Our little skeleton...

Nana Caryn had bought Carson a skeleton outfit and he wore it yesterday.

He might have to wear it today, too....because it's so cute.

I think we might even have to get him a job modeling skeleton outfits!

Carson is having such a fun week. He is enjoying spending time with his Nana Baba and Papa Dave. He makes them chase him around the house and read him the same books over and over again. I am pretty sure they are loving every second of it, too.

Carson is learning about Halloween in books and shows this week and we are getting ready to put on his "DJ Lance" costume tomorrow. We were out playing the other day and there was a little girl there dressed up like a bee. He followed her around for awhile....saying "Beeeeeeee! Beeeeeeeeee!" and pointing at her. I'm sure she was like "Kid, deal with it! It's just Halloween!"

But he was seriously excited. I'm sure he will love seeing all the kids dressed up on Saturday.

Carson had his 18 month appointment at the doctor yesterday.

Newest stats...He weighs 30 lbs (92nd percentile) and is 34 1/2 inches (96th percentile).

Sooooo...I've been carrying around a 30 pound Christmas Ham and a nearly 7 lb baby Samantha inside....so much for having to go to Body Pump! Carson is, without a doubt, giant.

He is already over half way to being as tall as me.

We are on Samantha Watch over here....Four more days after today and she will be here.

I have my last doctor's appointment today and my surgery is scheduled for 7:30 AM on Tuesday November 3rd. This week has gone by slowly because we've been waiting for her.

We just can't wait to see her little face and for Carson to have a sibling...how lucky they will be to have each other!

Mama, mama, mama....MOMMMEEEEE!

Carson's new funny thing is teasing me by saying "Mama, Mama, Mama....Mommmmmeeeeeeeeeeee!" It is so hilarious. He knows it makes me laugh so he does it over and over again. He already has such a great sense of humor....he has it on both sides (Grandpa Dennis, Papa Dave, and Grandpa Eddie are huge jokesters) so he has it coming from all angles.

Fun with the Fam....

Grandma Barbie and Papa Dave arrived this past weekend and we are enjoying their visit.

They will be here with us through Thanksgiving to visit and help us with our growing brood of babies....and it is much appreciated! It is very fun to have them here. Here are some pics of what we have been up to....

Carson catches up on his reading...He is enjoying his new Halloween books compliments of Nana Caryn and Nana Baba....

Getting ready to do some more pumpkin carving...

Practicing our writing in the yard....hopefully not encouraging Carson to become a tagger....

Nana Baba and Papa Dave take pumpkin carving very seriously! :)

The fam of three....about to be four!

Samantha's appointment was great again today and she is showing no signs of having any other plans besides joining us on November 3rd. I definitely have ants in my pants now because I am so excited to see her little face. We can't wait to snuggle up with her! I can't believe we are about to be parents of TWO babies and we are just hoping that everything continues to go well for the rest of the week. One week from tomorrow is the big day!

Puddin' Pie

Jason let Carson feed himself his pudding last night.

See the fun we had....from start to clean-up!

Foods of the Day

Carson and I stopped at Glazier's Market at Warm Springs and Durango today.

Anyone that lives in LV should go there...It is like a "Diet" Whole Foods in my opinion.

They have everything but it's a lot cheaper than Whole Foods (and much less snooty).

Plus it is a locally owned place!

I bought crab salad, artichoke mozzarella salad, and almonds there today...

and Carson ate all three for lunch.

Mmmmm....they must taste better than rocks!

Samantha is hanging in there this week....she is kicking harder than ever and I think she is trying to crawl her way out as I type this.

Otherwise, I have no signs that she won't be in there until November 3rd.

I thought of trying to bribe my OB into doing my c-section at 38 weeks instead of 39.

I figured that if this is a tipping town...a Benjamin or two might convince him to relieve me of this baby a little sooner than later?!?!

But never mind....onto November 3rd....she will have been worth the wait!

Beautiful Pictures

We just had some professional pictures taken of Carson by Hilary Helton. www.heltonphotography.com

She did the most amazing job of capturing Carson's personality.

These pics turned out so great...

Don't worry, family....Christmas is coming up!

I am excited because she is coming back to take family pictures for us after Samantha gets here.

Enjoy!

37 Weeks

I officially have the best husband in the whole entire world....because he came home from the store the other day with none other than a leopard print SNUGGIE for moi!

I am modeling the snuggie as the world's best pregnancy outfit.....Makes 37 weeks look so attractive, right?? Even if my bump is as big as a continent, at least I'm comfortable!

Thanks babe....you are the bomb diggity!

He loves babies!

We had some fabulous visitors this weekend....All of Jason's friends from law school were here in town staying at the Vacation House while they had their annual fantasy basketball draft for the 7th year in a row....I had my good friend Sarah Riley in town and we also had a fun visit with our good friends Deana and Jason Bickler and their twin babies, Jackson and Alex, who are handsome and perfect! We were so happy to get to snuggle with them!

Carson loved his time with the babies. He was so interested in them and so intruiged by all of their gear, especially the boppy pillows, their carseats, and the baby papasan chair.

I can only imagine what he will try to do with the baby swing once it is back in place in our living room.

Below....Playing with our "organic" sticker at lunch...

So happy having visitors....especially those babies!

Just wait buddy...soon you will have one of those all to yourself, 24/7/365!

Enjoying the baby papasan....

My shows look so great from these boppy pillows...

Snuggling up with Daddy after a long, fun day of playing hard....

Baby Samantha is doing so, so awesome. She has rocked all of her monitoring appointments. She has some serious grace under pressure....I am thinking that she will have no problem hitting her beam routine in the NCAA Gymnastics Super Six Finals in 2027! :)

She weighed 6 lbs, 1 oz at her appointment one week ago, and she has definitely continued to grow. We are so excited to meet her, two weeks from tomorrow (or sooner, if she decides it should be that way!)

A palate like no other...

Carson enjoyed our creative arts activity this afternoon, which was pumpkin carving.

Basically, I took the top off of the pumpkin and dug out the seeds, and I let him play with it.

We all know what happened next, given our sweet boy's history of eating things.

So far, things we've had in our mouth include a rusty nail, potting soil, sand, gravel, a nasty cigarette butt at the park, sidewalk chalk, crayons, markers, and foreign string dug up from the sand at the park. To our credit, he eats asparagus, broccoli, and green beans.

But he also has a fondness for things that are not food.

Today, we added raw pumpkin to our growing list of nasty things that we've attempted to eat.

If you flip on "Fear Factor" 20 years from now, don't be surprised to see our Carson, eating a tarantula or a piece of cow's bowel.

In the meantime, pumpkin carving was fun....he was mostly interested in the gook and putting it...where else? In his mouth!

After his 10th taste of pumpkin, he decided it was disgusting.

I know I am going to catch you-know-what from Aunt Jenny for the fashion faux pas in the pictures above. Yes, ladies and gentleman, we committed the ultimate "fashion don't" this afternoon....Crocs with socks! I promise, Jen...it was all for the sake of convenience!

Bro and sis....

Carson and the Stinky Sis Samantha were chillin' this weekend....

He can't wait to be a big bro.

36 weeks and counting....We're ready whenever she is!

Our pumpkin at the patch....

Last weekend, we adventured to the pumpkin patch down the street from us and Carson checked it out. It's not a traditional Midwest pumpkin patch like we are used to...it's more of a "staged" pumpkin patch if you will...but for the 10 minutes that Carson wanted to stay there, it was perfect and he got the idea. It has a bounce house, a petting zoo, and pumpkins...what more could you want?

He was all "Hawked out" for Iowa vs. Michigan that evening....Carson has worn this shirt for each Hawkeye game this season and we are 6-0. Daddy is very adamant that this shirt be worn for every Hawkeye game for the rest of the year since it's worked so far!

If he could have climbed into the wheelbarrow, he would have!

Chasing goats in the petting zoo....

Hot stuff in the bounce house...

Moose on the run....

Carson just loves to be chased. He doesn't get chased much during the day anymore because my run has slowed to a tortoise's pace....but when Daddy gets home, it's on like donkey kong!

In other news, Carson perfected his version of the "Hokey Pokey" today, including the "turn yourself around" part. A video of that will hopefully be coming soon. He is also, as of today, the proud owner of a talking Elmo potty, which he has already sat on several times tonight, just for kicks.

Samantha has been perfect at all of her monitoring appointments this week. We go back to the specialist on Monday to check up on how she is growing. From the looks of my bump, I'd say she is doing just fine in that department!

A big happy birthday to Carson's Auntie Annon today....She is the big 1-1 today. She's so smart, beautiful, and sweet....I know baby Samantha will want to be just like her.

35 Weeks

35 Week Bump....getting a little out of control! We are almost there...two more weeks until the week that I had Carson, and four more weeks until the scheduled c-section.

It's go time!

Fall!

Fall in Vegas is so pretty and so much fun.

Jason chased Carson around the park on Sunday and I took pictures. My slide-riding skills have been kicked to the curb for the moment, so Jason is all over it.

Stinky Fish is getting so independent at the park. He can climb up to the slide and go down it, all by himself.

Carson's new word this week is "goat".

Yes, a perfectly normal word that people say everyday, right?

Oh yeah...we talk about goats ALL the time! :)

Sweet new PJs

Carson recently got some sweet PJs in the mail from Nana Baba and Papa Dave.

They have all of his Sesame Street buddies on them and he looks so cute in them.

Thanks for the cool PJs, Baba and Papa!

Jammin'

Carson shows off some more jams.....

Springs Preserve...

We were back at the Springs Preserve today...one of the coolest places in Vegas, IMO!

Carson and his buddies Michael and Nicholas were up to no good and tore up the place like nobody's business! We played in the sand pit, got wet, got very dirty, and then did it all again.

We also saw lizards, bunnies, and desert flowers blooming everywhere. It was a great morning!

Hitting on the cute girl in the sand pit...

Driving the train....

Congrats also to Jason's cousin David and his wife Anne, who had a beautiful baby girl today named Callie Jane! Carson and Samantha will be so excited to meet their new cousin when we get back to the Midwest. Our friends Ken and Stephanie Wright also had their baby, Collin James, today. It's a great day because babies are being born everywhere!

This only means one thing...we're next!