Easter Fun!

We had such a great time this past weekend. We went to Fordyce, as usual, for Easter. We started out at Donaven's parents. We spent the night there on Friday and Saturday night. Carter had such a good time. Donaven's parents live way out in the country, and Carter got to run and play in the wide open spaces! Saturday, Carter and I went over to my Maw-Maw's house (my dad's parents). Brady and Madison, my cousins, were staying with her, so we had such a good time getting to play with them. Madison is crazy about Carter and kept wanting to take pictures of him holding the flowers and sitting by the little fish pond. It was cute! Saturday night, Donaven's grandparents ate with us. It was so good to get to see them, too. Sunday, we went to church with my parents. My grandparents (mom's parents) also go to the church, and my mom's sisters were all there. The church service was so amazing. Of course, I didn't get to stay for the entire service, as Carter became a little bored about half way through the message. We quickly jetted out of the sanctuary and played in the hallways until the service was over. After church, we headed over to my Granny's house. It was so much fun visiting with the family. We had an Easter egg hunt with all the little cousins. Carter really enjoyed the Easter egg hunt this year. He kept smashing the eggs in his little hands. Here are some of my favorite pics from the weekend.

1st and 2nd Snow...all in one week!

Can anyone believe the weather this week? So this is actually not Carter's first snow...but his first snow was last year when he was about 2 months old and couldn't get out...so this is his first chance to get to play in the snow. Carter wasn't so sure about it at first, but he got the hang of playing in it pretty fast.

First Razorback Game

This past weekend, we went to see Donaven's little brother in Rogers for his birthday. We had so much fun spending time with the Sims fam. Since we were so close, and since the Hogs were in town, we went to our first Razorback game with Carter. He was quite fascinated with all of the hoopla! And what a great game, huh!

Donaven, Carter and I after the game

Carter and his Papaw Sims

I think we have been hangin' out with Brady too much!

Lately, Carter has begun to really imitate a lot of what we do. Not only is he imitating what we do, he appears to be picking up on what our dog does as well! Carter is constantly picking up things with his mouth while he is on his hands and knees. He thinks it is hilarious! I call him my Carter-puppy and he just smiles and laughs at me!

Carter had tubes placed in his ears last Thursday. Everything went amazingly well and he is doing great. Even though the "surgery" was so minimal in the whole scheme of things, it is still very hard to see your little baby being pushed on a hospital bed away from you...but like I said, everything went so great and we were in and out of there. Hopefully, this will help with all of the ear infections. People have also told me that after their kids got tubes, they slept better. No such luck yet, but here's hopin!

Traveling

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. Carter is feeling so much better now. It took him a very long time to get over his stomach bug, but he is finally back to eating everything in sight! Sorry to the rest of the family that caught the nastiness. I think everyone except the people up to their elbows in throw-up (Donaven and I) got sick. Donaven's mom and dad, as well as my brother-in-law (Amy's husband, Michael) got the worst of it. Sorry guys! But on to a less gross subject...

Yesterday, Carter and I went to El Dorado to see cousin Shasta to have the one-year photos made...we were almost making 13-month photos...I know...we had to keep rescheduling for one reason or another. Shasta is Donaven's cousin who is a professional photographer in El Dorado. So nice to have one of those in the family! Anyway, we picked up Granny (my grandma) on our way, and we were so glad that she came with us. She really helped us out, and it was so nice to have someone else turn around to entertain Carter during the drive.

I know that many of you have heard me say before that Carter is somewhat of a high maintenance little dude. Well, boy did he ever prove me wrong yesterday. He did so well for Shasta. We got in 5 wardrobe changes! I was just hoping for 2! I never expected him to do so well. The last time we had his pictures made, he did well too....but let's just say he was a little less opinionated at 6 months! Anyway, my Granny kept commenting on how "there aren't many little boys that would let their momma's pull and put on clothes like that and still smile for pictures". I guess I was asking a lot of him...but hey, we were there and Shasta had time:). Shasta was great and I will post the link to view the photos when they are ready. Hope everyone is doing well!

Poor little guy

Let me start off by saying, this post will not be one for those of you have weak stomachs. I will try to spare some of the more yucky details...

Well, little Carter has been so sick for the past few days. On Thursday night, it started. We were in Larry's pizza in Bryant, and Carter and I were sitting at the table while Donaven went to get a salad. Out of no where, Carter threw up...not baby spit up...big boy throw up! I was freaking out because it was everywhere. It's Larry's, so there were people everywhere sitting around us, so I know that they were thinking that this was the most appetizing thing that you want to see while you are eating! I frantically tried to start cleaning it up when the nice little waitress came over to me and told me that she would help me. Donaven came over and began to help, too. We had already placed our order, so by the time that we finally got our pizza (not that Larry's is slow, but time just can't go by fast enough when you are ready to go), he had thrown up yet again! We boxed up our pizza and went home. He was sick until about 1:00 a.m. I stayed up until about 3:00 to see if he would start taking some liquids, since I was so nervous about him getting dehydrated. I felt so sorry for him. I would almost cry every time the poor little guy would get sick. He is so little! And I know how much I hate throwing up...I will do almost anything to keep from it...I hated that he had to be so sick!

I stayed home from work on Friday to take care of him. He did pretty good...just really tired and not eating or drinking anything. I thought we were over the hump, but tonight he threw up again...all over the couch. Donaven has been such a trooper. He does not have a stomach of steele, so I know it takes all within him to clean up vomit...and he has had to do a lot of it! Carter acts like he feels better now, so hopefully this last incident was just because he tried to eat too much, too fast. Hopefully he will be back to full force soon. Please pray that he will get to feeling better soon!

Happy 1st Birthday, Carter!

Late Christmas Post

I know...I am really bad at posting. I actually need to post pictures from Carter's birthday as well, but one thing at a time...We had such a great Christmas this year. The weekend started with my dear friend Sarah Gore's wedding. She was such a beautiful bride and the wedding was beautiful. On Sunday, we went to church with Donaven's parents in the morning at Kingsland and with my parents that night in Fordyce. We went back to Hope with my parents that night and stayed with them until Christmas Eve night. That night, we went back to Bryant to spend Christmas morning at home. On Christmas morning, my parents, sister, and brother-in-law came over for breakfast (my parents had spent the night in Bryant with my sister) after we opened presents. After breakfast, we headed to Kingsland to spend time with Donaven's family. We then went to Donaven's grandparents, and finally to my Dad's side of the family. We also spent Christmas with my mom's side of the family the following weekend. Christmas was busy, but it actually felt more low key than in years past, I think. The only thing I am a little upset is because of my camera...so many of my pictures this year were very blurry...especially the ones of our own little family's Christmas morning! Maybe next year Santa will bring me a new camera! Here are some of the ones that were not too bad.

Carter's favorite part of Christmas was getting more new balls. They are his absolute favorite. It was actually his first word. In fact, on Christmas morning, he had tons of new toys to look at, but the only thing he cared about were his new basketball, football, soccer ball, etc...

My parents (Nonna and Bop) got Carter this little ride-on fire truck. He loved pushing it around.

Opening presents with Aunt Amy at Maw-Maw's house.

Opening presents at Grampa and Grammy's house (Donaven's parents)

Carter loves the new wagon his Grammy gave him

Picture with Santa

Last week (or the week before that...I am not sure...they are all running together), Carter's daycare had a "breakfast with Santa" event. They have different things for the parents and kids to eat, plus everyone gets their picture made with big guy! I was very nervous about Carter getting his picture made with Santa. As many of you know, Carter is not always the social butterfly...and is particularly scared of hairy men at times:). He did suprisingly well though. I tried to not call attention to Santa at all when we were in line. When it was our turn, I sat him in Santa's lap and tried to keep his eyes on me by making funny faces and talking to him. We were doing okay until Santa started talking to Carter. He looked at Santa, felt of his beard, then looked at me with that panicked look as if saying "get me outta here!" The professional photographer got some great shots before Carter even realized that he was in Santa's lap, so it turned out okay. Here are some pictures that my friend Krista took...they were in line right behind us. You can see the moment Carter realizes that someone is holding him. Glad she captured that!

Happy Thanksgiving

We had such a great time during Thanksgiving this year. Thanksgiving is always kind of a marathon for Donaven and I. We try to make it to every dinner since our families are so close in proximity...and usually it wears me out...and I am stuffed by the end of the day, with three Thanksgiving meals to eat! This year, we still made it everywhere, but I really didn't feel rushed and we had time to enjoy the day. I even contributed some dishes to each dinner, which is good for me, as I am no Paula Dean (or whoever you think is a great cook)! Carter really enjoyed being at the Old Place (for those of you who don't know, that is the my great-grandparents old house that we now use as a deer camp/gathering place for Thanksgiving). There were tons of leaves to play in...and since we don't really have a lot of trees at our house, it was something new and very interesting to him.


Carter also got a lot of extra TLC this weekend from his relatives. I am so blessed and thankful to have such a great family.

Cool hat, huh?

Playing in the leaves is so much fun!

Carter and his Pop

Little Monkey

We have had an activity filled Halloween! Tuesday night, we dressed Carter in his monkey costume and went to Boo at the Zoo in Little Rock. I just had to let him wear the costume more than one day...too cute to waste on just one night! He had a pretty good time, but it was really too old for him. He did enjoy looking at all of the costumes and flashing lights...but I think that Donaven and I probably enjoyed it more than he did. I really think he will enjoy it next year, so we will try again!

Today, I took him to daycare in his costume...there were several of the babies that were dressed up in his class, so it was so cute to see all of them. There were lots of butterflies, bees, etc. I have always thought that babies dressed as monkeys were cute, but I didn't just pick it because I liked it...promise. He just seems to love monkeys. From the time that he was a little baby, he has always seemed to like them. My Aunt Connie gave him a little monkey that makes the "oo-oo-a-a" sound when you press his belly when he was like 2-3 months old, and he has always thought it was funny. I also bought him a hand puppet that is a monkey, and he obviously prefers it! So he HAD to be a monkey...and he has not minded his costume at all either...in fact, he will look at himself in the mirror and talk and smile at himself when he has it on. I am glad that he liked it.

Finally feeling better

So on Saturday when I said I was looking forward to a nice Sunday, I felt a little twinge in my stomach thinking, "I shouldn't say that". Little did I know that the twinge in my stomach was the friendly stomach virus. Everyone, except one little person who will remain nameless since I don't even want to say it out loud as I fear it will happen, has gotten the stomach virus in our household. Today, though, we are all feeling so much better. Yesterday was my normal "day off" from work, so Carter and I stayed home all day and played. He keeps doing new stuff every day, so I had a fun time seeing what I could teach him. Here are some pictures from yesterday and this afternoon with Amy. Carter loves his Amy, as you can tell. I also wanted to post some pictures that showed off his front teeth. He has started to squint his nose when he smiles, and it is so funny!

Nice Weekend

This has been such a nice weekend. We have finally just had time to relax, which is nice. Last night, we went to the Bryant High football game. It was really exciting because both Bryant and Cabot were undefeated...and we won! I have not been able to go to any of the high school games this year, so it was fun! Carter did not have as much fun as I did. He was a little scared of all the yelling and excitement...although he got a little more used to it. It has been funny to watch his personality emerge. Right now, he is really not like me or Donaven...he has his own little unique way! He has been sick the last couple of days, so he has been a little grumpy, but thankfully he is getting back to his self and is sleeping a lot better. We have actually both been pretty sick, but I'm feeling a lot better now too!

Today, we have had a very lazy day. We had a chance to take a nap and then do a little shopping tonight. I look forward to a nice Sunday tomorrow...and then back to work on Monday!

I have some pictures to add, but for some reason I am not able to upload them. I will try again tomorrow.

9 Months Old Today

Today is Carter's nine-month birthday. I know this is what everyone says, but I truly can't believe how much he has changed from December 28, 2006 to September 28, 2007. As of today, he has four teeth (two top and two bottom) and he is able to crawl like a little wild man, pull up on anything that is or is not standing still, dance, occasionally get up the nerve to try to take a one-handed step, and say "ba" for ball (without me even asking him to)! Donaven will never admit this because he says that he doesn't want to pressure him to do sports, but I know that deep down that inner coach is doing a touchdown dance because his little boy is showing interest in football! However, as an aside note...Carter may not be able to say it, but at this time, he is equally interested in shaking his little pom-poms, which is very entertaining.

Here are some nine month pictures that Amy and I took this afternoon.

Joining in

I have had so much fun reading so many blogs lately, that I have decided that I should start one too. I am not great at keeping up with this kind of stuff, but hopefully I can stay on track and update at least a few more times before Carter turns 1! Here are some pictures of Carter in the last month. He will be nine months old this week (on the 28th). It is so hard to believe how time has flown by.

Carter at his first Bryant Ballgame. Go Hornets!

Carter has learned the how to pull up and cruise on just about anything. Here is a picture of one of his first locations to conquer.

Carter loves being outside. Here he is at my parent's house in his new swing...which he LOVES!

Another picture of Carter and I at the ballgame cheering Daddy on!
Thanks to Aunt Amy for always remembering her camera.