Fall Festival

Today, Carter and I met up with my friend for the Fall Festival at Cox Farms. What a great event! Not only was it fun to see Amber and her family, but Carter got to see goats up close and personal....

Slide down a big slide....
And make funny faces while posing for pictures.



We also went on a hayride and he was so relaxed and chill. He hadn't had a nap since 10:30 this morning, but he was so well-behaved anyway. Well, except for when he stole Handsome's snacktrap and the Cheerios inside. Sorry bout that, dude.

#5

Toofer #5 popped through overnight. It's on the top next to the first top tooth that popped out (his left front one). Again, I wouldn't have known he was teething if it weren't for that white spot I happened to notice when he was yelling at me while I changed his diaper.

We have a busy weekend ahead of us. I'm looking forward to it!

Magic!

My mother has some sort of magic mojo. Every time we're either at her house, or she comes down here, Carter does something new. Yesterday, he learned to shush. It's so funny. You have to shush him first and then he'll imitate you. I love it! Can't wait to see what he learns from her this weekend!

Stop plucking your eyebrows and drive!

I feel better now. Thanks.

Worth Sharing

Made a recipe the other night that was just so delicious and easy, I had to share it.

Spaghetti Casserole

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 lb ground beef (I used ground turkey)
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 clove garlic, peeled and cut into slices
1 can (10.75 oz) cream of mushroom soup
1 1/2 cups pasta sauce
1 cup pre-shredded sharp cheddar cheese
4 cups cooked spaghetti (8 oz uncooked)
2 Tbsp pre-shredded Parmesan cheese (I used the green can)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Place the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Crumble in the ground beef and add the onion and garlic. Cook, stirring and breaking up the lumps of meat, until the beef is brown all over and cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and transfer the beef to a large mixing bowl. (If there is a lot of fat in the pan, drain the mixture before transferring it.) Add the mushroom soup, pasta sauce, 1/2 cup of the Cheddar cheese, the cooked spaghetti, and 1/2 cup of water, and stir to mix. Transfer the spaghetti to a 13x9 glass or ceramic baking dish and sprinkle all but 1 Tbsp of the remaining Cheddar and 1 Tbsp of the Parmesan over the top.

3. Bake until it bubbles throughout and the cheese has melted, 18 to 20 minutes. Sprinkle on the remaining tablespoon of each cheese and serve at once.

(Source: "The Dinner Doctor")

The cream of mushroom mixed with the pasta sauce (I'd recommend a really flavorful one, not a boring tomato-only one) was so rich and fantastic. My mouth is watering just remembering it!

Some favorites

Here are some of my favorites from our photo shoot with Jess.

Good morning!

What a great morning! Carter woke up at 6ish to nurse and then went right back to sleep. I got up and showered before he woke up again so when I heard him playing and talking in his crib (as opposed to the yelling for me that he normally does) I was ready to hang out with him. I opened his door (I close it after I nurse him in the early a.m. so Chris and I don't wake him while we're getting up and showered) and was greeted with this bright, sunny face:


He's delicious.

After changing him I put him down on the floor with some Cheerios (dude, what is it with kids and Cheerios? They're like crack!) and Blue's Clues. He's usually not interested in watching tv. I know...whose kid is this??!! But today he sat nicely, eating his Cheerios, and watching Blue until we were ready to leave for work/daycare.

I absolutely love mornings like this. They happen every so often and they're just wonderful.

He waves

This is his wave. He sort of curls his pointer and thumb in like he's giving the "okay" sign. It's cute.

He's a pro!

It really only took a few times of warning him to be careful when he got close to the edge (and a few faceplants) for him to realize on his own what to do. Usually he just drops to his belly and slides down that way. Last night, he sort of crawled/slithered down. He's smart.

All business

Carter was all business eating his eggs and cheese last night. He looked at me maybe twice the whole meal.



And here's a (very unflattering) pic of his top toofers. So far, no sign of #5.

Renaissance Faire

Monday. The big day.

I was so nervous the night before. I kept running through different scenarios in my head and get all sweaty and my heart would race. I felt like I was going on a first date, in a way. But with my husband and son.

Anyway, the drive up there was uneventful. We were on the highway for about an hour and then driving through little towns, and turning every mile or so (not even kidding) for the last hour. It was very pretty, though, and broke up the monotony of the highway.

We pulled into the parking lot and got a great spot even though people and cars were just streaming in. It was BOGO day and Labor Day so I knew it would be pretty packed. We unloaded Carter, got him in his new stroller (yes, ANOTHER new one...but this one can go off-roading!), and set out to find my friend.

We waiting at the entrance where there was a fountain and all sorts of people in their costumes talking to everyone and making funny jokes. Carter enjoyed listening to the bagpipe players and watching everyone walking around. He's a people-watcher, through and through.

I saw Girl's mom before I saw her. And then...there she was. My friend that I'd only seen in a few pictures, but poured my heart out to for the past (almost) two years. We hugged and she introduced me to her family. There were a lot of them! It was Girl, Buns, Sissy, Phatboy, Doogal, her sister and her boyfriend, her brother and his girlfriend, and her mom and dad. We were outnumbered. :-)

We went through the e-ticket line since I'd ordered ours in advance, and met them inside the gate. We started to walk around and after a few minutes, I didn't feel awkward anymore. I just felt like I was hanging out with my friend and her family. I think Girl was getting frustrated because with that many people, it's hard to make decisions on where to go and what to do next. Thankfully, the kids had ideas on what they wanted to see so that helped us!

Before I go any further, I need to discuss the costumes Girl made. They were unbelieveable. Doogal was the cutest jester that ever existed. Even when he got pissed and slapped his head with his hands. Phatboy was a king, and every time one of the "actors" passed us, they bowed to him and said, "Your highness." I got a kick out of that. And Sissy, oh man. Sissy was a princess and she looked so beautiful. The kids warmed up to us pretty quickly, especially since they were surrounded by family and really didn't need to talk to us at all. Having Carter there helped in that regard. They kept coming up to him and saying, "Hi Carter!" It was so cute.

Anyway, the fair itself was really awesome. Way better than I remember the Maryland one being. We walked around and checked out all the sites, and at some point separated from the extended family. We were all about going to have cake with the Queen. Hello! It's cake! They wanted to eat lunch so we said smell ya later and went to get cake. Before lunch. Girl and Buns are the greatest parents ever to allow that. As we were waiting in line some lady behind me full on took her arms and tried to elbow me out of the way. I couldn't believe it. I've heard stories of people doing that at big sales and stuff, but had never had it happen to me. That one, she had some balls. Of course I stood my ground. No one gets between me and cake, thank you very much.

After that, it was turkey leg time! It took forever to find the one booth that was selling them. I remember them being everywhere at the last one I went to. Finally we found it and I ordered while Chris waiting in the world's slowest line for a drink. Because of course the turkey leg place doesn't sell normal drinks. So, there I was standing off to the side, a turkey leg in each hand. Some guy in line totally calls me out for double fisting. I must have looked ridiculous. Especially because I was gnawing on one while holding the other. Neanderthal, I am.


Anyhoo, we met back up with her family and then headed off to an acrobat show. They were really funny and all of the sudden, the girl was in our row, pulling Chris on to the stage with her! Of course they pick the one guy with back issues. Oy. They were climbing all over him and then stood on his shoulders to juggle. Chris was hilarious too. Every question they asked him he had a funny answer to. I bet people in the audience thought it was pre-planned. He had the audience absolutely roaring when the guy asked for a hand (to get up on his shoulders) and Chris started clapping. He's too much. That's like my worst nightmare to be up there in front of all those people, but he was great. (click the pic to make it bigger)


We spent the rest of the day exploring the fair and chatting. The kids got to play games and Sissy killed in the jousting "ride." She rode on his horse that slid along a rope (think zip line) and got her sword in the ring on the first try. Phatboy enjoyed using some sort of trebuchet-like contraption to get frogs into a bucket. Unfortunately, we missed the actual jousting competition though. Boo.

The only hiccup on the day was Carter getting sunscreen in his eye. Poor baby got all red and watery and irritated. He kept rubbing his eyes. I tried to flush it out with some water but that didn't really help so we went over to the First Aid office. She couldn't find her saline so she just dribbled water in his eye as well. By the time we got home that night it was fine.



The drive home was uneventful. We went a different way, since all the turns on the way up would have made it confusing to reverse. Thankfully, Chris' parents gave us an EZPass so we just sailed through on the PA Turnpike, went through Frederick and down to the Beltway. I expected a lot of traffic but it never really happened. Took us exactly 3 hours to get home.

How beautiful is this picture? I love it so much. She's got a special eye.


For more pics of the day's festivities, click here!

Note: All pics in this post were taken by Girl. No way in hell they're mine!

Labor Day Weekend

What a busy, great weekend!

Saturday we drove up to Baltimore to surprise my mom and my niece and nephew. They thought we were coming on Sunday morning so they weren't expecting us. I thought it would be nice for Carter to spend some time with Bella and Brandon since they don't get to see each other too often. They seemed thrilled. They were showing him all sorts of stuff and playing with him and getting all in his face. Thankfully he's used to kids being all over him from daycare.

On Sunday my aunt and uncle came over to see us Carter. They're getting ready to be grandparents for the first time and I'm so excited for him. My aunt absolutely loves seeing all the kids in the family and goes out of her way to be able to love on them. She's going to spoil her grandchild like crazy!

After that, Bird came over and we walked down to California Tortilla for lunch. My mom lives in a new neighborhood that has a whole bunch of places to eat right down the hill. It's great. We got to hang with Birdie for just a little bit because she had to go back to work since her girls were starting to move in.

My mom and stepdad made a yummy dinner and then we met up with Heather and Tucker for ice cream (again, right down the hill so we walked). I grabbed Tuck right away and held him the whole time we waited in line. He was so good. I love when babies don't cry when you take them away from their mommas. Carter's like that too, which makes me happy.

We sat outside since it was absolutely beautiful out and ate our yumminess. Then we tried to take pictures but Carter was more interested in poking Tucker's eyes, or rubbing the back of his head. They're gonna be best friends.

Next installment: Radish meets Girl!

Big Weekend!

Before I do a post about what we did this weekend (here's a teaser...we met Girl!!!), I wanted to share some "firsts" for Carter.

Per doctor's orders, he had eggs for breakfast on Saturday and he LOVED them. He was shoveling handfuls in his mouth two at a time. It was so funny. Then Sunday he had his first pancakes. Again, absolutely devoured them. Boy loves to eat. What can I say?

And the big thing? He can wave hello and goodbye! It's so cute. He loves doing it. He'll pull himself up on something and then wave one arm in the air while grinning and saying, "Haaaaaaaa!"

He's smart, that one.

Finally!

Finally, after two weeks, Carter learned to get himself down from standing in his crib. And he is now napping peacefully. Woot!

Gimme meat!

Got a call from Dr. Cross the other night to tell me that Carter's bloodwork came back showing that he's "borderline anemic." She told me some foods he should eat more of (namely more chicken, turkey, etc.) and she also mentioned that eggs are a good source of iron. I was under the impression that eggs are a no-no until after one year old, but she said if there's no family history of allergy it's probably okay. I think he'll love eating eggs. Gonna scramble one up for him on Saturday morning (so we can observe him all day to see if there are any signs of allergy). Gotta head over to Wegman's first though, to get some organic eggs and chicken breasts for him.

We're also going to get him back on the Poly-vi-sol. It was a disaster trying to get him to take it when he was an infant, but I think it'll be much easier now. He loves taking medicine. :-)

Happy birthday!!

Happy 30th, my friend. It's all downhill from here.

Surprise from Grandpa!

Imagine Chris' surprise yesterday morning when he got a text from his Dad that he was in his office building waiting for him. Yep, his father who lives in Minnesota was in town for a class and it just happened to be in the same place where Chris works! Don was going to surprise Chris that he was in town, but the surprise was on him when he got to the building for his class and it was the same building as Chris' company! How weird is that?

Of course Carter and I were chomping at the bit to see him too. We hadn't seen him since Carter was a week old. I got off work early and we drove downtown and got to have dinner and walk around town. It was really nice. Carter behaved himself which is always a good thing. He leaves tonight to go back home but he's coming back in October for a few days.

What a great surprise!

9 Month Doctor's Appointment

Carter got to see his girlfriend, Dr. Cross, today and boy was he excited! He has such a crush on her. She walks in and he lights up. It's pretty darn cute.

And even after not being there for a few months (thank goodness!), one of the nurses still remembers "Mr. Kicky Feet." I love that she remembers him.

Anyway, the visit went well. He didn't get any shots, which was a welcome change. They did prick his finger to test for iron levels, and he was such a good boy! He sat in my lap while she did it and he didn't flinch or whine or anything. He just watched intently as she dripped his blood into the vial. He was fascinated. I told her I'm bringing him to her next time he needs his fingernails clipped. Um, which is like every other day.

His weight is still in the 11th percentile range at 17 lbs 14 oz. His height is 28 1/4 inches, which is the 52nd percentile, and his head is 45.6 cm which is 60th percentile. She said he's doing great and he's growing at a perfect curve. I asked if she was concerned at all about his weight and she said absolutely not. She said she's more concerned about the "overweight" babies than the ones built like Carter. She told me we're doing a great job and she's very happy with his progress. And then he smiled and flirted with her while we chatted, until she walked out the door. He kept watching the door as I was getting him dressed waiting for her to come back. He just loves her.

Thanks!

Thanks for all your suggestions! This afternoon I tried everyone's advice but finally what worked was just rocking him for 5 minutes until he fell asleep, and then rocking for five more minutes to make sure he was good and out, and then transferred him to his crib. He slept for over an hour!

I just don't want to make rocking him a habit.

Poor kid just needs to learn how to sit himself back down after standing and I think we'd be okay.

I turn to you

I'm turning to you, Internets, for help.

Here's the deal. Carter has not napped in over a week. Every once in a while he'll sleep for 45 minutes or so, but it's rare. He's obviously tired (whining, rubbing his eyes, laying his head down) but when I put him in his crib, he stands right up and starts screaming. I've tried putting him back down a gazillion times, holding his little butt down so he can't get up (this starts to work but then he pops back up as soon as I remove my hand 10 minutes later...a girl gets tired!), and letting him yell (which just makes him even more angry and eat more of his crib).

If I take him out of his crib, he's fine. Not yelling or screaming, although still obviously tired. If we get in the car, he falls asleep immediately in his carseat.

Nighttime is fine. He goes down without a fuss (please don't let this be a jinx!) and sleeps 11 hours or so. It's just napping.

Any suggestions?

Award!

I'm loved! Thanks Harmony and Relish! Thanks for delurking, Relish...I got the warm and fuzzies when I read that!

So, the rules:
1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you’ve nominated

I love so many blogs. If y'all could see my Google Reader you'd be shocked that I have time to read them all.

Since I can only list 7, and some of my faves have already been "loved" I'll go with the ones that haven't yet. So, if you're not on the list, it doesn't mean I don't anxiously await each post. I just don't have room to love on everyone at once.

1. Canape. I'm sure she's been nominated a hundred times over, but I haven't seen it yet so I'm going for it. I adore this woman. We've been some very tough times, and some amazingly wonderful times together. She has an amazing heart and I'm always stunned by how beautifully she writes. And the fact that she named her son after my family is pretty cool too. ;-)

2. MB. She's a local mom with an adorable little girl named Marielle. She dresses in funny costumes for free food, which makes me want to be her friend. I can hang with a chick like that.

3. Jess. A blogger turned real-life friend. She reached out to me when we didn't even know each other to give us Carter's expensive bottles because she had extra from her FIVE little ones. Seriously, who does that?? Her emails crack me up and I love being able to see her every once in a while. She took fabulous photos of us last weekend that I can't wait to post when she gets back from her vacay. She has a very full life, yet still manages to find time to be a friend. That amazes me.

4. Andria. She sucked me in with her gossip site, then we got to know each other through our losses, and now we're supporting each other watching our babies grow up. She even helped me get pregnant! Sort of. She recommended I drink lots of green tea, and I did, and got pregnant that month. So did she. Fate, I think. She's really funny, and introspective, and manages to keep up with her friends' lives with a memory that just surprises me every time. And she just got attacked by a bobcat, which is such a strange thing for a city girl like me to hear about. I thought they only had bobcats in zoos.

5. Sarah. My sort-of sister-in-law. I love that she started blogging. I feel like I've really gotten to know her that way. What I like about Sarah is that when she first was dating my brother she made an effort to get to know me. She'd send me long emails giving me insights into her life before meeting us. I really appreciate that about her. And it cracks me up that she calls her cat Bastard.

6. I'm not Skippy, Jr. I have no clue how we found each other, but Parker and Carter are pretty much in sync with each other. If one starts teething, so does the other. If one won't sleep, neither will the other. It's a little weird. Plus, I love that he's a dad that blogs about his family. And he has a great sense of humor.

7. B-Side. Dude just cracks me up. I followed him over from TVGasm and haven't looked back. We watch the same shows and have the same weird thoughts and I got all excited when I saw him in the audience of Big Brother. I pointed him out to Chris and felt like I knew the person on tv.

Snacktime

When did he get old enough to sit with all the other kids like this???

Tee hee!

Dulles Town Center is getting a new store. Sounds awesome, but their website worries me a bit...

Nutty Bars

Seriously, Nutty Bars should be a controlled substance.

That is all.

New stroller

I think he likes it.

Also, he likes yogurt.Oh, and eating his crib, apparently. He's still giving us trouble with naps and when he's standing up and screaming, he's also scraping his bottom teeth on the crib.

Nine months

Our boy is nine months old today. Outside my womb as long as he was inside. It's amazing how much he has enriched our lives. Watching him learn and grow every day has been the greatest gift.

It seems that each day brings a new milestone. Yesterday? He signed "ball." His first sign. It may have been an accident, but he did it twice so it counts in my book.

It's so fun watching him discover things. Right now, he loves buttons. He sees a button on my shirt or my pants and he's instantly focused on it, using his little index finger to poke and scrape at it, and then look at me for approval. Every discovery needs our approval, and I love it.

Two weeks ago, I taught him to bang things together. If I take two blocks and hit them together, he wants those blocks, puts one in each hand, and brings them together just like I did. And then smiles and looks at me for approval. He gets it every time. I'm so proud of him.

He pulls himself up like he's always been able to. Reach, plant the foot, up he goes. He's not even shaky anymore. It's amazing how quickly something that was once so difficult becomes second nature. If we balance him just right, he can stand on his own for a second or two. But then he gets too excited and topples over. He's much more comfortable holding on with one hand, while waving with the other to show us how grown up he is.

His smile lights up a room, and the way he whispers Dada in a sweet little voice makes my heart squeeze. There's something about that boy that's just magical.

Napping strike

Oh man, yesterday was rough. Carter took one 45 minute nap all day long. It was miserable. The problem? Every time I put him in his crib, he pulled himself to standing and screamed for me. I tried putting him back down several times but he wasn't having it. He was screaming like someone was trying to murder him. It was awful. Once I took him out of the crib and let him play, he was fairly content. But he was tired. He kept rubbing his eyes and yawning; he just wouldn't sleep.

Finally around 7:30 I put him in his infant carrier and he fell asleep within one minute. Literally. But of course I didn't strap him in and 20 minutes later he tried to roll over and that turned disastrous. Didn't stop me from laughing though. He was so confused as to why he was on the floor with his carseat on top of him. Makes me laugh just remembering the look on his face.

I brought him into bed with me and after a little while he actually laid down and fell asleep. That never happens. Chris got home around 9:30 and Carter stayed asleep for another hour. Me? Not so much. He had me all the way on the edge of my side of the bed so I couldn't fall asleep. Cosleeping is soooo not for me.

I tried to move him more toward the middle but that woke him up. He sat right up and started talking and smiling and climbing on Chris. It was bizarre.

Chris took him to his crib and after just a few minutes he fell asleep. Thank god! Slept until 7:00 this morning when I nursed him and he played with us for a little while (Chris is home today with him because our sitter's out of town this week). Around 8:00 he was looking like he really needed to go back to sleep and thus began a repeat of yesterday. Screaming, standing, more screaming, standing, screaming, sweating, screaming. Ugh.

Finally I got him calmed down enough by rocking and singing and offering his binky to where he was having trouble keeping his eyes open. I put him in his crib and rubbed his back for a minute, which kept him on his belly. Then he sat up and started playing with the fish so I snuck out of there. I figured if he was playing and quiet, life was good. By the time I left for a work 10 minutes later, he was asleep.

I hope Chris has an easier time today than I did yesterday.

Thanks MomMom

Thanks to my mother, Carter has been pooping ALL DAY LONG. Every time I called her she was feeding him something. I think he went through more Cheerios and puffs than he's ever had.

But he loved being with her and she loved being with him so I'll live with the four poop diapers I've already changed today.

He's a Rock Star

Chris had a procedure done this morning on his back. He had it done a few years ago but wound up needing surgery anyway a few months before our wedding. This time, he hurt himself at the company picnic kicking ass in Tug of War. He's been in pain for a few months so he was glad to finally be having it taken care of.

All went well and he's on his way home. He's such a rock star.

Ack!

Social anxiety rears its ugly head once again.

I just got off the phone with Girl. I've never talked to her before, and I was nervous making the call but our friend was hurt and I wanted to know if she had any info.

It started off well but when the sharing of information part was over I found myself talking way too loud and saying really awkward things. Like, "you have a really sweet voice." Gah, did I really say that?? I'm such a nerd.

And then I rushed her off the phone.

Dorkus majorus here, folks.

Carter's staycation

Carter's sitter is on vacation this week so he's hanging out with his MomMom today and tomorrow. I'm sure he's getting spoiled like crazy. Lots of kisses and smiles and cuddles. He's a lucky kid.
Here's some pics of him at daycare so he can remember his friends this week. That little girl is his girlfriend Ashwini. She's about 17 months and just getting her first teeth. She loves my Crocs. She always comes up to me and sticks her fingers in the holes.

The little boy is J.K. He's the biter. But he loves Carter so much. He's always touching his arm and hugging him. Shaista keeps an eye on him to make sure he doesn't love him TOO much, though.

Tart!

Good weekend

We had a good weekend. We started the day Saturday at the farmers market where we got some enormous peaches and yummy plums. Then we went out to breakfast where Carter begged for food. And by "begged" I mean screamed like a maniac until I gave him some pieces of my bagel.

In the afternoon we went to the Rally for Ally, which is a fundraiser held every year for my friend's niece who was born with a form of Ectodermal Dysplasias. Carter loved being outside. And best of all, he had his first taste of watermelon. Can't you just hear him saying "Mmmm"?

Oh, and check out his new kicks. His sitter asked me to get him some shoes so she can take him out on her deck and he can "walk" around. He doesn't even try to pull them off which was surprising to me. Every other time I've put him in shoes they didn't stay on for long. They're much more fun to chew on than to look at apparently.

Later in the afternoon we headed out to Phil and Laura's to hang out. We hadn't seen them in a while and I was dying to see Carley and Clayton. They did not disappoint. Carley was just chatting away and so sweet with Carter. She sang him the ABCs about 8,000 times, which of course he loved. It's his favorite song!

I expected him to be terrible because he slept all of 45 minutes ALL DAY yesterday. He wouldn't nap. Refused. He'd get crabby for a little bit but then get over it and be sweet again. He was enthralled with the cat. I missed him crabbing a chunk out of him. Of course the second we got in the car he was asleep. Like, within a mile of their house.

Here's a pic of Carter and Clayton. Clayton is 3.5 months younger than Carter. They're both wearing 9 month pj's. He's a bit of a chunk. I love it.

Today we got up around 8ish and played for a little bit. Carter wanted a nap around 10 so I put him down and laid down also. Next thing I know it's 2 hours later and Chris and I are both waking up, with Carter to follow a few minutes later. Gotta love Sundays.

We went out to lunch, got some groceries, and put him down for another nap. I went out while he was sleeping to get my hairs cut. Dude, the Hair Cuttery by my house blows. If that stupid Vietnamese lady told me one more time how thin and limp my hair is, I may have punched her. And then she proceeded to give me maybe the worst haircut I've ever had.

Carter had been sleeping for two hours so I woke him up (I needed to get him back on a schedule after yesterday's sleeping debacle). He was sleeping so hard I felt bad about waking him. He was confused for a second about what was going on. It was cute. Until he started scrunching up his face and making bad noises. But he got over that quickly and had a good time hanging out with Mommy and Daddy until bedtime.

Oh, and Carter finally discovered his penis tonight.

Ghetto Week

This week has been Ghetto Week in the Anderson house. Monday, I made chicken breasts baked with cream of mushroom soup, served with buttered noodles and frozen green beans. Tuesday was chicken breasts baked with cream of chicken soup and spinach, topped with stuffing. Last night was the worst. Boxed macs and cheese with tuna. Ghetto-tastic.

I'm the worst wife ever.

For Aunt Holly

Motivation

Motivation. It's a powerful thing.



(The carseat is sitting there because I need to take it to the consignment shop to sell.)

And then there were three...

Carter's top left tooth poked through yesterday morning. He's so laid back...I had no idea he was teething. He tried Cheerios yesterday for the first time and, like almost every kid I've ever met, he loves them. If we let him, he'd take a whole handful at a time and shove them in his mouth.

Dude

This morning I was sitting our landing (right when you walk in the door) watching Carter play. It's a little patch of carpet and then has a step down into the living room. I was sitting on the step. Carter's puffs were next to me. We made eye contact and he was smiling and then his eyes shifted to my right. Puffs spotted! Homeboy made a beeline for where I was sitting, huffing and puffing his way over to me.

I scooted over a little and moved the puffs a little further back to see what he would do. Um, dude climbed up that step like he's been doing it for years. Yep, no big deal. Of course I had to give him a puff as a reward.

Then I wanted to see how he'd get himself off the step. He went with the faceplant technique. Not my first choice (nor did it seem to be his afterwards) but it worked. Thankfully we're fully carpeted and he didn't get hurt, just surprised that there was no floor under him when he tried to crawl off the step. Guess we're gonna have to teach him how to get down a little more gracefully.

Dude is way busy learning things these days. His sitter said he ate a whole cracker yesterday and didn't have any crumbs. No clue where he got that from. There are always remnants of my food when I eat in bed. Tiny little crumbs you can't see but you can definitely feel against the soft sheets. And Chris is no better. He's always sweeping food off his chest.

Oh, and yes I know that photo above has nothing to do with anything in this post. I just thought it was cute.

Hayleigh's Story

My stepfather has been diabetic since he was young. Growing up, it didn't really occur to me that he was "different." I was used to seeing him inject his insulin into his belly. It was normal for us to go into a restaurant before him so he could sit in the car and do his injection. I didn't blink when he would prick his calloused fingers several times a day to check his sugar. It was all normal to me.

It really wasn't until I "met" Kris that I realized that living with diabetes is not so easy; Brian just made it seem that way. Her daughter Hayleigh is diabetic. She's a sweet, funny, and strong girl and this is her story:

This morning

I snapped this picture this morning from inside my car. I just thought it was so cute. Carter's in the stroller so you can't see him, but the kids were headed off to the park as soon as we got there. They were all waiting for him in the driveway and jumped when they saw me pull up because they were so excited to go to the park now that Carter was there.

I love how the little ones hold on to the stroller and "help" Shaista. It makes them feel important and keeps them close.

Oh, and the kid in the prison suit? The biter.

A Few Firsts

My mom asked me the other day if I'd found Carter sitting up in his crib yet. Nope, not yet but thanks for asking (and jinxing it). Sure enough, this morning I heard him making some noises but then it got quiet again so I figured he fell back to sleep. I went out into the living room to put his daycare bag by the front door, looked toward his room, and saw his head move in the slight darkness. That's odd, I thought, his head looks higher than it should be. I turned on the light and there he was, sitting up and grinning from ear to ear. I called Chris in to see him (he was home because he had a doctor's appointment this morning) and we both laughed and smiled and chatted with the little dude.

He likes to play with his Bumbo on the floor so I leave it down there for him. He's been interested in bracing his hands on the back and pulling himself up, but if I'm not there to hold down the front it just topples over and he can't do it. Last night we were playing on the floor and he went for it and got himself in an upside-down "L" position; hands on the back of the Bumbo and legs straight. He was so proud of himself. Next attempt I'm sure will be the coffee table.

Speaking of his Bumbo, I'm sure glad we stopped using it for feeding him. He climbed completely out of it last night. Silly kid.

And I think the last thing I keep meaning to post about is his discovery of the letter B. Instead of dadadadada all the time, sometimes he'll yell out BABABABBAAAABO. No "mama" yet. Not even close.

Imagination

Apparently, Carter likes feeding himself so much, he eats imaginary food!

Root Canal

They say you lose one tooth for every pregnancy. Yesterday, #19 went down.

I had gone a year and a half between cleanings, and when I showed up for an appointment a few months ago, I was told I'd need a root canal. What??!! I instantly started crying. What a wuss. I made the appointment and then rescheduled it. I was tempted to reschedule it again but I figured I'd just go and get it over with. Plus it was a good opportunity for my mom to get some good Carter time in.

The second I sat down in that chair, I started crying again. I was so terrified. When I got that tooth filled (it had a big nasty cavity several years ago), the dentist didn't get me numb enough and it was horribly painful. I can remember that feeling so clearly and it traumatized me. The assistant was so nice and explained to me in detail what was going to happen and why, with pictures and everything. I was grateful for that. I'm the kind of person that likes to know too much. Chris thinks I oversaturated myself with information while I was pregnant. I don't think so...I was just very prepared.

So he numbed me up and started drilling. I was squeezing a stress ball so hard that my fingertips were in pain. I was making little noises and every muscle in my body was tight. I just couldn't relax, anticipating that horrible feeling from the last time. I started to feel the beginnings of it so I stopped him and he gave me another shot in a different place. I felt that shot going in, so it definitely wasn't my imagination that I wasn't numb enough!

After that it was pretty much smooth sailing. I felt him (pressure, not pain) scraping the pulp and root out. It was like that little brush that comes with Dr. Brown's bottles to get little device that goes inside clean. I'm sure that made sense to at least three of you. Anyway, he asked me if I felt anything and I said no and he said that if I wasn't feeling that, I wouldn't feel anything. Woot! Home free. So I relaxed and just let him do his job.

Towards the end I started to get a little bit of sensation back but it wasn't enough to stop him and make him numb me more. I could deal with it.

It took almost 2 hours and my jaw is still really sore from being open for that long. I was in a little bit of discomfort last night but I took a Tylenol 3 to combat it, and it seemed to work like a charm. So well, in fact, that I started feeling a little relaxed on our way to dinner (I took it right before we left). We were about a mile from the restaurant when I started noticing a little effect. We parked and I got out of the car and opened the back door to get Carter out, fished in my pocket for the key so I could lock the door, and realized the key was still in the ignition and the car was running. Doh. So I handed my keys off to my mom so she could drive home. :-)

The procedure wasn't as bad as I had built it up in my mind, but it's definitely not something I'd like to have done again. Obviously.

Once Bitten

Carter got bitten by another kid at daycare yesterday. His sitter turned her back to get everyone's sippy cups and when she turned back around, JK had Carter's leg in his mouth. She quickly stopped him and thankfully it didn't break the skin. However, you can definitely see clearly defined red teeth marks in his leg. I tried to take a picture last night but couldn't get it to show up. The flash on the camera made it disappear when I could actually get him to sit still long enough to get a pic.

The kid who bit him is only like 18 months old. He roughhouses with his older brother a lot and sometimes bites him, so Shaista tries to keep him away from Carter or closely supervised as much as she can.

I'm not angry. I'm actually just looking at it as a rite of passage. Every kid gets bitten at some point. Right?

8 Months

Carter turned 8 months old yesterday. It seems like every day he's doing something new and wonderful. He's growing up so quickly.

He's improving very quickly with his crawling. And now he can get himself to a sitting position from crawling mode. That makes him very happy. He's starting to eat some "real" foods...puffs, bits of cracker, bread, etc. He looks so proud when he feeds himself. It really only took me a few times of showing him what to do before he got it. Each day he gets better and better at getting the food into his mouth.



We're working on teaching him how to clap, which I think will be the first step to teaching him signs. I do the sign for "more" a lot and he seems to maybe understand what I'm saying, but he's not doing it back yet. Shaista (his sitter) says they do clapping a lot so hopefully he'll get it soon. They also must sing the ABC song a lot because as soon as I start singing it, he stops his whining (or whatever he's doing at that moment the prompts me to start singing) and watches me intently, smiling.

He seems to be on a fairly good schedule these days. He wakes up once a night, usually around 4 or 5, but goes right back to sleep after I nurse him. He gets up for good by 8:00 and then takes a mid-morning nap for about 45 minutes. He takes a (usually) longer nap mid-afternoon and then another at 5:30 when we get home from work/daycare. If he's not up on his own, I wake him up at 7:00 so he can play with Daddy, eat dinner, get a bath, etc before bedtime at 8:30ish. Bedtime is super easy (hope I'm not jinxing it!). We put him down and he goes to sleep. Simple as that! No binkie, no lovey, just the kid and the mattress. And sometimes his tv.

Still not saying anything other than "dada" all the time. Believe me, I'm working on it! He does like when Chris whispers to him and sometimes he'll whisper back, but it's usually some variation on "dada." He also likes to blow raspberries.

My favorite thing though? His sneezes. They are just so darn cute. And he smiles really big every time. Especially if he just sneezed in someone's face. :-)

He's crawling!

Last night Carter was in bed with us hanging out and it looked like he was getting ready to do an army crawl so we figured we'd stick him on the floor and see what happened. I grabbed the camera, we plopped him on the ground, and teased him with the remote. The following is what happened:



What's amazing is that he never "practiced." He never rocked, got up on his knees, or anything. We're so proud of him!

July 11th

Today, we would have been celebrating our baby's first birthday.

Instead, I spent the morning kissing and cuddling and loving on my little boy that never would have existed had our Nugget not died. It's a happy day, just in a different way.

I'm finally at a place where I can say (albeit with tears in my eyes) that yes, it happened for a reason. Carter was meant to be our son and the pain and the grief was worth it. Every second of it.

The G word

I know, it's all you hear about these days..."going green." It's annoying. But I can't help but be swept up in it.

I watch Planet Green voraciously. I can't get enough. My only complaint about it is that it basically preaches getting rid of your old stuff and getting new, sustainable "stuff." What are you supposed to do with the old stuff?? Isn't the whole point to use what you have until you can't anymore and then do something responsible with it, like recycle it? Then, once you NEED to replace something, do it the "right" way (sustainable and ecologically-friendly).

In our home, we've made a few small changes that make me feel good about doing my part.

• I do cloth diapers. Not as much as I'd like to though. But, each cloth one I use is one less going into a landfill. Right?
• I've Freecycled all of our nasty cleaning stuff and replaced it with vinegar, water, baking soda and lemon juice.
• I try to limit my driving, even if it means staying home all day and just vegging. And if I do have errands to run, I try to do them all at once so it limits how much driving around I'm doing. Except for the great Peanut Butter Fudge Cake incident of 2008. But that's another story for another time.
• I wash most of our clothes in cold water.
• We turn the air conditioner up to 80 when we're not at home.
• Carter eats mostly organic jarred baby food or locally-grown food from the farmers' market. I'm not really stringent on that, but I like to try to adhere to a more natural diet for him than what we eat (Oreo ice cream in the freezer, I'm talking to you). I also make a lot of his food from frozen veggies and fruit. Less packaging waste and WAY cheaper than the jarred stuff. Plus, it's fun to mix and match the pretty-colored frozen cubes.

I've also been making some changes at work. I work for a title company. We shuffle a LOT of paper. When a loan closes, I used to make a copy for the borrower, a copy for our files, and then send the originals to the lender. Now?

• I scan the lender docs and save them on the computer, rather than copying 100 pages. Five files, and I've saved a ream of paper!
• I've also started collecting the stubs I rip off the checks I cut, turning them over to the blank side, and putting them together into notepads. Every time I answer the phone I write down the person's name so that when I say goodbye I can use their name. I used to use Post-its for that. What a waste.
• Instead of overnighting payoff checks to the lenders, we've started wiring them. That saves on the paper copies that we'd make of all the supporting documentation, plus the Fed Ex fees are no more. And it doesn't cost us anything extra to send the wire, so why not??
• I troll the internet looking for coupons to use on the office supplies I need to buy so that the savings can go toward recycled paper. Yesterday, I ordered two boxes of recycled paper and only spent $25! That's about a 50% savings. Sweet.
• I email as much as I can instead of faxing. Again, saves paper.

I feel good about what I've been doing and I'm hoping to find more ways to get more "green" without compromising our lifestyle or budget.

I know my brother Rick is rolling his eyes and sighing loudly (if he's even gotten this far into the post) because he's convinced there is no environmental issue. Let's all just let him live in his fantasy world, shall we?

Bizarro Carter

This kid? Don't know where he came from. All day yesterday he wasn't happy unless I was holding him. He cuddled more than he ever has. He was crabby and cranky and hardly napped.

But then last night our kid was back and cuter than ever.

Chris' work picnic

I'm a little late on this one, but better late than never. Last Friday we went to Chris' work picnic at Smokey Glen Farm. I didn't go last year because I was pregnant and it was hot and I just liked to lay around in bed in the air conditioning in those days. Ah, those were the days...

Anyway, his picnic was a lot of fun. I got to meet some new people, and see some folks again that we met at his holiday party in December.

Here's Daddy and Son holding hands. So cute!


Chris DOMINATING at Tug O' War. :-) Check out that right calf muscle!

Carter looking half drunk...cheering Daddy on. (Girl, recognize that quilt??)

At the end of the day, Chris' team didn't win, but he got a Good Sport Award. We were very proud. And, yes, he's wearing his Father's Day shirt with nekkie Carter on it. :-)

Carter was zonked out by the time the day was over.

Carter's famous in Chris' work circle. Apparently, he's an internet sensation! Hi everyone!

A new low

Somehow, someone found my blog by searching the words "flat butt." That's just embarassing. And true.

New Trick

He started blowing raspberries today. He'd been doing it to his pacifier or his arm, or even my boob, but never just a straight raspberry. He was doing it all night tonight. So funny.

Sorry the video's so dark.