I found out a few months ago that our wedding photographer would sell me a CD of our wedding pictures. I was SO excited. Before Carter was born, I had been working on putting together a scrapbook of our wedding, different than our typical wedding album we got from the photographer. I wanted it to include alot of the planning, details, memories etc, so I have things other than just pictures.
Anyways, I had a really hard time finding pictures I liked, that I could use in the scrapbook because I didn't have that many candid shots of the wedding itself, or the reception. I had a ton of us girls getting ready, and all that jazz....but none of Jordan and I together. After the wedding, I cried about it for a few days because I am SUCH the picture person, I was bummed that I didn't have more pictures I could actually use. Our photographer was great, I loved her...but she cost a fortune, and at the time, didn't give a disc with the rights to the photos.
SO anyways, fast forward almost 4 years, and I called her to see if she would now sell me a disc since its been a long time since the wedding, and she pretty much is done making money off the event. She told me she would, for $299. I have been trying to figure out how to come up with that much extra money since then, and still hadn't really found a way.
On Christmas, I opened up the CD of our pictures from Jordan. I was so happy, I cried. He is the BEST at awesome presents, he has NEVER disappointed me. He always comes up with something amazing, and this year he really outdid himself. The best part is, when he called her to arrange picking it up, she told him she was offering a special this month, and sold it to him for $100!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was even more thrilled that he didn't have to pay a fortune. :) :) :) Did I mention what an awesome husband I have?!?!?! :)
So now, i'm 9 months behind on Carter's scrapbook, and now I want to finish our wedding album.
Tonight Carter was eating some raspberries. It seemed like he was losing interest in eating them, he was having more fun squishing them with his finger into mush. So I grabbed a couple off his tray and ate them. He turned his head toward me SUPER quickly, pointed at me and used his baby sign for ALL DONE. hahaha. Apparently he didn't want me eating any of his raspberries!
Just a little bit of our day today. We worked hard trying to finish our "ABC" pictures, and I took these inbetween props. :) The first pic just looks so...holister or abercrombie to me, lol.
I am so excited i'm finally making progress in the weight loss department! I have been so down on myself for the past year because I just couldn't make any headway, and now I am finally getting somewhere!!!! I have offically lost 17 pounds in the last 7 weeks. My wedding ring is getting looser, and my promise ring Jordan got me for our one year dating anniversary almost fits again! I'm really excited about that, because I have missed wearing it! I still have 30+ pounds to go till where I was pre-Carter....but I really don't know if that weight is attainable for me at this point in my life. I think I will be happy with 20-25 more pounds. Who knows, we'll see what happens. :)
We went out to the field where Paige (Dreamland Photography) took Carter's one year pictures at this weekend. I am still trying to quickly finish up his ABC scrapbook. We took 2 pictures, U is for Umbrella, and W is for Wagon. Carter was not all that cooperative, but we got some cute shots, considering we were there probably less than 10 minutes.
I haven't scrapbooked in a month. I get more behind with each day that goes by. I have SO much to do, but for some reason I just can't get motivated to start working again. I go through these phases, I wish I knew why. I'm hoping I get some time to work on scrapping this weekend since Jordan has a 4 day weekend...WOO HOO!
I'm not even looking forward to Thanksgiving this year....i'm more excited about Jordan having a few days off. I can't stuff myself with food because I don't want to gain anything back I have worked so hard to lose. That combined with the fact that we will be gone all day going to 2 different family functions leaves me less than excited. I know I should just be thankful for the family I have to celebrate with, and I am....i'm just not excited. Carter will probably be a cranky mess because i'm sure he won't take a nap except for in the car, and that always stresses me out. So anyways, Happy thanksgiving to everyone. I guess i'm the thanksgiving grinch. :)
I wanted to do a list of things Carter does, and personality traits now that he is one. I have done the same thing a few other times since he was born for my scrapbook. This time I thought I would blog it on here before I scrap it. :)
He loves to point to noses...doesn't matter if it's his, mine, or somebody else....ask him where your nose is, and he'll show you. He will also point to eyes, belly button, mouth, and feet. He especially likes to point to eyes and noses on other babies (yikes!)
For some reason, he loves when I put his binky in my mouth (the opposite side, not the side he sucks on) and then poke his nose with it, or tickle his collar bone. He will giggle uncontrollably. Weird, I know...but funny. :) He will grab my face with both hands and try to pull me closer to him so he can grab the binky with his mouth. Usually when he is cranky and doesn't want to go to sleep, a couple minutes of this game, and he snuggles right down and goes to bed. He always gets the stinkiest little feet, probably from his footed pjs. Anyways though, he still thinks its the funnies thing when I sniff by his feet and tell him he has "stinky piggies." He will laugh, laugh, laugh!!!! You all probably think i'm a weirdo, but I keep doing it because its just so funny to me. I get the best reaction out of him every time, and he's been doing it for a few months now. I did these scrapbook pages a while back....but this gives you the idea. :)
His favorite bath toy is a red disposable plastic cup. He will sit there and fill it up with bath water and drink from it the entire time he is in the bath. Sometimes we try to leave the water on a trickle so he will fill it up from there and not the dirty bath water, but most of the time he is not interested in doing that. Then he gets out of the bath and lets out HUGE burps. When you drain the bath water, he will flip flow from sitting on his butt, turn around in a circle, and sit back down on his butt. It's almost like he is trying to keep you from getting him out, he thinks if he does that, the water will stay in or something. He is weird, but its funny to watch.
He absolutely loves all fruits and veggies. Lately, broccoli is his favorite, however he also enjoys carrots, peas, and green beans. He loves black beans! We started giving him oranges last week, and he will eat them up so fast. He also loves steamed apples, pears, peaches, watermelon, bananas, pretty much any fruit. We gave him a grilled cheese for the first time a couple weeks ago, and he LOVES them. He gets all excited when he sees you making it. :)
He loves to take every stuffed animal, blanket, binky, anything that is in his crib, and throw it out when he wakes up. He thinks its the most fun game ever, and I can usually hear him screaching with excitement on the monitor. If he hasn't already thrown everything out by the time I go in to get him, he loves to pick everything up and hand it to me. He also enjoys sitting in his toy basket, taking them ALL out, and then when I ask, he will SOMETIMES put them back it. He is slowly getting the hang of that one. :)
When i'm trying to sneak in a few minutes on the computer, he usually will occupy himself crawling in and out of the dog beds, and trying to play peek-a-boo with me. He will play in there by himself for a while, but if I play "peek" with him every few minutes, I get a little bit longer to play on the computer and he stays entertained, lol. He leaves random toys in their beds, thank God I found the sharpee he put in there the other day before they went to bed. Although Roxy did sleep with a few toys in there the other night, no harm done.
I can't keep him away from the kitchen trash, looking out the kitchen windows, crawling out the doggie door (thank goodness it locks) opening my closet doors, and opening his dresser drawers and pulling everything out. He is always trying to climb on the furniture, doesn't matter what. He will push his toys over to the couch and use them as a boost. The other day, he was standing on his push train, holding onto the back of the couch, and he looked like he was surfing down the couch...disaster waiting to happen!!! He also learned how to turn my computer off this week, apparently its a fun button to push....which is annoying because my computer is slow as heck to reboot. lol
He loves learning new baby signs, his favorites are... - Dog - Lights - Fan - More - Tree - All done - Hi/Bye - Claps - Milk I'm sure there are more, but I can't think of any more. :)
I love to hear his talking voice. Alot of times he just sits there are makes cute little sounds over and over again, its fun to mimic him because he will do it more, and gets this huge cheesy grin on his face. The best sound of all is "mama" of course. He says "dada" alot more but I still get my "mama" a few times a day.
When we sit down to eat, he will immediately put his hands together, and begin moving them back and forth. That is how we say our "tick tock" prayer. Sometimes I forget at breakfast, and as soon as I sit at the table, he reminds me. How awesome is that?
I think I could sit here and go on forever, but i'll stop for now. I love him more than I ever imagined I could. He brings me so much joy, and never fails to make me smile or laugh. Although i'm sad he's not my little baby anymore, I am so excited to watch him continue to grow. I know God has great things planned for him!
My baby turned one. It was a happy and sad day at the same time, but mostly happy. :) I still feel like it was just yesterday that we brought him home. I still remember so vividly sitting on the couch, timing contractions, waiting until it was time to go to the hospital. It absolutely amazes me how fast it goes by. I truly hope that as we keep making fabulous memories as a family, I will still be able to keep all these memories so fresh in my head. I feel like alot of times I have the worst memory ever, and this past year has been one I never want to forget.
Anyways, we had a fun day yesterday. We played around the house with his new toys. Then after he got bored of that, we took his new little train and pushed it to the park in our neighboorhood. I was impressed at how far he walked all by himself. I just keep thinking, "this is awesome, the farther he goes, the longer he is going to nap!" lol, how awful is that!?!?!
I also took a few more pictures for his "abc" scrapbook. My goal was to have it finished by his first birthday, but that didn't quite happen. So now i'm busting my butt to try and finish it. I took "T" and "X" yesterday. That leaves me with G, U, V, W, Y and Z. I might have one more letter in there somewhere I wanted to redo, but i'll probably just end up leaving it. I could never come up with a good G, and now when I do take it, the pictures are going to look out of order because he will be so much older in that one, but oh well.
Here are a few that I took yesterday. "X" is for x-ray, and "T" is for toilet paper. He has this new "cheese" smile, that kinda looks like he is crying. He is becoming a goof ball, (definitely gets that from his Dad, not me!) lol, wishful thinking anyways. :)
My friend Paige took these! She is amazing, we are SOOOOO excited about how they turned out. I want to frame them all!!!! You KNOW i'm going to be scrapbooking them all. Whenever I get that caught up anyways, haha. Anyways, here are just a few. :)
Carter just kept gagging himself. Then he would laugh. He was seriously sticking his finger and hand down his throat, would gag, and then giggle. What the heck is wrong with my child. That is just plain weird.
I put Carter down for a nap at 2:45. We had just gotten home from running around, and he was asleep in the car for maybe 5 minutes. I had to wake him up to put him in his crib though because his pants were all wet.
Anyways, he played in his crib for an hour and 10 minutes. (NEW RECORD!) He finally starts crying, so I went in to just calm him down and try to get him to go to sleep. He is sitting in his crib with his socks both pulled off, and his shirt half way off. He knows how to pull bibs off, but I have never seen him get his shirt off. It was just funny looking because he had one arm out, and it was over his shoulder, but the other arm was in. Then he stood up, started giggling and jumping in his bed.
I have a feeling now that he's hitting toddler-hood, its going to be something new everyday that makes me laugh. :) Kids are fun! :)
Everywhere Carter goes, he tries to climb! He got a new train for his birthday (a little earlier from his grandparents) :) His most favorite thing to do is to push it over to the couch, and use it as a stepping stone to get on the couch. Or he loves to stand on top of the train, or stand inside the seat that flips up. Then today, i'm sitting here on the computer, and I turn around, he is standing on top of a file box I have on the floor, trying to get on top of the dog bed. He was super proud of himself too. Then he went for the step stool.... (yes I know, captain obvious.... put it away) He climbs the baby gates and hangs from them....it just doesn't stop! lol
On a side note, our backyard kinda flooded last week because we had a sprinkler valve break. It wasn't major, but the grass was totally soaked and the patio was all wet. Jordan thinks that caused ants to come in and explore. :( We have not had ONE single ant in this house in 4 years, and in one week, I had 2 different invasions. :( I just have to share my little trick I learned though. Cornmeal works great! I had a bunch that were exploring in my bathroom, but not really going to anything. I put little piles or cornmeal in the corners, and on the sink, they went to that and some died in the pile. But I also read somewhere that they take it back to their homes and the others eat it and it kills them. Easy non-toxic way to get rid of them! It took a few days though, and that part was annoying.
I just finished ordering the sandwiches for Carter's birthday party this weekend (Butch's grinders...yummy!) Now i'm off to work a little this afternoon.
Holy freakin moly! That is how much we spent last month at Costco and the Grocery store! I am absolutely shocked, I did not think it would be that much. Thats shopping at Winco too, where I ALWAYS buy stuff on sale. I need to start doing some serious coupon clipping. I really need to try and get it down to $450 a month between both places. We do buy Diapers, water, formula, and gloves for Jordan for work at Costco so its not all food, but still.
It seems like there have been so many milestones this week that make me feel like Carter is really growing up. He started walking more, he stopped nursing, and I just finished cleaning out his room, putting away ALL the baby stuff. I packed up all his clothes, baby blankets, burp cloths, all that fun stuff. I knew I had to make room in his closet for toys that will coming home with us soon. :)
I have a feeling he is going to be SO excited for new toys after his birthday party. The kid is tired of the same old few we have out in the family room. I'm excited to be able to have some to rotate so he doesn't get bored so easily.
We also had his 1 years pictures taken yesterday. We did them a few weeks early, but i'm excited about it because I will be able to have some around to show off at his birthday party. They are SOOO good. If anyone needs a photographer, check out ... http://dreamlandphotography.blogspot.com/2008/11/happy-birthday.html
He is still very unstable and drunken sailor looking, but he is making progress. He looks so cute when he walks, and he is SO proud of himself! Make sure to turn your volume down on this one....I'm pretty loud and obnoxious in the background. :) I was really excited because that was the longest he has ever made it!!!!
The tag is still on his jeans because I was just trying them on him. :)
I spent a couple hours this morning working on my website. Man, that stuff can be confusing!!!! I think I have it mostly figured out for now, and I published the new stuff, yay! I got a few new pictures loaded...(some of them are huge, i'm still working on that!) It's coming along though. Now I just need to remember to take some more pictures before my clients leave, I can never seem to remember that!!!
www.carrieajohnson.com
I had Butch's grinders for lunch today....DELICIOUS!
Today was definitely interesting. Carter was eating cheese, rasins, and cheerios for lunch, no big deal right? The dogs always clean up after him, and eat the food that he drops on the floor...(or feeds to them) Carter was being really funny, so I was sitting there taking some pictures of him while he ate. Roxy, one of our dogs was up on her hind legs eating food from under his legs (out of the seat of the highchair) I look on the ground and realize that there are 7 or 8 raisins on the ground, and they are all over the seat of his highchair.....and it hits me that grapes are toxic to dogs, I bet raisins are too.
I clean up the raisins, and come to the computer to look, and sure enough, raisins are a definite no-no for dogs. I start reading horrible things about kidney problems, and kidney failure if they eat too many, so I start to freak out. I call the vet and they say that if she ate a few, she is probably fine, but if she ate 10 or more, than I should bring her down to have them induce vommitting. Perfect...just what I need, $100 vet bill to get my dog to throw up. :( I call Jordan, and we talk about it, and I decide not to take her. They said I could try to induce vommiting at home with hydrogen peroxide (scary!) or I also read online about using dried mustard mixed in water. So I spent the next 30 minutes with the infant motrin dropper putting mustard water in her mouth, and I still couldn't get her to puke.
I finally decided I really don't think she ate many, because normally when he drops food, she sits there and preys on it, and snatches it up the second it hits the ground. I really think she didn't like the raisins, which is why they sat there untouched. Normally that is what happens to food she doesn't like. However if she ends up with kidney failure in the next few days, i'm going to be hating myself. :(
All that, combined with a 30 minute nap from Carter ALL day.....it made for a fabulous afternoon. Lets pray that tomorrow is better!!!
I took some engagement pictures a few weeks ago for some friends of mine. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out considering i'm a complete rookie. :) Looking back at it, there are a few things I would change, but overall I think it was a great learning experience. The first picture is the one they used at their wedding. It looked absolutely gorgeous framed, that made me happy. :) The third shot down was totally overexposed, but they looked really good, so I was playing around a little with it. All in all, it was a fun project, and i'm glad I was able to do it!
Haven't had too much going on the past couple weeks, not much worth blogging about anyways. Well, I probably don't ever have much worth blogging about, but oh well. :) I have been working alot, which is awesome! I had 2 awesome weeks in a row, and this week hasn't been bad either. I'm doing hair for my friends wedding on Saturday, which I also happen to be a bridesmaid in. That will definitely be a crazy busy day. The wedding is at 1:30, and we have to be ready at 11:30....which means i'm getting up at 5:00am because I have to do my hair before I get there so I can do everyone else!
Carter is getting over a cold finally. Last night he slept decent for the first night in at least 8 or 9 days. It has been horrible, poor baby has been up every hour, sometimes he would sleep 2 hours. His nose was so stuffy he couldn't suck his paci or nurse and breathe at the same time. :( Anyways, i'm happy to report he is finally getting back to normal, and i'm very excited to get a little more sleep!!!!
I'm sick of the retarded presidential debates. Seriously, I could care less. It just really annoys me that Wheel of Fortune is cancelled for that. LAME.
October 6, 2008
Carter learned how to use his toy basket as leverage to get to the coffee table this weekend. He was mighty proud of himself. We let it slide for long enough to get a few pictures, and then made sure he knew it was a no-no. Then we moved the toy basket away from the coffee table, and he decided it was more fun to climb in and out of it, then it was to play with his toys. From there, he moved over to the laundry basket that was sitting by the end table. He sat on the laundry basket and tried to lean his way over to the table. Houston, we have a climber. Yikes.
I had a blast shopping with my Mom this weekend for her birthday. We also went to get pedicures and starbucks. I don't know who it was more of a treat for....her or me. :)
I got Carter's Halloween costume today! I couldn't help it, I had to try it on him. :) Plus I was using it for our Q picture, so I had a good reason. :) I purposely bought this one because it still resembles a duck without the hat. I had a feeling he would just rip the hat off his head, and I was right. I did get a few pictures with it on though. Jordan says I should try to get him to wear the hat every day for the next month, and maybe by Halloween he will be used to it. That's too much work for me though, haha.
My prayers must be working. Carter slept 7 hours in a row last night, woke up and ate, and went back down for another 3, woke up, and went back down for another 2! Overall he slept from 7:30-7:45 and woke up twice. That is SOOO exciting for us. :)
Yesterday he also decided he is done with baby food. I have been trying to get him to eat small pieces of real food for a couple months now, and he has wanted absolutely NOTHING to do with it. He acts like i'm posioning him or something. He would either spit it out, or grab it off his tongue with his hand, lol. However yesterday he decided he liked green beans when he was at my mom's. Last night for dinner he ate some cheese, and he loved tomatoes. Today he had peas, green beans, blueberries, cheese, cheerios, and I think that's it. It is SO nice to have him sit and feed himself little pieces of food, I love it. :) Keeps him busy for an extra 20 minutes!
I am SOOOOOOO glad my parents are back from their vacation!!!!! They were gone 2 weeks, and it felt like forever. Carter definitely missed his Grammy. This week has been fun because she has been around alot, (she missed Carter too!) Yesterday afternoon she came over with the cutest little Kenneth Cole outfit for Carter to wear to a wedding we have coming up, its definitely a Grandma outfit, a little too pricey for our budget!!! Anyways, she and Carter played for a while, while I sat and watched what fun they were having. :)
I am so, so lucky that my Mom babysits for me while I work. Carter absolutely loves spending time with her. It's so nice to leave and know that he is in such wonderful hands. He just waves at me when I leave, never gets upset, its awesome. :)
Seriously, I could NEVER be a full time formula feeding Mom. I absolutely HATE washing bottles. Carter gets 2 bottles during a 24 hour period, and I can't even keep up with those. I end up finding week old bottles, with formula still in them, various places around the house and it smells nasty by the time I get around to washing them. Ugh. The best one I have had to deal with to date is a half full bottle that must have fallen out of the diaper bag, which was in the way back of my car. It sat in the car for probably a good week and a half before I found it. Of course we all know its been a million degrees, so you can imagine how lovely that was to empty. (insert gagging here)
Anyways, that is one of the many reasons i'm pro breastfeeding. :) I guess i'm just lazy, haha.
It is so amazing to me, being able to watch Carter grow, learn, and change every day. Yesterday, he saw me chewing gum, and he started chewing. I don't know why, but I just thought it was so cute. I was rocking him in the rocking chair the other day, patting his back, and he started patting my back. It just amazes me how fast he is learning, it seems like every day its something new. It is so much fun. I am just reminded over and over again at how blessed I am.
My high hopes to get some scrapbooking done this weekend have come crashing down miserably. I got one page done on Friday night, but nothing since then. I came into the office to maybe sit down and scrap, but couldn't get motivated...so here I sit.
Just for fun, here are a few pictures. :) A couple pages I finished this week, and one of my favorite bath time shots. :)
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