Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays.

Here's to packing on the extra pounds this Holiday Season!

Wishing all of you a very wonderful Holiday Season! 

 

Long time...no...blog?

Wow, has it really been almost a month since I've last posted? I really need to get on this!! I see I now have a couple new followers, which is awesome...thanks for bearing (baring?...its 2 am and i've lost my brain) with me through my long rants and absence of posts! I never thought I'd be one of those people that gets carried away with holiday things and forgets just about everything else...but here's proof! Man, it's been a busy month and I am super excited for Christmas, I'm hoping the little monster actually gets it this year! So lets recap the past month, well sort of...you know how I can go on and on...and lets face it...I'm not all THAT interesting am I? :)

As you've probably discovered..by now..I love to play dress up with Carter. Not the girly tutus and bows dress up but the "oh look i've bought you new outfits lets try every one of them on now" dress up. So when I bought him a new Christmas outfit this year it was only fitting that we, again, played a little bit of dress up! And of course I played paparazzi and took about 5 thousands pictures of the same thing, but hey..with a monster as cute as mine how could you not? ;) ANYWAY I'm getting off subject...as usual! In doing this I realized just last year during one of my dress up fits, I took a picture of him in the same exact place and was just amazed at how big he has gotten...and handsome! I think I've started a new tradition!


This wasn't my first choice, but it brings out the color in his eyes...and my husband picked it, and well, he's gotta have some say right? And as I'm talking about his eyes I realized I didn't do red-eye removal...again 2 am...no brain.

OK so on to other things, not too many big things have been happening this month, but lots and lots of small things. I found a super cute fisher price piano for Carter for very cheap on craigslist and took, what should have been 20 minutes, an hour long trek north to go pick it up. Thank you mapquest for steering me DIRECTLY into traffic. Upon arriving at the house I was greeted by one of the scariest dogs you will ever meet and the owner tried convincing me over and over to come in...the dog isn't mean...I took my chances, the dog wasn't mean, in fact it was small...and mangy...and really not scary at all...I'm a wimp. I got my piano, but not before the man took the batteries out and sent me on my way, and quickly got into the car and made my short drive back home....can't fool me twice mapquest!! I'm almost done shopping for Carter, and completely done driving out to strange men's houses...that sounded bad.

In other news...Carter has learned how to say both "stinky" and "crazy" and made a point to point at me at the drugstore and say "crazy!!" about ten times over, and I had little evidence to support myself considering I was rocking the bedhead look in ripped pajama pants UGGS and a big brown puffy coat...did I mention I was frantically digging through my purse for my wallet? I was a sight, my quick run for diapers and the aforementioned lack of brain caused me to run out of the house in pjs and messy hair without a second thought! So with that I will say...Carter is a genius...and very aware...I am, in fact, a little crazy...but aren't we all?

Lets see...mom news...the things "non parents" hate to hear about...

am I typing too many dots? WOW

anyway Carter has been replaced with an actual monster this past week and I discovered the culprit...eye teeth!! So it's back to the hyland's teething tablets before bed, and the stiff drink for me ;)

And finally, yesterday we went to a tree farm and cut down our very own...ahem..my parent's very own Christmas tree!! It was cold and not snowy, and looking for the perfect tree for Leela was quite the process...but fun nonetheless

(maybe thats a little bit of the crazy hair I was talking about)

...and there is my next tradition! Maybe next year the husband will let us cut a tree instead of an artificial one...which by the way has been missing!! And that...is a whole other post!!

Strike A Pose!

A couple weeks ago my wonderful mother (aka Leela) took some amazing photos of the little monster roaming around in a nearby forest preserve. She has such an AMAZING eye for photography and I couldn't be more thrilled with the photos! I put up a little preview on the last post...but here's a couple more of my favorites!




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To my surprise, capturing these photos was actually an easy task. Carter just loves to ham it up for the camera...and we just love to take lots and lots of photos! I entered Carter into a Model Search contest as well!! If it were up to me...he'd win, but of course...I'm a little biased ;) Anyway, Carter had a blast playing in the leaves and at the local playground...he must have gone down the slide about 20 times before we finally called it quits! And, we called it quits just in time because about 5 minutes after dropping off Leela, it started pouring down rain! Whew...good thing we went when we did!! Enjoy the pics! I have some very cute videos to post very soon!!

Keep on truckin'

On the road again...and again...and again...

Carter has been quite the travelin' man lately, or should I say has been dragged along and forced to sit in the car for hours on end to endure long weekends away from home with his mommy...ohh its not that bad! This really has been the most jam-packed few weeks we've had in a while and being able to relax the past few days has been HEAVENLY...for me at least!

Two weekends ago Carter took the 2 hour long trip just south of us to go visit his Aunt Megan. When I say 2 hours, what I really mean is 2 hours just to get moving and 2 hours there. As luck may have it, my car ((ahem...the husband's old work van)) was really in the mood to mess with me that day...not only did it run out of gas not 5 ft from a gas station but it REFUSED to go over 35 mph on the highway when driving over bumps...seriously...what highway does not have bumps?! So there I was, speeding along at an astonishing 35 mph, in a little mini van, equipped with an unusually large ladder rack, for a good hour or so until I finally had the common sense to take a "less rocky" path. Needless to say we pretty much flew the rest of the way there! This was my first trip alone with Carter and I was apprehensive to take such a long car ride with him but he was wonderful the whole way...cheerfully yelling "Dada Car!!!" at every semi...should I be more concerned that he thinks his dad is a truck driver? or that he thinks the truck driver is his dad? ....that's a whole other post ;)

Our bad luck pretty much set the tone for our visit with Aunt Megan, and all the plans we had made for our visit quickly came to a halt when the roaring winds and unusually cold weather set in....but that didn't stop Carter from having fun...

he traveled deep into the frozen depths of the refrigerator.......he scavenged the cupboards for food...ya know because I starve him...


...and he even taught me a little bit about parenting...

All in all it was a much needed, low key visit...and we ALWAYS have fun with Aunt Megan...Oh and he even got to meet Elmo when we got back...(we may have been more excited than him...)

But I'm not done there and if you're still reading this you either have less of a life than I do or I really am that interesting...let's go with the latter... :)

So...this past weekend we all piled in the car...at 9 at night...and drove for 5 hours to a little cabin nestled in the woods for a nice little family vacation. Oh, but nothing is that easy for us...our 5 hour trip quickly turned into and 8 hour extravaganza as my sleepy husband downed can after can of monster energy drinks only to stop every hour to pee, and ya know stretch his legs, smoke a cigarette (ugh), and "re-energize"...why didn't we leave earlier you ask? Yeah...I found myself asking that question the whole way there. The real reason we left so late was because we wanted Carter to sleep the whole ride up, unfortunately Joe got off later than expected and Carter thought it was time to party...so he danced and clapped and "talked" our ears off the whole way there! We arrived at 5 am...got settled and Carter to sleep by 6 am...and were awake by 8 am. Ahhh now thats relaxation!

By the time we got moving it was at a really awkward time between breakfast and lunch...so we drove and found an Applebee's...yeah real original of us...and had lunch...right as they opened. It was actually pretty cool, it was set over the water and specialized in a lot of fresh seafood, Carter enjoyed the view...

After lunch we walked down by the water, although it was extremely cold and windy, and watched the boats...

And then we took a trip to "The Farm"...which actually ended up literally being a farm and not just a clever name for a petting zoo...imagine that! Among many of the cute animals..these two were my favorite...
and this was Carter's favorite part...and he now has an unhealthy obsession with pumpkins..(as you will notice in the photos later...)

After being terrible parents and prying him away...kicking and screaming...from the pumpkins, Daddy and Carter took a little stroll

Doesn't get much cuter than this!

The Farm was way too much fun and we were all beat...but we couldn't pass up a playground! So we stopped for dinner right near a playground and set Carter loose!

You'd think it was winter! But it is, in fact, the middle of October...and freezing!! Isn't he just too cute? Reminiscent of A Christmas Story...all stuffed into his winter gear!! And the next day...it actually snowed!! So our...I mean my...plans for a cute little fall outfit for Carter went out the window, but how could I resist playing dress up??Ah! I could just eat him up!!!

Moving on... We went to breakfast at a place called "The Rusty Tractor" and got to eat farm fresh eggs! Carter, on the other hand, only wanted jelly...
Drawing attention from everyone around, Carter promptly began putting on a show...and his innocent act..
..later we discovered he was storing pancakes in his pockets. After breakfast, we decided to brave the cold and forge on with our plans. With a bundled up Carter in tow we walked the streets of the cute little downtown area for Pumpkin Patch fest...yet, I must add, there was not one pumpkin patch there! The cold weather didn't seem to have an effect on Carter, he was still happy and smiley...stopping only for a moment to figure out how to accomplish the task of drinking his "ba ba" with mittens on
We then went to a Cherry Orchard where Carter discovered LOTS of pumpkins...((but no cherries))...and went a little nuts...

and no....this is not a posed picture...it took both of us a an apple cider popsicle to get this kid out of the pumpkins..or whatever those are!!

That night we had a nice dinner at a cozy little restaurant where we met a man who played violin in a very well known orchestra (forgive me for not remembering the name) for 40 years! They were a very sweet and interesting couple who were also from the same area as us! And of course...Carter couldn't resist goofing off...
For our first family vacation, at least with just the 3 of us, it went surprisingly well..and we can't wait to do it again..even though now Carter refuses to take off this hat...
...and he can't pass a pumpkin without an overwhelming urge to sit on it...
...i think this weekend was definitely a success :)

The Simple Things

I've been on "blog vacation" for far too long and it's about time I jump right back into it! I've started so many posts with only a few words and didn't really know where to go from there, I have a lot on my mind...and for once...I am resting easy. Being the mother of a premature baby, has really taught me to appreciate every single thing that happens in life, every milestone is more than a celebration, every new word...tooth...achievement...is nothing short of a miracle. Lately, I just can't stop smiling, Carter, already being a big ol' ham, has just developed the funniest little sense of humor you could ever imagine. Even on a bad day, you can't help but laugh at his funny little expressions or silly voices, he has recently started only talking in a growling voice...terrifying but hilarious! ....I mean really...
...I dare you not to laugh at that! Another new development, Carter is now walking! It is the most precious thing I have ever seen! He sticks his little arms straight up in the hair, with a big ol' cheesy grin on his face, and he walks all around...chasing the cats, or me...he is really getting good (im trying to get a video up soon!). And, I am just amazed. I understand that it's a natural process, and babies do learn to walk...but my baby...MY baby, we were told he may not learn...of course this was when he was very young, but all of those things still weigh heavy on my mind and I am just thrilled with every little thing he does. These are the things many people take for granted, but I never will, I will always be delighted in the simple things.

Update?

It's been forever since I've updated this thing! What is there even to update?..oh yes...the monster baby is...WALKING! So as you can probably imagine he's is ALL over the place! I've had my hands pretty full and have some pretty funny videos to load on here, whenever I can find my usb...its a good day if we're all out of pajamas by noon!! Thats all for the quick update, much much more to come soon. i've started so many posts and never finished them, as I've recently discovered, i have a severe case of "mommy-brain"!