Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Where does the time go?
I am doing a bang-up job in regularly posting entries - not! I don't know where the time goes and honestly cannot believe we are nearing the end of April! How is that possible?
We've been busy with life - I've been super busy with work (have a big tradeshow in Denver coming up May 6-9...not looking forward to being gone from my two guys for a week but I've done it before so I'm used to it. Jesse is busy with the business and is keeping busy. His ability to pick up things so quickly amazes me. He is a 'wired' handyman/Mr. Fix It. I think Carter is going to be a lot like him. Yay for me! :-)
Speaking of Carter...boy is he growing up. I still call him my baby and occasionally refer to him as my 'punk-a-doo' but he is turning into, as he calls it, 'big boy'. He said that after brushing his teeth SEVERAL times this pas week. He stands on his step-stool in front of the sink, and begrudgingly has me or Jesse brush his teeth - he isn't too fond of the process and frequently throws tempter tantrums. So, after we were done he reached his arms out wide and said "BIG BOY". So gosh darn adorable. Speaking of being a big boy, he is also doing SUPER good at sleeping in his own bed. I thought we had ruined him and he would be sleeping with us until he was a teenager but luckily, I am reminded that kids are more resilient and flexible to things that we sometimes think. I have been having to lay with him while he falls asleep but the past few nights I explained to him I would be in the bedroom right next to him and will come check on him and he seems to buy it and accept it. I check on him about 10 minutes later and he is sound asleep - poppy usually out (poppy is his pacifier....yes, that is our next bad habit to break!) - and sawing logs (he is a snorer). He is also loving book time before he goes to bed. We just gave him a new book "Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site" and he really likes it. Our ritual is to read a few books and let him watch a little bit of a DVD on his portable DVD player. He loves Cars, Cars2, Toy Story, Elmo teaching him about the potty. Speaking of the potty...making progress there too, but more at daycare than at home. He went #2 on the big toiler at daycare this past week and has before, probably a month ago, and #1 too. Tonia says he takes his own pants and diaper off, throws his diaper away all by himself too. Big boy! But at home, not the case. His ritual at home is to 'hide' under the kitchen table where he does his 'duty'. He can stink up the house in a very short period of time and can be such a stinker (no pun intended) about getting his pants changed. Why you'd want a pile like that in your pants and continue on like things are just fine and dandy is beyond me. Maybe he has a numb bottom? :-) Boys will be boys and are definitely more of a challenge/do things in their own time, compared to girls. He will be 3 in July so I'm hoping things 'click' this summer and he is wearing big-boy underwear on the hot, humid days vs. a diaper.
Carter is also becoming a JABBER BOX. And he is asking questions. He likes to say "Doing?" or "Doing Daddy?" Some words I love how he pronounces them, even though they are incorrect include: brewbriber for screwdriver and tat tart for pop tart. He can say his "p's" but I think having the word "tart" immediately following is messing him up. Papa Zens has a talking deer head in his man shed on the farm and Carter used to be petrified of it but now he says "dat deow in dare no scowed me" - translation "That deer in there no scared me". We were on the farm today and he spent a lot of time with Papa on the tractors. He is OBSESSED with tractors and his countless tractors. He loves 'loaders'. He also loves riding lawn mower at the farm and with dad at our house. We have a golf cart now too to cruise around the big town of Currie but he is a little gun shy of it for some reason. Strange. He has mastered his tricycle this past month - wahoo!. He pedals it all by himself. He has known for some time but I think he was just being lazy and wanting me to push him (there is a handle that I can push him with that come be taken off for when they graduate to pedaling on their own. I guess next up will be a bicycle with training wheels!).
Last weekend was Easter right? Or maybe it was the weekend prior. Anyway, Carter had a lot of fun doing the Easter egg hunt at Lake Shetek State Park but was TERRIFIED of the Easter Bunny. I have to say, they need to get a better costume or head - the bunny head was like Bugs bunny.
Well, I should wrap it up. Carter is demanding I draw a tractor for him and I am b ,trying to upload pictures (behind on those - shocker) and my computer is acting up!.
We've been busy with life - I've been super busy with work (have a big tradeshow in Denver coming up May 6-9...not looking forward to being gone from my two guys for a week but I've done it before so I'm used to it. Jesse is busy with the business and is keeping busy. His ability to pick up things so quickly amazes me. He is a 'wired' handyman/Mr. Fix It. I think Carter is going to be a lot like him. Yay for me! :-)
Speaking of Carter...boy is he growing up. I still call him my baby and occasionally refer to him as my 'punk-a-doo' but he is turning into, as he calls it, 'big boy'. He said that after brushing his teeth SEVERAL times this pas week. He stands on his step-stool in front of the sink, and begrudgingly has me or Jesse brush his teeth - he isn't too fond of the process and frequently throws tempter tantrums. So, after we were done he reached his arms out wide and said "BIG BOY". So gosh darn adorable. Speaking of being a big boy, he is also doing SUPER good at sleeping in his own bed. I thought we had ruined him and he would be sleeping with us until he was a teenager but luckily, I am reminded that kids are more resilient and flexible to things that we sometimes think. I have been having to lay with him while he falls asleep but the past few nights I explained to him I would be in the bedroom right next to him and will come check on him and he seems to buy it and accept it. I check on him about 10 minutes later and he is sound asleep - poppy usually out (poppy is his pacifier....yes, that is our next bad habit to break!) - and sawing logs (he is a snorer). He is also loving book time before he goes to bed. We just gave him a new book "Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site" and he really likes it. Our ritual is to read a few books and let him watch a little bit of a DVD on his portable DVD player. He loves Cars, Cars2, Toy Story, Elmo teaching him about the potty. Speaking of the potty...making progress there too, but more at daycare than at home. He went #2 on the big toiler at daycare this past week and has before, probably a month ago, and #1 too. Tonia says he takes his own pants and diaper off, throws his diaper away all by himself too. Big boy! But at home, not the case. His ritual at home is to 'hide' under the kitchen table where he does his 'duty'. He can stink up the house in a very short period of time and can be such a stinker (no pun intended) about getting his pants changed. Why you'd want a pile like that in your pants and continue on like things are just fine and dandy is beyond me. Maybe he has a numb bottom? :-) Boys will be boys and are definitely more of a challenge/do things in their own time, compared to girls. He will be 3 in July so I'm hoping things 'click' this summer and he is wearing big-boy underwear on the hot, humid days vs. a diaper.
Carter is also becoming a JABBER BOX. And he is asking questions. He likes to say "Doing?" or "Doing Daddy?" Some words I love how he pronounces them, even though they are incorrect include: brewbriber for screwdriver and tat tart for pop tart. He can say his "p's" but I think having the word "tart" immediately following is messing him up. Papa Zens has a talking deer head in his man shed on the farm and Carter used to be petrified of it but now he says "dat deow in dare no scowed me" - translation "That deer in there no scared me". We were on the farm today and he spent a lot of time with Papa on the tractors. He is OBSESSED with tractors and his countless tractors. He loves 'loaders'. He also loves riding lawn mower at the farm and with dad at our house. We have a golf cart now too to cruise around the big town of Currie but he is a little gun shy of it for some reason. Strange. He has mastered his tricycle this past month - wahoo!. He pedals it all by himself. He has known for some time but I think he was just being lazy and wanting me to push him (there is a handle that I can push him with that come be taken off for when they graduate to pedaling on their own. I guess next up will be a bicycle with training wheels!).
Last weekend was Easter right? Or maybe it was the weekend prior. Anyway, Carter had a lot of fun doing the Easter egg hunt at Lake Shetek State Park but was TERRIFIED of the Easter Bunny. I have to say, they need to get a better costume or head - the bunny head was like Bugs bunny.
Well, I should wrap it up. Carter is demanding I draw a tractor for him and I am b ,trying to upload pictures (behind on those - shocker) and my computer is acting up!.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Yuv you mamma
I've been waiting for my sweet (and sometimes very stubborn) little Carter to say "love you" back and he finally did it the other night - Monday evening. We were laying in bed and I said "Say, I love you mamma" and he said "Yuv you mamma"....awwwww....so, so precious. It melted away the annoyance of Carter begging to see yet another tractor video on YouTube on my phone!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, and then he sort of said "yuv you daddy" but with much less conviction!
:-)
Oh, and then he sort of said "yuv you daddy" but with much less conviction!
:-)
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Carter Driving The Tractor
Brittany, who I work with, was kind of enough to make the haul down from the Cities to Currie to take Carter's pictures on G&G Zens' farm this past week. He was certainly in his element....he wouldn't cooperate unless he was on a tractor! We had some family pictures taken too...more to come!
Where does the time go?
I'm embarrassed to admit that my last post was in March when Carter had his tonsils and adenoids removed. Summer, as it usually does, flew by and now the leaves are beginning to fall. Summer was a lot of fun. Here are a few highlights:
- We spent the 4th of July in Currie as it's the big city celebration over the 4th every year. Carter enjoyed the bounce house at the park and we spent some time at the lake at Grandma and Grandpa Zens. Jesse and I spent a night out at the ever-famous Currie Street Dance which was a lot of fun..Aunt Bekah joined us as well
- Carter turned the big 2.0 July 19th. We had a small birthday party for him at home and Grandma and Grandpa Zens came over for pizza and a tractor ice cream cake. Carter got some new tractors and a truck for his birthday that night and a wagon from G&G Zens which he really enjoyed this summer.
- Carter enjoyed lots of time outdoors at daycare, around Currie and at the lake. He started to say "water" and would point at the lake and "boat". He truly enjoyed all of the water/boat time, except for when we tried to get him the water! He was very scared at first...one weekend we spent some time on a beach and Carter enjoyed playing in the sand/water. The last weekend in July, when Grandma Lucy, Grandpa Don and Aunt Crista and Uncle Josh and Uncle Craig came up to celebrate Carter's 2nd birthday, we hung out at Sandy Beach on Lake Shetek, and Carter conquered his fear of swimming! He went to each of us and really had a splash of a time. I was so proud of him! We also spent some time tubing with Grandpa A., Crista, Josh and Craig...Carter stayed at the cabin and with Grandma Lucy.
- In August we spent some time at Grandma and Grandpa Aschenbrenner's on the farm near Laurens and Carter had a blast....from riding around on the golf cart, three-wheeler...and Grandpa and I rummaged through some old stuff stored in a building and found me and Aunt Crista's old Barbie cars and some of Grandpa's stuff from when he was a kid. In the midst of all of that we found a kite and Grandpa, Carter and I flew that for awhile. Carter was a little less into the kite flying than me and Grandpa :-) Oh, and Carter and I helped pick grandpa's cucumbers....3, 5-gallon buckets full! It was cucumber madness!
All-in-all, it was a great summer, but went all too fast. However, I really love Fall, and, and am looking forward to some more nice weeks ahead.
- We spent the 4th of July in Currie as it's the big city celebration over the 4th every year. Carter enjoyed the bounce house at the park and we spent some time at the lake at Grandma and Grandpa Zens. Jesse and I spent a night out at the ever-famous Currie Street Dance which was a lot of fun..Aunt Bekah joined us as well
- Carter turned the big 2.0 July 19th. We had a small birthday party for him at home and Grandma and Grandpa Zens came over for pizza and a tractor ice cream cake. Carter got some new tractors and a truck for his birthday that night and a wagon from G&G Zens which he really enjoyed this summer.
- Carter enjoyed lots of time outdoors at daycare, around Currie and at the lake. He started to say "water" and would point at the lake and "boat". He truly enjoyed all of the water/boat time, except for when we tried to get him the water! He was very scared at first...one weekend we spent some time on a beach and Carter enjoyed playing in the sand/water. The last weekend in July, when Grandma Lucy, Grandpa Don and Aunt Crista and Uncle Josh and Uncle Craig came up to celebrate Carter's 2nd birthday, we hung out at Sandy Beach on Lake Shetek, and Carter conquered his fear of swimming! He went to each of us and really had a splash of a time. I was so proud of him! We also spent some time tubing with Grandpa A., Crista, Josh and Craig...Carter stayed at the cabin and with Grandma Lucy.
- In August we spent some time at Grandma and Grandpa Aschenbrenner's on the farm near Laurens and Carter had a blast....from riding around on the golf cart, three-wheeler...and Grandpa and I rummaged through some old stuff stored in a building and found me and Aunt Crista's old Barbie cars and some of Grandpa's stuff from when he was a kid. In the midst of all of that we found a kite and Grandpa, Carter and I flew that for awhile. Carter was a little less into the kite flying than me and Grandpa :-) Oh, and Carter and I helped pick grandpa's cucumbers....3, 5-gallon buckets full! It was cucumber madness!
All-in-all, it was a great summer, but went all too fast. However, I really love Fall, and, and am looking forward to some more nice weeks ahead.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Carter is on the road to recovery!
The short version of this blog post is that Carter's surgery was a success, he is doing great (playing, eating, drinking but a little cranky...could be sleeping more) and we are so thankful that everything went so well. We hope this surgery provides him long term health and a great reduction in snoring :-)
Surgery Day - Wednesday, March 23rd
Carter had his tonsils and adenoids removed early Wednesday morning by Dr. Janning who travels to Slayton every month from Willmar. We filled out some paperwork, Carter got his scrubs on and we waited in the pre-op room with some other families and little ones. Shortly after 7 am I went into the surgery room with Carter for when they put him to sleep. Biggest mistake ever. That experience was so traumatic for both of us - I was a bawling mess! If I ever have to do this again with Carter or another one of our hypothetical children, I won't be there to watch or hold them. It's just too hard. So, the nurses consoled me and reminded me that he will be healthier for having this done. I pulled myself together, wiped my face dry and Jesse and I waited in our assigned hospital room for about 15 minutes until Dr. Janning called saying that all went very well (very little bleeding) and he did great. A huge wave a relief for me (and Jesse too I think). We went back to the recovery room and Carter was carried in shortly after. He was a little out of it due to the sedation still wearing off and was really fussy (just wasn't himself which was normal). That lasted about 20 minutes and we eventually made our way to our hospital room as they have little ones under the age of 3 stay overnight for observation. It was a long day! But, Carter did amazingly well - man, kids are resilient. He snarfed down 2 popsicles and 1 freeze-pop that morning and the following throughout the day:
- 2 puddings
- 1 yogurt
- Mac 'n' cheese
- Another popsicle
- Jello
- Sherbet
- Ice Cream
Hallway Obsession
I continuously lost to the ever-popular hallways. He wanted pretty much nothing to do with our room and he could open the door to the hallway too. So, we spent a lot of time in them. But, that's a toddler for ya I guess. He was occupied with the basket of toys that the nurse brought in off and on, and especially took a liking to the yellow truck pictured here. He loved that truck and zoomed it up and down the hallways.
Guests
Grandma and Grandpa Zens stopped by and gave Carter 3 little tractors that he played with some (but again - they also lost to the hallway!) And Carter loves tractors!
Overnight
Carter did well going to sleep and slept in his own hospital b ed and I slept in my own (Jesse slept at home - lucky duck, hee hee). Carter woke up a few times and was ready to get up for the day at 4 am (ugh). We got him some Tylenol and he fell back asleep until a little after 7 am so I thought he did pretty darn good.
Is the snoring gone?
We aren't sure about his 'snoring'. The tonsils and adenoids removal should take care of it but he still has a loud breathing but isn't quite a full-blown snore. There is still inflammation, etc. so it may still go away. Time will tell.
See ya Murray County Hospital
We were happy to leave Thursday morning - Carter had a clean bill of health with every temp and oxygen level check all day yesterday, last night and this morning and Dr. Dan gave him the green light this morning at around 10 am.
First Day Home (Thursday, March 24th)
Carter has done well today (except for sleeping....he only napped for about an hour this afternoon). He ate some yogurt and drank juice this morning, had 2 helpings of mac 'n' cheese for lunch plus chocolate pudding and he had some more yogurt and a popsicle for a snack. He also tried out my new pasta recipe tonight that he actually liked! Score! My mom is here spending time with us and helping out and she helped make it. It was a little more work than I had anticipated but definitely a recipe I'll make again. He had fun playing some with his new truck and watching his videos on You Tube. I found these musical books on there from Barefoot Books and he just LOVES them. His favorite is this one about tractors. I'm getting a little sick of it but he just sits so contently and will watch this one and others over and over and over again. However, he still has no interest in TV. Go figure.4th day today - a little rough
Today has been Carter's toughest day. He just hasn't been himself, hasn't eaten as much and had a temperature of 99.6. He didn't feel like eating this evening but did enjoy his You Tube videos again. I, on the other hand, am growing very tired of them and find myself singing the songs when I am doing things around the house.
In closing, a big shout out to my wonderful husband Jesse. He is just so responsible and supportive (well, except for when he wanted to watch Dukes of Hazzard while Carter was running rampant in the hallways and the hospital). He just does everything I ask of him and more. Such a great dad and hubby. Love you!
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