A Whole 8!

Dear Santa.... It's Carson.... Guess what?!

That's right! I'm a whole 8 months old!! To see all of my photos, click here!

I had trouble choosing the "official" photo, because let's be honest. Carson is a ball of cuteness! Here's the runner up:

All about this little booger:
- He is SO close to crawling "normally". But he's figured out his own army crawl and is getting faster and faster moving across the floor.

- Still rocking on all fours and planking. No pulling up yet
- Still just the 2 teeth on the bottom
- Drooling and spitting so we're thinking some new teeth are on the horizon
- Doing so much better at eating solids and is on 2 meals a day
- He's about at a 50% accuracy at feeding himself finger foods. He like cheerios and nom nom crackers so far. He hasn't quite figured out the puffs yet
- Current favorite toys:  rattle ball, train activity table, things with tags and pretty much anything and everything Miles has
- Thinks socks and strings are super interesting and will army crawl to inspect them
- Infatuated with the Christmas tree and the lights
- Has graduated to 12 months clothes and size 4 diapers. We're trying to make use of all the 3s, but we may have to leave some behind
- Still kicks his legs all. the. time. Such a wiggle worm
- Anything Miles does makes him laugh but he's starting to engage with the girls as well. So cute :)

- Carson, like Miles, also doesn't koala when being held. He just kind of hangs there.... ugh haha
- We've noticed he is tracking about 3 weeks behind Miles as far as gross motor, but his teeth came in quicker. We'll see how this theory stacks up as he gets bigger.
- Loves looking at his hot air balloon mobile and chats with himself while going to sleep/waking up
- Starting to make himself giggle with toys

- We are just starting baby signs so we'll keep an eye out for new moves!
- Army crawls to toys off the blanket, but if they're on it, he just pulls the blanket towards him until the toy is close haha
- Because of Miles being in school, a consistent schedule will be difficult with Carson. He's our car seat baby and one who has to be woken up from naps. A bummer for him. But his flexibility is incredible. Such a trooper.

Carson is such a sweet, tolerant, inquisitive and happy little boy. I cannot wait for the clap clap swish swish! Keep working on that crawling bud :)

Trail of Lights

Our last experience with the trail of lights was Austin's large display. If you want to feel like a herd of cattle, that's the place to go. So, my hope for Buda's display was something where the kids could run free and look at the "Liiiiighhhh" as Miles puts it.

The whole Whispering Hollow littles crew joined and the kids were SO excited! We made the trek from the library up the trails to where, we thought, the lights started. But, everything was pitch black. We later learned they blew a generator so the first section of lights was out. The kids didn't care and all of us parents were just trying to keep track of the little goobers. Miles' light up shoes? Clutch.

the beginning of the trail where the lights were actually lit

This display was by far the favorite for all the kids. It was all little gingerbread houses linked together where the kids could walk behind and stick their heads out. So cute.
Pictured here: Logan and Reese

Easton and Everett

This was a big Christmas tree made of lights that the kids could run around underneath

All the kiddos together (minus Carson). The best we could get haha
From left to right:  Lizzie, Reese, Miles, Logan & Hannah, Charlie, Easton and Everett

Miles had A BLAST. He ran almost the entire way, about half a mile. He was hyped, but pooped all at the same time. Needless to say, he crashed when we got home.

Sights and Sounds

Another year in the books for one of our favorite Christmas traditions - Sights and Sounds. It's a festival down in San Marcos every year where vendors, local businesses and the community come together to kick off the holiday season. They offer so many fun activities for people of all ages, so it's always a blast.

This year Stephen and I were excited because it would be Miles and Carson's first year to see Santa. We prepped Miles days in advance as far as what to do when he saw Santa - mainly because we were hoping for some good pictures. We, and everyone else, had no idea how they'd react.

We got to the festival right when it opened at 5 to try and hit up some attractions before Santa arrived. With little kids, staying out late is a little more difficult, so we had certain things we definitely wanted to do before we had to leave. First up, the petting zoo.

We bought food thinking the kids could feed the animals. Well, that ended up being a terrible idea because the animals were a bit aggressive when it came to the food. The kids quickly dropped theirs on the ground while Mike was left with the rest of the cup. I'm pretty sure he was racked about 5 times by these llamas that were bound and determined to get his food. haha

The kids were overwhelmed and didn't know what to do until they found these brushes. A huge hit. And by brush, we mean take the shredded hay stuff on the ground and throw it all over the animals.

Lia spotted this baby goat and it was over from there. The only animal she was interested in ha!

Erin was so excited to be in the presence of her spirit animal - the Llama. 

That is until she realized how determined they were to get her food.... 

From there, we moseyed on over to get in line for Santa. He was supposed to arrive at 6:30, so we wanted to make sure we were close to the front.

Love this picture :)

We were a bit disappointed because he didn't arrive in a cool car or interesting mode of transportation like in past years due to construction. Total bummer because Miles would have LOVED that. But hey, he made it and the kids were pumped. The vote was 50/50 as to whether the boys would smile or if they'd scream. The winner is...

They did SO good! Miles smiled while Carson was just really interested...

...interested mostly in Santa's beard. lol

Charlie and Lizzie were not as thrilled to smile with Santa. But oh my goodness. This photo of Lizzie seeing Santa for the first time is insanely cute!

After Santa, we were ready to play! The carousel was a huge hit for everyone!

Carson loved watching it go round and round :P

The night was a huge success for everyone and I'm so glad we've made this a yearly thing. It's a perfect way to celebrate the season with family and friends.

The Whisk

A favorite among the Short boys.

  

Do you know who is who??

Staycation

Stephen and I had our first night away from the kids, just us, since Miles was born. It was amazing! The room was free thanks to the trade we did with the W Hotel last Christmas, and the gift card was expiring soon. So we HAD to go. No excuses :P My parents were gracious enough to watch both boys for the night and we couldn't be more thankful. This little staycation was just what we needed!

We dropped the boys on Saturday late morning, got the rooms setup and put Miles down to nap at "Gramma and Papas" - he was pumped! I wanted to wait until he was asleep just to make sure the transition went well. "Bye bye Mama! Bye bye!" I think Miles was ready... lol. Once he was alseep, we gave my parents some last minute 'oh by the ways' and headed out. (ie: when Miles says "i see" that means glasses).

After checking into the hotel, we went out to lunch a La Politque - yummy brunch if you are ever in the area. We chatted and made plans for the rest of the day. Stephen had never been on the scooters you see downtown, so we definitely wanted to do that.

MISSION:  Grab a scooter and take photos with as many famous Austin murals as possible. You have 2 hours. Go!

    

 

Not a mural, I know. But iconic Austin for sure :)

We made it to 8 and felt like total tourists. It was pretty hilarious. We couldn't find one and wasted some time there and tried to hit 2 more, but they were too far north. We wouldn't have made it back on time for our 3:50 appointment at the Escape Room. So, we called it. I'd say a win all considering!

Next stop was the Escape Room. We heard awesome things about it from Mike and Natalie and were excited to see what it was all about. Yall, it was awesome! We chose The Heist - 70/100 difficulty and a 20% escape rate. We were with a group of 8 people, all newbies to the Escape Room, so I thought for sure we wouldn't make it. 

Dun dun nu NA! Cake. We got out with 17 min remaining *brushes shoulders* Our group was great, apart from a couple quiet ones, and we all worked together to figure out the puzzles. I feel like Stephen and I excel in these types of games/situations/projects, so we were right at home. For anyone interested, DO IT! So fun

We went back to the hotel, got changed and headed to dinner at Trace, the restaurant at the hotel. A nicer than normal, non-rushed dinner. It was great. From there, we headed to Esthers Follies, a comedy club downtown. We didn't get any photos bc cameras are not allowed, but the show was amazing! Political satire is how they frame it online, and I'd say take what you THINK that means and multiple it by 50. The jokes were hilarious but definitely ballsy. I love Austin :P

A quiet night, off to sleep, kidless. No crying babies at 10pm then again at 3am and no waking up at 7am. Yesss

Meanwhile, over at my parents...

It seems the boys were JUUUST fineeee. haha! My mom sent this picture and oh. my. goodness. Carson is a total Feekin. I knew he looked more like me than Miles ever did, but seeing him next to my Dad? No question. I got one of my Dad's baby pics to compare.

My parents said bedtime went great and the boys didn't wake up at all, which is awesome!

The next morning, we packed up our things, grabbed a super chill, relaxing brunch and headed out. We swung by the kennel to grab Lucy, dropped her and our things at the house and then went to get the boys.

Breakfast with Papa

While this trip away was definitely enjoyable, we couldn't deny that we were excited to have the boys back home :)

Thanks Gramma and Papa!