carson taylor: eight months

dear carson,

(it's been awhile since i've started one of these posts this way ;o)) 

you have changed in nearly every way this month!  i feel like i'm starting to realize for the first time since your birth that you won't be my baby for long.  

let me try to summarize your new tricks:  you can now scoot backward, sit and play independently, hold your own bottle without help (when you want to haha), jump for minutes on end in your jumperoo, get up on your knees and up on your hands but not both at the same time...yet.  we are working on clapping and talking and crawling. these days i cant turn my back for minute - you'll be on your tummy scooting all over - usually just in a circle because you haven't quite mastered all of the coordination.

  the babbling is becoming more direct and intense and when you feel the urge you just 'talk' away.   noises are abundant lately.  your teachers comment on your chewbacca impressions and you'll blow raspberries for days. 

now let's talk about your lovins.  your kisses look like this: two hands in the hair and a head butt to the cheek/chin area with a big wide open mouth full of slobber.  i love every bit of it! 

no food is off limits although we've taken a break from bananas because they were giving you gas. (insert blushed face emoji) this month you added carrots, spinach, cherries, and blends of raspberries, greek yogurt, plums, and corn to your palette. you also tried your first lemon and much to my surprise it didn't seem to phase you one bit.  you have no teeth yet which makes me tentative about hard solids though i can see white just below your gums.  

i've gotta say we have lucked out in the happy baby department.  i am constantly getting comments about how happy and smiley you are (also about your chunkiness but, more on that later).  you know no strangers!  everyone you meet is a friend and when i take you for visits at work and you get passed from one person to the next you just smile and coo with the best of 'em.  it delights all of the grandmas and grandpas.   

you are very alert and aware of your surroundings and you love laughing.  you laugh and giggle when others laugh, particularly mommy.  we play every night and whenever i pick you up and start laughing you get the giggles which makes me laugh which gives you the hiccups....it's the best kind of cycle. 

at daycare you've been busy: sensory play for ocean week, purple mashed potatoes for color exploration, a petting zoo and firetruck, and lots of outside time!  lately they've made special note to call out your favorite toys - balls and the alphabet bus.   

you are a little creature of habit and some nights are simply incorrigible.  you wake between 2 and 3 AM for a few ounces and then it's back to sleep and up at 6/6:30 ready to play.   there was period for a week plus that you were waking again 2-3 times a night  which was rough on your working parents!  in the past month you did sleep through the night (the night before my half marathon). it was a miracle!  thank you!  however, we've come to a point of last resort.  after your 1 feeding we let you cry it out.  it's sucks! but rocking you for 30 minutes after eating is a bit much and was leaving us running close to empty.  i hate hearing you cry but you usually fall back asleep within a few minutes and don't wake until morning.  

 nicknames; i've given you so many!  here are the ones i'm guilty of calling you: chunky monkey, pork chop (this one originated with grandpa gary), carson baby, and pnuggey or pnugs - apparently i couldn't commit to peanut or nugget so i mashed the two into one all your own. 

by virtue of contracting pink eye - again! - we got weight and height measurements.  this month you are officially 17 lbs 12 oz (33rd percentile) and 2' 1" - you have not grown up - still 0 percentile.  you're in size three diapers and six month everything else.  

phew!  i think that about covers it.  i love you little man.  more than you will ever know!!  happy eight months. 

yep, we brush every night.  he loves it!

it's rare you get so mad you cry - that face though.

we've recently discovered you love steering wheels.

funny moment of the month: you trying to get your duck toy - which dad caught on video.  you are tenacious.  when the duck fell out of your reach and over the boppy pillow you make valiant effort to grasp it and when that didn't work you leaned waaaayyyy over.  then you tipped.  onto your head.  but that didn't stop you.  you started babbling as if to say 'i'm gunna get you, i really am.'  and you continued to reach with all your might as you floundered on your tummy, half on and half off the boppy pillow.  no luck.  this continued for a few minutes before dad finally gave in but, at no point did you cry or get mad.  

then there's this.  dad has apparently not learned his lesson about the safety straps.  

hey you! happy father's day!

there's nothing like watching your boyfriend turn husband become a father.

this father's day, your first, i just want you to know how incredibly great you are!  how much i appreciate all of the things you do for me and for our little family.  the sacrifices you make to provide us with the best and how hard you work to make it all a go mean so much to us.  

for carson (and allie) i couldn't have chosen a better father and i love the relationship you are forming.   we are both equally taking part in the raising of our child and as carson grows i know he'll have a best friend in his daddy.  he'll also have a daddy with a steady guiding influence, a strong will, the ability to be his friend but also the disciplinarian and the character to teach him how to be a kind gentleman and the type of person that would make us proud. 

you are probably the most patient person on this planet yet you have the ability to keep up with the dizzying pace of our life. rocking a croupy baby while i sleep, running to the store for a last minute ingredient, or filling the cars with gas does not go unnoticed.  the best part of my every day is waking up to the sound of a baby babbling, a dog collar clinking and your groans as you struggle out of bed.  the next best part is watching you in action.  it makes me giggle the way you read to carson in funny voices and then blame it on the book or how you get so surprisingly proud of carson's milestones or find the things he does so entertainly amusing like his recent 'crawling' backward or talking to the chicken on his jumperoo. you change diapers, wash bottles (occasionally - haha), do daycare drop off, feed, dress, bathe all without keeping score.  

watching you 'father' our son makes me fall in love with you all over! thank you for everything and most of all thank you for giving me the best gift - a family!  we can't wait to celebrate your special day! 

xoxo
me, carson, and little allie

sweet summertime

for the first time in what seems like years! it feels like summer! and it is in full swing around our house with park play dates, swimming pool visits, patio grilling, daytime drinking, s'mores, and boating!  over the weekend we took full advantage of the sweltering heat.  

it started with ice cream at snookies! yummo! a des moines treasure that if you've never been i highly recommend you go.  the cutest little malt shop, this place was top notch.  it was our first visit and carson's first taste of the good stuff.

with all the amazing weather we've had lately, no rain and the hot, hot heat i feel like doing nothing but lounging near some water. i could literally spend days poolside!  i had talked all weekend about going.  that's probably why i was soooo excited to get my suit on  sunday for our first visit of the season. 

carson was the cutest.  surprisingly enough he fit into his easter swim gear though i made sure to get sunscreen on his lower tummy since, well, it was bound to roll with his roundness and it did.  he sat at the edge of the pool and played for a good hour.  he cried once - when his hat got wet but otherwise soaked it all in - literally.  

 meanwhile at the splash pad...he was very deliberate in trying to figure out where the water was coming from and then for him to experience it all over his little body randomly was the best.  he faces were of sheer awe and you could tell he was excited because he was bouncing like a little maniac (bouncing is his new favorite).  i learned that he is very much a quiet watcher when it comes to new things. for as much as he 'talks' given this new environment he was relatively quiet and i hardly heard a squeal.  

of course our afternoon at the pool followed a morning at the park.  the coolest park ever to be exact!  we visited miracle park impromptu while on our morning stroll.  even at 8 AM it was sticky!  so we picked three things to try and then headed home.  carson swung (for the first time in a baby swing), cody swung (for the first time in a rocket ship type swing), allie ran through the tubes, they slid, i took pictures.   given the time of day and the blazing heat we had the park all to ourselves.  from the squishy turf to the color wheel this place has everything and is built for everyone!  

this weekend left us with one tired (slightly pink) baby and so many fun memories! 
 

photo every hour: june 4

five am 

six am

seven am

eight am

nine am

ten am

(we should really 'spring' that clock ahead...)

eleven am

twelve pm

one pm

two pm

three pm

four pm

five pm

six pm

seven pm

eight pm

nine pm

it started with a run.

a softball game.

a target run.

coffee!

pizza! 

a walk.

a bath. 

dateline.

and finally it ended by crashing into our bed.

what a great (busy) day!