Playing with Cars

Carter has been enjoying playing with his MegaBloks car set this week. Here's a video I took of him today ...

He's getting better and better and putting the cars on the tracks.

Carter must of slept on his hands during his morning nap today because this is what he looked like when I went to get him ...


It took forever for those finger marks to fade!

Carter and I have had water issues the last few days. I gave Carter a bath yesterday morning because we ran out of time the night before. Carter and I went into the bathroom to see if the water was high enough and test the temperature. Carter likes to lean over to reach into the tub for his toys before he gets in. I had my hand on him as I was turned towards the faucet to turn off the water. Carter got his weight a little too far forward and I apparently didn't have a good enough hold on him because he dove right into the water in his pajamas. It scared both of us pretty good, but he was completely fine (other than being soaked).

Today's water issue was with Charlotte's water bowl. I was letting Charlotte in from outside and Carter decided to pick up Charlotte's full water bowl, dump it out, walk through the puddle, and do a painful looking split and fall onto the tile floor. I had a soaked and screaming kid again.

We are going to try to stay away from water tomorrow.

We have a winter storm warning for tomorrow and Saturday. The predictions are still changing, but the latest I've read on weather.com is 5 to 9 inches of snow. It'd be fun to get that much, but if we do, I hope it melts fast because Carter and I have spent a lot of time at home this week and might go crazy if we're stuck at home for too long!

I Love Target

I got another amazing toy deal at Target today. They had Radio Flyer Tricycles for 75% off. I got this really cool tricycle for only $14.37!


This may be a toy for Carter for Summer 2011, but I don't mind holding on to it for awhile when I got this good of a deal.

I haven't decided on bedding for the boys yet, but I got some Dwell Studio bumpers and crib skirts for 75% as well a couple weeks ago. Hopefully we'll decide on final colors this weekend and I can return any of it that won't work. But I couldn't pass up bumpers for $8.74 and crib skirts for $5.49. Carter's current bedding is Dwell Studio and it's super soft and has held up amazing well - no stains at all.

I also found beautiful silver frames for Carter's new room that were 50% off. And I got some really nice cardigans for 75% off which are great right now because I'm still too small for most maternity shirts but the only regular tops that fit me seem to be tanks. So cardigans are my best friends right now.

Target has been having some really great sales this month. I feel like I go there almost everyday because different departments put stuff on sale different days of the week. I think the employees may start recognizing me soon!

Silly Boy, Again

I was getting Carter changed for bed tonight and this is what he wanted to wear.




It's been a low key week for us with just some shopping and getting stuff done around the house. We made it to Baby Bookworms today at the library (first time in about a month). Carter did okay - no embarrassing tantrums, though I had to let him have his freedom. He sat in my lap for almost half the songs which is better than the last few times.

Our Little Man

Boys' Rooms

Brian and I have decided that we're going to move Carter to the extra bedroom at the end of the hall (the one that shares the jack and jill bathroom with his current room) and keep the nursery a nursery for the new baby.

We're hoping to give Carter a little more of a big boy room, though we don't think he'll be ready for a regular bed yet. So I think we'll get another convertible crib that will function as a crib and a toddler bed. He'll also need a wardrobe or dresser and a bookshelf. I think we're going to also get him a table with a couple of chairs (yes, the room is very large - 15.5 ft by 11 ft plus a 8 ft by 3 ft dormer).

I'm planning on getting Carter new bedding so we can start over with colors. I've been searching the internet for ideas the last few days because I don't want to have plain solid colored walls, but I also don't want to go too crazy and overwhelming with stripes or circles or something else. Here are a couple of pictures of a paint job I really love. It's a little modern, but I really like it. And I'm not against copying other people at all!



Who knows if this is what we'll actually do, but it's my favorite so far. We'd like to start painting in the next few weeks.

As far as the nursery goes, we'll probably also repaint it and do new bedding so it doesn't feel like Carter's room anymore. We'll keep all the furniture the same and in the same places though. We're currently leaning towards doing the paint something like this (similar colors too) ...


I'm going to continue to scour the internet for ideas for the rest of the week, but hopefully we'll make our final decisions soon!

There are only two other rooms then that haven't been painted since we moved in. The jack and jill bathroom between the boys' rooms and our guest bathroom. While looking for bedroom ideas, I came across this bathroom and I think we're going to copy it for our guest bathroom ...


Hopefully they'll be some pictures to post of our actual rooms soon! I worked on moving all the books out of the extra bedroom today. We had 2 large bookcases of books and I spent most of the day (when Carter let me) reorganizing all the bookcases in our house and purging what we don't need. We were supposed to have a playdate with Caitlyn today but poor thing has a cold so Amy had to cancel this morning. Hopefully she'll be feeling better soon so we can get together! Amy is also pregnant and about 8 weeks behind me.

Silly Boy

Zoo

It was a nice enough day here today (mid-50s) so Brian and I took Carter to the zoo. It's been awhile since Carter and I had been to the zoo (2-3 months) and he seemed to really enjoy it. He likes to walk around and explore about as much as looking at animals.

Baby Brother

I was just showing Carter my belly and telling him about how his baby brother is in there. I asked him if he was excited about his brother and he shook his head "yes". Then I asked him if he was going to help take care of his brother ... "yes". I asked if he was going to give him a bottle ... "yes". Then I asked him if he was going to give his baby brother a paci and Carter took the paci out of his mouth and put it on my belly. So sweet!

Random

Here are some random videos and pictures from the last couple of days ...

Carter making a basket ...

This is how Carter bowls ...

Carter in his wagon he got for Christmas (it's still upstairs and he loves to be pulled around in it even up there) ...


Carter with a mohawk during bathtime ...


Carter and I met Brian by his office yesterday for lunch. On our way home, we went through Maryville to go to the Target there. I noticed that a few new restaurants were being built out there and was super excited to see that we are finally getting my very favorite restaurant ... Cheddar's! There was one in Kingsport and one in Johnson City that we went to all the time when I lived up there. Here's why I LOVE Cheddar's ...

1. Spinach Dip - They have the yummiest cheesy spinach dip in the world. I could eat it everyday for the rest of my life and not get sick of it.
2. Atmosphere - Though the price is on the same level as a Chili's or Applebee's, the atmosphere is so much nicer.
   
3. Lunch Portions for Dinner - You can order the smaller and cheaper lunch portions all day. And the lunch portion is still plenty big for Brian or me.
4. Menu - Again, they are priced like Chili's or Applebee's, but the food choices are so much better. Lots of fish and tons of unique sides to choose from. They just have lots of food I love, not just a few things.
   

I can't wait for Cheddar's to open!!!

Gym Bugs

After walking this morning, Sarah and I took the kids to Gym Bugs. We met Erin and her son Cooper there. Cooper and Mary Grace are in the same preschool class and I actually work(ed) with Erin's husband.

Gym Bugs has an open play hour from 10:30 to 11:30 am Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. They have a bunch of large toddler toys and some gymnastics equipment set up in a large room. I think Carter had fun exploring everything and watching everyone. He missed his morning nap so he was a little tired but not fussy at all. Carter was a little young for about half of the stuff there, but he still found a way to play with most of it in his own way.

For example, he liked walking back and forth next to the balance beam running is hand along it.


He also liked going back and forth between the parallel bars and running his hands on them.


Carter liked the tunnels ...


His favorite was the seesaw which he rode on with Cooper for several minutes. He was SO HAPPY!


Chilling in another tunnel ...


Cooper, Mary Grace, and Carter ...


Carter fell asleep quickly in the car. He's been asleep for about an hour and a half now and will probably be starving since he didn't have his morning snack or lunch yet and it's 1:15 pm!