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!