Tongue

Carter learned a new body part last night ... his tongue! Here's a video of him pointing to all the body parts he knows so far.

Busted Lip

This morning when Carter was walking out of our bedroom and into the hallway, he somehow tripped on his own feet. He didn't get his hands out in time and ate the hardwood floor with his face. I think a tooth went through his lip because there was some blood and crying. He got over it after a few minutes but here's what the poor guy looks like now ...

Messy Hair

Carter has had some crazy hair lately. It's still not very thick, but some sections are getting a little long. He's also got a little curl / frizz so it can stick out pretty far sometimes. He often wakes up from a nap or in the morning with it going in all different directions.


Also, it amazes me how many strangers comment on Carter's red hair. We can't make it through an entire store without someone making the comment, "Look at that red hair!" How do you respond to that? "Yep" or "Thanks"? A lot of people also ask where he gets his red hair from. I usually explain that some of Brian's cousins have red hair and so did one of my grandmothers but it's starting to get old and I'm soon just going to answer "I don't know". Some people ask if my husband has red hair and seem surprised when I tell them he doesn't. I'm pretty sure red hair is based on recessive genes so they probably shouldn't be so shocked.

We're really curious if the next baby will also have red hair!

Oak Ridge Children's Museum

Sarah and I REALLY needed to get the kids out of our houses today so we had a busy day of walking and then going to the Oak Ridge Children's Museum.

Since it's still freezing out, we walked at the mall again. We're starting to get used to walking there but I can't wait until it's warm enough to walk outside again! Carter napped for little while at the end of the walk so we headed over to Sarah's house afterward to change and have some snacks before driving up to Oak Ridge.

The museum is in an old elementary school. The building is large but a lot of the space is classrooms that are used for specific classes they offer. The museum had a few play areas including a life-size dollhouse and a train room which the kids liked. They weren't too interested in a lot of the other exhibits. The museum wasn't bad but it was older and felt kind of dirty. I'm not sure how soon we'll be going back. But it was great to get everyone of the house and check out something new!

Carter checking out the view before going down a slide for the first time all by himself ...


In the dollhouse ...


Carter playing at the train table. He actually started to get moving the trains on the track a little bit.


Standing in a "train" ...

Tent

We left one of Carter's tents set up from this weekend and put it in the corner of the dining room. Carter really likes going in and out of it. He's just a little too tall for the door but hasn't figured out how to duck down yet so it's pretty funny watching him go in and out. He also likes to lean against the sides of the tents. Luckily he's only been leaning against the sides next to walls. If he chooses another wall he's going to fall over and take the tent with him!

It's a BOY!

I had an ultrasound today since there wasn't time to do one last week at my regular checkup appointment. We were really hoping the baby would cooperate so we could find out the sex. And HE did - we're having another boy!



He looked great in the ultrasound - growing as he should and was active. We didn't catch the heart rate but the heart beat was strong.

We're so excited that Carter is going to have a little brother to play with. I am a little shocked because I was 100% sure we were having a girl since I've felt so different this pregnancy. But I really wanted Carter to have a brother. Plus, we're practical and thrifty and I'm glad we don't have to buy all new clothes and pink accessories and girl toys!

I'm so excited to finally know! Now we can start throwing around names and deciding if we're going to move Carter to a "big boy" room or do another nursery. Time to start planning and shopping!

New Years Resolution?

I'm not big on New Years Resolutions. I actually never make them. But I have decided that I'm going to try to do a better job at making dinners. Carter still isn't eating what we eat for dinner. That might have a little to do with the fact that I don't cook anything all that great very often. Carter gets very clingy around dinner time and wants attention and to be picked up a lot. He makes it really hard to cook. And we still eat out a lot. Plus, Brian doesn't get home from work most nights until 6:30 pm and Carter is usually getting really hungry and moody by 5:30 or 6 pm (I'm still not sure how to work that out and all eat the same meal). Carter does eat well though at dinner even if he has a relatively limited amount of food that he likes right now.

I would also love not to put on so much weight with this pregnancy. I was able to run a lot to help get the weight off when Carter was littler but it's going to be a lot harder to do that with two.

So my plan is to make a list of dinners for the week on Sunday night and then go grocery shopping Monday or Tuesday to get whatever I don't have already to make those meals. And I'm going to try to do as much prep work as I can for dinner during Carter's afternoon nap. We'll see how long this lasts. I'm not getting too ambitious and still plan on eating out a few times during the week, but hopefully this will help me stay on track a little more and get Carter eating what we eat.

Today's Fun

We got out Carter's tunnels and tents today and set them up in the family room. They take up a lot of room! There is another tent that goes with one of the tunnels that we didn't have room for.



Carter was really moody this afternoon and evening and this kept him happy for about half an hour. He liked just hanging out in the tents today.

When we were cleaning up, Carter found another way to play with the folded up tunnels ...

We got out for lunch today and stopped by Target on the way home. Carter loved playing with Mary Grace's magnetic doodler yesterday so we had to get him one of his own. He really likes scribbling on it and has already figured out how to erase the screen.

Bbbbrrrrrrr ...

It's still super cold here. It snowed most of yesterday afternoon and we got about an inch of very fluffy snow. It's so "dry" that it won't pack in a snowball at all - it just falls apart. It's been so cold for so long here that the snow stuck to the roads and made driving today a little difficult. All the schools in the area were closed today.

I couldn't stand to be at the house all day so Carter and I drove over to Sarah's house to play with her and Mary Grace for a little while. It was a little sketchy driving out of our neighborhood, but all the other roads were fine. Carter had lots of fun playing. Mary Grace's tunnel was set up that she got from Christmas and Carter really liked playing in it. We have 2 similar ones that Carter got for his birthday. Because he's gotten so many gifts lately, we haven't gotten them out yet. But since it looks like we'll be spending most (if not all) of the weekend at home, we'll probably get them out tomorrow.




Here are a few cute pictures of Carter and Mary Grace ...




Once I finally got Carter down for a nap this afternoon, I decided I should finish shoveling the driveway. Brian did the section next to the garage that doesn't get any sun, but there was still a lot more driveway that needed help. Fortunately or unfortunately Carter took a longer nap and I spent an hour and a half in 20F weather shoveling. It was really hard getting the snow up from where we'd already driven on it. I am already really sore. Tomorrow is going to be rough.

When Brian got home he commented that I must really want to get out this weekend. He's right. Being housebound all weekend would drive me nuts!

Mad Carter

I pretty much always post pictures of Carter when he is happy (or at least cute). Unfortunately, he really isn't that way all the time.

Introducing Mad Carter ...


This is what Carter looks like when he doesn't get what he wants. There's more and more of this lately.