Lunchtime chatter

I wanted to share part of the "conversation" I had with Kate today at lunchtime. First, let me preface it by saying that Kate does not call me "ma ma," even though we've been trying to drill it into her little brain for the past 6 months.

Kate: "Ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma!"
Me: "Ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma!"
Kate: "Ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma!"
Me (pointing at myself): "Ma ma!"
Kate: "Da da!"

Merry Christmas!!

We took Kate to get her picture with Santa today. It was just about naptime so she wasn't having anything to do with smiles, but she didn't cry so we consider it a success. We actually took her to a bank near our home. We don't bank there, but they sent out fliers for free pictures with Santa so we thought we'd try it out. There wasn't a line and we didn't have to listen to any sales pitch. Plus, they printed a picture out and emailed us digital copies as well. It was great! Thanks Santa and F&M Bank!

The day has come

I knew it would happen sooner or later. This morning I was carrying Kate out to the Jeep and I couldn't fit through the space between the two cars in our garage. I tried turning sideways and it was worse. I couldn't suck my tummy in at all. I remember the first time that happened when I was prego with Kate. It was pretty depressing then but this time I just thought it was funny. So funny I couldn't stop laughing for a long time. I had to have Chris back up the Jeep so I could open the door and get myself and Kate in. I was laughing pretty hard. Sigh...then when we got home Chris stopped the jeep in the driveway and said "you better get out here." Funny, funny! :) Then he felt bad because he didn't want to hurt my feelings. Nope! No hurt feelings here. It's not me getting bigger, its the baby!...right? :)

It's a boy!!!!

When we went in for the ultrasound we were told that an OU student would do the first part and then the tech would come in and finish up. So, I'm laying on the table enjoying the pictures of our little baby and the student asks us if we want to find out what it is. You bet we do! :) So, she tries to get a bum shot but all she says is "that's not a great picture" and then she moves on. I was so enthralled watching the little guy flip around and see his heartbeat and toes and stuff that I didn't even think anything about it. Well, about 5 minutes later she made some comment and said "he." Then she looks at me and asks if I've figured it out yet. I'm like, "ummm, do I look like I know how to read an ultrasound?" I look over at Chris and he's standing there grinning. He knew what it was the whole stinking time and didn't say anything!! So, they tell me it's a boy and for the last 30 minutes of the ultrasound (it was an hour long) he's flashing his "boy parts" all over the screen for all to see. Kate was the same way. On each ultrasound her legs were spread eagle so it was easy to tell what she was. We'll have to teach them modesty later, I suppose! :)

When we left the office I was nagging Chris about not saying anything and then he told me that he saw a glimpse of the boy parts at the very start of the ultrasound but the student tech didn't seem to notice so he didn't say anything. So, basically he knew for a whole 1/2 an hour without telling me! Little stinker.

Anyways, we are super excited to have a little boy. Chris is already planning campouts and hunting trips for the little guy and I have high hopes that he's going to be a mamma's boy since Kate seems to have chosen the daddy's girl route.

Money Matters

I guess some things are just innate. Kate likes to play with Chris' wallet. She opens and closes it over and over. Sometimes she'll pull his cards out but mostly she just walks around opening and closing it. Well, today while she was playing with it she discovered the money (Chris usually doesn't have cash, but today he did). She pulled out the cash, dropped the wallet and started running! Our first thought was how did she know that the money was the good stuff? Our second thought was how did she know to run? :) Then we thought that maybe we have a future pick-pocket on our hands...let's hope not.

Farewell Chip

Our bird, Chip, passed away Saturday night. We think she had a stroke and that she probably has been having them for a couple of months now so we're glad that she's not suffering any more. It's been so sad though. I don't think Chris or I realized how attached we were to the little critter but we miss her tons. We miss her squawks in the morning when she hears our alarm go off, her little chirps every time we walk past her cage, her fluffy feathers cuddled up next to our necks while we watch tv and the way she always begged to have her head rubbed. Sadly enough, I even miss her annoying screeches every time I use the can opener. Our house seems so quite now. We can't bring our selves to clean up her messy cage and I think we may just miss all the feathers lying around our house. She definately was a part of our family and we will always remember our little Chip.

Captain Jack Sparrow

So, Kate's officially walking now. She is still a little tipsy and she always walks with her arms up in the air, but she's getting quicker! Sometimes she tries to walk a little too fast and she has to stop and catch her balance. When she does this I like to say she walks like Captain Jack Sparrow. She looks just a little tipsy, if you know what I mean! :)



Oh! So I just re-watched this video and realized something. If you listen to Kate, she says "eese!" (which, translated into English, means cheese!) She's started saying that every time she sees the camera. Today we were at playgroup and she found a toy camera and she carried it over to me and said "cheese!" She's so smart!! :)

I'll never get it

I took Kate to Walmart the other day dressed like this and I had a very sweet and cute old lady come up to me and ask how old my son was.

Now I have to ask my self at what point would a mother of a boy ever put her son in a pink shirt that says "daddy's little girl" on it?!!! Isn't a little girl allowed to not wear pigtails, dresses and bows at least once a week and not be called a boy? Seriously!!

All is well!!

I'm happy to report that Kate is back to normal! Yeah!!! I think we just had a few crazy days in a row where our schedules were all messed up. I've never been one for keeping to a schedule much, but it definately helps with a toddler around. We don't really have a "schedule." It's more of a routine, but it works for us and I'm so happy to be back in it! :)

We need help

So, I'm sure this is a phase (at least I hope it is) but Chris and I are at our ends. For the past 4 days Kate has flat out refused to take her naps. Meaning every time we lay her in her crib, she screams. I wasn't too worried about it before because she would still go to bed really well at night...until last night.

Ever since she was about 6 weeks old we've had a deal where we let her cry for 10 minutes and then go comfort her if she's still crying. It's worked like a charm for us...until now. I've tried the check on her every 10 minutes and lay her back down like we've always done, but that seems to drag the screaming out forever. I've tried rocking her to sleep, which works until you go to lay her in her crib, then she wakes up screaming. I've tried letting her play all day and thinking she'll just fall asleep on the floor or in her highchair. (You know all those cute pictures moms have of their babies falling asleep with food in their hands?? Yeah, that will never happen with us.) And last night Chris and I braved the "let her cry it out" technique. She screamed for over an hour and a half and finally we caved. Chris got her to sleep by forcing her to keep her head down and rubbing her back for a few minutes. (sounds bad, but we were desperate)

So, now we are close to day 5 with absolutely no naps. Fortunately once she gets to sleep at night she sleeps like 11 to 12 hours like usual. I can tell she's still exhausted though. Today at Church was pathetic, she has super dark circles under her eyes and they're all red because she's always rubbing them because she's so tired. She needs her naps.

As far as I can tell she's not teething. Her gums aren't swollen or showing any signs of new teeth popping up any time soon. She doesn't act sick or anything when she's awake. While she's playing she's her usual self - perfectly happy and fun to be with. She's starting to walk everywhere and communicate better than ever. I have absolutely no clue why she refuses to sleep. Any suggestions?????? I've even contemplated crawling into her crib with her until she falls asleep, but I'm pretty sure that my growing belly wouldn't accommodate that so well.

Black eyes and Halloween

I've been slacking on the pictures lately...sorry Mom! Here's a bunch to fill you in on what we've been up to the last few weeks.

This is a horrible picture of me, but so cute of Kate. I was trying to get her to give me a back rub, but I got a hug instead. I'll take that!! I really was enjoying the cuddle time so don't let my facial expression fool you! :)


Here's the photo proof of Kate's first black eye. This was right after it happened. Well, right after she stopped crying anyway. She's such an easy-going baby and she doesn't cry much so it makes it really hard for us to tell how badly she's hurt. Considering how hard she hit the fireplace, she should have screamed for a long time but she just cried for a couple of minutes and then wanted to go back to playing.

We were really worried that her eye would swell shut but it didn't, thanks to our inventive ice-pack concoction! Yes, that is one of my knee-highs with an ice cube inside. Kate actually kept it on for 15 minutes! ...She kinda looks like Rambo, don't you think?

In addition to getting a black eye, we also celebrated Halloween. Kate went trick-or-treating for the first time! We only took her to a few houses and then to Grandma & Grandpa Carson's, but it was sure fun! I suppose next year one of us will have to stay home to pass out candy. This year we just left a bucket of candy on our doorstep so we wouldn't feel guilty. There were three pieces left when we got home, just enough for our little family! (don't tell Chris that I ate them all myself, though!) :)

Kate got to visit with her BFF, Isa, for a few minutes. Aren't they so cute!!

In case you can't tell, Kate was Cindy Lou Who. I tried really, really hard to make the costume. It turned out pretty cute, but I think it was more of a cross between Cindy Lou Who and a clown. Either way, Kate was pretty darn cute!

A Halloween post would never be complete without pumpkins! Instead of carving Kate's little pumpkin, which I thought would be too hard (aka, I'm lazy), we just drew a goofy face on it. Kate can do some pretty goofy expressions so it was only fitting that she had a goofy pumpkin.

And here are the finished products. Mine is the friendly ghost on a tombstome and Chris' is the flame-faced guy. I wish I had a good picture of Chris carving his because he used his drill for part of it. I suppose it makes carving pumpkins a little manlier if you use some sort of power tool!

Anyway, October was fantastic, despite all my posts about toddler woes. We can't wait for November and December. We have Stacey and Andy coming for Thanksgiving. It's tradition in the Carson family that we earn our turkey dinner by running/walking the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. It was absolutely freezing last year but hopefully the weather will cooperate this year. Then, on December 5th we finally get to find out what gender baby #2 is. I can't wait! The following week Chris will finish finals and then the week after that it's off to good-old Washington!! Yeahh!!! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!

Look what we've been up to!!

Another post on toddlers

Ok, so I know that the last few posts have been about our adventures with a new toddler, but I just have to post one more. Kate officially has recieved her first black eye and bloody nose! Nosedives off of beds and into fireplaces are not good ideas! We are working on those lessons and hoping that Kate learns them before she breaks any bones. I suppose that's why they are called "toddlers" but it's pretty darn stressful for Mom and Dad. I have tons of pictures of the bruises and of Halloween, but we are having computer issues with uploading pictures so you'll just have to wait a while, but they will be coming soon!

Alien in my tummy

So, suddenly this little baby growing in my belly has decided to start moving like crazy. I feel like he/she is constantly doing flips but the other night, the babe totally freaked me out! I was just chillin on the couch next to Chris. I closed my eyes for just a second and JUMP! I could have sworn that Chris jabbed me in the stomach but when I saw the suprised look on his face I realized it must have been the baby. Man-o-man!! It was the hardest, quickest (I would say little, but it was really hard) jab in my side! Kate never did anything like that. Hers were either slow, stretching into Mommy's ribs movements or short, quick drumming-like motions. This baby is insane! Then, later that night just as we were going to bed I was stretching my back and the monster/babe did it again! It's nuts! The baby is only what, like 1 pound maybe and it feels like he/she has a baseball bat that's jabbing me in the side! Crazy! Oh yeah, and both times it happened, I couldn't help but burst into histeric laughter. Chris thinks I'm nuts....It's really the baby, I promise!

More of the Joys of Toddlerhood

Chris and I bought Kate's highchair at a garage sale. When we were cleaning it up, we wondered how it got so dirty. I mean, we found food in the tiniest nooks and crannies! Well, I now know how that happens. It's called a toddler. I can't believe how big of a mess Kate can make when she's eating. Even if we feed her, the food seems to end up all over the chair! Plus, you should see the carpet underneath the darn chair! It's a mess!! I don't so much mind the messy chair, but the carpet is another story. What's so fun about throwing food on the floor anyway??

On the flip side, there are some fun perks to this toddlerhood thing. Kate is definately getting more gutsy about walking. She wants to be walked everywhere and she will now stand on her own without being forced to by mom or dad. In fact, just a while ago she let go of me and then tried to lift her leg to take a step! So humerous to watch! It was like she had two huge lead weights on her feet keeping them on the ground and as soon as she managed to lift a foot she fell over. Too funny!! I'll have to keep the camera handy so I can catch the first few steps in action.

Ways to silence a screamer...

Chris and I have had enough with the new screaming talent our daughter has developed. We've debated different methods and we both agree that screaming back doesn't work. Ignoring it had gotten us nowhere and takes way too much patience at the end of the day. On the same evening as the diaper experience, Chris had an idea and decided to experiment.

His first inclination was lemon juice, but we were fresh out. So, he found some vinegar in the fridge and waited for a nice, long scream to come out of the little one. As soon as she started screaming, he stuck his vinegar-tainted finger into her mouth. It was actually pretty effective. Despite the disturbed look on her face, we had a solid 3 hours of peace and quiet! I'm not sure if we'll continue this method, but it sure worked well the other night!

Bathroom Drama

So, I'm posting this story at Chris' request. If you're not into diaper stories I suggest you skip this post.

The other night we were eating a peaceful dinner... I take that back - it wasn't peaceful at all. Kate has a new habit of screaming all the time. Out of nowhere, high-pitched, loud, obnoxious screaming. It seriously never stops. Sigh... I should probably start the story over... The other night we were eating dinner. That is, Chris and I were eating. Kate, however, chose to scream instead of eat. So it wasn't a very pleasant dinner experience, but we got through it.

After dinner, I was doing dishes (by hand - our dishwasher broke a few weeks ago...bummer). Chris was putting away the leftovers and Kate was at my feet screaming. I looked down at her to try and convince her for like the 100th time to stop screaming and noticed that the back of her shirt was wet. Upon further inspection, Chris and I realized we had a poopy mess on our hands. Leftovers and dishes were dropped and we swept her away into her room to change her.

In the process of taking the soiled clothing off of the screaming, squirmy mess of a child we have, the poop made it's way up her back and all over her legs. We wiped her down as much as we could and then decided a bath would be the only way to get her clean. I took her into the bathroom and stood her up outside the tub while the tub filled (the water was too cold to stick her straight into the tub). In the meantime, Chris and I were gathering all the bath necessities and washing ourselves off (we were a mess, too at this point). I'm glad there were two of us!

Suddenly, Kate got really quiet and we noticed she was looking down at the floor and lifting her leg. Yup! You guessed it! She had peed all over the floor!! (Have you ever seen how much urine a 1-year-old's bladder can hold????) I put her straight into the bathtub while Chris began gathering bleach/floor cleaner and a rag to mop up the mess. I think it was at this point that Chris said "This is definately blog-worthy!" Then we laughed and played with our daughter in the bathtub while we waited for the floor to dry.

Anyways, this whole ordeal took about an hour - not including the cleanup of the changing table, the clothes and all those dishes we forgot about. What a mess!!

Welcome to Toddlerhood

She finally did it. I knew this day would come sooner or later!


I also wanted to share a bad mommy moment I had last night. For some reason Mommy (me) decided it would be ok for Kate to play with a glow stick on the way home from mutual last night. I have no idea what I was thinking. About halfway home Kate started crying and by the time we were home she was screaming! The glowstick had leaked a little bit and she got some in her eye. I had an experience like this a few months ago with sunblock and the only way to flush out her eye is to stick her in the bathtub and dump water on her head. It sounds really mean, but it was the only way to get enough water in her eye to wash it out. So, at 9:00 last night, Kate got a bath. After a few minutes she was back to normal again and the redness and irritation had gone down. Word to the wise: do not give your unattened child a glowstick to play with!

Cindy Lou Who

This is what Kate is going to be for Halloween...if I can make a nightgown that looks similar to this. Won't she be the perfect Cindy Lou Who?! Any suggestions as to what Chris and I should be? I'm thinking the Grinch and his dog/reindeer will be too Christmasy...what do you think?

Happy Birthday Kate!!

Monday we celebrated Kate's first birthday. Chris and I can't believe our baby is a whole year old...and we've been parents for a year now!!! Wow. I think we have about 200 pictures from that day. I'll spare you and just post a few. :) (unless you're really itching for all of them, in which case I can make you a CD)

Ok, so these first 4 pictures were after the cupcake experience but I'm too lazy to figure out how to change the order of the pictures in this post so you get to see them out of order. You can see in the first picture how messy Kate got. This is a tea set that our good friends the Baughs got Kate. She loves playing with dishes at their house so they decided she needed some of her own. I can attest that she's played with them plenty the last two days. Thanks Baughs!

I just love this reaction to her new toy. You can't really tell, but the toy lights up and plays songs which Kate thought was pretty cool. Thanks Grandma Bakker!
Aunt Stacey and Uncle Andy got Kate some fancy new shoes. I wish I knew what she was thinking when we put them on her. We've never put her in real shoes before.
We thought that a little push-toy would help motivate the chica to walk. (I'm not exactly sure why we are pushing her to walk. I'm sure we'll regret it as soon as she does!) :) Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Carson for the cool barnyard push-toy thingy!! :)
Ok, so this is a random picture I took of Kate. She's learned this new look. I think it's the look I give her when she throws handfuls of food on the floor. (Can't you just see me doing this?) :) She's getting pretty good at it, don't you think?

In addition to presents, we had a birthday party for Kate with a few friends. Chris borrowed a moon-bounce from a lady he works with and to my suprise, Kate loved it! I thought for sure it would be a toy for Daddy only, but turns out Daddy knows what Kate likes!

Here's the first picture of Kate with her cupcake. At first she just played with the frosting with one little finger. I decided to speed the process up a bit by giving her a taste. Once she got a taste of the sugar...well, you'll see!

She slowly started getting into it...still with only one hand though.

Come to think of it, I think she only used one hand the whole time, but she definately downed the cupcake quickly once she figured out how to do it! What a mess!! I think my mom has a very similar picture of me on my first birthday.

All in all it was a great day!

Cayla Luanna

My sister had her third baby yesterday! She was 8.4 lbs and 19 inches long. She has super chubby cheeks. Sooo cute! I wish I could be there to squeeze and cuddle with the little one, but I'm afraid I won't get to see them until Christmas. Sigh. Mom and baby are doing well and the other kiddos are trying to adjust to their new sister.

Chad (my bro-in-law) called home after Cayla was born to let everyone know. After he got done talking to Hayleigh (their 4 year old) he could hear her in the background saying "Yeah, I have a little sister! I have a little sister!" Cindy says Hayleigh is trying to be really good with the baby, but she has started being extra mean to her brother. I think Hayden (their 2 year old) is having a different reaction. I guess on the way home from the hospital, Hayden was excited and kept saying "baby, baby" and pointing at Cayla. However, after they had been home a while and he had taken a nap Cindy said he didn't act too happy that the baby was still there. I guess everyone handles the adjustment differently! Congrats T-berry's!! We love you!

September so far

So I started this post a while ago, but never finished it...imagine that! :) In case you couldn't tell from the last post, I'm prego! Yeah!! I'm 14 weeks and definitely looking forward to the 2nd trimester. I haven't been too sick, but I'm ready to be done with the nausea & food aversions. All in all though, it's been a pretty easy pregnancy so far.



What else?...oh yeah! College football has started up again. Chris - Mr. I don't like sports - has decided that OU football is a great obsession. Thanks to our good friend, Steve, Chris was able to go to their first home game this season...his first experience attending a college football game. He started getting into it last year, but I think he finally caught the bug because the next week during the football game, this is what I found him and Kate up to:



Looks like she's enjoying it! Although I'm not sure if it's the game or the cell phone that has her so content. Chris enjoyed the Daddy-daughter time either way, plus OU won!



In other Carson news, Kate is officially a milk-drinker! She LOVES milk! How could she not, when she's related to me? :) I can't wait to have her completely weaned. It's exciting that she's getting so big, but it's a little sad too. My baby girl is going to be dating before I know it!

And I finally caught the yoga princess on camera! She does the best Downward Facing Dog pose I've ever seen. Wouldn't you agree? :) This is what she does when she's getting tired. It's really entertaining. She likes to play peek-a-boo in this pose. For some reason it's funnier when the person's upside down.


And, finally here's a picture of Kate on her 11-month birthday. She's jabbering all the time now. She says something that sounds like "key-key" for "blankey" and she has this "where'd it go?" expression that she says, with the right inflection and everything, when she's looking for something. It's too cute! Today I was feeding her dinner at about the time Chris usually comes home and she kept jabbering away like "Where'd it go?" and I was trying to figure out what she was looking for. Then she started saying "da da da da" over and over. I realized she was asking where da da was so I told her that da da would be home soon and then she stopped jabbering and went back to eating! I love that I'm starting to understand her jabbers. She's also walking along furniture and starting to let go of things for a split second, but still no signs of wanting to walk on her own. Last week she held on to my fingers and took a few steps, which was a first. Usually when we grab her hands she drops straight to her knees instead of trying to walk.

Oh! Other exciting news! We officially have jalapenos growing!! They're so cute! I can't believe how excited I am about some silly peppers. It's pretty pathetic, I know, but there's something amazing about seeing them grow from little seedlings to now full-grown, fruit-bearing, pepper plants. I'll try to grab some pictures of the green beauties soon.

A picture is worth a thousand words

One moon bounce + a one year old = party!!

Yesterday Kate turned 11 months old. My, how time flies. We've been talking about having a small party in our backyard with just some cake and ice cream; however, since the initial talks Chris has made some other plans. He's borrowed a moon bounce (aka a blow-up castle type thing to bounce on) for the big one-year bash. He's sure excited. So if any of you are into bouncing - or have kiddos who are - come on over next month! Hopefully we can avoid any broken bones or bloody noses!

Milestones for Kate

So, the other day I put Kate down for a nap because she was sooooo tired and crabby. Well, she laid there quietly for about 15 minutes and then started screaming. Yup, screaming...not crying. It was so weird! So, I went in to check on her and she had thrown her blanket (the one she can't sleep without) over the side of her crib and was screaming because she wanted it back. So, I handed her the blanket, laid her back down, turned on a musical teddy bear and left. Same thing happened. About 15 minutes later she started screaming again. This time she had thrown both the blanket and the bear over the side of her crib. So, my daughter is officially turning into a toddler. She is throwing things out of her crib. Fabulous. (actually, she hasn't done it since then, so let's hope it was just a fluke).

Also, the last time we were in the doctor's office the nurse handed me a sheet that had some milestones Kate should have reached by 9 months and some she would probably reach by the time she's a year old. One of the things on the list was "refusing diaper changes." At that time I thought "Well, she's advanced because she already does that." Yeah, what did I know??? She is soooo hard to control when we're changing her now. It's crazy! At least at 9 months we could hand her a toy and she'd stay entertained for the 20 seconds it takes to whip one diaper off and put another on but now, we hand her a toy and she throws it on the floor and then rolls over trying to go after the toy. Just imagine what changing a poopy diaper is like! Last night she got her leg in the poop like 3 times, smeared her brand new pj's in the mess all while smearing the happy mess all over the changing pad. Ugh! I keep telling myself it's totally normal behavior because she's learning her independence...right???? Is it too early to potty-train? :)

The first signs of toddlerhood aren't all that bad though. Some of them are pretty darn cute. Last week Kate started waving! Yeah!! We've only been practicing for about 4 months now. Every morning we watch Chris get in his car/motorcycle and drive away and we try to wave and one day she actually waved to him all on her own!!! I was so excited. She now waves at everything. When we're in the store she waves at all the other shoppers. When she sees a car drive by, she waves. When she knows someone is leaving, she waves. However, when we actually want her to wave so we can brag to someone about her new talent, she just smiles and acts like she doesn't know what we're talking about.

One last thing about the Kate-mister. Last night I heard Chris driving up in his Harley (it's loud enough to hear about a block or two away). :) Kate and I were in the kitchen and I said "Kate, Daddy's home!" So she crawled over to the door and sat there staring at it until he came in!! I know she can understand us but man, I was impressed!!

Getting caught in the rain and more

So, since it's been so stinking long since I've posted, I have no clue where to start! I've "dug" through my pictures of the last month and picked out a few highlights that I'll share with ya.

It's been super hot here lately so when we have a nice evening, we take advantage of it. Chris and I decided to go for a short walk around our neighborhood one evening. We could tell that it was going to rain but we thought we could squeeze a short walk in before it started. We hadn't gotten halfway around our block when it started DOWN POURING!!! We were DRENCHED! By the time we got home, we had a river flowing down our driveway. It was nuts! We had a blast though. We sat in the back of our Jeep and just watched it pour down. It was so refreshing. Someday Kate will enjoy it a little more. :) I can't wait to take her puddle jumping!! Oklahoma gets the BEST puddles!
I also decided to make my first quilt for my friend Emily who just had her baby, Isabel. While I was tying it on the quilting frame, Kate found the yarn. You can imagine how much fun she had and what a mess she made! It took almost an hour to get the yarn all untangled by the time she was done with it.
Here's the finished product. It turned out super cute! I almost didn't want to give it away! I'll have to post a picture of cute little Isa when I manage to get one. She's soooo cute & tiny!!

We also bought a bird bath for our little family of birds. They love it! We have a little bird house that they nested in last year and this year. We've already had two rounds of babies this summer and I think we're on round three right now. Well, we were on round three before we left on vacation, but I haven't really seen them around since we got back. Did I mention that we just got back from Montana? Probably not...I'll tell you about that later.
I also planted Jalapenos. I know, I know. You're probably thinking "Why on earth did you plant jalapenos? You hate jalapenos!" I do hate jalapenos. However, Chris loves them and my friend Emily gave them to me. So I planted them! I'm excited to have a little garden of my own regardless of what's in it. When I was planting them I found the HUGEST spider that I killed on the side of the house. If you look close enough you can probably see the guts on the bottom right of the bricks (just in case you're into gore and stuff). :) Anyway, when I killed it, literally hundreds (probably thousands) :) of baby spiders took off running all over the place. YUCK!!! I had the creeps for like two hours after I was done. I think I may have even showered to make sure I was spider-free.
Kate had her first Jello experience! She was soooo sticky and red! It was fun to watch her. I don't even know if she actually ate any. She just squished it around in her fingers and hair and ears and diaper and anywhere else she could reach. You should have seen her bath water when she was all washed up! It was so red that I had to drain the tub and re-fill it to make sure she wasn't still sticky. By the way, doesn't this picture remind you a little of ET? :)
As I mentioned before, we just got back from Montana. Chris' grandparents have a cabin up there and so the whole family went to celebrate Grandma Carson's birthday. My mom and Kim (my sister) were able to come as well. It was sooooo nice!! The weather was such a refreshing change from the hot humidity of Oklahoma. It rained a few times while we were there. We had to wear sweaters, wrap up in blankets, turn on the fireplace and have hot chocolate. It was awesome!!! So, so refreshing! I was super lazy though and didn't really take any pictures. I'll have to get them from family so I can post some.

One last highlight....maybe even the best one so far! :) :) Breaking Dawn finally came out!!!! Yipeee!! I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it!! I totally neglected my husband and daughter while I read it. Thanks Chris and Kate for being so patient!!!!

So, all in all we are having the best summer ever! I'll try to keep the posts coming a little better!

Utah visit, cont.

So I've finally decided to complete my post on our Utah trip. We had TONS and TONS of fun. We were so crazy busy the whole time. Poor Kate ate almost every meal and took almost every nap in the car. She was a trooper!

On Saturday, our last day in Utah, we drove up to Ogden after the Lavendar Run to visit Chris' grandparents. We didn't tell them we were coming at all so we decided to play a little prank on them. We made a sign & put it on Kate's carseat that said "Am I related to you?" and we left her on their doorstep! :) Ha ha! You should have seen Grandpa Carson's face when he opened the door! Chris was just around the corner and Stacey, Andy and I were hiding behind bushes trying to catch the moment on camera. It was hilarious!

Here's Kate meeting her Great-Grandma Carson. You can't tell very well in the picture, but they both have the same blue eyes. So cute! Also, the blanket Kate is holding is her favorite and it's also one of Great-Grandma Carson's famous blankets (she makes TONS of crocheted blankets). But this one was especially made just for Kate.

Here's Chris and Stacey planning the attack! Poor Kate has no clue what we're doing with her!
Oh! Here's a random picture that's not from our Utah trip, but it shows Kate's cute 4th of July outfit. This is also her "9 month" picture. I tried to get a good picture on her 9 month birthday, but she just didn't cooperate. This picture demonstrates what she's up to now. Not only is she crawling EVERYWHERE, she also pulls herself up and walks along our furniture. She's constantly on the move. On top of that, the past few days I've started noticing how incredible her verbal skills are. She's always been a jabberer (is that a word?) but recently I've noticed how much she really understands us. Plus, I think she's really trying to say words. The other day I was tickling her and I was saying "tickle, tickle, tickle!" and she started saying "ta, ta, ta!" It was so cute!!! Then, yesterday she was starting to get a little fussy and I said "Are you ready to take a nap? Do you want to go night-night?" and she immediately crawled over to her blanket and raised her arms for me to pick her up. She's so smart!! It's amazing how smart they are!
Ok, back to Utah. Sorry about the diversion there. We got to visit with lots of old roommates & friends. We had some good times and lots of good food! This first picture is with my roommate Lisa and her daughter Lydie. Kate and Lydie are like 2 days apart. It was so good to see Lisa and meet her little one. We ate at Cafe Rio, yum!!

Oh! So this post is really random....sorry! This is back at Stacey and Andy's home. Chris was playing the piano and Kate and I were just enjoying the down-time. It was so stinkin' hot in Utah so we stripped Kate down to her diaper and just let her do her thing. She was definately enjoying the beautiful music! (PS ~ I had no idea Chris knew how to play the piano until like 2 months after we were married!)
Back to roommates. From the left, me, Andrea, Elisa and Lori. It was so great to see them again and catch up on old times. At one point Elisa said "You guys look exactly the same!" It's funny how so much has changed since we lived together, but so much is still the same. We picked up just like it had only been a month since we last saw each other.
And the next picture is of Kate, Stephanie and I. Stephanie is one of my good friends from high school. I hadn't seen or talked to her since my wedding reception in Washington. She actually got home from her mission the same day as my reception. Her parents made a 3 hour drive (each way) to Seattle to pick her up just so she could make it to my reception. Thanks Jones'!! It was so great to see her. (I promise we did visit Chris' friends too, I just don't have any pictures of that visit. I need to get them from Stacey.)
Ok. One last picture to add to the randomness of this post. Back at the grandparent's home at the start of this long story. Kate met her second-cousin, Kailana. They were so cute playing together. This picture was right when Kailana got there and she wasn't quite sure what she thought of all those weird people around her so that's why she's making a funny face. Later on she warmed up and gave Kate TONS (I've said that a lot in this post) of kisses. It was so cute!
Believe it or not, I still have more pictures & stories to post from our trip, but they're about Chris' mission reunion so I'm going to wait until he's here so I can do them justice! Until then!!

Kate's new ride

So, before you start thinking we're crazy, let me explain. The last week when I was at Walmart, the lady at checkout asked me if I wanted to donate a dollar to the Children's Miracle Network. So I did and I put Kate's name on the little balloon and forgot all about it. Well, on Monday morning we got a phone call asking for Kate. Chris told the lady "she's an infant!" so then the lady asked if he was the father. When he said yes, she said "Congratulations, you just won a mini chopper!" Crazy!! We were excited, but we thought it was just going to be a little bicycle. Imagine our suprise when Chris came home with a gas-powered scooter with orange flames on it!!

Utah & the Lavendar Run

We just got back from our trip to Utah...well, a few days ago, but I'm just now posting pics of our trip. We had some much fun. We got to see a lot of old friends, roommates and family. We just wish we would have had more time so we could have seen more people! Plus, a hike would have been really nice. In lieu of the hike, we did the "Lavendar Run 5K" with Stacey and Andy. We drove to Mona, UT and ran through fields of lavendar! The lavendar was just barely starting to bloom because of the late start to summer so it kind of looked like we were running through sage brush. It felt like home!! (gotta love good old Moses Lake!)


Just hanging out after the run. We were hoping we'd win something in the raffle, but we didn't. Bummer!
Stacey and I on the trail. You can tell we were running pretty hard! :) This picture probably explains why I finished in like 258th place! We took turns pushing the stroller.
Kate worked even harder than Stacey and I. So hard that she fell asleep! This is how she spent the 47 minutes it took us to finish! :) You should have seen Chris and Andy trying to figure out how the seatbelts worked in there. It was pretty comical and took about 20 minutes! :)
After the run, we took a buggy ride tour of the farm. Kate looks like she's crying, but I think it's just the sun in her eyes.
Then, we had to get a picture of the lavendar fairy herself! Isn't she a cutie!!
Anyway, it's pretty late & I'm tuckered out so I'll post more pictures and stories later.