Storm Mode...

Our local news station gets into what they call, "Storm Mode" when severe weather is in the forecast. They crack me up with all of their "hype" about the weather when they get into this "mode". They are covering the storms "every hour, on the hour", and they are so proud of themselves for bringing us the weather. haha Well, I'm pretty sure the "storm mode" has rubbed off on the entire St. Louis area! We are bracing ourselves for our heaviest ice/snow storm of the year! We are going to be getting anywhere from a 1/2 inch to an inch of ice, and then 8-12 inches of snow on top of that. Pretty much when looking at the radar the whole map is either white or pink. The "Storm Mode" crew says that it only takes a 1/2 inch of ice to bring down tree limbs and power lines, so there is a good chance we'll loose power tomorrow.

Last night James and I made sure we were ready and prepared to be stuck at the house for a few days, power or no power. Luckily we have a gas fireplace which still works when the power is out (which we discovered after a test-run last night). Now we know we can at least keep one room of our house warm! We made a quick run out last night for D batteries and ice melt (which of course was already sold out everywhere). We have all of the food staples, milk, diet cokes, water, beer, bread, and peanut butter, along with tons of other ready-foods! Carson is stocked up on formula, baby food, diapers and wipes! I made a quick run out this morning to return a movie and pick up a couple more, in case we are stuck here for a couple days (and still have power). On my way home the freezing rain started, about 5 minutes later I pulled in the garage and my car was already completely covered in ice. Whoa...this storm is no joke! Our driveway already has a thin layer of ice along with our back deck.

So I have to confess... I'm secretly hoping it gets really bad tonight and James is snowed/iced in with Carson and I tomorrow! I don't hope for a power outage of course but I'd love a good day at home with both of my boys :) There is a good chance things will get quite interesting around here in the next couple of days! I'm just hoping that tomorrow night we're not having to sleep on an air mattress in the living room beside Carson's crib. Now wouldn't that make for a funny picture, and a great family memory :) haha Wish as luck as we sink into our own little version of "Storm Mode" we'll keep you posted!

Eight for Eight

You already know what I'm about to say..."I can't believe Carson is already 8 months old!" I've said that for the last 8 months, I know, and I'm sorry! But really... I can't believe he's 8 months old! haha It's crazy :) In honor of the 8 month birthday I'm going to share 8 things that are going on with the little guy :)

1: At 8 months old Carson still has no teeth. He's got two pretty big, bump like, things on his bottom gum that look to be where his first two will come in. When they will come, I have no clue. I will say he's been a little fussy and extra snugly in the last 2-3 days so maybe they'll be here soon (Yes, I realize we've been saying that since Thanksgiving. I just figure that eventually when I say it I'll be right! haha)

2: Carson has a head full of beautiful blonde hair! It's growing in so evenly and it's just perfect :) Although, I will say we've still been battling the dry scalp thing. He had a little of the cradle cap for a while but it looks like after using some Selsun Blue that has cleared up and now it's just dry. I can't figure out what to do for it....If you have any ideas feel free to shoot em' my way :)

3: We are still not crawling. Well, James and I can, but Carson can not. haha I will say though that two days ago he made a little progress. While laying on his tummy he was stretching out, trying to reach the computer during a Skype session with Granny, and he pulled one of his knees up toward his chest. Woo Hoo!

4: The 8 month photo shoot did not goes as well as the previous 7. Why? Well, it only took Carson 8 months to realize I was putting a sticker on his shirt. And this month, he couldn't quit looking at it, and grabbing it. It was precious, but it didn't make for good pictures...



I had to whip out something new to get his mind off of the sticker, Carson...Meet your rocking chair! Carson got his chair from Mimi Harper (James' grandmother) at one of our showers last spring! He LOVED sitting in it and I'm pretty sure he was feeling "Large, and in charge", which of course he is.


5: Carson's sleeping patterns seem to change every week or so. He's still sleeping good but every once in a while he'll wake up during the night. I'm so used to waking up during the night, and early in the mornings I honestly don't know what I'd do if I didn't have to. Oh, yeah I do, I'd be up anyways. haha In the last month or two Carson has had some little episodes I call nightmares. I know it sounds silly, because what could scare an 8 month old in a dream? Not getting a bottle, or having a stinky diaper that nobody is changing? But "nightmare" is the best way we can describe it. It ALWAYS happens exactly one hour after he falls asleep (which makes sense because its probably when he enters that really deep sleep). He'll just start screaming crying. It's not a hungry cry, or a cry we are used to hearing. We can never decide if its a scared cry, or a hurting cry (neither of which we hear very often). It usually takes a good 5 minutes of crying before he can even get calmed down enough to open his eyes (poor little guy). We usually end up getting him calmed down 10 minutes or so later, and sometimes use a little Ora-gel or Tylenol. Once he calms down he falls right back asleep. It's so bizarre. Has anyone else ever experienced this?

6: Long and Lean...Yes, you can still use those two words to describe Carson! Last time we weighed him we think he was pretty close to 20 lbs, and right now he is probably roughly 31 inches long. I say 31 because that's how long his changing table pad is and he's just about too big for it.

7: We have recently entered phase one of "into everything". What is phase one? Well the beginning of phase one was when I saw a little light bulb go off over Carson's head that said, "Hey, I want that, and I can grab that." Now, if he can reach it he'll grab it. And if he can't reach it, he'll stretch all of the way out and try again. And if he still doesn't get it, he waits...Until you've let your guard down, or until you move just a little bit closer, then he grabs it. I learned all about phase one a couple weeks ago at Texas Roadhouse when Carson knocked a full glass of water into my lap. However, it is SO cute to watch him explore all of the things around him. Right now the one thing he is just dying to get a hold of is the remote, and my wallet. When we are out running errands and I pull it out he just has a fit to get it. Maybe he wants to chew on it or maybe he's trying to keep me from spending money, oh wow, he really is James' child. haha

8: And last but not least Carson is perfect :) He's happy, he loves to play, read books, eat, and sleep all cuddled up with his blanket. As a mater of fact, yesterday we fell asleep together on the floor watching a little Baby Einsteins :) I love this kid :)

Crib Sheets- 2, Mommy- 1

Ok Mommies.... I need your help! Since Saturday night Carson has "peed out" of his diaper three times. There is nothing worse than going to get him out of bed and noticing that he's been laying in a big pee spot for the last, who knows how many hours. Of course we know removing, washing, and putting on crib sheets is NOT my favorite thing to do. As we all remember from my previous post Crib Sheets: 1, Mommy: 0. A few weeks ago Carson moved out of the Swaddler/Little Snugglers and into the Cruisers (size 3). We of course have been making sure he goes to bed with a clean, fresh diaper but somehow he still manages to "pee out". I'm sure that boys have this problem more than girls...that makes sense. But come on, we shouldn't have this problem every night. James said this morning that maybe he's getting "hard" (Yes, that's exactly what he said...haha) and when it stands up it's just shooting out the top, which is quite possible.

Yesterday when putting the clean sheets on the bed I had, what Oprah likes to call, an "Ah ha" moment. I decided that if I put the sheet protector under Carson rear it would soak up any leaking and then I could just take that off and wash it, point to Mommy. Thinking I was quite brilliant I shared my "plan" with James, telling him to make sure he got the bum positioned on top of the sheet protector. Well, this morning when I went in to get Carson out of bed there it was...A big wet circle, right in the center of the sheet protector. I kind of did a little victory dance as I scooped up Carson :) But as I was celebrating I untied the sheet protector only to realize that...wait for it... Yeah, the sheets were wet too, the point goes to the crib sheets.

So Mommies, I ask you...What do I do? Change diapers? Buy stock in Gain, or just get used to it?

The Toothless Wonder

I just realized that it's been quite a while since I have given you an update on whats new with Carson! James and I still can't believe how fast he is growing up! The whole "My how the time flies" thing is totally true. Carson is a measly 9 days shy of being 8 months old. Seems hard to believe doesn't it? He is the sweetest little thing :) Even though he doesn't like to be cuddled like he used to he continues to find new ways to show his affection. His smile of course being number one!

As I'm sure you can tell, my kiddo is still toothless. I'm pretty sure back in December I was rambling on about him getting a tooth any day, and then I remember telling our families that by the new year he'd definitely have one. None, Notta, Zilch. However, when he does, we feel sure he will be showing them off!

At the first of the year Carson mastered the art of clapping. And he is still clapping quite often! haha We also taught him to raise his arms up when we say, "Touchdown" but now we can't hardly get him to to it anymore. Right now we are working on waving. He is intrigued when we do it so I know he's trying to figure it out. As far as words go he's doing lots of babbling mixed with a little "Da-Da" here and there :) It's precious! We've also been trying to work on the standing up. He still hasn't really figured out that if he lets go of something, he'll fall!

If you asked me what Carson's favorite thing to do is I'd probably have to say, Eat! You wouldn't really know it by his long and lean physic but the boy LOVES his food! It seems that as soon as I build up my baby food stash he gobbles it all up! Right now he's eating peas, carrots, green beans, squash, zucchini, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, apples, pears, mangoes, peaches, bananas, and plums. He's still eating the rice or oatmeal cereal everyday (mixed with fruit) for breakfast, and last week we introduced him to the little puffs that melt-away. We were surprised to see that when we poured them on his tray he was able to pick them right up with his fingers and put them in his mouth! If the little guy would grow some teeth he'd be able to start trying some finger foods! Last week we also gave him his first teething biscuit...which he LOVED! He chewed/ate that thing for at least 20 minutes, and was a complete MESS! haha

Carson is sleeping great right now too! He's been going to bed around 8:15ish and waking up at about 5am for a diaper change and a bottle, then he'll usually go back to sleep for another hour or two :) Yes, he is a mother's dream!

This weekend the three of us are heading to Owensboro for a quick visit, and for Holli's baby shower! Then, next weekend James' parents are coming up :) We are looking forward to the next couple of weeks with family and friends!!!

We are having such a blast with Carson and everyday I imagine how much fun lies ahead!

Have I Told You Lately...

Have I told you lately how much I love my life?

Yeah, It's pretty much perfect.

Playtime and Lunch Dates

Yesterday Carson had a lunch date with a very special little girl named Avery :) Well, actually it was a lunch date/shopping trip! haha Carson and I met Beth and Avery Strautz at the West County Mall to have a little lunch and do a little shopping! Carson and Avery (month and a half old) enjoyed riding around in their strollers while picking out new clothes! Carson must have been looking quite spiffy because he turned a few heads at the mall. While the ladies were checking him out he proceeded to melt their hearts by flashing his big, still toothless, grin :)


In the last couple days Carson has been enjoying having some play time in his bed. He's usually only in there to sleep but while I put away laundry in his room he's liking sitting up and playing in bed :) We've also been working on his first word, "Da-da". He's been saying it lots in his little random babbles but we've been trying to get him to, well, say it on command (for lack of a better word). I took a little video this morning of him playing and babbling... Enjoy :)

Splish Splash, He Was Taking a Bath!

Yes, it's true! Last night Carson took his first bath in his brand new tub! And of course, he loved it! It's such a relief to have this project behind us! We knew when we bought the house this was something we wanted to tackle right away and a couple months, a week of banging, and a few thousand dollars later here we are!

For a quick recap our bathroom used to have a stall shower, which we converted to a tub, with ceramic tile surround. I love how the white, rectangular tiles make the space look clean and open. We also had an ugly linoleum floor, which sported 3 lovely shades of grey, that was ripped up and replaced with a light tan ceramic tile. And, I'm sure you remember our vanity top. It was black with some white swirls. Enough said. We replaced that with a light tan marble top that has a deep white bowl, along with a shiny new faucet! We also bought a new light fixture and updated the mirror by removing the old one and replacing it with a framed decorative mirror! Our hall bath is quite small so we added a new double towel bar, and moved the tp holder to the side of the vanity to open up a little wall space. I picked out a super cute shower curtain wayyyyy back in the summer (I pretty sure I bought it before we even found the house). I love it because it doesn't scream KIDS BATHROOM :) Enough of the babble I know you want to see the pics!

The lovely bathroom before...

Stall shower...Buh bye!

And now....

And up-close picture of the shower curtain...

Gotta love the double towel bar... If you're lacking in space I highly recommend one of these :)

I love how the mirror and vanity top (minus the back-splash) updated the space!

There is pretty much nothing better than a sparkling new bathroom!

I can't wait to see Carson standing on his little ram step-stool brushing his teeth in front of this mirror....

The kid loves his bathtub! James says we better all love it 4,000 times :) I'm sure we will...And so will our visitors!

Ahh, The Joys of Renovating...

So when I posted, or should I say bragged, about my $37 tub on Monday I totally jinxed it. Let me explain...Tuesday morning the plumbers came in to move a few pipes to make our shower stall/tub conversion work. While here of course there was something that was going to have to be moved that wasn't planned on....I don't really understand the details all I know is that is cost us an extra $240. Nice. The guys were here most of the day doing their work. Around 2ish they brought in the new tub! I was SOO excited to actually see it in the space so I quickly grabbed a pic while they were outside...

Nice right? Yeah, that's what I thought! Well, about an hour later they inform me that there is a huge crack in the side of it. Now we all know why the dang thing was $37. Thanks Lowe's we appreciate the heads up. So, long story short our contractor tried to find another one at a Lowe's in our area and later found out that every Lowe's in the St. Louis area that had this tub is was cracked. Go figure. The contractor, being the nice guy that he is, managed to squeeze about $60 out of Lowe's for the tub :) Sooo Tuesday afternoon Carson and I set out to find another tub...A trip to Home Depot, and 213 more dollars later we found the perfect tub for our smiling, clapping baby to take a bath in! No worries this go around... I made them check twice for cracks :)

The whole tub debacle set us back just a wee little bit, so yesterday (Wednesday) the newest tub went in and the backer board all went up!

Today our contractor is in the bathroom, singing may I add, working on our tile :) I am most excited about this part of the whole project :)

In the mean time we'll just sit around and listen to the banging. It's really, really loud. Someone sure doesn't seem to mind...

You know you have the perfect baby when jigsawing, hammering, and nail gun shooting doesn't even wake him :) Have I told you lately how much I love this baby?

Let the Renovations Begin!

Today was the official start to our hall bathroom renovation! When we bought the house the hall/kids bathroom only had a stall shower, which of course was not up to par. We knew right away this was a project we'd have to tackle right away :) Last week we picked out and bought all of our supplies, somehow managing to score a 10% off a Lowe's and find a nice, good quality bathtub for a measly $37. Yes, you read that right. It was originally around $120 and it was marked down to $88 because they were no longer going to to carrying that model. For some reason when the lady rang it up it was $37...Sweet!

Our contractor started banging around this morning at about 8:15 and continued until 2. I am happy to say that the bathroom is completely empty! Woo Hoo! Tomorrow the plumber comes to move some pipes then they will be able to start putting things back in :) I can't wait to see Carson in his new tub!

In case you don't remember what the old bathroom looked like here is a before pic followed by a current one... Can't wait to post the finish product!

Left side (Vanity and toilet)

Future home for our $37 tub :)

Left side now...

No more shower!

No more ugly floor!

More to come...
In the mean time...
Another cute Carson picture...

And yes, he's got a hammer. If Daddy can't be a carpenter why not make Carson one?

Football, Football, and more Football

What did we do all weekend? We watched football of course! Isn't that what New Year's day is for? It was sooooo nice to spend time relaxing with the hubs and our main man! We watched so much football that by tonight Carson was doing this...

Hilarious!

New Year...New Tricks

Carson is starting off the new year right! He woke up this morning ready for a year full of new tricks! James and I can not wait to see what this year has in store for us :) 2011 will bring us so many wonderful things!

For the past couple of weeks I've been trying to teach Carson how to clap his hands. We play patty-cakes and cheer, "Yayyyyy Carson!" He always cracks a big smile when we clap but he never would do it. This morning I tried something different, "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands..." Well, we know the kid is happy so it had to work right? Right.

We're so proud :)