Email chain

So I get back from my work bible study that we do at lunch on Thursdays (when I can make it) & I have this conversation in my inbox which had also blown up on my bb while I was there...

FYI this is Justin & a girl he works with who is one of my good friends from back in the day emailing back & forth...I left out some of the earlier unrelated parts of the conversation where I was obviously not responding.

Sara: Ashley must have her mind on sips n strokes (I'm going tonight :)) or at lunch!
Justin: She made me go give the kid medicine, so she better be hard at work.
Sara: Go give "the kid" medicine. :)
Justin: The kid who was crying when I got there because his mother made him wear shoes today.
Sara: It is cold outside. You put on shoes today so why would Carter not put on shoes!
Justin: I put on shoes because I walk, not because it is cold. He only had one on when I got there anyway. He was probably frustrated that he couldn't get the other one off.
Sara: That is gangsta. Maybe Ashley is trying to speed up the walking process.

The funniest part about this is when I called Justin before I read all these emails, he told me the story about going to see Carter & he said that he asked one of the teachers if the shoes he was wearing were his or not! I pretty much died out laughing!! Granted I don't put shoes on Carter very often but I decided the other day that I thought it may help his FORWARD progression of crawling if he couldn't slide in his socks. This clearly justifies how much Dads have NO CLUE how to dress a child much less what the child owns/wears. Not like Justin isn't a wonderful father by any means...I just thought it was highly entertaining & thought you may too.

A side note...Justin also told me that there was a dead bird in the living room when he went home for lunch. Glad I wasn't there to clean that up. Generally that means feathers everywhere but not sure if that was the case or not. And a quick FYI on the zoo house we live in...our cat Lucky is the one that actually brings all these things (chipmunks, moles, birds, lizards, snakes, bats, etc.) in, they don't come in on their own. I was talking with my friend Lori yesterday (Happy Birthday yesterday!) & she said that her husband said how he didn't want to move to Riverchase after seeing all the animals that came into our house from my blog...haha! Lucky carries them in her mouth through the dog door. The really amazing part about it is that she doesn't have front claws but she has quite a grip without them & can still even climb trees. She's a silly cat!

Double trouble!

Carter officially has ear infections in both of his ears! The doctor said it is more in his left ear than his right & it probably just progressed to this in the last 24 hours. He has been sick since Friday with a nasty cold so I would have felt terrible if he had an ear infection this whole time & I hadn't taken him in. I have gotten a phone call everyday from school saying he had a fever of 100-101 normally around the end of the day.  Yesterday I got a call around lunch time & Justin went by & gave him so motrin. His top teeth are coming in which we thought was why he had the fever. After his bath last night, he was so tired & just felt bad that he curled up in my arms in his towel & we just rocked. He was so pitiful but it was so sweet too...I have to cherish these moments b/c he is getting so big & he won't want to be held & rocked much longer. I decided at that point that I was going to take him into the doctor some time today to get him checked out. This morning he looked awful, had flushed cheeks, a fever already & you could just tell that he felt terrible. So we went straight to the doctor, got his 2nd antibiotic ever & now he is at school. One of us will go by at lunch to give him tylenol/motrin b/c I'm sure he'll still have a fever today. He is on the antibiotic for 10 days so hopefully he'll be back to his happy self soon!!!

Blog post #100

A friend of mine Mindy recently pointed out when she had made it to the 100th blog mark. This of course made me curious to how many posts I had done & I was close. So here it is...#100! I guess it is sort of a proud milestone for us fellow bloggers. :) Anywho, we had a very relaxing & pretty much boring w/e. Carter came down with a cold & sort of a stomach bug starting on Friday. I won't go into all the gory details but they called me from school around 4:30 b/c he had 101 fever. I think the fever was from his teething...he refused to eat any solid foods this w/e...I think it hurts his tender gums. But after lots of TLC, sleeping, triaminic for his runny nose, eyedrops for his pinkish looking eyes, and tylenol for his teething, he is feeling better & is back at school today. His appetite is back up and he is drinking more fluids. You could just look at him & tell he didn't feel good but he was still all smiles & laughs most of the time. He really is such a sweetheart! I just hope this runny/gooky nose thing will go away soon...he can't stand for me to clean the dried gunk off his nose when he wakes up in the morning...not fun.

A few pics from the w/e...Carter loves the hardwoods & to slide around on them on his belly. He still hasn't figured out the forward motion yet but here he is when he slid himself inbetween Bailey's bed & the exersaucer. He would've kept going if the entertainment center wasn't in the way!

A bit of an Alpha Chi reunion...

One of my pledge sisters & good friend Lauren Miller is having a baby boy, Brooks, in February & she had her baby shower a few weekends ago. It was so nice to see a lot of girls I don't get to see often & especially a bunch of my pledge sisters. Here a few pics I took...there are tons more on Lauren's blog. I actually stole the one at the bottom from hers. :)

Stafford, Amy (she was about 16 wks prego here...I think...can't wait to find out what you are having on 2/5...I still say GIRL!!), and me

me, Stafford, Amy, Jessica, Emilie, Olivia & Lindsay (they had the shower at the Ross Bridge welcome center & it was FREEZING...this was the w/e it was supposed to snow in B'ham...so that is why we were wearing our coats inside)

All the Alpha Chi girls...same ones from above & also Lea, Sara, Jennifer & of course the guest of honor Lauren in the front row standing...she looked so cute with her basketball belly!! :)

Barbara Ann

Justin made up a song for Carter a long time ago that has the theme of The Beach Boys song "Barbara Ann" & he absolutely LOVES it!! Here's basically how it goes..."Car, car, carrrr, car, carrrter man; car, car, carrrr, car, carrter man; carter maaan, take my hand, carter man...." It's actually really addicting & catchy & we sing it all the time. :)

Carter is basically crawling just not forward. :) He is really good about getting up on all fours & he will go backwards slowly but hasn't grasped moving the other direction yet. He is really good at moving around without us even realizing it. He'll start in one spot playing and spins around so much that all of sudden we realize he has moved a few feet over. He also has started pulling up on his musical table & will get to his knees but hasn't figured out how to pull his feet up yet. I know he'll be taking off in no time!

At school on Monday they told me we need to start bringing a sippy cup for him. We use it at home at night with dinner but since he doesn't get it yet & just bangs it on his tray I figured I would wait until he was really using it before I brought one. But supposedly most of the other kids have them & he tries to grab for theirs while sitting around the table together. He is starting to get the hang of bringing it to his mouth, he just doesn't turn it up to actually get juice out of it.

He is cutting another tooth too!! This will be the first one on top but it isn't in the front. It is the first one over to his left side. I think it was really bothering him the other night because all of sudden he started screaming in the bathtub & the only thing that would get him to stop was if he put something in his mouth to bite down on. That would only last a few seconds & then he'd start screaming again. Orajel didn't work which usually does too. Hopefully some other top teeth will be coming in at the same time like his bottom two did, so he doesn't look a little goofy with this one side tooth poking out. :)

I keep forgetting to add in his updates that he has always loved to twirl his hands & feet...constantly. It is seriously the funniest thing to walk in to pick him up from school & he is sitting in his seat just rotating his wrists around & around. He does it in sync with his feet a lot too. That is one thing I need to get on video. My child is def. one of a kind! :)

So tax season has begun & I'm just trying not to think about it. I always get depressed around this time since Justin is gone nearly 24/7 for basically 3 whole months. This year he hopes to work 5-5 during the week & then some on the weekends. That way he can still spend time with Carter who is in bed by 7pm if not earlier. So far he has already been going in pretty early around 5:30am and hasn't had to work weekends so that's good, but it is only Jan. I am glad that this year I have someone there besides the pets to spend time with & who more would I love to do that with than my precious angel!

Speaking of precious angels...a friend of mine Jenna had her second baby Maggie the end of December. They figured out during her pregnancy that her bones weren't growing as they should be & they believed that she had some sort of dwarfism & they wouldn't be able to determine more until she was born. They decided to take her a few weeks early & she was born 4 lbs 4 ounces. Low and behold she didn't have a form of dwarfism but she actually has a type of brittle bone disease. This was great news!!! All the doctors said she looked great & everything was way better than was expected. See what the power of prayer can do! So they have run all sorts of tests on her & have sent bloodwork off to Seattle to find out exactly what type of brittle bone disease she has & then they can figure out where to go from here. They think she has the least severe type which is HUGE & would be the greatest news ever! So if you are reading this please say a prayer that the test results come back the best they can & that the Bailey family keeps getting such positive news. I got to see her a few weeks ago & she is such a doll!!! She has a head full of hair & looks a lot like her Daddy! What a blessing & an absolute miracle!

The weekend isn't over yet...

for me!! :) The one perk about my company being owned by a bank is we get all the bank holidays & I love it! So I selfishly took Carter to school today so that I could get tons of cleaning & organizing done around the house which I am currently procrastinating. I figure we're paying for him to be at school & as many times as he hasn't been there & we've still paid for it that it is worth it to me to have a productive day at the house by myself. So a little update on our weekend & then I am off to clean out & organize which I love to do (yes I'm a bit OCD) I just don't always have time to. I just might go get a pedi later too. :)

We had a great mostly uneventful weekend. Justin went to Auburn on Sat. with some guy friends to watch the AU basketball game. Ashley Judd was there (she's a huge Kentucky fan) which I thought was neat. One of my best friends from high school Emily is getting married in June so we went bridesmaid dress shopping in Homewood most of the day. Carter came with me for part of it, but my MIL came to get him to take him to a birthday party with one of her best friends that was in town. Sunday we had lunch with Justin's Dad & stepmom for his Dad's birthday that was on Fri. We took dinner to Julia & Ryan last night & finally got to meet little Wyatt. He is absolutely precious & I can't tell who he looks like more...sometimes he looks like Ryan in a picture & then when I saw him last night he looked more like Julia. They change so quickly! I unfortunately don't have any pics with him...I left the camera in the car. :( But here is a link to their blog.

Lucky's 3rd birthday was Sat...yes we acknowledge our pets' birthdays, they are like children to us. :) Here she is being as silly as ever...she loves to get in these water/sports bottle bags after I unload them and hide from Bailey.

Lounging...

These pics are a bit old but still sweet & sort of funny to me. This is when Carter had his first real sickness in early December...he had his first & only (knock on wood) ear infection & also both eyes & his nose were infected...strange. Anyway Justin & I both took turns staying home with him until he was better. This is the day Justin had him & he took these pics of him laid out on the couch...just being lazy!















Multiple pacis & remote in hand!

This one made it out alive!

Because he climbed the wall to save himself!!! You can't see it but there is a wine rack right below this that he originally climbed & then somehow jumped up on this...this was one smart chipmunk!

Oh & in case you are wondering...I got him out of the house by knocking him into a paper bag with an oven mitt. I usually use a broom & open the front & back door & scoot them out while they are running around (yes we have these quite often in our home) but this one was a little different. :)

U-verse anyone???

I am *SUPER* pumped that today is the day we are finally getting U-verse installed at our house!! We have been waiting for them to make it available in our neighborhood & it finally is! I literally stalked any AT&T person I saw in Riverchase...I mean I seriously stopped anytime I saw guys out working by the boxes where all the equipment is kept & would roll down my window & be like "so are you working on putting U-verse in???" or "how's that U-verse coming along??". If you don't know what it is go here & you can find out all about it. A few reasons why I am obsessed with it...

- For the DVR function, you can record FOUR shows at one time instead of two with Charter. (No more having to decide which of mine or Justins' shows we just can't record)

- You can watch any recorded show on any TV in the house as long as it has a receiver.

- You can start watching a show in one room & finish in another.

- You can program the DVR to record from any computer so you don't have to be at home to do it.

Now if I can just find the time to be able to watch all the shows I love! :)

In case you are wondering, how can you have that many shows to watch?!?! Here is a list of our favs...

House, Criminal Minds, CSI: Miami, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Desperate Housewives, Brothers & Sisters, Intervention, Hoarders, Pawn Stars, Scrubs, 90210, Bachelor, American Idol, Little People Big World, The Little Couple, any HGTV shows, I know I'm forgetting some but you get the idea.

Photo session

One random day before Christmas we were playing up in Carter's room & Justin decided to put him in his rocking chair that I painted...he was having so much fun especially since Daddy kept plopping all sorts of stuffed animals in his lap & kissing his face with them! I'm sad that I didn't think about putting him in it for our Christmas card...it would've been so cute sitting in front of the tree...I guess there's always next year if he can still fit in it! :)

Check out that spikey hair!

Tongue out as usual!

What Lucky has been up to since Carter got here...

These are a bit out of order but still funny to see how entertaining, nosey & quite ridiculous our cat can be....

I came into Carter's room one time & Lucky was in his crib with him but at the other end of the bed. She was just sitting there & when I tried to grab her she jumped up on the railing like this...notice Carter is screaming in the crib beneath her...

Here's what happened to the box that Carter's humidifier came in...







Perched on top of Carter's diaper bag...









Snuggled up in his sling...















She LOVED this spot for awhile...Bailey couldn't find her hiding here!

Checking out Carter in his tub...

This is what happens if you leave a cabinet door open...

Hadley playing with Lucky who is chilling on top of a cake holder....

These are actually from right before Carter's arrival...

Now actually IN his tub!

Carter's bouncer...or is it Lucky's bouncer?!?!?

I love this face! It's like she is saying "Do you always have to take my picture?!?" She must try out anything that is new or not in its normal place. Carter's booster seat for instance...

A forgotten pic

Somehow this one didn't post in the original Christmas pics...it is so easy to delete a pic & not know it!

Notice sweet Lucky Loo's new favorite napping spot...

Tub time

Here is Carter man in his typical lounging position in his duck tub...he's so silly!

FYI to all you blog readers...I know you're out there reading away & never posting a comment...uh huh I'm talking to YOU! Well I have just realized how I can change the blog settings so that you don't have to have an account (google or whatever) to leave a comment. You can leave an anonymous comment (but please put your name at the bottom of your post so I know who it is) now. All you have to do is click the "comment" or "post a comment" button at the bottom of a post & type in what you want & then use the drop down box below it to select what profile you want to use. If you have a gmail account you can put that in or you can use the anonymous profile. Then click "post comment"...it's as easy as that! I love to hear from those fellow readers...it makes it that much more fun & rewarding for me. :)