Carson's First Thanksgiving

Because Carson turns one this week (?!?!?!), Thanksgiving was the last major holiday "first" she had left to experience.  Because our families are so awesome, we had 2 Thanksgivings (that's right, I made it plural).

First, we went to my parents' house and hung out for the evening. 

Here, Carson came up with her first grandparent nickname by pronouncing "Grandpa" as "Poo-tah".  My dad was so excited, I think she could have just called him Poo and he would have loved it.  There was lots of playing, lots of relaxing, and of course, lots of eating.  Here's what my mom whipped up for us:

-breaded fish that was oh-so crunchy and delicious
-green beans that had more flavor than any I've ever tasted
-the cheesiest mac & cheese this side of the Mississippi
-marinated roasted tomatoes that I now want to put on everything I eat

Then Wednesday, we left for South Carolina to spend Thanksgiving day with Brandon's family.  We have come to expect a few things when staying at Giddy and Grandad's:

-football (or tennis or golf, depending on the time of year)--regardless, there will always be sports on the television
-food--dips, snacks, roasts, bacon, eggs...--and plenty of it!

-dogs--everywhere, all the time--in and out of the back door, following Giddy from room to room hoping for (and always getting) a bite of whatever she's eating, herding Carson, napping in the corner.  It seriously feels like Wild Kingdom sometimes.  Carson loved that they have two smaller dogs that seemed just her size.

-naps--there always seems to be time for naps when we're there, even though we can't usually find time for them at home

Giddy and Aunt Peggy put together lots of great meals while we were there and always put some aside for Carson that accommodated her growing list of food allergies (dairy, eggs, and tuna so far, if you're keeping track).

Carson also made a new friend named Sara Jace, who is the daughter of one of Gram's best friends, Tyler.  Isn't she too stinking cute??? 

Carson was generally sweet to her, especially at first (before she realized Sara Jace would want to play with her toys).  She walked up and patted her gently on the back like she was a little baby.

So now we're home, a few pounds heavier and much more relaxed than when we left.  Thank you to everyone for making Carson's first Thanksgiving a great one! 

What Carson Has Been Up To

It has been awhile since I've just written about what Carson does in her day-to-day life.  She is developing and growing and learning constantly!  Here's what's new in the world of Carson Bean:

1. Talking--she has picked up several new words, and it's easy to tell that she enjoys being able to communicate more clearly with us, even if it's just to point out a dog in a magazine.
Here are some words she says & how she says them:

This=dis
That=dat
Doggy=doddy
Monkey=doddy
Uh-oh=ah-eee
Fish=tss
Cheese=chchch (think of a kid with a retainer)
Tickle=ttshss
Sock=(always whispered) sah-sah-sah
Kick=kkkk (sort of like clearing her throat)
Hi=Hhhaaaiiiii (very drawn-out and silly)
All done=aaaahhhh daaaaah
Ball=ba

2. Finger Foods--Carson is eating almost entirely finger-foods now, although she still enjoys lots of yogurt and the occasional bowl of rice cereal.  She is picky in a weird way--she'll love a food one day and despise it the next.  It's *really* fun to try to pack her food for Jana's, since I never know what she's going to feel like consuming.

3. Running--she can pretty much run from place to place now.  Of course, her sprints often end in a tumble, but she gets right back up and keeps on trucking.

4. Getting Every Tooth She Will Ever Have--at least, it seems that way.  She has 4 top, 4 bottom, and a molar or two has popped through, while some other molars are hanging just below the surface of her swollen little gums. I feel like I birthed a piranha.

5. Snot--Carson and Lila have invented a new game called "pass the cold."  Jana and I are forever trying to guess if each round of congestion is a new virus or simply the one the other child had last week.  Lord only knows where they're getting all these germs (well, they're toddlers, so I guess we probably know too).  Bottom line--I feel like C has a perpetually snotty nose, and I'm kind of ready for it to stop.

6. Practicing for the US Women's Soccer Team, 2032--I can't tell you how proud Brandon is that she started kicking things around on the den floor recently.  She has these plastic fruits Gram gave her, and one day, she just decided kicking the apple around would be fun.  Since then, she has been hard-core training (not really) with every ball in sight.  Here's a video of her kicking (and sometimes I think she's trying to grab the ball but her feet just get to it first).  I love how, when Brandon walks in, she gets so excited to show him.
And you know I have to make a disclaimer:  although we really like our camera, which takes excellent pictures and also takes video, I really wish we had known the video camera part doesn't auto-focus.  You have to manually focus it, which I am still learning to do smoothly.  Obviously.  In this video, I am attempting to hold the camera, zoom, manually focus, keep the dogs away, and enjoy the moment--and I accomplished almost NONE of that successfully.  Seriously. Take some Dramamine if you get motion sick.
Enjoy!

Why I Love Fall

Autumn has pretty much always been my favorite season (although winter and I had a brief fling awhile back).  There are so many things to love about fall, which I'm sure you all know, but I thought I'd share some of my personal favorites.

1. Relief from the heat.  Living in Georgia, the summers can be brutal, and as fall sets in, there is this heavenly feeling. And my favorite day of the year is the first day you step outside and smell fall in the cool, crisp air.  The nights start to get colder, the sun during the day is a bit more forgiving, the humidity starts to let up. I actually start going outside on purpose, when I don't even have to, and Carson has really loved this change.  We've been going out every day to play in the driveway or cul-de-sac.  She loves to follow squirrels around from yard to yard as they avoid her, and she gets sincerely upset when I won't go into our neighbors' garages or backyards or trees to continue the chase.  She also enjoys picking up rocks (and trying to sneak them in her mouth), playing with sticks (which she calls, "tsss"), and pointing at stuff, asking me to name it.

2. Fall festivals.  I love when the weather is just perfect--you don't get too hot standing in the sun, nor too cold in the shade--and there's interesting new things to wander around and look at (and eat).  We went to the Norcross Arts Festival several weeks ago and had an amazing time.  There were so many talented artists and lots to keep Carson visually entertained.  Funnel cakes, hot dogs, live music, friendly people, dogs walking around with their owners--what's not to love?  Carson had such a blast, and Brandon and I did too.  We even bid in a silent auction and got her a little hand-painted chair for her birthday, made by a student at one of the local schools.  Please don't tell her--it's a surprise.  Here are a few pics of the fun:



3. The pumpkin patch.  This was one of those fun things we got to do together as a family with Toby, Angie, and Cousins Patrick and Maddy.  It was a gorgeous day, and we enjoyed seeing the cousins explore the pumpkin patch together.  Patrick is such a good big brother, and Maddy was so laid-back.  Days like this make me thankful and excited for the years we have ahead, all of them being friends.  Carson's favorite part was this little squash she found.  We have about 53 pictures of her showing it to different people (all strangers).  She was so proud of it.  We tried really hard to get a good pic of all 3 cousins, but it just didn't work out like we wanted.  Instead, we have a bunch of funny "out-takes," which we love too.  Carson also enjoyed getting to see a real live goat, sheep, pig, and cow--none of whom seemed very impressed with her.  Here's a slideshow of the day:



4. Brandon is home more. As pools close and the temperature decreases, Brandon is able to spend more time with us in the fall. This means we start getting some real family time to just hang out at the house, go for walks, run errands together, or do fun things like go to fall festivals. Special bonus: I have a sitter for when I need to get my hair cut, want to grocery shop baby-free, or meet up with my girlfriends for dinner. We even got to go on a cool date night this weekend to a fundraiser for the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America. We had a really great time, met some new people, and even won the big raffle at the end of the night!

5. Christmas is coming.  Now that Halloween is over, I can sing Christmas carols out loud, not just in my head, and people don't think I'm a total nutcase (at least not for that reason, anyway).  I start getting excited about the next Christmas right around New Year's, so it's thrilling to me when the rest of the world gets on board this time of year. I can't wait to see how Carson reacts to it all--the tree, Santa, lights in the yard....it's going to be so much fun!

Halloween Weekend

So I'm working on a post about what we have generally been up to lately, but I wanted to put up the pictures and list from Carson's first Halloween.

Day 1--Saturday
The day before Halloween, I worked Saturday school in the morning while Brandon & Carson had some quality time before his big trip to Vegas this week.  When I got home, we ran some errands together, including picking out our pumpkin.

No, not that one.  This one.

Carson really enjoyed watching Brandon scrape out all the seeds and gook.  We enjoyed watching her curiosity.

 I love her face in this one.

Carson supervised Brandon's cutting, just to be sure he did it correctly (wonder where she got that habit...)

 And here's the finished product!

Confession:  All these pictures are before Carson suffered a massive head wound, which you will see in later pictures.  While playing in the driveway, she started to stumble. I saw the fall coming, so I grabbed her by the waist to prevent it.  My plan backfired, and she actually spun forward onto her eye/face, rather than back onto her butt.  After we had all recovered, we accepted that things like this are just bound to happen.  She has been fairly mobile for 4 months or so now (pulling up, etc), and this is her first injury that caused actual bloodflow, so I guess that's not such a bad record.

Anyway, back to the fun.

Saturday night, we went to a Halloween party at the Gunters' house (thrown by Kace's sister Jenna), which was a blast.  They and their friends are some of the craftiest people I know, and they always throw the best theme parties.  Their costumes are always handmade, elaborate, and impressive. Their parties are always decorated, coordinated, and delicious.  We forgot our camera, but it was lots of fun.  Trust me.


Day 2--Sunday
Carson woke up Sunday morning with a croup-sounding cough and general bad attitude.  Can't blame her--she didn't feel well and probably still had a headache from her face-plant the day before.  We had been planning to go over to Toby and Angie's house that afternoon so Carson could do the Halloween thing with her cousins, but we didn't want to risk getting Patrick and Maddy sick, so we hung at our place.  We spent most of the day getting Brandon ready for his trip and just hanging out.

The real fun began in the late afternoon, when we started getting Carson and Kaila dressed. 

Yes, Kaila. 

Carson was Little Red Riding Hood for Halloween, and we made Kaila dress as the wolf who dressed as the grandmother from the story.  She really was a good sport about the whole thing.

What big eyes you have!

After Carson's first photo session, we headed outside to take a few more. 

Our neighbors saw us outside and started coming out to share some candy with her (which really meant Brandon & I started collecting candy, since Carson can't eat it :) Score!)  They were so sweet, and Carson thoroughly enjoyed sorting through their bowls of candy, making piles, putting it in her basket and then putting it back, etc.

We ended up just staying out in the cul-de-sac as trick-or-treaters arrived, chatting and passing out candy.  It really was a great time--mellow and close to home, which is just what our sick girl needed--and Carson enjoyed looking at the other costumes and meeting new people.

Finally, it was dinnertime, and we headed inside for some food and rest. She crashed hard and fast on Halloween night.  Being so cute has GOT to be exhausting!

And here's a slideshow with all the pics!