Well that was fun....

So it was 3/3:30ish A.M. last night when I looked at the monitor and saw our sweet child playing in his room with the lights on.  Excellent.

He hasn't been sleeping that great lately and been begging to come get in Mommy & Daddy's bed.  He used to never wake up, but he has recently.  Boo.  Yes, we have royally screwed up and let him sleep with us just one time too many and now he wants to do it every night {which doesn't happen}.  We really didn't think he slept with us that much, just a few times a week, maybe 2-3, and it was mostly just on weekends.  Keep in mind, he used to NEVER sleep with us.  He never did when he was little.  Once he hit about 2, he'd sleep with us on trips, but that was about it.  It's really just been in the last few months that we've let him do it more.  I think it's just because he's just so darn precious, and I'm starting to have a little sadness that our one-on-one time is waning.  He's a snuggler and aren't all kids just so, so sweet when they are sleeping.    When I watch him sleep, I just can't get over how perfect he is.  What a blessing!

I'm super excited about his baby sister and can't wait to meet her, but I think I'm starting to go through those feelings that most moms of more than one kid face... how is it possible that I can love someone else as much as this little guy.  I know it's there and that your "heart doubles" and all, but it's just a hard thing to grasp until she gets here.

Anyways, back to our little incident last night.  So.... I got up to go turn the light off and politely ask him to get back in bed except that when I went to turn the handle, it was LOCKED.  Somehow the child had managed to lock himself in his room.  Really?!?  I started to panic a little but thought, hey, these look like the locks that were on our bedroom doors growing up, which I was a master at picking, so no problem, right?!?  Well, apparently they aren't.  The straightened clothes hanger didn't work.  Crap.  We have one of those plastic childproof door things on the inside so he can't get out, but this certainly wasn't what we had in mind... we are still supposed to be able to get IN.  Somehow he had turned the little lock on the knob that is just barely exposed in the hole in the plastic knob cover.  Again, really?!?  At 3:30am.  Oh, and Andrew has to be at work at 4:00am during September because it's teal and gator season.  This was certainly NOT what he wanted to be doing even EARLIER than he was already having to be up.  So, at this point, we're a little concerned and talk of kicking in the door was coming up.  We've already had our front door kicked in by a stranger, I really didn't want to have to go through that again, much less at our own cost.  I don't think insurance would cover this incident.

Not knowing any better, when Andrew walked away to try to find a credit card or something to stick in the door to try to open it that way, I thought that unscrewing the door knob would work.  Seems plausible, right?  Apparently that is NOT going to work since it was locked and you would still have to turn the knob, which we couldn't do.  So, I frantically held onto one side and was shouting at Carson to not pull on the knob on the other side (probably a dumb idea since half the time he likes to do the opposite of whatever we say).  I couldn't get the screws lined up and was really starting to panic at this point.  Again, the kicking the door in conversation resurfaced.  Andrew even went and put on his shoes.

As a last resort (before kicking in the door... because that was the true last resort), Andrew got a flat head screwdriver and was able to wedge it in the door jamb and get it open, with only minimal damage to the door itself.  Praise Jesus my husband apparently knows how to break & enter!!!

I was SOOOOOO thankful that Andrew was home because I really wasn't sure what to do.  I was trying to stay calm, but there certainly was some panic setting in.  What if there had been an emergency, and I couldn't get in there?  What if I hadn't gone down there and didn't discover until the morning (when I was alone) that he was locked in?  Carson was WAY too wired to go back to sleep at this point, so {for the last time for a while...promise} we put him in our room and he finally went to sleep after Andrew left for work.  The first thing I did this morning was to switch the knob to the lock side facing OUT.  I feel like the mean parent that does that so they can lock their kid in their room.  Then again, isn't the childproof thing on the inside essentially doing the same thing??  He likes his room and it's not like he's screaming at the door trying to get out.   He honestly has only done that a couple times.  If he got up before us, he'd usually just go to the door and if it didn't open, he'd just go get a book or toy and play quietly until we got there.

This morning was NOT an easy morning for him.  He was SO tired.  I rarely have to wake him up, but he just did not want to get out of bed.  He was easily awake from about 3:00am to 4:30am.... so were we.  Practice, right?!?!  ;-)

So, fun stuff.  PSA for the day - If your locks are on the inside, be sure you have a KEY or at least a person small enough to not be able to mess with the lock!

WHY???

Shortest post ever...

We have officially entered the "WHY?" phase....

.... and you better come up with a good answer QUICK or else Carson becomes a broken record.

THREE!!!

I wanted to try to document a little bit of Carson's life at THREE, so here we go.  I know I'm missing a ton, but this is the first stuff that came to mind.

 

Here we are.... another year down!!! Our sweet (not so) little boy is THREE!!! WOW!!!

 

(Birth, 1 Year Old , 2 Years Old, 3 Years Old!)

Where do I even start???  How about a few pics from his actual birthday (yeah, I realize it was over a month ago)...  I posted a few videos back on his actual birthday.

 

He got a few new trains.... Gordon & Henry.

 

 

Ready for school!

 

 

We had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon, so Mommy just brought donuts to school. I don't think Carson minded. The kid LOVES donuts!

 

 

A few more little presents after school....

 

 

His request.... the Stanley train

 

and signal crossing... 



 

Playing with the new trains...

Yep, Mommy needs to tighten the elastic on his shorts... There is no sagging allowed in our house!

 

Ghetto kid

 

We asked him where he wanted to go eat for his birthday, and he quickly said "CHEDDARS!"  So, we went to Cheddars.  He ordered his favorite, chicken & french fries.  He even shared his fries with Stanley and Thomas.

 

 

He picked a cheesecake sampler at the grocery store versus a small cake or cupcake (which he didn't end up eating... Mommy did!)  He also picked out a birthday balloon!

 

 

 

 

Of course, we let our sweet little birthday boy sleep in Mommy & Daddy's bed on his birthday!

 

So a little about Carson these days....

  

Carson is FULL of energy and just jumps all the time when he's happy!!  People that don't know him will comment, "Oh, must have just had some sugar today" or something along those lines.  We just respond, "Nope, this is him all the time!"  To which, the person usually responds, "If I could only bottle some of that up."  For real!  He does have some calm times though.  He can be a great snuggler and will happily lay and watch TV or play iPad if he's tired.  He LOVES to be in Mommy and Daddy's bed, even if it's just to watch TV by himself.  I admit, he almost never slept with us, but I think I know that our one-on-one time is dwindling, so we let him sleep with us a couple times a week and usually one night on the weekend.  The good news is that he loves his bed too and never has a problem going to sleep in it.  It's just a special treat if he gets to sleep with us.  We try not to do multiple nights in a row because that's when he starts thinking that's the norm.  He loves for me to hold his hand.  He loves to give hugs and kisses.  He is my sweet, sweet boy!

Carson has the BEST smile and laugh!!!  Those dimples and smile are just irresistible!

At this stage, his greatest gift, no doubt, is his ability to light up a room and bring a smile to any one's face.  No matter where we go, he makes friends.  There is not a shy bone in his body.  When we walk through the grocery store or restaurant, he just says "hey" or "hi" to everyone.  He walked up to an older 'grandma' type at Market Basket and just jumped up and down and said "It's my birthday!"  She just beamed at his cuteness and started asking him questions.  They both loved it!.  Restaurant servers just think it's so cute when he shouts "Sprite, please!" when they are taking drink orders and "Chicken & French fries, please!" during the food order.  When bring a refill or food, he always says "thank you!"  I have to admit, it is pretty darn cute.  We've worked a lot on manners, so it's so nice when that pays off.  They do quite a bit.  I'm so proud of his use of 'please', 'thank you', 'excuse me', and 'yes ma'am' and 'no sirs.' We went to a Mexican buffet after church and as soon as we walked into the food area, he declared, "It smells delicious!"  One of the servers walked by right as he said it and they just smiled.  Daddy fished a tournament last weekend, so Carson and I had a date to DQ.  He was friends with everyone that worked there before we left.  He might have stolen the show at my brother's wedding.  Carson owned the dance floor and photo booth!  He also certainly made quite the entrance to the ceremony and decided he wanted to help with our reading as well.  There is an older lady in a wheel chair a few doors down that lives alone.  We go down there every now and then and she just LOVES Carson.  He just brings a smile to her face.  He plays with her little dog and just talks her ear off.  When he had his swimming lessons a few weeks ago he just talked and talked.  His teacher asked me if he was ever not happy.  Of course, the answer is "yes", but her point was that he was just a joy.  She loved their little conversations.  This boy will talk your ear off!  I LOVE how their little mind works at this stage.  It's just hilarious.  It's also funny (and a little scary sometimes) the stuff they say that you know for a fact was something they picked up from somewhere else.  As I mention below, Carson's memory is unreal. 

He is really starting to get into the 'make believe' world. He loves to play trains, cars, planes, pirates, etc. and pretend different scenarios are playing out. He always will yell out, "What are we gonna do???" if something bad is happening.  He frequently acts out scenes from TV show or movies.  He's always been great at independent play but also loves for us to play different things with him.  He LOVES to 'wrastle' and play 'hide' [and seek].  He LOVES to play 'hide' and 'roar' with Daddy.  He LOVES for Andrew to jump out and scare him.  He just laughs and laughs.... and it's a pure joy belly laugh.  Love.  Lately, he's been into playing football in the backyard, even though his favorite part is just watching Mommy and Daddy throw the ball.

His memory is fabulous!  He knows everybody and remembers everything.  So, better not do anything he doesn't like because he WILL remember. :-)

I can also tell that the "3's" are the testing phase.  Yep, we're there.  He clearly knows when he's not supposed to do something, but will give you this little smirk (that's pretty hard to resist even though I know what he's about to do is not right) and see what Mommy or Daddy are going to do about it if he does it.  He is also PERSISTENT.  Oh. my. gosh.  He's also got a stubborn streak... wonder where he got that?!?!  Even though he is a tester, if he thinks he made you 'sad', he gets so upset.  He wants everyone and everything to be happy.  There is a willow tree on the way to school that looks sad (since they are all droopy), but everyday we try to make it happy by being nice to our friends and listening to our teachers.  It sounds silly, but it works.  He will cry if he thinks he made the tree sad and will say with tears in his eyes and sniffles running down his nose that he wants to make it happy.  This also worked this past weekend at my brother's wedding.  When he didn't want to wear his bow tie and suspenders at first, I told him that Uncle Dave and Erin were going to be so sad if he didn't wear it since they picked it out for him for their wedding day.  Done deal.  He didn't want to take it off after that.

Potty training is still in progress.  He rarely has tee tee accidents, but that afternoon poop can still be a struggle.  His teachers asked if we could go back to pull ups for a little while until he got the hang of going poop at school.  I felt so bad because they were having to clean him up almost every afternoon there for a week or so (and poop in big boy pants is NO FUN).  Amazingly, he does keep them dry and just occasionally still has a poop accident.  He did really good the past week, so they were happy to go back to trying just big boy pants again.  Of course, the first day he did that, he had an accident again.  He just gets so busy and occupied (it usually happens when they are outside playing) and forgets about it.  At home we have a big boy pants only policy (except at night and naps on the weekend).  He's getting better at telling us if he needs to go even though we still make frequent trips just to be safe.  He's been awesome about holding his tee tee if we are in the car or something.  I just wish he would TELL us when he needs to go because right now it's really up to us to make sure we take him regularly.  We'll both forget and then that's when the accidents happen.  :-(

Oh, and your Mommy thinks it's pretty cool that the future King of England decided that he wanted to share his birthday with you!  :-)

Carson's birthday party was a couple weeks after his actual birthday.  It's blogged about here in case you missed it.   He had a BLAST swimming with his cousins and friends!

Carson.... WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!! You wear us out but bring us SO much joy!!! You are such a light in the life of everyone who knows you. You are so smart, so bright, and just so full of life! You are spirited and certainly know what you want. We are so excited to see you take on the role as big brother in just about 3 months! We love your sweet and tender side and know you will be an awesome big brother!! Please don't ever stop wanting to snuggle or hold my hand. I know you already don't like me to call you my baby, but you always will be!

First Movie! - Disney's PLANES!

When we first started potty training and Carson earned his first "special prize", he (without hesitation) picked some Disney Planes figurines off the shelf at Target even though neither one of us knew there was a new movie.  This was over a month before the movie was suppose to come out, but as soon as he saw the trailer (which we looked up on the computer), he was hooked!  We had bought a couple books as other potty training "special prizes", so he was totally into it.  Every time the commercial came on TV, he would get so excited and yell out "we're going to go see that Dusty movie!"

 

We took off a little early last Friday to give this whole movie thing a shot.  If you know Carson, you know he does not sit still for long, so we went into this experience expecting to not make it through the whole movie.

 

 

He was SO excited!

 

Had to have popcorn and a Sprite (and Sour Patch Kids for Mommy)...

 

He's a big kid and could barely hold the seat down with his body weight.  It kept 'eating' him.  He pretty much sat in my lap most of the time or jumped up and down in front of his chair.  Luckily the theater wasn't crowded and he's not tall enough to block anyone's view, so we just let him stand there and jump versus fighting a lost fight to keep him in his chair.

 

There were two trips to the potty.  One was successful, one was just because he needed to be able to run around for a few minutes.  Fine with me.

 

He pretty much knew the entire plot going into the movie because we have a couple Planes books.  He narrated the whole thing and yelled out each new character as they made their debut in the movie.  I thought it was pretty cute. 

 

Mommy and Daddy were ready for the movie to be over, but he wasn't.  He wanted to watch it again.  Yep, Wannie and Papi or Gigi and Pops can do that.  :-)

 

We all survived!

 

He seriously did start crying in the car because he wanted to go watch "the Dusty movie" again.  I have to say, by VERY active 3-year old boy standards, he did really good.  I think he enjoyed the previews just as much as the movie.  There were some cute ones!  What's sad is that this was the first movie in probably 5 years (at least) that I had been to.  We just don't go to movies.  We're Netflix people.  Well, Andrew prefers Netflix over going to the movies.  :-)

 

 

Race on Over, Carson is 3!!!

We kept it easy this year and had a pool party at the little pool we joined in our area.  He told me a LONG time ago that he wanted a Cars party, so Cars party it was. Of course, he was totally back into Thomas and the new Planes movie by the time the party rolled around, but he does still love Cars.  Carson LOVES going to the pool and this time of year it is hot as heck, so a pool party was easily the best choice for us! 

 

I'm NOT a Pinterest mom and don't feel bad about it anymore.  I wish I was more creative and had the time and money to do all that cute stuff, but it's not worth the stress.  It's not something that comes naturally to me, so I quit forcing it.  Decorations were minimal and consisted of checkered flag table cloths and a cheap plastic checkered flag pendant banner (all from Amazon).  I stayed true to my decision after the last two years to not bake anything... cake and cupcakes were all from HEB with Cars toppers from Party City.  No other food was involved since it was late afternoon.  It was stress free and perfect.  Carson had fun and that's what mattered!

 

It was mostly family and Carson had a blast swimming with everyone!  Thanks to everyone who came out, and especially those who made the trek from out of town!

 

 

 

I think Carson stuck his finger in each and every one of the cupcakes before the day was over... the cake too!  Little stinker!

 

This pic pretty much sums up what he did for 2 hours!  Love it!  No fear!!!  (I wish his swimming skills were a little more advanced so that I didn't have any fear either!)

 

Everyone loves relaxing in the shallow end... perfect for kids and adults!

 

Sweet Lottie Bell!

 

 

He wore his grandfathers out!  It's tiring making sure he gets to the wall!

 

 

All the big boys loved showing off their swimming skills too, Speedos and all!

 

The girls!!!

 

The cousins!

 

 

Carson's friends from school, Cooper & Koby!

 

 

Precious Addison!

 

The mashed cake.... Mater is sinking (thanks to Amanda!) haha

 

It was a little lot windy... thankfully my dad got the candle lit because I sure couldn't!

 

 

The only two girls as of now... that's changing in November!

 

Mr. Toby and his sweet niece

Khaki, Wannie, and Papi

 

The proud parents (without the birthday boy)... just realized we didn't get a picture with him... he was too busy running around like a wild man I'm sure.

 

Hanging out with Gigi & Pops

 

 

Cool train from Vivi & Doc

 

 

Hand-carved!

 

He was not ready to leave at all!  We had a great time and totally lucked out that there was decent cloud cover which made it not so hot!  :-)

 

Happy birthday, sweet Carson!!!!  We love you!!!