Aidan's 1st Birthday!

We celebrated Aidan's 1st birthday with close friends and family at Wee Play in Alameda. It ended up being the perfect venue as the kiddos were able to enjoy themselves playing with all toys ... and so it wasn't just a party just for adults as many 1st birthdays are. Aidan and his friends had a great time, though they probably had no clue that it was a birthday party!


My cake! Home-baked and decorated! I still can't believe I had the patience to make the icing, dye it and decorate! Its double-chocolate cake w/ chocolate buttercream frosting.



Vanilla cupcakes w/ chocolate buttercream frosting:

Chocolate cupcakes w/ chocolate buttercream frosting:

Goodie bags:



Playing with friends:







Trying to get all the kiddos together for a group shot...this is as good as it got:

We asked our family members to, in lieu of a gift, bring something to put into a time capsule that we are making for Aidan which he will open on his 16th birthday. Each member of the family were free to interpret what to add to the time capsule in their own way - lots of Obama memorabilia, letters, favorite toys, iconic things of today, etc. Here is a snapshot of presents from friends...he had presents galore!


Besos for his favorite new toy (thank you Liliana!!!) Note: It now takes much convincing to get Aidan to give us kisses...no convincing needed for kisses for his favorite stuffed animal.

Christmas Dinner

So ... making a full spread for Christmas dinner with a little one who is particularly clingy to his Mommy was not the easiest thing to do, despite Dad, Grandpa and other guests to entertain Aidan...but it was well-worth it! We had a small get-together at home with close friends and family over for a pot roast, brussel sprout gratin and other goodies...ending with some delicious pumpkin and sweet potato pies!

Christmas Morning at Home

The tradition in our home is to wake up early Christmas morning and open gifts (after I have my morning coffee of course). This year was extra special for us with Aidan being here of course, but to also have Grandpa Bell visiting us! Here are a few photos of Aidan opening up gifts Christmas morning:

Opening Santa's gift:







Aidan with all his spoils:




Aidan's favorite toy, despite all the new toys he got for Christmas, was a box that Grandpa fashioned into a wagon using a bit of ribbon. Grandpa pulled him around and around the house - Aidan loving every minute!

More of our 1st Christmas

Our family's 1st Christmas together:



Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa Sloan's:







Loving his cousin Isaac:




The biggest moment for us this Christmas Eve was Aidan walking for the 1st time!! Aidan has been walking while holding on to furniture and cruising and has been walking while holding one of our hands for a couple of weeks but never took steps on his own until tonight. We were all in the living room opening presents - Aidan was with Grandpa Bell and took 7 steps all on his own to his Daddy! Aidan being the center of attention just happened to have everyone's eyes on him at that moment and we all cheered loudly in excitement! That however, scared Aidan, who refused to walk on his own until another week. While we don't have a picture of him walking on his own, I was able to capture the moments leading up to it:

Aidan's 1st Christmas!!!

Yikes! Was Christmas really over a month ago? (And why do I feel like I always start my posts wondering where time has flown and making excuses for not blogging???) I really need to get better at updating the blog... ;-)

Aidan had an extra special 1st Christmas because Grandpa Bell got to visit us all the way from Tajikistan! Here's us visiting Santa on Thompson Avenue - despite Aidan's separation anxiety from me, he had no problem meeting Santa at all:





Taking in the X'mas decorations on Thompson Ave.:







These pictures don't really do it any justice, but Thompson Avenue during Christmas is a must-see! Its just a neighborhood street - one block - on the east end of Alameda where all the homes go all out in decorating their houses and yards. I'm talking some major Christmas spirit! There's a mailbox for letters for Santa and on certain evenings Santa comes to visit!! If you're in the Bay area - you need to come check it out, especially if you have little ones.

Is Christmas really over already?

Can it be true? Can it almost be 2009 with Christmas behind us? Can Aidan be fast.... REALLY fast approaching his 1st birthday?! It is all going by so fast!

Aidan's 1st Christmas was fantastic! Grandpa Bell came to visit all the way from Tajikistan! For not having seen him since July, Aidan took to his Grandpa really well and quickly! No stranger anxiety there. We spent a lot of time doing absolutely nothing but enjoying each other...but some highlights was visiting Santa and seeing the Christmas lights on Thompson Avenue; our mini-trip to Sacramento; Christmas Eve with the Sloans and of course, Christmas day at home. Pictures of these times will be posted soon. We're still "decompressing" from the holidays and haven't had time to upload the photos.

Besides, we're running behind on our blogging and need to post some pre-Christmas photos...getting the tree and decorating!

Here we are picking out our tree on the 7th of December - we must have picked the wrong weekend to go because all the good trees were gone. Nothing but wimpy Charlie Brown trees left. We somehow managed to find a decent Noble Fir which disappointingly didn't smell like Christmas...unlike the Douglas Firs, but given that the lot was barren, we went with it.




Grandma and Grandpa Sloan, Nino, Nina and family came over for some chili, cider and Aidan's first tree-decorating:








I've always found it rather odd when grown men/women dressed up and hidden in large costumes (ie. Barney, and in this case, Frosty). There's just something a bit unsettling for me but I can't articulate it...maybe its that fact that I can't see their faces or read their body language, or maybe its that these are adults dressed up as characters appealing to younger audiences, I'm not sure. But something about it all makes me feel a bit creepy. Aidan seems to deal with it okay...here he is meeting Frosty: