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...