My New Badge

Over the last 2 years as Carter's mommy, I've certainly encountered many firsts. I've earned plenty of "badges" if you will. First time I nursed my baby, first time I left the house with him, first time I survived a full blown Target meltdown, first time I was peed, pooped on or spit up on in public with no corner or bathroom in sight...oh and my personal favorite, first time the nursing cover fell off, in front of an entire group of diners. Yep, plenty of firsts in motherhood. But, honestly in 2 years, the extent of Carter not feeling well were mostly centered around short spurts of sickness. Maybe a bout of diarrhea or a runny or stuffy nose. Not many things tended to linger and I usually credited good luck, baby Jesus or the fact that I tend not to hover and slather on the sanitizer or worry or fuss over things like that. I just have sort of slid by in the wellness department. Now with that said, we have had some really hard days. Carter does deal with constipation and has since he turned a year. We've been down many different roads with that one and have been assured by a few different doctors that it's normal, it will pass and will improve. I've always been wary of things like that. "It will pass, let it run it's course" etc....simply because they don't really KNOW your child. They look at your child and your child is simply that...a child. An appointment. A textbook case. A statistic. I take and respect their advice, but try to lean on Mommy's instinct more than anything at all. And BOY did my Mommy's instinct kick in last week. Something was just NOT right with our sweet Carter. He woke up the morning after Easter with what looked like a diaper rash. But I immediately didn't feel right about it. Carter has been very lucky and just generally doesn't get diaper rashes. In fact, I was JUST joking to Justin that we got 4 tubes of diaper rash cream for Carter's baby shower and we're still on tube 1! I was looking forward to the back up supply we would have when baby #2 arrives. But, again we went ahead with our day, business as usual. That night when I was changing him into his jammies, I noticed he had small red blotches (that looked like hives) under his arm pits and there were more in his diaper area. The hot spots for hives. I was worried. Worried is an understatement. I didn't sleep much that night. Worried they were going to spread. Worried they weren't hives. Worried I had exposed our bun in the oven to something dangerous (a lot of rashes can be harmful to unborn babies). Worried. Worried. Worried.
 I woke Carter up Tuesday morning even before he woke up naturally because I couldn't wait another minute. The rash had spread now to his tummy, back and the top of his legs. He also had a few on his forehead and scalp. They didn't bother him at all though. Happy as clam. We took him to the urgent care, only to discover they don't open until 5pm. What the?! 5 pm is a BIT late for urgent issues! So we headed over to the ER and talked to an ER nurse, just to get her opinion on what we should do. She thought we should go ahead and admit him, since he's never had an allergic reaction before. The doctor looked him over and concluded it was an outdoor or contact allergy from Easter Sunday. He thought it may have been the grass, the heat or sun or maybe even the new outfit he wore on Sunday. He thought they would be gone in a few days and didn't think they would get any worse. Sounds like a pretty good prognosis right? Well, we certainly thought so!
The next day, Carter woke up with twice as many hives as the day before. He was clearly itchy at this point and just uncomfortable. We were prescribed an oral anti-itch medication and then just Benadryl. Neither were working it seemed and Carter progressively got worse as the day went on. The next morning I had my OB check up for our little bean. Justin and Carter usually accompany me, especially since Carter loves to see or hear the baby, but he was not well enough and I knew we would most likely be back to the doctors that day for my sweet boy. As soon as I got home and saw Carter for the first time that day, I burst into tears. Carter's hives had spread everywhere. On his eye lids, inside his ears and just about every square inch of his body you could think of. I called the advice nurse quickly to see what she thought and she gave me some things to look out for (difficulty breathing, confusion, dizziness, etc) and made an appointment with a pediatrician a few hours from them. LONGEST hours of my life. During that time Carter's hives began to swell and his eyes and nose bridge puffed up. Justin was monitoring his lungs with a stethoscope (those ambulance days came into handy here) and I just held him in my arms. I kissed his forehead at one point and he felt warm to me. We checked his temp and it was 100. At that point, we began packing up to the head to doctors and got checked in and we were seen in less than a minute. His fever turned out to be a good thing in some ways. It gave us an answer. He was seen by two doctors, who were AWESOME. One was a NICU doctor from the hospital, who happened to be helping out because they were short handed and he could not have been better with Carter. He really helped ease all of our fears. The fever was a sign and probably the only sign Carter was battling a virus of some sort. Which virus didn't seem to matter. They said it was a common virus of some sort, most likely not the flu because he had his flu shot already, but maybe a cold virus. There was nothing they could do to treat the virus. We were told it had to run its course. Never a fun thing to hear as a parent. As far as the hives went, they explained to us for a good ten minutes everything we ever needed to know about hives. We learned Carter was having an allergic reaction to the virus, or viral hives. Apparently this is very common in infants and toddlers and it can take up to 3 weeks for a child to fully heal. We learned that hives first appear in the hot spots, move throughout the body, can come and go in a matter of minutes and will turn a blue-ish gray or purple color when they have ran their course. Many of Carter's hives on his back, tummy and legs were gray or purple. It was super scary. He didn't look like our son at all. His nose was so swollen and eyes sunken in and the color of his skin was changing right before us. I felt sick to my stomach. They made a follow up appointment for the next morning and sent us home with Tylenol.
That night was the roughest night I've ever had as a mother. Getting Carter's fever down wasn't easy. He was refusing to drink, which the doctors said had he had been dehydrated earlier, they would have admitted him right that moment. They said he looked dehydrated, but checked him and he wasn't. So we were very worried about dehydration, an admission to the hospital and his fever not going down. We tried juice, water, milk, Popsicles...just about everything. He was also starting to FREAK when he even saw his meds. And anytime he cried, his hives would become redder and more inflamed. We had Carter sleep with us that night and from 11 (when he finally collapsed from exhaustion) to 3:30, he laid on my chest. I tried to move him next to me, afraid he would be too warm on me, and he always crawled right back up on me. I could feel that he was burning up. He woke up every half hour crying out in pain or saying that he itched. We had slathered on anti-itch cream, but I'm sure it burned. He HATED it. At 3:30, his fever broke. He woke up and yelled, "Nana, Papa! Movie!". Which made all of us laugh. We turned on a movie and gave him his meds. He then threw them right up all over me and our sheets. We quickly cleaned up and just cuddled for a few and then Carter out of the blue said, "Nigh Nigh" and pointed to our door. We knew he wanted his own bed and his room. But, I was still VERY worried about the swelling and it moving to his throat or tongue. Justin and I took turns checking up on him through the night and he slept soundly until 8, when we woke him up to head back to the doctors.
Our poor baby's ankles, legs and feet were so swollen he could not even stand or really move that morning. We rushed to our appointment, hoping for any answer but "let it run it's course" and knowing that we were not leaving until we were given or told something else. I couldn't even put Carter's shoes on because his ankles were so swollen. When the pediatrician saw that he couldn't even stand or walk around the room, she knew it was bad. She went ahead and ordered a steroid shot in his leg and BOY was that scary. The needle was so long and his leg was so swollen. He of course cried, but was surprisingly much braver than we ever imagined. He even took a sticker like a champ right after getting his shot. We had to stay 15 minutes for observation and then were released to go home. The steroid shot was the BEST thing we could have ever hoped for out of this appointment. His facial swelling started to go down almost immediately and by 3pm, when he woke up from his nap, all of his swelling had gone down and about 50 percent of his hives had gone away. By 7pm, about 75 percent of his hives had went away and what was left was blue-ish gray skin (to others must have looked SO freaky, to us felt like we could finally sigh some relief!). His fever also completely broke and never returned.
We are now a week into this and Carter only has a few hives left. All new ones that have popped up (as the doctor warned us would happen...those little buggers come and go for up to 3 weeks!). His skin has completely returned to normal color. He is extra sensitive these days and still not 100 percent himself, but I think I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I realize that this doesn't even COMPARE to what others may have or are going through. In fact, I've never counted my blessings so many times as I have this week. Carter is healthy and growing and this is just a hiccup in that tricky journey of parenthood. We have had so much support and love this week, which has helped us tremendously get through a pretty rough week for all of us. Carter is on the mends, hopping around the living room as I speak, back to his just about normal routine and I now bare another badge as his mommy...we made it through and we are looking forward to each and every day ahead!

Memories

Today I had one of those days as a mommy, that felt monumental, without actually having any significant event or "memory" if you will attached to it. How will I remember today if I don't write it down? It's no longer 11-11-11, it isn't a holiday, we aren't on vacation and it wasn't any one's birthday. But, somehow, so many amazing memories happened today and I don't want to forget any of them. Some truly heartwarming and others just downright funny.
 Just to give myself and other readers (if there are any!) a little background (for when I go back and read this years from now...this is why I created this little space after all), Carter is 19 months old. He is talking up a storm, but not much of what he says is understandable to others, except Justin, myself and maybe Nana and Papa (my parents). So when a new word comes out that is very distinct and I'm 99 percent sure a stranger would get it, I get VERY excited. Today Carter said "draw" over and over. He is obsessed with his Magna-Doodle lately. We've had the thing for several months now. We actually bought it for him when we went on our first flight with him to New Orleans back in May. He slowly lost interest in it over the months, but recently will sit and draw on it for close to an hour. He also loves coloring in his coloring book or "writing" on a notepad. Very cute. Anyways, he kept requesting that I draw for him and then I would hand him the Magna-Doodle and he would draw on the picture too. Then I would erase it and we would start over. We did this probably 20 times, back and forth. After awhile, I started drawing balls for him. He would say "bayball" (baseball) or "baball" (basketball) or just plain "ball" and I would draw it. Then after several times, he asked me to "draw a ball". OKAY, that was a sentence!!!! Listening to him put words together and form sentences is SO much fun. He's making connections too. He is starting to figure out that we can draw things we know about it and not just making random movements with the pen. I LOVE it.
 Another memory today I want to remember, really warms both my "mommy" heart and my "teacher" heart. While making dinner, Carter came up to me with a block that had a "C" on it and wanted to me to look at it. I said "it's a "C"...like your name...Carter" and Carter immediately stopped and looked at the refrigerator and pointed to the magnetic letters I have on the fridge that spell out his name. OH MY STARS!!!!! This time there were tears and jumping for joy and LOTS of praise. Maybe I overreacted a teeny bit, but come on...talk about making connections!!! He gets it! He remembered that the magnetic letters on the fridge spell Carter (we go over it anytime we get a snack or drink out of the fridge and he plays with the letters every day). I tell you, it is FOR SURE the little things in life that get me going these days. I am head over heels in love with being a mom to a toddler. Watching him make these connections and putting things together is the best part of my day and why it is so, so hard for me to leave him during the week sometimes...most of the time. :( I want to be there for every, single thing these days. I always wanted to, but lately I feel like sometimes I come home to a different kid. May be a slight exaggeration, but Carter is changing and growing and developing OVER NIGHT and I am SO thankful for my 3 days each week of completely undivided time with him. Even more thankful Daddy now has part of those days off with us too! :)
 Another heartwarming moment from today happened while snuggling before bed. Carter and I were laying on the sofa and watching part of Shrek Forever After...it was on cable. Carter was playing with my hair and it was in a huge messy pile on my head...and Carter kept trying to straighten it out. He must prefer his mama to not look like such a mess. Haha. He then just grabbed the sides of my face and leaned in for a kiss. Such a sweetheart. I told him how much I loved him. It was one of my best moments in the last 19 months with my sweet boy.
 Now onto my funny story from the day (but I have to warn you, there's a lot of potty talk ahead). Well, it stems from maybe a not so funny story. Poor Carter has several bouts of constipation from time to time. His pediatrician has ruled it out as normal, but Justin and I are keeping a close eye on it. We've upped his water and fiber intake and lowered his milk intake (as well as the fat content of his milk) and praying it helps. According to Carter's diet, his ped feels he should be more regular, so she's chalked it up to just anxiety about going potty. Great, potty learning should be tons and tons of fun (sarcasm here). He had some terrible bouts of constipation after turning 1 and since then he will hold it for days. We'll know he has to go, but he'll fight it and won't go until the next day! Poor baby :( I'm doing everything I can to ease his anxieties over going to the potty. Recently, I started pretending that his stuffed animals have to go potty and when they do, I give them big hugs and lots of praise. Well, Carter has caught on quick to this. Although it's not really helping much (at least not yet), Carter finds the entire thing hilarious. Today, when he woke up from nap he wanted to still cuddle with his stuffed dog Max. I was changing his diaper and Carter pointed to Max and grunted (which is Carter's way of telling us he has to go potty, and then this will last a DAY of him telling us and not going). Anyways, so I said to Carter, "Max has to go potty? Okay, let's put a diaper on him so he can go." (am I the only crazy mother who has put a diaper on a stuffed animal in efforts to get my own kid to go! Haha). And so the rest of the day Max the stuffed dog had on a Huggies jean diaper! Before bed, I was changing Carter's diaper and getting him ready for bed, so I decided to take off Max's diaper too before bed. I handed Max to Carter and said, "Max went potty Carter! No more diaper!" and Carter immediately hung Max upside down and looked under his tail to see where or HOW this all happened...hahahaha. Oh, it was priceless! I put Carter in his crib along with Max and said goodnight to him, kissed him and Max...all awhile Carter had the MOST perplexed look on his face. Too funny. And too cute. :)
 Thanks for keeping up with us and hope you enjoyed our little moments from today. xoxo

Happy Retirement!

Yesterday was my mother in law's much anticipated retirement party! I have been preparing for it for weeks and have been SO excited to celebrate with my in-laws. My mother in law {Carolyn} has worked for Orange Unified School District {same district I work for!} for 25 years...18 at her current school. She went back to work when Justin went off to kindergarten...and worked several positions within the school district including noon supervisor, instructional assistant, librarian and then her most current position; health clerk. She works at an awesome school with a lot of REALLY fabulous teachers, staff and families. I know she will be SO missed and I also know how challenging it is to leave your *home* away from home. When you work at a school, you leave behind not only colleagues, but families, children and a community. Her retirement is going to be a mix of emotions at first and I wanted nothing more than to show her so much appreciation for a job well done. :)
Carolyn loves Hawaii. I mean, she LOVES Hawaii. ;) So, I knew a luau themed party would be perfect! Unfortunately all of the party stores are plastered in Halloween and fall decor {and even some Christmas!} and luau or Hawaiian themed party decor were not readily available. Thank goodness for Oriental Trading and scouring the Internet for ideas that I could use with things I already had or could easily find. In that process, I came across some VERY creative people. I am blown away by the creativity of others. I just don't have that...don't let the kinder teacher title fool you...I really am not creative! So, I did the best I could... ;)
Here are some photos of the decorations I came up with...enjoy!

Gift bags...inside were yummy sugar cookies



My friend Sarah made these...sometimes a girl has to call in back up! ;)
Here is the link to her site...she also made Carter's cupcakes and smash cake!
http://bradycakes.com/



A view of our island with the appetizers out

What do you think? Luau-ish? :)

Leis for everyone

This was my attempt at getting creative...I like the way it turned out :)



The food is always the highlight of any really good party...right?! So, that's where I invested the most time. I scoured the Internet in the hopes of finding the perfect luau menu. This was after looking at several different options for catering. Haha. Hey...like I said, sometimes a girl has to call in back up! Well, after much going back and forth, I decided to go for it! We are going to be hosting Christmas this year at our house...and I decided this was a good test to see if I could really pull off cooking a family sized feast for my in-laws and send everyone away satisfied and asking for the recipes ;). Well, mission accomplished!
Here are some pictures of the yummy Hawaiian foods I made. Enjoy!

The kalua pork was SO dang good. I mean, mouth watering, melts in your mouth yummy. It slow cooked for 20 hours...but it easily could have been eaten at the 16 hour mark. I also bought a bottle of BBQ sauce made in Hawaii and we made little sandwiches with Hawaiian sweet rolls and a little dollop of the BBQ sauce...Mmmmm so good!
Here's the link to the recipe...only 3 ingredients...SO easy!
http://www.food.com/recipe/kalua-pig-in-a-slow-cooker-211379

This is I just made up as I went along ;) I added pineapple juice, guava juice, frozen strawberries and Ginger Ale...it was a hit :)

This for me was the most challenging because I have never ventured away from the box! I didn't realize how many ingredients go into the REAL DEAL! And boy am I glad I did! It took several pep talks and texts from my best friend to get through the long process...but the end's result was SO worth it! They are by far my favorite recipe from the night. Here is the link... :)
http://glorioustreats.blogspot.com/2010/08/pina-colada-cupcakes-recipe.html

Well, there were BIG plans here to make fruit skewers....but I ran out of time ;) So I just added a cup of skewers next to the fruit and that was a hit. The coconut shrimp I can hardly take credit for. They were frozen BUT with keeping the authenticity of the theme in mind...I scoured a few different grocery stores to find the perfect ones! These were made in Hawaii...and they were delish...now if only I didn't rush Justin out with the garbage bags last night, I might have had a chance to find the name for you...I got them at Albertsons...blue box...hope that helps!

Both of these recipes were super simple and super yummy. This was my first time cutting chicken wings. I know, have I lived under a rock for the last 6 years I've been married and cooking real food...well, I have always bought the pre-cut wings and after butchering several of these poor little guys, I finally went to the computer for my dear friend Google to find out what the heck I was doing. Turns out it is SO easy to cut a chicken wing...who knew?! Take the wing, make a V and cut down into the joint...I was literally cutting through bone and almost lost a finger doing so...thank you Google! Here are the links to both recipes...enjoy!
http://www.food.com/recipe/aloha-chicken-wings-77820
http://www.food.com/recipe/Hawaiian-Baked-Beans-75683
{I omitted the cubed ham in the baked beans...just because I'm not a huge fan, but I'm sure it would add a lot of extra flavor}



I didn't get a picture {or at least a good one} of the yummy onion dip I made with sweet onions. Carolyn LOVES Maui sweet onions so I had to make her something with sweet onions and found a recipe for onion dip that I thought looked amazing. But honestly when I poured it out of the food processor and it resembled more of baby cereal than onion dip, I started to sweat...but after about an hour in the fridge, it formed a great texture and was a favorite of everyone...here's the recipe, you HAVE to try it. SO good!

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2011/07/28/baked-zucchini-sticks-and-sweet-onion-dip-that-bloomin-zucchini/

I didn't make the zucchini sticks with them, but I'm sure they would have been amazing!

Well, whenever all of the kiddos get together, they have such a blast. Carter woke up from his nap to a house bustling with noise, laughter and toys everywhere! I think he thought he was still dreaming! It was SO cute to see all of his cousins rush over to him when he first woke up, to give him hugs or pet his soft hair {this is so funny to me, but other kids are just so fascinated with Carter's hair...perhaps it's the red hair :)}! Haha. I wish I could have snapped some photos of that. It was truly heart warming and so, so funny. Carter looked so excited to see everyone! Here are some pictures of the cousins playing and some other family shots from the party. Enjoy!

They were all SO cute sitting at the "kids table" together...even Carter got to join them this time!

They thought it was hilarious to have Carter chase after them...his cousins would say "Get us Baby!" and Carter would go running after them screaming on the top of his lungs...great ambiance while us adults tried to chat...geesh! ;)

This is the best picture.. :)

Carter showing his cousins his play house :)

Handsome boy! 

Keeley and Annabella showing Carter the fine art of making balls with play-dough and  then becoming utterly disgusted when Carter surprisingly bit off a piece! Haha

Yummy cupcake :)

Annabella and Carter

Jeffrey, Keeley and Annabella

The lady of the hour! Happy Retirement Mom!

Thanks for all of your HARD work getting this house clean and I mean DEEP cleaned. This guy is amazing. :)

Well ladies and gentlemen...this is Carter's new "smiley face"....it all started about a week ago and now whenever we pull out a camera...we don't even have to say "smile" or "cheese", he makes THIS face. Crazy right?! It's not a good look for him...but we can't break the news to him quite yet. ;)

Oh Daddy tricked him and snapped a photo very quickly!

That face again! Haha

Kisses :)

Grandpa and Carter...and Grandpa's pink lei that Justin gave to him as a joke..and he was such a good sport about it ;)

Well, there you have it! It was a success! The best party we've ever thrown at our house. Justin and I wanted his Mom to have a party that was memorable and showed our appreciation and love for her. I hope we were able to capture that and I know she had a great time. Happy Retirement Mom! And I leave you with a little photo that will truly pull on your heart strings...every student at Anaheim Hills elementary wrote a sweet message on a flower and the teachers made a little leis out of them. They were then presented to her at a surprise assembly on her last day of work and each class had a student come up and put the lei around her neck. She had about 20 of them and some of the older students wrote such sweet and heartwarming messages! I'm so glad she brought them to share. This is WHY leaving your job at a school is SO hard. She will miss those kiddos so much. Enjoy the picture!





Tiny toes

~I can only imagine where these tiny little feet will go in a lifetime...My only hope is that they never forget their way home~ Unknown



15 months

Carter has fully made the leap from infancy to toddlerhood. He is growing every single day. I swear there are days he has grown during naptime! I thought it would be fun to give you all a little Carter update.

Age:15 months
Weight: 27 pounds
Height: not sure...but he pretty much towers over all of the other babes in Gymboree...I'll have to bust out the measuring tape
Clothing size: 24 months/2T
Shoe size: Pretty much a size 6 right now. The top of his little baby feet are SO fat. Poor kid. Length wise he's probably only a size 4, but there is no way I can squeeze his feetsies into a size 4!
Diaper size: 4, but the next value box we buy will be a size 5.
Favorite toys: He still loves, loves, loves his balls. Every morning he wakes up asking for his balls. He could technically play all day, very happily with just his balls. But Mommy wants him to have a wide variety of interests! He also loves to play with his musical instruments...his guitars (Nana and Papa got him a string guitar and Mommy and Daddy got him an electric one...okay, both are battery operated! Haha. They are made to look like those anyways) ;) He also loves his drum set and musical shakers. He is also really into cars, trucks or anything with wheels. He makes the "vroom vroom" sound and drives them all over the house, our sofas, coffee table, over Daddy. Haha. Books are a big part of his day. He is starting to ask me what things are in the books. He says "wthat" which means "what's that?". It warms my heart! He will ask me what things are all day and I just love feeding his curious mind. It has been my favorite part of this age. His curiousity and the look of wonder in his eyes as he explores and discovers new things.
New words: "wthat" (as I just talked about), "nigh, nigh" (when he's sleepy at night, he will say "nigh, nigh" over and over and go to the staircase. It is so cute. We then let him crawl up the stairs to his room to go to bed, the highlight of his day lately!), "bub" for bubbles, "mah" for more, "bay" for baby "boo" for book....and for the longest, longest time he would only say Mama when he was tired or hungry or needed something. Now he will look me in the eyes when we are cuddling and say "Mama" and giggle. It is by far the highlight of my day. :)
Favorite place to go: Hands down playing outside. He loves run freely, picking up flowers or leaves or grass or whatever. He likes to splash in the water in his water table or kick and throw balls around at the park. He just loves being outside with the sun on his face. He reminds me of our dog Brooklyn when she sunbathes, happy as a clam. When Carter is outside, he will look up to the sky, close his eyes and bask in the sun. It is so funny and heartwarming.
New adventures: We recently signed up at Gymboree, which as been a really rewarding experience for Carter. He is building his confidence climbing and trying new things. He is no longer scared of the parachute rides and can climb up the highest climbers with almost no assistance. We are still working on group time. He is so excited to play with all of their toys and use their climbing equipment, that settling down for music and movement is not always easy, but that's why I signed him up. It's good for him to have that structure and socialization time, because he doesn't go to a child care center during the week and has a pretty limited amount with other kiddos his age.
Favorite food: Carter has been really asserting his independence with food now. He is learning that he does not have to eat everything I give him. Oh, the life of a toddler and their autonomy stage. He is starting to veto vegetables and meat. He still loves most fruits though and I've managed to sneak in veggies through these really awesome squeezable packs of pureed veggies and fruit mixtures. He has no clue they're vegetables...ahhh, I'm so tricky! ;) His favorite foods right now are spaghetti, chicken nuggets with ketchup and yogurt.
Carter is certainly a toddler now. He throws mini tantrums when he doesn't get his way, he runs from me when I tell him it's time to get dressed, he doesn't like to share and he has a mischevious grin that my Mom thinks is so adorable and I know means trouble! My little nickname for him is Dennis the Mennace...which is even more fitting when I dress him in his Osh Kosh overalls!
I feel very lucky these days. Carter is growing up to be such a sweet, good natured, silly, funny little boy. He has quite a sense of humor already and will do things intentionally to make us laugh. He still likes to cuddle and checks back in with me during the day for cuddles. He still drinks his milk (but in a sippy cup now) in my lap, just like he did when he drank from a bottle. Anytime he wants a drink, he likes to sit in my lap and have that cuddle time with me. I relish every moment of it. That is usually a good time to thank the Lord for this sweet, sweet boy. I have done my very best to enjoy every moment. It is going by so fast, sometimes too fast, but none the less, so thankful he is a healthy and happy 15 month old baby boy!

Best Friends

Yesterday we went to Zoomars Petting Zoo in San Juan Capistrano with my dear friend Amanda and her two adorable little girls. We had such a great time! The weather was perfect. Sunny, but not too hot and the kids had such a blast together. Carter LOVES Bella and Abby. He's known them his entire life and just recently seems to recognize them when we get together. He is especially drawn to Bella. Bella is 2 years old and is Amanda's first born daughter. When Amanda was pregnant with Bella, we were both so excited for this baby. We couldn't wait to meet Bella! Both of Amanda's girls are the two of the happiest kids I know. Always upbeat and all smiles. Bella has such an expansive vocabulary for her age and I think Carter really enjoys having "conversations" with her. She is always very gentle and understanding with him because she has a little sister at home the same age. Carter, Bella and Abby will certainly grow up to be best friends. It warms our hearts to watch them all play together. Here are a few pictures from our day at Zoomars.

Carter giving Bella a hug :)

Getting some hand sanitzer together after petting the bunnies and guinea pigs

Checking out the pig together

Checking out the donkey and the goats

So handsome!



Carter taking Bella for a spin in the jeep!



Carter is SO excited to ride on the train by himself!

They had so much fun on the train!

An attempted group shot...the train conductor scared Abby {hence the tears} and Bella got cut out of the picture! So typical when you try to take a picture of 3 kids after a long day at the zoo :)

I would HIGHLY recommend Zoomars for little ones. It is the perfect size and everything is hands on. You can literally pet and feed all of the animals there. Once, Carter gets a little older, I think he will really love the bunny and guinea pig area. He wasn't quite old enough to understand "gentle", so we moved on to the bigger animals. There is also a small park for the kids to play and benches for us Mamas to chat and catch up. It was a great day and I can't wait to go back!

Baby's Day Out

We usually spend Sunday afternoons at my parent's house {Nana and Papa's}, but they just got back from Hawaii {lucky ducks!}, so we are going to let them rest and visit them tomorrow. So that left us free without plans. It was far too gorgeous of a day to let it go, so I packed up Carter and we headed out for lunch and water play.
Our first stop was lunch at Johnny Rockets. I had a coupon for a free kid's meal...so EVEN better!


Yummy yogurt!

Our next stop was Barnes N' Noble's. My incredibly sweet husband gave me a gift card on my last day of the school year, so I decided to go and take a peek. It's too bad I've become so addicted to my Nook. I even stopped and asked how I could use my gift card to buy books on my Nook...when did buying the real deal become such a thing of the past for me?! I forced myself to look through the REAL books {especially all of the fun summer reads so perfectly laid out on the tables} and decided that even though my Nook is convenient, easy to read and instantly gratifying, REAL books just can't be replaced. I love the smell of new books. I love books period and I hope if I can instill anything learning/teacher/education wise in my son, it is to love to read. Hence, our visit...our BRAVE visit mind you {have you ever let a one year old out of his stroller at a bookstore before?}. Haha. I laugh NOW, but I'm sure I had that nervous, apologetic look on my face, our entire visit, as Carter screamed in pure excitement at the very sight of books. For some people, they're not sure what to think. Some even go as far to reassure Carter it's okay. "No, no", I reassure THEM, "he's just excited." {Those of you that know Carter, know this scream...it's not always the most pleasant sound. He just gets VERY excited and hasn't learned the slightest thing about "inside voices" yet...Mom's fault} ;).

Look at all of these books Mama!

Our next stop was to play in the water fountains. Once the weather turns warm, the Shoppes at Chino Hills has water play for the kids. I strolled by the kids playing in the water a few weeks ago and Carter almost broke out of the stroller, trying to get to the kids. I figured we would give it a go, but I wasn't sure if Carter would love it as much as he thought he would. I mean, often the water shot out from the ground RIGHT when he looking down and he got soaked...but he LOVED it. Every moment of it. He loved it so much in fact, I had to drag him away kicking and screaming. Not my favorite moment, but we had so, so much fun! I plan on taking him back next week when Daddy's off, so he can see him in action!

Water Dude

Our last stop of the day was Panera Bread for my free treat. If you sign up for a Panera rewards card {it's free and we go there every week after Gymboree}, you rack up points and get free stuff like cookies, pastries, smoothies, lattes, etc. I've only had it for about a month and every other week, I have something free on the card. It is awesome! I am obsessed with these shortbread flower cookies with lemon icing. Now, if I want to put on a bathing suit in front of anyone but my husband this summer, I really should NOT be eating these...so Carter was the lucky one today! {But, I did end up nibbling off a petal...YUM. You must try!}

Ahhh, to be a kid again!

It was overall a GREAT day. I sometimes complain and pout about Justin missing the weekend festivities with us, but I am grateful for days like this, when Carter and I can share memories and have our special time together. Happy summer!