5 months of cuteness

5 months old

Grumpy Gus

someone was jealous!

She's growing up that's for sure.  Macy can rotate 180 degrees in her crib and roll easily.  We only swaddle her body with her arms out now.  She learned how to grab her feet, too.  She's 14 lbs. and 25 in. long with no more hair than when she was born.  She loves to stare at Carter and will crane her neck to follow him.  I guess because he's so rambunctious.  Big brother likes to put Macy's paci in for her, hand her toys, and talk to her in a super sweet voice.  She still despises bath time and hates not being held.  Her belly is her most ticklish spot.  She smiles and laughs when you make funny faces or sing to her.  She started making more sounds, like a pterodactyl, dying cat, and Darth Vader.  We're holding off on solid foods until 6 months old, but she's getting much more interested in our food.
This month she'll make her 3rd trip across the ocean as we move back to Florida.  I'm so happy that Hong Kong will always be a big part of who Macy is.  She won't remember her first 6 months of life in this crazy town but we'll be sure to remind her.  We did a little photo shoot on the waterfront so she could have proof she lived here.

Terrible Twos?

Why don't you be the judge at just how terrible Carter's twos are.  I'll present the evidence since he turned 2 in March.

• When worshiping at church, he runs out the door and once captured slaps mom in the face.
• While hunting Easter eggs, he finds the only staircase and tries to escape, many times. 
• I got home from work and he greeted me by wiping peanut butter all over my nice clothes.
• When we don't pay attention to him he emits a sharp blast of noise until we talk to him.
• Found a bulldozer in Macy's crib, which I assume was thrown at her while she was napping.
• Wrote on the wall with a pencil and pen, 3 times.
• Regularly launches toys off our balcony, including a piece of our washing machine.
• Dumps his drinks into his food and then dumps food on the floor.
• Tried to steal skittles from a random man on the escalator and succeeded.  
• Throws groceries on the floor while shopping or throw them at shoppers. 
• Sat on my back and tried to rip my hair out, when I screamed he pulled harder.  
• TMI- used his spoon to taste his pee.  GROSS!!
• Climbs out of crib or precariously hangs off the side.
• Continually screams, talks loudly, throws things, hits, climbs, gets hurt, and makes messes.  

We never stop laughing at this hilarious, energetic 2 year old.  He is no shy, cautious kid.  He has NO fear.  He's a product of two A.D.D, loud, crazy parents, so you can't really hold him responsible.  We do try time outs, which are somewhat effective, except when you go to get him and he hits you in the face.  At the core, he is the sweetest, happiest guy and full of life.  He talks non-stop from the time he wakes until he sleeps.

Now please give us your verdict on a scale of 1-10 of terribleness, he's gotta be a terrible 10! 

4 Months Old

Sweet Macy,

You are such an angel and I'm crazy about you.  Lately you have started making lots of cute sounds and giggles.  When we lift you up and down or tickle your belly, you almost laugh.  We're having so much fun dressing you up, okay maybe just Mommy.  Daddy does a great job too, though.  I have cute little shoes, tights, and headbands for you.  You are a pretty cooperative baby model.  You are enjoying your bouncy chair now, with an occasional kick fest.  Carter loves to see you in action, he'll yell "Kick, Macy, kick!"  I tried you in the Johnny Jump Up, but you were a little too vulnerable because Carter tried to climb in with you.  You're very strong and can hold your head up for long stretches, roll over both ways, and sit up on the couch with help from some pillows.  You better not be an early crawler.  Mommy needs you to stay put as long as possible!  You also learned to hold toys this months.  Kathie brought you some perfect toys to fit in your tiny hands.


I call this one "Screaming Angel"

I think you cry less than you used to, but you're still a diva.  You cry when you're hungry and then I feed you and you continue to cry until you burp.  Then we have a stretch of 30 minutes while you're content and smiley, then you're tired, so you cry some more.  Maybe it's because I'm at work, but your crying doesn't really bother me.  I just wish you felt better and didn't have tummy problems.  Right now, you eat 6 times a day, 2 pumped bottles and the rest with Mommy.  You're a star sleeper, 11 hours at night with one dream feed at 9:00 pm and 4 naps a day each one about an hour.  You consistently wake up after 45 min. of napping and if we leave you, you'll work it out and sleep 1 1/2 hours. 
You're so different from your big brother, well in personality.  Your looks are very Carter-esque, except more girly and dainty.  We're so glad you have your individual personality.  You're slowly revealing who you are to us.  We love learning about you.  God has hand picked you to be in our family and be part of this wonderful journey together.  What an honor to raise a beautiful girl like you!  We just hope you don't mind wearing a helmet when you get older, because that's the only way we'll be able to keep you safe!

Love you to pieces!!!!
Mommy and Daddy

P.S- You weigh 14 lbs. and are 25 in. long





Easter

 

  Since this is the first time Carter could understand Easter, we wanted to make a big deal out of it.  I read Carter the abbreviated version of the Easter story in his Jesus Storybook Bible and he was pretty interested.  He loves to talk about Jesus, even though he doesn't really know who He is yet.  All he knows is "Yes, Jesus Loves Me...The Bible tells me so" and he can point to things and say "God made it."  Oh and when we ask him to pray, he automatically puts his little hands together.  Sometimes he even reminds me to pray at dinner time.  

  We also read Barney's Easter Basket and Counting Chicks to show Carter about the other Easter things.  Tom, Kathie, and Oakley had an adorable party last year, so we invited them over this time.  Of course we had an egg hunt and dyed eggs.  You can't skip that.  On Sunday, we went to church and had a potluck and another egg hunt.  Macy looked adorable in her Easter dress that Brooke gave her.  Thank you Brooke!!  Holidays are so much fun with kids, especially now that one of them can understand what's going on. 

Tales from the potty

He dragged the potty out on the balcony to do his business.

After lots of readiness signs, we decided to try potty training Carter at 24 months old.  I was on spring break, and of course there is no better way to have a fun-filled rip roaring time than to potty train.  We were pretty non-committal, so if it went badly we would just forget it all together.  The week prior we read Superhero Potty Time and Big Boy Undies.  We got a cute green potty from IKEA and talked a lot about it.  I set Carter on it in his clothes and he pooped right away, in his diaper.

Big boy underwear!

Day 1- I was way too nervous to let Carter go naked, so he just wore his diaper.  We put the potty in the living room for easy access.  I made an adorable sticker chart.  The first time I put Carter on the potty without his diaper he peed!!  We made a big deal out of it and put a sticker on his chart, which he LOVED!  After 2 pees in the potty he understood how to earn stickers, so he wanted more.  He would sit down and squeeze until a little pee came out and then I would give him the sticker.  Then he would say "more, more" and go back to his potty and squeeze more out.  He would pee in his diaper also throughout the day and at nap time.  At the end of the day he had peed 12 out of 12 times while sitting on his potty.  He peed every time we sat him there, but only pooped in his diaper.  We were pleasantly surprised, actually we were shocked at how ready Carter seemed to be.

Day 2- After Carter's success on Day 1, we thought he was ready for his big boy underwear.  The morning was perfect, he peed every time we put him on the potty and he did his first poop!  We were thrilled and gave him candy.  Once he learned candy was a prize he kept asking for it after every pee.  I tried to explain that he has to poo to get candy, but to him pee and poop are the same thing, I think.  By the end of the day, he had pooped in the potty 3 times and peed tons.  He even kept his diaper dry when we went out for 3 hours.  After 5:00 pm we got a little relaxed and he had 3 accidents in his underwear, one was poopy.  YUCK!  Overall, Carter did an amazing job and loved getting candy!

Day 3- Before we left for church at 10:30 am, Carter had already pooped in the potty 4 times.  We're starting to think he's intentionally cutting his poo short, so he can get more candy.  If that's even possible.  While Blair was brushing his teeth, he somehow pooped on Blair's leg!  He wore a diaper at church and at nap time.  We had failed to do laundry, so he went naked booty at home.  He even started sitting on the potty himself when he had to poop, while I just sat on the couch and watched.  He only had 1 accident, 5 poops, and around 13 pees in the potty.

Day 4- Carter was sitting on his potty today and reached behind him to grab a book off the shelf.  He then sat there and read for awhile, just like Daddy.  He has a total potty obsession now.  When he pops off the potty, he immediately says, "Tandy?" (candy).  He even likes to dump it out himself.  We took him out today with big boy underwear and he told us when he had to go, so there were no accidents while we were out.  At nap time he waits until he wakes up to go.  A few hours after he went to bed for the night, he called for Daddy and then we let him pee in his potty.  He was waiting, even though he had on a diaper.  The only accidents he has are when we're home and we don't get his underwear down in time or if he's watching TV.

Day 5- We were at the mall today and we let him wear a diaper.  He said to me "No poo poo in stroller." I told him he was wearing a diaper and it was ok to poo poo.  Well he waited 3 hours until we got home and then went pee pee.   I was so proud of him.  He really gets it!  I think the next step is using a public toilet, which we haven't attempted yet.  I hate germs.  We're still nervous to go on long outings with big boy underwear because it's hard to get home fast or find a clean place to potty in HK, but I think we need to keep moving forward with the training. 

Sticker chart

Carter's 1st Haircut

     We waited until right before Carter turned 2 to get his first haircut.  I was really reluctant, but knew it was time.  I loved Carter's shaggy blond hair and didn't want them to change his look too much.  We went to this adorable place called Spa-La-La in Niceville.  They had a yellow race car for Carter to sit in while he watched Ratatouille.  They put a race car smock on him and I thought he was going to be just fine.  Well once he felt the first squirt of water, he wanted to get out of his race car.  They had tons of distractions there, so I managed to keep his mind off the haircut.  I specifically told the lady, "just a trim".  Maybe I should have spoken in exact millimeters.

BEFORE

AFTER

  I got a little teary-eyed on the way home because that woman turned my baby into a little boy.  I couldn't believe the difference.  After a week, I got used to it and now I do like his hair.  I just miss my sweet little baby and his blond hair in his face.

Certificate from the salon

Carter's Under the Sea Birthday Party

    My sweet Carter is 2 and we decided to celebrate with family and friends this year, since we were in the states.  His party was actually 2 weeks before his real birthday.  Carter loves all things ocean, so we had an "Under the Sea Party".  We had fruit sushi, octopus dip, ocean jello, cupcakes, fruit skewers, hot dogs, and assorted fish.  Morgan made a blowfish out of a watermelon, Gigi molded fruit roll ups and rice krispy treats into sushi, Gram made the cupcakes, and Mommy searched the internet for all the ideas.  Gigi and Granddad let us use their beautiful home.  Aunt Morgan and Pop captured all the details with their fancy camera work.  Miles helped move the present opening along.  Lauren helped with crying babies.  Jim and Nicole helped free Carter's toys from those annoying boxes they come in.  Aunt Lori controlled the clown fish and kept him from attacking anyone.  Carter went crazy over his new dump truck and Thomas the train.  He favored jello over the "pup"cake and fruit over the jello.  We had a blast fishing, blowing bubbles, and playing with the beach balls by the pool.  The best part was when Carter finished blowing out his candle and realized it was HIS birthday party, he yelled out "Happy Birthday".  Up until that point he thought we were just having a random party.   

Notice Aunt Morgan's original art work on the shutters!

Great Grandma Pat and Aunt Lori came

Sweet Pop and Harper

No smash cake this year, but we still watched him carefully eat a cupcake.

The typical family photo, these days.

The party goers almost ate the tablecloth they were so hungry!

Carter loves playing with Uncle Will!

A very special guest, Mr. Clownfish, thanks to Gigi and Grandad!  With a remote control you could make him swim around the room.