Carter is 16 Months!

Our sweet Carter is 16 months old!
We thought that the big news in this monthly update for Carter would be him becoming a big brother and how he has reacted to her, but since Nora Kate did not arrive on or before her due date it looks like they will be 16 months apart.  Carter has gotten a few more days of being the baby!  :)
This month he started sitting in a booster seat at the table rather than his highchair.  He LOVES sitting at the table with us!  He constantly watches big brother across the table to see exactly what he is doing...and then, of course, copy it! 
Carter continues to be very affectionate and is always willing to give a hug or a kiss, but most of the time does it unsolicited!
Carter's vocabulary has exploded this month.  I wish I could write a full list of all the words he knows now, but it seems he is picking up at least one new word every day!  I have at least tried to list some of his most common words and phrases: bath, mine, me, DD (for Dawson), Mommy, Daddy, Nana, Lolly, Doggie, banana, blueberry, byebye, hello, baby (says it bebe), bumble bee, bird, E-I-E-I-O, all done, no, more, uh oh, juice (says juice when he wants his cup-he's never had juice but because that's what he hears Dawson say he thinks juice=cup, and he pronounces it "duice" almost a combo between drink and juice), thank you, nose, book, read, boo, bobbie (he calls his pacie bobbie, we're not sure where this came from but he calls it bobbie every time!), cheese, choo choo, ride, fish, hat, peepee, and ball. 
He has also continued to love doing animal sounds this month, and when asked he can make the sounds for dog, monkey, bird, duck, dino, bear, car, truck, and train.  If you ask him an animal or something he doesn't know the sound for he says "grrr," so Dawson loves this.  Dawson will ask what does a penguin say, and Carter will growl, for example.  Silly boys!
Carter also loves singing little songs with us this month.  His favorite is Old McDonald where he will do some animal sounds, dance, and ALWAYS say the EIEIO part.  He also loves "Bringing Home a Baby Bumble Bee," and he will do the little hand motions and always rushes to the part where we say "ah! it stung me" and he will jerk his hands open and say "AH!!" and smile!  When we're singing the rest of the words he just says baby and bumble bee over and over.  So sweet!  He also loves "Row, Row, Row, Your Boat" and says "row, row, row" while rocking back and forth holding my hands. 
Carter still has just four teeth, but we can see a few more under the gums just waiting. 
Carter LOVES to wash his hands and actually begs to do it!!  He will say "clean, clean" and make a little motion like he's washing them.  Along the same lines he LOVES bath more than ever, and he and Dawson get so wild and silly in there we're lucky there is any water still in the tub by the time they are finished!  Carter doesn't mind at all to get his entire face and hair wet in the tub, and really seems to have no fear of the water at all.  Carter likes to put on lotion after bath.  He holds out his hand and when I put the lotion in his hand he rubs it on his body-mostly his tummy.  He also really likes hand sanitizer!  He begs to use it all the time!  When I give it to him he knows just what to do and rubs it around on his little hands!
This month Carter's love for reading has grown even more.  He will sit through several books now, and if I ask him if he wants to read he will stop whatever he is playing and come sit on my lap to hear the book!  I love it! 
He's started doing a few things that just seem so big this month.  For one, if he can't reach something he gets the kid stool from under the desk in the playroom and carries it to what he wants to reach, climbs up, and gets it!  I really don't like that he does this because it's dangerous and the past couple of days, I've ended up hiding the stools after he's done it a couple of times, BUT I do like that he's problem solving how to reach things. 
Another funny thing he has started doing this month is blowing his food if we tell him it's hot! 
Along these same lines, it seems like he suddenly understands us so well!  We tell him things and he knows what we're saying.  The other day Dawson was sitting on a ride-on toy in the playroom while Carter was playing something else, I said, "Carter, go push Dawson." He jumped up, ran over, smiled, and pushed Dawson around the room.  I have also told him many other specific things to do and been so surprised at how much he understands!!
I know I've not nearly captured everything our sweet Carter is doing at this age, but at least these are a few of the developments that stick out in my mind!  Here are his 16 month pictures!

I loved this picture because the look on Carter's face just shows how much he LOVES Dawson!  He watches everything Dawson does.  My sweet boys!

 

 

Sweet brothers.

 

Carter at 16 months!

Hello Due Date, Goodbye Due Date!

Today begins the 40th week of my pregnancy with Nora Kate, and today is my due date!  There has been nothing new since my previous 39 week update.  Miss Nora Kate has still not decided to make her appearance, but we're hoping it happens soon.  As the due date comes to a close, and we realize she's (probably) not coming on her due date...I'm reminding myself that only 4% of babies actually come on their due date!  :)  I'm looking at these few additional days as extra time that I get to spend time with just Dawson and Carter!  We don't go back to the doctor until the end of the week, but for now here's the 40 week picture (let's hope there's not a 41 week picture)!

40 Weeks

Nora Kate's Due Date

August 12, 2013

Dawson's First Day of Preschool

When I started this blog when I was pregnant with Dawson, I never imagined I would be blogging about his first day of preschool!! Partially because I never wanted to send him and partially because it seemed so far away.  As the past four years have flown by our little Dawson has really grown up into a boy, and I finally feel like he (and I) are ready for him to start preschool.  John and I had always planned to let him start when he was four, and I really feel good about this decision.  Every time we had talked about it before, the thought made me so sad because I like to have him with me, and he seems to enjoy all the things we do together every day.  Over these past few months though I really see that he is ready.  He's ready to interact with other kids without me there constantly (like playdates), he's ready to learn (he picks things up so quickly, I am always amazed), and he's ready to make friends and listen to his teachers on his own.  The excitement with which Dawson has talked about starting preschool over the past couple of months, has also been encouraging because I know that he really is looking forward to it. 
He will be going to preschool two days a week, Monday and Wednesday, from 9-2 at our church.  His preschool open house was Friday evening.  We went and met his teachers, Ms. Libby and Ms. Nancy who both seem great!  He got to see his classroom (which is awesome because it's the same room he's in on Sunday mornings, so he is already comfortable there!).  I read and filled out some paper work while Dawson played with the other kids in his class, then he came back over to me and asked why I wasn't leaving (ouch!)  :) I explained that Mommies got to stay at Open House to meet the teacher but on Monday and Wednesday school days he would be the only one to stay.  He seemed ready for me to leave, silly boy!  He had fun at Open House and has talked about school even more than normal over the weekend!  He has NEVER said anything bad about it or about not wanting to go, so I am very encouraged and I hope it stays this way.  Saturday night he told us he was going to ride the school bus to school instead of having Mommy drive him-where did all this independence come from?!  I explained that preschool didn't have school buses, and that Mommy WANTED to take him.  His response, "oh."

So this morning we woke up and managed to get out of the house and to his first day of school on time!  We took a few pictures along the way.  Dawson was so excited and didn't seem nervous or worried at all!  When I took him to his classroom he walked right in. 
Carter and I couldn't wait until 2pm when it was time to pick Dawson up from school.  Dawson had a lot to report about his fun day.  He LOVED it all!  He asked if he could go back tomorrow, but I told him it's just Mondays and Wednesdays!  Looks like he will be excited to go again on Wednesday though!

 

Dawson's lunch gear!  I found the tractor/farm lunchbox on etsy and knew it was perfect for Dawson.  We had it monogrammed, and Dawson LOVES it!

I found the water bottle and sandwich container at Target, and Uncle Logan helped cut Dawson's name out of vinyl to decorate these items! 

 

 

School things!

A closeup of Dawson's first day of school shirt!  Thanks to much help from my brother, we made this cute preschool rocks shirt for Dawson to wear on his first day!  I LOVE how it turned out, and now have many other shirts on my to do list!  :)

 

 

Dawson at his Open House!  The teachers gave him a green balloon-his favorite color!  He was thrilled!

Dawson's first day of preschool.

"When I grow up I want to be a FARMER!"

Dawson's first day of preschool.

Dawson's first day of preschool.

 Dawson's first day of preschool.

August 12, 2013.

Age 4.

 

 

Nora Kate 39 Weeks

Monday began the 39th week of my pregnancy with Nora Kate, so we're in the last couple of days of the 39th week now with my due date being MONDAY!  This has been a slightly more eventful week with me waking up around 2-something in the morning on Monday with contractions, for about 6 hours they got closer together to the point they were about 5-6 minutes apart for 2 hours-they were strong-not miserable, but stronger than Braxton Hicks.  After convincing John to go on in to work for at least a few hours, I took a relaxing shower...AND they went away! :(  The way things were going we thought Monday was going to be Nora Kate's birthday, but apparently she changed her mind! ;)
I've still been having stronger practice contractions throughout the rest of this week, but nothing like I was on Monday.  All that to say, here we are at the end of the week, and Nora Kate hasn't decided she's ready to make her debut yet! 
Tomorrow (8/10) is the date John picked a month ago that he thought she would come, and Thursday (8/15) was my guess...we will see who is right soon enough!
I went back to the doctor this morning, and everything is right on track.  I'm scheduled to go back next Friday (the end of my 40th week), but the doctor said hopefully I'll go into labor before then.  We will just have to wait and see!  We asked the doctor to estimate Nora Kate's birth weight.  Dawson (5 days early) weighed 7 pounds 13 oz; Carter (4 days late) weighed 7 pounds 13 oz; and according to the doctor, girls are usually smaller....SO based on all of this and her measurements he guessed that at birth Nora Kate will weigh between 7 pounds and 7 pounds 8oz. 
This week I managed to complete EVERYTHING on my "to do before Nora Kate list," and this was a big list!  The last thing on there was making Dawson's first day of school shirt since his 1st day of preschool is also Nora Kate's due date it made it on to this list.  Now that everything is checked off my list, I really do feel like I'm just waiting because I haven't made any big plans for us and I don't have my usual running to do list, we're just waiting on Nora Kate.  Dawson's first day of preschool is Monday, so if she would kindly wait until I have this day with Dawson, then she needs to hurry up and get here!  :)
That's about all the exciting news with Nora Kate's 39th week!  Here's the weekly picture!

 

39 Weeks with Nora Kate

 

Nora Kate: 38 Week Update

Monday began the 38th week of my pregnancy with Nora Kate.  Things are still going well, and I'm still feeling good for the most part.  Sleep has gotten a little more difficult/uncomfortable, and I have some hip pain...but really I feel awesome to be 38 weeks pregnant!  I've had a lot more contractions this week, and they have gotten a lot stronger too!  Nothing regular to time and count though, just practice contractions. 
I've been meaning to mention this in my previous posts, but I still have on my rings!!  Usually well before this point of pregnancy, I've had to take them off due to swelling, but not this time!  Also, I've barely had any swelling at all in my ankles-even after a day walking around at Dollywood or the zoo!  It's awesome, and makes a big difference in how I feel.
I don't know why this pregnancy has been so much easier!  Maybe because it's a girl??  When I was expecting both Dawson and Carter, people who had had children of both genders constantly told me that pregnancies with girls were harder than with boys-BUT my experience is exactly the opposite because this pregnancy has been so easy.  This is the kind of pregnancy where I can completely understand why people say they enjoy being pregnant, and it's fun!
I will admit, I'm starting to reach the point though where I'm ready for Nora Kate's arrival! 
I have checked even more off of my "to do before Nora Kate" list this week by completely finishing the nursery, getting everyone's clothing together for newborn pictures and family pictures when Nora Kate is about a week old, getting my hair done while getting to visit with a good friend-Andrea!, and getting a pedicure with another good friend-Alana!  I just have a two very, very small things left on my list, so hopefully by next week it will be completed! 
I had my 38 week doctor visit today.  It went well.  We are progressing along as we should be for the 38th week, and we are scheduled for a 39 week appointment next Friday morning (which will actually be almost the end of the 39th week for me!).
Here's the weekly picture...

 

38 Weeks Pregnant with Nora Kate

(John and I both thought I looked smaller this week, and the doctor said it's just because Nora Kate has gotten a lot lower than before...I won't complain about looking smaller though!)

 

 

July 2013

July was the month we tried to do everything at least "one more time before Nora Kate's arrival" which meant we got to do a lot of fun things! 

Unfortunately, the very beginning of the month started with the boys having a horrible sinus infection.  Both were content to relax for a few minutes at a time.  This is so rare, I had to get pictures!  I know the picture above is blurry, but I just thought Carter relaxing while sick was so sweet and look at his hair!  It's gotten so blonde!

I knew Dawson really didn't feel well because he was willing to lay down and watch tv for about 30 minutes straight which is rare.  We watched part of the Fox and the Hound. 

Thankfully the boys recovered quickly once they got antibiotics, and they were well in time for us to tag along on one more work trip with John.  He had to go to Chattanooga Saturday-Wednesday, so the boys and I went Saturday-Tuesday.  Carter seemed like such a big kid on the way there drawing on this magna-doodle!

 

 

John had to work most of the time we were in Chattanooga, but Dawson, Carter, and I had a great time!!!

We spent an entire day at the Chattanooga Children's Museum.  I wish we had one like this here!

Carter loved splashing in the water area.

Carter drove the car while Dawson worked on it!

Then Dawson took a turn.

We took Dawson to this museum when he was 2, and he loved the kitchen!  Not much has changed!  Both boys had fun playing in the kitchen.

Of course, farmer Dawson had to do some gardening while we were there.

Both Dawson and Carter LOVED the dinosaur dig area!  This was a huge indoor sand area with dino bones buried for the kids to dig up.  Carter LOVED the sand, and Dawson had fun finding dino bones!

Then we found these dino tails the boys wore around for a while.  Carter took off running in the sand with his, meanwhile Dawson wanted me to take a picture of him as Dawson-o-saurus!

Carter and Dawson both had fun exploring the museum!

Dawson really enjoyed the horse and buggy, churning butter, and cooking over the fire!

Just for fun here is John and Dawson last time we visited the children's museum when Dawson was two.  This was taken June 2011. And below, me with Dawson June 2011 when we visited the museum. 

And now here are our TWO sweet boys visiting the children's museum in July 2013, just over two years later!  Hopefully we wont' wait 2 more years before we go back-it's so fun!

While we were in Chattanooga, it rained, and rained, and rained!  The river was up over TWENTY FEET! You can see the river behind the boys covering an area that is usually a grassy hill!  On Sunday after we left the children's museum, it had finally stopped raining, so we took a walk around downtown!  Both boys loved looking at the river and the ducks!

On Monday we headed to the Tennessee Aquarium!

The two pictures above show Dawson and Carter outside the aquarium.

 

Just for the sake of comparison, here's a picture of Dawson last time we took him to the aquarium.  This was in June 2011, so just over two years ago! 

 

Our friend Sara and her boys Ethan and Austin drove up from Huntsville to meet us for a fun day at the Aquarium.  Dawson had a blast running around and exploring the aquarium with Ethan and Austin!  Above the boys are checking out a gecko!

Dawson got a turn to touch it!

 

 

 

We saw the bird show while we were at the aquarium!  Dawson and Carter both liked the owl.

Here are the four boys in one of the touch exhibits.  They were trying to touch the huge fish swimming in this very cold tank, but could never quiet reach them.  (Can you tell Carter is starting to get a little sleepy at this point?)

After we made our way through the first building of the aquarium, we went to lunch.  Along the way, the boys found this brick boat and had fun playing in it!

 

 

After lunch, we headed back to the aquarium to see the second building which was ocean life!  Dawson loved the penguin area!

 

Both of our sweet boys in the penguin area.

 

Here's one more comparison photo just for fun.  This is Dawson in the same area last time we went to the aquarium two years ago!

 

We put the big boys in the shark cage!

They obviously don't look to afraid of that giant shark behind them!  Dawson had such a great time with Ethan and Austin!  Look how silly they are being!

Checking out the BIG crabs!

 

We were almost to the end of the aquarium when the boys climbed inside this little viewing area and announced they were taking a nap!  You know they must have been worn out to say this!

Meanwhile, Carter really did fall asleep in his stroller!  This rarely happens anymore!

 

After the day at the aquarium, we let the boys play in the water outside the aquarium.  It was so hot that this was perfect!

 

 

 

Our last day in Chattanooga we attempted to visit the Chattanooga Zoo, however upon arriving we were told they were closed due to all of the rain Chattanooga had experienced over the previous days.  Thankfully, there was a park right by the zoo, so the boys weren't too disappointed when I told them we couldn't see the animals that day.  Above:  Dawson playing at the park.

The boys outside the zoo.

We had a great time in Chattanooga!

 

Safety City is a mini version of Knoxville where kids can go to ride bikes, tricycles, or small battery-operated things.  It's only open two days a week and only in June and July.  Dawson loved it last summer, so we knew we had to find a way to make it there at least once this summer!  Last year Dawson rode his John Deere tractor and Carter was 2 months old and in the Moby wrap.  This year Carter rode his push tricycle half of the time and then rode on the John Deere Gator with Dawson the other part of the time.  Both boys loved it!  Thankfully we did this on a day that John was off, because I'm not sure I could have kept up with both of them there!

 

 

 

The bulbs that the boys gave me as part of my Mother's Day present in May, started to bloom this month!!  So pretty! I love them!

One afternoon John took Dawson to play golf, and Carter and I got to hang out.  Carter was VERY smilie and silly the whole time!  Look at that sweet grin!

 

 

We made a trip to the Knoxville Zoo and invited Lolly to come with us in the middle of July.  Here Dawson and Carter are having fun with the macaws!

 

Everyone had fun in the zoo safari truck!

Carter had fun running the cash register inside the Wee Play Zoo where we went to cool off (it was SO hot the day we went to the zoo)!

 

Dawson helped me make some 7 layer bars!  See evidence of taste-testing on his face?! 

I took the boys to play at Carl Cowan Splash Pad one Friday morning with our MOMs group.  Carter and Dawson both had an absolute blast!!  See Carter sitting down right in the middle of all the water!  No fear!

 

Caught Dawson mid-jump!  You know he's having fun!

The favorite activity was filling up buckets of water from the pop jets.

 

When our boys get in the water together they get WILD!  They have such a fun time playing in the inflatable pool in our backyard!

 

 

 

Drive a steam roller in the water? Why not!

 

 

A big "first" that happened this month was Carter spent his first night with the grandparents!  This was the first time Carter has spent the night away from home without me and only the second night ever being away from me.  He and Dawson spent the night with Nana and Grandad, and had a blast!  As soon as I picked them up the next day, Dawson asked he if AND Carter could spend the night there together again. 

The following week they both spent the night with their Lolly and Pop.  (I can't even explain how much I got accomplished with no kids in the house!!)

 

Carter started sitting at the table in a booster seat with us this month.  He thinks he's so big!

 

I decided to take the boys to Dollywood one more time before Nora Kate arrives since Dawson had been asking to go everyday!!  Lolly came with us since John was working.  We had a great time!

 

Dawson and I rode the teacups!

 

 

Waiting in line with the boys for the Lucky Ducks.

Dawson with Lolly on the train.

The boys and I waiting on the train ride to begin.

 

 

It's so unusual for Carter to fall asleep in my arms that I just had to get a picture!  He fell asleep on the train!  It's so loud, but he was tired!

 

 

 

 

 

Dawson caught a fish!

And won this prize!

What a fun day at Dollywood!  Next time we go we will have THREE kids!!

 

In other exciting news for the month of July, John has a new work schedule!!!  About halfway through the month, he got to switch to a day schedule!  He still has to work until midnight some, still works some weekends, and has to be there at 6 or 7am most mornings, but he's no longer sleeping during the days! We are very excited about this.  I'm excited to have him home to help with Nora Kate during the night too!  :) 

Also in July, I hosted a bridal shower for my sister-in-law, Emily.  I think everyone had fun.  She got a lot of great gifts, and I had fun hosting an event at our house.