Christmas Tree

We got our Christmas tree last night from Lowe's. We met Brian there after he got off work and it was COLD (around 30F) and dark already. There weren't many trees to choose from and I didn't want to keep the boys out in the cold for too long. We could of gone somewhere else but since it was already December 7th, I didn't want to wait any longer to get our tree.

We have always gotten Frasier Firs in the past, but they all looked terrible (not very full with lots of holes). So we decided to try a Douglas Fir.

I took the boys to Lowe's last week to get a tree for Brian's parents. Carter got so excited when they cut off the bottom of the tree with a chain saw. He was telling everyone "tree, cut" when we got it home. When we got to Lowe's last night, Carter kept pointing at all the trees and again saying "tree, cut". So he was very happy to get to watch the bottom of our tree also get cut off with a chain saw.

Carter and I decorated the tree today (after his playdate with Caitlyn) and I like how the Douglas Fir looks.


This is what happens though when you let a 2 year old decorate ...





Carter would only hang ornaments from the strands of beads (and really liked grouping them together).

He also tried to add some animals to the tree ...


Rylan has been fussy a lot the last few days (he's been sleeping awful), but he did a good job of chilling out some so we could get the tree up.

Zoo, Ahh-Ahh

Carter is obsessed.

Anytime I say ...

"What do you want to do today?"

"Where's ___ going?"

"Let's go!"

Or anything similar to that, Carter says "Zoo, Ahh-Ahh!!!" (In case you need interpretation, "Ahh-Ahh" is Carter's sound for a monkey.)

Paci Fairy

The Paci Fairy visited Carter last night.

I've been telling Carter since his 2 year checkup all about the Paci Fairy. I explained that if he gave her all of his pacis to give to new babies, she'd leave him a present.

Last night we had Carter put his pacis in a bowl and he left the bowl outside of his door. He wasn't too happy about it, but obliged. Usually Carter goes to sleep immediately but it took him about 30 minutes last night. He never cried but there were a couple of whimpers and then just some mumbling. He slept through the night with just the normal occasional calling out and then turning over to go back to sleep.

This morning when Carter woke up, he had a Playmobil fisherman set. He's been enjoying playing with it all day.

Carter also did awesome at nap time today. It took him about 10 minutes to fall asleep and he only slept an hour and a half, but there was no whining about no pacis. He still asked for them when it was time to go to sleep but he moved on when I reminded him that we gave all of his pacis to the Paci Fairy.

Carter did even better tonight. Brian said he never asked for his pacis and he was asleep by the time I finished feeding Rylan (which was only a few minutes after Brian put him down for the night).

The roughest part of this transition seems to be in the car. Carter asks for his paci a lot and whines/cries/screams because he doesn't get it. Hopefully he'll forget about it soon. Rylan still doesn't use a paci so that should help. We occasionally try to use it to calm him down but he's just never really caught on that he's supposed to suck on it and not chew on it.

Rolling Over

My mom really wanted Rylan to roll over when she was with him. He'd get so close only to plop back down on his back. My mom would sit with him for 30 minutes and then when she'd get up to get something, he'd roll over. So, since she never saw Rylan roll over, here is a video of him doing it. He's gotten really good at it and has been doing it constantly this last week.

Sink Bath

Rylan got his first sink bath while we were in Raleigh (Carter missed out on ever getting a bath in a sink). Isn't he cute filling up that sink already?

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day in Raleigh this year. Brian's parents were nice enough to invite my entire family to their house. We drove in Wednesday evening and the rest of my family got there on Thursday morning. My mom, dad, his wife (Jan), my sister (Karey), her fiancee (Mike), and their dog (Bella) all came. It was a full house!

We had tons of yummy food and all ate too much. We fried the turkey, as we have been doing for the last several years, and didn't burn anything down.


The boys did great through the meal and everyone was able to enjoy each other's company and the food.

Even Rylan suffered the effects of a full belly ...


After dinner, we celebrated Carter's birthday again. Once again he LOVED having everyone sing to him and blowing out the candles.

Carter got a tons of gifts and he loved them all. We were really glad he got so many great presents because he had plenty of toys to play with while we were in Raleigh.

Brian's Dad - Update

Brian's dad is continuing to improve. He was moved out of the NCCU (Neurocritical Care Unit) on Saturday afternoon and into a regular room in the neurological area. Art's ready to come home and hopefully it won't be too much longer until he can. He's doing great and everyone is hopeful that he's going to make a full recovery!

We decided to come home yesterday (at least for a few days) so that we can get some things done in Knoxville (such as winterize our irrigation system since it's now getting into the low 20s at night).

Brian's Dad

Brian's dad had a brain aneurysm rupture on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. He had surgery on Sunday and so far is doing well. I'll be back to posting when things get a little more back to normal.

First Teeth

Rylan has teeth!

I noticed this morning that his bottom middle teeth have officially broken through. His left one is completely through the gum and the right one is just starting to show.

Maybe (please!) he'll start sleeping better again!

2 Year Checkup

Oh, goodness! I should of known it was going to be a rough appointment when we pulled into the parking lot of the pediatrician's office and Carter pointed at the building and said "no".

Carter did fine in the waiting room but as soon as we got into the exam room, he started to freak out. I think he was expecting to get shots and was scared. Carter did awesome when he got his flu shot, but I had brought him along when Rylan got his 4-month shots. So maybe that made him scared. Thank goodness Rylan was great during the entire appointment. He slept through the first half and then just chilled out in his carrier the rest of the time not making a sound.

Carter didn't even want to get undressed and fought me the whole time. Then he clung to me and I had to rip him off me to get him measured as he cried so hard. I was so embarrassed because they do these measurements in an open area outside of the exam rooms and everyone got to see and listen to us. I also felt terrible for Carter and didn't know what to say to distract him or make him calm down. Brian is so much better in these situations. My brain tends to just freeze and I go blank on ways to help Carter out.

It didn't help the situation that the nurse we had today wasn't very friendly. Instead of giving Carter some time or talking to him to try to make friends with him, she just did what she needed to do to get her job done. I think that if she would have taken a little more time to talk to Carter or play with him, it would of helped him out some. I know it still wouldn't of been perfect, but I think we set him back and he is even more scared of the doctor's office now.

After measurements, Carter had to have his finger pricked so the nurse could do a couple of blood tests. He didn't know what was going to happen, but he was still freaking out before he even got pricked. I hate having my finger pricked (it hurts!) so I can understand why Carter continued to cry. Again, I wish the nurse would of been better because I know Carter is going to remember having that done the next time we go to the pediatrician.

I finally calmed Carter down and he was playing when the pediatrician showed up. Carter immediately got super clingy and it was difficult to do the exam. Carter is still not over his cold so he was blowing snot everywhere and wiggling all over the place. I think that the pediatrician still did a thorough exam, but it was hard. Carter warmed up enough by the end of the exam to tell the pediatrician how old he is and "bye" (but I was holding him by then).

Everything was good except I was told to ditch the paci immediately (which we were already planning on doing after Thanksgiving). The pediatrician said Carter is starting to develop an over-bight, his top teeth are starting to slant out a bit, and when he closes his mouth, his developing a gap between the top and bottom teeth. All of these things seem slight right now, but I know they will just get worse. That was why we were planning on taking the paci away anyway. I think our pediatrician was trying to scare me into action a little bit. I still feel bad right now that we didn't take it away earlier - I don't want to do anything that hurts Carter!

Carter had to get one shot after the pediatrician finished. So there was more crying but we got through it and I calmed him down during our 10 minute wait to make sure he didn't have a reaction to the shot.

When we were finally able to leave, it was pouring outside. I had expected the rain so I had an umbrella for Carter and a blanket to put over Rylan's carrier so they didn't get too wet. It was still not fun getting them into the car as I got soaked.

So here are Carter's official 2 year measurements:

• Weight: 25 lbs, 14 oz (25th percentile)
• Height: 33.5 inches (30th percentile)
• Head Circumference: 19.5 in (60th percentile)

And here are his stats from 18 months:

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

If Rylan doesn't slow down, he's going to weigh more than Carter soon!