Hand to Hand Combat

Lately I have been finding myself engaged in hand to hand combat with my 1 year old. I know it sounds ridiculous, but seriously I have. His new 'game' is to throw food off his highchair when he is done eating. This really isn't anything special as I think every baby I know does this. What makes the experience unique is what he does when I try to take the food away. First of all, as Carter sees me coming over he starts to throw the food faster. Then, when I get to his tray and frantically start to grab whatever is remaining off his tray, he starts smacking my hands and trying to reach underneath them to get the food out from under them! Because of the angle and shape of his tray, I have a hard time getting my hands on his food and it truly turns into a little battle. The big boys think the whole scene is hysterical. Frankly, I do too!

Back to School

Just as Jadon and Cole have finished up preschool for the year, Mommy has decided to go back to school. Yes, I already have a degree in psychology, but I want another degree in nursing. I haven't yet figured out how exactly to pull this off with three children and the desire for at least one more and the strong desire to be a stay-at-home Mom, but I am going to try. This week I started a night class at the local junior college to begin knocking off the handful of prerequisites I need before I enter an actual nursing program. It is a biology class that meets three hours a night 4 nights a week for 8 weeks. I have already taken biology, but unfortunately my sciences that are more than 5 years old won't be accepted by the nursing program and have to be retaken. I am lucky though because a lot of the local universities have started reinstating or creating nursing programs in the last few years and they have created special programs for people like myself who already have a bachelors degree in another field. I can feasibly (gruelingly) get my bachelors degree in 12-15 months depending on the program I choose. I am thinking of possibly entering a program when Carter is three, so I have two years to finish the prerequisites, but we'll see if I am really willing to leave Carter when the time comes.

I'm off to study!

More Pictures from Carter's Birthday

I just found these saved as a draft! Oops! Well a few months late, but better late than never right?

Feeling SO Blessed and SO Tired!

As some of you know, the kids have been attempting to do acting and modeling for some time. Up until 30 days ago this meant a lot of auditioning, with only one booking over three years. In the last month things have really started to pop for us though. First, Cole booked a some print work for a children's clothing catalog, which we believe he will appear on the cover of in the Fall. Then we found out Carter is being paid for a commercial that he was booked for, but never shot, a few months ago. Then, a week later the photographer who originally shot Cole for the catalog, hand picked him to do some shots for a new magazine (including a cover try). Right after that Carter auditioned for and booked a print job for Disney. As we were driving home from Carter's shoot on Monday our agent called to tell us that Jadon booked print work with a toy company to be shot the next day (no audition...just picked from his picture!). The day after he shot that they called to book him again for today (Friday). This has been totally unreal and although I'm sure there are kids who book a lot more, we sure are feeling smiled upon these days!

You will see Jadon on toy product packaging sometime soon. Carter may appear in a brochure to be distributed with Disney's new paint product produced by Behr. Cole will be seen in the Fall in the Hanna Andersson catalog as well as Toddler Magazine.

Wow! I am tired! Meanwhile, I am starting school next Monday to begin prerequisites I need to start a nursing program. I am putting that in writing to keep myself from chickening out (which I did last Fall). My class will meet M-Th nights for about 3 hours for 6 weeks. I then plan to take two more classes in the Fall, which will keep me in that same M-Th schedule...yuck!

The boys are done with preschool for the summer, but start a whole slew of summer classes over the next week or so. We just finished a two week round of boot camp style swimming lessons that went really well.

Carter and I have been and continue to take a great little Mommy and Me class with our cousins, Stephanie and Samantha, which we love! I probably will have to stop after summer because Jadon and Cole will be attending a new preschool that doesn't keep hours conducive to me getting to Carter's class, but for now we get to enjoy it.

My brother and his fiance are coming to visit for a week in late June and into early July and Carter and I have a trip to Baltimore planned between semesters in mid-August. We are taking some time to visit one of my best friends from high school and her little one who is 5 months younger than Carter. It should be fun and Carter will be the first of our kids to ride on a plane...too bad he will probably think he is on a long car ride!

Well, that isn't ALL that we have going on, but that is a lot of it and probably gives you a taste for our crazy life. If you ever come over and find out the house is a total mess, at least you will know why. No one is ever home to clean it!

Happy 1st Birthday Carter!

Okay, yes this is a little late, but better late than never. We had a great little party for Carter on his actual birthday (June 3). We had cake, balloons, a bouncer, and of course lots of family and some really great friends there to celebrate too! It was warm so we all congregated primarily inside and we kept the air running. As you can see from the picture above, Carter definitely enjoyed his cake.

Last Thursday (June 7) I took Carter for his 1 year check up. Everything was great. Our pediatrician couldn't believe how much he is talking (is this really a shock....look at his Mom). He was 20lbs 7oz (18th percentile) and 28 1/4 inches long (7th percentile). Yes, we have another peanut child on our hands.

Most of Carter's new tricks are verbal. He sings "Happy Birthday" endlessley, but it sounds more like "Happy day day.....yooouuuuu." He likes to go for walks and any time he sees his stroller, a push toy, or even if we just step outside he says "walk?" He calls me mama now and will actually call to me from around the house if he doesn't see me. He says: hat, balloon, ball, dog, woof, 'happy day', dada, mama, walk, all done, bye bye, chicken, cheese, banana, baba (bottle), night night, book, and many more words that I am too tired to think of right now.

Carter now pulls up and walks around the kitchen hanging onto the cabinets and will even walk with just the guide of a flat wall, but he has not stood on his own yet for more than 2 seconds. He loves to play with toys and really enjoys it when Jadon and Cole allow him to interact with them (they are usually chasing him away).