A Little More Birthday

We had Carsten's first birthday party last Saturday. It was so fun to celebrate him with so many friends and family. Here are a few of the pictures.

Loving his pizza! Of course.

He was a little less interested in opening gifts. He liked the boxes and the gifts, but not so much the

unwrapping. 

But it was okay, because his big brother was more than happy to help. :-)

He did of course, love his new hat.

Happy Birthday Baby!

It was no surprise that he dove right in and attacked that cake.

I promise that he didn't actually eat the whole thing. It was taken away before he made himself sick. Because I'm pretty sure he would have just kept going. And again, his big brother was a great help in eating it while it was still there.

One result of his party is a new found love of balloons. Specifically the red and orange ones.

Thank you so much to all of you who helped us make this day special for our sweet little boy. We are so thankful for such great friends and families!

One Year of Carsten

It's been a pretty busy week around here so I haven't gotten to finish writing about Carsten's Birthday! I'll get to his party next time, but for now, here's Carsten lately.

He is an incredibly fun little mix of spunky and sweet. When he was born he was so calm and mellow, but every day he has a little more spunk to him. He is still sweet and lovey and snuggly, but when he wants something he shows off his fierce determination. Most of the time though, he is happy, smiley and on the move.

He loves to dance, sing and imitate everything his brother does. He really, really, really loves to eat. I fear for my grocery bill when he's a teenager. He loves to play basketball at our little hoop and he likes to sneak into the bathroom and steal my toothbrush. He has the most adorable laugh in the world and he loves to be tickled, which is convenient because then we can hear him laugh. :-) He also loves to be chased around the house and to climb into the toy box.

His favorite thing is baths. He loves them so much this needs it's own paragraph. I need a raincoat to give him his bath. He splashes and plays. He dumps water over his head to try to wash his own hair. He dunks his head into the water and under the faucet if it's on. Nothing about water phases him. Ever. It's scary. And there are almost always tears when bath time is over. He would stay in there forever if it was up to him. He wore his helmet for five months and had a bath every single night during that time to wash his hair and still it was traumatic every time he had to get out. The boy loves water.

He loves to be outside and never wants to come back in. When we are outside he is most interested in pushing the red car around. As soon as I get it out he pushes it straight down the driveway and onto the sidewalk towards the park. When I stop him before he gets to the corner to cross the street (every single time) he totally melts down. He is a boy on a mission and his mission is to push that car to the park without any help. Despite the fact that I'm never actually going to let him do it, he gives it a valiant effort every time.

Right before his birthday Carsten finally got his helmet off. Yay! It was a good day to walk out without it on his little head. We actually started going to appointments for physical therapy when he was two months old, so walking out ten months later knowing we didn't need to go back felt really good. And a little weird. Carsten must have felt that way too because while he was giddy about having the helmet off, he went over to our doctor, John, and gave him a big snuggle and didn't want to get off of his lap! It was pretty cute. When we went out to the waiting room to get jackets on he went around from chair to chair rubbing his head on every seat. I'm sure it felt so good to have it off!

All that said, I also think he misses the feeling of it. He loves wearing hats! He wears them constantly around our house. Because of their fair skin and light hair, I always want my boys wearing hats when they're outside, but I was afraid he would never want to wear one again. It's the opposite. He goes and finds them and puts them on. There are many times that he won't even take it off for his naps. And his favorite is Tyler's red hat. Thankfully his brother doesn't usually mind letting him wear it. When I put other hats on Carsten he usually takes it off and finds the red one instead.

At twelve months Carsten says uh-oh, mama and dada very clearly. He also says (less clearly, but we still know what he's saying) peek-a-boo, so big, ball, more, and our very favorite, (are you ready for this?) awkward! It's so funny. I'm so glad that was one of his first words. It's the best. He also moos like a cow and roars like a dinosaur or bear. And he blows the cutest little kisses. He is 20 1/2 pounds (40th percentile) and 31 1/8 inches (80th percentile).

Carsten, you bring so much laughter and joy into our home. We love you more than you will ever know. We love watching you grow and learn new things and we are excited to see who you grow up to be. We love your always happy little personality and your sweet snuggles, hugs and kisses. You are so precious and are such a gift to us.

My Birthday Baby

Carsten's birthday was Saturday! I cannot believe how fast this year has gone. Carsten started out as this super chill, calm baby. Which was kind of a trick, because he's actually full of spunk and determination. He is still so, so sweet though. He loves to gives hugs and kisses and he can be such a little snuggler. But he is also always up for an adventure!

We had a really fun day celebrating our little guy on Saturday. We went for a walk and played at the park in the morning and then went to the community center to swim after naps. Water is Carsten's happy place. It's a little terrifying because he has absolutely no fear whatsoever. Both of the boys had so much fun.

Tyler is always very cautious in the water. But by the end he was brave enough to jump in to me from the side and he was going to down the water slide over and over again. It was hilarious though, because every single time he got the tiniest drip of water on his face (so like every two minutes) he would run out of the pool and over to our chairs to wipe his face on a towel. Carsten was the complete opposite. He was intentionally dunking his face in the water every chance he got. And he was getting very upset that we wouldn't just let him swim on his own in the deep water. He loved everything about the pool. It was such a fun day for all of us. We ended the day with dinner at Five Guys and a birthday treat at home.

Birthday Pancakes!

We decided to wait for his party for his first cake, so they got some homemade graham crackers instead. Sorry Carsten. 

It clearly didn't bother him though. He was so excited!

Carsten, we love you. Happy Birthday sweet boy!

Cute Words From a Cute Boy

Oh, Tyler. He is so funny, and so sweet. I have constant little quotes swirling around in my head that I am trying to remember to write down. There are just so many.

"I'm not tired. My brain isn't hurting right now so I don't need to take a nap."

Lately Tyler has been very interested in what being married means. And he is just so sweet. He keeps telling me, "I want to get married to you." And then he always pretends to put a ring on my finger and his own. Seriously, adorable. And then the other day he said, "Mommy, you look awesome! We got married and we had rings and I gave you a kiss. And then we eat marshmallows and green beans and great food and jelly beans."

"I got married once in awhile. And I got married right up!

"I'm three! And then I'm going to be four, then six, then seven, and then I'm going to be so big! And then I'll have a big boy car, and I'll be able to go in the street all by myself, and I'll have my own keys and keep them in my pocket, and then my jammies won't fit anymore and I will be so big!

Tyler had been in bed for almost an hour when I suddenly heard him talking. So I went in and he was sitting in his bed in the dark looking at his Children's Bible. "I'm reading my Bible right now. I'm learning my lesson." I asked what lesson he was learning about and he said, "It's teaching me how to obey."

One of his favorite things to do lately is help put Carsten to bed. He says, "I want to do all of his things." Which means he wants to tell him a story, pray with him and sing him a song. It's really not helpful, but it's quite sweet. He makes up a story, says a very sweet prayer for Carsten and then sings a long, drawn out song at the very top of his lungs. It almost always makes Carsten more awake and excited, but it is so sweet.

And then there's this baptizing thing. I really don't know where it came from or how it started. But Tyler has "baptized" Carsten multiple times a day for the last couple weeks. Poor Carsten. He sits there just innocently playing and all of a sudden he gets tipped over backwards and baptized. It never goes over well. But it keeps on happening.

When we were getting ready for my Bible Study this week I set out Tyler's clothes but told him he could pick out his socks and underwear and get dressed. He did that, but also picked out a baseball hat and a necktie for himself, and another tie for Carsten. He told me he wanted to be "fancy". He insisted that they both wear them so I went to church with the two best boys in town - t-shirts, ties and hats! So cute.

I love this guy. He really is fantastic.

Cousin Love

About a week and a half ago we got to go to Wisconsin to visit baby Samson! And his parents of course. :-) Congratulations Jacob and Laura. He is the best nephew ever.

I brought Tyler inside and went back to the car for something. I came back to find him already snuggled up to the little guy.

All of the cousins!

My first nephew. :-)

The big kids

Tyler was so excited about Samson. He was sure his new cousin was going to be a girl. So when I told him it was a boy, he wasn't convinced. He talked to Jeff on the phone and told him, "We thought it was a girl! But it's not a girl. It surprised us!" 

He loved holding Samson and kissing him and just staring at his tiny little face. It was the sweetest thing.

And this was the perfect ending to a great weekend. Lightning and Mater! Just sitting there in a field. A dream come true for a little boy. :-)