Carter's Explorations

Sorry for no post lately. I have been spending all of Carters waking hours following him around, saying "no, no", keeping him from pulling furniture on top of him and getting him *unstuck* from the small spaces he managed to get himself into. I am completely flabbergasted at how FAST he is growing up. I feel like not to long ago I was wishing for him to crawl and now we almost have a walking toddler who will be turning one in 6 days! I look at how big he looks in the crib and can't believe a year has gone by. He is turning into such a little man with an ornery personality. He has started to make a lot of faces that Chad and I make and letting us know he wants some independence. I feel like a lot has changed for him. We have gone to mostly table foods now. I have been struggling with healthy things to give him but he is doing great and handling most foods we give him. Unfortunately he is at the stage where he likes to rub the food in his hair, eyes and floor. He has also spent the last few weeks exploring the entire house. He can pull up on almost anything and cruse around. He has now learned to fall forward and catch himself with his arms and I think he has perfected falling on his bottom. He has the occasional trip or misstep that leads to a loud fall but he is doing better. One of his favorite places is playing under the table. He loves to move around the chairs and push them out. He even took a book under there the other day and was *reading*. He also took off the child safety latch we have on the cupboard under the sink. We tried to do a real simple one, but he has proven to us that it won't work. He is also standing for 30 seconds or more by himself. He even took a step with each foot before falling down. He might actually be walking soon. I caught some pretty funny photos of all of his travels this past week. Enjoy! (click on the picture below to see more pictures)

Summer days

Cruisin

Carter Cruisin the furniture

Happy baby!

It has been an interesting week for us here. Carter has started to cruise all furniture and has mastered pulling himself up. He spends most of his day standing and cruising furniture. He can go from one object to another and is learning how to get down. He still has his moments where he falls straight back and hits his head. We are working on him falling on his butt instead of his head. He is getting better but it is a work in progress. He has started to wave hi or bye at times and it starting to copy us more. We find ourselves exhausted at the end of the day after chasing him around. His newest thing is... drum roll please...standing in his crib at nap time and not sleeping. He thinks it is great fun to pull himself up and shake the side rail of the crib. He did this for an hour and a half the other day. He is happy as a lark in his room and is content, he just isn't napping then. He did eventually go to sleep but I couldn't believe how long he held out. Luckily at night time he is too tired and goes right to sleep. Here are some pictures of his shenanigans.What? am I not supose to be doing this?I love nap time now!

ps. if anyone knows how to not have some of your text underlined please let me know. This is one of my biggest pet peeves with blogger.

Nase's Birthday

Well we kind of forgot about Nase's birthday this year and I feel bad. It was on July 10th. So I made a little video for him. Enjoy!

Birthday Celebrations

Birthday Celebration

I got to have a lot of fun on my birthday. The day started by me sleeping in. Thanks Chad! Then my family came over for lunch and we had pizza, cake and a cookie from the cookie company. It was very good. Carter unfortunately didn't get to eat the pizza since he seems to have some type of allergic reaction to it. Then I got to open gifts and hang out with the family. My parents took Carter for the afternoon and evening so Chad and I could have some time alone. We spent the afternoon laying around and relaxing and then Chad made me a birthday dinner. We originally wanted to find a restaurant that served beef wellington. We searched this "wonderful" city and came up empty handed. We got the idea from the show Hell's Kitchen and they always make it and it looks really good. So Chad decided to "make" it for me. I was a tad skeptical at first since Chad doesn't cook that much. But after a few tips and suggestions he pulled it off and it was delicious. He also made risotto which turned out super good too. We enjoyed a nice meal at home and I got to relax while Chad did the dishes. That was the best part! We topped the evening off by going to Olive Garen for my favorite dessert *lemon cream cake* and coffee. We also stopped by Barnes and Noble to pick up a few books. I had a great *special* day. Thanks to everyone who made it such a great day!

Happy Birthday To Me!

Here is my birthday picture! 29 years ago. I was born at 2:11pm - 7lbs 0.5oz, at St. Elizabeth hospital. It is my last year in my twenties. I can't believe I am going to be 30 next year. Thanks to everyone for all the calls.

Festivities and 11 months old

It is amazing how much our lives have changed in the last few weeks. I can't believe that the last post I wrote I was wishing Carter would crawl and now he is proficient at it. He can get anywhere and everywhere and knows where all the *no no* places are. Although I think he is enjoying his new freedom it has also brought about some frustration for him when he can't get exactly where he wants to go or gets stuck somewhere. He also gets upset when he works hard to get over to where we are and then we leave to walk into another room. He is not fast enough to follow us around from room to room but I think it has given him the incentive to walk. He seems to be making leaps and bounds physically. He is pulling himself up more and more and loves to stand. He cruses around any piece of furniture he can find and will even go from one piece to another if they are close enough. He can push his walker and walk behind it and enjoys that but prefers to walk around it pushing the buttons. He knows how to put the balls into his new dinosaur toy and gets great pleasure from that. He likes to open and shut drawers and play with anything that is meant for the dogs. He has also started saying *momma*. He will repeat it when you say it and he seems to be using it to actually call my name at times. I love hearing him say it, but of coarse he did say *dada* first. One funny thing I have to say so that I can remember years from now is that I have noticed that when Carter is waiting for his bottle he will smack his lips together until he gets it. It is pretty cute.
Now on to what we did this week. On the third of July we went to the annual Scribner blast at Shawn and Carries. We got to enjoy the evening without Carter, which was good because he was afraid of the fireworks. Then I was suppose to work on the fourth of July but ended up being on call and we were able to have a nice dinner over at Erin and Brian's with a few friends. It was a lot quieter for Carter even though he did wake up a few times throughout the night. Then on Saturday we went to Southbend Nebraska to Randy and Judy's place. They have a nice house on Platte River. We had a big BBQ and were able to take Carter in the water, sand and on a boat ride. He was not fond of the boat, or should I say the life jacket. Once we took that off he was fine. He preferred to play with an empty beer bottle on the floor of the boat instead of enjoying the view. He had a ton of fun in the sand and Judy got him a shovel and some toys to play with. Unfortunately the long week was getting to him and he was crabby at 7 so we left and came home to put him to bed. We missed a great fireworks show we heard. Sunday we ushered at church and then went over to Faiths house to celebrate family birthdays. We came home for a quick nap and then went to Erin and Brians to celebrate the triplets 2 1/2 birthday (since their birthday is so close to Christmas they wanted to be able to do something in the summer). Carter had a really rough night last night and woke up several times due to all the broken sleep this weekend but we hope he will be back to normal tomorrow. He also was a little sick today so I hope he kicks that by tomorrow as well. My camera was dead on Sunday so I didn't get any from those outings but I got some from the lake and just some random pics of the past week or so.

Carter Crawling-Fourth of July

Locks of Love

Well after 8 months of not cutting my hair (due to laziness and not wanting to take Carter) I finally made myself an appointment to get my long over due hair cut. When I got there I told her I wanted it shoulder length and when she measured she said I was one inch shy of being able to donate my hair. So I decided to to cut of 8 inches, a little shorter than planned so I could donate my hair. I am actually donating it to Pantene Pro V becuase they only require 8 inches and locks of love wants it 10. This is not the greatest picture but it is of me just returning from the salon holding my hair.

Many Firsts

I just had to add an entry today to share all the first that Carter did today. First, his fourth tooth came in. It is his top middle right tooth. Second, he pulled himself up from sitting to standing all by himself. We held onto his walker and he pulled himself up to a stand. Finally he crawled today!!! We got some video that I will share with you. We couldn't be happier that he has finally crawled.

The Destructor

So Happy!

Playing with his new toys!

Standing at the Exersaucer

A picture I caught of him sleeping

Playing with the dogs bell (they ring it to go outside)

Do I have something on my face?

It seems like it has been a pretty busy week around the Scribner house. Chad was out of town for a couple of days so Carter and I were on our own. I got to bed early and enjoyed having the bed all to myself for a few nights. (ha ha) We also had a busy weekend with Father's Day and lots of errands to run. This week is the start of my *new* hours at work. I was able to cut down to 32 hours every 2 weeks. I am really excited about the time I get to spend at home our little man. My back is getting better. I can lift and do most things now but it is still sore and I am reminded most days that it is still injured. Carter is doing well this week. He has come a long way with his walking. He really enjoys hanging onto our hands and walking places and does a pretty good job. Something he wasn't doing a week or so ago. He also really enjoys standing. He will stand almost anywhere you put him and for long periods of time. He is not crawling yet, but he will get back into the crawl position from being on his belly. He will also move his hands forward if you move his legs. He has also scooted both of his back legs together to move forward when he is really excited. We are really hoping it is soon though. He might walk before he crawls at this rate. Carter has tried some more new foods this week. He ate some salmon of mine, apricots, and roast beef. He is doing really well at feeding himself and has started doing more and more finger foods. His appetite seems to still be fluctuating all the time. He is consistently not finishing his bottles but will eat a ton of table food after wards. I guess it is a sign that our little man is growing up and wants to eat grown up food. A very very special thanks to the Niebuhr family for sharing a bunch of their toys with us. Carter was getting a bit bored with his. Erin and the kids brought over a bunch of old toys to share with Carter. They are a huge hit and he is a very happy baby. Thank you SO much!
Oh yeah, I should explain the title of this blog entry. I have been calling Carter *The Destructor*. He is turning into such a boy lately. He loves knocking down towers of blocks, picking things up and dropping them and his favorite it to just brush his arms back and forth on the carpet pushing anything in his path away. He is too funny. Enjoy the weekend everyone!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day Dad! I LOVE YOU!
Love, Carter

Another Tooth

Playing the Piano with dadThe look of disgust

turn the page dad, I am done with this one

Carter enjoying the *non-toy* toys

Carter helping us put away boxes on our new shelves

On Tuesday we noticed that Carter's top left tooth popped through his gums. I thought he might be teething again because he was putting his fingers in his mouth a lot but he doesn't seem to show many signs of teething. (lucky for us) He also learned how to grind the top and bottom ones together and it makes a horrible sound. There isn't a lot of new news from Carters end. He is trying more table foods and feeds himself whole green beans and diced carrots. He seems to enjoy them but still enjoys us feeding him. He has been very hit and miss with how much he eats. Some days he eats a ton and I feel like he is an endless pit and other days we struggle just to get him to take his bottle. He is growing like a weed and we seem to physical changes in him everyday. His hair is coming in and is getting pretty dark. He is doing about the same physically. He rolls around everywhere to get what he wants and has become pretty mobile that way. Chad and I got a night out last weekend that was much needed. We had a nice date night and enjoyed each others company. The bad news of this week is that I threw out my back on Wednesday morning. I was cleaning the toilets (something I won't do again :) ) and when I went to stand back up my back pinched. I have never felt back pain like this before. I couldn't walk without shooting pains, so I had to call my mom, who gratefully took Carter so I could rest. The next morning it wasn't better so Chad's mom took Carter for the day and I went to the Chiropractor. I am starting to feel *slightly* better tonight and really hope to be back to normal by fathers day. I feel like I did on bed rest with Carter. The idea of laying around all day seems like a great idea but as I lay there I feel guilty and sad that I am not doing things I need to do. Just another thing to let me know that I am getting old. I hope you all have a happy happy Father's Day!

Video of Carter Rolling

Here is a clip of Carter rolling onto the pug bed and then onto the pug. Sorry about Oprah in background.

All Things Pugs

Carter after he rolled up onto the pugs bed. (notice the pugs left)Nase waiting patiently for food to fall

Tatze and Carter sharing dog toys

getting ready to pull the basket over

night time fun (he no longer likes to lay on the changing table. he prefers to play with all the things around him. His diaper holder is a fav.

Carter's new *love* is all things pugs. He loves the pugs bed, their toy basket, their toys, their ears, their fur, their tails and their collar tags. His day is now spent bugging the crap out of the dogs. I am happy to report that the dogs are taking it in stride and enjoying. They might be being tolerable because they now know that a fountain of food comes from the highchair and the person providing that food is the one that is poking and prodding them. So they figure they can endure a small amount of torture for a few morsels of food morning, noon and evening. I have caught a few funny things on the camera and thought I would share it with you.

Tag...you're it!

I was tagged by my friend Sarah the other day and thought I would fill this out. Hope it is not too boring. Since most of you who look at my blog already know me.

Favorite person (outside family)? This is a difficult question to answer. I have several really great friends that I consider my best friends. They all play a different role in my life and have all made my life better. They are there for me in their own ways and allow our friendship to grow and change as our lives change around us. My life would be VERY empty without them.
Favorite food? I cannot just pick one. So I will break it down into categories. Desserts- brownies, or Lemon Cream Cake from the Olive Garden, Ice Cream- Mint Chip (if it is from an ice cream store) Ben and Jerry's Coffee Heath Bar Crunch, Dinner-home made Runzas, Fast Food- Chinese, Veggies- Asparagus, Fruit-Pineapple, Restaurant- Melting Pot. Candy bar- Mounds

Quirks about you? I have several. Maybe I should change that to pet peeves. I have a hard time when people in power positions use bad grammar. Now I am not saying that I am very good at it myself, but I am if I have to be. Here are some examples. People using the word "irregaurdless", not a word. People using the improper pronunciation of the word "oriented" they say "orientated" also not a word. I hear this a lot at my job, and these two things make my skin crawl when I hear them. One quirk about me is that I hate having things on my feet. I much prefer to be barefoot. At times I have thought my feet might be claustrophobic. I do not wear shoes in the house ever, and I rarely wear socks. I feel much better when nothing is on my feet.

How would the person who loves you most describe you in ten words or less? I think this would be Chad and I am not sure what he would say. On a good day he might say "compassionate, empathetic, good listener, good friend" On a bad day he might say "intense, emotional, picky, and crabby" :) I would actually like to turn the question around and say how I would describe the person I love the most. Chad- "dedicated, loving, understanding, devoted father, great communicator,(&) love of my life"
Any Regrets in Life? Not really. The older I get the more I realize how everything that happens in our life really is done for a reason. There were several friendships I lost during college that I really wish I still had, but I think that if we were still friends I may have never met Chad, had Carter or met some of the great new friends I now have. I do hope I get to travel more before I die. That would be a regret from the grave. :)

Favorite Charity/Cause? Since working in Pediatrics I have a new love for JDRF. They are the juvenile diabetes research foundation. It is so sad when a small child comes in and is diagnosed with this disease and from that minute forward, their whole life is changed. I see the sadness in the parents eyes and the fear in the childs, and I hope that there is a cure soon.

Favorite Blog Right Now? I always enjoy looking at family and friends blogs. I check them almost every day. I also have a special place in my heart for some pug blogs that I have looked at for quite some time. I love finding other people who love their pugs as much as we love ours. But I now have a special place in my heart for the blog Steeces Pieces. It is this quadruplet mom who lives in Texas and she is an inspiration to me as a mom. I don't know how she has time to blog but she always has a positive attitude and something interesting to say. I have enjoyed learning about their lives. Weird, I know, but my friends Sarah and Christy look at it too!

Something You Can't Get Enough Of? Massages. I could get a massage 24/7 and never be sick of it. I love them, they are my favorite thing. Feet, back, neck, hands, anything. The best gift is a gift certificate to get a massage.

Worst Job You Ever Had? I actually liked the job ok, but when I look back it was the most disgusting thing I have ever done (and I have seen a lot with nursing). I was a dish washer at a nursing home in high school. It was my first "real" job. I didn't work a ton of hours and I worked with the most bizzare and random selection of people. When I left work at night I was covered in old, half eaten, thrown up, smashed up food. I was sweaty and wet and my shoes were caked in crap. To top it all off you had to wear all white! I actually did enjoy the job ok, and met some interesting people, but I would never do it again.

What Job Would You Pay NOT To Have? I would have to say anything that works with bugs or rodents. I despise anything creepy crawly. When we had roaches in Texas it pushed my limits with tolerance to bugs. I hate killing them and sometimes I am frozen with fear when I see them (mainly cockroaches). Chad kills all the bugs around here. So if I had to be an exterminator I might die.

If You Could Be A Fly On The Wall, Where? Hmm. I really don't know. The only thing I can think of is to be a fly on the wall after I leave a patient room, or leave a group of people to see what they really think of me once I leave.

Favorite bible verse right now- I like this one right now. I like verses on Faith. Just in case I am doubting. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)"

Guilty Pleasure? Chocolate. It always makes things better.

If you HAD to spend $1,000 on yourself, what would you do? I would do the same as Sarah and go to a luxury spa and have every treatment possible. It would probably be the best day of my life besides my marriage and the birth of my son.

Favorite thing about your house? The kitchen. It is pretty big and has a lot of cupboard space. I also love the finished basement and wood floors upstairs. I am really happy with the house we have. We just finished putting in storage shelves in the basement and it looks so nice now.


Least favorite thing about your house? No spa bathtub in the master bathroom, no screened in porch and no door at the bottom of the stairs to the basement (to keep out the noise from the tv)
The noise from the basement is my biggest complaint. It is really bad especially because of the wood floors. The other things are things I wish I had and don't.

One thing you are bad at? Putting my cup on a coaster. I am not a coaster fan, and frankly I just don't use them. It drives Chad mad. I will set my cup right next to the coaster. I feel like it is more likely to tip over that way. Oh who am I kidding, I just don't like using them.

Who would you like to meet someday? Hugh Jackman. Not really. I am not a star struck person at all, although he would be nice to look at. If I had my life to do over and did not inherit "non- flexible" genes, I would want to be a professional dancer or gymnast. I always watch in amazement what these people can do and I have a deep desire to do it. So I would want to meet an amazing dance partner who could teach me how to be an awesome dancer.

Who is your real life Hero? I would say, hands down, my parents. The older I get the more thankful I am for the things they have given me, taught me, and set an example for. They have a strong marriage, strong faith and they are both such giving people. They have given me such strong roots and some one to fall back on when things get tough. They have taught me how to make a marriage work, how to stand up for myself and when to be the bigger person. I am so happy that I have parents who are still in love after many many years and still have the energy to help their kids, grandkids, family, friends and church. I couldn't have asked for better. If I live half the life they have I will be happy.
What is the hardest part of your Job? Probably, the families. You get families that come in that are scared and stressed, and it can make the job very difficult. I always feel sorry for the families that get new diagnoses for their kids that are going to change their lives or the new moms that have to come back up to hospital right after their new baby went home.

When are you the most relaxed? In the evenings when Carter is in bed and the house is picked up and dishes are done. This is the time I get to spend doing things for myself. I enjoy a quite house at the end of the day.

What stresses you out? Lots of things. I am a pretty high strung person. When I get stressed I tend to shut down and not do the things I should that might help reduce the stress. I am a worry wart which means I spend a little bit of each day worrying about something. If I could get rid of one thing it would be that I wasn't a worry wart.

What can you not live without? First, my faith. Then my husband, son, family, friends and pugs. And last but not least, my blanket. I still sleep with my blanket I had since I was born. My grandma Niebuhr gave it to me when I was born. Crazy, yes. My husband calls it my "wooby"

Why do you blog? To update family and friends what is going on in our lives, to share pictures and to keep a journal of what we were doing at certain times. It is really nice to look back and see what Carter was doing at certain points in his life.

Who am I tagging?

New/newer bloggers- Well Chad's cousin Faith just started her blog so I will put her here.
Bloggers you would like to get to know more- Kristin Mayo,
Bloggy Friends- Christy, Erin, Jess

Rules:
1. Answer the questions
2. Link back to whoever tagged you
3. Tag eight bloggers to do the same, 2 from each category:
New/ newer bloggers (since we want to share the love and send them traffic)
Bloggy friendsBloggers you'd like to get to know better
Bloggers you don't think will respond, but you hope will
Bloggy friends

Lacey's Graduation

Lacey and I


Carter crawling in the grass

posing for some more pics

The yummy food

the triplets and my mom with Carter

Park fun

more park fun



On Sunday we went up to Shenandoah Iowa for Lacey's graduation. It was a good time and good food. Carter had fun playing with his cousins, being outside and going to park. We left at 7 with a very tired child but got caught up in a storm that kept him awake and made us pull over until it stopped. We ended our Memorial day weekend with a breakfast at holmes park (sorry we forgot the camera there) and emptied out the store room to build some shelves. We had a very busy but fun weekend. make sure and check out all the post below. There are 6 new ones. Sorry for the delay in posting. Enjoy!

Memorial Day

Here are some picture of us at Mahoney State Park. We go up every year with Chad's family who gets a cabin up there. We grill out and sometimes take a walk around the park but we weren't able to do that this year because it was Carter's bed time.