Best. Year. Ever.

This year has been the best year of my life, and I know James would totally agree! One year ago today, at exactly 9:43am, in a little hospital in Minnesota, our little baby boy was born :) Carson's first year has been quite exciting, especially considering our big move in the fall! At 12 months Carson can officially be labeled a toddler. The little guy never stops walking! haha He walks laps around the house, and loves it when I forget to close a door, specifically our bedroom. If he sneaks in he goes straight to my night stand a grabs my chap-stick. He loves carrying it around, and he like it when I put a little on his lips. So funny...James said the other day, don't get him addicted to that stuff too! haha To late! He also likes to slip into the bathroom, and I bet you can already guess what he goes for... the toilet paper.

Carson is in the process of growing his third tooth! It's just barely poking through the skin and he looks forward to showing it off his weekend. On a tooth related note...The boy loves brushing his teeth! I can't decide if it's the apple banana tooth paste, or the pokey tooth brush he likes best. After we brush he likes to carry his tooth brush around the house for a while, chewing on it of course. We are going though a little not eating phase, which will hopefully be ending soon! Today, in honor of his birthday I got up and made him peanut butter & jelly pancakes! He LOVED them. He ate so much he probably wont eat lunch now! haha

He's wearing 12-18 month tops, and well, all of his shorts are about 6 months, maybe a couple 9. He's still my sweet long and lean boy :) I bet in the last two weeks I have looked at his monthly pictures at least 10 times. I LOVE to see how he's grown over the past year, mainly because it's so hard to believe it's been that long! Here's his 12 month recap :)

(We're still convinced he got his first sunburn this day...whoops! Hey, we were new parents...)

He laid on the floor so nicely this day I bet I took 75+ pictures of him!

This one was taken when he was sick with his first stomach bug, he then passed it to everyone. Seriously, weren't you sick?

This was when we were staying with Granny & Pops while we were in between Minnesota and St. Louis

The cable guy was at our house while I took these, bet he thought I was nuts.

He was so happy this day :)

Sucking his fingers...Love it!

Our first monthly photo shoot sitting up! Yay!

This was the month he realized he had a sticker on his shirt... I had a hard time getting him to focus! haha

Love this one, including the drool hanging from his chin!

At this point the pictures are nearly impossible to get.... He was crawling and climbing everywhere!

Loved how his hair was perfectly combed down for these, and he looks so happy in his new blue chair!

Lookin' like a toddler :)

Happy 1st Birthday to the sweetest, cutest, most lovable boy ever!

Buh Bye Bottle...Hello Milk!

Before we left for Florida we decided to go ahead and switch Carson to straight cow milk! A week or so after he turned 11 months we started mixing the formula with the milk, and just gradually worked our way to straight whole milk. He loves it... And Daddy's wallet loves it even better :) Since we've made the switch Carson has stopped sitting down to "take a bottle" he just has drinks throughout the day, sometimes more than others. When we got back from vacation I decided I was done with bottles. I switch over to all sippy cups one day and he actually did awesome! He didn't even seem to notice, or care about the change! I put all of the bottles, drying rack, and bottle brush in the basement with the 4-5 tubs of clothes the kiddo has outgrown! Woo Hoo :)

On another food related note...Yes, Carson is crying in this picture. We are going through another phase where he doesn't want to eat anything. What the heck? I can barely even get him to eat fruit! It started last Friday because he's cutting a tooth (it is barely poking through today), I think he just didn't feel like chewing much on it or something. So for a couple days he ate applesauce, yogurt, and PB&J...I know not the healthiest but I can't force the child to eat! haha I took this picture last night while trying to feed him ham (which he usually loves) and mashed potatoes (which were buttery and yummy). Ugh... There is nothing more frustrating than going through the trouble to make something like mashed potatoes and then have him wave his hands around and say no. I can't wait for this phase to be over... Hopefully he eats his birthday cake!

Flo-Rida...

I love Florida, but every time I type the word I can't help but think of the singer Flo-Rida...In some strange way I think it helps me spell it or something. I don't even know what he looks like, or what song he sings. The only thing I know about him is that he sings rap, and his name sounds like the way Florida is spelled. ANYWAYS.... Back to the sunshine state...Florida.

Our trip was WONDERFUL, AMAZING, FUN, EXCITING, RELAXING, and so on, and so on. As a matter of fact it was so great I wish I was still there. Our sweet little boy loved getting to spend the week with all of his favorite people, ear infection or not! He is simply amazed by our nephew Parker (he's 4 1/2). He never sits still, and never stops talking, which of course is what Carson loves about him! haha Parker and Carson had many baby talk conversations which was so adorable :)

I could tell you about our trip all day long but I'll try not to ramble because I told you yesterday I'd do more of a "rapid fire" style....

Carson LOVED the water...

Loved playing in the sand, and grew accustom to the ocean after a couple days


He looked exceptionally cute in his array of hats...


Carson tried all kinds of new foods while vacationing in the sunshine state! He tried calamari, crab cakes, shrimp, sway (not sure if that's how you spell it, it's a white fish), and amberjack. By our last night he was a seafood pro and just ordered himself some popcorn shrimp off the menu! The boy loooooves eating out! I'm not sure if it's the different foods or all of the people he has to entertain...

See what I mean?

James, Carson, and I are so thankful for Granny & Pops, and Mimi & Poppy for making this trip possible :) I'll leave you with three of my favorite pictures from the trip!

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's an...ear infection?

The day before we left for Florida I spent about 5 hours carrying a screaming baby around the house. Never, and I mean NEVER has Carson cried for so long. He was clearly in pain. The kind of pain that makes you grab your ears and pull your hair, no seriously...that's what he was doing. I knew something wasn't right. I called the doc and got an appointment for Monday afternoon. As soon as the doctor looked in his ears he saw it...the dreaded ear infection. But wait, there was more "infection" in ear numero dos. Yup, our little man got a double ear infection before our first family vacay, and more importantly our first time flying with the little guy! Yikes, and double yikes. When I told our doc that we were going to be flying the next day he made this awful face, and proceeded to tell me he could write me an excuse to try to get our money back for our flight. Um, we ARE going to Florida Dr. Harrison. I'm pretty sure Granny, Pops, Mimi, and Poppy will have a fit if we are no shows. haha He prescribed some amoxil (which Carson enjoyed taking, I actually think he loved it), along with some ear drops for pain. He also told us to give him Children's ibuprofen every 6-8 hours for a few days to help with pain. When Carson woke up Tuesday morning he was his happy self again. Love that kid. He is quite the trooper!


He LOVED the flight! He only cried for a minute while trying to get comfy to fall asleep. The take off and landing didn't bother him a bit. He loved the people watching in the terminals, looking out the little windows in the airplane, and the sugary apple juice he chugged during the flight.

Daddy and Carson looking for the ocean and palm trees!

Rapid Fire...

After a fabulous Mother's Day weekend, a long vacation, a few days of unpacking, and spending every free minute trying to make a photo book from our trip, I'm officially back. It's amazing how long it takes to prep and unpack a family from vacation! I feel like for the last three weeks I've been engulfed in "vacation". That week in the middle was quite nice I must say :)

I haven't sat down to blog since my 11 month update, and we are already quickly approaching 12 months! I have lots of things to blog about so I'm going to try to just give you a "rapid fire" update on what's been going on with Harper..Party of Three over the last three weeks! I'll separate it into short blog post as to not overwhelm. haha

I'll start with my first Mother's Day...AMAZING! I got to spend the whole weekend just relaxing with my boys. Most of you already know this...but in case you don't, a few days before we left for Florida James broke his fibula (the small bone in your leg). He did it playing in a church league softball game. And no, he wasn't doing anything cool like sliding into home for the game winning run. He was just fielding a ground ball. Poor guy.

This was his foot on Mother's Day...As the days passed it got more colorful and more swollen...So I spent those first few days handing out lots of TLC to the hubs. I told him I should be due for a spectacular Mother's day gift...haha He didn't disappoint. I have been going on, and on, and on about wanting a SLR camera ever since Carson was born. I told James I was going to start saving up for it (which would have taken quite a long time since I am currently not bring in any $$). He finally caved and bought me my camera :)
Yes, I know... It's beautiful! haha I know it sounds ridiculous but words can't describe how excited I am about it. James said he could just see me, "beaming" while I was taking it out of the box. What better time to get it than right before our trip! Woo Hoo I still haven't quite figured it all out but I did get lots of great pictures from the beach. Do you want a sneak peek (most of you have probably seen them on Facebook, but if you haven't this sneak peek is for you)

Now, that is beautiful :) I love that kid. More on the trip later...Back to Mother's Day! Carson surprised me with an ice cream cake from DQ! It's been forever since I've had one of those and I seem to have forgotten just how yummy they are :)

Carson and I before church :)

My 1st Mother's Day was perfect :) And I look forward to many more with my boys!

11 Months (a few days late)

My sweet little boy is almost one year old, which I find SO hard to believe! He actually turned 11 months old almost a week ago but I am just now getting around to posting our pictures! We've had a crazy week since getting home from Owensboro. We got back in town last Thursday night, ate a quick dinner and then sent James off to a softball game. About an hour later he calls telling me he's hurt himself. Oh geez... We thought it was just a high ankle sprain but Saturday morning it was quite colorful, so he went off to the doctor, only to discover he'd broken his fibula. Lovely. Yesterday we went to the orthopedic doctor and James got a walking boot. It sounds like it wont totally put a damper on our trip to the beach next week. He can take it off when he's just sitting around and stuff so he'll still get to be in the water, and hopefully chase around our little guy.

Yes, I did say chase, that would be because he is crawling faster than ever, and walking all over the place! He's pretty much got it all figured out! I am tired, so, so tired. I feel like all I do is chase him around and try to keep him out of things....haha

Check him out in action:


(And yes, that would be Carson running into the screen door at the end of the video... haha)

At 11 months Carson is more fun than EVER! His little personality is just so precious. Yesterday he started a new trick...Kisses! Quite possibly the sweetest thing EVER! Is there really anything better than an open mouth baby kiss? Nope :)

Look at all of that blonde hair! I actually ended up trimming it a week or so ago, just over his ears :)

Right now Carson is wearing mostly 12-18 month onesies and shirts, but his shorts...Yeah, they are all 6 month. What a skinny mini :) Right now we are sooooo excited to say that our last can of formula is almost gone! Woot Woot! We wanted Carson to be off the formula and drinking whole milk by our family vacay. He's doing great with the transition and next week will start drinking straight cow milk! Yay :)

I tried to get a picture of him walking in his little 11 month outfit but he wasn't having it. This is the beginnings of a little Carson fit. The next stage would be throwing the head back, and then if he's really mad he'll add a little arching of the back. Hilarious, and frustrating all at the same time.

Finally, our child will hold his own bottle. It's too cute when he just grabs it from our hands, throws his head back and chugs it. Today, we were on our way to Target and I was just able to give him his bottle in his car seat and he drank it on the way... love that!


One of Carson's favorite things to do right now is chase Chloe around the house. They have become quite the pair. She knows when to get out of his way (while he's walking, or pushing his walker), and when to stick close by his side (when he's eating, of course). I can't wait to see them running around the back yard together!

Best buddies :)