misc.

I haven't been blogging much lately. Pregnant + huge belly + very active toddler + moving + etc + etc = one tired mama. The thought process isn't all there to blog. But I do have some random updates.

First, while we were in Minnesota last week I had an elective ultra sound to confirm baby #2's gender. Everyone kept saying "I'll believe it when I see it" bla bla bla. Which got me to doubting it really was a girl. I'm a planner. I like to plan. It's fun to me. Not being totally sure it was a girl was driving me crazy. My mom and I went for a quick gender ultra sound and baby #2 is still very much a girl!

We're still not sure what her name will be. Olivia and Emery are our top two right now. But I recently threw Addalyn in the mix too. We'll see. Naming a girl has been much harder for us!

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Carter and I have one way tickets booked from PHX to MSP. Insane! I cannot believe how slow yet fast this moving thing has been/is going. As of November 8th Carter and I will be MN residents. I keep telling Carter he's going to be a little Gopher. I'm starting him early :) Now he needs the appropriate U of M gear.

Carter flew in his own seat this time around. Talk about cute!

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It took us a full week in MN to find a place to rent. It was a crazy week. Thankfully my mom and dad took the week off and were able to help us a ton. Nana became a pro at putting Carter down for naps and Papa came out with Joe and I to give us some extra insight. We signed our lease at 5pm on Friday night... and flew out at 7:30 on Saturday morning. Talk about cutting it close!

We did get the chance to do a few fun things but I don't have many pictures :( We went to the apple orchard/pumpkin patch and Carter had a BLAST! As you may know Carter is a weight lifting baby. He has always liked to pick up big heavy things and carry them around. The pumpkin patch was right up his alley. The bigger and heavier the pumpkin he could pick up the happier he was!

Carter's other favorite MN activity as cleaning the driveway. Carter was outside with Papa everyday brooming the driveway. Or helping pick up leaves - one at a time and adding them to the pile of raked leaves. He loved the cool MN weather and wanted to be outside at all times!

Growing Up

Today as I was watching Carter play with his hot wheels cars I couldn't believe how grown up he is... he is becoming more and more of a little boy and less and less baby. It's going way too fast! I love watching him grow and learn new things but if he could just slow down a bit Mama would greatly appreciate it!

After a while of playing with his cars he went to get his bee and then laid down and snuggled his bee while playing with his cars. It was so baby and little boy all at the same time and so cute.

happiness calls again (part 2)

One morning we headed to the nearest beach to walk around and let Carter play in the sand. He loved the beach at first and was off running and checking things out. Then Joe and I said, lets take off his shoes so he can walk easier. Mistake! Carter did NOT like walking on the beach with out his shoes! Go figure! Even after we put his shoes back on he wasn't impressed with the beach. Oops!

pick me up Dad! I don't like the sand!




dad, hurry! put my shoes back on!




I love his little hand on my back.

Going out to dinner with Carter is a challenge at this age but we really wanted to go to a fun "San Diego" place. So we headed to Old Town. The area was pretty cool and we walked a bit and picked the busiest place to eat - so Carter had lots to look at. Carter did really well here. It was busy, there were birds flying around (open air restaurant) and he did some coloring.

Our original vacation plan was to do 2 days at Sea World and then leave one day open for whatever we wanted. Then I had a brilliant idea that we should go to the San Diego Zoo since it is supposed to be amazing. I wasn't impressed with the zoo at all. Overall the zoo was not worth it and if we could do it over again I'd skip the zoo. But Carter did have fun seeing the giraffes and playing with some wires!

waiting to get in the zoo








This was probably Carter's favorite part of the zoo. Steps that went down a level and he could play with these wires :)


looking at giraffes. Carter really liked the giraffes!


baby giraffe

All in all we had an amazing trip! It was so nice to be able to spend some time as a family of 3. We don't get enough of it lately with Joe being in Flagstaff during the week and being really busy with work. It was great to check out of everything else and focus completely on Carter and having fun. One of my favorite parts of vacations with Carter is seeing him experience things for the first time. I bet not many 1.5 year olds have pet a dolphin or kangaroo! Although he won't remember this trip Joe and I will and we'll always remember the fun family time and how much fun Carter had with the animals and how he was clapping at Shamu, etc.

Oh and I can't forget one of my favorite things! I mentioned before that the bedroom portion of our hotel room was small. This meant that Carter's pack n play was right up against my side of the bed. One night he woke up in the middle of the night and stood up and stared at me. I didn't move because I didn't want him to know I was awake. Carter reached out, touched my arm, then laid back down. A few minutes later he stood back up and touched my face then laid back down and went to sleep. It was like he was double checking that I was still right there next to him and as long as I was he could go back to sleep. Love that kid! Then one morning I woke up to him poking me in the back!! Rolling over to see a little baby face smiling at you is definitely a great way to be woken up.

Great trip and great memories!

baby girl update

Had a quick appointment today. HB was 155.... according to the heartbeat predictor this baby is a....

top 10 best mom moment

Carter has finally started calling me mama or mom. Music to my ears every time he says it. Just this past weekend he came running from his room yelling "mom!". Anyway, the other day we were sitting on the floor reading books. Carter went to grab a new book across the room, turned and looked at me and yelled "mama!" and ran over to me, bent down a bit (at the knee which is cute in itself), and put his puckered up lips on mine and gave me a kiss. Seriously one of the best moments of my life. Love that guy!

Happiness is calling... San Diego! (part 1)

It's probably a local thing but on the radio here they play San Diego commercials a lot and their slogan is "Happiness is calling".... hence the title

Happiness called and delivered during our trip to San Deigo! We had been talking about doing this trip for a while and kept going back and forth if we were going to do it. Eventually we decided that we needed, and deserved, a family vacation after all that we've been through the past year. Some time away as a family of 3 was much needed and we had the most awesome time! Even the dreaded 6 hour drive went amazingly well... both ways. We were nervous about the drive. You basically drive though no mans land and only have one place to stop (Yuma, AZ - yucky!) so if Carter was fussy we really didn't have options to pull over. However, the trip went so amazingly well! He was such a trooper. It definitely helped that we randomly stumbled upon a movie he loves (Up) and we got that and a dvd player for the drive.

the border fence between the US and Mexico




we thought this sign was funny

border patrol check point

We stopped in Yuma to eat and let Carter run and play. Yuma is gross. Gross. We ate at the Cracker Barrel and they had this little golf tee thing that kept Carter occupied! Then he was flirting with the older ladies sitting behind us.

After lunch we headed to the mall to let Carter run around. Only the "mall" was just one store so we let Carter run around and semi terrorize the place. I'm sure people were wondering what the hell we were doing but we didn't have a choice, we had to get some energy out of him and it was so hot outside and again Yuma was gross. We had him trying on purses. It was so funny because he'd hold out his arm and wait for us to put the purse on his shoulder!

We had an amazing time in San Diego. We pulled into town around 4:30 and got settled in the hotel. Carter became obsessed with the balcony and sliding doors that went to the balcony. His first night there was spent playing on the balcony! When we went to grab some dinner he cried and cried when he had to leave the balcony. But once we got back and he realized it was still there and he could still play he was a happy camper!

He could open the glass door and screen door all by himself, which then gave him free access to go out on the balcony as he pleased. He was so insanely happy about this! The balcony was safe, don't worry. Nothing he could slip under, over, or through. Plus we always watched him. But sometimes he wanted to be the only person on the balcony. He'd spin Joe or I around and push us in the door to go inside :) I cannot tell you the amount of time that Carter spent on the balcony. It over looked the pool and a pretty busy walking path. Carter would yell down to the people at the pool, or on the path, and he'd wave to all the dogs that walked by. He even got some people to talk back to him. If we were at the hotel Carter was on the balcony. He loved the balcony so much that we made sure to schedule our days to include balcony playing time for Carter :)

One of the main reasons we wanted to go so San Diego, aside from it being a driveable and awesome city, was Sea World. Carter loves animals and had such a blast at the little aquarium here that we figured he'd love every minute of Sea World. And wow did Sea World deliver!! We spent 2 days at Sea World and we loved every minute of it.

ready for our first day at Sea World!

Day one we got there right at opening and headed straight to the dolphin feeding area. For six bucks/person we got to talk with a trainer about 2 specific dolphins and feed them some fish. But the best part was that we got to touch them too. Carter pat the dolphin gently on the nose and head and had the hugest smile on his face. Unfortunately Joe holding Carter, Carter petting the dolphin and me taking pictures didn't aline and I don't have a good picture of him petting a dolphin. So sad about this. It was kind of an ahh haaa moment for me though. If I'm going to continue to haul around the nice, and big and heavy, Nikon camera I need a different lens. I not only missed out on pictures but also on the dolphin feeding experience/my kid touching a dolphin for the first time because I was trying desperately to get a picture. There needs to be a middle ground. Mama the picture taker and Mama being present during this stuff. So for the rest of the trip I left the Nikon packed away and brought the point and shoot. This makes me sad because the Nikon takes much, much better pictures, but with the point and shoot camera and its flexibility I was able to take pictures AND be present. Anyway, back on topic.

these are the dolphins we fed

The dolphin pool was amazing! There was an area that you could lean over the pool and touch the dolphins. In the morning they bring out toys for the dolphins, like balls and floaty things, that the dolphins go crazy over. One dolphin was cruising around the pool with a big ball in his mouth and Carter was in complete awe pointing and smiling at the dolphin. Then the dolphin dropped the ball and no joke swam right up to Carter and I, opened his mouth and talked to us. It was amazing and Carter was loving it! (so was mama!)

The other thing Carter loved about the dolphin pool were the stairs. He went up and down and up and down over and over again!

showing Daddy where his ears are/I can't hear you Daddy!

I really wanted to make it to a Shamu show but we weren't sure if Carter would sit still for it. We waited until after the show had started to go in. This wasn't a planned decision but it turned out to be brilliant! Carter loved the Shamu show. When the whales would jump or splash Carter would smile and clap. It was so cute! After the show we went to the underwater viewing area and one of the whales would swim right past us and Carter would get this huge smile and clap. He was loving it!

yeay, Shamu!

I love this one! He was so excited about Shamu and clapping nonstop.






"mom! did you see Shamu?!"

We also saw sharks, turtles, penguins, polar bears, etc. All of the exhibits were amazing and I could go on an on about how we loved every thing we saw there.

We also fed sea lions and seals a couple times. They were so fun to fed and watch! Once you had fish to feed them they knew it and made it very clear that they would greatly appreciate you throwing a fish their way! This was definitely one of my favorite things. These seals and sea lions were so crazy and reminded us a lot of our crazy dogs.

feeling what sea lions and seals feel like

Another favorite thing at Sea World was the Sesame Street Play area. It is an area specifically for little kids that had a semi bounce house like floor with squishy blocks to play with. Carter ran and ran and loved it. He also had a few run ins. Him and another little boy literally ran straight into each other. The other kids mom kinda gave us a dirty look, which I'm assuming was because she thought Carter was older than he is and should have known better. I guess that's an occupational hazard when your 18 month old is as big or bigger than the 2 and 3 year olds. People expect him to act older than he is. Oh well.

getting some love after him and another little boy ran into each other


this is Carter's dramatic face!


Carter was bringing the blocks to random adults, it was funny!


"here Mom!"


I love this one. He was having so much fun!

In addition to the Shamu show we also went to the Pets show. They had dogs, cats, bunnies, pigs, and a kangaroo doing fun tricks. Carter loved the kangaroo and even got to pet it after the show. This was the end of day two and he was pretty pooped by this point.

Completely fun filled days equaled some awesome snuggle time with Carter. I'm pretty sure Joe's favorite part of the trip was the amazing nap he took with Carter. In fact I know that was Joe's favorite part. He specifically asked me if I was going to write about his and Carter's nap on the blog :) Our hotel room was a one bedroom suite with bedroom, living area and a small kitchen. This was awesome, but it meant that the bedroom portion of the hotel room was pretty small. Carter's pack n play was right next to my side of the bed. One day we were all napping and Carter woke up so I brought him into bed with us. He went to snuggle with Joe and when I woke up I found them like this. I had to get a picture! It was so insanely cute I couldn't help but have this goofy grin on my face. They slept like that for quite a while. So cute!

Joe was kind of a Carter snuggle hog! It was so cute to see them together like that that I couldn't be mad. It's been a while since Joe and Carter have had that kind of time together and they were both soaking in in.

Our first morning at Sea World Carter was running up and down this little ramp thinking it was the coolest thing ever. I'm sure you know where this is going. Carter was so excited about it and running so fast that he stumbled and I was an inch away from being able to save him from the fall and thus hitting his forehead on a railing. In the scheme of Carter's falls this was one of the worst. :( I felt so awful that I was just out of reach and couldn't save him from hitting his head. His poor head ran straight into a railing. He cried and cried, it was terrible. Anyway, my point is that after I calmed him down and we went back over to Joe (who was waiting in line to feed the dolphins) Carter reached out for Joe and snuggled his head into Joe's shoulder and just laid his head there.

You can bet that Joe was wearing his goofy grin the whole time Carter had his head snuggled into Joe's shoulder. I can't blame him, I would have been wearing it too. Getting love/snuggles from Carter definitely tops Joe and my list of all time favorite things.

We had the most amazing two days at Sea World! Thanks Nana & Papa for the tickets/Joe's awesome birthday present.

I'm going to do the rest of our trip in a different post because woaahh is this one long already!