Two Little Snowflakes

Monday, May 30, 2011

The Toad Prince

We found a toad outside and Carter had so much fun with it! He held it a little bit (luckily he didn't squish it, lol), and giggled every time it hopped.

I love it when he gets excited about something new!

Action shot!

Ribbit!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

My poor poor Sweet Baby Puddin'!

The trash can in our kitchen has a top that swings, so you don't have to lit the lid to throw your trash in. I was sitting at the kitchen table and heard clinking bottles, so I looked over and saw Carter with his arm in the trash can. I didn't think much of it because he's like a curious little cat, so I chased him away. A few minutes later, he was back there, turning the lid so it was "open", then letting go so he could stick his hand in, then crying because it would fall down!

After a few minutes of watching him get frustrated, Rachel asked if maybe he'd dropped his Nuk in the trash can. So I got up and looked (he's notorious for "cleaning!")...it wasn't a Nuk, but there was his fork and a piece of chalk in there! So we're guessing he cleaned his chalk up, then was using the fork to try to get the chalk out (hence the clinking noises).

I was a little blown away by his thought process! He just keeps getting smarter and smarter as days go by....

Friday, April 29, 2011

15 months old!

Carter turned 15 months old on Friday! I can't believe how quickly the time is flying by.

He had his 15 month visit like 3 weeks ago (scheduling error, maybe?). Pork Chop was tipping the scales at 21 lbs 4 oz (31st percentile, up from 11th) and 30.5" (36th percentile, up from 25th)...and his head was a whopping 18.75" - 76th percentile (that stayed consistent, lol)!! Guess that means he's extra smart :) I'm sure he's packed on a pound or two since then! He's got the most delicious little Buddha belly :)

He's finally growing a little hair! It's really light though, so you can't tell too much. It looks like it wants to curl in the back, where it's longer, so I don't want to cut it until I can tell for sure if it's going to curl or not :)

He's a GREAT eater. He rarely meets a food he doesn't like, and I'm so glad that he's not picky. He loves his fruits and veggies, as well as the occasional sweet treat :) I think most days, he eats more than Alex does, lol.

Carter is still nursing like a champ. He probably nurses 3-5 times a day, depending on what we're doing. I'm so pleased that we've made it this far, and am SO grateful that I have people who support me in EBF. Around 18 months we'll probably start moving toward a "don't offer, but don't deny it" kind of pattern. Alex nursed until he was 2 3/4, and even then, he only stopped because I dried up while pregnant. I can't bring myself to force wean a baby, but I would be happy if he didn't go as long as Alex did, lol. He's definitely more independent than Alex was, so maybe that'll make a difference. I dunno. One day at a time, right?

He's walking like a pro, and practically running. It's still pretty strange to look at him walking, because he's a perfect miniature person now! He just wanders around the house, doing his own thing, and seeing what kind of mischief he can get into.

He's a champion climber. He can get up onto the couch (and my desk from there!) and the bed, and does so at every opportunity. He's not so good at getting down from them though, lol.

He's still not sleeping through the night. He wakes up 1-2 times most nights, but nurses back to sleep. We're working on "sleep training". I'd like to get him to where he can get himself to sleep on his own. I think that'll help with night time wakings! Basically, I lay down next to him until he falls asleep. He's not ready to fall asleep completely on his own yet, but we're getting there! He's already made a lot of progress, he went from needing to be nursed/rocked to sleep, to needing to have his bak rubbed, to where he can do it just by having someone with him. Currently, he'll only do it with me there, but I know he'll be able to do it on his own soon enough! His sleep schedule isn't nearly as consistent as I'd like, though, because our schedule varies from day to day. He naps 1-2 times a day, depending on what we're doing. If we're out and about he'll usually fall asleep in the car in the morning, but if we're home, it's usually just one longer-ish nap in the middle of the day.

I love watching his personality grow and develop! He LOVES his big brother, and luckily, the feeling is mutual :) They're so cute, playing together. When Alex is in the right mood, they can play for hours and hours. It's so much fun :) I'm incredibly grateful that they're both really happy kids, for the most part.

And that leads to the next part, lol.......Carter has learned to have tantrums! When he doesn't get his way, or is anxious for something, he stomps his feet. It's really kinda funny. If he knows he's getting food, he'll take out his pacifier, stomp his feet, and grunt. And if he doesn't get his way, he'll cry and stomp his feet. Or else he just slowly throws himself to the ground, crying. It's really very tragic. Lol.

In general, he's doing super, developmentally. He's figuring out his shape sorter and the pop up toy (you know, where you push a button, flip a switch, etc and a little door pops up?). And he's a little monkey! The only thing he's not doing so well with is speech. He doesn't really have a single word yet, but babbles like he's saying something! And he does have some consistent sounds - he'll make the same sound for something, even if it is a generic sound! Alex has had a lot of difficulties with speech, so at least I know a little more about how to help Carter, and what to really keep an eye out for!

So, now that I've written a book, you know just what Carter is up to :)

And of course, a few pictures!

Monday, April 25, 2011

Everything in its place...

Carter has figured out that things go places and is very into putting them there now! It's so cute :) He stacks the rings on his little giraffes, puts figurines in the holes of the bus, the Weeble into its airplane, etc. He even tries to work with the shape sorter and gets it some of the time!

I'm not sure what age this is normal for...but it makes me proud to see him doing it :) But at the same time, it's just one more way that he's not a baby anymore!

He's been good about putting the blocks into his alphabet train for some time now, but it's now to the point that he does it with everything.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Vacation!

So we're back from our lovely little Spring Break vacation! We went to Gatlinburg, TN for a couple of nights. It was our first "real" family vacation! Eric and I had been several times before (we even got married there) but hadn't been since the wedding. And we'd been on vacation as a family, but it had always been to visit family, or something like that...not ever on our own! So it was really nice to get away for a few days :)

It only took us about 5 hours to drive - it would have been less, but you know how it is, traveling with kids!

The drive started off well enough...until we saw this. Just what every traveler wants to see!

Luckily the delays weren't too bad. I spent a lot of the drive playing with my camera. I managed to get some pretty good pictures! Especially when you consider that they were taken out of a moving car, with the windows up!

It was so nice to see mountains again...of course, they're not real mountains like I'm used to, but they're better than SC's non-existant mountains!

We got to the cabin and relaxed for a little bit. The cabins are so nice, they're not that expensive, and you get your own little house, hot tub, etc! This was the smallest one we've ever stayed in, but we didn't need anything too big just for us.

It had a king bed downstairs, and a queen sleeper upstairs, where we put Alex.

Looking down from upstairs...poor Carter was so confused where the voices were coming from until he finally looked up!

We headed out to Pigeon Forge for dinner. This Apple Farm restaurant got great reviews, so we went there! While we waited, Alex posed for a few pictures :)

Where are you, Alex??

The apple fritters with apple butter were AMAZING. The rest of the meal was about average...the soup tasted like it came from a can, and the rest of the meal was more or less like something you'd get at a buffet. But it wasn't too expensive, and they gave you a TON of food, so it was definitely worth it!

We made some eggs for breakfast the next morning. We forgot Carter's little on-the-go booster seat, so he had to eat on the floor! Luckily, he didn't seem to mind :)

We got dressed and headed out to catch the trolley into downtown Gatlinburg, rather than drive, try to find parking, then pay $8 to park! The boys had fun posing :)

Alex gets sauced, lol.

We went to this Star Cars museum - Eric and Alex LOVED it! it was a collection of cars from movies and TV shows. Bumblebee, of course, was Alex's favorite!

We got to sit in the car from the Flinstones movie :) Carter took us for a spin!

MINI from the Italian Job...makes me miss my MINI that much more! But mine was yellow and much cuter :)

Poor Alex was so scared of the dinosaur by the Jurassic Park car! He was hiding behind the car, and refused to stand next to Batman, who was across the room.

We visited a moonshine distillery, and of course, bought some :) It's not really moonshine though, since it's legally made! But it was still neat to see. They had a regular one (tasted like vodka, but 100 proof), corn whiskey (I don't like whiskey, but Eric said it tasted like alcoholic corn flakes), and apple pie (suuuuper tasty, and only 40 proof!)

Poor Carter was all worn out from all the sightseeing!

We did old timey family pictures, I'll have to scan those and post them too :)

Group shot on the front porch! Thank goodness for self timers :)

Heading back home, playing with the camera some more :)

Alex's favorite part of the vacation....driving through tunnels and holding his breath!

Two small boys, all tuckered out!

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Some people pay a lot of money for a mud bath....

We did the USMC Mud run today! I'd done it 2.5 years ago, but none of my teammates had done it before. It was just as awesome as I remembered! They'd moved to a new course, so in a way, it was new for me too!

It's 5.3 miles, 34 obstacles, and a LOT of mud! We were some very dirty birdies by the time we were done.

We got started and were about 5 obstacles in when it started pouring...then lightning stuck about 100 yards away from us, so they called a halt to everything. Luckily, it blew over very quickly, and we got to continue on. But, we lost about 15 minutes! We'll just subtract that off our final time :)

Team 1020, the Roaming Gnomes, are ready to go!

Bert, Pamela, Toni, and Melissa

Crossing the starting line!

Crawling under logs...getting a face full of mud! That's me, toward the front.

After crawling under the logs! We'd been far muddier before, but the previous obstacle was a nice long hike down a creek where we got nice and "clean" lol!

After yet another ditch...it was all squishy on the bottom so it was just easier to get down and kind of float through it all. Of course, all it takes is the person in front of you kicking good to get a face full of mud, hence my Phantom of the Opera face!

One of the obstacles....up and over! I'm scared of falling, but at that point, you've got so much adrenaline pumping through your system you feel like Superwoman! I'm all the way on the right.

At the top, going over!

Stretcher run...as the lightest person on the team, I got to be the one carried :)

Finish line!!

Getting hosed off by the firemen!

The dumpster filled with abandoned shoes and clothes....yuck!!

I'm already so excited for next year! They do it in the fall as well, so we'll see if we can do that one too :)

I already discover more scrapes and cuts and bruises with each shower (3 so far, today)....not to mention how sore I'm gonna be! But it's sooooo worth it :)