These are a few of my favorite Things...

Climbing and going down the big slide

Trying on Daddy's bike gear

Playing in the yard after dinner


Running

Making Pancakes with Daddy

Painting

When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I'm feeling sad, I simply remember my favorite things and then I don't feel so bad. Here are few of our favorite things from the week!

Groundhog Day

Aiden trying out the highchair for the first time
Hey, this is kinda neat!?
Can you tell we have been watching a lot of the Tour de France? Liam is on his way out for a ride

Liam with Daddy's helmet, gloves, shoes, and glasses

Luke with Mommy's helmet

It is hard for me not to compare Aiden with Luke and Liam especially when it seems like we just did some of this stuff yesterday. I remember the first time we used highchairs with Luke and Liam and now we are just starting to use them with Aiden. Considering all three boys were born in January and some of our milestones are occurring at the exact same time of year, we are using the same highchairs, same clothing that Luke and Liam wore, etc...it is often like the movie "Groundhog Day." I do seem to forget many things, however. For example, I forgot how long a small child (i.e. infant) will sit in a highchair as long as you give them something to do. I am used to Luke and Liam who don't sit anywhere for very long and wouldn't think of sitting in a highchair at this point in time. Aiden seems to love the highchair (at least for now) and enjoys sitting with us at the table. In other news this week, we have spent a fair amount of time watching the Tour de France when the boys allow it. They are very familiar with biking now and love to put on the bike gear just about every time we are trying to leave the house to go somewhere.

Big Guy

Aiden chewing on watermelon over the 4th Weekend (2010)

You cannot see the watermelon, but Liam is doing the same thing

and now Luke...with Grandpa Carrithers

Grandpa Carrithers and I thought of the same pictures when we initially saw the one taken of Aiden above. The bottom two pictures are Liam and Luke also chewing on watermelon and ironically all three pictures were taken over the 4th of July weekends of 2008 and 2010.

In other news this week, Aiden had his 6 month check-up and he is in the 90th percentile for weight at 20.9 lbs and the 95th percentile for height at 28 1/8 inches. He is nearly 2 lbs heavier than Luke was at the same age and a good 5 pounds heavier than Liam at 6 months. He is also at least two inches longer than either Luke or Liam were at 6 months. That sure explains why Aiden has a hard time wearing any of the clothing that was passed down to him! Oddly, he is only 6 pounds lighter than his 2.5 year old brother Liam! Unfortunately, although he has not had an ear infection recently, he is still battling fluid in his ears so it is likely that he is on his way to having tubes put in. We are going to see the same ENT pretty soon and will see what he says.

Aiden Baptism_July 2010

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Welcome to the Circus!

Aiden John Carrithers

Aiden wore the baptismal gown that was also worn by myself, Luke, and cousin Calvin
Baptism Day July 4, 2010
Luke (during the service) in the Priest's Chair
The Baptism service with the Priest and one of Aiden's godparents, Uncle Jason. Grandpa Morse stood in for Aunt Sarah (Aiden's godmother) for the service.
All Five of Us
Eating AJ's cake while he naps

Happy 4th of July

Special Hats from Uncle Jason

All of the Grandkids (minus one two year old who was probably very hot and tired) From Left to Right: Caitlin, Ella, Jacob holding Liam, Seth holding Luke, Zach holding Aiden, Collin, and missing Carter)

Yummy!

AJ at the pool

If this sounds like an odd title for a post about Aiden's baptism weekend, it probably is; however, if you attended the baptism then you probably understand what I am talking about. We decided to have Aiden baptized in Cincinnati so that more family could attend and this gave us a chance to visit everyone who has not seen Aiden or the boys in several months. We had a wonderful time visiting family and Aiden was baptized on the 4th of July. It was a wonderful time that was fun to share with our family. We also celebrated John's sister's 40th birthday so our trip was filled with lots of cake and ice cream!

So, why the circus title? Well, Luke and Liam were a riot. They were pretty typical of two year olds at the front of the church. Not only do they not typically sit through church at home (we send them to the nursery), but we would never consider sitting anywhere near the front of the church. Luke boldly sat in the priest's chair during the baptism and began flipping through the pages of the Bible. Liam stuck his hand in the baptismal water and could not stand still for anything. They were full of energy and ready to get into pretty much anything they could reach. Aiden, on the other hand, got a little hungry and probably a little hot so he started fussing towards the end of the service. It was a pretty typical event for John and I and pretty characteristic of anything we do right now. Don't worry, we have it all on video! Thankfully, the priest was wonderful and very patient with us.

The boys survived the long car trip to Cincinnati. It was about a 12 hour drive that we did in around 14 hours with all our stops. They actually traveled very well and we could not have asked for anything better. Oddly, as much as people said they would sleep in the car if we left early, they never slept a wink after we woke them up at 4:30 am. They stayed up talking about our "trip" and the "suitcases" for at least 2-3 hours and napped at their normal time after lunch.