It's a Birthday Miracle!!!

THE KITCHEN MADE IT!!

Dear Wal-Mart,

I feel the need to apologize for my last post. You really came through for me in the clutch and delivered big. I was doubtful and you proved me wrong. You delivered my long-awaited BLUE kitchen 4 hours before Party time. Granted you never sent me the tracking # or even the confirmation email that said you shipped it, but I am willing to overlook that. I am also willing to overlook the fact that 4 hours is barely enough time to set up something of this magnitude, but there was miracle after miracle on this day. I say bad things about you sometimes, but truth be told, I will always be a loyal customer. How can I not when your prices are so much lower than everyone elses? Target wanted to charge me 40$ to ship this, but that is another post. Walmart, you even took back my recalled crib, THAT I DIDN'T EVEN BUY THERE, and gave me my full money back in CASH. The store I bought it at only wanted to give me 1/3 the price in store credit.

So thank you Walmart for restoring my faith in you.

Sincerely,

A Once Disgruntled, But Now Happy Customer (oh yea, and I got 30 bucks off too!)

Since my sister and I were the only ones home at the time, I decided to save some time and start the building process myself. I got all the way through Step 1 before I was confused....

I was so proud of myself for shaving 20 minutes off my dad's and Neil's time.....(my dad did tell me later that he had to take apart my Step 1 because I put it on backwards....stupid directions)

A big big thanks to my dad who arrived at 4 pm and went right to work on the kitchen until it was finished. And thanks to Neil who came right home after work and finished putting this together with my dad.

SEE FINISHED PICS BELOW

The Birthday Boy

What an action packed 2 days for this little boy. His real birthday was on Wed. and we celebrated with just the 3 of us that night. We started out with a "cupKate" that he'd been asking for all day.

This was the first time we tried out a candle and he bent over and almost burned his forehead. He was quite excited to hear us sing Happy Birthday to him.
He refuses to pick things up and take bites and so he insisted on using a fork. However, he has NO problem eating Spaghetti noodles with his hands...go figure.

Our next celebration involved a trip to Coldstone to partake of their dairy free sorbet. Thank you Coldstone for allowing my little boy a simple pleasure that I have taken for granted until now. He dug right in. He had a bit of a sugar high that night but it was worth it to see him so happy. Who doesn't get happy over cake and ice cream?

Day 2 brought our families over and present opening. First present: A great car that you shake up and it zooms across the floor. He loved it. Didn't want to put it down. Was satisfied with just that. I took it and hid it.

Then came the garbage truck. We all know the special place in Carter's heart for garbage trucks. This one even comes with its own driver and opening where you push a button and it ejects garbage out the back. Forgot about the car for a minute and enjoyed the Utopia that is the garbage truck.

(all presents are not pictured: like the shirt I gave him that he threw back at me. I know he was thinking "How dare you give me something boring like clothes for my b-day.")
Last came the final reveal. The moment I had dreamed of. He did not disappoint. There was no shrieking or gasping but his eyes got wide and he wasted no time making himself at home.

He started exploring right away and went to the microwave first. Big success. But he was torn, garbage truck, car or kitchen.....how could he play with all 3 at one time. He finally solved the problem the best way a 2 year old could. He put all of his cars and trucks into the fake fridge and was finally at peace!

Here is Carter's Vegan Cake that his mother made for him. Simple, crooked, and absolutely perfect for him. He wanted to add all his other cars to the top.

Here is the fancy cake Grandma E picked up for the rest of us to eat. Carter did get to enjoy 2 new cars though.

Once again, he preferred eating from a fork and having daddy feed him. Please note the homemade vegan cake and homemade Raspberry/Strawberry Ice Cream made with Coconut milk instead of Cow's milk. Who needs Cows? This ice cream is delicious and only 5X the cost of normal ice cream!

Why I am kneeling in the corner so weirdly?

After cake and ice cream he was right back to the kitchen to play with his kitchen and trucks(you can see all his cars in the dishwasher now!)

His new truck bedspread that compliments his new big boy bed, thanks to a massive re-call on his Crib. Before this, he refused to sleep under the covers but now demands to sleep under his "truck blanket." And if you were wondering, he did sleep with his garbage truck and blue car. He started sobbing when I tried to take them away. It was his birthday so I caved. But never again.

The next morning he woke up and went right for the kitchen. He played with this thing for 3 hours straight until I made him eat breakfast. NEVER has Carter forgotten to eat until this morning. Thanks Walmart for making my dreams come true....oh, and Carter's as well.

We love you Carter Joseph.

Say goodbye to this ONE year old.....Tomorrow he turns 2! We are celebrating his birthday on Thursday though to allow more family to be here. His party is on the same day the garbage truck comes.....it doesn't get better than that. He knows this and keeps saying "Birthday on Thursday, Garbage truck comes Thursday." He knows he gets cake and ice cream and giggles just thinking about it.

For his main present I ordered this beauty: (creepy child not included) From Walmart.com because they had the lowest price(naturally)

Isn't it beautiful and everything a 2 year old deserves???

Instead Walmart sent me this: A PINK ONE! (With a much cuter child I might add) We are allowing our little boy to have a kitchen but Neil put his foot down with a pink kitchen.
Apparently because of its mammoth size, Wal-mart can do NO rush orders on this thing. Which means we will be celebrating birthday #2 without the "Main Event." I was crushed. Neil said it wasn't worth shedding tears over.....I wasn't convinced. Walmart did credit 30$ back to my account to alleviate some of the suffering. $30 does NOT bring back birthdays and memories. My Love/Hate relationship with Wal-mart continues. Life will go on, or so I'm assured. This just means we will celebrate his birthday AGAIN once this dandy arrives. And I will wrap this mammoth to watch Carter's reaction. Good thing his grandmas are bringing some Awesome presents to ease my pain a bit. I

What would I do without him?

We never have to worry that Carter may starve to death or be so busy that he forgets to eat. NEVER. EVER. EVER. I think he would eat all day long if I let him. This day I was doing my hair and he brought the bananas in so I could peel one for him. Bananas are a favorite for him and I believe his record is 4 in one day. 4 bananas in 12 hours can really wreck havoc on your digestive system.
My baby knows the alphabet. And no thanks to me either. He learned it all from the PBS show, "Super Why." We didn't even know he knew his letters until one day at Grandmas he pulled out her alphabet puzzle and said "Daddy, that's a W. That's an S. That's an E....and so on." He knows all 26 letters by sight, and they don't have to be in order. I'm so impressed by him. This pic shows him watching his special show and they asked where the "I" was and he jumped off the couch and pointed. This is the only time during the day where Carter will sit still but I try to limit him to 1 or 2 shows max a day. He begs constantly for Super Why and when I say no, he replies "Later, or Tomorrow." Those are his new words. He doesn't know for sure when they are, but these answers satisfy him and he doesn't ask again for at least 3 minutes!!

Carter is still obsessed with trucks, loaders, airplanes, cement trucks, back hoes, tractors and so on. His obsession has climbed to a new level though.....OCD tendencies. As you will see in all 3 of these pictures he enjoys lining his cars and trucks up in a straight line with all of them facing the same direction. We will turn one car around and he notices immediately and has to fix it. We will try removing 1 single car in the caravan and he notices that and begins to panic.

The trucks must be lined up next to the coloring book.....

The arm of the couch are another classic place.....

And even in bed. He throws a major fit if we don't let him put ALL his trucks into bed with him. We've tried to fight him on it but it really isn't worth the fight. He lines them up and then goes right to sleep. Some nights after he is asleep I will sneak in and take them out of his bed and put them on the floor to avoid him sleeping on top of them.......But when I go back in the next morning, he's gotten out of bed and put them all back in. I've given up.....

He still loves the garbage truck and we hear all week....."Garbage truck comes Thursday." He likes to help us take out the big garbages and insists on dragging the big bags of garbage out of the house. We've even taken up following the garbage truck each Thursday.....after it passes our house(or if we accidentally miss it) we jump in the car and follow it around the neighborhood. The poor driver probably thinks we are crazy but it makes Carter's day. He waves and always yells "come back soon garbage truck." His birthday is next week and I'm afraid after that there will be far more than 7 trucks in bed with him each night.
Last but not least, what a helper. He managed to get most of the cleaner and toilet water on the floor but it made him happy. He loves cleaning the bowl and changing the roll of TP....often times before it is empty!

How could I ever manage without his constant help or organization!:)