Mommy & Me

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This was us on Carson's baptism day, also my first Mother's Day. He was so entertained with looking at that cake!! Can't wait for his birthday!

My Dear John Letter

Dear Favorite Black Pants,

We have been through a lot in the last 3 years. I have never worn pants as much as I have worn you. You first came into my life after losing 30 pounds and I found you on a clearance rack at Macy's. It was love at first sight. I wore you as often as I could, you always keeping your shape throughout every wear. When I got pregnant I continued to wear you as long as could, so sad to have to banish you to a hanger in the back of the closet until further notice as my body expanded. After having Carson and enjoying maternity leave, I winced at the thought of trying you on and not being able to button up, but I tried anyway. It was not a comfy fit, so I wiped the tears away and put you back on the hanger, you being my inspiration to lose the rest of the ugly weight that was keeping us apart. Finally, 7 months after giving birth you fit again! I was just as much in love with you then than I ever was! It's as if being neglected on the hanger for about a year was too much for you to bare because it seemed that you were much more fragile than I remember, and I'm so sad to say that you have your very first hole, and even though I am currently wearing you, I know our days are numbered. Even last weekend I knew this, and attempted shopping for your replacement, only to come up empty handed. No other pants know the curve (or lack there of) of my hips or the thickness of my waist as you do, and nothing is as comfortable or as stylish as you, my dearest very dressy wide leg black dress pants with a crease that never goes away. I feel that we are at the end of our relationship. I am truly heartbroken.....

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Playing in the park....what a fun time!

Mommy & Me

It was a busy weekend again around here. I shopped yesterday for what was supposed to be a wedding gift at kohl's. Now that turned in to shopping for me too, heh, and I spend way too many $$$ but it was on clothes for work so it's justified. Kind of. I did buy Kenny a new Tigers jersey on sale so it wasn't ALL for me. I don't even dare buy Carson anything because we have so much for him already!! I spent the rest of the day with my inlaws and then today I took the baby to my cousin's wedding shower. We took a long walk with the pup to the park and I slid down the slide with Carson in my lap. He squealed with delight!

Last Monday when i returned to work knowing there were 9 weeks before summer vacation, i was bummed. 9 weeks seems like such a long time. Now it's 8 weeks and I'm thinking the time is going to go faster than I expected. Woot!

Pancakes!

More milestones!! Where is that baby book? I better get this all recorded pronto!

Carson ate "real" food tonight. I made buckwheat pancakes. (I LOVE breakfast for dinner!!). I made an extra one just tear up and see if he would eat it, or even if he could eat it. I put a piece in my mouth and then he mimicked me with nothing in his chubby fingers. Then he tried to get the piece of pancake on his finger, but he's not quite sure how to do that yet, so most of the pieces ended up in his lap or on the floor, leaving the dog VERY happy. Carson did end up getting some pieces in his mouth and he was so excited and I was so excited and it was just so cute!

Thanks to all those who comment on the Mommy & Me posts....I just haven't had time to respond or look at pics lately on their blogs, work is crazy and when I get home it's all baby time! But I promise to catch up soon!

Mommy & Me Monday

Hosted by Krystyn

He looks disgusted....even when he's not smiling he's still a cutie! Happy Monday!

Week of Change

This has been a week of many changes around here. And no, I don't mean the cleaning kind. Although, that would be nice!!

Carson is now 9 months old. I haven't taken his 9 month pics yet, but I will before the weekend is over. However, as he turned 9 months old, he now has 3 more teeth, a total of 4, 2 are almost completely through the gums. He is now sleeping on his mattress in his crib, free to roll and flail wherever he wants! Previously he was sleeping in his crib, in the bouncy seat to keep him elevated b/c he was constantly spitting up and we were worried about him choking...chalk that up to first time parent jitters. Anyway, he's all free is his crib now.

He also is drinking from a sippy cup sometimes. My mom has been working with him when she is here every week and he FINALLY did it yesterday. He did make a mess and a lot of his milk ended up on his bib, but he drank! This little man is growing up, and it's so amazing how much he can change in a week. Takes my breath away.

Georgia Trip

(Bethy with the Build-A-Bear she made for us)

We are back from our trip all safe and sound. Flying with a 9 month old was......awesome! I was very picky about what I packed and planned out everything I could possibly need from point A to point B and it went beautifully! Our visit with Beth was so much fun, just too short. But I'm so glad we got a chance to see where she lives and her new house! Carson was SO GOOD the whole trip which made my anxiety of traveling alone with a baby almost non-existant.

It was HOT HOT HOT while we were there, unexpected but nice! Beth was the perfect tour guide for Atlanta! We ate out, shopped, walked through a gorgeous park right in Atlanta, played with the dogs, and relaxed. Can't wait to go and visit again when she is in HER HOUSE!!

First time in shorts this year!!

Walking in the park....

Eating lunch in a yummy mexican place....baby reaching for my corona!!

View of Atlanta from the park.

Easter and Mommy & Me

What a wonderful Easter!! Carson got to see all his FIVE grandparents between yesterday and today. He is SO loved!! Here he is with my mom, almost asleep. I think they both needed a nap:)

We sat in church with him today for a record time of 45 minutes. Then he started squirming a little too much so we went to another place in church to finish listening to the service. Carson had NO NAP today so it was early to bed! Which is good because I have to pack for our trip to Atlanta tomorrow. He's been sleeping for hours and I still haven't packed a thing, but I'll get to it soon. I'm excited to go and see Bethany and nervous to fly with the baby. I know it will all work out, just a little nerve racking without Kenny!

Here is our family picture....Kenny was already in his "play clothes" and the flag was in the way. One of these days we will get a really nice one of us. I have been saying that since the baby was born!

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Momma & Carson in church on Easter

First Day of Vacation

Ahhhh vacation at last. I kicked off my spring break by napping on the couch to get rid of a nasty headache. Then Kenny and I indulged in date night, thanks to my BFF Nik who watched the baby. Our date was going to the Maundy service at church and then Barnes & Noble for coffee and reading and relaxing. The church service was the first Maundy service I can even remember going to, and it was amazing. And then leaving the church in complete silence, even in the parkinglot too, made the mourning all that more powerful. I can't wait for Sunday's service. We chased each other around the bookstore and Kenny ate cheesecake while I had a coffee. I was good, didn't even take the one bite he offered!

Sleeping in this morning felt so good. Even when the baby woke up at 8 and wanted to get out of the crib to play, even when Kenny whined that I was leaving him "alone" in the bed, even when the dog begged to be let out, I still got about 4 more hours of sleep than normal. I think if I had to have gotten up for work today I would have cried. Mental and physical exhaustion has seemed to be the norm lately and I'm so thankful for this break.

We finally lowered Carson's crib from the highest setting to the lowest. Once we figured out how to do that, we had been in his room for about an hour (it's always the blind leading the blind with us) and the baby was tired of being in the laundry basket (he's all over the place now, can't leave him unattended!!) there was no chance of putting the crib on the middle setting and having to risk doing that all over again. No way!! So even though he doesn't need to be all the way down there at the bottom of the crib, he is, and we're all happy about it. Getting him out of the crib is harder now, but it'll do!

I also managed to clean out the spare bedroom today. Kenny & I have been talking about making it a play room, and when I got it all cleaned out and staghtened up, it dawned on us that Carson doesn't need a play room. He already has HIS OWN room plus the livingroom. What more does the kid need??? So it's going to stay just the way it is. Whew. Big project taken off the to-do list!

Tomorrow Kenny is going to hang out with buddies and do his fantasy baseball draft and I'm going to my parents' houses to hang out for a while. Carson will be spoiled rotten by the end of the day.

Cleaning Rampage

It started yesterday when I got home from work. The refridgerator was on the fritz when I walked in the door. It's happened before because the door seals are very sensitive and we have to always make sure it's closed properly. So I thought the doors just weren't closed right. WRONG! I called a repairman to come out today. In the meantime, I cleaned out everything and put it in the freezer in the garage. It was cold enough to put the stuff that didn't need to be frozen on shelves in the garage, so nothing was wasted. I clean off the top of the fridge (nasty) and that was that. I called my house after the repairman left to find out the damage....it was minimal and was already fixed...wow! Kenny told me how he was cleaning out the fridge, as in washing the walls, taking out drawers and shelves and bleaching everything. I was in shock, in fact, I wasn't sure whether to believe him or not. He's not a "cleaner" like I am. When I got home, not only was it all clean, it was SPOTLESS and the food was all put back. Did you read that? I didn't have to do a thing. It was amazing. THAT never happens, not ever ever ever ever are things just done for me. What a difference in my mood!! So that's when our cleaning frenzy took a crazy spin. In one evening, I cleaned almost the entire house (again) along with a little laundry. Kenny cleaned out the box truck and his truck and we even weeded through some of that pesky paperwork that just piles up too. And it's not even the weekend. I'm still in shock from how much we accomplished today. Crazy! Next up tomorrow, de-hairing the dog. It's shedding season and is she ever! Two more days till spring break and 6 days till I fly to visit Bethany in ATL!!!!

Mommy & Me Monday

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I promised two NEW pictures this week. Here they are. The first one is from Easter at my mom's house today. The second, which is blurry and not a great shot cause I took it myself, is us playing. Happy Monday!

Bunny Cake

Today my dad visited! Carson was all over the place, showing off his rolling over skills! He is now from one side of the room to the other side in less than a minute. Fast little guy!

This afternoon I made a bunny cake. Tomorrow we are celebrating Easter with my mom's family at her house, and we are bringing dessert. It's the first time I ever tried to make a shaped cake. I liked my creation until I did the face. It's OK, it'll due this time, but next time I make it the face will look better. It was fun to make! Carson sat in his high chair the whole time and cooed and screamed and banged his toys watching me. I think he wanted a taste. Next year!

4 days of teaching this week and then spring break. I can't wait. I know I have to get 2 NEW pictures of the baby and I for the post on Monday, I better get busy on that one tomorrow!!

Babble

This week is half over. Woo hoo. We are on the cusp of naughty behavior at work, I can feel it. The kids don't have to go to school on Friday this week or next week, and after next week, we are on spring break. So they have spring fever, as do the teachers, and this is the point in the school year where the same kids who irritate the heck out of you by noon now are trying my patience at 9am. I know they feel the same way about me too! I'm trying to not complain about work so I'll stop there:)

I recieved my gap.com order in the mail today and was pleasantly surprised that everything fit!! WW is paying off!!! In fact, the black spring jacket that I so badly wanted to wear NOW is too big, which is great, but also disappointing, because sending it back and getting a smaller size will take more than 3 weeks. And I want it NOW! But I'm not upset that it's too big. That's a bonus!! The jeans I ordered are absolutley the best, most comfortable, well fitting jeans ever. The fit is actually called long & lean, and believe me, I am neither of those things. Heh. But they are NOT the skinny jean fit (yuuuuuuuuuuck!) and they are still flared at the ankle and they are just great! Can't say enough good things about them. And I'll be wearing them tomorrow to work because we can dress down.

Kenny is currently manning a small bonfire in the backyard. It smells sooo good, like childhood summers. Ah the memories! We aren't really "supposed" to have bonfires in our neighborhood but we do and the neighbors don't care and YES we are totally safe about it. The hose is never far, I promise. It's hard being country folk in the city (suburbs). I love the convenience and the quickness, and even though I haven't lived in the country since I was 14, it's still when I belong. One day, we'll get back there.

Off to my end of the couch to sip some tea and snuggle with the man. And his remote (it's really mine, but I let him think it's his).

I just realized how jumbled this post is. No real point, just babble. I'm so good at that!

Baby & Momma

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Carson and Momma, when he was about a day old. I get tears looking at this! I didn't get in front of the camera this weekend. Shame on me. I guess that means I challenge myself to TWO pictures of us for next Monday!

8 months (and a few days)

Here's Carson's 8 month picture...not the most creative, I admit, but lately it's so hard to get him still for any posed pictures. This one sums up his 8th month: remote controls in his chubby little hands, handing things to mama, and no socks because he takes them off and eats them. Love this stage! He weighs 22 pounds, is wearing 6-12 month clothes, does the army crawl like a pro, scoots on his booty and rolls around to get places on the floor. He also got his first tooth last week and had his first cold!! Carson laughs at smiling faces, rarely is shy, and loves his dog. He still sleeps through the night without fail, from 8pm-8am, sometimes later. I know we are lucky for that, everyone has told us that is so great, so I am very blessed to get a good night sleep when I don't have to get up for work on the weekends.

Today was an awesome family day. We started out with church, the baby's first trip there. He clapped when the choir was through singing and it was dead silent....hilarious! Then we went to lunch with friends and their kiddos, followed by shopping and ice cream. Yum. I'm skipping the grocery shopping and saving it for tomorrow. It's one thing that can wait!!

A Quiet Saturday

Lots to catch up on here! There is no word that describes how busy life is now. I'm sure all you mommas (not new ones) are shaking your head and laughing at me now. OF COURSE life is busier now with a kid, right? And I'm sure it's even crazier the more kids you add to the mix!

My Grandma's 90th birthday party was a couple weekends ago and we had two parties for her. One was just family and the other one was an open house for any family, friends, neighbors and church family members to visit her in her assisted living home. The place she lives in is really awesome about helping out with parties and providing beverages and food and extra help. Both parties were where my Grandma lives and both were really fun. Here are some pictures:

(top picture: my Grandma and cousin, bottom picture: Carson with his Grandpa and his Great-Grandma)

Work has been the same...draining. Still love teaching, just want to be home more than I want to teach. I'll leave that topic right there:(

I'm counting the days until spring break. Not too much longer!! I have 4 teaching days this week and then a PD day on Friday. And the following week there is 4 teaching days, and that's it! I have Good Friday off and then the week after Easter. Woot!! I'm flying to Atlanta the day after Easter to visit my BFF Bethy for 2 days. Can't wait!! And yes, the baby is coming with me. Just me and him. Kenny will probably be extatic to have the house to himself. He didn't put up much fuss about us leaving when I booked the flight. Knowing him, he'll wait till the night before we leave to whine about how much he's going to miss us. I'm already prepared.

If there's one thing I'm looking forward to this spring, it's yard work. It's time consuming, never ending, and expensive, but I was pretty much deprived of it last year because I was pregnant so I'm really looking forward to getting back into it this year. No promises on how great it will look, it's the thought that counts, right??? It may be too challenging with a baby!

The baby and I went shopping today and I got his baptism gear. It's so precious, I just can't wait. How awesome is it that Carson will be baptized on my very first Mother's Day? Brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.

I'm off to enjoy the rest of my Saturday with the baby before he goes to sleep. It was the first Saturday we've been able to be home in a month. Whew!

Mommy & Me #3

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I can't believe I let a week go by without a post....does that tell you how busy we've been around here?? Work sure gets in the way of everything. We had a super busy week AND weekend. So much to say and many pics to share, but it will have to wait until tomorrow! Momma needs SLEEP. Carson was happy, I promise. He was sick of his picture being taken!! BTW his hand looks huge!!

Mommy & Me x2

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Home Bound

Yesterday was so busy!! I'm thankful to have today at home. Even though it's going to be spend cleaning and doing laundry, at 3pm we're doing NOTHING but watching USA vs Cananda olympic hockey. YAY!!!

The baby and I were with Kenny working all day yesterday. He was so good the whole day. Carson is very content in the stroller just hanging out with his toys. My inlaws were there to help watch him when Kenny needed me and they just adore him and love watching him. Carson was so into everything going on that he skipped both his naps and didn't fall asleep until I got in the car to go home around 4pm. And then he was KNOCKED out!!

Here are some pictures from the 100th day of school (Thursday) and the cakes I made. They were a hit, everyone commented on how good they tasted!! I almost caved and bought 3 cakes but changed my mind and I'm so glad I did! It would have actually saved $$$ buying them and having them decorated, but I enjoyed making and decorating them, so it was worth it. The group shot is of the elementary teachers I go into battle with every day. Talk about warriors! Love them!! We are all sporting our 100th day shirts, made by the teacher right in the middle. I have worked with one of them for 8 years, and the rest of them anywhere from 1 to 7 years. I am so blessed to have them by my side every day.