6 Months Old (Already)

Camden had his 6 month visit with the pediatrician this afternoon and he is weighing in at 20 lbs. and 15 oz. and is 27 3/4 inches long/tall. We can't believe he is already 6 months old. Does anybody have an extra pair of time brakes sitting around that we might be able to borrow for a while, or at least until the boys go off to college?

BUS!

For as long as Dan and I can remember, Carter has been completely and totally obsessed with school buses. He absolutely LOVES them! When he sees one he always hollers out "BUS!", and he gets all excited and tells me to hurry up and get his backpack so he can get on the bus. We used to take early walks around the neighborhood just to watch the buses pick up the children and carry them off to school.
As I was pulling into the BJ's parking lot yesterday, we saw a school bus in the parking lot. I got the boys out of the car and started heading towards the store. As we approached the front door, the bus started rounding the corner and stopped in front of the store. I stopped to let Carter watch the people get on the bus and he started jumping up and down he was so excited. THEN, the bus drive said, "Want to get on?". Holy moly, our lucky day. Carter was FINALLY going to get on a school bus. It was so super sweet of the driver to offer, I could just kiss her! He ran up the stairs and sat down without even looking behind him. He had a smile plastered on his face from ear to ear. I was so happy for him.
We spent a minute or two on the bus, and Carter was so thrilled. I feel sorry for him though, because he will be home schooled, he won't have the whole bus experience...you know, gum in the hair, spit out and then back in the window, fist fights, pushing, bullying...oh, wait...maybe I don't feel so sorry for him after all. Anyways, we had a great day yesterday.

Go Night-Night Baby, Night-Night

I have had to help Camden learn how to fall asleep on his own lately. He is finally in his own bedroom and in his own crib. When I put him down for the night, he still cries a bit before settling down sometimes.
Tonight was one of those times, he decided he wanted to cry instead of sleep. While he was crying a bit, Dan, Carter and I were all in the bonus room listening to him on the monitor. All of a sudden we heard Carter over the monitor saying, "Go night-night baby, go night-night, okay", and we heard the nursery door shut. He had gone into Cam's room and had told him to go night-night. It was so cute! He came back into the bonus room and proudly told us what he had just done.

Ice Cream, Ice Cream, We all Scream for Ice Cream

Carter enjoyed his very first ice cream cone yesterday while we were at the zoo. He screamed every time Dan took it away for drip control. He was covered in chocolate by the time he was done, but it was just too darn cute to worry about the mess!



UPDATE:
Does anyone have any (bleach free) ideas about how to get chocolate ice cream out of a white shirt? I applied stain remover immediately upon our arrival home, then I soaked it in cold water with detergent overnight before washing it, and NONE of the ice cream came out! H E L P

NC Zoo

After waking up early this morning, we decided to spend our Memorial Day at the Asheboro Zoo. We picked up Grammie, who was sweet enough to come with us, and arrived at the zoo by 10:00 this morning. The parking lots were already filling up quickly, so we prepared ourselves for quite a crowd. The weather was beautiful so we took our time and enjoyed the day. Carter and Camden were great, with only a threat of a meltdown. This was our first trip to the zoo with the boys so we were excited to show Carter all the animals.
The zoo prides itself on tremendously realistic habitats for the animals. However, because the exhibits are so realistic, and large, it was hard to see the animals. Once we arrived in the North America region, Carter enjoyed playing on the playground and the polar bear and sea lions did not disappoint, we saved the best for last.
When it was time to go, about 5 hours later, Dan heard that there was a four mile traffic back up all the way back to HWY 64 and that the zoo was turning people away because the parking lots were full. So, as a public service announcement from me to you, don't go to the zoo on Memorial Day. It was packed!

Wet Paint

We FINALLY painted our shutters this past weekend. For those of you who didn't know, or who have chosen to forget, our shutters were previously a weird purpley-maroon color that the previous owners had chosen. Not so nice. After living here for three years, however, I had totally gotten used to the color. I never even noticed it anymore, but it drove Dan NUTS! Dan always felt that it was the color an annoying neighbor would choose just to be obnoxious. And...as it turns out...that was the case! Our neighbors, from across the street, came over tonight and thanked us for painting them blue. They told us they were "much easier on the eyes". We are so embarrassed that we didn't paint them earlier.

Here is a picture from last Halloween showing some of the original color:

Camden's Crawling!

For a while now, Camden has been sitting up by himself pretty well. He has been pushing himself up into the seated position for a little over a week, and now he is mobile! He isn't even 6 months old yet. Check out the video to see for yourself. He LOVES to attack his brother's puzzles.

Carter finally stopped to enjoy a moment with Nana.

My mom did our laundry pretty much the whole time we were there.

Here's Cam getting ready for a bath (just kidding).

This was the day after we got home. Carter had covered everyone with a blanket and said they were all cozy.

Hands on Museum in TN

Picture Post

This is how I found Camden after I placed him in his bouncy seat for one whole second while I ran into the other room. Dan has nicknamed him Houdini.

Carter took this picture. I look so jolly, don't I? I always make funny faces because I assume the pictures will turn out bad and be deleted, but this one came out okay.
Carter usually does a pretty good job.
(If any grandmas are reading this post, Carter would LOVE a digital camera...hint, hint ;)

The boys playing at Nana's house in TN.

Carter checking us out at the Hands on Museum in Johnson City, TN.

Here fishy, fishy, fishy...

Junk Food

The boys and I recently went to Eastern Tennessee to visit with my parents. While we were there, Carter quickly discovered how to open the pantry. Inside the pantry was all sorts of goodies that were quickly coined "junk food". One morning, after several desperate attempts to invade the pantry's goodness, I had to peel Carter away and bring him into the other room. I calmly explained to him that cookies and candies are junk food, and that they are not good for us. He quickly retorted through his tears as though I was denying him of oxygen, "I need junk food".
After days of swatting Carter away from the pantry, I was looking forward to coming back home where our pantry is on lock down, aka child-proofed. When we woke up this morning, I offered Carter several breakfast options; banana, cereal, eggs, toast...etc. He acted as though they were all torture. I turned to him and asked what he would like to have. Any guesses as to what he said? Yup, he replied, "I want junk food please". He ended up eating an orange after he realized I was NOT going to give in. (Mom, please remind me to bring a child-proof door knob thingey-dingey with me the next time we come!).

Mommy Wishes

I had some business to tend to at J.M. Edwards Jewelry store in Cary today- I had to get an insurance appraisal. Now, in case you don't know, J.M. Edwards is a VERY high end jewelry store that caters to the rich and famous of Cary. I think you have to schedule an appointment just to see their merchandise. While we were inside, Carter pointed to a very nice diamond ring (probably around $50,000+) and the following ensued:

Carter: Wow, that's a nice ring Mommy.
Me (half listening): It sure is Honey.
Carter: Is that your ring Mommy?
Me (still half listening and chuckling ever so slightly): No, no, Honey, that's not Mommy's ring.
Carter (mumbling to himself with a very teenage attitude): Mommy wishes.

Kids are so fun, they say the darnedest things! Where do they get these things from!?!? :)

Mommy's Office

My sister, Heather, was visiting with us the other day and we took Carter and her son to the park to play. While the boys were playing, Carter came to sit on the bench with us to take a rest. My sister turned to Carter and asked, "Carter, where's your Daddy?" to which he replied, "at his office". She then asked, "Does Mommy have an office?", to that he replied, "yes, the whole house". What a smart little guy. The funny thing is I have NEVER said anything like that to him, he came up with that all on his own. It's amazing how much they really do notice, we don't give two year olds enough credit!

Camden loves drinking out of a sippy cup...

and even dappled in a little oatmeal the other night.

Another (SHARED) Birthday Has Come and Gone

Well, Dan and I had the privilege of sharing yet another birthday this past Cinco de Mayo. We have shared a total of 13 birthdays so far, and we plan on sharing a few more! I turned 30 this year, but the beauty of sharing a birthday is Dan will ALWAYS be two years older then me. This year we rolled our birthdays in with quite the celebration. We went out to eat at the Angus Barn and to a movie on the 3rd, we were invited over to our good friend's house for dinner and some very scrumpditillyumptious desserts on the 4th and the party continued with TWO more cakes on the 5th! We are caked out for a while, but thank you so much Linda and Felicia for our delicious treats. (Not pictured is a to-die-for Dark Chocolate Curl Cake and a complimentary Strawberry pound cake from The Angus Barn. That's a lot of cake, huh!?)

The New Man in My Life

I recently brought a new man home to live with us. Dan seems to be okay with it, but I don't think he realizes how in love I am with him. Please don't tell him! But I have a super-d-duper crush on BOB. Yup, BOB. BOB is VERY easy to push around and he carries BOTH of the boys, my water, Carter's snack, bread for the ducks, and anything else we might need without complaining. In case you haven't guessed, BOB is our new jogging stroller. We ended up bringing BOB home from REI after doing tons of research and stalking Craigslist for what seems like forever. REI was having a huge sale and we also had a coupon. If we were going to get a stroller that we could actually use, it was going to have to be BOB. He is such a joy he makes exercising fun!

Bounce'in, Roll'in, Scoot'in Boogey

No, this is not a title to some new Country song, just Camden's theme lately. Camden is a bouncing fool these days. When he lays down, he kicks his feet as if he is bouncing and as soon as we pick him up he starts bouncing on our laps and cracks up laughing. When we take him out of his Johnny Jump-up, he keeps kicking his legs as if he were still in it. He absolutely LOVES to bounce! He is so funny.
He also rolls from one side of the room to the other and doesn't stop until something stops him. Then, once he is stopped by an obstacle, he cries to be moved so he can keep moving. He is definitely going to be my runner. He is also starting to pick himself up onto all fours and scoot forward. I think he will be crawling by the time he is six months old! Please no...

Well Aren't We Just a Crabby Family