I love 2 years old

I'm not going to apologize for being away...I do that a lot and it doesn't seem to help. Haha, but I have been away for a while again. Sometimes after sitting in front of a computer all day long makes you not want to sit in front of it when you get home. But, luckily? for you guys...un-luckily for me I no longer sit in front of a computer all day long. As most of you know I was laid off from my job a few weeks ago so I should have plenty of time not only to take pictures of Carson but to share them with you all...Although, my updates might be slightly boring now that I have nothing to do with my days! :)

Carson told me to 'shut up' last night. He hears us tell the dogs to shut up so I'm sure he's heard it and also knows what it means. It was so hard not to crack up. Not sure how to handle that one yet. Since I wrote last we've been through both strep throat and pink eye. Good times, fun stuff. Strep was way worse I think because he had the fever and the feeling icky. Pink eye was just nasty eyes and no fun drops.

We also have started swimming lessons at the YMCA near us. Carson loves being in the water but I'm not sure how I feel about the lessons yet. They are really a just get your child comfortable in the water type thing. Carson loves the water and doesn't seem to be afraid at all. But, he does not have the tolerance for the instruction. He just wants to play and blow bubbles. I think we might hold off on the next round until he's a bit older and just take him to play in the water instead of actual lessons.

Back at Christmas time, my friend and I went shopping at the Mall of America, because of the amount of money we spent then (too much) we got a certificate for 2 unlimited ride wristbands at the new Nickelodeon Universe (my head still thinks Camp Snoopy by the way) anyway they expire in March so we took the kids there today to ride on the rides and hang out. Carson had a BLAST. There were a few rides that I looked at that I said 50/50 shot of him crying, he didn't even come close once. Every ride he said 'wheeeeeeee' and once it stopped, he said 'AGAIN!'. I'm glad he enjoyed it. But, because he is still too short, every ride required a chaperone and after about 5 rides I had enough of the going in circles. We took a lunch break and went to Build-a-Bear after. We had a great day and despite the fact that Carson is cutting his molars he was in a great mood and behaved the whole day!

Dave is out of town for work until Wednesday night so now I am home all day, home all night by myself. I think these days will probably drag by without a job to keep me occupied. Love you all and talk to you soon! I'll leave you with a few pictures of today's adventures!

I know, I know

It's been entirely too long since I've updated. It's summer time and we've been busy. I suppose that is the only excuse I really have. Haha!

Pale white, soft baby skin has given way to baby-tan, bruised knees and dirty toes. Every 2 or 3 day bath time has turned into every day, and one word here and there has turned into 2 and 3 word "sentences". Carson is growing up so fast. I mean, in 4 months he will be 2!!! 2 years old. Gah, I can't believe it.

Dave and I went and saw a movie in the theater for the first time in almost 2 years. We saw Pineapple Express. It was "meh" I've never smoked weed in my life so "stoner" humor is kind of lost on me I guess. It's like some of the stuff was really funny...but at the same time really stupid. I guess that's probably the point...but oh well. It was OK anyways.

Work has been good. I finally got the promotion I had been hoping for so that's awesome. It's been busy and that's always nice as well it makes the days go by so fast.

Well, here are a few pictures to catch you guys up and I'll be back soon!

Bad Blogger

I've been too busy to blog. I know, I know...I'm terrible but what can ya do? It's officially summer, we've been enjoying the weather and getting out and about as much as possible.

I bought roller blades a few weekends ago and the first time I put them on was like torture...today wasn't so bad. Carson and I went about a 1/2 mile after he ate dinner. He loves being pushed in the stroller while someone is pushing him with roller blades and to be honest it helps me keep my balance to have something to hang on to. We went around a few blocks before I felt like I might die and headed home. Haha.

I still am trying to book a Pampered Chef show in July. I have a few people who have given me the "well let me know if you start to get desperate" lol. Hopefully I won't have to rely on them. Regular work has been going good...except busy. I had a few weeks of sort of down time and that is out the window. Now, I'll leave work an all the sudden I'm starving and I'll realize that I haven't gotten up from my desk all day to either eat or pee. Haha, I guess it makes the days fly by.

I don't have any new pictures of Carson at the moment, but I should have a bunch from the 4th. We're going to the Melby's like usual and I'm really excited to see how Carson does with the pool. I guess at Daycare today he went in their pool and didn't love it but we'll see how it goes. For now, I'll leave you with a picture of my FAVORITE flower. It's blooming right now and will look awesome for a few weeks. I swear the months of it just looking like a strange green plant are totally worth how it looks when it's blooming. Reminds me of a tropical flower or something!

Pathetic Eh?

This is Carson angry about having to come inside for lunch yesterday.  And yes, that is both black dirt and sidewalk chalk on his face.  Both of which were obviously in his mouth.  He was "helping" yesterday while we did our spring outside work.  We cleaned up the yard, cleaned out the garage, pulled weeds and planted some new flowers.  

As I was spreading some fresh black dirt over our hostas, I look down and see Carson kneeling beside the freshly laid black dirt, shoving a handful of it into his mouth. YUCK!  Haha, it was pretty funny though.  We were also watering the new plants and our trees and Carson figured out that he LOVES the hose.  So he was just soaked.  Luckily it was warm enough outside that we didn't have to change him till we went inside.  So, I stripped him down for lunch and the result is above.  A very tired, hungry baby who wanted to stay outside just a bit longer!

Can you believe that it's almost June already?  Time is just flying by.  Work has been very busy, which is good for me.  Every time I drive to the Target by my work, I see our new building going up.  It will be so nice when it's finished.  It sucks having the company divided.  Especially since I began working in the main building and when I switched departments I got shipped to the other building (which pretty much sucks). So there are so many people that I don't see nearly as often as I'd like.

It seems that everyone around is getting new cars.  I have serious car envy.  I know that mine is just fine and has treated me well, and with the cost of gas I don't also need a car payment but man...it would be nice to have  a beautiful new car.

Well, it seems to be another beautiful day outside.  We should probably get Carson out there again!  Bye!

This is for Karen!

Carson got upset when he heard you were threatening a boycott of the blog. Haha, so we took pictures today especially for you. Carson wasn't thrilled about it at first but warmed up quick enough!

Carson had his 15 month check up last week. He's 24.5 lbs and FINALLY is done with shots until he is 5, with the exception of flu shots. Nice! He remembered the doctor's office and right when we got there he threw a fit. It's nice that for the next few appointments anyways he won't have to get poked at all. The doctor did most of the exam with him on my lap to keep him calm since he was pretty upset about being there. Healthy as can be though!

Work has been same-old, same-old. Very, very busy. Usually that was my update time, during the day during a down period but I don't have many of those anymore! It's nice to be kept busy but at the same time, I'm feeling neglectful of the blog. I've got to set myself some calendar reminders at work to keep up! I'll try that this week and see how it goes!

Well, we found out last week that we didn't get the extension with the Navy that we were hoping for. So, it looks like we'll be leaving Minnesota sooner than we'd hoped. We're still trying to get everything figured out as to when we'll be leaving and where we'll be going so I promise that as soon as we have more information we'll share it. I haven't told my work yet and I'd rather not get into specifics until we know for sure. It's still sinking in for me honestly.

We had Kate and Erik and kids over last weekend and I took some pictures for them with my new backdrop stuff...still trying to figure out the lighting and how to get it right. I think I did a better job with Carson this afternoon. It's funny how the things you should try come to you about an hour after you've taken the pictures and then you do the *face-palm*. I'm getting better though and I'm just leaving my stuff set up in the basement for now so that I don't have to worry about taking down and setting back up. That tends to be a deterrent because it takes so dang long. If I just leave it all set up all I have to do is insert children. Haha!

Well, tis Sunday night and I really should get headed to bed. I sure do love the later evenings with the daylight but going back to super-darkness when I wake up in the morning is rough. I have to be extra-motivated to drag myself out of bed to get to work in time.

Talk to you all soon!

It Was Bound to Happen....

My poor baby!! Carson fell yesterday right after we got home from daycare. He hit the edge of the coffee table. Luckily he let me put ice on it right away but man, did he cry and cry. I felt so awful all night. I know he's 14 months old, and that's what happens but man, it still sucks! He seems to be doing fine today. It's much less swollen than it was when he woke up so that's good. I'll just have to keep documenting all the different colors it turns!

We've been having a blast with Bits. I can't believe how well behaved she is and how smart she is! I taught her 'sit' today and she totally got it after 3 tries. Seriously, it took the pugs WEEKS!! Haha. She's also already good at letting us know when she has to go potty. I think she's only had one accident since we brought her home which is amazing! Even when I had to tend to Carson yesterday with his eye, she went on her little pad! I really can't believe the difference a breed makes!

Work has continued to be super busy for me. I have my review coming up in a week or two so I'm pretty excited about that. I'm also about to be given another doctor's files so that always makes for a busy few weeks. But I welcome the work...I really like what I do which is such a nice thing!

We've got a busy weekend coming up. We have Austin's 5th birthday party on Saturday afternoon, Nan and Chris coming over on Sunday for fajitas and then we're goinig to my parents Sunday afternoon/evening. So we're totally booked! We haven't had a super busy weekend for a while though so it's ok. We've been able to veg out and just hang the last few weekends.

Well, I will talk to you all soon!

It is TOO COLD

My car wanted nothing to do with starting after work today. We all ordered in so that nobody had to go out in the -1million degree weather. But that means my car sat outside in the -1million degree weather from 6:45AM-3:30PM. Ouch. She did not make a pleasant noise the first time I tried starting her up. Carson has been wearing his Babylegs under his pants so his little legs don't let any cold air in when we carry him in from the car or out to the car from daycare. They just started selling them at Target, so that's like the most awesome thing ever! They cost the same as if you buy them online, but you don't have to pay shipping which is always a bonus!

The piles on my desk are slowly dwindling. I can't believe how busy I've been...the days are just flying by. I guess that's good because it's not like my days are dragging and I'm dreading work. I'm just ready to have a little down period. Hopefully by the end of this week I'll be all caught up.

Carson now says "thank you" well actually he says "do-dooooo" with the same vocal inflections as "thank you". Haha! He says it when you hand him something. It's so flipping cute!

We're going over to my parent's house for the Superbowl. I don't even know what time the game is on but it's all about just getting together and eating too much food...well at least that's what I think! We're about to watch the Wild play the Ducks YAY! They've been off for almost a week for the All-Star game so we're excited to get back into the hockey swing of things.

Well here are some pictures of everyone's favorite kiddo! Talk to you all soon.

Out With a Bang

I had my last hair appointment with Carol yesterday. I was her last client on her last day. I cried through 99% of my appointment. We decided to shake things up a bit and change my whole hair color to dark and take out all of the blond highlights. Squeeee, it's fun. I love it!

My parents are home!!!!! I can't believe how many times I wanted to pick up the phone and call my mom the last 2 weeks. We're gonna go over and visit today for a while. It sounds like they had a wonderful time! Dave and I went to my company's Holiday party on Friday night. It was at the Carlson Towers. It was really nice. Our daycare lady just kept Carson through the evening so that was wonderfully convenient...he's so familiar there so it was a perfect solution. We picked him up around 10:30 and he slept in on Saturday morning until after 9:00! Fantastic!

Carson is getting around quicker and quicker but still not walking yet. He gets braver and braver, taking more and more steps. He would be happy if every meal consisted of different types of cheese! He eats ridiculous amounts of food but with how much he's on the move he burns all those calories off.

Work has been insane the last few weeks. My desk has been one constant "in-box" or at least that's what it feels like. I've picked up some work for someone who took another job and it's always difficult to pick up some one's work in the middle. Especially because everyone has such different work styles.

I've got some pictures to take off my camera so I'll get those up soon. Lata!

Rock On Yo

I know it wasn't Carson's first Christmas this year but my sister made him this last year and I just liked the way this picture turned out...plus it was the only clear bulb that I could play around with! I got Dave a Wii for Christmas. It FINALLY came yesterday. We spent some time last night playing around with it. It's actually really fun. I rocked Guitar Hero....Haha. My parents are out of town this week so I think my sister is going to come over and hang out with us on Sunday and give it a try. She'll have fun!

How about a Carson update? I can't believe how big he's getting.

• Has 6 teeth
• Will say "momma" "dadda" "bye-bye" and "santa"
• Can take 3 steps un-assisted
• Knows to put a phone to his ear and "talk" (he gets close, puts it to his shoulder)
• Knows to use the brush on his hair, will "brush" our hair
• Points to EVERYTHING
• Gives "hugs" to his stuffed animals. He'll hug them and pat their backs. It's soooo cute!
• Is only drinking whole milk, no more formula and only 1 bottle a day now
• Ate 3 pieces of pizza last weekend!!

I just can't believe how quickly he picks up on things now. If you show him something once, he's got it down for good. He's still sleeping really well. He goes down around 7:00PM still and will sleep until 8:00AM most mornings (if we let him). During the week we have to get him up earlier than 8:00 to get him to daycare on time. He's always been a fantastic sleeper.

So my parents are off having fun in the sun. Jealous. Totally. They come back on the 12th. Dave and I have my work's holiday party on the 11th. I'm not quite sure what we're going to do with Carson or if we're even gonna go. I haven't gone to the last 2 for various reasons and I feel like I "should" go to this one. We'll see. I literally just realized yesterday that my parents won't be in town to watch Carson. Our daycare lady offered to watch him...so that might work. It would be nice since they're so close to us.

Work has been busy. It will be for a while too. I actually really enjoy when things are crazy around here. It makes my day go by pretty quickly. But, I can't waste anymore time this morning so I'll be back another day!

Well actually, I cannot leave without showing you the newest member of the Walgrave household. Here he isWe haven't figured out a name yet...we keep arguing. I'm fighting for Tater (like tater-tot) but Dave doesn't want to seem to budge. HOW CUTE THOUGH?! He's still only about 4 weeks old, we won't get him until Februaryish. We're going out to visit this weekend though and then hopefully we can pick a name. Ok, now I've really gotta go!

Movin On

Carson went to bed tonight without a "bed-time" bottle. *GASPS* He ate a ridiculous amount of food for dinner and I gave him a sippy with milk in it after dinner and then instead of a bottle, we just read books before bed and he laid down really with way less issues than I thought he would. He was a little pissed off but once he had his pacifier he was ok. That will be the next to go, but not quite yet. I'm hoping by 18months.

Dave bought me lights for Christmas. We picked them up last night since I'm doing some family photos for my friend Kate and then a co-worker of hers. I need a little practice before I can feel confident to take them with me. It's a little harder to coordinate than I thought it would be. Using studio lighting forces you to take the camera out of any pre-set or auto modes and do everything in manual. I know what the settings do for the most part but I've never had to rely only on myself to get them right! So I'm really going to learn my camera. I'm really glad. I took some pictures of Carson in the bath tonight...just to practice some of the other settings and I'm really proud of the progress I've made. Here is an example...

Here is a few bathroom shots that I took with pre-set settings on auto-mode with flash:

Yes, the water looks super cool but Carson looks like a ghost-baby! His natural skin-tones and colors are so washed out from the flash. This was taken in August.

Here is tonight's bath:

I love the 2nd picture...he was "yelling" at me but there's so much personality in his little face! They're not perfect or anything but I'm making definite progress. I love how I can really compare the differences. By the way, anyone notice how much skinnier Carson is getting? Haha, he's losing so much of that baby weight and looking so much like a little kid.

Dave's working late tonight which is a bummer. I'll be in bed long before he gets home. Hopefully that means this weekend he'll get some time off. Who knows, his job is so up and down that it's hard to count on anything most times. I know Dave doesn't like missing being home with Carson in the evenings.

In AWESOME news, my work just figured out where our new headquarters is going to be. It's an under-construction site so we won't be able to move in until 12/2008 so a whole FULL year but it's still exciting. We out-grew our first building and my department got moved to this horrible pit of a building and just knowing there's a light at the end of the tunnel is making it all worth it! Here's a link: NEW AWESOME BUILDING

Ok, before it gets too late I've gotta get some practicing in! Have a great night everyone!

Welcome to my Cube

Tee hee! A candid look at me at work! Haha, I found this on our "intranet". It was the day we had a carnival in our conference room...I was working instead of carnivaling it up. So here is a tour of half my desk. Yes, I have two computer monitors. It is wonderful and if they ever try and take the second one away it will be a sad, sad day. The black binders on the shelf are files for each of my doctors, basically their whole professional life is in the binder. There are 6 in the picture but I have since been handed one more. And yes, my desk is always this clean...I'm soooo not a fan of clutter!

This will probably be a short update...sorry I don't have a ton to say today! I have a camera class tonight at National Camera Exchange. I'm excited! It's an introduction to DSLRs (Digital SLR camera is what I have the SLR stands for single lens relfex(I think hahahah!)) Anyways, I'm taking a class tonight and then one next week, next week is supposed to be a little more advanced and into the technical settings I can make use of on the camera. I'm excited about that.

Dave and I were supposed to go to the Wild game last night. I haven't been feeling well all week so Dave took my sister instead. I haven't talked to her yet today but I think she had a good time...well I mean, how could you NOT enjoy it? It's a blast watching hockey at the Xcel. I went to bed early and today I'm finally feeling better. I have my voice back for the most part which is good...it's no fun when people can't understand you!

Carson has his one year check up tomorrow at the doctor. I know there will be shots on the agenda :( poor baby! I hate having him get shots. Hopefully it won't be bad. I'll have to ask the doctor about turning the car-seat around to face forward. I know you're supposed to wait a year but *should* you wait longer? Like just to be safe? I feel like I'll have such a big kid when he faces forward in the car. *tears*

Ok, I gotta get Carson fed before Dave comes home because I have to get going to the class right after that! Talk to you all soon and hopefully I will have some more updated photos soon!

Doing Better

I'm happy to report that things are looking better!! My arm is doing so much better than before. I still have to keep following up with the doctor until it's all gone but for the most part I can use it normally and it's only just a little bit tender now, not painful so I can sleep comfortably again! My car is running good as well! WOOT! I'm crossing my fingers that it keeps running and not breaking!
Carson is doing really well. He's pulling up everywhere all the time. He will let go quite a bit and stand on his own before falling on his hindie. He thinks it's just hysterical to fall on his patootie so that's good I guess. This walking thing sure won't come without a few falls and I guess it's best that he thinks it's funny for now!

He needed a bath tonight after dinner since he kept putting food in his hair. He absolutely threw a fit when I took him out of the bath. It's so hard to hang onto a wet 25lb baby who is thrashing around throwing a fit...lol I felt like I was going to drop him a few times.

My company officially went public today. Good things all around on that one. I'm really bummed we didn't get the chance to invest because of the sucky timing on my car breaking down. But oh well, guess it wasn't meant to be at this point in time. You could tell those who did end up going in as you could hear them talking today about the price at the close of the market today. Haha.

Work has been going really well. I'm so lucky that they've been so flexible with me being in and out this week due to being sick. I put my first full day in this week today. Gah, I feel terrible about it and spent almost all day playing catch-up but most of it's done and tomorrow will be focusing on some of my more current stuff and not feeling like I'm so far behind.

The proofs are up online for Carson's most recent pictures. They turned out really cute. There aren't as many super cute ones to choose from because it was really tough this time to get him to smile. But I do love quite a few of them. If anyone wants to see them, please let me know and I'll forward the gallery...they're password protected otherwise and in the world of Internet, I know I shouldn't leave the password here!

Well, I'm off to get some dinner made for Dave and I...he'll be home shortly. Talk to you all soon!