Another Whirlwind Weekend

Say that three times fast!
We were finally able to go visit Brandon's family in South Carolina this past weekend, although the trip went by much too quickly.  Here's how it all went down:

Friday

• leave house at 7pm--despite Brandon getting up at 4:30am, he just couldn't get away from work any earlier.  Plus, Carson has grown to hate the car seat (or anything we strap her into), so we were hoping the late departure would allow her to sleep most of the way.  It did not.
• stop by a pool on our way out of town to drain/tighten/clamp/adjust something.  We do this almost every time we leave the house as a family these days.  But hey--at least we're together!
• Arrive at Giddy & Grandad's around 12:30am.  Spend the next hour trying to get Carson back to sleep.

Saturday

• 6:30am--Carson wakes up, ready to play!  Here are some of the fun things she did on Saturday:
• play with Daddy and show off her 'standing' skills.  She's grinning at Grandad in this picture

• Hang out with Grandad--C LOVED Grandad!  She would grin, talk, laugh, or just stare--anything to make sure Grandad was watching her.  And who wouldn't love Grandad?--he's gentle and loving, like any Grandad should be.  But he's also sarcastic, hilarious, a hell of a golfer, and loves to wear message t-shirts.  The shirt he's wearing here says, "He who laughs last thinks slowest."  I know Giddy and Gram are just glad he wasn't wearing his "Hottie" shirt.

*That's Giddy in the background.  She was VERY busy this weekend, making sure everyone had what they needed, which included some great food, like Giddy always has on hand.  Between how busy she and Carson both were, we weren't able to get a pic of them together!

• 
  
  Hang out with Gram and try to make her legs feel better...by bouncing on them.

• 
  
  Read books and play with Great-Aunt Peggy  :)  Just kidding--we call her Aunt Peggy.  And a BIG congratulations to Peggy for getting into the nursing program she has been working toward!

• 
  
  Play with Daddy some more

Giving kisses to the baby in the mirror

• 
  
  Hang with Poppy for a bit

And I just have to tell you--Giddy & Grandad's house is like summer camp for our dogs.  They have this huge backyard, and there is almost always someone with the patience and time to throw a ball.  Plus, Giddy LOVES animals--so in addition to spoiling our dogs, she also feeds and waters just about every animal living within a square mile of the house.  So there are always plenty of squirrels, cats, other dogs, birds, chipmunks, and who knows what else for our dogs to chase.  We're seriously considering leaving them there for "extended camp" next time we visit.

Moe goes in and out and in and out and in and out........

Kaila sure was glad we brought these mats for her.....if only all the toys weren't in the way!

Then Sunday morning, we got up early to head home and had breakfast at Huddle House with Grandad before leaving.  We were hoping again that Carson would sleep in the car.  This time, it worked!  She was tuckered out from a big weekend! 

And Brandon had a great first Father's Day.  He and C watched the Braves game and hung out all afternoon.

And happy birthday to Brandon's mom, Gram!

Things I Loved About Last Weekend

My brother Toby's good friend Alex got married in Dahlonega over the weekend.  My parents rented a cabin so the whole family could go and relax, without worrying about travelling the day of the ceremony.  It was a very fun weekend, although it flew by!  We arrived at Carson's bedtime on Friday night, so she headed straight upstairs, followed shortly thereafter by Mommy :)  We had Saturday morning to play and enjoy the cabin and then shortly after lunch had to start getting ready for the wedding festivities.  BUT we were SO thankful to be able to get away for a bit, spend time with the family, and just breathe, especially in the middle of Brandon's summer season.


So here are some things I loved about this weekend:


The Cabin
The place my mom found was gorgeous!  There was a small river out back, with lots of skipping rocks and rushing water.  It was gorgeous!  And plenty of room for us to all sleep, play, and rest.  A great screened-in porch, rocking chairs...all the things you'd expect in an amazing cabin.

"The Girls"
We got to spend some real quality time with precious Cousin Maddy.  Patrick stayed with Angie's parents for the weekend and had tons of fun there, so kid-wise it was just the girls this weekend.

Sophie the Giraffe
Holy crap. This is Carson's new best friend. And it's not even hers.  Madelyn brought this teething toy with her, and Carson quickly fell in love with Sophie the Giraffe, some French teething miracle toy.  I don't know if it's the texture, the shape, or if it has crack mixed in with the paint used to make her spots, but whatever it is, C is a fan.  So much so that Aunt Angie and Uncle Toby (and Cousin Maddy) were nice enough to let Carson take it home! (Or maybe they were just too grossed out by the amount of Carson's drool that was covering it after the first five minutes :)  )  Merci beaucoup!

The Wildlife
Brandon & I saw 3 deer on the drive to the cabin.  Here's one.

And these baby birds lived on the front porch.

And I saw my first wild turkey (not in a bottle), but wasn't able to get a picture of it.
A Beautiful Wedding
The wedding we attended was at a beautiful location called Wolf Mountain Vineyards.  The ceremony itself was gorgeous, fun, and sweet.  The reception was a blast.  Congratulations, Alex and Jen!

Carson Dancing
Carson loves music.  She notices it wherever we go.  When we're listening to it at home and the song changes, she stops what she's doing, and looks over at the speaker, evaluates the new song, then goes back to what she was doing.
At the wedding, Brandon & Carson were dancing--and whenever Brandon would stop and stand still, Carson would wiggle all around, trying to get him to go again.  Cracked us up every time.  You can sort of see it in this video--watch her little legs when Brandon stands still.  She does a "giddy-up!" kind of motion until he starts again.





Mary
Mary is my oldest friend (yes, she's 4 days older than me, but that's not what I mean here).  We met in first grade and really became buddies when my family moved into her neighborhood in 3rd grade.  All those crucial moments and experiences of adolescence (first school dances, first boyfriends and kisses, first break-ups (with the news broken to the boy by a friend not ourselves, of course)) --we were together for them.  During high school, Mary's family moved to Florida, but we have kept in touch and still get to see each other, although not nearly enough if you ask me!  We visited each other during college (even though she attended University of Florida (boo!) and I attended UGA), were in each other's weddings, attended each other's baby showers, etc. etc.  Her family is my family.  There are too many fun memories to even attempt to summarize our friendship in this post.  But you get the idea.  Most of us have a friend like Mary--lifelong, true, and priceless.
Well, the groom Alex was Mary's next door neighbor when she still lived in Georgia, so her whole family came up for the wedding.  It was wonderful to see them all again, and especially to spend some time with Mary, her husband Scott, and their precious daughter Reagan.  It felt really good to have our daughters meet and to see, hold, and love each other's daughters after such an enduring and special friendship of our own together.
And yes, Mary really is that much tanner than me.

Things I Did Not Love About This Weekend


The Heat


Dear sweet Lord, the heat and humidity.  No picture for this one, because you all know what the sun looks like.  I think the heat at the wedding would have been much more tolerable if we had been in shorts and tank tops. But when you're all dressed up, hair done, makeup on, holding a baby and maybe drinking a glass of wine...tolerable heat becomes oppressive.  Okay, enough with the dramatics :)


The Broken Leg
So...Brandon's mom and dad came to our house to watch our dogs while we were away for the weekend.  About 45 minutes after we left our house, Brandon's mom called and told us she thought she broke her leg.  After a trip to the ER and an orthopedic doc, it turns out she broke her left fibula and almost broke her other ankle.  So she is now sitting pretty in a cast and a splint.  I'm not sure I believe her, but she swears it wasn't Moe's fault.

The Wildlife
This snake stopped by for a visit.  It is very big.

The End
It's always hard to leave a vacation.  Getting out of that relaxed, stress-free, clock-free mindset always hurts just a little.


But this coming weekend, we get another break when we go to South Carolina to visit Brandon's grandparents.  We were supposed to go a few months ago, but Brandon ended up very sick and not up for the trip, so we're super-excited to finally get to take Carson for a visit.
But that's another post!

While She Was Learning to Crawl....

So in going through the videos of Carson crawling, I found some moments I probably would have overlooked if I hadn't gone back through all the videos so carefully.  I am glad I did, because personally, I laugh out loud when I watch these. 


Maybe if I Smile Real Sweet-Like at Daddy, I won't have to crawl all the way over there....

Definitely already has him wraped around her finger!


No, Excuse YOU Mommy (turn up your volume for this one)



I love the look she gives me when I "excuse" her--like, "Who the hell do you think you are, excusing ME?" And then she looks back again like she's making sure I understand my place.


Holy Crap--Did you guys know there's a WOLF in here???
For those of you who have not met Kaila, the picture below is who Carson sees walking by during the video (minus the snow, of course). She is our 'dog'--well, technically only 8% of her is a normal dog.

Carson's survival instincts totally kick in.  You can hear her thinking, "Don't... make... any... sudden... moves....."
Carson has known Kaila since C was born, but EVERY time Kaila moves, walks by, or looks at Carson, what you just saw in the video happens.  Carson is mystified by Kaila.


Staring Contest with Moe (Hint: Moe loses)


I like how Moe starts off all distracted and then "digs in" like LET'S DO THIS! and gets really serious about it.  But in the end, he just HAS to lick that face.

Hope you have as much fun watching these as we do!

Movin' and A-Shakin'

So....Carson is crawling now.  In some ways, we're overwhelmingly proud.  It's so cool to watch her set her sights on something and then figure out how to get over there.  And in some ways, we're overwhelmingly...overwhelmed.  We just weren't quite thinking about baby-proofing, floor-sanitizing, and general injury prevention yet.  And of course, our "dog" Kaila is still here, and she doesn't take kindly to invasions of her space.  So.

But we have noticed, on her way to learning how to crawl, there is an incredible array of skills and moves she has perfected/attempted/created.  I am pretty sure I now know how yoga was started--a 6-month-old invented it.  Carson has downward-dogged herself across every room in our house. 
I have a business plan, so if you're looking to invest, pay attention.  I will start a gym where babies are the instructors.  I am positive that if I did all of the moves, stretches, and contortions Carson does in an hour, I would be in amazing shape, not to mention pretty freakin' flexible.

Here are a few of her moves, some with video examples : )

The 360--at first, all C could do was scoot in a circle. She had the patience and time to figure out that if she scooched on her belly in a circle, sometimes she would end up closer to her goal than she was 360 degrees ago.

Wheelbarrow



Rock 'n Hope--this one involves no progress, just lots and lots of wishing


Bunny Hop--what the rock 'n hope eventually became. She's so smiley in this one because her dad is there!


Lunge (aka, Here Goes Nothing!)--in this one, she gets in her downward dog position and throws herself forward, face-first, hoping for the best.  I have a small heart attack each time she attempts it.

This video has a little bit of Downward Dog (aka Inchworm), some Army Crawl, some Bunny Hop, and some Rock 'n Hope:


Wait, This Is Way Easier Than Crawling--eventually, little miss Smarty Pants figured out how NOT to crawl, which in some ways is more impressive than crawling.





She is actually officially crawling like a real baby crawls now, but I have no video of it, because I left our camera at my parents' this weekend.  She is also doing something else which I wish she wasn't:  pulling up.

SO proud of herself!

Here she is doing it in the den:

And here, in her crib again:

Anyone want to come help baby-proof???

Six Months Old!

Brandon and I really can't believe it has already been six months since we woke up early and excited on a Tuesday morning, headed to the hospital where our families were waiting, and came home a few days later with this precious little stranger who is now one of the most famliar parts of our lives.  Can it really have been half a year since that day?

It's crazy to think of all the questions we had then, all the things we wondered and worried about.  What would the c-section be like? Would we enjoy being parents?  How would having a baby change our relationship with each other?  Would we ever feel well-rested again?  It's funny that, since that time, we haven't thought much about these questions (okay, except maybe the sleep one).  I guess they have answered themselves, and our brains have been focused on the things that we now know actually make up the job of parenting.

Carson had her 6-month check-up this week, which went great.  She endured the long wait, the poking and prodding, the shots, an eye test where they attached these little nodes to her head and she had to sit still and watch a screen (she passed!), and even a trip to Scottish Rite for an x-ray (more waiting, poking, dressing & undressing, etc.) without the tiniest complaint.  Well, she cried a little after the shots, but other than that, no complaints  (By the way, the x-ray was no big deal--just checking into a "hip click".  Results came out normal).  Carson has gained about 2 pounds and grown an inch and a half since her last visit 2 months ago! 

And I just have to say--while we were at Scottish Rite for C's x-ray, Brandon and I thought of about 300 reasons to be thankful Carson and all the kids we know and love are as healthy as they are.  In just an hour there, we came across countless families whose lives seem infinitely more difficult than ours, if for no other reason than that their child is sick.  Even someone who has only had a child for 6 months knows that has got to be all-consuming and terrifying.  And while we will accept whatever God has planned for us and for Carson, we are incredibly grateful for her happiness, her health, and our own health and ability to care for her.  Turning in report card grades and preparing swimming pools for the summer just don't seem worth complaining about after that, you know?

And for my final random thought, there's a book called Touchpoints, which I love to read as Carson grows.  It focuses on emotional and behavioral development, rather than physical growth and development like most books.  I think I would have liked this book even before I was a parent.  The social development of a baby is just fascinating! 

Anyway, in the six-month chapter, the author explains that by this age, a baby's personality is pretty well set.  At first, this shocked and almost upset me--you mean there's not a whole lot that we can do to change her personality after this age????  Why the heck are parents here?  I mean, that answer is obvious, but isn't that crazy?  And then I remembered what my daughter's personality seems to be like and realized it's probably a good thing it won't change too much.
 
Here are the nine elements he says are used to assess a child's temperament (and, if you care, our evaluation of where C is on each of them):

1. Activity Level--pretty high.  See future post regarding her newest activity:  crawling
2. Distractibility--Brandon and I agree she seems pretty easily distracted.  Feeding time often has to compete with Moe, Daddy's voice, and whatever shirt Carson is wearing at the time--because they are all FASCINATING. 
3. Persistence--she seems to us to be fairly able and willing to persevere when a challenge presents itself. This post instantly comes to mind.
4. Approach-Withdrawal (how she handles new & stressful situations)--we think she's in the middle here.  She doesn't LOVE strangers approaching her or unfamiliar places, but usually doesn't mind it much either.
5. Intensity--we feel like she's pretty intense.  While she's fairly distractable, she also doesn't mess around when she's working on something.  I present to you exhibit A (which is probably more convincing if you know that this was about minute 48 of this tag-exploring position):

And here, exhibit B, an excerpt from the washcloth-chewing marathon:

Oh wait! It has a tag!

6. Adaptability--to us, Carson seems pretty chill. She doesn't usually mind being held by different people and is generally content to just "hang out" (or pass out) wherever she is.  While she hasn't been in tons of new and different situations, I remember being nervous about the weekend we spent at a cabin for Easter.  Would she be uncomfortable being away from home and around lots of new people, etc.  But she didn't even seem to notice or care we weren't at our house.

Seen here chilling with Aunt Christine

And here she is at her first luau.

7. Regularity--um, not so much.  This is most likely our bad.  Her schedule seems to shift some from day to day, but that's probably because we have always let it.  However, I do wonder if she was more regular, would she be as adaptable to changes and adjustments as she is?  Who knows.
8. Sensory Threshold--(how do stimuli affect her? is she easily over-stimulated?)--again, I feel like she's in the middle here.  I wouldn't say she's easily over-stimulated, but it does happen from time to time.  She can take a fair amount of noise, moving around, new faces, etc. before she hits her limit.
9. Mood--(is she primarily positive or negative?) Uh yeah. Definitely positive.  She even responded positively to her first vegetable, green peas.  Brandon & I decided not to tell her they're gross.