All Things Carson

Carson is one month old today! Say what?!? I can't believe he's already been with us a month! Time sure flies when you have to take care of a toddler on top of a newborn.

Here's the announcement I emailed to a few people a couple weeks ago. So for all of you who are now offended you didn't receive a personalized announcement email, here you go. And unoffend yourself.

Eli thought he needed to be a part of Carson's one month photo shoot this morning. Carson was a little...startled to have the extra company.

Do I dare tell you that Carson has been sleeping 5-6 hours each night for the last week? Yes. I know I'm spoiled. And yes. I'm fully appreciating the run of sleep he gives me when I'm up with him for the run of awake time he also has every night. We're usually up two and a half hours together for his midnight feeding. He seems to like his sleep time and awake time in big chunks.

I attribute his long stretch of sleep each night to why he wants to nurse roughly every two hours during the day. Whatever. I'll take it.

Carson went to church for the first time last Sunday. He appeared to enjoy his first Sunday and I enjoyed having him there. For some reason I just love holding babies at church. Maybe because they're a fun distraction? I think it's because I'm able to just hold him without having to worry about doing a million other things at the same time. So I enjoyed soaking up some snuggle time with him.

Carson's been doing little smiles here and there the last couple of days. Adorable.

He was practically giggling this morning in his crib (the wall is really funny I guess).

We love having Carson in our family! Eli already gets a kick out of absolutely everything Carson does. Carson made a little squeak yesterday and Eli couldn't stop talking about "silly brother" while laughing hysterically. I can't wait to see them interact even more once Carson gets a little more social.

Happy one-month birthday, Carson! And please feel free to keep up your nightly six-hour streak of sleep!

Mother's Day Payday

My dad believes in this thing called parenting paydays. It's the days when a parent's heart swells with pride in their child. The days that make the more difficult days worth it.

Today Eli gave me a payday as he eagerly followed me around the house mirroring my morning routine while narrating all the events, starting each sentence with, "Mama!..." It was like we were the best of buds which was a welcome feeling after he's been so attached to Jeff for the last few weeks.

I love being Eli's bud. He has taught me how to be a mom. He has taught me love, happiness, patience and selflessness like I've never known before him.

Carson gave me a payday by sleeping five hours in a row for the last three nights! Thanks for helping me get rid of the bags under my eyes just in time for Mother's Day pictures, Carson.

It's been special this Mother's Day to have such a new baby to reflect on. It amazes me as I stare at all the curves on his ears and all his perfectly formed fingers and toes to realize all of his little body parts managed to form just the way they should. Babies truly are miracles and our baby has been a great reminder of how special it is to be a mother.

Today as I ate the 500 calories worth of chocolate I was given at church, I couldn't help but be completely grateful to be the mother of my two sweet boys.

Brothers

When Eli isn't terrorizing Carson with "tickles" or stealing his binky, he's usually requesting to hold his younger brother. We always oblige because, well, they're adorable together.

Things have been pretty slow around here. We've been doing a lot of napping, playing, and adjusting to being a family of four.

Entertaining Eli

Eli has...to put it nicely...required a lot of attention since our bundle of joy got home. Every day has become a test of our creativity as we've tried to come up with activities to keep Eli entertained and happy. Our first source of entertainment was buzzing his head. Remind me never to do this to him again.

Then when I saw bubbles for $1 at Wal-Mart, I knew that would easily be worth the money.

We've been bringing blankets out into our backyard frequently. For my entertainment I try to pose the boys together.

Is it just me or is everything more precious in black and white?

When we ran out of ideas, Grandma and Grandpa Excell came to visit.

Eli drove around in Grandpa's truck, went to the zoo, went down slides and had the time of his life. We rewarded David and Mary by letting them hold their newest grandson.

Best toy award goes to the road blanket Kaelynn gave Eli for Christmas. This thing has been his favorite toy all week. He plays with it for hours at a time.

And he even tells me and Jeff to go away if we try to play it with him.

Carson had his two week check-up this week. Eli and Jeff went to a park and to the library while I took Carson to the doctor. I ended up having to wait an hour and a half just to get in so I felt bad Jeff and Eli were stranded without a car the whole time. After all that waiting we found out Carson's gained 9 ounces and he shrunk an inch. Jeff blames Carson's initial cone head for the discrepancy.

Today we inherited my parents' old trampoline which I'm really hoping will keep Eli busy all summer.

When all else fails, Eli still can't resist a good book...even if he has to share Jeff's lap now.

I'll be able to do all this entertaining by myself when Jeff goes back to work, right?

Big Boy Bed and Relapse

We are successfully on night two of this sleeping arrangement:

And would you believe me if I told you he fell asleep no problem, without getting out of bed or screaming both times so far?

He didn't love the idea of taking a nap in his big boy bed today. By that I mean he didn't have a nap  which is probably why he collapsed into his bed this evening without a fight. But hey, baby toddler steps.

As for the crib occupant, here he is pretending to be asleep -- his favorite trick at 2:00 in the morning.

The whole time he's eating he acts like he's completely exhausted and makes me believe he'll fall right back to sleep once he's full. After eating, he appears to be in mid REM cycle, so I assume it safe to lay him down. I go get a drink and go to the bathroom to stall before hopping back into bed to make sure he's really asleep. Only when I'm under the covers and starting to drift back to sleep, Carson starts to whimper. Blast.

So I go in and see him lying there with his eyes wide awake just wanting someone to play with him. And lucky for me, I'm that someone at 2:30-4:30 in the morning. The little rascal. Maybe his new crib will help him doze off a little faster? Here's to hoping.

Despite Eli's surprisingly smooth transition into his big boy bed, he has reverted back to baby mode in another aspect:

His absolute most favorite game is to steal Carson's binky, sprint to his favorite hiding spot, and then emerge like this:

We've had to invest in a few more binkies since Eli's become Mr. Stealth and we're having to run those suckers through the dishwasher like crazy. Aye yi yi.