Assembling The BBQ

Carson is in love with his new BBQ!! He taps the bistro stool until one of us comes over. Then he cooks and serves us food for hours and hours!

Sidenote- we were almost completely done with Carson's binkie. He only got it once a day for his afternoon nap. It was great and we thought we were close to saying good-bye to it for once and all. Unfortunately, this week has brought out evil Carson due to a lower molar trying to break through. He has been absolutely mean and grouchy. Out of sheer desparation we broke out the binkie to provide us all a little relief from the judo-chops and crying. So that is why Mr. Binkie is making a comeback in the following pictures.

Thanks Mr. & Mrs. Lotz for this super cool motorcycle jacket!

Christmas #1- Kuntz's & Wheeler's

As most of our friends know, we usually set the record for number of Christmas celebrations we have to attend. There are five and we usually make it to four. With multiple families and extended families, we spread out the cheer for about a week! The first one this year was with my family. Friday night we met at my parents, Nana & Poppa Kuntz with my sister and her husband, Jeff.

We are super fortunate because my darling Aunt Kiki sends our family Lobels steaks for our Christmas gift/dinner. Every year we look forward to the most tender meat. So tender that even Jeremy and Jeff will eat it "Kuntz" style with a lot more red than brown! Yummy! After our scrumptious dinner, we taught Carson how to rip through packages. He caught on quickly! He is the world's most spoiled grandchild!!

Tall tree, tiny Carson!

Nana's had this golf set hidden for at least 6 months!
So exciting! My very own golf clubs!
This stockings is as tall as me!!
Oh boy! Another talking remote control! Just enough to drive my parents crazy!
This is a big one!
Wow! My very own BBQ!! I wonder if it will fit in the living room?
What could this giant thing under a sheet be??
I am the LUCKIEST boy! My very own John Deere gator!!

I love it!
And a mini gator too!!! I must have been very, very good this year!
Please, please, somebody sit next to me!
Poppa is really good at making it go forward and backward!
Just chillin' with my feet on the dash.

Mommy's turn!!
Nana can fit too!
Uncle Jeff is a good drive!
Daddy likes it too! I had to try it once more before bedtime, see my pajamas!

Santa vs. Carson

One year ago, my dear, sweet son sat patiently in Santa's lap. All was well.

One year later, my dear, sweet son did not get the memo that Santa does NOT eat small children!

For those who have never attempted the infamous Santa picture, here's how it goes down. Unloading Carson at 9:30 am this morning at Washington Square Mall, I noticed a dull roar in the parking lot as minivans zoomed in from all angles. The clicking of strollers being locked in place and high pitched screaming indicated that we were not the only ones trying to visit Jolly Old St. Nick! We raced to the door and captured third pole position between the red ropes. With 30 minutes to go before the white bearded gentleman made his appearance, I used our stroller as a place holder in line and walked around and around the throne set-up to familarize Carson with his surroundings. I still held a small glimmer of hope that this picture might go off without a hitch. Perhaps I should mention that we had just come from Carson's second haircut. It actually went much better than the first but still put him in a less than pleasant mood.

I was a bit grouchy too because in my rush out the door, I realized that Carson's beautiful holiday sweater was still sitting by the front door at our house. All the other mothers looked at him in his Harley Davidson motorcycle shirt and clucked like disapproving hens. I was officially the white trash mommy. Merry Christmas! Too late to do anything about it.

When the jingling of bells signaled Santa's arrivial, all the kids craned their necks and smiled brightly at the sight of the beloved old guy! Even Carson. However the mood quickly went downhill. The first victims, I mean small children, smiled and whispered their wish lists to Santa. However, the second little boy absolutely lost it, despite his brother's good mood. We followed with dimming optimism. Carson was fine in my arms but the second he realized that I was leaving him and ducking behind a camera, all hope was lost. He screamed bloody murder. Flash, snap, and done. I paid my $19.99 and left quickly.

I left so quickly that I got all the way to the parking lot, had loaded up Carson and the stroller, and turned on the car, when I realized that I left the dang pictures with the cashier!! Drat!!!

The Facts of Life- The Birds and the . . . Cats

Today Carson & Daddy spent the morning together while I worked. They did manly bonding stuff, like wrestling, changing tires, zooming motorcycles. Apparently in the midst of this fun filled time, Daddy heard a familiar, morbid "thud" against the front picture window. Hoping that his ears were wrong, Daddy picked Carson up and looked outside to investigate the possibility of another avian victim. Unfortunately, our reflective window just tricked another naive bird into thinking he was flying into a glorious green forest, only to be savagely squashed. Gasping for air and shuddering from shock and pain, our little feathered friend squatted on the damp bark dust hoping for a second chance.

Daddy and Carson were so entranced by the wounded bird and his fight for life that neither of them noticed the perfectly poised predator nearby, ready to pounce on his poor prey. Just as the lion waits for the wounded wildebeest, our very own sweet, yet hungry house cat Harley, could not resist his instincts. Daddy saw the flick of a furry tail in his peripheral vision. He raced to open the window and scare Harley away to give the poor bird a few more minutes to recover and fly away. Only the plan backfired and spurred Harley into action. In just three short seconds, Harely hoovered up the bird. Carson turned to Daddy and raised both hands in the air as if to say, "What happened? Where'd the birdie go?"

In all of the sign language we have taught our yet-to-be-verbal son, there is just no sign for "Survival of the Fittest".

Pottery Barn Perfect Christmas

Those who know me well, know I am the ultimate planner. I think and overthink everything ad naseum. So when it became apparent this Christmas that I made a major mistake in November of 2001, I was absolutely flabbergasted. Here's the breakdown. Keep in mind, I've known my entire life that I wanted two children. The entire time Jeremy and I have been married, we have wanted two children.

Nov. 15ish, 2001- Jeremy proposed, I accepted

Nov. 25ish, 2001- I ordered Pottery Barn Christmas stockings. Three to be exact. One for me, one for Jeremy, and one for . . . . the dog. At least that's what we pretended. We both knew that it really wasn't for the dog, but for our future child. I remember the debate we had the day before I ordered the stockings very clearly. I wanted to order the matching tree skirt monogrammed with "The Raders" but we weren't married yet so it was a bit awkward. Jeremy voted no out of principal and cost, my teaching pals talked me into it (they didn't have to try very hard) with the theory of "what if Pottery Barn discontinues" this line, they have to all match!!"

Dec. 2nd, 2001- I opened the UPS box with glee and hung the stockings with care! The tree looked Oh So Beautiful with its matching skirt. And the dog loved her stocking.

Dec. 2nd, 2006- I delivered all three stockings to the local sewing company to match the embossing for "Jeremy" and "Kristin" to add Carson to the infamous third stocking. My mistake was still not apparent to me. Looking back, that is just appalling.

Dec. 11, 2007- Jeremy and I realize at the same time while eating dinner and gazing over our three stockings hung with care. It hit us like a ton of bricks, we only have three matching stockings!! Carson's poor little brother or sister's stocking is going to stick out like a sore thumb. And me being the anal perfectionist that I am, I CANNOT have un-matching stockings!! How on earth could I have overlooked the fourth Rader!! I dropped my fork, pasta and all, and jumped on the computer to save our future Christmases. But alas, just as my shopping savvy teacher pals predicted, the stockings are no longer made. I desperately called the Pottery Barn operators and begged them to look through the warehouse for any extras from 6 years ago. The Christmas weary lady was very polite and talked me down from my ledge, I mean mantel. Rather than replace all four stockings, why not just buy the kids each a new stocking. 2 matching and 2 complimentary matching . . . gasp, breathe, okay, I can handle that. Crisis mostly averted.

Goofy Boy Time

Another video. We are cursed with the fact that every single time we ran and grab the camera to capture Carson doing something cute, he stops. We had been throwing the ball at the wall above him and he was cracking up. Still cute though.

Snow Boot Video

Just catching up with adding video again. Here is the clip of Carson in his new snow boots! Nothing particularly exciting but just darn cute!

Zoo Lights!!

We braved the 35 degree weather and headed out tonight in the beautiful snow to see the zoo lights. Carson's long lost twin, Mason, was with us too since his parents were busy moving into their new house. The two boys rode together in the double stroller and loved all of the amazing lights! We stopped for dinner at the Africafe. Grilled cheese and french fries shaped like snowmen & Christmas trees really hit the spot. A troupe of belly dancers (yes, that was not a typo) were the indoor entertainment. They swung their hips to all of the traditional Christmas songs. We weren't sure whether to be mezmorized or just plain confused. The boys LOVED dipping their fries in ketchup and swaying to the music. We had to skip the train ride in order to everyone by bedtime but there's a good chance we'll be back!!

Jeremy pushing the double stroller! He realized that it is the world's worst stroller and now has much more sympathy for me when I use it at Baby Boot Camp on Wednesdays. That's what $50 on Craig's List buys you! Maybe I should have set my limit a tad higher ;-)

Spectacular lights! What? Why does everyone look so scared? Is there something behind us?
Choochoo train!!!
We heard more than one family say, "Oh look at those twins". It was kind of fun and I felt like we got a little more respect than your average "singleton" parent ;-) We actually had so much fun at this meal with both boys. They were making each other laugh, copy catting each other, and flirting with everyone that walked by!
Look at that hippo!
More hippos!Wow! That's a huge alligator!

During dinner we caught the funniest video of Mason eating ketchup! Watch his tounge closely!

WE HAVE CAVED!! Rules are meant to be Broken!

I think all parents start out with ideas and theories on how to best raise their child. We won't make the same "mistakes" we've seen others make. We try our best to make rules that will enhance our children's lives, making them nicer, smarter, easier to live with . . .

We started out with two rules that everyone has always teased us about.

Rule #1: No sugar until Carson is two. To clarify, no ice cream, no candy, no cake, nothing that would cause him to have a sugar addiction like his father ;-) We have been pretty darn good about it much to the dismay of Carson's many grandparents.

Rule #2: No TV until Carson is two. It's okay if we're watching the news and he looks occasionally. And once in a great he has peeked at a car show with Daddy. But it's a rarity.

Well this past week has been especially trying as Carson is going through a "clingy" phase which means if I'm more than 1 inch away from him, he cries like he's being tortured. We were at the end of our ropes. We hadn't eaten dinner in peace for over a week. So Friday we broke both of our rules in shear desperation.

Friday midday- Carson attended a 3rd birthday party for a friend at Pump It Up Jr. He thoroughly enjoyed ICE CREAM CAKE! Double whammy!!!

Friday evening- We carried his high chair down to the home theater room and we all ate dinner in front of the 100 inch screen watching "Baby Einstein's Santa"!!!!!! It was the first meal in peace and it was WONDERFUL!

It was so wonderful in fact, that we now let him watch that DVD once a day (just 30 minutes) for a little quiet time. So wonderful in fact, that I just ordered two more DVD's for Christmas presents. Baby Signing: Zoo Animals and Baby Signing: Friends, Family, & Fun. At least I can say they are educational ;-) That justifies it, right?

So rules are meant to be broken. Parenting is about flexibility. It's not only doing what's best for your child but what's best to maintain your own sanity, thereby making you a better parent. Insanity is not condusive to good parenting.

SIDENOTE: Carson disovered today that nature created an amazing phenomenon. His pointer finger is EXACTLY the same size as the holes in his nose. They fit together PERFECTLY! Isn't that just wonderful (heavy on the sarcasm here).

Christmas Tree Hunting

Time for the annual Kuntz family Christmas tree hunt! Only today was probably the worst day in the entire year to go! Sideways rain caused by gale force winds! It was so wet and cold! We all bundled up only poor Carson's mittens wouldn't stay on so he had bare hands. Fortunately he probably minded the least! Needless to say it was the quickest tree hunt on record! No need to be picky when you are getting soaked! I will say we actually all found very nice trees too!

Before, nice and dry in the kitchen!

Still dry!
Daddy? Daddy? What are you doing under there?
This is cool!
I like this one! It's just my size!

Nana & Auntie Liza & I are all SOOO wet!
Poppa and Daddy are holding onto Poppa & Nana's tree as it gets all the needles shaken out of it. That part was especially cool!
Nana, Aunt Liza, & Uncle Jeff and I watched a train set inside for awhile.
Family photo!
Our tree has now dripped several gallons of water onto our floor and will have to dry off overnight. The wind is howling and we're all preparing to loose power very soon! But getting the Christmas decorations out tonight was lots of fun! Carson loved it! He was pretty disappointed when he had to go to bed. Little does he know the tree is sitting in the living room waiting to get decorated. The only problem is his grabby little paws. I've been told that we'll probably only be able to decorate the top half of the tree. Bummer but it's only for one year, right?