Saturday, October 2, 2010
The boys' excitement
He'll 'read' his car book (simply a book with pictures of real cars). He turns the page - GASP, Oh WOW!!! CARS. He then proceeds to point to each car and say OOH, A CAR!! Turns the page.....repeat.
We were driving yesterday and he was very much awake (typically he is either silent, but awake or sleeping) and he was gasping and shouting with excitement at each car, semi truck, garbage truck or motorcycle we saw. It was soo funny.
He is just so cute.
In the meantime, Carter continues to twirl his hands and feet when he is excited. I recently starting zooming food into his mouth and he laughs and closes his eyes in excitement.
Carter is also trying to make sounds 'tata' seems to be a popular one when he is somewhat quiet. Otherwise, he is a noisy kiddo.
Love them both!!!
Pictures
After several picture sessions, I've learned that as soon as one starts smiling, the other one stops. I hope to figure out a trick sooner or later, but it is still a cute picture nonetheless.
In September we had a couple 90 degree days. We got this cool truck at a garage sale and it is awesome. Carter fits in the 'trunk' of the truck. Logan would put his feet on the dashboard and I spent a while walking them back and forth along the sidewalk. A good time had by all!
Logan put John's sunglasses on the pumpkin. He was very proud of this and had no problem givin me a 'cheese' smile. :) Love it!
At library storytime we usually do a craft. Our craft this past week, was face painting. We read stories about tigers and same some tiger songs... Here Logan was practicing his ROAR! Too cute. He did very well with the face painting - he sat very still while I put it on and he didn't touch it like many other kids were doing. This could be trouble for us at carnivals. ;)
Logan doesn't like things to be messy - especially on him. I didn't see a spot, but he looked at his shoe and said 'wipe'. I gave him a wipe and this is what he proceeded to do. I guess he just wanted to make sure his tennies shined!
At the playgrounds, he is fearless. He has climbed rock walls (on a slant), he climbs tricky stair cases...but this is his latest accomplishment - the rope wall. He climbs up the 4 rungs and then walks sideways holding onto the ropes and changing hands while he wobbles a bit on the ropes. It is very cool...and scary. I am glad he is not afraid of those things, but at the same time, my heart skips a beat during some of his crazy adventures!
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Updates
Anywho, just a few updates.
Carter has been army crawling since just before he was 7 months old. When he sees something he wants, he is quite persistent. He eats like crazy! He eats puffs as if they are going out of style. Logan also enjoys the puffs...if only they weren't more expensive than a big box of cereal! Logan, while he enjoys puffs, is hit or miss on other things. Some days he likes pb&j, some days not. Same goes with pretty much any food! It is frustrating. His favorite word is 'no' and sometimes he says it with such attitude...Gr.
As Carter is army crawling...he is able to reach toys...toys which his big brother may be playing with. This is not going over extremely well. 'No, Carter, Carter, Carter!!!' is what I hear. Or if Carter crawls to a toy that is not being played with...Logan grabs it from him to put it away. So we are working on sharing toys and not taking things from Carter just because he can. The other day, Logan was drinking out of his water bottle and he left it on the floor. Carter started playing with it and it rolled across the room. Carter started on his trek....he army crawls like crazy...he is about 2 feet away and Logan sees him, walks over, picks up his water bottle, starts drinking and walks away. While he walked away, Carter watched him looking longingly at the water bottle. Poor kiddo...
Logan repeats pretty much anything you ask him to. It is so cute. We have been to so many birthday parties - all different and new experiences for him....and me. :)
Another new trick that Carter has mastered in the last week is going from his stomach to a sitting position. I love watching him learn new things...and some of them without instruction.
One of my new favorite things is part of our bedtime routine. After both boys are changed and in their pj's we let them hang out in our bed for a few minutes before they go to bed. Logan typically likes flop around and laugh, laugh, laugh. Now, Carter joins in on the fun. He flops around, then gets himself in a sitting position and re-flops. Then we tickle the boys...they laugh...then they laugh at each other laughing. It is such a cute time. Then I rock Carter for a couple minutes in his room and put him to bed. Then Logan cuddles inbetween John and I for a few minutes watching tv and then gives John kisses and I tuck him in to bed. It is nice.
Well, I just wanted to make an update. I hope to make more soon!
Monday, August 9, 2010
Carter is 6 months old
He got his first haircut a few days prior. When the wind blew or he put his hands on his head, which is often, his bangs or sideburns would get in his eyes. It was crazy...so I took him to KidSnips. He sat on my lap (Logan sat in the cool truck and watched Thomas the Train as he was getting his haircut next) and we both wore aprons. Carter sat very still and looked soooo clean-cut afterwards. I am very glad I did it.
A few days after his half-birthday, he had his 6 month well visit checkup with Dr. M. It went very well. He showed off his sitting skills as the nurse and doctor entered the room. He also passed all the developmental questions....handing an object from one hand to the other...puts pressure on his legs...sits supported, or un-supported in his case. He had to take an oral vaccination, which he did very well with. He also received 2 shots, which ticked him off just a bit. Here are his stats:
Muddy Buddy
Beginnings of a Crawler...
Randomness
Speaking of beds...typically when we put Logan to bed, he stays in his bed and falls asleep - I am truly amazed at this. Every so often though, he'll get up and come out to the hallway. (For the most part, we have stopped locking his door since he isn't abusing the freedom as much as he once was.) What is cool though is that as soon as I say "Back to Bed"...he hussles his little legs right back in his bed and falls asleep! It is great. Sometimes I'll see him starting to get out of bed via the video monitor and I will tell him to get back to bed and he crawls right back in. I appreciate his listening skills....right now. I fear that we will go through a series of tests soon...and for the rest of his life where these skills may diminish.
Speaking of diminishing skills...when we go for a walk back to our park, I sometimes let Logan walk next to the stroller on the extra-wide sidewalk....to burn some energy. He goes longer than I imagine and we inevitably have to cross a street, to which point I tell him he has to hold my hand. On these walks, he mostly flat out refuses (although other times in parking lots, seems to do okay). I will grab his hand and we'll start crossing and then 9 times out of 10 he will melt and turn into jelly-boy in the middle of the street. Fantastic. So since I cannot stop in the middle of the street to disuss with him how he needs to hold my hand while crossing because of dangerous cars, I end up carrying him - either a normal way or by his hand. Ugh. While pushing the double stroller. And sometimes holding Buddy's leash (if I was crazy enough to think that taking the dog to the park was a good idea....while I watch Logan on the playground, make sure Carter is content in the stroller and make sure Buddy behaves while little kids are either super excited or scared to see him there). So we discuss it when we arrive on the sidewalk and again before we start out on the next one. Inevitably, these discussions don't work as he wants to be so independent...and he ends up in the stroller because at this point, Carter has gotten mad from starting and stopping so much and he is tired or hungry and who wants to push a screaming baby in the stroller when you are still a half mile from home?
Speaking of being away from home....It is not often that I leave the house without the kids. This morning I had the pleasure of going to the grocery store by myself. Ah... My kids are not bad while shopping, but with a toddler and baby, it is just not logisticly possible for me to get more than a couple items...Logan is in the seat and Carter is in his carseat in the main basket.....where oh where would the groceries go? If I got desperate, I could just put Carter in the Bjorn...but so far I haven't had to do so. Anyway I digress (I never do that...haha). Before I left Logan had been awake...since 6am (oy!). I got him milk and a little breakfast and we came upstairs. He had a meltdown about something, so I offered him his pacifiers if he took a nap...at 8:30. Much to my surprise, he did just that. So I fed Carter, got ready and then went on my trip. While I was loading my groceries into the car, John called me. He said Logan just wanted to hear my voice. Apparently he had just woken from his nap and was going around the house yelling 'MAMA, MAMA'. How cute!!! I love it! He said 'Hi Mama' into the phone...oh so adorable. Had I not been 5 minutes away, I may have just cried knowing that he knew I was gone and he missed me. I love that guy.
Speaking of mom-attachments...Carter can play just great by himself and also enjoys watching Logan play. If I leave the room and he doesn't see me, all is well...however if I leave and he does see me leave he gets all bent out of shape. As I was leaving the living room today, he actually bent all the way backwards/upside-down in his in his Bumbo just to see me, while crying. I know it is a phase...I don't want it to last long, but it is nice to feel loved when screaming and crying occur as I walk away... :)
Speaking of walking....Logan has lately found a new hobby of sucking on his toe...sometimes his whole foot. Random!
Speaking of....hm. Not sure if I can find a segway for this one. Ooh, speaking of one.....Logan can count to ten (although 4 and 8 prove to be tricky sometimes, although seven is just fine) when repeating after me. He also recently put together a couple wooden puzzles (matching the picture) with his cousins Ashley and Alex. I had put the puzzles in a bin a while back and they hadn't come out until recently. I was so proud to see that he knew where to put the pieces. What a smart cookie!
This is all I can recall at the moment...
Friday, July 9, 2010
9 Fabulous Years!
The morning of our anniversary, John brought me up a gift from downstairs!! Imagine my surprise! In past years I have discussed gifts ahead of time, he's complained slightly about getting gifts and finding time to do so and usually I purchased something days beforehand and have at least a card waiting for him in the morning. This year, I didn't think much about gifts at all and I didn't even (gasp) get him a card!! So boy did I feel bad when he not only presented me with a card, but a present as well!! It was so nice that he did think of it and it was honestly such a wonderful surprise. Now the gifts. It is important to note that we have always followed both the traditional and modern gifts when we exchange. So our gifts are not expensive jewlery or anything uber amazing, but more fun to figure out what to get each other that fits into the category.
9 years it is: Pottery or Willow (traditional), Leather (modern)
John got me a red oval serving platter (pottery) - which I had previously seen at Target and really liked, a notepad (leatherbound) and the movie Willow. He also gave me Reese Cups (as they are my absolute favorite) and a gift certificate for a nail salon. So sweet!!
Now, what threw me was the movie Willow. I didn't put it together at the time, but I thought he just really wanted that movie so he was giving it to me as a gift...you know, trying to be sneaky. Not so much. Later I found out that he was just sticking with the theme - he said it was either the movie or a stick, which he didn't happen to find. He didn't care about the actual movie.
So, later that day the boys and I went to the library for storytime and they fell asleep on the way home (shocker...). I thought it would be a cute idea to find John's car at the train station and put a note on his car that I couldn't wait to see him for a date later that night. I drove up and down in all 3 parking lots at the train station and thought....where on earth does he park? He gets there fairly early... It was at this time I was telling my sister on the phone what I was doing and it hit me....he takes the train to work on Tuesday. Today was Wednesday. DUH! No kidding I couldn't find his car....man alive! So I later went and got him some gifts. I got him a new leather belt (skipped the Willow idea) and got him some iTunes giftcards and some candy. Since earlier I thought he'd given me Willow the movie because he wanted the movie and was being sneaky, I got him the other red piece of pottery (as a joke since I wanted it) to match my other dish. Haha, John, I'll get you! Yeah....so when I gave it to him later he laughed that I gave him pottery. Then it all clicked to me - he could care less about the movie Willow, he was just doing it to tie in with the traditional gift. So who looks silly now?!?! Ah, Paige..
Anywho, that is just a silly story that I wanted to remember...
For our anniversary night our original plan was to go out to dinner with the kids. However, as time got closer we realized that going to dinner with 2 small children is not going to be even a little bit relaxing and will likely stress us out. So, we placed a call to my parents and they came on up to watch the boys. So the plan to go to a family friendly restaurant that was noisy to help masque any screams from our table quickly turned into a place where jeans were not worn and silence was the norm...yay! We went to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse - oh YUM!We enjoyed a lovely dinner...delicious steak, yummy sides, a martini for me and wine for him and dessert where they wrote 'Happy Anniversary' on our plate. It was super good.
We came home to Logan fast asleep and Carter - smiling and squirming in excitement to see us. It was nice as I rarely am away from the boys, so I don't get to see their pure excitement when I enter a room. :)
That weekend, on Saturday we went to one of my college friends' wedding. As we forgot to take a picture on our actual anniversary, we snapped this picture in the parking lot of the banquet hall. It was another nice evening without children. John's parents came down and had a great time with the boys.
John and I are very thankful for a healthy, happy marriage that has been blessed with 2 adorable boys that bring joy to us every day!
Carter's cuteness
Monday, June 28, 2010
Carter Updates


Logan Updates

While at my in-laws two weeks ago we went strawberry picking. My niece Brittany watched Carter while my SIL and I went with Logan to pick strawberries. Last year was our first year doing it, but with Logan in a backpack and it being 90 degrees by 9am, it was not the most fabulous experience. This year, he could walk, put the strawberries in the basket and it was only 65/70 degrees - much nicer. Logan tried to pick a couple, but wasn't tugging hard enough. He really just enjoyed looking around the field and every so often throwing the strawberries Aunt Brittany and I handed to him. Brittany and I enjoyed eating a few freshly picked ones, but Logan didn't want to.

Haha...the place where we pick doesn't really do anything about weed control, so every so often Logan had to stop to get a weed out of his shorts!!



Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Check out who can sit...
Monday, June 21, 2010
Houston we have a roller!!
Friday, June 4, 2010
A new pic of the boys....
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Carter's 4 month well visit
To compare to Logan, Carter is about 7 ounces heavier and a half inch shorter. However I do find it interesting that between Logan's 2nd - 4th visit, he grew just about 2 inches whereas Carter grew 3 inches. It is clear to me that both their boys will be tall like their father, but may grow differently to get there. :)
When Dr. M. walked in he noticed Carter meeting a milestone. He told me that when pediatricians walk in to the office they are not looking at just another cute baby, but what that baby is doing - what goals they are meeting. Phew, Carter was meeting a milestone - he was laying on his back and had brought his hands together and was putting them in his mouth. Go Carter! Other milestones he has met are: he puts weight on his legs (just like his big bro, he is very strong!), holds his head at a 90 degree angle, grab for objects out of reach and is attempting to roll over.
Carter had to take an oral medicine - not as big of a fan of it as last time. He took it slowly and didn't spit any out, but he did not suck it like a bottle like he had done last time. He also received 2 shots and didn't take kindly to either of them. He was not a fan and needed a bit more consoling.
The doctor mentioned that he appears to be starting with stranger anxiety a bit early. He said that this tends to happen with breastfed babies since they are clearly with their mothers quite often. He said this because Carter was a little sketchy when he would touch him and would always look around for my face and then stop whining or just whimper while locking eyes. Granted after I picked him up he let out a little burp, so I think that was a real reason for whining. But I do also remember Logan going through some 'stranger' anxiety early on, but it ended really early too. I think it was around 3-5/6 months. I think because we do see family or friends or because I am so involved with my Mom group that it helped to get him over anything he had....let's hope that works for Carter as well.
Carter still has some random spots of eczema which I continue to treat with aquaphor or cortizone. Other than that he's peachy keen!

