New Year....New Bed

New Years Eve seemed like a good night to start Carter in his toddler bed. We took the front off and attached the rails and he was so excited. He was running in and out of his room, getting into bed, getting out of bed, taking his pillow places and putting it back in his bed. It was awesome.

He went to sleep with no problem. Tomorrow morning may be a different story, though. I'm anticipating a small person licking my nose and saying, "Wake up, Mommy!" at 6 a.m.

Wish us luck!

Some pics of him trying out his new bed. The last one is about 9:00 tonight, after he'd been in bed for about an hour. So far, so good!

School

Ever since the infamous biting incident this summer, we've been trying to get Carter enrolled at Child Development Center near our house. They don't take children under 2 years old so we had to wait until November to even get on the real waitlist (before that, we were waitlisted to be on the waitlist). But, after some persistent calling and begging and chatting, they moved us up based on our "urgent" need and Carter has now been accepted! He'll be going all day and be in a class with 19 other children 2-3 years old. I'm so excited for him...he's going to love it. And the great part for us is that the hours are longer and we're paying the same as were were for part-time care with his current provider. Plus, they feed him lunch trucked in from the local elementary school so I know he's getting a variety of foods rather than just the chicken nuggets, hot dogs, and Chef Boyardee that I'm fairly confident he gets every day now.

We really think he's ready for school. He can recognize all the letters of the alphabet and knows what sound the majority of them make. His favorite car game is to have us do "letters" where we ask him what certain letters say and he tells us the sound. He's pretty darn good at it for being barely two!

He's going to miss his friends, I'm sure, but I'm hopeful he'll make new ones quickly. I'm anxious about the transition but maybe he'll surprise us. We're going to take him a few times beforehand to play for a few hours and then I'm taking off work on his first day so I can be there for a while in the morning if he needs me, and come early if he needs that as well. It's going to be quite a change for him.

Can't and Have To

Carter's new thing? Saying he can't do something, usually pertaining to not being able to reach something. He says, "I caaaan't, I caaaan't." And then if he asks you to do something (like read the book Aunt Jamie got him for the 100th time) and you say no, he tells you that you have to. I say, "No, I don't have to" and he says, "Yes. Have to." It's kind of funny. No idea where he got it from though. I'll blame it on daycare.

Close Trees!

Poor Carter. We're getting new windows tomorrow morning so we took the curtains and curtain rod off his window in preparation so we wouldn't have to do it tomorrow before work/school. I put Carter to bed and made it as far as our room (just across the living room) when he started crying really hard. It was a different cry than his usual I-don't-want-to-go-to-sleep cry. I went in to him and he started asking me to "close trees" in between sobs. He was crying so hard he was shaking and sweating. And it had only been like 2 minutes! I looked out the window and the trees were lightly illuminated from the light from our building. He was scared and wanted me to close his curtains. The trees are really tall and don't have any leaves and it was freaking him out. Poor baby. So we put his curtains back up and I'll just have to take them down in the morning.

Holiday Weekend

This past weekend was chock-full of holiday activities. On Saturday morning, we headed out to a local church that was hosting a free Breakfast with Santa. Carter loved the puppets singing Christmas songs, and the muffins, and seeing Santa. But sitting on Santa's lap? Not so much. He freaked out so quickly we couldn't even get a picture. Oh well. The best part was when we were all trying to get Santa to come out, the whole place was singing Jingle Bells and Carter was singing along with us. It was so cute!

After his nap, we headed up to Maryland to celebrate Hanukkah with my family. Carter played with his cousins, and sang the dreidel song, and loved opening presents. He got some great gifts and was such a good boy the whole day.

On Sunday, Carter and I went to a Hanukkah party sponsored by a local synagogue. We didn't stay long because it was really crowded and a little overwhelming but he colored some pictures, and got some stickers, and played with Legos with other kids before he was ready to head home. We didn't even last long enough to get some latkes and donuts, but I'm grateful for that. Or, rather, my slowing shrinking thighs are.

He's a genius

3 years

It's almost three years to the day from when we lost the Nugget. I don't think about it as often, even though we keep our sonogram picture up on the refrigerator. I can talk about our miscarriage and not cry (usually). I thought I was healed.

And then I watched part of Marley and Me, and all those feelings came rushing in and the tears started flowing. There's a scene where she's having a sonogram and there is no blinking little spot. No heartbeat. And the memories and feelings of being in that doctor's office and realizing that our baby was gone were as real as if they'd happened yesterday.

I thank God for Carter every day, but especially on days like this when the darkness hits and the sadness stays with me. He's my sunshine. My meaning of life.

My baby boy wouldn't be here if we hadn't lost his big brother or sister. And for that baby and that experience, I am forever grateful. Because now we have Carter and he is the truest blessing.

DC Cooking Expo

Now that I have my computer working again, and a few minutes to spare while my meringues are cooking, I wanted to talk about the most awesome birthday present I got this year. Chris got us tickets to go see Paula Deen at the Washington Cooking and Entertaining Expo a few weeks ago. I love me some Paula. And what a creative gift!

Right when we got there, we ran into the Deen boys! I yelled out their name and got Bobby to pose with me (Jamie was on his cell and they were running off to something they were late for).



We entered the expo and it was enormous. Crowds of people everywhere, so we formulated a game plan and started visiting the booths and eating all sorts of yummy samples. It took 2 hours to make our way through the whole show and by that time, it was Paula Time! But first, I had to grab a shot of Carla from Top Chef. I love her. Hootie hoo!



Right before Paula's thing, Richard Blaise (another Top Chef-er) was doing a quick thing so I caught a few pics of him throwing these weird popcorn ball things out into the audience.



Paula's presentation was great! Her husband and boys were there and she answered audience questions. She's so hilarious and lovely and it was so fun to see her in person. Here's a pic from me stalking her on her way out of the theater. She was so close to me but moving too fast for my camera to catch her well (stupid automatic mode...I need to learn how to use this damn thing already).



On our way out, all of the sudden Chris yelled out, "It's Mike Isabella!" and ran up to this guy and started pumping his hand all excitedly. Another Top Chef guy that Chris loves. He was so psyched.



We had such a great time and the show was so fun and interesting. I hope we can go again next year!

Mayday! Mayday!

My computer is dead. I haven't been able to check in with my friends, or play enough Cafe World, or update this blog for a few days now. I have pictures from the Metro DC Cooking Show, where I ran into a few familiar faces. I have pictures from Carter's birthday.

I have stories to tell, like the day he didn't want to get out of the tub even though the water was gone and he was cold and shivering and he said to me, "Mommy, I'm mad!" I laughed and told him, "No, you're not." He said yes, that he's mad and then put his head down. I asked him why, and he looked at me for a minute, thinking about it, and then said, "towel." He was mad because he didn't want to get out of the tub and have me wrap him in a towel to get warm and dry. If that's the worst thing he gets mad at me for, I'm a happy gal.

He's used the "mad" thing a few more times and it makes me laugh inside every time. But I just tell him that it's okay to be mad and to let me know when he's happy again. It doesn't take long. Toddler feelings change more quickly than pregnant women!

Gasp!

I was laying in bed in this morning, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. No real reason...just one of those nights. After a little while, I finally decided to give up and come out to the living room and watch some tv in hopes that it would lull me back to sleep. I thought it was about 5:00 a.m. but gasped aloud when I put my glasses on and looked at the clock and saw what time it really was.

3:46 a.m.

Two years ago, at exactly that moment, Carter was entering this world, fist raised like a rock star. Two years ago, life as we knew it ended and became a distant memory. Two years ago, I became a mom.

Happy birthday, my little Turkey. I love you more than you can ever know.

Time Out

We implemented our first Time Out tonight. Well, make that, our first TWO Time Outs. He responded really well to them, though! Once I sat him down and he realized he was in trouble, he cried for a couple seconds and in between breaths I calmly talked to him about why he was in Time Out and asked if he was ready to do what he was supposed to (in this case, clean up his toys). He said yes and I let him up and he cleaned up his toys! Took all of maybe 20 seconds. A little while later, Chris was trying to have him clean up another part of the room with us and he kept saying no, so he got a Time Out. Again, maybe 20 seconds before he agreed to do what he was asked and didn't cause another problem.

I love Time Out!

ABCs

Carter singing his ABCs...with lots of baby tush. Don't you just wanna pinch those cheeks?

Happy Halloween!

Carter had so much fun trick or treating. We pulled him around in his wagon and he loved getting in and out all by himself and walking up to the doors saying "trick or treat." But, of course, the minute the person answered he got shy and would only say anything if I prompted him on what to say. Then, once he realized what was going on, he kept yelling, "Candy bucket!" between houses. He'd never even had candy before, except for a few M&Ms, but he sure was excited.

His costume worked out really well. He was good about keeping the hood part on and would even do his Frankenstein imitation upon request (but of course I didn't get any video of it...just picture him holding his arms out in front of him and grunting).

He got a pretty decent loot, for only going down one street. Plus, we got leftovers from my in-laws. The funny thing is, where I grew up we had TONS of trick or treaters and we'd give one candy to each because otherwise we'd run out. So, that's what I'm used to happening. Well, didn't I feel stupid when my father-in-law was like, "Feel free to give out more candy. We have plenty." Oops.

All in all, a good night. The weather cooperated for the most part, Carter behaved himself, even staying up until 10:30, and we came home with a ton of candy. The bad part? I started Weight Watchers this week so the candy is just sitting there taunting me. I was very proud of myself though; I made it through Halloween with no candy. I had one candy bar today (so far, LOL) but I'm eating a super healthy dinner so it all balances out.

Bedtime TV

Every night, Carter gets some time to lay in our bed and watch tv and just hang out before he has to go to sleep. He loves laying in Mommy and Daddy's bed and usually asks to watch Horton Hears a Who or Jack's Big Music Show. Tonight, he asked for "Jack" so I put it on but then he changed his mind and asked for "Who" so I switched it over. Again, he changed his mind and said "no Who." I hit stop and asked him what he wanted to watch, Jack or Who. He sat up, looked at me, and said, "Oprah?"

Yep, he wanted me to put Oprah on. So I did and he happily watched for the next 30 minutes.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Going to work

This morning Carter told Chris that he was going to work. He then picked up his "briefcase" (a box with a handle that holds 3 books), gave a hug and a kiss and pretended to leave. He even waved goodbye and pretended to open the door.

Tonight, he did it for me and it may have been the funniest thing he's done so far. Okay, fine, the tooting on command when I put powder on his butt is pretty darn funny, but this is a close second.

He's got great taste

Carter and I walked in the door tonight and I asked if he wanted to watch tv. He turned to me and said, "Tennis?" I said it wasn't on. Then he asked for football. I told him it wasn't on. Then...he asked for TMZ. I kid you not. God, I love him.

Weekend fun!

Carter went to his first bounce party yesterday. He had so much fun! He climbed up the big blowup structures (with some help) and loooooved sliding down the big slides. He wouldn't do it by himself but he had no problem sitting on my lap. Every time we'd get to the bottom and he'd yell "Again!" and go running back to the entrance. They had a bunch of bouncy balls, and bouncy horse things you could ride, and a big firetruck you could bounce inside of (his favorite since he is currently obsessed with firetrucks), and a couple of bouncy slides. Plus he got to eat pizza all by himself and play with his buddy "Handsome" who he has so much fun with.



He had so much fun, in fact, that he didn't want to leave. He gave Handsome a sweet little hug (and when Handsome hugs he pats you with his little hands which just ups the cuteness factor). We went outside and the little turkey just plopped down on the curb and organized a sit-in. Once he sat down, these other kids sat down and no one would go to their cars. Little rebel.





Today we went out to breakfast and after Carter's nap we went to an awesome playground near my house. It's similar to Clemyjontri in that it's made to be accessible to all kids, but it's a much smaller version. He ran and played and had a great time. Then we headed to another nearby playground that has a big sandbox. At first he wouldn't walk on the sand and got all panicky. Then I finally coaxed him in but he wouldn't touch the sand at all. There were a bunch of shovels and sand toys in there so he picked up a small shovel with his forefinger and thumb, scooped up sand, and gently put it in a container. If a grain of sand got on his hand he made me wipe it off. He must have played in the sand, but without actually touching any of it, for 15 minutes. Finally I got him to sit down and touch it with his forefinger and that got him interested. Needless to say, when he got home he got a bath to get all the sand off of his scalp.

It's been a lot of fun seeing his reaction to the season changing. He absolutely loves crunching on the leaves, and collecting pinecones is his new hobby. He lines them up and counts them. Today, he counted straight through to 12! I had to help him because he skipped 10 but once I reminded him about 10, he finished by himself. It was really impressive! A baby genius, that one.

Books on Tape

Now that I have a bit of a longer commute, I've been listening to books on tape. I just finished a 20-cd marathon of The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb. To say I loved it would be an understatement. I truly feel that if I'd sat down and read the book, I wouldn't have gotten even half of the emotional connection to the story that I did. I tend to speed read and gloss over what seem to be boring paragraphs, but listening to it sort of forces you to hear those "boring" parts, that actually turned out to be not boring at all! This book was so amazing. I laughed plenty, I cried even more (with actual tears and snot!) and I looked forward to being in the car every single day.

Now I've decided to get a little culture and I'm starting Pride and Prejudice this morning and really looking forward to it! This book got me interested in reading/hearing some of those books that I never wanted to sit down and read because I thought I'd be bored and I'm looking forward to hearing what all the excitement is all about.

Weekend

My life has been a blur for months now. When I gave my notice at my old job, it was a frantic rush to get them all ready for me to leave. Then I started my new job the day after I left my old one and I'm so busy there that my days just fly. I have no time to read any blogs, talk to my NMD girls, read about what's going on in the world. I'm in an absolute bubble.

So many times I've thought about things that we've done, or things Carter has said and I've wanted to blog about it and share it with everyone, but by the time I get home, and get dinner made, and entertain Carter, and relax a little, I'm ready to fall asleep and start over again the next day.

Our weekends have been busy and full of fun. Sidewalk chalk, crayons, pumpkins, homemade play-doh, hugs and kisses, bubble baths. Lots of good memories being made.

Our version of timeout

We're pretty strict in our house.

Quote of the Day

The funniest part of our Labor Day weekend? We were over my brother's house and Carter said to my niece and nephew, respectively, "Hi Bella! Hi Other Bella!" because he couldn't remember Brandon's name. Cracks me up every time I think about it.

Attacked...again

Tomorrow, I'll be calling the program that we use for Carter's daycare. Remember the biter from last year? He's on the attack again. The other day Carter came home with a bite on his arm and I asked who did it and he said the kid's name. And kept saying, "(name of kid) bite, (name of kid) bite." I talked to Shaista about it and she said she'd keep an eye out. Okay, no big deal. I was just bringing it to her attention so she can look out for this kid biting again.

But today, my baby came home with bite marks all over his arm. At least SIX of them! One of them is pretty bad, but thankfully none of them broke the skin. Chris picked him up and talked to Shaista and she said the kids were playing out back and one of the older kids (about 10 years old) caught the kid biting Carter and tried to stop him but the kid turned on him and started attacking him too! So at least we have it confirmed by a third party who the biter is, and not just relying on the testimony of a one-year-old.

Since this is AT LEAST the 3rd time this has happened, I feel it's time to get the program director involved. I'll be calling tomorrow, you can count on that.

(Click on the pics to make them bigger. You can really see the bite marks in the full size version.)

Puzzles, and other miscellaneous stuff

Carter has several Melissa and Doug wood puzzles that his grandma and grandpa got him for Christmas. He's always enjoyed telling us what the animals are and what noises they make, but he didn't grasp the concept of putting the pieces where they belong. Yesterday, however, we discovered that he can do it now! He picks up the pig, says "pig" and then points out the pig on the puzzle. He has some trouble getting it to fit perfectly and gets frustrated, but he at least understands the concept. So cool!

But what's not cool is that he knows how to curl his little hands into fists and make contact with another person. He does it and then says, "hit" so he knows what he's doing and is doing it on purpose. Not very nice.

Oh,and one more thing. He has a serious OBSESSION with the Horton Hears a Who movie. It's insane. He's constantly asking to watch it and if you try to put it on in the middle, he throws a fit until you start it from the beginning. He won't even watch Yo Gabba Gabba anymore! All he wants is his "Who" movie. Good thing it's a good movie so I don't totally hate it yet. I just wish Horton would sing the alphabet or count to ten or something so I can at least call it educational.

Speaking of counting, Carter has a pretty good grasp on counting. He can count to five pretty much without mistake, if he's really trying. Otherwise, he says, "1,2,5,10!" But he knows the numbers and when you get to 10, he says 11 and 12. So I guess you can say he can count to 12? His favorite is saying, "8,9,10!"

New job

My new job started this past Thursday. I left my old job on Wednesday and started my new one the next day. It would have been nice to have had a day or two to myself, but my old job needed me as long as I could stay and the new job wanted me as quickly as I could. So, that was my compromise.

The first day I spent training on their computer system (it's a different program than the one I used at my old job) and I think I picked it up fairly quickly. It's not really an intuitive program, but I took a lot of notes and screenshots and by Friday I was left to myself to grind out some commitments (I'm a title insurance underwriter) and see how it went. I got a bunch of them back today for edits, but it was stuff that was just related to weird kinks in the program that I need to learn to work around, not underwriting issues, for the most part. So that was good.

The first day has some good stuff and some bad stuff, but it seems to be getting better each day. Right now my desk is right out in the open, no walls or anything. I'm told my cubicle has been ordered but it takes a while for delivery. It'll be nice to have a tiny bit of privacy again. I'm used to having my own office, so the open work environment is taking a little bit of getting used to. The other thing that I didn't like was that on my first day, no one offered to go out to lunch, or sit with me at lunch, or anything. I sat outside on a bench and ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It was lonely and embarrassing, to be honest. Now, I just bring my Kindle and eat in the lunchroom, and chat with whoever's in there. It seems that most of my coworkers eat at their desks, but I don't want to get into that habit. I did that for too many years.

My coworkers are nice for the most part. I'm still getting to know them but we seem to work pretty well together. As with anywhere, there are those I click with more than others, but so far no big conflicts of personality. Ask me again in a few months and I'm sure I'll have more colorful things to say. :-)

So, that's what's new with me. As for Chris, his last day of work is this Wednesday, and then he starts school on Monday. He's very excited!

And little Carter...well, he's just a hilarious dude. He imitates EVERYTHING. We were at Dick's the other day and there was a man bent over, looking at the bottom shelf of one of those glass displays. Carter stood right next to him, leaned over just like the guy was, and smiled at him. The guy was like, "He's imitating me, isn't he?" We said yes and we all laughed and laughed. And then we ate bologna sandwiches. (Only Heather will understand that last line, so the rest of you can ignore it.)

And since I haven't posted any new pictures in forever, here's a pic of Carter after we went blackberry picking a few weekends ago. He tasted some of the merchandise, as you can tell.

Labels

Everything now needs a name. I hear "Wut dis?" a hundred times a day and I never tire of it. First of all, I love the way he says it, but second, I love that he's curious about his world and wants to know what things are. And when I tell him, he repeats the word and moves on with what he was doing.

And there's a new body part that he knows. Armpits! I didn't teach him that; Shaista must have. I was just going through his body parts with him the other day and just decided to ask where his armpits are, thinking he'd say he didn't know. But he reached his arms up so his pits were showing and said "armpits." Love it.

Other than that, we've just been busy wrapping things up at our respective jobs and looking forward to all the changes that are coming. Chris' textbooks came yesterday along with his new graphing calculator (1. damn, those are expensive and, 2. they're just as big as they were in 1993 when I had to use one in high school...isn't technology supposed to be getting smaller???). My job has hired my replacement and she's learning quickly and doing well, and my boss is comfortable with how things are going to end up there. She sort of panicked when I gave my notice because it's hard to find someone who does every aspect of what I do, but thankfully this woman came along and she's going to work out great. It's all going to be good. I feel it.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Chris has applied for and been accepted to utilize the new Post-9/11 GI Bill, since he served active duty after September 11th. He's been talking about going back to school for years now, but it's never been feasible financially. Thankfully, his service has now paid off and he's going back to school next month to finish his degree. He'll be going back full-time, which means he'll be leaving his current job and will be a student and SAHM dad (on the days he has classes at night or no classes at all). This is a good thing for a lot of reasons and we're all very excited about it.

Since he's going back to school and leaving his job, we'll be losing our medical insurance (his company provides our insurance benefits). As much as I love my job and the company I work for, I quickly realized that in order to make this school thing happen, I'd have to move on and find somewhere that can offer me insurance for my family. It was a really hard decision to make, and one that made me cry more than once, but it's a sacrifice I need to make for my family.

I applied for a few jobs that sounded like something I'd be interested in, and I quickly had three interviews lined up. The first interview offered me the job on the spot but I had to wait for a background check to come in, the second interview just didn't feel like a good fit, and with the third interview I got a call 10 minutes after I left offering me the job. After a lot of deliberation and talking to Chris and my mom about the pros and cons of both, I decided to go with Offer #1.

I'll be working for another title company out in Chantilly, so my commute will be quite a bit longer than my current 10-15 minutes, but the pay and benefits are more beneficial to what we need to survive the next few years. I'll miss my one day off a week, but that's sort of gone by the wayside recently anyway since most Mondays I find myself dialing in from home or even going in to the office for a little while.

Giving my notice to my current employer was really, really hard. She and her husband (also an owner of the company) are like family to me and I really enjoy working where I do. But, after seven years, it's time to move on I suppose. I'm really going to miss it there.

One more before I go to bed

One more video before I hit the hay. Pretty self-explanatory.

You spin me right round

Haven't had a video in a while. Here's Carter imitating his buddy, Ricky.

We're here

We're still here. Busy weekends, busier workweeks. Lots of changes but I can't talk about any of them just yet.

We were in Delaware this weekend to see Chris' family and Carter has taken on a new look. Really it's just a furrowed brow but it's hilarious because he can't look at his great-uncle David without making that face. I got a picture of it and will try to post it tonight if I can remember. Poor David. Although Carter did give him a hug when we left, so that was progress. And Chris' grandmother? Well she got tons of kisses and hugs from the little man. It took him a little while (okay, about a year) to warm up to her but he's been asking for her ever since we left on Sunday. We'll have to go back soon. I know that would make his MomMom happy.

Mea Culpa

I recently responded to a blog post of someone I've been reading for a while now. I've found her to be crass, smart, entertaining, and hilarious, but something about this particular post rubbed me the wrong way. And I decided that instead of being my usual non-confrontational self, I'd post a comment expressing my displeasure. She took the time to email me to explain her post a little further and I was really impressed that she cared enough about me as a reader to do that.

But then? I never wrote her back. The email was lost in the insanity of my inbox and I dropped the ball. I should have just written her back right away but life got in the way, I suppose. Now she's called me out on her blog, rightfully so, and I feel like a total shit.

I'm sorry, CP. It wasn't my intention to ignore you or your reaching out to me. I just suck, that's all.

Oh, come on!

I took Carter to the fountain this morning to play and there was a little boy there, maybe two years old, down on the ground crying and having a hissy fit. Carter was very concerned and was watching him for a minute and then said, "Baby?" I said, "Yes, the baby's upset and crying." The mom (or maybe she was the grandmother; she was quite a bit older) made a point of asking me how old Carter is and then said to the other kid, "You're not a baby, are you? You're older than that boy. You're no baby!"

Get a grip, lady. I wasn't trying to insult your kid. Carter calls all kids "babies." He doesn't know the difference. So I told her that he calls all kids babies and she said, "Yeah, at THAT age, they do." in a tone that insinuated that I shouldn't be calling him one. Whatever.

Damn you recession!

We tried to go to our local Fractured Prune yesterday for breakfast. Closed down. Bah.

Feeling Itchy?

Yesterday marked seven years since Chris and I met and started dating. Is the itch supposed to start seven years after dating or seven years after marrying? Because I am feeling just fine, thank you very much.

I give up

I have to give up on Carter's Word List on the right-hand side. He's adding so many new words each day that I'd have to keep a piece of paper and pen on me and write them all down before I forgot. He's doing a lot more combining of words, which is really cute and exciting. He has a little trouble making it flow easily so there's always either a slur in the middle or a little pause between words. For instance, "I louhdooiuyouyouh Mommy" for "I love you, Mommy" or "yellow (pause) bus." And another thing I'm noticing is that sometimes he gets his letters out of order. Like, he'll say "pack" instead of "cap" or where "zebra" used to be "bahbrah" it's now "bahbree."

A new thing he's doing that I just love love love, is that he kisses everything. He pulls my shirt up and kisses my bellybutton as I'm standing over his crib. And then will walk around and kiss all four sides of his crib. And then the tv. And the coffee table. And himself in the mirror.

In case you were concerned, and I'm sure all four of you are, Carter's butt is much, much better. I'd say it's about 90% healed. I really think it's the Epsom baths that did it. That stuff is magical!

Two Days Later

Still a very angry butt. Between the last post and when we went to the doc the next day, the part at the top got more brown and scabby, rather than bumpy and red.

The doctor was, um, confused, as to what was going on. He called it "interesting." He put Carter on a trifecta of steroid cream (just for a day or so to get the anger away), then antibiotic and Lotrimin. He said between the three, one of them should work. Helpful, right?

And, per NG's suggestion, I also put him in an Epsom bath for a little bit today. It seemed to work on it pretty quickly. The scabby part started turning whitish, which I supposed is a good sign.

Below are some updated pics if you can stomach them. Kinda grody, unless you're into that sort of thing. Which I am. Parts of it look better, but other parts look worse. Damn thing is mystifying.

Rash

Carter's got a helluva rash on his butt. He had a few days of diarrhea the week before last and got a bad butt rash from it. I had a lot of trouble getting it to clear up. It would start to get better but then have another flare-up. Today, it got worse than it's been. And it's migrated from his cheeks to the top of his crack. It has a horrible texture to it and the top part seems a bit yellowish. We're headed to the doc in the morning to get him some help. We've tried all the usual treatments: prescription butt cream, hydrocortisone, etc.

The End of an Era

Carter has nursed for 90 seconds in the past three days. I started weaning him when he turned 18 months. I stopped offering it in the morning and throughout the day, but if he asked for it, I would oblige. I was still nursing him before bed though. That was my favorite time, cuddling with him in the glider. We spent this past long weekend in Baltimore and Pennsylvania and he was so exhausted by bedtime that he had no interest in nursing and when I offered, would say, "No meemees, no meemees" (which is how he pronounces "milkies"). I think this weekend was the boost we both needed to take the plunge and just stop altogether.

It makes me sad but I think we were both ready.

New Hat

He wore it all day.

I've created a monster

I had no idea how many school buses there were until Carter started saying "bus." Good lord, it's all I hear now!

Oh, and we got a childproof lightswitch cover last night and moved his room back to how it was. He went to bed perfectly and slept until I had to wake him up to leave this morning. Heavenly.

So proud of himself

I've been trying to teach Carter the differences between a car, bus, and truck for a few days now. Maybe a week. Anyway, he gets car. Everything is a car, even motorcycles. We see a lot of school buses on our way to daycare and he always notices them and yells out "Car car car car" repeatedly until I acknowledge him. I correct him that it's a bus and ask him to say "bus" and he does (except he puts the "sh" sound at the end which is so cute I could die). Yet, he still continued to call them cars.

This morning, though, we pulled up next to another big yellow bus and he yells out, "Bus! Hooray! Clap clap!" and clapped his hands. He knew he got it right and was so proud of himself. I couldn't stop laughing. I'm laughing now remembering it.

He No Likey the Change

Last night we rearranged Carter's room to move him away from the light switch. And the curtains. His crib was on a wall where the top part was accessible to the light switch, and the bottom side was at the curtains. Yes, it's a very small room. I tried moving him closer to the window but he liked pulling at the curtains to see outside.

So we moved him to the opposite wall. I hate how his room looks now but we really had no choice. He would constantly turn the light on and then whine and cry and not sleep until someone came in to turn it off. Forget the fact that he could reach it to turn it off also. He just didn't realize he could do that.

Anyway, last night? Didn't go so well. He was very, very upset at the change. He can't see out the door anymore, which is probably a little scary. He could see the light from our bedroom before and now he has a view of the big chair in our living room. I think he likes the reassurance that we're right there, and the way his crib is now doesn't give him that. We let him cry for about 5 minutes and then he fell asleep out of sheer exhaustion (it was 9:00 and he hadn't had a good afternoon nap). This morning he woke up crying. Typically he wakes up and plays and talks and says "Hi Mommy" over and over until I come get him.

I hope he gets used to it soon. I don't know what else to do to keep him away from the light switch. They don't make a childproof cover for them, do they?

His Father's Son

I'm the messy one in our relationship. I just can't help myself. I'll get motivated and clean clean clean and tell myself that I'm not going to bed until the house is straight, but then after three days, I'm tired and over it.

Don't get me wrong, Carter makes a mess like any toddler. But last night he proved he takes after his neat father. Carter had two pairs of shoes in the living room and I asked him to put one pair away in his closet. He asked for help and I followed him in his room and showed him his closet and he put the shoes neatly down. I asked him to put the other shoes away and he grabbed them and ran into his room and yelled "Help?" I went in and he couldn't find a clear floor space to put them down and didn't want to pile them on top of the other shoes. I moved the first pair somewhere else (more like, I threw them toward the back of the closet, typical me) and he neatly placed the second pair in the now empty space.

Body Parts

The body parts Carter knows and can point to:

• Hair*
• Head
• Eyes*
• Ears*
• Nose*
• Teeth*
• Mouth
• Tongue
• Shoulders
• Belly Button*
  
• Fingers
• Elbow*
• Penis**
• Knees*
• Toes*
• Feet*

* He can say all the words with a "*"
** I believe in using the correct words for body parts. Therefore, he has a penis, not a willy, a peepee, or other made-up name. No judgment for those that do, just not my choice.

Pretend Play

Carter has started pretending! You know that thing parents do when they pretend to eat something, or pretend to drink something, in order to get their kid to do it? Carter does that. He'll take his cup and pretend to drink from it and then say "Mmmm!" It's hilarious.

A little excitement

Yesterday, I was in my office and heard someone out in our main area so I peeked my head out and saw a man walking toward the door. It's not atypical for someone to come in and not say anything and then leave again. We don't have a receptionist so a lot of times someone will come in for directions, not see anyone right there, and then leave. Most of the time I hear them and help them, but since he was on his way out I didn't say anything. Plus, he looked a little "off." I assumed he was one of the many people that come in here looking for the Probation and Parole Office that's across the street but kind of hidden so it's hard to find.

Next thing I know I hear my boss Sue yell out, "Excuse me! Give me my purse back please!" I ran out to the main area and saw him take it out of hiding (he had a shirt thrown over it) and handed it back to her and then just walked out the door. My coworker Jim came running over (he sits in the back office and can't see the main area from where he is) and started following the guy out the door. He pointed out to me there was a safety officer next door at 7-11 (you can see the parking lot through my office window) so I went to get the cop while Jim kept an eye on the guy to see where he was headed.

I ran over to the officer in his car and told him briefly what happened. I gave a quick description and heard Jim yell that he was headed down the hill toward the library. I started to tell the officer when he said, "Just get in!" I got in and he called it in on his radio and we were off! We turned the corner and I saw the guy up ahead. I said, "That's him" and he got on the radio again saying he was about to be in foot pursuit of a suspect. I put my seatbelt on and we raced up to where the guy was. The officer stopped the car, told me to stay inside, and ran up to the suspect. He yelled for him to get on the ground and the guy sort of hesitated and had his hands underneath the shirt he'd used to hide Sue's purse. Next thing I know the cop pulls his weapon and is shouting to him to get down and show his hands. I was shaking. It was crazy being so close to the action. Another officer pulled up behind me and they cuffed him and she took custody of him since the vehicle I was in was a safety vehicle, not one used for arresting people.

Several more officers arrived and I was talking to them while they were dealing with the guy. One of them asked me to get Sue, since it was her purse that he stole. I walked halfway up to my building and she was on her way down. The cops asked how much the purse and it's belongings were worth and the good news is that it's a Kate Spade from Bloomingdale's. Since it's so expensive, they got him for grand larceny, on top of the many counts of theft for each credit card.

The officer called this morning and asked a few more questions about what I witnessed and then told me the guy's name. I looked him up on the Sex Offender Registry and wouldn't ya know it...convicted rapist. I started shaking thinking about what could have happened. When Sue first confronted him I was terrified he was about to draw a gun on her, and thank God he didn't. He just walked away calmly. It could have gone in a whole different direction and it's really, really frightening to think about that. I'm trying hard not to.

The guy's being held without bond and we'll probably be expected to make a statement at his preliminary hearing in about a month. But the cop was pretty certain that with his record and the grand larceny charge on top of all the other theft charges, he'll probably plea and it won't go to trial.

Craziness.

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a nice weekend. Saturday we took Carter back to Portrait Innovations for his 18 month pictures. Here's a sneak peek. If you're my Facebook friend, you've already seen all of them.





On Sunday we headed out to Chris' parents' house to see them and my FIL's son and his girlfriend who were in town from Boston. Carter behaved himself despite not having an afternoon nap, and having a shortened morning nap due to a poopy diaper. That's always a bonus. We had a nice time visiting with them and went out to a fabulous dinner.

Memorial Day Monday we finally ventured out to the pool. Carter was scared at first and clung to me on the steps, but after a little while he warmed up and splashed and kicked. By the time we left he was walking all by himself all around the baby pool. When we were leaving he had to make sure to say goodbye to every last person before we could go. After that he took a 4 hour nap (woot!) and then we grilled Asian chicken skewers for dinner. Delish!

All in all it was a nice, relaxing weekend. I was even able to go shopping all by myself and get some summer work clothes. It was awesome.

18 month stats

He's moved on up! Carter is now finally in the 33rd percentile for weight (after hovering around 10% for most of his life) at 24 pounds. I've noticed his face is chubbier than it used to be, but I can still see his ribs when he walks around in a diaper. Naturally lean, that one.

His height is 32 inches, which makes him exactly average. 50th percentile. His head is in the 82nd percentile, which makes it sound huge but it seems all of my friends' kids have big noggins (like in the 90th percentile and higher) so his is small by comparison.

We put off his MMR shot until this visit in the hopes that the risk of any ill-effects that it *may* cause are lowered. They gave Carter an autism screening test and he passed with flying colors. His social skills are fantastic and the doctor was VERY impressed with his vocabulary and communication level. He said he would have been happy if I said Carter had 10 words; the fact that he has over 70 thrilled him. Smartypants, he is. I'm very proud.

18 Months

Tomorrow, Carter will be closer to two than to one. But for today, he's still my baby. Halfway between one and two. He's so polite, extremely smart, hilariously funny, and such a happy boy. I don't know what I did to deserve him and I'm so grateful for him. He makes strangers smile. What a gift that boy is. What a gift.

To celebrate his birthday, we took him to a new Indian restaurant in town. My boy tore up some Chicken Tikki Masala. Tore. It. Up. I love that he's willing to try new things. He makes me proud.

Happy 18 months, sweet little man.

One more thing

I knew I was forgetting something on the list earlier. I wanted to share how weird my husband is. I bought OJ for our Mother's Day brunch but I got the kind with extra pulp, because apparently I like to chew my juice. Chris HATES the pulp in it, but last night he was craving orange juice (plus, he's sick so it's good for him). So what did he do? He put it through a sieve! What a weirdo.

Catching Up

On Mother's Day we had my parents and Chris' parents over for brunch. It was nice to get to stay home for once and not have to worry about whether Carter will get a good nap, or if he'll sleep in the car, or if we'll be too tired to drive home later. It's just so much easier when people can come to us, rather than having to drive to Baltimore, or Leesburg, or Delaware. All that packing and driving and crankiness gets exhausting. Life is easier on our home turf. Hopefully one day soon we'll have a bigger place and can host more get-togethers.

My mom bowled on our Wii and killed all of us. It was crazy. She got 185 I think as her best score. Me? I barely got over the 100 mark. I still need some practice.

Here's the one halfway decent picture Chris was able to get of Carter and me on Mother's Day. Kid wasn't cooperating. But, in his defense, he was popping a few teeth through so I'm sure that didn't feel too great.

After everyone left and Carter got a little nap, we headed out to the local elementary school to play on their playground. Carter enjoyed playing in the dirt and showing me his hands and saying "messy" over and over again.


Some other tidbits:

• Carter went for his semiannual dentist visit this morning and screamed like someone was cutting him open. It was horrible. I had to pin his body down while a hygienist held his head still while another hygienist cleaned his teeth. Thankfully, they were very quick and he recovered immediately. The second they stopped and he was allowed to sit up, he crawled in my lap and said hi to them. Then they gave him a "byoo" (balloon) and all was right with the world again. The doctor was very happy with the way his teeth looked and said all we have left are his 2 year molars (the rest are either popped through or just about to). He warned me that those are the biggest and toughest ones. Not looking forward to that.
• Girl said farewell to her blog this week. It makes me so sad, but I'm sure not half as sad as it makes her.
• I get my final crown on my broken tooth tomorrow. Can't wait for this to be over with. It's been damn expensive between the root canal and the crown(s). Good thing we planned for this.
• Our cleaning ladies started on Monday and I'm so happy. Our place looked amazing and I don't feel like I'm constantly playing catch-up anymore. It's nice to know that twice a month they'll be there to hit the reset button. Thankfully we were able to use our tax refund to pay off a loan and can use that money we were paying toward the biweekly cleanings. It worked out really well.
  

The end of an era

My favorite jeans, the ones that I can wear fat or thin, have a hole in the knee. The thighs have been wearing thin for a while now but I've been hoping the day they died would come later rather than sooner. Poo.

In other news, Carter has tooth #15. It's his lower left canine.

Oh, and also, we started with a cleaning company today. I feel like a new woman in this clean condo!

Bye-Bye Mama and Dada

As of two days ago, we are now Mommy and Daddy. That's too grown up for my little boy!

File this under TMI

I have a clogged milk duct and it really hurts!! Every time my arm brushes against it, it makes me wince. And now I'm nervous that it's going to turn into mastitis. So far, I feel fine (except for this cold that keeps lingering) but from what I've read, mastitis has a very quick onslaught. When I get home I'll hop in a hot shower and try to massage it out (ouchie!!) but in the meantime I'll just have to suffer since I'm at work.

Let's look at the bright side, though. I've made it almost 18 months with no medical issues related to breastfeeding. That's pretty darn good!

I just have to share

We never did family photos growing up, so maybe that's why I find this site so funny. Enjoy!

Lazybones

I've been so bad about posting. But the good news is that it's because we've been keeping busy. We've gone to playgrounds, and parks, and playdates trying to make the most of the beautiful weather. Plus, work has me so busy that I don't really have time to post while I'm there. So, in the meantime, here are some pics to whet your cuteness appetite.

Three

Happy anniversary, my love!

Happy Anniversary, My Love!!!

It has been the best 3 years, yet! I can't wait for the next 50!!!

I love you!

#14

Toofer #14 is in. His right incisor has joined its buddy, Left Incisor. He handled it like a champ. I love those nice sharp teeth; they seem to not hurt as much coming in.

Haircut

Carter got another haircut tonight, and he's progressively getting better each time. We went a lot shorter this time but I think it turned out really cute. And I love the faces he makes when he has hair up his nose.







Before:


After:


Such a handsome boy.

Playground fun!

Some of the Mamistad girls were meeting up at Clemyjontri Park today so we thought that sounded like a great idea! I'd heard it gets packed on the weekend so we got there early (around 10:00) and we still had to park in the overflow lot. Carter had a blast! He ran around exploring all the structures, going down slides, running in the grass, swinging, going on the carousel. He really enjoyed himself.

This playground is so amazing. It's made for all kids...able-bodied, hearing- and sight-impaired, wheelchair-bound, everyone. It was really cool. I've never seen such a huge playground in my life, either. The swings really impressed me. They had your standard big kid and baby swings, but they also had swings with 5 point harnesses for kids with less body control. Carter liked that one I think because he felt safer swinging really hard. There's a pic below of him clapping, but he laughed and laughed the whole time he was swinging.

We only saw a few of the Mamistad girls, and not for long, because we'd been there a lot earlier than most of them. But it was still cool to see how much the kids had grown up since we last got together a few months ago. More than half of them are pregnant again! I can't imagine.








Check out the aerial view I stole from the website: