How Could I Forget?

A couple more things that have been going on recently...

Diaper changes are NEXT TO IMPOSSIBLE. The second he gets on the changing table he flips over to his tummy. As soon as I flip him back over, he flips back over again... and again... and again. It's a fight every time! Think it's okay for me to strap him down??? :-) If it's not flipping over, it's slapping the wall or kicking the pictures hanging over the changing table. We've already lost one picture (even though they are hung with nails and those 3M "velcro" picture hangers).

The other thing is that Carson has now decided he likes sleeping on his stomach some of the time. Considering how much he LOATHED tummy time for so long, I find this funny (and a little scary). He doesn't really turn his head all the way to the side, he sticks it almost straight down. I've also had to move the monitor to a new location so I can see the entire crib on the screen. He LOVES to roll all around and end up curled up on the other end with his feet slung up on the bumpers. He wrestles with his bear and sleeps hugging it with either an ear, tail, or nose in his mouth.

9 Months!!!

Someone has been "out" as long as he was "in"... give or take! :-)

We don't have our 9 month check-up until next Monday, so I don't have any "official" stats yet, but I'm pretty sure Carson is ~25 pounds and 30-31." I didn't ever realize how big he was until I had him around other babies. There was a sweet little 11-month old girl at a baby shower I went to and he just towered over her. Her mommy did say she was on the shorter side. More to love on if you ask me!

Stats aside, our little man is just pure JOY!!! I absolutely love this age!!! He's had a lot of non-joyous moments this week because he has been a teething MACHINE. A couple weeks ago, the two top teeth popped through just one after the other and now the other two top teeth have just made their debut. The next two bottom teeth are on the verge of busting out any day! He went from 2 teeth as of April 13th to almost EIGHT by the end of the month! CrAzY!!! Although he's been a grump off and on during the day, he's still sleeping at night. THANK GOD.


He's still not crawling yet, but he is definitely mobile in his own way. I'll turn around for 2 seconds and he's rolled across the room. Let's just say we've learned our lesson about not turning around and leaving him alone for any amount of time, no matter how short. He also goes from sitting over his front legs up to on his hands and knees all by himself. He'll rock back and forth and even take a hand step or two. He'll often drag both knees forward at the same time and then crash. So, he's definitely getting VERY close. Still haven't baby-proofed. Whoops!

Carson hasn't pulled up in his crib yet, but that's probably more because it's hard to reach the railing because the bumpers are thick. He stands up from sitting all the time if holding my hands. He'll stand all day long if holding onto something. He'll stay balanced by himself for just a second or two if on his own.


Carson still generally eats like a champ unless he's really tired or in the middle of prime teething time (which has been the case off and on this week). That usually means his face ends up smeared with oatmeal and whatever fruit/veggie he's eating. He still loves oatmeal and baby fruits & veggies. I'm still trying to make most of the veggies and some chicken/veggie concoctions. He has definitely got the pincer grasp down. This kid can feed puffs, yogurt melts, little bites of whatever you give him and get it to his mouth like a champ...with his LEFT hand.

Carson is still getting mostly breast milk thanks to an awesome pump, but he doesn't really nurse anymore. He's just not interested and doesn't want to sit still long enough. He's showing many signs that he will be a very independent child. He wants to hold his own bottle, but he still doesn't have gravity figured out really well. Unless he's laying down, he seems to just blow bubbles in the bottle. I think I may try those sippy's with a straw. He'll have the bottle in one hand and a toy in the other. The bottle is not a toy though. As soon as he starts playing with it, it's gone.

Back to the independence thing, I am AMAZED at how well he plays by himself. He is SO observant and studies everything. He loves to just sit there and "read" books and examine all of his toys. He loves books!!!


His favorite "words" are "ga-ga", "ba" (bottle), and "ma ma."

He LOVES to clap!!! He claps on command if you say "Yay".

He can blow a duck call...pretty good too!!!

He's still sleeping fabulous at night, from about ~8:00pm to ~6:30/7:30am. Nap times are also getting easier...occasionally longer too! He seems to have dropped his third nap on most days and is not taking two slightly longer than before naps, one mid-late morning and one mid-late afternoon. By "slightly longer" I mean occasionally 45 minutes to an hour. Occasionally.

He LOVES being outside!!! He also LOVES the dogs!!! He loves watching them play fetch and wrestle. He likes to pet them while he's in the high chair.

A few other stats:

-Size 4 diapers
-He's in pretty much all 12-month and 18-month clothes. I don't buy anything smaller than 18 or 24 months.

Fun with Wannie & Papi

I took these cute pictures at the beginning of April and never posted. Enjoy!






Checking out Papi's Garden...










Pretty butterfly on the azaleas...

Make Ya Smile Mondays

New Discovery

A picture would certainly not be appropriate for this post...

Someone has recently discovered what makes him a boy.

Now he has a built-in toy during diaper changes.

Excellent.

JAWS!

Someone is going to have as many teeth as Jaws before long!!! Holy Moly! I just posted about the debut of Carson's first top tooth, well, it doesn't look like it was alone. The other top tooth has already come through, AND it looks like there's at least one more on top and one more on bottom on their way! This kid is changing like CrAzY!!! I am SO thankful though that they are all just coming in at once versus spreading out the whole teething process. It's not fun for anyone.

Had to Make Something!

I've been wanting to giving sewing another try but haven't had time to go buy any cute material. I have aspirations of making little jon jons or rompers because they look so easy. How simple of a silhouette can you get?!? (I say that now!)

Anyways, last weekend the sewing itch took over me and so this is what I came up with based on what I had...old t-shirts!

Andrew's old shirt...


Carson's new play clothes!




I think it's actually kind of a cute idea, if you don't have enough to make one of those t-shirt quilts or you already have too many blankets, why not make play clothes for your little ones.

I was already playing around with business names and slogans, but let's face it, I can't sew THAT good. I wouldn't dare let some look at it up close or inside out! :-) Maybe someday if I actually can sew, it would be fun to have a little Etsy shop or something just to do on the side. Right now, I'm just happy working with my hands and making something for my little man.

The First Casualty

Poor Baby Elmo...I'm pretty sure he never wanted to be an amputee at such a young age.



I'm sure Baby Elmo will be the first of many things our son will destroy. He's a boy. He's going to destroy things. Let's just hope he doesn't do what my brother did and set the garage work bench area on fire. I don't think Andrew has explosives lying around like my dad did. (Background info - my dad was the "Medicine Man" for the YMCA Indian Guide program, thus he went all out and always had to put on a big production at the bonfire ceremony during campouts. This included an array of pyrotechnics. Pretty cool stuff...especially to a little boy.)

Lefty?

Okay, well what I hoped wouldn't be the case, appears it just might be the case. It may still be to early to tell, but there are definitely indicators that our little man might be a lefty. I have nothing against lefty's, but the world certainly seems to cater to right-handed people, especially when it comes to teaching how to write.

Andrew's a lefty, I'm a righty. From what we can tell at this point, Carson appears to be following in Daddy's footsteps. He CLEARLY has a hand preference when he's eating his puffs and yogurt melts. It's left, no doubt. I'll even push them to the far side of the high chair and he still reaches across with his left hand to get them. He is definitely less coordinated with his right hand when eating. When he's playing, he seems to use both quite a bit, but when it comes to eating, it's all LEFT.

The good news if he is left-handed is that Andrew is too. I'll just be the odd person out around the house. Looks like Daddy may be the one to teach him how to write!

Reverse...

Little man still hasn't mastered crawling yet, but he's got the reverse scoot down. He pushes all the way up in kind of a yoga "cobra" position and then thrusts himself backwards. He's got one of those floor mats now so there's less friction than there was with the carpet. He can go a long way in reverse, pretty funny. He pushes himself backwards into the couch, the dresser, under the coffee table, etc. Even when he wants to go forward, he goes backwards. If he needs to go forwards, he can certainly get there by rolling around every which direction. It's funny looking back and thinking how late he was in rolling from his back to his tummy. He certainly has no issue with it now. This child will roll across the whole room. He actually likes tummy time now. He's realized he can get to stuff so much easier this way. He's moving from sitting to his tummy on his own, usually from crashing trying to get something. Monday night he even pushed up to all fours all by himself! As I've said before, when you put him on his hands and knees, he rocks back and forth and was thrusting forward, but would just collapse. He still collapses, but a few times, he's moved his hands or knees forward, just not together. He's getting there!

Super cute, unrelated pics (because every post has to have at least one picture or it's boring).

Only our Child...

He can't crawl, but he can blow a duck call...



He's been playing with one of Andrew's duck calls for a long, long time. He immediately brought it to his mouth...could this be genetic??? A couple weeks ago he actually figured out how to blow it. Youngest duck caller ever, maybe?!?!? :-)

The Nuge...

Believe it or not, we went and saw Ted Nugent on Friday night out at Nutty Jerry's in Winnie. Mark Chesnutt opened the show, which was a nice (and random) bonus. I knew just about every song he played, but didn't realize they were all his songs. He had quite a few big hits back in the early 90s. The majority of country music just isn't what it used to be. He plays good 'ole true honky tonk country. That part alone was a great show! It's a really neat venue as well. We were probably less than 20' from the stage, so we had AWESOME seats!

Mark Chesnutt


Now, the Nuge. WOW. Talk about the most interesting mix of people at a show. I could have gone just for the people watching. There were old hippies, old people in general, rednecks, kids, businessmen, a girl in a bikini top/camo pants/Indian headdress, bikers, a very fake older woman complete with huge fake boobs, fake tan, fake hair color (not blonde, platinum white), fake diamond everything (LOTS of rhinestones), and 4" fake red nails that were more like claws...seriously. Go figure, she was sitting at our table. Like I said, the people watching alone was fantastic. Some of the older women were really getting into it and doing that awkward older lady dancing. Classic.

Indian Headdress Girl and the Nuge....


Ted Nugent isn't really my cup of tea when it comes to music, but I have to say it was an impressive show. He can really play the guitar. He did look slightly possessed though. Contrary to what some may think, according to one of his books we read a while back "God, Guns, and Rock & Roll" (which is actually pretty good), he was never into the drug scene that you would typically associate with his type of music and especially that generation of rock stars. He could have had me fooled though, he looked crazy. I guess music is his drug. I couldn't really hear anything until Saturday morning because my ears were still ringing, but I did find myself getting into the music as well.


Jeremy & Jamie










Did you notice all the antlers on the stage? Yeah, pretty awesome.

Make Ya Smile Monday...Glamour Shots!

Okay, so not like the cheesy ones we all did in the 80s/early 90s...but these just crack me up for some reason. It's like he's posing...

Top Tooth Debut!

Carson's been teething again for a while now, and his gums had been SO swollen. We knew it would just be anyday that one of those top teeth would finally pop out. Sure enough, on our anniversary (April 14th) Carson decided to give us his top tooth.

You can just barely see it, but it's definitely there! I've even caught him grinding it against his bottom teeth every now and then...not a pleasant sound. He's going to look so different with top teeth. Much older. I just hope, for his sake and ours, that the other top tooth comes quickly too. The bottom ones came in right after each other, so it was nice to kill two birds with one stone (sort of).








In case you can't see it, it's his top left tooth.

Friday Faves!

1. Okay, so I know this isn't supposed to be all about Carson, but the first two on the list are my FAVES of the moment. He's turned his jumper into a swing, which it clearly states on the instruction manual that this jumper is NOT to be used a swing. He's doing it all by himself and it just cracks me up. He really gets that thing going! Check it out:

Sorry it's sideways...just learned I have to turn my phone sideways to get a video that's facing the right direction.


2. TOP TEETH - I know he seems WAY too young, but YES, Carson's top left tooth broke through yesterday. I've known he was teething again for a while and his upper gums were SO swollen, so I was so happy to actually see the fruit of all his labor making its debut! When I can actually snap a picture, I'll post. This is big deal!

3. Fage Greek Yogurt - It kind of needs fruit or preserves or something added to it, but it is so much richer and creamier than regular, old light yogurt. Yum yum!


4. Humbling moments that make you laugh and take life less seriously - Okay, so Wednesday night I volunteered to go to the grocery store so that I could get out of the house. Grocery shopping and cooking is usually Andrew's deal, but I actually like to go to the grocery store. I obviously don't get out much. Anyways, I had been there over an hour with a FULL basket. About 2/3 of the way through checking out, I go to get my wallet and realize it's still sitting on my desk (that's what I get for online shopping!). Crap. Glimmer of hope.. I have my checkbook, YAY! Nope. Cashier says "No ID = no check." Crap. Well, looks like my $200+ shopping basket will be put on a suspended ticket so that I can go home and get my wallet. Thankfully we only live 5 minutes from HEB. I had to convince the manager that I would actually come back. Apparently, it happens fairly frequently that people DON'T come back and all that food goes to waste, or at least the cold stuff. Just the day before I had been talking about how I was the person behind someone that did this. Instead of just suspending the ticket and moving the stuff to the room where they keep the basket, the cashier was just waiting on the person because supposedly their Lone Star card was in their car. It doesn't take 10+ minutes to run out to your car... hello, they aren't coming back! :) Anyways, I laughed it off. It happens. Oh, and then to make it worse, Andrew unloaded the car and somehow left one (pretty obvious, in my opinion) bag in the back of my car. I found it the next day. Adios, yogurt and chicken salad, nice knowing ya!

5. Simple Solutions - So one of Carson's cute little rompers lost two of the crotch buttons. Crap. Instead of chunking it because I didn't think I could fix it, I picked of a little snaps kit at the little sewing shot, Sew Much More, on Boston Avenue. Who knew how EASY it was to put new snaps on! I'm in the mood to sew again, but I always hated doing button holes, so I'm thinking snaps are a WAY easy alternative. So, if I can ever set aside the time, hopefully I'll have a new project here pretty soon!
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Today We Celebrate...

4 Years of Wedded Bliss!!!

Yeah, that sounds totally cheesy, but it's been true. Sure, everyone has their ups and downs, but fortunately, we've had more ups than downs. A lot has happened in the last four years, but we've been there for each other every step of the way. We've moved from Baytown to Nederland, bought a house, lost two grandparents, struggled with meeting people in a new town, joined a church, and became parents... just to name a few things. I am SO thankful that God put such a wonderful man into my life. We have had four fabulous years, and I look forward to many, many more!!!






We got married in a small country church near the farm. The church, Sts. Cyril and Methodius, is one of the Painted Churches of Texas.






Our whole wedding was very "Andrew and Emily," complete with mallard curls in the boutonnieres, horseshoes & washers, lots of country and classic rock, all the bridesmaids and I had on our cowboy boots at the reception, we served BBQ, had a tractor with a commercial ice cream maker attached making my Meme's famous peach ice cream, and our party favor was Peters Hot Sauce (below).


It was the best wedding I'd ever been to! (Okay, I know I'm biased!) But more importantly, it started the rest of our lives, which has been AMAZING!!! I thank God every day for Andrew. Because of him, I now also have be best gift of all...our precious son!!!