Hello Out There

Oh my has it been awhile. I guess when I don't have pictures to share I'm not much of a blogger. I'm back in photo action, baby! Just in time for the Christmas season.

This is a picture of Ryan sitting in the puzzle box. Kyle and I were cracking up when we walked into the toy room and saw her in there. She is one busy lady who is always on the move. She is cruising the furniture and will stand 5-10 seconds on her own.

Ryan is finally sleeping thru the night. She was waking up several times a night, see us sleeping and demand to be picked up, fed or brought into our bed. This had to stop. So, Mom and Dad have been sleeping on the couches for the last couple of weeks trying to teach her how to fall back asleep without our help. It finally worked. She's sleeping 8:00pm-5am and Mom and Dad are back in the king size bed. Hopefully we can transition her into Carter's room soon.

Carter had croup a couple of weeks ago and he is finally better. No more coughing, runny nose or medicine for his ear infection. Knock on wood our kids can stay health for some length of time this winter. Caring for sick kids is tough!

Lately Carter has been busy playing with his cars and watching the Polar Express. His all time favorite movie. Kyle and I had an impossible finding it on DVD and Carter was NOT going to wait to for us to DVR it this weekend. After checking Wal-Mart, Target and Babies-R-Us, we finally tracked it down at Best Buy (they only had 4 in stock). If you haven't seen the movie, I recommend watching it on ABC Family this weekend. It's a great Christmas movie (for all ages!).

What else, Carter finally went #2 in the potty. I know, how gross to share on the blog, but we are so excited. One step closer in the potty training process. We are ready for it to be over!

Would you like to hear the top 5 phrases around our house these days?

5. Where's baby sister? (said by Carter)

4. Carter, get off the baby/Carter, don't squeeze around the baby's neck/Carter, put the baby down. (said by Mom and Dad)

3. Look at me! (said by Carter)

2. Dad, come here! (said by Carter)

1. What happened, Mom? (by Carter)

Updates

A couple of updates.
update 1. Our beloved camera died a painful death. Yes, I dropped the darn thing and trust me it's beyond repair. Sad to say there won't be a whole lot of pictures to share on the blog for awhile.

update 2. I like to blog because I hope it gives the family and friends that we can't see often an opportunity to see what we're up to. I also use the blog to archive noteworthy things in our lives. For instance I can refer to Carter's milestones and see the similarities and differences to Ryan. It's amazing how much you forget between baby 1 and baby 2! For example Ryan had her 9 mo. check up this week. She weighs 19 lbs. 8 oz. (62%). Driving home I thought, hum, I wonder what Carter weighed at 9 months.....a whopping 23.25 lbs (83%)! He was also getting his upper teeth and was just starting to crawl at that age. Ryan hasn't popped any more teeth since 6 months (she has 2 on the bottom) but she's been crawling for months now!

update 3. After fighting with our health insurance company for 4 months, I am finally on Enbrel for my spondylitis. I was surprised to feel differences in a matter of days after taking the first injection. For at least the last 8 weeks I've had stiffness in my hand that's given me some trouble. There were mornings I couldn't make a fist or had trouble opening a cap on a water bottle. Two days after the shot all that stiffness was gone. Wild! I am slowly weening myself off the prednisone and will hopefully be steroid free in a couple of weeks. It's a little bizarre to have a stock of syringes in my refrigerator and a bio-hazard container in my kitchen. I've never been afraid of needles, but giving myself weekly injections is a little intimidating. In time I'm sure it will become old habit. I'm looking forward to getting back to a normal lifestyle. Hopefully the drug will work great and this will be the last time I blog about any of this.

update 4. Since it was nice today I let Bo out to enjoy the nice weather. Um, that darn cat hasn't come back yet. If you recall he did this last fall....stayed out overnight for two nights. I was amazed he came back. Let's hope he finds his way home again soon. Carter's been asking about him and all I can say is Bo is on a really, really long walk.

Twick or Tweet

This was Carter's first year for actual trick or treating. He had a blast! Since we don't live in a neighborhood our friends, the Kelkers, invited us to their neighborhood. Carter and his friends ran from house to house for a solid block. Quite impressive for a bunch of 2 and 3 year olds. We also trick or treated at the grandparents house and visited Uncle Vince and Aunt Lisa. These kids had a big day and the loved every second of it!

Hope you had a very spooky, haunted and happy Halloween!

latest pics

Chew on this (or anything in the house for that matter)

Kitchen Helpers?Or, Kitchen Destroyers!!

Baby in a towel......at least I think she's in there!

Pumpkin Train

Kyle was out of town this weekend so Nonna treated us out to trip on the Pumpkin Train. Starting in Noblesville we rode 30 minutes out to a small pumpkin patch. The weather was wonderful and we all had a great time.

The Train

Petting AnimalsHay Maze Face PaintingHay RideLast but not least, Nonna and Ryan had a little photo shoot while Carter and I were decorating our pumpkins. My favorite shot she took.

little photographer

Carter has become obsessed with taking pictures with my camera. Thank goodness for the digital camera. I can't imagine how many rolls of film this child would go through. I'll look back at the 20-30 pictures he takes in a day and find one or two good ones to keep. Here is his latest shot.

Taylor Family

I think most of my blog readers already know the devastating news about my friend, Shannon Hunter. Her parent's home in Terre Haute, IN burnt down a couple of days ago. They had no home insurance and they lost everything! It not only effected her parents but also Shannon's brothers and her very small niece and nephews.

We met Shannon's husband, Simon, thru Kevin (Kyle's brother). Simon is such a close friend to the Meek family that he has actually experienced Meek Christmas and Thanksgiving first hand. Simon and Shannon married just over two years ago and now have adorable twin baby boys! The Hunters are a sweet, loving family and wonderful friends. I've met Shannon's mom on a couple of occasions and she is a loving grandma to lots and lots of grandchildren. (Shannon comes from a very, very big family!) We recently saw Shannon's parents this summer at a BBQ at her house. They were a real pleasure to be around. They seemed so happy to spend time with Shannon and Simon and to love all over their new grandbabies.

Since the tragic fire, so many people have been reaching out....donating money, clothes, furniture and housewares. I am amazed at what wonderful friends and family I have. So many people have asked to donate....many of who have never met Simon or Shannon. I feel lucky to have such wonderful people in my life. I especially want to thank my aunts, mom and my friends Nicole and Sandy for all of their donations. You have such big hearts!

If you would like to read more about the fire/items needed/how to donate money, please click on the links on the side of my blog.