Where are they now?

These boys are growing up so fast! Isaac is 8 months now and Aidan is 3 1/2. Time sure is flying by. As many parents will tell you, the days are so long, but the years are so short! Things have been pretty normal around here lately...well, what's really normal?

We're still traveling back and forth from Traverse City to Grand Rapids every week. It's getting old, really old. I don't actually mind being up in TC during the week, especially now that it is getting nice. The beach is close, the mall is close, everything is close. BUT, I hate our apartment up here (more specifically the woman who lives beneath us that's chain smoked down there for the last who knows how long...; there's no back yard to play in while Isaac sleeps) and the packing and unpacking each week is getting a little more than old.

The boys are troopers though. Both of them adjust to each place well and are actually excellent travelers.

Aidan will be four in June. I've seen such an incredible change in him over the past few months. He's really acting now much more like a four year old than a three year old. He can be more rationale (can being the main word!); he's recognizing letters; his memory is incredible; he can describe how he's feeling or what he's thinking of (for example he can describe a word he's trying to say that we don't understand). He's always been very physical, and that's no different. Running, jumping, bike riding, sliding, sledding, he loves them all! When it comes to sitting still he loves to read. One of my favorite things lately is when he takes a book into our room and will sit in our bed and "read" it to himself. I love to listen to him. He will start preschool this fall, although we're still working out the where.

Isaac's changes are more visible almost on a daily basis. He's teething (two are through) and this makes him chew on anything and everything. His favorite things to chew on...dirty shoes! So, just like with a puppy, we make sure to put the shoes out of sight/reach. He also likes to chew on the edge of the table or his crib. He's moving. He's been crawling for a few months now (since about the beginning of month 7), and now is constantly pulling up on everything. Nothing is safe anymore. He's constantly getting into trouble (although I realize it's my own fault for leaving things around). He pulls up and will pull things down from over his head. He gets into things I don't think Aidan even knows exist. Isaac is much more of a trouble maker already! He's still not sleeping real great. Some nights he'll sleep through, others we're up quite a bit. I often don't have the energy to sleep train, so I often give in a feed him pretty quickly to make sure the entire house doesn't have to get up. During the day we're still working on naps as well. They're pretty unpredictable except for the first morning nap. He's an excellent eater-especially with solid foods; much better than Aidan ever was! We have another Dr. appointment at the end of this month and we'll see where he's at weight wise.

It really is fun to see them interact as brothers as well. I recently posted a video on Facebook where Isaac is giggling the most I've seen him do at Aidan putting a piece of paper on his head. Aidan loves making him laugh. Aidan also can be very helpful in distracting Isaac, getting him a toy, feeding him dinner, and giving him a bath. On the flip side, Aidan is a big brother and his little brother impinges on his space occasionally causing him to get a little rough. We're still working on this. But, overall it's neat to see their relationship start to bloom.

That's about it for now. I'll try to update again soon. But, for pictures and video check out Facebook!