it after a minute . Aiden had diarrhea . I was a bad parent and didn 't check his diaper all night . So I have no idea how long he was in this horrible diaper , chafing him as he ran . He cried bloody murder as Travis wiped him clean . It was BAD . I felt HORRIBLE . Today most of it is gone . He still has scabs on his leg where the diaper must have been rubbing him as he ran . I 've just gotten so accustomed to him not peeing as frequently that I 've grown lazy about checking his diaper . We were adamant about changing his diaper often over the remainder of the weekend . I didn 't want that dang thing to come back ! Poor kid . Doctors are doing an experiemental therapy using modified HIV to attack cancer cells . Three cancer patients have undergone this therapy . Two are in complete remission and one is in partial remission . Two out of three 's not bad . I 'm trying to weed out the remaining baby stuff from Aiden 's room since we 're hoping to have a baby soon . I don 't want him to feel like we 're taking his things away and giving it to the baby . The most imperative item at the moment was his bedding . He only had one set of toddler sheets so we were alternating with his crib sheets . That way I could have one on his bed while the other is in the wash . Yesterday after work Aiden and I went to the store and picked out a new bed set . Guess who ? Aiden was so excited . I threw the set in the wash as soon as we got home so it could go on by bed time . I put it on while Travis was giving him a bath . As soon as he was out of the bathroom that monkey immediately started jumping on the bed . I also bought him some Toy Story underwear ! I 'm going to try letting him wear them at night and / or on the weekends . Maybe he 'll get upset about getting Buzz or Woody wet and that will give him incentive to use the potty . I don 't know what I 'm doing , but it 's worth a try ! But then as soon as Travis comes around he is a complete a - hole . He doesn 't want to have anything to do with Travis . When he gets home from work , Aiden tells him to go back to work and refuses to give him a hug and kiss hello . He does the same thing for goodbye in the morning . Aiden gets an attitude with everything Travis says to him . Every once in a while they have a good night when Travis has time to play with him a lot . But it 's not often enough . I just don 't know what to do about it . The other thing I don 't know how to handle is potty training . Does any body have any recommendations ? I 've read a couple books about it , and some stuff online , but nothing is cut and dry . I know kids are not cut and dry , but I need more than I can find . Everything recommends letting him sit on the potty frequently , especially during times when he usually pees or poops . I don 't know when he pees ? ! How do you figure that out ? ? How often should I let him sit on the potty ? For how long ? I tried letting him go without a diaper for a night and he freaked out every time he peed on the ground . I would rush him to the toilet , but that just freaked him out even more . He also doesn 't poop on a set schedule . Apparently , most kids have a set time they poop . Like Travis . He goes once in the morning and once in the evening . I guess Aiden is like me . You never know when the time will come . Not to mention Aiden 's bowels are all sorts of messed up . He had horrible constipation for a year that made him bleed and cry , EVERY TIME . These days he has diarrhea more often than not . So now instead of bleeding , he 's got diaper rash . At least I can medicate the rash . I don 't know when to put Aiden on the potty . He will only sit on the potty if I bribe him . So I started letting him put a sticker on his potty chart every time he sat on the toilet . I try to do it every night before bed , but he 's never peed during that time ( I read a book or two to distract him from getting off ) . I don 't really have time to do the potty in the morning or when we get home from work / daycare . I guess I need to find the time . It 's just that it 's such a fight getting him on that toilet . If he needs to sit on it for 10 minutes at a time , that is about 20 minutes of our time . The other ten minutes is spent begging him to sit on the damn potty . I even tried buying Pull - ups with Buzz Lightyear on them . We told him he can wear the big boy pants when he goes pee pee on the potty . He was excited about the Toy Story pants , but apparently not excited enough . I 've come up with a new method of bribery : He gets to watch TV if he sits on the potty . We rarely let him watch TV during the week , so that 's a HUGE deal . It worked for 30 minutes last night ! The wall is coming along ! We started painting the wall this weekend . We chose a shade that is between the dark grey of the stucco and the light grey of the mortar that holds the " stones " up on the exterior of our house . If I didn 't have the white of the trim to compare it to , I 'd say that wall is white . We used paint rollers , so we still have to go back through with a paint brush to get the cracks , corners and edges . I need to do a closer inspection to determine if we need a second coat . It was really difficult to paint the stucco because of the texture . After we 're done with the grey , we 'll be painting the wood trim black to match the house . You can sort of see the black shutters and soffit of the house . . . This next photo is the view from the end of the driveway . I 'm hoping the black trim will help give the wall some definition . We are also planning to put in a walkway from the driveway to the front door and lining the wall with bushes . That will have to happen next spring since we need to attend to some interior home improvement first . Now that Callaway is not around to scrape up the trim on the doors and Sagira 's not around to scratch off the paint of the doorways , I think it 's time to repaint ! This gap in the wall is where that gate is going to go after I bring it home from Illinois . Man , I hope it looks okay . Buying a gate in Illinois while I 'm in Texas is sort of like planning a wedding in Illinois while I 'm in Texas . Only smaller scale . 10 years ago on September 11th , I had just started my second year at the community college near my home in Illinois . I was getting ready for work when my mom called and told me to turn on the TV . A plane had run into one of the World Trade Center towers . I turned on the TV and watched the footage of the burning building . I couldn 't believe that had happened . How could that happen ? That 's a little low for a plane to be flying around a city . Maybe something was wrong with the pilot ? I called my dad to see if he had seen the news . He hadn 't . As I stood there pondering over what could have gone wrong with my dad , the second plane ran into the second tower . Wah ? ? Did someone manage to get video of the plane running into the tower and they were just playing it over ? No that can 't be it . I can see the first tower on fire behind the second . The SECOND tower got hit ? ? I 'm so confused . What the hell ? My first class that day was calculus and the teacher was this really angry woman that I didn 't feel like testing . I thought about not going into school . I didn 't know what was going on . But then I thought about that teacher and her irrational anger at the world . I made the choice to go in . I left the TV on while I got ready and it was so horrible . People were jumping out of the building . I could only imagine the fear these people were facing . While I was driving into school , I heard that the Pentagon had either been hit by a plane or a bomb . Not sure which . Still confused . When I got to class , only half the students had shown up . The teacher asked the remaining students if they would be up for a lesson . We all said no , so she let us go early . I went to the lobby area of the school where they had set up a bunch of TV 's all set to different news channels so I could watch the events unfold . I could not believe my eyes when the first tower fell . All I could think about were all the people in that building . My second thought was about all the people on the street that they showed staring up at the burning buildings . The dust in the air was tremendous . The the second tower fell . Insantiy . Then I heard about the fourth crash into the field in Pennsylvania . By this point , I wasn 't sure what was true and was rumor . I walked around in complete disbelief for the majority of that day . I wasn 't close with anyone living in New York , but I was still numb about the whole situation . How could something like this happen in the United States ? Don 't we have excellent safeguards against stuff like this ? Come to think of it , how could the US prevent other stuff like this from happening ? We can 't be everywhere at every time of the day to 100 % guard US soil . Suddenly I was afraid for my family in and around Chicago . What if there was another big attack ? Oh the stress that surrounded that whole situation and I didn 't even know anyone who was there . It just struck me as so intense that an attack had occured on US soil . Is this what people in 3rd world countries feel like every day ? At any moment , their village could be attacked and they wouldn 't have any police to run to . Hell , it might be their very own government that 's doing the pilaging . We had an abnormal Labor Day weekend . I think normally we would be running around visiting lots of friends , but this year we focused on laboring . It only makes sense , right ? Travis enjoyed the three - day weekend with us . I love that he gets holidays off with this new company ! We spent most of our days working on the Great Wall of Ward . Travis got all the trim up . I primed the stucco and caulked the wood . Travis moved the cyclone fence over to connect the back yard to the newly walled in area in the front . I still need to prime the trim and then we can paint everything ! We also need a gate . Right now we have plywood up to help deter stray animals from our yard and to help corral Aiden . My dad texted me yesterday to say the gate he found at a store in Illinois is on sale . I told him to go ahead and buy it . It 's REALLY simple , but you can 't beat that price ! I 'm planning to bring it back with me on the plane when I visit Illinois for my cousin 's wedding at the end of this month . Besides working on the yard , we had the Yeager 's over for a BBQ on Saturday . Luke was sitting at the end of the table when he says , " Mommy ? " and holds out his hand towards Linsey . She took his hand and he just sat there holding her hand . He just wanted to be close to her ! It was so sweet ! So Zach scooted Luke around to their side of the table and said , " Now you can be closer to Mommy and as a bonus , you get Daddy ! " LOL ! That man cracks me up . After dinner we sat outside and enjoyed one of our first days of " cool " weather . By cool , I 'm talking low 90 's , high 80 's . It was amazing . It started to sprinkle a little , so Linsey threw a blanket over baby Kenley 's head . She proceeded to ham it up for photos . Sunday afternoon Ariel and Michelle came over . We played it easy and ate leftovers for dinner . We also spent some time in the kiddie pool with Aiden . He enjoyed our company , and we enjoyed the cool water . Actually , it was pretty hot . We had to empty half the water and fill it back up with water from the hose so it would cool down . Oh Texas . This past weekend I went shopping for groceries sans Aiden . I 've been able to do that the past two weekends and it 's been fantastic . Aiden is generally not difficult in the grocery store , but I still feel like I 'm able to focus on comparing products better when he 's not there getting bored with the lack of cart - movement . Anyway , on this past trip , I was headed to the cash register with a cart load when I hear a baby start crying . Shortly thereafter a woman starts yelling at the top of her lungs . I couldn 't really tell what she was saying , but she sounded angry . I was getting closer to the source of the sound when I saw who it was . They had entered the store at the same time as me . It was a two - year - old girl and a woman I assumed was her mother , although she looked to be in her 40 's . Since it 's not impossible to be a mother in your 40 's , I was wondering if it was hers or if it was a grandchild . The woman was walking around the produce section a little haphazardly while I was in the same area . The little girl followed her , but the woman barely looked back to make sure the child was with her . I was thinking about how I am constantly looking back for Aiden , until I start to get dizzy and I just take his hand . At one point , the little girl grabbed an apple off the shelf and took a tiny bite . I was waiting for the woman to notice , but since she rarely looked back to check on her , she didn 't see the kid eating the apple for a quite a while . When she finally did , she walked up to her , asked for the apple and took a bite . Not quite honest behavior , but to each their own . Back to my trip to the register and the screaming - I parked my cart before the aisle that the woman was in because I finally found the batteries . ( Why does it seem like every store has a different location for those ? ) The child was upset , probably bored , and crying . The woman was YELLING at her , " I know , I know ! ! You 're bored ! We 've been in this store WAY too long ! ! I 'm trying to hurry but you 're not helping me ! " None of those words were things that would aid the situation . If anything , as the mother of a two - year - old , I know the yelling and screaming will just make the toddler more stressed and less likely to stop crying . At this point , I was starting to wonder about the mental capacity of the woman . She picked up the little girl and was trying to get her into the cart seat . She was yelling , " I 'm going to put you in the cart ! I know ! You barely fit ! But you want to sit here ! ! " I really think the woman was not all there . That got me thinking . Anyone can procreate . Who gets to decide if the parents are well enough to care for a child ? Does anyone get to take a baby home from the hospital ? And then they are only reported for negligence when the situation occurs ? How sad . Speaking of procreating , my fish is attempting to do so . Forget the fact that she is the only fish of her kind in the tank . She is moving one rock at a time out of the back corner of the tank and moving it to the front , creating a little divot for her eggs whenever they arrive . There won 't be any fertilizing of the eggs , since there is no male in the tank . She 'd probably eat them before they had a chance to hatch anyway . She 's a little hostile to any other fish I attempt to place in the water . I actually just found out last weekend that Bubba is actually a Babette . My friend Michelle has a tank full of red blood parrot cichlids and she noticed they had laid eggs . She looked it up online to find out how to sex them . Apparently the females have an appendage that differentiates them from their male counterpart . I think the appendage only comes out when they are " in season " . At any rate , it should be interesting to see the whole process ! It 's been a little difficult getting used to being so busy at work . When I worked for my last boss , money was low , which meant work was low . Eventually I was just let go . Working for the new boss is a totally different game . He has LOTS of money , which means job security for at least 3 years . He will most likely continue to bring in grant funding , so there is hope for many years after that if I choose to stick around . I 'm still helping out the old boss when he needs it and he is training me in a higher level lab . So I feel like I 'm balancing three separate parts of my professional life : Old boss work ( when he needs it ) , new boss work ( learning new assays and techniques ) and training for UTMB to be able to do work for the new boss . It 's tiring . I feel like I 've been falling behind on my blogging abilities because of it , but work must come first ! ! I do really dig that we listen to music all day in the new lab . There are a lot of young people in this group , so nobody minds the music . I 've worked in labs in the past where I got yelled at for having music playing so softly from my computer that I couldn 't understand that words . CALM DOWN SCIENCE NERDS . Anyhoo , I 'm learning about lots of new artists that I 'd like to download their music . My iPod 's been acting up a lot lately , so I think it 's time to get a new , bigger iPod . ; ) For his birthday this year , Luke got him this horsie . When we went to Luke 's house for his birthday party , I tried to get Aiden to wear a cowboy hat because of the cowboy theme . He refused . I figured I would leave the hat out for him to put on whenever he wants and it seems to have worked ! He calls it his Cowboy Woody hat . You can see the fallen Woody in the bottom left hand side of the following picture . . . I have a YouTube channel saved with videos that Aiden really likes . Every once in a while , I turn on the channel and it automatically flips through the videos . He loves it . For Travis ' birthday , I made Pepper Steak for dinner and an ice cream pie that was AMAZING . It was insanely sweet , but it rocked . After dinner Aiden helped Daddy open his presents . He honestly seemed interested in what Travis received . Here he is studying Daddy 's new razor . The other day he ran around the house with a bucket on his head . The impressive part is he can run from his bedroom in the back of the house all the way to the back door in the kitchen without running into a single wall . I like to think that makes him talented . " Aiden ! Open your mouth ! Spit it out ! " I immediately stick my open palm under his chin . " Cat food ? ! Gross Aiden ! ! That is gross ! Do not eat cat food ! What will they eat if you eat all their food ? " He 's now got chewed cat food / slobber smeared across his chin . Seriously . It 's gross . This cat food routine happens at least once a week . It must not be half bad if he keeps going back to it . I should try it . I might get back to you on that . The other night I heard Aiden get his ' piggy ' bank off the shelf ( its actually a monkey head ) when he was supposed to be in bed , so I go in to take it away and tell him its night - night time . He 's got the guilty , mouth - is - full - but - shut face on . " Aiden , what 's in your mouth ? " Denial routine again . " Aiden ! Open your mouth ! Spit it out ! " I immediately stick my open palm under his chin . He spits out the plug to his ' piggy ' bank . It 's huge . It 's larger than a quarter . Maybe the size of a silver dollar . There 's this new thing he 's been doing . It 'll be a good 30 minutes after we 've eaten a meal or snack and I 'll realize he has something in his mouth . I go over , assuming it will be some random item , and tell him to open his mouth . It 's food . He has been sucking on his last bite for THIRTY MINUTES . Sometimes it 's a piece of broccoli . Sometimes it 's mushy cracker . Sometimes it 's yogurt . How he keeps that stuff in his mouth for so long without gagging is beyond me . I mean , yogurt ? COM ' ON . Now when he says he 's ready to get down from the table , we have to wash his hands AND check his mouth for that last bite . " Swallow your food " is becoming a common phrase in my vocabulary . And I thought that was a given . A couple weeks ago we went to get our family portraits taken by a friend of mine from work . She also took photos at Luke 's second birthday party and did a really great job . I 've seen her work on Facebook and have been really impressed so I decided to hit her up for her start up deal . We went to a park on Galveston Island that I 've never heard of . It has a pirate theme , which was really fun for Aiden since he 's really digging pirates at the moment . We have to go back now . After looking over these photos , I really feel like we belong in some magazine . I mean seriously . I can 't wait to get them printed ! I think Katie did such a wonderful job . Check out her website if you 're in the area and interested . I grew up in central Illinois , but moved south of Houston , Texas in 2002 . I live with my husband Travis , son Aiden and daughter Mila in our first home . Most of our time is spent doing things as a family and I love it ! I also live with two cats and some fish . I work as a safety specialist at a research hospital and hope to make it my career . Feel free to leave a comment and let me know you stopped by .