19 Weeks

This picture represents you so well right now! You are doing your two favorite things: standing & chewing! We felt a little knot on your bottom gums this week and are wondering if a tooth will be arriving soon...

18 Weeks

We spent the first few weeks of my pregnancy playing the guessing game with your gender, and now we spend our time trying to decide what color your eyes are! It seems to change depending on the day and the colors you are wearing, and varies between blue, green, gray, and brown.

Carson 4.5 Years

Carson, the picture above was taken a year ago, and look how big you have gotten:


You are 4 1/2 years old!!

• You weigh 37 lbs. and are 3 ft. 5 in. tall.
  
  
  
• You wear size 5T shirts, your tiny waist puts you mostly in 3T pants, and you fit into size 11 shoes.
  
  
• Your favorite color is blue, favorite food is Kid Cuisine frozen dinners (even if we cook dinner, you would still prefer this), and you love every cartoon on Nickelodeon.
  
  
• You are so musical! You make up songs all of the time and sing them to us throughout the day. Your favorite artist is Lady Gaga, and you love to sing and dance to her music in the car.
  

• You are definitely Mr. Personality!! I really don't think you ever meet a stranger, and everyone instantly becomes your best friend. You are silly, charming, caring, dramatic, polite, and already a leader. You are also very independent and can do most things for yourself now like buckling in, getting dressed, and grabbing a snack, which has been a big help now that we have a new little family member.
  
  
  
• You have been an amazing big brother. If Deacon cries "super hero big brother" comes to the rescue. A lot of times we will find you quietly doing something sweet for your brother like reading to him, turning a toy on, or giving him kisses. We can already tell that Deacon thinks you hung the moon.
  

• You are fearless! Your favorite restaurant is Red Lobster because you can charm the hostesses into pulling a lobster out of the tank every time for you to pet. You start every adventure off with "Momma, I'm being safe," and most of the time you really are. You might be brave, but you are always careful.
  
  
• We are thrilled that you now sleep in your own bed, in your own room, EVERY night with no problem!!! But, every once in a while we sneak you into bed with us just to snuggle!
  
  


• Your newest obsessions are Backugans, [still] Gormiti's, and now video games. You love playing old school Super Mario Brothers and get mad at me because I don't play as good as your dad. lol You've decided for Halloween you want to be one of the plants coming out of the pipes, and the rest of us dress up as Mario characters! You also love playing Wow Wow Wubbzy games on the computer.
  
  
  
• Like every four year old you love to get up and go! You would much rather be out doing something rather than hanging out at the house, like going to the park or swimming.

• There is never a dull moment with you. You either have us rolling on the floor laughing at your antics, or making us crazy with your theatrics! We have been amazed these past few months at how perfect you and Deacon both are, while still being complete opposites! We have learned how to cherish every moment because the bigger you become, the more independent you are getting and we know one day you will be grown up with a family of your own. I can't even begin to imagine my life without you in it. I love you so much!

4 Months

Deacon- I can't believe it, you are 4 months old!!!

• You weigh 15 lbs. 1 oz., are 25.5 inches long, and have a head circumference of 17 inches, which puts you in the 75th percentile for every category.
  
  
• You wear size 2-3 diapers and 6 to 9 month clothes.

• You amaze us daily by how strong you are! You love holding onto our hands and pulling yourself up to sit and stand.
  
  
• We are getting to spend more time getting to know you now that you are staying awake at longer intervals during the day.
  
  

• You are still waking up about once at night, and then are bright eyed and bushy tailed at 6:30 every morning. We can usually get you to sleep a little longer if we put you in bed with us to snuggle.
  
  
• You are definitely our social little guy! You will jabber to us all day long, smile and laugh at everything we do. You also don't like to be left alone while you are awake, but want to be where everyone else is so you don't miss a thing.
  
  

• Your hand-eye coordination is getting so much better. You can hold onto your toys now, and get them up to your mouth to taste. We are wondering if you are about to start teething because you are beginning to chew on your fingers and bottles too.
  
  
• This month you tried sweet potatoes, bananas, and peas for the first time, and will eat one of these for dinner a few times a week. You are drinking about 6 oz. at each feeding.
  

Month by Month

My Inspiration

Mrs. Zumbro.

I received my schedule the summer before my freshman year of high school. One of the perks of having an older sister was that she could give me the dirt on all of my teachers. After taking a look she pointed at my algebra teachers name and said "oh no, Mrs. Zumbro! You need to get out of her class, she gives so much homework and is so mean!" Being a freshman "fish" was scary enough, but then I had the added stress of knowing I would hate one of my teachers that made it worse. I went to the counselor the first day of school to get a schedule change, but they didn't take having a mean teacher as a valid excuse for switching classes, so I was stuck.

That counselor did me a bigger favor than I ever could have imagined.

I survived the first day of school, and Mrs. Zumbro. As the year went on I heard the phrase "get out a clean sheet of paper and a pencil" daily in Mrs. Zumbro's class. Her class was very structured and we knew better than to talk. We had homework every night, and quizzes at least weekly.

But we learned.

I learned to love algebra. I was really good at it. And by the end of the year I loved Mrs. Zumbro.

My junior year of high school I was put into another teachers class for Algebra II, and I went back to the same counselor to get a schedule change INTO Mrs. Zumbro's class!

A few years after I graduated college, I went back to get my teaching certification for math. I had to study math material I hadn't seen in a few years and had forgotten. I thought back to my favorite math teacher and decided to look her up for help. Luckily Zumbro isn't a very common name, so she was easy to find! My family joked that she was going to get a restraining order against me for stalking her. lol

She remembered me and was nice enough to meet me at a restaurant to help me study. And I passed! When I got a job teaching in the same district as her I called again to let her know.

I recently ran into her the last day of the school year at our admin building while I was signing up for summer school. I introduced her to a co-worker and explained that she was the reason I am now a math teacher. She was signing her retirement paperwork after 41 years of teaching!!

The next day at my campus I was about to go into a meeting and looked over to see Mrs. Zumbro in our office. She had stopped by to give me a gift. Wrapped in tissue paper was a pin that she had worn as a math teacher, but she said she would no longer need it now that she had retired. She said I was the perfect person to give it to.

She was right, it is perfect.

Swagger Wagon

I'm sure I will lose friends by the pure dorkiness of this post. I'm okay with that.

It all started back in about 6th grade. The girls always played a game called "MASH," for those girls who don't remember, I'll help refresh your memory:

Boys, you probably never played this.

Well anyways, you fill out the categories, and it predicts how your life will turn out. Who you marry, the house you get, city you live in, career you have, and car you drive. You usually get to pick a favorite, some okay choices, and one really crappy selection for each category, then pray you get the ones you like. To select your fate, you close your eyes and make a swirl in the middle of the page and count how many lines are in the swirl. Then go through and eliminate items by counting that number until only one item remains for each topic.

Fun, huh?

I was like most girls, picking cute celebrities as my future hubby, exciting careers and glamorous cities.

Then there was the car... While most kiddos were choosing Lamborghini's and Ferrari's as their dream car, I had different aspirations. I have no idea what sparked my interest, but my eyes were set on a minivan. Yes, you read that right, a MINIVAN. That was my dream car. Maybe because it represent domesticity, honestly I have no clue.

My heart has always held a special place for the minivan.

When I got pregnant with Deacon, we decided we needed to upgrade Brian's small truck so that we would have room for two carseats. What did I pushed for??

You guessed it.

Brian said that we would switch cars, there was NO way he would be seen driving a minivan. I was fine with that, I would TOTALLY pimp my dream car!

Just in time for soccer season, we got our "Soccer Mom-mobile":

The only problem is, Brian changed his mind... He loves the van too! It works perfectly for carrying his stuff for work and getting the boys in and out.
So, I have converted him!! He is the proud owner of MY dream car! And he looks like a total stud muffin while he drives it.

It now looks like the rest of society is catching on to what I have know all along, hence the new youtube video rapping about my favorite car on the road:

16 Weeks

This week you made a new best friend: your teddy bear. You love cuddling him, especially at bedtime.