A Year and A Half

Carter is a year and a half. I love it because I can say his age in "years" and not months. I hate having to figure out how many months old he is! Plus, I plan on saying he is a year and a half for the next few months or so, which eliminates the ever persistent follow-up response: "Oh really?! But he is SOOO small!" Carter saw his doctor this month and he is 19 lbs 10 oz and 30 inches tall. Yes, he is small. He is still not even on the charts for his adjusted age of 15 months. Sigh. The pediatrician is having his blood tested to make sure he is not deficient in human growth hormone. As his mom, I think he is 100% fine. He eats well (healthy foods) and considering he started life out at 2lbs 1oz, I think he has come a long way! I think he just got my genes and is going to be tiny. He is healthy and smart and happy and joyful and that is all I care about! Maybe he will be a star gymnast instead of basketball player. So what? :)
As you can see from these pictures, Carter is now sporting his Big Brother shirt. I talk about the baby a lot in hopes of building up some excitement, although I think Carter will be a bit annoyed for the first year or so of this baby's life as he begins to realize he is no longer the baby of the family. Yes, it's safe to say he is just a bit spoiled!

On more than one occasion, Carter has been called a girl. I don't get it. It's not like he has bows in his hair or pink clothes on. Dave thinks it's because his hair is getting long. I can't bear to cut it, especially this little curl in the back. What do you think?

This last pic is from this weekend. Carter took his nap on the couch in his typical sleep position. It looks so uncomfortable to me, but he seems to love it:

Night in the Canyon

We had a birthday party for Jesse at my mom's house in the canyon. Mexican food, music, a campfire, and family. Carter was in heaven. Jesse got a new camera lens for his birthday and took some awesome pics of the night:

Dave's face.... so crazy.

Baby #3

Dear Baby,

Where do I begin? How can I even begin to tell you how special you are to me and to your daddy and to your big brother Carter? We are so excited to meet you in November. November! Do you hear me baby? You need to stay put until Thanksgiving Day. That is your due date and I am firmly holding you to it! November is a very special month. That is when your twin brothers Carter and Grayson were born. We tried for a very long time to get pregnant with them and it was a rocky pregnancy from start to finish. Sweet baby Grayson only lived for a month and I am sad that you will not get to meet him (although, who knows? Maybe you have already met!) After the boys were born we were pretty certain that we could not have any more babies. Your daddy and I decided that we would probably try to adopt a baby sometime in the future.

A few months ago, I started not feeling very well. I knew something was up but wasn't sure what it could be. I never thought I could be pregnant! You can only imagine the shock I felt when I saw all three positive pregnancy tests. It took three pregnancy tests, a blood test, and an ultrasound for me to believe you were even there! I couldn't believe it. What a wonderful, exciting, surprising miracle you are already.

Today your daddy and I got to see you again on the ultrasound. You are so much bigger! You were dancing and flipping and kicking and trying very hard to suck on your thumb. We both got very teary-eyed thinking how perfect you are and how lucky we are to have you in our lives.

Now, I'd like to inform you that I am doing my best to be a good home for you. But you are not making it easy! Because of you I have been so sick and exhausted and food no longer tastes good and I have been craving really gross food that I would never normally eat, like beef jerky! Yuck! Now that I am in my second trimester, I am really hoping that you give me a break. I'd like to go back to eating healthy foods and having energy to chase after your very active 18 month old brother! Carter is the sweetest boy ever and I know he is going to love you as soon as he sees you. I promise you that he will teach you everything he can and will look after you and protect you.

I can't wait to find out if you are a girl or a boy. I keep dreaming about you being a little girl but daddy keeps thinking you are a boy. Either way, you are perfect and we adore you. I have been thinking about baby names but I think I need to meet you first before I can decide. I wonder if you will look more like Carter (who looks like daddy) or more like Grayson (who looked like me). I think about you every day. It's hard not to think about you now that my tummy is growing big and I "see" you everytime I look down!

I love you sweet baby. You are already a joy to have in our lives and your family is very excited to meet you.... in NOVEMBER!

Love always and forever,

Mommy

Old Towne Orange

Yesterday we returned to our old neighborhood. Oh, how I miss it there! We started off with breakfast at the BlueFrog Bakery. If you want a delicious and charming breakfast place... go here! We had a fresh baked apple turnover, chai tea latte, and Big Froggie breakfast burritos. YUM. After breakfast we walked over to the new Farmer's Market. Didn't bring cash so we didn't buy anything but we did run into our old neighbor and chatted for awhile. Dave and I called that neighborhood home for 5 years. It always feels good to return.

Boys asleep after a long day.

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day is a wonderful day to celebrate my most important accomplishment in my life--becoming a mother. And for all you mothers out there, you know that this is NOT an easy job. But, it is the most wonderfully rewarding job you could ever have. All I have to do is look at Carter's sweet smile and my daily routine of feedings, diaper changes, baths, tantrums, and endless Elmo songs running through my head is totally worth it. This year my day started off perfect. I SLEPT IN. It was heavenly. Then I was woken up by my sweet husband and Carter with a yummy breakfast delivered to me from Bagels and Brew. So delicious! We took Carter to visit Grayson so my Mother's Day could be complete.

Carter was thrilled to have found a grave with plastic Easter eggs left on it. I let him play with them (not sure if that is against some sort of cemetery etiquette?!) We of course put them back before we left!
Then we went home for naptime and Dave and I got to cuddle on the couch and watch a few episodes of Camelot. Then we headed to his brother's house for dinner. Carter loved the freedom of running around their big house and eventually tripped, fell, and smacked his face on the tile. It was a bloody disaster. I could not even bear to look at it! Dave's pediatrician brother came to the rescue and it ended up fine (bloody nose and cut lip, nothing serious.) Carter begged for his ba-ba of milk and was running around again in no time!



Carter giving me one of his famous open mouth attack kisses!



Yesterday was a lovely day. I love being a mom to such a sweet child and am lucky to have a wonderfully supportive husband who did everything to make my day nice. Being a mom makes me appreciate my own mother so much more for all the stress, anxiety, and worry that we put her through over the years!

Daddy Date Night

Carter had a Friday date night with Daddy, which means Mommy had a girl's night out (PF Changs and shopping!)
Carter and Dave started the evening out with a dance party:

Followed by some hide and seek:

This is what the living room looked like when I got home:

This is what Dave looked like:

This is what Carter looked like:

Guess they had a good time. :)