Weekend

We had another busy weekend.

On Saturday Carter made a planter at the Lowe's Build and Grow class. He did a good job using the hammer to pound down some of the nails.

Sometimes, though, it wasn't so easy ...

"Is this how you put on these goggles?" ...


"What do you think of my planter?" ...


Both last week and this week when Carter finishes building his project, he takes the project and walks out of the workshop area like he's on a mission (without waiting for Brian and me). It's like he's so proud of what he just did but also knows that he's finished and is ready to move on.

"Ok, someone else can hold this thing now" ...


Here's the finished product ...


We didn't realize last week, but once the kids finish building the project, they can get a certificate and a patch for the project like this one ...


It's too bad we didn't get the one from Carter's first time at the Build and Grow workshop.

After lunch, we replaced one of the arborvitae trees we planted last fall in the corner of our yard that had died. And then we put down MORE mulch. I finished raking out all the old pinestraw mulch from the last two beds in the backyard and bagged it. We went back to Lowe's later in the day for more mulch. And today we finally finished mulching. We're so glad to be done with that!



We're done with landscaping projects for now other than maintenance (cutting the grass and spraying weeds). Our next big outdoor project that we'd like to get done soon is pressure washing the driveway, sidewalks, and deck and then staining the deck again. We'll probably put that off for a couple of weeks. Our garage is getting taken over by Carter's new outdoor toys so we need to clean it out and reorganize. It's getting hard to get out of the car so I think that'll actually be our next outdoor project.

We also went to Target yesterday and got pillows for the front porch furniture. I got a rug earlier in the week and now we're done out there other than some candles. I'm so glad we bought the new furniture. We've been trying to sit out there as much as we can. However it's been hard with all the yellow pollen on everything. We're having to blow everything off a lot so we don't get our clothes yellow when sitting out there.



Brian was able to get the nursery painting started yesterday. He got all the walls primed yesterday. My main project today was to get all the blue paint up. Now we just need to tape the horizontal lines and paint the brown sections.



Brian and Carter had a lot of fun today playing with Mega Bloks. Carter "helped" Brian build tunnels around the track on his table. By "help", I mean Carter didn't destroy it before Brian finished.


Carter helping to pick up the extra blocks ...


Carter looking at Brian through the tunnels ...


Carter lays on his stomach a lot more lately when we're reading or playing. It's really cute.

On Friday afternoon I tried to let Carter color with some new triangular crayons I got him. He did okay at first (coloring left handed even though we think he's right handed).



Eventually he just wanted me to hand him all the crayons so he could collect them, pick them all up, and then drop them ...


He's not too interested in coloring yet. Though he always wants me to give him a pen and piece of paper and he'll pretend to draw on it.

I finally decided on the double stroller I want to use when the new baby is still in the infant car seat. I ordered a BOB Duallie Sports Utility and the car seat adapter bar.


The Chicco car seat we have isn't technically compatible with this stroller, but after reading about a million reviews, it seems like a lot of people have made it work. If for some reason I can't, I can return the car seat adapter bar and keep the stroller for next summer when I'll start using it with both kids for running.

So we'll have this double stroller as well as the Maclaren Twin Techno my mom bought for us.


This gives us a grand total of FIVE strollers with our 3 singles. I have loved them all though and don't regret the purchase of any of them as they have all served a different purpose. (Our other three strollers are the Chicco Travel System, BOB Single Sports Utility stroller, and Maclaren Quest Sport stroller).

Play Date

Sarah and I went walking again this morning and then we all came over to our house for lunch and to play. It was really warm again today (mid-80s) so we decided to put water in the water table and to hook up one of the water toys I got at the end of last season on clearance.





The water table kept their attention for a long time. You're supposed to fill one side with sand and one with water but there is absolutely no way this would work with our kids right now. There would end up being a 50/50 mixture of sand and water on each side of the table with most of it being on the ground. We'll just be sticking to water for awhile!

The giant ball that sprays out water wasn't as big of a hit as I had hoped, but Carter and Mary Grace tried it out. Neither one of them liked getting sprayed too much.



Carter loves this car that belongs to Mary Grace. In this picture he was waving at us as he scooted by ...


The kids had lots of fun playing in the water and with all the other toys we had out today. It was a beautiful day!

New Pajamas

I finally got Carter some new pajamas. It's been really warm in the house at night but all I had that still fit him were his winter fleece sleepers. I picked up some lighter, big kid pajamas the other day and he wore them last night for the first time. I think he looks so cute (and old) in these new pajamas!

Books

Carter is a big fan of reading now. It took him a long time to have the attention span to sit through more than one page, but now we can spend half an hour or more reading books.

Carter's favorite books are the free ones we've gotten through the Dolly Parton Imagination Library program. We got most of the books Carter loves last year and I remember not liking them much when we got them, but now I like them as much as Carter does. Unless I'm reading the same book for the 10th time in a row.

Carter's gotten very good at pointing out things in each book. He's great at animals such as dogs, cats, birds, and several zoo animals, girls, boys, and balls. It's fun if he's sitting across from you to watch him scan the page looking for whatever you ask him to find.

We've had lots of sunny, warm weather here all week. Yesterday Sarah and I walked in the morning and then went to Sarah's house for a few hours to let the kids play. I didn't take many pictures but here's a cute one of Carter playing on one of Mary Grace's toys.


And Sarah got this cute one of Carter ...


We're planning on another playdate tomorrow at our house this time.

Videos of Carter

I took some random videos of Carter today. Sometimes I wonder what's going on in that head of his!

Carter loves to dance. I was trying to get a video of him dancing but he stopped when I starting filming and starting doing this instead ...

Carter's favorite outdoor toy right now is the golf set we gave him for Easter. He's pretty good at hitting the ball (sometimes after many "practice" swings).

Carter has started pointing a lot when he wants us to do something. If he wants you to sit next to him, he'll point at the floor next to him. If he wants more milk, he'll grab my finger, drag me over to the fridge, and point at it. There are lots of other examples, including this video ...

I have no idea what Carter was thinking in this video!

28 Week Appointment

I had an appointment with my OB this afternoon. Nothing exciting - just a routine check.

My blood pressure was 102/64 and I'm up about 28 lbs to 147 lbs. I saw my regular doctor today and she said the baby's heartbeat sounded great and I'm measuring right where I should. I also got my results of the glucose test I did a couple of weeks ago. My blood sugar level was 84 mg/dL and they want it to be between 70 and 140 mg/dL (I higher number could mean gestational diabetes).

It was an uneventful appointment but Carter and I were still there 1 1/2 hours waiting for 95% of that time. I go back again in 3 weeks for another check.

Saturday & Sunday

We had a really busy day yesterday. We started off the morning by going to the Build and Grow Workshop at Lowe's and then going to get Carter's hair cut. Next we went to lunch and Brian ran a few errands. Then we all went back to Lowe's to buy a tree for the backyard. He had left a spot in the new bed we made last fall for a tree and finally found one that we liked. We got a weeping cherry.


We also put down new mulch in most of that bed and cleaned up some of the other plants in the yard. Luckily Carter took a long nap yesterday afternoon and didn't wake up until we were almost done working in the yard.

We played with Carter for awhile after he woke up, went out to dinner, and then to Target to get 2 more chairs for our front porch. When we got home we put them together while Carter played in the yard. We finally have all the furniture for the porch and just need a second outdoor rug, throw pillows, and some candles for the tables.



Today was a much slower day. Brian spent too much time outside yesterday and his allergies have caused his head to basically explode today. At least the Masters was on today so he had something good to watch on TV. I managed to tape the nursery so Brian can do the primer one night this week and played outside with Carter for a long time while also putting down more new mulch in the yard. We're almost done putting down new mulch!

Somehow Carter got a bunch of splinters in his right hand. I think he got them from our fence. There are a few in his palm and some in his index finger. We managed to hold him down and get the ones out of his finger but haven't been able to get the ones in his palm yet. It took us 15 minutes of struggling to get what we got. Carter is strong and squirmy! We felt really bad about "torturing" him and hope we can get the rest of the splitters out tomorrow without causing too much trauma.

Carter's last baby tooth (other than his 2-year-old molars) is finally coming through. He's getting his bottom right eye tooth. He slept TERRIBLE last night and I finally figured out why. Hopefully he sleeps better tonight because I'm exhausted!

Lowe's Build and Grow

Brian and I took Carter to the Build and Grow Workshop at Lowe's this morning. On Saturday mornings they have a free workshop where kids get to build something. This weeks project was a mini baseball game. All the pieces come in a bag with a set of instructions and you get to build the project with your kids at your own pace.

Because it was our first time there, Carter got an apron to keep with his name on it. He wore it most of the time and was very cute!


The wood pieces were already all cut to the right size and all we had to do was nail everything together. Lowe's provided mini hammers for the kids to use. We started each nail and then let Carter try to hit the nails and get them in a little further. He wasn't bad! We had to finish up each nail, but he definitely helped.

Once we got the game together, Carter got to put stickers on the game. He's not too good at getting stickers off his fingers so I usually took them off for him, put the sticker where he was trying to get it, and then let him press it down the rest of the way.

Here is the finished project ...


Carter started getting a little fussy near the end because he wanted to throw the ping pong ball around and not stay in one place, but overall I think he liked it. I'm always up for free activities and I'm sure we'll be returning.

First Haircut

Brian and I took Carter to get his very first haircut today! And he did amazing!

We went to the Western Plaza Barber Shop near the Bearden area. I called the shop on Friday and they recommended just walking in instead of making an appointment. It was such a beautiful day here today that the barber shop wasn't very crowded. We didn't have to wait at all.

The lady that cut Carter's hair (Natasha) was wonderful! We put him in the tractor seat while she got everything she needed for his first haircut, including an envelope to put all the hair she cut off (we didn't ask for it but we'll take it!).


Natasha had a big jar of animal crackers and immediately started giving Carter some crackers and playing with him. Carter usually gets shy as soon as someone he doesn't know gives him attention, but he smiled for Natasha right away. She did such a good job with him talking to him and taking her time with simple things that could scare him like putting on the cape. I was very impressed.

Carter did a really good job throughout the haircut. It was necessary though for us to keep feeding him crackers! He never got fussy but pulled away or shook his head a few times. Carter generally stayed still though for Natasha and it didn't look like she was having too much trouble cutting what she needed to.






We think Natasha did a great job with Carter's hair. She trimmed all around the edges first and then sort of did layers with the top and back. Carter didn't have much hair to cut, but she got rid of the stuff in his eyes, the "wings" above his ears, and the rat tail he was starting to get in the back! Carter did loose the curls in the back, but it won't take much growing out before they are back.

Natasha didn't charge us for the haircut (though we did tip her) and gave us a little certificate for Carter to show when and where he got his first haircut.


The envelope with Carter's hair ...


Here are some before and after pictures of Carter.

I took these before pictures this morning. You can see the front was starting to get in Carter's eyes a little bit ...


The back was just crazy and too long. It actually looks good in this picture - it's usually much worse by the end of the day.


Curls ...


And the after pictures. I got this picture tonight. It's a little out of focus and doesn't show the front too well, but you can definitely see that it's shorter!


I took this picture of the back right after we finished the haircut. So much better!


We will definitely be going back to Natasha for future haircuts!