Carly & Bub

..and then there were 5

2012-02-08T12:35:00.000-08:00

The last month has been anything but interesting around the Thompson House. We found out back in November that we were expecting baby #3 in July, we were beyond excited! We found out early that I had a minor complication and after a month of limited activity and no exercise we went back to the doctor to be told the problem was worse and I was put on bed rest for 3 weeks.

Three weeks with 2 small kids is almost impossible unless you have the most amazing friends and family that we do. My mom took a day each week off of work and then came every Saturday to do laundry and clean my house. My dad came at least once a week and so did my mother-in-law. My awesome husband even took off a day each week to stay home and help. I had someone come everyday to play with my kids, make them lunch, put them down for naps and just love on them. People brought us dinner every night and I got lots of great books to read from my MIL, Aunt-in-law and grandma-in-law. It all paid off, I am now off bed rest and back to limited activity.

Baby is doing great and is growing just perfectly. We had an ultrasound on Monday and the tech is 90% sure it is a little girl. It will be a little more accurate next month when we go but we are already calling "it" a "she" and I am having fun designing her room in my head and thinking about all the cute outfits I had with Carly and how we get to use them again. If next month it turns out to be a "he" it is going to be just as great because we already have everything to welcome him as well. Either one will be set.

We are very optimistic that things are going to be great from here on out. I want to thank everyone though for the prayers and for helping us. Bed rest is definitely a team effort!

I will leave you with a picture of Miss Claire.

Lucky

2012-01-25T17:05:00.000-08:00

I love how you might not talk to your family all the time or see your siblings often but when you really need them they are always there. No matter what and with no strings attached. I somehow got super lucky in the in-law department too and have the most amazing second parents. I love that my mom spent the day with me and the kids and then cooked us the most amazing chicken fried steak dinner and stayed and ate with us. (pretty jealous huh)

I hate that my best friend Candice lives in Houston and I don't see or talk to her often but when she comes to visit I feel like we are 18 again and living in the dorms in College Station. I love that my kids call her Aunt Butter and they love her as much as I do. I love that she always and I mean always picks one night when she is here to have a slumber party with me, and my husband is super supportive and goes to bed early so we can sit and talk until late at night.

I love how my daughter know all the words to the Alvin and the chipmunks movie and will recite it similar to the way I did the Clueless movie, every time we watch it.

I love how when you ask Clay if he pooped he will say NO, NO, NO and then tell you HIDE and goes and hides so that you don't check is diaper.

I love that I talk to my other best friend Corinne everyday, no matter what, and about stupid stuff. I love that we know what the other is making for dinner or how we tell each other the good sales at the grocery store but more than anything that we just check in everyday just to say hi and see how the kids are.

Most of all I LOVE my husband. I seriously could not have picked better if I tried. Everything I have ever wanted for my life he makes possible. He gave me the two most perfect kids and loves me even though I can be a pain in the butt. I love that he texts me everyday just to tell me he loves me. I love even more that he gets me addicted to shows like American Pickers and now I don't seem to mind when he brings home a bunch of "junk" to put in our garage. Sorry Babe, I know, I know..... they are antiques.

And because I don't have any new pictures because I am awful here is one of Carly in her tutu and tap shoes doing one of her nightly dance routines.

That moment when it just clicks.....

2012-01-09T10:58:00.000-08:00

Carly is on her way to being potty trained!!!!!

My last post of 2010 I shared my goals for the year. Potty training my 2 year old was one of them. Just like every other mom in the world you anxiously anticipate the day you no longer have to change your kids diapers and I was really looking forward to it. I had just had Clay and had decided to not pursue training her until after he was born so that I didn't have to deal with regression, which is very common. Instead 2011 brought a lot of resistance, tears (by me), insecurities (again by me) and a lot of other emotions and no potty use. I thought I would finally share our struggle and the lesson it taught me about being a mom.

You start seeing all your friends kids using the potty and being successful or at least their kids were attempting to use it. They might not be completely trained but they had a least sat and peed on the toilet. I had friends with kids who were not even 2 who were showing interest and using it periodically. I very much know that all kids are different and do things at different rates. Being a triage nurse I talked to mom's all day about potty and sleep training etc. Instead of taking my own advice I resorted to feeling bad. I started thinking that it was somehow my fault that she wouldn't use it or had absolutely no interest.

A couple months after Clay was born I decided to jump in head first and was just going to "make" my stubborn child do it. A lot of crying (by us both), complete refusal on her part and 18 hours of NO pee later, I gave in and put her back in a diaper. When she started not sleeping, constantly squirming and having the most awful smelling pee I realized that she now had a UTI. I took her to the doctor and got to hold her down while she got cathed in order to get a culture to make sure she truely did have one. After talking to the doctor we decided that potty training was not in our near future.

I had so much guilt and it only fueled my feeling of being a bad mom. Instead of stepping back and seeing that Carly just wasn't ready and it had nothing to do with me I just focused on the fact that I heard "friends" not realizing that Carly hadn't even started the process, talk about how it was the parents being lazy. Everytime I turned around comments were being made about her potty training. Family and friends had opinion, the ones that were the most annoying were the ones that didn't have kids and therefore shouldn't have had an opinion, or who would say, "well it looks to me, like she is ready".

I remember not too long ago a good friend of mine had infertility problems and talked about how it was hard when people would ask her when she was going to have kids because she wanted them really bad but was having a hard time. I was one of those friends, I remember asking her at least a couple of times. This process for me made me realize that people have struggles and insecurities that we don't even know about and sometimes it is better to keep your questions and comments to yourself.

I took Carly to her 3 year well check with a new doctor who told me that she was "playing" me and that I needed to just put her in underware and be done with it. This is right after we had just attempted and she had gotten the UTI. I asked her if I really should since we just had a problem and she told me yes, and that if she gets another one, she gets another one. I left the office confused and really upset. I knew that I couldn't go through that again. So instead I waited and I waited and 3 months later, here we are.

I talked to Dylan about it and told him I was going to jump in again head first but was going to do whatever I had to do to make it work. I talked to Carly about it for a couple days before we started. We had a game plan and we had our treasures picked out for when she finally went.

So....... I made her sit......and sit........and sit until she peed. When she went, I cried and screamed and Carly probably thought I was a crazy person. We immedietely called her Daddy and then got our shoes on and went to HEB and bought a new toy. Today she is doing it all on her own. She tells me when she needs to go and is making us so proud. I am excited about getting to pinch her little booty with no diaper!

Needless to say it was a long road but well worth it. Looking back I am so glad that we gave it time and let her do it when she was ready. I am glad that even though I doubted myself daily, I went with my mom instinct and didn't let people influence me too much. This process also taught me a lot about myself and the kind of mom I want to be.

Next goal: Completely dressing herself!!!!! :)

Welcome 2012

2012-01-07T18:18:00.000-08:00

I love fresh starts which means I love the New Year. We are starting out the New Year with a cheaper mortgage, almost no real debt, two super awesome kids and after almost 6 years of marriage Dylan and I still like each other! I am really looking forward to what 2012 is going to bring for our family and can't wait for all the great things we have planned for this year.

As I look back on 2011 I can't believe that Carly is already 3. It seriously is ridiculous how fast it goes by. She is such a bright, sweet and well mannered little girl and makes us so proud. She is such a good big sister to Clay, shares all her toys and loves having him to play with. Rarely do they fight and when they do it is because he is aggravating her. He is not a little "brother", he is a little "bother." :) She definitely has Dylan's looks and my stubborn, impatient personality, which has really shown this past year. Just thinking about all the head butting we are going to do makes me a little nervous. We have set so many goals for her this year and she is already surpassing our expectations. We are so lucky to have been given the chance to be her parents.

Clay is the complete opposite of Carly in so many ways. It is amazing how different kids are and how they learn things at different rates. Clay is already talking up a storm. He can say a ton of words and can almost completely communicate with us which makes life easy. We don't have a lot of meltdowns because we almost always know what he wants. He can follow the most specific directions and is a master Lego tower builder. He eats almost anything you put in front of him. He loves to work in the garage with Dylan and loves to wear hats, just like Carly did at his age. He loves to cuddle and give hugs and kisses all day long.

We spent the last day of 2011 relaxing at home. We ate chicken enchiladas with Dylan's brother Wesley (Uncle Moose) and did sparklers and poppers in the front yard. I loved poppers as a kid and even though I know what to expect it took like 15 times before I didn't scream when one went off. I am such a loser!!! Clay was even able to do them which was hilarious, him and Moose would throw them at Roxy, such a horrible influence. We then went to bed early. Super boring but just perfect for us.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2012-01-04T16:56:00.000-08:00

Why is it that Christmas always seems to take so long to get here but then once it is here the day goes by so fast? I feel like it is so busy, even more so now that we have kids. We started out the holidays going to visit Dylan's grandparents best friends that live in Austin. They had never met the kids and I have never gotten to meet them so it was a great evening. Then Dylan's parents took us out to dinner.

My dad also came to visit and give the kids their Christmas presents.

The next night we did Christmas Eve with Dylan's parents and his brothers. His dad cooked his amazing fajitas, we opened presents and watched the cartoon "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."

Carly and Uncle Moose

the kids new tool bench

Christmas Morning was so much fun this year, because Carly is at such a fun age. She got everything she asked for and then some.

After we opened presents we went over to my Mom's house and had Christmas breakfast. Still my most favorite holiday tradition. Cooking breakfast with my sisters and Mom and Gammy Pat.

Carly's new dry erase table from Gammy.

We ended the day spending time at Dylan's Aunts house with all his Mom's side of the family. Lots of good deserts and fun times with the cousins and then we came home and relaxed. Christmas is exhausting!

The kids got so much fun stuff and we are so grateful for everything. It was so good to see all our family and get to spend time together. Dylan had off from the Friday before Christmas until the Monday after New Years. We got so much done and had such a great time. It was rough on us all when Tuesday came and we had to go back to the real world. We have already started out 2012 on a good note and are so excited about what the year holds. My best friend is getting married, as well as Dylan's brother and then another one of my best friends is having a baby. (actually it seems like everyone is having a baby) Seriously excited for this year, bring on 2012.

Fun Weekend

2011-12-19T18:34:00.000-08:00

Great Great Weekend! We started out with our annual trip to Barton Creek Mall to see the Mall decorated and to see the Santa. We don't actually wait in line and talk to him, we just see him from afar. This year we waited a little longer than normal and man was it a mad house. The traffic and parking at the mall was ridiculous. Still worth it!

Sunday we took Carly to her first movie at the theater. We had been telling her about it for weeks so the day finally arrived. We took her to Chipwrecked and she loved it. I was so proud of her, she sat the entire time, no complaining.

That afternoon Dylan's parents church had a Christmas party out at their land. It was so much fun. Santa came, there was a bonfire, carollers, hot chocolate, cookies and hot dogs. Towards the end, some of the middle school girls were doing karaoke and Carly wanted to go sing. She walked up to them and "sang" Joy to the World in front of everyone. I was completely shocked and so proud of her. She does not know the song but she stared at the screen and was mouthing some words into the microphone as if she did. So sad that I didn't have my camera. It was the perfect ending to an amazing weekend.

When Did She Get so Big?

2011-12-15T19:02:00.000-08:00

Is my daughter really old enough to play Candy Land?? I mean seriously?

A visit from SB!

2011-12-15T09:29:00.000-08:00

Yep that's right the good ol' Stomach Bug. We had a wonderful visit from him last year around this time and he decided to make another appearance. Bub woke up Thursday morning in a pile of his own vomit (TMI???) then Carly woke up Monday morning at 2am and left us a wonderful present in our bed.......oh ya....vomit. Dylan and I thought we had escaped it but he brought Dylan down Monday. As of now I have been left unharmed. No one has been in and no one out for 4 days!!

The ONLY thing that is nice about sick kids is they are very cuddly and don't seem to make as much of a "toy" mess though I guess they make up for it in their diapers! HaHa.

I am so glad that the kids are back to themselves finally. Seriously the worse virus that has ever hit our house. I have never seen either of my kids the way they were the last couple days.

It's gonna be a long winter!

2011-12-08T18:31:00.000-08:00

I am so bored! We spend all of our time outside, I mean almost all of it and so this weather just really upsets me. I love the cold for myself but hate that it is too cold to take my kids out in for long periods of time. The kids ask repeatedly to go outside and each time I have to let them down. It really sucks. It would be worth it if it would snow, but no such luck.

Last night when I put Carly to bed I told her that tomorrow we would do something fun. I didn't know what the something would be and honestly don't know why I even told her that but let me tell you, 3 year olds do not forget anything. The first words out of her mouth this morning as she was walking down the stairs was......"Mom, ok lets do something fun." I mean seriously it was 5:45, my idea of fun is going back to bed. So after breakfast I stripped them both down, threw them into the bathroom in our room and dumped paint all over the tub and them. I let them make a huge mess in there for a good 30-45 minutes. It was awesome. The mess was contained and the kids had a blast. The idea came from pinterest, but mine was a little messier :)

Have I mentioned how much fun 3 years olds are? Carly has started to "read" to us. She has a couple of her books completely memorized. She gets so excited when she reads them to us. Her favorites are Strawberry Shortcake and The Potty Book.

Have I also mentioned how cute Clay is getting? He is at the most perfect age, he can communicate great but also is so loving and can't actually talk back yet. I just love it! He is into saying Yes and No, and he actually using them right. When I videotaped him tonight he was a little mesmerized by the camera but it is still cute. Normally he does it much bigger.

And last I can happily say the kids like it each other more than dislike each other, and here is a picture to prove it.

Hope everyone has a great Friday!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2011-12-07T10:25:00.000-08:00

I love this time of year. Everything about it. I love the smell of our fresh cut Christmas tree, all the great winter scents from scentsy and most of all the excitement on my 3 year olds (who knows understand Santa a little bit) face when we talk about Santa or our Elf Walter. I think we are all just a little bit happier this time of year.

So on to the kids...

Clay is now in the stage where he loves to play with hats. Carly went through this stage too and it always cracks me up. Everyday he gets into the hat box and wears them. Doesn't matter if they are pink, to small, too big, he finds a way to wear them. He also likes to wear random clothes, as seen in this picture where he was wearing a camo jacket around his neck all afternoon.

We took the kids to HEB in Leander for the free Santa this past weekend. He was definitely not realistic but he was free and there was no wait, so no complaints. It took a little talking her into it but Carly finally agreed to tell him what she wanted and sit on his lap for a picture. Clay of course wanted nothing to do with him but we got the classic crying picture!

We also got our Christmas Tree this weekend. Decorating the tree is one of my most favorite things to do. I love that Carly is now old enough to help with it. We had a fake tree for a couple years when we first got married and I have to say it is not as much fun. I know a lot of people like them but I love the smell of a real tree. Needle mess and all :)

Unrelated to Christmas but another of my most favorite things is watching the kids faces when Dylan gets home. They run to him and won't let him out of there sight for at least 30 minutes. It makes me love him so much more knowing what an amazing Dad he is.

There is no one else I would rather be raising kids with. He works long hours, tons of overtime just so that I can be a "playathome" mom. He works rain, shine, cold, hot for us. Absolutely amazing! So much to be thankful for this season!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-27T17:55:00.000-08:00

So of course I have my camera at all the Thanksgiving dinner parties and yet did not get it out once to take a picture. I did get one of the kids before we left Thursday for my sisters in the Thanksgiving shirts I made them.

We had a great holiday. My favorite part of Thanksgiving is the Macy's Parade and the amazing food. This is the first year since I have been alive that I have watched the parade at my house instead of my moms. I love everything about the Parade and hope that one day my kids will as well. To get Carly excited we were telling her all the characters that would be in the parade. She asked me if Barney would be there and of course I told her no, because I don't really ever remember Barney being in the parade in recent years. We put her to bed early because we had to be at my sisters early and of course 7 minutes after she was in bed Barney AND Yogi Bear were together on the same float. I felt so bad, I wanted to go wake her up and show her, but thankfully Dylan talked some sense into me.

This is also the first year since I have been alive that we did not have Thanksgiving at my mom's house. My sister Amy hosted this year at her house in Hutto. It was wonderful being with all the family and the food was great. All the cousins had a great time playing together!

We then celebrated with Dylan's family on Friday at his parents with his brothers and mom's family. Dylan built a tree swing for Carly which ended up being really fun and will make a great memory.

We have so much to be thankful for this year and I am so truly blessed to have such an amazing husband and two wonderful babies. I hope you all had an amazing Thanksgiving as well!

A Berry Berry Good Birthday Party

2011-11-16T07:26:00.000-08:00

Strawberry Shortcake!!!!! That was what Carly wanted the theme to be for her birthday Party this year. I think it turned out pretty cute. The party was great, everyone we invited was able to come which made it even more wonderful.

My mom had made me a "lemonade stand" and she finished it Saturday so she brought it over that night and we were able to use it for Carly's party. She did such an amazing job on it and it will work for so many things as well as some great pictures.

Carly had such a great time playing with all her friends. The sandbox was a big hit and you could almost always find half the kids playing in it the whole time.

She got a bunch of awesome toys and has been having so much fun with all her new toys. Though keeping Bub away from her so that she can play play dough is hard as is teaching him not to pick up the remote control car while someone is trying to control it.

I hope everyone had a great time, I know we did.

What do YOU smell like??

2011-11-15T18:04:00.000-08:00

Carly randomly told Dylan and I tonight that he smelled like a skunk, I smelled like a Big Goldfish, she smelled like a Coconut and Bub smelled like a M&M. Oh wait and Roxy smelled like a Banana.

Where do kids get this stuff? We obviously laughed because I don't care who you are it's hilarious, so in turn she kept on and kept on all night.

Kids say the damnedest things!

So what do you smell like?

3rd Birthday

2011-11-14T10:26:00.000-08:00

I seriously can not believe that I have had my Carly Sue for 3 years now! She is the most incredible child and is such a blessing in our lives. We started the celebration the Saturday before her birthday. Dylan was out of town at his Family's farm in East Texas so my mom came over and ate dinner with us Saturday night and brought Carly her bday present. Carly is obsessed with all things Veggietales and Strawberry Shortcake right now so this gift was just perfect! A Veggietales Princess Castle.

Then on her actual Birthday we let her wake up to all her new presents (Veggietales: Little Drummer Boy, sand toys for her new sand box, new picnic themed play dough). I made her and Clay "C" chocolate chip Pancakes for breakfast.

My Sister Becky and two of her boys came over after breakfast and gave Carly her bday present and stayed and played with her for a little while.

Then that afternoon my sister Amy (they share the same bday) took us out for frozen yogurt with her daughter Samantha, which Carly calls Buggaboo.

Carly then had a surprise visit from her best friend Kayden. I wish I had gotten a picture because it was so sweet. Kayden brought her an Elmo Balloon and a big sugar cookie. She had also called her that morning and sang her Happy Birthday.

When Dylan got home that night we let her see her Big Present.... a sandbox! So far we play in it everyday for at least a couple hours. It is a huge hit.

After eating pizza we ate the Elmo cupcakes. They turned out much better than I expected. I used marshmallows for the eyes, a orange runt for the nose and an oreo cookie for the mouth. I found the idea off of Pinterest (which is addicting, I don't suggest you go on it if you haven't already.) Carly loved them and so did Clay. We shared them with all our friends and a couple of our cousins too.

Carly is such a lucky little girl to have such an amazing group of people that love her. Her 3rd Birthday was aabsolutely incredible, so thank you to everyone who made it so special for her.

I will do another post on her Bday Party..... waiting on pics from my Mama.

Overnight

2011-11-05T07:37:00.000-07:00

I finally did it!!! Dylan and I left the kids overnight for the first time together(Dylan has been gone overnight but my first time). The only time I was ever away from Carly was when I was in the hospital having Clay and I have never left Clay overnight so this was a big Mama step for me.

Dylan had his 10 year service award banquet for Atmos Energy at the Horseshoe Bay Resort in Marble Falls. It was so much fun and surprisingly I did really well. I got to cut loose for real for the first time in over 3 years. It was so nice to hang out with our friends and to meet all of Dylan's co-workers that I hear about everyday.

Even more wonderful was seeing again just how awesome my Husband is. He is so naturaly friendly and is so much fun to hang out with. Sometimes I think we loose touch with that side of our selves once we have kids becase we are so focused on them.

Now I know that I can do it and be ok! Great experience!

A Berry Berry Happy Halloween

2011-11-04T20:30:00.000-07:00

I seriously love Halloween. It is the start of all the good holidays and this year was seriously the best. Carly is at the most perfect age for trick-or-treating. She decided early on that she wanted to be Strawberry Shortcake which I am not going to lie I was really excited about. I might have had a hand in putting in idea in her head but you have to admit that she is so cute! As far as Clay goes I was too cheap to buy him a costume since he is so little so our good friends let us borrow there son's 1st costume, so Clay was a spider.

Dylan has to go "on call" every 5 weeks for his job and I remember at the beginning of the year being excited because he didn't have any holidays this year. Some how we missed that Halloween was a holiday and in fact he was on call for it. He was really upset but we hoped for the best.........unfortunately he had to work late and was going to miss all the trick-or-treating fun. Lucky for Carly Sue her Dad is amazing and drove 30 minutes home just so he could watch her go to a couple houses and then drove 30 minutes back to the job. It is moments like that, that I feel so blessed and lucky to have such an awesome husband.

This year my sister's husband was out of town and so she came over with her 3 boys (my adorable, awesome nephews), my best friends Melissa and Belinda came with there families also and we all ate Pizza and then took the kids together. It was so much fun and a really great tradition. I hope that we can continue to do it because I know the kids really enjoy getting to go together.

There is this one house on our street that is really spooky every year and this year was no exception. This is a picture of the scary guy holding the candy bucket. My mission is to out do him next year, the only problem is that my husband is kinda like Tim Taylor, you know from Home Improvement, (don't worry he agrees) and so the thought of letting him do a bunch of crazy stuff to the house kinda makes me nervous! Either way I am sooo looking forward to Halloween 2012.

Pumpkin Carving

2011-10-29T18:57:00.000-07:00

I love Holidays and the fall/winter holidays are by far my favorite! There is something about this time of year that has me in a constant good mood. I love the cold weather and the anticipation of all the fun to come.

Tonight we finally carved our pumpkins. I always have these great ideas in my head but then am too inpatient to really try to do a great one. In my head I am also a master artist but in reality I am super awful. I can barely draw stick figures.

Before we got started with the pumpkins my mom stopped by on her way to bunko. LOVE her outfit :)

Carly and Clay were not very interested in helping this year and instead were trying to be sneaky and steal the carving tools..... well not my sweet Carly Sue but Clay always had one eye on it waiting for us to put it down.

Here is Dylan's masterpiece. He calls it the Cyclops. Last year it looked more like a pig and I would burst out laughing every time I got a glimpse of it. This year it is much better. It kinda reminds me of the puppet Walter from the comedian Jeff Dunham.

Don't even begin to ask me what mine was suppose to be. I started out wanting to do all the shapes for Carly and then this is what came out. Dylan said it looks like he has a swollen "black" eye. Love it!

So you vote, whose is the BEST.

Just for fun here is Dylan's cyclops from last year. LOLLLLLLLL!!!

This Boy is Trouble

2011-10-27T18:21:00.000-07:00

Clay is Trouble with a capital T! Boys are definitely wired completely different than girls. Don't get me wrong he is super sweet and loves to cuddle and is a complete mama's boy but he also loves mischief. Some days I just can't keep up with him. Today I walked away for 30 seconds and he got onto the kitchen chair and started dunking a leftover waffle from breakfast onto a plate of syrup. He was covered. I swear he has all these ideas in his head of things he wants to do and then as soon as I am out of the room he acts. He is cRazY!!!

He walks around the house with a hat on all day long. It can be a real hat or a piece of clothing or even a cup. He still is a little bowlegged so it makes him so cute when he is running from me or is in trouble and trying to get away. He is completely infatuated with the kitchen chairs and is constantly trying to get in them. He steals anything he can find and most of the time I find it later outside through the doggy door.

But then there are these moments when he cuddles with all of Carly's dolls and gives them kisses and hugs. So it is hard to stay mad at him.

I mean seriously who can resist him?

Pumpkin Painting

2011-10-18T18:29:00.000-07:00

I am back! I have decided that Blogspot is way more fun than snappages and will be solely blogging on here again!

So this year instead of going to Sweet Berry Farms we decided to just buy our own small pumpkins and let the kids paint them at home instead. Carly had fun painting her's and Bub had fun just making a HUGE MESS. I have decided I am going to start calling him the "Thompson Tornado"

He is the sweetest little boy ever and loves to give hugs and kisses and is super snuggly but man can he get into some stuff and create a disaster in our house, our yard, and his diaper!

This is what the Tornado looked like after he got done playing in the paint. He was covered in red paint and fit in really well with our halloween theme in the front yard.

Can you see the paint in Carly's hair?? We pretty much hosed them off with the water hose!

I am getting really excited for Halloween. Carly is going to be Strawberry Shortcake and Clay is still up in the air. I plan on getting it this week so I'll keep you updated on his costume!

New Blog

2010-08-18T09:47:00.000-07:00

We started a new family blog and so I won't be posting on this one anymore. The new site is www.thompsonfamily.snappages.com

Whats New

2010-08-17T11:01:00.000-07:00

We recently took our "belly" pictures of Clay. I went in just wanting to get them done and not really in the mood to do them but knew that I had to since I did them with Carly. I waited to late this time and was just hot and miserable. I found that when you aren't trying and you don't really care how they turn out that sometimes you get the best shots. I absolutely LOVE them. My mom did a great job. Below are a couple of my favorites.

On a Carly note: She has really not gotten to do a lot this summer because it is just so hot and I don't last very long. We have spent almost all our time at home playing and watching our favorite........."Barney and Friends". I hate to admit it but I have actually taken a liken to it. I don't like watching it all day because I start to sing it in my sleep but overall it isn't a bad show.

I did take a break recently when a friend invited us to go to a really neat play gym in Hutto called the Hoppin Hippo. It was quite a drive but was so much fun. Carly loved it. She kept screaming and running around like crazy the whole time. We were there for over 1 1/2 and she only stopped to eat lunch and then was back in action. They also have a infant area so I am excited to get to go back once Clay gets bigger.

These are just some cute pictures my mom took randomly that I wanted to share!

New Baby Fun

2010-08-01T09:41:00.000-07:00

I didn't think very well when I made Carly's blog because now with Clay due in the next couple weeks I will be forced to blog about him under hers. I am going to have to ditch this blog and start a new Thompson Family one I am afraid.

With that said I know this is Carly's blog but I had to share just how incredible my friends are. I declined to have a baby shower from my family because I really didn't need anything, some good friends of ours are letting us borrow all there boy clothes (which is a ton, more than I had for Carly) and since we just had Carly we have all the essentials so I didn't feel right about having a shower. The girls from my book club, which is made up of girls I went to high school with, threw we a shower at our last meeting. It was so sweet with cupcakes and pizza. Corinne (the host) decorated the house all cute as well. It was really sweet and made me feel really special. I got in the car after the meeting and called Dylan soooo excited because we now had our OWN clothes for Clay and tons of diapers:)!!!

Then last night we were having a girls night at my friend Jenna's house. We were going to play games and just hang out. Well when I arrived I see food and a cookie cake from the mall (my all time favorite) and presents!! The cake was super cute and said: C-Cuddly, L-Lovable, A-August, Y- Y Chromosome. My witty friend Mindy came up with it. It was all so wonderful and I had the best time just relaxing with some of my best friends.

It makes me realize how lucky I am. I have the most amazing husband and daughter, the most caring and wonderful friends and am fixing to get to meet my little mister. Life really can't get any better than it is right now.

On a Carly note: We haven't been doing too much since it is so hot, I like to stay in doors but she is in a "BUG" stage. It is really funny because she is not scared at all. She will pick them up and play with them and gets to excited when I tell her there is a bug. She likes to play with crickets the best. She pulls there legs off and then plays with them.. smart girl so they can't escape.

Last but not least, I officially had my last day of work. Though I am really going to miss all my friends there I know that I will still see most of them still. It is weird to know that I am unemployed and don't have a timeline of when I will be going back. It is nice thinking that I get to completely dedicate my time to my family. I am really excited about the future for our family and am ready to start our new adventure!

Uncle Chase and Uncle Marshall

2010-07-06T10:54:00.001-07:00

I have been thinking lately about how lucky Dylan and I are to have such wonderful friends. Pretty much since I have known Dylan we have had Chase and Marshall hanging around our house. Both of them have practically lived with us at some point or another and both are so super incredible. They stay for dinner (which I LOVE) and just hang out. I always use to think that once they found girlfriends or we started having kids they would quit coming around as much. Chase recently got engaged and I must say I was super excited for him but sad also that he wouldn't be around as much because not only do I love him but so does Carly. Marshall and Chase aren't really related to us but sometimes I wish they were. I met Marshall at Tractor Supply (we worked together) when he was 16 and quickly took him in as my "little brother". I always wanted a little brother and when I met Marshall I knew that he was it. I haven't been able to shut him up or get rid of him since. :) I am so glad that Carly has such wonderful male role models in her life. She loves them both so much. It totally melts my heart when she crawls up in there laps or wants them to pick her up. Sometimes the best family isn't the ones that you are born into but the ones that God places in your life. Uncle Chase showing me the pictures on the fridge
Love Love him :)

I don't have any recent pictures of Marshall :(

My Little Lefty

2010-07-03T18:14:00.000-07:00

So I am almost positive that Carly is going to be left handed. They say that they start to favor one hand by around 18 months of age and so far she is all lefty, all the time. She can feed herself cereal perfectly with her left hand but when tried with the right, it is a big huge mess and she quickly switches back. She also colors, throws a ball and picks things up with her left hand. At first I was a little upset thinking about days of left handed scissors and not knowing how to teach her to spike a volleyball or shoot baskets as easily but I have come to the realization that there is only a small percentage of the population that is left handed and so it makes her super special (as if she wasn't already!).

I did some research to see what all there is for left handed people and oddly enough there is even a website called www.left-handed.com . They sell all kinds of things for left handed people. The best is the left handed watch. (The numbers are counterclockwise) There are also quite a few famous lefty: Tim Allen, Tom Cruise, Robert DeNiro, Whoopi Goldberg, Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, Lisa Kudrow, Marilyn Monroe, SJP, Julia Roberts and Oprah Winfrey.. just to name a few.

So to sum it up : Left is Right!!!!

Galveston Island 2010

2010-06-29T14:13:00.000-07:00

Every year we go to the beach... not the pretty California/Florida/Hawaii beach but the disgusting yet wonderful Galveston Island Beach. This year was even more fun since Carly was able to participate a little more. I have to say that it is only cute to have your belly hang out of your two piece swimsuit when your little. :) We spent a lot of time at the hotel pool. It was so relaxing and had a swim up bar which Dylan really enjoyed. I really enjoyed the non-alcoholic strawberry daiquiris!! Delicious :)

We also had to take a lot of naps. Carly still takes two naps a day (which is awesome) and the sun just drains you. I think Dylan was getting tired of spending so much time in the hotel room but we did get to catch up on some TV time.

We went to dinner at the Rain forest Cafe the first night that we were there. It is my favorite restaurant, not because of the food, but because of the atmosphere. We go every time that we go somewhere that they have one. There was a lady walking around making balloon animals. We declined her at first but when she made an ELMO for the child at the table behind us and Carly spotted it we had to call her back over to make one for us. She was so excited!!

He didn't last long though. She was pulling at his eyes and biting him and within an hour he was eye and nose less. Dylan tried to fix him the best that he could but he looked a little bit scary!!

We took her to Palm Beach our first full day since it was nice and clean and has the nice white sand beaches. I thought I would forgo a nap and she would be fine, but it didn't work out quite like I hoped. We were only there for an hour and a half before she was throwing tantrums and clearly ready for a nap. She didn't even make it the walk to the car and she was passed out. Of course once we get to the hotel room she is wide awake and refuses to continue sleeping. Oh well better luck next time and a good lesson for me.

That afternoon we went to the Strand, which is also so much fun. Dylan is not a huge fan since it is mostly shopping but I always make him go. My favorite ice cream parlor is located there. They sell ice cream and all kinds of fudge and candy. It is really old fashioned and I remember going there when I was little and my sister lived in Galveston.

While we were walking Carly spotted ELMO and Abby in one of the windows. She got so excited so we took her inside to see them. They were huge!!! I didn't check the price tag but the small pocket sized ones were $30 bucks so I can only imagine. I wish I had known that Sesame Street Live was in town recently because she would have loved it.

No vacation would be complete without a visit from my best friend EVER, Aunt Candice aka: Aunt Butter. She lives in Houston and came down Monday night and ate dinner with us and hung out for a couple hours. I don't get to see her often so it is always a super treat. On the way home Wednesday we stopped in Houston and ate lunch with her which was a perfect ending to the trip.

We spent most of the afternoon Tuesday playing at the beach. I forget every year how dirty the Texas beaches are. With dirt and sea weed etc. It almost isn't even fun to swim in but the sand is fun to play in with all our beach toys. Carly did make it out a couple times though and seemed to enjoy it.

We pretty much ate ice cream everyday that we were there. It is all 3 of our favorite things. Carly Loves it almost as much as Dylan does.

We weren't able to get a good family picture and Dylan will probably kill me for posting this one but it cracks me up every time I see it. We always try to get Carly to scrunch up her nose and snort and he was trying to get her to do it as I snapped the picture! PRICELESS

On the way home we stopped in Brenham so that Carly could get out and walk. She doesn't do very well in the car. Brenham has the Blue Bell Ice Cream Creamery and it is always fun to stop in and check out their gift shop and get a bowl of ice cream.

This was our last family vacation before the new addition arrives in August. It was so wonderful to get to spend a whole week with just the 3 of us. We haven't done that since Carly was first born and even then I think Dylan snuck out a few times to go feed cows or "check on things". We were literally together for 6 days straight and yes we fought a few times but mostly it was wonderful. Looking forward to next years beach trip with all 4 of us :)

Summer Fun in the Sun

2010-06-23T18:46:00.000-07:00

I have been so bad with blogging lately. I have so much I want to say that I get overwhelmed and then just don't do it at all. My summer resolution is to start doing it more.

This summer has been incredible so far, here is a little recap:

1. I learned that Carly loves the water. I am so use to a lot of little kids hating it once they get a little older and refusing to get anywhere near the big pools that I was expecting the same from her. But she LOVES it. Which is great since I want to be in the water as much as possible. 2. The Park is too hot to go to during the day. We, or rather I, decided to walk to the park in our neighborhood the other day and soon regretted it. By the time we got there we were both red, thirsty and ready for the A/C. We played for 15 minutes and made the trek back to the house. We haven't been back since. Plus she only likes the mulch and we have mulch in our backyard- much easier. 3. My mom introduced her to the water hose. She played with it forever. My mom got some of the cutest pictures of her drinking from it. Too many to post but thought this one was great.

4. Carly LOVES baseball hats. I can't get her to wear the other cute ones but she picked out a pink ball cap from Old Navy and wanted to wear it ALL the time. The lady had to scan it on her head and then take the tags off in the store so we could wear it out. I have proceeded to buy her many more because they are so stinking cute and I know that she loves them.

4. She also loves Crocs. I bought a pair of cheap ones for her that were in the $5 bin. I couldn't find a good color so we had to go with a reddish pair since it was all they had left in her size. She won't take them off. She wears them in the house and has learned how to put them on herself. If I try to put another pair of shoes on her she gets upset and will find the crocs and will cry until I change them. Good thing red goes with most stuff....

5. She has learned how to count to 3. She could say "one" and "three" before but never put them together and would always leave out the "two". Well now we can say all 3 and can even count our pennies and toys to prove how smart we are.

Random acts of Cuteness!

2010-05-24T19:06:00.000-07:00

Carly has definitely started to really show some personality lately. If I thought she had it before it is nothing compared to her now. A couple days ago I was going to clean her little princess couch, so I picked it up and put it on the big couch so I could take the cover off. She got so upset, I guess she thought I was taking it away from her. Well she showed me.......she went and got her bag of Lego's and dragged them over to where her couch normally sits and sat down on them. Took me a while to quit laughing, but I was able to of course get a picture first. If you are not a fan of baby nudity then don't watch this video. Carly has some of her best moments in the bathtub so enjoy! :) And Dylan taught her all the bad stuff...........

Amazement

2010-05-07T19:41:00.001-07:00

Tonight I was laying in Carly's bed with her during bedtime and I was just staring at her and how big she is getting. Tonight we went to Wolf Ranch in Georgetown to go shopping and ate dinner at Chik-fil-A just the two of us. She wanted to walk like a big girl in all the stores we went to and for the first time I let her. She did so good and had so much fun. I was laying there thinking back on our day and how I have a baby old enough to hold my hand and walk in Target with me. Time is just flying by. I can't believe that she is already 18 months old. I feel like I just got her but at the same time I can't remember what life was like before her. I mean what did Dylan and I even talk about or do without her? Tonight was one of my best nights and as I was in bed with her I held her a little tighter and a little longer cause I know that the days are numbered that she will want me to snuggle. In two days I get to celebrate my second mothers day with the most wonderful and perfect "sunshine/worm/toot-toot" and feel like the most blessed women in the world.

Her new Elmo Pj's!!!! (If you don't know Carly then you don't know that she talks about Elmo about 80% of the day.)

Fun in the Sun

2010-04-21T19:41:00.000-07:00

Spring is my absolute favorite time of year..... the weather is gorgeous and you get the smell of freshly cut grass and rain! We have been trying to take advantage of the 70 degree weather as much as possible. The park is great but having to chase her around and go under the playgrounds and making sure she isn't eating the trash on the ground makes it quite the challenge. Our backyard is just as fun and I can relax knowing that there isn't much that she can get into. Plus it gives her and Roxy extra bonding time to play and hopefully help our wonderful puppy lose some much needed extra pounds.

I brought the sidewalk chalk to the backyard and let her use it on the side of the house. Much better and I don't have to chase her down the driveway when she decides that she is "All done" playing with it.
I have gotten into a bad habit of every time we go to Target having to get a toy to add to our collection. She is in an Elmo phase right now and I couldn't pass up the Elmo bubble maker. I am sure the whole neighborhood could hear her screaming "ELLLMMMMOOOO" at the top of her lungs while we were playing with it.

And no Spring blog is every complete without the trying on of the swimsuit. I have to say she is quite possibly the cutest thing ever!

Bluebonnets

2010-04-10T18:54:00.000-07:00

My mom takes bluebonnet pictures every year and this year we attempted to take Family Pictures but Carly was not cooperating so I brought her back for solo pics this week. She did much better and I got some really cute ones of her. One of her best friends Kayden came at the same time for her pictures and we were able to get picture of both of them together which also turned out pretty cute!

Hope you Enjoy :)

Easter

2010-04-07T19:05:00.000-07:00

This Easter was so much fun! Last year Carly was only 6 months and couldn't do much but this Easter she was all over the place. When she saw all the eggs in the yard she yelled "Wooooowwwww" She was so excited. She would pick them up and have one in each hand and would refuse to put them in her basket. When she would see another egg she would throw the ones in her hands over her shoulder and go for the new eggs. It was hilarious.
We went to my mom's house first for lunch and had a big egg hunt with all the grand kids which was a lot of fun. Carly and my nephew Kieran got to do one with just them since they are the littlest ones. Then we went to Dylan's Aunts house and got to have another egg hunt. By that time Carly was a pro and had learned how to open the eggs. Once she found out that there was stuff inside them she no longer wanted to hunt them. She sat on the ground in front of her basket and opened every one of them.

Over all it was a great day filled with lots of family and fun. Can't wait till next year when Carly gets to introduce her baby BROTHER to the game of egg hunting!!

Spoon Feeding!

2010-03-26T11:45:00.001-07:00

We have been practicing so hard recently to get down feeding ourselves. Every morning we eat cereal with milk (fruity pebbles is her favorite) and she is becoming a rock star!

New Furniture & Outside

2010-03-23T08:18:00.000-07:00

Carly is officially a "big" girl. We bought her a new bedroom set which includes the dresser and night table and a full size bed. It looks so cute in her room and she has done so well with it. The transition from the crib to the bed was a breeze, she didn't even know a difference at first. Now of course she wants to crawl all over it and wants either mom or dad to lay down until she falls asleep. We aren't complaining though because it is super comfortable. I think Dylan and I secretly want to be the ones to put her to bed or to get her if she wakes up at night because we want to lay in it. The best part is that we shouldn't have to buy furniture until she is much much older, if ever!
Now on to the good stuff...... With the spring weather we have been taking advantage of every opportunity to go outside and play. She loves to be outside and will stand by the door and cry when we don't get to.

She has mastered climbing up the "rock wall" and is able to slide all by herself!

Carly was super excited to get her new "Princess Cozy Coupe". I tried to leave the bottom out of it and let her start walking in it but she didn't quite understand and would fall all the way to the bottom and just lay there looking at us, so we went ahead and put the floor in and she loves it.

When we go to the park she loves to take all the mulch or rocks and put them on the slides or the walkways in little piles. She will do it for hours!

Hope everyone had a great spring break!!

Sick Day

2010-03-04T08:30:00.000-08:00

We are home sick today with a cold and are trying to have as much fun as we can considering the circumstance. Carly has really started to LOVE her baby dolls and will love on them and set them next to her while she plays. She wanted to make sure Molly was right next to her while she played with her blocks this morning.

I decided to try and paint her toenails again. It has been a long time since I tried because she doesn't hold still and it ends up being a HUGE mess. She actually did pretty good though my painting job was still not that great.

Either way we now have pretty pink toes to make us feel better!

Little Miss Personalilty

2010-03-02T09:13:00.000-08:00

I took some cute videos of Carly this morning- The first one is of her saying "NO!" Lucky for me she doesn't say it often but it is really fun when she does. I actually got her on camera today doing it.

This one is of her doing "If your happy and you know it" We have been practicing really hard!

Wonderful Weather

2010-02-28T17:59:00.001-08:00

We have had the craziest but the most wonderful weather the last week! Last Sunday we took Carly to the Williamson County Park for the first time. She had such a good time running around and playing in the dirt. She is definitely not afraid to get dirty! She loved to pick up the leaves and grass and throw them. It was a windy day so it made it more fun to see the leaves go flying. I think she stayed in the one stop forever playing....she is easily entertained :)
Her favorite thing is the slides, we have one at home and she recently learned how to climb up the back and do it all by herself. She sings "ready, set, GGGOOOOOOOO!" I need to get it on video because it is really adorable.

Then Tuesday we got the wonderful surprise when we woke up of snow falling already! We opened all the windows in the house and sat in the chair curled up under a blanket and watched the snow and cartoons. We did that almost all day in between going outside and playing in it. Dylan was able to stop by on his way back to his office and we went outside and made snowmen with him and the two guys that he works with. It was a nice surprise and made Carly's first snow even more special.

She loved to put her tongue out and try to catch the snow on her tongue. It was so funny because she would start laughing and screaming when it would get on her face or tongue.

I just had to add this picture because they looked so cute standing together watching the snow for the first time. Even Roxy had a blast running around playing in it.

Here are the finished snowmen that Uncle Chase made for us to enjoy.

Then again 4 days later we are out in shorts and t-shirt playing in the sun again. You have to love Texas weather. We played in our front yard for probably close to 2 hours on Saturday waiting for Carly's "big girl" furniture to be delivered. Here are a few pictures... we played with Chalk, bubbles and our teeter totter.

Long overdue

2010-02-20T08:07:00.000-08:00

I don't know what has caused me to stop blogging! It has been forever since my last post so I am so sorry. We haven't been very interesting lately which is part of the problem. Due to the cold weather we basically stayed in doors and the days that it was pretty I usually have to work..... so no fun outings or pictures. We did recently take some cute valentines day pictures for Dylan which turned out super cuteShe has started to really show some personality which is good and bad. She has finally learned the word "NO". She doesn't use it often but when she does it is with a lot of force! She has an obsession with the remote controls and telephones and will scream if she doesn't get it, which happens often because she is not allowed to have them. She has learned to give kisses which is actually just an "open mouthed, tongue out, lung at your face." Really cute but Dylan always tells her, "that is NOT how you kiss boys"

We did go to my Dads recently to see all the animals because he has new baby bunnies. They were so cute and Carly loved them. It was the first time we had gone out there that she interacted with the animals. He has a huge blood hound that Carly really loved and would scream and smile when she saw him and then start saying, ruff ruff ruff.

15 months has definitely been the most fun age yet. Now that she is walking and a little more independent it a lot easier but harder at the same time. I can't let her out of my sight for even a second because she is getting in to something but so nice not to have to carry her everywhere!

Hopefully next time won't be so long but until then........

Wonderpets Wonderpets were on our way........

2010-01-17T08:16:00.000-08:00

So Carly LOVES the Wonder Pets. It is her favorite show on TV and she gets so excited when they come on. She even hums part of the song which is so adorable! I wanted to post it so everyone could see it, you have to really listen for it! She hums the part that says: "What's gonna work, team work"

It's Official

2010-01-10T08:18:00.001-08:00

So I don't have a picture just yet but Carly is officially walking. She is going all over the place!!! She made it just in time for her 14th month birthday! So proud of her :)

2009-12-26T08:03:00.000-08:00

What an amazing Christmas this one this year! I mean rarely does Leander ever see Snow and this year is snowed on Christmas Eve!! Incredible :) What a perfect start to a perfect Christmas. We go to Dylan's parents house every Christmas Eve and spend it with his parents, aunt and brothers. It is always a great time and this year Carly was actually able to participate.

Carly woke up at 3 in the morning on Christmas day and would not go back to sleep. I gave in and brought her to bed with us. She went straight to sleep and didn't wake up until 7:30. Dylan and I were of course up early and super excited to open our presents. We ended up opening all our presents before she even woke up. (I can't wait til she gets older and is waking us up at 5am!!)

Christmas day we went to my mom's for a couple hours and ate breakfast with two of my sisters and there family. It is the best tradition, we all have a station in the kitchen and we all help make it. We just started it a couple years ago and it has definitely been the best tradition yet.

Then we just went home and played with toys and relaxed. The best Christmas yet.

Who needs toys

2009-12-15T17:50:00.000-08:00

This is Carly's new favorite pastime. She pulls EVERYTHING out of the cabinets, gets into them and then plays. She would play in there all day if I would let her! So funny : How can I get mad at that perfectly innocent, sweet face though :)

So much to say.. not enough time...

2009-12-10T17:26:00.000-08:00

So miss Carly is officially 13 months today!!! It is going by way to fast for me. Life just gets busier and busier and I just wish I could slow it down a little. We are still not walking yet but she is almost there. She will take a few steps (up to 7 so far) but would rather crawl still because she gets there much faster. I think she is going to be inpatient like her mother :) We have had a busy month with her birthday and thanksgiving. Here is a quick recap:

A friend of ours gave us this adorable Aggie cheerleader outfit so I found it most appropriate to have her and the whole family wear Aggie colors etc for Thanksgiving. I knew it was a long shot to expect my team to win against Texas but I still bleed maroon and don't ever see myself crossing over to the dark side. Plus I think my whole family looks amazing in Maroon... don't you think!

For thanksgiving day we went to my mothers house and ate with my oldest sister Becky and her family. This is a picture of us with her youngest Kieran who is a couple months younger than Carly. Trying to get a smile our of Carly for pictures has been quite the battle recently. She is going through a "mean" phase. She loves to "swat" at us and grunt. The other day in HEB she was doing it to random people. People were not even talking to her. It was super embarrassing and I couldn't wait to get my stuff and get out. I am sure this is just the first of my embarrassing moments with her but it was definitely memorable.

For the last couple years my mom has been having a Santa Clause at her house and she charges a small fee for your picture taken with him. It is a great alternative to waiting in the long lines at the mall and then only getting a couple pictures which I am sure cost a fortune. She takes a whole bunch of individuals and families and then puts them on a disk for you right then before you leave. I helped her last year when Carly was a newborn and thought I would do it again this year. It is so much fun! My brother-in-law David was Santa for the first weekend that we did it and it was a great 5 hours, definitely a bonding experience. Carly went to him in full beard and suit and I am hoping that having her around Santa for hours will help her to not be terrified of him. I love the Santa's Helper Hat that my mom had..... (think I am going to steal it)

These are some of my nieces and nephews: Missy, Bugaboo, Big en's, Happy and Squeakers (there fabulous nicknames).
It has been a great Holiday season so far. I am looking forward to starting new traditions with Carly and getting to really experience our first Christmas with her!

Birthday Girl

2009-11-17T09:15:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Carly's first birthday on Saturday the 7th! We had all our close friends and family over to our house for a backyard party. We had a great time and hope that everyone else did too. My good friend Lindsey made Carly's birthday outfit which turned out so cute and I got so many compliments on it. My neighbor and friend Sharaty made Carly's "sunshine cake" which turned out better than I could have imagined. Carly LOVED the cupcake and was putting fist fulls of cake, actually icing, into her mouth.....

She looked like she was in a sugar coma! We had to take it away from her because I thought she was gonna get sick! (The jewelry she is wearing is compliments of "Tweet Birdie Tutus" my friend Denee makes it!) We put a blanket on the grass and let her attempt to open presents. She was more interested in the wrapping paper than the actual gift but it was still fun.

We got a pinata for the older kids which turned out to be a big hit. Since we don't have any trees, we had to get creative.....

It was the most perfect day! I can't believe she is already a year old. People always tell you when you have them how fast time will fly but you don't realize it until the year is gone and you look back and feel like just yesterday I was in the hospital with her. It has been the BEST year and I am truly blessed with the sweetest, happiest, most beautiful baby!

Our first Halloween

2009-11-01T08:27:00.001-08:00

Our first Halloween was the BEST! I had a blast and was so excited all day. Holiday like this are definitely better when you have a baby to enjoy it with. Carly dressed in her candy corn shirt given to her by "grandma" Mauck to show her Halloween spirit during the day! :) We spent most of the day fixing our outside decorations and just playing and patiently waiting!!! Dylan's parents- Mimi and Pops- came over to give Carly a Halloween treat which was inside the cutest Halloween bucket that looked like Mickey Mouse... Carly's favorite cartoon :) I dressed Carly in a sun costume this year because MY nickname for her is sunshine (Dylan's is worm........) and I knew that she probably wouldn't pick that in the future, so I wanted it for pictures.

My mom wasn't able to come over.. which was a huge bummer so we called her on our web cam so that she could see Carly's outfit

We met up with our good friends the Labays and we all went trick or treating together. They have the cutest little 4 year old boy named Cole that I seriously want to steal. He is so hilarious and is so much fun to talk to! He was dressed as a fireman and sadly i didn't get a picture of him but he looked super cute! They have another little boy that is close to Carly's age.

We also got a visit from The Maucks (who are now our neighbors!!) and from Lindsey and her kids so were dressed as clowns.. once again super cute! After trick or treating we all just sat inside and played.

Dylan sat most of the evening with Karlea's clown hair on his head...... total goofball :)

For our first Halloween with Carly it was a blast! I love this goofy holiday and can't wait till next year when Carly will be able to walk and can participate more!

My new favorite pasttime

2009-10-22T19:51:00.000-07:00

This is what Carly has recently learned to do..... pulling out as many DVDs as she can. She then likes to put them up under the baby gate on the stairs and then gets mad when she can't fit under the gate to retrieve them all. I probably shouldn't let her do it but I of course had to get a picture! It definitely kept us both entertained for quite a long time. Unfortunately I am OCD and have all the DVDs alphabetized which means it takes me forever to put them back in there home......... by then she is already pulling them out again.

Picnic and Pumpkins :)

2009-10-15T18:21:00.000-07:00

My friend Corinne and I took our sweet baby girls to the park in Leander for a picnic lunch "snack" and then we let them play on the swing and under the jungle gym. They both seemed to have a really good time. Corinne and I on the other hand were a little hot and those awful, evil tiny bug were biting us. Afterwards we took them to the Leander Methodist church where they have a little pumpkin patch set up. We did not buy any pumpkins but we had a great time taking TONS of pictures of the two of them playing. Kayden wanted to eat all of them which was super cute! The red pumpkin below was my favorite! I might have to go back and buy it! Aren't they the cutest two girls in the world!??!!

Rain Rain Go Away

2009-10-09T19:55:00.000-07:00

Carly and I are not big fans of the rain that has decided to settle in. We were so excited that it was going to be cooler today because then we could wear our cute new fall clothes and go for a wagon ride but of course it was POURING!!! So instead we played inside all day and watched the rain from our kitchen window. Sadly I don't have much to post lately. We have been home bodies because we do not want to get the H1N1 flu which is going around like crazy. I expose the 3 of us enough just by working in an office that diagnosis's it daily. We still try to go play with one of her friends at least once a week. This is one of Carly's best friends Kayden who is a month younger than Carly. She lives right around the corner from us and we have lots of fun!!

We are getting really excited for Carly's first Halloween and her first birthday is coming up in a month! Hopefully I will have another post before that! Hope everyone has a great weekend and Columbus Day!!

It's a Wonderful Life

2009-09-22T15:55:00.001-07:00

Not a lot has been happening at the Thompson Casa recently. We have been staying at home and playing playing and then more playing. Though I have documented with pictures some of the new great things in our life:

1. We have discovered the doggy door. She loves to push the flap door. I am hoping that the idea never occurs to her to actually follow Roxy out of it. For now she just pushes it and then goes on with her business. Only time will tell...... :)

2. I learned that she looks super cute with pig tails. Her hair is growing lightning fast and I am getting excited for when I get to braid it, etc. (Long time from now... I know)
3. My mom found some old clothes from my older sisters that she had sewn herself. This one belonged to my sister Amy who is 33 so that little shirt is over 30 years old. It is still in super condition and fits Carly perfectly. Dylan got me a sewing machine for my birthday, so with the help of my mom I am going to attempt to make more! 4. I have been on a reading kick recently and Carly loves to read "my" books. She will find it, no matter how good my hiding place is and will pull it onto the ground and "read" it. She is going to be a genius :)

5. I recently got all my fall decorations out and Carly and I redecorated the house. It also had old costumes in it and I was putting all the hats etc on her. She was having a blast pulling ALL the stuff out of the box

First trip to the zoo

2009-09-07T12:36:00.001-07:00

We decided that we wanted to do something fun for labor day so we settled on the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco. I know that Carly can't really participate yet but it was still something cheap and fun that we could all 3 do together. We were really surprised at how nice and well kept it was. Much better than we had expected. By noon we were hungry and thankfully had reached the end of the tour because it was super hot. We were fed and back on the road by 12:30. It made for a great memory and a tradition that we will probably keep up for labor days to come.

This is a picture of Bison. It is hard to see but they are in the background, right next to a real tee pee! :)

Here are the lions. All the animals were being super lazy today.

Carly was trying to touch the snake!! Gives me chills just thinking about them.

And here are the great leopards. They had the most action out of all the animals. I think they almost got into a fight.

Watermelon Baby

2009-09-07T12:27:00.001-07:00

So I forgot about putting up her watermelon pictures. I took these a couple weeks ago as her 9 month pictures. I wanted to do a picnic theme and it turned out even cuter with the watermelon. It was the first photo shoot that we had done with her that she was really good and seemed to really be enjoying herself. So even though these are a couple weeks old I had to share :)

Early Birthday Present

2009-09-05T09:07:00.001-07:00

So my mom always gets the grand kids a little red wagon when they are old enough to sit in one. I have been waiting patiently for ours and I was able to talk Gammy into giving Sunshine hers a couple months early. I HAD to have the one with the canopy on top so I talked her into buying it on the stipulation that I pay for the canopy. It has been the BEST early birthday present. Carly absolutely loves it. We have gone for a wagon ride around the block almost everyday since we got it. She attracts a lot of attention and everyone has to stop and admire her. There is even little cup holders in it and a place for our toys and snacks. Now all she needs is a friend for the other side.......... that means you Kayden :)

Play Ground

2009-09-01T07:55:00.001-07:00

Dylan and I took Carly to the play scape in our neighborhood on Sunday. She was crawling all over it and loved walking in the gravel. Dylan pushed her in the swings and she LOVED it. She had a big grin the whole time. This was the first time we have taken her there to play and I wasn't sure if she was going to like it since she is so little. I was definitely surprised at how much fun she had.

Play Room

2009-08-29T12:49:00.001-07:00

Dylan and I removed all the furniture out of our guest bedroom and turning it into a playroom. Carly LOVES it. She is able to crawl the whole room without me running over to her and stopping her every 5 seconds. We have a TV in there for her favorite shows and a nice big chair for me. So far I think it is the best idea I have had. We also had to remove all the "dangerous" furniture from our living room since she is pulling up on EVERYTHING. Needless to say our house is much more open :)

New Tricks

2009-08-22T10:35:00.000-07:00

Carly has finally figured out how to clap. The first time she did it I actually got it on tape!! I was so excited. I was worried she wouldn't do it again for Dylan but she has been doing it non stop now.

She is also a BIG fan of ice-cream. She gets so excited when Dylan is making it and know when her turn is and doesn't let me forget it. After I eat it I always let Roxy lick the bowl clean and Carly tries to crawl to the bowl. She already doesn't like to share! :)

She is also a new crawler. She is doing a great job and her favorite thing to get is the.... Remote Control. It is the BEST treasure ever.

Just Beachy!!!

2009-08-16T18:54:00.001-07:00

We went to Galveston this last weekend so Carly could experience the beach for the first time. We had such a great time. We drove up Friday morning and met my best friend and her boyfriend Kris. We stayed at the Hilton Resort which was amazing. We ate at the rain forest cafe on Friday night which was over an hour wait and by the time we got in there Carly was exhausted so she didn't really get to enjoy it. We woke up early Saturday and ate breakfast at IHOP and then went to the beach. Carly loved sitting in the sand and playing with it. I also found that she liked to eat it as well. No biggie it's good for her right :) She only lasted about an hour or so and was ready to get out of there. We went back to the hotel and stayed in the hotel pool the rest of the afternoon. Carly even took a nap on my shoulder in the pool. Don't worry Candice and I made sure she was covered and had plenty of sun screen. Later that day we had a great surprise because Candice's mom and little brother had driven in from Winnie to come visit with us. Mrs. Barker got to meet Carly for the first time and Carly just loved her. I am pretty sure Mrs. Barker thought she was pretty great too :)

It was the best trip and we had such a wonderful time. Carly was a little angel the entire trip and really looked like she was having fun. We can't wait to go back next year when she can walk and can play in the sand with us. Oh... and I almost forget..... she officially started crawling at the hotel on Friday night!! How exciting...... I have a crawler!!!!!!! :)

26th birthday and my 9 month old!

2009-08-11T11:49:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday I celebrated my 26th birthday! My first birthday as a mama! It was so wonderful. Dylan stayed home all day and we did yard work and then went to my mom's for Chicken fried steak birthday dinner. My sister Stacy and I are almost exactly 10 years apart and always celebrate our bdays together. If you haven't experienced my mom's chicken fried steak you are seriously missing out. It is the GREATEST food ever. I look forward to it every time I hear she is making it. You can count on not eating all day to save enough room for seconds and thirds :) Carly had a great time playing in her tent while Dylan pulled weeds in the yard. She didn't last long due to the heat. She had just gotten done eating a blue Popsicle so her mouth is bright blue and it took a couple hours (even after cleaning her up) for it to wear off. My baby smurf :)I took Carly to her 9 month check up today! She is 17lb 10oz and is 27.5 inches long. Still 50% in length but has dropped to 25% in weight. She is super healthy and happy!

Another day being Carly

2009-08-06T14:55:00.001-07:00

We haven't had much excitement the last couple weeks, which I am perfectly happy with. We have been laying low and playing at home which Carly definitely likes better than shopping, though she is a GREAT shopper.

~She is starting to master the art of crawling. She has been getting on her hands and knees more and playing on her tummy which is a step up from the past. She use to hate her tummy and would get frustrated and mad real quick. She still has not done a full out crawl but is getting better :) It is so much fun to watch

~Lately she has been a great little helper... She likes to sit in the laundry basket while I fold clothes and do laundry. She normally plays with the socks. It is so funny cause she grins real big and gets really excited. I finally took pictures of her doing it! Love Love Love her :)

~One of her top teeth finally came in but the other one is giving her a hard time. She has been a little extra fussy and trying to eat everything in sight. I caught her trying to eat her play lettuce the other night. ~Her and Roxy are becoming even better buddies than before. Now that she can move around better they cuddle and Roxy loves to lay right next to her while she is playing. She has started eating the Gerber puffs and today Carly was fixing to put one in her mouth and out of no where came Roxy's tongue.....she snatched it right out of Carly's hand. So hilarious.

Up next... We are taking her to the beach for the first time in a couple weeks. We are meeting my best friend Candice and her boyfriend in Galveston!!!

Sweetest Thing

2009-07-30T14:54:00.000-07:00

Dylan and I took Carly swimming in her baby pool which she LOVES. It is so hot out that it only took a few minutes for the water to be super warm and it was perfect! Dylan got all her bath toys out and she had a blast. Dylan sat next to the pool taking pictures and Roxy sat under the chair. The whole family was together!!! Doesn't she look so stinkin cute in her little hat!!

Afterwards Dylan and her had a play date on the floor! She loves to crawl all over him. This week she has starting to push up on her hands and knees and will scout forward. Not quite crawling but very close. I have no doubt that by the end of the weekend she will have started! I can't wait till she does, even though I know that I will be in for a very busy day chasing her around. It is another milestone that I am excited for her to experience.

I know that every mom says this about there child but I am pretty sure that I have the BEST baby. Not only is she absolutely adorable but she has the sweetest personality. She is almost ALWAYS happy and she gives the BEST hugs. I can't seem to get enough of her. It makes me wonder how I will feel about her when she is an adult. I feel like I love her so much more everyday so I can't image how I will feel about her in 20 years. (besides the gray hairs I am sure she will have given me) I guess that is a question for my own mother! :)

Dedication and Harry Potter

2009-07-24T13:03:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday we had a dedication ceremony at my Mom's house for Carly and my sister's son Kieran. A good friend of my grandpa's who is a pastor came down from Uvalde and did the dedication. His name is James Hamm and he is also the Pastor that married Dylan and I. He is a great man and we are so blessed to have him in our lives. Our entire family came including all my brothers and sisters and Dylan's parents and brother Mitchell. My "second" parents Pat and Leland were also there. Afterwards we ate hamburgers and hotdogs and swam. It was nice because Carly went down for a nap about the time the swimming started and so I left her in the house with Dylan and I got to enjoy the pool with my older neices and nephews. It had been a while since I was able to really play around since having Carly and I had a blast. After the party my oldest nephew Kory and my neices Drew and Samantha came back to my house and we had a slumber party before going to see Harry Potter on Sunday. We had so much fun. We played board games, hide and seek and watched movies. The next morning we watched Harry Potter to get us in the mood for the movie! I also watched as Kory took a storage tub and tried to slide down the stairs in it. The great aunt that I am allowed him to do it and video taped it. He even put Samantha who is 6 inside it and sent her down it. (he held onto her the whole time.. don't worry!) He got smart eventually and put pillows on the landing in case of a bad fall. Dylan was really upset with me for allowing them to do it, but thankfully no one got hurt and it was a fun memory. We met up with my sisters Amy and Stacy to watch the movie which was PACKED. It is tradition that we all watch it together! So fun and can't wait till the 7th movie!!!!

Busy Busy Busy

2009-07-15T19:08:00.000-07:00

Here are a few of the new things for the week so far:

1. She is starting to reach out for people!! I have been waiting patiently for her to start doing this. If someone is holding her and I reach out my hands to her she will turn her body and lean into me so that I can get her. It is sooooooo sweet and makes me feel great!

2. I got the Johnny Jumper out and let Carly play in it for the first time. She had a blast, she was not real sure on what to do but had fun "swinging" in it. I had fun watching her talk up a storm. She has become such a little chatter box recently. I love listening to her. 3. You can officially put her hair in a pony tail!!! So stinkin cute, I can't stand it! :) 4. Carly got to go to the Sunset Ranch (Dylan works there part time) for the first time on Tuesday. I was suppose to go to a movie with the girls from book club and at the last minute it got cancelled so Dylan was already home so that he could watch Carly. We all went out to the Ranch together so that Dylan could feed the horses/cows/chickens etc. I hadn't been there in forever. When Dylan and I were dating we would go out there and ride four-wheelers and I would always ride with him to feed cows. We got on the mule and rode around. Carly fell asleep just as we got there and then woke up as we were leaving, so she didn't really get to enjoy it but Dylan and I had fun. 5. I tye-dyed Carly some t-shirts and a onezie. I had been wanting to do it for a long time but was not really sure how to. I just winged it and they actually turned out pretty cute! I was really excited and proud and can't wait to do more. She looks so cute in them :) 6. She can now wave bye bye and has a little saying that she does with it, that sounds nothing like "bye bye" but I think that is what she means. She even waved bye bye at me when I went to drop her off at my mom's this morning. I wasn't ready to leave but I guess my 8 month old is already ready for mama to leave so her and Gammy can play. Made for a funny memory. I started back at work this week after being off for 2 weeks and had a really hard time leaving her again this morning. I only work 2 days a week but after getting to spend 16 solid days with her it was hard to get back into the old routine. I know she has fun at Gammy's with her cousins though so that makes it easier! Well that's all for now :)

Backwards Baby

2009-07-11T15:59:00.001-07:00

So Carly has discovered that she can move better on the wood floor..... just not in the right direction. She pushes herself backwards, which really upset her because she gets farther from her destination. Her little temper is cute though ;)

She has not started to crawl yet (she is in no hurry to be a big girl,),which is fine by me because I enjoy holding her as much as possible, much to the dislike of my husband who says she is spoiled rotten. They are only little once and I would rather break her of bad habits later than not get to enjoy this time with her!!

It is really funny because during dinner every night she sits in her exersaucer and when she starts to get fussy Dylan has a little talk with her. She always gets quiet for a few minutes and then will look right at him and start fussing again. It is cute because even though I know she really doesn't know what he is telling her to do she always listens and is good for a few minutes after "the talk". She is going to be a handful when she gets bigger.

Dylan has been working long hours lately and Carly has been in bed a lot of nights when he gets home, but a couple nights ago he got to give her a bottle before bed so that I could do some things around the house and she fell asleep in his lap. It was so sweet and I know that it made Dylan feel great.

My little chatterbox!!

2009-07-07T18:56:00.000-07:00

Carly has become a little talker lately and is so much fun to listen too! She LOVES the bath/water and would stay in there forever if I would let her! This is a clip of her playing and talking! (more like screaming!) :)

This one is just funny! She is a big mess!

Snuggles is born!!!

2009-07-06T13:36:00.000-07:00

We went to Build-a-Bear yesterday with Denee, Birdie and Gammy. It was so much fun, I had never done it before and even though it was for Carly she really didn't know what was happening. I had a blast though. They let you pick out the animal "shell" (I picked out a couple and let Carly pick!) and then you add a heart... (warm it up cause you can't have cold hearts and then make a wish and kiss it) and then we picked out a "giggle" sound to go into it. Then they stuff it!!! Afterwards you get to give it an air bath (so much fun) and brush it. Then the best part.....picking out the perfect outfit. I had a blast and Carly seemed to enjoy herself too. We named our bunny Snuggles and have taken her everywhere since we got her. It was so much fun and I can't wait till she gets a little bit older so we can do it again.

Aunt Kathy's Visit

2009-07-06T08:22:00.000-07:00

Dylan's Aunt Kathy came into town from Florida this week and the whole family went over to his Uncle's house for pizza!! It was the first time that Aunt Kathy had gotten to meet Carly and for Dylan's family to see Carly since Christmas!!! We had a great time. Aunt Kathy played Peek-a-Boo with Carly which she loves to do now. It was so great to see everyone and Carly was being a little ham. She loves the attention and the camera now.

Dylan has two girl cousins Miranda and Savannah. We got to watch a video of Savannah singing in choir, which was incredible!! She is 12 and has an amazing voice. I know that Carly is going to love them when she gets older!

Carly also found her new favorite sitting spot right on top of Pop's head.

Happy 4th of July!!

2009-07-05T09:27:00.000-07:00

So Carly's first fourth of July was a blast. We woke up early for the parade in Round Rock, which come to find out doesn't start until 10, so I was pretty sad that I lost a couple hours of good sleep. We got there early and got a prime spot in the shade, thanks to Gammy Pat and Papa Leland! Carly was so tired by the time the parade started she only watched maybe 15 minutes of it before she feel sound asleep ........but not before Gammy was able to get some pretty awesome shots of her being her normal adorable self.

Have I mentioned that I LOVE my daughter............

After we got home from the parade Candice came over and hung out which was a great treat. She is my best friend in the whole world but lives in Houston so we don't get to see her as often as we would like.

To be fair Candice gave as much love to Roxy as to Carly but it didn't turn out in her favor. Black pants and Roxy's hair =

After Candice left Dylan grilled hamburgers and my mom came over. It was delicious! Carly fell asleep early and Dylan and I relaxed and watched TV. A perfect 4th of July!!!!

(We saw fireworks at the Round Rock express game the night before with our friend Joe and Denee and their sweet little girl Paisley aka: Birdie, so were not sad about calling it an early night!)

Ice Cream

2009-07-02T08:31:00.000-07:00

Carly is the cutest little thing. She was sitting in Dylans lap last night while he was trying to eat ice cream. Each time he would go to take a bite she would open her mouth and follow him. It was so funny we laughed so hard. It was even funnier earlier but by the time I had gotten the camera and started filming she was more interested in me.

Just wanted to share and bring some Sunshine ya'lls way! :)

Baseball and Kite flying

2009-06-24T20:43:00.000-07:00

Carly got to experience her first baseball games. One nephew just had his first game EVER playing T-ball and the other is 7 on coach pitch. We spent all morning at the games and she was such a trooper. My mom got some really cute pictures of her playing while we were watching the games.

You can see her little tooth in this one! Her second bottom tooth finally broke skin today!!!

On Tuesday My mom had my nieces and nephews for the day and she took them to my neighborhoods park to fly kites. I met them down there and took pictures for her since obviously Carly couldn't participate and I proved to be no help in helping the kids to get their kites flying.

After we finished kite flying we went and played on the play scape for the first time. I probably had more fun than Carly did. This is my niece Drew she is the best big cousin. Carly adores her!!

Another successful and eventful day!

Fathers Day

2009-06-24T20:30:00.000-07:00

Dylan got to celebrate his first fathers day!!!

It was so great because we spent the whole day together. Dylan cooked breakfast (he insisted, I promise I offered!!), we went grocery shopping and then had his parents and younger brother over for dinner. I waited for Carly to get up that morning and we carried his card and present to him. (He probably thought that I had forgotten!)

I got some cute pictures of Dylan with his Dad and Carly!

These pics are not from Fathers Day but Dylan and Carly had a little play date on the floor the other night!! It is so sweet, as soon as he gets home from work she gets so excited and gets the biggest smile on her face!

Girl's Weekend

2009-06-14T14:45:00.000-07:00

Carly is getting to be so much fun. This weekend we did a lot of playing at home. Dylan was out of town with his dad and brothers so we had the whole house to ourselves. We played on the floor ALOT. I opened up some of the toys she had gotten before she was born and is now old enough to play with, and she was having a blast. We went to the park for the first time with Amy, Drew and Samantha so that we could help Drew with her v-ball skills. Amy took Carly on a nature walk around the park in her stroller while Drew and I played. She had a lot of fun, I can't wait to take her to the park and do the slides!! I bet she will have a blast. That is on the list for next week! :)

She makes me laugh so hard because she gets so mesmerized by the TV. It is so funny because you can't get her attention. I don't even know what we were watching but she was really into it.

You know they are getting big when they play by themselves for long periods of time. It is a big help when I need to get stuff done but makes me sad that she is getting so big. I bought her a cute little tea set the other day and I think that I love it more than she does. It is so stinkin cute!!!! Carly loves to eat the "snacks" on it.

I gave her a Popsicle for the first time this weekend and she LOVED it! It was so cute and I was so sad that Dylan was not here to see it. I reenacted it when he got home from East Texas and made him take pictures. When I opened it she started kicking her legs... it was so cute that she remembered what it was. She is a big sticky mess after it is over but it is worth it to see her face. She sucks so hard on it! :)

Our New Floors!!!

2009-06-12T19:18:00.000-07:00

So we finally got our new floors put in on Thursday. It is so wonderful to have gotten rid of the dirty carpet that we had. Our puppy Roxy really did a number on it and I didn't want Carly learning to crawl on it. We left Thursday morning when the workers got there and did not come home until Dylan got off work at 4:30. We had a fun day.

We first went to my sister Becky's house and played with her three boys. I got some really cute pictures of Carly and Camden together. He was so sweet and so excited to get to "hold" her.

Then after we ate lunch and took a short nap over there, we left and ran some errands. We played at Academy and Target, where Carly got a new tea set and some books.

We still had a lot of time to kill so we went to Gammy's house and spent the rest of the afternoon there playing. The floors look incredible and I am loving them so much. Carly doesn't seem to mind the change and neither does Roxy!!

I took some video of Carly on the new floors. This is what happens when she hears one of her favorite songs!!! SO CUTE!

1st Day at home!!!

2009-06-09T19:05:00.000-07:00

Today was the official start of my staying at home with Carly.

When I woke up this morning it was the best feeling. Just knowing that I got to get up and spend the WHOLE day with her was such a relief. No waking her up to take her to my mom's or having to spend 9 hours away from her. We slept in till 8am which was wonderful. She always wakes me up by playing with my face. Which is the most priceless moment, what a great way to wake up :).

We had so much fun. We played with all her toys, went for a jog, read books, played with Roxy. Then Gammy came over and helped me more our furniture because we are getting new floors put in on Thursday. Then we did it all over in the afternoon.

She LOVES the jogging stroller!

She was super tired!!

I was worried that Carly wasn't going to know what to do without having her big cousins to watch and entertain her but Roxy proved to be a BIG help. Carly loves to watch her chase her ball around the house. I took Carly and Roxy outside to throw the ball and Carly had a big small on her face the whole time.

I am pretty sure Roxy enjoyed herself as well. She no longer has to be pinned up in her cage all day but gets to play with us. Since she LOVES Carly and LOVES to give her kisses it makes for a fun day for all three of us. Roxy was enjoying the sunshine in the yard today. I snapped a picture through the kitchen window of her! She looked really cute out there.

I know it is going to take some time to get into a routine since I have not gotten to be home with her since she was 6 weeks old, but I am ready!!!!

Oh and by the way....... I LOVE MY HUSBAND for giving me the opportunity to do this, he is a GREAT man :)

Day of Firsts

2009-06-03T19:35:00.001-07:00

Today was so much fun, I went and bought a bunch of bath toys and a big blow up bathtub for her. She had a blast playing in it. I had a blast watching her. She was too big for her old tub and too small to put in the big bath tub and so this is perfect. One of my friends had it and I saw a picture of it and had to get one for Carly.

She is at such a fun age. She loves to splash the water and would get excited when I would squirt her with the squirt animals.

I had also been trying to get her to get use to a sippy cup. I had been giving her water in one at meal times every evening. For the first time today she picked it up and actually tried to drink out of it. She chewed on it more than anything and when I tried to take it away she got upset.

I can't believe she is already big enough to use a cup and hold it herself. It seems like yesterday that we brought her home. I am so happy because this is my last full time week of work. Starting next week I get to go only on Monday and Wednesdays, so I won't have to miss out on any of the fun stuff we have in store.... crawling, walking, talking etc.....

Hyatt Wild Oak Resort

2009-06-01T17:17:00.000-07:00

We took our first real vacation together this past weekend. We went to the Hyatt Wild Oak Resort in San Antonio. We went with our friends Denee and Joe and their daughter, Carly's best friend, Paisley.

It has a indoor/outdoor pool, big lazy river and plenty of places to lounge. It was a blast, and I think Carly had a pretty good time herself. She wore herself out everyday. We took lots of breaks and got plenty of naps.

We got to try out her new tent for the first time. She really enjoyed it and played it in for a good while before deciding that she was tired of being by herself. I even joined her in it and thought it was fabulous.

We even had a little beach at the resort which was really cool and Carly got to put her feet in the sand for the first time. She liked to grab it in her hand and it was super quick to get it before it went in her mouth.

She did not care for the cute crab floaty that I bought her. She hated being it for more than a few minutes and preferred the big swimming pool.

She was very content in the big girl pool.

We even went to Gruene and had lunch at the Grismill and shopped all day.

She got tuckered out and Dylan carried her around sound asleep.

Hanging with Papa!!!

2009-05-24T10:01:00.001-07:00

We went to Papa's Hole for the first time today!!! We had a really great time. Carly got to see baby chickens and a baby calf!

She didn't really care that much though. She was more interested in Papa's face than the animals.

We even got to pet the Longhorns!

I can't wait for her to get a little bigger and be able to interact more. She still doesn't get excited about much. Hopefully that will change in the next couple months.

Polka Dot Princess!

2009-05-21T16:52:00.000-07:00

It has been a rough week! First Carly got her 6 month shots on Friday which were no fun! Then got sick with a virus that had her running 104 fever Sunday night and then she cut her first tooth on Tuesday. Last but not least, Wednesday she wakes up with an awful rash.

It has continued to progress so I took her to the Doctor. Dr. Cardwell dx'ed her with erythemia multiform. It can take almost 2 weeks for it to go away. So I am now calling her the polka dot princess and my baby bulls eye (The rash looks like a bulls eye).
He said that it doesn't itch and shouldn't bother her but it just looks AWFUL! I feel so bad for her. But of course " Miss go with the Flow" isn't caring one bit about it. It bothers me more than her.

WHAT A WEEK!!!

Swimming in the BIG girl pool!!!

2009-05-17T08:17:00.000-07:00

We took Carly swimming in the big pool for the first time when she turned 6 months! She really enjoyed it. But then again there isn't much that she doesn't enjoy. She is the best baby EVER. She is super chill just like her daddy. She just goes with the flow.

She is starting to get to be so much fun. I find myself saying this is my favorite age... after each new month gets here.

Aunt Amy came for a visit and had a big talk with Carly about the bows that I put in her hair. Amy and Carly where born on the same day and Amy always warns me about how she will be when she is a teenager. She also says she will be so mad at me for the way I dress her, and all the crazy bows I put in her hair! Oh well, it is fun for now, and she looks super cute.
I love the way Carly was actually listening to her. I am a little afraid that she might actually be a lot like her Aunt Amy. I have 13 more years to enjoy before the little trouble maker arrives! :)

Carly and Roxy= BF

2009-05-16T08:51:00.000-07:00

So Carly now is very interested in Roxy. She is the coolest thing ever. She can pull her hair and grab her tail and she doesn't even mind. In fact Roxy LOVES it. I found Roxy giving Carly kisses on the mouth the other day. Any other dog that would be disgusting but Carly loves her big sister and doesn't seem to mind. She actually welcomes the kisses by sticking her tongue out too! (Awful)

Roxy wants to be everywhere that Carly is, she can't get enough of her. I am sure that once Carly can get around more and can chase her Roxy will love it even more!

Roxy is also super protective, if she is outside and Carly cried she will come running in from outside to make sure she is OK and will stand next to her until I pick her up. She is wonderful! They are BEST FRIENDS!

Mothers Day

2009-05-10T11:05:00.000-07:00

So we decided to take pictures on the side of the road in Leander in all the Indian blankets and yellow flowers for mothers day!

Being the great mother that I am, Carly falls over into the flowers and gets what we suspect to have been "Bull neddle" all over her face, arm and back. We had to take a little detour and drive to HEB to get benadryl since I was not sure what was causing the hives! It was awful.

It didn't stop us from taking more pics though. Carly is such a trooper, she healed herself fast and was back in action.

Mickey Mouse clubhouse

2009-05-09T06:27:00.000-07:00

I LOVE mickey mouse... when he comes on I just stare and smile

He puts a trance on me!
I watch him every morning at Gammy's house. Mama and Gammy think it is the funniest thing.

Mama took video of me watching it... I get so excited!

Aunt Candice

2009-05-03T18:48:00.000-07:00

My mom's best friend "Aunt Candice" came to visit this weekend! We had so much fun. We went shopping at the outlet mall for my new swimsuit, which Aunt Candice picked out. So cute

I spent a lot of quality time with her

She helped me practice my sitting up skills.. I was doing very well......

She also sang songs with me! I LOVED this one best:

Bluebonnets

2009-04-30T17:09:00.001-07:00

My Gammy is a great photographer!! She took my first bluebonnet pictures.

People say I look like my Daddy... But I don't really see it! :)

This pic was taken before I was able to sit up on my own, mom and dad had to hold me up.

Mom thinks I am pretty darn cute and she LOVES my Widows Peak!!

Big Girl

2009-04-30T17:00:00.001-07:00

I am such a Big girl, I recently learned that I can sit up.. I am still a little unsteady but think I am so cool!

I have also learned this incredible thing called "Lip Smacking" I don't know where I learned it but LOVE to do it!

2009-04-30T16:31:00.000-07:00

I recently got my first experience in the swimming pool. Dad filled the pool up with REALLY cold water. Mom said it was way to cold and made him poor hot kitchen water in it.

I am glad that she did because it was still really cold, but mom and I had a blast!! I was loving my leopard print Swimsuit!