The Hinderks Family

2012 Week #6

2012-02-17T20:44:00.000-08:00

I am a little embarressed to show my new meal for week number six because it is a little pathetic. But...we have never had it before and I got the idea again from Pinterest. It actually was good but super easy and cheap. That was the type of meal I needed for the sixth week of the year.

This is literally pillsbury cresent rolls rolled up with a slice of ham and a slice of cheese. I think that is all the recipe you need for this one. They were very good though and Carter loved them! This would be a great snack for school age kids when they get home from school.

I just added some cottage cheese and some fruit and it was a nice quick and easy meal!

Happy Valentines Day!

2012-02-14T12:01:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day to my two favorite guys in the whole world...

Jay, I love and appreciate you more than I can put into words! And you know me, I'm a talker :) I guess that would be one reason I love you so much...you will sit and listen to me chatter on and on for as long as it takes for me to get all my thoughts out. I love you for that! I love that you are the one that I want to talk to and share my heart and soul with. I love you because you work so hard to provide for myself and Carter! You are at work long before most people are even thinking about rolling out of bed and you work long hard days. You then work extra shifts in Lyons just so you can give all three of us everything we could ever need. You come home from long days at work and still want to play with your son and help me out around the house. You spend hours trying to hang Madelynn's name on her wall just perfectly even when it is super frustrating to figure out the perfect way to hang them. I love you because when my blood pressure is high you tell me to go right over to the couch and lie down. You take such great care of the two of us and I will be forever grateful because of that. I love you for a million other reasons and I will try to tell you all of those reasons over the next 364 days of the year... I love you babe!

Carter, I love you in a way I never knew was possible. I love you because you are my son. That is really the only reason I need in order to love you to the fullest degree that God has allowed humans to love. But the really cool thing is that I love you for so many other reasons too. I love you because you try and make me laugh all day long. I love you because you love babies and animals and get the sweetest, softest little voice when you see a baby or an animal. I love you because you feel so bad whenever I am crying (which is more frequent right now because of your sister growing inside of me) and you will touch my face and my tears and get this sweet sad voice and say "oh." I love who you are Carter man! I wouldn't change a single thing about you...even when you won't stay in your bed or eat your brocolli. Every detail about you is exactly who God made you to be and he made you perfect for me! Happy Valentine's Day Carter! Always know that your mama loves you and your daddy more than anything else in this world. You are my two favorite guys!

Madelynn, how could I forget my sweet Madelynn whom I haven't even met yet. You are still growing inside of me but I already love you. I have loved you since the second we knew you were growing inside of me. We can't wait to meet you in five short weeks and add you to our family.

Happy Valentine's Day!

My Baby Shower

2012-02-13T09:55:00.001-08:00

My friends Natalie and Ashley threw me a wonderful baby shower for our Miss Madelynn. I appreciate everything they did so much and am so grateful for all the wonderful ladies in my life who came to celebrate our baby girl!

Everyone had to make a baby out of playdough and then I chose my two favorite ones. This was a fun game!

So many wonderful things for Madelynn!

My mom made Madelynn a blanket just like Carter's favorite blanket. Now they will have matching ones and I just hope Mady loves hers just as much as Carter loves his.

Thanks everyone for a great baby shower! I didn't get a picture with Ashley and Hollie in it but they were there, just behind the camera :)

Madelynn's Maternity Shoot...32 Weeks Pregnant

2012-02-07T13:55:00.000-08:00

My friend Hollie took our maternity pictures again. She also took them when we were pregnant with Carter. We love how they turned out! It wasn't super easy to get Carter in them but we got a few with him that we love.

We were able to get him to actually be close enough to us to be in the picture by telling him to slide down the little ramp. He may not be looking at the camera smiling but at least he is in the picture!

He makes us laugh!

We told him to bring me a rock to show me...

Then he decided to try and eat the rock...

Hence the freaked out look on my face. Half a second later I had dropped all of the blocks and was desperatly grabbing for the rock before he actually ate it. We all got a good laugh out of that one though and decided not to encourage him to bring mama little rocks anymore.

I was still trying to convice Carter to be in a picture with me...

The I attempted the force him to be in a picture approach...didn't go so well!

We love you Mady girl!! And we can't wait to meet you...only six weeks from today!! You will be the most loved little lady in the whole world!

2012 Week 5

2012-02-06T14:16:00.003-08:00

Mexican Chicken Casserole

1-10 oz. can cream of chicken soup
1-10 oz. can cheddar cheese soup
1-10 oz. can cream of mushroom soup
1-10 oz. can tomatoes
4 cups cooked chicken, chopped
flour tortillas ( I used the smaller size tortillas so they fit better in the pan)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

In a large bowl, stir all soups and tomatoes together. Stir in cooked chicken.
In a greased 13 by 9 inch pan, layer tortillas and chicken mixture beginning and ending with tortillas. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

We liked this meal as well. My only dilemma with it was some bites I thought the tomato flavor was a little too strong. I might try only using half a can of tomatoes the next time.

I also tried a pinterest chocolate chip cookie recipe and LOVE them!! They were supposed to be the fluffiest and softest cookie recipe ever and I will be honest and say that I had my doubts. Well, I was wrong. They were so soft and fluffy and tasted great too! The secret ingredient that apparently helps with this is corn starch. Who knew? I highly recommend them!!!

2012 Meal #4

2012-02-01T11:32:00.000-08:00

Our fourth meal of 2012 was possibly our favorite so far! We loved it! Of course, I also found this recipe on Pinterest. We were able to get two dinners and one lunch out of it which is my kind of meal! It was a little more time consuming but not bad and completely worth it!

Chicken Enchilada Pasta

2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 med. onion diced

1 red pepper, diced

1-4 oz. can diced green chiles

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

2- 10 oz cans green chili enchilada sauce

2/3 cup red enchilada sauce

2 cups shredded cheese (I used colby and monterey jack)

1 cup sour cream

penne pasta

Optional toppings...

avacado, green onions, black onions, tomatoes, sour cream

Cook the chicken and shred (I baked it with a little seasoning salt). Cook Pasta. Chop veggies. Heat olive oil in deep skillet and cook onions for about 3-5 minutes. Add garlic and red pepper and cook another 3-5 minutes. Add cooked chicken, green chiles, cumin, chili powder, salt, and enchilada sauces. Simmer 8-10 minutes. Add cheese and melt. Toss in sour cream but DO NOT BOIL!!! Cook on low heat or sour cream will curdle. Pour sauce over pasta and add toppings.

And then here is a funny picture of our funny little man...

I better get moving on meal number 5...I am running out of days to squeeze it in the fifth week of the year.

32 Weeks

2012-01-30T14:26:00.001-08:00

I am 32 weeks today and as of tomorrow we have just seven weeks left until our Mady girl is in our arms. I don't have a new picture yet to post but will do that this week! But I did want to write down a few things about how my pregnancy is going.

My last appointment was almost three weeks ago (we have another one tomorrow). I had actually lost two pounds at my last appointment which puts my total weight gain at 9.5 pounds so far. I am super thrilled with that! Although I really shouldn't be losing weight at this point in pregnancy so I was told to keep eating.

At my last appointment my blood pressure was still great but about four days ago that started to change. I haven't been feeling well at all when I am on my feet too much. My legs get really weak and tingly and I just feel like I can't stand up anymore. I had Jay start checking my blood pressure and it was way too high. For a couple days it was like 124 over 90. It's that 90 that is way too high. Well, then last night it was 132 over 96 which is really out of control. When I was pregnant with Carter the day that I got put in the hospital over night my blood pressure was 150 over 99. 96 is basically the same thing as 99 in that they will treat me the same way because it is way too high. So tomorrow we will see what my doctor says. I am assuming full bed rest is in my very near future. I have already put myself on moderate bedrest and am trying to lay down a ton throughout the day. I wish it wasn't happening already but I am thankful I made it this far. Only seven more weeks to go! I can make it!

We are finally working on her room. We have the crib all ready with her new bedding and we have started painting. We have one wall painted pink and then this week we will be painting the other three walls a light tan. I am loving it so far and so thankful for Jay for doing most of the work!

I think we will be doing maternity pictures very soon and I am super excited to have some done of us and my belly.

I'll post a picture soon and update tomorrow after I go to the doctor.

23 Months

2012-01-30T13:42:00.001-08:00

This is my final monthly blog post. Next month will be his two year post and then I am done posting monthly blog posts. CRAZY! Well, I shouldn't say I am done because I will be starting monthly blog posts for Madelynn and of course I will still write tons about Carter but just not in formal monthly posts anymore.

I know I keep saying this but I can't believe Carter is almost 2. Like in 3 weeks...holy cow! I have been working on the plans for his birthday party and am super excited to celebrate him and his amazing two years of life. We are doing a fish theme this year so I am searching for everything fishy. It's been fun :)

Carter has changed a lot in the last month and a lot has changed for him. He is still such a bright and shining star in our lives and makes us go crazy with pride every single day. I am amazed every single day what he is learning and how much he loves life.

So my Carter man...
Here is what you have been up to in the last month...

We moved you into your new room in your new big boy bed and I will be honest and say that it was NOT a smooth transition! I didn't know you could be so stinkin' stubbord and determined to fight a battle with your mama and daddy. We learned a lot about ourselves as parents through that trial and a lot about what works for you when you are being naughty. Yes, you were being naughty! :) But as much as it drove me crazy, I still LOVE your determiation and strong willed spirit. I just pray that you will use it to glorify God as you grow older! I would say we are mostly out of the most difficult part of your bedtime routine and we seem to be into a pretty good routine. The first few days of naptime in your new bed went really well! I thought we were going to be super lucky parents and be spoiled with a smooth transition. I think you were just in there laughing at us...Then we decided to add in nighttime and that is when everything fell apart. You wouldn't stay in your bed for anything! It was two to three hours every night to get you to finally fall asleep and often it meant daddy had to lay with you until you fell asleep. Nap time was just as bad and would often take up to two hours to get you to finally fall asleep. We tried everything! I finally was at my end and not sure what to do so I asked other moms for advice! The advice that hit me the hardest was "cool, calm, and consistent." I realized that I was getting impatient, frustrated, and short with you and I am sure you were feeding off of that! So we changed a few things. So here is our new routine...Daddy reads a few stories to you in bed, I come in and we all pray together, then daddy leaves and I lay with you and sing some songs. After singing I remind you that you must stay in bed, tell you I love you, walk out, close the door and then I sit right outside your door and everytime I hear you move I open the door and put you right back in your bed. We did this for about a week and now you are doing great! You still get up a couple times every once in a while but you are doing sooooo much better! Now the longest it takes you to fall asleep is 15-30 minutes and you only try and get out of bed once or twice, sometimes not at all. We are so proud of you and ourselves for sticking with it and making it work! By the time Madelynn is here you will have it down perfectly.

You have started talking like crazy. Some new words include blast off, snow, high, up, go, milk, wall, purse, Josh, whale, and so many more! You try to copy almost everything we say and get so excited when we scream and jump up and down because you said a new word!

You love your saying Mady and giving zerberts to my tummy. Every time you go in her room you say Mady over and over while pointing to everything. You are realizing that everything in there is now for Mady.

You still have your very stubborn moments but you seem to be mellowing out a bit over the last few weeks. I am almost wondering if you were teething for a while because it seemed like you were extra cranky for a couple of weeks. You seem to be much more content lately.

You LOVE LOVE LOVE reading books. Oh my goodness you could look at books for hours and not get bored. Most of the time I love it but sometimes I need to get something done and all you want to do is read books. But, I will keep reading to you because it is such a powerful tool for you! I hope your love of books and reading lasts a life time! And if so, you did not get that from either of your parents. So it will be a miracle!

You are very smart and remember everything! If I tell you that you get to fly daddy's helicoptor after you go nigh night, I better have that helicoptor ready for you to fly when you wake up because you are reminding me as you walk out into the living room. You seriously remember everything! I have to be careful what I promise you!

You are sweet and spunky and we love you so much! Don't ever change who you are because you are just perfect! Of course, I don't mind if you obey all the time but I love who you are and your great personality! We love you Carter man!

Happy last month being a one year old!

2012 Week 3 Meal

2012-01-23T09:16:00.001-08:00

This picture doesn't do this meal justice because it was really good! Again I got this recipe off of pinterest and so far I haven't made a Pinterest meal that we haven't liked. This is called Crispy Southwest Chicken Wrap and was delicious. The best part about it was that it made enough for our dinner that night, dinner the next night, and lunch for me the next day. Three meals out of one and it was a fairly easy meal to make. I highly recommend it! And I really did make this dinner during the third week of the year but I am a little behind in my blogging about it.

Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps

1 cup cooked rice, warm or room temp
1 cup cooked shredded chicken
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 green onion, finely sliced (white and green parts)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped (I couldn't find this at Winco so I actually didn't use it and we still loved the flavor)
1/2 red or gree pepper, diced
juice of one lime (I forgot to buy a lime so I just used lime juice I had in the fridge)
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
2 cups shredded cheese (I used a combo of monterey and sharp)
sour cream to your liking 6 flour tortillas

Mix the rice with the chili powder, cumin, and garlic salt. Add remaining ingredients except for the cheese and sour cream. Sprinkle cheese over tortillas, leaving 1/2 inch border around edges, then arrange chicken and rice mixture down the center of each tortilla and add a little sour cream down the center of each. Roll stuffed tortillas, leaving edges open. Spray tortillas all over with cooking spray. (I just sprayed the pan, placed it seam side down and and then sprayed the top.) Heat large skillet over medium heat for a minute and then arrange two wraps, seam side down and cook until golden brown and crisp (about 2-3 minutes each side.)

Try them! They were delicious!

Fireman Rain Coat, Carousel, and Puddle Jumping...

2012-01-22T21:56:00.000-08:00

We bought this rain coat and boots before Carter was born and they finally fit him. He looked adorable and he also loved wearing them. He was so proud of himself. We decided to take him down to River Front Park to look at the Willamette River and all the flooding and then ride the carousel. I enjoyed playing with my camera and trying different settings. Carter was a great model until his complete meltdown at the park...

He loved showing off his new rain coat for the camera. He was so happy wearing this!

I LOVE his eyes!!!!

So we had a really bad day with nap time. In my last post I was bragging about how well he was doing...

He decided to revert back to testing us again. So I tried to get him to nap for almost two hours ending in total failure. We gave up, got him dressed, and hopped in the car. Within two minutes he was asleep. Of course.

Walking to the carousel. He was so excited when he saw the horses. This is his favorite thing to do in the whole world.

Watching the horses while daddy bought our tokens.

And now he is in his happy place...

Jay was reaching for the rings on the fish to win a free ride and every time he grabbed a ring, Carter broke out in hysterical laughter. It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. I have never seen him laugh so much and so hard!

Laughing at daddy again and again...

And we did a little puddle jumping which was a highlight for Carter.

When it was time to leave Carter threw the biggest temper tantrum of his life so far. In fact, it was his very first public tantrum. Jay and I were basically dragging him across the park to the car kicking and screaming. It was crazy. It honestly looked like we didn't have any control of our child, which is typically not the case one bit. That is what happens when he doesn't take a nap. Lesson learned. Don't go out and do something in public if he doesn't take his nap. We really did have some nice family time at the park though and had beautiful weather! It was also crazy seeing how high the river was and that it was completely flooded on the West Salem side. I have pictures coming soon!

And He's Back...

2012-01-19T08:32:00.001-08:00

My excellent sleeper is back!!! Woohoo!!! Carter has had two perfect naps in a row and two perfect night times in a row in his big boy bed!! Thank you Jesus! I don't know what happened. I don't know how we went from two hours of getting out of his bed and being so incredibly naughty to just laying down, actually saying nigh night to me, never getting out of his bed, and falling right to sleep.

I am so proud of him! I was honestly getting nervous that this was going to be the battle of our lives with raising Carter. I had never seen so much stubborn determination and pure disobedience in his little short life.

But apparently he just needed a few days to test his boundaries with us and decided it just wasn't worth it. I am thankful that Jay and I were in this together and held strong (with a few tears from me of course...okay maybe meltdowns would be a better word than tears) but we did it and didn't give in to him. And it worked!

Now watch...nap today will be awful now that I have just written this for everyone to see. :) Oh I hope not!

Good job Carter man! We are proud of you!

SNOW!!!

2012-01-15T14:56:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Jay!

2012-01-15T14:26:00.001-08:00

Jay turned 28 yesterday (the 14th) and Carter and I had fun celebrating him! Sadly, Jay's birthday began with his four hour math class at Chemekata. Poor guy. Then Carter went down for a nap and Jay and I had lunch together. Carter and I got him another remote helicopter (he now has two and loves them). We had cookies and spent some time together as a family. Then Carter went to my dad and Lori's house for the evening and Jay and I went out to dinner. I know I enjoyed his birthday and I hope he did too!

I have been wanting to copy my friend Hollie's "I love you because..." sign and just hadn't done it yet. So with some more ideas from Pinterest, I decided to give it a try for Jay's birthday. I like how it turned out.

Carter had a nice combo of bed head and static electricity while he watched daddy fly his new helicopter.

We love you Jay!! Happy Happy Birthday! You are the best husband a girl could ask for and the best daddy a little boy could ask for. Thanks for loving us, providing for us, making us laugh, protecting us, and having fun with us. You are our biggest blessing!

Sheer Determination

2012-01-15T13:55:00.000-08:00

I learned something new about my son last night. That sweet, spunky, and loving little boy has more determination in his little head than I have ever seen in his almost 23 months of life. Last night was night three of bed time in his new bed. The first two nights he cried a bit and needed lots of loves and snuggles but last night topped them both. No tears, no sadness...just sheer determination that he was NOT GOING TO BED. We put him in bed around 8 and Jay read a bunch of books with him. About 8:20 we kissed him goodnight, turned out the light and left him. He chatted a bit in bed and then decided he didn't want to be in his bed anymore. For the next two hours he got out of his bed probably 35 times.

You may be wondering what we did when he continued to disobey and get out of bed. What do you do to a 22 month old with more freedom than he might be ready for at night time?

We started out being nice and just softly telling him he had to stay in bed. We even left the hall light on and his door cracked so he could see a little, which by the way worked the night before. We continued to pick him up and put him in his bed and remind him that he could not get out again, he needed to obey mommy and daddy, etc, etc... Each time we got a little more firm and not quite as nice. We then tried "super nanny" style where we didn't say a word, just plopped him in his bed and walked out. Each and every time with our attempts, seconds after we walked out of his room he was back at the door opening and closing it. He rarely came out to the living room but he would just stand at his door opening and closing it and peeking out into the hall.

After at least 30-45 minutes of this (with one attempt to lay with him) we threatened a spanking. That did nothing because he was up again as soon as we walked out. We then spanked him each time he got up, which caused lots of tears and the slight breaking of mommy's heart. This attempt also did NOTHING! Even when the spanking really hurt and he cried, he still continued to get up. By this time it's been at least two hours and Jay and I are literally at a complete loss as to what to do next. So we gave in and Jay went and laid with him until he fell asleep, thus giving him exactly what he wanted. I am telling you all now that last night was the most frustrating night we have ever had with Carter! He is such an amazing sleeper who has always gone down without needing anything! We could always just lay him in his crib and then he would talk to himself for a few minutes and fall fast asleep. What happened?!?!?!

Lord, please let my good sleeper come back to me! Once he was asleep he slept until 8:20 this morning but it was so incredibly difficult to get him to sleep. We were so close to putting him back in his crib last night! If we didn't have a little girl coming in nine weeks we would not be forcing this so hard. We would just let him stay in his crib a while longer. But, we have no choice. We have to get him used to this before Madelynn comes! He has been amazingly perfect for nap time for over a week so I really didn't think night time would be this difficult.

For all of you moms that have experienced this transition with your toddler, I am up for words of advice and wisdom! Please comment if you have suggestion for me! I'll take all the help I can get in this area.

Update on naptime...

2012-01-10T14:31:00.000-08:00

For our own records and for family who care...

We are on day four of naptime in his new big boy bed and every day has been a big success! Every day I have still had to go in twice but more because I was just trying to figure out what the noise was than Carter doing anything he shouldn't be doing. He has been in his bed everytime I have gone in but just rolling around and playing with his stuffed animals. Today when I went to see what the noise was he was opening and closing his curtains, which hang down near the top of his bed. Don't worry, they are just fabric curtains and not blinds with cords or anything.

It seems to take him a little longer to fall asleep in his new bed but he is actually staying in bed and he does fall asleep within 20 to 30 minutes. I am okay with that. His shortest nap so far has been an hour and a half and his longest has been two hours. I am hoping he will start stretching them longer since he was always a 2 1/2 to 3 hour napper in his crib. But I'll take what I can get. I am proud of my boy!

We'll attempt night time in there soon.

New Dinner #2

2012-01-09T19:38:00.001-08:00

I attempted my second new meal for my 2012 resolution and loved it. Again, I got this recipe from Pinterest and chose it for tonight because it didn't need a ton of ingredients that I didn't have. Some of the recipes I want to try have so many things in it that I don't have on hand so I know it is going to cost a little to make it.

This is penne pasta with a sun-dried tomato cream sauce. Here is the recipe just in case you want to try it out. I would highly recommend it! We loved it and Carter ate a ton of it as well.

Penne Pasta w/ Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce

2 cups penne pasta

8 sun dried tomatoes, chopped (about 1/3 cup)

1 can evaporated milk (it calls for 2% but I accidently bought just the regular and it was great)

2 cups Italian four cheese shredded cheese blend (one 8 ounce package)

1 teaspoon basil

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Prepare pasta and add chopped tomatoes into boiling water for the last two minutes of boiling time. Drain.

Combine milk, cheese, basil, garlic powder, and pepper in a medium sauce pan and cook on medium until cheese melts, stirring somewhat frequently but doesn't need to be constant. Remove from heat and add pasta to cheese sauce, combine and serve. If you have a larger family than just three like us I might recommend doubling the recipe. We had a little left over but that is just with two adults and a one year old. It didn't make a ton for a family with multiple kids, especially older kids.

Super yummy!

Happy cooking!

29 Weeks

2012-01-09T09:41:00.000-08:00

Well, here is my 29 week picture. I have had many comments lately from people saying I look way bigger than what week I am at. I blame it on second pregnancy and being short. Where else is she supposed to go but out since I am just barely over five feet? So today means that I have about ten weeks left since I'll most likely be having a c-section at 39 weeks. Ten weeks...wow! I am incredibly excited to meet this little girl and be a mom of two. I am ready and just hoping the next ten weeks go by quickly.

We haven't even started on her room yet but we did transition Carter to his new room for naps, so we are one step closer to starting on her room. A few more days of napping in his big boy bed, then move him in there at night as well and then we will start transforming Carter's nursery into Madelynn's nursery. I am also waiting to get my sample fabric in the mail from her bedding and then we can go pick out paint. I don't want to pick paint until I have something to match it with. As soon as her room transformation begins I will share it on here. And Carter's room is almost complete and I will post some pictures of it as soon as we finish up a couple more things.

I still feel great for the most part. I am sleeping pretty well but am missing sleeping on my stomach and back. I keep waking up in the night on my back and then switch because I guess it's not great to sleep on your back when pregnant. She moves quite a bit and Jay has been able to feel her many times now. My blood pressure is still great but I am a little nervous that may be changing. I am finding that I am starting to not feel well when I am on my feet too much which is what started happening with Carter when my blood pressure started going up. I have an appointment this week so we will see what happens. I need to start putting myself on like 25% bedrest so that my blood pressure doesn't go up and I don't have to go on medicine and be put on complete bedrest. I am also getting some heartburn in the evenings. I didn't get much with Carter so I never really understood what it was like for some pregnant women but I have had a couple nights where I couldn't believe the amount of pain and discomfort in my chest because of heartburn. Wow. Now I see why some people think they might be having a heart attack and it ends up just being heartburn. Thankfully it isn't happening often and tums do help.

Hopefully it's not too many weeks before I post another picture. I haven't been super great about getting my belly pictures taken this time around. I think it has to do with having an almost two year old to keep up with...and working, Christmas, grad classes, MOPS, church, house, laundry, cooking, etc, etc... I must do better! :)

An addition to the last post...

2012-01-07T15:19:00.001-08:00

Carter slept for two hours in his new big boy bed! I only had to go in there two times in the first couple of minutes and then he fell fast asleep. When he woke up, he walked to the door with his tiger, lion, and blankie and opened the door himself happy as a clam. Success!!

A Huge Milestone

2012-01-07T13:03:00.001-08:00

Today, right now as I type this to be exact, is our first attempt at having Carter sleep in his big boy bed in his new big boy room. This morning we worked on the curtains, hanging his name above his bed, and mounting his dresser to the wall (only because we are planning on getting him a fishtank for his birthday and it will go on top of his dresser) and cleaning up all of the toys. His bed has been set up for quite a while but we just haven't been brave enough to try him out in there yet. He is such a great sleeper and I am afraid of losing that when he has too much freedom.

Yes, he is still in his jammies even though this is nap time. But hey, it's a Saturday and we are just working around the house and he is comfy. We gave him a drink of milk before bed, laid down with him and told him that he was going to go night night in this bed, kissed him and walked out.

Here he is as we walked out of his room. I'm not going to lie, this is a pretty rough transition for me so far. I was standing in Carter's nursery where the empty wall was after taking down his name and hanging it in his new room, and began to cry. My little man, my first born is growing up and our whole world is changing. It is of course changing in the most amazing way and we can't be more thrilled and thankful to be having a little girl in a couple of months but it is still changing and effecting me in ways I didn't realize it would. I remember back when we began to set up Carter's nursery and get it decorated just how I wanted it. I couldn't believe we were going to be bringing a little boy into our house and that he would be ours. And now, 22 months later, we are moving him out of his nursery and into his big boy room, as I like to call it. It's tough. But so great too.

Right after we left his room, we heard him get out of bed and walk to the door. I opened the door to put him back in bed and he had his Giants hat on that had been hanging on his doorknob. What a funny kid. So Jay and I both took him back to bed, laid down with him again, kissed him and walked out. A couple minutes later we heard him playing with something so I went in there and he had pulled down a fire truck that was sitting on the shelf next to his bed and was playing with it...at least he was still in bed. I took it away, laid him down, kissed him, and walked out. Twenty minutes later I believe he is fast asleep. I have been sitting on the floor in the hallway playing on the computer so that I could tell what he was doing. He chatted for a few minutes like he always does in his crib and now I haven't heard a peep for at least 15 minutes. This may be a successful transition!

My only New Years Resolution...

2012-01-07T08:21:00.000-08:00

I am not big into New Years resolutions because I never keep them and I just don't like setting myself up to fail like that. But yesterday (so on the 6th of the year...better late then never) I had one that came to me that I think is worth trying and not super difficult to keep.

I am not much of a cook and tend to get super lazy with meals. As in, the same thing over and over or I just don't cook at all some nights and we just wing it. I hate that though and feel as far away from super mom and super wife as I possibly can be. And sometimes I like feeling like super mom and super wife. I am a dork :)

So my resolution for 2012 is to cook one new meal a week that we have never tried before. Thank you pinterest for having so many great new recipes right at my fingertips. So 52 meals for the year 2012 and last night I made my first one that I thought I would share. We really liked it and it was super easy to make!

Chicken Parmesian Bake (found on pinterst)

Put a little olive oil and finely chopped fresh garlic in the bottom of a baking dish (I used the larger 10 by 13 size or whatever the measurements are), place four to six chicken breasts to fill the dish, pour a jar of spaghetti sauce (I used prego) over the chicken, throw some fresh basil on the spaghetti sauce (I didn't have fresh so I just used my spices), cover with shredded mozzarella and shredded parmesian cheeses, spread with garlic salad croutons, and then sprinkle mozzarella and parmesian cheese to top to top it off. Bake at 350 degrees. Pinterest said to bake it around 35 minutes but I did mine for probably closer to 50 minutes. I am always afraid of chicken not being cooked enough so I did the meat thermometer to make sure it was to 155 degrees.

If you want a more detailed list of ingredients and directions you can find it on my food board on pinterest. I cooked up some spaghetti noodles to place the chicken on, some broccoli, a bowl of fruit and we had a delicious new meal last night.

It's the end of 2011...

2012-01-01T13:24:00.000-08:00

Today is the first day of 2012 which I know will turn out to be one of our favorite years. 2008 and 2010 were pretty big ones for us as well and 2012 will be special in the same way 2008 and 2010 were. In 2008, I married the man of my dreams in my dream wedding ceremony. In 2010, we welcomed our favorite little man into our lives and have never known so much joy. Now in about 11 weeks we will be welcoming a precious little lady into our family that will bring us even more joy than we thought was possible.

2011 was a relatively quiet year for us but still fun and exciting none the less. We had the amazing privilage of watching our Carter man turn from a baby to a toddler and even into a kid. He has grown and changed so much in 2011 and made us incredibly happy people.

2011 Highlights...

We did our annual California and Iowa trips as well as a trip to Spokane to watch my cousin Amy marry the man of her dreams. We love traveling and hope to be able to do even more as the years go on.

We worked hard on our backyard and made it reasonable for us to play back there last summer. We also began building a fence finally. We had carpet installed in our bedrooms and hallway and LOVE it! We found out there is a good chance we have termites under our house which gave us the joyous reality of owning a home.

I home schooled two students this year instead of just one like last year. Jay started a new shift at work where he works from 5am to 3 pm Sunday through Wednesday and has Thursday, Friday, and Saturday off every week.

Jay and I both started school again. Jay is working on getting his Paramedic certification and I am working on getting my Masters so that I am able to keep my teaching lisence.

Sadly we had our first miscarriage and went through a short time of greiving the loss of a very wanted pregnancy. Two months later we were pregnant again and 28 weeks later we are excitedly and not very patiently awaiting the arrival of Madelynn Grace.

We celebrated Jay's 27th birthday and my 28th birthday and can't believe we are getting close to 30. How did that happen? It feels like I just graduated from college but quickly realize it's been almost seven years since my college graduation.

We said good bye to my baby girl Emma who was a wonderful cat and a part of my life for almost eight years. It's amazing how pets can become such a huge part of a family.

Two days before 2012 we bought our first family car...a 2006 Dodge Caravan. I never wanted a minivan but am so incredibly thankful for it and what it can provide for our expanding family.

Jay and I celebrated our third year of marriage and had the opportunity to spend a night at the coast to help us celebrate.

We love our life and are so thankful for the many blessings that God gave us in 2011.

22 Months

2011-12-30T13:41:00.001-08:00

Only two more months and our little man is a two year old. Carter is showing us many new signs that the big number two is right around the corner. I wouldn't call it the terrible two's because there are so many great things that he is up to right now too but I can see where that phrase comes from. Carter's independence and stubborness is in full force right now and he is helping teach us patience and creative discipline techniques.

I have said many times lately that this is the most fun stage that Carter has gone through so far as well as the hardest stage. With every fun, cute, silly, smart, and creative thing he comes up with also comes with a naughty or stinker thing as well. Is that okay to say about my sweet little man? Sometimes I think my monthly blog posts for Carter are all about "my perfect little boy" and now as we are nearing two we are seeing some not so perfectness in his sweet little spirit. If you ever wonder if we are born sinners, just look at a toddler. :)

Okay Carter man...

Here is what you have been up to in the last month...

You LOVE animals more than ever and could look at animals and make animal sounds all day long. You have learned the sounds for snake and donkey the most recently but also know how to do the sounds for dog, kitty, horse, sheep, lion, bear, tiger, bird, horse, and fish. Your fish sound is my favorite because you do the cutest fish lips to go along with the sound. One of your favorite things to do right now is ride the carousel and could do it over and over. Everytime we drive anywhere near down town Salem you start saying "neigh, neigh" and moving your hand up and down and round and round because that is what the horses do. The most joy I see in your eyes is when you are on a horse at the carousel.

You also LOVE trucks, tractors, fire trucks, ambulances, and really anything large with wheels. You squeal with delight when you see any of these.

You love...

going bu bye, saying hi and bye to everyone you pass, whole wheat waffles, your blankie, Christmas lights, snowmen, Santa and saying ho ho ho, Christmas trees, brushing your teeth five times a day, reading books, playing in your new big boy bedroom with mama and daddy, putting vicks vapor rub on your feet and chest, your daddy, trying new words and talking and jabbering all day long, riding in the car, playing on your new tractor, helping mama, your new van (more on that soon), going to church and playing with your friends, playing with playdough, riding the carousel, running across the floor and sliding on your tummy, and so many more...

You have added many new words to your vocabulary in the last month. You love saying "seat" and pointing to the spot next to you where you want us to sit down. Grandma taught you to say "read please" this week and you are figuring out that we will usually do what you want when you say those two cute words in your cute sweet voice. You finally learned how to say your friends name "Ellie." We have been working on this one for quite a while because she has been saying your name for months. You also learned to say "jeep" and "limo" from looking at your new truck book you got for Christmas. You even recognized a jeep while we were out driving the other day and said jeep over and over again until we found it and acknowledged it. I know there are more so I may be back on here to add more as I remember them.

You have two sides to you...half the time you obey so well that it surprises me and makes me so proud. The other half of you wants to do what you want to do when you want to do it. That's when time out or a spanking comes into play. You are learning.

You have a good spirit and are good to people. You love people and often make people feel good. You love the two service dogs at church and always want to follow them around the church saying "ruff, ruff." You love your daddy more than I can even explain. You learned this week that daddy works on ambulance number 9 and anytime we talk about daddy's ambulance, you say nine over and over again. You wake up in the morning saying daddy and continue all day long whether he is home with us or at work. You love talking to people on the phone and are good at saying hi and bye and giving the phone kisses when we tell you to say I love you. "I love you" to you means kisses. I'm okay with that.

You have had the most random sleeping habits the last couple of weeks. We have had nights that it takes you a couple hours to settle down and fall asleep, one day without a nap at all and another where it took you two hours to finally fall asleep, mornings starting at 6:45 rather than 8 like normal, even some mornings where you slept till 9 or 9:20. I just can't quite figure out your sleeping schedule right now. Hopefully it will all even out and settle back into a routine soon. Feel free to make turn the routine into sleeping till 9 :)

You have been very into helping me lately. While I was cleaning the bathroom last week I was wiping down the shower door with a rag and you insisted on having a rag too and spent the next 20 minutes also wiping down the shower door.

We love you Carter man more than we knew was possible! You are growing into an amazing little boy and we are so proud of you!

Christmas #4...Christmas Day Evening

2011-12-26T14:42:00.001-08:00

Now on to the fourth and final Christmas celebrations...

It is so important to us to be with each of our parents and Carter's grandparents for Christmas which means we have lots of different places to go and people to see.

Our final Christmas was with Jay's mom later in the day on Christmas day. We came home from my dad's around 1ish and put Carter down for a much needed nap. We had her over later in the afternoon for appetizers, desserts, and of course, some more presents.

Jay and I had a few more presents for Carter to unwrap. We had bought him a few books and puzzles and I decided it was a great idea to wrap them each individually. Maybe not the best plan for a one year old. He would have been just fine opening four puzzles at once rather than four seperate gifts.

He seemed excited about all of his puzzles though. But he had so many new things to play with that he kept himself pretty busy all day long.

New slippers from us. He wore them the rest of the evening. Yay! I hoped that he would like them and actually wear them.

My silly looking snowman cheese ball dip. I forgot to get something to do a hat so he isn't quite complete but he's cute and tasty.

A new truck book from us that he loved. He loves all large vehicles. This morning he saw the picture of the ambulance (which looks nothing like Jay's ambulance) and screached "da eee!" To Carter ambulances and Daddy go hand in hand.

Opening presents from Jay's mom. Carter loved all of the fun little toys he got from her.

He loved the Buzz light year toy. He talks and goes across the floor.

He also got a little pony from Grandma. He loves horses right now!

Giving the dog on the puzzle kisses.

Silly boy!

Reading with Grandma.

Thank you Grandma for all of Carter's great gifts! He loves playing with all of his new toys! Thanks for our gifts too! We love them!

Christmas #3...Later Christmas Morning

2011-12-26T14:18:00.001-08:00

After we did our little family Christmas on Christmas morning we went over to my Dad and Lori's house for our family Christmas with them. We opened our gifts to and from them and had french toast for breakfast/lunch. This is always our tradition with them. Carter got to be santa this year and pass out all of the gifts. It was so fun that we could tell him who to take it to and he knew exactly who that was.

Jacob (on the left) is my brother and Oliver (on the right) is their foreign exchange student from Germany this year. We have loved having him a part of our family for the time being.

Carter was opening our gift from Jacob and Oliver. The boys actually picked out stuff for each of us and did a great job.

They got Carter a lion which is pretty perfect for him. He loves all stuffed animals but especially lions!

We got both Jacob and Oliver zip up hoodies from Costco. It's not easy picking out clothes for teenage boys but I think they are pretty cool. Now I guess we will see if they actually wear them :)

Dad, Lori, and I got Jay the ladder he wanted from Lowes. He had a pretty good idea he was getting this but this is when Jacob and Oliver brought it in from the garage.

Dad and Lori found a Giants kids board book for Carter. How perfect is that?

Carter also got some pretty cool Giant's outfits so that he will be all ready for our Giants game this summer. It is so crazy to think about going to San Francisco again this summer for our annual Giants game and we will have a sweet little baby girl with us. Wow. Only three more months until we meet Madelynn. Now back to Christmas...

Jay found this great picture for Dad at Lowe's a few months ago. My dad loves decorating the walls of his office so this is just another addition.

His first Giants jersey.

He was pretty proud of himself in his new jersey.

Sweet Max

Thanks Dad and Lori for the great time with you guys! Thanks for all of the great gifts and spoiling us so much.

Christmas #2...Christmas Morning

2011-12-26T13:13:00.000-08:00

Christmas #2 started out at 7am on Christmas morning. I was actually happy Carter woke up a little early so we could get Christmas day started. Jay's brother, Wade, got Carter a bike that is meant to help with balance before Carter is actually ready to ride a bike. So before we went to bed, Jay put it together and had it sitting by the tree when Carter woke up Christmas morning. This may have been a mistake because he was a little obsessed with it and only wanted to play with it rather than open presents. :) He is still a little short for it but he LOVES walking around the house with it and riding it with our help. A couple more months and I think he will be able to ride it. It doesn't have pedals so that kids can learn the idea of balance so that when they are ready to ride a bike they will already have that part mastered.

Jay and I got Carter a Mickey Mouse lunch box for him to carry around his little toys. He was so cute walking around carrying it. He loves Mickey Mouse.

Christmas morning was just the three of us.

His tongue is sticking out while he was concentrating so hard. His daddy does it too :)

We put a tractor inside of his lunch box which he also loved.

Showing off his new tractor. He was super proud.

More presents! Christmas morning is when we open all of our gifts from our Iowa family. They are always so good to us and send great gifts!

He got The Elf on the Shelf from Jay's sister Nicole. He loved the elf!

Nicole did a really neat canvas picture of Jay and Carter and his brother Wade and his son Kayden in front of their dad's semi truck. What a neat gift!

Putting together his Elmo floor puzzle from Jay's Grandma in Iowa.

He loved jumping on his puzzle. His jumps are the cutest thing ever because he can't actually get his feet off the floor. And if he is able to it's only one foot off and it barely comes off the floor. I love it and I love how hard he tries!

Fridge Phonics from Grandma and Grandpa in Iowa (Jay's dad and stepmom). This is really neat and will help Carter learn his letters. He already walks around the house saying "b" and then he says the b sound. He loves putting the letters in the spot and pushing them over and over to hear the little letter song.

Moose hat from Aunt Nicole. He loves hats and this one is so cute!

Jungle animal hand puppets from mama and daddy.

And the mess...

Carter really enjoyed Christmas but seemed a little overwhelmed as well. He just wanted to play with each gift he opened rather than keep opening more. We could have spread Christmas out over a full day if we had the time. He loved all of his gifts. He got many more but I didn't get pictures of every single one. Thank you Dad, Leah, Grandma, Nicole, Wade, and Kayden for all of our gifts! We love everything and feel so spoiled, loved, and blessed! We wish we could have been with you to open everything and see you open yours! Maybe someday we will get there for Christmas!

Christmas #1...Christmas Eve

2011-12-26T12:39:00.001-08:00

We had a nice relaxing day all day on Christmas Eve and then got ready for our church's Christmas Eve service. It was nice service with the many distractions of having our Carter man in the service with us. We did pretty well but we still had to work pretty hard at keeping him distracted and quiet. After church we came back to our house and my mom came over. We always celebrate Christmas with her on Christmas eve. We had soup, salad, and french bread and then opened all of our gifts to or from her.

While my mom and I were getting dinner ready Jay introduced Carter to the Wii. He enjoyed it but didn't quite understand the concept. He tried playing baseball and understood that he needed to swing the remote but just didn't know when to swing it.

Carter got lots of new books from Grandma and loved all of them. He is super into books.

We got him his annual new Christmas jammies but this year I wrapped them and had him open them that evening.

My mom also gave him his very own little boom box/stereo and some CD's. This stereo is pretty cool because it is like a race car and even makes race car sounds before playing the CD. Carter loved it.

Checking out his new stereo with a huge smile on his face.

Um...LOVE his little smile :)

Reading some of his new books with Grandma and watching Jay and I open one gift from each other. We save most of ours for Christmas morning but we each chose one to open that night.

Jay opened his new tool belt from me.

And I opened my brand new camera lense from Jay. My lense has been broken for a long time and was just the little lense that came with my camera years ago. Jay spoiled me rotten and got me my dream lense! Maybe I'll start getting back into photography a little more now that I have an amazing lense!

This was about 9:00 when Carter was hitting his limit. The melt downs were beginning.

He is still so cute when he is melting down so I had to capture the moment.

This is the full blown melt down...

Reading with Grandma.

Singing into his new microphone. I love it that a $2 stocking stuffer from Target can be such a great gift!

I didn't get a picture of it because it's still in the box but my mom got us our double stroller for when Madelynn comes. We LOVE it and are so thankful that she blessed us with that large and very necessary purchase! Thanks Mom! You blessed and spoiled each of us so much!

Santa and Play Dough

2011-12-26T12:26:00.000-08:00

We went and visited Santa at the law firm on Liberty. Carter did so well! I thought he would hate it and cry as soon as we set him down but instead he said "ho ho ho" like santa says and even gave him a high five. While I waited in line Carter and Jay walked around and looked at all of the lights.

The Mangis family gave Carter his first play dough. Carter loved it and threw a fit when we put it away. :) Christmas eve day we had a nice family day, just the three of us. Jay surprised me and took us all out to breakfast at Sassy Onion. Going out for breakfast is one of my favorite things to do with my boys and I love it when Jay surprises me with that. Then we went and rode the carousel a couple of times. This is Carter's favorite thing to do right now. I did some baking when we got home and then all three of us took naps. It was nice and relaxing day. I'll post pictures of Christmas eve evening and Christmas day soon. We had four different Christmas's so there are lots of pictures.

I love his chunky little hands.

Third Anniversary Getaway

2011-12-23T14:53:00.001-08:00

Jay and I planned a little beach getaway for one night for our third anniversary. We stayed at the Coho Oceanfront Hotel and LOVED it! It was beautiful and so relaxing. We had an amazing view, king size bed, fire place, and jacuzzi tub. Can I say spoiled? It was the perfect night away and just the relaxing break that we both needed.

We dressed up and went out to dinner at Fathoms on the top floor of the Inn at Spanish Head. It was a nice restaurant and we loved our food. We normally don't spend a whole lot on eating out but we splurged just a little for a nice dinner. It of course had an amazing view of the ocean as well. Here is the classic self portrait and timer portrait to show us dressed up. Am I looking ginormously pregnant in the bottom picture or what. Just so it is documented somewhere I am 26 weeks and 3 days pregnant in these pictures.

Out on our balcony overlooking the ocean.

And our wonderful room...

We also got to eat a free breakfast at our hotel which is always nice.

Every married couple needs a night away a few times a year! It is so good for our marriage and helps us refocus on us. We love being parents more than anything in this world but our marriage still needs to come first and this was just one little way of making sure we make our marriage a priority.

Mama's Big Helper

2011-12-23T14:39:00.000-08:00

This is Carter's first time helping me in the kitchen. We made Christmas cookie dough together. He LOVED every minute of it! He was so good at helping and did everything I asked him to do or not to do. His favorite part was turning the crank to bring the mixing bowl up and down each time.

He was so proud of himself for being able to be such a big helper. I didn't realize how fun it actually can be to have a little helper. Of course, it takes a little longer but it is so worth it. I am looking forward to having his help again.

I handed him the bottle of vanilla just to hold and he instantly turned it upside down and tried to pour it in. He knew exactly what to do with it. I love this kid!

I Love My Husband

2011-12-19T22:40:00.000-08:00

Three years ago today I married Jay.

Three years ago today the ground was covered with snow and ice and we were wondering if anyone was even going to be able to show up to the wedding. Salem was hit with the craziest winter storm we had seen in a few years and it made for the most unique, interesting, beautiful, and exciting day of my dreams. I remember being calm and happy without a single doubt in my mind that I was making the best decision of my life.

Three years into our life together I have learned many things. I have learned that I love Jay more and more each day. I have learned that marriage does take effort and work but that it is completely worth every moment of it! I have learned that marriage is a huge blessing from the Lord and that it makes me better and work on who I am as a person. I have learned that I am selfish and have to intentionally work on that character flaw every day.

I am thankful for many things, but here are just a few...

I am thankful for what a hard worker Jay is. I am thankful for how deeply he loves me. I am thankful for how deeply he loves our little Carter man. I am thankful for how often and how hard he tries to make me smile everyday. I am thankful that he calls me when he can while working just to say hi and that he calls me the minute he leaves work to tell me he is on his way home. I am thankful that he puts his family first and always considers us when making decisions. He puts up with my mood swings and emotions (especially when I'm pregnant) and has more patience in one day than I do in a whole month. He really is my better half and the perfect man for me.

Thanks babe for marrying me three years ago!! You made my day :) And year :) And life :)

I love you!

What is green and yellow and goes vroom vroom?

2011-12-13T08:39:00.000-08:00

A John Deer Tractor, of course!

How did you guess?

We had a 50th birthday lunch at our house on Sunday for Jay's mom. Jay's grandparents from Mosier came and brought Carter his Christmas present a little early. With weather in the gorge, you just never know when they can get back over here so they wanted to give it to him early. This little wonder of a tractor is from Jay's grandparents and two uncles and Lane. I don't think there are words to express how much joy this brought and is still bringing Carter!

He was napping when they arrived so we hid it in the kitchen when he first got up. Sometimes it takes Carter a few minutes to wake up and with all the people in his house, we didn't want to overwhelm him right away. Once he woke up a bit, Jay and Grandpa brought it around the corner. Oh my, was he surprised and excited! He had to check everything out. And may I add, this tractor is pretty amazing!

It has a real radio on it...like the exact same thing we would listen to in our car. Carter loves having his radio on when he is hanging out in his tractor. It has a pedal to make it go (do you like my tractor lingo?) and has two different speeds and reverse. It has a little trailor to haul all of his animals and arm rests that go up and down.

This little man is in heaven!

He loves to sit in it and do nothing. We can't have the battery hooked up without our supervision or else he would destroy our house by running into things. But he still loves to just sit in it and check everything out. He watches Mickey Mouse while sitting in his tractor every morning and pretty much spends every waking moment...sitting on his tractor.

Thank you Grandma, Grandpa, Dave, Grant, and Lane!!!! Carter LOVES his new tractor!

Rosy cheeks and bed head included in his first tractor ride on his new tractor.

Carter has loved tractors since his trip to Iowa when he was 15 months old and got to ride on all of Jay's dad's real tractors out in the corn fields. He gets so excited when he sees them, usually in books since we live in the city, but every once in a while for real as well. This was a dream come true for him :)

I must be honest here...

I am kind of glad he got his tractor before Christmas. If he was opening this gift as well as the gifts Jay and I got him...our gifts would look a little pathetic ;)

What a special gift from some special people! Thanks guys!

Christmas Photo Shoots

2011-12-06T10:11:00.001-08:00

It took three tries this year to get some great Christmas family photos. Carter is so not into photo shoots anymore! I was determined to get some great shots and we ended up getting some between the second two shoots we did. Thanks Hollie and Ashley for trying so hard to get some great shots of our family! We love them!

21 Months

2011-12-04T15:24:00.000-08:00

Carter man, you are 21 months old already. I feel like the days of monthly blog posts are coming to an end soon...probably only three more to be exact.

You are sweet and silly, goofy and stubborn...

You make us laugh a hundred times a day...

You make mommy feel like going crazy once or twice a day...(but what almost two year old doesn't?)

You love snuggles and will give out kisses every once in a blue moon...

Some days you will eat anything and others you won't touch a thing I offer you...

You love giving high fives and knuckle bumps over and over...

You sleep perfectly (11-12 hours every night and 2-3 hours every afternoon)...

You LOVE everything Christmas...the lights, trees, snowmen, decorations...

You are still a great shopper and passenger in the car...

You are in all size 2T clothes and size 5 diapers...

You are now associating Christmas trees with "ball, no, no"... This is because I keep telling you that you cannot touch the Christmas ball ornaments on the tree so you say "ball, no, no" everytime you see a tree now. I hope you still like Christmas trees by the end of the Christmas season this year...

You love looking at pictures, especially when you see mommy and daddy in them...

You are not a great picture taker anymore which breaks my heart...

You love being outside no matter how cold it is...

You love going to the nursery at church but sometimes have issues sharing with your friends...

You are strong willed, stubborn, and independent...Just like your mama...

But along with those qualities, you are sweet, kind, sensitive, happy, and silly...

You are great with the elderly and do a nice job of making them feel special...
Your Grandma told me yesterday that you walked right up to a sleeping elderly man at Mrs. Muntz's retirement home and said "hi" and woke him up. Then you proceeded to look behind you waving and saying "bye" as you walked away.

You definately know what spankings and time out are now...
We try and do time out the most and it seems to really help. I never thought I would be much of a time out kind of mom but I like that so much better than spanking you. And it helps get you out of your naughty mood and change the direction of your attitude.

You love giving baby Madelynn zerberts on my tummy...best thing ever!

You bring more joy and laughter to our world than we ever thought possible! We love you Carter man! We think God made you just perfect and amazingly perfect for our family. You are our biggest blessing!

23 Weeks

2011-11-28T10:18:00.000-08:00

We had an appointment last week and everything is still looking great with baby Madelynn. My blood pressure was fabulous, the ultrasound a few weeks ago showed nothing but a healthy baby and healthy pregnancy, and I am not getting many headaches right now! Praise the Lord! She is moving lots but Jay still hasn't been able to feel her. We are working on that. I am still sleeping great and feeling great! This is always such a nice part of pregnancy. I am going to try hard to enjoy every minute of it because I'm sure it's coming soon that I won't be feeling so great all the time.

(I'm actually 24 weeks today but I wrote this post a week ago and never got it posted. Better late than never :)

Oh how I love Christmas!

2011-11-28T10:11:00.000-08:00

After we cut down our tree we stopped by the law office on Liberty that goes all out with their Christmas tree lighting. We went just in time for them to turn the lights on for the first time. Carter got to see Santa but we were not about to stand in line to actually see him. We will go back in a few days when there isn't a line to sit on Santa's lap. Carter LOVED the lights though!!!

Checking out all of the lights...

Then last night we set up our tree. I am so thankful for a husband that does all the hard, heavy, and dirty work for our family! He was out in the rain last night trimming the tree and getting it in the stand. Thank you Jay!!!

Carter was interested in what he was doing and even helped a little.

Everytime I would stand on the stool, Carter had to join me. Silly kid.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

2011-11-28T09:54:00.000-08:00

We went out a couple days ago to cut down the perfect Christmas tree. We always go out to the Brawley's farm, Tree Kings, off Hwy. 22 and love getting our tree from them. Their son was in my very first second grade class seven years ago and I have been getting my tree from them ever since. We always manage to go when it's on the verge of getting dark. We had to be a little quick. Carter had a great time wandering around through the trees in his winter gear and looked so cute. I have realized though that cutting down our own tree is getting more difficult. The tree was WAY too heavy for this pregnant mama to help carry plus I had to make sure Carter followed us out of the field of trees. So poor Jay had to drag the tree by himself which meant one side of our tree was covered in dirt. I spent 20 minutes last night with a wet rag trying to wipe off all the dirt so our tree didn't look like it was dying already. Next year will be even more difficult with two kids to keep track of and a tree to carry. We will have to start getting creative.

I know, we look like terrible parents handing our toddler a saw. Don't worry...Jay was right there ready to grab it or him if there were any issues. Carter loved trying to cut down a tree like daddy did. In fact, he threw a fit when we took it away from him.

He also loved finding sticks and carrying them around.

Helping daddy...

Our attempt at a family picture. Maybe next year we need to invite someone to come with us to help carry kids and take a family picture.

I love getting our Christmas tree every year and it's so much more fun now that Carter is old enough to enjoy it. It's also more difficult but it's worth it!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-28T09:44:00.001-08:00

This year Jay had to work on Thanksgiving. We sort of forgot that Thanksgiving was on a Thursday and signed up for 24 hour shifts up in Lyons every Thursday in November...oops. We won't make that mistake again. So sadly we didn't get to spend the day with him but Carter and I did spend the day over at my Dad's house. Lori made a great Thanksgiving meal and we had a nice relaxing day.

Carter was super interested in the turkey but then he wouldn't even think about touching it when it was time to eat it. He ate a roll and some cranberry jello salad. It drives me nuts when he gets in a picky mood with food!

Carter and Grandpa

Watching Grandpa carve the turkey...

Still watching...

Still watching and showing me what he was watching...

Oliver and Carter were ready for dinner...

Thanks Dad and Lori for having Carter and I over for Thanksgiving!

Some Fun

2011-11-28T09:30:00.001-08:00

We had a movie night a couple weeks back and watched...wow, I actually can't remember what we watched but it was a movie for Carter. We moved our matress into the living room and had lots of snuggle time and enjoyed a movie. It is fun to be able to do this with Carter now. He looks so serious in these pictures but he sat and watched the movie with us for a long time. He seemed to enjoy it. These are fun family times!

Carter loves to sit at the table and sometimes likes to be risky and climb onto the table. We are telling him that this isn't okay but first I had to take a couple pictures...what mom wouldn't?

He was being such a ham!

And then there's the computer desk...We moved it into the kitchen and now he thinks it is a fun place to play. I have to put the pens back in the pen jar probably five times a day. This was the first time he actually climbed up onto the desk though. The little stinker :)

Belbow...

2011-11-15T10:11:00.001-08:00

I find it so thrilling when I realize that I have taught my son something. I know that I do teach him quite a few things each and every day but when he remembers something that I have been trying to drill into his little brain for weeks...it's thrilling. I am always telling him not to touch mama's chord on the hair straightener. I try and remember to always put it all the way up on the counter but I have forgotten once or twice and of course one of those times, he pulled it down and proceded to pick it up touching the hot part. Yes, I felt awful! So in case those infrequent times happen when I forget to put it away properly, I want him to just understand that it is hot and can hurt him. Today he walked past the hair straightner, looked at the chord, looked up at me and said "hot!" Yay! Progress!

So Carter's newest word is "belbow." It means elbow. It is my favorite thing in the world that he says right now! I really don't ever want him to learn how to say it correctly because it's so stinkin' cute! Although I'm sure the cute factor wears off when they are ten and still saying belbow. What's funny is that he is always mixing up his "belbow" and his knee. He has known knee for quite a while and knows how to say it but lately he pats his knee and says "belbow." We are working on it :)

He is just talking up a storm right now and I didn't want to wait for his 21 month blog to jot down his newest words. His newest words are hat, hot, bee, pee (yes, he says pee pee), me, eye or eyes, beep beep, bus, baby, please and elbow (belbow). We have been working on please FOREVER and he finally says it and says it ALL THE TIME. He says is at all the right times when he wants something. He misses the l in the word but it is so cute. He can basically have whatever he wants when he says it because it melts my heart every time! I'm exaggerating a little but it is hard not to give in when he says "peez" in his cute little voice.

Does anyone else have constant sick kids right now? Carter spent the first 18 months of his life super healthy and has now been sick three times in the last two months. They have all been the runny nose, fever, grumpy, kind of sickness but it is getting so frustrating! Last Friday evening he started coughing this horrific seal like bark and had a fever of 102.3. The fever was pretty mild after that first night but for four days now he has had the awful cough. We have avoided the doctor's office so far because he is managing pretty well with it but it is starting to wear on him and us! He woke up this morning at 3am because of coughing and just laid in bed for 45 minutes coughing and whining. I finally got him up and put him in bed with me which meant I didn't sleep much at all because of his coughing. Poor kid. It is 10:30am right now and he is down for a nap because he didn't sleep much last night. We have missed church three times due to sickness in the last six weeks. I just want my healthy little man back. A friend of mine said the same thing happened to her daughter the first winter after she stopped nursing. I am wondering if that is what is happening. This is our first winter without nursing and I wonder if not having all that good stuff from mama is making it easier for him to catch things. I just hope it ends soon!

I hit 21 weeks pregnant on Monday and still feel great. I have really started looking pregnant in the last couple of weeks. I am also feeling Madelynn move and kick all the time. I think Jay will be able to feel her move this week too, it's just a matter of catching it at the right time. Carter loves looking at my belly, patting it, and saying "baby" over and over. He has been really sweet with my baby bump.

Christmas is coming and we are only a few days away from decorating for it! This is my favorite time of year by far! Carter LOVES the Christmas trees in all the stores and all the lights and decorations. This is going to be a fun Christmas with him! I can't wait to get our tree and decorate it with him. Then this mama gets to teach him something else...not to touch the ornaments. That should be fun :) At least he is old enough to understand and obey, unlike last year. Last year we had to put a barrier in front of the tree so that he didn't destroy it. This year he will learn not to touch! And then next year we will have to have a barrier again for Madelynn. So basically every other year for a while I can have a normal living room at Christmas time.

This has just been a random post of random thoughts. Hopefully I'll have a new baby bump picture coming soon.

Are you ready?!?!?!?!?!?!

2011-11-07T09:11:00.000-08:00

WE ARE HAVING A GIRL!!!!!

Yes, we are completely shocked and overwhelmed! We really thought we were having a boy and that I actually might never have a girl. I know that is a little dramatic. Jay just has an overwhelming anount of boys on his side of the family for generations and so we just thought it might be harder to create a girl. But by golly, it has happened.

We are so excited to take on a new adventure with a sweet little miss and just incase any of you don't know...

Her name will be Madelynn Grace Hinderks.

19 Weeks and the Big Day!

2011-11-02T11:10:00.001-07:00

So I always said I wasn't going to be the typical mom and take less pictures of my second, third, fourth kid, etc than I did the first one. Well, I am already failing because this is only my second belly picture and I am 19 weeks already. I think I already had six pictures when I was pregnant with Carter at this point. I am going to get better! I am saying it out loud so that maybe I will actually do it.

So two days ago I hit 19 weeks and tomorrow (Thursday, November 3rd) is the day of our long awaited ultrasound to find out if we are having a Madelynn Grace or a Bryson James. Yes, those are our two names and I am pretty sure they are set in stone. But with me you never know :)

I had another check up appointment like I do every month last week and had a little bit of an elevated blood pressure. It was only 130 over 88 but I guess that freaked my doctor out a bit. He said at this point in pregnancy most women's blood pressure actually drops lower than the normal. For those of you who didn't follow my pregnancy with Carter (probably most of you because that's not exactly the most exciting thing to follow when it isn't your own pregnancy) I went on bedrest for six weeks at the end of my pregnancy with high blood pressure. So of course we are all expecting it again but also hoping it won't be till the very end, if at all. Well, 19 weeks is way stinkin' too early if you ask me! My doctor wanted to get me on the prescription blood pressure medicine again right away but I pushed back a little with him. I asked him if I could have one week to change a few things in my life (like walking, drinking more water, eating more veggies, etc...) and to just see if it was a fluke thing or if it really is the start of my high blood pressure. Well I went on one walk (ha!), drank TONS of water, worked a little on what I ate and then went back yesterday to check it again. It was 117 over 75!!! Woohoo!!! I was so excited to be able to go longer without having to take a prescription! I am going to try hard to keep working on my health and pray that I can keep the meds out of my life for quite a while. I just hate taking medication when I'm pregnant, but I will when the time comes! Plus with the CONSTANT headaches I get during my pregnancies, I am already taking enough of the prescription headache medicine. I don't want to take something else too!

Every appointment they ask me if I feel the baby moving. I have a few times but it seems like I was feeling Carter moving way more by now so I was getting a little nervous. I told my doctor so he listened to the heartbeat and said everything was perfect. We also got to hear the baby kick quite a few times. It is really neat to hear their movements! He said it is perfectly normal not to feel the baby all that much at this point in pregnancy and not to worry. This baby is funny because the doctor always has a little bit of a hard time finding the heartbeat. He always hears mine for a bit before he can locate the babies but then he always finds it and even hears kicking. Carter never had a hard time being found! Maybe this one is a girl or just a sneaky little boy :)

You may be bored with all of this information but I just want it written down somewhere so I will always remember this pregnancy :) I love how I feel right now! I have energy again and feel so great. I am still sleeping great and can still hold my Carter man. I know that will continue to get more difficult though. I am so thankful for this pregnancy!

Tomorrow is our big day and I can hardly contain my excitement to find out what we are having. It has always sounded fun to wait and have it be a surprise but I just can't do it! I can't wait to call this baby by their name and start preparing the room. I even can't wait to go buy the outfit for coming home from the hospital. I just love everything about this stage in pregnancy.

Stay tuned for hopefully an announcement tomorrow...

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T10:54:00.000-07:00

A couple nights ago we carved our pumpkin. I had dreams of the three of us sitting around our cute little pumpkin, all of us pulling out the insides, Carter smiling and screaching in pure joy at being able to get all messy with pumpkin guts, and Carter even helping Jay cut a cute smiley face in our pumpkin. I really don't live in the real world when it comes to a toddler. Carter wasn't the least bit interested in our pumpkin carving experience and in fact was incredibly grumpy and whiny! I eventually turned on Mickey Mouse so Jay and I could carve the pumpkin in peace. Not exactly what I pictured. Oh well. That is life with children. Jay did a fantastic job making a great face in our pumpkin and we enjoyed seeing it let for a few nights outside on our front porch.

The most we could get Carter to do was smack the pumpkin with a spoon. Once he started leaving dents in the outside of the pumpkin, we took the spoon away and that was the last participation we got from Carter.

It may look like he was participating here but I was really holding him hostage just for one picture. He didn't want to help at all!

For Halloween we got him a zebra costume. He LOVED it! He had already worn it around the house many times and if he ever saw it hanging in his closet, he screech and holler until we got it down and put it on him.

The rest of these pictures are from last night, Halloween night. We took him across the street to our neighbor Michelle and Carter got many kisses from her dog Cooper. Then we went to my mom's and then my dad's. THen it was back home and off to bed for the little man.

Sadly, he did not want his picture taken with our pumpkin. This was the best we could get.

Trick or treating at Grandma's house.

Our neighbor had given him these two cars that he wouldn't put down for anything. At my mom's he figured out how to work them and was having a blast playing with them. I loved his facial expressions.

Trick or treating at Grandma and Grandpa's house. He loved carrying his candy around.

Happy Halloween everyone from our cute zebra!

19 and 20 months

2011-10-25T12:08:00.000-07:00

Apparently I skipped 19 months. I never really planned on continuing these monthly blogs after 12 months but I just kept going and I still love having them to look back on. It took me 19 months to forget to do one...not too bad. So here are two months worth of what Carter has been up to.

To our sweet Carter man...

You have finally realized you can talk. You still don't say tons of words but you are starting to get the hang of it. And you realize now that you can repeat what we say and it is just so funny to you. Here are the words you say consistently...
mama, daddy, bye or bu bye, uh oh, no (yep, I would say you discovered this one way too early!), beep beep, I don't know (this was your first phrase), hi, and pull
We have heard you say cat, banana, duck, and lots more but I am forgetting right now. These ones you don't say a lot though.

You love repeating sounds we make but really love doing your animal sounds. You know how to do the sound for lion, monkey, kitty, cow, and sheep. Your lion is my favorite because you really get a great growl sound down in your throat for it. We have been working hard on dog but you just don't quite have it down yet.

You LOVE your stuffed animals. You are so sweet to them and take such good care of them. Most of the time I come to get you out of bed you have your blankie in one hand and a stuffed animal in the other. You give them lots of hugs and kisses and love snuggling with them on the couch.

Your new favorite tv show is Mickey Mouse and seem much less interested in Chuggington now. Chuggington was a great first tv show for you though!

You are still a great eater and eat mostly the same stuff you did at 18 months...so I won't bore everyone with all the details.

You are becoming EXTREMELY independent! You like to do everything by yourself. You also really don't like sharing anything! Whether it's in the nursery, at a friends house, or we have a friend at our house, you don't want to share any of your toys or their toys. You want them all. If someone else has a toy, you want it. We are working VERY hard at teaching you how to share. You will even push someone out of your way so that you can get a toy and they can't.

You love wearing shoes and your rain boots. You love turning lights on and off and ask a hundred times a day to be picked up so you can hit the light switch. You LOVE your blankie and can't seem to go anywhere (even just around the house) without it.

You had a really rough three weeks recently with some on and off again sickness. You had your first really high fever, 103.5. I don't think you have ever had one higher than 102.0 so this was new for us. With it came a tremendous amount of whining and crying! Wow, was this mama worn out. But we seem to have turned a page and you are happy again! Praise the Lord!

You are so sweet to your brother or sister growing inside of my belly. You love giving my tummy kisses and patting or rubbing it. You will say baby lots and when you are looking at my belly. We find out in three days if you are having a brother or a sister. We can't wait!

We have recently started setting up your new big boy bedroom. You love playing in there! You have a twin bed, a dresser, a bookshelf, a toy shelf with canvas drawers for all of your toys, and your train table. You love playing with your train table and it's nice having it inside now rather than the garage. We will start having you sleep in there sometime in February.

Today is Halloween and you are going to be a zebra. You love your costume and have worn it around the house many times already.

At the doctor the other day you weighed 27 pounds. You don't seem to be gaining a whole lot but that's probably because you are so active.

Your daddy is your hero. Literally. You absolutely adore him and can't get enough of him!

You are all around a happy and loving little man! We love you more than we know how to explain in writing. You are precious Carter and have made our lives full of life and joy!

Only four more months until your second birthday...wow!

Senior Pictures

2011-10-25T11:00:00.000-07:00

I haven't done much real photography in quite a while...like a couple of years. I really love photography but it seemed like I was getting a little burned out. I also felt like I just wasn't keeping up with the times...and by this I mean learning how to use my camera manually and learning how to edit photos. I know, I'm a pretty lame photographer. Well, over the weekend I got a phone call to do some senior pictures for a family that I had photographed a few years ago. I decided to give it a try with some hesitation but found I really enjoyed and missed it. I had to borrow my dad's camera because the lens on my camera is acting up right now. My dad and Lori then decided to ask me to take their foreign exchange student's senior pictures as well. So this first shoot is of my dad's foreign exchange student Oliver with a few of my brother added in for good measure. The second shoot is of the family that called, their son Jake. After doing Jakes shoot I decided to at least see if I could figure out Picassa, which is a free online photo editing program. I am sure there are better options out there but I thoroughly enjoyed learning how to edit photos and I loved the end result. I can't believe I didn't learn this sooner! So here are a few shots from my last two photo shoots. Who knows, maybe I will get back into photography like I was a few years back.

We finally have carpet!

2011-10-18T09:31:00.000-07:00

We finally broke down and bought carpet for our bedrooms. We have wanted to do this since the day we moved into this house. We have beautiful original wood floors in the entire house but I am still a carpte kind of girl. So we compromised and put it just in the bedrooms and hall. It is gorgeous! Jay and I LOVE having carpet back there. It is so much cozier and warmer. Carter LOVES it too. Jay said when Carter saw it for the first time he was petting it, rolling around on it, and falling on purpose to land on it. We just love everything about having carpet back there. It changed the whole look of the house. I think it updated it by 50 years!

Max seems to like it too!

Jay and Carter are able to roll around, jump and fall, wrestle and play without getting injured!

Our bedroom...

Our hall with the tile in the bathroom that matches perfectly!

This was our old spare room which will soon be turning into Carter's new bedroom in a few months right before this baby arrives. Right now it has turned into a playroom. He loves having a whole room just for his toys. The smallest person in our house right now has two whole bedrooms to himself. Something is wrong with this picture...

Carter's bedroom...

Jay and Carter are building Carter's big boy bed. We bought this bed from my mom who had bought it from IKEA but didn't need it anymore. It's super cute and low to the ground but still a full twin size bed so he won't grow out of it too soon! So now Carter's playroom also has his big boy bed in it. We are thinking he will start sleeping in it sometime in February.

Carter LOVES helping daddy build stuff...

He loved exploring his new bed...

And his new mattress, still in the plastic...

Girls weekend!

2011-10-16T13:50:00.001-07:00

I had the priviledge of spending a girls weedend in Seattle with three of my favorite girls! I lived with these three girls in college and have been friends ever since. We had such a great time just chatting and catching up, eating lots, and shopping. Everything is always silly and fun with these girls. I am so thankful for their friendships and feel blessed to have them in my life. Amanda's dad was able to get us a great hotel in downtown Seattle. We even had a great buffet breakfast there for free. We stayed up late and laughted a lot. Thanks girls for a great night away!

Eating lunch at the Hard Rock cafe.

And our silly way of getting pictures of all of us...yep, that's the shower :)

Our view from our 27th floor hotel room...

This was my first time away from both Jay and Carter over night. They enjoyed their boys night but I'm pretty sure they were very excited to have me home. I missed them too but was thankful for a night away to just relax and take a pause on life. Thanks Jay for letting me leave you boys!

15 Weeks!

2011-10-03T08:48:00.000-07:00

I am 15 weeks pregnant. The last few weeks have actually gone by quickly and I am thankful for that. I have a hard time balancing wanting time to fly by so that I get to meet this baby and wanting time to slow down so I have more precious time with my Carter man. Carter is growing up way too quickly and I feel sad everytime I want time to go by faster. It's going by fast enough and I need to be content in every moment of my days. I don't want my time with Carter to go by quickly but I am so excited to meet our baby. Oh the dilemma. So I finally took my first belly picture. I think I am looking huge and I am definately starting to really feel pregnant now. And the really excting news is that one month from today...we get to see our baby on the ultrasound screen and find out if we are having a boy or a girl. Hopefully ;)

And here are a couple cute pictures of my guys having fun together.

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-01T18:58:00.001-07:00

We did a spontaneous trip to our favorite pumpkin patch on Thursday, Bauman Farms. Carter was having a really hard time taking a nap that day, which is NOT normal for him so we decided to bag it and go to the pumpkin patch. This decision was not thought upon much and should have been since it was like a hundred degrees out. I think it was really only like 86 or something but it was way too hot for the pumpkin patch. And Carter had not taken a nap so by the end he was melting down a little too easily. But, we had fun anyway. I look forward to the pumpkin patch every fall!

Of course we had to go look at all of the animals.

And the tractor...

My two favorite guys...

Watching the goats.

He wasn't too sure of the tube slides at first but he did it :)

He LOVED the swings! He had never been on such big swings before and thought it was the coolest thing ever! He was laughing everytime he came down.

He was in heaven!

Jay had some fun too.

By the time we went out to pick our pumpkin Carter was starting to melt down. Jay and I sort of were too because of how stinkin' hot it was!

Cute in Blue

2011-09-26T09:42:00.001-07:00

I took Carter's jeans off for his nap so most of the day he sported the top half of his church outfit with socks. I thought it was cute.

This is what I now get when I ask him to smile for the camera.

He was posing so nicely for me.

And the cheesy smile again...

Then I told him to wave...

I was realizing the other day how few pictures I take of him just hanging around at home. Of course, I snap all the important outings and adventures that we take him on but I don't take much doing the daily routine. So here are a few. Just hanging out in half an outfit riding around on his firetruck.

Fall is here...

2011-09-25T13:31:00.000-07:00

4 days ago...Sunshine, sidewalk chalk, and a cute little boy.

Today...Rain, rain, and more rain mixed with some wind and lots of gray skies!

So what does that mean for this girl who loves fall...

Time to decorate! Now I know I am a little behind the times since everyone on facebook seemed to decorate for fall last week, but I guess this feels even better for me because now it actually looks like fall. Maybe it was hard for me to decorate for fall when it was in the upper 80's day after day. The gray skies and rain got me in the mood. I love summer but I am usually ready for fall when it starts to show it's face around here.

So today, after Carter and I had some nice snuggle time on the couch watching Finding Nemo, I put Carter down for his nap, made myself my first cup of hot spiced apple cider, put Home Alone 2 on the tv, and decorated for fall. Don't ask my why I was watching Home Alone 2 while decorating for fall and not for Christmas, but it happened to be on tv last night, so I recorded it and felt like it would put a smile on my face and make me feel like Christmas is a little closer than almost three months away. As much as I like fall, nothing beats Christmas for me! Maybe that's why I like fall so much...it brings me closer to Christmas.

I won one of the centerpieces from MOPS last week which were beautiful sunflowers. They have made my dining room table just perfect for fall for the last few days. I also found these candles at Fred Meyer on sale for $7.99 AND buy one get one free! They are normally $9.99 each. So I bought one for me and one for my mom for her birthday. They make my house smell like cinnemon and pumpkin spice!

Oh, and of course I have to add a couple picture of my boys. Aren't they cute? They were watching a movie together and having some great snuggle time. We love snuggling with the Carter man!

Second Trimester...Oh how I love thee!

2011-09-21T15:06:00.000-07:00

I am thirteen weeks and six days pregnant, which means...I'm officially in my second trimester. I am doing a happy dance right now ;) The main reason for the happy dance is that the last four days or so I have been feeling probably 90% better than I have felt in over eight weeks! That first trimester was really kicking my butt! I hate feeling so incredibly nauseous 24/7 and even throwing up some. I hate having to eat every hour and half or I get too far past the point of feeling well enough to eat. I hate having zero energy and taking naps almost everyday. I know...I sound pretty negative. However, what I do love is this precious baby growing inside of me!!! I will deal with this sickness for however long it takes because I know that in the end we get to add another perfect blessing into our family! But I am so thankful for a few days of feeling so much better. It gives me some hope that I won't be nauseous the entire pregnancy :) I think this pregnancy has been a little harder than my pregnancy with Carter. I think the nausea was more intense and it was so hard to be a good mom when I felt so miserable. I am looking forward to the second trimester for three reasons...to be a better mom to my Carter man, to be a better wife to the love of my life, and to actually enjoy being pregnant with our second baby.

I haven't taken any belly pictures yet. I think I just feel so fat this time around. I know I am starting to show but I keep waiting for it to look a little more like a baby belly and less like I've been eating too much. I will start posting some pictures soon. We are beginning the process of clearing out the spare room to start preparing it for Carter's big boy room. I know a lot of people would have the first two kids share a room for a while but the last thing in the world that I want is a newborn sleeping in the same room with a toddler. Carter getting a good nights sleep is beyond precious to me and we don't want the baby in our room more than just a few short weeks. So Carter will get to have his own big boy room probably right about his second birthday. That will give him a few weeks to get used to sleeping in a big boy bed before the baby is here and taking over his crib. I can't wait to get started on Carter's new room and of course the nursery, once we know the baby's gender. I think working on Carter's room will start helping me pass the time while we wait for this baby.

I can't believe that we are going to have two beautiful babies. I know Carter isn't a baby anymore but I just feel so blessed that I am living my dream. It was always my dream to find an amazing man who would love me with everything he had and then to be able to have a family on top of that. I know I am being cheesy...but I am so thankful for the many blessings in my life!

Oh and at our last appointment, almost four weeks ago, we got to see our baby and see the little heartbeat. Doctor West said everything looked perfect and the measurements all matched up to my original due date, March 26th. We got the cute little peanut ultrasound picture that I just love. In two days we get to hear the heartbeat and I just can't wait!

Shower for baby Silas

2011-09-17T18:03:00.000-07:00

I LOVE throwing showers! My friend Natalie just had her fourth baby so I had another reason to throw a shower. I threw my friend Ashley's shower about seven months back as well but didn't take any pictures. The neat and unique thing about this shower was that Natalie had baby Silas over three weeks early which meant we were blessed to have the guest of honor at the shower with us. What woman doesn't love holding a sweet two week old baby?

The only hard thing about throwing showers is that they can get pretty expensive. One of our friends, Amanda, called me about a week ago and said she would love to help with the shower. What a blessing. I was so thankful to have someone help and she throws beautiful showers. She was actually one of the three ladies that threw my baby shower for Carter. She did all the food which was soooo good and so much help. She also helped me with ideas, helped decorate and set up, and made cute little party favors. I was able to do decorations and make the table look cute. I found on a blog these really cute pom poms made out of tissue paper. Amanda helped me make them. They were very cute and really added to the decor.

It was fun to be able to use some pictures of baby Silas and the family as a part of the decor. Usually the baby hasn't made their appearance yet. I had taken some family pictures the day after Silas was born and then some of him a few days after they got home. I had some prints made in sepia tone which was nice to add to the table.

Since it was a Saturday morning shower we just did cupcakes for dessert. I just made plain old white cupcakes out of a box. I still love them though.

Sadly I didn't get any pictures of the guest of honor and baby of honor or the guests. That's the thing about hosting a shower...I tend to forget to capture all the moments. It was a nice, intimate shower though.

To my friend Natalie...thanks for letting me throw you another shower! You deserve to be spoiled and we of course love spoiling your newest little man. Silas is beautiful!

State Fair 2011

2011-09-01T13:47:00.001-07:00

Carter's favorite part of the fair...the petting zoo.

Kissing the animals...yep, a little gross but so cute!

I have no words...

He wasn't too sure about Smokey Bear.

Oh how he loves the tractors!

18 Months

2011-09-01T13:28:00.000-07:00

To my sweet one and a half year old...

You are a joy! You are fun and silly and wild and crazy!

The newest thing you have discovered in the last month is that you can climb! You love to climb on our chairs and even get up onto the dining room table. If you can't reach something, you will figure out how to reach it by putting things at your feet that you can climb on top of to get you higher. You like to get up onto the dining room chair and then climb up on the railing on the back of the chair to get you even higher. I took a picture of it on my phone but I need to get a picture of it for the blog. You might have a career as an acrobat.

Here are a few little facts about you at 18 months...

You weigh around 28 pounds (your 18 month appointment is tomorrow so then we'll know for sure), you have at least 16 teeth with at least one more about to come through, you wear size four diapers, size four or five shoes, and mostly 18-24 month clothes, you love to eat avocado, black beans, yogurt, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, oranges, blueberries, whole wheat waffles, bananas, mac and cheese, anything with spaghetti sauce and pasta, and most fruits, you sleep from 8 or 8:30 every night to 8 or 8:30 every morning (yes, 12 hours most nights!!!), and you take two hour naps every afternoon.

You are an independent little man but you also love to be with us and even hold our hand all the time. If we are walking out the front door, you always hold your hand up to grab ours. Your loves are still the same...garbage trucks, all animals, your blankie, semi trucks, ambulances, your daddy, Chuggington, and your newest love is your Giant's hat we bought you at the Giants game last month.

We introduced "time out" to you for the first time this past week. There are a couple things you kept doing that we continued to tell you "no." But, you get your stubborness from your mama and you were determined not to stop. So we started putting you on your rocking chair in your room and closing the door. You HATE it! You just sit in your chair and cry until I come back. Since you are one, I only leave you for one minute. I think it's so funny that you hate being there but yet you never try to get out of the chair. We did time out two times for pushing buttons on our cable box and you have not touched it in days! I think it might have worked! You are a smart little boy!

You are a good boy Carter and we are so proud of who you are! We love you so much!

9 weeks

2011-08-25T06:34:00.000-07:00

I am nine weeks pregnant. It is really easy with this pregnancy to be so focused on Carter that I don't keep track of anything with my pregnancy. I want to work really hard to still document everything about my pregnancy with this precious baby, just like I did with Carter. When I was pregnant with Carter, I was able to be completely and totally focused on being pregnant. That sure changes when it is a second pregnancy and you have a toddler to keep track of and keep alive. (Yes, that is a goal right now...to keep my little monkey and acrobat alive! I'll write more about that in his 18 month blog.)

Here is a little recap of my pregnancy so far. We found out I was pregnant about two days after four weeks pregnant. And by four and a half weeks, I was already feeling sick! This was much earlier than with Carter so it really caught me off guard. I'm still hoping that means I will be done with the yucky stuff a couple of weeks early. Ha! Up until yesterday, so for about five weeks, I just felt sick constantly but never threw up. I finally threw up yesterday. It really caught me off guard because I have been so sick this whole time but never threw up. And I only threw up with Carter once but it was later in the pregnancy so I'm not even sure it was pregnancy related. Anyway, enough about throw up ;) I hate feeling so sick! It is a good thing I had sort of blocked that out of my mind with my first pregnancy because if I remembered it so clearly, I'm not sure I would want to keep doing this ;) And the lack of energy...I hate that feeling! It makes me feel so lazy but I just don't have any energy! Which is really hard when I have a one year old that has more energy than 18 adults combined. I have taken a lot of naps during Carter's naps and my mom has also taken him a few times for a couple of hours. I was finishing up two masters classes a couple of weeks ago so my lack of energy couldn't stop me from working and writing papers every free moment I had. Thankfully those are done and I have a little time off before the next class starts.

After my miscarriage, I have been so paranoid that something will happen to this baby too. Thankfully so far, everything is acting perfectly normal! I have my first doctor's appointment today to see our baby's heartbeat and I can't wait! I am hitting that point where I am starting to feel fat and uncomfortable in normal clothes. I'm sure many women go much longer but I start feeling so uncomfortable that the maternity clothes always come out early. And I don't care! They are comfortable!

So far I have not really had any food aversions. I actually want to eat with this baby, unlike with Carter. Eating makes me feel so much better and I have been able to eat almost anything, too much in fact. I need to slow it down so that I don't gain a whole bunch of weight right at the beginning.

Anyway, that has been my pregnancy so far. We are so excited to add another person into our family! Carter already kisses my tummy when I ask him where the baby is. He even started saying baby yesterday. I know he doesn't understand but it is still fun trying to teach him about the baby.

I'll be back soon for Carter's 18 month post!

Time with family...

2011-08-24T18:30:00.000-07:00

We headed off to Spokane to watch my cousin Amy get married. We decided to go to Clarkston for a few days first to spend some time with my grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins. We had a nice time but stayed very busy. We took Carter to the water park, went out on my cousin Mark's boat, ate some great food with the fam, Jay golfed twice, and we just enjoyed our time with the family.

Aunt Gina wearing Carter's hat.

Our adventure on the boat...

Carter had to get used to wearing a life jacket. He wasn't too sure what to think of this boat thing at first but he really enjoyed it as long as he was in my lap.

Jay and Mark dove in the cool water.

Jay got to water ski.

After our boat adventure we had a picnic in the park with the whole family.

Carter and Mark

Carter's new favorite thing to do is throw rocks! He threw probably 200 rocks that night and threw the largest tempertantrum I have ever seen him throw when Jay made him stop and come back to the picnic. I have never heard anything like that come from him before.

Grandpa taking pictures of Carter...this happened quite frequently this week.

Amy and Jason's wedding...

It was a beautiful wedding and a beautiful couple very much in love and ready to start their future together!

Carter made it almost impossible for me to get a good picture of him in his wedding attire. I felt like an idiot chasing him around trying though. :)

Without fail...

He found the only rocks in the whole area and was obsessed with throwing them! This next picture is crazy because he threw the rock and it is flying above his head. I'm not really sure where it landed.

Being announced as husband and wife...

Some of the groomsman and Amy's three brothers, my cousins. Brian is the one making a silly face, Eric is to the right of him and Kyle is on the left (when facing them).

First dance...beautiful setting!

Father/Daughter dance

Let the dancing begin...

Carter enjoyed trying to dance...

Amy and her brother Kyle.

My cousins, Carrie and Craig.

Love these pictures! Carter was holding Jay's cheeks and kissing him. True admiration and love for his daddy!

Playing in the pool with cousin Kyle.

Kyle started playing his guitar and Carter was mesmerized.

Playing catch with Uncle Don.

We spent our last day there at Silverwood. It is an amusment park and water park near Spokane. We had a great time. I didn't get to do a whole lot because I am pregnant but I still enjoyed it. Carter had a great time and even got to ride three rides! And Jay was in heaven with the roller coaster and water slides.

The four who actually braved Aftershock.

Heading up for Panic Plunge. I don't even understand how anyone could ride this ride. It goes straight up, and then drops you straight down. Awful!!

Just got back to the ground...and I'm sure their stomachs are in their throats.

Jay and Carter on the dumbo ride. Carter loved it. This was his first ride. Later he also rode it with Grandma. I love how his little head is sticking out over the elephant in the bottom picture. And with his Giants hat on. He loves his hat and wears it ALL THE TIME!

Oh the water slides...

Jay and Carrie did the Velocity slide which is the middle one that is tall and straight down. I can't even imagine ever getting on that thing but they loved it. Jay said as you come out of the tube where it begins to drop you straight down, his butt actually got off the slide. Crazy scary!! That is Jay going down it in the next picture and him at the end of it in the next picture. I have a brave husband. He loves this stuff! I hope Carter will be brave like him and not a coward like me ;) Jay is working pretty hard to help him get ready for these fun rides and slides. He always says "I'm just getting him ready for roller coasters..."

They had a great splash pad just for toddlers. Carter was in heaven and it was definately the best splash pad I have ever seen.

Another roller coaster...Jay, Craig, and Carrie are right in the middle. Jay has a bright orange Giants shirt on. You can see them if you look closely.

We took Carter on the train ride. He enjoyed it as long as it was moving. They stop out in the woods for a little fake robbery which was clearly very boring for Carter. He was so wriggly and getting cranky but he did okay and really did like it when we were moving. We got to see a bunch of Bison pretty close up and he loved that. He is such an animal guy!

We had a nice vacation with our family. The wedding was great and it was fun to be a part of Amy and Jason's special day. Carter is a great traveler. This trip was a little harder on him then most of them though. I think it is because we stayed in three different places, my Grandparents, a hotel one night, and then my aunt and uncles. And there were so many people always wanting to hold Carter and play with him, he just seemed overwhelmed. He is usually a pretty social guy but it would take him some time to warm up to everyone. That's okay though. He is a trooper and seemed to enjoy all of his new adventures. He did get to do some pretty fun stuff.

Well...our little Carter man turns 18 months old tomorrow so I will be back soon for his 18 month post. I can't believe he is a year and a half already.

A Picture Post

2011-08-24T18:11:00.001-07:00

Jay found out that Safeway was having a huge sale on steak. He took Carter down there to check it out and came home with over 11 pounds of steak. $32 for all this steak! He was pretty proud of their deal!

Our first crop...I know the zuchinni is far to large but I didn't know that. I will start picking them a little earlier now. Our beans have been quite fruitful and delicious!

Jay was grilling steaks one night and I was inside cooking the rest of our dinner while Carter played in the backyard. Jay ran inside to bring something in and when he went back out...Carter had gone from playing on his firetruck to sitting at the table helping himself to watermellon. It was so cute.

Our second pickings from our garden. I love growing a garden. It's so satisfying!

And our cutie pie eating breakfast while watching Chuggington one morning. I just thought it was cute how he was lounging.