Just because I haven’t blogged for a while doesn’t mean that nothing has been going on. Actually it’s been quite the opposite (as is usually the case). As Matt posted last week, Carter started walking a couple of weeks ago – yay! Matt and I are thrilled that he’s able to toddle around these days, but not so thrilled with all of the bumps and bruises that come with the walking. However, he improves every day by walking more frequently than crawling, taking more steps during each walking spurt, and catching himself when he falls or falling on his behind rather than forward.
This last weekend we traveled to Minneapolis to celebrate my niece Mercedes’ birthday which happens to be today – Happy Birthday Mercedes!! The trip up on Friday was challenging to say the least. We traveled through a snow system for much of Iowa which made for slow speeds and white knuckles, but we arrived safely in Minneapolis by 10pm. On Saturday morning we took Carter swimming for the first time. At first he didn’t quite understand why we were in a larger than necessary bathtub and seemed to be nervous, but eventually he lightened up and started enjoying the experience by slapping the water with his hands, swishing his arms along with me, and giggling when I’d go underwater and pop back up.
After swimming, we all got cleaned up and headed to the Mall of America. This was Matt and my second trip to the shopping heaven and I think I enjoyed it a little more this time since I have a little boy to spoil now and I was in the mood to spoil. Natalie and I went shopping while the rest of the clan (Jake, Matt, Dad, and Mom) took the children to cruise the mall. By afternoon the mall was getting extremely crowded and Mercedes was finishing up with her new dog (named “Sparkles”) from the Build-A-Bear Workshop, so we decided to head back to the hotel to have the kids open their gifts (Carter had some presents from Natalie, Jake, and Mercedes since his birthday is in a week). After spoiling the kids with new toys, we all went back to our rooms for a little R&R before meeting up for dinner later that evening. Unfortunately, our hour of rest turned out to be a full hour of fussiness from Carter – since he hadn’t gotten his regular naps for two days – so Matt and I decided to stay at the hotel to give Carter a low key evening and help him prepare for our long trip home on Sunday. So, we used our “always handy” Gerber microwave meal for Carter’s dinner, went swimming again, gave Carter a bath, ordered a pizza, and settled in to watch the Olympics. Carter was sleeping by 7:30pm and by 8pm our pizza had arrived. We were bummed that we couldn’t go out to dinner with the family, but knew that our little man just couldn’t handle an evening out AND a long trip the following day.
Sunday morning we had breakfast with everyone and then loaded up for our trip home. Matt’s cousin Heather, her husband Jason and their two girls Ryleigh and Landree live about an hour and a half southwest of Minneapolis, so we decided prior to our trip that it would be nice to stop in and say ‘hello’. By 10:30am we made it to Mankato and stopped at Heather and Jason’s to hang out and have lunch. Both of their girls are so sweet and cute…it was great to see all of them. We were back on the road by 12:45 so Carter could get his afternoon nap, and the rest of the trip went fairly smooth. We stopped a few times for diaper changes and food and made it home around 7pm last night. So work today came a little too early and I was estatic when the clock hit 5pm.
Aside from traveling and enjoying our little man’s new walking ability, Matt has been busy working on one of the projects we’ve slated to do this year – replacing paneling (and the old drywall underneath) in our computer room with new drywall. He started the project a week ago thinking it would be a quick project, but soon found out that it would require more time when he found that a foundational 2X4 had rotted out due to a water retention problem the previous owners introduced to the window sill (Matt replaced the window sill when we repainted the house). So, now the the 2X4 has been replaced and everything else is secured to Matt’s liking. He’s pulled paneling off of two walls and pulled drywall off of the wall he had to fix (of course). Hopefully all of the paneling and drywall will be off by the end of the week so he can start putting up new drywall next week. We’ll see.
One more week until Carter is 1. Time flies…
His fever started yesterday morning and he hasn’t been himself. Thank goodness for Motrin!!!