Carson is 9 Months

Carson’s 9 month birthday was the same as Thanksgiving this year which is pretty special. I can’t even begin to mention everything we’re thankful for this year, but we’d probably top the list with having a healthy well-mannered baby and our health and that of our families.
The biggest change in Carson this month (particularly over the last two weeks), has been the onset of some major stranger anxiety. He’s always been a mommy’s boy and prefers me to anyone else, but he used to go to new people very easily. He will still smile at others, but if he has any sense that I might be leaving or that he might be passed off he gets very nervous and grabs on to me tightly. His wrists move vigorously as another sign of nervousness or excitement. This month was also more difficult because we all were a little sick, with a bad cough and stuffiness. Carson was waking much of the night and wanted to be held a lot of the day.

Carson still will not take a bottle (I’ve given up), but he drinks from a sippy cup pretty well, usually just water with meals. He has a good appetite and eats quite a bit of real food – cereal with applesauce in the morning, lots of crackers any time he’s in his high chair, and vegetables and cereal for dinner. He gets more table food than Collin did at this age, and his favorite is French Fries…he IS Mike’s son too, despite of his physical resemblance to me!

Carson really enjoys music, and likes to play with instruments, banging on his toy xylophone or tambourine. Collin has been trying to teach him how to play “Hot Cross Buns”. He loves to clap to the music and seems to react more to songs he likes when we’re driving. He also enjoys throwing objects on the floor to watch mommy pick them up.

He’s still happy sitting and not moving. He will occasionally scoot and pull himself to something he’s interested in but doesn’t seem to have much interest in crawling. I think God is waiting for my school to be over (only a few weeks left - yippee!!) before life gets more difficult.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in St. Louis this year, since we made a switch to be with my family (& Rob, Kristen & Owen) in Dallas last year. We had turkey dinner at Mike’s Aunt Sharon’s house with the full gang, Carson’s was the THIRD youngest baby boy in the family on his 1st Thanksgiving! His cousin Drew is three months old, and Mike’s cousin Marcie had a baby boy Louie just a month ago. The family is growing fast, as the last time we were here for Thanksgiving Collin was the only child, and Karen was pregnant with Sophie. Now between Mike & his two sisters, there are six kids under 4 ½ with another on the way this spring...it’s nice that all the cousins are close in age.

The day after Thanksgiving we attended the Belleville Santa Claus parade, with bands, and candy thrown, and you know who. It was a little chilly, but the kids had a blast. Friday night we had Grandma watch the boys and went out with just the adults siblings – a welcome rteat. Saturday we went to St. Louis after Carson’s nap and picked up MY Grandma and took her over to my Uncle Charles' house for a nice lunch, then my cousin Caitlin’s to visit. My grandma did great getting around and I was so happy to be able to have her out and about and spend time together, especially since she fell and broke her hip just a few days later. We are all praying for her continued improvement in physical therapy so she can be released from the hospital and hopefully go back to her Independent Living home.

We also were in town to celebrate our nephew Drew’s baptism on Sunday, and we are the proud Godparents! It made for a late arrival into Atlanta (2 AM) to stay for the party at Laura & Tim’s, but definitely worth it, and we’re sure the traffic on 75 was a lot lighter in the middle of the night than it would have been earlier on a busy holiday travel day.

Fall 2008

This fall seemed to require a little more coordinating than other years. The transition from one to two kids was easier in some ways, partially because Carson has been such a good baby. However, making time for the things I needed to get done with a baby who needs to nap, a preschooler who no longer naps was sometimes a challenge. I think God knew what he was doing by delaying my graduation until this fall even though I was so set on finishing before the baby arrived. Having my Program Evaluation course to focus on after I took Collin to school encouraged me to come straight back home to get Carson down for his nap and work on my school. There was definitely some stress associated with being enrolled in four hours of graduate work but I really enjoyed working with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta on the Fit Kids program and having something academic to focus on.

I added several new Mary Kay teammates this semester, despite not spending a lot of time on my Mary Kay business. Having these sharp women on my team encouraged me to stay involved with Mary Kay, and I even did my annual Holiday Open House (with mom’s help while Mike was in Korea) for my customers.

We enjoyed watching Collin playing soccer, but weekends were definitely more busy this year as Mike also played on an ALTA tennis team most Saturdays. Collin and I both appreciated him be able to play more independently for “playdates” which we did at least once a week in the afternoons. Wednesday afternoons were soccer practice at 4 PM and then meeting friends at the “concert park”. We still made time to go to the ZOO with friends and the Children’s Museum during the week, and take trips to Phillidelphia and St. Louis to visit family.

We love the beauty of Atlanta's fall colors, and despite the dumping of leaves from our many fall trees, enjoy running around our natural yard with Collin. I am very excited to be done with school, and have more time for the boys, Mary Kay. other interests!