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.

Catching Up!

I have received several complaints about my lack of blogging lately! I am truly sorry but life has been incredibly busy! Between getting our taxes ready for the accountant, Carson teething again, and work being insanely busy, I just haven't had time to do anything else. Did I mention one of our renters left the home just filthy and I've been trying to get that dealt with! Gross and disrespectful!

Any any rate, here are some updated pics and fun times in no particular order!

Carson is okay about sharing his toys until Ian comes to hang out. Carson just becomes extra possessive and jerky. Ian's favorite toy at our house is the cozy coupe. Well, Carson tried to make it an extra cozy coupe. You can clearly see that Ian does not appreciate being a back seat driver! In fact, there is no back seat! Get off him Carson!!
We have done some dog-sitting lately for Nana & Papa (Jeremy just informed me that I've been spelling "Poppa" wrong). Carson loves to sit in "NiNi's" crate. That's his version of Whitney.

He even shut himself in. I was VERY tempted to lock it. So very tempted.
We often lend out toys and other baby paraphenilia to friends. It's like Christmas for Carson when an old/new toy comes up from the shop on its way out or if something gets returned to us. Here he is enjoying his old activity table. But now he's big enough to use it as a chair!
A lot of Carson's friends are getting their potty's already. We have not ventured down that path yet but Carson clearly knows that a potty is for "poo poo" as he tells us. Here he is at Ian's enjoying a moment on the practice throne!
Just goofin around with Jeremy & Ian! Or as Carson calls him, "Neenan". It's adorable because he will point to Ian's carset and say Neenan! Or as we pull up to his driveway, Neenan, Neenan!!!

President's Day Weekend- Annual Vacation!

We've lost track of how many years we've been doing this trip but it's up to 7 or 8 now. Along with the Clary family, we trek to the Mosley's family's home in Broken Top (Bend, OR). It used to be an all adult, crazy weekend of skiing, drinking, and hot-tubbing! It has evolved over the years and now we're up to 5 kids under the age of 5, sledding, spa treatments, and Disney videos, however we have managed to keep drinking and hot-tubbing ;-)

We were really hoping Carson would enjoy sledding this year but he wasn't quite ready for it. He screamed bloody murder the first time he saw me fly down the hill. It was all over after that. He did enjoy throwing snow, feeding the geese, and playing with the older boys.

Here's the gang! From left to right, Dan, Lucas (3 yrs), Kari, Ellie (9 mnths), Kristi, Kade (5 yrs), Tony, Kellen (2 yrs), Carson (19 months), me, & Jeremy.

Getting ready to go outside!
But where did they go?

Suited up! Snow bibs courtesy of his friend Mason!

Kade looking cool on the sled!
I told you no more bears in the house!
Jeremy has really blossomed with his artistic abilities and the magna doodle! Here he has a captive audience!
Beer, yay!!

Meal time for the tots!

Bedtime stories by Dan!
Such cute brothers!
Our hostess with the mostess . . . Ginny Tower!
Our other host with the most . . . Randy Tower!

Please can I go outside??

I LOVE, LOVE this picture!!!
Happy cousins!
Daddy is so fun!
Daddies and boys feeding the geese while Mommies were getting massages at the spa!

I really want to be a big boy soon!

Throwing stuff is way cool!
The little guys trying to climb the hill.
Time for the remote control car!
It's much safer off the ground when Kade is steering!
Skiis are now replaced by strollers and bikes!

Little Miss Ellie taking a bath!
Giving us her best faces!
Playing the piano is sooo great!
Kellon taking a bath!