Road Trip to Houston

Since my dad's surgery to remove his bladder I have been wanting to go visit him before returning to work. He still needed some time after the surgery before having visitors. Last Wednesday Ginger and my dad gave me the go ahead to come on to Houston for a weekend visit! So I got all packed up Thursday and left around 5am on Friday morning. David wasn't able to go since he had to work all weekend so it was just the boys and me. I was a little nervous traveling with two little ones but they both did great!!! We only had to stop once for breakfast and a break on the way there and back. I will say the hardest part about traveling by yourself with two little kids is bathroom breaks. I had drank a couple of redbulls so I had to use the restroom really bad but to stop I would have woken them both up and didn't want to take the chance so just kept on going. We arrived around 10:30am on Friday morning. When we got there I got unloaded and took over their house with baby chairs, swings, bags of clothes, diapers, bottles and all the fun stuff! At a garage sale Ginger had a found Trent a little desk so we got that all set up in the living room and he had his own little play area. Later Trent, Grandpa Bob and I laid down for naps while Carter hung out with GG (Grandma Ginger). We had a quiet evening and just hung out watching tv, eating and playing with Trent. Grandpa Bob was playing catch with Trent which he really liked! We had to keep reminding Trent to be gentle and not throw things at Grandpa because his stomach is still healing from the surgery. Before you know it Grandpa Bob will be running around with him!!! Saturday morning Ginger and I went to a community garage sale with the kids. We were very amused by how Trent wore my sunglasses! I think it's so funny how he puts them on upside down!! While garage selling, I found a magnetic fishing pole that Trent loved playing with. Him and Grandpa had a lot of fun with this! For lunch we had some food from this Tea Room they have in Houston. They have the best soup and chicken salad sandwich!! (Adrianne, it was SO good!! :-) ) After nap time I took Trent outside to play with his play-doh set that I brought down for him. He had a blast with it! Carter enjoyed watching his big brother playing. That night Ginger had a bridal shower to go to so Trent, Carter and I hung out with Grandpa Bob watching a movie and playing some more. I helped Trent put his new puzzle together which took a good 15-20 mins. Once it was together he broke it apart and then tried pushing it under the rug! That's a boy for you! Sunday morning we all took it easy. Dad made us some eggs and bacon for breakfast and that was very yummy! I love his breakfasts!!!!! When Ginger got home from church she took Trent to Target and got him some gardening tools, car PJs and some of his own sunglasses. (This kid is always so spoiled by all of his grandparents! That is their job and they all sure do it well :-) ) They spent most of the day in the yard planting flowers and watering them. Then Trent watered me and GG!!! LOL He had a great time! He was even talking about it at dinner. How he dug holes in the dirt and put flowers in. We then left at 5am this morning and got home around 10:30am. It was raining pretty hard when I hit the Dallas area so that was not fun but we made it home safe and sound.



Trent and Grandpa Bob

Trent sneaking in Grandpa's chair!

Puzzle complete

Puzzle destroyed!

I'm so glad I got to take the boys to Houston! The last time we were there was when Trent was about 9 months old, way too long ago. He had such a great time playing with his Grandpa Bob & GG and I think they had a great time playing with him. Carter just enjoyed being around everyone and "talking" to them. I'll be going back to work next Monday and am extremely sad but am happy that I got visit to Houston in before returning. Now I'm just waiting for Adrianne, Nigel, Braden and Teagan to arrive from North Carolina on Thursday.

Two little people

Having two boys makes it so hard not to compare almost every little thing about them; their size, their features, their personalities. One thing I like about having another child is that I have noticed his personality sooner than I did with Trent because I do see the differences! Carter is much more laid back and patient; he will be ready for a bottle but as soon as you start talking to him and playing with him, he'll "forget" for a minute and talk back. Their cries are like night and day. Trent would scream and cry so loud it would echo through any home. Carter's cry is a very pitiful cry with the pouty lip and all. Carter also has started to coo and laugh sooner than Trent did. One thing these boys have in common, they want to be involved with everyone else! Carter wants to see what's going on and just take everything in just like Trent did. I have pictures of the boys at about the same age. It's so neat to me to compare their traits this way. I still think they look different but like brothers. (Trent is on the left & Carter on the right)

Trip to the zoo

So we finally had a beautiful Monday to go and have a fun family activity. David and I decided to take the boys to the zoo. The weather was perfect, in the mid 70s, the zoo wasn't very crowded and we all had such an awesome time. I even think Carter enjoyed the fresh air and being outside. It was so amazing to me taking Trent to the zoo about 7 months from the first time we went. He actually knew what the names of the animals were, what most of them "say" or do and had a great time looking at them all! I think his favorite part was the bugs, snakes and lizards. It was also very cool to go to the Dallas Zoo instead of the Fort Worth Zoo. I have heard from so many people that the Fort Worth Zoo is better but I think they are both very fun and different. One thing I really liked about the Dallas Zoo is that it had a wonderful Children's Play Area. They had a slide and tunnels and a little stream of water that kids were playing in. I would love to go back and let Trent spend more time there! One of the highlights was feeding the bearded dragon (see video). Trent was the only kid in the discovery house so he got to feed him a few times and LOVED it! He also got to pet a bunny in the barn area. After several attempts to pick up the bunny we had to move on. They also had a white alligator there. It was very cool! Trent asked to go swimming with him...we of course said no :-) Another amusing part was the larger lizard (I'm not sure of his official name) but he kept crawling up the window and Trent got really scared he was going to come out to get him. Then as we walked all through the zoo Trent started collecting sticks (this child loves sticks! I have to make him leave them by the door or they would be all over our house!) It was actually so funny to me that we had so much going on yet he still stopped for sticks. Funny little guy! Overall, it was a fun but exhausting day. I'm so happy we finally got the chance to get out of the house and do something on one of our last Mondays together!



Coloring a gorilla mask in the discovery house













The lizard that scared him












The bunny he kept trying to pick up!

First Giggle

After Carter started smiling David has worked very hard to get him to laugh. He has found his tickle spot on his thigh (just like his brother)!! We tried to get it on video but of course when you pull out the camera it's not the same first laugh but you get the idea :-) I'm sure we'll have more giggles to come!! I love it!

2 months old

Yesterday we took Carter to the doctor for his 2 month check up. He got some shots and boy he did not like that at all!!! I don't think I've ever seen him so angry. Other than that everything went really well. The doctor said it was fine to go ahead and let him cry himself to sleep (of course only after he's fed, burped, changed, etc) so we'll be working on that soon. I'm hoping it goes as smoothly as Trent did but am very worried because he LOVES to be held! He will fall asleep in your arms and the second you put him in his bassinet he's awake. It's so interesting seeing the differences in the boys even at such a young age. They are just very much their own little people. There is one thing that is almost identical...their measurements! Trent was 14 lbs and 24 inches and in the 90th percentile. Here is Carter's measurements:

Height: 24 inches-90th percentile

Weight: 13lbs 13oz-90the percentile

Head: 16 inches-75% percentile

Happy Easter!

This has been a very fun Easter weekend! We started off coloring eggs on Friday at my brother in law, Steve's house. The kids had a really good time dying the eggs and thank goodness we had a lot of eggs because Trent was very quick to drop them in, pull them out and ask for another one! Today we went to my sister in law's parent's house for Easter again. As always, we had a really good time. Trent always enjoys playing with his cousins and his little buddies Carson and Logan. It was hilarious because the three boys all had the same shirt on, not planned!!

Here are some photos from Easter:

Trent opening his Easter basket





























All of his goodies!











Brodie playing with Carter. Such a great cousin!!!



















Look at all of those eggs!!!










Trent & Logan opening their eggs











TROUBLE!!









David caught a really good little video of Trent finding eggs. As you can see, he had a blast! I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

SUPRISE

Trent's imagination is growing everyday! He pretends to be different animals or he'll make me foods or cakes in his little kitchen. It's also so funny to see the simplest things entertain him. Carter and him received a package from Grandpa Bob & Grandma Ginger yesterday. In there was an egg with some candy in it. He kept opening the egg and acted like it was something new when his candy fell out again. He's too funny!!!!

8 hours

We see the light at the end of this sleep deprived tunnel! Carter slept from 1am to 9am the other day!!!! YAY! He has been averaging 5-6 hours at night but this was our first 8 hour stretch. Hopefully I can get him on a somewhat routine for night by time I go back to work. I'm so sad that I only have a little over 3 weeks left but am fortunate that I was able to take 12 weeks off. It's been so nice having this bonding time with Carter, the play time with Trent and just time with David. We just have such different work schedules that we rarely get so much time together and it's been great.

Fun with Friends

Since I've been on maternity leave it's been so nice having a family day. With David and my work schedules being so different it's hard to find a full day for us all the be together so right now it has been Mondays. Unfortunately with our crazy weather in Texas some days are cold, some are warm and some are windy so it's hard to make plans. Yesterday we wanted to get Trent out of the house to play but since the weather was a bit cold we took him to the mall play area. Trent was super excited his little friends, Carson & Logan could meet and play with him too! All the boys had a blast run around, climbing, sliding and yes, they even crawled around pretending they were dogs! Here are some more pictures from all of the fun yesterday.