2008

March 14th: Up until this point, almost her 6 week mark, pretty much all of the clothes I've used for Ilana have been hand-me-downs from her our sweet Aden, who turns a whopping 5 years old next Thursday! Not that she doesn't have her own royal wardrobe, but she's so tiny that none of that fits! Thankfully, Rabia had sent a box of his clothes beforehand, so Ilana's been wearing his tiny little cotton shirts, his sleepsack, and his tiny organic kimonos for weeks. I love the historical connection (if a 5-year-old and a 5-week-old can be said to participate in anything historical!)

Mama was telling me that she loves her Trader Joe's trips with Aden so much - they'll get there, and she'll have a cart, Rabia will have a cart, and Aden will have a little cart. When he wants something that he knows Rabia won't agree to, he runs and puts it in mama's cart! He also will go over an aisle and then call "grandma!" over and over, and mama thinks he just really enjoys being able to let everyone know he's there with his grandmother 💕💕

July 3rd: When we arrived at the Atlanta airport, it took me 45 minutes to get to the area where I would see my family! First, the plane stopped on the runway, and I had to walk up a flight of stairs into the airport; then, it took forever at every elevator, since I was in a long line with everyone who had a stroller or a wheelchair. When I got to the arrivals area, I saw my whole family
, standing behind the roped off section. Aden immediately started jumping up and down, wanting to pop under the ropes but too well behaved to do so. He looked so big, that that's what made me cry - I couldn't believe how long I had gone without seeing any of them! But everyone and everything was so familiar, like I'd never left.

They were shocked by Ilana's cuteness :) Aden kept insisting that he wanted to pick her up, feed her, and push the stroller! He obviously adored her - he kept smelling her hair and touching her nose. He would hover around her excitedly wherever she was, and when she would be in the baby swing, he would stand near her feet and say "Baaaby! Push you away!" (he meant to say "push me"!) over and over! We went to Columbus as well, where Rabia had set up a photoshoot with her babysitter who is also a photographer, and we got such precious family photos with me, mama, Rabia, and our two adorbs kids 💓

In October we did our first ever Seaside trip with two babies - it is so, so amazing to see how loving and gentle Aden is with little Ilana. They just love being around each other, and light up when the other is near. When he's not sure what else to do, he just puts a hand on her head and leaves it there! He loved putting her in her stroller and walking her around so much, that he did it even indoors. We took them down to the beach, and they'd sit on the mat and just enjoy each other's presence and the water - Aden still doesn't like sand on his feet, so we worked around that. We also dressed them up in adorable outfits and took cute beach pics (Aden wore Uggs!) It's funny how our cute little baby Adee looks like a giant now in comparison! Such a big boy and sweet big cousin now 💕