Project 52, Week 31

This week brings more slip and slide pictures, which means it brings more funny Carter faces!! I don't think the kid can keep his mouth closed if he's having a good time. We went over to Mom and Dad's to celebrate some birthdays and got out the pool and slip and slide for the kids to enjoy. And I think they thoroughly enjoyed it!!

Example #1 of the mouth open!

Example #2

Carter would run the entire length and fall into the little pool at the end. It was apparently the best way to do it. Except when this happens...

Starting to slip...

And we're down!! But he didn't even cry. Which is amazing since he freaks out at most accidents. He must have been enjoying himself because this happened more than once.

He also would run and jump into the pool, purposefully falling on the way in.

More open mouth faces

So I would say the slip and slide is still a success based on what we've seen here!! 

Project 52, Week 30

Since we have been living in 100 + degree temps, Trev has been watering the trees a lot. Trev loves his plants and trees, and gives them lots of love. I don't. I would probably let them die. Thank goodness one of us cares!! Well Carter also loves to help water. Except he just gets wet. He is totally soaked every time and loves every minute of it.

I just love his expression in this photo. He does seem to have some great expressions, like this one from Week 21.

As you can see, he loves the hose. In the last one, he is picking lilies to bring them to me. Such a sweet little boy!!

Happy Friday!!

Project 52, Week 29: Have more fun!

Week 29 pictures come from our trip to Tablerock. We had lots of fun, even though it was so hot. My picture of the week pretty much sums up our vacation: "Carter go swimming." This was said at least 10 times per day, and jumping off the dock was the most fun of all.

This post is going to be long, but in an attempt to keep it manageable, I will mostly tell of our trip with pictures. So here we go. There are many more pictures than what I'm showing here, but I just don't have the energy to do a a post of 500 + pictures!!

So first off, it was a daddy week. Probably because daddy is more fun, but he wanted Trev all week. So here we are getting ready to swim for the first time. Any by the way, he didn't even hesitate before jumping off the dock into the lake. No fear of water right now!!

 If Carter couldn't be swimming, he was driving the boat. He would say "help Carter drive," like he was in charge of the driving.

We went to the floating restaurant and enjoyed Root Beer Floats, then walked around and fed some turtles. This brings us to the third thing we heard this week: "Daddy walk." This meant that Carter wanted to walk around and insisted on dragging Trev around by the hand wherever he wanted to go.

The only thing Carter wasn't too sure about was the Jet Ski. He thought he wanted to ride it, and didn't freak out at all. But when asked if he wanted to go fast, he said "no, go slow." This is shocking, as Carter's answer to this question is always "Go fast!!"

Our new Mickey from Grandma was a favorite. He would dance around with Mickey, make Mickey push the button on the dancing bear, and generally have Mickey do all activities Carter was doing.

Here is a sequence of Carter jumping walking off the dock. I said "jump" earlier, but I use that term very loosely.

And we're in!! As a side note, he has since learned to really jump into the pool. And I think I prefer the walking.

Putting spray sunscreen on always brought about some laughs, since it seems so cold!!

So there are the highlights. We did much more than this, but I had to narrow it down, so of course they are all of Carter. Hope everyone is having a good week! Oh and the reason this post is titled "Have more fun" is because this is the first thing Carter said every morning when he woke up. It was pretty cute!

Project 52, Weeks 26, 27 and 28

So yes, I am behind. But I am actually catching up and even posting the actual picture for this actual week. Usually I post the picture from the previous week so I have a whole week to catch the shot. Don't expect great technical shots (or lots of photos) in this post. But these are memories, and that's what this is really about. The first I like emotionally and technically. But the next two were taken very quickly, not on manual, to capture the moments.

So for Week 26, we went to a Royals game to celebrate my Dad's birthday. We had tons of fun, and I got some cute pictures (which you won't see here right now since I haven't even edited Carter's second birthday pictures yet). But I loved this picture of Trevor and Carter swimming at the hotel before the game.

The next one for Week 27 Trev took of Carter and me, rocking before bed time. It's nice to capture this moment to look back upon. Before long he will be in a big boy bed since he is rapidly outgrowing the crib. When the crib goes, the rocker goes. I am so happy to have this time documented!

Week 28 captures Carter's favorite thing right now: driving Mommy or Daddy's car. He will say "drive daddy's car?" If we say no, he'll say "drive daddy's car a little bit??" It's pretty much the cutest thing ever. He will drive for at least 30 minutes. But you can guarantee the lights will be on, the radio blaring, the mirror crooked, and probably a good chance the heat may be on!!

Other Carter things right now:
We are working on right and left. So I will say "left arm" when putting his left arm through a shirt. Then he says "other left arm" for his right arm. Like I said, we're working on it.

If you happen to drive a little fast, he will exclaim "Mommy go fast!!"

Carter's new Royals hat is his "Carter Go Royals Hat"

That's all for now. Have a wonderful weekend!!

Project 52, Week 25- 2 years!!

So I am a few weeks behind, but I have a whole year to do the 2 year update, right??

I can't believe you are 2!! You are such a big boy (literally), with your stats as:

Weight: 30 pounds, 3 oz (74th percentile)

Height: 36.5 inches (93rd percentile)

While this time can be very trying with you, it's also a lot of fun. You have started talking so much more and say the funniest things. You are a mimic, so we have to watch everything we say. When we leave the house, you say "Bye Billy, be good. See ya later, bye." You've heard us say this to our dog, and now it's your saying. 

You love to go for walks, but we have to call them stroller rides. Otherwise you won't get in the stroller. You also love your tricycle, but long walks with it can be challenging. You have figured out how to steer, and end up in circles, or running into Mama. 

You must be in a growth spurt (like you really need that!), because you want to eat ALL THE TIME!! I wasn't ready for the grocery bill to feed a growing boy. I thought I had a couple more years for that!

You love to "walk around," especially at the nature center where I took your 2 year pictures. When you look at a picture from this session, you say "Carter, walk around!" 

You also love Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, which is how I got the rest of your pictures. You are watching your cartoon while I snap away.

You love to learn and are such a sponge. You know all of your "ABCD's" (as you call them) and love to point out letters on shirts and signs. 

You can also spell Carter, which is pretty cute to listen to. You can sing Row Row Row Your Boat; it's your favorite song to sing these days.

You got a new KC Royals hat this weekend, and you call it "Carter's Go Royals hat," which is just about the cutest thing ever.

You love to be tickled and request it by saying "tickle." If I stop too soon, you let me know by saying "tickle" louder. You get the giggles and can't stop. I don't even have to tickle you. If I get close, you start laughing.

We are so blessed to have you in our lives Carter. We love you very much and look forward to watching you learn and grow!!

 

Project 52, Week 24

WARNING: Long story ahead and some photography jargon. So if you're not interested, just scroll down to the first picture (the last 2 are not good!)!!

We celebrated Trevor's 30th (gasp) birthday last week. We had a wonderful time with family celebrating this momentous occasion. And drumroll please.....his gift was an iPad!! He has been wanting one for a while, and I decided to get him one (along with my parents and his parents) for his birthday. I wanted it to be a surprise and thought I was doing well. But of course, the UPS man (who has never ever come before 2 pm) came to deliver the iPad on a Tuesday morning (Trev's only weekday morning at home). And I had to sign for it. I told him it was his birthday present but he never saw the box. He didn't bring it up again all morning until calling me when he was almost to work. And his opening line of the convo was "So did you get me a white one or black one?" I could have hurt him. Trev always guesses surprises and I was working so hard to make this one a surprise. I also have a slight problem actually waiting until the day to give him his gift. We are notorious for Christmas gifts exchanged December 15 or so :). Anyway, I digress. I tried to convince him it wasn't an iPad, but instead some small gift (like the weeder he asked for). I worried about the surprise all week, trying to decide how to throw him off the trail.

So long story short, here's how it went down. I planted a seed that maybe my parents were getting him an iPad. I did this because I didn't think I could keep the secret anymore. This was a way for me to get excited too! Mom wrapped her gift ($$) and weighted it down. Present #1 opened and no iPad. His parents got him candy and a shirt, saying they would be him more on our lake trip later this summer. Presents #2 &3. He got wonderful gifts from his sisters, but he wasn't expecting iPads from them :). Then he gets to mine. I wrapped the first present (the weeder) in the iPad shipping box. And can I say he was quite happy to have the weeder. Finally we get to the last present. He opens the large box (weighted with bricks) and finds towels and a smaller package. Buy now he is starting to wonder but isn't really sure. He opens the second package and proceeds to dance around the room!! So it turns out he really had no idea that he was getting an iPad. And all of my worrying and fretting was for nothing. Oh well, at least he was surprised.

Well, Carter also loves the iPad, hence the picture of the week.

This picture was taken with my external flash. Note the wonderful even warm lighting, no harsh skin tones. And this is even SOOC (straight out of the camera).

Now this was taken a few seconds later, but with the pop up flash on the camera

Note the whited out skin tones with the background totally dark. Yuck!!

And the final was taken without flash at all. I bumped my ISO up to 800 (pretty high for a Canon rebel), had my shutter speed way down to 1/60 and aperture opened way up at 1.8. And it's still dark.

Here's a side by side comparison of the 2 flash pictures:

I was worried when I bought the flash that I wouldn't use it. That was a useless worry. I use it quite frequently, but still have lots to learn! Sorry to bore you with a long story and photography jargon. Hopefully you just skipped to the first picture if that's what your here for!

Have a wonderful week!!

 

Project 52, Weeks 22 and 23

So yes I have fallen behind. Between 2 parties to celebrate Carter's 2nd birthday and Trevor's 30th birthday celebration, I haven't had time to do many updates. In the future I have plans to post on the birthdays and Carter's 2 year pictures. You would think since I quit my job as a NICU nurse (and am LOVING staying at home with my toddler!) I would have lots of time to blog. But no, it has been a crazy few weeks. Hopefully things will calm down now. In the mean time, here are my shots from weeks 20 and 21. I am not using his official 2 year photos or party photos. I want to save them for different posts, but they are coming sometime in the future!

Week 22: We got Carter a tricycle for his birthday, and he is in love with it. He already has an obsession with bicycles, so this is just amazing for him. This bike is pretty cool. It has a handle for us to push and steer him (although he can also steer which is interesting at times). Plus he can be buckled in so he can't just bail at any time. Here he is on the inaugural spin around the block.

 And here is week 23. After many months of struggling, Carter is finally starting to feed himself!!!! During lunch one day he decided to feed himself spaghettios. I usually help him with the super messy ones, but he wanted to do it. Who am I to stand in the way of his independence? Notice the mess all over the face (including the forehead), plus the o's around the outside of the bowl!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week!!