Summer Happenings

It has been a month that I have officially been a stay at home mom.  Doesn't quite feel that way yet since its still summer vacation and I would be home anyways.  I think when school starts up again and everyone is going back it will then hit me that I'm actually staying home.  This summer, Carson and I have been staying inside for the most part.  Being pregnant in the summer is not fun when it comes to the heat (although it is nice not having to work though being in my last months of pregnancy).  I'm sad that I won't be able to do swimming lessons with Carson this summer.  I don't want him to forget what he's learned thus far.  Well since we have been staying indoors I have been trying to do some of the activities I have found on Pinterest.  Carson has been enjoying them.  He's enjoying coloring a little bit more than before too.  He likes that I have all my school stuff here so he can use it! I also want to add for my records that Carson has been potty trained since about May now.  He has had a few accidents but not many so I'm very happy!

Since June is almost over I have a little less than 2 months until Alayna joins our family! The summer has been going by fast and can't believe its going to be July.  All the appointments have been going well.  She has been a little stubborn though because she positions herself in a way where they can't get a visual they need on the ultrasound.  So we have been having to get ultrasounds again so that they can get what they need.  I don't mind though because I get to see my little girl again.  :)  One thing I'm worried about but trying not to be is that she is currently breached.  The doctors say she can still do flips so they won't worry about it until I'm 36 weeks when she will start to settle in one spot.  So far in all the ultrasounds though she has been breached.  So please pray that she won't settle in that position otherwise I might have to have a c-section if they can't get her to turn.

Now that July is starting there is a lot to be done.  Still need to finish Alayna's room and get some stuff before she comes.  Need to organize the house so that its ready for her as well. Lets hope that it can all be done!

Can we say forever ago?

Yes, forever ago is when I last added a blog entry.  I can't believe how bad I have gotten at this.  I'm sure everyone that reads this know a lot of the updates anyhow with Facebook.  That is the reason I have been so bad about updating this blog.  So as many of you know I am pregnant with baby #2.  We found out early that we are having a girl.  I have the actual anatomy ultrasound this Friday and hopefully they say its still a girl! I have already been looking at girl stuff (it's really hard not too).  They have so many cute stuff for girls.  We weren't going to do another bedding but now that its a girl we want to have different bedding.  We weren't sure what to do about the whole crib thing.  Carson is using his crib as it converted to a full size bed.  We feel like we're kicking him out of his stuff for the baby.  So we were thinking of just getting another convertible crib that our girl could have for when she goes to a full size bed.  But now we're thinking of just maybe getting Carson another bed and dresser and keep his crib and dresser he has now for his baby sister.  We'll just be looking at prices and see whats the best outcome.

Carson turned 3 in February and has been doing good.  He is growing so fast and is getting taller.  He is a bit of a clumsy boy in the house with constantly hurting himself after we tell him to be careful.  He is always having bruises and scratches on him.  He still loves his letters and numbers.  If he was allowed he would want to do that ALL the time.  He has this collection of Learning DVD's that he absolutely LOVES! He wants to watch them all the time and even when he isn't watching them he imitates it with his letters and numbers.  He rarely plays with his other toys.  We keep telling him, "Santa isn't going to get you any toys if you don't play with them!" I know we should continue to encourage his love for learning and we do but sometimes he is just consumed with it!

I am so excited that I only have 8 more weeks of school! Travis and I have decided for me to stay home after this school year is over.  I'm beyond happy that I'll get to stay home with my 2 kiddos.  I'll be looking into tutoring or watching another kid.  I'll do some preschool stuff with Carson as well.  I'll also try to post some of the teacher stuff I have made onto the teacherspayteachers website.  I've already sold some stuff so that is good.

Some other things are we finally bought some outside furniture and a patio swing.  It's been really nice having a comfortable place to sit outside.  Carson and I usually swing on the patio swing after dinner when we wait for Travis to get home.  Now that it's getting hotter we'll probably only get to enjoy it early morning or late evening.  I don't know how I'm going to deal with this Arizona summer being pregnant.  I'll have to sit in a pool all day!

Well that's all for now and hopefully I'll keep posting more frequently since I'll be staying home after this school year!

What's for dinner tonight?

Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Chicken Bites

Source: salad-in-a-jar.com via Mary on Pinterest

I decided to try this recipe for dinner tonight. I found this recipe on Pinterest (love this site btw) and it comes from the website salad-in-a-jar.com. They are on the grill right now and looking good! I will let you know how they turn out. I made some without jalapenos for Carson. Can't wait to try it!

Carson Updates

I was going back and looking at my old posts.  I was reading all the updates I did on Carson and realized I haven't done that in a long time.  It seems like since Facebook came around I stopped using our blog.  So here are some things about Carson.


* He isn't potty trained yet.  He can sit on the big toilet seat though and does go potty at times.  I tried to potty train him over summer and it just wasn't happening.  It's my fall break and I tried today again having him wear underwear and he had 3 accidents.  Thank goodness for tile floors!


* Carson can do puzzles and I'm not talking about wooden ones! Gamma got him 5 CARS puzzles and since he loves CARS he wanted to do them.  We helped him out in the beginning and showed him how to start with McQueen's eyes and he can now do them on his own.  The puzzles are 28 pieces are 9x6 inches.  The box says for 5+ but he can do them.


* A heard that a teacher from my school has sight word videos that she used when she taught preschool at her home that has worked very well.  I had her daughter when she was in 2nd grade and she was excellent at her sight words.  Her mom said the both of her daughters watched the videos and entered school knowing a lot of the beginning sight words.  I asked if I could borrow them to see how Carson does with them.  Carson loves the videos and knows close to 50 sight words now! It is AMAZING to see him read these words.  I know memorization plays into it but that is what you have to basically do with sight words, is memorize them. She has some little books that go with the DVDs and they have 1-2 sentences on a page that uses the sight words.  Carson enjoys reading those books.  Here is the link to the company that makes these DVDs/books: http://www.preschoolprepco.com/h/i/index.php 


* Wrote his first word "it" on October 1, 2011 at Chili's while we were waiting for our food!


* From the update above I can add that Carson has just been into learning.  He hasn't really wanted to play with his cars that much or other toys.  His interest is LEARNING.  That makes me so happy as a teacher and mommy of course! He has the magnetic writing tab thing and he will tell Travis to write a word and he is content with watching his daddy write the words he tells him to.  I wrote the sight words on flash cards too and he enjoys playing with the flash cards.  In the bathtub Carson will build the sight words with his bathtub letters.  Then he will imitate the video and say the word and move it along the wall.  It is so neat to see him do this.


*  Since Travis works 4 10's and is able to watch Carson on Fridays, they usually come in for a visit in my classroom.  Carson now walks into the school like he is the boss...lol...He knows where to go and enjoys coming to school.  One day he bursts into my classroom and says, "HI MOMMY!"  He makes me laugh!


* Carson is not a fan of vegetables or fruits! We have tried giving him different types and he throws a huge fit! He is starting to eat some peaches and pears that come in a can (which I know isn't the best b/c of the syrup) but at least it's something.  It's funny though b/c when we are at my parent's, my mom will make some and feed it to Carson with no problem! I just don't understand.  He does eat prunes though and can eat them whole!


* Carson loves to sing along with his CD in mommy's car.  He always ask for the bear song as soon as we start walking towards the car...lol.  It is cute to hear him sing and ask for certain songs to be played.  It's the CD, Little People Sing-Along Favorites.  Here are his favorite songs to sing from this CD: Teddy Bear’s Picnic, Ants Go Marching, Miss Polly had a Dolly, and B-I-N-G-O.  He enjoys listening to the others too but will want to listen to those songs first.


* Carson enjoys playing outside.  During the summer we can't really play outside unless we are getting wet!  When the weather cools down in Arizona then we are able to do other things.  He really enjoys cruisin' the streets with his police car! He will listen for other cars and drive his car up the sidewalk and then tell me to get on the sidewalk too! He has really gotten into hitting his baseball.  We notice he bats with his left and throws with his right.  He likes to play baseball with daddy by throwing the baseball into daddy's glove.  He likes to go down the slide on his tummy.  He also likes to try to climb up the slide which is a pet peeve of mommy's (being a teacher and having to tells kids ALL the time to go down the slide).


* Carson enjoys G-pa's touch pad tablet.  He gets on www.starfall.com and enjoys playing the games on there and watching the videos.  He also loves watching the gummy bear song on youtube.  When he first listened to it he sang it ALL the time.  It was funny to watch him dance around and sing the song.


* Carson still enjoys sleeping.  He is one tough guy to wake up in the morning if he is not ready to get up.  He is very cranky! He can sleep close to 9am on Saturdays which I must admit is nice for mommy and daddy.  I was hoping to get some of that this fall break but he has been coming into my room at 7am ready for his chocolate milk!  I don't get it! lol


* His favorite show to watch is still Little Einsteins.  He loves singing the intro song and waves his hand around like he is conducting like Leo.  


* It has been hard at church with Carson.  Either Travis or I will not hear the lesson b/c we are keeping Carson entertained so he can be quiet.  It never fails that we have to take him out of the auditorium at least one time during the service.  I can't wait for him to be able to just look at a book quietly or color quietly by himself without wanting mommy or daddy to do it.


* Carson moved into a big boy bed in July.  He transitioned from a crib straight to a full size bed! He did a great job though and didn't leave his bed without calling for Travis and I at the beginning.  I'd say about 1 month ago he started getting out of his bed occasionally if he wasn't ready for bed and has started getting out of his bed in the morning and coming to our room.  It's funny that he will open the door slowly and wait there until we tell him he can come in. 


Well, those are the updates that I can think of for now.  I will probably have to look through facebook to see some things I probably forgot to mention.   

Vertuccio Farms in Mesa, AZ

We went to Vertuccio Farms to visit their Pumpkin Patch.  Their pumpkin patch was basically a whole bunch of pumpkins placed in an area to be called the pumpkin patch.  It was still fun though and Carson really enjoyed himself.  Here is a slideshow I made of our trip.  Enjoy!

Customize your own free slideshow

Wow! Didn't realize how long it's been since I've posted something!

Goodness! It has been a long time since I posted something. This will be my first post for the year 2011. It seems that since Facebook has become an everyday thing, I do a lot of posting and pics on there.

Now that it is summer Carson and I have been busy with swimming lessons. He goes Monday - Thursday for 30 minute sessions. We are on our 1st week in our 2nd session (3rd week of swimming lessons). It's fun to see how he has progressed from last year when we went to swimming lessons. Carson can now go underwater holding his breath and he doesn't cry. Yay! He loves to monkey crawl on the side of the pool and enjoys jumping off the ledge into the pool. This week I am having him not only jump into the water to me but go underwater from the jump. He did it today and did pretty good. He still needs to practice climbing out of the pool. The saying to get out is elbow, elbow, tummy, knee, knee. He is getting better at ice cream scoops while kicking his legs. He doesn't like trying to float on his back. I learned a song to the tune of "I'm a little teapot" to help him with floating. We'll see how he does.

Other than swim lessons we haven't really done much. We've had two playdates and I've taken him to the mall to ride the carousel. He really enjoys that. We've also gone to my parents a couple of times and he always enjoys visiting family. Speaking of family, we're excited that Travis' family will be coming to visit us in November! It will be fun to see everyone again and have Carson play with his cousin.

Upcoming event for Carson is going to the movies this Friday. Travis and I are taking him to see Cars 2. We're excited to see his expression and see how he does. He loves the movie Cars so we think he should do fine for Cars 2.

Well I guess that is all for now. Hopefully it won't be that long before I post something again. 

Movin' and Grovin'

When we're at G-pa's and Lita's house, Carson loves to get this toy and press the button over and over and over...lol.  He kept dancing to it and clapping at the end.  He is so funny.