It's Beginning To "Feel" A Lot Like Christmas (part 1 of 3)

The holidays are just around the corner and we kicked off our season with a visit from my family to babysit while Reid and I went to his company holiday party. This year we went to the Denver Chophouse located in downtown just across from Coors Field. This year they played something similar to "Let's Make A Deal" so Reid and I rummaged our closets for random stuff to pack my purse. I think we walked away with $15 or $20 from my stuffed purse! Reid always was the lucky recipient of a nice "gag" gift from his boss which everyone got a good laugh for. Then came the food!! When we arrived, we caught the end of happy hour and they had some yummy appetizers. I made sure to eat some veggies to make me feel better about myself. Then we were served our salads and a delicious corn bread with honey butter. For dinner I ordered the filet (mouth watering) served with veggies and mashed potatoes and dessert was a selection of various items you could walk up and choose from. I made a bad choice and picked the strawberry cheesecake, but all that was strawberry was a very sugary/syrup like drizzle that overpowered everything. Oh well! I just wasn't feeling chocolate that night.



Next up was Christmas with my family on Sunday morning. Carson had so much fun pulling the paper out of bags and ripping the wrapping paper. For whatever reason he has been ripping apart little pieces of paper recently and bringing them to us, so Christmas presents came at a perfect time!






Sunday evening we went to Hudson Gardens for their holiday light show. This was a lot of fun, especially for a kid who points at any and every light he sees in stores, around the house, etc. Thankfully the grounds were big enough it didn't seem to crowded, but this year we didn't take advantage of the wagon rides or Santa. Long lines and toddlers just don't seem to go hand-in-hand right now, lol! I think my favorite was the row of trees that was synced to Christmas tunes. I wish my phone wouldn't have died so I could have taken a video.


















Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3 of our holiday festivities. So far, Christmas is off to a GREAT start!


Carson: 18 Months

I hardly can believe myself that Carson is 18 months old!! Where, oh where is time going?! Carson is in to EVERYTHING these days. His latest favorite are the measuring cups. He has a slight obsession with stacking things and measuring cups and some bath cups I bought are his favorite. We went to the doc for an ear infection last week and after he was getting restless waiting for her to arrive, I saw their stack of cups and quickly grabbed a few. That kid was content stacking and unstacking those cups :) Carson is starting to say a few words here and there, but by far his favorite word is Dad. Lately he's been following Reid all over the house, babbling to him and bringing him books to read or legos to put together. Speaking of books I think Reid and I have read "The Hungry Caterpillar" over 50 times the last couple weeks. Ok not really but this kid LOVES that book right now. He'll also point to the caterpillar on each page and giggle.

He is doing so good at daycare. After about 3 weeks, he stopped crying when Reid drops him off. The other day one of the teachers told me she got the biggest giggles out of him while she was pretending to be a lion! She said usually he keeps to himself, but on this day she got his attention and let out some good laughs. He's learning body parts and it is so fascinating to me how they can just pick things up. He loves to mimick anything we do so he's bound to learn lots of things in the next few months. He finally figured out how to wave and blow kisses when we ask him too! He hears that I make a smooch sound when I do it, so his way of mimicking me is to lick his hand and make a noise. Silly boy!

Carson is pretty much in 2T shirts now and pants are hit or miss in sizing from 18 months to 2T. His tummy seems to be bigger than his length. He is size 6 shoes and I bought size 7 winter boots! Big feet!!

Newborn: 8lbs 6.3oz and 20.5in
Two Weeks: 9lbs 1oz and 21in
Two Months: 12lbs 9.5oz and 25in
Four Months: 13lbs 13oz and 25.5in
Five Months: 13lbs 11.5oz and 26in
Six Months: 13lbs 7oz and 26.5in
Seven Months: 14lbs 5.5oz and 26.75in
Eight Months: 16lbs 15.5oz and 28in
Nine Months: 18lbs and 28.75in
Twelve Months: 21lbs 10oz and 30in
Carson: 18 Months: 26lbs 11.5oz and 32in

This past month was filled with lots of adventures, mostly because of Halloween. We had lots of fun and can't wait to start all the Christmas festivities.











And That's A Wrap!

Finally, our busy weeks of Halloween activities have come to an end. I think we got lots of good use out of our costume and Carson got lots of comments from passer-byers everywhere we went! What a great Halloween 2014!

Yesterday afternoon Shira and her daughter Sydney hosted a Halloween party for our mom's group! Everyone collaborated to bring something Halloween-themed and mine was a glow stick tunnel. Carson has been loving his light-up balls in the dark hallway, and what kid doesn't like crawling in tunnels so I thought it would be perfect. Here's how it turned out...






The tunnel was decorated with spiders and ghosts and I was so happy with how it turned out. One thing you can't see is the glow sticks hanging from the ceiling. I knew there was a chance some kids might try to tug on them, so Reid and I tied lots of knots and even had a paperclip folded on the top so they wouldn't slip through. I thought the kids would love crawling and sitting in the glowing lights and I couldn't wait to take it to the party!

Well first "fiasco" was the box-tunnel would not fit in my car. I'm sure if any neighbors were watching they got a good laugh with me trying to maneuver this thing into my trunk. In the end I had to take it apart and would reassemble at the party. Now off to pick up Carson from daycare and head to the party!! We got there and I decided to reassemble the box-tunnel in the parking lot. Then you should have seen me trying to walk inside. The door was quite-aways away from our car and Carson only managed to walk a little bit. I had the diaper bag around my shoulder, grocery bag in my hand, Carson on my hip and somehow still managed to carry this big box-tunnel in (using both hands to hold it.) I really wish someone would have photographed me!! It wasn't until I walked past our party room that a kind worker offered to help me! Thank you!! Now let's get to fiasco number 2 (begin vent session). I mentioned before Reid and I tried to hang the glow sticks good, but they were no match for "terror child" at the party. No joke 5 minutes after I set the tunnel down and turned my back to it, I looked back and saw all but 2 sticks ripped from the ceiling and said "terror child" banging on the box. Now I must admit that I did not specifically witness this child ripping my "masterpiece" apart, so yes I'm pointing fingers but feel I have good reasoning too. I understand we are in a room full of 10 to 20 month old kids and something was bound to happen, but I think the box-tunnel would have "stood it's ground" for most of the party. To me the worse thing about this situation was his mom not doing ANYTHING and just letting her child run around like a complete maniac! No "play nicely" or "watch out for other kids so they can play too." She just let him be and chalked it up to, "well this is what I deal with everyday." Grr I was so frustrated and wish this mom would realize the work I put into it instead of using this party as a free-for-all for her child to be a maniac while she chatted it up (end venting session). At least some kids were still able to enjoy it.











Carson did okay at the party but was fussy whenever I was not right by his side or holding him. Ever since we started daycare he's been so clingy whenever I take him out. Given up until now he's been Mr. Independent, it's nice to know he loves and needs me!! We got home and had lots of fun with the glow sticks before dinner and bed.




We ended our Halloween festivities with the Trick or Treat Street event at Aspen Grove. We made daddy come along and had so much fun as a family walking around the shopping center. They even had a little store set up as a haunted house. Carson did great until we walked past a live Frakenstein. He was not a fan. Then we tried to pose with some other Halloween characters and he wouldn't look at the camera...way to interested in figuring out what was going on!














So long Halloween of 2014. You've been good to us.