Happy Mother's Day

~Love~

I was always a mom, at heart. A mom to my animals and a mom waiting for her child. A gift from the heaven's above. Last year, my angel was still thriving in my belly, this year, he is thriving in my arms. A dream come true.

To start the day, Geoffrey, Carson and I went to John U. Lloyd State Park and spent the morning at the beach. That made my day. Carson played in the water, in the sand and even tried to climb the umbrella pole. Ha! We went early because we wanted to get there and get out of there before the heat really set in and the sand was too hot for Carson to play in. If you live in Florida, you know, by 11/1200, you better have shoes on your feet to walk on the sand. OUCH!

It had to have been the most beautiful day of the year. The water was a perfect temperature and the Atlantic was like a lake. Geoffrey was not happy looking out at the water and watching the boats in the distance. I think seeing Carson's smiling face, made it all go away.

After we left the beach, we went to my parents house. We played in the pool and Geoff barbequed wings and potatoes. Yum!! The dogs came with us also and swam their butts off!! Carson got a kick out of Turbo and Diesel jumping in the pool after the tennis ball.

That evening, my brother Bradley, made a delicious dinner. I requested pasta, as that is my FAVORITE. Bradley made the sauce from scratch. He peeled whole tomatoes and everything. It was delicious.

All in all, my first Mother's Day was wonderful and I couldn't have asked for a better day. And a very Happy Mother's Day to all the Mommy's, Mommy's to be, Great Grandma's and Grandma's, including Carson's Angel from above who I know is with us everyday. We miss you so much. xo

Thank you to everyone for the phone call, texts and cards. Thank you very much.

7 Months Old

7 Months Old Today

May 8, 2010, marks Carson as being 7 Months old. 7 Months ago today at this time, Mommy was in recovery waiting to see her little Angel; my how time flies. We didn't have a 7 month check up this month, so I am not sure where we are on height and weight, but will be added next month.

A note to the photo above.. Grey hairs is all I have to say. Carson, our little dare devil, is making Mommy and Daddy keep their eyes peeled as long as he is awake. He is on the move, he is standing, he is pulling. He pulls up on EVERYTHING, stable or not, including the dogs. Recently, he has begun taking a hand off and looking at us and then doing his screech, which means, "look at me, look what I did". To our surprise this morning, Mr. Carson pulled up on the foot rest for the glider in his room. He stood there, no surprise, but then..Thank goodness I was standing behind him. Took both hands off. For maybe 3 seconds he stood with no assistance and then like a tree, went down into Mommy's arms. Grey hairs!!

Foods: We've moved into textures. I bought him the Gerber puffs, which he really isn't so sure about. At the recommendation of a friend, I soak Cheerios in a little water for a minute and then give it to him, he likes those MUCH better. HATES Egg Yolk. Geoff scrambled a yolk for him last weekend and he wanted absolutely nothing to do with it.

His first tooth has a neighbor. The second tooth joined about a week and a half after the first. It's hard to see in this photo, but I'm sure there will be more coming.

Now that Carson's bathroom is almost done, we've decided to start giving him his baths in the big boy bath tub. He is uncomfortable in the small bathtub. I still don't know how they can put on the box, grows from infant to toddler. Carson is all over the bath tub chasing after toys. No matter what, his loyal Tuna is right there watching and making sure no "duckies" get out of control.

We've noticed that Carson has a fascination with steering wheels. LOVES THEM like he loves balloons. Anything that turns and looks like a steering wheel, keeps him happy for a long time. So what did Mommy do. I found the neatest little car from a lady on Craig's List. The woman said her son loved it and it was in great condition, as she kept in the garage. Sure enough, it was like new. Carson loves it! I push him around the backyard, up and down the side walk. The bottom has a floor board and when he gets older, we can take the floor board out and the pole off and he can push around himself.

Easier said than done. We also decided to start putting Carson in his crib and let him fall asleep on his own. No fun and torture for Mommy and Daddy (more Mommy). The first night, he just cried and cried and cried. Finally, I gave in after a 1/2 hour. We tried again and it worked a little better. We still aren't at the point where we can lay him in there awake and he falls asleep. But the past week, we've held the bottle a little bit longer until we know he is exhausted. We then give him the bottle and he is out cold by the end. This method has seemed to work much better for us. As for the waking up in the middle of the night..This use to be an issue. We would have to pick him up, calm him down. Now, we just pat him back down and he is out until 7am.

This past week, I entered Carson in the contest for the Cover of Parent's Magazine. I submitted a photo and it was chosen as a possible and to win, won by the number of votes. He entered in as #35 out of over 2,000 babies. Couldn't believe it! Geoffrey and I were so proud. As the week went on he grew farther and farther back, ending today at #102. But like we said today, we know we have a cutie on our hands and to be #102 out of over 2,000 babies..Whew.. GO CARSON! Below is the adorable photo that I entered. And a big thank you to all of Carson's supporters. It means so much to us. Thank you again.

A special congratulations to Chris and Nicole as Kailyn Marie entered the world on May 4, 2010. A gorgeous little girl who Mommy and Daddy waited along time to hold and love. Congrats guys, we love you! xoxo