In the Dark

When the remnants of Ike swept through Cincy, it knocked out the power pretty much across the city. We lost our power in the 70 mph winds on Sun around 2:30, had a brief four hour return in the middle of the night last night and then heard a transformer explode, so we are back in the dark. I don't mind too much, except that it severely limits eating options. A has lived on bagels with jelly for the last 48 hours since he's such a picky eater. My parents have their electricity back, so we are hanging out at their house for the day. It's nice to have a warm meal and milk to give my kid. Makes me so thankful that we live in such a blessed country that I don't think twice about flipping on a switch.

Our neighbors built a fire last night and three families gathered around to share some smores. It was a fun way to pass the long hours. A had a great time and thankfully never tried to touch the fire. We were also successful in just giving him graham crackers and avoiding the marshmallows and chocolate without any fight.

Three Generations

Today we went for a picnic at my grandma's retirement home. It was a great time. My cousin brought his two girls and A's cousin M came. Below are some pictures. M kept giving kisses to A... it was hilarious. But my favorite is the pic of 3 generations together.

Mom of the year

Okay, maybe not mom of the year, but I definitely had a great mom day today. It rained almost all day, and if you know A, you know he loves to be outside. We had an OB appt. this morning, but I successfully kept him inside all afternoon and he only complained a few times! We made play dough (which I made by memory and got it right on the first try!), colored on big paper on the floor, and made jell-o which he only sort of liked, but it's sugar-free so I don't blame him. His Gramma came to visit and ate dinner with us, which was great. A loved to show off what a great eater he is, so he actually ate something other than carbs with a huge smile as though he does that every night! And to top it off, he fell asleep with only three short whines... no loud screaming! Yea!!!

Here are a few pics from family hang out time after dinner. A loves to jump on his daddy, which is pretty cute to watch (though it looks painful!)

Oh... A started this new thing today that is pretty cute. He'll actually smile for the camera if you say "smile". Of course, it usually a goofy smile and you have to click fast to get it, but it's hysterical! He kept it going because it made me laugh so hard... what a ham!

I guess not...

In my last post, I said he went down for a nap at the regular time. Apparently A wanted you to know that that is not correct. He did go into his crib at the regular time, but it is now 45 min. later and he's still alternating between screaming and jumping up and down in his crib. Seriously... can this kid get any more stubborn?!?! He's exhausted and was practically asleep on my shoulder. How can he still be fighting this hard to stay awake?! He's been up for 8 hours now... that's a ridiculously long time for a toddler. And I really need a nap today, but there's no way I can fall asleep until he does, so I'm hiding in my basement with a load of clothes in the dryer trying to drown on the sound of my strong-willed child.

Park Trip

A woke up this morning at 5 am and never fell back to sleep (meaning the whole house was up at 5am!). I knew it was going to be a long morning, so I called my sis to see if she wanted to meet us at a park. Of course, things never work out as planned. We didn't get to the park until 9:30 and my nephew takes a nap at 10. And despite playing "shake my sillies out" on repeat, A fell asleep in the car. But in the end, it was a lot of fun. No pics to share as chasing him around a playground is hard enough without a camera in my hands.

I think the highlight of the trip was when he wanted to climb up a tunnel ladder, but he needed my help. So yes... I somehow fit my pregnant belly inside that tunnel and helped him climb. He laughed the whole time. I laughed, too, but more at the idea of trying to explain what I was doing to the firemen that might have to come help unlodge me from this tunnel. Luckily I was able to get out without emergency assistance! And best of all, A was able to stay awake through lunch and go down for a normal nap time. Hopefully he's not over tired and he'll sleep the entire time because grandma is coming over later :)

Haiti Update

So, this isn't an Aidan update, but something I wanted to share anyway because it's been weighing on my heart. We have friends that work with a ministry called Jesus in Haiti, and I have been receiving updates about the storms that have been pounding away at the country. Here's a small, condensed version of a long email I received today that I thought I'd share. I'm also attaching a few pics.

Weathering The Storms

I trust you have been praying for Haiti and the terrible times we are having. Just north of us in Gonaive, they have found more then 600 dead bodies floating in the flooded town. Though we wanted to help, even the UN couldn't get there due to flooded roads, so we had no chance. The UN finally sent a ship across the harbor from Port au Prince to Gonaive loaded with supplies. The rescue effort is going full speed.

At our school, we lost the entire front wall, but other then that, just lots of mud and rocks to clean out of the yard. The president of Haiti has moved the start of all schools in Haiti to Oct. 6th, to give people time to recover. Thanks to about a dozen of you, we were able to give each family of our students $100. That can support them for nearly a week. You should have seen the faces of the 45 families that received this today. They had nothing and now can eat and have fresh water.

When we arrived at the Good Sam orphanage, it was completely under mud. 2-3 feet of mud covered the church and each room, destroying all of their clothes, shoes and personals. The kids and staff barely escaped the flooding waters by climbing to the top of a small mountain next to the orphanage. Staff and older kids were literally throwing kids over the wall to help them escape in time. Had the staff not reacted so quickly, there could have been many lost lives. We found the 90+ kids under a little shelter sitting on cardboard boxes, which doubled as their beds. We gave them all bottles of water and spent the next two hours playing games, telling Bible stories, making them laugh and singing. I was then able to leave the director, $5000 Haitian dollars to help purchase food, water, charcoal, oil, diapers, soap, etc.

The day the hurricanes started, the country was supposed to shut down protesting prices, and now with all this, prices will go up again. We expect when the hurricanes pass to have to deal with some real unrest.

Thanks again for your support in so many different ways. God has been good to us, has blessed us and had his hand of protection surrounding us. We don't know what lies ahead but we know Who lies ahead, and behind, and all around us. So good, so comforting, so great to know God is with us at all times.


A UN Truck trying to deliver supplies, but it is stuck in the mud.


A dorm room at the orphanage covered in mud


The temporary shelter set up for the orphans as the orphanage is attempted to be cleared

Library Time and Diaper Rash

Our local library does a weekly storytime for kids, and I love taking A there. He mostly stares at the other kids, but he loves it and has learned some new fun skills (marching, stomping his feet, etc) from the songs we sing there. It's fun to see him interact with kids of all ages. He's very social... maybe too much so. He wants to hug everyone, which is super cute except when he's trying to hug 4 year old boys that are staring at him with a paranoid look. He was literally chasing kids around the library with his arms out trying to get a hug! I guess it's better than trying to hit everyone or something like that, and the looks on the other kids' faces are priceless.

We started using cloth diapers this week, which I am very excited about. However, yesterday A got the worst diaper rash I've ever seen! He even ate dinner standing up next to me because he didn't want to sit down! It was horrible. I think the detergent didn't wash out all the way, which caused the reaction. I rewashed everything last night and I'm ready to try it again once the rash goes away.

I'm going to add a few more random pics from this summer. Have a great weekend!



At the zoo!





First trip to Oxford!