Lo Lo 'ed Up

On Tuesday night, while Nick and I were eating dinner after the kiddos had been put to bed {Carter was not asleep}, we heard little feet on the floor upstairs. The noise ceased after a little bit, so we finished our meal.

After dinner was over, I heard Carter talking upstairs, so I went up there to check and make sure that he was in the bed. Well, he was, technically, in the bed. BUT, when I turned to go up the stairs, I saw that his light was on. As I got to the top of the stairs, I saw that he was sitting up in bed playing with something in front of him. The something in front of him? A bottle of lotion {or "lo-lo," as we call it}. He looked up and told me that he was "getting lo-lo'ed up," which is what we usually say after bathtime when we put lotion on him.

telling Daddy what he was doing

He had made quite a mess. I don't know that I'd say there was lotion everywhere, because it could certainly have been worse. He had lotion on his clothes, two of his pillows, his friends that he sleeps with, and he had it coated on every inch of exposed skin--including his face!

please note the sheen on his face and the lotion on his chin

Unfortunately for those of you reading, lotion doesn't photograph all that well, so you can't get the full effect, but it was quite the nightcap for a busy Tuesday!

Where did 8 months go?

This little peanut

has become this precious baby girl!

And these two couldn't love each other anymore. Carter still smiles at her just like that...and the good news is that, now, Callen smiles--and laughs--back at him.

Where does the time go? I can't even believe that Callen has been here with us for 8 months. It has been a crazy, busy 8 months--adjusting to life with two children, surviving Callen's two months of mom-diagnosed colic, Nick's and my taking new jobs, searching for a new house, living apart for two months, buying and moving into a new house, starting new jobs, and building life as a family in a new place. Whew...I get tired just thinking of it...BUT, Callen has been a trooper through it all {as has Carter, to give credit where credit is due}.

Callen at 8 months is truly a delight. She is ALWAYS happy. Even when she is fussy, which is really only if she is very hungry or sleepy, she isn't ever really unhappy. At school, they say that when the whole classroom of infants is crying, Callen just looks around as if to say "what's the matter with you people?" She has made no real move toward crawling. She can pull her knees up under her if she really wants to, but outside of her crib, she doesn't do it often. I suppose she is perfectly content to sit, roll to what she wants or have someone carry her. She is a champion sleeper at night, but she is not a particularly good napper. She takes cat-naps mostly; though, occasionally we luck out and she'll get a good 2 hour nap in.

Every morning when I go in to get her up, I marvel at how big she's gotten and how little she is. Does that make sense? She takes up so much more room in her crib than she used to, but I love that I can still wrap her up in my arms. I just don't want her to grow up too fast!!!

Pedaling

When we bought our house, I think we underestimated the true value of an attached two car garage.

You see, when we lived in Homewood after we first got married, we had a one car garage that was really only big enough to BARELY pull a sedan into {but not really well-suited for opening the doors to get out} and there was no way an Explorer was fitting in there.

In Indianapolis, we had a two car garage with lots of additional storage space, but it was detached from the house. It was great when it was really cold or snowing, but beyond that, we didn't really use it a whole lot other than for storing way too much stuff we didn't find a home for elsewhere as well as toys.

Which brings me to now. We have a two car, attached garage that is about four steps from the entrance to our kitchen. Since we've lived here, one of our cars has spent the night in the garage a grand total of two nights. Is it nice to have an attached garage for our cars? Sure.

Is that the true value of the garage?

Absolutely not.

This is:

Carter is in hog heaven! He can "pedal" his hot wheels from the time we get home until I have to drag him inside to eat dinner. In addition, he can hit golf balls, play basketball and generally be a little boy in the garage--all while I am four steps away in the kitchen.

{please note how NASTY he is from all of the playing and rolling around on the concrete!}

Mr. Clean

Sunday night, when it was time for Carter to take a bath, he decided that he'd rather have a shower instead. So, he hopped into our shower {with Dad}, and got a good scrub down. I was sort of in and out while he was showering, and at one point when I walked back in, this is what I saw:

Carter "cleaning" {as he calls it} the shower! Nick and I squigy the shower after each shower to try to keep it as streak- and spot-free as possible, and I guess Carter has picked up on it. It always amazes and amuses me what he picks up.

In case you are wondering, he isn't old enough for me to hire him out yet! :)

Baby in a {laundry} Basket

This weekend when I was washing a load of clothes and Callen was boycotting a nap, I was a little worried about sitting her up on the tile floor in our laundry room. She is a fairly good "sitter," but when she falls, she usually falls pretty hard on the back of her head. Eager to avoid any unfortunate incidents, I resorted to containment:

She didn't seem to mind!

Callen's Little Surprise

This morning, while we were getting ready for work/school, Callen was playing on the floor in the bathroom and chewing on one of her toys. Nick said, "Miss Callen, are you growing a tooth in there?" To which I replied, "No Way, " and promptly stuck my finger in her mouth to feel if her gums were swollen {fully expecting them not to be}. To my surprise, what my finger found was the jagged edge of her first tooth poking through the bottom gum!

I say to my surprise because Carter didn't get his first tooth until 13 months. These two couldn't be more different--it continues to amaze me! Carter was a super easy baby from the beginning--no fussiness, always napped well, slept through the night at 8 weeks, and did most everything except walking early--rolling over, sitting up, crawling, etc.

Callen, on the other hand, started out life with 8 weeks of fussiness {which I am happy to say disappeared with the same vigor with which it arrived, and she has been a tremendously pleasant baby ever since}, waited until 4 months to sleep through the night {even thought I quit feeding her at night well before that!}, didn't roll over until around 6 months, which was about when she started sitting up, and hasn't shown much interest in crawling. BUT, she has a tooth!

I guess--at least in my case--it is true when "they" say that each child is unique and develops at his or her own pace. It is a great learning for me to just delight in each stage that she is experiencing and to not try to force her to develop on Carter's developmental schedule.

I am sure she'll start trying to keep up with him soon enough!

Happy Easter!!!

This beautiful, glorious Easter morning, Carter and Callen woke up to discover these little lovelies waiting for them on the couch. Callen's basket was filled with clothes, swimsuits, and teethers. Carter's basket was filled with C.ars paraphernalia, a swimsuit, shirt and a few sweet treats.

Carter was excited to dig into his basket and discover the goods.
Callen was a little more reserved and let Dad showcase her loot for her.
After exploring the baskets, we headed to early church to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus! As an extra special blessing this morning, it appears Carter is becoming more comfortable with the nursery/Sunday school at church.

When we got home, we took a few pictures on the stairs before we changed out of church clothes to head over to my parents' house for a potluck Easter brunch with them and my sister and brother-in-law.

When we got to my parents' house, the Easter Bunny {AKA: Big Pat--my dad} had hidden some eggs for Carter to find. He was into egg hunting for about 1o minutes.
When he found the last one, he decided it was time to do this:
So, he spent the next half hour before brunch perfecting his cross-handed swing. Guess he'll be in full swing {pun intended} for the Mas.ters next weekend.

After our yummy brunch, Callen decided that she needed to play with the Easter eggs for a while.

After more golf for Carter and more egg-playing for Callen, we headed home for nap time with grand plans to get back outside and enjoy this gorgeous weather when everyone wakes up!

We hope you've had a fabulous Easter Sunday, too!

It's that time again...

When the weather gets nice, Carter instinctively knows that it is time to play golf. Every day after school/work, he wants to go outside and play. Although he asks every day, for one reason or another, we don't always get to go outside to hit golf balls {primarily because we don't have a fenced backyard yet}. However, when Nick and I both get home about the same time, Nick will usually go outside with Carter to hit golf balls in the front yard. Carter is in heaven!

Our yard is torn up right now because we are re-doing it and there are some...okay, A LOT...of holes in the front yard. BUT, I think someone should make sure these boys understand it isn't a golf course! :)

Callen's Easter Egg

One of the things that I like most about having my children in school (daycare), is that they typically do things with the children that it would never occur to me to do. For example, I would think to dye Easter eggs with Carter, but I wouldn't think to "paint" them with Callen.

They put glitter paint on a paper plate and let the infants roll a hard boiled egg around in the paint. It appears {from the picture they took for me} that Callen was VERY serious about getting her egg appropriately covered.

I do believe she is going to be quite the artist. The finished product was pretty impressive for a seven-month-old.