A large hole in the wall...

October 8th turned out to be a beautiful day - the weather was warm enough that Rich was able to put in the new front door (before winter weather and cold gets here).

This is the best "before" picture I have - Rich had already taken off the actual door - the one that was painted in an awful turquoisey/seafoamy green color (on the outside). The trim and sidelights were the dark wood with stain on them.

The job ended up being easier than Rich anticipated as once he had the old door and frame out, he found that the support beam was where he needed it and he didn't need to put in a new one. That saved a few hours of work!
The huge hole in the wall!
Much nicer! The new door lets in so much daylight. A very welcomed change to the darkness that we've had. The doors and sidelights have the blinds inside of the glass, I highly recommend that option if anyone is thinking of it someday.
This was taken the weekend Richie put the door in - now the trim and siding are all back on - I really should go take another picture!

And my favorite from the remodel -

This is the picture taken the week we moved in!

Laura had a birthday - she's 4!

September 27th, Laura turned 4 years old. That night, we celebrated in small family fashion with cupcakes in princess wrappers and a few presents. She got pink sparkly hello kitty shoes that she LOVES! She had them in size 10 and when she outgrew them was very sad. A few days before her birthday, I was in Target and saw one pair of the same shoes... size 12! I snatched them up and they could have cost $50 and I would have bought them for her! I thought there might be other sizes so I looked and looked, but that was the one lone pair on the rack. Last year's style so I'm guessing it was hidden somewhere in the back storage room... and it was being saved just for Laura. She also got her own scrapbook and some scissors and papers. She got homemade "princess" playdough... it's colored with koolaid and has sparkles in it. Her and Carson played with that stuff for at least an hour after we had our mini party that night.

She had a little party at Lynne's on that day... took a poster with a Cat In The Hat drawn on it and I had cut out red bowties and the kids played "Pin the Bow on the Cat In The Hat". She took chocolate chip cookies to share with her friends.

Her big party though was on October 1st. She kept asking all week long if her birthday was over because she wanted to make sure she was still getting her friend party!




We started the day with an art project... I know, a little daunting getting out finger paints with a room full of preschoolers! Each kid had an adult with them though so other than Neleh sticking her fingers in the blue before we were ready, there were no paint catastrophes. These turned out super cute, I should have taken a picture of them all together when they were done though! They were Thing1 and Thing2. Laura's will end up in her scrapbook.


Next, we asked our resident 3rd grade teacher (Aunt Megan) to read aloud to the kids. The Cat In The Hat kept most of the kids attention.


We ate some good food...

Pepperoni/cheese "Pizza" rolls with marinara dip, goldfish crackers, pistachios (Laura's favorite) and the famous caramel dip for apples!

Presents... blessed with many nice new things!





Laura announced at that time that it was time for CAKE!

My favorite photo of the day...



Cousin Neleh digging the blue icing...


The weather forecast for the week leading up to the party was rain, rain, and more rain. At first, Saturday was forecast with 40% chance rain in the morning, clear in the afternoon. Then by Friday morning, it said 70% chance rain all day. Then Friday evening it looked like we were going to be doomed to be inside all day... 90% chance of drenching rain all day long. I prayed really hard for that 10% to come through for us - and it did!
We bundled the kids up and headed outside for the best part of the afternoon... each kid got to drive/fly/scoot around in their own Thing-A-Ma-Jig! (Thing-A-Ma-Jigs are diaper boxes painted with 2-3 coats of acrylic paint and 43 inch shoe laces tied on for handles.)







It's very entertaining watching little kids run around in boxes bumping into each other and then turning around and running and giggling some more!




All resulting in one extremely happy 4 year old little girl...

So confusing for a 3 year old...

How do you explain faith to a 3 year old? They think SO literally... and pull only on the knowledge that their little brains already have when you try to explain concepts to them.

Tonight's conversation with Laura as I was tucking her into bed...

Laura: Who is God? (Whoa! Big question out of nowhere!)
Me: He's the guy who made you and me and daddy and Carson. He made the world we live in and he makes everything around us special. (Simple enough, right!?!)
Laura: Is he in the moon?
Me: No, why?
Laura: Hermie talks to God in the moon.
Me: Oh, Hermie looks up to the sky when he's talking to God.
~insert some other discussion about how God makes Hermie special and turns him into a beautiful butterfly~
Laura: Is Jesus God the man who plays piano?
Me: No, the man who plays piano is Pastor Dave. He tells us about Jesus and God.

Laura: Is God a person?
Me: No.... (thinking... thinking how to explain this to a 3 year old...) No, he's a spirit...

...and before I could get another word out I hear...

God's a Horse!?! (insert her fits of giggles!)

PS: No, we don't spend all day watching TV, but this certainly reinforces the fact that kids pick up more than we think from TV!

Laura says...

So, today at church, Pastor Dave Q was talking about all-you-can-eat buffets... Laura was disgusted and confused...She wanted to know why he kept saying "Butt Face" in church!

9 month - 15 month mash up update!

My dearest Carson… my second born… my son. I never dreamed I’d have a son. I just never pictured a boy… and now that you are a part of our lives, we can’t imagine it without you. You are such a sweet mellow spirited boy, but as you grow and figure out how to get around in your world… you are proving to mommy and daddy that we’re going to have our hands full with you.. You are 100% pure boy. You do so many things that we never knew about or thought about when we were parents of a little girl.

It’s true what they say – the second child is less photographed and their baby book is much more sparse of details… I haven’t set aside the time to keep up with the monthly updates (since you were 9 months old!) and I’m very sad about that, but life is so busy getting lived, that it doesn’t leave much time for documenting it.

You finally decided you liked solid foods at about 9.5 months old. You started chowing down on fruits and yogurt and cheeses. You pretty much skipped over baby mush and went right to small pieces of “real” food. You are now 15 months old and you want to do it all yourself. You really enjoy walking around the house with a slice of bread in your hand munching on that. Your favorite sandwich is whole wheat with roasted red pepper hummus! You can feed yourself with a fork, but you’d rather dig in with your hands and toss the fork on the floor. Currently, you enjoy fruits (watermelon is a favorite), bread, cheese, yogurt, and more cheese. Oh, and you’ve been known to eat 10 baby carrots in one sitting – you seem to never tire of those! You are not a fan of (most) vegetables or meats.

Up until you were a year old, you continued with your every 1.5-2 hour waking schedule overnight…every night. Mommy was exhausted. We decided to let you “Cry it out” shortly after you turned one…and you cried for a little while the first and second nights when you woke up, but then you figured out how to settle yourself back down. We’ve now settled into a pretty good schedule of you going to bed at around 7:30…up to eat around 10:30-11ish and then again around 4:30-4:50ish. If you wake in between those times, you fuss it out for a few minutes and put yourself back to sleep. You love your pacifier still, but rarely find it in the middle of the night. We got you a few different stuffed toys thinking you’d attach to a “lovey”…but your favorite bedtime items still seems to be a couple of prefold cloth diapers that you can hold and rub on your face.

You are very attached to breastfeeding, and I’m not sure when we’ll wean you. You are 15 months old, and you still nurse 5-6 times each day. … 5am(ish)…7am(ish)…after daycare… before bed (sometimes twice)… 10:30ish … I’m not in a rush to end our relationship…and obviously you aren’t either.

You never really actually liked taking a bottle at Lynne’s house. Two weeks before you were 1 year old, you totally refused to take anything else from a bottle. You weaned yourself cold turkey. Only problem was, you also refused a cup – any cup. It took a full month for us to figure out that you liked the cup Laura uses – and it took that long for you to figure out how to use a spill proof cup. Now, you take 1 full cup of milk each day at Lynne’s house. About a month ago, you figured out how to drink out of a straw. I stopped pumping for you when you stopped taking the bottle…but the freezer still had 150 ounces stashed for you. I went on a search and found a mama a few hours north of here who could use it. We met up at the parking lot of the Cortland Tim Horton’s and I gave her the last of the freezer stash for her 7 week old son Aaron.

At 12 months old, you didn’t have any words, but you loved to roll your tongue back and forth in your mouth making noise… you’d do it at dinner and we’d all do it back getting you to laugh at us. You currently say “mama”… mainly in the middle of the night or when you’re fussy. You started signing “all done” at around 13.5 months old and at around 14.5 months you started signing “more”. Now you nod your head in a very “I dream of Jeannie” way when we ask you “Do you want to go nite nite?”

You do not like being rocked to sleep. While that is nice in the evening because we can put you down and you put yourself to sleep, it makes it difficult to travel with you when it will overlap with a naptime or bedtime. Church was difficult last week because you didn’t get your nap before we left, you were telling me you were sleepy as we were worshiping, but you would not fall asleep. You ended up pushing yourself to stay awake until we got home at 2pm and then crashed the second you were in your crib.

Your 1 year stats: 32inches (above 95%!) 22 pounds 14 ounces (52%)
Your 15 month stats: 33 inches (94%) 23 pounds 14 ounces (~42%)

You and your sister are very close. You both love to scoot off to her room and bounce and giggle on her bed. She also quite often exerts her size over you by dragging around with her arm around your neck. We keep telling her that soon enough, you’ll be her size – and then bigger than her and pay her back for what she’s doing. I don’t think she understands or believes us, but it’ll be interesting to watch as you grow and the tables turn. You have already figured out how to make her mad too… you have been known to take a toy she’s playing with and run away from her giggling!

Toilet seat locks? I used to think they were a gimmick. Now I want to buy stock in them! Playdough… a sippy cup… lid to the humidifier… another container of playdough… a bathtub fishy toy… a piece of bread… just the start of things that have ended up in the toilet so far. We actually don’t have a toilet lock, although I love the idea of it… I think we’d have a lot of potty accidents with Laura if we did have one… so, we’ll try to remember to keep the bathroom door shut and the lid down…and when you get through those defenses and we hear the giggling and splashing water, we’ll strip you down and toss you in the tub, just as we’ve been doing.

More evidence you are all boy… You have figured out how to remove the child safety caps from the outlets. You think graham crackers were made to be dropped down the floor grates. You remove the coverplate to the thermostat in your bedroom. Oh, and just this evening, daddy found what looks like little beaver marks on 3 sides of your crib… looks like someone has been trying a new snack! You climb on everything. We’ve found you standing on the kitchen chairs, standing on the toy chest in front of the window, standing on Laura’s booster seat to make you a few inches taller so you can reach the table.

Your personality is mellow and sweet, but you can also be very demanding and whiney… there are days that your daddy or I carry you on a hip. A lot. My right arm muscles are very well defined! You just like being up and seeing what is happening at our level.

You are filling out your 18-24 month clothing very well now. You’re in medium fuzzibunz and size 4 pampers. Your shoe size is a 5.

You were cruising furniture at a little over 10 months old… and took a few steps the week you turned 11 months old. We haven’t been able to stop you since then! You walk with a very wide and sometimes sidestepping gait.

At around 13.5 months old, you discovered Toby and Miranda. Their personalities are the same as when Laura discovered them… Toby tolerates you hugging and squeezing and poking him. Miranda hides.

By 12 months, you had 8 teeth – 4 top and 4 bottom. Here at 15 months, you still have those same 8 and no more yet.

You still sit rear facing in both the truck and the van.

Last month, you helped set a Guinness World Record. We went to Jillian’s Drawers and participated in the Great Cloth Diaper Change. Babies all over the world were changed at the very same time into cloth diapers. They are still tallying the final numbers, but you will be getting a certificate of participation and we ended up on the front page of the local newspaper!

Things Laura says...

Laura is 3 and a half now. The things that come out of her mouth make me thing she's turning 14 anyday now though! Example #1 Last week when I picked her up at Lynnie's house, she crawled onto Michelle's lap and wouldn't look at me. When I asked her what was going on, she didn't want to come see me. Michelle explained that Laura had done something naughty that day and she (Laura) didn't want to tell me about it. Michelle told me they'd already done the explaining about why it was wrong and the time out with her head down and how Laura was really sorry and was crying. I think Laura was afraid I was going to punish her too...anyways, she came over and told me that she punched one of the other little girls because she wouldn't help Laura pick up the toys. I told her that's not a nice thing to do and she told the girl again that she was sorry. When we got home, I said to Laura, "Don't you have something to tell your daddy about today?" She didn't want to tell him either. Then I prompted her again, "Laura, please go tell your daddy about your day." "Daddy, I got banished!" ... I think she meant punished, but it was just the silliest thing! Maybe in her world of being a princess all the time, she does feel she was banished...or maybe it was just a slip of the words. It certainly was funny though! Example #2 Driving home tonight... Laura: I think we're going in a ditch. Daddy: I hope you're not foreshadowing anything! Me: (to Laura) Why'd you say that honey? Laura: We're going in a ditch. The car is going like this (moves her arms all over). Me: No, daddy's just driving. Laura: Why he driving like this? (moves her arms all over) Me: We're just on a swirving bendy road. Laura: CJ says I'll get a swirly if I tell on people. Me and Rich: A WHAT? Laura: A swirly! (Throws her hands down on her lap saying it through clenched teeth kind of like "didn't you hear me the first time!!??") Me and Rich: ... giggling and trying to figure out if we really heard her right... Me and Rich: What is a swirly punkin'? Laura: (Moves her arms all over) when you get put in a toilet and go like this! Me and Rich: ... more giggling, but by now I have tears in my eyes! HILARIOUS! (CJ is a boy who Laura really likes at daycare... they play together a lot there, but I think he has some teenage boy influence at home...) Grrr... not sure why this won't let me format the printing... I didn't type it all in one paragraph, but that's the only way it's letting me post. Annoying!

Change of plans.

Remember the post about My big project for 2011? Well, scratch that. I went to order the fabric the other night and it's sold out. Sold out everywhere except in Australia... I could certainly order from there, but it's $200 AUS dollars plus shipping... and I'd need two times that... plus the rest of the fabric... that was just for the fat quarters. Eek! I am so bummed, I really love that fabric. Oh well... have to find something else now. I'll be hitting up the local quilting store hopefully next week and see what they have in stock. I still WILL be making the quilt with that same pattern, just different fabric.

Laura says...

The other night I was so exhausted that I let Carson "cry it out" once in the night. He's been up every 2 hours every night since he was 4 months old. I am tired. I was so whooped I just could not get up the other night - and when I looked at the clock and realized it had been less than 2 hours since I'd last fed him... I let him cry. And cry. And fuss. And fuss some more. He was protesting for about 20 minutes when we heard... "Carson BE QUIET!" I giggled. Rich groaned. Carson fussed for maybe a minute more and then fell asleep... for all of 30 minutes. Then he was at it again - so I got up and fed him.

This morning we got in the car and pulled out of the driveway... Laura said to me, "Mommy, you're a super hero!" I asked her why she said that... "You're going Super FAST!" I was going 42 miles per hour.

Also on the ride in this morning...
Laura: When I get bigger Mommy, I'm going to go on a school bus to school.
Me: Yes you are. What are you going to do when you get to school?
Laura: The teacher talks to you and then you put your pack-ack on and get on the school bus.
Me: Yep, it'll be 2 years and you'll get to go to school.

... and then I realized that it's a year and a half until she goes to school! Wow! I told her she'll be turning four in September and she held up her 4 fingers and said "this many?" She's picking things up so fast and so quickly becoming a child, and less of a toddler.

The snow we had for Christmas has melted. Laura is pretty happy about that. She went out with her daddy this morning and she was playing in the sandbox... wool mittens - check! John Deere hat - check! Pink snow boots - Check! Good time? CHECK!

Rich has pretty much completed the demo in the bathroom and is working on sheetrocking and electric in our new closet. He went down to work and brought the dumptruck home today so he could load it up with the old stuff that has been taken out. I think now we need to go browsing and make some decisions on things like: new flooring (tile? lenolium?), cabinets (wood? painted?), mirrors (cabinets? flat?), lighting (above the mirror? sconces next to the mirrors?), paint (oooh so many colors to choose from!), tile for the tub... I really don't have any vision yet for what I want in this bathroom other than more space and 2 sinks.

Today is our last day home before we end this week of vacation and (semi) vacation. I worked 2 days last week - so it really has felt like a vacation for me too! Laura has really enjoyed her week home from daycare. She has gotten really used to waking up (happy) on her own time and she's been enjoying 3 hour naps nearly everyday! Bedtime has been pretty consistent around 8:30-9ish and she's been SO happy all week. We've not had a lot of whining (except a few instances like yesterday morning) and overall, she's been the sweet happy girl we know she is.

I told her this morning that our vacation is nearly over and that tomorrow she'll be going back to Lynnie's house while Mommy and Daddy go back to work. She coughed. Then she said "Mommy, I can't go to Lynnie's house." *cough* "I have a really bad cough." Richie told her "not today pumpkin, tomorrow you go to Lynnie's house"... she said something like "oH!" with a smile on her face and went back to playing. We've not heard another cough since. Wonder what she'll try to pull tomorrow morning! I sense that it could be rough getting up and around and out of here on time.

My big project for 2011...

I got Elizabeth Hartman's book "The Practical Guide to Patchwork" for Christmas. I'm going to make the "little leaves" quilt in a twin size for dd's bed. That'll be 3 times larger than the quilt in the book so I have to do lots of adjustments, and the material that I want to use will be much more expensive than I'd originally planned for when I had the great idea to make my daughter a quilt. I'm estimating ~$200 or so by the time I figure fabric for front and back and binding, thread, and batting... Eek! I should find something cheaper, but I think I'm so in love with this that I'll try to just save up for it and it'll be a keepsake for her.

Here's a pic of the Little Leaves pattern. What I really like about it is that the leaves are all applique. So the only real quilt piecing there will be is putting the 12x12 blocks themselves together.

My quilt will be 6 blocks wide and 8 blocks long.
I want to use this material for the leaves.

I want to do this back (also from the book, from a quilt called "Small Plates")

And I want to use these as the main 2 fabrics with swatches from the leaves for the middle part.

Oh, and the only quilt I've ever made was a small doll quilt for Laura for this past Christmas... I hope I'm not in over my head! I do know three very good quilters in real life though and one has a long arm quilting machine (That I'm hoping!) that I'll be able to use when I get to that part!

I hope that the way this morning started is not an indication of how the year will go for our family. Both kids were super whiney when they got up.

Carson has been really clingy and my arm hurts from carrying him around so much lately. Rich has spent the past few days this week home with the kids and his arm is sore too from holding Carson. Seems all he wants to do lately is be held... while someone is standing up.

Richie has been working on the bathroom remodel. We're making our red hallway bathroom much more user friendly - read: bigger and with 2 sinks! In turn, this makes our closet in our room smaller and gets rid of our tiny bathroom that was off of our bedroom.

Had plans for Richie to work much of the day in the bathroom, but when I heard him yelp and say he cut himself... plans for the day were derailed. He'd taken a huge piece of the wall with the tile on it out and when he carried it downstairs, he cut his knuckle on his left hand... pretty badly. It bled a lot and we were trying to decide if he'd need a trip to convenient care or not. I had some steri strips in the closet so we wrapped his finger up with an abdominal binder (read: huge fat bandage) and he put pressure on for about 20 minutes. When we checked it, it was still gushing but slower. I was able to slap one steri strip on it and then he held it again for awhile. Then I slapped 2 more steri strips onto it and the bleeding stopped with that. We'll see how it goes though...

We had David and Ally and their mom Laura over for a couple hours so the kids could play. They bounced and bounced and really enjoyed the bouncy house.

I've got a turkey in the oven now for dinner tonight. When we cook a turkey, we don't do all the fixin's. Our favorite part of a turkey is the leftovers to make sandwiches with - so we usually skip the big dinner and go straight for the sandwiches.

Laura is down for her nap and Carson is playing with his new blocks. Richie is watching a John Wayne movie and I'm about to get my knitting out... making a little hat.

I'm looking for a baked oatmeal recipe... one that has apple chunks in it... anyone have a recipe that's tried and true they're willing to share?

Our evening today was spent with 2 happy kids. Carson has a lot of speed with his little crawl these days and he can get from the living room to the bedroom end of the house super quick. He likes it when you chase him and he'll crawl and keep looking behind him and then giggle as he crawls faster.

Laura was having a grand time playing princesses... she was wearing her blue cinderella dress and her wedding veil. She went to look for her prince but couldn't find him because he must have taken their dog out for a walk. Then she put on her elmo backpack because it had dog treats in it. Then she grabbed her umbrella in case it rained when they went on their picnic. They were eating bunny on their picnic. Wow... the imagination of a 3 year old!


(I know all of that was totally random, but I figure posting something is better than nothing, right?) We'll see how 2011 goes!

9 months!

BIG boy we have here... not that we needed numbers to prove it, but it sure backs up our theory that we have a big boy!
Had his 9 month visit with Dr. S yesterday and it was pretty quick and straightforward. I won't say short and sweet though (I'll get to that in a minute).

Stats:
22 pounds 7 ounces (80%)
30 3/4 inches (98%!)
He's been very consistent on the charts.
They did the fingerstick to check iron and lead levels... but the results weren't back yet while we were there and he said there wasn't any point of waiting for them - he'll call if anything is off.

The nurse asked us all her questions... does he wave? "no" does he say mama/dada? "no" (insert strange look from her) does he clap his hands? "no"... at this point she takes her hands and claps them for me (Thank YOU! I didn't know what a clap was!)... she says "he can't do this?" I said ... I'm sure he CAN, but I haven't seen him do it. Ugh. Then she started to ask about feeding him... Is he breast or formula fed? "breastfed" How often? "every 1-2 hours from 5pm-7am and 13-20ish ounces a day at daycare" What's he drink at daycare, formula? "breastmilk" (didn't we already answer that question?) ... her tone was just a tad off with me, I wasn't a fan of this new nurse. Then she asked about table foods... (oy!) She asked how much he's eating and when I replied "he's pretty much not doing any solid foods on a regular basis" ... her eyes popped out like "WHY NOT!?!" She said "no veggies, no fruits, no meats..." I said, he ate an inch or so of asparagus the night before and he likes cheerios. I made sure to tell her it's not for our lack of trying that he's not munching down on tablefoods. Sheesh.

Here's how the conversation went with Dr. S... How's he doing with eating? "Not really interested yet" He chuckled and said "He'll figure it out when he's ready". I really like our doctor :)

What else is happening at 9 months old?

He's trying to stand without holding onto anything... the longest we've seen him do is 4-5 seconds. He'll take steps if someone holds both of his hands. He can cruise along furniture for a short bit, but then drops to the floor to crawl (at an amazing speed!) across the room to get what he wants. He really likes crawling down the hallway and parking himself in front of Laura's toy/book shelf.

He has the most piercing beautiful blue eyes.

He has 4 teeth now. The spikes of the top right and the one next to the bottom left poked through last week. He chomps them together and you can hear them grinding a bit... eek! Hate that sound! He enjoys scooting around the house with a sock in his mouth. I'm not sure if it's the size of it (it's usually his own!) but he'll just tuck it into his mouth and go about playing - not sure if he likes it as a drool catcher or if it feels good on his gums?

At night, he goes down to bed really easily. He typically nurses before bed in the living room and then stays awake and everyone gives good night kisses. I then pop in a pacifier and lay him in his bed and he usually goes right to sleep without a peep. Occasionally he'll make a few squalks but nothing I'd even call crying.

His sleep overnight is getting worse instead of better though. The past week or so, he's been up (it seems) ever 1-2 hours. We're all getting less sleep now than when he was a newborn. I've been putting a baby sized fleece blanket in his crib over him and he does well with it (doesnt' put it over his head) ... but it definitely doesn't stay over him. I've been thinking that maybe part of the reason he's been waking up is because he's getting chilly... his room is so hard to control the temperature in (electric heat!) .... so last night I tested it out - I shoved his really long body into the zip up sleep sack so he'd have that extra layer over him even if he rolled... and he slept pretty good. Up every 3 hours. (10:30, 1:30, 4:30). I think I need to get a pattern (make one?) and make a longer sleep sack for him.

He's ready for his 4th haircut...but we haven't done it yet.

He likes to make noise... growling, sucking in air to make a deep growly sound, babbles. He's still a very mellow tempered baby, but getting louder at daycare too. He's keeping the other babies up during the afternoon :( The other day, Lynne said she was in the kitchen and heard "the boys" being loud in the living room so she told them to quiet down. "They" didn't listen and kept being loud... banging things around and yelling. So, she went into the living room to see why "they" weren't listening to her... and she found Carson standing by the coffee table banging toys on it and happily yelling. He's one of "the boys" now.

Laura is so totally in love and protective of "her baby carson". She is always making sure he's okay and wanting to check on him.

One of Carson's favorite toys right now is the (toy) fridge magnets. My least favorite is that he likes to pull them OFF the fridge and leaves them all over the kitchen floor. Ouch!

Nothing to report on clothing/shoe/diaper sizes... same as last month. I did have to pack away one of his (non footed) onepiece Old Navy rompers though...sized 12-18 months... it stops midway between his knees and ankles. Also, his Carter's fleece zip up pj's (12 mos) are getting really tight. The one he has in 18 months fits so much better.

I touched on food briefly, but there are some things he'll eat... he really enjoyed the sweet potato bean burritos I had the other day... and he also gobbled down on cream cheese, meunster cheese, and tomatoes from ithaca bakery!

Shadow of Uncertainty...

Who are you?

I just realized I can check stats on who is coming to my blog... and I'm not sure who you are... please leave a comment.

8 months old

Still has only the 2 teeth on the bottom. No signs of any others anytime soon.



He's learned how to crawl forward. And he's started to pull up on the chairs and the bar stools, but he can't quite get his feet under him yet. He'll get on his knees with his hands on a bar and then most times fall over.

He doesn't eat much "people" food yet. He totally skipped over anything pureed and sloppy off of a spoon. He pinches his lips shut and won't let me get anything on a spoon past his lips. If I hold a bit of something and put it to his lips though, he'll open for it. IF I am able to get anything mooshy in his mouth that he doesn't care for, he has perfected raspberrying it right out and all over whoever is sitting next to him. His favorite foods are gerber type puffs and cheerios.

A typical day at daycare he'll take 12 -13 ounces of breastmilk.

His eyes still disappear when he grins really big!

His sleep patterns are totally wacky... he's awake every 2 hours overnight. I really think he's just gotten used to eating that often and that now it's habit. I keep saying I should let him cry it out so we can all sleep better, but then I don't because I really enjoy the extra little snuggles. I figure it'll only be another 4-5 months or so and he'll (most likely) be weaned, so his sleep should get better then. During the day at Lynne's... he's all over the place with his sleep. Some days he gets a longish morning nap (2ish hours) and then a quick snooze in the afternoon. Some days he gets 2 short snoozes. Bedtime is anywhere from 6:30-8:30... we don't have a set time for him because our evenings are all over the place with getting home and getting dinner. The good thing... he's happy all the time, even when he doesn't sleep good.

His personality is still very mellow and easy going, but he knows how to yell and get attention too! He's really starting to get attached to mommy... if he can see me, he's making a fuss until I get him.

His bed has been lowered to the lowest position since he can sit up now.

He doesn't really have a "lovey" yet... but he loves rubbing the preemie and infant sized burpcloths on his face while he's falling asleep.

Clothing wise, he's still in the same stuff... 12 mos, 18 mos, few 24 mos. Still not wearing shoes yet... but I think he's in a 4. Medium fuzzibunz. Size 4 pampers.



He LOVES his bath. He starts throwing his arms up and down and kicking his legs around when he sees that we're headed into the bathroom for bathtime. He scootches around in the tub and splashes and reaches for all the toys.



He has had 3 haircuts. We like to spike it up, and to keep that style, it has to be short.



The little red birthmark in his belly button continues to get lighter pink with little white spots in it. It may be getting smaller...but it's hard to tell because he's getting bigger.

7 months old.

He's in the same clothes still... 12 months with a few 12-18 and 18-24 months here and there. Size 4 Pampers. Size medium fuzzibunz and the few onesize fuzzibunz.









He's got two teeth. The bottom right popped through at 6.5 months and the bottom left came in about a week later. He didn't fuss at all for these. I hope he teeths as easily for the rest of them!









He's tried some foods, but really has no interest in anything yet. Except pumpkin bread. He loved the pumpkin bread. We've tried - watermelon, blueberries, homemade applesauce, fresh peaches, canary melon, gerber banana puffs, broccoli... He's still spitting everything back out and coughing when something gets back in his throat... so we're going slow with solids.







He's great at rolling over and has started scooting...backwards. He can sit up really well now, but occasionally still falls over if he loses his balance. He's able to push up on his forearms and get up on his knees at the same time into a crawling position...then he rocks back and forth like he's not sure what else to do. He wakes up often in his crib in the same position.







He can sit for upwards of 20 minutes with a tote of toys and be totally entertained. He also really enjoys his exersaucer. He also loves watching the TV when it's on. I think daddy may have another movie buddy!







He sits up in the bathtub these days and loves playing with a cup and putting his hands in the running water. He doesn't mind the water being dumped over his head and on his face at all.







His nap pattern is much the same - 2 good naps on a normal day at home, one is about an hour and the other is about 2-2.5 hours. Naps at Lynne's vary, but most days he gets one good nap (2ish hours) and another catnap or two.







He's eating around 12 ounces a day at Lynne's still. Somedays more, somedays less. I've only had to defrost a total of 3 bags of milk (15ounces) ... the rest has all been freshly pumped for him.







Mama is tired. Very very tired. He has started being up every 2-3 hours overnight... and as of when this is being typed (he's 7.5 months old now) - he's up every 1-2 hours overnight for the past week or so... he's up to eat and goes right back to sleep - so we're not sure why - maybe he's just gotten into the habit of eating that often? Maybe he's trying to learn to crawl (since he usually wakes up in the hands/knees crawling position). I forsee some nights of cry-it-out in his future if something doesn't change soon. Bedtime is typically around 7pm, we have aimed for the 6:30 time, but with getting home from work and getting dinner and baths and everything else, it's just really hard to get him down at 6:30 everynight.

He received his second haircut.

Social Calendar

Since when did Laura's social calendar get busier than mine!?

Tomorrow (Sunday): Her birthday party - complete with dirt, cake, six 3 year olds and hopefully no rain.

Monday: Dance lessons - combo of tap and ballet

Friday: Rehearsal/Rehearsal Dinner

Saturday: She's going to be a super cute flower girl in her best buddy Jenna's wedding! (Assuming her dress ever arrives!)

Next Monday: She'll turn 3 years old. Dance lessons and a small party with just us here at home.

... I see my job as taxi driver has begun...

6 months old.

Carson Dude at 6 months old...





20 pounds (87%)


29 inches ... off the charts for percentile!





Solidly wearing 12 month clothing. Some 12-18 month clothing is short on him. I bought 18-24 months for the majority of his winter wardrobe. Wearing size 4 pampers (for a few weeks now!). Size medium fuzzibunz. Also have a few "one size" fuzzibunz for him. I don't think those will fit him all the way until potty training because the rise is rather short looking in the back. Don't know his shoe size as he has yet to wear any.





He's still completely breastfed. We've tried bananas, peaches, and canary melon with him... but he's still not sure what to do with it - doesn't even open his mouth when it's given to him... and when he did get some in his mouth, he just pushed it back out and made an "ick" face. So, we'll wait awhile longer and try again. Obviously he's not lacking in calories! He's been taking 12 ounces a day (3 four ounce bottles).





He naps great at home... not so great some days at Lynne's. His routine is that he takes one good/long nap (1.5-2 hours) each day, and then grabs a few 10-20 minute catnaps to get through the rest of the day. Bedtime is like clockwork at 8pm. He gets fussy and so ready for that last feeding and then bed. ***Starting the week of August 23rd though, his new bedtime is 6:30pm and he's doing great with it! - hopefully making up for some of the daysleep he's not getting... he's been going down awake after a feeding and one night even laid there for nearly 45 minutes wide awake just playing with his feet and sucking on his paci before he fell asleep.





He is still waking up to eat every 3-4 hours overnight. Most nights he's up somewhere around 12-1 and then again around 4-5ish. Waking up right around 6-6:30 in the mornings. I'm tired from being up a lot overnight, but I just have to be thankful that he's only up long enough to suck down a meal and I'm usually back in bed within 11 minutes or so.





His little strawberry birthmark in his belly button is starting to turn white and get a little less red and a little more pink. It should start to get smaller and eventually go away.


He plays with his tongue and blows raspberries and giggles and coos. He grabs for anything he can - necklaces, hair, glasses, food off our plates...





He rolls over both ways freely and doesn't totally mind tummy time now. He can tripod sit very well and can sit for a few seconds upright on his own. He likes to hold onto some of his toys and look at them.





His favorite lovey/toy is a burpcloth. The preemie size cloths are perfect size for him to hold - he likes to suck on them... and at night, I let him hold one as he's falling asleep. He does not like any hard/plastic type teether toys. He has no teeth yet.





Daddy smooches give him the giggles (from the facial fuzz!).





He's starting to give great little hugs when he gets picked up - throws his arms around the neck and holds on tight. He even started giving "kisses". He'll make a popping sound with his lips that kinda-sorta resembles a kiss.





His eyes are the most gorgeous color blue. Just like big sister Laura's are.





He got his first hair cut. Chopped off the top wispy layer of thin/dark newborn softness. The hair underneath is totally blonde and a bit thick/coarse. He looks just stunning and so grown up with his new do. Mommy likes to spike it up!





His temperment is still very easy going... but his cries are starting to get quite a bit more forceful when he doesn't get attention at the first whimper.

MilkShare

I had a problem a few weeks ago... My freezer was full. Before I had Carson, it was packed full of meals - yummy meals that we ate up while I was home on maternity leave. Then slowly I realized my freezer wasn't getting any emptier because as I took out meals, I added bags and bags of frozen milk. Carson was taking nowhere near as much milk as I was pumping and by the time he was 4 months old, I had a freezer full of milk... sitting... unused. At the high point, I was adding about 50 ounces a week (in addition to what he was drinking during daycare). I wanted my freezer back, but I didn't want to stop pumping because I want my supply to stay up... so, I looked into my options.

• Rotate fresh/frozen... could do, but costs a lot buying lots of new bags for freezing.


• Toss it... No, not even a viable option.


• Donate it... Bingo!

I had heard of milkshare but never used it before. It's a free website forum where you can post ads saying you either want to get milk, or that you are offering milk. I put up a post in the NY section and for a couple weeks didn't get any responses. Then I got a message. A message from a mama to (then) 7 week old Declan. They live in California. They were traveling to NY for a family vacation... and she wanted to meet up. After a few emails and a couple phone calls we'd arranged a meet up at our house. After a 4 hour (one way) drive, they arrived and I packed her cooler bags full, and then grabbed one of my cooler bags and packed that full for her too. I wish I'd taken pictures of how much I sent - it was a lot! She later said it was enough standing all the bags up to fill the door of an upright freezer.

I felt so good giving my milk to a baby who would really benefit from it! I did have some initial feelings of "oh my, what did I just do!?!" as I drove back to work - thinking some awful thoughts like if I were to die while Carson is still breastfeeding, that Richie would have to give him formula since "the stash" is gone... but those thoughts were fleeting and now I feel so good about what I was able to do!

I later asked the mama if she could take a quick tally of about how much milk I'd sent her... ~600 ounces. Wow. Rough guess was that this amount would last Declan about a month.

I'm back up to 210 ounces in the freezer now (just a few weeks later) - but I'm not sure I'll be able to donate anymore - Carson is taking more now at daycare, and my supply isn't as much as it once was. Still plenty for one baby, but maybe not enough for 2 anymore. ...we'll see though!

4 months old.

Carson is now 4 months old. WHERE has the time gone? I'm sure all parents think and say the following that it's overused, but I truely can't believe our baby boy is getting so big and changing so much so fast!

He wants to sit up all the time now. He curls into a "C" shape if he's lying down and wants to sit up - kind of like he's constantly doing a crunch! He enjoys his swing and will sit quite content there for awhile either looking at his hands or at the animals above him. At Lynne's house, he loves watching all the kids around him. They'll prop him on the couch or put him in the swing or in the highchair and he is so content to just watch everything going on around him.

He has not rolled over ... yet... he looks like he could anyday though.

He weighed in this month at 18pounds12ounces (according to the Wii at exactly 4 months), so he did slow down a bit! He is bald on the back of his head, and the hair on the top is long and he sometimes looks like an old man with his little combover. The long wispy stuff is falling out though, I'm sure he'll be baldish in another 2 months or so. He's eating typically 2 four ounce bottles a day at daycare. I have yet to give him a drop of anything I have frozen... seriously thinking of donating most of it (all of it?) if I could find someone local who could use it...

He's out of 6 month Carter's clothes - onto the 9 month stuff. A few 6-12 month and 9-12 month outfits fit perfectly. I've given up on buying too much ahead of season for him at this point as I have NO idea how big he'll be come fall/winter. Huggies size 3 and fuzzibunz mediums fitting perfectly. This time we're using cloth wipes (at home) too and it's amazing how much less sposie wipes we're wasting money on! :)

Carson looks so much like Laura did at this age - really scary when I look at two pictures side by side! No mistaking they're siblings!

He is "talking" all the time... Richie says he sounds like a cat when he gets going. He'll just open his mouth really wide and smile and jabber away. He's got a super cute smile that just melts my heart everytime I see it.

He's still sleeping through the night... so much so that I glanced at the lonely rocker in his room the other day and couldn't recall the last time it was used. With Laura, it was used numerous times each day until she was 2!

Carson's 4 month well visit stats: (June 30th) (so really 4.5 months)

19pounds2ounces! (96th%)
27.75inches (98th%) ... time to get a new carseat soon!

**Written up the week he turned 4 months old**

5 months old.

Our little moose, our little Carson Dude is now 5 months old. I know, I know... hard to believe he's getting so big so fast... where is the time going, all moms say/think this, but it is SO true. So hard to believe that just a year ago he was a tiny little blip not even big enough to make my belly big yet... and here he is all smiley and cute!


He's stretching out of the 6-9 month summer outfits so he's mainly living in his 9-12 month onsies. He's never worn a shoe, so I don't know what size he'd fit into! He's snug in a size 3 diaper. He's fitting well into his medium fuzzibunz. I am not a huge fan of pastel colors on him - something about the dark rich colors that just make him really look like a boy - reds, browns, dark blues, dark greens - love them on him!



His hair is getting very blonde at the roots. I'd like to take him in for his first haircut soon ... it's all whispy and long on top - time for a big boy hair cut!



His belly button still has his little strawberry red birthmark - it's about the size of a small pea and hasn't grown now in a good 2 months. The doctor says that it'll stay the same for a few years and then shrink and go away. I'm just glad it's in his belly button and not on his face!



Within the past week, he rolled over each way. Once each way.



He went through about 2 weeks of not wanting to eat - not wanting food fresh from the source or from the bottle. There were a few days where he ate only 2 ounces the whole time he was at Lynne's house - and there were a few times I was really close to wanting to call the doctor for him being dehydrated - but then he'd take a great feeding and we'd wait it out. He's doing wonderful now and yesterday he took the most he's ever taken at daycare - 15 ounces!!!



He loves a soothie pacifier now. Never cared for one for 4 months - but then during his nursing strike he started wanting it a lot!



Did I jinx myself earlier by saying what a good sleeper he was? Well, he WAS a good sleeper... now, he's up 2 times a night, sometimes only once. He started doing this when he was on his nursing strike - not eating during the day, but tanking overnight... I wondered for a bit if he was reverse cycling (Technical term for breastfed babies eating less when they're away from mom and then tanking up in the evening/overnight). We thought maybe the tough time was teeth... we thought maybe a growth spurt... we thought maybe it was the 90-100 degree weather - we'll never know. The one saving grace though, is that he is just like Laura was at this age - eats very efficiently and goes right back to sleep (I'm not jinxing myself again, am I!?!) ... Most nights I'm out of bed - got him fed - burped - back in the crib and I'm back in my bed in under 10 minutes.



He giggles. A lot. He is very ticklish. His ribs and the bottoms of his feet are sure to get a giggle.



He's going to sleep around 9-10 and besides being up once or twice, he wakes up between 6-7 most mornings. He naps okay - not fussy usually to go down for a nap - usually gets one good nap (over an hour, sometimes 3 hours) - and then does a few 20-30 minute naps the rest of the day. On daycare days, he usually gets a nap in the evening too when we get home... recharges for the evening.



For the past week, Carson has been waking up in a totally different spot in his crib than he was placed. He turns circles and some mornings wakes up with his feet where his head belong.



He can sort-of tripod sit... and then he topples over. He loves to lap stand and loves to sit upright. If he's lying on his back, most of the time he'll be doing a constant crunch - curling up into a "C" shape as if trying to sit up. He must have the best 6pack of abs under all those rolls of chubby baby fat!



He's started to use a jumperoo and his exercauser - mostly so he has a place to be upright if someone can't be holding him at the time. He doesn't really play with the toys on either yet, but maybe in another few weeks he will.

3 months old

Yep, this post is a (few) months late... whoops! Been busy... ( I Know, I always say that, don't I?)

He started daycare on May 11th... my first day back to work. He fit in really well and hasn't been trouble for Lynne and Jenna at all. His easy going mellow personality must be a nice addition to the busy group of kids that are currently there! Laura had more trouble adjusting to the changes than Carson did... she was very protective of him whenever any kids went near him. She'd whine and say "miiiine Carson!"... she whined when he went for his nap upstairs and she was supposed to go downstairs. She insisted on having him in her sight while she was eating lunch. She's done better now that she's used to him being there though.

He doesn't like the bottle - at all. We started him on some cheap-o Gerber bottles, but switched him to a Nuk bottle after about a week. Can't say he does much better with those, he just prefers his 24 hour mommy buffet instead. He took only 5 ounces each day the first week or so he was at daycare. Since then though, he's typically taking 8 ounces a day. That first week, he was so hungry/missing mommy in the evenings that there were a few days he ate pretty much straight through the evening - a couple evenings eating for over an hour at a time.

My fear was that since he reverse cycled his feedings, that he'd be up all night to make up from missing some during the day, but that is not the case. He sleeps through the night from about 9:30/10-6:30ish.

He wears 6-9 month clothing. He's solidly into the medium fuzzibunz now and in size 3 huggies. He's a big boy...weighing in at 17pounds14ounces! We call him our Moose. He has the best rolls on his arms and legs, pudgy little feet, chubby cheeks and the best smile.

As mentioned above - he's still really mellow. Fusses only when he's got a burp or has to fart... other than that he's quiet. He's just starting to make a few little giggles when you interact with him or tickle him in the ribs.

He's discovered his hands and will sit for the longest time with his hands together in front of his face just watching them.

He is just the perfect addition to our family. Laura loves him so much and each night makes sure she gives him a hug and a kiss before she goes off to bed. She can't wait for him to "get bigger" because then he can do all sorts of fun things with her. She keeps asking if Carson can do this or do that... and our answer is always "When he's bigger"... and her response typically is "he bigger now?"

...Can you tell he's a breastfed baby?


**Written the week he turned 3 months old**