Carson's Latest

I thought I would update on what Carson is up to these days. I still have to post his birthday pics, but I got a new computer and can't get my pictures off of the old one. I thought I had copied all my photos onto an external hard drive, but I actually just copied the shortcut from the desktop. Major bummer. Now we need to buy a part just to get the pictures off b/c Darrin took the old monitor to work and we don't want to hook everything back up anyway. Such a pain. I am loving my new computer though. I don't need much from a home computer. We got an HP All in One so there's no tower or anything. Everything is in the monitor. It was so easy to set up and it's very compact. The one thing I upgraded was the monitor is touch screen. I wasn't sure how useful that would be, but I thought it would be good for Miles as he will start to use it more and more for school. I've used an ergonomic keyboard at home and work for years. I'm giving this one a try since it's new, clean, and much quieter than my old keyboard. So far, so good.

So anyway, while I wait to get Carson's party pics off the old computer, here are a few things that he is doing lately. He's eating everything in sight. He still drinks a 6oz. bottle of warm almond milk in the morning and one at night. Most days he will eat until you stop feeding him. At times, it seems that his stomach might pop. Sometimes when he's had enough, he will swat the spoon or fork away. He also does that when he's finished with that particular food. He also will randomly start throwing all the food on his highchair onto the floor. It doesn't mean he's finished, it just means that he wants to be fed. I think he gets frustrated with the effort it takes to pick the food up or he can't get big enough bites at one time.

It is near impossible to change his diaper or get him dressed. We try to give him his morning bottle while we get him ready for daycare and his evening bottle after his bath so we can get him ready for bed. I know all kids go through a stage where they are wiggle worms on the changing table, but Carson takes it to a whole new level. It is maddening. He gets irate when his bottle in empty too. We have to replace with a pacifier as soon as possible to try to ease his displeasure. Otherwise, he screams his head off.

He loves bath time. He loves to put his toys on the side of the tub. He puts them up there and then stands up to take them off. He sits down with them and then repeats over and over. Just like getting him dressed or changing his diaper, it is equally hard to take his clothes and diaper off and put his ear plugs in for a bath. As soon as he hears the water running, he just wants to dive in.

This is his new surprised face. He makes it all the time. I tried to get a better shot, but this was as good as I could get.

In the afternoon when I pick him up from daycare, he usually gets really mad when I put him in his car seat. Sometimes he will calm down and drink water in his sippy cup the whole way home. Other times, he screams and screams. The only thing I can do to get him to stop screaming is sing the ABCs on repeat the entire way home. It instantly calms him. If I stop, he starts screaming again. No other song will do....not Jesus Loves Me, Not Jesus Loves the Little Children, definitely not the radio....only the ABCs. If he's really upset, I go straight from Z right back to A without singing "now I know my ABCs, next time won't you sing with me" b/c he gets made when he thinks it's over :)

He is close to walking, I think. He takes 5-6 steps, but he's still pretty unsteady. I think he will be happier when he can walk. He seems frustrated a lot when we walk by and he can't go where we are going as quickly. It's like he gets overwhelmed with the thought of having to crawl all the way to where we are. I also think he will be happier when he can talk. He said Da Da this morning and I believe it was in the right context. He turned around to look at Darrin and said Da Da. That's all he's saying. When I say "Momma" he always babbles Da Da back to me.

The kid is a sleeper! He goes to bed between 6:30-7:30pm every night and sleeps until around 6:30am in the morning. Most nights, he doesn't make a sound. This morning he slept until almost 8am. He loves his crib. After his bottle at night, I like to hold him for a minute before I lay him down, but he leans for the crib. I think he would dive in if he could. We lay him on his back and he immediately rolls to his belly and snuggles in. Most nights he is really tired and goes right to sleep. If he is not that sleepy, he just rolls around and plays without making a peep. One night this week, he rolled around and played for 45 minutes before falling asleep. I think his crib is very cozy for him. He still loves his giraffe and sound machine/projector.

They say he's perfect at daycare. He's a happy baby at home too, but he is very passionate at the same time. He wants what he wants, and he want's it five minutes ago. I think most days he just tired at night. I'm hopeful that he will be a little less fussy and demanding when he learns to walk and talk. He's still very happy and everyone comments on that. What can I say, I just have passionate children. I have no idea where they get that from???

Celebrating 8

We partied three days in a row for Miles' 8th birthday. First, we had a small party at our house. We told him he could have a big party and a small gift or vice versa. He chose a basketball goal and a small party. So, we invited 7 friends over to play basketball.

Then, we decided to invite the parents to stay for a bonfire (in August...not smart...it doesn't matter that the sun goes down...it's still hot) and siblings stayed too.

It turned out to be bigger than originally planned, but that's how we roll.

The basketball game consumed around a tenth of the party, but I knew that would happen.

 

I planned a few other games, which they loved.

It was very frustrating trying to explain the rules to them b/c they are 8 year old boys, but I wish I would have planned more b/c they had so much fun.

The boy brought in some serious cash. He says he's saying for a Nintendo Switch. He has over $100, but he's still $300 away. It would kill me to watch him spend his money on that b/c we don't even let him play electronics that must, but if he saves up that much money, I will absolutely let him buy one.

Carson enjoyed the party for the most part. He was a little hungry b/c bites of a roasted hot dog didn't really cut it. Overall, he managed. This is his new surprised face.

These are my girls...fellow baseball moms and 5am work out partners.

The next celebration was on Sunday afternoon. Mason couldn't come to the party, so his mom and I arranged a special play date to help ease their pain.

They are the sweetest friends.

Mason brought a cookie cake, a balloon, and a gift.

His actual birthday started with a wake up call from Carson.

And then some snuggles as Miles woke up. I love this picture. Carson looks so content next to his big brother.

I decided to go to school to watch the eclipse with him, partly for his birthday and partly so he wouldn't burn his eyes out :)

We ended the day with baseball practice...

...and a family game of Yahtzee.

I sure hope this boy feels celebrated and knows how much we love him! I'm exhausted!!!

Happy Birthday, Miles!

Happy 8th Birthday to this baseball playing, Taco Bell eating, Pokémon collecting, music jamming, limit testing, screen time requesting, family loving, extensive vocabulary using, spotlight hating, cool, cool kid. We love you, Miles Cooper!

8 Year Check Up

I took Miles for his 8 year check up on Monday. He's been complaining of his stomach hurting and his tongue tingling for a couple weeks now. I blew him off a little, but he went to the school nurse one day last week and she was concerned enough to call me. When I asked her what could cause the numb/tingling tongue, she said the only thing that she could think of was low blood sugar. It was compelling enough for me to call the doctor that day.

He weighs 60lbs and is 4' 8'' tall. Both are between the 50-75th percentile. 

All his blood work came back good. She thinks his stomach issues are nerve related from being a Type A, perfectionist kind of kid. I'm not surprised by that, especially since I can relate, but I wanted to hear her confirm that instead of explaining away all of his symptoms. He is taking Zantac daily for a couple months to clear up any gastritis issues that he might have and also to help calm his nerves. She said the tongue was just something to watch since all of his blood work looked good. The visit felt very productive and I'm glad that we went. I'm glad he can have some help with his stomach too. On another note, he handled the finger prick like a champ. There's a first time for everything and that was definitely a first! When I told him they were going to do it, he just shrugged his shoulders, which is a very different scene than the usual hysteria that ensues. Our boy is growing up!

Weekend Wrap Up

Carson has been all out of sorts this week. After picking him up from daycare on Monday and acting fine, he's been all over the place. He's been screaming nonstop, red rash on his belly, very sleepy, and not as big of an appetite as usual. You notice I didn't say that he wasn't eating. That would crazy town for Carson. He's just not eating quite as much as usual.

Daycare even sent me this picture on Thursday. This was while he was waiting for lunch. The poor kid just hasn't been himself. I think he looks like an old man waiting for his wife at the mall.

My mom offered to come up on Thursday so that he could stay home with her on Friday. He took two long naps and seems to be a lot better now. I was, and still am a little, concerned about some lactose issues. I'm  really hoping though that it was just a virus working it's way through his system.

He's become quite the little fit thrower. Again I'm hoping that maybe he doesn't feel 100% and this too shall pass.

On Friday night, we surprised Miles with his birthday present a little early. We told him to get Darrin's glove out of the back of his car.

It took him a minute, but he finally noticed the enormous basketball goal. 

He was so surprised and sooooo happy & thankful. It was very sweet to hear him thank us. 

We had to give it to him a little early so that Darrin would have time to put it together before his party next weekend. He's not having a big party, just a few friends over to play basketball. The deal was, you can have a big party or get a basketball goal. So, he knew he was getting one, but he didn't know when.

When we opened the box, we realized that we bought the kind you put in the ground rather than the portable kind. Darrin went to exchange it and then we still tried to put it together that night.

We did as much as we could and then finally surrendered until morning.

Thank goodness my mom was still here to help with Carson while we worked to get it together. That was a huge help.

Finally, it was ready...

He was dying to have some friends over to play basketball. They played for around 15 minutes and then played Nerf guns for the remaining 3 hours :) I'm glad he has it though. I'm all for promoting outdoor activities.

Darrin's season slowly cranked up this weekend. Miles and I played Yahtzee and Golf while he was away.

Carson got into whatever he could. He's still not walking, but oh so close. He'll take a few steps, but isn't confident yet. I love how he sticks his tongue out when he's concentrating.

Time to go to bed so I can get up early and work out. Darrin was supposed to have to leave early in the morning which meant no work out for me. His plans changed, so I have to get motivated again. I've been on a streak, so I can't let it end.

Less Words Wednesday

This is what we like to call "Carson is a bat".