Christmas 2010 = Success!

This was Carson's first Christmas - so much fun watching him play with all of his new toys, stare at the Christmas lights and try to attack the Christmas tree!

We started off our journey by flying to Wichita, KS where mom and Chet picked us up. It was so good to see them (including Erica) - they hadn't seen Carson since we was about 3 1/2 months old so I know they were itchin' to get their hands on the little guy! Chet and Greg went deer hunting a couple of times. I don't know how they do it - sitting out there in the freezing cold and you have to be quiet. No way - I couldn't do it! They saw a few deer but no shots were fired. Greg said he just loves being out there!

We also went over to dad and Artheta's house for dinner - Chris and Beth were able to make it too! So good to see everyone. Of course, Carson got a ton of toys and didn't know which one to play with first!

Here are a few pictures of Carson with all of his toys.

On Christmas day we drove from Ark City to Dallas to see Greg's side of the family. I rarely get migraines (maybe once a year, if that) but that morning one was coming on strong. What a horrible feeling. There is nothing I can but let it run its course. So, I slept in the back seat for about 2 hours with Carson's blanket wrapped around my head to block out any light. I told Greg that it probably looked like he had a kidnap victim in the back seat! Once I woke up, I felt much better!

We stayed with Brad and Julianna (uncle and aunt). They were so great to open their home to us! We always have such a good time with them. Julianna and I get to laughing so hard when we're together (Greg says that we're trouble when we're together)! Christmas night we had chili, played games, sang along w/ Collin as he played the guitar and visited. I love this picture - we ate dinner on the living room floor! So much fun!

The next day we went to Charlotte's house for a family Christmas party! Carson was soooo spoiled. So many hugs and kisses - and he loved it all! We played some games (thank you Samantha and Blake for helping me cheat), ate way too much food and caught up with family!

Tuesday night we went to dinner at Chuck and Ruthie's. Charlie and Lynn (uncle and aunt) were in town from Tennessee and Trey's crew came over too! The second we walked in the door, Sophie and Wyatt started yelling "Baby Carson"!! I think they really love their cousin! :)

We headed back to LA on Wednesday. It was so great seeing everyone but after a week of travel, I was ready to sleep in our own bed! All three of us crashed that night!

Completely off topic - on our flight was a girl that appeared on The Bachelor and The Bachelor Pad, Krisily Kennedy. I finally asked her if she was who we thought she was at baggage claim in LA. She was really nice and was all about Carson! So, now I can say I saw and talked to a celeb - kind of! :)

Carson's new face!

Something new he's been working on!

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

Apparently, in Southern California we are having record rainfall. According to the news, they haven't seen this much rain in 10 years. Well, I'm kind of over it...I feel like we live in Seattle.

Along with the rain, comes leaking roofs. Saturday night the roof started leaking and water was building up behind the paint on the wall. So, we grabbed the buckets and towels and made a quick call to the landlord. I guess this is a plus to only renting...not our problem! Or should I say, we don't have to pay for it!

The roof has finally been covered w/ tarps and a company setup a bunch of fans and blowers. I'm telling you, it looks like we have ET living in the back bedroom. I have to climb through these plastic sheets to get to my office and it sounds like a windstorm! Here are a few pics so you can see what we're working with!

Maybe now you can understand my frustrations with all of this rain!

Our first visit to see Santa

And it was a success! We sat Carson on Santa's lap and he just looked at Santa like "who is this guy??" It took about 4 shots but we finally got a good one!

This was our first time to experience the Santa visit, as well as dealing with other parents. We arrived a little early so we decided it would be best to go ahead and get in line. We were 3rd in line....but we had to wait 45 minutes for Santa to get back from lunch. So, we chatted with the other parents and kids around us.

About 5 minutes before Santa was due to arrive, a family strolled up w/ 2 boys (probably around 4 or 5 years old) and a baby in a double stroller. It was very clear that there was already a line but this family just strolled right up to the front of the line, passing us. If you know me well, you know that I get really annoyed when others can't follow the rules....I do, why can't they?! Greg just looked over and smiled because he knew I was about to explode! I jumped right up and without saying anything tried to make it very clear that we are all in line and they would need to get in line too....at the end of the line. I looked at the mother behind us and she just rolled her eyes and smiled. I asked her, "is this how it is when you have kids? Dealing w/ other parents?" She smiled again and said, "yup!" Long story short, it all worked out and the family waited their turn.

Afterwards we grabbed some lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings (Greg's favorite)!! Carson is past the age of sleeping in public so he missed his nap.  Poor little guy was so tired that he fell asleep in the car before we were out of the parking lot. I couldn't resist snapping a picture of his sweet little face. He's our little thumb sucker!

Please don't tell me the time has come...

The time I speak of is when your sweet, little, precious baby won't lay their head on your shoulder anymore to cuddle. Jennifer (sister-in-law) told me about the time she realized that was happening w/ Wyatt. I wanted to cry when she told me this because I realized it was probably getting close for me.

I always give Carson his night time bottle. This is our special time where I sing to him (Christmas songs right now), I overload him with kisses and he and I just stare into each others eyes. It used to be that after his bottle, I would put him on my shoulder to burp him and he would just lay his head down, suck his thumb and was completely content.

Now.....we still sing, I still get in a ton of kisses, we still look into each others eyes, I still put him on my shoulder to burp him but now he wants to climb up my chest to get to the top of the rocking chair (or anything he can do to crawl and stand up). I laugh because he'll stop and lean back to look at me and just gives me the biggest smile! It's like he's celebrating his quest of reaching the top of the chair!

We will continue with our nightly routine and enjoy our special time together, but I have that little bit of hope that he'll lay his head on my shoulder just one more time.

Crazy 2 weeks

These past two weeks have been crazy...when it comes to work. It's a good crazy, but crazy nonetheless. I've had a lot of travel and meetings. I really enjoy being in front of the customer or prospective customer. Something about it just gives me a rush! No meeting is the same and there's always some problem we can solve. It's so great when you believe in your company and what you sell!

Last week we started in LA and made our way up the California coast. And when I say made our way up, I mean actually driving up the coast. We had a meeting in Santa Maria (about 2.5/3 hours north of LA), we then missed our flight to San Francisco for a meeting that afternoon so we decided to drive. That was about 4/4.5 hours. Good news is, we made it just in time for our next meeting. After that meeting, we caught a flight out of San Francisco to Seattle. I won't get into the details but if you miss one leg of your flight, then the airline cancels your entire flight. So...we had to get everything rebooked (thank goodness for help back in Dallas on this one). I was on a different flight from my co-workers which actually worked out better for me. I got to the hotel in Seattle around 11pm. They didn't get in until 2am due to delays. We had two meetings in Washington (one fairly close to the Canadian border) and then flew home Friday afternoon. Now it was my turn for the delays. I was stuck in Seattle for a couple of hours but the boys picked me up at the airport which was fun!! I could get used to that! ;)

This week hasn't been quite as crazy. Meetings in the San Francisco area on Monday and Tuesday and then back to the LA area. Now begins the adventures w/ the LA freeways. I haven't had any horrible experiences yet but I'm sure I'll run into some issues soon enough!

Next week we are headed back to KS and TX. I'm so excited to see family and friends. They will be blown away when they see Carson crawling AND pulling up to everything. He looks like a little bulldog crawling...so cute! I told my sister that she's in charge of chasing Carson around next week. Greg and I (especially Greg) need a break!

Santa Claus is coming to town!

This took place on Monday night (so, about 5 days ago....I had quite a bit of travel this week so my brain is a little fried). We were watching Monday Night Football and picking up things around the house. I heard Christmas music playing and I thought Greg had turned it on (knowing that I LOVE Christmas music). I came out of the bedroom wondering what was going on but he had the same look on his face. It sounded like it was coming from outside so we opened a window to take a peek. Sure enough, there was a city truck w/ lights flashing and Christmas music playing. They were announcing over the loud speaker for all of the children to gather around the truck (about 3 houses down from us) because Santa is on his way!! I couldn't get coats on all of us fast enough! Thank goodness Greg had Carson...I was so excited to see Santa, there's a good chance I may have forgotten to grab him! haha

About 5 minutes later, here came Santa and his sleigh!! It was amazing! Christmas music was playing and the jolly old man was waiving to the neighborhood kids. We had to get a picture w/ him....for Carson of course! :)

As you can see, he didn't really care too much about old Saint Nick.

I talked to one of the ladies on the "sleigh". Apparently the city of Torrance does this every year...so great! Which reminds me, I need to get on the website to send my thanks!

Here are a few more pictures:

We were also able to meet a few neighbors. And...we may have found a babysitter!!!! This girl, Nikki, is genius.....she came out and greeted everyone as we were waiting for Santa to arrive and she handed out flyers w/ her babysitting info. She's 14 yrs old and lives 2 doors down from us. I talked to her mom and she said Nikki has taken care of babies before and is CPR certified , plus her mom is just down the road, if needed.

Many good things came of this event: 1. Carson got to see Santa (and so did I), 2. we met some neighbors and 3. we may have a potential babysitter. Maybe we should give her a try on, oh, I don't know....maybe, January 27th...hint hint!!

Our first trip back to Dallas

We had our first trip back to Dallas this past weekend and it was a success! I wasn't worried about the actual weekend events but worried about getting to and from Dallas. This was our first plane ride w/ Carson. Let me start off by saying, for such a little guy, he sure needs a lot of stuff! We had 2 checked bags, a checked car seat, 2 carry-on suitcases, diaper bag, purse and baby....wow! With my work travel experience, I can easily pack a week's worth of stuff in a carry-on for myself, so all of this checking baggage thing was new to me!
*Side note - the airline is so gracious that they let allow you to check the diaper bag without it counting as a carry-on. Maybe I'm missing something, but don't you usually need the diaper bag w/ you when traveling for things like diapers, wipes, toys, formula, bottles, change of clothes, etc.

Moving on....
Carson was great on the plane! We gave him a bottle going up and coming down - it really helped w/ popping his ears. He won't take a pacifier - he just chews on it. The only problem was (for mommy and daddy), he only slept for about 15 minutes on our way to Dallas. He's at that age that he has to look at everything - if he falls asleep, he may miss something. Shout out to my mom for suggesting that we keep Carson on California time.....worked like a charm!

Thursday night we had dinner w/ Grandma and Grandpa (Ruthie and Chuck). It was so good to see them and catch up. Carson put on quite the show w/ his smiles and laughter!

Friday night we had the Hodges family Christmas party. Always a good time! Gerald and Karen rented a hotel suite just down the hall from us which worked out perfect. Carson did cry when he saw Uncle Trey and Uncle Justin, but wouldn't you??!! (just kidding guys...we love ya!) We even played a little charades. This is one of those things I like to just sit back and watch the craziness unfold!!

Sophia and Wyatt are so cute w/ Carson! Sophia just says "baby Carson" over and over and over again. Wyatt and Carson played peek-a-boo and Wyatt got in some good tickles too!

Saturday  I got to have lunch w/ Katie and Hailey! A much needed lunch. Katie - so when are you guys moving to California? Don't think I won't stop telling Hailey about Disneyland, I think that will do it!  :)
Saturday night was the ISN company holiday party! Again, always a good time! The Hodges kept Carson for the night (I'm sure he wasn't spoiled at all, haha!). It was so nice to get dressed up and have a little one-on-one time w/ Greg! And, we didn't smell like spit up! :)
We didn't take too many pictures at the party (too much talking I guess) but we did get a great picture with our friends Kim and Nick!

The trip back to LA was pretty smooth as well. Carson did cry for a bit on the plane but it was only because he was so tired. He finally gave in for about 30 minutes and slept. Of course this was after he spit up on me and peed on  me. I need to find a t-shirt that says, "Hey, I'm a mom, I know I stink!"

All in all, I say the weekend was a success! In a few weeks we'll do it all again, but this time we'll make it a week long trip, throw in a flight connection in Denver, and drive the rental car 5 hours from Ark City to Dallas. We apparently like challenges...can't you tell?! :)