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.

9 Month Dr. Visit

We went to the pediatrician yesterday for Carson's 9 Month check-up. He is doing so well and the doctor still (luckily) has no concerns about him whatsoever. His height finally leveled off and is at 50% and his weight stayed at the 25% mark. He said that is totally normal and nothing to be concerned with at all. He assumes he is burning a ton just by being so active all day, and it is really common for breastfed babies to be a little lower on the weight chart. We got the okay to feed him anything we want at this point (aside from choking hazards and certain things that can cause allergies).

We are more than blessed to have such a happy and healthy little guy!!!

He got to try yogurt for the first time this morning and loved it!

Some new videos

Let me start by saying, I am NOT the best videographer. You have been warned. :)

The grandparents have been demanding some new video, especially of Carson walking. Here are a few with walking, playing and all sorts of stuff. They are all a few minutes long, so take your pic!

Here's him walking!


Ok. Not matter what he is doing, if you put the lid on his blocks he will come from across the room to take it off. He doesn't even really want to play with the lid, he just doesn't want it on the box. He was doing it in this video. And some more walking :)


If you put something right in the middle of the table he will walk all around it trying to get it from different angles. When it is his box with the lid its even worse. He burns a lot of calories daily just doing laps like this.


He will play with the radio in our bathroom for as long as I'll let him. He has always liked to touch it, but now that he knows how to open the CD player it is a new ball game. He will turn it on and sit back wondering how in the world it happened. He finally smooshed his finger the other day and broke the lid all in one motion. We are done playing with it for now...

So....He really is traumatized

We haven't given Carson baths since he outgrew the infant insert in the baby bathtub. He takes a shower with Carl every night and he has a blast. Well, he is getting so big and squirmy that it is getting hard for Carl to keep a hold of him. I thought we could try a bath in the smaller tub last night and I would take a picture of him with his new bath letters.

Um, no. He literally FLIPPED out. He was screaming and clawing at me to pick him up. I had to have my mom go get Carl to come hold him so I could at least get him washed off. Apparently he really didn't like the ocean!





Okay, we're good!

Dinner time!

Carson is eating everything now, or at least it seems like it. He is starting to not want to eat any purees and prefers to just eat whatever we are having. He does so well with all kinds of whole foods now. He loves chicken and turkey, hamburger is still iffy, loves pasta, any bread, chunks of fruit and veggies and pretty much anything else we will let him have. He was having fun last night with his frozen waffle. As you can see he had already smeared peas and sweet potatoes all over his face. :)



Mmmmmm, waffle.


Short break...


I was caught! No more sleeping for me!


Look at those teeth!

9 Month Pictures

I honestly can't believe I am posting this already. Where has the time gone? I took a minute to scroll back through all of the old posts here in our blog. It is amazing to see the changes in him and all the big developments.

On the development front:
CARSON IS TAKING HIS FIRST STEPS!
He up and went last week and you can tell he is so proud of himself. He laughs and smiles every time he gets up on his own. He can stand up from the ground and walk a few steps between people and things without holding onto anything. We will try to get some video ASAP.





And he's off!

Back from Carmel!

We had so much fun in Carmel. We walked around, saw as much as we possibly could, went to a number of different beaches, ate great food and just relaxed. There honestly couldn't have been much better weather. The skies were completely clear and it was about 65 degrees the whole time.

Carson did great on the flights, but it is sooooo hard to keep a squirmy baby occupied on your lap and QUIET for 3 hours. This trip was at least 100 times easier since I had Carl with us.

If you haven't experienced Carmel, you really should go. It has such a unique charm about it and you feel like you are in another world. Plus, such easy beach access is always a bonus.



Carson was totally fine with the sand. The water, however, was a different story. He screamed so loud as soon as the cold water hit his feet and wouldn't let us put him back down. He was so traumatized that he wouldn't even take a bath while we were there. As soon as we would try to put him in the water he started SCREAMING, and he loves baths. Oh well, we'll try again next time. :)




Since we weren't able to get the stroller down to many of the beaches I just wore him around in my wrap. He was super comfortable and I will miss this when he is too big. :( I highly recommend a Sleepy Wrap to anyone that is having a baby!


These were taken at Point Lobos




If you look very closely to the right of the center above the rocks, that is a whale. We saw so many because they are migrating south right now. They were coming so close to the shore. Here you can see the spout and the back poking up out of the water.


See the lone white seal sitting on the rock? There weren't as many this year as last year. There were lots of sea lions out on the big rock, but last year we saw a ton of otters. This year we saw none.


Bixby Bridge


Carson and Daddy




This is outside of our cottage.


Carson and Mommy





These were the biggest and best pieces of cake EVER! We found them in a restaurant in Monterey and couldn't pass them up. They each took up their own to-go box. Mine was banana walnut with whipped cream and Carl's was Oreo with whipped cream.
**I will always miss you.....**


We flew into Monterey going there and drove to San Jose with Bob (my boss) for the flight back. Apparently we were in "artichoke country" so we stopped at Pezzini Farms and bought two huge farm-fresh artichokes to bring home. We are going to cook them with dinner tonight! And just after that Bob spotted a pier covered in seals. We pulled off the highway just past the Elkhorn Slough and got to watch them just 50 feet in front of us. Oh, and there was an otter swimming around them! I finally got to see one for this trip.

Let's go home!

California, here we come!

Needless to say, we really need a vacation. And have I mentioned I have one of the best bosses in the world????? Because I do.

Myself, Carl, Carson, my boss and one other girl we work with are all leaving for Carmel-be-the-Sea tonight. He took us there in October, 2007 also, but we loved it so we are going back for this trip again. You can't beat a free trip to CA!!! I can't wait to spend a day at the beach and put Carson's toes in the sand.

As of now it is supposed to be sunny and 60 the whole time. We'll see you when we get back! (And I am trying REALLY hard to remember the camera, battery and memory card this time :) )

Here are a few pics from last year when we were there. I was about 16 weeks pregnant, bloated and reduced to wearing Carl's jacket. This day was the only time I threw up during the entire pregnancy. The 17-mile winding drive down the coast was not good for the baby apparently!

Feed me!

Carson is doing so well with eating new foods. I have slowly introduced more solids in with his fruit and veggie purees and he is really loving them. He used to gag on anything that wasn't totally smooth, but now he's a pro. He loves chicken and cheese the most! He had pasta for the first time tonight and we'll start adding in some more grains this week and stuff like whole milk yogurt very soon.

Lots of Videos!!!

Here are the first videos from our new camera. We are so excited to finally be able to film all the new things Carson is doing. These are all from the 24th, 25th and 26th of December.

Mamamamamamamamama


Carson's first Christmas present -
Christmas Morning


Singing dog from Great Grandma and Grandpa Stonehocker - Christmas Morning


Opening Blocks - Christmas Morning


Nail polish!!!


Try not to laugh...bonk!


Help from Grandpa with the lion


Peek-a-Boo with Daddy, so cute.