4 of Us

Carter has been more into Christmas this year than last(obviously). We talk about Santa a lot and from day one he knew that he wanted Santa to bring him a train. I hoped he would sit on Santa's lap so last night we went to the mall and gave it a try.

Here is a flashback from last years experience:

(I'm pretty sure this Santa is the same Santa from last year...the eyes look the same.)

After his first poop in the potty he got his first ever Ice Cream cone. And he is hooked. It only took him a few days to realize that pooping on the potty was no different than pooping in his diaper. The first time he pooped on the potty happened to be when our home teachers were here......I sent him in the bathroom to do his business and within a few seconds we heard "I did it Mommy....and it's a HUGE one!" He had sat down earlier to go but just did a little pebble and I told him that that wasn't enough.....I knew there was more. So he made sure to let me know this was the real deal! He's even been staying dry at nap time and getting better at night. So hopefully we will be completely diaper free in a couple of months! Way to go Carter!

We started off our Thanksgiving Holiday pretty rough....I got strep throat the week before and then passed it on to poor Carter. I was down flat for 3 days. Pregnancy + Strep Throat = Wanting to Die. I couldn't keep anything down (literally) for 2 days straight and even experienced my first public puking experience. Sorry to the customers in Lee's Parking Lot. I thought I could make it 10 minutes to pick up my much needed Rx. I know better now.

A quick background on my history: I have had my tonsils out TWICE. TWICE. And I still continue to get strep throat. I have the worst luck!

The Strep didn't hold Carter back too much and he was still able to enjoy Thanksgiving Break with his cousins. Sadly he and I both passed our nasty Strep on to Chloe and Mitchell. So sorry about that......

He even wanted to go outside and play in the snow one day. He was out there for over an hour. And it was freezing.

Carter was jealous of the older kids and adults constantly playing games and so he taught himself how to play "Sorry." Not really, but he sure enjoyed moving those pieces around the board. He was insistent on playing his game daily and didn't even need anyone to play with him.

Papa brought out his electric train that Santa brought him in the late 50's. (But I did not just reveal his age....) Carter was in heaven. He is obsessed with trains and luckily I happen to know that Santa found an awesome wooden train to leave at our house. Wooden is much more kid friendly! Carter played with this train for hours and loved watching it go round and round.

When we got back to Utah we continued to enjoy the snow. Carter wanted to help Daddy "shrovel" each morning and night. This plastic shovel we bought last spring for $1 will keep him busy all winter. He did fight wearing gloves because they hindered his grasping abilities, but eventually learned to manage.

We set up our tree the next night and Carter was in heaven. He was so excited and he insists on having the lights on 24/7. He is really good to leave the ornaments on and to not touch. He is in charge of the lights and that's good enough for him.

I love celebrating Christmas with a toddler. He is slowly learning about the Joys of Christmas and really getting into it. He talks about Santa constantly and his train.

We waited a bit too long to make a snowman and the night we finally got out to try, the rain had ruined the snow. Carter and daddy were able to make a 6 inch snowman that Carter still talks about. I'm not sure he is my child....I don't love the cold but he doesn't mind it and begs to go out. And once Neil gets home at 5:15 its already dark and time is limited.

And now on to the big news.......Carter is officially A BIG BOY! I was going to start potty training Carter over Christmas Break but last Sunday he decided he was ready NOW and wanted to wear underwear and pee in the potty now. So off we went and he has done FABULOUS! It's been 4 days and he has had NO accidents. How is this possible? I know they are coming but he's been great so far.

Up until last Sunday Carter refused to pee in the potty and now he's a standing Pro. Yes, he refuses to sit. He has to stand and show his manliness. Which has made for quite a mess honestly. The first few days I would almost need to wear a raincoat into the bathroom with him. Nothing was safe anymore. He would spray everywhere. Luckily my good friend Mary, who has potty trained 2 boys gave me some advice to give Carter on positioning, and since then he gets his pee "right into the lake"(those are his words). I have been telling him for weeks now that we could go to the store and pick out ANY toy he wanted once he peed in the potty. Well the first time he did it, he remembered my promise and held me to it. We went and picked out Mack (from Cars) and that truck/trailer combo has been played with nonstop. There really isn't a moment he isn't playing with Mack. He even wanted to hold Mack while peeing but I quickly stopped that idea.

He is so proud of himself and his Cars underwear(You didn't think he'd choose any other cartoon undies did you!?). We still need to work on appropriate bathroom talk. When he feels the urge to pee he YELLS " MY PEES ARE COMING OUT." So we sprint to the bathroom and he takes care of business. He does wait until the very last minute to go so I'm sure his waiting will catch up with him eventually. He still hasn't done #2 yet but I expected that to take longer. Today is the first day we've gone ALL day with no diaper. We even went out to lunch in his undies and were successful. The other few days when we went out I'd put a diaper on him. But no more. His diapers are history(except for sleeping..Not ready to tackle that one yet.) Wish us luck in the next few days!

We are expecting a Baby in early June. I am almost 11 weeks along and for the last 5 weeks I have been hugging porcelain and spending most of my time on the couch. I wasn't very sick with Carter so this has been a new experience. The Dr. did give me a miracle drug Zofran which takes aways about 85% of my nausea but insurance only allows me 24 pills in a 31 day period. And I need at least 1 1/2 pills a day which is going to make the end of Nov.-first part of Dec a bad one. Who are they to decide how many pills I need? Either way-We are very excited.

This is not my ultrasound picture. I was way to lazy to scan my own in. Way to much effort for a pregnant sick lady.

(Warning: Lots of Pictures)

We had the opportunity to go to Disneyland with most of Neil's family last week. We had a wonderful time and took tons of pictures. These are just a few of my favorites, and I haven't even traded pics with the others.

We've been prepping Carter for several weeks about our trip to Disneyland. I started by introducing "Mickey Mouse Play House" on Disney Channel. Carter was an instant fan. We told him Disney was a lot like Lagoon with rides and that he would meet Mickey and give him a hug. Carter got really excited and would tell EVERYBODY that he was going to Mickey's house and would invite everyone. He even invited my Ob/GYN to come along...luckily he had other plans. That could have been awkward!

Important: See Neil's bro Kurt on the left in this picture? And notice the boot on his foot? This boot enabled Kurt and 4 other guests to jump to the front of the line-on every ride! We rarely had to wait more than 10 minutes on any ride. Now, I've always thought Kurt was a swell brother in law, but this really pushed him to the top of my list! So, if you go to Disneyland, be sure and take a handicapped, disabled friend with you. So worth it!
The plane ride sorta scared Carter at first, which surprised me because he has flown many many times. As we were taking off he started to cry and asked if the plane could fly us to "carter's house." Once we were up in the air, (and shut the window!) he calmed right down and immediately fell asleep on Neil's lap and stayed asleep the entire time. What a wonderful flight. I thought I would be entertaining him the whole way so I brought no books or magazines for myself. Won't make that mistake again.

I am WAY behind on my blog so this post is a quick, jumbled mess of pictures.

So Carter has been a little freaked out about a few Halloween characters, namely monsters and Skeletons(or Skelets as he calls them.) We passed a scene at the pumpkin walk of pumpkins painted like skeletons and he started to whimper. We've told him that if he sees something he doesn't want to see, simply close your eyes and don't look. So, he did. And I happened to catch a shot of him closing his eyes so he didn't have to see the Skelets!

The Little Mermaid. His favorite scene was "Toy Story."

On to Halloween.....
Carter and some friends at a little Halloween party before the trick or treating began.
The behind view of my little Dinosaur. This is actually a dragon costume but I called it a dinosaur to persuade Carter to wear it since he likes dinosaurs and doesn't really know dragons.
Daddy and the scary Dinosaur!

Carter had no idea what Trick-Or-Treating was but after the first house, he really got into the whole thing and was practically running between houses. He would even say Trick or Treat and then politely say thank you for the candy.

Luckily we got most of our trick or treating done before the rain started. It was a successful year and Carter loved every minute of it. He was the cutest to watch from behind because his little stuffed behind would waddle as he ran.

October also brought Tennis Lessons...
Bowling Lessons
And A love for the Newspaper. A few weeks ago there was a huge ad with Toys for Christmas. Carter immediately claimed it and would sit and look through it for 20 minutes at a time. He would point out all the stuff he wanted! Luckily Santa already knows what he wants and has it all prepared.

November didn't start out very well....
We knew it would happen someday and someday finally rolled around. My curious 2 year old couldn't contain his curiosity about cheese any longer and stole a piece from someone's plate when we weren't looking. I was actually gone at the time but luckily Grandma was there to save the day.....literally. No one actually saw him eat the cheese but he confessed later. He immediately regretted his decision as he began throwing up like crazy and his breathing became VERY labored and tight. Grandma administered the epi-pen and rushed him to the emergency room. I came from Smithfield breaking many laws and met them at the ER. My poor baby had tons of drugs/steroids pumped through his little body and spent several hours in the ER. Luckily Grandma caught it early and we live so close to the hospital. I received many promptings that day, some of which I listened to, and some I didn't, but I'm grateful my little boy was protected and is healthy. He is finally starting to realize why he can't eat some foods and the price he has to pay when he does. I hate that my little boy has to be "different" but I'm glad he has such a positive attitude about the whole thing. He is one brave little boy.