Carson is 9 Months Old

Can't believe Carson is already 9 months old.  I know I say this every month but with him being on the move so much he really seems so much older now. 

We went to the doctor today for his 9 month check up and he was 20 lbs 2 oz (60th percentile) and 28 1/2 inches tall (in the 60's for percentile as well).  Everything looked great, little boy was quite a flirt today smiling big for all the ladies.  He's going to be quite a heartthrob if he keeps this up!  

What Carson's doing at 9 Months....

- SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT, HALLELUJAH!  Ahh, I can't tell you how good this feels.  We have been sleeping maybe two weeks now and I love it.  It has been years or at least before I was pregnant with Noah since I have slept this much.  Thank you so much Carson!

-IS ALL OVER THE PLACE, man you are one busy bee Carson.   You crawl everywhere, get into everything, like to crawl on me, daddy, your brother and all the big toys.  You are pulling up on everything.  You just started really crawling but I think you will be walking before we know it. 

-has almost 4 teeth.  You bottom two are up and your top two middles ones have just barely cut through.  You have the slowest moving teeth!  I can't believe how long it takes them to go anywhere.  

-saying da,da and babbling a lot.  When you baby talk Noah will try to imitate you and you guys can carry on a convo and end up laughing sometimes.  It makes you two irresistible!  

-still eat anything we feed you, if you don't like it you just kind of whine, whimper through it until we give you something else but at least you still eat it.  We will now be starting some  table foods here and there.  I gave you some of your brothers mac and cheese today and you loved it.  You want everything we try to eat and everytime I'm holding you and eating something you just watch every move I move and sometimes try to attack my food with your mouth.  You are so ready for real food!

-are in size 4 diapers, wear 9-12 months in clothes

-loves balls, swinging and listening to us sing songs.  You hear the ABC's a lot because of Noah, maybe you will learn yours at an earlier age if we keep it up

-still a big fan on mommy, you are definitely a momma's boy

-obsessed with the bathroom toilet, trash can, and diaper wipes.  You head for these items all the time!  

-still an early riser.  You are up anywhere between 5:30 and 7:00.  The 7:00 was last week it was nice but only lasted a few days, you are usually up before 6:00 and ready to play!  

You are such a sweetie!  Love you Carson!

Potty Training Update

Potty Training is still the pits.... We are on the 4th day and I think Noah is actually doing worse instead of better today.  Noah woke up with wet sheets.  This was the first time, so that was awesome, but after that it just hasn't been a good day.  I thought we were getting better after yesterday morning but today has just been down right messy! I officially want to quit and put on diapers or pull ups on the boy.  We went a few places last night and he did well, if you call holding it for hours well, haha.  Then at dads he went outside for the first time, did it twice and liked that.  But the false alarms are enough to drive me crazy!  We just keep going to the potty, sitting there and then he says he's done and wants to "close" his pants  a.k.a. pull them up and we go back to playing for a few minutes only to repeat the whole process over.  This morning 2 hours doing that then I take him to Wal-mart expecting an accident and not one single time did he say he even had to go or act like it and didn't go until we got home, so apparently he does better away from our house, it's just a dangerous chance to take him out.  A few more days, I'm going to try to stick it out and keep my sanity  and get this done/ or on the road to better/less messy days!

Blessed

Carson can I just tell you how much I love you and what a sweetie you are!  Mommy wasn't expecting to get pregnant again so soon after your brother.  I had a hard time during my pregnancy with you because I just didn't feel ready for another baby and when you were born, I struggled so much! Call it what you want Postpartum depression/baby blues but it was the pits.  I wanted to love you so much, I wanted to be happy you were here, but I couldn't. Your momma shed lots of tears each day for awhile.   I felt guilty for not having the feelings I thought I should.  I worried too much about other things than just taking care of my baby boys!  I had high expectations about what you were going to be like, I thought since Noah was a difficult baby that you would be a sleeper and wouldn't ever cry (crazy thought I know, I know now that's not exactly how it works)  But we all stuck in there, and you can be such a good baby.  You have  the cutest/funniest smile, you love your momma so much, your laugh makes me melt, and I can't tell you how much of a joy you are to be around.  I am so thankful for you, I'm thankful God knew better than us and had you planned all along.  I can't imagine life without you buddy and for the record couldn't love you more!  We are so glad you joined this family Carson and we can't wait to see what good buddies you and your big brother will be!  We have so many fun years ahead of us!

Potty Training Day 1

What do I have to say about potty training?

IT STINKS!  I am not a fan at all, my sister in law said I would want to give up and boy she wasn't kidding.  I wanted to give in and quit all day!  Today was our first stab at it.  When Noah woke up this morning we put underwear on him and began this oh so fun journey.  I thought the first time we put underwear on Noah would be the hard part.  He usually throws a fit anytime we do anything different to his normal but today he was fine putting the underwear on.  That was the easiest part of the day.  Here is a picture of my big boy, I couldn't believe how old he looked standing looking outside in his big boy undies.  Where has the last few years went?

Today we went through 10 pairs of underwear, a few tshirts, accidents on the couch, carpet and the tile, and lots and lots of tears.  We did manage to get some in the potty and Noah sure does love when he gets anything in there and gets to flush it down the toilet.  I know he gets it, he is still just scared to go and  thinks his pee pee is "gross" and "achy" and I think he is embarrassed because he gets the most upset right after he goes.  Crossing my fingers for a better day tomorrow and that he learns quickly, I know my big boy can do this.

Mothers Day

On Mother's Day the boys still had me up before 6:00, the house still needed my attention, laundry needed done and the boys still needed me.  It was just another day.  I decided Mothers day is more for the moms who have older kids.  Moms who have been a mom longer than my 2 1/2 years.

Needless to say it didn't seem very special until

 I got out of the shower and Noah brought in a sweet card that my boys had worked on.  It was so sweet how he wanted to give it to me and actually took it out of the envelope for me.  It was a Woody card, even though I know he didn't pick it out, it was kind of like he did since he loves Woody stuff.  

 On the inside there was a handprint of Noah and Carson's and Noah also did some extra scribbling.  Noah kept telling me about the blue paint/hand/color.  He was quite proud of it!  

 I am almost 28 and fully appreciate what my mom has done for me and the older I get the more I realize how much it takes to be a parent and understand why they did what they did. I am so blessed to have her!   I also have a few other woman who are moms who I am so blessed to have in my life as well!

 We had a busy day and enjoyed spending it with the special people in our lives! 

Side Note....

I had a junky attitude for most of the day, I was tired and woke up on the wrong side of the bed and all I really wanted to do was take a nap.  Not only did they get me up early but the boys didn't nap together and that made me even grumpier.  Then by the time night came, my family was over and had left and I got to hang out with my boys for a bit, I smiled and laughed with them and got out of my funk.  Our two boys are so special, I couldn't ask for better boys!  I love them so much and I am so proud to be their mom.  No matter how early they get up, how long their naps are, how much whining is done,how hectic the day is, at the end of the day, I still love them so much!  I am so blessed to have my 2 adorable, healthy little boys.  I remember 3 years ago on Mother's day, I cried when at a family get together all the moms got to go first in line. We had been trying for about 1 1/2 years and I wanted to be pregnant so bad.  That day was  hard but thankfully about a week later I found out I was pregnant with our little Noah.  Not only am I so thankful for them but so thankful we have been blessed with being able to have them, something that so many people take for granted!  


Happy belated Mother's Day to all you moms out there, I think it's the hardest but most rewarding job we could ever have!  

Few New Pics

Carson likes to try and follow his brother around now that he can move, not sure why because this is usually the kind of stuff that happens.  Noah still just likes to be ornery to him sometimes!  

And if you didn't notice Noah is wearing play safety glasses on his head.  He loves to run around with his mower and wear these, not sure where he got the idea, but it's pretty darn cute! 

 After the incident he still tries to follow him.  

 This morning the kids were playing so well in the playroom, I left for a few minutes came back to check on them and Carson was standing using the lego table and playing.  Where has the time gone?  He just seems too young to be doing this!

 Look mom, I can do it one handed too!

 Noah grabbed the camera this afternoon and decided to do a photo shoot of Carson and I, he kept telling me when to say cheese.  He actually got us both in the picture in this one, haha!

Potty Training

I bought a potty awhile ago and have had it waiting in our bathroom.  I don't know why but potty training is one thing I just really don't want to do at all!  I want to do the 3 day potty training method and need to be able to stay home for a few days.  Well the last couple weeks have just been crazy and this weekend will be as well.  We have had underwear for Noah (in some of his favorite characters from the movies Cars and Toy Story) waiting to start also.  I was planning on starting next Wednesday so we will see how it goes or if I chicken out again but anyways tonight we had an accident.  I had taken all Noah's clothes off for bath, he was running around and made a funny faces a few times, I would look at him and he would stop.  Then he was standing in the bathroom (thankfully) and just started to go #2 on the floor.  Most of it fell on the floor, which made him really, really upset, but I quickly put him on the potty where he managed to do the rest in.  I know he didn't mean to, heck I know he wasn't controlling it but we still praised him and cheered for him.  The look on his face was sooooo priceless and cute!  I'm hoping he loves the attention and the process will work for us and quickly.  Knowing how Noah is, he probably won't be able to stand the feeling of wet pants either so I'm hoping he learns fast how to prevent that!  Wish us luck next week as we are likely going to be cleaning up lots of messes and doing lots of laundry!

Crawling!

At a little over 8 months Carson is finally doing some sort of crawling his version of choice is army crawling.  He has been so close to crawling for a few weeks but now has given up on staying on his knees, drops down to his belly and off he goes.  He has gotten pretty fast this week and has started to follow this momma, unfortunately he's usually crying when he does so. I've got this boy fooled, he thinks his momma is pretty cool!  He also can now go from his belly back to sitting up which is nice, because he gets mad when he is on his belly a lot and so sometimes he will fix it himself and sit back up.

We also need to move his crib mattress down because yesterday morning I went in to get him after he woke up and he was just sitting up in his crib.  Then when he saw Noah and I he used the railing to stand up!  Where has the time gone!  He is getting bigger and bigger everyday! We need to get a gate for the basement steps right away since we never needed one with Noah because Carson is just going to keep getting faster and faster!

The Games Noah Plays

Noah kills me sometimes, he has such a personality and is so funny sometimes.  For some reason a long time ago I decided to make a lion noise and chase him around the house and tickle him, well he loved it and has for months now.  Now when he wants attention, to be tickled or wrestle, he will make a lion noise and put his hands up like he is a lion to get me to play with him.  It's pretty irresistible!

 Also he loves to say GET UP, to any of us, Matthew, Carson or myself.  Sometimes he wants me to pretend sleep just so he can yell get up.  When he wants to play he lays on the floor on his stomach, and makes a pretend snore noise (just like he has heard me do so many times) to get me to pretend sleep so he can yell get up and laugh his little heart out!

When he wants to go outside, he gets really close to my face, says outside in the cutest little voice, and puts the biggest smile he can on his face.  You can't even see his eyes, because he smiles so big.  He knows how cute he is and his mom is a softy.

Noah also still thinks he is the boss around here.  Sometimes when I'm holding him he will grab my neck/shoulders and try to tell me this way, this way and direct me where he wants.  He also does this in the car and tries to tell me which way to go.  I don't know why he ever thought he could but he does it a lot especially when we first leave (it maybe just the control freak trait he gets from his mom coming out, he wants to make sure we go the same way we always do)

He knows how to win us over and get what he wants, if he wasn't so darn cute  I may be able to resist him a little more. I'm just going to have to start closing my eyes, haha!

Early Mornings

The early mornings have been continuing around here.  Carson the last week just kept waking up earlier and earlier each day by about a half an hour.  Yesterday he was up at 4:04, not quite sleeping through the night when you get up that early and too early to start the day in my opinion.  So we fought back and let him cry to get him to go back to sleep.  He finally did after about 45 minutes.  Then today he slept in the latest he has in about the last week and was up by 6:00.  However his brother Noah decided it was time to get up at 5:30.  No matter what, one of our boys insists that mom needs to be early way earlier than she would like!  In their teen years they may be some paybacks for these years of lack of sleep I have had!  Maybe early morning chores on Saturdays or something, I have plenty of time to come up with a plan!  Haha! Just joking, I'm sure I will be too worn down by then and will forget all about it.

Momma's Boy

Carson is a momma's boy, no doubt about it.  He will be on the floor playing, content as can be but if he sees me walk by the crying or whining begins and he tries to move closer to me.  When I am in the playroom with the boys playing he pretty much has to be climbing on me most of the time or have me right by him while he plays.  He also has started to want me when other people are holding me.  The good part about it is, he saves most of his kisses for me!  I love/hate this new momma's boy business.  I love it because I love him and glad he loves me back but it's so frustrating that he expects so much more from me than everyone else and doesn't play as well for me.  I know it's only a stage and someday  I will wish he wanted to be with me so I'm trying to enjoy the moments I can!

Some Work, Some Fun, Great trip

The one and only picture I have from our Orlando Trip, I forgot my camera darnit!

Matthew and I spent last weekend together in Florida, it wasn't exactly a vacation.  There was a big Vision Source Conference (eye doctor meeting) but they always happen to have them in neat places where there is always other stuff to do.  Matthew went down there earlier and I met him on Friday without the boys.  The boys stayed at our house with my mom and sister Kate (which  I can't thank them enough for taking such great care of our boys, especially since Noah was sick).

Friday I pretty much went straight to my class when I got there and that hat evening we went to Downtown Disney for dinner.  Saturday we had a morning full of classes, spent the afternoon getting some neat stuff for our office at the expo, then headed to the pool and spent the evening at Sea World.  We had a great dinner there, got to see a show and ride their big roller coaster twice ( which was super intense at times)  since the park was closed and our group were the only people there.  We had a great day, ended it with some TV in the hotel ( one of my new favorite things).  Then Sunday we slept in until 9!! Yes you read that right 9.  I don't know the last time I have done that, it felt great!  After that great start we acted like kids at Disney's Magic Kingdom, walked around, rode some rides, had ice cream, watched part of the parade and just had fun hanging out with each other.  It was nice to have an all day date, been a long time since we have had one of those!  Sunday night we went back to Downtown Disney to meet up with Matthew's parents who were also down there with us, for dinner.  Then it was back to the hotel for more relaxing and TV.  Can I just tell you, I think that was honestly my favorite part.  1) we don't have cable so just turning on the TV and flipping through is now really fun and 2)  There was nothing else I needed to do at that moment.  I could truly relax, I didn't have laundry that I needed to start, cleaning that needed to be done, or toys to pick up, no need to hurry to bed since I knew Carson wasn't there to wake us up,  it felt AWESOME!!!  I think I need to do that more often, go to a hotel just to stay there and relax for a night.  It truly energized me so much to just take that time, be lazy, and veg out!

Now I did have a great time, but I sure did miss my boys.  Monday I couldn't wait to get home to see them. It was a good length of time for a getaway, much more and I would just of missed them too much, but enough to give me a good break and some time away.

Early Morning Stroll

Thursday morning I had set my alarm clock for 5:30 yet again (my alarm clocking letting me know I should get up and work out, for the record, I always push snooze, but always set it just in case I don't.  That's a whole other post in it's self.  Constant Battle) Well our sweet little Carson decided to be a real live personal alarm clock and wake up at 5:25, I went in there a little frustrated and thought yet again there is my boys and and their plot to keep me from working out (it's actually an excuse I use alot for not working out)  Then after I had got Carson up, changed his clothes because he had wet through I thought, wow it's light out, it's nice we could go for a walk.  So we did just that at quarter til 6 and the picture above is just how happy Carson was to go on this walk.  I couldn't get one that wasn't blurry because I had my cell phone and everytime he saw me he wouldn't quit freaking out and doing some happy kicks so the movement messed them all up.  But he loved it and it was nice for me.  We couldn't go long since  I had to get in the shower and get ready for work but it was a nice little stroll for both of us!  I will have to do this again next time he decides to get up super early!  It was nice taking something that is sometimes frustrating ( a child who gets up earlier than I would like) and turn it into exercise which is definitely something  I would like to do more of!

On a Roll

Getting Carson to sleep through the night hasn't been as easy as I would have hoped.  I know most people say you will have 3 rough nights but after that it should be much better.  Well we first started  working with him a few weeks ago and I posted about it here. Well after a few nights of still getting up once and crying a little he started to gradually start to do worse instead of better.  2 Wednesday's ago after Matthew had left for Florida, Carson woke up already by around 12:30 and was up for over 3 hours.  I tried everything I could and finally caved in around 3:30 and gave him a bottle after not giving him one for a week and a half at night.  I was desperate.  I was by myself and I had a lot to do the  next day since I was leaving early Friday morning to meet Matthew in Florida. Right after that he went right to sleep. Matthew and I make strong willed children. Period.

 The next night Carson was up by 1 and again before 4, Noah was sick, my mom was here for the night since I had to get up at 4am and leave by 5 to catch my flight so when he woke up a little before 4 I fed him again.  Well that started on a bad weekend for my mom and sister and he was up multiple times for them each night.  Then Monday when we got home we knew we had to try again and started playing hardball yet again.  Well Monday and Tuesday night he woke up and cried some but they weren't awful.  And now our longest streak, or actually just our first streak Carson has now slept through the night this week Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  This morning he woke up before 5 and I did get him back to sleep without feeding him pretty quickly and then he slept until a little after 6 so it's not great but I'm still calling it sleeping through the night.  Tonight I'm hoping we have another good night and hopefully this will be our new normal!

First Kite

This morning we were outside with the boys and realized there was a breeze so Matthew thought it would be a great time to get out the new kite I got for Noah.  Boy did he love it!  I got it 1) because it was Cars and 2) because it was like $1.00 something so knew if it didn't last thing, I didn't waste a bunch of money.  I would say it was worth it.  

Here Noah is, trying to throw it in the air, he figured that out pretty quick.

 Flying it in the field all by himself

 And in the road, he liked to hold it for awhile, then let go of it and watch everything including the handle fly away.  We (mostly Matthew) did a lot of chasing!

 Watching his kite fly

 Then Noah let everything go again and wasn't so lucky it blew over to a tree and got stuck

 Matthew tried to save it but the string that was fairly low on the tree then flew up and go caught even more and too high to reach so the kite is done!  Bummer!

 What did Carson do while we were flying kites, pretty much sit in his stroller, he was being such a good, calm boy, it was awesome.  He was in such a trance when I was trying to take his picture, he actually looks mad, but he was having fun, he loves it outside.  

 After we were done, Noah had to rehydrate by drinking water out of a water bottle, his new obsession.  We are okay with it, because we are actually getting him to drink water.

 And Carson had to give us cheesy smile (as always) and move around after sitting in that stroller for awhile.  

After being away from the boys it was nice to have a great day at home with them!  They even helped start the day off right by letting us sleep in until 7:15!

Carson at 8 Months Old

I can't believe my little baby is already 8 months, before I know it we will be planning his first birthday party, CRAZY!!

At 8 months Carson is,

- still in size 3 diapers, but can also wear Noah's size 4 if we accidentally put them on him
-wearing 9 and 12 months clothing, depends on what it is
-is down to 4 bottles a day, and mostly done with them at night
-still not sleeping through the night
-has 1 tooth, it's still only about halfway up, it is the slowest tooth I have ever seen
-is so close to crawling but usually when he is on his knees he drops down to his belly
-even though he can't crawl, he is quite a mover, he goes in circles when he sits and on his belly, rolls a lot better now, and loves to try and climb on things.  He is always climbing all over me
-loves the baby snack puffs, Noah hated them so it's nice to have something to hold him over with when we need it
-doesn't so much love his walker or jumperoo anymore.  Sometimes he does fine in them, but others it just really makes him mad.
-has a favorite corner of the playroom.  Some days I can put him in this one spot and he will play there for quite awhile by himself.  (quite awhile in terms with him, is like 15 minutes, haha)
-is always reaching for everything and really fast at it
-is overall a pretty happy baby, just likes attention!
-always has the driest cheeks, not baby soft at all
-is a much better eater than Noah, thankfully!
-has the funniest smile he does a lot where he doesn't open his mouth, it's all with his lips
-is getting lots of hair, it's starting to go over the ears but definitely lays down better than Noah's ever did

Carson you can be such a lover sometimes and you get plenty of kisses because of it!  I love watching you get more mobile every day and explore everything you can get your hands on.  I love your kisses when you give them out, we were on a roll for a few days but since we have been back I haven't gotten any so you need to catch up on them, I miss them! Now if we only could get you to sleep through the night buddy, we would be so happy.  We love you anyway whether you get us up or night!  You are one special little boy, and we can't wait to see your personality come out more and more as you grow!  Love you Carson!