Looking a Little Older

Carly has really started to look like a big girl to us. A lot of it probably has to do with her 4 teeth showing when she smiles and eats, or the two more teeth she is about to cut. But I think her growing hair (which we have not had to cut yet) and actions are helping too. I was able to get her hair into a ponytail today while she read to Mr. and Mrs. Farmer.

Recap

So our little family has been busy over the past week. Rather than trying to post all the different events separately I thought I would just do a brief recap of the past 7 days.

Wednesday -
Carly had story time for the first time this summer, YAY for it coming back. My mom and brother then came for a short 26 hour visit. This allowed me to run a few errands without Carly and attend a meeting at church about VBS.

Thursday -
It rained, so Carly's trip to Zootastic was cancelled. BOO!!
David flew home. YAY!!

Friday -
David and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary with dinner out, it was delish! Carly had her first paid babysitter and got a great report. Unfortunately, David was not able to relax the entire evening. He started working shortly after we got home and continued to work until 7:30 the next morning (except for a short trip out to the store for caffeine).

Saturday -
Was quite unproductive - minus a trip to church, the post office, and the grocery store. We also made a yummy chicken and vegetable dish on the grill thanks to David's Father's Day gift.

Sunday -
Carly and I went off to Sunday School and Church while David took his first accounting quiz. We then walked to a yummy lunch at McAlisters. As I was putting Carly down for her nap she was yawning and rubbing her eyes while also calmly telling me "no." She then began singing and continued singing for almost 2 hours. We decided to end nap time and headed out on the water. Carly floated around and really enjoyed climbing up various boat ladders, exploring the boats, and jumping off the back of the boats. We then went out for pizza at a fun local place. Carly was very well behaved during our dinner. She sat in a booster chair, colored on a newspaper, ate garlic knots, and dipped them in marinara sauce (a first) while we waited on dinner.

Monday -
Carly had a parkdate. I absolutely LOVED the playground we went to, the only thing that would have made it better would be if it was shaded after 9:30am. There were two pieces of equipment, a larger one that any elementary aged kid would LOVE and a smaller one that toddlers and preschoolers can't get enough of. There are also swings and a lot of athletic fields, etc. Best of all it is less than a mile from our home!

Tuesday (Today) -
Carly and I started our morning at the swimming pool. She jumped from the edge of the pool while holding my hands, "swam" to the ladder, independently climbed up the ladder, jumped without holding my hands from the second entry step, scooted around the baby pool, played basketball with my help. We then came home to play before lunch and a nice almost 2 hour long nap.
Following her nap we heading over to DPK for a nice 2 hour playdate!! We then met David at home (who had come home early to play, OOPS) and headed out for dinner at our favorite little local spot - Big Bite'z. During dinner Carly was a BIG girl. She sat in her booster seat, ate her grilled cheese, drank her milk, and wiped her mouth. She then helped throw her trash away and walked around very proudly. Once we got home she and David would make a quiet plan to come "get me." She would put her finger over her mouth (to say shhh!) then start running over to me before they would both roar/growl at me and die laughing!!

And that's what we've been up to over the last 7 days.

Adding Our Mark

Our family decided to contribute to Discovery Place Kids - Huntersville with the donation of a tile. This evening the tiles were revealed in a special after hours play time. Unfortunately, we were not able to stay for the whole two hours due to dinner, bed, and bath time. I was able to get a photo of Carly with her tile before she ran off to play.

Awareness

A few days ago we blogged about Carly's first success on a potty. She has continued to sit on the potty at random times of the day and before each evening bath. A few nights ago she requested that I move her toddler potty seat from her toddler potty and place it on the "big" potty. (Thankfully I bought the one that would allow for this --> I'd like to say I planned for it, but our potty purchase was driven by price and simplicity.) So she began going between siting on the big potty and the toddler potty, depending on her mood.

Tonight David placed Carly on her seat (which was on the big potty) and turned to his right side to begin filling up the tub. Then all of a sudden he began to hear applauding and realized Carly was applauding her success while using the potty. While she is still a very long way from being potty trained, she is at least aware of the fact that using the potty deserves an applause!

Miss Independent

Carly has her moments when she wants to be 100% independent. This personality comes out when she wants or needs to get in her highchair. Just over a week ago she attempted and successfully climbed into her highchair and buckled herself in it. Ever since then she has been determined to complete this task with no assistance. (Thankfully, she will agree to a spotter - she must know that it is a non-negociable.)

Over the past week or so Carly has also become comfortable with straying further and further away from me. She has begun to go outside on our back porch and play with her sand and water table, while I am inside sweeping or just trying not to melt from the warm temperatures. During these times she comes to our door regularly to make sure she knows exactly where I am inside the house. She will also play her own version of the game "Marco Polo." She screams out "MAA" and I am to answer "CARLY." As long as she can hear me, she thinks everything is wonderful.

**Please note - I am always within 5 yards of where she is playing and have my eyes on her the entire time. Typically Jake is in the backyard with her too, and she has never tried to leave our deck. And quite honestly, she is A LOT more creative when she thinks I'm not watching and/or listening!!

Did You Know..

Did you know that a toddler sock can some how go through the tiny holes in the washing machine drum or under the agitator and be pulled into the pump as the washing machine is draining out the dirty water. Well we did not know this until today.

On Friday evening I washed Carly's load of laundry, then proceeded to wash her high chair cover. Unfortunately, this second load never finished. Instead everything in the process occurred, minus the final rinse and spin cycle. Oops! I messed with it on Friday night with no luck. David tried on Saturday morning with no luck. So I began calling around. One place was closed and another was taking quite a while to call back. So, I decided to put this mission on hold until Monday morning. I had found a way to get David's clothes washed before his trip (thanks to fabulous friends), and we were not interested in paying the Saturday rates. So this morning I began calling again. The first place said it would be Wednesday before anyone could get here. This idea did not sit well with me. I had a washing machine filled about a third of the way with water, a husband who would be out of town for the week, and a daughter who LOVES to make a mess. I needed to have my machine back as soon as possible, because heaven forbid a part needed to be ordered and it would be another day or two before the part would come in and someone could come back out to really fix the machine.

Thankfully, my second called turned out successful and someone could be out here during lunch time. Well two trips later and a few dollars later a sock was found inside the pump, and we were back up and running by dinner time!

So today's lesson of the day --> put toddler socks in a washing machine bag to prevent them from disappearing! The dryer may not eat socks, but the washing machine sure does!!

What a Weekend!!

Our little family had an another amazing weekend. Saturday morning started with a short run for me while David and Carly slept. Once the two sleeping beauties awoke we had a yummy egg and bacon breakfast (thanks to David) and headed out in search of a bike seat and helmet for Carly. We were successfully and best of all --> David was successful at installing the seat. Carly and I had an amazing first ride together; however, David was forced to stay home due to his bike needing some repair. He quickly began working on his bike. We made a family trip to the bike store and then for some yummy chicken fingers. While Carly napped, David continued working on his bike and was ready to ride when she woke up. We were able to take our first family bike ride and had a wonderful time!!

Carly's Papa (David's dad) was also in town and drove up for dinner. We had a lovely pizza dinner and then were treated to a special trip of ice cream. One of the ice cream shops around here does free cones for young children, and Carly put on the cuteness factor and even had it decorated for her with eyes, a mouth, and rainbow sprinkle hair.

Sunday was just as wonderful. I taught Sunday School, while Carly played with her friends in the nursery, and David worked on school work. (Carly is still not eager to be dropped off each week in the church's nursery, but she always has a blast once she gets settled in.) Carly and David had a blast before lunch and cooking our hot dog lunch together. Following Carly's nap the playtime continued before we all headed to the pool together. Unfortunately, we were not able to stay at the pool for long. David needed to catch a flight later in the evening, plus a storm was starting to roll into our neighborhood. Carly really enjoyed jumping into the pool and then "swimming" over to the ladder. She would then climb up the ladder and do it all over again. Unfortunately, after dinner we all had to load up into the car to drive David to the airport. I'm not wanting to wish my life and time away, but hopefully this week will go by smoothly and quickly so that David can hurry up and be home and we can have another wonderful weekend!

Bike Ride - A Late Mother's Day Present

For Mother's Day Carly promised to get Sharon a kiddie seat for the bike so Mom and Carly could go on some bikes rides. Also, so Sharon can start training for a triathlon coming up at the end of the summer.

Dad, finally got around to selecting the right seat, purchasing it, and installing it on Mom's bike. Also, he managed to get two new tires and tubes for his trusty old bike as well.

The end result was a nice family ride down our typically running route and Carly's First Bike Ride.

It's a Start

Yesterday afternoon Carly and I ventured out to buy her toddler potty. She seemed excited on our trip, but I am sure it was just my excitement just rubbing off on her. When we got home we went upstairs, put it together, and she wanted to sit. And sit. And sit. Unfortunately, yesterday was a bust. She was very eager to sit, but was never successful.

Our morning and afternoon matched. She was eager to sit and enjoyed playing with the many features of our upstairs bathroom, but it never amounted to anything until tonight. She agreed to go upstairs for her bath, if she got to sit on her potty first. So she sat and David began filling up the tub. And to Carly and David's surprise she began to pee. Apparently she was unsure of what was going on, but David started to applaud, I came rushing in and began applauding. So, Carly began grinning ear to ear and looking very proud of herself.

Carly is a long way away from being potty trained; however, we have at least started the potty process.

May 31st Videos

Carly was in a playful mood on the last day of May, as you will be able to tell.

This first video is of her playing with her lunch. (Her Papa taught her this trick.)

This second video is only a portion of the conversation she was busy having after nap time.

Tubing Video

Thankfully Kelly was able to capture Carly's first tubing experience on video!

Here it is...

What a FABULOUS Weekend!!

Carly's fabulous weekend began on Friday morning with a long morning playdate at our swimming pool. One of the boys from her swimming lessons came over, and they enjoyed splashing and "jumping" into our neighborhood kiddie pool and playing with various toys in both pools. Around noon Carly did inform us all it was time to go by trying to climb back in her wagon.

Unfortunately, Friday afternoon did not go quite so fabulously. Dave was occupied with work for about an hour longer than he expected. Which was not a big deal, it just meant our drive to the north end of Lake Norman to pick up our boat needed to be a little hastier than we had originally planned. Traffic cooperated and we made EXCELLENT time. About 15 minutes before arriving at the service center Dave called to state we were a few minutes out and asked them to go ahead and place our boat in the water. Unfortunately during this call he learned that their boat lift had broken during our drive and was not functioning at the moment. Because we were so close, we continued on in hopes that it was only a minor repair and would be functioning for the last few moments of their business day. Luck was not on our side and Dave was forced to ride home in our car instead of our boat.

During the overnight hours Dave's cousin Jon arrived for a visit. Carly allowed her dad and cousin to sleep in (while mommy was off running). However, at 9am Carly was up and ready and Dave was on the phone checking on the boat lift that had been broken the previous evening. All things appeared to be a go, so we all four had a delicious breakfast of bacon and blueberry pancakes before piling in the car to head north again. Again, when we were about 15 minutes out Dave called and learned that the lift was broken. So around we turned.

The remainder of our morning involved playing, the boys taking a trip to the store for boating necessities (in hopes we would get the boat back), and a short game of Scrabble during Carly's nap. Our game was interupted by a phone call from the Marina that the lift was up and working and based on the line up we should be in the water in 30 minutes. So off Dave and Jon went. While Carly napped I packed us up for an afternoon of boating fun.

Our friends Jason and Kelly were also able to join in our boating fun, so by 3:30 all six of us were in our bathing suits, covered in sunscreen, and beginning our cruise on the lake. We motored over to a common anchoring spot, anchored, and jumped in. We all spent quite a while floating in the water, getting out only to refresh our beverage or for a snack. Carly especially enjoyed the float I found her last weekend and the tube we have for tubing.

As it neared dinner time, Dave suggested that we pull up anchor and tube our way back. Jon went first and showed off just how strong he was by being un-throwable off of the tube. Carly and I got to tube next. It was a very slow trek through the water and Carly was unsure at moments; however, she lasted quite a while. Unfortunately, I don't think the others in the boat were enjoying the slow ride through the hot afternoon sun. Our fun continued once we were home with a cookout dinner and then s'mores with our neighbors.

This morning was not quite as relaxed. Jon left for Virginia very early in the morning (so no sleeping in for him). I got up early for an open water swim clinic (so no sleeping in for me). Carly woke up before 8:30 (so no sleeping in for David). Once I was home from my open water swim, Dave, Carly, Jason, Kelly, and I walked up to the Bagel store for a yummy bagel brunch.

After Carly's nap, she, Dave, and I headed back down to the boat for a lovely afternoon. We anchored and swam, and then went for a very lovely cruise.

Carly and I sat on the back bench and she rotated between laying back with her feet up to dancing to looking at everything we were passing by to resting on me. We decided to call it a day so that we could head north to pick up Dave's truck from the Marina, and thankfully we made this call when we did. Once we had the boat unloaded we were notified by one of the neighborhood kids that they had begun to hear thunder. Dave went back to cover the boat (typically we do this later in the evening after things have time to dry out a little) and Carly and I continued to take the load we were carrying to the car. Thankfully Dave got the boat covered, we were all able to put on dry clothes, and get back in the car before the rain started. Our fabulous weekend was wrapped up with a yummy quesadilla dinner with left over chicken.