Super Freak

So many things are fun about staying home with Carson.......one being that you can spent 20 minutes dancing to a musical card before 8 AM!

The latest prized possession....

Compliments of Nana Caryn, Carson is now the proud owner of his most prized possession....

a pink vacuum!

Pink was the only color vacuum we could find at Target that particular day, so pink it is!

Those of you who know Jason and my mom all understand why our child might have an innate love for Hoovering (or "hoo hoo"-ing, as he likes to call it). It's totally in the genes.

Carson loves vacuums, big and small. Any chance this love for cleaning will extend into the teenage years? Only time will tell!

Little helper with silly faces

It's been another fun week!

Carson was active today helping Jason and Papa Dave work in the baby's room. We have her crib up and the Paris theme looks fabulous....I will put up pics of the finished product when it's done. He didn't wear pants all afternoon today...one of the many perks of being a baby.

Chillin' in my rocker (soon to be donated to Samantha) with my loveys and "mon mon"....

Helping Daddy and Papa in Samantha's room...everything is more fun without pants.

Catching up on his shows with Nana Caryn...We had so much fun with her visiting us this week.

Silly faces on Mama's birthday while eating my "Nothing Bundt Cake"....

In the "pooooooool" with Nana Caryn...

A mean game of peekaboo in the car...

In the pit at gymnastics with Nana Baba...I am pretty sure there are not many Nanas out there who can navigate the pit. Nice work GB!

Getting ready to ride the rollar coaster at gymnastics....

The face says it all!

He is tall enough to reach our second -level cabinets now and so this week we had to baby proof those cabinets we never thought we would need to baby proof! If we didn't do it, we would have Carson sampling all of our spices from our cupboard.

New words from Carson this week are "uh oh," "star," "moon," and "daddy."

Meet Samantha Michaelene Smith in 3D!

We had a 3D ultrasound tonight to see the little face of our baby girl, Samantha!

We finally decided on her name a little while ago after much debate. After all the debating, Samantha was the name that stuck around the longest, and after seeing her today, I think it's perfect. She is cuter than cute and a sassy-pants already. She didn't want to show her face for quite some time and had her elbows and hands all over her face to prevent us from seeing her...finally she decided to show off a little and we got some great pics!

We think she looks a little bit like Carson.

It's a fun week because Jason's parents and my mom are all in town hanging out with us. It's so fun to have family around after a tough week last week. I am so happy to be home with my boys. Now it's time to enjoy my pregnancy and get ready for our little lady to join us in a couple of months....We cannot wait to have a little girl join our family! I never imagined we'd be so lucky to have a boy and a girl - it's like winning the lottery, twice.

The pregnancy is going great and we hope it continues to.

Dennis Burke 1946-2009

Most of you know that my Dad passed away on Tuesday morning. It is very sad but a huge relief for those of us who watched him suffer from cancer in the last few months. You can read his death notice below, which will be appearing in the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who has called me and emailed me with their love and sympathy...I really do appreciate it. It has been hard for me to call everyone back, as it has been a busy couple of days. But we do appreciate every call, thought, and prayer that comes our way!

Dennis Burke, age 63, passed away on August 18, 2009. Born in Chicago on June 18, 1946, he was a lifelong resident of Chicago and resided most recently in Tinley Park. Loving father of Courtney (Jason) Smith, Felecia Fragale, and Annon Burke; proud “Papa” to Carson David Smith; dear brother to Sharon (Patrick) Mensik and Brian (Nancy) Burke; cherished friend of Debbie Burke. He was preceded in death by his mother, Lorraine Burke, and his father, George F. Burke. Dennis was a friend and confidant to many who were lucky enough to know him. He enjoyed life and laughter and all who knew him were touched by his sense of humor and positive spirit. We will miss him dearly. Memorial service to be held on Saturday, August 22nd, 2009 at 10 A.M., at All Saints Lutheran Church, 13350 S. LaGrange Road, Orland Park, IL. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to All Saints Lutheran Church and Vitas Hospice.

Baby Girl Update!

Here are some great pics of Carson that my good friend Sarah Oliver took last Friday when they watched Carson for us. She has an amazing camera!

I had a great appointment on Tuesday with my perinatologist and our baby girl has been given an excellent report! She weighs about 2 lbs, 3 oz right now at 27 weeks and all of her body parts and organs are developing normally and growing right on target for her due date. We are still planning the c-section for 39 weeks, which is about November 3rd give or take a day or so. We are beyond thrilled that everything has continued to go so well. I can never get sick of those ultrasound images showing those little baby body parts, working away as hard as they can. We also got a 3D image of our baby's little face, which was awesome. I cannot post it because our scanner isn't working right now, but she is very, very beautiful....ladies, hold onto your gentlemen! We are getting more and more excited for the arrival of the Stinky Fish's "Stinky Sis" as we affectionately call her. Carson loves to kiss and hug my belly when I ask him "Where is the baby?" Unfortunately, we all know that he has no idea that his life is about to be turned upside down in a couple of months. But he is going to be a super fabulous big bro and we cannot wait to see him in that role.

Carson is up to his usual antics...every day is special and fun because he is learning so much at once. He is trying his hand at getting his way in a few different ways...namely tantrums...at the library.....during storytime.....when it's completely quiet there and his yells echo through the halls...At any rate, he is learning his boundaries and limits and he is a great boy. We are not quite ready for structured activities like music class and storytime but we are trying them anyway.
He loves being outside and hates to be in the house for more than a couple of hours at a time....we go out at least once every day and still go to the park despite the 100 degree temps...he doesn't seem to care much about the weather as long as we are out there where he can slide and swing and see "bow wows" whenever possible. New words are "bat" and "gorilla" and he says "hi" to me everytime I open the car door to get him out of his carseat. He has the whole charade to "Five little monkeys jumping on the bed" going on and he has about 20 signs that he can do on command. He is getting so smart and independent and we love our little Stinky Fish more than ever!

Fun at the park!

Carson is a huge fan of this park near our house, Red Ridge Park.

He tore up the place this morning!

This is the water park that he thinks is awesome. He runs in and out of these little sprinkler/water shooters and he has a blast. It's perfect for the hot Vegas summer days!

Carson continues to be obsessed with opening and closing gates and doors. Here he acts as the "park bouncer". IDs please!

Our baby girl has an appointment on Tuesday, and we are looking forward to seeing her again on the ultrasound to see how she's grown in 4 weeks! We are rockin' on her nursery and the Paris theme is in full effect. I ordered an Eiffel Tower decal for her wall yesterday and today we hit Babies R Us for some items. Her room is going to be incredibly cute. I will post pics as it all comes together.

Here is a cute video of Carson at the park today.....

15 Months

Our little man is officially 15 months! We are back in Las Vegas after a fun trip back to the Midwest and Carson is enjoying "waking up in Vegas." Carson had his 15 month check-up today and he was declared healthy as a horse. He is 33.5 inches (94th percentile), 27 lbs, 15 oz (88th percentile), and of course, we are 93rd percentile for head circumference! Carson is getting smarter by the minute....He is signing more and more, and today tried to say "barn" and "moon." This is such a fun age to experience and we are loving watching our baby boy grow into his own independence. As for baby girl, she continues to kick like crazy and is still craving spicy foods. I am almost 26 weeks and I feel awesome, aside from the occasional back twinges that come from carrying one baby inside and one almost-28 pound monster on the outside!