4 Months

Dear Carson,

You are 4 months old and you are starting to be so much fun! You have learned a lot of new things this month, one of them is how to sleep about 9- 10 hours at night! You go to sleep every night after your bath and a bottle around 8:30 and you will usually wake up between 6:30 and 7! We could not ask for better sleep from you, little man! During the day your naps are not super consistent but you usually take 3-4 naps a day, some shorter and some longer.

You have also learned how to grab things in front and above of you. When you are on you play at you are constantly trying to reach and grasp all of your little toys. You also love to snuggle with your little lovie blanket and you put it right over you face when you are trying to fall asleep.

Your smile is so contagious and you have even started to giggle a little. You also took your very first plane ride all the way to Chicago to see your cousin, Ashley, graduate. You did great the whole flight on the way there and back and slept the entire time. We were in and out of hotels and on the road for four entire days and you were a champ. Makes mommy want to travel more with you very soon:)

You love to look and and eat your hands. You are not too into the binkie anymore, you would much rather suck on your fingers. It's pretty cute. At your 4 month check up you weighed 12 pounds exactly and were 23 inches long. Yup, still a tiny little guy. Your cousin, Truett, is 6 weeks younger than you and outweighs you by 2 1/2 pounds:)

One thing is for sure: we are loving you more and more with each day that passes (which I really didn't know was possible)

3 months

Chris' First Father's Day

Once again, I know this is super delayed but I figure better late than never. I think Chris' First Father's Day was a success. Well, it was a success before it even started in my eyes because last year I distinctly remember writing my Father's Day post wondering if Chris would ever get a card on Father's Day from anyone other than the DOGS! This year, he did. He actually got two cards, one from me and one from his very own human son. And the dogs? Those jerks didn't even bother this year;)

For his gifts, we bought Carson and Chris matching Vans (Chris loves Vans  and wishes he had a pair in every single color) and then we also made him a sentimental gift. I put Carson's hand print on a baseball and wrote "Can't wait to play catch with you! Happy Father's Day 2012"  

 I also made him a Gourmet Breakfast Toaster Strudel and wrote on it with the icing.

 Then we headed to my mom's house for a Barbecue and watched the Dodger game with both of our parents. Very chill day but lots of fun. Love these pictures of their matching shoes. I am going to definitely put one in a frame.

 This picture makes my heart melt...

 Chris with his dad (Left) and my step dad (Right)

All in all ,it was a perfect day and we were able to celebrate my amazing husband and Carson's awesome daddy.

My Very First Mother's Day

Ok.... So I know this post is just a few days shy of being an entire month late... but SOMEONE went back to work and has been super busy lately:( Better late than never on a day I will never forget. My very First Mother's Day. A day I thought I may never get to celebrate. Let me just say I had tears of joy throughout the entire day.

First I got a beautiful boquet of flowers and a balloon from my loves. Carson even picked a special one out to hand to me.

 Carson's card to me

 I thought it was super cute how Chris wrote this on my envelopes...

 We headed to the beach near where we got married and got some lunch and just enjoyed some time together. The weather was not all that great but honestly it didn't matter. I felt so blessed.

 I love my little family.

2 Months

The last 2 months have flown by. I can't believe how much Carson has changed already since he was born. I am so glad we bought the monthly stickers because I already love looking back to see the changes and it has only been 2 MONTHS!

This was the first photo shoot that we actually were able to capture some real smiles. I'm sure you can imagine they super annoying, high squeaking tone involved here:)

Cheeeese:)

Dr. Visit-On Monday, Carson had his first set of shots at his 2 month check-up. Chris went with and we we gave the baby a pep talk the whole way to the appointment;) When we got in the room, she measured him and then we stripped him down to be weighed. He usually cries at that point because it is freezing in there, but not that day, he was happy as can be. His official measurements were 21 inches long and 9 pounds 7 ounces. He was pretty much right around the 10th percentile for everything which was actually a jump from where he had been (usually hovering around the 3rd percentile). The Dr. said everything looked great and she was happy with his growth. Next up, shot time. Chris got to hold him for this part. The nurse came in and gave him some drops in his mouth (to protect him from a stomach virus of some sort) 2 shots in his left leg and one in his right:( He screamed for a few seconds afterwards and then seemed to be ok. We were shocked because we imagined him to be screaming all the way out to the parking lot. Later that night was a little rough. We could tell his legs were sore and he was uncomfortable. We gave him a little baby Tylenol and that was that.

Sleep- Sleep has been pretty good around here. We seem to be getting into a decent routine that works for us. He sleeps for about a 5 to 6 hour stretch at night, wakes up to eat then goes back to sleep. I do find that he sleeps a lot better when he gets a bath right before bedtime so we are trying to incorporate that into our nightly routine. During the day, he wakes up around 6:30 eats, plays, then takes about a 2 hour nap and that cycle continues until about 9:30 pm. Until this week, we has been sleeping in his Rock N Play for naps and night time. I a really trying to get him used to being in his crib more. Once asleep, he seems to sleep a lot better in his crib because we can close the door and not bother him with the noises around the house. I have learned that I HAVE to put him in his crib pretty much 1 hour to the dot after he woke up from his last nap or else he gets too tired and overstimulated. If we do it right, he will lay in there and fall asleep on his own without fussing at all. I think this having him in his own room thing is harder for me than him at this point. I like being able to look over and check on him. But the Angel Care video monitor does help that a bit:)

Here he is sleepin' hard in his crib all swaddled up tight...

My best friend during nap time...

Eating- He eats about 3-4 ounces every 3 hours during the day. We have added a tiny bit of rice cereal to his formula to help with his reflux so he seems to get full from 3 ounces often. His reflux seems to be under control now too:)

Here are some of our other activities from this week...

I had great company while I tried to clean that nightmar-ish closet of mine.

Nana Sue took us shopping for a Dodger sweatshirt because we were supposed to take Carson to his first game on Friday night , but the weather ended up sucking so we had to ditch the tickets. We will be ready for next time:)

And we did a lot of cooing and practicing with our vocal cords this week. I just love the sweet sounds he makes... This was a video I recorded during tummy time. He isn't too sure if he likes it or not but I love the sounds he is making.

2 months in the books! I love him oh so much.

A Whole New World

Yesterday was a beautiful day. It was Carson's first Easter and we had lots of fun as a family of 3.

But, as I sat there at our annual Easter Family Picnic at the park, I couldn't help but have flash backs of last year's Easter Picnic. I remember just crying and coming home wanting to pour out my feelings to my blog and that is just what I did. Last year there were 4 preggos in my family that attended the picnic. I was not one of them. I remember hoping and praying that one day we too would have a little one searching for eggs. I really don't think in my heart I believed we would be holding our own precious baby at the picnic the very next year. I sat there yesterday feeling so very blessed to be living the life I am living at this very moment.

Here are some highlights from the day...

We started off at my mom's house where my sister came over with her 3 kiddos so we could do a photo shoot:) The stars of the shoot are below.

Carson (8 weeks) and his cousin Truett (2 weeks) celebrating their first of many holidays together.

Nana Sue and Papa Don soaking in the love from their newest grandsons
Carson with the "Easter Bunny" since I was too chicken to take him to see the real deal this year.

I could seriously just eat this kid up. He was loving his photo shoot.

Our new world.

Last year I could only dream my life would be this sweet by the next Easter.