Carter is 5!!!

Can you believe this kid is 5?!?!  Because I can't!!!!  My mind can't wrap around the fact that he'll be in Kindergarten in 7 short months.  Where did the time go??

Shoe Size

Carter is comfortably wearing a size 11 shoe now.  I think he went through a big growth spurt, foot wise, about a month ago because I bought him a pair of shoes that he's only worn probably 3 or 4 times before he outgrew them!! 

Clothes

He is wearing mostly 5T clothes.  A lot of his jeans are still 4T though.  Just depends on the brand.  We're about to transition in most clothing stores though.  He's still in the toddler section but within the year, my guess is we'll cross the aisle into the kids section where there's no longer "t" sizes.  I'm sure it will be super easy to buy matching clothes for the boys once that happens.  Sarcasm.

Eating

Favorite foods at this age definitely include hot dogs, yogurt, granola bars, gummy packs, and ham.  He still loves to eat out at Mexican restaurants and he also loves Chick-fil-a.  He eats pizza (this has been a struggle for him over the last year), but it's definitely not a favorite.  He requires me to cut it up for him to eat it though.  He won't eat a slice the way adults and big kids do.  He still refuses anything related to a hamburger or cheeseburger.  We even try to make it a little easier by making cheeseburger quesadillas (just a cheese quesadilla with some hamburger meat sprinkled in there).  You'd think I'd stolen his favorite teddy bear and put it in a shredder.  He cries his eyes out when we have that for dinner and a timeout is usually involved.  Other than the cheeseburger thing, there's not a ton of foods he completely refuses.  He'll usually at least try one bite of something before telling us he doesn't like it.  Carter is really good about cleaning his plate too.  Whatever food he is given, he knows he has to clean his plate and he does.  He is still on the slow side when it comes to eating.  He's a social butterfly so he tends to talk and talk and talk and before he realizes it, meal time is over and he isn't finished.  He'll get a little upset because he knows he needs to finish but doesn't understand that in order to finish, he's gotta quit yapping!!

Sleep

Naps at this age are hit or miss.  I would say he takes, on average, about 2 to 3 naps a week.  When he does nap, it lasts anywhere from 1-1.5 hours.  He rarely takes a nap that's more than 2 hours.  On the days he doesn't nap, he knows that he has to go to bed early.  Even when he doesn't actually fall asleep during naptime, he always goes into his room for at least an hour and a half of quiet time.  He may just toss and turn and talk to his animals, but he is required to stay in his room with the light off.  Bedtime on days that we have a nap is 7:30-7:45.  No nap days-bedtime is at 7pm.  All of this is of course assuming we don't have anything we're attending.  If there's a church event or something special we're going to, bedtimes tend to be later. 

Preschool

Carter switched preschools this year.  He was attending our church preschool last year and he really loved it!  But we wanted something closer to our home.  So this year, he started school at Hunter Street in Hoover.  I was so nervous for him on his first day.  Not knowing any students or any teachers is tough.  At our church, he knew everyone, even the teachers that weren't his, because we were members there.  The building was familiar, the hallways were familiar, and he knew where everything was.  At Hunter Street, it was all so new to him.  But he had absolutely zero adjustment issues.  He loves all his friends in his class.  He's never been on yellow or red (teachers there put kids on green, yellow, or red depending on their behavior that day) and his teacher loves him and says he's a joy.  At Hunter Street, they learn two bible verses a month.  We were already doing one per week in our house, so we just decided to do the two per month that Hunter Street was doing.  It made it easier for Carter!  He's up to 20 bible verses that he's memorized!!  I'm so proud of him.  I asked him the other day which one was his favorite and he said Philippians 1:21 which says "To live is Christ, to die is gain".  That's a pretty good one to be a favorite!!

Statistics

At his five year appointment, his blood pressure was 98/62 and his heart rate was 99.  He was 38lbs (35th percentile) and 41.5 inches tall (25th percentile).   He's on the small side for sure, but he's healthy and growing just as he should.  Doc guesses he'll be at full height at about 5'8 or 5'9. 

Other Abilities/Random Things to Note

• He is reading like crazy!!!  I haven't even taught him certain words and yet he knows how to pronounce them.  I can't wait to get his reading level tested in Kindergarten.  It will be interesting to see where he is on the reading scale.  He's also starting to pick up on math.  He told me this morning, for instance, that 6 plus 6 was 12 and that if he had 4 hands, then he'd have 20 fingers.  So he's starting to pick up on that kind of stuff too.
• Still loves cars to the moon and back.  He can tell you every single hot wheel he's got.  Buying him Hot Wheels at Walmart or Toys R' Us is a challenge because he already has most of them.  But he doesn't care.  When he gets a new hot wheel car it's like Christmas morning to him.
• LOVES Christmas.  Just like his momma.  When we got out the Christmas tree ornaments he FLIPPED. OUT.  He got so excited seeing them all, especially the ones he made in school or church in previous years.  He loves the ones with pictures of him or his brother on them.  And he really enjoyed helping me hang them.  He'd pick on out to hang and give it to me and then he'd tell me where on the tree to put it. He loves Christmas lights and frequently makes us drive around the neighborhood just looking at lights.
• He still doesn't really watch tv much.  That's a good thing, I know.  He's just not too interested.  I'm trying to get him to be interested in movies.  He's only seen one movie in a theater (minions in 3d).  Justin and I are planning to take him to see Secret Life of Pets in the dollar theater this weekend.  We'll see if he makes it the whole way through.  He made it about 45 minutes of Minions in 3D but I really think he didn't like that one because he didn't like wearing the glasses.  He kept complaining about them.  I also think he'll like the topic of this movie better because he LOVES animals. 
• Carter loves to pick out his own clothes.  Most of the time they match, but every now and again, I have to go change the shirt he picks out. 
• He played a sport for the first time this year!!!  He was on the Hunter Street Upwards Soccer team league.  It took some time for him to figure out the game.  I think he loved all the running back and forth, but he wasn't competitive at all.  He didn't like trying to steal the ball from the other team because he said that was "mean".  I don't see sports in Carter's future at this point, but we'll see what the future holds.  I'm not saying he won't be good at them.  He'll be good at whatever he puts his mind to.  I just don't think his personality is that of a sports guy.  He opted out of basketball but has said he wants to do baseball so we'll sign him up for the same Upwards league in the spring to do baseball.  He is enrolled in a class at school that meets once a week called "Playball".  They go in the gym when school is over for about 45 minutes and they work on all sports related skills (dribbling, throwing, rolling, running bases, Frisbee, etc).  He loves that class!  He got his evaluation back this week and he was in the green for all skills, meaning that he wasn't struggling to pick up on any of the skills.  I'll be interested to see if he likes baseball.  I hope he does.  Part of me kind of always wanted to be a baseball momma.  We'll see!
• He remembers EVERYING.  And I mean…EVERYTHING.  We can’t promise him something and not follow through because he will totally call us out on it.  He also repeats absolutely everything he hears so if you come around my child and curse, be prepared to see the bad side of this momma!!  **I actually wrote this bullet point in his 3 year post but left it in his 4 year post and I’m leaving it here because it is STILL true**
• Sadly we don't play outside much right now because it's so cold.  I'm hoping we may have a couple of warm days over Christmas break where we can go on walks outside.  Both boys love to walk around the circle we live on.  It's almost a mile long circle so I'm shocked they like doing it.  They just both love being outside. 
• He has seven trillion stuffed animals on his bed.  It's ridiculous!!! 
• And yes, he still loves and adores all things related to Buicks!

I love this kid to the moon and back y'all.  There are days where he makes me want to pull my hair out, but I just can't fathom my life without this precious blessing.  He made me a momma and for that, I will forever be indebted to him.  Happy Birthday Carterman!

Garrett Turns 2

Diapers
He's still in size 5's and I don't forsee ever outgrowing these prior to potty training.  Potty training isn't even on the horizon though.  I'm shooting for summer when school is out and I can focus on his training.

Shoe Size

He still wears his size 7 shoes we got him a while back.  I have bought him two new pairs of shoes and made them both 8s, but those are more like church shoes.  He seems to fit just fine in the 7s so I'll wait till closer to Christmas and have him resized then.

Clothes

I'm beginning to put up all the 18 month clothes and get out the 2t stuff.  There's a handful of 18 month clothes he can still wear so I have those in his closet.  The weather is killing me though because he's about outgrown several pairs of shorts but I don't want to buy more shorts when it's about to be time for pants!  All the 2t clothes I have are pants because Carter wore those in the winter.  I need cooler weather to hurry up!!

Sleep



The kid still loves his sleep.  He still takes one nap a day from about 1:30-4:30 or 5.  Yes, his nap is sometimes 3.5 hours.  He goes to bed at 7:30 every night but he doesn't always fall asleep at 7:30.  He loves to play with the music mobile attached to his crib and it keeps him from going to bed.  But he's always asleep by 8-8:30 at the latest.  Usually those nights he doesn't fall asleep until 8:30 is the days he naps till 5.  Poor thing just isn't tired yet!  He wakes up everyday around 7-7:30.  What is interesting about Garrett is that he LOVES to be rocked.  Carter wasn't a fan of rocking and Garrett wasn't a fan of it until he was over a year old.  But it is certainly a requirement now.  You read him his books and then he says "rock" and points to the chair in the room.  So we rock him for a few minutes before going to bed.  He also loves when you sing to him.  And not just any song...he has a favorite.  And it's Row Row Row Your Boat.  We have to sing that dang song like 12 times before he lets you sing something else.  He even does thing where if you attempt to sing something else, he'll interrupt your song and say "row row row row row row...." until you stop singing that song and start singing his song.  It's hilarious. 

 

 

Feeding

Interestingly enough, his 21 month post talked about how much he loves pizza.  Well he basically refused pizza for months.  Just yesterday he ate a few pieces for the first time in forever so hopefully he's opened his taste buds back up.  We went through a phase that I kinda think we're still coming out of.  He got to where he refused certain foods or would eat 2 or 3 bites then say he's done.  I got to the point where I did the whole "eat what you have because you're not getting anything else and if you don't finish what you're given, you'll eat the leftovers tomorrow".  Mama don't play y'all.  I'm tired of wasting food.  It didn't take long for him to figure it out so he seems to be back on eating all of his food.

 

 Mother's Day Out

 

Garrett loves his new school!  His first day led to tears for about 10 seconds and then he was done.  His teachers love him and always talk about how easy he is.  He goes 2 days a week this year and he's in the older toddler room.  Next year he'll be in the 2 year old room and I'm hoping for him to go 3 or 4 days next year.  The days he goes to school he goes from 9am-1pm.  Next year will be tough because big brother will be in elementary school and getting out at 2:45.  That hardly leaves enough time for baby brother to have a nap before we pick up big brother.  We'll see how the naps are once that happens.  While at school, Garrett has reading time, music time, play on the playground, play in a playroom and all kinds of other stuff.  He's pretty entertained!

 

 

Abilities

He is beginning to talk A LOT!  He still doesn't talk in full coherent sentences, but he's beginning to string together 3-4 word sentences.  Like "mama car right there" or "daddy cup" or "bye bye dog" or "over here".  We're still working on colors.  The only colors I've ever heard him say is "purpa" (purple), "boo" (blue) and "geeeen" (green).  For some reason he just doesn't repeat after me when I try to teach colors.  He does count after me, but only number 3.  So I'll say "one" and he'll say "two", then I say "two" and he says "teeee", but we haven't gotten further than that.  We have some sight word DVDs that go over colors, letters, shapes and numbers so I try to get him to watch those while we're in the car driving, but sometimes it's boring for big bro so we have to switch up what we watch.  He knows all his body parts though which is great.  He doesn't repeat after me when I say them, but he points to them when I say them.

He loves taking walks around the neighborhood, riding his toy cars outside and even inside too.  He has a toy Mercedes that's inside and Carter has a tricycle and they chase each other in circles around the house.  It gets annoying at times, but they love it and you can tell by their facial expressions.  He still plays with cars during his free time. He and Carter both just lay in the floor with a hot wheel in each hand and drive them on the floor.  He could do this all day.  He still loves bath time.  It's probably his favorite time.  Sadly, the busyness of our lives cause him to only have a few baths a week.  We have a pretty set schedule right now too.  He goes to school Monday, goes to the YMCA with me Tuesday while big brother is at school, then we all go to church Tuesday night while I do a running ministry.  Wednesday he goes to school again and Wednesday night we all go to church again for Bible study.  Thursday we go to the YMCA again and then Friday we usually hang out at home or run errands with him and big brother (neither are in school on Friday).  So you can see that there's not a lot of free time for baths in there!  Don't worry, he's not the stinky kid.  He gets bathed plenty!

**Yeah this happened once.  Luckily he hasn't tried to crawl out of the crib again since then.  Carter did this one time and then fell out and he was too scared to ever try to crawl out again.  Garrett just gave up once he got to this point.  He could life himself up a little bit, but he hasn't exceled at climbing yet so I think we're safe for a little bit.  But my guess is that a toddler crib isn't too far off!**

Statistics

His appointment was November 8th and y'all...have mercy.  He was TERRIFIED.  You know it's bad when at the end of the appointment it's time for shots so the nurse comes in with a friend to help "hold the baby down".  Ugh.  So embarrassing.  Carter never had issues at his doctor appointments.  He didn't like shots, don't get me wrong.  But he didn't cry the ENTIRE. APPOINTMENT.   Garrett did.  The entire appointment.  He even hid behind the trashcan when the doctor came in.  Ugh.  Luckily we don't have to do that for another year so maybe he won't be so skeptical of strangers then.  But as of 2 years old, he's in about the 15th percentile for height, 60th percentile for weight and I honestly can't remember the head circumference percentile.  He weighed 28lbs, 12oz and was 33 inches long.  Now technically, he may be taller than that....there was a TON of squirming on that table.  Regardless, Garrett's always been short.  Shorter than even Carter was at his age.  Garrett is done with his vaccinations so he only got one shot, the flu shot.  As soon as he walked out the door of the room we were in, he stopped crying.  He smiled and said bye to everyone as he left.  I was like "Really kid??  You just threw the world's biggest fit and now you're completely fine?!?!".

 

 

**This is what these two kids do all day.  They lay on the floor and play with cars together.  Seriously.**

Teething

 

Still has all but those 2nd year molars.  Maybe they will come soon.  Still have no plans to take him to the dentist until he's at least 3.

 

 

Isn't he the cutest thing ever!?!?!  Well that's about it!  Next post on G-Money will be his 2 1/2 year post!  You'll notice I'm struggling to get these done on time.  Garrett turned 2 on October 27th and I'm just now posting this on December 16th.  In my defense, I'd written out everything in October/November, but just didn't add the pictures.  Obviously it's not close to Carter's birthday (December 28) so I'm working on his 5 year post as I do Garrett's 2 year post so Carter's 5 year post will be next up!  Maybe one day I'll get caught up!!

Garrett - 21 Months

My sweet chunk turned 21 months old on July 27, 2016.  From birth to 12 months old I posted on Garrett monthly, 12 months to 2 years I plan to post quarterly and then starting at 2 years old I'll do it twice a year.  That's how I did it with Carter so that's the plan for G-Money too.  Here's what he's into now:

 

Diapers

We moved up to size 5's.  Technically he can still fit into 4's, but I had so many size 5's around the house that I didn't want to spend money on 4's so he just started wearing 5's.  I think Carter got potty trained at a size 5.  Maybe Garrett will be the same, but we'll see.  Potty training isn't even on the horizon though.

Shoe Size

At 18 months old I had Garrett's foot measured and he was a 5 1/2 Wide.  I had tons of those size shoes that Carter passed down.  But in the last couple of weeks, I started noticing it being harder to put his shoes on.  So right before he turned 21 months old, I went to have him measured again.  Turns out, sweet boy is actually a 7 Wide.  Those poor feet of his.  We got him a brand new pair of shoes and then I went home and dug around to find all of Carter's old size 7s.  Luckily we have tons!

Clothes

He's still wearing 18 month clothes for the most part.  Some of his stuff is 24 months that was handed down from Carter and has been washed and dried a lot.  I'd say he's somewhere between 18 months and 2T though.  We'll probably whip open the 2T box of clothes within the next couple months.

 

Sleep



One nap during the day usually starting at 1pm.  This kid....y'all.  He loves to SLEEP.  His naps are anywhere from 2-3 hours long, sometimes lasting as long as 3.5 hours long.  He goes to bed for the night at 7:30-8pm and will usually sleep until about 8am the next morning.  He's pretty easy!

 

Feeding

Still loves pretty much all foods.  Really really LOVES pizza.  So unlike big bro.  He loves sandwiches and all things bread.  Again, so unlike big bro.  Feeding these kids the same meal sometimes is tough!!  Right now Garrett isn't loving corn.  Sadly I haven't given it to him very consistently so I need to do better at that.  His veggies usually include green beans, peas, corn and sometimes carrots, broccoli or sweet potatoes via a pouch.  We don't eat a lot of carrots or sweet potatoes in our house so I make sure his pouches he eats as a side are one of those. 

Also unlike big bro, he's not big into fruits.  He loves strawberries, peaches and a variety of fruit flavored yogurts.  But he won't eat blueberries or grapes like big bro will.  He loves applesauce, but we haven't tried an actual apple slice yet.  I don't think his teeth are ready for that.  He is very good at eating with a fork now.  We haven't really practiced with the spoon yet.  I'm a tad terrified to try!  He has shown huge interest in eating at the table like the rest of us instead of in his high chair, so just this week, Justin took the tray off his high chair and adjusted the height so that he can be rolled up to the table at the same level with the rest of us.  He loves it.

 

 

 

Mother's Day Out

We haven't started school just yet.  His first day is August 22nd.  We changed schools to a school at a church significantly closer to our house so neither of the boys really knows anyone that will be in their classes nor do they know their teachers.  I hope and pray this isn't going to be an issue.  They have become super comfortable with all things associated with our church so this is definitely a change for them.  But I'm confident they will do fine.  

 

Abilities

Flags.  Garrett's activities include the American flag.  Numerous flags in fact.  Justin just did a bathroom renovation for us and each time he went to Home Depot with Garrett, he had to buy one of those 99 cent flags that they had at checkout.  Garrett points them out everywhere he goes.  Flags to Garrett is like Buicks for Carter.  He also loves jumping on mom and dad's bed.  Which is frustrating.  I remember that about this exact age, Carter went through a head-banging phase.  Well G-Money is there now too.  Every time you say "ouchie" he bangs his head on something.  So weird.
 

 

He loves to be outside but that has been tough lately because of how hot it is outside!!  He is loving the splash pad at the Birmingham Zoo.  He also really LOVES going to the YMCA into the child care room.  He adores playing in there and the women in there say he always has so much fun.  He's obsessed with cars just like Carter is. They frequently fight over cars even though we literally have every single Hot Wheel ever made in our living room.

He's starting to talk a lot more and we can understand a lot more words.  He's not talking in full sentences yet.  In fact, I think he's only said two words together such as "big car" or "red car" a handful of times.  I'm not worried by this though.  It's pretty typical for this age.  I just try not to get bogged down comparing him to Carter because Carter was very vocal at a very young age.  Doc says that Garrett may just not be a talkative child like Carter is.  Fine by me ;)

Still working on body parts and he knows a ton.  His favorite by far is belly button.  He loves lifting his shirt and showing you his belly button and sometimes, if he knows you well enough, he'll lift your shirt and look at your belly button too!  He also knows head, eyes, ears, mouth, nose, arms, legs, and feet.  So pretty much all the big ones.  Once every blue moon he'll mix up arms and legs for some reason, but most of the time he gets it right.

He is amazing at walking on his own and staying next to me.  Anytime I take both boys somewhere, Garrett knows that as soon as his feet hit the pavement in a parking lot, he has to hold me and Carter's hands.  We get a lot of comments going into places of people saying how cute they are holding hands.  I think so too.  But honestly I'm just trying to keep everyone together and not get hit by a car!

Statistics

Sadly I don't know these.  I have a scale, but just haven't weighed him.  I can't get the kid to stand still long enough to measure him.  He has a growth scale on his wall and the last mark he had was at 20 months so we do a mark on his chart about every 2-3 months.  If I had to guess though, I'd say he's roughly 50% for weight and maybe 40% or so for height.   

 

 

Teething

 

Garrett has all of his teeth except his second year molars.  Every time he chews on stuff a lot and gets cranky, I think he's getting them in, but then they never come.  So I have no clue when they will come in!  I don't plan to take him to the dentist until he's 3.  I know some dentists want you to bring them in once they get their first tooth but I am so not doing that.  Plenty of dentists want you to wait until they're 3 so that they don't get traumatized by the dentist and always have a bad memory of that building and of him/her.  I agree whole heartedly.  We brush Garrett's teeth twice a day and once those molars come in, we'll begin flossing too.  I'd rather wait to take him to a dentist until he's old enough to comprehend instructions and obey them.  Any earlier than that and it will be a disaster!

 

That's about it!  Next post on G-Money will be his TWO YEAR post.  I can't even comprehend that!!!!

Garrett - 18 Months Old

A year and a half old.  I can't believe it.  But I think I have said that about both my boys each time they hit a new age.  Garrett turned 18 months old on April 27, 2016.  

Here's all the things going on with G-Money at 18 months:

Diapers

 He's in size 4 and I don't forsee him going to a 5 anytime soon, but we'll have to see I guess.

Shoe Size

 I took Carter to Sikes in Homewood for the first time and they were kind enough to also measure Garrett since I hadn't officially measured him yet.  He's a 5 1/2 Wide, just like big bro was at this age.  Carter is also still rockin' the wide foot.  Hopefully we'll grow out of that by elementary school.

**Garrett LOVES to stack things and he's really good at it.  He's been stacking blocks from a young age.  He loves to knock stuff over after he stacks it up.**

Clothes

Garrett is solely in 18 month clothes right now.  I doubt we're going to be buying this kid any clothes any time soon!  Evidently mommy bought Carter a gigantic amount of clothes at 18 months so Garrett probably has more 18 month clothes than I have in my entire closet.

**This was Valentine's Day.  Aren't the adorable?!?!?  I mean, they look NOTHING alike, but they sure are cute!!**

Sleep

 



I discussed in his 15 month post how he was still taking two naps a day and really needed them.  He stayed on 2 naps a day until about 16 1/2 months and then we forced him down to one to make life easier with both boys taking one nap at the exact same time.  He transitioned pretty well.  He still goes to bed around 7-7:30pm at night and wakes up anywhere from 7-8am.  Every now and again he'll wake up at 6:30 but is able to entertain himself with the stuffed animals in his crib or the mobile that makes music.

 

**He seriously sleeps in the weirdest positions sometimes**

Feeding

The perfect eating baby.  Period.  He eats everything!  And he's gotten really good at using a fork too.  Sometimes I have to put the food on the fork and then give him the fork and then he'll put it into his mouth.  Depending on the food, he can sometimes put the food on the fork himself.  In his 15 month post I mentioned he was developing some preferences but he's moved past those.  He used to only eat blueberries and bananas as fruits but now he loves strawberries and peaches.  I haven't tried grapes yet.  I'm sure he'd love them, but grapes make me nervous.  He's gotten back on the veggie bandwagon and eats his peas and corn and green beans.  Those three are usually the main ones we eat in our house.  I need to do better about making both boys eat carrots.  Carter likes carrots so I need to go buy some and make sure they are getting that veggie as well.

**These pictures are from Easter.  How handsome are my kids?!?!**

Unlike his big bro, he loves bread.  Things he typically eats are peanut butter sandwiches, cheese quesadillas, grilled cheese, turkey meat, string cheese, yogurt, lots of those Gerber Graduate meals, Spaghetti O's, applesauce, various pouches, corn, green beans, ham, fish sticks, chicken nuggets, etc.  I could probably go on with this list for a while.  He really is a good eater!  A big difference between him and Carter when it comes to eating is textures.  Carter is a meat and three kind of guy.  He likes three separate pieces of food.  For example, ham and green beans and blueberries.  He refuses things mixed together like pasta or casseroles.  Garrett loves that kind of stuff.

**Garrett is just like brother and always wants a placemat, even though he's allowed to have food directly on his highchair table-unlike brother who must use a plate on top of the placemat.  But regardless, Garrett always wants to be like brother and have a placemat.  In the picture above, Garrett is saying his blessing.  He knows it's what we do before we eat therefore he's associated the placemat with the blessing.  He can't actually say the words yet, but he puts his hands together and kind of jabbers as if he were trying to say it.  A for effort!!**

 

Mother's Day Out

 

Garrett loves school and his teachers love him.  I always ask how he was when I pick him up and they all say the same thing "that baby always has a good day-he's always so happy!".  Garrett loves food so much that he is frequently the "vacuum" after the kids in his class eat. When everyone's done with their meals, Garrett gets the leftovers.  You'd think I don't feed him enough but I swear I do!  We only have 2 weeks of school left and then we're all done for this year.  But luckily, both boys are attending Saint Mark's Summer Fun program so they'll have two weeks at home with me but then they'll go back to school four days a week for three weeks.  Two weeks at home and this mama will be ready for them to go back and so will they.  They love playing with friends and toys they don't have at home so both boys really do love school. 

 

 

 Waketime/Abilities
Still doing the same things we always do.   Playing in the backyard outside if it's pretty.  He loves to get in his little blue car or Carter's "4 by X" as he calls it (it's a toy 4x4).  Garrett likes to ride in both of these toys around the culdesac next to our house.  Lately I've been putting them both in the radio flyer wagon and walking them around the circle in our neighborhood.  Garrett loves to be outside just like his brother does.  He still loves to be read to as well.  He enjoys sitting in your lap and listening to you read books to him.  He loves cars.  Possibly because of how much Carter loves cars and how many cars are all over our house.  He and Carter love playing with cars together.  Just like Carter when he was this age, Garrett doesn't do a lot of TV watching unless he's strapped in the car seat.  He doesn't like standing still long enough to watch much.  He really likes the Barney song as well as the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse hot dog song.  You're likely to catch him dancing to either of these.

**This is one of his favorite toy cars and it's really one that Carter got for his birthday.  When you press the button it plays music and Garrett dances to it.**

Garrett still doesn't really talk a ton.  I was concerned about this because at this age Carter was basically talking small sentences.  At his 18 month appointment I talked about it with the doc and he said he's not at all worried and that Garrett is right on track.  It's just hard for me to see that because my only comparison is Carter and Carter is really advanced for his age now just like he was at 18 months old.  Garrett's definitely the observer whereas Carter is the talker.  Carter just yap yap yap yap yap's away.  He could talk to a brick wall.  Garrett just prefers to sit back and listen and observe.  I'll probably be appreciative of this later.  Garrett can say about 15 or so words and he tries to say more all the time so he is working on it.  He's just not a talker like Carter is. 

We are working on body parts and Garrett has shown us his head, tummy and ear before.  But he just doesn't do it every time you ask.  He hates performing.  Justin and I can tell he understands pretty much everything he sees and hears, he's just choosing to not show us that he understands it right that minute.  When you say that it's time for dinner or lunch, Garrett will walk right to the highchair.  When you say bath, he goes right to the bathroom and when you say bedtime he heads to the stairs.  So he knows exactly what is being said.  The doc told me about how speech pathologists look for two things: 1) receptive and 2) expressive.  They're more concerned with receptive than they are with expressive.  And Garrett is extremely receptive and knows exactly what you're saying to him and what it means.  He is just not an expressive kind of guy.  Doc said this may just be his personality.

Statistics

 

At his 18 month appointment, Garrett was measured at 31 inches (10%) and weighed 24lbs, 9oz (55%).  He got one shot and after that one shot, Garrett is done with shots until he's 4.  Minus the annual flu shot, that is.  Carter demanded to go with us to this appointment because he wanted to be there for his brother when he got shots.  And he was.  He told him "it's ok Garrett, we're about to go home!  You're almost done!"  So sweet.

 **This was at the McWane Center in the Itty Bitty City section.  My boys love cars so much!!**

 

Teething

 

I have lost track, to be honest.  Garrett has gotten all of his teeth except his two year molars.  I know he had about 7 coming in while we were in Disney but all those came in and then a month or so later, he got four more.  So when I look at his mouth now, it's full of teeth.  One of the ones on the bottom left is already cut but still making it's way in now.  Garrett's never been one to show pain during teething though.  Thank the Lord!!!

 

 

 

Garrett's next appointment is at 2 years old!  He's growing fast and time is flying by so much quicker with him than it did with Carter.  Probably because I'm so busy with two whereas Carter got all the attention when it was just him.  As much as the boys love to play together, they do fight over things and this is a new development within the last month or so.  Carter pretty much understands sharing and the concept of "he has a turn then you get a turn", but Garrett does NOT understand that so that's the struggle we deal with now.  I have to constantly make sure I'm not taking advantage of Carter and making him surrender his turns to his brother because then he will grow to not like playing with him and always having to make concessions for him because "he's the baby".  So I'm doing my best to teach Garrett these things and force them to both follow the same set of rules.  Hopefully Garrett will begin to understand it more as he gets older. 

 

That's all I got for now with my sweet youngest boy.  Life is an adventure with them both but I love it!!

Best of 2011 In Pictures

So I am completely aware of the fact that I am doing a "Best of 2011" post in the year 2016.  I happened to run across my "Best of 2012 In Pictures" post and once I did, I realized that I only did two years of these posts (2012 and 2009).  So I'm going to spend the next couple of days trying to fill in the years so that I can have them all.  So for now, here's the best of 2011:

Nothing major happened in January (or I didn't take pictures of it if it did).  So first big thing was in February when we found out that my sister-in-law was pregnant!!!

We were THRILLED!!!!!  This is her and her mom in the photo.  A few days after this announcement they went to their first ultrasound and found out it was TWINS!

Nothing big in March either, but in April we found out that Jen was having twin GIRLS!!!  Lots of pink on its way!

Around the time we found out Jen was having twin girls, Justin and I found out we were expecting our own bundle of joy!!

We had already planned a trip for May to go to Rome and London, so we enjoyed that trip (even though I was exhausted all the time and quite hormonal).

Roman Colosseum

Stonehenge

Later in the month we had that first ultrasound where we got to hear the heartbeat and see that sweet baby for the first time.  His heartrate was 185!!!  Everyone said he was a girl, but I had been guessing boy from day 1 (my gender prediction for his brother was definitely NOT correct).

In June, me and one of my best friends Carina went to NYC for a long weekend.  We both LOVE New York.  We didn't get a picture together for some reason (oh I know why...it was 2011 and selfies weren't a thing then) so this is really the only picture of me that I have.  I was 12 weeks pregnant at the time.  I don't look big at all whatsoever, but at the time (never having been pregnant before), I felt massive.  If only I knew at the time what week 39 was going to look like!!

July held all things BOY.  First, my sweet nephew Cooper was born in Tampa, FL. 

And then about two weeks later, Justin and I cut into a cake in front of our closest friends and family and found out our bundle would also be a boy!  This was also the same moment that we told Justin's dad, Gordon, that the baby would hold his name as a middle name.  We didn't know his first name until a few days after this, but at that moment, we knew his middle name would be Gordon.

In August, the sweet little Gault twins made their way into our lives!

Those girls gave me some good practice before Carter made his way into the world. 

Nothing major happened in September, but in October, all the Rogers girls got together and went to a pumpkin patch over on Hwy 280.

Also in October, I ran/walked the Race for the Cure 5k with my friend Tiffany.  Tiffany had actually JUST found out she was pregnant with Harper that weekend but she hadn't told me about it yet.

Another big thing in October was my maternity pictures that my sister, Lindsey, took over in Ross Bridge.

 

In November, we celebrated Thanksgiving.

I want to say I was 35 weeks pregnant in this picture.  It was right after Thanksgiving (I always put up my Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving).

December as a very busy month obviously.  This is one of my favorite pictures of Cooper.  He was giving Carter a hug and telling him to hurry up and come on out!!!

My belly is gigantic y'all.  GIGANTIC.  But none of it mattered because a couple of days later, we went in to force Carter out of my belly (one day past my due date).  The delivery was extremely difficult and there was few complications, but he and I were completely fine and he was PERFECT.

So that was 2011!!!  It was busier than it seemed...it's just that, we didn't take a ton of pictures back then.  I feel like I take a ton more pics now than I used to then and not because I have kids, but because I think technology with camera phones has gotten better and more convenient for spur of the moment picture taking.  Up next will be 2010.  That one will be tougher because my folders for that year aren't organized by month so I'll have to figure out what picture is from what month, which could take a while!