Burnin' Calories

I think this photo and video should explain why I'm such a skinny little guy...I NEVER stop moving! Today I even crawled right up into mommy's magazine rack and got stuck!

9 months old

I’m 9 months old and before you know it, I’m gonna be 1 years old! At my doctor’s appointment last week, I heard the doctor tell mom that I’m growing like a weed and weighed 19 lbs and was over 28 inches long. They had this cool computer that charted my growth and the doctor compared me to my big brother Sam when he was 9 months old. I guess we are almost exactly the same weight and height! Mom was glad to hear that because I’m not a real big guy and neither was my brother, but now he’s a big dude (48 lbs, 42 inches). I don’t think I’m all that small because I just upgraded to a big boy car seat, I’m wearing 12 mo. clothes and I eat a ton of food! Mom hasn’t found a food yet that I won’t eat and I especially love to eat “big people food”. My favorites are chicken, cheese, carrots and peaches. Sometimes I get a tiny bit of ice cream and I really wish I could have more because it makes me smile and squeal!


I’m almost ready to start walking, but right now I prefer to crawl or walk along the furniture. You should see how fast I am! I am very determined and like to do things that make mommy say “No!” For example, I love it when mom or dad or Sam forgets to close the bathroom door because I cruise right over to the toilet and start splashing my hands in the water. Mommy always says “yucky!” but I don’t know what the big deal is? I also like to get into the trash can and Murphy’s water bowl too! At least once a day (usually right after mommy changes my clothes) I like to dump over the water bowl and get myself nice and wet. Then she has to change my clothes again! For some reason she gets kind of frustrated with me because I’m a “wiggle worm” and I refuse to sit still when she changes my diaper or clothes. All I want to do is explore and play with my big brother Sam, so I get really mad and sometimes scream when she tries to hold me down. Get this…she even puts her leg over top of me to hold me down and sometimes calls for “Help!” from daddy. I think that’s really unfair!


Last week my Grandma Ellen from Tennessee came to visit me for 3 days. She is really nice and I even let her rock me to sleep. I was a very good boy for her and didn’t even wiggle when she tried to change my diaper.

Overall, everyone says I’m a really good kid. I like to smile and giggle a lot and I’m a pretty good sleeper (unless my teeth are bugging me). I take 2 naps a day and sleep from 8:00pm-5/6:00 am. Mom feeds me a bottle and then I go back to sleep until 7:30-8:30. From the minute I get up until I go to bed, I’m always on the go. I also love to play with my dad and big brother Sam. We sort of wrestle a little and I make growling noises at them. Daddy calls me "the little roughian" because I'm so aggressive. I'm also getting really good at stealing Sam's cars and trains and he usually gets really mad at me about that. Mom keeps reminding him to share and now he has given me a couple of his old cars! I like to push my little cars all over the living room and make funny noises. Everyone says that I’m “all-boy”. <
Well, gotta go! Somebody just left the bathroom door open and I’m gonna make a beeline for that toilet! Bye-bye!

Birthday Boy

On April 5 Samuel turned 5 years old! It's crazy to me because I can so clearly remember the day he was born. It was cold and sunny and I remember looking out the window in our labor and delievery room at Spectrum Hospital at around 11:00 a.m. on Monday, April 5, 2004and feeling so anxious and fearful about what was to come. There were so many unknowns at that time...would Sam have to have surgery on his heart immediately after birth? would I get to hold him? would he be a normal little boy? And now 5 years later, all of those fears and worries are gone. God has watched over our little miracle boy and carried us and him through 2 open heart surgeries and 2 heart cathedar procedures. Those sure were some scary times for us, but it has made us love him more deeply and treasure his health and boundless energy with more appreciation and gratefulness for how good God has been. Samuel basically only functions with 1/2 a heart, but you can't tell! He is ALL BOY! He loves to run and jump and climb and get dirty and wrestle with his daddy. Praise God from whom all blesings flow! Samuel certainly is a special blessing to us.

Here are some pictures from his 5th birthday party...
Sam requested a Spiderman cake this year. Usually I just buy them from Walmart, but this year I attempted my own cake! Thanks mom for help with the baking (she taught me how to make Great-Grandma Kleinheksel's beloved pudding filing and homemade buttercream frosting). I did the decorating myself and I think it turned out pretty sweet!

Giving Grandpa Rudy a hug.

Lovin' on Grandma Judy

All fired up about the Spiderman car and action figure with Cousin Mya helping to inspect.

Taking off the blindfold to see what daddy has been building in the garage....a trampoline! His reaction was very anti-climatic. I was hoping for lots of screaming and jumping around, but instead all we got was a little smile! I think he was unsure as to what is was at first plus he's not a big fan of large crowds staring at him, so he just kind of stood there. But once he got to try it out...then the fun began!

Yahoo!

Bouncing with Mya

Here comes the cake!

Happy Birthday buddy! We love you so much!

Celebrating the "Eights"

Over the past couple of weeks, there have been a few celebrations in our family involving the number "8"...

First, on March 16, Carter turned 8 months old! (this is Carter's latest picture. I'm boycotting the 3, 6, 9, and 12 month traditional photos and instead doing 4, 8, and 12 months. In reality, I just didn't get my act together on time!) I know I'm biased, but I think this one turned out pretty darn cute!

Then, on March 27, good ole' Murphy turned 8 years old! To celebrate, Brian took Murphy to Sam's school for a mini "show and tell". Then the boys took Murph to Chow Hound and let him sniff through the store and pick out some doggie cookies. Finally, we all sang Happy Birthday and celebrated with a Frosty Paw for Murph and the rest of us enjoyed the new "limited edition" flavor from Edy's called Girl Scout Thin Mint...yum! The picture below shows Carter's first reaction to ice cream. :)

Finally, on March 28, Grandpa Frego turned 85 years old! We celebrated with the whole family and had an icecream cake from Captain Sundae. Gramps is such a wonderful person and we all love him so much! (thanks for the pic Jen!)

Also, I had to include these profile pictures of Samuel and Carter. They are about 3 months different in age when the photos were taken, but I think you can tell they're brothers for sure!

Feeling like spring!

What a gorgeous day! Unfortunately, Brian has a terrible sinus infection, so he's not enjoying all the sunshine and warm temps and is sleeping instead. Sam, Carter and I made it to "our park" already and the boys had a ball. Carter loved being in the stroller and smiled or giggled just about the whole time. Sam was a big helper and either pushed the stroller or helped walk Murphy. It was quite an excurtion getting both of them ready, but it was SO nice to be outside for once!


Carter loved going down the slide (with my help!) I would have had more cute pics of the two of them, but my battery went dead. :(

Here's some other pictures I took from the past week...
Carter and Great-Grandpa Frego (Grandpa LOVES his grandbabies!)

Carter can't get enough of chasing Sam through the tunnel.

Can you see my little tooth? Tooth #1 has made it's appearance and just when he started sleeping better again, #2 it getting ready to poke through, so neither Carter or mama got a very good night's sleep last night. We're both a little stuffy and sneezy today and I'm hoping and praying it doesn't turn into whatever Brian has.

Go Blue!

I feel a little bad because I think I've been neglecting Sam in the picture department. Carter's just at that really cute stage! So for the sake of being a good mom who treats her children "equally", here's a pic of Sam, the "Wii Master". Isn't he looking so grown up and handsome?!

Little Stud

Today Carter wore this cute football jersey and looked like such a stud...I couldn't resist a few pictures. (I promise, it is NOT an OSU jersey! It's Old Navy...I would never stoop to that low of a level, no matter how cute he might look!) :)


Here he is getting into something, as usual! He loves to explore and boy is he FAST!

It's been a while

Life's been pretty busy lately, so I haven't blogged in quite a while. The last couple of weeks have been really crazy at work and then I was sick last weekend, so this past week I felt behind the eight ball trying to catch up on laundry, housework, etc. This week looks to be equally busy, but I'm trying to relax this weekend and not think about school until Monday hits. Also, Carter cut his first tooth this week, so the poor guy has been a little bit cranky and not sleeping as good at night. That, on top of losing an hour last night due to daylight savings, means mama is ready for a nap today! Here's some pictures of what's been going on around here lately...
Carter loves to pull himself up on the furniture. I can't take my eyes off him for one second or he's into something!
Sam and Carter are becoming best buddies. This is one of their favorite things to do...Sam pulling Carter around in a laundry basket. They both think it's hilarious!
It used to be use Dad and Sam wrestling matches, but now Carter likes to help Sam tag-team daddy.
Here's Carter playing peek-a-boo from under a blanket in the laundry basket.

While I take a shower in the morning, I put Carter in his crib and Sam will often run around Carter's room entertaining him. The other day it got really quiet, so I peeked my head out of the shower and this is what I discovered! Sam decided to join Carter INSIDE the crib!
A sad moment. Carter was cutting his first tooth and not all too happy about it. His cheeks and nose were bright red for two days. :(
The tooth came through and he's all smiles again! If you look closely, you can see it on the right.
Carter loves to play "superman" with daddy.
Another new favorite is playing with plastic bowls and water bottles. He loves to rolls the bottle and chase it all over the kitchen floor. Seriously, why do I buy toys?
This picture is from this afternoon. Sam got out his tunnel and the boys had a blast chasing eachother. This lasted for quite awhile. Now they are both pooped out and hopefully fast asleep. Now it's my turn for a nap too!