The first snow

We had our first snow last night. It was only about 2 inches, but proved to be beautiful! There is always something peaceful about the first snow...but by the 4th or 5th snow, I am a little tired of it. I got up early this morning and was able to capture a couple pics. In other news, my baby is no longer a baby anymore. :( He had his 15 month checkup on Thursday and got to stand on the big boy scale for the first time. I almost cried. I remember laying him down on the infant scale at a week old while looking at the big boy scale and thinking "he is NEVER going to get there!" My little man is now 26 pounds and about 32 inches tall. The doctor tested his blood from a small prick on his finger and it showed he was anemic. She said the test could be wrong because of the small amount of blood taken, so we had to go get a full blood draw on Sunday. It went really well. The lady was wonderful. Carter did cry, but it was more so from us restraining him. Once he could reach out and touch Justin with his other arm, he stopped crying...even while they were continuing to draw blood. We are pretty sure he is not anemic, but it is a good thing to test. We should know the results this week. Enjoy the pics and video and I hope everyone has a great week!!


Our house looks so warm and cozy!


Our hedge in the front yard.


The hedge again with a different light.

Grandma Judy got this doll for us before Carter was born so we could practice diapering and swaddling. Now it is "Carter's baby." He insisted on putting a diaper on it and is reading to him in this picture.

A closeup of Carter's baby.

"La la la...making a mess!"

Mommy and Carter. (Like Carter's new big boy haircut?)

This is MY trusty steed Mommy!

Carter showing off his Christmas stuff!

He is okay folks!

So Justin had some car trouble the other day...he hit a HUGE dead animal in the road! He is okay and the Focus has some minor damage to the bumper, but the damage should have been A LOT worse. Justin hit the HUGE animal (a big deer, cow, or maybe horse) at about 60 mph in the dark. He was able to swerve just in time to hit it only with the passenger side. Thank god he is okay and all turned out well. I have some pics below...if you are at all woozy about blood on cars...don't look. I do have a couple pics of Carter before those. We are just hanging out this weekend and getting ready for Thanksgiving. Jake and Chelsea are coming down from Madison...YEAH!!!! Enjoy the pics.


Mmmm...Annie's Mac and Cheese!! I am using utensils off and on now too!


See my teeth??


I am a big boy!

My rocking horse and the Christmas tree.

The underside of the car.

Very little damage for how fast he was going and how big the animal was.

The front bumper.

Changes

We have made a lot of changes since becoming parents. I would say one of the most important changes is that we are eating SO MUCH healthier. We really had to do this not only for money reasons, but because of my thyroid and to teach Carter about leading a healthy and balanced life. The first step for us was to start making all our meals from scratch. I found when I bought box or frozen meals, they would not last for leftovers and were definitely not the healthiest. I plan my meals for two week increments. It does take me about half an hour to sit down and actually plan meals, but it saved us so much money! I now spend an average of $110 for two weeks of groceries. Another easy way to eliminate unhealthy and expensive food was to get rid of snack food. I don't buy crackers, chips, cookies, etc...there are other things to snack on. Our newest endeavor is to eliminate high fructose corn syrup from our food. This may seem easy...but it isn't!! High fructose corn syrup is in EVERYTHING! I found it in jelly, salsa, juice, pasta sauce, soda, syrup, yogurt, and even bread...the list can go on and on. It feels great to be eating better and spending less money. Also, the food tastes much better knowing that is is good for us and I made it myself. On tonight's menu...homemade crock pot chili and homemade cornbread...Yum! Enjoy the pics!


Chef Carter helping me in the kitchen.


Closeup of the chef.


What can I do Mommy?

Obviously Carter was starving again...so he had to break into the cereal!

What Mommy...I was HUNGRY!!!

Still working to peel wallpaper in the dining room.

Goodbye ugly wallpaper!

I love the holiday season!

Most of you that know me really well know that my favorite time of year is the holiday season. I loved this time of year so much, that it is one of the reasons Justin and I got married on New Years Eve! Since we travel home every year to spend Christmas in Washington, I always put up my Christmas stuff early. I figure I want as much time to enjoy them as possible. Justin's Mom sells Home Interiors and has given us quite a bit of holiday gear over the last couple years. Most of them sing and light up...so Carter LOVES them. We also received a new Nativity set as a gift which is GORGEOUS!!! I have always wanted a really nice set. Carter already knows not to touch the porcelin and will stand on the heater vent to just look. He has touched the tree a couple times, but quickly learned not to pull the ornaments off. We just bought our airline tickets and will be home from December 21st through January 4th. We can't wait to see you all! Enjoy the pics!


Musical reindeer and musical/rocking penquin from Grandma Judy!


Carter looking at his Christmas friends.


Our tree and new nativity set.

A closeup of the nativity set...isn't it really pretty??

A closeup of the tree.

A closeup of the tree with no flash...I liked the lighting.

Busy days!

We have been BUSY!! The last couple weeks have just flown by and I just realized I haven't posted in awhile...oops! The weekend after Halloween we took Carter to the Kenosha Public Museum. It is a free museum in Kenosha, which is about 20 minutes east of us. It is a natural history museum that focuses on the southeast region of Wisconsin. Carter LOVED the dinosaur and the woolly mammoth. Kenosha also has a free dinosaur museum and a free civil war museum we plan on visiting the next cold and rainy weekend. After our museum trip we went to Lake Michigan and watched the HUGE rollers come to shore. The videos I took make the waves look small, but they were quite big for the harbor in Kenosha. This last Friday morning Grandpa Russ flew in to see us. He had been hunting in New York with his brothers and some of the nephews. Carter warmed up to him quickly and by the end of the trip was running up with books so Grandpa could read to him. It was really nice to relax and enjoy some time with my Dad. He went home early this morning, so it is back to work for us. I am trying to strip the wallpaper in the dining room...notice I used the word TRYING. It is going to take FOREVER...oh well, at least I am getting it done! Hope you all enjoy the pics and videos!


Hehehehe....I bet my grandparents can't wait for me to come to Washington and tear apart their Sunday papers!!


He is just like his mother...loves Harry Potter!


The dinosaur Carter was obsessed with.

He kept running back to it.

He liked this, but not as much as....

the skeleton of the wooly mammoth!

Some waves at the lake.

It was REALLY cold and windy.

Looking down the shore.

My new outfit from Grandpa Russ!

I like to stand on my toys!

Ummm...can I crawl up here like Jasper?

I am ready to go hunting with Uncle Mark and Uncle Trevor!!!

Some rolling waves in the Kenosha Harbor.

More waves on the lake.

It was pretty neat watching them...

Happy Halloween from Captain Jack Sparrow!!!

For halloween this year, Carter was Captain Jack Sparrow from the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean." I wanted to do this last year, but I think it is a lot better that we waited. I made this outfit myself and also with some help from my friend Clara. I can re-use the pants and the shirt, so basically it was cheaper than buying an actual costume. We took Carter to a couple houses but he had way more fun running around outside and handing out candy! Most people recognized immediately that he was Jack Sparrow and commented on how cute he looked. I hope you all have a Happy Halloween!


Our pumpkins.


Captain Jack Sparrow!!


I make a cute pirate Mommy!


Can we go get candy yet?


Okay, I am going myself!


Let's go Daddy!


Forget using a ship...I will use Daddy's El Camino!


Refueling on pizza...

Lots of updates!

Our trip to Madison this weekend to visit Jake and Chelsea was GREAT! Jake took us to the farmer's market where we picked up some pumpkin butter, apple butter, raw honey, and some acorn squash. After Chelsea got off from work we went to lunch, Carter took a nap, and then we were off to the Capital Brewery. Carter rode in the backpack carrier through the whole tour and after that we went to dinner. We went to a great place that used to be a stable and is now an AWESOME restaurant. After our wonderful dinner, we went back to Jake and Chelsea's for homemade chocolate chip, pudding cake...mmmmmm!! We had a lot of fun with Jake and Chelsea and can't wait until the come down here to celebrate Thanksgiving with us.

Many of you have been calling and emailing wanting to know how my thyroid was doing. We did some blood tests a couple weeks ago and found that the right side of my thyroid is struggling to keep up, so I am now on a slight dose of thyroid medication. I was feeling very tired, bloated, and somewhat cranky before the medication and now I am starting to feel better. We will do some more blood tests in about a month to see if the medication is working.

Many of you are also aware that Carter is a bottomless pit when it comes to eating. I had to explain this before you saw the some of the pictures below...then you could truly understand how funny they are. I feel like I spend all day feeding this child...he eats and eats and eats!! I asked the pediatrician and she said this is perfectly normal, especially since Carter is a very active child. Even though he eats all the time, he is only in the 50th percentile for weight. I truly understand how kids can eat their parents out of house and home!




Carter showing off his pumpkins and halloween book from Grandma Judy!


He loves to read and drool (as you can see from his shirt).

The captial building in Madison.

I have now been to the capital building in Wisconsin but I still have not been to the capital building in Washington!!!

Ummmm...hi??

Mommy never feeds me enough...so I had to steal one of Daddy's yogurts!!!