Sick Days

This is quite possibly the worst sick season I've ever been through. Everyone we talk to has suffered through numerous colds, coughs, and flues. Just as Jeremy was getting over a two week bout with the nasties, Carson came down with it. Since Wednesday, he's had an icky cough and fever. Now it's accompanied by a snotty nose and what appears to be more teeth coming through. It makes for a long, long day of crying and whining . . . oh wait, that's me ;-) No seriously, lots of crying which means lots of tv or movies. It's about the only thing that quiets him down. That, and a LOT of Motrin and Tylenol. Oh, AND, all he eats if fruit any more so on top of it all, he was "stopped up" for two days. That made for more crying and lots of "poo?" comments. Only no poo, just very stinky toots. Poor guy! When he finally passed his "issue", it might as well have a been a fist sized rock! Ouch!!!

Sick bay

Not a happy camper
This makes him happy! Thank goodness for movies!
Daddy didn't want Carson to feel lonely.

Carson's New Cousin!

Carson is happy to announce the arrival of his new cousin, Thomas Robert Scott! He was born on Sunday and is doing well! Thomas lives in California so we're not quite sure how soon we'll get to meet him. Hopefully within the next two months!

Birthday Party & 1st Trip to Barber

Carson's good friend Ian turned 2 this weekend and we went to his birthday party. It was very hot and we had to dig through the closet to find shorts for Carson. Only two pairs and no sandals! So I get to do some shopping!! Yea!! Finally! After growing out of sizes every 6-10 weeks from birth until 18 months, Carson has slowed down quite a bit in growth. It's nice because clothes last a lot longer! He's had his favorite camo pants for 8 months now. But it also gets boring for me because I don't get to shop and have to dress him in the same old stuff over and over. Now he's switching into the 2T pants and shorts. Unfortunately he inherited his mommy and daddy's super small feet. The three pairs of 7's that I bought for him for spring and summer aren't even close to fitting!! So now we're on the hunt for a pair of 6 sandals that won't cost a fortune.

Anyway, Carson had a fun time at Ian's party and ate about a pound of grapes! He insisted on carrying the present and only stopped to try to open it 4 times ;-)



Carson's 4th haircut took place today at his Daddy's barber shop. He was the perfect little guy, sitting all by himself in the chair on a booster and watched motocross on the tv. Joe, his barber, identified Carson's "challenges" immediately in the form of a strong double-cowlick in back and one in front ;-) The haircut was tear-free and a great success! We are no longer going to the "kiddie haircut" places and now fans of Joe the Barber!

Carson and His Harmonica

Carson got a harmonica from Santa and loves it! Here are two cute clips of him trying so hard to make it sing!




This one is funny because he tries to do his harmonica "handsfree". It works about half the time!

First Sunny Spring Day! 21 Months Old

This weekend was absolutely beautiful! Daddy worked hard with Poppa and built a retaining wall for our camper to hang out. Carson had Ian's 2nd birthday party in the afternoon! We hauled all of our patio furniture out and relished our peaceful, country life! Carson is being just hilarious these days!! We are constantly laughing at the things he comes up with.

Swinging and laughing!

Serious look!
Mommy's behind the camera!
Goofin' around!
Aren't I adorable!
I should be a GAP model (that's what my Mommy always says)
I am SOOOO big!
Mommy said I had to put my pajamas on (these are my favorite) but I wasn't ready to go to bed so I had to wear my shoes with my pajamas!

Week at Nana's

Here are the belated pictures from Carson's week at Nana & Poppa's. He had a blast doing all kinds of fun activities! He enjoying feeding the horses, going to the zoo, playing games, hunting for Easter eggs, and more!

Fun at the zoo!

Group photo!
I love my new lion! He's just my size!
Nana LOVES to dress me in overalls!
This Easter thing is cool!
Presents!!!
At the zoo with Great Aunt Kiki!
Goats are grrreat!

Bad Mommy! Funny Boy!

I am so sorry to Carson's blog fans! I have been working a LOT and blogging has moved to the lowest priority. As you can see this post is happening at midnight and those who know me, know I am always in bed by 10.

Carson is talking more and more! He loves to say yes and always slaps his leg when he says yes. We have NO idea where that came from but it's hilarious!!

He is the world's PICKIEST eater and is driving us crazy with his only fruit for dinner. Last night was a can of extra cherry fruit cocktail and half a biscuit. Tonight was a quarter of a water melon and milk.

Speaking of milk, this video will hopefully make up for our lack of pictures!! Turn up your volume because it's absolutely funny (to us anyway!!). Carson is learning to drink "like a big boy" which just means he drinks small amounts from a shot glass! He thinks he is really funny and even put two words together (which is a rarity still). You also get to hear his fake cough which he thinks is an important skill.

Catching Up

So this has been my slowest blog month EVER! I am so sorry but work has been extraordinarily busy and I barely have time to do anything these days. I just looked back for new pictures to post and embarrassingly, there are none! Our poor son has virtually no record of March 2008!
He did spend all of last week with his Nana & Poppa while Daddy and I were in Hawaii. Nana swears she will burn me a copy of the pictures she took but I'll believe it when I see it. Check back for those!

We called Carson every day from Hawaii but he really doesn't talk enough yet to have a conversation. So we heard the same thing every day, hi, mama, dada, bye-bye. Sometimes he'd throw out a: spoon, neigh, poppa, nana, or cool. His vocabulary is getting better and better but very slowly.

According to Nana, Carson was a perfect angel for 8 straight days. We find this extremely hard to believe. But then when we got him back, he must have been saving all of his tantrums and meltdowns for us because he UNLEASHED the fury. Saturday, not so bad. Sunday, HELL. I mean HELL! Our devil child screamed at us and writhed on the floor in pent up frustration. He melted down twice, no three times at the mall and we were THOSE parents with the screaming kid in the $5 taxi car/stroller rental (yes, we forgot the stroller and had to pay an exhorbitant price to rent a mock taxi for our kid). We were about to give him back to Nana & Poppa and get the first flight back to Kauai but he finally went back to his normal self on Monday night. Thank GOD!! Now he's just being cute and adorable.

Speaking of Kauai, no one wants to hear about us but I will tell you that a kid-free vacation is the best!! We went slept in, ate breakfast in peace and quiet, laid by the pool, explored the island by car, drank MANY MANY Mai Tais, ate our lunch in peace, drank more Mai Tais, ate our dinner in peace, and then went to bed early. On Easter Day, Jeremy went on a scuba diving trip while I ran 10.5 miles and then got a massage and facial at the spa! It was heaven!

I will say there are two schools of parents, one whose life revolves around their kid(s) and think that those of us that leave our children behind are cruel and heartless. And then there's us, the parents that miss our previous lives at times and need a little rest and rejuvenation sans child. Hawaii was the perfect cure!

Goofing!

Booz Cruising!

Scuba diving! Smiling!
Exploring!
Hiking!
Canyon viewing!
Silly Posing!
RELAXING!!
Oh ya, working too! Nothing like selling a house from Hawaii!

Back to Carson, a few funny tales since I am sorely lacking for pictures!

1. Poo is his primary focus- he got his practice potty and loves it! Nothing happening but very "cool" as he told us. This morning he heard my stomach growling, looked at my tummy, and then nodded knowingly at me, "poopoo" he said with authority. It was VERY hard not to laugh at him. He has a book that is called "Who pooped in the park?" given to him by his outdoor loving friend Laurie. It is all about identifying different kind of animal scat or poo as he calls it. Every night when he picks out his 5 bedtime books, he brings me the "poo boo" -translated to poo book for those not in the know. Yesterday at Ian & Jeremy's house, Jeremy heard a very concerned "Uh oh" from the other room. He rushed in to find a piece or splash of poo on the floor and Carson standing perfectly still with a perplexed look on his face. Apparently his diaper had overflowed from every angle. I was just about dying laughing picturing poor Jeremy trying to gingerly pick Carson up and lay him down on the kitchen floor without getting more poo anywhere else. Jeremy said Carson laid perfectly still for the five minutes it took to "de-poo" him. It did require laundry services.

2. Eating- eating is a very frustrating part of the day right now. Carson is still a vegetarian by choice. We have reverted back to sneaking in a couple of jars of baby food each day to try to get meat and veggies in him. If it were up to him, he would eat mac & cheese, yogurt, and graham crackers for every meal. EXCEPT at daycare, where apparently he will eat anything they feed him. Or so his daily report says. I am constantly amazed at the stuff he eats there, green beans, burritos, grilled cheese, tuna, HELLO?!? I guess peer pressure starts early!

3. Getting up early- we are still fighting the early morning wake up call, ranging from 5:15-6. I refuse to give him the binkie for that last hour of sleep so now it's just laying there listening to him cry. UNLESS, Daddy goes in. We discovered last month, that if Jeremy goes in and lays Carson back down, he'll go right back to sleep without a fuss. With me, he screams bloody murder. Had I known Daddy had this HIDDEN talent for the last, oh say, 21 months, we might have divided up the duties a little more evenly. Now Daddy is really sad that he let that cat out of the bag.

That's all for now! Will work on more pictures!!

1st Trip to the Zoo for 2008!

It's been since around August-ish since we were at the zoo. Perhaps September. (Wait I just remembered we were there for zoo lights but that doesn't really count because the animals were all asleep.)

We have been so cooped up in the house due to illness and busy schedules that we HAD to get out today. The weather was nice, a tad on the cold side . . . gloves and stocking caps would have been nice. Regardless, we got there before most of the crowds and Carson ran wild. This was the first time he really got into the animals. He tried his sign language signs for as many of the animals as he could. It was very cool! We had a great time and really enjoyed the family outing.

Way cool! The orangutan watched US while he ate his breakfast!

Just my size!
Go hippo go!
Yummy! Yogurt! Only Mommy forgot to pack a bib. Not a smart idea!
I'm really getting the hang of smiling for the camera!

The Many Faces of Carson

I am trying to teach Carson to smile for pictures. We're working on saying please or cheese. Here is our practice session. If you think that Carson has something on his nose and upper lip, you are correct. Poor Grandma Levy witnessed Carson running at top speed and take a nose dive, literally, on the concrete. His scabs are still hanging on after a week ;-)

This is my cheesy smile!

This is my surprise face! This is also my "I'm about to puke" face.
Woooohoooo!! This is my super happy face!
Happier yet and airplane arms!
This is just a close up of his war wounds.