First Haircut

Yep. It happened. Carter got his hair cut!! It's been slowly growing in since he was about 5 months old, and there is finally enough there to look a little shaggy. He really just needed it trimmed around his ears and on his neck line. It was beginning to look a little too much like a mullet. We took him to Sharky's Cuts for Kids in Frisco. It was so cute in there!! They had little cars for the kiddos to sit in, and there were playstations for the big kids to play while getting their hair cut. They really did a great job with him, too!

Carter surprised us and was very well behaved. I think he was fascinated with the Mini Cooper that he was sitting in and the little boy across from him that was playing video games. He wasn't very still, but he didn't panic... until she brought out the clippers. He had a slight melt down when that happened. Fortunately she was VERY quick, and soon he was okay again. Overall it was a good experience, and we're all happy with his new 'do. I think he looks so much more grown up now!

ALL DONE! So handsome!

Gavin & Devin Turn 2!

Carter's cousins turn TWO today.

It seems like just yesterday we were waiting at the hospital for them to be here!

Uncle Eric with Gavin & Aunt Elaina with Devin

2/21/08

Devin & Gavin (3 months)

May 2008

Gavin and Devin Turn 1!! 2/21/09

Devin likes the cake, Gavin not so much.

All three of the boys together for the first time.

Carter (6 weeks), Devin & Gavin (15 months)

May 2009

Grandma's silly boys!!

Carter (7 months) Gavin & Devin (21 months)

November 2009

We had a little get together with family yesterday to celebrate their birthday.

Mommy helps Devin blow out the candles!

Devin still likes the cake, Gavin still doesn't. He'd rather open gifts!!

Devin and Carter playing together.

Sweet cousins!

We sure have had a lot of fun with them the last 2 years. They are sweet little guys, and they REALLY love their baby cousin. I can't wait to watch the three of them grow up together and see what kind of trouble they get into! Happy Birthday, Gavin & Devin!!
We ♥ you!

Just Another Reminder

It seems like every day I have at least one reminder of how fast my little man is growing. Lately it's been things like his new, big boy car seat, baby proofing, lowering his crib mattress, the countless baby clothes I've already boxed up and put in the attic.... there are many. Today, for instance, it was a bath towel. We've still been using his infant towels, and I've been thinking for a while now they're getting pretty small. Poor little guy can't be wrapped in them completely anymore, and he's always shivering so much!! Right after Carter was born, we received two of the nicest bath towels for him from Eric's boss. They are so soft and fluffy, really thick, and they have a hood. They are even embroidered with Carter's name and, of course, are sports themed to match his room! But, they are HUGE!! It's like a bath sheet!! I remember opening them back in April, and I thought, "Oh, how cute.... but he probably won't use these until he's 5!!" Well, today he used one. I was able to wrap him up completely, and there is definitely room to grow into it. Here he is, enjoying one of his new towels.

The towel says "Play Ball" and has a baseball mit by his name.

Too cute.

Skyping with Daddy

Eric has been out of town all week. He's in Long Beach for a convention.... lucky him. It's sunny with a high of 73° today. Be jealous. I am. Check out the view from his hotel room.

Anyway, we've been skyping with him a few times a day so we can all still see each other. Carter loves to see his Daddy on the screen and hearing his voice. He gets a huge smile on his face when he first sees Eric, and has been waving Hi and Bye to Daddy, too! It never occured to me to do this before when Eric went out of town, but we're now hooked!! If you've never done this... you have to!

Here is Carter talking to Daddy earlier today. The 2 hour time difference gives us a good opportunity to chat in the mornings. Daddy just woke up (notice the bed head and the fact that he's shirtless), and Carter will soon be going down for his morning nap.

Hi Daddy!! We miss you!!

Redemption

Today started out on my crap list. But... it did redeem itself, thanks to the following.

1. Eric came home early from work to avoid the horrible traffic and ugly roads this evening.
2. He stopped and picked up hamburgers and curly fries for lunch from one of our favorite burger joints. Yumm.
3. He climbed up and got the snow accumulation off the satellite dish.... YAY for TV again. Four hours without it was long enough.
4. When Carter woke up from his nap, I let him play around in his crib for a few minutes while I got his lunch ready. I looked at the monitor before going to get him, and he was SITTING UP! What?! Whoa... how did he do that? Milestone.
5. We all got bundled up and went outside for some fun photo ops, and we took some funny videos of Carter in the snow fall... and Stormie. She did NOT like the snow. It was pretty cute.
6. My sweet boy snuggled with me on the couch once we came in. We watched some Nick Jr., and he fell asleep in my arms.
7. Once I put Carter down for his nap, Eric and I enjoyed some Hot Cocoa and Apple Cider.

I guess I shouldn't have been so negative before. I was just bummed. But I'm a lucky girl to have the things I have, and today turned out to be a great day. Hope tomorrow is too. It doesn't sound like the weather is going to be any better.... yet another day stuck at home! ;)

Snowed In.

Oh my word. I have had a serious case of cabin fever this week. Of course, on the ONE day that Carter and I had a playdate to go to (that I was very much looking forward to), it has to snow. And snow. And snow. And snow. It's not even noon, and I think we have 4-5 inches. And it's still going. I'm tempted to just get in my car and go... but it's supposed to get even worse later today. Ice and all. I don't think my husband would appreciate that my desperate attempt to get out of the house would most likely lead to him coming to rescue me and my 10 month old on the side of the road somewhere. Because Lord knows I don't know how to drive in this mess. I'll be the first to admit it....

It is pretty, though. Just wish it would've done this on a day

that I had nothing to do.

Carter's got the right idea. He's been napping for about an hour. Normally he'd be up by now, but there are no signs of movement anytime soon. He must be depressed about the weather, too. I'm looking at him on the monitor now. He's curled up on his tummy with his little butt in the air. I think I'll go do the same.... think I could get away with this?

So..... Close, Almost.... There....

In these next few pictures, Carter appears to be crawling. Don't let him fool you... he's not quite there yet. But, man, he is SO CLOSE! He does a pretty funny looking army crawl, but hasn't officially made his first move from on all fours.... yet. I have a feeling it will be VERY soon.

Sweet Carter Boy,

Daddy leaves to go to California for a business trip on Valentine's Day, and he will be gone 5 DAYS! Can you please, please hurry up and DO IT ALREADY? If not, please wait until the 19th... okay? You wouldn't want your sweet, loving Daddy to miss it, now would you? =(

Love, Mommy

Remote....

Control......

YUMMMM!!!One of my favorite things to go after.

Groundhog Day

Last night, as Eric and I were climbing into bed, we were watching the weather forecast on the news. The not-so-reliable (in my opinion, especially lately) Dan Henry was talking about how "Phil" will probably see his shadow again tomorrow because he has seen it 99 out of the last 114 years (or something like that). I said to Eric, "WHO'S PHIL?!" No, I've never seen the movie, and I had no idea there was actually a real groundhog somewhere that was bestowed the great honor of coming out of his little home once a year to determine the season change. I thought only God could do that. Anyway, unbeknownst to me, there is, and his name is Punxsutawney Phil. To further rub in my ignorance, I received this link in an email from my husband this morning. Hey, you learn something new every day.


Another blog I follow also had a post in honor of Groundhog Day, today. I can SO relate to this.

A Boy Thing?

Anything that resembles a ball.... he will throw.

This is a fun game. We do it often.

Growing Up Too Fast

I've found lately that motherhood can be brutally bittersweet. I'm always so excited and proud when he learns something new, but I find myself feeling sad at each little milestone, too. No one prepared me for this!! I know that I will love each age and stage that he is in, but I am sure sad to see that tiny baby, that was so very dependant on mommy, learn to do things on his own. Ohhhh, another 18+ years of this. Wow.

On the flip side of that, I do love watching him learn new things. Everyday it seems there is something new that he is doing. Especially lately. I feel like he's just at that age where he just soaks everything right up. Some of the newest things he's been doing lately are:

• Clapping at the sound of applause on TV. He's been clapping for a long time, but always had to be prompted by someone. The other night we noticed him clapping after hearing the audience while we were watching the Golden Globes. This is funny to me..... at some point he made the connection. I've also caught him clapping during football or basketball games and while mommy watches Deal or No Deal and Ellen. HA!

• Pointing at things he likes. When I hold him in front of a mirror or show him some of his favorite books or pictures, he always points at what he sees. And it's always with the index finger of his right hand.... gonna be right handed? We'll see. This is neat though, because I know it won't be long until he can point for things he wants or needs. A small milestone of communication Mommy is looking forward to!!
  

• Waving "Hi" and "Bye." Of course, he doesn't yet actually do it after arriving or before leaving. It will be random while we're playing. I'll say "Hi baby!" and he'll wave. Or Stormie will walk into the other room, and I'll say, "Bye bye, Stormie" and he'll wave. It's a funny wave, though. Not a beauty pageant side-to-side wave, or a waving with just your hand opening and closing wave, a HUGE, watch out or you're going to get hit wave!! He waves from his elbow to his hand!! We'll work on toning that down some.
  

• Bringing "Ma Ma" back into his vocabulary. When he was about 2 or 3 months old, he'd just started babbling, and Ma Ma was one of the first things I heard from him. I'm sure it was purely coincidental, but I loved it. And then it was gone. I haven't heard it since the summer, and he's started it back up again. The only kicker is he says it when he's throwing a fit for something, when he wants to be picked up, or when he's crying because he's tired or uncomfortable. Uh oh...


• Looking all over for Stormie. She has a few spots in our house that she goes to lounge, and Carter knows those spots. You can always find her either on the back of the couch cushion in our living room or in her doggie bed in our bedroom. I'll say, "Where's Stormie??" He immediately looks to the back of the couch first, and if she's not there, he'll look toward our bedroom doorway. This is pretty amazing to me. It just shows how much he really takes in. He always gets the biggest grin, too, when I call her and she comes over to us. It's precious.


• Pushing off with his toes to help scoot himself across the floor (while on his belly). I think this will very soon be a serious army crawl if he can just figure out the arms. He likes to go after cell phones, remotes, the lap top, and, thanks to his friend Mia who did it first, Gerber puffs or melts.


• Beginning to understand the sippy cup, mostly in the last few days. He doesn't mind drinking COLD liquid anymore, and that helps a lot. He still isn't the best at holding it himself, but I'm just glad he's interested in what's in it now, and will actually drink out of it, instead of just playing with it.


• Tries to mimic any sound Eric and I make, including coughing, laughing, sneezing, breathing, and others. The other day Eric was drinking from a water bottle and would go "Ahhhhh" each time he took a sip. After a few minutes, Carter started to say "ahhhh." Although it didn't sound exactly the same, we knew what he was trying to do!


• Standing while holding onto the couch or table. He's gotten brave lately and has started let go with one hand and turn to look over his shoulder. Sometimes he'll intentionally plop down on his bottom from standing, too. Hopefully this will help prevent bad falls when he does start cruising a lot.


• Throwing. He thinks it's funny to watch things fall when he lets go of them. He gets in moods sometimes where he just wants to throw, and anything you hand him will just fly right out of his hands instantly. This MUST be a boy thing.

Here is a cute little video from the other day. He's just started making this funny noise. He babbles by pushing his tongue back and forth in his mouth. This is his new favorite thing to do.... sometimes it really sounds like he's talking. Watch for pointing to the pictures in the book, noticing the text tone of my phone, dancing, and responding to his name.