Happy Birthday, Carl!

Today is Carl's 26th birthday! Happy birthday, Daddy!!

For Carl's birthday he wanted to get a tattoo for Carson. The only other tattoo he has is on his chest and he got that for his 18th birthday. It matches one that his dad had on his arm so it means a lot. This time he decided he wanted to use numbers that represented Carson's birth and find some sort of picture to go along with it. We were stumped for a few days and then started playing around with our zodiac symbols. So he is the design we came up with...

1=He is the first child
710= 7lb 10oz
1914= 19 1/4 inches long
1313= Born at 13:13
042108= His birth date
39576-104986= The latitude and longitude of where he was born
The symbol= the zodiac signs for Pisces, Leo and Taurus




We went and had it done at the shop owned by UFC fighter Big Mike Nichols, but he isn't there on Sundays. :( Carl did really well, but said the ribs hurt SO MUCH more than his chest did. He was a trooper and I'm glad I was just there to watch! Ouch! We are glad he went with the ribs so he can get a matching one on the other side when we have our second child.

The artist did a great job and matched the design we brought in exactly. It looks awesome!

10 Month Pictures

We have had such a busy weekend that I am just now getting to post these. Carson turned 10 months old on Saturday! :( He is so big and is starting to seem more like a toddler than a baby every single day.




This is a serious action shot!!! He was shaking the paper and laughing so hard so you can see him behind the moving paper. He is such a character!

Some firsts this week

I have good news - we are FINALLY over our colds!!!! :)

Carson has done some adorable new things this week and I feel like I need to document even the little ones. Here we go...

1. He started to say DaDa. One day he started putting his tongue to his front teeth and the next it was dadadadadada all day long. He has barely uttered a mama since :(, but Carl is ecstatic.

2. He has started to wave. It is so cute! At first he was just moving his arm around for weeks and this week he really started to wave. He knows what he is doing and he will wave back when you wave at him. I was wearing him in the carrier at the grocery store the other day and he had to have waved for 80% of the time we were there.

3. He figured out what he should be doing with a sippy cup. I've let him practice with one for awhile, but he usually ends up just chewing on the bottom. He would drink out of it if we help him, but all of a sudden he will pick it up, put the spout in his mouth and tip his head back all on his own.

4. He started doing a new spontaneous laugh. I know, this isn't a big one, but it is so funny. He has been laughing at everything lately and it almost sounds like a witch cackle. He scrunches his face and says, "Ahh HA HA HA".

5. And TONS more walking! Man, this kid is all over the place and he is really "cruising" now. He is already fearless and will try to run and dive for things. We have such a boy already. :)

Books...You're doing it wrong!



And just because this is cute - some whining, fake coughing, walking and Daddy.

Valentine's Day Pictures

Today is a snow day so we are staying in (other than running to get Carson's cough medicine the doctor prescribed yesterday). I decided to do a little Valentine's photo shoot today for fun and they turned out pretty cute. The sucker was broken inside the wrapper and he managed to rip it open. He got a few tastes by the time he was done and then was mad that I took it away! This is his coat Grandpa Rick bought him for Christmas. It is still a little big, but cute anyways! I could take pictures of this little guy all day long.

So enjoy our little Cupid!!!

I...refuse...to...sleep...

I don't think I have talked much about Carson's sleep (or lack there of) on here much. All I can say is that he isn't a fan of sleep, at all. I have read so many books and tried so many different techniques and the only way he will sleep soundly is in my arms or in our bed. It seems like as soon as we make some progress something happens...sleeping in the crib then teething, sleeping in the crib then vacation, sleeping in the crib then he is sick.

I know it will all work itself out, but I just hope it is sooner rather than later, for my body's sake! For such a little guy he sure takes up more than his share of my side of the bed. I have totally come to terms with it all, but then we have something like this happen that just makes us laugh.

Yesterday Carson took his morning nap in his crib. (YAY!) Then he crashed while nursing in the middle of the day and refused a nap in the afternoon. By the time we got to dinner he was yawning and obviously tired. But the kid just fights sleep like you wouldn't believe. It is almost like he just doesn't want to miss any of the action.

We were all eating and talking when Grandma noticed Carson was dozing off. I grabbed the camera - you can see how stubborn he is though! He NEVER just dozes off anywhere like this.

Update on Carl

After finally going to the sports medicine doctor we have good news and bad news. The good news is that the pain should stop soon. The bad news is the reason he is in pain is because he has a broken vertebrae in his lower back.

This has been an injury he has had since he crashed his bobsled in high school, but they didn't find it at the time. Everyone since then has told him it is just a strained muscle and he knew it was different than that.

They did a bunch of x-rays and could clearly see a large fracture going from one side and wrapping around to the other. The fracture has "healed" itself numerous times, but the spot is so fragile that he just re-aggravates and re-breaks it every time he has had a flare up like this. This one has been pretty bad though.

He went last night and got fitted with some special brace that is supposed to keep him from bending backwards and side to side. He has to wear that for 4 weeks and then they want him to start physical therapy to build up the muscles around it. The only other option is really invasive surgery that would be a last option.

No wonder the poor guy says it hurts all the time! I thought he was just being a baby ;)

It had to happen sometime...

It feels like we have had so much going on lately.

Carson has his first major cold. He has had a little bit of a runny nose for two weeks (starting after we went to Monkey Bizness and my friend's little girl got sick after that day too), but on Thursday it turned and he isn't liking life. He has a horrible deep chest cough and so much mucus. He doesn't know how to cough it up so he starts coughing, gags and projectile-vomits EVERYWHERE. It has been a blast. I have done everything in my power to help out, but you just have to ride it out. He has been so clingy and refuses to sleep anywhere but right next to me. Oh well.

We have had to clear his nose out so many times that he knows what is going to happen as soon as we even walk in his room. He screams at the top of his lungs the entire time the blue bulb is in sight. I feel so bad, but he is so congested he can't even nurse because he can't breath with his mouth shut.

And needless to say, I am now sick too. I shouldn't be surprised since I have been coughed and sneezed on for two weeks.


But don't fret. He is still well enough to torment us is any way he can find.
Carl hates when he pulls out the DVDs. I think it is funny. :)




We had to send our TV out for repair on January 15 because it started to get a dark shadow in the middle. We have a warranty for it, but now the say it will cost more to fix it than replace it. We decided to take the buyout and ordered a new TV on Sunday (a bigger and better one!!!). But this means we have been without a TV downstairs for 4 weeks now. It is beyond annoying to watch TV in our bedroom with Carson. That room is so not baby proofed and he has found anything possible that he shouldn't have. Hopefully we only have one more week of this...

I am also very happy to report that we signed two new contracts at my company so my job is safe right now! Our last project ended in September so I had been sitting back hoping and praying that something else would come through. I am so lucky to be able to stay home with Carson while keeping my career and full-time income. I honestly don't know what I would do if I had to go back to an office at this point. I'm spoiled!!! But hour-long teleconferences with a very loud baby are difficult. I wouldn't recommend them!

Carl hurt his back at the gym Thursday morning so he is FINALLY going to a sports medicine doctor today to start the rehab process. He has had really bad problems with his back and hips since he crashed bobsledding in high school and never did anything about it. He has been in so much pain the last 5 days and can hardly even walk.

So...our house is bizarro world right now. :) Hopefully Carl and I can sneak away for diner and a movie or something this weekend for V-day since we are pretty worn out.