Months...

I can't believe how long it has been since I've updated the blog....Weeks...Months???

Life has been incredibly hectic and crazy! Halloween, a trip to Tennessee to see Jason's aunts, the election, my mom's 60th birthday, Thanksgiving, a trip to Big Cedar (Thank You Aunt Stephanie!) to celebrate my mom's birthday, a car wreck, doctor's appointments for Carson (at least 5 of them--he's getting tubes next Friday), Christmas shopping, trip to see Santa, the Opera, Coldplay concert (which was AMAZING!), a girls night out (Twilight!), and a couple of adult nights out. No wonder my house is a wreck and the laundry is clean yet in neat piles on my master bedroom floor and the three birthday cards sitting on my counter waiting for me to address them and purchase stamps (sorry Claire, Carter and Madeline) Don't even mention Christmas cards....it is impossible to get a decent picture of a 4 1/2 year old and a 15 month old who barely stop moving long enough to sleep.

Julian wants a Super Slime Shooter for Christmas, when asked if the elves will know how to make it he replies, "Santa will buy it from a store, it's near Africa, his sleigh can go there, don't worry" He is a star at Wii bowling, he beats me every time and usually Jason too.

Carson is finally sleeping through the night, yes he is 15 months and yes, he has only been sleeping through the night for about a week. Don't judge me :) I had to resort to Tylenol PM and a pillow over my head to make it through the Cry it out phase. We are working on naps...

He tries to say and do everything Julian does, says no and shakes his head, eats more than his father, and has a temper unseen by modern man. He loves Elmo, Spongebob and the Imagination Movers and to my delight, is still a momma's boy.

Here are a few pictures from Big Cedar:

family pic:

my parents with the boys:

Jason and the boys with a big stuffed reindeer:
Jill and I with the reindeer:

The boys and their Uncle Anthony:

The Imagination Movers

There is a new show on Disney that Julian absolutely loves....The Imagination Movers. It is fabulous, no guns, fighting or violence of any kind, yet the show somehow manages to not only keep his attention, but ablsoultely rivet it. I would much rather help Julian solve an "IDEA EMERGENCY" than to blast a decepticon (as appealing as that sounds).

I highly recommend it. This is the only show that has been able to get Julian to dance!

http://www.imaginationmovers.com/

Not much to say...

We've been really busy, but nothing too terribly exciting. Last Tuesday night Jason and I took Julian to the Royals game with some of our friends. We had a great time and the Royals beat the Mariners, who Julian loves, for some reason.

On Thursday, Julian and I met a friend and her daughters for lunch at Crown Center and then Julian and I went to the Royals game. The weather was fantastic as was the game (we beat the Mariners 12-0. Greinke looked great (we better not trade him!!!) Then it was off to pick up Carson and gymnastics for Julian.

On Friday, we went to my aunt's new office building and had lunch with my grandma, mom and sister.

Saturday night brought a trip to the comedy club for me, Jason and some of our friends. It was so much fun and great to have some adult time.

During all of this excitement, I somehow managed to paint Carson's bathroom and to attempt to remember which Transformer all of us is. Julian has decided that we are Transformers now, yet our names change quite often and apparently I am supposed to stay on top of who everyone is. In the past week Julian has been Bumblebee, Jazz, Hot Shot, Vector Prime, Mega Prime, Jet Fire, Starscream (oh wait that was Carson), Scatter Shot, Dredgewing...need I continue (I think my point is well taken)?

Fantasy Football

This is Carson's face when I told him that Michael Turner rushed for 220 yards on 22 carries, including a 66-yard touchdown and scored 40 points for me in both of my Fantasy Football leagues.

OK, not really, it was the anticipation of that McDonald's french fry I was waving in front of his face.

Julian's choice...November 08

If you know me at all, you probably know that I am pretty middle of the road, not conservative, yet not liberal. Jason and I are both undecided on McCain and Obama. I'd venture to say that one of us leans a bit further to the left and the other a bit further to the right (I'll let you figure that one out.) We don't really talk about politics when Julian is around. So last week, we had the RNC on, (we also watched the DNC) and out of the blue Julian says:

"I want to watch the McCain show with you., he's everybody's friend, you know."

We asked where he heard that and he said,

"Well, he always says, my friends when he is talking and he looks like Big Daddy (my uncle)"

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

My sweet baby turned one today....where has the last year gone? It has literally flown!

At one you:

are still a momma's boy (and I secretly love it!!!!)

have the sweetest smile in the world (especially when given a McDonald's french fry)

have the best pouty face in the world!

have taken two steps, but prefer to crawl

LOVE Julian, the cats, baths, swimming, Goodnight Moon, outside, basketball and food (come on he is MY son)

shoot baskets on the little goal (and actually make most of them)

love to hold crayons or markers and try to write with them

have 8 teeth

have crazy spiky cute hair

say:

"KKKKiii Cat" for kitty cat

"bra" for brother
"Joo" for Julian

"ba-baaa" for basketball

"baaa" for ball

"drr" for drink

Birthday Party:

We had Carson's party last Sunday, we had family in town from Dallas, and all (well most) of Carson's favorite people were there to celebrate with him. He was on antibiotics for an ear infection and developed a virus on Monday, so I don't think he was feeling 100% (hence sleeping the majority of the party in Joanna's arms...see below) In fact, he has been to the doctor THREE times in the past week...last Friday for the ear infection, Tuesday for the virus (fevers of 104.6!!!) and today (the dr and two of the nurses sang Happy Birthday to him) for a viral rash and thrush. Needless to say, the Pediatrician's office has us on speed dial! Okay, I digress, the party was a lot of fun, the bigger kids had a blast on the playground and it was great to see people we haven't seen in a long time. I always feel like I don't spend enough time with everyone though.

Birthday:

Today, Aunt Jill joined us for the doctor's visit, On the Border for lunch (the doc said he wasn't contagious any more), Target for his meds, the park for some swinging and sliding, home for a nap and then a walk around the neighborhood in the wagon.


When Daddy got home, Carson (OK Julian) opened presents, we ate pizza (Carson's favorite) and birthday cake. After a bath to remove icing and pizza sauce from strange crevices, he played a little basketball and was off to bed.

I LOVE YOU SWEET BABY!!!!

Brothers

I can already see the sibling rivalry sneaking up on us...

There's the biting, the hair pulling, the toy taking, the tackling, etc.....

And, that's just Carson!!!!

It's pretty hard to tell Julian to stop yanking on Carson's leg when Carson is laughing so loudly I can hear it in the next room.

Most of the time, they are incredibly sweet to each other.

Carson loves to give kisses and for the most part Julian doesn't complain about the trail of slobber he leaves behind.

Notable quotes by Julian:

"Mommy, God made Carson look just like I wanted him to look."

" You know, I chose Carson....didn't I?"

"I will miss Carson's sweet little hands when he gets bigger." Me too baby, me too.

Julian...

Could this boy be any sweeter?



The other day as he was kissing my cheek and giving me an "INCREDIBLE" hug, he said:



"Mommy, I see you in my dreams and will keep you in my heart forever."

"Mommy, before I was born, I told him that I wanted that girl to be my mommy. And that girl was you."

I Love this boy!!!

What is this thing they call sleep?

Why oh why are my children such terrible sleepers? We've finally got Carson going to sleep at night on his own, there is usually a minimal amount of crying but not too bad. He typically goes down around 7:30 and is up again between 12:30 and 3:30 am at which point I just bring him into bed with Jason and I so I can function the next day. when I'm ready we'll just let him cry...but I'm not ready :)

Now naps (what is this nap you speak of?) are a completely different story... He will occasionally fall asleep in the car, but will wake up as soon as we get where we are going, the child does not transition well...at all! If we are able to get him to sleep during the day we have to hold him without moving, it's ridiculous, I mean the kid is nearly a year old! So right now, I am listening to him scream, CIO for naps has finally arrived. I guess I'll let him cry for an hour or so????

I searched and searched for a recent picture of Carson sleeping, this is the closest thing I could find (hey at least he's in his crib huh?):

Carson

I just couldn't resist sharing this classic pouty faced Carson....very typical when he is told no or something is taken away from him.

Jason....

It has been brought to my attention by a couple of Jasons that my blog has an anti-Jason slant. I re-read and have to agree...I do blame Jason for a lot! In my defense, it really is his fault!!!!

In fact, the other Jason had a pretty good analysis of me, I think this quote sums it up......

"Dammit, Jason, it's cloudy outside! Go let the sun out."

Seriously, I am not that bad......am I?

Carson is getting his 7th tooth and is so close to walking...now if only the kid would sleep through the night!

Obviously, the fact that he still wakes up at least once a night is Jason's fault!

Life

Yesterday, I visited a friend's 4 year old daughter in the hospital. What a harrowing experience. She was a healthy spitfire a week ago, contracted a dangerous bacteria and became extremely ill...all within one week. Luckily, her parents were smart and intuitive enough to 'know' that the doctors (4 of them!) that were telling them she was fine... were wrong and took her to the hospital. She needed blood transfusions, surgery, dialysis and will need to remain hospitalized for at least 2 more weeks. What a slap in the face reminder about how fragile life is and what a gift our children are.

The Internet

Isn't the Internet an awesome invention? I have met so many great people through this wondrous invention (thank you Dan Quail) I have reconnected with long lost friends, including a guy who was in our wedding (how do you lose touch with someone you liked so much you asked them to be in your wedding? cut me a little slack..it was 10 years ago!) Seriously, how did we live without it?

Julian even loves the Internet, he calls it the Network though. He loves to visit www.NickJr.com, www.KCRoyals.com and http://cubs.mlb.com. I don't let him use it much, but it amazes me how adept he is with the mouse. He is so much better than his beloved Papa Mike, who still calls Jason when he needs to send an e-mail (OK, I may be slightly exaggerating)

I have so much more to say, but I have an 11 month old who needs a bath and to get to bed. Lucky for me this amazing technology will be here when I am done.

Hulking gloves and movie night

I'm attempting to drink some coffee and relax on a beautiful Sunday morning and I hear "You're making me angry, you won't like me when I'm angry." For anyone that doesn't have young sons, that lovely saying is coming from Julian's Hulk Gloves.

I look over and Julian is 'punching' Carson with the gloves and Carson is laughing hysterically. So much for a relaxing morning. I guess if I was supposed to have relaxing mornings, I would have girls instead of boys.

Jason and I had plans to go out with our best friends to celebrate my birthday and hers. (Happy Birthday J!) We were going to Morton's, we'd planned it for weeks.......AND then, the babysitter cancelled. It was too late to find anyone else, so to ease Julian's disappointment (and mine), Jason, Julian and I had movie night after Carson went to bed. We rent a movie and we all sit down and watch it. No computers, Blackberries, Transformers or trains....just the three of us and the movie. We drink Sprite (Julian) and Margaritas (me and Jason) and eat whatever junk food we can find. Last night, we watched 'Enchanted', it was a really cute movie and actually held Julian's attention. I recommend it, Jason didn't even complain.


Today, we are hoping to go swimming with my friend and her two kids.


Diet:
I did great on Wednesday and Thursday.....Friday and Saturday...not so much, I'm back on track today!

Single parenting and more

WOW, I have to hand it to all of the single parents out there, how do you do it and stay sane? I have a good friend whose husband is in the military and is often gone for 6+ months at a time, I have other single friends with kids who do it all of the time. I feel like a baby for whining about Jason being gone a few nights a week!!! Luckily, Carson has been sleeping better, although I am such a freak that when Jason is gone, I can't fall asleep unless both boys are in bed with me. Damn home invasion fears!

1 year:
OK, Carson will be 1 in less than a month, which means I need to get serious about losing these last 7-10 pounds. So, I signed up on Sparkpeople.com and started tracking calories and exercise. I'm going to go ahead and blame Jason for the fact that I can't make it to the gym as much as I would like. Last time I took the boys to the day care center, I got about 30 minutes of cardio in and 10 minutes into a yoga class only to be interrupted by a teenager carrying a screaming Carson. Talk about embarrassing! Lights dimmed, tranquil music, downward facing SCREAMING child....nice, talk about a mad dash to grab my i-pod, keys, water, shoes, etc.! I've been too gun shy to attempt another trip with the boys.

This also means I need to make an appointment with the dermatologist, to take care of the lovely discolorations on my forehead thanks to 2 pregnancies.

I also need to figure out when we are going to have his 1 year pictures taken. We're planning on having Collin do them, he is (OK was...he's in his 20's now) the little boy I babysat for years from the time he was a baby. He and his brother made me definitely want boys when I had kids (love how that worked out.) I am so proud of him, he's a photographer for Sports Illustrated, how cool is that? He lives in Chicago, so Jason is convinced we'll go up for the pictures in October and catch the World Series (Cubs, of course) while we're there. Oh, sure we have an extra $30K for tickets lying around ha!

Friday Fun?

The boys and I had a great day. Would have been better if Jason had been home and I hadn't slept the majority of the night with a 4 year old and an 11 month (almost) old. Of course, the day I CAN sleep in, Julian's up at 5ish (very odd for him) and Carson is wide awake at 6:00. Nice, thanks guys.

We hung out all morning and headed to Target for Carson's 11 month picture session. I am so glad we are almost done with this monthly picture crap. My cousin Aimee got me started doing this with Julian, what a pain, but in retrospect, I am so glad I did it! Ok so, C's in a great mood, Julian's behaving, Target is only running 30 minutes behind (nice) and the minute the photographer walks in, Carson starts bawling, huge crocodile tears and all! I guess he doesn't like tattooed, bald guys???? Who knows, the guy finally gave up and got the girl to do it, (I was so embarrassed)

Next stop, the mall for new shoes for Julian. His current shoes still fit, but he refuses to wear them since the incident. (Last Thursday, he tripped on his shoelace while racing and fell into a fence and needed 4 stitches in his forehead) Tennis shoes and loaferish shoes with straps and off we went. After naps (long one for Julian, 15 minutes for Carson) we headed to my parents (I needed some adult interaction) to hang out for a bit.

Back home and waiting for Jason to get home (delayed flight--damn ATL)

Pictures of the stitches:

It's about time!

I've been thinking about doing this forever and finally got around to creating one.

Title: Viva La Vida....Live the Life...OK, I admit it, I totally stole this from Coldplay. But seriously, what a great message and so many different meanings that you can take from it. I've been using the saying to remind myself what matters, what doesn't, and to let go off all of the bs in life and live the life that I want and that I have if I would only open my eyes.

OK, now off to play with all of the fun settings and layout options.