Angels and Devils

The yin and yang. The good and bad. The angel and the devil. It is the dichotomy of every toddler that can demonstrate in one second angelic sweetness and kindness then in the blink of an eye display behavior that requires the attention of a young priest, an old priest and some holy water, a la Linda Blair.

However, it is a rare occasion when you can visibly see these two facets of your toddlers personality. Below is one such rare occasion.

Ultrasound (First & Second) Pictures

Here we are on the final days of our summer vacation. Rested, rejuvenated, bitter about it's ending and I have finally found the time to actually post the pictures of our ultrasound(s).

For the ultrasound picture impaired (that means anyone who has never had a child) you will be unable to tell much of anything from these pictures. Even though the second and third pictures are very clearly pictures of a baby, you won't see it. Don't feel bad. You're not alone.

This first picture is from our first ultrasound. As you can see, this happened way back in April. If you have trouble telling what the image is, imagine the baby is looking at you from a horizontal position and waving as if to say, I'm coming and the feeling of impending financial stresses are coming with me!!!!!

This picture is from ultrasound number two, just a little while back on June 25th. The day we found out that God had blessed us with the coming birth of our first daughter. This is again, the baby's face looking straight at you.

Our final selection is a profile picture of the baby at the second ultrasound. It's a real nice, clear picture that says to me, "I'm going to wrap you around my little, itty, bitty finger for the rest of your natural life Daddy." (I just smile and nod)

Daddy's Birthday Post

Yes, this post is nearly one month to the day too late. But I wanted to share the picture, so I am posting it anyway.


The cake was provided by my sister-in-law whose sick sense of humor seeks to humiliate those of us who recently turned thirty, and makes us think we honestly look like Dabney Coleman (see picture on the right.)

Yes Mr. Coleman, my cake, and me are all losing our hair. I think the similarities end there.

My therapist says I'll get over it in time.

Aiden pointed to the picture on the cake and said "Thats DaDa." Talk about piling on.

It was a great birthday and thirty is not a number that bothers me in the least. Who can be upset when you've got a quarter-ton of Red Velvet cake to eat and a great family to share (a little bit of) it with?

It's a GIRL!!!!!

Ultrasound confirmed that Liz and I are expecting a baby girl this November 7th. We are thrilled and Aiden is too (as well as every family member we've contacted.) Please pray that this pregnancy and child be as healthy as Aiden/'s.

Praise to God that our family feels His blessings every day.

Countdown to Ultrasound

We're counting down to the ultrasound, as I write this only 96 minutes away!

And Aiden pooped in his potty at the babysitter's house yesterday then pooped in his potty at home. He's a champ I tell ya'. A champ!

Potty Update & Baby Update

Aiden is getting it. He's finally wrapping his head around peeing in the potty. He sometimes needs to be reminded that he needs to go to the potty, but he does bring it up on his own and doesn't like to be wet! (Trust me new parents, this is a big step.)

This weekend we even pooped in the potty. And we did it at Jason & Heather's house while Mommy and Daddy were on date night.

This Wednesday we'll head to the Medical Center for our second ultrasound of the pregnancy, this time finding out the gender of baby number two. So place your bets ladies and gentleman. Will it be Baby Boy Numero Deuce or will the women even up the teams in household.

Womb Envy

Womb envy is a long standing psychological theory that suggests that men envy a woman's ability to bear and birth children. In essence, the woman's God given ability to do so gives her the ability to "create life" in a sense and in a way that man is incapable of doing.

Thus men are propelled to work harder to succeed in their careers and other areas of life. Unfortunately, for some men this "womb envy" begins very young and can not be satiated by a more vigorous work ethic or any measure of success. This insatiable longing may lead the man to adopt extreme measures to quell the feeling.

A case in point:

Clearly a sad picture of a young man trying hard to deal with his very personal battle with womb envy.

Hope everyone is having a great and blessed day.

Support the American Cancer Society

Tomorrow is the Warren County, Kentucky Relay for Life to benefit the American Cancer Society. Yesterday, my uncle Billy passed away a victim of cancer.

I adopted Relay for Life as my pet project where I work a few years ago and this year has been a great lesson that I need to double my efforts. As a business we do pretty well. As an individual I've had my best year yet. But I can do better.

This little blurb is to encourage you to donate to the American Cancer Society. If you're blessed enough to never have been touched by cancer, praise God and help those who have. But if you're like most of us, you've known those who have battled cancer, whether they be survivors or victims. Please give to help fight this disease because it is surely fighting us.

If you'd like to donate to my team:
http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RelayForLifeMid-SouthDivision?px=2596217&pg=personal&fr_id=9413

If you want to donate to ACS in another way:
www.cancer.org

Thank you and may God bless us all.

3 Weeks From Tomorrow

Three weeks from tomorrow we're set to find out the gender of baby #2. Everyone knows that fathers have a hard time wrapping their heads around the fact that there indeed is a baby growing inside of our wives. Let me tell you it is no easier the second time around. Intellectually I know it is so. I've heard heartbeats and seen the changes in my wife's body. But that deep down comprehension is as of yet unattainable.

The appointment went well. All the blood tests have come back good. The baby's heartbeat was found today in about a nanosecond and sounded strong at about 150 beats per minute. So far Liz's weight gain has been....JUUUUUST KIDDING! I was not born yesterday.

I will try to get the first ultrasound pictures on before the second one comes and goes, I promise.

One other matter. Time. It is the great crippler of good intentions. It keeps pregnant mothers from the exercise they need to be getting. It keeps fathers from getting the spiritual work of the household done as they should. Yet, not time, but priorities. Yes there are things that must be done. Dinner must be prepared, dishes and laundry done, yards mowed. But if one does a better job of putting more important things first, I think we'll find we do have enough time to get it all done. Nothing easier than saying it, nothing harder than doing it.

I leave you with a quote from Frank Zappa:
"Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana."

It's punny.

Aiden at the Park

We took Aiden to Basil Griffin park here in Bowling Green on Saturday. It was a beutiful day and Aiden got all he could out of it.

Open the door, get on the floor

Everybody walk the dinosaur

(fellow 80s children will get that joke)

READY OR NOT..

HERE I....

COME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First Household Devotion

Talking with one of our preachers recently he mentioned in passing that they had devotions for their children. Now we've worked with Aiden on memory verses, prayers and bible class material, but never a devotion like that. The preacher mentioned some ideas for us to try when I asked him about it, so last night was devotion #1.

Our subject was God and what God has given us. We began with a short memory verse then asked for an example of what God has given each of us.

Liz said God has given her Aiden. (She stole my answer, but I'm not bitter.)

I said God has given me a wonderful family.

Now it's Aiden's turn.

"Aiden, what's something God has given you?"

"Uh, uh.....chicken."

Hard to argue with that answer. God has given us chicken.

Multiplication

"Then God blessed them and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply...'" -Genesis 1:28

Who are we to ignore the word of God?

With that in mind, Liz and I are happy to announce to anyone who doesn't already know by my big mouth that we are expecting our second child November 7th. With God's blessing this child will be as healthy and happy as our son is.

Please be mindful of us in your prayers as we go through the pregnancy of little Arthur Aloicious...

Just kidding. That's not the name and we don't even know the gender yet. I just know how much Liz loves the name Aloicious.

The baby probably looks something like this right now...(even though this is NOT OUR ultrasound picture)

Spring Fever

Spring has arrived in South Central Kentucky, and with it the need to do more chores outside than inside. The warm weather, the sun, the dirt, the sweat, the earthworms....all good things.

Aiden was eager to help dig while we were doing some work on the roughly 5000 square feet of flower beds around our house (it's not really that much.) We spent a couple days on the front beds with plenty of work ones out back and in the patio area.

My favorite story from these first couple days doesn't involve Aiden at all, but his Aunt Ester. Ester is apparently deathly afraid of earthworms. Her maniacal and saidistic brother-in-law decided to exploit that weakness by throwing Hermie the Wormie at her while she helped with the beds. I've never seen such an explosion of athleticism nor heard quite so shrill a scream.

Aiden said she scared him. I told him, "It's OK. She just scared half of Warren County."

Aiden believes there should be some reform to child labor laws.

Yes he's seeding dandelions in my yard, but when you're cute, you can get away with a lot of stuff.

Aiden walking off the job site.

Easter 2008

Little Bunny Foo Foo
Hopping through the forest
Scooping up the field mice
And bopping them on the head

Easter was a breezy, chilly Sunday afternoon in Bowling Green this year. Several families, including ours, were invited to a potluck Easter luncheon and egg hunt at the Houchens Center for Women (a historic home in downtown BG where we just happened to have our engagement dinner.)

Aiden wasn't feeling particularly well as he was trying to work in a molar, but he still had a pretty good time.

Aiden gathers an egg after a little coercing from Momma.

I normally don't like grass this tall, but it worked great for the picture.

Ignore that my eyes are clearly shut, and this is a great picture of my family.

Aiden & Big Red

It is a well known fact that the best mascot in college sports is WKU's Big Red. What is he? Is it a he at all? It doesn't matter what Big Red is exactly, it's just a great mascot with lots of energy, fan interaction and a big round belly that kids love.

Aiden, ever since shaking Big Red's hand at the South Alabama game in February, has been obsessed with seeing Big Red again. He told everyone he met that Big Red touched his hand. Then he would wake up every morning asking us to see Big Red.

With WKU's Toppers and Lady Toppers both qualifying for the Big Dance, we had two more chances to see Big Red. We couldn't go to the men's selection party because it was on Sunday, during evening church services. So we went to the Lady's Topper's selection party on Monday night. When we got home, had a lowgrade fever and had lost his appetite. By morning, he was all better. I can only assume he had a mild case of March Madness. It's going around.

Here are some pictures: (and in case you're wondering, potty training continues to progress well.)

Urination Celebration!!!!

Aiden has peed in the potty.

Even better; Aiden has peed in the big boy potty.

Granted, it was a very small amount, but we're still celebrating. (And after WKU's home loss to South Alabama, I was looking for a reason to celebrate frankly.)

Celebrate with us. Blow a horn, twirl a noisemaker, eat some cake, whatever you feel is appropriate.

Aiden enjoying a magazine....like father, like son.

Good articles...nice photography.

What do you know? Lemurs are omnivorous.

If you look really, really, really closely you can see the actual urine.

Aren't you glad you stopped by this site to see Aiden's pee?

A New Career

In today's competitve job market, you simply cannot start career training too soon. And the jobs that were available for our parents, aren't available for our children. The manufacturting jobs that led the United States into incredible prosperity over the last five decades are largely outsourced overseas and across borders in the name of cheap labor.

Two excellent sources of income remain in this land. One being the service industry, where people are helping people with specialized training. The medical profession is a great example of this.


The other is the world of entertainment. However, with American Idol and country music's youth movement, even the singing industry is inundated with more talent then it can possibly use. Hollywood is swooning in a world of bad remakes and even worse sequels. But one art remains. One form of entertainment that is as pure today as it was centries ago at its root. That art, is the art of being a circus freak.

Freaks, ahem, entertainers like:

Siamese (Cojoined) Twins

The Bearded Lady

The Human Contortionist

Some will say that we're foolish to allow our son to pursue this type of career. After all the world of human contortionist is a very competitive industry filled with talented freaks, small meals and hours upon hours of yoga. But we decided long ago to allow Aiden to pursue any career that interested him outside of drug pushing, inappropriate filmmaking, and of course, amusement park character.

Playtime with Carter

Aiden had Carter over on Monday while Carter's mom had dinner with a friend. The two of them are pretty good at playing with each other. Aiden still isn't too keen on sharing his toys, but he can be talked out of it after some coercing.



The nights festivities included racing tractors, blowing up cavemen, playing basketball, running aimlessly, eating some homemade pizza and watching Backyardigans.

A cute little pose of both the boys.

Aiden either winning the tractor race by a wide margin, or

losing it by a wide margin. Depends on your outlook.

Watching your backyard friends, the Backyardigans!! Together in the backyard again!

But they weren't so into it that they couldn't pose for another picture.

We Should've Named Him Peter Pan

Maybe if we had named him Peter Pan instead of Aiden Christopher, then he wouldn't be growing up so doggone fast. As I told a good friend, if the above picture wasn't so cute, I'd hate it. But he is growing up. He forms more and more sentences all the time. He's saying the blessing before meals (using the "repeat-after-me" format) and while it's all fun to watch and experience it gives you that icky feeling in the pit of your stomach to know how quickly it's all passing by.

Christmas Pics

I'm the world's worst at getting pictures. I just don't want to fool with it. I'd much rather enjoy the moment then worry about catching it with my camera. In the future, I'll kick myself for this attitude.

For now, here are some of the pics we took at Christmas... (begin humming Jingle Bells here)

Here's a VERY classy looking picture of our fireplace

(notice the ambiance...oooooh)

Aiden opening a present

Aiden up close and personal

All decked out, but no snow