Cousins

My sister Jessica is staying at Mom and Dad's for a few weeks before the big move to Kiev, Ukraine. Her little boy, Keenan is the happiest little baby I think I've ever seen. He just likes everyone! My mom or sister took these pictures of all four cousins together. So far, that's all the cousins--two more on the way! Cade and Avery are my sister Christy's, then Carter, and Keenan playing with the toy phone. It will be awhile before we have another opportunity to get pictures of all the cousins. It's so fun that they are all about the same age. I'm not sure Avery is as excited about Carter holding her as Carter is about it!

I remember when I found out that I was pregnant with Carter I was kinda sad that Carter would be all alone. None of my other 3 siblings were married or planning kids at any time soon, but within a year of Carter being born, all 3 got married and promptly started having kids! Just goes to show you never know!

Yesterday it started snowing after I dropped Carter off at Landa's for the morning. Everything looked so pretty and peaceful that I had to take a picture. The house needs so much work, but with the snow, you can't see it. The barn and the outbuildings all need paint and covered with steel, not to mention to corrals need to be stood back up! (They fell over this winter, but we knew they were going to...) The yard in the back is all tore up. Right before Christmas, Carter managed to flush a whole box of diaper wipes down the toilet and it clogged up the pipe. It was great. When you flushed the toilet, the bathtub filled up. We had no idea where the septic was actually located so they had to dig around to find it, and managed to cut the electricity to the house. On the plus side, they did find the septic, it was located BELOW the garden (which was good!) and it was working (we had no idea other than we knew it was really old) other than when filled up with diaper wipes.

This morning when I was taking Carter down to my mom's, we drove over a pretty big bump and the truck has poor shocks, so it bounced pretty good. Carter looked over at me and says "Whoa Truck!" Then "Come back here Truck, Stop!" It was pretty funny--she was acting like it was a runaway pony.

My old home

The house that I'm currently living is a rather old house. My gramma's sister can remember being down here as a little girl before the house had running water. (Yikes!) However that does explain why all the water in the house is basically one side of the house. I'm sure by the time we are all done fixing it up, it would have been easier and cheaper to build a new one. This is still a huge (HUGE!) improvement from all the other places we've lived in the last 3 years in Montana--the first not being ours, and the second was a single wide trailer. It's been pretty drafty this winter so I'm hoping in the next year or two to get some of the windows (at least on the windy side) replaced. On a good windy day, you can feel the breeze moving through the house even if all the windows are shut and latched. Plus one outside door doesn't close all the way. (You'd think having a carpenter for a husband would be a bonus, but as the saying goes "the shoemaker's kids go barefoot...") My biggest issue has been the bugs. I normally don't mind a few. That comes with old houses in general. But this winter I've been killing 1 or 2 paper wasps a day and have been stung 3 times--two of them managed to crawl up my dang pant leg to attack me!!!! I'm trying to hold out until my second trimester starts before I have someone come spray my house, but I'm counting the days! Oh and I have ants--yep in the winter! If you leave any clothes on the bathroom floor for more than an hour, it's covered in little black ants. They seem pretty harmless, I've only had one bite me and I must say he was a bit provoked. (Curiosity killed the cat...) I am normally against spraying and like to use more natural methods just because the insecticides seem to bother me, but enough is enough!

Carter insisted on taking another bath in the sink yesterday afternoon. What a mess. I had water every where, but she had a pretty good time. She saw me cleaning the sink and instantly decided "Me dirty, Momma. Me need bath" Naturally, in the sink. She had on a sweatshirt that had a stain on it, so she was dirty for sure. I don't know how clean she gets in the sink, but she has a great time. In the picture below, she holding on the to faucet so that water sprays all over. Arrrgg!

Carter is also now into dressing herself. She loves to get a whole pile of clothes, particularly clothes she hasn't seen or worn in a long time and try to get them all on. She's wearing at least 4 summer shirts underneath her dress, along with a pair of short and her Elmo slippers--jumping on the couch. It was pretty cute.

It's also getting harder for me to take her picture. I usually get one or two tries then she either wants the camera to take her own pictures or will hide or scowl when I try to take any more pictures.

Oh the guilt!

Carter did NOT want to go to Gramma Aunty's today. (This is what we named her Aunty Linda, who was so used to being the only one with grandkids for quite some time, that she kept calling herself Gramma) Gramma Aunty has been watching her one day a week on Tuesday's to give Landa a free day. Since Carter was sick, or playing sick enough to stay home yesterday, she was pretty sure she needed to stay again today. Robert tried to get her up at 6:30 to take her with him and she cried and just wanted to go back to sleep. Since Robert had taken her to town with him last night for supplies and they didn't get home till way late, I figured she probably did need to sleep in. At 8 am I went back and tried to wake her up again, and normally if I wake her up, within 5 or 10 minutes, she's up and ready to go. Not today. By 9 she still didn't want to get out of bed, although she was hoping that I would bring breakfast in bed! What?? Robert called and said one of his guys was coming back to the house to pick up some lumber and she could ride over with him back to Gramma Auntys. Robert is in the middle of a big remodel job for Linda, so it's kinda nice to have him so close. He's been working in Columbus and had to leave the house by 6 am so we didn't see him as much. So I hurried up and got Carter dressed despite the protest and crying. She kept telling me, "Me stay with you, me stay home t'day." Oh, I felt horrible! I really needed to finish up some work today since she had stayed home yesterday. She cried all the way to Shawn's truck telling me that she needed to "huggle you" and that Shawn didn't like her. (She loves Shawn when she's in a good mood). The last couple of weeks she been slowly getting more adamant about staying home. She loves to go when she gets where we're going, but it the going part she hates. (Unless it's going to town with Dad!) I feel so guilty some days and really wish she could stay home more. I have a pretty ideal situation right now where she's only gone for a few hours in the morning--generally from about 8 am to 1 pm and spends the rest of the afternoon with me. Sigh. It's never easy being mom. I think you feel guilty no matter what you do. I wish I could be a stay at home mom some days although it is honestly WAY more work than actually going to a job, and I wonder if I'm really up to it. I enjoy the quite time I have to work and do my own stuff each day. But that isn't an option right now, although with number 2 on the way, we're certainly looking into the possibility. I'm also checking out a couple stay at home job options, such as getting certified in Quickbooks and as bookkeeper and see if I can't do some odd jobs like that--my Aunt Nancy thinks there is a good opportunity. However, if I do stay home, there may also be the opportunity to watch my sister Christy's two kids and my brother's soon to be new baby. I'm not sure I'm up to that, but who knows? It would sure be nice for all the cousins to grow up together, and it's only for a few years. (Years seems rather ominous...) But for now, as much as I HATE the wait and see approach, that is kinda what I need to do right now.



Carter went to town with Robert on Sunday and the only thing she wanted to wear was her puppy dog suit. It was a Halloween costume that we didn't end up wearing because Grampa came up with a Chicken suit. (She really wanted to wear that too, but I decided the puppy dog was the lesser of two evils.) She had a ball in town with everyone admiring her outfit, which included the mask, which unfortunately sounded like she was saying 'ass' when you asked her what it was.

My little sweetheart

Ever since I found out I was pregnant with number two, I've been worried about how this is going to effect my relationship with my number one little girl. She has been a momma's girl with a capital "M" from day one. As a baby, she very seldom would let anyone but me hold her without a huge fuss, and this included her dad. I pretty much held her 24/7 best I can tell because she'd cry every time I put her down, even when sleeping, she'd instantly wake up when I put her down and start crying. I think I managed to survive this by constantly telling myself that I was only doing this once, so I really needed to enjoy every minute of it. So imagine my terror at the thought of doing all over, only this time with another baby! I've naturally been reading all kinds of articles and books about introducing a new sibling with the hope that we'll find something that will ease the transition. Robert has been spending more time with Carter which has really helped them bond more and she's more willing to go to dad for comfort on occasion when mom is busy--something that has been long and hard come by! I know she sounds terribly spoiled, and probably is, but this seems to been what she needed at the time was lots of attention from mom. I read the book about High Maintenance Baby's by Dr. Sears, and it just clicked, this was definitely my little girl to a T. So I followed his advice of giving more to the baby that needs more, but wow, it really took it's toll. But, now teaching her to share her mommy with another baby is going to be our next big challenge. She has never liked me holding or playing with other babies at all. She's getting a little better since we've been working on it, but as soon as I pick up one of her little cousins, she instantly by my side demanding up and saying "MY MOMMY!" We've told her about the baby that's coming, but she doesn't really get it. As far as she's concerned, all women have babies in their bellies (which around here, certainly seems to be true!) and she has a baby in her belly too. Just ask and she'll tell you all about it. I think last I heard, it even has black hair. My mom and I are planning to get her a fun doll with all kinds of accessories, so that when I bring home a new baby, she will have her very own new baby as well. Not sure she's going to buy it, but it's worth a try. I just have these nightmares that she will be like this one friend's little boy who was so awful to his new brother, constantly going out of his way to hit or push the baby. I can't believe his little brother actually survived.

On the plus side, Carter just loves my sister's new baby, Avery. Granted, Avery is not competing for attention from HER MOMMY, but it's a start. She loves to hold Avery and wants to help my sister change diapers and would help feed her if she could. She's constantly asking to go see baby Avery (which in Carter speak sounds like Aby) so she can hold her. She was really disappointed when we had dinner at my mom's on Friday and she couldn't hold her because she was sleeping. My other sister Jessica is home for one last big hurrah before moving to Kiev, Ukraine. It was really good to see her and her baby Keenan who is getting SO big! He is so sweet and happy, I'm almost jealous. Carter never giggled as a baby or coo'd for that matter, and he loves to do both. Sigh. Don't get me wrong, I couldn't love my wild little girl more. Hopefully I'm not in the dog house though. Last time Keenan was here, Carter managed to give him pink eye and give him his first bad cold. When we got home from dinner she had a temperature of 102 and was coughing. It was a long weekend.

We spent today with her home sick--well I think she played sick since she didn't want to go to the sitters. (Yep, learning that one already!) We played on her stick horses, chasing cows around the house, took a long walk and went for a pony ride on Picky (my horse that she has claimed as MY Picky) We jumped on the couch, painted and colored pictures, watched a movie, made banana bread--she mostly made sure I made a big enough mess, gave her a bath in the kitchen sink for almost 1.5 hours. She LOVES bathing in the sink, don't ask me why. It's a nice big farm type sink, so she still fits in it and she will spend hours playing it it, with me periodically draining the water so it doesn't overflow. Oh and somewhere around all this I managed to get in 5 hours of work, before she woke up, during nap and after dad came and rescued me. All in all a pretty good day.

Missing Tiger

For the last 6 months or so, Carter has had a tiger that followed her everywhere. Granted, no one but Carter could see the tiger, but he was definitely busy! When I was handing out snacks, she made sure to get one for Tiger and would carefully set it on the floor for him. After awhile, she would head back to est the snack, being sure to let you know that Tiger had decided he didn't want it. Mostly, Tiger was friendly, but when trying to get Carter in her own bed by herself, the tiger's bad side would come out. "Tiger get me, Momma! Me need snuggle!" We even occasionally hunted Tiger. Armed with brooms and sometimes the mop, we'd hunt out all the dark scary places of the house and chase him out. Tiger even spent a wild afternoon chasing rats in my car while we were driving over to my sister's house. (Not sure where Carter came up with that!) My mom was watching Carter one day and she kept getting into stuff she wasn't supposed to, but when mom asked her about it, Carter was always sure Tiger did it! My cousin Wynne's kids picked up on that real fast. She was trying to find out who had knocked something over in the living room and when she turned around, she heard one of her kids whisper, " Carter's Tiger must has done it." She said it was really hard to keep a straight face. However the last month or so, Tiger has disapeared. I find that I kinda miss him. He was rather exciting and very inventive at the least and alway worth a good laugh--for me anyway. Carter even spent one afternoon catching him as he jumped out of the living room lights. It was great.

My mom managed to get Carter to sit still long enough to get 2 tiny braids in her hair. I'm kinda jealous because Carter hardly ever even lets me comb her hair and even then, it's under serious protest. You'd think I was killing her. Sigh. Even Landa, her babysitter, gets to comb her hair. She looked so cute with her braids in--well at least from the pictures. By the time, I got back to mom's to pick up Carter, she had already pulled them out. Notice the little sticker earings--she just loves those! Blake got her hooked.

Getting Ready for Number 2

Happy Valentines Day!

Tuesday I had my first ultrasound. I'm still kinda in awe that you can get pictures and 'see' your baby before it's even born. It's so amazing. As much weight as I managed to gain in the first couple weeks after I found out we were pregnant again, I had two fears going into the ultrasound: 1. That I was having twins or 2. I wasn't having twins but was actually going to gain more than 45 pounds this time. Well, no twins, so I'm thinking I betting get some exercise equipment in my house. This winter has been so dang cold and windy, it's been really hard to motivate myself to go outside and take a walk or anything. The ultrasound was so interesting. With Carter, she was only 6 weeks when I had the first ultrasound because they thought she was a potential miscarrage. All you could really see in the image was a small bump with a flicker for the heartbeat. Not much to see really. However, with Number 2 being just over 9 weeks, you could see the little body and actually make out the tiny arms and legs moving around. What a little wiggle worm-I can't believe there is all that activity going on inside me and I don't even notice right now! (I know, the elbows in the bladder and feet kicking the ribs will start plenty soon!) Robert was pretty amazed by the whole experience.

I took Carter over yesterday to see her brand new cousin Avery. She's been hounding me to go visit so she could hold her. We got her all set down (and calmed down--bouncing up and down on my sister's bed didn't seem like a good plan) and handed her Avery very carefully. Carter must have held her for 10 minutes...fairly amazing for a 2 year old. She loved every minute of it and was rather cross when Christy finally picked Avery up for some lunch. I'm hoping that Carter will be as excited for her own little sibling although I imagine it's going to take some adjustment to not being the only center of mommy's attention. I'm trying to read up on some ideas for introducing the new family member to her and so far really like the idea of bringing home a new doll for her when I bring the new baby home from the hospital so we both have new babies since she's just starting to get into dolls.

Little Avery Eileen Gerdes, few hours old. I have newer pictures but have to first get my camera back from Dad--long story and then find a cable to plug it in to my computer. My Gramma Betty gave me one of Grampa Ben's cameras to use but I apparently didn't pick up all the right cables. sigh.

Helping Dad with the Fireplace

As if I didn't need all the extra guilt. My sister discovered that you can go back and add posts that you may have missed. Since I didn't get real serious about blogging until March, I've got a bunch of pictures to add to January and February. I'm trying to get the year all wrapped up so I can publish my blog into a keepsake book for my kids. So here we go... Carter is alway big helper, and Robert is really great about letting her help lots. Here Robert is getting our new fireplace set up. My Aunty Linda had Robert remodel parts of her house and we made out with her fireplace. It's a wonderful big fireplace that darn near keeps our whole house warm.

Carter handing over bricks...

Storytime with Grampa

Carter getting in a little storytime with Grampa.

Recovering After Christmas

Happy New Years...9 days late! Things are finally getting somewhat back to normal after all the holiday fanfare. We had a pretty quiet Christmas this year, compared to other years. All my siblings were away celebrating with their respective inlaws. (Almost made me feel a trifle guilty...and then I think about flying with Carter...) So we had a small party the weekend before Christmas with Mom and Dad, my brother and his wife, and my sister Christy and her family before they all took off. Jess was in Virginia and missed! We had decided this year to skip presents to each other and just focus on the kids. My family is SOO large that it can really get overwhelming and just suck the merry right out of Christmas trying to get presents for everyone. Carter had a ball opening all her presents, well the toys as least. She opened a box of clothes from Mom and tried to give it back. "Don't want it, Bomma!" she says very indignantly and wanted to go back to playing with all the toys. She did however have to say thank you! (Trying not to raise a complete monster here, with as about as much sucess as can be expected from a very strong minded 2 year old. If you call her monster, she'll look up at me very serious, "Me not monster, momma. Me not. Me Carter!") She love her cow flash light that moo's everytime you turn it on, but her very favorite Christmas present (and she had piles of presents thanks to Roberts mom who is very big on Christmas presents) was a bag of 8 KoolAid flavored chapstick!

Robert and I decided not to buy any additional presents for Carter since she had so many wonderful presents this year. Instead we got her a membership to The Little Gym. They have a weekly class that meets on Saturdays for 2 year olds to run around and play with a parent, doing some structured activities, but mostly letting the children explore and have fun. What an experience! Carter was very intimidated by all the little kids, since living in the country, she really doesn't get to see anyone else her age. Only Cade is younger right now. So, it's been a great learning experience for Carter to interact with other kids her age.

Christmas we let go of the madness and mostly stayed home. I came down with a horrible cold, the septic tried to backup...actually got plugged up thanks to various items flushed down the toilet by the ever helpful Carter, the weather was very cold and snowy. We got up late and opened the remaining presents. We had been letting Carter open a few here and there so she didn't have so many on Christmas and get bored with the whole thing (fat chance really). We later went to my Mom's house for a late Christmas brunch. It was just Robert, Carter, Mom and Dad, Gramma Betty and myself. Dad had gotten Carter a 'Make Your Own Gingerbread' house kit, so we brought that down to make at his house. So Robert, Dad and Carter had way too much fun but the gingerbread house actually turned out pretty good and much less messy than my mom had figured.

Christmas Plunder

Carter had a great big Christmas this year. Robert's mom sent boxes of presents and Carter had a blast opening them all up. You can see the pile of loot behind her. Robert's mom has been so great about sending lots of boxes and Carter just loves it. I really liked the Elmo slippers, and all the clothes.

Carter and Dad blowing up balloons.

Lots of books and coloring books... Good ways to keep this little wild girl busy for maybe 2 minutes when it's cold and we can't get outside.