Still waiting for a good school picture ...

This is Carson's class on Pumpkin Patch day. Possibly a new low -- haha.



Oh and since it's been sooooo long since I've posted, you may not know which one he is (sorry). He's the second from the left.

Late Night

Here's how Daniel found Carson the other morning when he went to wake him up.

Looks like someone was up all night playing with his toys :)

Carson can count to "yea"

Carson loves to count -- he's really into spotting numbers and identifying them. It's not that we're amazing parents and sit him down with flash cards or anything. It's just something that he's picked up on and likes to practice doing ... also, counting provides an instant distraction from times of moodiness. The really cute part is when he counts in spanish - yes, he's a bilingual genius (that's what I've been hinting around at). So today in the car, he counted to 10 (or should I say diez) a couple of times (with help) and it sounds something like this:
Daddy: uno
Carson: dos
Daddy: tres
Carson:
Daddy: cuatro?
Carson: cato cinco
Daddy: seis
Carson: setay ocho nuve diez YEA!

He ended each time that way and we're wondering if he thinks "yea" is a number.

The Beach

We spent the 4th of July w/ my family in Corpus Christi -- so fun!!!! It was Carson's first trip to the beach and he had a blast. I'm pretty it's mostly beach vacays for the Roberts from here on out.

Family Portraits

My college roommate, Holly, (honestly THE BEST professional photographer I know) did a session for us this Spring. Click here to be taken to the proofs. If you press "play" you can quickly breeze through them!!!

Oh and I feel like I should add: taking portraits of an 18mo. old is nearly impossible. There was nothing cooperative about Carson's demeanor during the shoot. So, that Holly could even catch him in the frame, shows her skill. This also explains why almost all of our "family" shots have C on Dan's shoulders.

If only time would stand still

moments like this make my heart stop. i could squeeze him all day long.

Bye Bye Paci - Day Two

So, um, mission aborted!

Holy Cow - Carson loves his paci. He wasn't just mad, he was freaking out. We've never seen him express that kind of behavior before. Just to clarify -- he only gets his paci in his crib, so all this happens during bed/naptime. But we now realize we need to find a way for him to get some closure -- and our next attempt won't happen during an already busy weekend (I painted the living room and we were stressed out enough w/o a screaming baby).

Bye Bye Paci - Day One

Tonight we wean C off his paci. I feel pretty gutsy writing about this, because now if we don't follow through, you'll think that we're weak parents and stink at child-rearing ... won't you?

Any who, he cried for only about 20 mins before falling asleep ... for an hour and a half. Then he was up again, this time screaming like we've never quite heard before (maybe b/c there was no paci corking his mouth). So now he's been up for an hour -- we just finished watching Kung Fu Panda and he's calm. He'll probably sleep up w/ us tonight.

Night Night.

Mother's Day at Kemah

On a whim, my grandparents texted us last week to see if we'd want to meet them in Kemah for Mother's Day. It was a long shot as we aren't so much the spontaneous types. But lucky for me, Dan was at a loss as to how to make the day special, so he was up for the trip ... And the day was very special! As always, we neglected to take pictures of pretty much everything other than Carson, but here's how the day went for him:

A little sheepish at first. He's not used to big crowds of people who don't know him, so it took a while to get comfortable


His first carousal ride. (We also went on a train, but no documentation.)



This was easily the highlight






After getting squirted in the face, Carson wanted his Bee-ba to go in with him.

What we've been laughing at lately

You'll have to click on the picture to make it bigger - and it's worth it.
How does a photographer manage to terrify/confuse 6 toddlers, and make 1 laugh?
On a Roberts' family note: we can now identify this as Carson's "what the what?" face. He looked like this for 10 straight minutes on his first train ride at Keemah yesterday. --- awesome!

A Confession

"How's Carson doing?"

My most common responses of late: such a pill ... wit's end ... obstinate ... frustrated ... fire station (as in leave him there)

Yes, my son has reached his "terrible 1 and a halfs" and being primary care provider to this guy has been downright exhausting. True there are good days and bad days, but by the end of the bad days, I can hardly stand up.

My nearest and dearest have only heard lately of these predicaments I face, and have truly responded w/ grace and encouragement. However, they fail to realize I'm looking for a solution -- not endurance.

So I'm driving the other day complaining to myself ... and God (because I believe He's listening) ... but mostly to myself. Like my close friends, I've found that God generally encourages me in the "endurance" area, and I've already tried to explain that I'm a quick-fix kind of gal.

So with this hardened heart, a Word still breaks through and I'm reminded "to not be surprised by the trials you face as though something strange were happening to you." (1 Peter 4:12). I'm not trying to take anything out of context and realize this message was originally written to those who are suffering for the sake of Christ and I'm merely subject to the wrath of a toddler. However, (and here's my point) I guess I've realized this week to not freak out when being a mom gets hard. This isn't strange, and it shouldn't surprise me. And I suppose that if I will endure, and stop threatening to take him to Kyle Field and let him work with Daddy for the day, then there might be a little refining in it for me.

I also have to extend my deepest gratitude toward the women in my life who listen to me rant and don't roll their eyes as I dramatize my most recent problems. In fact, Pam, Donna, and Barbara, Lisa, Debbie, Mommy -- you've been so faithful to me, I must name you! Oh and I'd be remiss to not mention my husband who doesn't benefit from any efforts on my part to hide my frustration or even exercise civility on those previously mentioned bad days.

Escape attempt #1

This morning I woke up w/ 45 minutes to spare (meaning, C wasn't due to get up until then). These are the precious moments I use to shower, fix my hair, make lunches, and mentally collect the sanity needed for my day. Well 5 minutes into this self-proclaimed "me time" I hear the little guy crying.
"Well, he's just going to have to wait 20 mins b/c today is not going to be a pony-tail day." I told myself.
So my morning soundtrack was Carson crying/whimpering every so often. Then, the whimpering turned into all-out screaming.
"That's fear/panic." This mom knows her son's screams ... perhaps I am a little too well acquainted with them.
I rush into his room, and Carson is hanging over the front rail of his crib. His weight is perfectly balanced, and he's stuck! Head and arms on one side, butt and feet on the other. His paci on the ground under his head. At the moment, I was horrified, running to hold and comfort him, but all he wanted was his paci, and once it was back in his mouth the screaming stopped.
Since then, the picture in my head has only prompted laughter. And for your viewing pleasure, I've attempted to recreate the scene.



Oh and for those of you who are wondering, (which I presume is everyone) today was an excellent hair day.

What happens when you go to church hungry...

We have a Saturday night church service where we serve refreshments and one of the most popular items on the "menu" are these cheese balls we get from Sam's. They're like cheetos only with even less recognizable ingredients - but man are they good -- like the kind of good where you can't stop eating them ... so as I was not-stopping-eating them I thought...

"If I got to choose how I would die, I think it would be eating these to death ... or maybe donuts --- boy do I love donuts! Wouldn't it be awesome if we knew that Jesus was coming back tomorrow and so we could just spend today eating anything and as much of everything we ever wanted."

Did I mention that I was at church thinking these thoughts? yikes! so then I figured I should start thinking about evangelism and stuff and how if I knew that Jesus was coming back tomorrow I should share the Gospel with everyone I could find ... but maybe do so w/ a donut in hand???

Ug! WHAT IS MY DEAL?

Okay, pals, I don't know why I haven't been much into blogging the past couple of months -- its not that our lives aren't totally entertaining and important and worth writing/reading about. I've just found myself pretty apathetic toward the ol' blogger lately. I've even considered quitting my blog or at least taking a sabbatical of sorts, but today I opened this guy up, read a few posts and remembered how hilarious I am and that I should stop withholding this gift from my readers -- so here's my attempt to get back into the swing of things (yeah, not that much of an effort I realize -- but still...) My goal is to have Christmas recapped by Valentine's Day - and then maybe be fully caught up by March or so -- and then who knows, maybe I'll start blogging about the future!