My Little Monkey

Let me just say that my son is such a little ham! He loves being goofy. Maybe he got that from me. I was a bit of a goofball when I was younger. I loved, and still do, making people laugh. Carter is the same way. He always knows how to make me smile, and it doesn't take much. Ken got him his very own pair of slippers over the weekend. At first, he didn't want anything to do with them. Next thing we know, there he is slipping them on his feet and walking around the living room! He's so cute. He doesn't leave them on for any length of time, but it is still fun seeing them on his feet.

Ken thinks toddlers eating habits are just plain disgusting. Therefore, I'm almost always the one that feeds our boy. It's messy, to say the least. However, this is how they learn so I try to go with the flow and let him have some fun with it. We rarely feed him anything but snacks in our living room, but this time we snuck him a few bites of chicken. Here he is being his usual goofy self for the pictures.

Such a devious look!

I thought it would be fun for Carter to get creative with his play dough he got for Easter. He only lasted a few minutes before he decided it looked tasty and took a bite of it. At least it's non-toxic, right? Needless to say, we stuck to coloring after that.

Oops, I duplicated this picture by accident.

Here's a new one

Carter's favorite fruit is banana. If he had the choice, he would eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I told you, he's part monkey! Here are some cute pics of him eating.

A Day at the Park

Last weekend we took the kids over to the swings in our condo development. This is the first time they've been there to play. Carter enjoyed himself and Dani gave me a few smiles. She had a good time too. The pool will be opening up for Memorial Day weekend, the following weekend and then regular pool hours starting June 5th. I'd love to take Carter there, but they don't have a kiddie pool, just a shallow end. We'll probably get a pool pass at the city pool. I have a feeling it will take Carter awhile to get used to learning to swim. He doesn't like it when water gets splashed in his face (in the bathtub) or sprinkled over his head (outdoor sprinkler). We'll just have to see how he does I guess.

My sweet little boy

She's all smiles for Mommy!

There's the pool house behind the swings.

Ken taking Carter for a ride.

Down the slide with Daddy!

Monday Moaning

I think I will dedicate every Monday on my blog to vent any frustrations I'm having at the moment. And you, the lucky reader, get to be that lendful ear through my trying times. Thank you, in advance, for listening.
I was by myself with both kids last night. Ken had gone to see Roger Clyne's concert with some of his friends. He left around 4:30 p.m. Let me just say that those 4 1/2 hours alone with my children was a bit rough. I do it everyday, so why was it so terrible last night? I was tired from a busy weekend and both Carter and Danielle were extra needy. Carter's latest thing is yelling - not only when he's upset, but when he gets excited over something, or when he wants something, and maybe even when he's just bored. It was cute at first, but not so much now. I'm eager for him to use more words and less of this other nonsense. Danielle just didn't want me to put her down AND she wouldn't take a nap either. She's had a cold for over a week now. Her body is still trying to get rid of it and she still coughs occasionally. That's probably why she was a little cranky last night.
It's crazy how much more busy I am now that I have two kids. When it was just Carter, I could be lazy at any given moment. I don't have that option these days. Any down time I have when the kids are sleeping is used for cleaning the house, doing dishes or laundry, and cooking. It's hard to manage it all. I want to pull my hair out most days, but I can't do that because I hardly have any left! This thing called postpartum hair loss might as well be called postpartum balding. Everytime I get out of the shower and squeeze the water from my hair, I have about 6 strands in my hand when I'm finished. When I blowdry my hair, it's flying out all over the place. It's on the sink, on the bathroom floor, in my hair scruchie. I looked at the back and top of my head with a mirror yesterday and I could see my scalp! I wanted to cry.
I'm also still working on shedding those last 10 lbs. from being pregnant. It's hard. I want to diet so bad, but I can't right now. I don't want to do anything to jeopardize how well the breastfeeding is going. Crash dieting would cause my milk supply to dip. I feel like I would be selfish if I did that. Danielle deserves to have the best start in life, and I'm so proud to be able to give that to her. I had so many problems with breastfeeding when Carter was born. The recovery from his birth was difficult for me both physically and emotionally. Caring for a newborn while trying to heal from a difficult delivery AND master breastfeeding was all a bit much for me back then. I wasn't taking care of myself in that I hardly ate. I had no appetite. I pretty much lived off of Nutri-Grain bars and Cheerios. I'm sure that had something to do with why the breastfeeding didn't go well with Carter. You're supposed to eat healthy, and I wasn't. You're supposed to get adequate sleep, and I didn't. You're supposed to limit stress - ha ha ha, that's a laugh! Long story short, I should just relax a little and be proud of what I'm doing. There's plenty of time for me to get my body back the way I want it to be. I just have a habit of being really hard on myself.
My self-image isn't the only thing I want to work on. I feel like I got lost somewhere in between having Carter and having Danielle. Who I was before having kids and who I am now is so different. I love being a Mom. I don't want to be the person I was back then - it's impossible anyhow. I guess I'm in the process of redefining who I am and who I want to be. What kind of Mom do I want to be? What kind of wife do I want to be? How do I find balance between all these things and still have a sense of identity? These are the questions I've been asking myself.

Third Time is Not Always the Charm

Ken and I decided it was time to take Carter to get another haircut. We've always liked his hair to be a touch on the longer side, but he was starting to look like Ashton Kutcher. A while back Ken had run across this cool barber shop in Berea. He had told me about it and took Carter there months ago for a cut. I had stayed home with Danielle. When he brought him home I was not really impressed by the barbers handywork. I mean, it looked like something I could've done myself. Oh well. It's just hair, right? It'll grow back in time. Since then, we've basically been alternating between his regular place, which is Kids Cuts in Rocky River, and this barber in Berea. The second time Ken took Carter to the barber he told her (the barber is a woman) to not take as much off. Now, he came home and it DID look better than the last time. Now, this weekend we took him to the same barber for the third time and she practically butchered my son's hair! He looked cute in the shop when she was finished, but when we got him home he looked like a totally different boy. The front looked crooked and WAY too short. I was sad. Ken thought I was overreacting. I probably am, but it was just such a drastic change! He looks so different. I can't wait til it grows in more. Ken agreed that we'll just take him to Kids Cuts from now on. We want our boy looking his best! Here's a picture of him before and a picture after his haircut.

She Speaks!!!

I was feeding Carter dinner a few days ago with Danielle sitting on my lap. She loves watching her big brother and always gives him BIG smiles. Of course Carter just eats up the attention. I swear they can communicate with each other with just their facial expressions. It's like they have their own conversation going on between themselves. Anyhow, Carter got so excited by his audience that he started kicking his legs while sitting in the high chair. Danielle started smiling really big, and then out of nowhere she starts giggling uncontrollably. Before that moment I had only heard her laugh on one other occasion and it was a chuckle at best. This was something else altogether. I was so shocked because just moments before she had been yawning. Hearing her giggle like that warmed my heart so much it brought tears of joy to my eyes. Hearing your kids laugh is the best thing in the world. Ever since that day she hasn't stop jabbering. I love it! It's fun to just sit back and listen to the two of them babble away. It's music to my ears.

Here she is playing in her exersaucer and jabbering away.

The Chair

We recently acquired a new chair for our living room. This has been a VERY welcome addition since the only piece of furniture left in our living room was our couch. We had to move everything else to the second floor. If you read any of my previous posts, you know that Carter has a tendency to move furniture and get into trouble. The chairs we had in our living room before were light enough for him to push across the floor. He'd push them over to light switches and flip them on and off, on and off. I can only imagine what our neighbors thought when our outdoor light was going "haywire" from Carter. SO, that led us to move everything upstairs - everything he could move. Ken found this huge, comfy chair when he picked up our new clothes dryer. Carter fell in love immediately, as you can see from the pictures. What's great about it is that it's too heavy for him to move!!! He does like to take the cushion off the back of the chair and toss it on the floor. He does this with the couch cushions as well. Our cats have also taken a liking to our new piece of furniture. Surprisingly, they don't sleep on it at night like I thought they would.

Carter & Marissa's Playdate

Stephanie and her daughter Marissa stopped over on Saturday afternoon for a playdate with Carter. We always enjoy having them over. They have a great time together. As soon as Steph puts Marissa down to play, she's all over Carter's toys. It's hilarious because Carter just stands there for the longest time and doesn't move. He just watches her delve into his stuff for awhile before he joins in the fun. Ken was home, and got to see them together for the first time. He couldn't believe how quiet Carter was!!! After about 20 minutes of watching her, he finally joined in on the fun. Marissa really liked Carter's Mardi Gras beads!

Here's my silly boy, hamming it up for the camera!!!

Carter enjoyed showing Marissa some of his favorite toys and stuffed animals. He kept handing her stuff. It was too cute.

SNACK TIME!!! All that playing made the little ones hungry! When I put down the treats, they dove right in. Marissa really liked the Honey Bees graham crackers.

Marissa likes to make silly faces too!!! Perhaps that's why the two of them get along so well.

PEEK-A-BOO!!! I see you!!! She always has fun in the ball pit! Marissa has her own at home too.

She's such a cutie-pie! I look at her and think about Danielle and wonder how she'll be at Marissa's age.

Everytime these two are together they end up swapping sippy cups! It's crazy. At one point, we had 3 sippy cups floating around the living room. Carter tries to hoard them all. He is still learning the whole concept of sharing. What do you think of Carter's outfit??? His Aunt Cathy got it for him recently and I think he looks adorable in it!

Carter LOVES his new playmate so much and decided to show her with a great big bear hug! She was a bit taken back by his affection, but enjoyed the gesture nonetheless. He's such a good boy!

Carter showing off by doing his inchworm across the living room floor. Marissa was very curious. I'm sure she hasn't seen any of her other friends do this before!

Hmmmmm. . . I could be wrong, but it looks like she's trying to hold his hand here. Future love connection??? What do you think?

Marissa is happy as a clam! She had a great time visiting Carter. With summer fast approaching, we can't wait to get the two of them in some outdoor activities! Stephanie recently bought some outdoor water toys for Marissa, so perhaps we'll head over to her place next time.

Columbus Trip

Carter, Danielle and I went on a trip to Columbus last Friday to visit my sister Cathy and her family. It was the first time we had met David, her newly adopted son. Carter enjoyed playing with him very much!!! It was fun watching them interact. Here are a few pictures of David and Carter during the first moments they saw each other. Carter LOVES toast, and immediately showed David how to make this special treat. :-) Too cute!

After we got settled in, we took the kids over to the park to burn off some energy. Since Carter was still a bit tired from the long drive, he didn't have much energy to burn off! In fact, he almost fell asleep in the swing!

Ethan LOVED swinging and was the most photogenic of the bunch! I couldn't get enough great pictures of him. He was having such a good time.

This was Danielle's first ride in the swing. She seemed to enjoy it. I'm sure I'll have her in the swing a lot more since we have a playground in our condominium development in Olmsted Falls. We're also looking forward to seeing how she likes the pool! I can't wait!

Here's a great picture of the two of my kids. Carter looks completely bored! Lol. Oh well - he'll enjoy it more when he's more awake.

Sammy, my sister's furry feline friend, gets the royal treatment. Here she is waiting for her filet mignon at the dinner table.

Carter always loves whatever my sister prepares for meals. He gets treated like a big boy at his Aunt Cathy's. Here he is using his first straw cup. He did well with it and actually didn't play with it, which he usually does at home. We bought some of these cups later in the week for him. Can't say that he's been using them correctly ALL of the time. He likes to take a sip and then let the water dribble down his mouth. :-( This does not make me happy and I usually take it away and give him back his old sippy cup. Oh well. He must just be on his best behavior for his Aunt Cathy.

Danielle was WAY overtired. She didn't nap much on Saturday, so by the time 7:30 p.m. rolled around - she was a complete bear. She started crying while I was giving Carter a bath. My sister rocked her to sleep in her arms. She is so good with kids and never ceases to amaze me. I was so grateful she was able to calm her down. It made my night a lot easier. Danielle slept through the night!!! She woke up at 5 a.m. Carter also slept great in the pack n' play. He's getting so big, so I wasn't sure how he'd do in there. Thankfully, it was a peaceful night.

Sunday we took Carter and Lauren outside to play for a bit. Carter wasn't too interested in the sidewalk chalk, but more so in the lawnmower! He wouldn't let go of that thing. It was cute watching him play - except when he tried to take it out in the middle of the street!

I diverted his attention to playing in the grass for a bit. He got his first taste of mulch and even tried to eat a rock. How fun!!! Lol.

It was a fun trip. I'm so glad we made it out there. David was such a sweetheart and we were so happy to meet him! We're looking forward to our next trip out to Columbus to visit.