Dance Off!

Our kiddos love to dance! It's no shock based on who their parents are. : ) Please excuse my "mmm...mmm" in the first video.

Carson - 14 Months

At 14 Months:

• She says "no" A LOT. It's not always just "no." Sometimes it is "no-eee." It also isn't clear if she fully understands what "no" means. For example, today Brooke asked her if she wanted a squeeze fruit, to which she replied emphatically "NO." Two seconds later Brooke asked her again...and she nodded her head yes. This happens at least once per day.
• She refuses to say "yes." She will only nod her head without sound. She has said "yes" before, but she just refuses to.
• She is starting to say a lot more words - cookie, bow, bubba (her version of brother), Mike Mike, Nana, PatPat, ow (when she falls).
• She continues to say mama and dada, although not always to the right person...
• When you ask her what a sheep says she responds with the sweetest "baaaaa." When you ask her what a cow says she responds with..."baaaaa." We have some work to do.
• She is starting to learn her body parts, at least sometimes. She will touch her head, stomach, mouth, toes (she wiggles them sometimes instead of touching them). She used to touch her nose, but she refuses now.
• She loves to feed herself and will refuse to eat at times if you don't let her. There is a lot she has to learn still in this area (see the picture below for evidence).
• She continues to be "feisty" (maybe even more so than her brother was at this age). Examples of her feistiness (not sure that is a word) - she likes to bite when she is angry, she slaps at your face if she is mad at you, she does not like to share.
• She loved the ocean and the sand, but only after she got used to it. The first couple of days she screamed anytime we even acted like we were going to put her down.
• She is a little dancer! I'll post a video soon.
• She loves shoes (she comes by this honest from both parents). She likes to put on her shoes, even if it means putting on just one. She loves to put on my shoes and attempt to walk, but she doesn't get anywhere. She also likes to put on Reed's shoes, which she can walk in a bit further.
• She also loves to put on Reed's socks. It doesn't matter if they are clean or dirty, she doesn't care. The first time we did it was because she screamed for them. She then laughed (full belly laugh) uncontrollably.
• Speaking of her laugh...it is probably the funniest laugh ever. It is a deep, belly laugh that sounds like a cross between a chain smoking old lady and Fat Albert. Our friends almost always comment on her laugh.
• She loves to give kisses and even makes an "mmmm" sound when she does.
• She adores her Nana and Granddaddy and Mike Mike and Kath. They get the same squeal that Daddy gets when she sees him everyday. Precious!
• Carson has been working on getting 8 teeth over the past few months, 4 canines and 4 1 year old molars. She has been none too happy about it. They are all almost completely through, so hopefully her pain will be eased soon.
• We aren't really sure what color Carson's eyes are. I think this is actually the first time I have even mentioned her eye color, because we just aren't sure. I am pretty sure that she has Chris's blue eyes with gold brown in the center, because she still has a steel blue ring around her eyes. I am pretty sure Reed's eyes were noticeably green by this age.

This is how pretty much the entire picture time went. Silly girl.

She does this with her tongue a lot.

 "I am so cute, I can't even stand it."

Beach Trip 2014 (iPhone pics #2)

Sunrise....Chris or I were up every morning to check it out. : /

We may have purchased a few groceries for the week.

Reed loved the water this year as much as he did last year.

We pretty much saw this view of her most of the time.

One night we played blacklight golf because it was raining outside. I don't recommend it.

We got to watch someone play on a flyboard while we ate dinner one night.

Carson was terrified of this guy but not Reed.

Safety first for the ride home.

We stopped by Dinglewood Pharmacy in Columbus on our way home for a yummy milkshake.

Beach Trip 2014 (iPhone pics #1)

For the first few days, she wasn't crazy about the sand at all. Ansley got her a bucket of water to play with and she was in heaven.

Peeing off the balcony. Not sure what made him think this was okay. I quickly got onto him AFTER I took this picture.

Reed said "Mom, come take a picture, this is so cute!"

Stingrays were hanging out near the beach on our last day. Eek!

Dancing away to the band at the place where we had dinner.

Celebrating Ansley's birthday!

Reed is 5!

We have a 5 year old! This is crazytown! It feels like yesterday that he was turning 1, 2, 3, 4 and now 5. How fast time has flown with this little guy. He drives us crazy at times but mostly he makes us feel like the luckiest parents around.

Height: 45 in. (90th percentile)
Weight: 40 lbs. (50th percentile)

Things heard from Reed.....

• "Carpool is the worst thing ever. It ruins my life."
• "Ah, it's not Luke Bryan. It's a fake Luke Bryan." (Probably referring to Jason Aldean.)
• While watching Little Einsteins...."I want to go to Egypt someday."
• "Mommy, you can only like girl songs. Taylor Swift songs."

At 5......

• Everything is a race with Reed.  Buckling seatbelt, getting home first.  Who's handsomemest? Who's tallest? Who's older? Who was born first? The list goes on and on.
• He really is the sweetest. Just last week, he saw a friend at cfa that he sees everyday at school and he went straight over to give him a big hug. Oh, how I love that kid!
• He continues to love playing pretend. His favorites right now are Ninja Turtles and Super Mario.
• If I ask him to do something for me, he sometimes says his legs are too tired. They aren't however, ever, too tired to do what he wants to do.
• He loves helping me pull the car in the garage and seeing how fast we are going on the heads up display.
• He has become such a big boy lately with the start of school. No, we can't do that, the teacher won't like it. Let's not forget my bag mommy. Did you get the snack bag?
• Chris asked him how his day at school was last week and he responded 'bien, gracias!' Love it!
• He is still a bit of a hot head at home. : ( Every afternoon seems to end with him going to timeout at least once, sometimes more than that. Most of the time, he gets in trouble because he hurts his sister. I don't think he hurts her intentionally, but he certainly doesn't think about the consequences of his actions.
• He has started turning flips on our couch and said that he is the first kid in his class to do a "cartwheel".
• His favorite thing to eat is breakfast. He loves cereal, bagels, waffles. It is definitely his favorite meal of the day.
• He frequently tells me that I have ruined his day. I guess I must be doing something right then. ; )
• He has started showering on his own. This, of course, requires some coaching from the sidelines from daddy. I tried to get him to take a quick bath with Carson one night when Chris wasn't home and he said "remember mommy, I don't take baths anymore. Daddy would be sad if I take a bath".
• He seems to be a bit of a worry wart. Once when we were in Carters, he was playing while I shopped, then he randomly walked out of the store unbeknowst to me, and came back in crying. He said he thought that I had left him. While Chris was at a friends house with Reed, Reed went in to play for a bit while Chris stayed outside. Reed came out repeatedly to ask Chris if he definitely would let him know when they were leaving. He was worried Chris would leave without him. I guess he comes by it honest. I went through a period of time when I was little when I worried so much I lost hair. : ( I worried that my parents wouldn't be able to find their way back home. I hope he grows out of it quickly. We just keep reassuring him that he and Carson are the most important things and we would never leave them.
• He is learning to read, slowly but surely. He is finally showing some interest in sounding out words. I think it is all going to click for him soon.
• He just counted to 100 by himself today. Yay Reed!
• I'll continue to post things as they come to me. He is one special little boy, that's for sure!