bou-tang clan: giving thanks, getting baptized

Thanksgiving 2011

Another amazing Thanksgiving with the Carnot family. As always Grandma and Grandpa's house and great Grandma Mary's house were packed with family. But its cozy and crazy (good not crazy bad) and wonderful all rolled up together. Our little family is thankful for many things this year but what is at the top of that list is having healthy and happy children. This marks Will's first Thanksgiving and we are very fortunate to have him in our lives. What difficult news to hear during my pregnancy with Will regarding the Single Umbilical Artery (I realize that this is the first time posting about the SUA). Tony and I pulled together, along with the support and love of family and friends, to trust our doctors and their findings. There were many conversations with my midwife, who never broke and was always positive. Family/friends know that I'm not that religious of a person but I do have faith and belief and positive thinking. I was on a roller coaster of emotions but Tony was right there telling me that "you have to believe and trust that everything will be alright and that no matter what, we will have the courage to get through anything". His trust in God and my trust in our midwife settled me. But after a quick and easy labor Will arrived and he was beautiful. What a blessing! This Thanksgiving I was/am thankful for Will and his awesome big brother Jackson, who gave me many hugs and kisses last winter/spring!

Aunt Leslie, Grandma Mary, Aunt Lisa and Will!

Look at that smile!

Adam is so awesome. One night he stopped by to show Jackson his squad car. Jackson was very hesitate and unsure about the whole thing (which is unusual because he loves Adam and loves talking about how Adam is a police man but expected because its a bit intimidating and was pretty dark outside).

Okay, that's better. Jackson finally took a look. Look how happy Adam is!

One Halloween (long ago, like circa 2006) Grandma Chris made the Brewers sausage guys. Jackson found them one, early morning and recruited Aunt Becky and Daddy to join in. Becky is the best.

Aunt Molly and Will enjoying the Pack!

Look at all of those smiles. I wonder where Will gets it from?

"Come on Grandpa. You know better"

This Thanksgiving Kelly and Matt come with their children (Sean and Islay - that makes them third cousins to Will and Jackson, right?).

Great Grandma with the babies.

Its never a family function without whipping cream made of course by Grandpa.

I know this post will be long but I had to include this picture. I don't think people realize how many photos I have of Grandpa and Jackson licking the beaters ... on multiple occasions!

Some much needed time with Great Grandma Joyce.

Happy baby! Hi, hi, hi!

I love this shot. Something about the old and new, and the gentle touch.

Jackson and Will get Baptized

Over Thanksgiving Jackson and Will were Baptized by Father Tim. We had most of the Carnot family there and got many, many pictures. Father Tim is really good at what he does and the ceremony was heartfelt. Some highlights: Jackson stayed still for most of it (don't mind the photo below, we were off to an interesting start but I think Jackson was getting silly because all the attention was on him. He quickly became interested and listened well.), Will didn't cry at all, Jackson dove right into the holy water and helped Father Tim stir (why not, right? Looks like fun. Father Tim was impressed and made a comment to Jackson about being a priest some day), Jackson chimed in here-and-there while we recited Our Father often prompting us with key words like "Our Father" "art" "heaven" "name", "dom (i.e. kingdom)", etc (we practiced a bit but we all were impressed again), and Father Tim referred to all the good and hard times to come as a family (for example he talked about butting heads with high schoolers and being able to pull together ... umm, lets talk about butting heads now. This whole week Jackson has been waking up at 5am. 5am! We often find ourselves pleading with Jackson to sleep in). Thank you all for making the ceremony special and supporting us as a family.

Here's Father Tim and Jackson stirring together. Hilarious! I'm not surprised one bit. I was actually waiting for him to do it ... I saw the "wheels turning" inside his head and I'm really proud he went for it. Curiosity in kids makes anyone smile!