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!

Visit with Santa

Carter has been more into Christmas this year than last(obviously). We talk about Santa a lot and from day one he knew that he wanted Santa to bring him a train. I hoped he would sit on Santa's lap so last night we went to the mall and gave it a try.

Here is a flashback from last years experience:

Pure Terror. Screams and Cries. Luckily I was quick with the camera.

2010 was nothing but smiles! He was a little shy but told Santa what he wanted(quickly and in a quiet voice, but he did it!) He told him he wanted a train and a tunnel. What? A tunnel? Guess I'll be making a quick trip to the toy store to get this tunnel he talks about.

(I'm pretty sure this Santa is the same Santa from last year...the eyes look the same.)

He didn't want to get to close to Santa. I'm guessing it was Santa's breath.

A quick family picture where Neil and I took a quick second to ask Santa about our gifts. I (obviously) asked Santa to please make my ever expanding Baby Belly slow down just a bit. People always say your stomach grows quicker with the second baby, and boy are they true. I don't think I was this big with Carter until well in to the 20+ weeks. Here I am 15 weeks.

Granted, sitting down and being slumped over makes it look worse than it is.

Onto Potty Training: It has been going great. He was so easy. I can take little credit. He is a natural. He's only had a couple of accidents in the 2 weeks and most came from playing and not wanting to take the 30 sec break and use the bathroom.

After his first poop in the potty he got his first ever Ice Cream cone. And he is hooked. It only took him a few days to realize that pooping on the potty was no different than pooping in his diaper. The first time he pooped on the potty happened to be when our home teachers were here......I sent him in the bathroom to do his business and within a few seconds we heard "I did it Mommy....and it's a HUGE one!" He had sat down earlier to go but just did a little pebble and I told him that that wasn't enough.....I knew there was more. So he made sure to let me know this was the real deal! He's even been staying dry at nap time and getting better at night. So hopefully we will be completely diaper free in a couple of months! Way to go Carter!

Updates

We started off our Thanksgiving Holiday pretty rough....I got strep throat the week before and then passed it on to poor Carter. I was down flat for 3 days. Pregnancy + Strep Throat = Wanting to Die. I couldn't keep anything down (literally) for 2 days straight and even experienced my first public puking experience. Sorry to the customers in Lee's Parking Lot. I thought I could make it 10 minutes to pick up my much needed Rx. I know better now.

This was one of my first clues that Carter was getting sick. He fell asleep on Neil's lap watching TV. He never does that. And after waking up 10-20 times a night I knew he needed to see a Dr. I think poor Carter will take after his mother in the strep department.

A quick background on my history: I have had my tonsils out TWICE. TWICE. And I still continue to get strep throat. I have the worst luck!

The Strep didn't hold Carter back too much and he was still able to enjoy Thanksgiving Break with his cousins. Sadly he and I both passed our nasty Strep on to Chloe and Mitchell. So sorry about that......

He even wanted to go outside and play in the snow one day. He was out there for over an hour. And it was freezing.

Carter was jealous of the older kids and adults constantly playing games and so he taught himself how to play "Sorry." Not really, but he sure enjoyed moving those pieces around the board. He was insistent on playing his game daily and didn't even need anyone to play with him.

Papa brought out his electric train that Santa brought him in the late 50's. (But I did not just reveal his age....) Carter was in heaven. He is obsessed with trains and luckily I happen to know that Santa found an awesome wooden train to leave at our house. Wooden is much more kid friendly! Carter played with this train for hours and loved watching it go round and round.

When we got back to Utah we continued to enjoy the snow. Carter wanted to help Daddy "shrovel" each morning and night. This plastic shovel we bought last spring for $1 will keep him busy all winter. He did fight wearing gloves because they hindered his grasping abilities, but eventually learned to manage.

We set up our tree the next night and Carter was in heaven. He was so excited and he insists on having the lights on 24/7. He is really good to leave the ornaments on and to not touch. He is in charge of the lights and that's good enough for him.

I love celebrating Christmas with a toddler. He is slowly learning about the Joys of Christmas and really getting into it. He talks about Santa constantly and his train.

We waited a bit too long to make a snowman and the night we finally got out to try, the rain had ruined the snow. Carter and daddy were able to make a 6 inch snowman that Carter still talks about. I'm not sure he is my child....I don't love the cold but he doesn't mind it and begs to go out. And once Neil gets home at 5:15 its already dark and time is limited.

And now on to the big news.......Carter is officially A BIG BOY! I was going to start potty training Carter over Christmas Break but last Sunday he decided he was ready NOW and wanted to wear underwear and pee in the potty now. So off we went and he has done FABULOUS! It's been 4 days and he has had NO accidents. How is this possible? I know they are coming but he's been great so far.

Up until last Sunday Carter refused to pee in the potty and now he's a standing Pro. Yes, he refuses to sit. He has to stand and show his manliness. Which has made for quite a mess honestly. The first few days I would almost need to wear a raincoat into the bathroom with him. Nothing was safe anymore. He would spray everywhere. Luckily my good friend Mary, who has potty trained 2 boys gave me some advice to give Carter on positioning, and since then he gets his pee "right into the lake"(those are his words). I have been telling him for weeks now that we could go to the store and pick out ANY toy he wanted once he peed in the potty. Well the first time he did it, he remembered my promise and held me to it. We went and picked out Mack (from Cars) and that truck/trailer combo has been played with nonstop. There really isn't a moment he isn't playing with Mack. He even wanted to hold Mack while peeing but I quickly stopped that idea.

Isn't this the cutest bum you've ever seen?

He is so proud of himself and his Cars underwear(You didn't think he'd choose any other cartoon undies did you!?). We still need to work on appropriate bathroom talk. When he feels the urge to pee he YELLS " MY PEES ARE COMING OUT." So we sprint to the bathroom and he takes care of business. He does wait until the very last minute to go so I'm sure his waiting will catch up with him eventually. He still hasn't done #2 yet but I expected that to take longer. Today is the first day we've gone ALL day with no diaper. We even went out to lunch in his undies and were successful. The other few days when we went out I'd put a diaper on him. But no more. His diapers are history(except for sleeping..Not ready to tackle that one yet.) Wish us luck in the next few days!

The Reason For the Lack of Posts....

We are expecting a Baby in early June. I am almost 11 weeks along and for the last 5 weeks I have been hugging porcelain and spending most of my time on the couch. I wasn't very sick with Carter so this has been a new experience. The Dr. did give me a miracle drug Zofran which takes aways about 85% of my nausea but insurance only allows me 24 pills in a 31 day period. And I need at least 1 1/2 pills a day which is going to make the end of Nov.-first part of Dec a bad one. Who are they to decide how many pills I need? Either way-We are very excited.

This is not my ultrasound picture. I was way to lazy to scan my own in. Way to much effort for a pregnant sick lady.