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 ...

Ultrasound Comparison

What do you think ... do they look alike?

Carter at 31 weeks, 3 days:


Baby #2 at 33 weeks, 1 day: