Cool Guy.

Here are a few fun pictures from last weekend washing cars. It's starting to become one of our Saturday things. Carter loves it and we love having clean cars. Carter even kept his sunglasses on the entire time we were outside. Mike was a pro at teaching him why we wear them and how cool they are. :) Carter totally gets it now and it's funny to see his face when the sunglasses fall off and he immediately squints his eyes and tries to put them back on.

I also love the sunblock mohawk. Works better than any gel. He just looks like such a little man.

Hosting.

Last night I hosted a baby shower for my good friend Lindsay. She is having a little girl, after two boys, so I had a ball looking and buying pink things for her. I wanted to try and go all out for Lindsay, she's one of those great friends that is always there for you and she has definitely been my "family" out here in Texas since we moved here. Our husbands grew up together in Idaho, then we met at college and Mike and I followed them down here to Texas a year later. What's really fun is that for her last two pregnancies we were pregnant at the same time, along with our other good girlfriend Marie. It's pretty crazy to think that all three of us got pregnant back to back together. Makes for a fun lunch out to chat and exchange crazy stories.

So in honor of Lindsay's shower I branched out in my craftiness to make a diaper cake and favors. I never think that I am a very crafty person. I always look at the talents of others and think, there is no way I can do that. I think this about people who scrapbook and stamp, I've just never seemed to be able to latch on to that talent. (Although I can be handy at photoshop, but that's on the computer- so it only half counts. :) ) But I was pretty proud of myself after making her favors and the diaper cake. I even asked Mike if was impressed with my "domestic diva" skills, he smiled and said "yes". Most likely because he knew it would crush me if he said no. :)

So here is the beautiful diaper cake. I used swaddlers sz. 1 and two receiving blankets, ribbon and pink Gerber daises for the top. It was tricky to figure out at first and time consuming to roll all 88 diapers, but the end result was awesome. I am so proud it was almost bitter sweet to see the cake go home with Lindsay. Guess I'll need to make another for someone else.

These are the favors, I tried to get a good up close picture but the wrapper kept giving off a glare and I'm no pro at cameras. They were honey buns, with a pink and white tag that said, "Thanks for celebrating Lindsay and her "bun in the oven." On these I was able to borrow a few tag punches and even tried some stamping, it was actually pretty fun and totally rewarding to see the final product.

Here are a few photos of me 5 months, Lindsay 8 months and Marie 9 months. Lindsay joked and said she didn't have any photos of herself during her pregnancies. So we took this opportunity to capture a few and have fun with the three of our growing tummies.

I had plans to take pictures all along, but in the process of hosting totally spaced it and forgot until the end when Marie took over and grabbed a few candids of the ladies hanging out. Here are a few of those.

This last group photo Mike took for us. Unfortunately half the group had already gone. We were the stragglers. (From left to right, Debbie, Melodie, Amber, Me, Stacie, Lindsay, April and Marie). Big thanks to Melodie for all of her help with co hosting and who is also the greatest baker, she made the cake, fudge and empanadas. Thanks Marie for bringing queso, and Debbie and Stacie for bringing the veggie and fruit trays. And thanks to the rest of these great ladies (including those not pictured) who came to the shower. PS- Thanks Lindsay for not having the baby yet and making it to your shower this time. :)

It's A...

Boy!

Yup, that's right, we're having another boy and we're very excited. We had an idea it was a boy at 16 weeks, but I've been holding out just in case. We had our 20 week ultrasound today and our little guy is healthy and measuring right on track. I know Carter will be thrilled to have someone to play with and pick on when he gets bigger. :) I feel more prepared for a boy and somewhat like I will know what to do with him. For the most part boys just seem easier when they are little, put some gel in the hair, throw on a cute polo and a pair of shorts and call it good. Mike's excited just thinking about all of the "boy" things he'll get to do with our sons. Our little boy should be here the beginning of November. I'm actually planning for the end of October and being induced at 38 weeks like Carter was. Thanks for sharing in our happy news. By the way, we're taking suggestions for names so if you have some good ones send them our way. :)

12 Month Stats.

I took Carter in this morning for his 12 month check up and vaccines. The poor kiddo did fairly well with the vaccines, but had the melt down of all melt downs when they took blood from his finger. I can't decide if the melt down was brought on by, 1. being held down against his own will, 2. the actual finger prick, 3. the pile of 3 bandaids on the tip of his finger that he couldn't get off and was determined to show everyone in the office afterwards. He did however manage to pry the bandaids off while in Target half an hour later, lucky for me and my white shirt, his finger finally stopped bleeding and he became a lot happier.

Carter 12 Month Statistics

Height: 32 1/4 inches 95th percentile (He grew over three inches in the last three months)

Weight: 24.5 lbs 75th percentile

(This is his new favorite spot. Sitting inside of the ottoman. I came around the corner and saw him going through his new book. He'll climb in and out for hours, and if it is closed he'll lay his head on it and whine until you come and take the lid off.)
(In the last few weeks we discovered that Kroger gives away free balloons for kids, all you have to do is ask. Another reason I love Kroger better than W-mart. He walks around with the balloon all afternoon. When you sit on the coach you can always tell where he is in the kitchen based on where the balloon is.)

Updates.

Good News
A few weeks ago I mentioned that Mike took another section of the CPA exam. I am happy to say HE PASSED! Hurray, now he has passed two sections and only has two more left that he will take in July. I'm starting to see the light at the end of the "study" tunnel. I can't wait to have Mike back and less stressed. Keep us in your prayers. :)

Changes
Since his birthday Carter has switched completely to sippy cups and whole milk. No more baby bottles or formula for our little man. We are also in the process of making the transition from two naps to one. This is a lot harder than I thought it would be. The saving grace to our mornings is the fact that 24 fitness takes him for two hours (yup we still go almost every day - I'm trying to limit the baby weight this time around) and then when we get home we have about an hour and half to kill. If it wasn't so dang hot we could go outside. But the Houston summer is officially here and it's just too hot for either one of us.

Dille Baby 2

I'm getting bigger each day and am starting to get excited now that I can feel the baby move more and more. I am 19 weeks, almost half way there. I've had to get out the body pillow already to help with the tossing and turning at night. You can't help but feel like an alligator when trying to hug the pillow and roll over. Then there is the other three pillows I use to prop myself up to relieve the heartburn until the pepcid ac kicks in at night. It's a wonder that Mike finds room to sleep in the bed anymore. :) I am feeling pretty good, still working out and lifting weights. I don't feel nearly as sick as I did before and I'm only taking one nap a day now too. :) We go in next Monday for the big ultrasound at the hospital so expect updates to follow.

Bruiser
This is what I plan to call Carter after the last month. It seems that as soon as one face bruise fades away it is immediately replaced by another. The last ouchie I posted luckily didn't turn into a black eye, but today he managed to pull his lion (plastic walker/scooter) on top of his face and now his other eye looks like it has road rash, a little on the brow and mostly under the eye. Am I the only mommy who has a little one that is destined to have a constant bruise on his face? I mean really, I am I that bad of a mom? Or is it the fact that Carter doesn't stay still for longer than two seconds. At church there are about four little boys Carter's age and I swear he is the only one to every have a bruise! If I could just come up with some kind of helmet, head/face protector I could make millions...

Photos (Here's the road rash bruise I mentioned before - and Carter smiling with his binkie. He now runs into his room, reaches into his crib and grabs one binkie or two and runs around. I find it too cute to take it away before bed, so I give in and let him have it.)
(You can still see the remnant of his last forehead bruise.)
(He's starting to shut all of the doors in the house and then panics when he realizes that he can't get in or out once it's shut.)
(This picture cracks me up. He loves to be chased and thinks it's so funny when you hurry after him. Here he is running away from the camera with our phone, also a favorite thing of his.)

Another Ouchie.

Carters black eye from two weeks ago was finally almost gone... Then this happened. Another ouchie yesterday. First he fell while trying to step down onto the outside patio and now has a little concrete/road rash. Then as he was attempting to run across the living room not 20 minutes later, he fell into the corner of the ottoman in the exact same spot. My poor baby. It's the worst when you see it happening in slow motion and just can't get there in time to catch them. We spent most of the afternoon sitting on the couch with ice on his forehead. I called the pediatrician and talked to the nurse who told me this, too, will most likely turn into another black eye. I'm starting to get very discouraged about getting a professional 1 yr photo taken of him. Not to mention I am so tired of people asking, what happened to him? or look at that shiner. Leave us alone, yes, I know he looks beat up, no, I didn't do it and yes, I'm pretty sure this will not be the last of it. Thank heaven for little boys right?

(I was trying to get a good picture of his forehead and I caught this one mid-clapping. You can see the movement streaks in his hands. I think his face is hilarious. He really does smile and laugh with his mouth wide open and I thought I needed to clarify this, because it also looks like he is screaming. He's happy, I promise. It's just another Carter characteristic.)

Cake.

The birthday cake needed its own post. We took a lot of pictures and I decided to post almost all of them. It was too hard to just pick a few. They are adorable and you can really see how much fun he had with the cake. At first he really didn't know what to think of it. It really took some encouragement for him to dig in. We split up the after party celebrations and Mike gave Carter a bath and I cleaned up cake from everywhere! Happy Birthday little man. Here's to many more years of happy celebrations!

Here's Carters very own birthday cake. I know it is not exciting, and as Mike stated "it's not a castle." I suppose I have some pretty big shoes to fill in the cake making department from my mother in law. But I tried and no, I will not quite my day job to make cakes. I keep telling myself next year I'll be more creative. I don't think Carter cared either way.

"What in the world is this thing? I don't think I want any."

"Changed my mind. How much can I fit in my mouth?"
"Who me?"
"Here...have some cake."
"Are you sure you don't want any?" "It's everywhere and I'm all sticky!""But it still tastes good."
"All done."

Celebrating One.

We celebrated Carter's birthday with just the three of us. We figured it would be way more work than needed to have a big party and would our friends really want to come to a year olds party? And since we have no family here in Texas, we celebrated his birthday with just us. Which actually turned out to be better. Carter was a little grumpy that night and I'm pretty sure he would not have been much fun to be around to anyone other than us. Next year we'll have a party and invite friends over, this year, with Mike working so much, this just worked out better.

Here are a few pictures from the night. Thanks McDonald's and Dilles for sending Carter birthday presents and for calling to sing happy birthday on speaker phone. He loves the book and the polo is adorable. Thank you Dilles for the farm puzzle, tool kit and soccer outfit.

We gave Carter a hammer for his birthday that makes noise when you hit things. (Not that great of an idea after all. Today he banged everything. I'm a little afraid we might end up with a whole in the wall.)

Mike got Carter a soccer ball. He doesn't get the concept of kicking, so he carries it around all day, tries to chew on it and has to fight to keep the dogs and dad away from it.

We also got him two pairs of sunglasses. What inspired me to get him sunglasses you might ask. I was watching the Today show this week and they had a segment on the importance of wearing sunglasses for your eyes and the damage the sun can do. They mentioned children need to wear them as well, and I thought why not? We'll try young and maybe, just maybe, he'll think they're neat. I think I like the blue ones better. What do you think?

Happy Birthday Carter.

Happy Birthday Carter!

Our little baby turned 1 today. I can't believe how quickly this last year has gone. It feels like just yesterday we were holding him in our arms for the first time. Today I've been thinking a lot about how much he's grown and how wonderful it's been to be his mother. I remember being pregnant with Carter and wondering what he would look like, what kind of personality would he have and how much our lives would change once he arrived. I feel so blessed to have spent this past year at home with him. Getting to know his little spirit better and being there to make him feel better, care for his every need and to cover him in hugs and kisses.

Milestones Reached

• First Smile, 7 weeks
  
• Moved into his own room and out of ours, 8 weeks


• Started sleeping through the night, 3 months
  
• First Haircut, 3 months
  
• Clasped both hands together, 3 months


• First solids, 4 months


• Rolled over, 4 months


• Sitting by himself, 5 months
  
• First finger foods, 6 months
  
• First tooth, 6 months
  
• Got up on all fours, 6 months
  
• Climbed out of crib, 7 months
  
• Crawling, 7 months
  
• Started pulling himself up on furniture, 8 months
  
• Switched to formula and starting holding his own bottles, 9 months
  
• First pair of shoes, 10 months (He has chubby feet I was holding off as long as I could)
  
• Started clapping, 10 months
  
• Walking, 11 months
  
• Crawled out the doggy door, 12 months
  
• Drinking whole milk from a sippy cup, 12 months

Carter Loves

• Chick-fil-a nuggets and fries
  
• Milkshakes
  
• Feeding himself
  
• To be tickled
  
• Taking showers
  
• His piggy bank toy with coins that you put in a slot and it makes noise
  
• Binkies
  
• Pushing chairs or other objects around the room
  
• Going to the kids club at the gym
  
• Watching the dogs and playing with the dog kennels
  
• Raisins, gold fish, hot dogs and yogurt
  
• Playing with my cell phone, he now opens it and holds it up to his ear just like me
  
• Driving in the car on the highway


• Keys to anything, but specifically my car
  
• Anything yellow... ducks, lemons and our outside hose
  

Carter Dislikes

• Fresh bananas (He likes the baby food bananas just not the fresh ones)
  
• No longer likes hooded towels
  
• Getting out of the bath or standing outside of the bathtub when you turn on the water
  
• Having something taken away from him (he has a stubborn streak)