Carson's first Christmas...

Carson had a great first Christmas! And we had the best Christmas having him! Eric was suppose to work on Christmas, but got put on call and never had to go in, so Carson and I were so happy to have him on Christmas!!!!


It was especially a hard Christmas for my grandma without my grandpa, but Carson made her smile! We all missed my grandpa!
Carson laughing at the dogs, he loves dogs!
His rolling backpack with his name on it so he can pack all his toys for going over to the beach.

He got a bean bag with his name on it, he already loves to lay on it. He will love having things with his name on them so he doesn't have to share with his brother or sister someday! haha.


He loved opening his packages.
I love this picture-look at Carson's mohawk from behind! haha. Sometimes it flips up in the front so we call him CarsonWho from Whoville.
Santa also brought him this toy, he was so excited to rip it open!
He enjoyed all his goodies Santa brought him.

Here is Carson's stocking filled up by Santa the night before. I LOVE this picture because we waited and prayed for a baby for so long and to see a stocking with Carson's name on it this year was SO awesome! Thank you Lord for our beautiful baby boy this Christmas!

A Big Slice of Humble Pie..

So the reason I blog is to send it out to our friends and family who we don't get to see often and also it is basically a journal that I will have forever to look back and see what our lives were like raising our kids.
So I want to remember this time, all the fun moments and not so fun ones along the way. This Christmas season is a special one for sure! We have our son and we feel beyond blessed this Christmas! We are also extremely sad at the same time with my grandpa missing his most favorite holiday, Christmas. And we are going to miss him and it just won't be the same. I've never had a Christmas without him in my life. Even harder is that my mom has never had a Christmas without her dad and my grandma has had 62 Christmas' with him. A bit bittersweet this year to say the least. Thank goodness Carson is here to bring smiles to our faces this Christmas!
Eric and I also, like every Christmas, have no money. I don't mean that in a poor me way, he is in school, it is no surprise. This will be our last Christmas that he will be in school so for that we are so excited! By the time Carson expects Santa to leave a special package, he will be able to, haha. Thank goodness we just have to get sippy cups and little things like that this year. I think that we all deserve a little humbling in our lives though, I mean it is a way to fully appreciate what we will have someday and still be understanding and compassionate for those who struggle. Trust me, we get the struggle part and the humbling part right now! haha. We still get spoiled with gifts every year, and it is a lousy feeling when you can't give anything back, but once again a big slice of humble pie thrown our way! So as much as we look forward to the TRUE meaning of Christmas and being with our families and eating yummy food, we also kind of dread the gift giving part, because we know we have nothing to give. I also realize that maybe I want to start a new tradition with our family when our kids our older. Maybe do something that doesn't involve so much "stuff", like going to a nursing home and visiting, or a homeless shelter, or just getting less gifts so they don't get so greedy. I think by not having so much at this time in our lives I am hoping at least it will help us to learn something from it and make a change so that when we do have the means we will still be humbled by this time in our lives.

Carson and The Claus..

So Carson went and met Santa and Mrs. Claus for the first time tonight. Needless to say it was a bit scary, they aren't friends this year. He started off just fine. We got some pictures of him not crying, just a little bug eyed. He was staring at us like "don't you leave me mom and dad". Then we took a couple steps back to take a picture and bam, total terror! Eric went right away to go grab him, but being the mean mom I made him sit long enough to get another picture! : ) This was at the place Eric works and they had a dinner and Santa and Mrs. Claus were in the middle so EVERYONE heard the screams and we had quite an audience. We supplied the entertainment.

My grandpa passed away on Monday, just 3 days before we thought he would be going home from rehab. Instead he went to the best home ever! We miss him terribly already! We will lay him to rest Friday. The best grandpa and great grandpa ever!

We are back from Oregon and Carson is a pro traveler, he was great. He smiled at everyone who looked at him and was very popular.

Here he is laughing and being funny as always. His little cheeks were so chapped and red from the cold, they were so cute! He is a California boy, not use to the cold at all.

All bundled up, we kept calling him Ralphie since he reminded us of the little boy Ralphie in "A Christmas Story". He could hardly move with all his layers.
We had a great trip seeing Eric's grandpa, he really loved seeing us, well mostly Carson lets be honest. We are home and after traveling with a baby we were tired, he was teething the whole time and so not only was he in a new place, but he couldn't sleep with the teething pain. So we got one good nights rest last night (he actually slept all night) before we get another round of shots tomorrow, which means no sleeping and a lot of crying for the next couple of nights...can't wait. He runs a fever with his shots and he is just plain miserable. At least this is it for a while though. I am going to go enjoy my happy baby now, since after tomorrow morning he won't be so happy. : ( Oh and it totally sucks when they are this age and they look right up at you while they poke about 4-5 shots in their little chubby legs while you hold their arms down. The whole time saying "I'm not doing it, she is, I am just holding your arms". They just stare at you like "help me mom", just awful I tell you!

More Oregon pictures...

Today we went to the Harry and David store. It is the main headquarters for Harry and David.

Gorgeous blue eyes this boy has.
Carson getting his bath in the sink in our hotel room. He likes to get his bath in it.
Spending quality time with his great grandpa.
Playing with his tractor Eric's grandpa got him as a gift. Carson loves playing it.
He is all relaxed and snuggling.

Carson's great grandpa...

We are in Oregon right now visiting Eric's grandpa. Here is Carson's great grandpa holding him for the first time. They hit it off right away! Carson even started sucking his thumb that is how relaxed he was. Oh and he got to meet Carson on his 6 month birthday, that's right Carson is 6 months old today!!! He crawls and can sit up on his own. He is getting so big boyish. He also had his first plane ride today and he did great! Laughed and played the whole time, even slept some too. We are loving our 6 month old!
Carson's great grandpa was showing him the moon, it was SO pretty!
The boys...

Thanksgiving

My grandpa is still in rehab and had to miss the Thanksgiving feast this year, but next year he can make up for it! We took Carson to see him before we headed out to the ranch. My grandpa liked that he looked like a cowboy, he is afterall our little buckeroo.


This is my other grandpa doing what he does best-swatting flies. He worries about all the flies and the door being left open, so this is what he pretty much does the whole time.
Carson was so great while everyone loved on him. He got to meet lots of people for the first time.
My cousins little boy Nathan, he wanted so badly to play with the big kids. He will have 2 baby brothers soon to play with though.
My dad and Carson matched in their orange and brown plaid shirts, it was so funny. Carson had on his shirt my parents got him in Tennessee that says "Made from Scratch" they got it at a restaurant they ate at called "The Loveless Cafe".

Carson had a cute little friend to play with, they are a week apart. Carson even shared his toys with her.
My cousin's little girl Kaylee met Carson for the first time. She had the most fun playing with all kids, they played where the orange trees are just running and throwing oranges. They had the best time.
Carson's Thanksgiving feast consisted of peas and rice cereal. Next year will be so much better for you Carson, just wait!

Carson and his Great-Grandpa

Carson LOVES his jumperoo. He will be playing with his toys and then when Daisy comes by he will do this hysterical laughing. This kid laughs all the time, which then makes us laugh, so we all just laugh a lot!



This is Carson visiting his great grandpa at rehab last night. Grandpa was tired after a long day of rehab and he was taken to the hospital for xrays, so he was exhausted, but he still loved seeing Carson! Carson was laying on his belly and bonding with his great grandpa, it was really cute.

The last week...

I don't have any pictures to post today because I am on our laptop in the living room while Carson plays and watches baby beethoven. I hope to post some soon, it seems he changes daily and I like to keep pictures posted on here so I can look back and see all the changes. Carson is doing great and enjoying his new foods. He has eaten so far, avocados (his first food other than rice cereal and oatmeal), butternut squash, and the last couple of days yams. He really enjoys the yams a lot, except holy moly do the yams give him gas, really stinky gas at that. He is all boy and seems to think it is really funny to gross his mommy and everyone else out. I have still been attempting to get him to take a bottle, which has proven to be very difficult. I bought a beginner sippy cup and that too has not worked that great either. He plays with it, but refuses to think of it as his food source. I am still working on it, I will not give up! Note to self-offer a bottle every so often to next child so you don't have to go through this forcing a bottle on a baby who thinks the bottle is the worst thing in the world!

We have been going to the place my grandpa is for rehab. He is doing good, he has been here a few days and seems to be doing really well after a surgery from a brain bleed, scary. Carson has been going everyday to see him and I think he enjoys seeing Carson, I mean how can a baby not cheer you up. Babies are the best medicine sometimes. Carson is used to going now too, the first time he cried and cried, I take that back-he screamed and screamed. He is familiar with the place and seems comfortable now, thank goodness. My grandpa is doing better and won't be there for too much longer, so that is great news. Carson kept holding his hand yesterday when he saw him, it was so cute. He would look at his great grandpa and give him big smiles and be silly, I am sure that just makes my grandpa's day.

Birthday and baby food...

A couple of days ago it was my birthday and I had a very nice one. Eric ended up with the day off so that was a surprise. Since Eric doesn't cook he took me to breakfast and dinner that day, we skipped lunch completely this day. We went to the new crepes place we have, it was really good. I got the strawberry and nutella crepe, so yummy! Eric got one with eggs and ham, it was also very good. Although I am partial to the dessert ones! I highly recommend the place, the people are so nice I hope they have success in their new business. That night we also went to dinner and had sushi at a restaurant we had never been to, it was SO good!!! It is my new favorite restaurant now. I had been wanting to go for so long, but being pregnant and all I avoided it, I knew it would be too tempting to hold back and not eat any of the sushi. My sister made a cake so we went back and ate that after, I am sure I gained like 5 pounds on my birthday. Oh I almost forgot to mention that I got my first facial on my birthday too. Eric had gotten me a spa gift certificate for Mother's Day and I finally used it on my birthday. Eric thought it was great since it was like 2 gifts in one...haha. I told him it was a BIG mistake because I LOVED it. It felt SO great to relax and have a moment to myself, the demands of nursing makes that time SO precious!

Speaking of feeding Carson....I made my first batches of baby food yesterday and put it in the freezer. I have that Beaba baby food maker...they sell it at Williams and Sonoma. I really love it! It is nice to steam and puree the food in one machine. I made squash and the other was a mixture of potato, carrot and turnip (it tastes really good for big people too). It is so easy and I love that the color is so bright and the taste is just like the real thing, not as bland as the store bought kind (not that there is anything wrong with that). Oh ya, and it is so much cheaper than buying it jarred. It is fun to come up with new recipes for baby too. And you can add in herbs to get them use to all the flavors of real food. It is actually really fun. Now that Carson is crawling and getting rather good at it, he is burning more calories and wants to eat more, so I am going to have to feed him more baby food. He is ALL boy and moves like crazy. Being his only food source has come to an end, I can no longer keep up, he is hungry ALL the time and so formula is also going to have to be incorporated. My how he is growing up so fast!

This is what he looks like as soon as the bib goes on...he knows it's coming!
Here he is enjoying every bite of his squash and oatmeal. Mmmmmm...he even tries to feed himself, he will grab the spoon and shove it in.
And then like clockwork...the thumb goes in and he begins to fade.

Carson Crawling...

Who knew that turning just a mere 5 months old would mean crawling already. He is on the move people. I can't believe it! I feel like he is one step away from heading to college, slow down Carson-mommy can't take this doing things early business, I need you to stay my little snuggly baby forever!







Carson also started avocados mixed in with his rice cereal at night the other day. Then tonight I added some butternut squash in his rice cereal. He loves it. I started him early on rice cereal with a spoon at 3 months, so he is more than ready for baby food. I still just give it to him at night since nursing is still what he needs the most of. But he enjoys the new tastes. Tonight it was really sweet, he was so tired I had Eric hold him while I fed him and he kept falling asleep. I managed to get most of it in him, but he was SO tired, this time change is making it so hard to keep him up. He has been asleep by 7:30 every night. It is nice, I just don't like getting up early! haha. But 7:30 is a nice bedtime, Eric and I can actually enjoy time together just us, although we talk about Carson the whole time, haha-isn't that how it goes?

Carson also has started using his voice like crazy! He just kinda yells and has nice intonation (I am a communicative disorders major, can you tell) it is so funny. Today he was doing this cough all day just because he figured out he can, he kept doing it all day, he would cough and then laugh. He is seriously going to be a funny kid I think.

The teething that is going on has been tough at times. We've had a few really rough days with that. It is so pitiful when they cry in pain and they don't know why they hurt, so sad. He just looks up at me like "do something mom." I can tell he is going to pop a tooth any day now so hopefully he will have relief for little bit before it starts up again.


Well that is what Carson has been up to the last week since turning 5 months old.

Relaxing, what?

Ahhhhh...my precious little boy is asleep and the house is quiet, except for our VERY loud fridge that seriously is annoying, other than that it is so peaceful. Daisy is asleep at my feet and I am watching Community and eating cheerios with mini chocolate chips, life is pretty good. I realize that I never get to sit for very long and it is much appreciated when I do. Now that Carson is teething he is more demanding, I don't mind at all, I just realize now I never sit and relax. I usually just go straight to bed, no tv. Or I watch my shows while feeding or cleaning. This is a rare moment. It would be much better if my husband were here with me enjoying this rare moment, but he is working hard, for free : ( getting his clinical hours. Carson and I can't wait for him to be done with school and have more time with us! He works so hard, but I know he will LOVE doing the job he is meant to do and he will be great at it and he will have so many opportunities to help people, which is his passion. So for now I will enjoy this quiet moment alone until my husband graduates and can join me. I think I will go check on my adorable sleeping baby now, cuz sleeping babies are the best- they are so snuggly and cute!

Carson's first Halloween

He went as Carson the Cable Guy with a camo beanie that said Git-R-Done on it. We cut off a flannel shirt and the transformation was hil-larry-ous!!! haha, I am SO cheesy. Here he is on my dads lap while we all laughed at him...I mean we laughed with him of course.

Eric and Carson both had their work boots on.
There he is making his daddy laugh, just like Larry.
My mom holding him at the church carnival...I don't think that many people from church know who Larry is....haha. We tried to find a temporary tattoo that said "mom" but couldn't find one, so the Mater tattoo bandaid my mom got him was perfect!
Blair went the cute route as a piggy, it was the most adorable pig costume!

We all had Git-R-Done hats on...thanks to Eric of course. I originally said no way to the Larry the Cable Guy thing, but I think it was pretty cute and funny in the end.
This picture was on Halloween Eve, I love it because he looks so little and babyish!!!