Welcome to the World

Our little April baby decided he wanted to cause a little March madness so little Carson Duane made his way into the world on Thursday, March 29th, 2012 at 9:45 AM. He was our biggest baby at 6 lbs 11 oz, and 19 inches long.

Mommy worked hard and fast to get him here but he is definitely worth the work.

He screams like a little piglet and has earned the nickname Wilbur.
Olivia and Callen are pretty in awe of him.

We are in love with this little boy.

2 weeks to go

Did you know Easter is in 2 weeks?? In our household we have been counting down to Easter since, oh, August.

Because you know what else is in 2 weeks???
MY DUE DATE!!!

(37 weeks prego)

Even though I am sure I will have him after Easter (if he follows in suit with his sibling) I am still pretty excited for Easter.

I just hope I am not in the hospital ON Easter morning.

Two weeks... glorious.

Callen at 18 months

Well, my little baby boy is 18 months old. He is officially old enough to go to nursery, even though he has been going for the last 2 months (I have only been able to leave him there once by himself, every other time he has complete melt downs. We have 3 weeks to work on that before baby #3 comes).

Callen is such a happy little boy. He wakes up smiling and keeps smiling about 80% of the day. He loves to give cheesy smiles and just be a goof.

Callen still doesn't talk much. He can now say Mom, Dad, Grandma (Bam-ma), Papa, Lou Lou (Woo-woo), Jesus, cheese (only when taking pictures), and yeah. The thing that is nice though is that he understands so much of what you are saying so can do little tasks. He will get his shoes and jacket, throw stuff in the garbage, wake up Olivia, go the the table... you get the idea.

The boy loves to roar and make animal noises. He may not talk but if I can count animal noises as words he is doing pretty good. He loves to roar for a dinosaur, lion, tiger, and bear, snort like a pig, make horse sounds, howl like a wolf, and he really tries to bugle like an elk.

Callen thinks he needs to have both cheeks full of food when he eats. He will take the biggest bites and then I tell him to take smaller bites and chew. He will then look at me, give me a cheeser, and really over exaggerate his chewing. Dang, he's cute. He also uses a fork and spoon really well and loves to share his food with anyone.

He is sleeping in his big boy bed all the time now!!! We had about 3 days of him wanting to get up but he has been GREAT since. Such a relief.

Callen knows where his head, hair, eyes, ears, nose, teeth, tongue, fingers, belly, legs, toes, and bum are.

He is still a HUGE momma's boy. He has to come get a snuggle about every 20 minutes even while he is playing. He sits on the counter with me every morning while I get ready(which has resulted in him trying to curl his eyelashes, put blush on, and straighten his hair... Casey loves that he does all that). He is my buddy and I love that he loves me. However, we had quite the milestone the other day and he chose Grandma over me!!! That was a first and I have to say, I didn't really like it. Olivia has always chosen her grandparents over Casey and I but not my boy. He wouldn't even let me put him to bed since Grandma was there, so she got stuck putting both my kids to bed that night.


Callen also loves his Woo-Woo (Lou Lou). He is always watching her and copying everything she does. He followers her around most of the day and always has to go find her first thing when he wakes up. And now that he can keep up pretty good, Olivia doesn't mind and actually plays with him really well. It makes me so happy to see them get along so well (usually).

Callen is not much of an animal lover. He doesn't like dogs and is actually afraid of most of them, which is weird since we have a little dog (a shih tzu) and my parents have a big dog (a Saint Bernard) so he is used to all sizes. He tolerates Dexter, our dog, but doesn't really like him. The one animal that he does like is horses. He LOVES horses. We have horses all around us and he loves when the weather is nice and he can go out and see them. He loves to play with his toy horses and make horse sounds and point out the horses every time we leave the house.

Still loves fruit and anything sweet and takes one nap a day.

Loves when Daddy throws him around and catches him.

Still a wonderful sweet happy boy that we are so blessed to get to see and raise everyday.

Livie Lou at 3 1/2

Miss Olivia Chaliese is getting bigger and bigger. I really can't believe she will be 4 this summer, but she won't let me forget and reminds me all the time that it will be her birthday soon and she will be 4.

She amazes me everyday with the things she is able to reason out, say and do. She is so smart that it frequently shocks me. Grandma brought some toys over for her the other day, just little stuffies that she cut off from an old baby swing that doesn't work. She had brought 3 over the night before and 3 next day. Olivia takes them from her and without a second breathe says "I had 3 animals Grandma and you brought me 3 more so now I have 6." I think math will be her strong subject.

She loves elephants. She loves most animals (still doesn't like snakes) but she REALLY loves elephants.

Tells Casey and I that she is going to work at the "big zoo" (Hogle Zoo) when she is bigger so she can play with and take care of all the animals. But we can't play with the tigers, because tigers are mean. And we can ride the elephants because they like that. And I can feed the giraffes because those are my favorite. I love her.

Lou has recently fallen in love with the cartoon Team Umizoomi. They are pretty cute and go around solving problems with math. Math, so of course my daughter loves it. These Umizoomis have become a big part of our lives though because they are now Olivia's imaginary friends that she runs around with all day. She is constantly talking about Millie, Geo, and Bot and will be frequently talking with them, using mighty math powers to solve problems around the house, playing hide and seek, and the list goes on. She tells all her teachers about them, in Primary, tumbling, and dance. They also go with her to these activities but sometimes Olivia has to kick them out because they are not being reverent or listening. There is one episode were Geo falls (okay, he really just sits down but let her think what she wants) and she thinks it is HILL-ARRR-lious. And she says it like that... "When Geo falls, (giggle giggle) it is HILLLLL-ARRRR-lious!!!" I have never said my daughter is not entertaining.

We went out to dinner the other night (celebrate tax returns!) and Casey, like always, was teasing Miss Lou Lou. Olivia told him "Dad, stop arresting me!" We were all laughing, and finally figured out that she was trying to say "Stop harassing me!" I like her version better. That same dinner outing she told us "these are the best fries in town!" Way to go Red Lobster, didn't know you were so famous for your fries.

Says her favorite songs are "Baby" by Justin Bieber and "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO. She sings them all the time and knows way more of the lyrics then I think she should but it sure is cute when she starts to sing with Ludacris "When I was 13, I had my first love."

This summer Olivia is so excited to ride horses with Papa. My parents do not have horses but there are horses all around our house. She has a few picked out as "her" horses. We'll see if Papa is able to work it so she can ride those special ones. She also has decided she wants to ride a "donk," short for donkey. She is all about shortening words.

Loves primary. I love to peek in at her while they are all singing. She is so dang cute and looks so grown up sitting there so good in her chair with the other kids. I was a little worried about her transitioning to primary because, surprisingly, she is so shy around other people but she did great the very first Sunday. It probably helps that she has a great teacher, Sister Lacey. She is great and always has some awesome little thing to send home with the kids each week that goes along with the lesson.

Still has a baby elephant and baby kitty in her belly. She says they will be coming out sometime around Easter (coincidence with the baby in my belly?? I think not). Along these same lines, she tells me that she can't do certain things, like pick up her toys, because they baby elephant and baby kitty in her tummy make her so tired. They also make her back hurt. Do I complain that much???

Olivia has been a great big sister lately, which I have really needed. Callen absolutely loves her and follows her around all day which she is really starting to like. I love it when the house is quiet and I go check on them and they are in her bed reading books together or on the floor coloring together or playing with blocks together. She tells me that Callen is her little brother and that Carson is going to be her little bother.


Still loves apple juice, cheese, noodles, and chicken nuggets and takes one nap a day (or most days).

Still my independent, sassy, sweet, smart, loving little girl that I am so blessed to have.