Sunday 4-Wheeling

Carl, Carson and I and our friend Tim went up 4-wheeling yesterday. The guys wanted to check out this trail above Empire that led up to a nice lake so I was game. We had breakfast and took off early. It turned out to be a nice cool day.

When you are doing trails like these, 4.8 miles feels like an eternity because you have to go so slow. When we got home my body was still bouncy like when I was little and would spend 10 straight hours at Lagoon. Once again, Carson did awesome and he had a blast. He just checked everything out, laughed and played.

At one point I took this picture out the windshield. You know you are vertical when you are facing the clouds...


When we finally got up to the top there was a small parking lot for the vehicles. We got Carson out of his PJs and he immediately went to work. He literally thought he would try to pick up every rock in sight, all at once. All I can say is it was a very good thing I brought him a brown outfit!


Then...apparently when you are a 4-wheeling guy you drive your vehicle up on stuff, just because you can. We all do that, right?
First Tim parked his Land Cruiser up on this huge boulder. It was actually pretty impressive.


But then Carl couldn't go without driving his baby up on something. Check out this HUGE boulder!!!! Carl said he would send this pic to Jeep for their catalog. Ummm...........


Then we walked down to the actual lake called Bill Moore Lake. It was so beautiful because it just felt so untouched. There wasn't anybody else up there. The only way to get there is by driving on this off-road trail.


The bank was kind of muddy and Carson seemed to find every single mud hole.


All he wants to do right now is play outside so he was in heaven! We laughed when we loaded the pictures because we didn't have any of him looking at the camera. He was so busy that I wasn't fast enough to get him in the moment anywhere. As soon as I'd jump in front to snap a shot he would be turned and gone.


This was my favorite picture of the day.


Noon is a bright time of day for a photo shoot...


And a kiss for the road.

Stunt Baby!

Carson is such a monkey these days. He has been doing things like trying to climb into his highchair. On Saturday morning he tried to climb up on the back of a dining room chair like he does on the highchair, but with a different outcome. He went straight backwards and the chair came right down on his face. I sprinted for him and threw off the chair, but he was a wreck (then I was too). He has a big bruise and goose egg in the middle of his forehead, a bump on the back of his head, a swollen and red eye, scrapes on the lid and underneath and a good cut along his upper lashes. He looks like he was in a fight! I took this picture Saturday afternoon and luckily it looks a lot better than I thought it would. It is heartbreaking to see him hurt though. :(



He is such a goer though! His current favorite thing is "playing" the Wii. Here he was on Saturday playing along with Daddy. He knows that he is supposed to push the buttons and swing it around.

And a clip of some action:


He took his shorts off for the first time the other day.


So we put them back on and he put on Carl's shoes all by himself. Great, all we need is another shoe-obsessed man in this house!


This morning he started taking the outlet covers off. Aren't these supposed to be baby-proof?!?!?!? Even I have a hard time getting them out!

Let me count the ways...

I want to take a minute to write down some of the cute and hilarious things Carson is doing now. It is beyond amazing to watch him learn and say new things everyday. He is so funny that we sit and laugh forever just watching him be him. I know down the road I will not remember these little things so here I go. (Sorry, I guess this is more for my memory's benefit...)

THINGS HE SAYS
Mom = "MAAAAM!"
Dad = "Daduuuu" (but he has said Daddy a few times this week)
Kitty = A blank stare
Meow = "Mau Mau"
Dog = "Dod"
Woof = "Pfff Pfff"
Mum Mum Crackers = "Mum Mum"
Remote = "Mum Mum" (This is Carl's teaching. He has said "Memote" a few times, but it is mostly Mum Mum.)
Phone = "Mum Mum"
Spatula = "Mum Mum"
Everything else he can't say yet = "Mum Mum"
Banana = "Naner" or "Nanu"
Dinner = "Ninner"
Done = "Nun" (And he signed Done for the first time today! I've been showing him some signs for a little while now and this was the first time he did it without any prompting.)
No = "No No No No", He actually just started saying this today....boy am I excited! ;)

THINGS HE DOES
-We put a cat door in to go to the laundry room where their stuff is. When we go in and shut the door behind us Carson will bend over upside-down and peek at us through the hole. Then he'll sit down and stick his feet through the hole and wait for you to get his toes.
-He uses EVERYTHING as a phone, even just his hand if nothing else is available.
-He used a plastic fork to comb my hair for a long time the other day.
-He got a hold of a Wii remote last night and was swinging it around like he was really playing. He totally knew what he was trying to do, but couldn't coordinate the button and swinging at the same time.
-He chases the cats through the house screaming a battle cry at the top of his lungs. Poor little things...
-If you say "Yay" or "Good Job" he starts clapping.
-He gives high-fives.
-When you ask him to blow a kiss he kisses his palm, but doesn't ever "blow" it to you. :)
-He can point out his hair, ears, nose, mouth, belly and toes.
-If you ask him how old he is he will put up one finger (I just taught him that Friday and he was doing it right away).
-He is only happy eating if he has a spoon or fork to hold. About two weeks ago I gave him a fork and out of nowhere he had it figured out. He isn't very good with a spoon, but he is great with the fork.
-Sometimes it takes multiple wet wipes when he is finished eating:


-He pick-pockets Carl's phone all the time, which is hilarious when Carl isn't paying attention.
-He can reach inside all of the top drawers all of a sudden. This makes his current obsession of kitchen things all the more fun. His favorites are all the plastic spatulas, spoons and bowls which are always strewn about the house.
Today he found a pair of 3-D glasses in the junk drawer and wore them upside down (sorry its so blurry...):


-He stands at the front windows waiting for Carl to get home at night. I'll be cooking and here him yell "DADU" and he goes nuts until he gets to see him in person. We were out to greet him on the scooter the other night - Helmet Kisses!:


-The 3 molars we have been waiting on all broke through last Thursday!!!
-He opens wide and lets me brush his teeth every single time.
-He throws full-blown temper tantrums now. He waits until we are looking, lets out a huge fake scream/cry and throws himself straight back or forward on the ground. It. Is. Awesome.
-He gives kisses, no questions asked, at any time during the day, no matter his mood.

-He loves playing outside with his Cozy Coupe.


-On any given day his hair usually looks like this, out of control:


He reminds me every single day just how lucky we are to be his parents.

Mondays are the hardest.

And not for the typical "Case of the Mooooondays" reason either. On any regular week I would probably choose Monday as my favorite day. I love enjoying the weekend, but I always have a lot of energy come Monday and I can get us reset for the rest of the week.

But...(there's always a big but)... Carson is making them extremely difficult right now! Okay, that's not fair. I should say I am making it difficult by keeping him home with me while trying to work a full-time job. He just does what he does. No doubt about it, I have it made and I am not complaining. But don't I get a whiny card now and then?

For the last 6 weeks I have had phone teleconferences at 2pm on Monday. I was glad to get them scheduled at this time because Carson usually goes down for a nap around 1:30. The last few Mondays have been horrible though! He must have too much fun on the weekend with his daddy or something because he is thrown off by Monday. Last week he slept until almost 8am and screwed up his nap times. Today he woke up around 5am and I have had to keep him up much later than I want for naps so he would be asleep at 2:00.

By 1:00 he was fake crying, flailing and whining because he was tired. I knew I couldn't put him down until at least 1:30 to make it. I pulled out the video camera because he thinks its fun.
Here was the tired example (and check out my new office gates! YAY!):


I was following him around and ended up on the kitchen floor somehow. Then he thought it was funny to come sit on my lap. I turned the video camera's screen so he could see himself on film and started chatting himself up! Can you understand any of this???


Then, of course, he didn't want to go to sleep at 1:30, 1:45 or 2:00. I'm assuming he was just a little too tired by that point. I stayed with him until the last minute, but he didn't fall asleep until 2:20. I can't miss these calls and couldn't do anything about it. I honestly felt horrible. Carl always reassures me and tells me its okay if something like that happens. It is still really hard to concentrate on reports and patient testing when I know my baby is upstairs crying. Sigh. Here goes the mommy guilt again.

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Okay, enough of that.

Here is proof that our son is a white boy. And yes, that is painter's tape holding the fireplace grate on. The monster won't stop taking it off and pulling out the wires. Safety first! :)


Annnnnnnd, he's in the hall closet now.


I want to say thanks again to my wonderful husband. I was ready to go to the mall solo on Saturday because he wanted to spend time with Carson after being gone for a week. I haven't been to the mall alone........um, since I was pregnant?!?! I just wanted a minute to go into one store and buy some new clothes that I desperately need without fetching Cheerios off the floor of the dressing room. But then I realized it really isn't as fun without my guys. Carl was game to come along and kept Carson the entire time I shopped. I felt a little like my old self when I would go to the mall in the drop of a hat. I miss that sometimes, but again, it is always better when they are there. Carl is such a good dad and a trooper!!!

Wow. That was long.