Thanksgiving in AL

We headed out Wednesday afternoon to my parents house and stayed 2 nights, Carson had such a good time with his cousins Andrew and Alivia, they are now all at an age where they really enjoy playing together. Then we went to Cory's parents for 2 nights and Carson got to play with the 6 cousins on that side. I love the ages of all the cousins now, it is so cute watching them play together. I can already tell that Carson is going to be the instigator and probably get all the kids in trouble, I am pretty sure he takes after his Daddy. His cousin Tucker followed him into the bathroom where Carson proceeded to show him how funny it is to play in the toilet! Ick....thank goodness for extra clothes! 

This is my side of the family.

This one will definitely be framed :)

Then we headed home on Sunday and let Carson play outside for a while after the long drive, where we finally got some use out of his winter coat, hat and mittens. He looked so cute!

Cory and I ended the night by building a fire and putting up our Christmas Tree. 

Miscellany Monday

1. We had a great week/weekend celebrating Thanksgiving with our families in AL. It really helped to be around people we love, and to be busy.

2. We put our Christmas tree up last night and it looks wonderful. Carson was very into helping us, I can't wait to see him on Christmas morning.

3. We got a dose of the terrible 2's on Saturday with Carson, for some reason he was in a terrible mood from about 4pm until bedtime, we still don't really know why, we were puzzled b/c he had 2 great naps that day. We thought maybe he was getting sick, teething, exhausted, or just had been away from home too long and had enough of family gathering busy-ness....who knows, he was a perfect angel on Sunday, he slept more than 1/2 of the way home and barely fussed when he was awake. I am leaning toward exhaustion and being away from home too long, b/c he slept in his crib from 7:30PM until 6AM and didn't move an inch or make a peep.

4. We still miss Charlie terribly and I'm sure we will for some time, she wasn't just a dog, she was a family member. It was good for us to leave our house for a few days, b/c the house is full of reminders that she is gone...her medicine, food bowl, leash, and the hospital sent us a card with her paw print on it..that was so sweet and heartbreaking at the same time. We even have a Christmas ornament with her picture on it.

I hope to post my pictures from AL later today.

Wordless Wednesday

Charlie

We lost our sweet Charlie last night. The hospital called at 3AM and said she was no longer breathing on her own and asked us what we wanted to do. We decided to let her go and finally have some peace. I hate that she was in pain the last 2 weeks of her life. Cory and I just laid there crying and talking about the good memories we had with her. She was the sweetest dog in the world, I was always telling Cory that growing up all I wanted was a dog that would sit in my lap and cuddle all the time...she was perfect. She brought so much joy to our home and we love her so much. She loved chasing squirrels and birds, so we are going to bury her in the back yard next to the woods.

Goodbye baby girl, we love you and you will always be special to us.

Update - Prayers Needed

My poor little dog, Charlie has gotten worse. She has been in pain for a week now, squealing every time she moves her neck, then this morning at 5AM she started having seizures. We are so sad to see our sweet Charlie in so much pain. She is at the vet now, they were able to stop the seizures and manage her pain, and are going to do some blood work to see what is causing the seizures. If they can't figure it out, they are sending her to a neurologist. Please pray that she gets better soon.

Update: The blood work at her regular vet didn't show a cause for seizures. Charlie is now at the special hospital for pets and they have given her more meds to help with the seizures and swelling of her brain but she is still seizing. They think it may be meningitis or a spinal cord injury. We are going to meet with the Dr. this afternoon to discuss her options, but its not looking good.

This one was when I was pregnant with Carson, she loved resting on my baby bump. 

Miscellany Monday

1. Carson had his 15 month check up last week, he weighs a whopping 22 lbs! I am glad he is gaining! I can't remember his height, but I remember what is important...he grew! Then he had his shots with the flu shot added in, we go back in a month for another round of flu shots.

2. We taught Carson to stay away from things that are hot in order to protect him, and he puts his hand up and says "hot-hot"....now EVERYTHING he sees is "hot-hot" ....this is definitely his favorite phrase right now. He has also found the joy of coloring, my mom had a good idea..she taped the paper to his high chair tray and let him go to town...he loved it!

3. I bought Carson a winter coat for daycare for $6 at Kid to Kid...love that place. I am also going to get him a nice peacoat, but I wanted to send him to daycare with something that I didn't mind getting dirty.

4. Cory is on a hunting trip with my Dad in Nebraska, he killed an 8 point Whitetail yesterday and is SO proud. I am pretty sure he wants to decorate our living room with this deer :(

Look at my sexy outdoors-man!!!!!! :)

5. Mom has been visiting since Cory is out of town, and as usual we did some shopping. I helped her pick out some of Carson's Christmas gifts and he is getting some cute stuff (mostly stuff from Kohl's..I love that place)! I also bought my Christmas cards at Steinmart for $20; they are so pretty!

6. My poor doggie, Charlie is injured. She started squealing of pain when she would jump off of the couch and bed, and kept arching her back, and having weird asthma attacks and shivering on Saturday, so I let her rest Saturday night, then she seemed to be fine on Sunday but then she started up again with the squealing Sunday night, so I took her to an emergency vet clinic. They said she has hurt her upper back/neck...could be a herniated disk or something. So they gave her some meds and ordered her to rest. I hope she gets better soon, she is so pitiful.

7. I have a dear friend going through a very rough time right now who could use your prayers.

8. We have family pictures on Saturday, I hope to get some good ones! I am finally using a Picture People gift card that Carson got for his birthday.

9. I had an awesome time with Jessica and Janie and their beautiful girls on Saturday. We had a little playdate for the kids filled with yummy treats and great company, can't wait to do it again ladies, thank you for coming!

10. I watched a few episodes of the MTV show "Teen Mom" yesterday...and wow...just wow. I feel so bad for some of those babies....especially Amber's daughter, Leah.

Carson is 15 Months!

Yesterday, Carson turned 15 months old :) What has he been up to lately?

• His favorite word now is "NO!" soooo, Mama and Daddy can't tell him no anymore b/c he scolds us back and says "no no!" too, and we end up laughing, so we just say "ehh ehh" and redirect A LOT. He is constantly testing us and seeing what he can get away with. He likes to tell the dogs "no no!" and it is so funny!
• He dressed up as a Dinosaur for his 2nd Halloween.
• Sizes: in clothes 12-18 months, diapers are size 4, weighs about 21 lbs, and size 4 shoe.
• Loves to show us his belly button, nose and eyes.
• Will pretty much eat anything.
• He has 6 teeth (4 bottom front, 1 top front, and 1 top molar, and one more top front tooth about to break through....that one is taking forever!
• He is obsessed with doggies, he wakes up saying "woof woof" and "doggie".
• His vocabulary grows and grows...lets see if I can name some words he says: Doggie, Duckie, Thank you, mama, Daddy, Nana (my mom), and nana (banana), Papa (my Dad), Eat, No, Bite, outside, baby, bubba, bubble, passy, cookie, keys, all done, ball, football, tree, car, bye-bye, juice, hot-hot and he says a lot of animal sounds. He also sings a song called "clean up" that he learned at daycare.
• He loves to read books, I can tell him to go get a book and he goes to his room and brings us books to read to him. His favorites are ones about doggies, go figure.
• He loves to help clean up his toys, put his toothbrush back in the holder, turn the lights on and off, and close doors and cabinets for us. 
• He loves to kick and throw balls.
• He blows kisses and loves to wave bye-bye.
• He loves to play in his crib, and for us to leave the room and come back in to "scare" him. 
• His favorite song is "How much is that doggie in the window?"
• He loves his milk, he has it when he wakes up and before bed, and when I hand him his milk he hands me his passy to hold for him.
• He loves playing in the bath, after he is all clean, he gets to lift the drain and play in the tub without water, I think this is the highlight of his day..little weirdo. He slides around, puts the drain in and out of the hole, and like to put his ear on the tub floor to listen...listen to what? I have no idea!
• We rock him to sleep every night, I love this snuggle time, and then he sleeps in his crib until about 6AM, then snuggles with us until about 8AM.
• He loves to play jokes on us, for example when he seems to be finished eating, we will say "all done?" and he says "all done" and holds his hands up, when we try to lift the tray he says "no no" and grabs his cup and food, this goes on several times until we finally stop laughing and get down to business. 
• He loves to be chased by Daddy and he runs to Mama to protect him. :)
• His favorite toys are his Thomas trains, he has a big one to ride, and a little one too. Also he is obsessed with balls! 
• His favorite shows are Dinosaur Train, Super Why, and Thomas. 
• He loves to dance.
• He is such a sweet and funny little boy and I love him so much!

Halloween 2010

We spent our Halloween this year with family and friends in Alabama. We had a great time at the Festival with the Hollyhand and Phillips families; then cooking out and relaxing with Nana and Papa! Our little Dinosaur was as cute as he could be! Here are a few of my favorites from the weekend: