10 months down and 2 to go

I really dislike doing month posts without going to the doctor because my favorite part is seeing how much my little nugget has grown. So if I have ever skipped a month post that is the reason.

But this month we took some really funny prop pictures so I just had to share.

length: growing
weight: growing
clothes: 12 months
diapers: size 4
sleeping: wonderfully...2 naps and all night


food: ANYTHING and EVERYTHING put in front of him.He is already trying to eat us out of house and home. Also trying some milk products this month so at 1 he wont be thrown to the wolves. He also still nurses twice a day. We are weening off the boob. No, he will not be a 4 year old still nursing :)

Activity: I'm not going to go into everything I have already mentioned in previous months so new things are: Throwing anything he can get his hands on. We are trying to teach him that the appropriate things to throw are balls. He is cruising more and stood without holding onto anything once for about 5 seconds but I think it was a fluke (my baby is way to lazy to be doing that already) His babble is becoming more meaningful. On occasion he will will say mamma, dadda, bubba, more, and bye bye. Now don't take that as me saying he is talking. He isn't consistent enough for me to say he is saying these words with the correct association. Of course my mother thinks he is, but that is what Grandmas are for :)

Other Random Things: No new teeth. I think he knows when those top 2 bust through the boob is gone, so he is trying to hold off as long as possible. Still has the paci. Here is a new one - he likes to sleep on a pillow and he has since he was about 5 months old. Of course its a very small pillow that he can throw around, but he loves that thing. He continues to be my loving butterball and I am taking advantage of every loving moment I get.

2 months to go until the big ONE...I better start party planning!

Keeping Up with the Blacks

Some pics from the good ole IPhone. I lost my phone in the airport right before boarding the plane for Vegas, so unfortunately no naughty pics ;) luckily someone found my phone and turned it in to the lost and found. There are a few good people still out there. So I am very thankful to that good person that I get to share my pictures with you.

Rooaarring with his Cancun shark shirt...since sharks roar and everything.

Some breakfast together and watching cartoons.

Black light putt-putt. Totally worth every penny in this heat.

Riding dirty in the double wide :)

Eventually loving the circus.

There is your catch up. Soon to come will be the Las Vegas post...maybe :/ You should be nervous about that one.

If you know the girls I went with (Whitney & Stefanie) you can only imagine...

Killing Two Birds with One Stone

Carson turns 3 and Caleb 9 months

...and the best part about this milestone is at their doctor's appointment they needed NO shots. Happy kids make for a very happy Momma, and "Happy wife, happy life" I try to remind Garet of that all the time :)

Lets do a little rewind 

 

It is amazing how much he has changed in 3 short years. 

In his birthday party post I described some of the things he is doing at the age of 3, so I won't go into that again. Here are his stats from the doctor's appointment.

Weight: 39 lbs 95-97%

Length: 41 inches >97% (off the charts) = giant child 

Anyone who knows my husband Garet, knows that he is super pumped about Carson being huge. 

Now onto my little Caleb and compared to Carson, he is very little. Compared to the rest of the world he is average.

9 months and trying to give you a hug!

Length: 28 1/4 inches (50%)

Weight: 20 lbs 6 ounces (50%)

Clothes: 12 months 

Diapers: Size 4...we have finally stopped going up so quickly. 

Sleeping: 11 hours at night with a morning and afternoon nap that last anywhere between an hour or 2 hours.

Food: He gets to nurse twice a day but has officially started taking Two 8 ounce formula bottles. Along with that he is eating stage 3 baby food and anything else I let him eat. New things that we have tried are: cheer-ios, macaroni and cheese, french fries, Ritz crackers, bread, re-fried beans and Mexican rice. He is not a picky eater and is very content in his high chair, especially sitting next to brother.

Activity: Crawling EVERYWHERE, pulling up on everything and cruising, banging toys together or against hard surfaces (making music), and the newest funniest thing is hitting balls with a bat or golf club. He sees brother do it all the time so he crawls around sits on his rump and swings away. It really is the funniest thing I have seen him do. Something else new that I haven't mentioned in any other posts is his babbling. He is trying more and more to talk and is really starting to make some correct noises. No words yet, but we will get there soon enough.

Other Random things: 2 official teeth and working on the top two (slobber monster). Not too cranky with the teething process. Continues to love his paci, but isn't obsessed with it. Sometimes at night he will throw it out of his crib, then get upset he doesn't have it. He will learn :) He also continues to be so loving and cuddly. I am a hard Momma with Carson and I am really afraid that Caleb is going to try to take advantage and butter me up when he gets old enough to figure that out. Only a few more months until the big 1 and he will get his first taste of cake, cookies, ice cream, all of the good/bad things for you!

Here is the prop month pic of my little man...

He is hinting to his Daddy and uncles that he is ready to go fishing!

Carson turned 3!

I can't believe that my baby boy turned 3 a week ago. We had a wonderful birthday party with family, friends, a blow up water slide, and a huge bounce house. My goal for his birthday party was for Carson to have the most fun possible and I think we achieved that. But talk about a bad mother...I only took one picture the entire party and that was Carson blowing out his birthday candles. At least I got that right? Luckily several other people were taking pictures, so hopefully I will steal some of those for his memory book. 

Also luckily we got to keep the bounce house for the entire weekend, so I got to capture some "pure joy" moments the next day.

About to Body Slam Uncle Derik

Doing some flips his cousin Avery taught him

Jumping with a nervous little brother

Now onto some 3 years of life stats: Carson is 40 inches long and 38 lbs. He was born a man-child and he has continued to grow at a rapid rate. He is a talker. Let me correct that - he never stops talking. He is potty trained for the most part. He is perfect at school - go figure - but we still have issues at home now and then. He has moved onto his big boy bed. We bought a convertible crib before he was born, and we have officially gone through all of the stages. He LOVES his big boy bed. When we took the front of his crib off to make the toddler bed he kept falling out, so we transitioned to the full bed pretty quickly once he proved to us that he wouldn't get out during naps or night time. How did we do it? I threatened his life and he hasn't called my bluff yet. We also have a two way video monitor to where if I see him moving I can tell him to go to sleep. Or in the morning we can tell him he can get out of bed to join the family. 

This last year Carson completed his first full year of school/mothers day out 2 days a week. He also went to a summer program 3 days a week. He had his freak out moments at both schools and we pushed past it and for the most part he enjoys going. Anybody who has been around Carson for long periods of time know that he has a memory better than some adults, so going to school has really been fun for Garet and I because he comes home with new phrases, songs, and stories all the time. 

And finally Carson has filled the big brother role beautifully. He loves his little brother a lot and will do anything to help or make him feel better if he is crying. Some of my favorite things that Carson does for Caleb are: If Caleb is crying he will go talk to him, tickle him, or in his car seat play with his feet which he absolutely loves. If Caleb is crying in the car Carson will try to throw toys into his lap to make him happy, or he will start doing silly faces for him. Any mother knows a baby crying in the car gives you the most helpless feeling and my sweet boy always tries to help out. 

I could go on and on about things that I love about Carson. I could also write 10 blogs about things he does to drive me crazy. By the way that is a new phrase he uses with us "Mommy, you are making me crazy!" I wonder where he got that? Anyways, we have had a wonderful year and we will see what the terrible 3's bring us. I will be optimistic and say it will be the wonderful 3's. No matter what there will always be more goods than bads and more hugs and kisses than tears. 

 Happy 3rd Birthday Carson Anthony Black!

Home Improvement

We decided to bite the bullet and get our patio slab extended. Our first home in Houston had an awesome covered back patio with a ceiling fan and room to sit, play, have plants, anything we wanted. It really was one of the main selling points when we were buying and selling the house. So when we moved to Dallas, Garet and I loved our new house, but knew we would eventually want to make the backyard into exactly what we wanted. Phase one was to make that tiny patio you see in the before picture bigger. 

We had a few people come and give us quotes and one company gave us a price we couldn't pass up.

 

 Caleb felt the need to supervise while Carson and Daddy moved the sand box.

They framed it up with two by fours, and placed the grid of re-bar, then waited on the cement truck. I should have taken a picture, but while waiting, a small sided soccer game occurred in our backyard. 

The cement truck arrived

It was wheel barreled into the backyard while the crew was on the clock. Garet has never seen men wheel that fast in his life.

5 hours after they started, this was the finished project. 

We wanted to do the boy's hand prints, but they were both taking naps, and if you have children you know you don't wake them up from weekend naps :) So stamped with the family nap and year was the way to go.

 It's amazing how much we have already been out there more because of it and now phase two (it being covered) is on our brains. It won't happen anytime soon, but I'm already thinking about all the wonderful things we will be able to do once we get to.

Girls just want to have fun

This is a taste of a post that I will be writing about soon .

Be jealous, be very jealous! :) 

Things to look for...

I feel like there is so much that I could share, so I am going to bullet them out so I am forced to blog about them later when I can take pictures/up-load pictures or the event happens.

- Garet's man cave is almost complete besides the 60-65 inch TV that he wants. Anybody want to donate? Didn't think so :)

- We extended our slab of concrete in the backyard and want to eventually cover it with a patio covering.

- My parents are moving out of our childhood home and are building less than 2 miles from our home. 

- Carson is turning 3! 

and...

- In the next 4 weeks I will be traveling to Rivera Maya Mexico then Las Vegas