Bup=Bug

Just wanted to quickly give an update on Carter and all the new things he is doing. He is so busy and growing up way too fast. He is really starting to chabber a lot. Here are some of the words he says starting from most used to least : Bup(bug), mamamamama (mom , more, and I want that), cuck(truck)or cack (tractor), Dad, pla (plane), bap (ball), cock (drink),gog (dog), cca (cat), ps (please), ssss(snake), dodo(thank you). Those are the main ones the rest of the words he can say he only says when it's absolutely nessesary. You may have noticed that Bup is his favorite word that is because he loves bugs!!!!!! He spends more than have the day chasing bugs it is pretty much the first thing he says in the morning bup that is because there is usually atleast one fly in his room when he wakes up. When he spots a bug he does one of three things he either tries to blow on it, touch it, or kill it with a newspaper, hot pad, or his favorite mode of killing flies is trying to kill them with a rubber band (he learned that from his dad) anytime he finds a ruber band he sets it up on his finger and pulls it back than points it towards the ceiling or the wall. It's pretty funny! Carter also likes to watch out the window for trucks and airplanes! When we are driving in the car Carter can spot every single truck we pass so pretty much the whole time he is pointing out the window saying cuck cuck cuck ( he gets that from his dad too.) When Carter isn't chasing bugs or watching trucks and planes he is climbing. Carter is a very detrmined little boy and if he wants something he won't quit which is why he can climb everything! He climbs on boxes, chairs, tables, and he can climb up onto our bed (which is a very hard task) He loves to climb up on the table and help himself to a drink of water it makes him feel so big! My favorite thing that he loves to do is dance! He can dance for an hour straight. He will spin and spin until he falls on the ground and when he tries to shake his hips it is sooo funny. Bonnie caught it on video so if I can figure out how to put it on here I will. One last funny thing about Carter is that he loves four wheelers, motor bikes, and snowmobiles! Everytime he hears the motor bike or fourwheeler he begs for a ride and he will sit still and watch alticity with his uncle Blaine for thirty to forty minutes! Any other show only keeps his attention for like five minutes! ( for those of you who don't know what alticity is, it is just a movie of people snowmobiling and doing tricks.) There is no doubt that Carter is all boy!!!!!

I'm a mom and I love it!!!!!

The last few months I have been thinking a lot about what a privilaige it is to be a mother. I have had a couple things happen that have changed my perspective and I thought I would share them with you and hope that it will help you the way that it has helped me. One of the experiences was a job offer. A few months ago I got a call from a doctors office wanting me to work for them. It was very tempting because I really want to keep my medical experience up so that if I ever was in a sitiuation that I needed to provide for my family I would be able to. When I started thinking about the possibility of working three days a week it broke my heart! I realized I would have to give up a lot of time with Chris and with Carter. I thought of all the things I would miss all the things I would have to share with someone else things like, morning cuddles, first words, outings, even potty traing seemed like a terrible thing. I was suprised that there were so many daily things that I get to be apart of as a mother that mean so much. As I was concidering this I had another experience that I will talk about next that helped me make up my mind and turn down the offer. A few weeks later I got another job offer from another office that was only eight hours a week instead of thirty. I decided to take it. I didn't realize that leaving Carter two days a week four hours at a time would still be hard, but it is! My first day of work I left Carter with the best person possible (his grandma) I knew he was in great hands but it was still hard not being there when he woke up and having the reassurance that he was fine. He happened to be sick as well which made it worse. After I got off work I couldn't wait to see him. When I went to pick him up he was even sicker. His eyes were so goopy and he just looked miserable so I took him to the doctor. I cried all the way there! I kept thinking that I was such a horrible mother because I wasn't there to take care of him and I just let him get sick. I loved him the rest of the day! The next experience has impacted me more than anything. On July 9th a little girl fell into the Rigby canal and drowned. They life flighted her to the hospital and were able to revive her. She lived for a couple more days then passed away. I followed every step of the story, you see the parents of this child were my age and there little girl was just a couple months older than Carter. So the story hit very close to home. I cried as I watched them hold her hand for days in the hospital praying for a miracle. I cried when I heard the news that she passed away and I have been so touched by the things she has posted on her blog since the accident. She has reminded me what being a mother is all about. Here is one of her qoutes that touched me "To all the moms out there I think you are simply amazing. I don't think we realize how much we give up, and how much we love doing what we do for our children. To revert back to only Patrick and I to think about is difficult. It's painfull to wake up to silence and not hear Preslee call out "mama." I miss long stroller walks and reading her books. I miss the tender moments I had with her saying her nightly prayers right before bed. I even miss the tantrums thrown in public :) I miss everything about that little girl. Again, it so hard to back to being consumed with myself, and not Preslee.......That's what being a mother is all about, it's service. That's why it brings so much joy. So tonight when your having a bad day and the kids are on your nerves, realize how much different you would be with out them" That hit me hard, yes being a mom is hard. We give up our time, our sleep, our freedom, our perfect figures, and most of all our heart. I love being a mom! I want to take this amazing mothers message to heart and enjoy every minute, every hug, every tear, every mess, and every memory. I've learned to play more and frett less. When Carter wakes me up earlier than I want to I smile so happy to see him looking at me in his crib knowing that he is still with me. I know he won't be little long he is already growing up so fast I hope I don't miss a minute of watching him grow up becuase I am distracted or stressed over something insignificant.
I hope all you moms that read this have been touched just a little as well. To all you future mothers know that you have so much to look forward to! Keep loving and enjoying every minute of being a mother. It you want to read the story that I was referring to here is the blog address: patrickandashley.blogspot.com

Food for thought

I realized that more than half my pictures of Carter are pictures of him eating! He's a pretty cute little eater! Here is a collection of my favorite food pictures!

This was taken about a month ago when Carter first started spoon feeding himself oatmeal!

Carters favorite foods!

Feeding Carter has been a little bit of a challenge for a couple reasons, first because of his milk allergy, second because he doesn't let me spoon feed him so he only eat things that he can eat with his hands and last of all because he is picky! Luckily the last week we have been resolving those problems. If I let him get hungry enough he will try more things and if he is in a good mood he will let me spoon feed him. Especially if I am feeding him oatmeal, he loves instant oatmeal. The best news of all is that his milk allergy is slowly disappearing!!!!!! The doctor told me to slowly introduce little amounts of dairy and see how he reacts. So far it has been working out great. He can now eat yogurt, chocolate,sour cream, butter, and any baked goods that have milk in them. I am going to try cheese today. With all these new discoveries it is so much easier to keep my little man fed. One more funny thing about Carter and food is that he thinks that he should always have one food item in each hand. If a give him a cracker he begs me for another so that he can have one for the other hand and then he nibbles on both of them. Below are some pictures of Carter with two of his favorite foods.


Carter loves bananas! I usually give him half of a banana split in half again and he is so funny because he will stuff the banana's in his mouth until his cheeks are bulging! He really is our little monkey.


Carter loves Sunday nights because we make popcorn and smoothies. He loves, love, loves popcorn. He thinks that the big bowl is his and we should get the small bowls.

Carters Favorite Things To Do!

Carter is a very busy boy! I can hardly keep up with him. Kids are funny, just when you think you figured out what they like to do and what they like to eat, they change! Carter used to love baths now he hates them! He used to hate reading books now he loves reading books. One day he likes watermelon the next he doesn't and then a few days later he likes it again. He always keeps me guessing! So as of this week here are some of Carters favorite things to do....Carter still loves to watch out the window and wave and point at everything that moves that is one thing that has never changed he has always loved watching out the window. Carter loves being outside when he is outside he loves to run, throw rocks, pick strawberries, look at animals and transport dirt. He still doesn't say mom or dad much but he says cow, bird, cat, dog, and moos! It's obvious that he is completely intrigued with animals. Carter also loves taking things apart and putting them back together again. I thought kids weren't suppose to be able to twist lids off until they were almost two until about a month ago when I found Carter with my eyeliner all over his face. Sure enough he figured out how to unscrew my eye liner and with in days he could unscrew everything! His new favorite things to take apart and put back together are the vacuum hoses and pens! It is amazing to watch how fast he can take apart a pen and then to see him figure out how to put it back together again! Another funny thing about this whole fascination is his little temper! He gets so mad if he can't figure something out. He'll work on it and work on it and then scream at it and throw it! Then he'll pick it up again and continue trying to figure it out. If that doesn't work he'll bring it to me and scream at me. I used to think he wanted me to do it for him until yesterday it dawned on me that he wanted me to slowly show him how to do it. Carter also likes to vacuum, sweep, push things around and help me with laundry. Below are a couple pictures of him in action.



Food and mess seem to go together


Carter loves helping his dad outside. In this picture they are working on our patio garden.






Carter's little farm car


Carter with his vacuum

Busy Busy Carter!

Carter has been doing a lot of new things! At the moment I don't have time to list them all so see what you can gather from these fun pictures of a typical day in Carter's life.




My little angel fast asleep after a long day of getting into trouble.


Carter learned how to climb on to the couch and up the back of the couch to the counter then into the sink to get the dish soap. Can you see the pride in his eyes?



MMMmmm graham crackers and frosting.

My Kitchen is Carter's workshop!

Yeah for bath time!

Carters first hair cut. First of all it is really hard to cut the hair of a toddler that never STOPS moving, I actually have a scissor scar on my knuckle to prove it. Second he now looks like a little boy instead of a baby...cute but sad.

I was trying to crawl over the luggage and it caved in on him.

Carter doing his daily ritual of emptying all my cupboards and drawers!

Carter emptying the laundry basket

Carter emptying the shelves of the changing table

Time With Family

These past two months we have had a lot of oppertunities to be with family. Here is a small sample of our great family moments.





Family Karioke Night!


Carter partying all night with grandma and some ginger beer (no worries it is non alcoholic)



We met up with Ben, Jana, Matt, and Gretchen at apple bees! It was a good time!

Ben and Jana

Matt and Gretchen

We went to church with Bonnie for mothers day! It was fun to be all together before devin and Heidi moved to Ohio.

Carter Sitting in his Grandpa's airplane with his favorite uncle!

My Dad, Ben, and Chris went steel head fishing two months ago and had a great time! They enjoyed a little taste of success.

This is the boys getting ready for thier fishing trip. They were fun to watch! They were as excited as three little boys waiting for Christmas morning.

Carter Katelyn and grandma!