The clan is growing....

I just fell asleep at the keyboard.

Oh, Carson, Carson, Carson. He obviously hates us. And by hates us I mean loves us so much he can't be without us. About 4 weeks ago on a random Monday I was totally exhausted, it was raining and I wanted a nap. I suckered him into coming and laying down in bed with me for his nap so I could get a snuggle moment. This particular nap only lasted about 30 minutes and we went on with our life. About a week later, out of no where, he started saying he didn't want to nap because there was a monster in his room. This quickly turned into, "I want to sleep in Mommy's bed!" Now it has been 3 straight weeks of UFC 222 when sleep is mentioned. We are at our wits end and literally don't know what to do. He cries forever when we put him down at night, finally crashes and wakes back up by 2am wanting to come to our bed. Of course, it's kind of hard to fight at that hour. He sleeps great with us, but this just can't keep happening. He hasn't taken a nap in his crib for three weeks either. He cries until he throws up (just after I finally leave the room) and then crashes on the couch at 3:30. This leads to him not being tired at night making the problem worse.

We didn't think it could get much worse, until yesterday. We've watched him randomly swing his leg over the crib and jump out, but it's like he never noticed. We knew that day would come and it did. Yesterday he was screaming at me for so long that I just left the room. I walked downstairs, went to the kitchen and heard a really loud noise. I came back over to see him in the hall looking down at me through the railing. All I could do was laugh. It's ridiculous at this point. This in turn made him think he was so smart and awesome which led to him coming downstairs stating, "Mommy, I did it! I'm not taking a nappie! I'm coming downstairs all by myself!" At around 5pm he was on my lap on the couch and all of a sudden he was asleep in a ball. I grabbed him to wake him up, but that just made him grumpier. Then we went to the grocery store and had to keep the back car lights on so he would stay awake. It's not like he really is ready to drop his naps. I have no idea what to do. At 1:15 this morning I heard the sound machine on the monitor turn off. I ran out into the hall and he's standing there. 

Basically I'm just using this as my forum to complain. I want to sleep.

We will be taking off for Utah late Wednesday night, barring the snow doesn't get way too bad. Luckily the storm is only supposed to bring 8-12 inches! ::eye roll::  I am beyond excited to squeeze my grandma and Thanksgiving dinner that she cooks. I haven't had that meal for 5 years!! I'm also excited for Carson to get it for the first time. It's like sharing the taste of my childhood. Yummy yum yum.

For a few photos.......On Saturday we took Carson down to ride on lightrail. Carl had the brilliant idea last weekend to go since Carson is a train freak right now. They went while I was out on a long event shoot so I missed out. The train takes you right to the big mall here so we rode and shopped and rode some more. He calls it the "Spencer Train" because Spencer is his bullet Thomas train. 

 It's here!!!!!! 

(We can't find his sunglasses so he's wearing my old and WAY too small Oakleys. They fit him, which is funny, but Carl says he is a woman from the 50's. Don't ask why I thought they looked good in 2003.)

So content after demanding to ride backwards.

Like a cat and a mirror

I have kind of been avoiding taking Carson's photos lately because he flat out ignores me. I know this is totally normal, I'm his mother, but still. I had a location I wanted to go test shoot so I figured he'd be isolated and we'd make it work. I even brought along my mom to try and keep his attention, but it was much easier said than done. He looked at me a few times, but spent most of the time running away while giving me the "I know what you're trying to do" side-eye. Here are a few I did get though.

 

Tanks for coming! Halloween 2010

We talked about what we wanted to do for Halloween for weeks beforehand. But somehow all our ideas just never came to fruition. We ended up going to Target the weekend before and randomly wandering down the costume aisle. Of course, Mr. Carson sees a Thomas costume and it's game over. He didn't want anything to do with any other one I showed him. I kind of just gave up and didn't want to think about it anymore. Thomas it was! And a very lame one at that. The only good part about it was we could dress him warm underneath.

It was really weird having it on a Sunday this year though. Our Sundays all look very similar. 

First, Daddy makes us all pancakes. Carson has totally aborted the highchair and thinks he is big enough to join us at the table now. 

Then there is a ton of football watching, a nap and a trip to the park. We forgot to put Carson's jersey back on after nap time. He wasn't very happy about that... He's really figuring out the Jeep steering though.

We went to grab some dinner and told Carson it was almost time to go trick-or-treating. For 20 minutes straight on the way home he told us he didn't want to go home because it was time for "tritt-or-tweating"! He said he was excited to put on his costume, but then refused to let me get a good picture. He looked so unhappy! haha

I think he just didn't really know what we were talking about so it took a few houses to really sink in. We had been practicing what to say all month and after two or three times he got it down. He would knock, open his bag and say trick-or-treat really softly. He loves being outside with the big kids. He looked like such a little boy out there. No more baby for sure!

At one of the last houses our neighbor asked him if he was Thomas the Tank Engine. Carson said yes and James said, "Well, tanks for coming!" I'm a sucker for a bad pun. It was awesome.

Hopefully we'll do a little better in the costume dept. next year.

Chuck E. Cheese!!!!

On Friday night we went to a birthday party for my pal Jamie's son . I was excited because it was at Chuck E. Cheese's and I've never been. I knew Carson would love it so we just went and played and played. It was a little overstimulating for me, but a great time. Carson even dared to give Mr. Cheese a high-five.

Carson saw other kids getting in this booth where the air blows tickets all over and you try to catch them. He insisted that he get in it, but as soon as it turned on he totally freaked out. It was one of those sad and funny moments. haha  I yelled at Carl, "Let me get a picture before you turn it off!!!" I'm so mean. :)

 

Happy Half-Birthday, Carson

I looked at the calendar and realized that Carson is officially 2 1/2 today. People always ask me how old he is and I never know if I should say 2 or 2 1/2. That's so stupid. It's not like it really matters, but now I'll say 2 1/2 for sure. haha

Here are just a couple quick shots from playing in the backyard yesterday. He loves to play baseball, leave his tongue sticking out and climb on anything he can get his hands on.

We still haven't decided on Halloween costumes either......should probably get on that.

Mommy, watch out!

The monster is on day 3 of his new daycare. So far, so good! I've actually been productive too. :) He goes from 8am-1pm then comes right home for a nap so it's working out great so far. 

This was last night at Lowe's while waiting for Daddy. He thinks he's a battering ram.

Baby blues

Nobody hipped me to that, Dude.

I've been slammed for the last two weeks and I just got a chance to go through my own photos! Two weekends ago we all went four-wheeling up above Georgetown to Santiago Mine. I was a little ignorant to the "Colorado Aspens" because they appear to be a big deal up there this time of year. I have to say this was the most beautiful time we have ever been up there. Being able to get up above the regular tourists and see the scenery from a more private path was awesome! Everywhere you looked there were different colors. At one point I looked at Carl and said, "are we in a Bob Ross painting?" There were happy little bunches of trees all over.

We went to this exact same spot last year which you may remember here. That time there was still too much snow and we couldn't get any higher, but this is that exact same bowl...without so much snow.

  

This is what Carl, Andy and Dustin were doing....

While Carson was doing this - "Mom, rocks!!!!" (Not Mom rocks. Let's not get confused.)

This cave looked like it went back so far and was super deep. There were natural springs and run-offs like this everywhere up there. Those are my guys!

Next it was time to make the drive up the rest of the mountain to the mine. This was somewhere over 12,000 feet. Technically you aren't supposed to go up there, but we just walked around, hopefully not damaging anything as we went. This mine was from the late 1800's and it's still in great condition. Well, other than the bridge/train track which is a little sketchy.

This is where those tracks used to go. That gate opens up and Carl has been in there before. He said he went in around the corner and it was obvious that it has started to collapse so he booked it out of there. Carson thought it was to look in through the bars.

And stop the presses! I got in TWO different pictures this time! :)

On the way down Carl took us a different way that looked a bit scary, but ended up being so freaking beautiful. This trail was even more secluded with only a tunnel big enough for one car between the trees. We eventually came to a river with a small bridge that looked like it was for power maintenance. There sure weren't any people or houses up there!

Don't forget Christy and Andy!

I have so much more I'd like to share, but I had to narrow it all down. Exploring with the fam is so much fun!

I have an announcement...

NO, I'M NOT PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   I know you're thinking it. :)

Actually I already had a new baby. My new baby is named Rachael Wooten Photography ::blush::. I have thought about writing this post many times and I'm still nervous now as I type. I haven't told many people so I feel like I've been hiding or lying or something. When I say "not many" I mean Carl, my parents and my grandparents were pretty much the only ones for a long long time. 

The journey to get to this point has been long and I'm happy to say that I actually know what I'm trying to do now. In the last year (all happening within my little internal bubble) I have gone from wanting to only create paper products to wanting a paper business that I could incorporate photos with invitations to being strictly a photographer. This also included three, yes 3!, official business names. To say that I am indecisive with my own stuff is an understatement. If you tell me what you are looking for I can whip it up and go on my way. If I sit down to design something for myself it can take me two years. Literally. In two years I have done so much changing while finding my real style and passion that I now can blog in front of you and scream it out loud. One of my weaknesses is that if I don't feel like something is 100%, I will share 0% of it. If I'm going to do something I want it to be right and a finished product before I put it all out there. Originally I started with something a little more cutesy and knew in my heart that it just wasn't me. There had to be a reason that my sub-conscience wasn't letting me gab about it all. I fought it for a while, but woke up one morning with clarity. In a world of businesses galore I want you to want me! Thus, Rachael Wooten Photography was born. I am the business so my name should be right there with no doubt. I only want to do what I love and hope that the people who like me will call and the people who don't won't. That works out for everyone in the end.

I am and always have been 85% book-y, number-y and literally...-y. But there has always been that 15% hanging out there that I've fulfilled with many types of creative outlets. I am so fortunate to have a set up in my career that allows flexibility and a lot of downtime; I'll have the best of both worlds. Granted, almost all of my new stuff is happening at night or on weekends, but it would be much harder if I were in an office all day. Whether he knows it or not, one of the best things I ever got from my dad was the principles of how to run an honest and profitable business. Most of you know that the car business isn't always, you know, truthful. I saw how my dad treated the people he encountered and heard those dinnertime conversations about what is right and wrong. I also saw people want to do business with him. Luckily I learned the ins and outs of business logistics in my work experience and in college, but now I realize how invaluable my observations of him were. 

I've always known I would have a business, but never really knew what the "product" would be. You know, the indecisiveness. Whenever I think about what I want out of a company I represent, all I can think is "under promise, over deliver". In the last four or so months it all clicked with me and I've had so much fun figuring out the logistics. In the land of puppies and rainbows I would want to be shooting everyday, but there is so much more to it than that. I've designed a website, built my blog from scratch, created all my branding materials, developed my pricing scheme and made some great friends along the way. Oh yeah, I've taken a few photos too. ;)  

I know I'm rambling and spilling my guts, but I've been keeping it in for a little too long! I also know I don't have to explain myself. Again, I'm just really passionate about this new venture and hope that my amazing friends and family will support what I'm trying to do. 

As for the actual business goals, my focus is lifestyle and family custom photography. Kids aren't the easiest thing ever, but it kind of comes with the territory. I absolutely love shooting couples, single-person portraits and newborns. I shoot only natural light so mostly outdoors. The problem with that is winter in good old CO, but I can work indoors too. I know I still have a ton of growing to do which means I expect things to change even more. Hopefully that will all be positive as I get more definition in myself and what I am able to produce. Since I'm still building my portfolio I am running a pretty good deal through the end of the year. I would love to have my galleries full of the people that I love! What I'm saying is if you are curious about anything, just ask. :)

The main site is rachaelwooten.com and the blog is blog.rachaelwooten.com. I think if you read this blog and take a look through that you'll get a pretty good idea of my style and whether or not we'd make a good fit! I'm still going to keep doing all the family stuff here and some of it may cross over to the business blog. I feel like this is my own journal where I show the good, the bad and the ugly. I'll be able to be a tad more choosy over there. :)  I'm doing new stuff constantly so there will be new stuff all the time to see. Anyone can email me anytime at rachael@rachaelwooten.com. Feel free to share until your heart's content.
 
So.........thanks for listening if you got this far. I'm getting the Facebook page put together too so I will take all the "likes" I can get when it's up! (They make you have a certain number before you can assign the name...)

♥ rachael 

Go Bengals!

The past few Sundays have been cuteness overload in the Wooten house. Carson got a matching jersey with his daddy. Of course they're Carson Palmer. You think I'm going to put him in Ochocinco?!?!?! Carson knows Sunday is football day and loves getting dressed up with Carl. He runs around the house yelling, "Go Bengals!" Obviously when he's older he can choose his own team. Part of the most fun you have as a kid is doing what your parents do though. We had so many people ask us if we were naming Carson after Mister Palmer, but we really didn't! The name was completely my suggestion and at the time I didn't even know who CP was. It's super cute for the jersey now. 

I know there have been many times in Carson's short life that I've said "this ___" is definitely the cutest thing he's ever worn. But really, this is the cutest thing so far. :)

Carson Palmer, eat your heart out.

A chicken, a caterpillar and a cat.

Today was a daycare day so I could finish up a project. Carl didn't have to be to jury duty until 9:30 this morning so he wanted to grab breakfast. We figured we'd go to Chick-fil-A since it's by where we were going. On the way down I was asking Carson if he wanted to have chicken nuggets for breakfast, just to tease him. He thinks the only place to have go for breakfast is McDonald's so he told me he was going to go play at "BicDonald's" and have apples and fries. Then, after more explanation, he started saying he was going to "Chicken Play". Close...Playing at Chick-fil-A. He realized that's also somewhere we play and so that's what he came up with. It was cute. :)

Here were the boys at breakfast. Carl's head isn't really shaped like that. Great iPhone pic.

When I picked Carson up at daycare he had a present for me. He had made his very first craft to bring home and it almost made me cry. He's only ever colored/painted pictures so this was so cool. I absolutely loved it. His teacher said he was adimant that the paint only goes on the very tops and had a lot of fun making it. I could tell when we got home and saw he had blue paint all over his shirt and in his hair. This is definitely documentable. Not a word, I know.

 And just to share my old girl... I was taking that picture and turned to see her baking in the front window. She is so old, but she is still truckin'. We are pretty sure she's 14 now, but she ages very well! She is constantly cold because she weighs next to nothing. She often can be seen laying on her own heating pad, laying on the heating vents and curled up inside blankets. She will attack your lap just to soak up every bit of warmth possible. It's no surprise she was loving the sun.

Who likes to rock the potty?

Not my son!

That is the ring tone that has been playing this morning every time the "potty alarm" goes off. That one seemed appropriate since it always makes Carson dance and I then realized I could change party to potty in the words. I was planning on waiting a little longer to start potty training again, but yesterday made me change my mind.

We spent the day at our friends' house (aka my friend and her two sons). Her oldest son is 3 1/2 and I'm pretty sure Carson saw him using the potty. The boys were all over the house while the mommies were doing their thing in the living room. At one point I hadn't seen Carson for a while so I went looking. You know, the "it's a little too quiet" moment... I found him in the bathroom with his pants around his ankles, diaper on the ground and both toilet lids up. He may or may not have actually peed while there, but I was pretty excited to see he just took the initiative himself. Then in the afternoon the exact same thing happened in a different bathroom.

I told him today would be potty day, but it hasn't worked at all. He loves talking about the potty, but doing is a different story. I figured if I stick to diapers for the first while and try the timer then it should work like it does for everyone else. Now the alarm goes off, he yells "rock the potty!", I say it's time to go to the potty and he yells NO. Actually his last response was, "I thought I said no potty time! I'm playing Thomas game." And then he makes a face like you told him Santa died. I guess we'll just keep going, fight and all. I've even very clearly let him know that when he really does go potty in the toilet he'll get to pick out a sticker from the special sheet and get an Oreo. He just tells me he wants an Oreo anyways. I asked Christy this morning if I could just hire some magic person to come do this for me. She politely told me no.

And I'd also like to publicly apologize to my dear friend Jamie. Yesterday Carson also managed to find a black marker and write ALL OVER in her son's room. I'm talking on the window, the lamp shade, the night stand, some book covers and the top of the nice Thomas train table. I seriously feel horrible. I know boys will be boys, but man. That was a bad one. Luckily she's pretty awesome so I don't think she'll kill us this time. :)

At our house the crayons, markers, chalk etc. are kept under lock and key. They only come out with direct supervision because I know that's exactly what he does when he gets a chance. We are pretty good artists though! Be jealous.

Naughty Pants Magoo

The last two weeks here have been fun and a bit crazy. Our house is definitely full now, but it's great having family around. Carl's sister Christy, her fiance Andy and Carl's little brother Dustin are all with us for now! Dustin got to start school here in our neighborhood and Christy and Andy are on the job hunt. Carson loves having new faces to look at. Every time one of them comes in the room he says, "Oh, hi ______!" like it's the first time he's ever seen them. 

Then we got kind of bomb dropped on us in the last two days. Carl got called for jury duty and he just had to show up yesterday as one of about 200 people. After all was said and done he was chosen for the 14-person jury and it is a murder trial that could last up to two weeks. Everyone was telling him to say everything outrageous to get out of it, but he said there was really no way to lie since you didn't know what the right answers really even are. Normally that wouldn't be a big deal, but he is about 2 weeks short of his 90 days at work so his benefits to pay for this haven't kicked in yet. His boss fought for him, but corporate won't pay. It's pretty lame to just miss an entire pay period out of no where! Sucky suck suck.

Grandpa Rick came to visit again this week too. He slept in the recliner. :)  We've been doing a lot of playing outside, going on playdates and working in between. Carson is always obsessed with our neighbors' Razor Scooters. He has never been able to ride them on his own, but he tries all the time. I have to drag him home after he plays with them. Well, Dustin shows up and guess what he has.....a Razor Scooter. Carson quickly claimed it as his own and has been attempting to master it ever since. On Wednesday night Carl was trying to teach him how to balance on one foot and push off with the other. He showed him twice and all of a sudden Carson just took off! Every time before this he would try to put both feet on and obviously just fell right over. Once he figured out what he was supposed to do you couldn't stop him. The funniest part (which I didn't get on video) was him trying to copy Carl and do a 360.

Other than all that, I just have some random photos to share that I've snapped over the last while. ***Disclaimer: He got a haircut last night. It wasn't by my choice that he looked like a poor homeless child with twangers galore.

One day last week we went out for the day and we didn't get home in time for Carson's nap. He was fine, but when we got back we tried to get him to lay down with us on the floor on his couch. We watched a movie and he ran around for over an hour. At one point it got really quiet and this was why:

Then he eventually came to lay by me and crashed out of no where. We rarely ever get to see him sleep so we basically just sat there and stared at him. Apparently he sleeps with his eyes open sometimes. And my arms go to sleep incredibly easy.

He loves helping Daddy make pancakes every weekend. He's finally figuring out how to stir without flipping the whole bowl out onto the counter. 

We've been out playing in the backyard a lot during the days. I don't know what he'll do when it gets cold. It already is starting to feel chilly and I'm not ready for it at all!

Since he got his Jeep, the Cozy Coupe lives in the back. He goes "four-wheeling" in the grass and rides it all over out there. Lately Elmo has been coming along for rides too. "Mommy, Elmo NEEDS to come with me."

We can't even believe how well he is talking still. He can put sentences together that I had no idea he would be able to at this point. Last weekend we told him we'd try to go to the park, but it got too late and we had to run other errands. When we pulled into Target he screamed from the backseat, "I thought I said no Target!" We just looked at each other like, uh, he really said that.

Yesterday he wasn't feeling well and threw up on the way to daycare. He seemed fine last night, but I was still watching him. When I got him up this morning I asked him how he was feeling and he said, "Grumpy". I didn't even know how to respond. It is so amazing that at this age they can 100% comprehend what we are saying and answer with the right words

At my office we just signed for a third arm of the study we've been doing for a while now. That one looks like it will go until 2013 which is GREAT news!! My boss is already talking about planning our February trip to Carmel again. I don't know if that's really awesome or really mean since it's still 5 months away! :)

And in case you're wondering, Naughty Pants Magoo is one of the many nicknames I have for Carson. I have no idea why, but most of them end in Magoo or Magee.