Carson at 15 months

There's a little animal roaming our house these days, and I don't mean Wrigley .... and I also don't mean we have a pest-control problem. Carson is non-stop. He spends most of his time taking laps around the house -- going from one room to the other looking for treasures and good places to stash them.

He is really verbal -- constant dialogue and babble. His favorite words/phrases:
- Ball, or baaaaaaa-aaaaaall (if he's really excited)
- What's that?
- Bigyaball (means basketball)
- mama and dada (interestingly, he refers to both me and himself as "mama")
- various animals and their noises
- and a few names of people: Matt, Mamy (Miss Amy, his teacher), Nonna (Miss Donna our Children's Dir. at church)
- Veggie Tales (his version, at least)
- oh and "Bible" -- they taught him a song in KK

He is completely obsessed (and I'm not exaggerating) with balls. Every time he sees something round he shouts out, "BALL". Target is one of his favorite stores b/c of the big red balls outside -- he always tries to pick them up. He loves to throw balls (and actually has a really good arm). In fact when he throws his food across the dinner table, its sometimes hard to reprimand ... dan and I look at each other w/ raised eyebrows and whisper, "that was a good throw", and then try to tell him "no" without laughing.

His preferred methods of greeting others:
- high five
- kiss
- a good, old-fashioned head bump

Physically, He's really tall and skinny and those cheeks that I used to kiss for hours have disappeared :( His head is big and round (when he sees pictures of himself he says, "ball" ... or "mama" of course.)

His general disposition is awesome -- he's happy and playful about 99% of the time. The rest of the time is filled w/ short-lived tantrums that are breezy to snap him out of.

Oh and I should mention that he usually sleeps until 8:30 every morning. My friend Courtney put it best this week when she said, "I think he's the perfect son for you". What a gift from God Carson is every moment!

... and speaking of tantrum - gotta go.

The Christmas Card we never sent

I don't know what to say: blogging and sending Christmas cards got dropped from the priority list this month. whah! (I suppose I should add "working out" to that as well.) What good is a New Year's Resolution if you're already doing everything you know you should -- save it 'til 2010 has been my motto this December!

Daniel's Love Language

"Hey, babe. I've got a Running Back for you."
These were the words I heard upon answering my husband's phone call on Monday. I had been suffering from some weirdo allergies all weekend and was at the store picking up meds the Dr. had ordered, so you can imagine my surprise, because what I was expecting to hear was, "Hello, my darling. How are you feeling? Do you need anything?"
I was a little upset at first, but then realized we were once again caught speaking different languages. It's not that my husband is inconsiderate and oblivious to my needs -- I did, in fact, need a Running Back ... for my Fantasy Football team which has turned into the suckiest bunch of suckers that ever sucked (pardon my french). And Daniel truly had me on his heart as he was looking through our league's waivers and free agents.
So, I appreciated the gesture, though when it came down to it, I honestly couldn't have cared less about the RB (some guy named Rock and I don't even know what team he plays for, but at least I finally dumped Owen Daniels who is out for the season -- ug!) However, my man loves me in his own, blog-worthy way. And by the end of the phone conversation I was able to translate his call into more appropriate lovey-dovey talk in my head :)

why is he being so quiet?

So God knew mommies couldn't keep an eye on their kiddos 24/7, so he programmed the rascals w/ an automatic "quiet" reflex when they're up to something. Thus, giving us mommies the clearest of warnings that it's time to go see what's happening in the other room. And so it went around 9am as I was getting ready to take him to the park. I tip-toed to the living room (mommies are master sneakers) expecting to find marker on the walls, the couches on fire, and C stripped down to his diaper, covered in war paint, riding Wrigley around the house. But no -- there was my darling, proving himself to be a son after his mother's own heart, standing at the coffee table, drinking what was left of my morning cup of joe!

Quick run through of my thoughts:
- hooray, nothings broken (oh and he's safe)
- hooray, my son likes coffee
- oh no, my baby is drinking coffee!
- he's getting really good at drinking from a cup
- I should blog about this!

Now as perfect in every way that my husband is, he doesn't like coffee (big strike, I know, but it wasn't a deal killer). So seeing this kind of promise in my 13mo old warms my heart - it really does. Maybe next time when it gets really quiet in the room next door, I'll walk in and find him folding laundry!

Carson's Class

This is a picture from Pumpkin Patch Day of Carson's Kingdom Kids class. KK is basically Mother's Day Out, and C goes 2 days a week. His involvement has been such a blessing and we really love everything about it -- especially his teachers (Miss Elaine and Miss Amy). I'd say Carson's favorite part of the day is being dropped off b/c they feed him a snack right away :)
In other news, this picture cracks me up. I wonder what noise they were making to get all the kids to look up with those "what's that?" expressions!

More Fall Fun

Sometimes the Mommy needs HER Mommy

"Tell .. Daniel, ... 'I love him'"
That's how I felt last Sunday while battling a sudden wave of nausea and spending the afternoon (unsuccessfully) trying not to throw up. Who knows what it was, food poisoning, a virus, morning sickness ... okay - I promise it wasn't the last one :) but I know you guys read for ridiculous comments like that, so I didn't want to withhold. Anywho, thank you, thank you, Lord because my mom had already taken Monday off work so she could come hang out with Carson. And so she came - like Super Woman - to save the day!

It was better than going to a spa (even though I felt like I was dying - and yes, "Drama Queen" is my middle name). My mom spent her whole day doing the following:
chasing Carson around
cleaning up my house
chasing Carson around
going grocery shopping
chasing Carson around
cooking dinner -- which fed us literally all week
and chasing Carson around
(she may even have done some laundry -- but once again - I was dying so it was hard to keep track)

And apparently that was the best medicine, because I woke up Tuesday morning feeling 100%

Thanks, Mom. You're the best!

Up and Autumn

I love the fall and we've been enjoying everything it has to offer this year! Country Fairs, Fall Festivals, costumes, and of course Pumpkin Patches. Here are some pics from our annual trip to the neighborhood pumpkin patch -- Carson was only mildly interested in them, but mostly enjoyed tasting the different varieties of ... grass. Seriously, it was hilarious -- everytime we turned around, he was sticking it in his mouth and then spitting it out. Boys are so weird.



And for even more fun, click here to compare to last year!

First Kiss

Yesterday morning, Carson laid one on me - and my heart could burst! I'm a big kisser -- and cheeks like his practically beg for smooches. Sometimes I still think I'll kiss em right off. So yesterday I was going to town as usual. Then, he turn toward me, leaned in (mouth open, tongue out) and did his version of mommy's gesture of love. At the time it kind of triggered my gag reflex, because my cheek had been slimed and I didn't want to touch it with my hand (yes, for a mommy, I've got a sensitive stomach) so I had to get a paper towel to dry myself. But then, about 4 hours later at work, I realized -- HE KISSED ME! And now I revel in how sweet the exchange was. He can slime me whenever he wants!

mmmmmm California .... BEAUTIFUL!

Last week we were in Estes Park, CO with Daniel's family. Here are some pics from our trip:



Carson chasing ducks:

And my personal highlight: we went to the hotel where scenes from the must-see hit movie Dumb and Dumber were shot! Here we are "racing each other to the top"

Carson's Castle

This was a birthday gift from my parents. We keep it on our back porch, so he can see it from the dining room. He throws a tantrum everytime I carry him by the windows and don't take him outside to play on it -- maybe we should put it around the corner.

Let Him Eat Cake

I knew that today would be the day I posted pictures from C's party, but was so disappointed for your sakes when I scrolled through my camera and realized that I didn't really take any -- oopsie. It turns out when you're hosting your son's first birthday party, taking pictures is the last thing on your mind. Here are a few that my sis snapped during cake, but that's literally all I have.



You'll just have to take my word that it was great! The theme was "Rookie of the Year" so I made a bunch of basebally signs. We grilled hot dogs and enjoyed other ball-park snackies. My fam was there + Dan's parents and sister. Also, some of my wonderful extended family drove in as well. And finally, a few of our churchy friends dropped by too.

I really think Carson had a great day -- but more importantly, I did :) I am not in denial that this first party was totally for me ... why else bother, right?

Some people don't like to toot their own horns ... but I'm not one of them

CHECK OUT THIS DIAPER CAKE I MADE FOR MY FRIEND, SHAY'S, BABY SHOWER LAST WEEKEND!

As a self-proclaimed non-creative type, I am so very proud to share my creation/accomplishment with the world (and by "world", I mean all 10 of you who read this).
All it took was 250 diapers, lots of pretty, pink ribbon and roses, and some MAD skillz! I'm so happy to finally have a "thing". Some girls cook well, some dress well, some have clean houses, some don't lock their babies in cars, and I make a cake you can't eat. So, take that!

PS. For those who were hoping to get some cutie pie, b-day pics, the celebrations aren't over yet, so I'll get 'em up next week.

Thank you, Come Again.

Birth of a tantrum

Not to be confused with "Birth of a Smile"

I think I lost my "Mother of the Year" nom today

Well if you drove by the Exxon at Harvey and Texas today around 2pm and saw the flashing lights and heard the sirens, that was me.

****Caution**** before proceeding: if you have a lot of respect for me and my intellect that you'd like to maintain, I suggest skipping the rest of this post.

As I was filling the car up, Carson was crying in the backseat. (Lately his car seat has been his nemesis -- and so, tantrums are the norm when we're on the go). In a rare stroke of genius, I thought, "let me give him my keys to play with so he won't mind waiting for 5 minutes while I'm pumping gas!" You can probably imagine where this is going... (do I need to mention that I closed the door behind me) So after 5 seconds I hear my horn honking and see Carson entertaining himself by pressing the buttons on my key chain.

And there I stood, helpless and humiliated, praying that God would make Carson press the unlock button -- but instead he threw the keys on the ground. Nice man two pumps down, lent me his phone to call Daniel at work -- who of course didn't answer -- there's another unanswered prayer. So I had to call the cops. Now, this wasn't an emergency -- it's an overcast day, and in the 70s. The only thing in danger was my pride, self-esteem, sense of worth, etc.

So I asked the police man on the phone (I didn't even call 911) if he could send someone to open my door. Then 30 seconds after hanging up, I hear sirens. "Please, God, don't let that be for me" -- 3rd unanswered prayer.

In turns the ambulance -- FOLLOWED BY THE FIRETRUCK!!! Out jump 6 men who have dedicated themselves to saving lives and protecting the public and now they have to unlock the car for this idiot lady -- at least the kid inside was cute (and totally entertained by the commotion). In about 4 minutes they were in, and left. They didn't even ask how it happened - there's that grace of God I had been waiting for!

Here I sit, in my house, vowing to never go outside again. Dreading the look on my husband's face when he gets home - wondering how he must really feel about today's affair and whether or not he'll take tomorrow off being afraid to leave Carson alone w/ me again. At least I know you guys, my faithful readers, won't judge me. I'm sure you've all done this a million times and its just part of motherhood - and eventually I won't be phased by these things unless they have to shut down an entire city block. For now, I'll just maintain a low profile, burn this outfit, dye my hair, and never go to that gas station again.

Life Light Up

Friday night was our Women's Ministry Fall Kick-off at church -- and it was unarguably the biggest we've ever had! 700 gals came to our event featuring Christy Nockles (formerly Watermark). I got to be on the team of women coordinating this, and have to say the event pretty much went perfect! In fact, the only thing that didn't go according to plan (at least to my knowledge) was a silly accounting error I made -- which pretty much only affected me, costing an hour of my work day today :\

Anywho, what a night! It was exhausting, but always cool to be a part of such an awesome event.