Our little walker

So I didn't want to rain on poor Josie's parade but on her birthday Carson decided to start walking. We were at church and I wasn't really paying attention and he just took off from the chair and walked to me. He mostly just takes about 4 or 5 steps but he absolutely loves it. We have taken a couple of videos of him walking between us but sometimes after he walks between us a few times he starts enjoying falling and being caught by us more than walking so it turns into that game, which we love just as much as he does. Tell me he isn't the cutest baby in the world. I dare you. :)

Teenagers aren't so tough

Just a quick post that our puppy turned two yesterday, well we celebrated yesterday. I think these teenager years have been the easiest yet. :) For her big day she got to start the morning with a walk where she was allowed to chase all the rabbits. Then we filled up the pool in the backyard and she and Carson played together. She got treats all day and then last night we went to her favorite park that has a pond and she went swimming. It was a pretty good day for Josie. We think she is the greatest dog and seriously can't imagine life without her (as lame as I know that sounds to some of you). But she has trained for a marathon with me, lets Carson throw her food all over the floor, and falls asleep at Aaron's feet. We sure love our Jo Jo.

Sayulita

We made it back from our vacation to Mexico and we are all in one piece. It is pretty exhausting to travel with a ten month old by your self. I told Aaron that we won't be going on any vacations without him for awhile. Luckily my mom joined us, I could not have done it without her. Outside of the craziness with getting there (complete with being the very last people on the plane, being paged, me changing Carson's last minute dirty diaper and all) we had such a fun time visiting my sister, Kim. The town they live in, Sayulita, is such a fun laid back little town. I felt like we were so busy the whole time, running around to the pool and the beach but doing all of this around Carson's little schedule. Poor little guy spent a lot of the trip being exhausted. We ate all kinds of fabulous food and I had at least two fresh smoothies a day. We loved seeing Kim's store, it is so cute and Carson just fell in love with his Aunt Kimberly. He got so excited every morning when she came over and if she was around he was not about to lay down and take a nap. We took so many pictures but here are a few of our fun adventure.

We spent lots of evenings after it cooled off hanging out at the beach while Kim's husband, Eric, surfed. Sometimes you forget how much sand gets on everything.

Dinner on the beach.

We also spent a lot of time at the pool. Carson loved the pool so much! He would just dive his head right in the water. I am really going to have to keep an eye on him because he was not scared of it one bit.

I tried surfing for the first time with Kim and I loved it! I was totally addicted to it after the first day. It was so much fun to do it with Kim. I can't wait to take Aaron back so he can go with us.

And like I said, we totally wore poor Carson out.

We sure missed Aaron and were so excited when we finally (after two canceled flights and another night in Mexico) got home to see him.

Happy Mother's Day to Me

Happy Mother's Day to everyone. For my mother's day present I am off to Mexico with this little guy and mi madre. We leave tomorrow morning, and although we are going to miss Daddy like crazy, we are so excited to see Aunt Kimberly! Not to mention this horrible weather we're having today is helping me to anticipate the warm sun. I hope everyone had a fabulous day.

10 Big Ones

My little man is ten whole months old. It just goes by so quickly. I know I saw this every month but I can hardly believe it. This was such a fun month, Carson is changing so much. Some days I miss my tiny baby but I am having a lot of fun with my little man giving me kisses and clapping when he's happy. I have a really hard time saying he's ten months old now and its been a week! Some fun happenings for this month were:

He got a walker and it was the best thing ever. Grandma and Grandpa bought Carson a fancy walker that we use every day. We take it outside and walk up and down the sidewalks and he moves all around the bottom floor of our house. It was the greatest gift ever.

He started saying ta ta, ya ya, babbling a lot, making all kinds of noises.

Chewing on his crib like crazy!! That crib is going to fall apart, I keep looking for a crib cover. This is one of those times I really wish i could sew.

He started clapping, he gets so excited!

He found his thumb again, not sure what happened but its back.

Still no stranger anxiety. People come up to me all the time saying oh my gosh your baby is reaching out for me, or your baby is waving at me/smiling at me/clapping for me. Yes, he likes people.

He gives kisses, I would say, "can mommy have a kiss?" And then it would come, mouth wide open of course.

I can't believe I forgot this last month but Carson drinks out of my water bottle all the time. He mastered the straw really early and then figured out my bite and suck water bottle. I thought he was just chewing on it until I realized he was drinking out of it. So we share a water bottle.

All the real food, so much food!

He is waving more, he seems to think it means something but I'm not sure what. Sometimes he does a come here wave when he wants me to come to him.

He finally started feeding Josie, which they both love. I'll tell Josie no and she'll move somewhere else and Carson will crawl right over to her and stuff it in her mouth. I have a feeling this isn't going to stop.

His Grandpa in Arkansas taught him to shake his head and he thinks it is so funny. Its the first trick he performs for new people in lines and at stores.

He has a constant whining sound. Some evenings it goes on for forever and drives me crazy!! I'm not sure what is so hard about life but he wants me to be entertaining him constantly.

His first trip to the zoo:

He gives high 5s.

He has his favorite 5 or 6 books and if you try to read him a different one he immediately closes the book.

He is weaning me. He has no interest in nursing most days so most days we don't. He has better things to do, better places to be. Needless to say, this kid does not sit still.

He still looks skinny to us but we can't get over how adorable this little guy is. Every night we just stare at him in our crib and can't believe we made this beautiful baby.

Trip to Arkansas=end of busy season!!

Finally, Aaron has come back to us. We missed him so much. As soon as Aaron could manage a day off work we headed straight for Arkansas. So one of our main purposes for our trip to Arkansas this time was to see sweet baby Joseph, our newest nephew, but we ended up leaving without a single picture of him! Although I did try and hold him whenever I could. I just couldn't get over how tiny he was, babies are just so small, somehow you forget so quickly. Not to mention that I had to share this little guy with is 5 older siblings who are all, amazingly enough, totally into babies. We had a great time visiting with Aaron's family and enjoying the beautiful weather. Life is always busy in Arkansas but we always love every minute of it. We also finally got to see my sis-n-law's belly and we can't wait for their little baby to be here soon. Aaron is never ready to leave, he always wishes we could stay one more day. Some fun things we did this trip were:

Go on a hike. Arkansas (for those of you who have never been) is so beautiful. We picked the perfect day, barely squeezed baby Carson in the Bjorn, and we all head up. We had so much fun. Carson loved it, he was kicking and squealing the whole time. Josie loved hiking too, she smoked us all, as she is in the best shape.

We also went to a festival or small carnival where we watched the kids ride fun rides.

The kids got in the pool, I still think it was way too cold for that.

And Carson spent lots of time playing with his cousins.

It was just so nice for me and Carson to spend so much time with Aaron, we had really missed him and I was very quick to let Aaron take care of Carson, change Carson, wake up with Carson, etc. :)