Our Christmas Story

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. We went to my parents in North Little Rock and had so much fun seeing all our family. On Saturday Aiden and I went over to Erin's house to have lunch. Lauren and Amber came over too, but I didn't get any pictures with Amber because she came late. I hope you're ready for a long post because I've got lots to share....

Aiden hanging out on Erin's couch.


Erin & Aiden


Aiden & Lauren


Lauren making Aiden laugh


Me and Aiden in front of Erin's beautiful tree


Aiden worn out. Thanks to Lauren we had a swing at my parents house. It's hard to travel 5 hours and bring everything! Aiden appreciated you letting him borrow the swing. I probably appreciated it more though!


That evening we went over to some friends house. This is my nephew Carter holding Aiden. He kept saying, "This is my brand new cousin!" He was so proud of him.


Carter dancing for us! He's always so entertaining.


My sister Jill and Aiden


Mimi and her two grandsons. My mom was feeding Aiden and Carter came over and asked, "Is there room up there for me, too?" So he hoped up there with my mom while she was feeding him. So precious!


My dad "Papa John" and Aiden watching tv


I know this picture is bad, but Carter took this and I thought Aiden's face was so cute in it.


My brother-in-law Yancey was making Aiden laugh all weekend. It was so cute.


Aiden passed out on Yancey.


Carter loved on Aiden all weekend. He kept asking me, "Is Aiden happy to see me?" Yes, he is Carter. He couldn't quit talking about it.


Christmas Morning!


Aiden was so excited...


Aiden received his first Arkansas sweatshirt from his great grandmother and grandfather


He got some books....


He even received his first cashmere sweater from one of J's bosses. Somethings not right about that. Momma doesn't even have a cashmere sweater!


Aiden was passed out on the way home from all the excitement!


Let me just say the card ride was loads of fun. Two dogs and a baby....can we say Packed in like sardines!!! Because that's what we were.

Boo (a.k.a The Princess) rode in the front seat while Jonathan drove....


Hercules and I were stuck in the back seat

And he slept on MY pillow the whole time.


"Can you stop taking my picture?!?! Can't you see I'm trying to sleep!"


We had SOOOOOO much fun with my family. I just realized that we didn't get any pictures with my sister Kristy and her husband Paul. Maybe I'll get her to email me some pictures so I can get them on the blog.
I can not thank everyone enough for all they did for us. Aiden was definitely spoiled for his first Christmas. He received so many clothes and toys. Just this morning I was washing some of his clothes he received and the washing machine was packed with just his clothes. I thanked God because we are truly so blessed. This Christmas was so special having Aiden here. He has truly been the best present I could ever ask for. I feel so blessed to have a healthy & happy baby, a wonderful husband, two of the cutest dogs in the world, and a terrific family that loves and supports us.
Jonathan's parents come in today from Guatemala. We are so excited. The rest of his family come in this weekend so we will be doing our Christmas with them then. More pictures to follow of the Carothers Christmas. I hope everyone had a great Christmas. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from our family to yours!

Merry Christmas/Happy New Year!!!

We're going to be away from the blogging world for a little bit so wanted to say Merry Christmas! I'm kind of sad because I ordered my Christmas cards on the 12th of December and they still aren't here! I guess I should have made them "Happy New Year" cards! Oh well, I'm still going to send them out when/if they come. Here's a little preview of what's to come. This isn't the picture that we used, but I thought it was a cute one. It's as if Aiden is saying, "Hey Mom!"


I can't believe Christmas is 5 days away! We are looking forward to our first Christmas with Aiden! He has been so special to us and I can't wait until we can tell him all about Christmas and the true meaning of it. Stay tuned next week for our Christmas weekend pictures!
Happy Birthday Jesus!

Aiden doesn't know this yet,

but he was a

YIKES! He's not so sure what to think about that.

Mommy is staying away from Santa this year!!!

So....

the photo session didn't go as planned last night. I was so surprised! I mean two dogs and a baby, what could go wrong. Well Aiden started to get the hiccups and he always gets mad when that happens. I guess he just wasn't in the mood to take pictures.

Surprisingly the dogs were willing to cooperate. They didn't even try to shake the hats off or anything.


Now only if we can get Aiden to cooperate. I guess we'll try again tonight!

It's that time of the year again.....

For Christmas card pictures. (I know most of you are thinking, "You haven't done this yet?!?!) I'm a last minute kind of person so no I haven't done it yet!
This was ours from two years ago. These were our first babies. I'm trying to decide what I'm going to do this year with Aiden and the dogs. Any ideas? Meanwhile......Merry Christmas from Boo and Hercules

"Hi Precious"

Every morning when I go to wake Aiden up he is always sucking on his fingers. I always walk in the room and say, "Hi Precious" and he starts wiggling around like "Yah, someone's finally coming to see me!".

Thanking God for our precious little gift...

Yesterday we had Aiden's dedication at church. Our church does it on Sunday afternoon's because there are so many babies that there aren't enough Sunday's in a year to do it at the morning service. We had a wonderful group of friends come support Aiden. My sister Kristy and her husband Paul were able to come too.

Kristy took this picture and if you can't tell she's not the photographer in the family. The picture is a little blurry, but I just wanted to show everyone how precious Aiden was. He was looking at everyone out in the audience. So cute!


Me, Kristy and Aiden


Jonathan, our pastor Mike, Aiden and me

The "A" team. These were a group of our friends that came to support us. We really appreciate everyone that came. There were a couple of friends that I work with that came too, but aren't in the picture. You all mean so much to us since not all our family could be here.


Aiden was worn out before it was even over. It's hard work getting your picture taken so much.

We went out to eat afterwards and he was wide awake and playing by now.

3 months...

First of all I want to apologize for being so behind on my postings! This has been entirely too long! I will be better. This is the reason for me being so behind.....



Usually after I get home from work and feed Aiden we both crash! Jonathan took this picture the other night and I didn't even know he was taking it. I guess we know where Aiden gets his good sleeping habits from.

Last week Aiden was 3 months! Wow, time has flown by. This shirt he has on could not describe him any better. He is definitely a "Little Version of Daddy". He looks just like him. Aiden has really started to smile a lot, which is adorable, and we are having so much fun with him. His little personality is really starting to show.


Here's so more pictures from last week.



At 3 months Aiden is:
1. Eating like a champ! His doctor said we could start him on rice cereal at either 14 pounds or 4 months. I think he's reaching the 14 pounds before he'll reach the 4 months. We might be starting it soon!
2. Smiling all the time. He especially loves when his daddy sings to him. Whenever his mommy tries he looks at me like he's scared.
3. He is still sleeping great through the night. I have to go in there and wake him up every morning at 6:00 to feed him. He is usually always sucking on his fingers then. It's so cute.......which brings me to...
4. He loves his fingers. He definitely his over his paci. He will not even think about taking it. If he's upset he'll just stick his fingers in his mouth and that usually calms him down. It's precious......at least for now.
5. He loves riding in the car, except for he likes us to be in constant motion. If I have to make a stop then he'll start getting upset, but once I start moving again he's fine. This doesn't happen every time we're in the car, just alot!

We are so thankful for our little boy. He has been such a blessing to us and I can't imagine our life without him. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving (I haven't posted about it). I realized, though, that I didn't get any pictures with my camera, they were all taken with my sisters. I'll have to get her to send me some so I can post from that day.

TGIF!!!

I made it to the end of the week! I wanted to say thanks for everyone's encouraging words. I appreciate you all praying for me. I do have to admit that by the end of the week things have gotten easier, but I will never like leaving him. I made it through the day yesterday without crying, so that was a big accomplishment. I have really started to get to know the teachers better and that makes me feel better because I really like them. Aiden is sleeping better so that's good. I work really close to the daycare so I was able to go visit him every day at lunch, which I loved. Today Jonathan is getting off early so he's going to get him after lunch so I'm not going to go visit.
This is his 2 month pictures we had taken a few weeks ago. How precious is that little face! I just love it! It's so funny because recently Aiden has started sucking his thumb. I thought he was going to take a liking to a paci, but he hasn't as much anymore and has been prefering his thumb instead. I was a thumb sucker so finally I found something that Aiden got from me! He has also been very active by kicking his legs all the time. When we lay him down on a blanket on the floor he is constantly moving those legs. It's so cute. I see a little soccer player in the future.

Two days down, three more to go....

Never have I ever wanted the weekend to get here sooner. I started work this past Monday and let me just say it was the hardest day of my life. We have Aiden in a church daycare, which makes it easier since he's in a christian environment, but it is never easy leaving your baby that you have spent every day with to a complete stranger. Jonathan went with me to take him Monday morning then he went on to work and I stayed around a little bit longer. I just couldn't let him go. I mean who would want to leave this sweet little face.

So that same day I went back to see him on my lunch break. I think it made it worse because I really didn't want to leave him again. So of course I started crying again. Thank goodness for waterproof mascara! It's been hard because he has been sleeping on his tummy since he was 2 weeks old. Well state regulations won't let daycares allow that, so they've been putting him on his back and he just hasn't been sleeping. Hopefully he will get use to it.
After work I'm sure they can see smoke coming from my tires from me speeding away in the parking lot. I don't think I could get to Aiden any faster. I feel like that is when I get stopped at every red light and get behind the slowest people. I just want to put a sign on my car that says, "New Mom, Get Out of My Way, Going to Pick Up My Baby!!!" I'm sure it would probably work!
Everyone keeps telling me this will get easy. I'll just have to wait and see, from the looks of it now I'm not so sure! Please keep me in your prayers...

We're off to see the Wizard......

We're missing the Tin Man. I couldn't talk Jonathan into wrapping himself in foil! I wonder why?!?!
(Please ignore my hand. Herc's hat wouldn't stay on without my help.)

Aiden didn't know what he got himself into when he was born into this family!

Please just get me out of this thing!

Our cute little lion!

Boo waiting for the photo session to start

Hercules telling Aiden where to look


Has anyone seen my brain.....I mean hat???


I have always loved dressing Herc and Boo up for every holiday and now Aiden gets to join in on the fun. We are not fans of the Wizard of Oz, but we I found this costume for Aiden and was trying to decide what to dress Herc and Boo up as to go with him and then I found these great costumes for them. The pictures don't show just how cute they are, though, but they were really funny. The Wizard of Oz makes me think of when we did The Wiz our senior year in High School and I was part of the "twirling tornados" and almost fell off the stage! (ha,ha) Let's just hope Aiden doesn't get his moms clumsiness. Happy Halloween!
P.S. Although it may not look like it, but Hercules and Boo are really happy. They love getting dressed up and letting us laugh at them, I mean with them!