What You May Never Understand

You know, I was once a little kid and remember things that never made sense to me. Like, why do parents have to go to work? Or why Christmas was only once a year? I mean, really, those are very real confusions of a child. However, children have this amazing ability to forgive and forget. It blows my mind. I can get so mad at Carter for something, to the point where I feel bad that I was so mad, and 20 minutes later, he is hugging me and telling me how much he loves me. They also have this awesome ability to forget things that they need to remember. How often do I say, "Carter, pick your toys up?" He KNOWS I am going to ask him to pick the toys up. Yet, he acts like I am speaking a foreign language when I ask him. I have noticed, however, when I explain something to him and hold his hand through understanding a concept, he is a whole lot more likely to adapt and understand. We totally still fight about the same crap... picking up toys, not throwing rocks, brushing teeth etc. We are in no way an exception to those tasks. But, if you ask Carter why we brush our teeth, he will simply tell you that if you don't, they will grow bugs in them like the Grinch.

My point? Well, I wish I could be more like a child sometimes. The resilient creatures that they are... How I envy their ability to forgive and forget. They never give up on people. They never intentionally overstep boundaries that are hurtful. (Unless peeing your pants or eating too many sweets hurts you..) You can devastate them by taking away their favorite toy or sticking them in timeout, but at the end of the day, they love you more than you have ever been loved.

What a huge blessing my sweet Carter has been to me and in my life. Sometimes, I just want to crawl in a hole and die, because my day was so hellish. Then I see that face... Those dimples, the giant brown eyes, the smell of his lotion, the tiny hands that fit so perfect in mine, the smile he gets when he sees me after work and I KNOW that there is nothing else in my life that I will cherish more than being a mom, and more so, being Carter's mom. So tomorrow, when I am ready to give the kid to my mom or send him to boarding school, I need to remember that he is my world and nothing will ever change that. He is my greatest accomplishment and I am forever thankful for the joy he continually brings to me.

That's all. (:

Carter Has His Own Language

Just a few funny things that I want to remember Carter saying....

• "Mom, I need a bitamin (Vitamin). My belly is killing me." 
• I let Carter call his dad on the phone one night and it went to his voice mail. It is the lady that says, "You have reached the voice mail of _______." Carter gets a disgusted look on his face and says, "I cannot talk to that. It isn't my dad! It's a girl!" 
• "Ohh mom! You just scared me to crap!" (I think he meant you scared the crap out of me...) 
• "Mom, how is this baby going to get out? I need to see the hole."
• "Mom, can we listen to Talkin' Bout it?" (Funkytown by the Chipmunks)
• Carter will ask me a question and if I take more then .5 seconds to answer, he will say, "Mom, you are not using your ears. Can you talk?" 
• "When my brother gets out after your belly opens up, I am going to hold him and wrap him in his own blanket. He can have his own. Not mine."
• "Hey Shane, should we wrestle?" 
• "Hey mom, what in the hell is that smell? I think I pooped." 
• Me: "Carter you need to help pick up these toys. This is ridiculous." Carter: "Mom, I can't pick up these toys. I am sick and it is ridiculous." 
• "Mommy, you are my best friend. I love you."
• "Hi, my mom is Kelsie. My dad lives in Utah and he does not love my mom." (He said this to a few of my upper management co-workers....)
• "I am so glad that when Boston gets out, he is going to live with Grandma Leslie."
• On Christmas, well two days before, I had to drop Carter off to be with his dad. I seriously cried my eyes out. I was so sad. He said to me, "Mommy, are you crying because Shane is mean to you?" (The irony is, he has never seen Shane ever be mean to me and make me cry. That is merely an assumption of a 3 year-old.)
• January 4th, 2012..."Hey mom, I am so excited for Santa Claus to come and see me and my little brother Boston." 
• "I have a Grandpa Craig. Mom, did you know he is your dad?" (The kid wants to analyze everyone and their siblings, parents etc.) 
• He sings the Luke Bryan song, "Country Girl" as follows: "Country girl shake it for Shane, girl."
• He said to me the other day as I was holding him on my hip, "Mom, I just love boobs."

He is seriously a spitfire. (Wonder where he got that from?) I would be bored to the extreme without him around.

Look at that face... I couldn't possibly love him more. Flipping goofball.

Sometimes, not very often, I feel bad for Shane. Carter climbs all over him at all times.

Carter looking at the river. Me being a NERVOUS WRECK. Water makes me so nervous.

The men playing basketball

Carter just being a boy

If I never have anything else in my life.... I have this. Every single day. Sigh. I am so lucky.

Let's Talk About The Growth

For this entire pregnancy, I have felt completely different than I did with Carter. I mean, I was sick as a dog for the first part, had raging hormones the entire time, measured small from the get-go, had contractions on and off from about 15 weeks, had a toddler to chase, a job to maintain and I have been a walking zombie for 9 solid months. I am happy to say, it is almost over. We are full-term and I am ready to not be pregnant. So whenever he decides to show up, I am going to be beyond excited about it. Everyone keeps asking about my belly. They want to see pictures of how the belly has grown and changed. Let me tell you.. I have some banging hot love handles and I have gained (Respectfully) 18 pounds. So here is the growth...Those of you that think I look small, lets do some comparing. I feel like a small building.

21 weeks

25.5 weeks

27 Weeks

32 Weeks

35ish Weeks

36.4 weeks

 

Christmas 2011, Our First Christmas Together

Decorating our very first real Christmas Tree

Carter enjoying our sugar cookies

One very overwhelmed little boy

"Papa Shane" and Carter playing with Christmas stuff

Christmas was really hard for me this year. I missed my family like crazy and Carter was with his dad... Double WHAMMY. However, I have been completely blessed to have such awesome in-laws and a great support network. I was also fortunate enough to have my dad come up and be with me for my first holiday away from Utah.  Carter most definitely did not go without. Neither did Shane or I. (: Hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas. I figured this post was better late than never. (: