Aiden Turned 1!

About a week or so before we left we got to celebrate our little boy's first birthday. He is growing up so fast. He is now running around everywhere and only crawls if he trips and is in a real hurry to get somewhere. He is so smart and curious about everything. Jessie and I are so blessed to have such a happy, healthy, and smart young boy. We love you, Aiden!

One of the rare occasions where I was able to get Aiden to fall asleep.

We found out that corn on the cob is literally one of Aiden's new favorite foods...but it has to be on the cob.

Aiden also loves his new car! We have already spent hours pushing him around in circles.

Aiden and his birthday cake. He didn't eat too much. He was more tired than hungry.

We Miss North Idaho

The whole Alan Griffitts Family, grandchildren and all

Well, the time has finally come. We have now been in Kentucky for a little over a week. We are very excited to be here and to move on with medical school and life down here, but we are definitely going to miss the time we were able to spend in North Idaho. We had a lot of fun and made a lot of good memories. Here are a couple of pictures that were taken over the last couple months with everyone home. Thank you to everyone that helped us out during our stay there and for all of your support. We love and miss you all.

Aiden playing with his cousins Coen and Atlas, loving the bubbles.

Sitting at the kiddy table with Emmy.

Playing Scum with the Family and Mike D. Goody joined us for a while, too.

The girls all waiting out for the midnight showing of the new Twilight movie.

The Ladies!

The boys...

Panic Plunge at Silverwood. It was actually pretty crazy!

Aiden and Daddy on the Silverwood train. Aiden got to see a real life train robbery...sort of.

Daddy and Aiden going down the slide at Silverwood.

Aiden at Boulder Beach waterpark...love his camo hat. It says 'Young Buck'.

We're HERE!

Ok, quick post. No pictures this time around. We haven't really been able to take any yet...but they will come. We made it to Lexington all safe and sound and are now unpacked and moved into our new place. It has been great to get here and start making Lexington our new home, and having Brent, Meagan, and their family here has made the transition so much easier. We are definitely happy and excited for things to started going. We love you all and miss you more than you could know. Thank you for your support and love.

Summertime

It has once again been a while since we have posted...But summer is finally here in Coeur d'Alene! It has been cold and rainy for sooo long, but it is finally in the 70's and 80's almost everyday. And with summertime has come vacation time and family time.

Brad and I went to Seattle about a month ago to see his best friend Chris Goodwin get married. Brad has been friends with Chris his whole life and then we also became really good friends with his fiance and now wife-Tiffany. Chris had been attending West Point in NY and so they have had to wait to get married for quite a while until he graduated. So, it was so wonderful and happy to see them get married in the Seattle temple and get the chance to go to their reception. It was also fun for Brad and I to have a little family trip together and to just get out of the house for a while and go somewhere new. I had never been to Seattle and Brad hadn't been in a long time. So, the day after the wedding we went to Pike's Market and had lunch on the pier before we headed back home. We wanted to explore Seattle a little longer but it was pretty cold and rainy outside so we decided to just head home.

And now we have a full house here at the Griffitts home. Brad's sister Meagan along with her husband and three kids got here about a week ago and we are having fun spending time with them. Brad's other sister Tawni and her husband and little baby boy are also arriving here this week so it is going to be busy here, but tons of fun! This weekend is the Iron Man in Coeur d'Alene and then the next weekend is the Fourth of July! So, there is going to be a lot of playing outside, grilling, and family time. We are so happy we get to have this time before we leave for Kentucky.

We are leaving for Kentucky on July 10th! So, we only have about 2 weeks until we leave! I am so excited to get to our new home and to be back in the South. I have decided that when we get there I am going to take horseback riding lessons. I have always loved horses and I have always wanted to take lessons and well, there is no better place than Kentucky to get the opportunity to be around horses.

And for an Aiden update...

His new talent is making animal noises. He knows how to make the sound for a cow and a duck. We are working on other animals, but at the moment when we ask him what a kitty says (or any other animal) he replies with a quack! So, we are working on that.
He is almost walking. He walks to me and Brad and to Gigi and Poppi and he attempts to walk to get to toys sometimes, but he is not cruising around everywhere. But I am in no rush to try to get him to walk because first of all I found out that the crawling phase for babies is super important and that if they don't crawl for very long they can have developmental issues later. I found out that since when they crawl they are switching between using the right and left sides of their body it is important in developing connections between the left and right side of the brain. And second of all, it will mean he is more mobile and independent and more into things :) So I am in no rush for him to walk even though I know it will be soon.

He also loves his baths. He always has, but lately every day he will just sit there and excitedly say ba, ba, ba, which means bath. This happens especially after dinner times because he knows that is usually bath time. It is so darn cute that I have found myself giving him a bath every night this week! Usually we give him one just every other day or every two days, but I can't resist his cuteness and how much fun he has in the bath.

That is all for now! Here are some recent pictures...

Perfect weather for a family bike ride around the lake.

The girls playing cards.

All the grandkids in their new pajamas from Gigi.

Aiden and Brad playing outside. Note his excited face above that has become famous in the Griffitts house.

Aiden eating bark off the tree.

Being a goober.

Aiden's favorite hobby--taking all of the DVDs off the shelf.

Hangin outside on a beautiful day.

We walked around downtown Coeur d'Alene and Aiden wanted to jump in the water.

Aiden having deep thoughts in his high chair...

Aiden being Aiden :)

I love his big beautiful eyes.

Quick Update

So, we don't have to tell the rest of you, but we have not been very good at updating the blog as of late...well, we have never been that good at updating the blog. Things are just cruising along here in Hayden. The weather has been very typical for North Idaho and this time of year. Last week we had the opportunity of enjoying great 70 and 80 degree weather at the beginning of the week. Lately? Well, 50s, rain, and frost in the morning. In any case, we've been trying to get out and do as much as we can before we're on our marry old way out to Kentucky.

We have a couple of videos we need to post that were instant classics here at the Griffitts household. Of course they involve Aiden. It has been so much fun watching him grow up and to have his personality show up more and more every day. We first noticed Aiden's "fear" of grass about Easter time. When it was finally warm enough to venture outside for at least a couple of minutes we took advantage and took the Little Guy out there. Any time we set him on the grass he would start to complain and would refuse to move. When we would have picnics outside he would stay on the blanket and avoid touching the grass at all costs. We, as loving and caring parents, had to take advantage of the situation and of course put him on the grass for our own entertainment. I'm sure he'll forgive us when he grows up. He's much better about the grass now. He loves being outside and watching the cars, the birds, the planes, the bugs, and everything else that moves.

We have also learned how much Aiden loves fruit, especially berries...strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries...and, WATERMELON (ok, not a berry, but he really loves it). Lucky for us he also likes his veggies and is the least picky eater ever.

Aiden has also started to say some words. Nothing major, but HUGE for us. He'll say "ma" a lot, and "da" as well. A lot of times if I call for him he'll stop and just say "da?" I love it of course. But the most common word in his vocabulary as of late is "ba" for "bath." If we ask him if he wants to take a bath he'll look towards the stairs and point and say "ba" over and over. When a toilet flushes he says "ba" and points upstairs. If the sink is turned on he says "ba" and points upstairs, and you get the picture. He loves his baths. His favorite toys are his matchbox cars. He'll sit for ever just pushing them around and growling, making engine noises. Really makes it easy for us to know what to get him for his birthday besides books. He's a huge book lover, too.

So, overall we are just really taking it easy in preparation for the big move coming up in July. We are definitely excited for the coming adventures, but more than a little nervous as well.

A Visit from the Easter Bunny

We had a wonderful Easter with family and friends! But before we get to that I have to say that general conference was WONDERFUL! There were so many inspired talks on families and overcoming trials. I really loved Sister Beck's talk about women and I know that the Lord blessed me to hear what I needed to hear. Every time I hear a talk on a topic that I've either been struggling with or wondering about it is a re-affirmation that my Heavenly Father knows me personally and loves me. I am so thankful for this.

As I mentioned....on Easter we had a bunch of the Griffitts family over for brunch and it was delicious! Sandy made orange rolls, cinnamon rolls, and breakfast casserole and I experimented with a new punch and it all turned out really yummy. After conference was over we had an Easter egg hunt with Amy and Jeremy and their two little kids-Titan and Miley. Aiden was extremely tired by this time because with all the excitement of the day he had only had one nap. So, his eyes have a very glazed over look in most of the pictures except for a few and I got some cute pictures of Miley's new walking skills in the grass. Aiden just tried to chew on all of the eggs and ended up with dye around his mouth and all over his hands, but it was so fun just being outside in the nice weather.

What handsome boys!

How many did we get?

We found one!



Wanting to eat the egg...

How do I open this?

Miley having fun walking in the grass.

Aiden and Miley playing together.

Aiden just learned to clap his hands.

See what I mean about the glazed over look? haha.

About Time I Posted...

We haven't posted anything since Christmas! I can't believe it! So here it goes...

For an Aiden update here are things he can do now:

• army crawl REALLY well and make timid attempts at real crawling
• go from a sitting position to a crawling position and from a crawling position back into a sitting position.
  
• eat entire crackers all by himself
• drink out of a sippy cup all by himself and out of a real cup with my help
• talk using a large variety of sounds...I think he is going to be a early talker...he just loves to talk to himself and his toys.
• stand up using the edge of the couch
• loves to open and close drawers of any kind
• sleep through the night! yea!
• 

That is all I can think of at the moment, but all I know is that he is growing up so fast and it is so fun to watch. He has had kind of a rough month or two. First, he had hives everyday on his cheeks and arms and we had no idea what he was reacting to. We hadn't given him any new food and the only thing we could think of was some fluoride drops from the doctor, but we stopped giving him those and that was not it. So, after two weeks of hives every day we took him to the doctor and they did a blood test for food allergies, but he came back negative for everything. So, the doctor said it could be viral hives and that they would go away after another week or two if that were the case. Luckily, they did go away after another week or so. We were very relieved that it was just a virus. He was a happy, healthy baby again for a while, but now he has a bad cold. Poor kid, although it is probably good for him because he needs to build up his immune system. This is really only the second time he has gotten sick. He is such a good baby and is just happy all the time. He loves to be moving and playing and loves to go outside.

Alan and Sandy went to Hawaii for a week in February and so we had the house to ourselves for a while. We had fun going hiking as a family at Tubbs Hill and we went for a walk at Higgins Point to try and go see the bald eagles. During the winter months there are TONS of them around this part of Coeur d'Alene Lake. Unfortunately, we were a little late in the season to see them so we only saw one, but it was fun all the same.


We had a good Valentine's Day at home. Brad bought me some beautiful orange roses (my favorite kind of rose) and I cooked a yummy rasberry french toast breakfast and a scallop dinner. For dessert I made dark chocolate cups filled with a delicious custard with strawberries on top. I LOVE to cook! It is so fun to find new recipes and Valentine's Day is the perfect day to find romantic, creative things.

In other news, we have just been trying to find a place to live in Kentucky. I found a really cute townhouse that I like, but it is on the higher end of our price range and we are having Brent and Meagan go check it out for us to see if it is in a good area and if it is as nice as it looks. I can't wait to have a place of our own! I have gotten all excited from looking at places to live and so, naturally, I have also started brainstorming about decorating as well :) I just bought some really cute IKEA baby bedding for Aiden and this past weekend we bought ourselves a mattress for our bedroom and a black, square kitchen table that is really pretty.

In miscellaneous news...I started a family scrapbook starting from when Brad and I first met and it has been so much fun. I got lots of paper and tools I needed to start. I think my favorite part is not only getting to use my creativity to put together pages, but also to be able to go through the pictures and look back on all of the memories we have made together. I have really enjoyed doing it. My other project that is in the works is to watercolor some paintings for Aiden's room that he will have in Kentucky. I found these adorable paintings on the baby blog called oh deeh doh, but they were selling for 20 dollars a piece. I looked at the paintings and thought I could paint those myself and save some money! They are these adorable, bright pictures of a little kid and his little rabbit doing different things together like reading under a tree or looking up at clouds. So anyways, I did a trial drawing of one of the pictures and it turned out good so now I am working on getting the watercolors to paint it.
And finally, I have to give a plug for Brad. He has been getting up every morning at 4:30 to go work out with his dad, his cousin Brad, and his Uncle Doug. I am so proud of him for doing this and he is looking great! He is getting really muscular in his arms and shoulders. They are doing a work out regimen called crossfit hardcore and they all really like it. I am so proud of you Brad!

That is all the news for now and I will definitely try to be better about posting! Until next time...