Happy 3rd Birthday, Mackenzey!

Last Saturday, we made a trip up to Essexville/Bay City for Mackenzey's 3rd birthday party.  Her theme this year was Rock 'n Roll!  Her invitations were absolutely adorable with her rocking out with her guitar.  Carson and Mac had a lot of fun playing together and Carson had fun checking out all of Mac's toys... even though most of them are pretty girly.  He still enjoyed playing with the dollhouse and other things, though.  Mackenzey does have a nice train table and some boy toys, though, which they had fun playing with.  By the end of the night, though, Carson was wearing a purple tutu, playing dress-up with Mackenzey.  :)  They had a lot of fun rocking out, too.  Carson rocked out by singing Jesus Loves Me and Jingle Bells.  Mackenzey lip-synched Born to be Wild.  It was really cute.  Carson now wants a microphone with an amplifier so he can rock out at home.  :)  The night ended with the last remaining stragglers playing Just Dance on the Xbox, which was fun, too.  We all had a great time! 

A Trip to Impression 5

Back on March 3rd, we made a trip to Lansing.  We first visited Impression 5 Science Center with Aunt Mary, Uncle Justin, Rebecca, and Abram.  Aunt Julie and her family were planning to join us, but unfortunately had to stay home due to some sickness.  We were all sad to hear that, since it's been since Christmas that all of the cousins have been together with all the sickness that has been going around this winter.  Hopefully all the cousins will have a chance to play together soon. 

Carson and Rebecca had a lot of fun together checking out all of the exhibits.  The museum has a Magic School Bus exhibit right now, which Carson was quite excited about.  The Magic School Bus books are some of his favorites since he learns about science with them.  I think Carson and Rebecca pretty much had fun at every station and exhibit.  They're both little sponges and so eager to learn.  And learning through play is so powerful. 

Even Abram had a lot of fun.  He seemed to really enjoy the new First Impression room.  He's started taking a few steps, so it was neat to see him take a step or two.  It will be extra fun to see him the next time, too... he'll be running by then, I bet!  :)  I think he just can't wait to keep up with the big kids! 

After our trip to Impression 5, we met up with Grandma and Grandpa to celebrate Grandma's birthday by having dinner at Cheddar's.  We had a nice time chatting and visiting and had a nice dinner.  We had given Grandma most of her gift from already (her actual birthday is Feb. 22nd), but she opened a nice gift from Poiriers, Voogts, and us at dinner.  She was quite surprised by it and seemed to really love it.  We're all excited to see her new hair cut and style at some point!  After a little more chatting and getting kids in jammies, it was time to head home.  It had started to snow while we were at dinner, but our drive wasn't bad.  Justin, Mary, and the kids had an entirely different experience, unfortuntely.  It sounds like it was a white knuckle drive home for them.  We are very glad everyone made it home safely, though.  And we all had a fun afternoon and evening in Lansing! 

Carson and his Skeleton

Carson asked me to blog about the skeleton that he put together and loves to learn with.  :)  He has always loved learning about the human body and just soaks so much right in as he's reading or learning.  That kind of stuff always interested Sara, too... and some days she wishes she'd have gone into the medical field afterall.  Maybe Carson will go into the medical field some day.  Only time will tell. 

Carson picked this skeleton from his last book order from school.  Remember those Scholastic book orders we used to get in elementary?  They still do them!  So we ordered it for him.  He put it together correctly on the first try.  And has since loved learning the names of different bones in the body.  He can point out the skull, scapulas, ribs, backbone and vertebrae, femur, tibia, fibula, pelvis, and the clavicle.  We've still got a lot to learn, but we think that's a pretty good start for a 4-year old! 

Our First Parent-Teacher Conference for Carson

Last week, Sara went to our first parent-teacher conference for Carson.  It feels crazy to have a child old enough for conferences already!  While we didn't expect to hear anything bad, per se, the anticipation of a parent-teacher conference is kind of nerve-racking!  LOL. 

Mrs. Hans had lots of wonderful things to say about Carson and did not really say anything that was a surprise to us.  He is doing extremely well in preschool - socially, academically, and physically.  She said several times that she wishes she could have a classroom full of kids like Carson.  :)  A couple weeks back, she had mentioned that Carson was one of the smartest kids in class, if not the smartest.  She mentioned that again during the conference.  She is so impressed with his maturity level and his knowledge and skill, as well as with his eagerness to learn even more.  She said she can always count on Carson and that he is very mature for his age.  The kids all have different jobs in class and she says she always gives Carson the most difficult task because she knows he'll get it done correctly and quickly. 

Mrs. Hans is quite impressed with his logical way of thinking and playing.  She said he'll definitely have a future in the science or math field if he keeps it up and she asked if there were engineers in the family.  :)  She mentioned that he really excels when they learn about patterns, math, science, and anything with order - like the calendar.  And she is quite impressed with his handwriting and recognition of letters and numbers.

One thing Kevin and I have wondered about is how Carson was doing socially.  He has what I'd call a sensitive personality at times and can be a little reserved in some situations.  Although he usually gets comfortable quickly nowadays and is much quicker to become very social, we still wondered how he was in school.  Carson always looks forward to going to school and is never sad when we leave, but he does get a little down at times when we're saying goodbye.  Mrs. Hans has noticed this, too, and she believes he's playing us... which is what we suspected, as well.  :)  She said its worse with Kevin, which I can also believe.  But as soon as we are gone, he's just a normal kid that loves school.  He interacts very well with all of the other kids and has formed quite a few good friendships among his classmates, moreso than most other kids in his class from what she can tell.  Carson plays very well, gets involved, and shares extremely well.  Mrs. Hans said he is probably one of the best sharers in the class, which she found surprising since he's been an only-child up to this point.

Mrs. Hans confirmed that Carson is very much a rule-follower, he definitely knows right from wrong and what is expected of him, and he is eager to please and do well.  But he also is influenced by other kids that may be having a little too much fun at times.  This was no surprise to us at all, as we've noticed this time and time again.  He has a hard time resisting joining in when other kids are getting a little wild.  And it can be a little challenging to get him to calm down once he gets going. 

It was a great parent-teacher conference.  As parents, we know we can be a little biased about Carson's abilities, so it was so nice to hear confirmation of things that we already have thought for awhile.  :)  Mrs. Hans recommended Carson for the 4-year old class next year.  She believes he'd do well in either the 3-day or 5-day class - that he's definitely mature enough for the 5-day class at this point if we choose that route.  We haven't made a decision yet - a lot will depend on our work situations post-baby #2.  For now, we'll just enjoy the remainder of this school year, be thankful for having such a smart little guy, and we believe the right path forward will be made clear to us.

It's (Officially) a Girl!!

Sara had an OB appointment on Friday morning.  My OBs wanted me to take the glucose test early as a pre-caution (and yes, I still have to take it at 28wks, too... so not fair!), so I had to be there at 8:50 for the first blood draw and to drink the grossly sweet fruit punch drink.  Kevin and Carson came along for the appointment, too, since I was having an ultrasound and I didn't think I'd be feeling too well by 11:00 when I was done with the glucose test.  We ended up getting hit by a winter storm early on Friday morning, so it actually worked out quite well to have my appointment that day so Kevin and I didn't have to make our work commutes.  Kevin's sister, Julie, had an appointment on Friday morning, too, and her whole family joined her since Jason didn't trust her to drive on the bad roads, I guess.  It had been awhile since we'd seen them, so it was a fun little reunion in the waiting room.  :) 

The glucose test went ok.  Better than I expected, actually.  I'm still having a good deal of morning sickness, especially when my stomach is empty.  I did have to fight quite a few urges to puke, but I was able to, thankfully (else I'd have to start all over another day).  I was starving by the time we got out of there at 11:00, though.  And the baby wasn't too happy with it, either.  If she's anything like she is now when she is born, I expect her to be very impatient when she is hungry.  She sure beats me up when I'm feeling hungry now.  Its usually the only time I can feel her moving when I'm not lying down quietly, due to my placenta position. 

Everything on the ultrasound checked out very well - she is looking very healthy.  And it was confirmed that she is, in deed, a baby girl!  I had an ultrasound at the end of January after having a little scare, which showed a baby girl, but Kevin has been skeptical since he wasn't there with me to see it.  Plus, that ultrasound was at 18 weeks, which is a little early to tell.  I was 21w4d on Friday, which is exactly what baby girl was measuring.  So it looks like we are right on for the July 2nd due date still.  Her heartbeat was 145 bpm and she was quite active.  And she's weighing just over a pound right now.  Carson thought it was pretty neat to see her moving on the tv screen and to get such clear looks at her different body parts.  He was quite excited by it all and kept saying "oh she is just so cute!" 

I have an anterior placenta this time, which means the placenta is on the outside of my uterus.  Most of the time, women have a posterior placenta - that is what I had with Carson.  I do feel some movement, but not nearly as much as I felt with Carson at this point.  She has to really be kicking hard (like when she is hungry) for me to feel it.  The doctors say it'll probably be like that throughout the pregnancy.  The anterior placenta also makes it a little more challenging to get decent ultrasound pictures, especially the 4-D pictures.  Since the pictures have to be taken through the placenta, they just show the bone structure, rather than the features.  So it looks like we'll be really surprised when she is born since we won't likely get any sneak peeks like we did with Carson.  :)  That's ok, though. 

For those that have been wondering about names, we don't have a first name picked out yet.  And we probably won't until after she was born, considering Carson wasn't named until he was a day and a half old.  We'll probably do what we did with Carson and go in with two or three names that we like, then choose one once we see what she looks like and what her personality is like.  We have known the middle name since about a week after we found out I was pregnant.  Middle names are always easy for us because they have meaning behind them.  Baby girl's middle name will be Esther-Marie.  Esther after my grandma that passed away a couple of years ago.  Marie is my and my mom's middle name - and it is after my Auntie Marie, who was my mom's godmother and my grandma's sister.  But you'll have to wait on the first name until after she is born, probably.  :)

Making cards to show we care

Sara was off this past Monday for President's Day, which was really nice to have an extra day to re-coup from the weekend of birthday parties.  Carson was excited to have Mama home again, too.  We spent lots of time playing with Legos and other toys that Carson received at his parties, singing and dancing to his new CDs on his new yellow boombox, and making some cards for Daddy's birthday (Tuesday), Grandma's birthday (Wednesday), and a get well card for Grandpa since he was having surgery on Tuesday.  Carson wrote so well in the cards, we took some pictures to share.  He is getting so good at writing his letters! 

We had a great day together and it just makes us both wish even more that we could spend more time together than we do.  Hopefully someday we'll be able to if things work out and Sara can cut her hours back at work sometime later this year or next. 

Valentine's Day Preschool Party

Carson had a cute Valentine's Day party at preschool this year.  Sara took the morning off so she could go to the party.  The kids opened by singing some songs for all of the parents, then they got to eat some heart-shaped Jello jigglers.  After that, they got to exchange Valentine's Day cards with everyone.  This was Carson's first time getting a lot of Valentine's Day cards and he was pretty stoked about it.  Especially since some of them had candy attached.  :)  The cards Carson picked out this year were Winnie the Pooh.  He had to sign his name to 19 of them for his classmates, plus 3 for his teachers.  So we got lots of name writing practice in over the weekend before Valentine's Day. 

 (Carson's crush, Gabi, is two kids to the left of Carson in this picture... she has a light pink shirt on)

Carson's 4th Birthday Lego Parties!

Carson's birthday parties went very well last weekend.  Carson picked a Lego theme for his birthday this year, which was a lot of fun to decorate for.  Carson and Mama worked on different projects for a few weeks to use as decorations so that it all tied into the Lego theme.  We made the invitations and party bags, a banner for the window, a Happy Birthday banner for the fireplace, tissue poms to hang in the dining room and kitchen, a birthday balloon wreath for the front door, and Mama  finally made Carson the tablecloth he has been wanting to use for his birthday for the last two years.  Everything turned out really well and looked very nice. 

We did two parties again this year - one on Saturday with Kevin's family and some friends and one on Sunday with Sara's family.  It just seems to work out well this way so that we can actually have a chance to talk with everyone and there are places to sit for everyone, too.  If we did one big party, we'd have around 50 people there at once.  Carson picked the meals for both parties.  He chose tacos for the Saturday party and roast beef with potatoes and carrots for the Sunday party.  The food on both days turned out really good and we had leftovers for the rest of the week, which was nice, too. 

Carson was so excited for both of his parties.  He loves it when his cousins and friends come over to his house to play.  And he just loves seeing them all, in general.  He had so much fun playing with the kids both days and was sad when the parties were over.  He received so many awesome gifts - everyone was more than generous.  He's been enjoying all of his new toys all week.  He got lots of new Legos, which we're making our way through.  He just loves to build Legos and he's quite good at it.  Daddy helps Carson with the bigger sets that have higher age limits, but Carson is able to do quite a lot of them on his own, too. 

Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate Carson's 4th birthday with us!!  We all had a lot of fun at the parties!  It is nice to have our house back in order, though, too.  :) 

I forgot to include this in my last post, so I'll include them here.  I interviewed Carson on his birthday and these were his answers at the age of 4, word for word.  It will be fun to see how his answers change over the years. 

** FAVORITES:
Color:  yellow and orange
Toy:  Matchbox cars and track or Legos
Animal:  Panda bear
Song:  Joy to the World, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, and the Zacchaeus song
Book:  anything by Dr. Seuss
TV Show:  Little Einsteins
Game:  Cootie
Fruit:  Grapes
Vegetable:  Green beans
Snack:  Graham crackers (this was news to me... since we never have them in the house :))
Drink:  Chocolate milk made with real milk and Fruitopia
Thing to do Outside:  Playing in the snow - building a snowman and making snow angels
Thing to do at Preschool: to play in the kitchen area and sing songs about Jesus
Holiday: Christmas and the snow season

** What he wants to be when he grows up:  A house builder

** What he's looking forward to most with his baby sister:  Giving her kisses, singing to her, and buying her a dollhouse

Carson Turns 4!!

Carson turned 4 years old on Monday!  Its hard to believe and I really wish could stop him from growing up any more.  But, of course, I can't.  :)

Birthday weeks are always so fun and this has been no exception.  On Monday, Carson woke up quite surprised that his socks still fit and his pants weren't too short.  He thought he'd have a major growth spurt in the night.  ;-)  He was also surprised that he didn't feel any different than he had when he was 3.  He also decided he could do several things on his own now, since he's such a big boy of 4 years old.  :) 

Carson got to spend time with Aunt Jeri and Uncle Mike on Monday morning.  They got him a big balloon and a special cookie.  Then he went over to Nana's and Papa's in the afternoon, where he got a really cool kite and Nana made him one of his favorite dinners (roast beef, carrots, and potatoes).  We had dessert at home and enjoyed several phone calls wishing Carson a Happy Birthday. 

Tuesday was a fun day with Valentine's Day celebrations - but I'll post separately about that. 

On Thursday, Mama took the day off of work so she could bring in birthday treats to Carson's preschool class.  Carson and Mama made chocolate chip cookies to share with everyone.  All of the kids were so happy to sing Happy Birthday to Carson and Carson was so proud to have his Mama in class for the last 15 minutes.  He got to sit in the special birthday chair and his teachers gave him a birthday crown.  It was really cute and fun!

After school, we went in for his well-child visit.  He was 36 pounds (50th percentile), so he's gained his weight back, plus a little, from having the flu a few weeks ago (he was down to 32.5 pounds that week).  He was also 40.5 inches tall (50-60th percentile).  So he's finally averaging out in terms of growth.  As usual, he is exceeding all of his developmental and physical milestones.  He had to get 4 shots and was such a champ with the first 3, not even flinching.  The last one (MMR) burns and aches quite a bit, according to the nurse, and he did start to tear up for that one.  He didn't want to move his arm for quite awhile, either.  Poor kid! 

After the well-child visit, Carson asked to have lunch at Burger King.  Since we never do it and because he had to get 4 shots and wasn't wanting to move his arm still, Mama agreed.  We ran into Carson's friends from class - Tanner and the two Carters.  So Carson forgot about his arm hurting pretty quickly and had so much fun playing with them! 

Now we look forward to spending time with family and friends this weekend for Carson's birthday parties.  He is very excited to have everyone at his house to play.  :)

We are still having girl drama.  On the way home Tuesday night, Carson tells me that "his life is ruined!" in a quite devastated tone.  I guess he has some competition for Gabi's attention now.  ;-P  He told me that his friend Ben wanted to sit by Gabi that day and play with her all the time.  So Carson decided maybe it was time to move on and has his sights set on a little blonde girl named Lili now.  :)  Although he still hasn't completely given up on Gabi.  I noticed they were sitting next to each other again on Thursday when I went into class... and Ben was at another table.  But Lili was also on the other side of Carson.  LOL! 

Carson has been having night terrors quite a bit lately.  He doesn't always remember what he dreams of, but a few times he's told us that a scary guy was chasing him and he was running as fast as he could, but couldn't get to Mama and Daddy.  He wakes in the night with them quite often and is too scared to sleep in his own bed for the rest of the night.  It's actually really nice to have him with us for the last few hours of the night, though.  Whatever makes him feel safer. 

We go in for our first parent-teacher conference in a couple of weeks.  We're excited to hear what the teacher has to say.  His teacher did tell me the other day that Carson is one of the smartest kids in class, if he's not the smartest.  She is quite impressed with his logical way of doing things.  She thinks he'll be an engineer or will do something science-based.  While we've thought this for years now, it was nice to hear from his teacher.  She also has remarked how impressed she is with his handwriting and number/letter recognition.  I have to say, we are, too!  :) So anyway, we will see what else she has to say in a couple of weeks. 

This past year has been another great year and it is so amazing to watch Carson learn and grow.  Three was a challenging age, attitude-wise, but it seems to be so for most 3-year olds.  We have heard nothing but good things about the age of 4, and we've already noticed such a change in Carson after being 4 for only a few short days.  So we are really looking forward to what this new year brings and how much Carson grows and develops.  Happy birthday to our incredibly sweet, caring, funny, smart little man!

Early February Shenanigans

February has been a busy month already and it's already over half over!  We've been having a lot of fun, but we've had our share of sickness, too.  We're ready for it all to be over!  We had two different rounds with the flu.  Carson had it at the end of January.  Then 10 days later, Kevin caught a different flu bug and was down with that.  Thankfully it didn't spread through the whole family either time - and Sara avoided it twice!  We're still not quite sure how, since pregnancy means a depressed immune system... but whatever we were doing worked, I guess.  :)  Unfortunately, the morning Kevin was coming down with his bug, he didn't realize it and ended up spreading it to his mom, who came down with it two days later.  Then his dad ended up with it two days after that.  Thankfully everyone is recovered now!  And hopefully we're done with the flu for a few years now! 

The first Saturday this month, we all went over to Great Poppy's house for a family night.  Everyone was there, at one point or another.  It was a lot of fun and good to see everyone since it'd been since Christmas that we'd seen them all... which is quite odd in Sara's family.  :)  We had homemade chicken noodle soup for dinner (using Great Apple's recipe) and just had fun hanging out.  Carson and Mackenzey had a blast together.  They were very excited to see each other and play.  They kept the rest of us entertained for most of the night with their dance moves.  :)  Brooklynn will be joining in on the fun before we know it, she's growing so fast - and you can tell she just wants to follow her big sister around already. 

Carson has been playing Little Kritters soccer again this year.  It's just a 7-week program, every Wednesday night.  He is having a lot of fun with it.  He does really well, but usually ends up getting tired of trying to control the ball with his feet at some point and picks it up and just runs with it like a football.  :)  Most of the other kids do it at some point, too.  They just have a lot of fun, though.  We've got one week left of soccer before it ends and Carson is kind of sad about that.  He wants to keep playing.  So maybe we'll look into one of the kids' classes at Soccer Zone.  We'll see.