Birthday Weekend.

This boy is TWO!!

And we had quite a busy weekend. I have been so excited about nap time today just so I could have a little down time!!

The weekend's events went something like this: Friday: FREE day at the Children's museum (what a fun place!!), ran errands to get ready for Carson's super last-minute little birthday party, planned our training run and stashed the water, made Carson's cake and party food (I have NO expertise on cake decorating, but decided to make a HELICOPTER cake. Oops.) Saturday: Ran 20 MILES, threw Carson his party, then spent the evening making three different kids of soup. Did I mention I ran 20 miles??????? Sunday: church all morning, then spent the afternoon re-arranging the house (multiple times) to accommodate 10 guests for dinner, hosted a wonderful dinner group full of delightful guests including some elderly ladies in our church (where we served all that soup), then Rick sang in a musical event at the church later that evening.

The evidence, in pictures:

(Except we didn't get pictures of yesterday's dinner group. I was so proud of those soups, and I totally should have taken a picture of the spread!! And no pictures of the 20 mile run either, although Salem Lake was so beautiful!!)

At the Children's museum, cooking up something yummy.

Ok, at the museum, Carson found this nursing pillow and took quite a while to sit and arrange himself with it around him. Once he got all situated, he looked at me and said, "I need Everett." Yep, after I handed Everett over, Carson lifted up his shirt to "give mommy milk." This should be embarrassing in a few years!!

Eating a free donut after "working" at the Krispy Kreme factory.

More fun at the museum.

This is my "wait, WHY am I making a cake into the shape of a helicopter???" look. And, after examining this picture, I think I need a major hair cut.

We had a little story and singing time featuring helicopters. (In case you're worried about Everett's face plant in the above picture, see the next one for the recovery.)

Still can't believe these presents are all for him!!

A rousing game of "ring-around-the rosy." (Like the propellers on the helicopter go around and around, get it??)

The yummies. (Note: everything but the cake has a fruit or vegetable in it!! Zucchini muffins, pumpkin cookies, and apples with dip. Keeping your children healthy!)

Ok, now that I've done fondant once, I'm sure I could make a good looking cake with it. This was my first attempt, and it is quite lumpy. But I'm excited to try fondant again.

We had to do some convincing to get him away from his new books to come eat cake.

Carson is such a big boy, and we loved celebrating him and his birthday!!


What??? Nap time is already over??? There goes my break...

I do love my boys!

De 2009 Otto Family

*photo by Rachel

He's taking a sick day.

That nose hasn't stopped running for four days straight.

He must be feeling a little better, though, because just now when I went in his room to tell him to please lay down and take his nap instead of running around his crib yelling, "What's goin' on!! What's goin' on!!" he looked at me, said, "I do Hokey Pokey!" and started spinning around and around.

This little thing has a slight runny nose as well, but he is still my happy boy!

And he still spits up! (For once, on himself instead of on me.)

I am reminded that I think the WORST part about motherhood is having sick children!!! Especially children who, when they are sick, cry and whine allllllll dayyyyy looooong. I'll just hope this really is the end of it!

I finally figured out how keep the boys busy while I make dinner.

Carson's sudden desire to play in an exersaucer allowed us to have enchiladas with home-made tortillas last night. Yummmmm.

Thumb out; food in.

I didn't really take videos of Everett's first feedings, so I wanted to get one now, especially to show how he sucks his thumb between bites. He happily eats all of my home-made baby food so far.

I have also been trying to get videos of Carson's sweet voice and the way he sometimes makes one-syllable words into two, but he just goes on silent mode whenever he knows I am taping him! I love that he is such a good talker, especially when he asks me questions, "Where'd dat come from??" and "What's dat fo-wah?" and when he brings things up that happened weeks ago, like, "We forgot to see cows!!" (when we went to a farm a while back), and "I remember Marshall!" (a friend who stayed with us for a night.)

So, this is a recent video. It's quite long and won't be interesting to most, but be sure to watch the middle where Carson sings (says) some of a song about being a missionary. And excuse my embarrassing mommy tone telling him to stop touching the camera!

This sweet little thing

turned 7 months old yesterday.

is always looking for something to suck. He will even suck on your face if you're not careful.

giggles and giggles when tickled.

is on a wonderfully predictable 2-naps-a-day schedule now. (I loathe the third nap.)

does not roll. Big brother had been rolling all around for months at this age! This baby just lays there, content to watch everyone else. I know he can roll, and he has done it both ways, he just chooses not to!

does bounce up and down on his bum, sometimes resulting in a face plant.

is seriously so sweet that if all babies were like this, I would have a dozen more.

has an intense love for Cheerios, and is surprisingly good at self-feeding.

was my perfect 12-hours-a-night sleeper, until a few weeks ago when he decided he needed an occasional midnight snack. I think we've found the solution, though, (which was actually my fault...long story...) and he's back in business for the most part.

endures LOTS of mauling by big brother.

can shoot out quantities of spit-up that you wouldn't believe. This creates lots of laundry and mopping.

looks identical to the baby pictures of his mother.

loves to suck his thumb. This makes him an extremely good at self-soothing. I can count on one hand the number of times he has truly cried hard, because he nearly always just sticks his thumb in his mouth instead of crying. I'll worry about weaning him later; this is great!!

is soooo snuggly and cuddly. Oh, how we love him!!

A Happy Halloween.

I've never really loved Halloween, but this year was pretty fun! Planning and making Carson's costume was quite rewarding. The festivities started with our church's Trunk or Treat activity, where we really tried to get a good picture of the boys. Obviously, what we got was Everett stuffing his face with leaves. Pappy and Grandmama were in town for the actual Halloween day, and we went to the fire station so Carson could really get into character. He kept his ultra-serious face on the whole time we were there, and he examined the fire truck carefully.
Lastly, we did a little trick-or-treating. There is a street in our neighborhood that is blocked off just for trick-or-treating, and lots of the houses are decorated. We stayed out long enough to get me, I mean Carson, a little treat supply, and headed home soaking wet!

It was a happy Halloween!

Another T-Shirt.

Is it just my husband, or does every boy dream of owning an intramural champion T-shirt for every sport under the sun??

I don't know how many championship teams he was on in undergrad, but Rick's count for med school jumped to TWO last week when he made some tricky defensive moves to help his team beat out the law school.

The field. That's the REAL Wake Forest football stadium!!

The defensive player of the game.

The team, including one self-declared coach.


The wife.


I am also so grateful that this champion husband of mine supports me in my athletic pursuits, like this morning's 16 mile run! He does diapers, early morning feedings (I do supply the milk), and understandably cuts out his Saturday morning football so I can do my long runs. He is a champ.

I just made lasagna.

I only make it about once a year. I blended up tons of fresh veggies and mixed them into the pasta sauce. Take that, Carson, Mr. I-Pick-Anything-Green-Off-Of-My-Plate-And-Feed-It-To-My-Mom.

And now I'm having a very hard time finding the motivation to wash all the pots and pans.

Usually I would let Rick, Mr. I-Can-Wash-Any-Mountain-of-Dishes-in-Ten-Minutes-Flat do it, but he has a test on Friday, and it's been a while since he had a free night to study. So, I will force myself to go clean the kitchen, hopefully before the singing and cooing I hear from the respective bedrooms gets louder and more demanding...

But first, a couple of cute pictures. One, Carson loves to feed Everett. Two, all the boys ready for a Sunday walk. Enjoy!

Yesterday was one of those days...

That happened about four times.

You know your baby really loves you when he aims the spit up so it goes not just on your neck, but down your shirt and into your hair, too.

Also yesterday, Everett showed his definite preference to rolling, rather than napping. And somehow there was never a moment when both boys were asleep, meaning I had to strategically plan even a bathroom break without a little companion. I also managed to create a disaster in the playroom while trying to hang the boys' names. And finally, I was suffering from a mother-of-a-newborn type state of fatigue, since suddenly my perfect 12-hours-a-night sleeping baby decided he needs a 3 a.m. feeding again.


Today was a much better day, and I'm going to check off one more item on my to-do list with this catch-up post.

Everett's eyes are still blue. (And last night, he remembered how to sleep through the night again, thank goodness!!)

And this little blondie chows down his solids!! I tried to start him a couple of weeks ago, and he just wasn't getting the whole swallowing thing. So I put it away and brought it out a couple of days ago. Now he does great and has eaten sweet potatoes, avocado, and banana.

Love that he's still so bobbly, but he sure does lean in for the bite!

This guy is proficient at taking his sleeper off, and he also knows exactly what to do with a breast pump.

This was one of the best days of Carson's life, getting to be so close to a tractor.

He and Sadie were buds during a Stake Youth Activity at a farm.

Is this place pretty or what??

The babies are calling... guess that's all the pictures for now!

Boys in Action.

We take way too many videos with our camera. They take up all the space on our computer, but I just can't bring myself to delete them.

So, if anyone wanted to see Carson identifying a tortoiseshell cat, or eating salsa and then laughing like a crazy man, or being "Busy Timmy on top," or tackling his brother, or blowing on his brother's belly, or fumbling a football, or declaring that he's "camera shy," ... well, then, here you go!

Triumphs of a Home Maker.

I have had a few successes on the home front lately:

1.) I discovered my absolute favorite way to use sweet potatoes. African Sweet Potato Peanut Stew is AMAZING. There are about a million different versions of it out there. This is the one I used as a base, but added black beans and didn't use zucchini, and I used a lot more peanut butter, and I don't remember what else... but oh my, it was GOOD. I was even excited to eat the leftovers, and I usually have this thing about never eating leftovers. Anyway, I just had to share the recipe, because it is the perfect warm and cozy meal for the fall season, and it is super healthy too!! (Vegan, in fact!)

2.) Cloth diapering has finally become second nature in our home. It took a few weeks to get there, and definitely some trial-and-error problem solving. (Like when Everett got a nasty rash... switched detergents... and when my "clean" diapers were stinky... stripped the diapers and did one cycle with bleach... I could go on and on!!) But anyway, now that we've figured things out, we are officially all cloth here! If you're thinking about going cloth, here is why we did: a.) THOUSANDS of dollars saved (there is a hefty cost to get your supply of diapers, but in 3 more months I would have spent that in disposables, and for our next baby, the cost is 0 DOLLARS! Even with extra energy/water costs, it still saves a ton.) b.) They are sooo soft and snuggly on your baby's bum! If you use the right detergent, your baby will never get a rash and will rarely to never have a blow out. It feels good to put a soft clean cloth on my baby's bum instead of scratchiness. c.) Save the environment! Our trash can is SO empty on trash days now!! The energy used to wash is a fraction of the effect of thousands of diapers in a landfill, I believe. d.) Ok, I will stop here, because if you want to read a Cloth Diapering 101 Post, there are certainly plenty of those out there. But seriously, I would love to talk cloth if anyone is thinking about it.

3.) We've discovered how to get Carson to EAT more than just two bites at a meal. Tell him he can "dip," and he is good to go! Some days breakfast is cereal he can dip in yogurt; lunch is pasta he can dip in spaghetti sauce; etc, etc, etc. Here he is pictured dipping his calzone in salsa. This is also a great trick for keeping him entertained a little longer at the dinner table.


The next challenges to be tackled include: keeping Everett warm at night in his freeeeeezing cold, windows-on-all-sides room; potty-training (I am SO scared to start); and learning how to be better at couponing. Advice, anyone??

my nudie baby.

pansies.

Our wonderfully fun neighbor, Barbara gifted us some pansies the other day. Rick and Carson had fun digging (with spoons!) and planting the flowers.





And I had a delightful time watching them do all the work, using Everett as my excuse for staying on the porch. He sure is a sweet little thing!

Busy Timmy.

This is Busy Timmy. The story starts out, "Timmy is a big boy. He can put on his outdoor clothes all by himself."

Carson is not himself these days. He is usually a bunny, sometimes a baby, occasionally a turtle, and frequently he refers to himself as Busy Timmy. It all started one day when Carson was riding his rocking horse, and you could almost see the light bulb going off in his head, "Hey! Busy Timmy rides his rocking horse in that one book! I'm riding a rocking horse. I am Busy Timmy!!"

Life as a full time mother has become much more entertaining since Carson started talking, like yesterday when he wanted to help take out the trash and the "motor-cycling." And then when we were putting the trash on the curb, a big truck went by, which was obviously thrilling to Carson. He put his little hand over his heart and said, "Tank oo very much, truck!" It is just so fun to hear what comes out of that little mouth!!

friends!

It's no fun to play alone all day...



...and even just one playmate isn't enough sometimes.



So, yesterday we had about a million friends over!
First, it was the little girls: Ellie, Abby, and Gracie.
(excuse Everett; he was in the middle of a diaper change.)



Carson showed off his manly skills of throwing himself all over his crib, making the girls giggle and giggle. At one point, all three girls were standing at the crib like this, smiling and laughing. Hopefully he figures out some more graceful ways to impress the ladies as he gets older.



And then, in the afternoon, sweet Raegan came to play!


She kindly shared her jacket and umbrella with a slightly confused Everett.


And, after trying to hold hands with the little girls all morning, Carson finally found a friend who agreed to do so! And she played ring-around-the-rosie! Carson was in heaven.


"We all fall down!!"




We loooove having friends over... yesterday went by so fast for me and was a great day for the boys.

Anyone else want to come play?

He sits!

For a few minutes, at least...

I'm not pushing this, I swear.

He went to the closet, he took out the potty, he asked me to take off his diaper, and he produced quite the stream.

I did reward with a chocolate chip.

Is that what I'm supposed to do? I obviously have no idea. I'd better go do some reading...

two boys.

Everett and I nearly always go in together to greet Carson after his nap. Everett laughs and laughs, watching Carson run around his crib and dive into his blankets. Then, Carson always pulls Everett in with him. He lies down next to little brother and chants, "two boys!! Two boys!!"




This is one of my favorite moments of the day. (The other being the magical 2:00 p.m., right now, when suddenly both boys are asleep, the washer is humming, and it's beautifully peaceful.)

Carson certainly has his moments (like last night when he just couldn't resist sinking his teeth into Everett's skin, leaving HUGE bite marks and a screaming little brother), but he really does adore baby Ev.

As I looked through our pictures this afternoon (with a million things to blog about), I was surprised at how many pictures there are of the boys together:



"This little piggy went to market..."



Hanging out on the couch in their cute new diapers.



Carson constantly asks to "take Effy!! Carry Effy!!"



Just another illegal use of the Bumbo chair. Carson thinks it's hilarious that Everett can now come in the bath with him.



Carson tells Everett about his favorite books.



Everett is unbelievably patient with Carson's clumsy hugs and grabs.



I do love these two boys!

(I've always denied that Everett has my blue eyes... they were dark when he was born... but this picture is making me think otherwise!!)

We are crazy

for doing this at 10:30 p.m. last night:



And the whole time I'm going, "why, oh why did those Sherwin Williams guys tell me to use oil-based paint??????"

I have visited those all-knowing Sherwin Williams dudes three times now. Each time I said, "are you sure I should use oil-based paint??" And each time they reassured me, and one time they sold me paint thinner to clean the brushes, because they totally failed to inform me of that before I totally ruined the expensive brushes that they totally convinced me I needed the time I was there before.

ANYWAY, we did have fun, and the piano does look much better with a second coat. After the third coat, it should be ready to go! We're thinking we need to host a piano concert once it's done...

Hopefully we'll have pictures of the finished product soon! (Assuming Rick remembers how to put the piano back together...)