Enjoying retirement....

Specifically my Mama's retirement.

I always dread the end of summer when my mom goes back to work. I get so used to the idea of being able to call her whenever I want during the summer months, that when she goes back to work in August I find it very frustrating that I can't just call if I need something. Or if I'm bored. Or if no one else wants to talk to me three times a day on the phone.

Not anymore.

As I mentioned before, Mom has officially retired and this is the first time she has not gone back to work after summer break. I'm loving it and I'm sure she is too.

Recently she was able to come and stay with us for about a week-- one of her longest visits yet. (She had to divide her time off between GA, VA, and MD). The week was really relaxed but fun and it was nice to have a visit with her without Carver and I having to make the long trip down to Florida. If Daddy had been here it would have been perfect :)

We went shopping to find Carver some Fall/Winter clothes (thanks Mama!), and two super cute pairs of shoes (again, thanks Mom!). We ate out some: P.F. Chang's, Hawg Wild BBQ, El Campesino (Mexican obviously), and The Copper Pot.

But the highlights of the week were dinner at Unicoi State Park on Friday night, and lunch at the Dillard House on Saturday. (As we all know, I really love the Dillard House).

Carver loved having Grandmama here and so did I. My mom is great about getting Carver up in the mornings or after his nap so I can sleep a little longer. And, she loves rocking him in the glider while he watches movies. We went for a couple of walks, cooked, and visited our local Farmer's Market/Produce Stand. Daniel even kept Carver twice so Mama and I could go to a movie one night and then out to dinner (alone) a few days later.

Carver trying to eat his pumpkin from the Farmer's Market.

At Unicoi-- it's really hard to get a picture of Carver these days-- he's too squirmy.

Heading in to the Dillard House for lunch.

At the Dillard House, food is served family style. There is no ordering, they just bring this whole load to your table. And, it is all-you-can-eat. This is what they brought us for me, Mom, and Carver. Some of it we didn't eat at all (painfully wasteful, I know), and a couple of things we got refills of. The best part? They let you take your leftovers home :)

Normally the food is placed on your table, but Carver can't be trusted and the table wasn't big enough to keep everything out of his reach. So, they left the whole tray...

After lunch we walked out to the "FarmZoo" and spent most of our time watching this poor girl waddle around. It was pitiful. Especially when she heaved herself up to get some water. I wanted to take her home with me. I think she is pregnant. I hope she is pregnant. Or, maybe they just feed their animals like they feed their guests. If I lived at the Dillard House I might look like this too. Scary.

It was a really fun visit for all of us and I am thrilled that Mom is retired.

Family Time

This morning we spent a couple of hours together-- finally getting some much needed family time. This happens far too infrequently so it is especially sweet when we do get to plan something fun for Carver and escape together--even for a morning.

Today we headed back to the aquatic center in Gainesville for one last water-excursion before everything up here shuts down for the Fall and Winter.

The weather was perfect and Carver loves any activity that involves playing in the water.

Meet Lucy's Baby

Some of you might remember that for our 5th Anniversary I gave Daniel a cow, which he named Lucy. You can read about Lucy here.

Well, just before our 6th anniversary Lucy had her first baby-- a girl! Baby cow is so far unnamed because Daniel wants to see her before naming her. I am glad he takes this whole thing so seriously (bestowing a name is a big deal!) and I'm also glad that we will be in Bartow in just a few short weeks to get to meet the little one.



Now Daniel is well on his way to a herd of his own. (Not that this is the goal or anything. Several will be plenty. No farmer's life for me...).

Fun, right?

20 Months

Carver and I have had a really good month. I'm not sure why things have seemed easier in general, but it is probably due to a number of things. He spent most of the summer teething which led to a complete set of teeth but were accompanied by a lot of fussiness-- which was new for us. (Fussiness due to teething that is, not fussiness in general-- we are somewhat familiar with that). These last few weeks have been calmer and I think it is largely because he feels better. Daniel has also started being around a little more regularly, which is fun for Carver, and gives me the occasional break from single-parenting. And, I've had a three week break from teaching which has no doubt changed my overall temperament as well.

So, month 20 has been good for us.

The fun facts:

1) As mentioned, Carver has a full set of teeth now. Crazy how fast they all came in at the same time.

2) Climbing has become a true passion for him. He climbs on everything. Last week he learned to climb up onto our tall kitchen chairs. Said chairs now reside in the garage. Visions of Carver falling and splatting on the tile led us to move them immediately.



Carver also learned to escape from "baby jail." Fortunately, it has only happened once so far. Unfortunately, he was able to lock me out on our back deck during his one successful escape. I had a ridiculous moment of telling Carver to "push the latch up...Carver, push the latch up....Carver-- unlock the door!", before accepting that I would have about the same amount of luck if I was asking Delia to open the door. Which wouldn't work anyway since Delia was outside with me at the time. Thank the Lord for an old, barely used, almost forgotten, spare key. The thought of Carver loose and unattended for any length of time in our house makes me shaky.

3) We are getting close to needing a first haircut. Sorry Daniel, we aren't quite there yet. On good hair days his hair looks totally fine. On bad hair days, well...



4) New words: "stick," (occasionally) and "please" (regularly). Please sounds like "dees" so it took me a little while to catch on. So, Carver technically has 20 words or so now. He tends to not use them very often and to completely drop words for weeks at a time. Which can be a little frustrating.

5) Can I just say that naptime and bedtime are two of the easiest times of my day? I'm not referring to his actual sleep time which is, obviously, not hard. But, rather putting him down for naps and at night. For naptime I just say "Ok Carver, it's time to take a nap" and he stops whatever he is doing and heads to his room. We turn on his music, sing a song or two, I lay him down and he wakes up 2 (or so) hours later. Piece of cake. Bedtime is about the same. I tell him it is bedtime, he runs to his room and immediately sits down on his rug so we can read our bedtime stories, turn on the music, turn off the light, sing some songs, lay him down-- see him about 12 hours later. No fights, no fussing, no struggles. This is an incredible blessing, and I promise I do not take it for granted. Especially considering he never napped without being held until he was about 4 months old and he didn't sleep through the night until 10 months old. We fought hard for a schedule to work for us and I am so very thankful we are here.

6) We had our first MOPS get-together of the new school year last week. Carver spent two hours playing at the park and ate his first popsicle. And, I burned a lot of calories chasing him while he ran around like a maniac. Win-Win. I'm looking forward to the biweekly MOPS meetings-- I love for Carver to get to interact with other kids his own age (Ellen, maybe next time we visit you Carver will know that it is NOT OK to steal Emerson's food). And, I like a reason to get dressed and leave the house.

7) Carver and I have started taking some walks in the evenings. Usually up to the mailbox. He has really become a lot steadier on his feet though he runs most of the time now, which inevitably leads to tumbles. Last night we walked around the upper circle in our neighborhood and were greeted by an elderly man who brought us each a Klondike bar. Seriously. I have never seen anything so sweet in my entire life. I feel like my opinion of humanity has been reaffirmed. There really is good in the world.

8) We've also spent some time out at camp, visiting Daniel on days when he would otherwise not have seen Carver that day.

"Helping" clean up after dinner.

Carver's favorite part of visiting Daddy at work...

Classic Carver-- he has made a variation of this expression since birth.

9) Carver adores playing outside.



Well, I think that about sums up this last month. We've got some fun things planned in the next few weeks so his 21st month should be really fun. Oh how I love this stage, but how I hate inching closer and closer to the big 2. No longer will I give his age in months, but rather in years. It is inevitable, but the thought stings a little, I won't lie.

Carver Jacob, you make every day worthwhile for me. Every single day.

a day with daddy...

Recently Carver was able to spend an entire morning hanging out with his daddy :) Sometimes it is hard for me to be away from Carver for any length of time (even half a day)-- but I LOVE it when he gets to spend time alone with Daniel. It is just so good for both of them. I know it is only a short time before they will start spending an enormous amount of time together (playing sports, camping, hiking, etc), but for the most part, during this "baby" phase of Carver's life so far, they haven't had too many chances to do things just the two of them.

While I was busy one morning, Daniel and Carver started the day with breakfast at our favorite local (breakfast) place-- Stoney's. Carver loves breakfast-- he gets this from his daddy.

Then they headed to Gainesville to the aquatic center where Carver got to play and play in a super kid-friendly water "park." It looks like he had a fabulous time....


I think I'll have to tag along next time.

Reunion

A couple of weeks ago Daniel, Carver, and I headed to Winston-Salem for Daniel's high school reunion. This was the first time we had been to Winston since Christmas (I think), so it was nice to be back there for a quick visit.

Daniel seemed to enjoy getting to catch up with some old
friends, most of whom he had not stayed in contact with at all since graduating. And, I enjoyed getting to meet his friends, hear stories of his high school days, and we always enjoy introducing Carver to new people :)

Friday night, the adults all met for dinner at the Mayflower Seafood Restaurant.

All of the couples.

The Classmates

Saturday we spent, with kids included, at the park. (Sorry, no pics...too busy chasing Carver around while Daniel helped grill burgers).

It was a quick trip, but I'm glad Daniel was able to attend his reunion. As always, it was also nice for us to get to spend some time as a family-- that hasn't happened much in the last 4 months.

(Disclaimer: the pics from the reunion were stolen off of Facebook)

19 Months

I am shamefully late posting Carver's 19 month blog. Yes, I know he will be 20 months in a mere 4 days...

Never fear, I've tried to really think about what to actually include in this posting versus the next one I will do next week. And, it is actually a little difficult to remember what new/different things he was doing in month 19 and what he is doing now in what I consider month 20. It's a little confusing.

Here is my best attempt at documenting month 19.

1) Carver is still mostly non-verbal. When I can force his pacifier out of his mouth he gets very chatty but, really, all of it is indistinguishable. He does have a list of words he can say, he just doesn't normally choose to. It can be a little frustrating. His new favorite word is "hot." He has probably heard this word more than any other this summer. Every time we walk outside I complain that it is hot; or I tell him we can't play outside because it is "too hot." Now everything is "hot." He does seem to have a general understanding of the meaning. He often says it when we are outside, or in reference to the oven (though not necessarily only when it is actually hot).

2) We had a quick visit with Ellen, Terry, and Emerson toward the end of June. It was SO GREAT to see Ellen-- our visits are rather infrequent, and it was really fun to get to spend a little time with Emerson and watch her and Carver together. (Sidenote: I also really enjoy getting to see Terry. I don't know him super well, but he is one of the nicest guys I have ever met. He has a way of making you feel so important and welcome. It is a really great quality.)

Notice Carver's tan lines.

I adore this picture. This is probably a typical response to some of Carver's antics. Emerson is clearly saying, "What on earth are you doing???"

3) We spent the 4th of July out at camp but, unfortunately, with darkness falling after 9 p.m., the little one did not get to see any fireworks :(

Playing on this piece of machinery is Carver's favorite thing to do at camp. He could sit here all day...

A little 4th of July pool party-- notice the festive suit.

4) The temper is still very present and part of our daily lives. I will say, however, that I think things have been a little better. My patience has improved some and I've been reading some parenting books. (Don't laugh-- they really are pretty good). I'm still working out a strategy for discipline so I'll let you know when that happens. Carver is never really "bad," it is just a matter of needing to curb certain behaviors, you know?

5) Favorites: breakfast, playing outside, sidewalk chalk, Wheat Thins Chips (garden veggie), milkshakes, kitchen cabinets and drawers.

6) Least favorites: brushing teeth, being told "no," diaper changes (still?!?), highchairs and shopping carts.

7) Sleeping patterns: Nap: (1) 2-3 hours; Bedtime: 8:00, Wake up: 7:30-8:00.

8) Visited a local petting zoo with Nana and Papa (and me)!


Carver and I have had a really good summer. I feel like his transition into toddler-hood has been apparent these last weeks. He is fiercely independent but still likes to be held and loved on. (for brief moments). With Daniel busy all summer we had even more bonding time than usual. I feel like he is my little sidekick. He goes everywhere I go and though I get really tired and frustrated sometimes, I wouldn't change a thing.

My cup is full and I am overwhelmed. In a good way.