IN THE STILL OF THE EVENING

I was rocking Carter tonight in his bedroom which had a little bit of light shining through. I was tickling him and both of us were laughing. Then things got really quiet, so I decided to pray out loud because I think it is good to live by example. He was being so unusually quiet and still that I decided to take a little peek to see what he was doing. To my astonishment, he had his head bowed and his chubby little hands clasped together. It was a solemn, sweet moment. I never want to forget these little moments between the two of us.

My simple prayer tonight went something like this:

"Heavenly Father, thank you for answering my prayers and giving Carter to me. He is the perfect baby for me. I pray that you would help me to be the mother and Christian that you would have me to be. Help me to serve you Lord. I want to become an example for Carter of what a Christian should be. Help me to be consistent, loving and kind to my little boy. Lord I pray that Carter would accept you as his personal Savior at an early age and that he will serve you all the days of his life. Thank you for answering my prayers and for blessing my life. In Jesus Christ's name I pray, Amen."

Wilson and I have been praying with Carter since he was a newborn. He is learning to be quiet and reverent - that is until we get to the end of our prayer when he loudly states, "Maymen!!!"(aka amen). This is his favorite part and the way he says it so matter-of-factly is just too adorable.

EARLY THIS MORNING

I was sound asleep this morning when the head of a certain little someone came bobbing past my bed. Bet you can’t guess who’s figured out how to climb out of his crib. For one hour my “boss man” drove his “tuck” (truck) up my arms and across my face, laughed, giggled, bounced on my bed and built a tower of blocks on my bedroom floor – all in the darkness while I tried to sleep.

Then, when it came time for me to get up and take a shower, I placed the baby gate across the doorway to keep him out. This lasted for about 5 min. with him crying nonstop for MAMMA!!! Next thing I knew he had climbed up the gate and swung his leg over the top. He landed flat on his back with the gate on top of him. Seconds later he scrambled across the floor and swung his leg over the tub to join me…pajamas and all.

Boy do I love motherhood!

CARTER IS 2 YEARS OLD TODAY!!!

CARTER IS 23 MONTHS OLD TODAY!!!

CARTER IS 22 MONTHS OLD TODAY!!!

CARTER IS 21 MONTHS OLD TODAY!!!

CARTER IS 20 MONTHS OLD TODAY!!!

CARTER IS 19 MONTHS OLD TODAY!!!

CARTER IS 18 MONTHS OLD TODAY!!!

THIS LITTLE MONKEY...

I was peacefully sleeping in my bed this morning when Carter started screaming for me to come get him. Being that it was only 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, I decided to let him howl for a little while to see if he would drift back off to sleep. This ended up being a bad idea from the get go because I was never able to get back to my peaceful slumber with all of his persistent racket.  I even tried to no avail to cover my ears with my pillow. Unfortunately, he kept howling until about 7:30 a.m. when he decided to scale his crib bars and climb over.  I didn't know any of this was going on until I heard a very loud THUMPETY THUMP THUMP and a very loud WAAA!  I knew instantly that my little monkey had climbed out of his crib, and my heart jumped out of my chest as I sprang of my mattress.  Nothing mattered except getting to him...and FAST.  He was already sitting up and rubbing his head when I came bounding into his nursery.  After scooping him up and searching him from head to toe, I quickly determined that he was going to make it without even a scratch.  Not even three minutes passed by before he stopped crying and was ready to go on with his day. 

I feel kind of sad that Carter figured out how to climb out of his crib because it is just another reminder that my baby is turning into a "big boy."  I view this as sort of a right of passage that I believe most babies/toddlers learn to do.  I know that I should consider myself lucky that he is 17 months old and just learning to figure this out (my little brother learned to do this when he was just 9 months old). I'm going to really miss letting him sleep or play in his bed while I go about my business.  Now I've got to brainstorm and figure out other ways to keep him safe especially while I'm still sleeping.  

CARTER IS 17 MONTHS OLD TODAY!!!

CARTER IS 16 MONTHS OLD TODAY!!!

CARTER IS 15 MONTHS OLD TODAY!!!

A WACKY TACKY FALL FESTIVAL

Our church had their annual Fall Festival today and the theme was “Wacky Tacky.” There were lots of outdoor games for the little kids to play, a face painting booth and a jumpolene. Carter went on his first hayride and managed to sneak a few handfuls of hay into his mouth before I could stop him. Everyone thought Carter was cute in his mismatched wacky-tacky outfit and they particularly loved his giraffe hat. Carter also had his face painted for the first time. This was done at the request of Hannah who begged me several times to let him get it done. Together we decided to get balloons painted on his cheek. Carter fussed a few times about being held down, but mostly he sat still while Mrs. April painted his face. For supper we had a hot dog cookout and steamy chicken stew. Late in the evening there was a bonfire; however, we didn’t spend much time outside because it was so chilly.

CARTER IS 14 MONTHS OLD TODAY!!!

A TALE OF TWO CUBS

I snuck into my Little Bear Cub's room tonight to check on him and discovered that he had fallen asleep with his arm tightly wrapped around his big brown bear. So cute! I love the way his little behind is stuck up in the air and how his ankles are crossed. This toy is very soft and cuddly. Carter loves to hug, kiss and wrestle with him. I had to turn on the hallway light to get these pictures because his room was way to dark even for my newer camera. 

STROLLING DOWN MAIN

Mom, Carter and I went to the pumpkin patch this morning and afterward we went for a stroll down Main Street. Mom and I were interested in window shopping and we had been discussing taking a trip downtown for several weeks. We had a great time strolling down the sidewalk looking at the window displays and stepping inside the various stores for a closer look. 

I think that my favorite store was the candy store.  I had never been in there before and I was really impressed with how nice it was.  It was a lot like an old-timey general store complete with creaky wooden floors, old fashioned toys and handmade candy.  Yum!  Actually, I'm assuming that the candy tasted good because I didn't actually buy any.  I sure did want to though!  Carter also really liked the candy store and he flirted the whole time with the store clerk.  He thought she was so nice and I believe that she thought he was adorable in his giraffe hat and outfit. 

We had lunch in town at a little cafe called Noah's Kitchen and the food was very delicious. Mom had been wanting to eat there for some time and I'm glad that we did.  It was nice to eat in a different restaurant than we normally do and I look forward to going back there again someday.

Later on in the day we walked past the Police Department and a nice officer enthusiastically invited us to come in. He was in charge of the local DARE group and he was very excited to see us (mainly Carter who he thought was very cute). He noticed that I had a camera and he wanted me to take a picture of Carter and the pig statute. (Funny!) The officer was very nice to us and he gave Carter a Junior Police badge before we left. 

THE PUMPK'N PATCH

Mom and I got up early this morning to take Carter to the pumpkin patch at a local farm. He was very cranky throughout the whole trip, but I still managed to get some cute pictures. Farmer Bodenheimer even gave Carter a little pumpkin "just his size." I tried to dress Carter appropriately for these pictures and even put the newsboy hat on him that I just purchased at The Children's Place. After we left the pumpkin patch, we had breakfast at Biscuitville wherein Carter caked himself with a jelly biscuit courtesy of my mother. (Ha! Ha! Thanks Mom! LOL...) Once we finished eating, we went home and cleaned Carter up. Then, we went for a stroll down Main Street for the rest of the afternoon.

LAUNDRY HELPER

APPLE FESTIVAL

This afternoon Carter and I went with our family to the Apple Festival. It took us about 1.5 hours to get there. There were a lot of people at the Festival, so we parked our automobiles at the courthouse and rode in by tram. Carter liked this because he got to sit on my lap for the drive over which is something he's never done before. Our group got separated into two parts for several minutes, but it wasn't long before we were reunited. One of the first things we did was eat lunch which consisted of the typical greasy spread... homemade potato chips and gigantic sandwiches topped with cheesy fries, onions, steak, fried shrimp and the kitchen sink. It sounds gross, but the sandwiches were actually pretty good. A cold jug of lemonade helped us pack it all down. A sweet older man (aka "Grandpa") gave us a funnel cake and we devoured it. I packed Carter a peanut butter sandwich with a handful of Cheerios and he was very content to eat that. There was a petting zoo on location which had the sweetest goats, sheep, baby rabbits, duck, pig and baby cow. I was excited to bring Carter in the pen to touch them, but he howled when the animals brushed up against his arms, hands and chubby cheeks with their long tongues to get a good lick of his peanut butter remnant. Yummm....they thought he tasted so good! The animals were so gentle, but Carter didn't care - he wanted me to GET HIM OUT OF THERE!!! It was a beautiful autumn day to be outside - very sunny with beautiful blue skies and a pleasant breeze. The only time I felt hot was when I stopped to think about it. A lot of craft booths had been set up to buy homemade goods so there was a lot to see and do. Matthew paid $5.00 for each of my nieces and nephews to go on horse rides. I would have paid to let Carter ride a little pony, but since he cried so hard at the petting zoo, I figured I'd better save my money. Mom, Rachel and I got angry because the "horse" people told us we couldn't take pictures of our kids. They wanted us to pay an additional $3.00 for one photo taken on their cheap cameras of each kid. What a scam! We took our own pictures anyway by trying to hide behind the trees. Now that I think about it, this was not a very good lesson to teach the kids. Oh well! At least we got some pictures. My favorite pictures are the ones taken of the kids climbing in the trees while we were hiding out. After we left the Apple Festival, we stopped for supper at a little pizzeria which had the best food - including the best homemade bread warm from the oven. It was sooo good. Carter and I ate manicotti and a salad. After supper the two of us conked out in Mom's car for the 1.5 hour drive back home.