Oregon Continued.

During our trip Carter learned how to clap. It was actually on our flight up there that he figured it out. So Mike and I were both there for this milestone. Then once we got the rental car and were driving around he kept clapping and laughing. We were such new parents and laughing and clapping with him. It's adorable and now he does it all of the time. All you have to do is say "yeah" and he follows with a clap or two. So here he is...

Oregon.

This past week we traveled to Portland Oregon for Mike's youngest brother, Paul's wedding. Paul and Brenda were married last Thursday at the Portland LDS temple and it was beautiful. We're so happy for both of them and look forward to the great things they will accomplish as a couple and eternal family. This is a picture of the Dille's, Shala, Mike's mom, Charlotte, Brenda, Paul, Mike's dad, Val, Bryan and Mike. The picture below has the rest of the Dille clan. Brian, Shala, Landon, Bryan, Nikki, Charlotte, Brenda, Paul, Val, Mike, Carter and Angie.
Here are a few pictures from our trip. We had a great time. Carter was a champ. Although his top tooth was coming in, and he managed to leap out of Mike's hands on the plane trip there and get a black eye from smacking into the arm rest, we think he did fairly well being dragged around Oregon and withstanding the crazy cold weather. It was wonderful having Mike around for five straight days and it was great to spend time with his family. It is so rare that we see all of them, that it was great to get a little extra time over the weekend after the wedding. We stayed in Portland for one night and then traveled south to Brenda's town for the reception. Then we traveled to the coast for the rest of the weekend and stayed in a beach house in Sea Side. Oregon was beautiful. Everything was so green and the beach was breathtaking. It was out of the normal cold the weekend we were there. In fact it snowed and hailed on and off all weekend . We did however manage to bundle everyone up and take Carter and his little cousin Landon to the beach. We saw the "goonie" sites, see the rock picture below and also had a chance to explore some other smaller cities on the coast.

It still amazes me how much different life is now. Traveling is a different ball game with an infant. It was impossible to stay on schedule, you can't let them cry at night in a hotel, so he spent a few nights in the king size bed with us. It's not the same just pick up and go. We had a caravan of luggage and still had to make a trip to Target when we got there for last minute essentials. But even with these minor delays, traveling is more exciting now. We took Carter to the beach for the first time. How amazing is that? We've been blessed with this amazing little spirit and as parents we have the opportunity to raise children, teach them, introduce them to the world and rejoice in each of their accomplishments and milestones reached. I know Charlotte must be rejoicing having her final baby marry this past week. I hope and pray that Mike and I will be good parents and that Carter will grow to be a wonderful and valiant young man, who will serve a mission and marry in the temple for time and all eternity.

PS. I know the formatting is off with this post. But after spending way too much time trying to fix it... I give up. I hope you can piece together my sentences and figure out what I meant. If not, just enjoy the photos. I'll add more to flicker tomorrow.

Exempt.

Mike opened up the mail last week to find a very special letter just for me... from Harris County. Hmmm... that's right, I got jury duty. I remember last year when Mike got called for jury duty being a little jealous because I'd never had the honor. So now that the tables are turned, I'm not so excited. To my relief, on the back side of the summons is a handy little section entitled "exemptions." I'm happy to report I am exempt. Thanks for my SAHM status and 10 month old baby. Carter just saved me a trip to downtown and the courthouse for atleast a very long day.

Swing.

Looking at my last two posts I felt like they were maybe a bit negative. There are a lot of happy things happening in our family, but somehow I got stuck on the not so positive ones. So now that I uploaded photos from the weekend I wanted to share two. On Sunday afternoon Mike and I took Carter to the park for the first time. It hit me a few weeks ago that I haven't taken Carter to the park and he hadn't had the chance to swing yet. He loved it! And so did I. It was great to get outside and enjoy the spring weather as a family. It makes me excited for when he gets a little bigger and can really enjoy the park. For now we'll enjoy our time with the baby swings.

Quarantined.

Carter has pink eye... yuck. So we have been quarantined at the house. No gym outing this morning. We did make it to the pharmacy to pick up his eye drops. Let's just talk about how fun it is trying to get drops in a 10 month olds eyes. We did ok with the first eye, but then he figured it out and screamed when I attempted to get the other eye. Who knows how tonights drops will be. I'm hoping Carter has a short term memory and will forget by the time I have to give him each set of drops... 3 times a day. I guess no matter how hard I try to keep Carter germ free we can't always live in a bubble and he'll end up catching some sort of bug or another.

He's finally down for his afternoon nap. I'm hoping he'll wake up feeling better. Pink eye and a new tooth aren't the best combinations for a bright and happy infant. Sleep away little man. In a few days we'll all start to feel better.

Saturday.

Another Saturday is drawing to a close and I find myself wondering where did the day go? But actually I find myself wondering this a lot lately as the days keep coming and going. I can't decide if this is because my life has become so routine, wake up, get Carter, feed Carter, go to the gym, come home, Carter takes nap, take a shower, eat lunch, run errands, fold laundry, clean something, Carter takes another nap, eat dinner, Carter gets a bath then a bottle and off to sleep and so on... or if I am feeling this way because the days are in deed going by quickly.

It's such a change to stay home and be a mom. My sense of accomplishments have also changed. I've been thinking about this a lot too. Before I would feel accomplished when I would complete an assignment, cross a task of off my work list, make a deadline. Now I feel accomplished when I have fresh vacuum lines in the living room, there are no dirty dishes in the sink, I have clean bathrooms and a kitchen floor clean, or even something as simple as changing the bed sheets. I just can't get over how different everything is. I'm even compulsive enough to expect Mike to notice all of the nit picky little chores I accomplish. Bless his heart, he tries to say thank you or say, "hey the bathrooms look great" or "yeah fresh sheets." And this little thank you or acknowledgment from him is what makes my day, after I have had my fill of acknowledgment and love from Carter. :) I still do have little accomplishments that reflect my old work ones, they are just few and far between. There are days when I'm able to roll up my sleeves and do some things as a personal shopper for Shade, but in all honesty Carter keeps me so busy (and my obsession with a clean house) that even Shade takes a back seat. Shade does allow for a break up in my routine, that is much needed at times and makes me feel like I am still connected with the world outside of the four walls of our little house. I guess I'm just having one of those "perspective" nights, when you finally have a chance to take a deep breath and think for once.

Carter is working on the other front tooth. I think I'm still disappointed this tooth didn't come in with the other one, and relieved at the same time that it is finally coming in. It looks a little odd just to have one big ole chomper and not two. :) The runny nose is back and so is the sad face that comes along with it. I feel so bad for him, knowing the we'll have another year of this. It's just that darn runny nose I can't stand. He now has a red little chapped nose. The Dille house could be an ad for puffs plus this week. Anyone have any experience with home remedies to help?

Catch Up.

Another week at the Dille house has come and gone. Last week I celebrated my 26th birthday. Mike was still really busy at work last week, so when I got up and went downstairs Thursday morning, I was greeted with red roses and two presents, oh and a card. (Big deal, Mike never buys cards. He thinks they are a waste of money. He usually gets a piece of paper and folds it in half and makes his own card. I can't tell if he was being extra cute by buying me a card, or if this was another result of him being so busy.) My mom sent me flowers. An extra treat to have daises delivered to the house! Thank you mom and I love you too. I also had a special surprise from my visiting teachers, Marie and April. Who brought me a goodie basket with candy, lip gloss, bath and body work stuff, cute paper and best of all... a Sonic gift card. Boy do those girls know the way to my heart... Sonic happy hour. Thank you so much ladies! Then to top the night off, we went to enrichment and then a small group of us headed to Chili's for dinner and desert. It was wonderful to get out of the house and not have to worry about Carter. Thanks to Lindsay who arranged to have a babysitter watch her kids and mine. All and all it was a great birthday and I feel very blessed to have so many wonderful friends and a loving family.

Now to our exciting Monday. Before I dive into it, I should give you some background information. For the past week I have been getting easily winded. I run up the stairs and am gasping for air. I pick Carter up and am out of breath again. I know I'm not that out of shape. I have been working out at least five days a week for the past three months, so I knew something was up. I went to the Doctor who told me to start allergy medication. No luck, on Friday it felt like someone was sitting on my chest. The Doctor became more concerned and took me off a medication I had been taking for about a month and told me to come in on Monday. So the weekend came and went and I still felt winded. So on Monday Mike met me at my appointment and proceeded to come with me across the street to the hospital to have some tests run on my lungs to make sure I didn't have a blood clot in my lungs. (These run in my family on my mothers side. So it's always better to be safe than sorry.) It was a painless test, but however it did make me radioactive for the rest of the day. I can't remember the name of the test, but I had to breath in some radiation and they injected some into my blood stream, and then they took pictures, like x-rays, of my lungs and all of the blood vessels to make sure there weren't any clots. We got the clear and went home, still radioactive for the afternoon. So Mike came home with us as well to take care of Carter for the night. It's a relief to know that I am clot free, but still frustrating to be so winded throughout the day. Especially with Carter being so active. I guess I can be grateful that he's only 9 months and not two years old. So hopefully each day that passes I will start to feel better.

Carter is still a happy little baby, or is it toddler now, who is constantly on the move and into everything. Mike was home all weekend so Carter was able to have his undivided attention, which he loved. He laughed all weekend and crawled after Mike, who would then turn around and grab him and tickle him. Last night Mike and I were laying on the ground snuggling and invited Carter to come over. Carter crawled over and smiled at us and then put his head down on Mike's chest, just like mine. Adorable! He laid his head down for a few seconds then would sit up and smile. We would both smile and say yeah! then tell him to snuggle again, which he would. This went on for about five minutes and was the best moment of the week. We feel so blessed to have such a sweet little spirit entrusted to us from the Lord. We love you Carter.

Here is Carter and his walker. He's getting quicker and now pushes whatever he can across the room, laundry baskets, boxes and Mike's office chair. You also get a great view of Carter's baby buddha belly. We aren't sure when he got this, but it's like all of sudden he grew a little old man pot belly. It is also adorable and endearing. Enjoy!