My thighs beg you, Child...

Today was a very new and interesting experience for both me and Carson. I went back to the gym for the first time in 3 years and he went to his first daycare. I had a blast. Carson, not so much.

I still have high hopes for this all working out, don't get me wrong. Carl has been going to the gym everyday for almost a year now, but I couldn't find one that had an okay (or affordable) daycare option. I had been toying with the idea of a preschool once or twice a week for a few hours so Carson can get some good playtime in with other monkeys. Then we found a great fitness resort and signed up two days ago since there were no contracts. I figured it was still a cheaper option and we all get something out of it. I wasn't going to do something long term in case Carson didn't cooperate.

Back to today. I made sure he had a good nap and a full belly before I even thought about leaving the house. When we got there I dropped him off, stood in the corner watching for a few minutes and he didn't even know I existed at the time. I was excited that he was off to a great start. They have a paging system so they can call you if they cry for more than 10-15 mintues which I fully expected to hear my name on. After 40 minutes away, I was cautiously optimistic. I figured that was plenty for the first day so I would go get him regardless.

As soon as I walked in I spotted his orange shirt in the arms of one of the women who work there. I flew over to him and saw his face was red and his eyelashes were all wet. I grabbed him, and sort of panicked as I asked if I had missed a page. She said no, but she had been holding him for about 20 minutes because he would start crying if she even thought about putting him down. It was obvious he was pretty upset. She was super nice though and said he actually did better than most for his first day. It took me a few more minutes to get him all the way calm and then he was a zombie on the ride home.

Half of me feels really bad and the other half is excited to try again. Whether we like it or not, there will come a day where he and I are not 2 halves that make one and we will have to suck it up. My only hope now is that he isn't traumatized the next time I try to drop him off!

Other than that, we have been playing in between work all week. The other morning he got a hold of the ziplocks and thought the box was a great toy.


You'll find Carson at the front window waiting for Daddy after work like this everyday.




While we were waiting that day it started raining. I had been watching this yellow bird land on my big flower stem over and over again, but I wasn't fast enough to get a picture. Then from the corner of my eye I noticed this baby bird sitting in a different pot on my porch. I got out my telephoto lens and started snapping shots from inside the window. It seemed to be pretty content and dry so I walked out on the porch to see what it would do. I got right up by it and it didn't even flinch. It is so cool to see animals, even if they are plain brown birds, up this close at home.
Doesn't it look like a little old man with those "eyebrows"?!?!


What else........We have been playing in a big cardboard box with a hole cut out a lot this week (random, I know). Yesterday we sweated at the zoo with Jenn and Katelyn (and baby no-name). Tomorrow we are just going grocery shopping for the weekend and maybe to get some gym clothes at Old Navy. I scored a $45 off $100 coupon tonight so that is a good shopping incentive! Christy and her new fiance, Andy, are flying into town tomorrow night for the long weekend so we are planning a fun time.


I guess that's all for now! Oh wait, Carson also said cheese today for the first time. It actually comes out as "sheesh", but we knew what he meant!

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.

15 Month Doctor Appt.

Somehow Carson is 15 months old. Don't ask me where the last year or two of my life has gone, but in a good way.

Everything is still great with him though. The only thing is what I attributed to being teething signs is also a cold. The poor kid's upper lip is getting raw because his nose is running so bad. He is starting to have some trouble breathing since he is so stuffy. But again, I can't complain that at 15 months he has had less colds than you could count on one hand. He's such a healthy kid and we're so lucky!

His charts stayed exactly same: 75% for height at 32 1/2 inches and 25% for weight at 22lb 1oz. That means he has grown almost 3 inches in 3 months though! I hadn't noticed as much since he has been wearing shorts, but the other day I put his 12-18 month jeans on him and they looked short. I was seriously shocked!

But anyways...apparently everything he does is completely normal and I'm not the only mom out there dealing with these issues. You really start to feel like it sometimes when you are in your little bubble at home with nothing to compare it to. As moms we naturally compare our children to other people's kids, which can be necessary and harmful on all levels. We are chugging along on this ride though. He's sure a character if nothing else!

Moab

We may not be in Utah anymore, but we still took off for the 24th. :) I guess it's in our blood.

No, really we wanted to meet our good friends from SLC, Scott and Jeanette, and the 24th ended up being the best weekend to go to Moab for everyone. They have two little kids and they haven't gotten to see Carson since he was about 5 months old.

We had a really crazy weekend and everything didn't go exactly as planned, but we all had fun still. We drove out early on Friday morning and got there in the early afternoon. We rented a 3bd/2ba condo so we had plenty of room to spread out. We grilled Friday night, made breakfast Saturday morning, and had lunch at Moab Brewery which was pretty tasty (although nowhere as good as RedRock.....I might be biased).

Their youngest, Connor, just turned 2 this week and is a ball of energy. When Jeanette told me he probably wouldn't be bigger than Carson I didn't believe her. But...they were about the same size and Carson looked pretty chubby next to him. Connor is just naturally a little kid so far, but they had a ton of fun playing together.

This kitchen drawer proved to be the biggest toychest in the place.


Hugs...


And kisses.


Carson was too wound up to nap on Saturday morning so by the evening he was seriously a bear. Carl and I took him out for a walk to get him out and calm him down. This is one of the only other pictures I took. I was REALLY bad about the camera on this trip.


So everything was great up until Saturday afternoon. We were getting the kids down for naps while the guys were out driving. Next thing I know the doorbell is ringing like crazy. I open the door to see a Moab Sheriff and some irate man running at me screaming. Apparently Scott had parked in front of this guy's garage and it was the straw that broke his back. He had brought his friend to tow the car and we scrambled to get it moved with the guys gone with the keys. The sheriff was so nice though and told the guy if he didn't leave me alone he would arrest him. Jeanette got a hold of Scott and found out the keys were in the car so everything was handled fine. It was quite the shocker since I had just sat down on the couch for about 3 mintues to relax. We were awake after that! (And so were the kids, unfortunately.)

That night we got the kids down and started watching a movie. About 30 minutes into it, their daughter Peyton threw up all over in her bed. It took them close to an hour to get it all cleaned up! By that time we went to bed, but Peyton and Connor kept getting worse. They decided at 1am that they had to pack up and go because they were so sick. They also don't have air in their Land Cruiser so the thought of the drive the next day in 100 degrees was not a good idea.

We got all packed up and were on the road by 9:30 Sunday. The drive to Moab took just under 6 hours........the drive home took 10 hours!!!
It. Was. Miserable.
We hit two separate HUGE accidents and the normal traffic on I70 to Denver. The bad part was that Carl had a flight to catch that night to head to training and we were seriously nervous that we wouldn't make it. He had just enough time to pack new clothes and run. He was so bummed because we originally thought he would have time to play with Carson before leaving for a week.

Carson could not have been any better in the car though. I am a firm believer in keeping kids rear-facing in their car seats until at least two years, but I let Carl turn him for this trip. Boy am I glad! I really don't know what I would have done for the 4 hours we were STOPPED in traffic without being able to keep him entertained and fed. I get really carsick in the backseat so that is never an option for me. Plus, about 30 minutes away from home he was chewing on his finger because he is teething, gagged himself and puked cheesy nastiness all over himself. I wouldn't have been able to clean that up either.

Here is the picture of Carson from the trip.


Peyton, 3


Connor, 2


So now Daddy is gone all week and we're still recovering. Carson has been in a bad mood for 2 days and isn't sleeping well. He has had a low-grade fever and his nose is seriously dripping down his face, which has never happened before. We have his 15-month doctor appt. today so I can make sure it is just his teeth. We still have 3 molars to go and I can't wait!!!!!!!

Weekend with family

Carl's step-dad and little brother came out to visit us this weekend from Utah. They just wanted to relax and have a mini vacation so we didn't do anything too crazy. We wanted to take a drive on Friday and kept hearing how great it is to drive up to Mt. Evans which is above Idaho Springs in the Rocky Mountains. We stopped in Idaho Springs for lunch at a restaurant that serves mostly buffalo, somehow none of us ended up eating any and Carson got 5/6ths of his lunch on the floor...

Then we made our way all the way up the long and winding road to this point which is Summit Lake. We were about 13,000 feet in elevation here. Isn't it gorgeous?????


And being the really smart and well-traveled girl I am (note the sarcasm), I took great care in bringing warm gear for everyone. Not. By the time we got to the top at over 14,000 feet in the middle of July it was only 55 degrees! I hadn't packed a single extra jacket, blanket, gloves, hat, or anything for any of us! We ended up wrapping my nursing cover around Carson for a little while because the wind was blowing so hard and we were freezing. Nice look with the crooked glasses, huh? :)


When we parked at the top our nav said we were at 14,144 feet. That was a really fun feature to have in the Jeep on the long climb up.


You could see out SO far.


The family portrait.......This ended up being the only shot where my hair wasn't standing straight in the air from the wind. Oh well, we aren't known for being a photogenic family.


The boys:
Carl, Carson, Uncle Jordan, and Grandpa Dave
(And somehow Jordan just turned 16 and got his license....WHAT?)




There are big horned sheep everywhere up where all the people are too. They seem pretty friendly, but I wasn't staying around long enough to find out.


This one had a baby when we were driving out. So sweet!


The rest of the weekend was pretty mellow. We took Dave to Jack in the Box for tacos since there isn't one in Utah. Apparently JITB has a lot of nostalgia with the generation before us. We watched a few movies, ate way too much candy and food and overall had a great time spending time with everyone!

Carson's first molar finally broke through about a week ago and he has been much more pleasant. Now we just have 3 more to go in the very near future. Wish us luck!

4th of July Weekend

We all had such a fun weekend playing with Grandpa Rick! We miss him so much and wish we could always be closer.... :( We are going to get a webcam ASAP and then he will be able to talk to Carson a lot easier. Whenever you try and make him talk on the phone he just wants to run away with it and won't mutter a single sound.

We went to Southlands on Thursday during the day and came home just before the rain. It literally rained every single afternoon and cleared by 6pm each day. I made a killer pot roast for dinner Thursday and we grilled hamburgers on Friday night (in the rain!).

We met Daddy for lunch on Friday afternoon and Carson slept on the way home. He was so wound up when we got home that he didn't take an afternoon nap. So in a replay of the last blog post, he fell asleep in the highchair and then crashed on Carl's lap when we got him out. So sweet.



On Saturday morning we woke up to the news that our newest nephew had arrived! Katie got her July 4th baby like she wanted! CONGRATS to the Smith family! We can't wait to see more pictures of Kanyon. And we decided that July 4th is the coolest birthday you could have - you would have it off of school and work every single year, everyone is always celebrating that day and no one gives presents so you still get your birthday. Lucky little kid!!!

We were going to head down to Nick & Erin's house for Saturday afternoon, but Grandpa and Daddy were itching to go to the Rockies game. Saturday morning I found tickets (yes, the day of the game) and off we went. They do fireworks after the game so it was literally sold out...50,000+ people. The only group of 4 tickets available without paying over $100 a pop was at the VERY top. We could have gotten 3 rows from the top or the actual top, so we opted for the top row so no one was behind us. It is cool to just be there and there isn't a bad seat at Coors Field.

We had to sit in the car for about 20 minutes to wait for the rain to let up enough to go in. All the seats were covered in water, but nobody seemed to notice.
Here are the boys at Carson and Grandpa's first Rockies game...


Yep, we were high!!!


Look, there is a Mommy!


They had a really nice presentation for the national anthem. They had this flag out and at the end they shot off fireworks and 3 jets flew over the stadium. The timing of the jets was amazing! We didn't know how in the world they can pull that stuff off.


Carson didn't know what to think with all the noise, but he didn't cry (that's always a plus).


Sounds all good right? By around the 3rd inning Carson was FREAKING out. He didn't want anything to do with sitting in those seats and not even food and a cell phone were making him happy. It was about 7pm at this point so I thought I could take him down to the playground for an hour, come back to the seats at 8:00 and he would fall asleep. W.R.O.N.G. The playground was closed so my mom and I chased him all over, dodging crowds for an hour instead.

This was an attempted shot during our journey...


We got back to the seats and Carson was screaming still. Luckily we had brought the small stroller so my mom and I headed back down with him and literally did laps down the ramp from the 3rd level to the bottom and back up the elevator over and over until the bottom of the 8th. By this time the wind had picked up so bad up top that the guys had had enough. It was so cold that it didn't feel anything like July. We all completely crapped out. It was already after 9pm with an inning to go and the fireworks wouldn't even start until at least 30 minutes after the game. So we beat the crowds and watched a ton of different firework shows from the freeway on the way home. :)

Overall, the game was a blast though. I think Carson would do much better at a day game, but I don't think we'll try again this year. We love people watching and man is there ever some to do in a place like that, especially with all the alcohol.

Yesterday my dad wanted to have steak and crab for lunch since they were having a great sale for the holiday. We pigged out and laid around until it was time to take him back to the airport. On the way at 4:30 we literally went through the hardest rain storm any of us had ever seen. We couldn't see a single inch in front of the car and had to stop to let it pass. It was really scary for a minute! On the way back it had let up and we saw these 2 rainbows:


The rain made Grandpa late at the airport and apparently there was an enormous line at security. His flight ended up being delayed because it had to stop in Kansas for gas. But if it hadn't have been late he would have missed his flight. Luckily it all worked out though!

Our 3rd Anniversary

Yesterday was already our 3rd wedding anniversary! Time sure does fly by! My dad flew into Denver yesterday morning to spend the weekend with us so we are playing and having fun (he is acutally doing a lot of sleeping too, but that's what vacation is for...).

We all went out to dinner last night to celebrate. I have been looking for a good Mexican restaurant since we moved here, especially because that was all I wanted to eat when I was pregnant. I found one that seemed like it may have potential, found a great discount gift cert online and off we went. We all had so much food and it was ridiculously cheap and tasty! It was exactly what we were looking for all along. It was happy hour and I had the $25 off coupon so our entire bill for 5 people was only $29. Hay-oh! So awesome.

I haven't posted anything for awhile because all I do anymore is keep Carson from killing himself. By the time he does something funny I am saving him instead of grabbing the camera. Last weekend he was having a little too much fun playing all day with his daddy. He refused his afternoon nap on Sunday so by dinner time he CRASHED in the highchair.
-Doesn't this look so funny with his "tough" bib? :)



We are trying to decide what we want to do for the 4th. I am so excited for Carson to see the fireworks since he will be old enough this year. The only problem is he is usually asleep by 8:00 so we'll see how it works out.