My How Things Have Changed

There was a time where the only thing important to me was the party on Friday night. Was it at my house? What cute boy would be there? How many drinks could I have and still make it home.

Then I met Bob. And Bob was not a night owl, but I still was. I still went out. Still partied. Still flirted. Still tried to decide how many drinks I could have and still make it home.

But now I have Aiden and Grant and the world will never be the same again. I am sitting here watching tv after putting Grant down. Bob is in with Aiden putting him to sleep. Then he will come to bed and we will wake up in the morning and both get into our routines for the week.

Now I look forward to the weekend not because I am going out to any party. But because I will be at home with the people that I love the most. My little family will all be together at home which is my favorite place to be. I get such weird satisfaction out of organizing the diaper bin or planting flowers in the garden. Double strollers (thank you thank you thank you) have replaced trips to the spa and my wardrobe has been reduced to jeans and/or sweats and t-shirts because I can run around a park in them.

I can't believe how things have changed and I can't believe how important all those things once were to me.

Bob strikes again

This evening we were at the dinner table and I made a joke about Bob. Ok, I slammed him and it was a good one. He proceeded to throw a rubber duck at my head. Then Aid proceeded to throw a rubber duck at my head.

Now how in the world do I convince my nearing 3 year old that it is not funny to throw toys at other kids' heads when his father is throwing things at his mother and then laughing hysterically??

True Love

Everything in this world that is most important to me.

Happy Easter

Good times were had by all. However, I learned one very valuable lesson. I realized that I had such a hard time letting go with the coloring of the Easter eggs. I wanted them to look nice and kept stressing when Aid did things I thought would ruin them or got too messy. Bob pointed out that my attempt to make the moment perfect was adding too much pressure and wasn't making it fun at all. Once I let Aid take out the eggs and put them in as many colors as he wanted to we all loosened up and enjoyed the moment. I learned it wasn't about it being perfect. The perfection came in the imperfection of it all...

Our learning of colors is coming along. Aid knew which was the green dye!


Ahh!!! I tried so hard not to let it drive me crazy he looked like a dyed Easter Egg himself. He still has pink fingers!!


Grandma and Grandpa B and Bob hid the eggs!








Libby was an Easter Egg hunter pro!


Aid worked really hard at it!


But he looked damn cute doing it!!!


Josie is just the most darling little thing you have ever seen!


Grant let Auntie Anna rock him to sleep. So now there are 3 other people who have this secret ability. Bob, my dad, and Anna. We're making progress. You just have to have the touch I guess!


Aid hangs with Uncle Joe.


Grant looked like an Easter Egg himself!



This is the face of a little boy who had a good day.

Two Peas In A Pod

We went to visit our friends Emilie and Sam. They moved to Rochester which is about an hour and a half away. We have started alternating visits once a month and I look forward to those visits. Not only is Em fabulous and a great friend, Sam and Aid just love each other. It's really cuter then I can explain. They gave each other several hugs and were so happy to be reunited. Sam is not significantly older then Aid. So they play games on a more even basis. And they have similar temperments so when there are snags in their play (which honestly are rare) they are both able to problem solve pretty well. I hope Matilda and Grant get along just as well....because I'm planning their wedding.


Wow, Sam has really grown!


Both Matilda and Grant slept for an hour (!) so we were able to go outside and play t-ball with the boys! Aid, as I suspected is a little too young to really grasp what's supposed to happen; but Em made it so fun for him!


They have some good hills to run down. Aid found the mud spot at the bottom of one. He had to borrow some clothes of Sam's and I could not get him to take them off for 2 days!


This is the best one I could get. At one point they were holding hands but I missed the shot. Stupid slow camera!


They are also a good match because Sam is fascinated with Aid's collecting!


This is my favorite picture ever. They sat and talked about the cars driving by and the birds in the trees for several minutes.

See what I mean? Freaking adorable.
Em, I would travel any distance so that we could see you guys! Thank you both for being such good friends to us. We love you!

Getting Cuter....

He's growing up...and taking cuter pictures!

Donald GRANT McLaughlin

This is who you were named after Grant. My grandfather. Who, in my opinion, is the sweetest little man you will ever know. He is very funny. Forgets everything. Never has his hearing aids turned up. Tells the same stories over and over and over again. If you were a girl I had planned on naming you after my beloved Grandmother June whom we lost two years ago. She was very special to me, and I miss her more then I could ever put into words.

But you were a beautiful boy. So I did the second best thing. I named you after the original Grandpa Mac.