immitation.. the most sincere form of flattery

I say this about every age, but man is 16 months my favorite age so far! He's so interactive, his personality is blossoming, he's funny, snugly, opinionated, smart, fearless, and most definitely cute. He has really been showing off the smart side lately. I started signing to Carter a way long time ago. Then at some point I just stopped. I'm not sure why I just did. I hadn't signed to him for many months. At dinner time one day Carter was telling us he was done with dinner by shoving all his food off the table and onto the floor. I had this brilliant idea to teach him the sign for "all done". It's a similar motion to pushing all your food to the side so I figured why not. For the past month or so I've been signing "all done" to him at the end of meals... so about 2 times a day since he eats breakfast on the go. I sign and say all done and then he gets to get right out of his booster seat and leave the table. The other week we were eating lunch and I asked Carter if he was all done and did the sign. He looked at me a signed all done! Obviously I was super excited and he knew it. He had this huge proud smile on his face and signed it again! Since then he signs all done at the end of most meals.



Since Carter started to sign all done I figured I'd keep going and add another sign so I started signing "more" to him. The sign for more is like putting your hand in a semi flatted 0 shape then bringing your hands together, palms facing inward, and touching the tips of your fingers.... if that makes since. You can google it and come up with a video really easily. Tonight at dinner I was asking Carter if he wanted more lasagna and he signed more! Again, I was super excited and he had the same huge proud grin on his face. It's so cute and funny to watch him. He knows what he's doing is awesome and he totally loves how excited I get. It's totally amazing to watch him learn and show off what he's learning. Amazing!



Here's a video of him signing "more" and "all done"

Carter's learning is also really showing in his vocabulary. He is definitely imitating what we say more and more. The other night we were reading a book about baby Elmo and Carter said "baa...bies". He also is imitating in actions a lot as well. For example I was dusting and he wanted to give it a try too. Then he starting saying "dust" also. Honestly it is so amazing to be home with him and watch him learn these things and do and say new things for the first time. Here he is dusting and saying "dust"

The imitating also extends to what we're wearing. Right now he really likes sun glasses. I had my sun glasses on top of my head and Carter took them off and put them on himself. Normally he will rip them right off again but this time he thought it was so cool to wear them! He had this big goofy grin on his face and he couldn't stop laughing!

I love this picture for 2 reasons, obviously Carter, but also look at Joe's expression. That's Joe's "omg I love this kid" expression. The expression is all in his mouth.

on my wish list is a camera with higher ISO capabilities

lifetime fitness gets the heart rate up.. and not in a good way

They say that having a newborn baby is hard work. While I agree I also disagree. This parenting thing seems to only get harder and harder. I'm fully aware that when Carter is in his teens, and thinks his mom is lame (which will be a sad sad day for me!), that I will look back to this age and think "man it was easy then".



You may wonder where I'm going with this. My guy is super laid back. I love that about him. But today when some punk kid had Carter by the neck I really wished Carter would turn around and sock the kid. Do I want my kid to hit other kids? No. But do want my kid to stand up for himself? Hell yes. I know at this age he's not old enough to know that what this kid was doing was wrong. But it did get me thinking about all the times that I will need to teach him what is right and wrong. Both in words and in actions. Specifically, it got me thinking about how you teach your kids the difference between being mean and standing up for themselves.



If you're still wondering where all of this is coming from I'll tell you. Lifetime fitness. We went today. This was going to be Carter's 2nd time going to the daycare there. I walked in and noticed it was busy, checked Carter in and brought him to the little kids play area - for kids 18 months and under. On my way out I noticed a much older boy in the area and he was telling Carter he couldn't play with the toy the boy was playing with. I'm wondering why this much older kid is in the baby/toddler area but don't give it much though as he wasn't being mean. Carter needs to learn he can't have what someone else is playing with. I go to get my phone and such and stand there for a minute watching Carter to be sure he's ok... I was still hesitant to leave him. As I'm standing there I see a little girl climbing the small slide. There isn't an "adult"/daycare staff anywhere near this little girl climbing the slide. I'm nervous for this little girl, hoping she doesn't fall. I no more than hope she doesn't fall and she does. She falls straight back onto the back of her head. She starts screaming, obviously. The teen daycare staff gives another staff a look I can only describe as "oh shit" and picks this girl up. She doesn't comfort her or rub her head, she just yanks her up and holds her. If this kind of fall were to happen to Carter I'd be worried as all get out.



Then I see another older boy in the little kids area. He is going up to the little kids sitting in chairs watching cartoons and pushing them over. At this point I look around wondering where the staff are. There is supposed to be a 1 to 12 ratio. I counted 27 kids and 1 staff. And this 1 staff isn't engaged at all. She's standing at the perimeter of the room day dreaming. At that point I was done and not leaving Carter there. I go in to grab him and as I walk up to him I see that another little boy, clearly much older than Carter, has Carter by the back of the neck! Mama bear is in full force at this point. I took the boy's hands off Carter's neck and told him that it wasn't nice and you don't do that. I pick Carter up and high tail it out of there. I'm furious that any of this is happening when these kids are supposed to be safe and supervised while their parents work out. I didn't work out at all but man was my heart rate up there.



I'm fuming and know I have to address this with the gym. However, I'm much too angry to do it right now. My brain does not function as well when I'm furious. I call my friend Alyssa to tell her what happened and confirm that I'm not overreacting. After all this kid had his hands on my kid's neck. Mama bear was in full effect. Alyssa confirms I'm not being too mama bear and that I need to address this with the manager of the gym.



After the fury dwindles a bit and clears some of the brain fog I called the general manager of the gym and left him a message. When I left lifetime I wasn't sure if I'd be going back. After having some time to think about it I will definitely be cancelling my membership. There is no way I could ever leave Carter there again and feel ok about it. It's a bummer because I really thought this was going to be a good thing for us. There is a silver lining though. 2 things actually. First, I'm still within my 14 days to cancel my membership. Second, ignorance is not bliss. I'm so glad that I was hesitant to leave Carter today and saw all of these happen.



As a side note, I normally am all about giving second chances. But not when it comes to the safety of my most precious little dude. I mean look at this face!

baby #2

Baby #2.... poor baby #2 is more neglected during this pregnancy than Carter was. I was thinking that at this point with Carter (16 weeks) we already knew what his name would be and that he was a boy. With baby #2 we don't even have an agreed upon short list of names and obviously don't know the gender. It's funny how much more laid back we are about this baby.



Last night Joe and I were watching tv and I said "oh I just felt the baby kick". Joe looks at me all confused and says "how do you know he kicked..... he's sleeping..." Me "Not Carter you ding dong! Baby #2!"



Many days I forget that I'm pregnant but recently I've been able to feel the baby kick. With Carter I wasn't sure what a kick felt like and I wasn't convinced that I'd felt him kick until it was undeniably a kick. Like a super forceful kick! But now that I know what it feels like I can definitely feel this baby kick. I had some banana bread for breakfast and baby #2 was super excited about it! Moving all around like crazy.



Baby #2 had a dr appointment today. Not much to report. Still down a few pounds in the weight area, great blood pressure, and a heartbeat of 158... baby's, not mine.

The heartbeat predictor says that 158 at 16 weeks pregnant is a girl... I'm not so sure though. I have a feeling this little baby is a boy. The Troness family does not produce girls! All I know is that if we have another little boy as active as Carter I'm going to have to open a Starbucks shop in my house just to keep up with 2 little boys :)



Other than that there isn't much else to report. I'm feeling good. Not showing much - I'm still in the I-look-like-I-ate-too-much stage. However I am pretty pumped that I am still down a few pounds since I got pregnant. I will not gain 45lbs this time, I will not gain 45lbs this time! Don't get me wrong I know I will gain weight and I'm ok with that, but I know that there is no need to gain 45lbs.



Our next appointment is the big anatomy ultrasound. I will be going into that appointment announcing that I do not want to know if it's a boy or girl and that they should not tell me no matter how much I beg and plead!

you know you have a toddler when...

I keep finding things around the house that make me laugh and smile. I clearly have a toddler running around here. I've started taking pics of the things that make it clear there is a very active little boy in this house. Here's the latest.

this is a brush we use for putting bbq sauce on the chicken while grilling... Joe found it in his bathroom drawer


spoon from the kitchen found in my bathroom drawer


coaster, file and a truck in the dog kennel


toddler mouse pad :) We never used a mouse pad with our old desk but with our new desk we needed one. Obviously I couldn't resist getting a photo mouse pad!

phone photos

It's time for phone photos again!

Some people might find this very annoying but it makes me smile every time I see it.

In the mornings we used to snuggle in Carter's chair while he drank his milk. But the second he was done with his milk he was ready to go. Now I bring him in bed with me and we snuggle while he drinks his milk then we lounge in bed for a bit and watch some cartoons or play.

Danger baby at it again! He climbed up on the chair all by himself. The obvious next progression was to climb on the table but I put a stop to that. This kid has no fear which makes me have even more!

Carter and I went on our first blind date today. aka our first moms group meet up. We went to story time at barnes & noble. Carter isn't really a story time kind of guy. Mostly because story time means sitting still in a new place with lots of new things to explore. But we did meet a couple of the moms and their kids before story time.

After story time we had lunch at the mexican place next door. Carter and another little boy traded cars and this little boy's mom and I exchanged wild little boy stories. My little boy and her little boy were loud and super active. Meanwhile one of the other mom's little girls was super chill and quiet. I swear there is a difference between boys and girls no matter how they are raised. After lunch we went out to let the kids splash their hands in the fountain. Again both little boys were trying to climb in while the little girl was content to watch the fountain. It's funny to see the differences. Carter was worn out by the time we left.

It was great to finally get out and go to that first gilbert stay at home moms meet up. It felt like a blind date, but it went well! The moms were really nice and welcoming.

Baby #2 has a dr appointment on Monday. Nothing big just a monthly check up. But the best news is that I have a babysitter for Carter that I know and trust so that means I don't have to take him with me and I can trust leaving him with a babysitter for the first time. Yeay! Speaking of baby number #2... I wonder if having a girl this time would mean less chaos with a boy and a girl versus having 2 boys? Who knows!

videos

a milestone.... for mama today!

Milestones are not just for babies. They're for mamas too! Carter and I joined lifetime fitness this past weekend. Today was the first time we went. Lifetime has this are called Lifetime Kids which is their little version of daycare so parents can go work out. Needless to say I was nervous about leaving him. I've never left him in that kind of capacity before. I've left him with my parents a few times and once with a friend in Flagstaff but he was already asleep then so that doesn't really count. And leaving him with my parents doesn't count as "leaving" him in my book.

Anyway, so we went to lifetime and to the kids area. I told the girls that it was his first time, could I stay with him for a bit, etc. Carter and I walk into the play area and I tell the girls in there that it's his first time and I set Carter down. I expected him to stand by me for a bit and take it in. WRONG! As soon as I set him down he went straight for a toy! There was an older woman in there (and by older I mean she probably had kids, versus the college girls who probably don't have kids) who went right over and played with Carter and blocked his view of me. Not that he was looking for me anyway! This woman (should have gotten her name!) gave me the thumbs up and I tentatively walked out... holding back tears of my own... leaving him for the first time was hard!

I head upstairs to work out. The entire time I'm wondering how he's doing but I know they will call me if he's unhappy for more than 10 minutes or needs a diaper change. All of a sudden the music stops and someone comes on the paging system. So and so to the kids club please. They didn't call my name! Carter must be doing well!

I worked out for 40 minutes... I didn't want to leave him too long the first time. As soon as the kids club comes into view I see my little blondie's head and the same kids club woman helping him down the slide. Then his face comes into view and I see he's having fun and smiling! Relief! When the kids club woman noticed me she said he did so well and no issues at all! I said great, I was nervous because I've never left him before. She was astonished that he did so well, especially at his age and me never leaving him before.

While I was happy he did so well the next part is hands down the best part. Carter looks up and sees me, does his loud yell/scream, smiles, and runs to the door and grabs the handle to try and open it. The little door is locked so he starts to see if he can climb it. (the door is a short door) Talk about melting my heart in an instant! He's smiling at me with his arms raised so I'll pick him up. Seriously that kid can melt my heart with the simplest of things. Now I'm holding back tears again but this time because this little dude makes me so incredibly happy. I'm pretty sure I had the biggest, dopiest grin on my face ever.

Turns out I was worried about the wrong things! I was worried about leaving him and he didn't have a problem with that at all. I was also worried that when I went to pick him up he might not want to leave because of all the new toys. Wrong! He clearly had a good time and they were taking good care of him. How he was so excited to see me made me feel like the luckiest mama in the world. Love my little guy! Talk about a big milestone day for me!