18 Months!

Carson is the same age today as Miles was when we were putting together Carson's room. I see Miles' "bee bee" painting on the wall and it's crazy to me Carson is now that big. His monkey used to be the size of him.

Carson and Beau sure have had a fun time. While Beau will be retired from photos, no worries, he'll be partying it up with all the other stuffies in the playroom :) To see all of their adventures, go here.

Carson in a nutshell @ 18mo:
- He likes things closed. Sees a door open? Closes it. Cabinet? Closes it.
- Still has a texture phobia with food. He's a picky eater yet he eats all day long.

- Talks A LOT. And he does a pretty good job communicating by way of sign and by voice.

    - Words:  Juice, stuck, hush, bug, car, this, ball, shoes, tree, bar, pop (ice pop), truck, hat, ice, up and he says "Ew, poop!" when he sees Lucy poop or when being changed. So funny. He probably has more, but these are the ones we've noted. While some are just sounds and not super understandable, in context, they are there.

    - Signs:  All done, more, eat, rain, wind, book, popcorn, bird, airplane, milk, please, change & fish

    - Sounds:  Fish, Cow, Cat, Dog, Snake, Monkey, Dinosaur, Choo Choo!, Shhh (to be quiet) and puts his finger over his lips

- Waves Hi and Bye, points at things and does high fives (working on fist bump, but he's got the boops!)

- Shows 'where' with his hands when we ask him where something is.

- He's adopted an ear piercing scream which then leads to a screaming war between him and Miles. Lets just say.... I've had to use ear plugs. 

- His head seems to be a magnet for bumps and bruises. And he's no help. He's bangs it on the floor when he's mad.

- Uses spoons and forks (by request I might add) to eat and is using them like a pro!

- Can nod "no" and "yes" but still no "Mama" or "Dada"

- Watches and copies what Miles does.

- Trying SO hard to jump but doesn't make it off the ground.

- Thanks to Miles, he has a love for Jojo Siwa music and will dance every time he hears her songs.

- Loves the trash can. I wouldn't be surprised if things have been thrown away by mistake. Water bottles, forks, spoons, bowls, toys, etc.

- He's a great cleaner and likes things in their place.

- His bouncy run is just adorable.

- Can follow single step instructions.

- Gives lots and lots of kisses.

- Has a love for shoes.

- Not as gross motor oriented as Miles. We think he will be an early talker.

- Makes it clearly known when you do something he doesn't want.

- Likes to be held.

- When something happens that hurts him (shots in particular), it takes him a bit to calm down, but he does pretty good. And then all of a sudden, he works himself back up again like he's re-living the situation and falls apart all over again.

- Wants to keep up with the big kids, but also sits back an observes.

- He knows eyes, nose, ears & mouth and can point to them on himself and others. We're working on belly button!

- Loves playing chase or "Where's Carson?" peek-a-boo and giggles non-stop.

- Looks like all of his teeth have surfaced, but these last 4 are taking awhile to fully come through.

Carson is sweet, resilient, smiley, persistent, giggly, independent, confident and observant. I don't have his 18mo stats yet, but I'll add them once we make it to the doctor.

His eyes are piercing blue.  A different blue than Miles'

*love*

Circus a la Miles

Right this way Ladies and Gentlemen! Step right up! Amazing acts from Froggy the Fantastic are about to begin!

Before the act -- "Acquiring the Talent":

House Bus Trip

 A couple weekends ago, Stephen and I took our first camping trip since before the kids were born. It's been forever, so we were excited, but a little apprehensive given the kids are pretty young. Our only requirement = we are not ready for tent camping. With little kids? No thanks.

So! Thankfully, the crew was on board to convert this trip to an RV camping trip. The Gates and us had never been RV camping before, so we were excited to try it out.  I was telling Miles we were going camping and told him all the fun things we'd be doing. 

"Miles, guess what? We're going camping. Do you know what camping is?"

"Outside!"

"Right! We place outside ALLLL day! AND we get to sleep in a BUS!"

-- his eyes lit up --

We rented our RVs from a site similar to Airbnb, but for RVs. We arranged to pick ours up on the way while Becky and Todd picked theirs up beforehand so they could prep and pack before leaving. It proved to be the way to go. When Miles got up from nap - he instantly wanted to see their "bus".

He runs over SO excited, opens the door and says "Mama...no bus. Dis no bus. HOUSE bus!" So funny. 

We got everything packed up and headed out right on time. Usually we're the ones running late so this time, THIS time, we were right on track. So we thought... it took 1.5 hours... HOURS to pick up the RV. This guy did not have his stuff together and the kids were pissed. We got to our site at 6:30pm and frantically rushed to get everything setup for bedtime. No bueno... The kids were excited, confused and overly tired since we were late getting them to bed, but we made it through and enjoyed some drinks by the fire.

TGIF - let the real camping begin!

Miles and Carson kind of wandered for the first bit of the day, but it didn't take long for Miles to find the dirt. 

Carson being part of the gang. So cute!

The amount of dirtiness increased by the hour...

... and then they added water.

Birdie getting some extra love

The boys had never had S'mores before. Miles was more interested in 1. eating the mallows from the bag, 2. lighting his mallow on fire and 3. trashing the toasted mallow, trashing the grahams and eating just the chocolate... whatever works for you dude.

The kids were exhausted. Totally drained. Stephen and I did dinner alone with them and quickly transitioned to an early bedtime. Needless to say, they crashed.

We headed over to what we thought would be a fire pit gathering, but apparently the bugs were terrible. While Stephen and I were getting the kids settled, the rest of our crew was fighting off what seamed to be flying maggots, mosquitos, roaches and the crazy biting gnat swarms. With all the layers of clothes and insane amounts of bug spray, the bugs still had a leg up - literally. So, we had to get creative.

Our "campfire" compliments of twinkle lights. And our entertainment? This little bug eating toad.

Without the ability to fish or swim because of the rank water, day 2 was pretty much the same routine. Wake up, breakfast and play play play. The weather was *supposed* to be nice, but unfortunately we got hit with some nasty, muggy, hot, uncomfortable conditions. The afternoons were the hardest, so today, we had to do something to break the heat. 

Scooter car wash for the win!

"Miles! Go stand by the girls for a photo!".... uhh... hahahaaa!

Ah - that's better :)

*love*

If nasty weather, flying maggots and roaches weren't enough, this park just had to throw in this insanely scary spider. It was just hanging out making a web in Lia's chair. Pretty positive it was a black widow. Pretty positive Todd burned it.

But, one cool thing? A family of deer just trotted out of the woods right next to our site. Carson was obsessed and B-lined it clear across the street trying to chase them (don't worry, we were with him)

The face of a happy kiddo :D

LOVE this photo!! So happy we got everyone in there

And this - priceless. 

Family photo-op that pretty much sums up the weekend. Dirt, tractors, sweaty parents and silly kids. 

The last night's bedtime was the best of them all. Kids went down pretty much without any trouble. I feel like it took Stephen and I that couple days to figure out what the best method was, but we got it. After the kids were down, we headed over to the "fire" to hear some strange noises in the woods. I thought nothing of it, but then Beth came over. "Guys, I'm pretty sure there are wild hogs surrounding our site." Hogs... wild hogs. Right as we thought we'd seen the worst of Choke Canyon - it throws hogs in our face. Thanks but no thanks

The next day, we packed up and headed home. 

Despite all the .... eh hem. Unique? .... aspects of the trip, we all had such a blast. We can't wait for the next one! (It's only up from here, right?)

Words & Signs with Carson

 By way of signs, or actual words, Carson is our little chatter box. 

Since getting this video, Carson can say:

- Juice

- Bug

- Car

- This (when selecting something)

- Ball

- Shoes

He's also learned the sign for "wind" and with that, just waves his hands all crazy in the air when he wants to go outside. He's adopted a pterodactyl scream when he wants something and he's shown a pretty significant interest in making sure things are in their place - he's a great cleaner! ** Example:  We were headed outside and I told Carson to leave the plastic spoon inside. Instead of just dropping it, he runs all the way around the island, opens the drawer with the cooking utensils and places the spoon neatly in. On the way back, he picks up and plate and returns it to the plate drawer. After all that, he makes this little hm! sound like he's all proud. So funny.