Swimming!

After the zoo (and lunch), we all went back to the hotel and went swimming. We were so excited to see how Carson would react to the water! He seemed to really love it! We'll have to get him into swimming lessons soon.

"I'm ready!!"

Hmmm...not so sure
Swimming for the first time!
Let's try our floatie

"I love swimming!!"

St. Louis Zoo

We went to the St. Louis zoo on Sunday. We went early to try to beat the heat, but we weren't very successful! There was just no beating it - it was the hottest day of the year so far. But, like I said, Carson was a trooper. He only cried once - during the penguins. (That was our favorite due to the air conditioning!) But once he had his bottle, he was good-to-go again! Despite the heat, I think we all had a really good time! It was especially nice getting to hang out with our friends for more than an hour. They have so many people to see when they come home. We always try to do dinner but it was nice to spend a little more time!

Waiting in line for the penguins

Watching the penguins (ahhh - air conditioning!!)
Watching the chimpanzees
First family vacation

Becca, Shannon, Riley and Mason
Awww - even lions "spoon"

Cousin Riley and the zebras
The boys and the babies - cute!

Okay, now where's the pool?! :-)

St. Louis

We went to St. Louis this weekend for our first family vacation! (Emma stayed home with Grandma). We went down to see our friends Shannon and Becca. And I knew before this trip that I was blessed to be Carson's mommy. But, oh my, we really are SO lucky to be his parents. He was so good. I still can't get over it. On the way down, he slept almost 2 1/2 hours. He woke up and Lucas and I just looked at each other, prepared for the screaming. But nope. He just looked around casually. Grabbed a couple toys here and there, but mostly just stared at the window. Perfectly content. Same thing on the way back. He only slept for just under 2 hours that time. But still, woke w/ a yawn and just stared around. He started crying when we hit East Peoria. Not bad at all! Even our friends kept commenting on how good he was. Even with limited napping (and very HOT weather), he still just kept going....and with a smile most of the time. What a great mini-vacation! And what a wonderful little boy we have!!

Getting ready to leave - "I'm so excited Daddy!"

Yay - we're here!

Out to dinner

What a long day!


And this was Carson on the way home (Monday) - before we even left the hotel parking lot. :-) Vacations are exhausting!

8 Months!

It's getting harder and harder to get his elephant pictures! I kind of gave up this month. :-)

Home from school

"Big sister, I love you."


"I said my tooth hurts!!"

"Oh Mom, you're so silly!"

Teething

We're home sick for the day. Carson's had bad teething symptoms for the last week. He's SO congested and has a bad cough. And the poor guy is just so fussy. He's constantly grabbing at his mouth and gums. I was hoping that it'd be better now that the one tooth popped up.....but no luck. Anyway, we had a bad night last night and he was up a lot coughing. He woke up w/ a fever and I can just tell he wasn't feeling good. So I stayed home and am hoping some extra cuddles and naps will help him feel better. He's now taking his second (LONG) nap. Poor baby. I hope it helps. I know he wouldn't have been able to rest this much at daycare. And it's still nice to hang out with him even when he's fussy. :-)

Big Boy Class

Ms. Kirsten told us yesterday that Carson pulled himself up to stand for the first time yesterday! Part of me really wishes that he'd slow down! But I know it'll take him a while to perfect that, so I think I'll have time to get used to it. He has been trying to pull himself up more, but I haven't caught him pulling all the way up yet myself.

Anyway, today marked the beginning of the transition to the big boy class! Carson and Max were reunited. Ha ha. They took Carson over for two hours today to experience Infant II. They said he did so well! He played and played and played. He even refused his bottle. He was having too much fun. Then he came back to Infant I and took a long nap. :-)

I got to meet a couple of the teachers this morning. I think it will be a bigger adjustment for me than it will be for him. I totally trust Ms. Kaitlin (and Ms. Kirsten). We will really miss them! But I'm sure the new teachers will be great too. Fingers crossed! There just seem to be so many kids in that room and they're all over the place - everyone is crawling or walking all over! But Carson will probably be crawling regularly by then and hopefully able to handle himself. And he'll be moving up w/ Emma so at least he has a buddy right away.