Traveling

Our family travels much more than anyone I know with kids. When we lived in Houston we were coming to Dallas at least once a month and now that we live in Dallas we try to do make it to Houston just as often. We also go to Abilene at least twice a year and summer time has us going to several different places in Texas.

I would like to think we have this down to an art but we always manage to forget something or decide to leave at the wrong time to miss naps in the car or something of that sort. Needless to say some trips go great and some not so much.

When Carson was an infant up until probably 18 months he was a terror in the car. I would give Garet the evil eye if he breathed hard in fear of waking him. When he got interested in watching movies everything changed and now he is very manageable in the car. Caleb so far is a wonderful traveler and we are hoping and praying that it stays that way. He sleeps most of the trip, gets fed, then just hangs out for the rest of the time.

Now you can imagine when Garet or I get to travel without the kids...we love it. We can actually turn the radio up, talk as much and as loud as we want, and don't have to listen to 8 episodes of Mickey Mouse (its almost time to get Carson some ear phones). I used to hate driving, now on the occasional road trip alone it's so peaceful. My my how times have changed.

Here is a picture of one of my sleeping beauties in the car...and yes while they sleep I give Garet the death look to not make a sound :)

Sickness

I'm not the type of mother that posts every time my kid has a runny nose, cough, or some kind of illness. I think people who do that are looking for someone to feel sorry for them. When I read those posts, mostly on Facebook, I do feel sorry for them but then I think sickness and kids are an obvious and we all choose to have these wonderful babies. If I posted every time Carson got sick I would be one of those obnoxious facebookers that people contemplate deleting from their friend list on a daily basis.

Now that I'm done with my soap box I will continue with the sickness that will not leave my household! Yes I am posting and if you want to feel sorry for me I will gladly take the sympathy :) in one month we have had a stomach virus, strep throat, and now RSV!!! When I say we I mean Carson, Caleb and I. Not Garet...never Garet. He has some freakishly good immune system to where we could have the plague in our house and he wouldn't catch it.

So as of now Carson has RSV, I have a type of the virus that coincides with that and I want to keep Caleb in a bubble ball so he doesn't get it also. Since Carson is over 2 the virus is not too serious for him, but if Caleb catches it we could have serious problems. We I started reading about the newest sickness in the house I found out that RSV is highly contagious, transferred by coughing or sneezing, and can live on surfaces for hours! Needless to say we are on house arrest and Caleb is in a bubble ball that we roll around the house like a hamster ball. Jk

I guess the upside to all of this is I'm not working so I can stay at home and take care of my sick babies without worrying about taking days off and my wonderful family has been helping me keep my sanity and watching the kids every once in awhile.

Like I said earlier I know the kids will get sick again sometime after we get over this one, but can the Black household have a little break? Where can I put in that request??

2 months

Weight - 12 pounds 10 ounces 75 percentile
Length - 23 inches 50 percentile
Clothing Size - 3 months
Diaper Size - 2 (fits in 1's still but we have had some leakage)
Sleeping - lots of naps during the day and just started giving mommy a 6 hour stretch at night - AMEN!
Food - breast milk: Nursing is not easy but getting better. Hopefully I can meet my 6 month goal.
Activity - smiling, cooing, hanging out in the swing and on the play mat, watching cartoons with big brother and lots of sleeping.
Takes a pacifier
Prefers sleeping on side or belly
Ready for some rice cereal in 2 months and then some yummy fruits and veggies!
Mommy is ready for some 8 hour stretches of sleep at night :)

Absent Blogger

November 30 was my last blog. That's terrible (Charles Barkley voice)! I have excuses...Carson, Caleb and I got a small stomach virus the first week in Dec. then Carson and I got strep throat the 3rd week. After that my hubby was off work a full 10 business days - almost 2 weeks - and we had a lot of family time. Needless to say I was very spoiled and we are all missing him terribly this week.

There is so much that I could write about that I don't know where to start. Christmas was amazing, we all received so much! Carson's favorite thing is a tube of 3 lip smackers chap sticks that were actually in my stocking. We had a screaming, crying, my dog just died fit 2 nights ago because he wanted to have them in bed with him. His next favorites are his work bench tool set, leap pad, and fisher price digital camera. Although he loved getting gifts I think his favorite thing about Christmas was seeing Christmas trees. He loved the lights and colors and ornaments. It was so much fun experiencing Christmas with a little one because it made me remember how excited I used to be with the holidays.

Last big thing in the Black household is that Garet's man room is officially in progress. His mother designed him custom curtains for the windows, my mother bought him an enormous rug and he got the painters in his last day before he had to go back to work. Everything in that room is deep steel blue and red - Texans! It all looks really good and although I'm a cowboys fan I also am very loyal to the Texans, who by the way are playing their first ever playoff game on Saturday.

Here are some pics of the progress of the man room...the curtains are made but not hung yet so that pic will have to wait

It will be really fun once everything is finished. The plan is a 60 inch TV and a mini fridge and the best part is the kids play room is right next door so it will be a great family room.

Elf on the Shelf

We are starting a new tradition in the Black household this Christmas season. Elf on the Shelf. First we introduced the elf to Carson and he got to name him. He choose the name Christmas Tree so we rolled with it and are going to shorten it to Chris. Then we explained to Carson that Chris the elf is going to be here everyday in December to make sure that he is going to be a good boy because at night time Chris flies back to Santa to give him a daily report. Now I will admit that my son is pretty intelligent, but does he understand all of this? Of course not! He does understand good= presents bad=no presents.

After tomorrow hopefully he will get the idea that he gets to wake up and find his friend Chris the elf in all kinds of different places. Maybe as it gets closer to Christmas, if Carson is being a extra good boy, Chris the elf might have little gifts for him when he finds him in the morning.

I love Christmas traditions and thanks to my mother in law this is another one we will get to add to the mix.

Here is Christmas Tree the elf sitting on Carson's table with his coloring book waiting for him to find him on the first day of December. 25 days to go!

First Mommy Moment

I had a first this week. For the last two days every time I have gotten in my car I think to myself...something smells really bad in here.

Check list of possible smelly things:
- dirty diapers on either boy
- dirty seats from overflow of prior dirty diaper
- dirty diaper that was left in the car on accident
- spit up/throw up from bigger boy
NONE of the above

Finally I tell the hubby...my car smells like poop and I can't figure out what it is. He searches for maybe 20 seconds and finds a sippy cup under the passenger side seat, opens it and almost throws up. According to him the cup had ice cube shaped curdled milk in it. I took his word for it and told him to just toss the cup. I'm pretty cheap but when it comes to things like that I'm willing to let go of a sippy cup.

Writing this blog makes me *blah* all over again. I'm not going to say I won't ever make that mistake again, but I will defiantly be more careful for quit awhile. Thinking about it, I've gone along time without that happening...good job to me!

Now I'm going to go get an air freshener for my car....*blah*

2 weeks

6 pounds 12 ounces so our little peanut is gaining weight but still has awhile before he reaches Carson's birth weight.

He is still in Newborn everything and most of it hangs off of him. Thank goodness our nephew Ethan was a little peanut also or we wouldn't have had anything for Caleb to wear.

He is a champion sleeper...for now. I'm so scared to make this statement because we had a very hard first 6 weeks with Carson. Hopefully Caleb will continue to have 3-4 hour stretches of sleep at night and keep Mom and Dad pretty much well rested.

Carson loves his little brother...again - for now. We haven't had any jealousy issues yet but I'm sure they will arise soon enough.

We are in love and are enjoying every second with our new little man.