Technology vs Nature

My apologies to the very few loyal Mau 2.0 readers, but I had carpal tunnel surgery about 2 weeks ago and it's been tough to get things done. But we did have an active 4th of July. I decided that we should go on a hike near our house to Elephant Rock. As you can see, Carter looks less than excited, despite being in a pretty sweet carrier that we got for $5 at a yard sale.

The 2.5 miles (1.5 hours) to Elephant Rock went well and Carter took a little nap. Unfortunately, just as we got to the top and were basking in the beautiful view, he lost it. Started really crying hard. We thought he had been bitten by a horse fly, there were about 2.4 million along the trail, but he was just tired of hiking. So we pretty much ran all the way back down the mountain and got down in about 40 minutes.

Casey kept taking pictures of the back of me while hiking (see one of the many below) not sure what that was about. But by the time we got home, we were pretty much done for the day. Carter went to sleep at 8 pm, so no fireworks for us. 

 Is Carter the next Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg? We shall see, but he truly is just like daddy-loves the computer. He even has the face down. One thing that Casey would really like him to do is crawl. I'm still not on board because once he is mobile; it's over. Despite using the computer and Haagendazs Mango sorbet, to lure him into crawling, he is still not moving.

 This picture shows that he finally found a use for the pacifier. He would never take it as a baby and has finally found joy in using it as a chew toy. Sometimes he tries to put the entire thing in his mouth, which is hilarious and he usually chokes himself.

But he's a fun little noise machine. He's getting big, about 27.5 in long and 18 pounds. I'm hoping for a future tight end.

The Pea Trend Ends

 I loved watching Ruby choke and spit out the peas and equally loved it when Paxton did it too. But alas, I was sorely disappointed when Carter ate the peas with no problem. So then I decided to try them and we should've videoed me because I made a face and spit them out.

This is the only look I got after feeding him half the jar of peas. Everyone that I've told this story to has been confused on why I wanted him to not like the peas.
On a different note, the shrewd and sometimes uncaring Lori that we all know and love has lost some of that. I hold in my hands an expensive bottle of special, super concentrated cleaner. It was sold to me by Manson, a native of West Warren, MI (Annette, he gave u a shout out!!) who is taking part in a special program for inner city youth to have summer jobs.

This kid was quite the salesman and a jokester. He showed me all sorts of cleaning demos and price comparisons. Perhaps I was blinded by the fact that he yelled, "Go big Blue!" about 3 times, but in the end, I couldn't say no to this little black boy from the ghetto. Bountiful is making me soft.

Move over Michael Jordan, Carter's got some prime time tongue action

 This is just a quick post of all Carter's recent tongue action. He looks a little stoned in the picture with daddy  who is also sportin a crazy tongue.

 This is just your standard everyday tongue action.

 This one is, I love to eat and hold my foot tongue. We see this one a lot!

And this is my naughty monkey tongue because he kept sticking it out during Casey's lesson and distracting the kids we teach. But who am I kidding, it doesn't take much to distract the 12 year old kids in our class. He's got such a big head and it's still bald! Casey just keeps saying, he's got a big brain in that big head. Let's hope!

SUGIFEST!

You all lived it and loved it so I'm not going to write up a big long post. Here's some pics. Enjoy.

Unfortunately this is the best of all the photos. Our photographer apparently really wanted to get ALL of those shrubs behind us :)

 Ruby still talks about "milking the horse with grampie."

Today ruby picked up a rock and said, "climb mountain, throw rocks." I think the hike was her favorite. 

I still hear about some of you daily with phrases such as:
-Play mini golf with Tim. And Kylie!
-Share babies with Paxton
-Wanna hold baby carter
-Play gooey with grammie
-Grampie give you candy (I hear this one the most :)

First of many Anniversaries

For our first anniversary, Casey took me to The Roof restaurant. It was an amazing view and delicious food. Especially dessert-tried almost all of them (it was a buffet). Both Casey and I loved the creme brulee! After that, he took me to the same park where he originally proposed to me and asked me to be sealed to him. He was delighted when I said, yes! It was a wonderful night, with an wonderful man.

Thorn in my side...no wait my FOOT!!!

Well, mystery solved.  Yes, this is a thorn coming out of my foot.  How we got to this is quite the adventure.  It all started back in August as I was training for the Ragnar Relay.  I never noticed any sharp pain or bleeding, but I started to notice a small inflammed bump on the side of my foot.  I didn't pay much attention to it since it didn't hurt, just a small bump.  So after running the race winter hit as did my inactivity.  The bump went away and I forgot all about it until about 4 weeks ago. 
I played basketball 4 weeks ago and noticed that the bump returned.  Again, not a huge deal and I didn't pay much attention to it.  Then I played the next week and the bump became twice as large and twice as red.  It then started to hurt when I walked.  I tried different shoes and walked on my toes, but when the pain increase I decided I'd finally bite the bullet and get it checked out.  So I made an appointment with the podiatrist and went in last week (even though it actually started to feel better).  She was stumped.  Xrays were clear, nothing related to muscle or tendon.  She suspected a foreign body and wanted to cut into it to see if there'd be any drainage.  Well she cut a nice size slit, no drainage and somehow she missed this giant thorn in there.  She then wanted an MRI to see what was going on.  As you all know I'm not one to fork out $900 for anything, especially since it was feeling better.  I agreed that I'd get the MRI if it got worse.  As luck would have it I was playing with Paxton yesterday and as I rolled over the top of my foot I felt this intense stinging pain.  I looked down at my sock and saw something sticking out.  I thought it was just super inflammed but when I pulled my sock back, this is what I saw. 

I called Connie over and she started freaking out / laughing all at once.  We took a ton of pictures and then I pulled it the rest of the way out.  My foot has never felt better, and what a blessing it is to not have to get an MRI.  I just can't believe that has been in my foot for that long.  Yowzers!!!!

She's a talker!

It's sometimes frightening how smart this girl is! I'm always amazed at how fast she picks up songs and books. Sometimes the day after we go to the library she's reading the books to me! I love that she has started to sing with me and has stopped "singing" entire songs using the same note :) She has the sweetest voice and I can't get enough of it. The first video she is "reading" one of my childhood favorites. See if you can remember this little gem. (sorry it's so soft. Every time I got closer she would stop talking and want to "watch it.")

Here's one of her singing every dad's favorite song!

When she went to Michigan to visit Grammie and Grampie she needed some boots! I couldn't find any in Texas (shocker. It's like 70 degrees here). So we went to Meijer (oh how I miss it...) and found these. She struggled with the small heel so we didn't buy them. I'm regretting this decision daily.

Her other favorite song is "if you're silly and you know it make a funny face." She always wants me to sing it so she can do this face. What a goof. 

I'm still trying to get this morning sickness behind me! Being pregnant is the worst! But then there are moments like this when you remember that it's worth it. Can you see the family resemblance yet?

We're trying to teach her what it means to have a BROTHER. I'm pretty sure she's not getting it.