Easter Sunday

We were excited for Aiden to experience Easter this year because last year he was too little to know what was going on or to participate in any egg hunts. So when he first woke up he got his Easter basket with little toys from Gigi and LOTS of candy. Our big gift to him was a plush monkey backpack. Lately he uses anything he can find with some kind of strap or handle to sling on his arm and he walks around saying "backpack, bye bye." He likes to pretend to be Daddy going to school. So we decided to get him a real backpack that he can put things in. At first I think he just thought it was another stuffed animal, but the other day we went to the mall and I showed him how we can put snacks inside of it and he wore it all around the mall and thought it was pretty cool :)

After church we went to the Zastrow's house for an egg hunt and a delicious ham dinner. We didn't know if we were going to be able to do an egg hunt because it was raining off and on all day, but luckily it was just cloudy when we did the hunt. So, we wrapped Aiden's cast in plastic wrap and duck tape and he was able to run around on the wet grass to find the eggs. He had so much fun and we are so lucky to have family close by to celebrate holidays with :)

Aiden opening his basket before we left for church. He ran up to the basket and right away started opening the eggs to get the candy out.

He loves his Pez dispenser. Here he was just laying on the floor playing with it for like 15 minutes. And once we showed him that candy goes in it, well... he loves his pez dispenser.

Broken Bones

So this week has definitely been eventful....On Tuesday morning Aiden and I were playing upstairs in his room and he was spinning, which is one of his favorite things to do because it makes him dizzy, and he all of a sudden fell down kind of funny on his foot and started to cry. I picked him up and looked at his foot which just looked a little red, but he kept on crying for a good 10-15 minutes which I thought was weird for just falling down. He kept saying "cuddle" and he didn't want me to put him down. His foot did not look bruised or swollen so then I started thinking maybe he was just being a drama queen and maybe he just needed to get his mind off of it. So I made us some lunch and he started acting more like himself, but then when I put him down on the floor after lunch to see if he was walking okay he started bawling and kind of limped and fell towards me. It was so sad :( That is when I knew something was seriously wrong.

So Aiden went to the emergency room and sure enough he fractured the bone in his foot right below his big toe. They put him in a splint that was angled purposefully to not allow him to walk, but the next day we went to an orthopedic surgeon and luckily the break did not damage his growth plate and they told us he should be good as new in 4 weeks. And once they put the cast on they told us he can walk around as much as he wants on it! yea! That made me so happy because I did not know how I was going to keep him off his foot for a month. So now Aiden is hobbling and crawling around the house with what he calls his "big boot" on his leg. We are so happy he is ok and that it wasn't a major break. We hope this is not a foreshadowing of things to come...but luckily we will have a doctor around :)

He finds many creative uses for things on the couch now that he is not so mobile.

He does this a lot lately. It is like he is happy to be able to touch a foot that does not have a cast on it. And holy cow he is felxible! haha.

He is always such a happy boy!

Baby Belly

I have had many requests for recent pregnancy pictures so here are some we took today! I will be 25 weeks pregnant tomorrow. So only 15 more weeks to go!

Fun Around the House

Just thought I would post a few recent pictures of Aiden and share the little things we have been up to lately.

I just made this really yummy lemon cake recently and here is a picture of the final project. It is the perfect cake to eat for spring or summertime because it is so light and cool. The tastiest part for me was the lemon syrup part that you make and drizzle into holes in the cake after it cools because it made the cake really moist and extra lemony.

Aiden is getting to be so big. He loves to help Daddy fix things and he loves to help mama cook (especially if it involves egg breaking). He has also finally learned to vocalize the word "No." Before he would just shake his head no, but now he actually says it and sadly he doesn't really do so well with yes. So, everything is "No" these days and sometimes I feel like I now have a very pessimistic child, but we are working on saying yes. He is doing really well with saying please, thank you, and I love you so I guess those counteract the negativity of all the no saying around here.

He is doing the goofiest smiles lately. He kind of flares his nostrils and scrunches his eyes and nose.

He loves his blue truck. It is one of those cars that you wind up by rolling it back and forth to make it go and he finally has the hang of it so he loves to play with it in the kitchen.

Helping me do laundry :)....Or just saying all of the pieces of clothes are blankies and hoarding them. haha.

I changed the batteries in his toy clock and so of course for the next half hour he had to keep fixing it with the little screw driver. He loves when things have to be fixed.

Aiden and his best friend, Lightning McQueen. He loves to try to feed and wash his car :)

Brad is now working on his neuroanatomy class and likes it much more than biochemistry. It is the only class he has right now though so that means 4 hours of lecture everyday which means A LOT of material to study in a short amount of time. While Brad is working hard I have been working on a few new projects to change Aiden's room around before the new baby arrives. I bought Aiden a little table for his room which he LOVES! He can color and play with some of his smaller toys on it and he has lots of fun. I also found these adorable 5x7 cards online that have sayings on them like "Love your family", "Say please and thank you", "brush your teeth", etc. that you can hang on a string on a wall for a kid's room. I saw them and thought I can make those myself! So, I got some cute colored paper and some mini clothespins and some ribbon and I am working on making those for the baby room.

It's a BOY!

We went to the doctor's yesterday and sure enough Brad was right, we are having another baby boy! We are so excited and happy that Aiden with have a buddy to play with.

We had a different ultrasound tech this time and she was really sweet and it was funny because the baby had his hand blocking the view to see if it was a boy or girl so she had to shake him a little to get him to move it so we could see that it was a boy. We were laughing because she was saying how of course he is a boy because he already had his hand down there :)

So, Ryder Michael Griffitts will be joining us in just another 4 months! I have been looking for the perfect take home outfit so if anyone knows a really great place to look let me know :)

Here is the ultrasound picture of Ryder's profile. Sorry it is vertical, I couldn't flip it so it was horizontal. So his facial profile is at the top.

Spring and Babies Right Around the Corner...

So, this post has been a long time coming. I have been waiting to post until I could put up an ultrasound picture, but our printer is not currently working and so I am unable to scan the picture right now...So, without further ado I am here to announce that I am pregnant!

My due date is July 31st which will be the third July birthday in our family. We are finding out if it is a boy or girl on Friday! So stay tuned for that announcement. I think it is a girl and Brad thinks it is a boy so we will see who is right... I am currently 20 weeks along so we have already reached the half way point.

I had my first ultrasound when I was 16 weeks, but the ultrasound tech lady was not very friendly and was all business and did not check to see if it was a boy or girl because according to her it was too early to tell...let's just say that was a long day at the doctor's office for everyone. During the entire ultrasound Aiden was crying because he thought we were at the doctor's office for him and thought he was going to get shots or something and then on top of it we had to wait super long and had a grumpy ultrasound lady so yeah, not the best time I have had at the doctor's. Hopefully this Friday will be more pleasant :)

We already have names picked out. If it is a girl her name will be Blakelee Ray and if it is a boy his name will be Ryder Michael. So, this weekend I will let you all know if it is a boy or girl and I will post some pregnancy pictures as well! We are so excited and can't wait to have a sweet new baby in our home.

Georgia Christmas and New Year

We had a wonderful Christmas break! Brad got our of school on the 17th so that weekend we had our own little family Christmas so we wouldn't have to bring ALL of Aiden's toys to my mom's house in Georgia and risk losing track of them there. So, he had tons of fun opening his little wooden train and his little people sets and lots of other cool gifts from us and from Gigi and Poppi. Then on Monday (20th) we headed down to Georgia and Aiden did so well in the car. He is such a good traveler for which I am so grateful :) He has been that way since he was little and it definitely makes holiday trips more enjoyable.

While we were in Georgia some of our activities included hiking, going to a family game/arcade place, sledding in snow (yes, we amazingly had a white Christmas in Georgia this year),we went to see Tangled (which Aiden amazingly sat through), pudding finger painting, playing scum, making sugar cookies, and shooting off fireworks. It was so much fun to see everyone. I got to see two of my brothers, Sam and Tim, and their families that I hadn't seen in a while and my two younger siblings as well. I hadn't been home at my mom's house for Christmas in a long time either so it was so nice to be there with everyone. Here are some pics of all our fun :)

Opening his train at home on our Christmas Eve

Aiden so happy with all of his loot especially his cool Geotrax set.

Pudding Finger Painting! He was just eating it all :)

Is there a way to lick it off my chin?

Messier and messier by the second, but so much fun :)

He decided he wanted to share. haha.

Christmas Eve dinner at Grandma's house.

Christmas Morning! Opening up the stocking. In this pic he is saying a sign language please cuz he was seeing all of the candy haha.

SOO happy with his Lightning McQueen Geotrax car.

Getting ready to go play out in the snow.

His huge snow gloves that were impossible to get his thumbs into. He just walked around holding his hands up, not touching anything. "What do I do with my hands?"

My two handsome boys :)

Me sledding down the hill.

My mom sledding down the hill :)

He was so happy to be outside in the snow. He cried and cried when we had to take him inside :(

Sledding with Daddy.

Literally running on the trail. He was so excited to be outside and running around.

Playing in the leaves.

Such a little adventurous boy. He kept wanting to go off into the woods and not stay on the trail.

With his Aunt Amy, so excited to go outside and see fireworks.

Fun with sparklers.

Happy New Year!