Long Weekend Update

We had a laid back long weekend at our house as we tried to completely recover from the stomach bug we all caught about a week ago. Brian's been feeling especially yucky still though he's doing better today. Carter is finally starting to have normal diapers (mostly) so he seems to be recovering. I'm feeling okay - just worn out. Hopefully I'll get the chance to catch up on some sleep before the new baby arrives!

Saturday morning we worked in the yard. Brian cut the grass and I cleaned up our beds and entertained Carter. I drew Carter a track on the driveway with chalk intending for him to use it for his trucks. Carter thought it was more fun to run in circles around the track instead.


Carter still really likes the bubble maker he got from Tony and Tina ...

In the afternoon we got out Carter's water table and one of the sprinkler toys I bought on clearance at the end of last summer. It took a little while for Carter to warm up to the sprinkler, but he eventually ran through it a few times and used it to fill up some of his toys.



Carter trying to only get his hair wet ...


We didn't do much of anything on Sunday. Brian was feeling really bad so Carter and I ran some errands and laid low most of the day. We did get our new BOB Duallie stroller put together and the infant carseat adapter attached. This is the stroller I'm planning on using day-to-day until I'm not worried about waking up the new baby by moving him from his carseat to the Maclaren stroller. The BOB stroller is huge but so are most double strollers. I can't wait for the baby to be old enough to take both kids running in the jogger - I've really missed running the last several months!

Today we took Carter over to the playground at West Hills Park after running a few errands. Carter went down this slide all by himself, twice!


Brian helping Carter get to the top of the slide ...


The second time, Carter went down the slide on his belly ...


After Carter's afternoon nap, we took him to the pool in our neighborhood for the first time this year. Since it was dinnertime, there weren't many people there.

We bought Carter a new swim vest. It doesn't keep his face out of the water if we completely let him go, but it does make it easier to hold onto him. It's also good to help encourage swimming. A lot of kids used them in the lessons Carter did last year.


The water was surprisingly warm and we all had a lot of fun!



And congratulations to my sister, Karey - she got engaged today!

Hanging with Caitlyn

Carter and I have been getting out the last few days to a bunch of storytimes. Carter is still sick (he still has diarrhea and isn't eating much, but is generally acting normal) so we've been trying to do stuff where he doesn't really interact too much with the other kids.

So on Wednesday we went to Baby Bookworms at the Farragut Library. On Thursday we went to Mother Goose at Cokesbury and then to Books and Blooms at the UT Gardens. Today we went to Baby Bookworms at the Bearden Library. We ended up doing all of these with Amy and Caitlyn.

Baby Bookworms on Wednesday was fun as always. Carter sat on my lap for a few rhymes and behaved well he rest of the time. Carter kept sitting next to me and pointing to the floor on the other side of him trying to get Caitlyn to sit with him. She did several times and every time she'd lean over and kiss Carter on the nose or mouth. Hopefully he's not contagious!!!

Carter and I are still really enjoying the Mother Goose program. However, it was a lot more crowded this week since kids are now out of school. A lot of older kids came along and participated in the activities which led to several close calls where the little ones almost got plowed over.

One of the activities was playing with feathers. I think Carter saw one of the other moms tickling her kid on the belly with a feather because I caught Carter doing this ...


One of the other activities was banging hollow plastic tubes on the floor that were different lengths to make different sounds. Neat idea, however, they weren't the best idea in a room full of toddlers. Caitlyn and Carter were sword fighting with theirs at one point!

After Mother Goose, we drove down to the UT Gardens for Books and Blooms. Carter and I went to this program a lot last summer and fall. They've changed it up some this year and it's not as good. And it was insanely crowded. There were well over a hundred kids there (maybe even 200). Instead of having a craft like they did last year, they just give the kids a coloring page. There were so many kids there that we ended up giving our scribbled on sheets to another mom when they ran out so her kids could color some.

Instead of doing the entire program in the mini-amphitheater in the shade, the program was split up into three locations. The coloring station was in the shade but the story station and song station were under 10x10 tents so most of us stood in the sun. It was so hot and crowded that the kids didn't pay attention at all.

So Amy and I let Caitlyn and Carter wander around the Gardens most of the time.




Carter really liked this wind chime near the coloring station ...


Carter got super dirty at the Gardens and I had to strip him down to just a shirt for the car. A bunch of wipes cleaned him up well enough for us to meet Brian for lunch (as well as a spare pair of shorts). The heat wiped Carter out and he passed out on the way to Brian's office.


Today Carter and I met Amy and Caitlyn at the Bearden Library for their Baby Bookworms program. Amy had heard it was good so we were willing to give it a try. It was different than the one we normally go to but still pretty good. At the end the kids got little maracas to play with and the guy leading the class walked around with a bubble maker. Carter liked this part the best.


Carter and Caitlyn have been holding hands a ton the last few days. They will walk between Amy and me, holding our hands and each others. It's so cute. I asked them to hold hands to try to get a picture of them doing it, but, of course, they wouldn't cooperate once the camera was out. This was the best I could get ...


Caitlyn is only 2 months older than Carter and then I'm about 2 months further along with baby #2 than Amy is with her second. Hopefully our kids will continue to be good playmates as they grow!

New Words

Carter's vocabulary is finally starting to expand (though no one other than Brian and I can probably make out most of it). The words that are the most clear are please and thank you. Even if Carter doesn't say much, at least we're teaching him manners! I need to get a video of him saying "please" because it's so cute and he can get almost anything from us right now when he says it!

There are several other words that we've noticed in the last week but I'm not thinking of them right now. Carter also has some random phrases like "right there".

Carter is also starting to learn a few animal sounds. He knows what sound a monkey, dog, and duck make (random, I know). He needs a little help with dog and duck still though (as in we have to make the sound first).

Here's a little video from today ...

Carter has gotten really good at identifying so much in the books we read to him. He knows tons of animals. There are animals we repeat over and over again, but lately I'll ask Carter to find some random animal that we've never pointed out before and he'll pick it out (like a horse). I'm always amazed that he can pick out something like a bird in all types of books when they are drawn so differently in each book.

Cabin Trip, Part 2

After our scorpion adventure on Friday morning, we made it upstairs to have breakfast with everyone. The boys had fun playing some more in the living room while we decided on what to do for the day.


We decided to go to Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies. We parked near the aquarium and then walked through Gatlinburg looking for a place to eat lunch. We decided on Blaine's Bar and Grill. It was okay and luckily almost empty because Carter was his normal loud self! After lunch we headed back to the aquarium.

Carter was very excited about the tank in the entrance area and we ended up having to drag him away from it ...


The boys and their dads checking out the dart frogs ...


Carter is a daddy's boy and spent lots of time with him looking at the tanks ...


The boys loved turning these wheels ...



Carter and Brian taking a break ...


Carter loved the sea turtle in the tank with the moving walkway ...


Happy boy!


"I found a fish!" ...


I love Carter's expression in this picture!


The new penguin exhibit opened a few weeks ago. It's pretty impressive.

Carter really liked looking at the penguins swimming ...


The penguins can swim in a glass tunnel between the indoor and outdoor exhibits. There's one section you can walk on and see them below your feet.


Carter has been very into giving statues hugs lately ...


Meeting the aquarium's mascot and giving him "five" ...



I think we all had fun exploring the aquarium together. I have a season pass and Carter and I have been there a few times over the last year with Sarah and Mary Grace, but it was really different having more adults than kids this time!

We grilled steaks for dinner and then set up the water table on one of the back porches for the boys to play with. Dominic LOVED the train. He is very much into cars and trains. Carter is just started to really enjoy them.



Tina brought a couple of neat bubble makers for the boys to play with. Carter liked putting the plane in his hair (I kept thinking he was going to get some hair stuck in the propeller and pull a bunch out!).



Carter was very much into giving Dominic hugs that night. Dominic just sort of stood still and took it. Sometimes Carter can be very lovey.


Enjoying some water after getting baths ...


We let Carter stay up late Friday night while we were playing with the Wii. He was SO HAPPY and behaving so well that we just couldn't put him to bed.


Carter kept scooting back between Brian's feet while he played ...


Here's a video of Carter cheering for Art and Brian as they competed in bowling ...

We had fun on Friday and the boys seemed to enjoy hanging out together. Carter definitely has a new buddy!

Still Recovering

I've been working on another post for about an hour about our weekend trip but am just too tired to finish it tonight. We're still recovering here from the stomach bug and I am worn out after trying to make up to Carter all the down time we've had. We've watched way too many movies the last few days instead of playing. We had a lot of fun today but it kicked my butt.

Here's a cute picture from today of Carter in Charlotte's toy basket (he loves getting into any basket or bucket he can find) ...

Cabin Trip, Part 1

This past weekend we spent some time in a cabin in Pigeon Forge with Brian's parents. Joining us were Brian's half-brother, his wife, and their son. Tony is one of two kids Brian's dad had from a previous marriage. This was the first time we met Tony, Tina, and Dominic. Dominic is 9 months older than Carter which makes them excellent playmates.

We all arrived at the cabin in the late afternoon on Thursday. The cabin was only a couple of miles off the Parkway near the outlet stores in Sevierville so it took us less than an hour to get there from the house. Everyone else had a much longer drive (Brian's parents from Raleigh and Brian's half-brother's family from St. Louis). The cabin was relatively new with 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. It seemed to barely cling to the side of the hill it was on but that allowed it to have a deck on each of the three floors. Here's a link to the cabin (link).

The basement had two bedrooms so we took those. Carter got the room with a window and we took the room with no window buried into the side of the hill.

We had dinner at the cabin and had a good time just talking and getting to know everyone. We all brought lots of toys for the boys so they had fun playing with new toys on the living room floor. They did a good job sharing even though they didn't really play together - they usually played independently.

We got Carter to bed a few hours late for him and eventually made it to bed ourselves. Carter slept in some and we were able to move him into bed with us when he woke up. We turned on cartoons and he chilled out with us for about an hour. He would never do this at home - it was so nice!

When we finally got up, I had taken Carter out to the basement den and we heard Brian shriek and curse. I totally thought Brian was joking when Carter and I went to investigate and he told me there was a scorpion in the shirt he had been about to put on. When I was pregnant with Carter, I got stung on the belly by a scorpion that was in a t-shirt I had just put on.

Brian wasn't joking. And this scorpion was about 3 times as big as the one that had stung me (about 1.5 inches long). Luckily Brian saw it on the shirt before getting it on.

Brian managed to get the shirt out to the deck and poke at it enough to finally get the scorpion to run out (he ran off too quickly for me to get a picture while also holding Carter).

There are two types of scorpions that can be found in Tennessee, but both are very rare. How unlucky are we to have found two of them in a couple of years, both in our shirts. We sometimes joke that Carter is going to have some sort of scorpion superpowers since I got stung when pregnant with him. I think this second scorpion got confused and crawled into the wrong shirt - this new baby was also meant to have scorpion superpowers!

We were completely freaked out after this and had to shake out any clothes before putting them on. When we went to sleep that night, we both would jump when we'd run up on something like a tag on the sheets. It didn't help that we started hearing a bug digging in the walls and it continued all night long. This will be the last time we pick the basement bedroom!

I have lots more to post including lots of pictures, but I'm still trying to recover from this stomach bug and need to get to sleep. I promise to post more tomorrow!

Checking In

We just got back from a weekend in the mountains with Brian's parents and his half-brother (Tony), Tony's wife (Tina), and their son (Dominic). This was the first time we've met them. We had a great time, except for getting the dreaded stomach bug, AGAIN. This time though it's all of us instead of just me. Oh, and there's also a story about a scorpion. But I'll post all about our trip as soon as I'm feeling better. Carter and I are on the road to recovery, but Brian just started getting sick tonight.

Here's a picture the Goff men ... from left to right, Tony, Dominic, Art, Carter, and Brian ...

18 Month Checkup

Carter had his 18 month appointment today. He's doing great!

Here are his stats for 18 months:

• Weight: 23 lbs, 1 oz (14th percentile)
• Height: 31.5 inches (26th percentile)
• Head Circumference: 49 cm (82nd percentile)

And here were his numbers from 15 months:

• Weight: 21 lbs, 6.5 oz (11th percentile)
• Height: 30.5 inches (31st percentile)
• Head Circumference: 47.7 cm (66th percentile)

I really thought Carter had grown more than an inch in the last 3 months. Either one of the measurements was off (which is very easy to do since they still lay him down to measure his height) or I really shrunk all of Carter's pants (he was looking like he was wearing capris before it got warm enough for shorts all the time). I may try to measure him myself just to see.

Carter got 3 shots today. Another DTaP vaccine, his first Hep A vaccine, and the new and improved pneumococcal booster. We were expecting the first two, but not the third. Carter completed the 4 pneumococcal shots at 1 year. However, that was with the PCV7 (it protected against 7 strains) which has been replaced with the PCV13 (protects against 13 strains). The booster shot Carter got today will cover him for those additional 6 strains. PCV13 has completely replaced PCV7 (they don't even offer this one anymore).

As usual, Carter HATED getting the shots. Poor guy knows they are coming. Even though the nurse administers them after the doctor leaves, Carter started freaking out as soon as the doctor showed up. He did not want to let go of me. He screamed through the part of the exam where he had to lay on the exam table. Luckily our doctor lets me hold Carter for as much of the exam as possible. When I was able to hold him again, Carter clung to me so tight with his head on my shoulder not moving at all. As soon as the doctor left, Carter was happy to be put down and explore around the room again. But then the nurse showed up. As soon as I picked him up, he started crying. The nurses have pretty much always done a good job of being completely prepared with the syringes and bandages so it goes quick. Carter got over it all after about a minute.

As far as the exam went, Carter appears completely normal. He's staying on his curve for growth so no worries there. He's doing what he should developmentally as well. His next checkup will be at 2 years.

Splash Pad

We went to the splash pad again today with Sarah and Mary Grace. It's cooler today, but it was nice and warm on the concrete of the splash pad. We brought buckets for the kids today and they had lots of fun filling them up with water. It was enough motivation to get Carter to go in the water some.

Here are a few cute pictures from today!


Mr. Serious ...




So cute! Notice how Carter is crossing his legs. He does this a lot when sitting too.

Knoxville Zoo

Sarah and I took the kids to the zoo yesterday. It was a mostly overcast day and around 70F - so nice! We got a few sprinkles but otherwise it was perfect.

We went into the Wee Play Zoo area for the first time when we got there. I've been skipping over this building for awhile because I didn't know they had changed up what was in there. It's now a children's area with lots of interactive exhibits that represent different jobs at the zoo. We were there early before it got crowded and had fun exploring.

Carter headed right to the area where you got to scoop fake poop ... hhhmmmm ...


He's pretty smart using the rake to help shovel the poop (actually he just wanted to hold more stuff, but that's probably a good way to scoop poop!) ...


Hanging out on the tractor ...


Carter really liked this table with the animals to play with ...


Apparently he thought they were hot because he was putting them all under a tree ...


A short video of Carter playing ...

Checking out the jeep ...


This was supposed to be a ticket booth. Carter waited patiently for an older kid to finish playing in it and then was so happy to have his turn.


Carter found the phone on the shelf and knew where to hang it up. I was a little surprised because we do have one phone sort of like this but it's not one of the ones Carter plays with.


Waiting for a customer ...


Carter and Mary Grace checking out an otter eating an egg ...


Carter put his arm around Mary Grace as they were watching the otter ...


So Mary Grace put her arm around Carter and gave him a little hug ...


We got to see a pig very close up ...


Carter loved riding on the carousel, of course!




Carter liked looking at himself and at me in the mirror ...