Aeson's First Birthday!

Aeson's first birthday was August 3rd! The weekend before, we went to St. Louis and stayed one night. We went to the zoo the first day and even though it was very hot, we all had a wonderful time. We saw all the animals, went on a train ride, got to pet stingrays, rode the carosel, and watched the sea lion show. We went swimming at the hotel that evening. Maybe the week before, Aeson started putting his face in the bathwater & he did that at the pool too! I think he's trying to copy his brother. Aeson also decided to unroll the roll of toilet paper while Mommy was showering. :) The rest of the evening, we watched Shark Week on Discovery, which Westen LOVED. He was asking questions about sharks the rest of the weekend! The next day, we went to the Magic House there, which is like a huge toyhouse. I think Westen's favorite part was the vine with huge leaves that you could climb up to go between the floors. There were a ton of different settings for kids to play in, lots of slides, and just all around cool things for kids to do. They even had a baby area that Aeson loved. We weighed him there, and he weighed in at 28lbs. Aeson did fairly well on the drive to and from St. Louis, but he was a little fussy the last half hour to hour each way.

Which reminds me, I got a van! I traded my car in the Friday before for a minivan. I had a lot of trouble deciding between a 3 row SUV and the minivan, but in the end I thought this would be easier for our family (and daycare kids). It has a built-in DVD player, so that definitely helped for the trip. There's so much room too! It makes me feel very old and I still can't quite wrap my head around the fact that I drive a VAN.. but I'm happy we got it, and it is so much easier than my car. I also found out when trading in that my tire was about to separate, which would have caused a blow out. It was one of my back tires, so it could have been very dangerous. I'm so thankful I decided to trade it in when I did! While debating trading in, I also realized I'm getting older because the excitement of getting a new vehicle was definitely overcome by the realization of having more debt! I used to trade in yearly and never gave a thought to that part of it.

The weekend after Aeson's actual birthday, we had a party at our house for him. We had a photographer come here to do pictures, and I'm anxious to see how they turned out. The sneak peeks I've seen are awesome! We provided dinner for everybody (and had LOTS of people here!), opened some very cool presents, and then did the cake.. Aeson really wasn't too interested in it and barely ate any. He's never had any sugary items, other than ice cream (which he LOVES!), so I don't know if that had anything to do with it or not. A few of my family members stayed after and we had a good time. My sister and her hubby were down for the weekend, so they stayed with us & we were very happy to have them!

So now I'm a mother of a one year old! I can't believe it. :) I'm excited for this next year, though, and I know he'll get more independent and verbal. He had his 1 year checkup yesterday. I'm not sure how much she marked for weight, because it was fluctuating between 28lbs, 3oz.. 28lbs, 8oz.. etc.. and he was moving lots! Regardless, he's over 28 lbs and he was 32 inches long.

Westen told me the other day that he wants another baby in my tummy, because it's "empty" now. :) He also asked how the baby gets there! :) He asks LOTS of questions lately! One other funny thing Westen said last night.. We went to DQ to get ice cream and he said he wanted a "lizard." :)