Dadda

Dave is on a business trip this week; however, Carly was still able to see him today thanks to technology. Dave now has a new iPad to help him with work and school, but my favorite feature is the camera that allowed us to chat with him right before Carly's bath. She was able to sit in her highchair and talk to her "dadda." We've used Skype to talk to other family members in the past, but this is the first business trip where Dave has been able to chat with Carly.

Dave's posting on Facebook tonight sums it all up - "Just skype'd with Carly and now I miss her more. But I did get some good kisses!"

Carly's First Egg Hunt

Carly attended her first Egg Hunt this afternoon. After her nap she took a wagon ride down to our neighborhoods pool area to visit and play with other neighborhood children before the hunt began. She played with bubbles, drew on the parking lot with egg shaped side walk chalk, attempted to pick up an egg or two a little early for her basket, and met some new friends. Once everyone had gathered and the rules had been given, the kids were off. Carly was searching for eggs with children ranging from 0 - 5 (although, I think she was one of the youngest actually out hunting) and did quite well. She managed to pick up 13 eggs. The cutest part though was when she saw everyone going through their eggs and she began to copy. She is not interested in candy (yet), so she would open the egg, throw the candy on the ground, and then place the opened egg back in her basket. (You can imagine the fun I had when it was time to turn her 13 plastic eggs back in to the HOA bucket.) Thankfully, her neighborhood friends can be quite the distraction for her.

New Shoes

Carly has a new pair of shoes for the spring and summer. After a late morning (our house started moving around 9:45 this morning), Dave's first midterm, lunch, and Carly's nap, we ventured out to the mall. Our trip was quite productive. Dave ordered a new pair of prescription sunglasses and Carly got some new kicks. We were not very original with her shoes and picked out the exact same shoe as last time, just in the white spring/summer color and slightly larger. During her last shoe buying experience (back in September) she measured at a 4.5; however, we were told the shoe ran quite large and Carly ran out of the store wearing a size 4. Leaving Dave to walk to the counter to pay and me to chase after her. Today's shoe buying experience was exactly the same. The sales lady measured Carly's foot at a 5 wide, so recommended the 5.5 wide for growing room. She put the two new shoes on Carly's feet, Dave popped her off of his lap, the sales lady checked Carly's toe, and Carly proceeded to run out of the store. Again, Dave walked to pay and I began chasing. I guess Carly knows what she likes.

Wet Wednesday

It rained again today. (We had rain Saturday through Monday, and are projected to have rain from now until sometime on Friday.) Out of desperation to not go completely stir crazy I tried to plan little things throughout our day.

Our morning started with Carly sleeping until 8:45 and then meeting Carly's BFF for breakfast at CookHouse (a local restaurant that serves your typical southern breakfast). After a yummy breakfast of pancakes and sausage, we all went over to our library for story time. Mr. George was back this week from family leave (his wife just had a baby boy), and Carly was extra social with all of the kids and their mommies to celebrate. She walked around the room to greet each new face and each returning face throughout our time. Following the library we headed to the grocery store to get the one item I needed for tonight's dinner, which of course turned into two items.

Following lunch, nap, and a little playtime one of our neighbors called to see what Carly was up to. (This neighbor and I had discussed yesterday how this afternoon would be long if it really did rain all day again.) So, over came our neighbor and her two little boys. This company was GREAT! All three children played with different toys, watched each other, and ventured (or tried to venture) over to see and play with a toy another kid was playing with. It gave the kids a chance to play and the moms a chance to have adult interaction. A win-win!

Such A Trooper

Carly gets a gold star today (or really 3) for being such a trooper.

Our Saturday started like any other Saturday. I got up and ran (or attempted to run) and then Dave and Carly woke up shortly after I returned home. After we were all dressed and ready for our day we ventured out for a bagel breakfast (we needed to carb load for the remainder of our day). We then returned home for an hour or so of playing. Then at 11:00 am our "scheduled" day began.

We loaded into the car and began our trip down to South East Charlotte for Matthew's fourth birthday party. Thankfully durning our trip Carly fell into a nice deep sleep and got about 45 minutes worth of a great nap. During the party Carly sat on the sofa with Matthew while he read her a few books. She followed him around and tried to play with everything he played with. (Matthew was great about telling her it was his turn, then explaining what he was doing with the toy, and then handing it to her for her to play with.) She also sat in a little kid's sized folded chair at a kid's sized card table to eat her hot dog lunch and cupcake. She was also eager to use the Cars napkin to demonstrate her ability to wipe her hands and mouth. (She was definitely showing off for the older kids.) She played balloons with the kids and sat very well for a 17 month old while Matthew opened his gifts.

Following Matthew's party we packed ourselves back into the car and headed towards East Charlotte for Ty's first birthday party. Carly didn't nap during this 45 minute trip, but she did relax. We arrived just in time to see Ty with his cake. While Dave and Carly were making their away around the party, Carly saw a large kiddie corral full of toys. She was thrilled and spent most of the party playing with different kids in the corral. This gave Dave and I a chance to sit, relax, and talk to other adults (such a foreign concept at a kid's birthday party).

After a second fabulous birthday party we piled back into the car and started making our way back to Cornelius. We arrived home shortly before 5, giving Dave just enough time to take a power nap and Carly just enough time to play with her toys before we piled back in the car to meet some friends who were in town for dinner. Normally, we wouldn't have scheduled a dinner out after such a busy day; however, we really wanted to meet baby Parker while he and his parents were in Charlotte visiting from Indiana. So, off to dinner we went. During dinner, Carly wanted to walk around and check out the new restaurant. She was quite fascinated with the fish tank, until a large bunch of balloons were delivered to mark a table as reserved. Carly wasn't a super eater during this meal, but she did color while we waited on our food to arrive and she did eat while we ate the first half our meal. While her restaurant behavior wasn't perfect tonight, it was a whole lot better than it could have been with the busy day she had (and the lack of a crib nap).

So, three gold stars for being a trooper on such a busy day!

Photographs

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. Tonight I disagree slightly with this saying. Carly had some very cute/funny moments today that photographs just don't caption.

The first was this morning after breakfast. I took the following pictures:

My goal was not to show that she enjoys looking at books, but to show that she was actually trying to read to Elmo. She had been walking around the family room trying to figure out a way to prop Elmo up in front of her so she could read to him. She even went as far as to move her chair around to different spots. She finally settled on the position shown above after some frustration. While these pictures look cute of her reading and her feet crossed and swinging, they also look like Elmo was just thrown to the side while Carly read a book to herself.

During Carly's afternoon snack we had another similar moment.

Carly was happily eating her yogurt when she ran out. She made sure to lick the spoon really, really well. Scrape the side of the container and then lick the container. In licking the container she created a sticky mess. However, these pictures don't show her licking the container. They only show how messy of an eater she can be.

I know that if I had a camera attached to me at all times I would be better at capturing these moments and not the aftermath of them, but then again what fun would that be? I'd miss so many other things if I only watched Carly through a camera lens.

A Weekend of FIRSTS!! WOO-HOO!!

What an AMAZING weekend filled with firsts. Carly had her first sleepover without Mommy and Daddy, Dave ran his first half-marathon, and I ran my first marathon.

Our weekend officially kicked off at 1:07pm when we were all loaded up into the car and were backing down the driveway. We headed off to Atlanta with many feelings of anxiety. Dave was nervous about his run, I was nervous about my run, and I was freaking out that Carly wouldn't behave for her grandparents. Unfortunately due to traffic our trip took longer than expected, but we arrived in time for a wonderful spaghetti dinner. Carly had a rough time falling asleep, which only made me more anxious about leaving her the following night.

Saturday, we ventured down to the Georgia Dome for Dave and me to pick up our race packets and then to head over to the hotel to check in. Carly enjoyed looking at the sites of downtown Atlanta and taking a short nap in her stroller. Throughout the day she also chased Gertrude and Jake around her grandparents' home and making sure she was center of everyone's attention. Thankfully she was having such an amazing time with her grandparents and aunt that she didn't seem too phased when Dave and I said good-bye. She wasn't interested in leaving my arms at first, but I handed her off to Dave and she quickly became fascinated enough with another family member to go willingly into their arms. While leaving I only got a little teary eyed. I knew she was in fabulous hands for the evening, but I have never not slept under the same roof as her. My biggest fear was that she would have a rough night and be an unpleasant house guest. Shortly after arriving at our hotel we received a text message that Carly had gone down very well and without fussing. Unfortunately, I didn't sleep that well - I was very anxious about the next morning.

Sunday morning started with a 5am wake up call. Quick showers, packing of bags, a quick walk to the car for water then to Olympic Park, a pre-run breakfasts (a protein bar for Dave and peanut butter on wholewheat and a banana for me), checking of the bags, and then hanging around our corrals. During this time Dave and I talked a lot about what the HECK we were doing! It was finally time to say our good-byes and venture to our separate corals.

Then at 7:00am Dave, myself, and just under 16,000 of our closest friends (for the day) took off running through downtown Atlanta. Unfortunately, this many runners affected my ability to find my rhythm early on in the race. My first mile was about a 12 minute mile (about 3 minutes slower than my starting pace). Finally around mile 7 (when the half marathoners and marathoners separated) I was able to find my rhythm. I was going strong and then I arrived at Piedmont Park. Here I had to run around three-fourths of an oval of sunken ball fields, then turn around and run back around it and hitting mile 22 in the process. Unfortunately, this turn around point is where I hit an all time low and was only thinking about how if I kept putting one foot in front of the other, then I will see Dave sooner, get to take my shoes off sooner, and get home to see Carly sooner. Shortly after leaving Piedmont Park I saw this hill that I would need to climb and thought there was no way I could handle these last 3.5 miles. Then right at the base of the hill I saw a friend from college. She was in Atlanta supporting another marathon runner, but was willing to run some with me if we could connect. Thankfully, she ran with me up the last major hill and informed that it really was the last major hill. Seeing a familiar face was exactly what I needed at that moment and allowed me to continue running the remainder of the race. I crossed the finish line with a chip time of 4:23:08, but most importantly - I ran the entire race except when going through a hydrating station (running while drinking from a cup doesn't work well for me).

Dave did an amazing job with his half-marathon too (maybe he will blog about it when he gets a break from work and school). Unfortunately due to his busy schedule, he hasn't been able to train as regularly as he had hoped. However, he did finish his first half marathon with a quicker time than he was anticipating - although I know he wishes it was about 3 minutes quicker than it was. Through amazing technology, my mom was able to track both Dave and me online and notify Dave with my projected finish time based on my pace. He used this extra time to get a massage and stretch out before finding a spot at the finish line to watch me finish.

Following the race we limped back to the hotel (a whole 2 blocks away) and collapsed - Dave on the sofa and me with my feet in the tub. After a few moments (or many, many minutes) we started moving and getting cleaned up and ready to checkout. The day before we had huge plans to stop for lunch at the Varsity for lunch before heading out of the city, but by the time we were loaded in the car all we wanted to do was get back to Norcorss and CRASH!, so Wendy's drive thru it was.

Carly was napping when we got back, which allowed us to relax for longer. Once she woke up, Julia was kind enough to go upstairs to get her (carrying Carly downstairs wasn't quite yet an option for Dave and me at the moment). She was eager to see us; however, wasn't super clingy to either one of us. She was not really eager to see her Aunt Julia return to school later in the afternoon and had no problem playing with her grandmother while Dave and I took naps.

This morning we slowly ventured home and are trying to get back to normal as much as possible - this is quite a challenge with 2 very sore parents and 1 very active little girl. I'm not sure if Dave will run another half marathon, or if I will run another full marathon. But I do know that Carly will have another sleepover with her grandparents one night when I don't have to wake up at 5 am to go run 26.2 miles!

Silver Lining

Carly appears to be recovering from her flu and ear infection nicely, which is wonderful after a long 9 days. During these days she was a 25 pound infant, who also slept through the night. She would snuggle and cuddle for long periods of time and best of all was willing to sleep on our chests. Dave and I thought these were the silver linings to Carly's illness. The real silver lining didn't make an appearance until last Friday (March 11) when Carly blew her nose! And best off all, she is still blowing her nose.

For the two weeks leading up to March 11 she would make a noise and blow out her mouth when we asked her to "blow." Then all of a sudden she switched from blowing out her mouth to blowing from her nose. She has continued to blow her nose since then, and actually enjoys it.

Now we just need to work on her blowing her nose only when she has a tissue. Unfortunately asking if she needs a tissue to blow her noes will occasionally trigger her nod her head and then proceed with the blowing action. Either way, she is blowing HER nose!

Growing Up

Carly is growing up and becoming a lot more independent. Since Dave returned home almost 24 hours ago he has noticed some of the following changes Carly made during his 6 days at Indiana University.

~ Her hair is longer and thicker.

~ She is longer and heavier. (Although the scales at the doctors office showed she lost a pound with the flu.)

~ She looks more mature.

~ At dinner tonight she used a napkin to wipe her hands and mouth (she even cleaned out the inside of her mouth).

~ There is now a blanket in her crib regularly, per her request. During the beginning nights of the flu Dave was putting Carly down with a blanket to help keep her warm. (She was experiences chills due to her fever.) As the flu morphed into an ear infection she began using the blanket as a pillow and not for cover. Now she expects to go down with a blanket, and her ducky.

~ She is communicating A LOT more:

* Longer babbling spells with hand gestures and nodding (I wonder where she picked that up?),

* More use of her sign language - today she used the sign for "food" and then "please" to ask Dave for breakfast.

* Tonight at dinner she wanted more pizza. Dave and I felt she had eaten enough, so I handed her my leftover crust. She pointed to where the part she wanted would have been, said please, then pointed to the center of the crust and shook her head no. We took this as, "I want the pizza, please. Not the crust." We laughed, applauded her communication with us, but didn't give in to her request.

It Morphed...

Carly just can't seem to get a break right now. Ten days ago we thought this week may be rough for her due to teething. Unfortunately, that was quickly trumped by the flu last Thursday morning. I joked that she would go straight from the flu into teething and about how lucky a mom I would be to experience it all while Dave was out at IU starting his MBA. It turns out I was wrong. At some point this week the flu morphed into an ear infection. The doctor Carly saw this morning explained that the office was seeing a lot of this morphing due to this year's flu being an upper respiratory flu. Apparently when her nose was all stuffed up it blocked her ear from draining (apparently they use the same drainage system). This back up in her ear resulted in an infection in her left ear.

Thankfully she didn't seem to be absolutely miserable prior to our visit. She was clingy and not her normal happy self, but was completely off every time I needed to change her clothes. There were tears, fighting against me, and full blown tantrums... not normal for a girl who loves to be naked and who loves to help me dress her. I took her in to double check that the flu wasn't lingering in some way or that something else wasn't wrong before using tough love to end her fighting me at every clothing change. Hopefully this ear infection isn't long lived and she will return to her happy self in time for Dave's return home tomorrow!

Flu Day #5

Carly is on Day #5 of the flu, and hopefully the last. She has been fever free today, eating and drinking a little bit more, playing with her toys more independently. Unfortunately, she still has a runny noise, cough, and is not quite her happy, go lucky self.

Carly did manage to go down for her nap early today, which of course meant she woke up early. This allowed us to venture out to my favorite seasonal consignment sale. I had not planned on taking Carly into the mass chaos that this sale normally is; however, she woke up just before 2 (when many toddlers are still napping, preschoolers are napping or having quiet time, and elementary school moms are getting ready to get in the car pool lines or meet their little ones at the bus stop) so off we went. Our timing could not have been more perfect. There were no other moms looking through the 24 month clothes and when we were ready to check out there was only one other mom in front of us. (Usually, we wait for over 20 minutes.)

Carly's early nap time and first outing since Thursday also had her going to bed early tonight. Hopefully she will wake up at her normal time tomorrow morning, refreshed and back to her normal happy, go lucky self.

Playing with a "new" to her toy!

Flu Day #4

Carly seems to feeling a little bit better. She still isn't eating or drinking much and isn't very playful, but she is getting some of the color back in her face and isn't as still. She sat in my lap at various points throughout the day, but she never fell asleep in my lap or on my shoulder.

She also used one of her board books to ask for a snack. I was reading her The Very Hungry Caterpillar and at the end of the story she turned back to the beginning. I assumed she wanted me to re-read the story; however, she kept flipping through the pages quickly. She finally got to the page with the long list of foods the caterpillar ate on Saturday, pointed to the cheese, and said please. She nodded her head when I asked if she wanted some cheese, so off we went to go get her some cheese. (This was the first food she had asked for since Wednesday... I was giving it to her.)

By the end of her day she was multi-tasking:

Flu Day #3

Carly is still sick. While I know she isn't at the age to "fake" being sick, there are some obvious signs that she is not faking.

1) She will sit still in our lap for longer than 3 minutes. (We are averaging 20+ minutes each time.)

2) While sitting in my lap, she has placed her head on my chest and fallen asleep. (While holding a full cup of Cheerios.)

3) She is not interested in eating Cheerios (or anything for that matter).

4) She is not interested in drinking (even if I let her carry a cup around while playing - a big "no-no" in our house).

5) She is only playing with her toys for short spurts of time and when the Tylenol/Advil are in full force.

6) Tylenol/Advil make her go from really pathetic looking to only looking pathetic.

7) The skin under her nose is now raw from constantly being wiped or wet from drainage.

8) She has only asked to go outside a few times since Thursday morning, and when she has gone out she has just wanted to walk around instead of playing with her toys.

9) While sitting on Dave's lap she has rolled over, laid on his chest, fallen asleep, and then fussed when being moved to her crib.

10) She is back to taking 2 naps a day in her crib, plus many cat naps in our arms.

11) She reminds us of a 25 pound newborn (minus the middle of the night nursings).

We were able to get about a third of a yogurt cup and a bite of cheese in her tonight around dinner time.

Daddy's Turn

Carly still isn't feeling well. She did play today (which is an improvement from yesterday). Prior to dinner she was a mommy's girl; however, it was a different story after dinner. When I was finished cleaning up dinner this is what I saw.

It was Dave's turn to snuggle.

Sick-O

Carly is officially sick with flu like symptoms. Her flu test came back negative, but the doctor is pretty convinced it is a false negative. Our morning started with her sleeping until 9:45. She would fuss and squirm every so often but showed no interest in getting up. Finally after thinking I needed to invest in curtains for her room and that 9:45 am is late enough, I went in to get her. She wasn't quick to come to her feet (which isn't usual) and was radiating heat. After a quick diaper change and temperature reading of 103.1 out came the trusty Tylenol (or really the current generic that hasn't been pulled from the shelves). An hour later her temperature was down only slightly and she had no appetite. After a quick call to the doctor we were packing up her tote bag with books and preparing to keep ourselves entertained at the doctor's office as a fit in visit. Her ears, throat, and lungs all looked/sounded clear; however, it was obvious to all that this normally outgoing and energetic 16 month old didn't feel well. (She fell asleep in my lap holding her Cheerio cup while the doctor and I were talking.) All of this has led the doctor to believe she really does have the flu, even if the test came back negative.

Carly proceeded to sleep on our ride home and for three hours after we returned home. She only agreed to get up from her nap when I asked if she wanted to get up and sleep on my chest. Throughout the remainder of the afternoon and evening Dave and I worked to keep her hydrated, medicated, and comfortable. She snuggled with both of us and even found the energy to play cars with Dave for a few minutes and duplos with me.

Dave and I both can't stand to see her feeling so poorly. And honestly, she looks pathetic. But selfishly I am really enjoying all of the cuddling and snuggling. It is awkward trying to carry her everywhere now (fully clothed she weighted in at 25.6 pounds today) and having her squirm all over trying to curl up to fit on my chest to sleep, but I am trying to savior those last few times these positions are even possible.

New Toys

Today was a great day. Sharon and her Mom left the house early this morning to go to a couple consignment sales and see if they could find any nice items at great prices, all while Carly and I got to sleep in until almost 9 am. Little did we know as we slept away, mommy and Grandma would be bringing home awesome TOYS!!!!

They also picked up some great clothing items at great prices, but it was the new toys that really got Carly and me excited.

They picked up a Little people car wash and garage that makes nosies and has a couple cool car ramps, a Tonka dump truck that talks and a little people barn with animals to play with.

Check out the videos' and pictures to see them in action.

Turkey Sausage

Add turkey sausage to the list of table foods Carly will eat (at least for today!)!!

She is slowly, but surely making progress. Maybe Dave and I won't be needing to invest in a smoothy franchise to feed her through her school age days. :-)

When the Cat's Away...

...the mice will play! And that is exactly what we've done.

Yesterday, Carly and I went to a park in the morning and to a different park in the afternoon.

Today, we went out to Discovery Place Kids in the morning. (Unfortunately, our afternoon wasn't quite as much fun because I had to get a run in... but Jake got to come too, so Carly was happy.)

Driving the Tractor

Cooking in the House

Happy 16 Months!

Carly is now 16 months old and really starting to show her independence.

Last Friday I took her to the park and she climbed up some of the equipment and even went down the slide by herself. This was a piece of equipment that I hadn't coached her through previously, but in watching others she figured out what to do. She would occasionally glance around to make sure I was still in sight before proceeding to another section of the equipment.

Today we ventured out to a different playground area and her independence continued. This park is really just an oversized sand box and plastic toy track with some grassy areas to run and play on. Carly tried out many of the plastic cars that have been donated to the play area by families, played in the sand box, and copied her friends with the use of a new slide.

Along with her budding independence, Carly is also starting to communicate with me better. Yesterday she put the sign for "more" and "please" together to ask for more crackers and again for more strawberries. She points out every dog insight, along with fences (because a dog MUST be behind the fence, right). She will also point out babies with some regularity (however, doesn't quite understand that every child in a stroller isn't a baby). She occasionally says her version of book and ball and is still saving "mommy" for those very special circumstances.

At 16 months Carly is obsessed with...

dogs

fruit

books

climbing onto chairs

being outside

Carly at Snack Time

Sometimes I think I have WAY too much fun with Carly. Today's snack time is one of those moments. While watching this video and editing it to shorter length I couldn't help but think, "Carly want a cracker?" I wasn't bribing her to use her sign language, but was only giving her one cracker at a time so that I could get a least one good use of her sign language on video, honest!