1 year appointment

Carter had what will probably be the first memory of what it is to go to the doctor's office today. He was just different in there - much more aware of what was going on. Smiling at the cute little girls in the waiting room and the nice nurse who measured and weighted him.

When Dr. Voytas came in however, Carter got very serious and (if you can believe this) CUDDLY! 4 shots and a very upset baby and we were on our way home, but not without some value information.

Height: 30.5" - 75%
Weight: 22.8 lbs - 50% (yep, he's on the skinny side)



Yes to milk (good, 'cause he's been drinking it for a week now)

18-24 oz of milk/day

TRY to get rid of the bottle within the month

Yes to eggs (yolk or whites, whatever)

We can turn the car seat around whenever we want, but as long as he is happy with it rear-facing, we should keep it that way
since it's safer

How'd he do that?!

Carter has gotten used to roaming freely around the house since we've had so much company lately so, keeping him in the playroom is almost impossible no matter how many toys I put in there. Today, I was baking zucchini bread (Yes, I baked thank you very much) and the little stinker got just out of my sight. I quickly hurried to the corner of the living room that isn't visible from the kitchen to find this:



What?! How'd he do that? The chair is little, but it would still require some climbing for him and he has never even attempted to get into the chair alone. Once again, my camera was out of reach so, I grabbed the Iphone and put him next to the chair to see if I could catch him doing it again. Here is what I saw (sorry for the blurry photos - Iphone and a busy 1 year old).











That's not all. No, he also enjoys standing in his chair and leaning over the side to reach whatever is on his little table. Just when you think you've got the house babyproof.....

He-man Woman Haters Club

So many birthday presents! So many Christmas presents! I just had to share this one. Carter got this fun play-set-thingy with a house-like structure, a tent, and two tunnels. Boy, does he LOVE tunnels! The instructions were a bit vague and ended up taking Chris and Carter about an hour to construct the one house-like piece, but once complete, they had their own He-man Woman Haters' Club.

Cousin lovin' 2

With the holidays winding down, I have a minute to share some photos and video of Carter and my ADORABLE niece! It was so great to have Uncle TJ and Auntie Storm for Carter's birthday party, but let's face it, Carter was much more excited to see Miss Isabelle.

These two had so much fun together and we all had a blast watching them!

Happy Birthday Carter!

My sweet little man turned one today! I sat down to write this post for him very excited, but as I type, I'm filled with mixed emotions.

At this time last year, I had known my sweet boy for just a few hours (5 hours, but as he was in the NICU and I was exhausted and drugged, it was much less than that at this time last year). By this time, everyone had left the hospital, exhausted as well after waiting 24 hours for his arrival. Chris and I were settled in my hospital room with our new little bundle and amazed by the wonder of him. He was so tiny.

That sweet baby now weighs close to 24 pounds and can ride his electric 4-wheeler that Uncle TJ and Auntie Storm got him for his birthday ALL-BY-HIMSELF. He is the happiest baby I have ever seen, smiling at anyone who will look his way.

Everyday has been better than the last since December 24, 2008. Happy Birthday my sweet little man!



Photo courtesy of Grandma Cupcake - more photos to come from his birthday party and Hawaii

Another day with nothing to do

Another little peak into our Hawaii trip!

Grandpa Roger relaxing on the beach



The family at sunset on our balcony


Little man chilllin' in a cabana by the pool




Our little family relaxing at the Westlunds' before dinner.

Mele Kalikimaka

Aloha from Maui! Yes, we made it. We were able to unpack just enough to be able to pack for a week-long vacacation in Maui with the Roberts and Westlunds. The weather is G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S and I'm already sunburned.

We got off to a rocky start since Chris and I were still getting over being sick and Carter was the sadest little sick guy yesterday. It almost made me cry to look at my poor baby last night with his running nose and dazed look. He woke this morning looking completely refreshed so, we are hoping to all stay healthy the rest of the trip!

Mele Kalikimaka and we'll see you all soon!

Views from our room:




Little man in his cabana on the beach:



Little man with Grandma J:

A message from Santa!!!

Message from Santa

Allllll aboard!

This past Sunday the Roberts took a much needed break from boxes to join the Bonners on the Polar Express!

There were cookies and hot cocoa served by Polar Express chefs



The book was read aloud (Carter and Will wanted to turn the pages themselves)



And they really liked the conductor punching their tickets although, Carter was a bit perplexed when he got his ticket back with all those holes!



Carter was very excited to see Santa - from a distance. He loved to watch him with other kids, but what you don't see in the video is that when Santa looked up at Carter and said "hello" Carter shook his head back and forth faster and stronger than we'd seen before! He let Santa hold him, but only for a moment so that he could take the silver bell that Santa so kindly gave him and through it on the floor.



He really enjoyed the North Pole

Fake Laugh

What you are about to see is a re-enactment of an event that happened just moments before mommy could get the camera out. Every time daddy would make the spoon move, Carter would bust out laughing! We would then laugh at his laugh. So, I ran to get the camera and our little ham performed for us - laughing for the camera, but you can tell he doesn't even think the spoon is funny any more!!

Slight problem

Carter has adjusted to the move to our new home very easily. He sleeps in his crib just as his did in our last place and already knows that the playroom is just a baby jail - just like he figured us out at the last house with the living room. The only problem we are having is with the arrangement of the furniture in his room. He's figured out how to open his nursery door and turn the light on and off so, when I go to get him from his nap, the door is always wide open and light is either on or being turned on and off repeatedly.

A little break

After unpacking the 110th box today I realized.. the boxes aren't going anywhere! So, I took a break from unpacking and found the box specially marked "Christmas Presents" and grabbed the wrapping paper that he been tossed on the "office" floor and settled in to a 15 minute break from unpacking to wrap presents.



Not a terribly relaxing break, but at this point, I'll take it!

We're in!

We signed papers today and even though we won't officially close until tomorrow or the next day, the sellers were nice enough to give us the keys tonight. So, here I am at 11:30, finally calling it quits. We took an entire load over (a trailer full, truck full, and honda pilot full).

Once we unloaded to the garage, we thought - what the heck! Let's start unpacking! And so we did. Not too much. Just a few boxes to be able to bring them back empty to fill again. We unpacked the important things. You know, the Christmas tree!



And, as luck would have it, I found Carter's little duckies right away to put on the cute shelf that the sellers left in the bathroom.



I have to admit, walking into our new home was more overwhelming that any other move I've made. We counted them up and between Chris and I, we have moved/helped move each other 11 times in the past 7 years. This is our 12th move between the two of us in 7 YEARS! But, this one is so very different. This is our first home that we together searched for and bought together to live in together without an end in sight. Every other home has been his or mine and we always knew it wasn't our "forever" home.

So, walking in tonight was a bit overwhelming. Tonight we walked into OUR HOME!

GG Lou in da house!

Great Grandma Lou came to visit for the holidays and thank goodness we have good home owners' insurance because with the way she and Carter play together, we are lucky I didn't take one of them to the hospital! I don't know where they get their energy, but I'd like some please!



It got so wild that Carter's pants were slowing him down so, off they went! Thanks for coming GG. We had a blast - especially Carter!

As promised

I got my camera back today so I'm keeping my word to post photos and video from Thanksgiving. This is what it looks like to try to get 6 children under the age of 5 to pose for a photo with their great-grandma and no, this isn't ALL of GG Lois' great-grandkids. We started counting and we think she has 10 now!



And the finished product:


Ian (3), Aliya (6 months), Carter (11 months), Austan (1 month), Owen (5), Corbin (2) - Everyone but Carter is a first cousin. How fun is that for them to all be so close in age?

Thanksgiving round 2

Auntie Lindsey was off saving lives yesterday so, she invited us over for a beautiful Thanksgiving dinner today. The food was amazing! The table setting was amazing! The company was amazing.

We had to cut the night a little shorter than we would have liked since Carter started to come apart at the seams (he was SO good considering he had been awake for 6 hours). Thanks Auntie Lindsey and Uncle Auggie for the wonderful Thanksgiving day!

Daddy time

Carter and Daddy have been making up for all that time that Daddy was out of town for work this past month. Here, they are supposed to be eating breakfast. Instead, Daddy is showing Carter how to make noise with his hand and mouth which he quickly copied.

Clown hair A.K.A. Bedhead

Little man has the cutest darn curls I have every seen! Problem is, his hair only curls when he gets hot, it's humid or mommy wets his hair and messes with it. 9 times out of 10, he wakes up from his nap and his cute little curls are mostly gone and we have what I call "clown hair".

I give you Exhibit A


And now Exhibit B




See? All curls on the side.

And what is with the hair on top? It is just a mess! The best I can do is try to make it curly - which usually looks like I've put a ton of gel in his hair when really, I just got it wet - or do the comb over. So, I think the time has come to let Gramma Cupake give Carter his first hair cut. Why Gramma? Well, she used to be a licensed hairstylist. I think it was somewhere before being a professional party clown and after working in a grocery store bakery, but any way, at some point she was licensed.

No worries. She won't be cutting off the curls. She has promised to just try to fix the crazy hair on top.

Cart sickness

I think Carter has had enough of this riding backwards stuff! We're almost to that year mark when we get to turn his carseat around. He just can't wait any longer when it comes to shopping. He's decided that if he can't ride facing forward, he will at least sit sideways.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We just got back from a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at Auntie J's and Uncle Andy's in Scio, Oregon. It was a small gathering of about oh, 35?! It was so great to see everyone. Every year the little kids get older and now it seems they aren't the little kids anymore! This year we had a whole new bunch of little ones including Carter.

I left my camera there so, my pictures and videos will have to wait until Monday, but GG shared some of hers with us.

Here is Carter with his GG Lou and GG Lois


And two of Carter's 2nd or is it 3rd cousins...


Little Corbin (Chris' cousin's daughter) just loves her little cousin Aliya (Chris' other cousin's daughter). Cross your fingers - I think I got a video of her cuddling with her!

Big news!

I had to give it a few days so that everyone who is supposed to find it on their own could, but I'm pretty confident that by now, everyone who should know does. Now it's time for everyone who would want to know to know. Does that make sense?

Without further ado....


Carter is getting a NEW cousin!!!!!!

We are over the moon for T.J. and Storm and especially the big sister, little Miss Isabelle. Check out their blog to see how we found out.

Hmm... what's this?

Daddy carries Carter on his shoulders all the time (usually holding onto his hands) but, as Carter is getting older, he wants his independence. He doesn't need to hold daddy's hands. Especially when he has discovered these great handles.



Now look closer. Again, I wish I had video on my phone. He is sticking his little finger in Chris' ear and wiggling it around.

Shopping CAN be fun!

Today little man and I went across town to sell books at Powell's bookstore and hang with Auntie. She introduced us to New Seasons. When Lindsey said we should eat lunch there I thought she was nuts. Lunch.. at a grocery store?!

OMG! Have I been living in a cave or what? It was like a gourmet food court - everything made with fresh ingredients. We opted to share a turkey sandwich and a bowl of chicken soup which Carter really enjoyed! It was a bit pricey, but so good!

Since we were there, we decided to check out the baby food section. Obviously, their organic selection was quite a bit better than Walmart so, I stocked up. I couldn't get myself to buy anything else due to the severe sticker shock that I was in, but boy did Carter have fun in their shopping carts!!! I was really wishing I had the iphone with the video option today to show you how he honked the horn and kept holding on to the steering wheel. Too cute.

A cute picture

We went to our friend Ashley's birthday party the other night and took little man with us. He was exceptionally good since it was past 7 pm and he usually goes to bed at 6!!! Just look how happy he was to be able to go with us.