Happy Birthday, Carson !!

On Wednesday, Carson turned THREE!! I can't believe it.. it's gone by quickly but also gone by so slowly.. I'll say it's because he's very consistent. He gives 110% to everything he does (for good and bad) and definitely keeps me on my toes.

Now to reminisce.. my pregnancy with him was really hard.. I was sick the entire time, had Hyperthyroidism (over active thyroid) and PIH (pregnancy induced hypertension) and developed pre-eclampsia at the end and was induced. I was lucky that his labor was the easiest though (5 hours total). He was definitley worth it!

My biggest baby (by an ounce) at 6lbs and 14oz.Carson started crawling when he was 4 months old. Really, are you surprised? Around 10 months he quickly went from walking to running and I don't think he's ever stopped. The fact that when you let him outside and he takes off without looking back has been.. fun. :-S

His favorite person is definitely Mindy (who he affectinatley calls Minnie). She's 6 months younger and soo adorable.. they just love eachother. He asks several times each week to" go bye-bye and play Mindy's house". He also loves to talk about dodo (Jorden who we call Jo Jo) and Liz (my sister Amy's girls whom he calls Mamie).

This was at his first birthday party.. Carson and Mindy.

He's very passionate about everything he does. He's one of those kids that will "love you to death". I wasn't able to let Kaitlyn be down on the floor, as a baby, because he was sooo in love with her and liked poke and lay on her) and if you ever ask for a hug he'll run at you as fast as he can and give you the hug of your life. He loves to laugh.. he loves to be silly and make faces and noises. He loves it when Marci says something funny and we laugh.. he LAUGHS like it was the funniest thing he's ever heard. It's great.

Two years old.. moving in on Kaitlyn for the "loving".

I do also have to say, between you, me and the lampost, that I'm a little concerned for this upcoming year.. three has always been more difficult for my kids than the so called "terrible two's". I'm happy to report that in his three days of being a three year old, he has risen to that and gone beyond. His sudden tantrums where he screams and yells are sooo much fun! Especially when I've been at the store and he's rolling around in a grocery cart full of food. Most excellent.. the wide eyes of fellow shoppers are great. Good thing he's cute.

Luckily, his has a redeeming quality for the moment is that he wants to be a BIG BOY! Mr. Carson has voluntarily been going potty and even pooped! I know, you're so thrilled on my behalf, aren't you! Yesterday during our above grocery trip I bought him new Cars underwear. He wore it for about an hour and then decided he liked putting it on his head and looking out a leg hole. Unfortunaltey, I was in the middle of cooking dinner and my camera was not near. *sniff*


Now onto the birthday celebration. :o)

Carson's favorite foods are pizza, hot dogs and cold cereal (Reeses Pupps (puffs), Fruit Loops and Lucky Charms (mostly the marshmallows)). We typically go out to dinner on birthdays but he doesn't have a favorite place so we decided to stay home. I decided I didn't want to serve cereal (you're welcome to those that were here) and Drew didn't want to grill (he has Gout) so Pizza it was.. and very nice that cheap-o Little Ceasars is his favorite. Misty and her girls came over for our low-key dinner as did Lock and Marci. And then Grandma and Grandpa Young came over for cake.

Carson and Mindy
Opening presents.

Misty's girls got him a Deigo Car..

.. and candy. They also wanted to get him lipstick but Misty talked them out of that.

Batman Helicopter (and bubbles, chalk and M&M's) from us..
.. and an Imaginext Batman Castle! He LOVES it!! So much that he woke us up in the middle of the night yelling, "Where's my batman???" and then played for awhile.

Hade likes it too. I got this for $20 on a screaming deal just before Christmas.. it's been in my closet since then.

He also got a cute Monster Truck shirt and shorts from inlaws and my Dad & Barbara gave him a giftcard to Barnes & Nobel. It will be fun to see what he chooses.

Drew and Kait
Lock and Marci

Here's something else funny about Carson. He loves to sing, especially the Birthday song. He does NOT like other people to sing and will tell you to stop (or maybe it's just me). Groups of people singing scare him.

So when we were singing.. he ran off and hid under the table. LOL

Flaming candles brought him back.. he's definitley my child in that he loves fire.. here he is blowing them out.


Me with my little man.. you can tell he would have rather been playing with the batcave. lol
Giving him a big fat kiss.

We love you Carson!!

Do I have to claim it??

I'm known as "the loud one" on my side of the family. Growing up, if there was a sibling that was downstairs or outside, I was the one that yelled for them. Ok, it wasn't actually yelling.. just being loud.

Aubrey is loud.

Carson is LOUD.

When they are together, they are *L*O*U*D*.

Guess who else is officially in that category??





My favorite is near the end when she's 'rocking' in her booster.. if you watch Carson, he actually puts his finger to his mouth and says SSHHHH.

The Impossible.

I love to play the piano.

I took lessons from the time I was 7 until the time I was 14. I stopped because my teacher wanted me to practice 90 minutes a day, 6 days a week. I did continue to play though and by the time I was a senior, I was able to pick up almost any piece of music and just play it. I totally rocked! Now... not so much.

I totally underestimated how impossible it is to play when you have children. My kids are fascinated by the piano and LOVE to play when I do. Their favorite is to play very loudly and quickly, two deep or two very high notes while I am playing.. "it sounds so much better!". :-S

Well, I have decided I want and need to reclaim the piano. I'm considering hiding a stick in the piano bench so that I can poke them, to stay back, if needed. Or if I could get Aubrey to coordinate some dance moves with my music and get the boys to perform, that would work just as well. I'm pretty sure it's considered manly to know how to dance like Hannah Montana.. right??? And I can deal with Kaitlyn's little fingers reaching up to play because that is just pure cuteness.

The current piece I am working on is from the movie August Rush. I just adore the music in that movie. This video is (obviously) someone else playing it and they posted it on you tube.. just thought y'all would want to know what I'm working on. (btw, the person makes several mistakes.. so don't hold me to having it sound exactly like that.. lol)



And while I was blog hopping today I stumbled upon this:
http://www.playlist.com/playlist/additem/1361478

I have listened to it about 50 million times. Can't. Get. Enough.

What do you think??