Summertime Fun

We've had lots of good "summertime" moments in the past few weeks, so I thought I'd lump them all together. To start, Carter and I drove to San Juan Capistrano and waited at the Train Depot for Tovah (my roomate from UCSB) to come meet us. I've never really walked around the old towne part of San Juan--it is so cute! There is a petting zoo, lots of little cafes and restaurants, and beautiful trees and gardens. Here we are at the petting zoo:

We had lunch at a really yummy restaurant where we sat outside in a cute little courtyard. My salad was delicious, just a bit tricky to eat it with a squirmy baby in my lap!

Carter has had lots of swimming adventures lately. He really loves the water and he could spend hours in the pool! Here he is swimming with his Grandma:

My mom loved swimming with him so much that she bought Carter his very own pool for her house, complete with fishies to swim with!

Carter loves swimming with his daddy, perhaps because his daddy will toss him up in the air (as my heart stops beating!)

Here is Carter relaxing with his Auntie Harmony:

And hanging out with his new best friend, Lily:

Lastly, Carter is totally into alliterations... to my delight! He loves words that sound similar or silly in some way. He really likes the word "DVD" and he loves when I sing him "Chim-Chimney." After reading a book of nursery rhymes, I found yet another favorite:

Weekend in Ramona!

Awhile ago, Dave purchased vacation points from a timeshare company for us to go to a resort in Mexico. When we got pregnant, that trip got put on hold and eventually the points expired. I called the travel company and explained our situation and they redeemed our points but instead of Mexico, we decided to plan a week in Lake Tahoe instead. The only catch was we had to attend an hour long presentation on the timeshare, which wasn't offered in Lake Tahoe. So they gave us a weekend at their resort in Ramona. The resort was nice but much more catered towards the older crowd (tennis, raquetball, horseback riding, etc.) It also was really hot (90+ degrees!) Our "room" was really more of an apartment with a full kitchen, dining area, living room, patio, etc. So we went to the grocery store the night we got there, stocked up on food, and really didn't leave the room much the whole weekend which turned out to be fabulous. It was so wonderful to spend time with my two favorite boys.

We played games and acted silly:

We ventured outside for a quick walk:

We took naps together:

Dave and I had donuts for breakfast but Carter got to have breakfast in bed:

On our way out, we stopped at the Ramona Cafe for breakfast (as seen on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives). The food was amazing--Carter was disappointed that I did not let him taste the cinnamon roll!

It was a wonderful weekend getaway!

Busy Busy Busy = Fun Fun Fun!

So the past two weeks have been so busy. We have had so much going on and Carter has been a trooper through it all. He seems to really enjoy going out and seeing people. He loves new places and it's almost like you can see his little brain in action, learning about everything as he observes. After much insistance and begging, I convinced Dave to join us at the OC Fair. We went with a great group of friends, ate some yummy food, and had a wonderful time. My camera battery died after the first picture we took, but here we are on the way to see the animals:

I also had to work in the office three days this week, so Carter spent some time with my mom. He absolutely loves their house and was spoiled by being pulled around in a Radio Flyer wagon all over the canyon. Here he is in his special "Off to Grandma's" shirt:

Here he is in the wagon with my mom:

Next, Carter had a play date at Mason Park in Irvine with his friend John. John's mommy is Sarah and we were roomates in college at UCSB. It has been wonderful to reconnect with her and her beautiful family and we all had a blast at the park. John is already walking around, so it is exciting to see what things will be like when Carter is a toddler! For now, he was content to sit on the ground and pull up big handfuls of grass--I couldn't get him to look up for any of the pictures! I had never been to Mason Park and it was huge and beautiful. I thought we'd feed the ducks and managed to get through about one slice of bread before being overrun by ducks and geese that were so loud and honestly, quite frightening! (Carter looked mildly amused as Sarah and I pushed our strollers at record speed!)

So what better way to end all this excitement than with a good nap? Here are some of Carter's favorite sleeping spots (notice that none of them are in his own bed!)

Now, it's off to Ramona for a little weekend getaway to simply relax from all this excitement!

Family Fun and Hanging with the Boys

Is it just me, or is my child getting cuter by the day? I was looking at some newborn pics of Carter the other day to see how much he has changed. Back then I would look at this tiny baby and think there was no way he could get any cuter. But he does! He is such a little charmer and always knows when to flash his smile. Dave and I are so in love with this little boy. It's interesting to think that Carter just kind of fit into our relationship. We went from being just the two of us for over 10 years, to being like the Three Musketeers in the blink of an eye. [singing] We were the three best friends that anyone could have... (Hopefully some of you got that joke!)

Dave and I went on a hike on Saturday with Carter on the trail in Whiting Ranch (if you have never been--it is a must!) Dave wore Carter in the Bjorn and off we went! At first Carter loved looking around at all the plants and beautiful scenery, but after about 15 minutes into the hike, he was fast asleep! Hopefully this hiking thing can be a reoccuring Saturday activity as I am desperate to get back into shape.

Carter also had a play date this weekend. Carter's Grandma Linda is a middle school teacher. Coincidentally, her coworkers all had either sons or grandsons born around the same time this year. So they had a get-together so all the little baby boys could play. Carter is the oldest by about 3 months (and believe it or not, the smallest!) It was really cute to get all the boys together. He especially seems to love a little boy named Jackson--they are the closet in age.

Here are all the boys:

And here is Carter next to the youngest little boy--he is only 3.5 months old! It really puts it into perspective for me that my little guy is still a "little guy!" Who knows though? He could end up being 6'2" like Dave someday!

Happy Baby!

Carter is a joy to be around. He is giggly and smiley and makes all sorts of silly faces. The downside is lately he has been waking up in the middle of the night because his teeth (or lack of teeth!) have been bugging him. I feel bad for him as it seems like he has been teething for over a month and there is still nothing there! Except his gums now feel swollen, so hopefully that is a sign that we will see a pearly white tooth pop up any day now! He bites everything! (Including people, as you will see later in this post!)

We have been house hunting, which has been SO fun. Molly (our long-time friend and now our realtor!) has been awesome and she has given us a ton of great information. I can't wait to buy our first official home. Such a big step and I am beyond ready for it!

This may be why Carter doesn't like to sleep in his crib--his daddy spoils him:

Our little Angel fan:

Fun with Auntie Harmony:

Don't let the above innocent face fool you. Poor Auntie Harmony did not know what was in store for her!

You'd think he would have learned his lesson about eating hair but nope--he still takes handfuls of mine every day!

8 Months!

Tomorrow Carter will be 8 months. He "passed" his neurodevelopment assessment, which means that he is testing in his age range and will not need therapy of any kind for at least a year--hooray! He is now pretty stable sitting up and playing with his toys, although he'd much rather have someone sitting by his side, watching him play (frustrating when I am trying to work and just want him to play by himself for 5 minutes!) He has me wrapped around his finger and he is definitely the boss of the house which is beginning to drive everyone crazy. Dave and I are finally determined to be a bit stricter at bedtime (making Carter stay in his crib all night!) We are trying it out this weekend... wish us luck! He now only naps in his crib (no more swing) so he is slowly getting used to it.

Carter is much more aware of his surroundings now. He knows when he has a toy in his hand and if you take it away, he protests. He loves my mom's dog Lily (a big boxer) but isn't too happy with my uncle's dogs (little Boston terriers--he bursts into tears when he sees them!) He loves being outside (as long as it isn't too sunny) and he loves swimming in the pool. He is starting to get a bit of anxiety around strangers or people he doesn't know too well... I am hoping this will pass or we will never be able to convince anyone to babysit for us!

Isn't this the cutest back of the head you've ever seen?

Lastly, we borrowed an activity saucer from Dave's brother. Carter likes it but is very unsure of one toy that I refer to as "clown dog" because it looks like a dog with a clown costume on--a bit creepy. Here is a funny video of Carter trying to decide what to do about this clown dog... I think he also thinks it is a bit scary!