Baby Liam Has Arrived!

Our friends, Jen and Jeff, welcomed their sweet baby boy, Liam Crosbie Hodgkins, to the world on 1/23/2010 at 2:13pm. He weighed in at 7lbs 4oz and measured 20.5". I went to visit them at the hospital the day after he was born. I got to see his Daddy change his diaper. He did a great job! Jen is doing great and, aside from a few problems during her labor, had a great delivery.

Carter and I have plans to go visit them next Monday and Wednesday as next week is when Jeff returns to work. I remember how scary and overwhelming it was when Scott went back to work, so I'm happy to do the visiting! I really, really wish I'd had more friends visiting us when we came home from the hospital.

Liam is a sweet little boy, after Carter of course, but we welcome him to the world and can't to continue to squeeze him and love on him!!

Tickle Time

Enjoy!! :)

Getting down with his bad self!! Phonics rock!!

Pre-Valentine's Day Photo Shoot

I took Carter to JC Penny's for pictures last week, but we won't have photos to share until February 3rd. I will say though, they turned out super cute. I can't wait to share with everyone!

So in the meantime, I took a small photo shoot of Carter with some Valentine's goodies. Oh, and you can't see it, but his shirt says, "Cupid is my Homeboy." Haha! The bear was given to him when he was born and I made the heart as a surprise to Scott for our first Valentine's day when dating.

Surprise, She Turned 30!

A few weekends ago, we attended the surprise 30th birthday party of the friend of a friend, Sarah Watson. Scott and I have become close to our neighbors, John and Sarah Scadding, but we are also becoming friends with the Scadding's friends too.

Sarah is a big fan of breakfast, so a PJ party was planned...come in your best!! Scott and I came dressed as Tom Cruise in "Risky Business." The party was complete with a full breakfast spread. Scott and I even won a $5 Target gift card for "Best Dressed." There were about 50 adults and umpteen billion kids, or so it seemed. It was alot of fun and we hope it's the first of many birthdays we can celebrate with the Watson family and Finton crew.

Someone is 10 Months

Carter turned 10 months on January 17th and I just can't believe that in a short month and a half he'll be one. I guess I really need to start thinking about all his parties since March 17th will be here before we know it. :)

A few new things Carter does & says:

* Says Na Na, Ba Ba, Da Da, and Ma Ma, among other things that I'm not quite able to spell out

* Has 2 teeth

* Is crawling everywhere

* Is starting to pull himself up on lower things: laundry baskets and activity table

* Loves to laugh at Mommy being silly and is always smiling

* Still sleeps about 12-14 hours each night (down at 7:30pm & up around 8:30am) and takes 1- 2 naps each day

* Is eating more finger foods: green beans, black eyed peas, blueberries, bananas, mac and cheese, ramen noodles, cooked sweet potatoes, and much more

* Is wearing 12 month clothes but will soon need 18 months & we are making a transition in shoes from size 4 to 5

* He's wearing size 6 diapers (I know, right? Haha!)

Laughs, Laughs, and More Laughs

I love finding weird things that make my baby boy laugh!! Hope it makes you smile too!

Houston, We Have a Crawler

Sunday Carter turned 10 months AND he took his first real couple movements forward. I'm officially marking Sunday the 17th on the calendar and in his baby book for his first time crawling, but today was the first time he took more than a few steps forward. I baited him with the remote control (it'll get him every time!). This first clip was taken with my cell phone.

This clip was taken with my camera. I just can't believe he's doing it more. We've been trying to be so patient, waiting for him to take off.

And here we go!!

I Just LOVE Him To Bits!

I've had a camera in his face since the day he was born. Well actually, I've had a camera in In his face (my face) since before he was born. These are a few of my favorites from this week.

I work the child care room at Jazzercise M-T-R now. He really enjoys watching the other kids play and be loud and rough (they're boys as well). Yesterday, I put him on a little scooter trike thing and pushed him back and forth. He loved it!! I'm going to be in trouble when he starts being super mobile. :)

A Few New Pictures

I've been longing for Carter to get to that age where he'll want to cuddle with me. Last night during the Bengals playoff game was the first time he showed any sign of remotely wanting to. I made sure I took it all in! I was one happy mommy!

Isn't he one hot stud muffin?

Wearing a new bright white bib + eating bright orange carrots = one messy baby and a messy bright white bib!!

Uncle Chad got Carter an inflatable car with chuck-e-cheese like balls inside. Carter and his neighborhood friend, Owen, really enjoyed playing together after New Years dinner with neighbors.

Carter now has 2 teeth. Aside from the excessive drooling, you'd never know he was teething which I obviously love!! He's just the same 'ole happy baby he always is!!

Here's to 2010!

We rang in the new year with high school friends of the Scadding family. We stayed the night in Brighton at the Watson residence. There were 12 adults and 9 children, all under 3. It was really fun. We had a great dinner and played in a speed euchre tournament after the kids went down. I'm really glad that Sarah's friends have kind of taken us in. They're a great group of people that I look forward to becoming better friends with. It was a great way to bring in a new decade!! Here's to 2010!!

Christmas and Then Some in Ohio

We spent Christmas in Ohio with family. We stayed at Scott's parents house Christmas Eve and Christmas night. We had Christmas 4 different places on the 25th. Whewwww!

Since this was Carter's first Christmas, we went ahead and started some new family traditions. We ordered red fuzzy personalized "Santa" bags that Santa will leave his unwrapped gifts in and I found a fuzzy bag that says "Reindeer Food" on it. We'll use that to put carrots and such in in later years.

After Christmas at the Smith house, we went to my grandma's house for a quick gift exchange. My parents got us bikes and my grandma got us a bike trailer to carry Carter in. We had no idea and were completely surprised. We can't wait until spring now! Carter got his first piece of annual Christmas silver from nana, along with an Elmo remote and cell phone. And Scott got a new electric razor. :)

After Christmas at Nana's, we had our 3rd Christmas of the day at mom and dad's house. Carter got alot of things as you can imagine. Some things he can't even use right now. My dad's crazy in love with this boy!! Scott and I got nice things as well, but I'm only posting fun shots of Carter loving his presents from Mamaw and G-Daddy!!

Then, we went to Scott's grandma's house for the last Christmas of the day. Carter got a ton of good stuff. As you can see, I sat with Carter and Scott took the pictures. It was kind of a cluster, but it was fun!

Saturday evening, we met with some friends for our Christmas exchange. Carter got some nice clothes and toys from Auntie Sar and a singing duck from Auntie Kris (I quack to say hello, when friends are passing by, and when it's time to go, I quack to say bye bye! I've only heard it over and over and over again! Ha!). He loves the duck! It was nice to meet up with them, always good to see Ohio friends when we're home.