20 week ultrasound

It's official. Carter will be getting a baby brother in June. Baby Boy looks healthy with ten fingers and ten toes. There will be a lot of testosterone in the Etherington household but we're very excited. I can't wait for Carter to have his very own playmate.

Carter Isms

I decided I need to write down all the funny and not so funny things Carter does so I have them recorded. He keeps us on our toes and laughing a lot of the time.

Carter is quite the bargainer these days. He learned the phrase "2 more minutes" and uses it frequently. And when he gets really desperate he will use other phrases he doesn't understand like "2 more weeks." He uses these when it's time for bed, naps, or going somewhere he doesn't want to go. He always wants 2 more minutes to play. When 2 minutes is up, he wants 2 more minutes. It's a vicious cycle!

"What happens if....." I hear this question about 4 million times a day. And that is NOT an exaggeration. Carter is really getting into testing his limits and wants to know the consequences. Everything that is said he asks that questions. I'll tell him it's time for breakfast and he'll respond "What happens I don't eat breakfast?" Even though he's starving. Or I'll ask him to not scream and he'll say "What happens I don't stop screaming?" Or "What happens I throw my truck at you?" I use to tell him all the consequences/happenings of his questions but I try now to just ignore them. Because he already knows the consequences. A lot of it is just curiosity like when he asks "What happens I pee on the floor?"

Carter still talks about the baby in his stomach. Without prompting from me. He will be playing and then tell me he needs to lay down for a minute because his baby is hurting or his baby is burning. He even tells me when his baby has gotten bigger overnight. At first he was convinced that his baby was a girl but then I decided to prep him for the possibility of a boy. So now he thinks its a boy.

He's having a great time learning about the different genders. It's sometimes embarrassing but I know it goes with the age. He knows that girls sit down when they pee, while he gets to stand up.

He also equates long hair with girls and short hair with boys. There is a nice lady at the gym who gives the kids candy each day and has REALLY short hair. He kept calling her a HIM and I told him that Michelle was a girl. He looked at me, laughed, and told me that Michelle was a boy. I can't convince him otherwise. Then we saw a boy with a long ponytail and he called him a HER. We're still working on that...

Carter had a touch of stomach flu and I got the trusty silver bowl out to try and catch some of it. Of course by the time I got the bowl, the pukes were over! But he did allow his baby to try out the bowl. He said "Uh oh-Baby needs to puke." He held her over the bowl and made life like noises. At least baby can hit the target! (Grandma E got Carter this baby to help him prepare for his new sibling. Neil was/is mortified at how Carter took to this doll. But he only sleeps with baby. Has no interest in really playing with it.)

After baby threw up he made sure to give her some cuddles. He loves giving snuggles as he calls them and loves to lay on the couch by me and have me tickle his back, tummy, legs and arms. He would lay there all day if I let him.

He's at such a fun age....and exhausting age all at once. But we sure have fun together

Carter Singing

Apparently Carter does listen in nursery. He came up to me a few days ago and asked to sing "The Rock" song. I didn't know what he was talking about until last night when he just busted out the song. It's his new favorite. Apparently he doesn't feel the need to say the lines that are repeated. He goes right to the good stuff. His other favorite songs are "I Am a Child of God," "Snowman" and "The Monkey Song" (teasing Mr. Alligator). The poor boy has his mothers musical abilities.

Has Santa Already Comed?

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Having a 2 year old to celebrate with is so fun. Christmas Eve started a little rocky with Carter waking up at 4:30 am. He was a major grouch at the end of the day so we didn't get to do as many things as we planned, but we still had fun. We had Grandma and Grandpa E over for dinner, then Wii bowling, then made Santa's treats, and then put a tired boy to bed.

This is the only family shot we got during Christmas. Sad.

After Carter went to bed the stockings were stuffed,
and Santa made his Grand drop off of the much anticipated train table. Neil and I were so excited for Christmas morning and for Carter to see his table. We didn't have to wait long for that.....Carter was up at 5:15 Christmas morning. He didn't remember it was Christmas so we snuck him downstairs until Grandma and Grandpa made it over at 6:30.

When he walked into the room and saw the train, he stopped, then said "What is it?" Even though he knew exactly what it was. He loved it. We let him play for awhile and then tried to persuade him to look at other presents. He finally agreed, would open one present, and then head back to the train table.

Excited to find an orange, Toy Story 3, candy, toothbrushes and toothpaste in his stocking.

A quick pic of Carter and some of the things he received for Christmas. He got so many fun presents from everyone. He loves them all.

I had to carry him, no joke, kicking and screaming to the car later that day to G & Grandpas house to open more presents. And once we got there he kept asking to go home and play with his train. But once he saw all his other presents he was alright with staying for a bit. We now own life sized Buzz Lightyear and Woody. We need a bigger house to keep all his toys.

Carter still asks daily if "Santa has already comed?" and "Where is Christmas, and Santa, and his sleigh." He even fake cried for a minute when we took down our tree.

The best present of Christmas was having Daddy home for 11 straight days. We used one of the days to head to Ogden and meet some friends at the children's museum. We loved it so much we are now Members of the Treehouse Museum!

Carter met his girlfriend Lilly there and they enjoyed making messes together.

He loved the baby hospital where he practiced his medicine knowledge with the babies. Carter is really getting into babies, as much as a 2 yr old boy does. He now has a baby in his stomach that even makes him sick and he says its a "grill." One day I hugged him tight and he yelled "stop, you're hurting my baby!" So it looks like we will be welcoming 2 babies in June.

Another highlight of Christmas Break was having Aunt Cath and Uncle Steve over to visit for a bit. Carter loves to give "Naked Hugs" and will streak around the house in the nude, stopping to hug anyone in sight. I happened to capture steve and cath on camera.

Naked Hugs embarrass Steve a little bit but he'll get use to them. Can't wait to show Carter these pics when he is 16!

We had a great Christmas and break. Lots of food, family and fun. Happy New Year!