7 Month Old Baby

This last month has been pretty exciting for Carson! Lots of changes and new things. First.... he is now eating food! Lots and lots of rice cereal with mixed fruit. He LOVES it! It took us a few days to figure out how he liked it best..... super, super thick! At first it was way to watery and he didn't like it at all!

Baby's first bite of "solids".

Now that we make it the right way for him, he is a pig! He sure loves it! Right now he is eating about 2 bowls a day. Lunch and dinner.

He can finally ROLL!! Well from his back to his tummy. Then he gets stuck. He wakes up in the middle of the night screaming because he can't get back over. Such a pain! But he does have more fun playing with Jaxon now that he is a little bit more mobility. He still prefers sitting up to watch everybody and play with all of his toys!

 He usually wakes up from his naps so happy!

 Sometimes we take a break from the bath seat so that the splashing can be even more intense! He loves it!

He isn't so little any more! He is now wearing 12-18 month shirts! Sleeves rolled up, and they are a little long..... but anything smaller is soooo dang tight!! And he is wearing 3-6 or 6-12 month pants. Lil' shorty. :) Love him!

Christmas!

 We had a very different Christmas then we are used to. Because all of our family is so close, we usually spend most of Christmas Day "making the rounds". So fun, and busy, but exhausting! Well that was our plan this year! Until Christmas Eve, when my mom and sister came over for dinner. Poor Jaxon got hit with the flu that Joel and I were fighting all last week. He spent all of Christmas Eve throwing up. Poor little guy. He was a good sport, took a few pictures, opened his jammies, and went to bed. No gingerbread house...it's still in the box on my counter. We spend all day at home, hanging out in a mess of presents, wrapping paper, and blankets.  Ready for A TON of pictures?

My poor guy.

Opening Jammies

My mom and sister are too funny in their jammies

Stef with Carson - His first Christmas Eve!

Brothers!

Abuela and Carson

Love my little family!

Santa came!

After we put both boys to bed, we all watched Pitch Perfect! So dang funny and totally not festive! Then Santa got to work!

Sadly, Jaxon didn't sleep well at all. We were all up way too early! 6 am!

Realizing that Santa really did come!

Totally got him his own Minnie. He loves her!

THE GIFT this year. Every time we went to see Santa he asked for his very own camera.

Too busy smiling to look through his stocking!

No candy for babies, so he got baby food in his stocking!

His favorite part, of course, was the tissue paper!

The toys are pretty fun too though.

Loving these monster trucks!

Later that morning my mom and sister stopped by and brought more presents! Over the weekend, Gma and Gpa Brown brought over their presents! And because Jaxon was so sick, we are waiting until tonight to go to my dads to finish exchanging gifts! Our Christmas is being spread into 4 days!

Last week, I was finishing my very last errand with both kids. I decided to pick my mom up at the car place where she was getting her oil changed so we could go to lunch. Well when I started my car, it was making a HORRIBLE sound! When I got there, the mechanic came out and told me to shut off the car and not to start it again. He said the oil in my car was completely gone, and after they looked at it better, realized it was not going to be able to be fixed. He labeled it a ticking time bomb. There was major damage to the engine, and no way to repair it without replacing it. UGH. So frustrating. It was in need of an oil change, but was not outrageously past the mileage recommended. For some reason the dang thing burned way too much oil and we didn't notice. 

Anyway, to make a long story "shorter", we have been using my dads truck all weekend because Joels car isn't super reliable either. We shopped around a little for a new car, but for our budget, very few cars fit the bill. Being right before Christmas, I told Joel, lets just figure it all out later....

Well Christmas morning, Joel sent me out in the ice and snow to "get something out of the trunk". And my new car was in our parking spot! I was so surprised!!!!! It's nothing super fancy, but way nicer then the other car. I am soooooo thankful for such a great husband who loves surprising me! And for taking care of all that stuff. He kinda spoils me! ;)
Merry Christmas!!

Kinda random.

Came across these pictures today.... They were taken at the very beginning of November. Yep, he is in a short sleeve in November. Crazy beautiful weather! Anyway, he had an "accident" after school that day. He was laughing so hard that he didn't have pants on. Such a nerd.
His sense of humor kills me! Just like this dad!

Living Nativity

One of my friends told me about the Living Nativity in Alpine. We decided to check it out on Saturday and we are sooooo happy we listened to her advice and got there early! It is a busy place! Everyone parks in a Stake Center parking lot, then you wait in line for a spot on the horse trailers to take you up to the nativity. The line in the parking lot was CRAZY! No really, crazy! We got there about 25 min early and still waited for over a half hour just to get up there. When we left, it was probably a 2 hour line!

Our ride up to the Nativity.

The Bjorn my dad let me borrow saves my life!

Once you get up there you are greeted by shepherds and their sheep. They tell the story of the journey Mary and Joseph made, and you are sent on your way to find them. By following the star.

On your way up, there are camels to pet/fed, cows, Roman soldiers, donkeys, etc.

In one of the big barns at the top of the hill, there are a bunch of little booths and things set up for the kids to look at, try, and play. Jaxon was interested in a few things. But he was pretty determined to find all the animals and baby Jesus.

It was so cool. Everything seemed so well planned and executed, through all of the chaos! It was really really busy! It was so chaotic, it almost took away from the spirit of the whole thing. But once you get to the quiet stable where they have the star mounted and a little family set up, the spirit and purpose for this season comes right back. Jaxon was pretty mesmerized by them when it was our turn to see them. He kept saying "Hi baby Jesus".
We might have to make this a yearly tradition. It was a beautiful night! I really love doing things like this with my little family. 

Thanksgiving 2012

This year we had Thanksgiving with Joels side of the family! Everyone pitched in to help with all the amazing food and we had a great time! I have awesome in-laws!
I left my camera at home, so these pictures are courtesy of my brother and sister in law, and of course my phone!

Waiting for the food. He is so picky, so we improvised and made a turkey sandwich with a roll.

My darling nephew.

Such a sweet boy! But dang he is hard to get pictures of!

Joels grandparents making the mashed potatoes.

Thanksgiving 2012. With Happy Feet playing in the background so my child behaves. :)

Mel, Tyler and Parker.

Attempt at a brothers picture in their matching shirts. Stinkers.

Best family pic we got.

Carson and Grandma B.

Baby's First Thanksgiving. He slept through the ENTIRE meal, and woke up just in time to play.

Burning off some energy outside.

Thanksgiving in the 60's? Fabulous!

Bribery. Wouldn't come inside, and doesn't love pie.

 Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving too! I ended the night with Black Friday madness! I got my family home and situated, and headed out with my friend at 6pm. We hit Target, University Mall (Disney Store), the new Outlets, and Kohls. We called it a night at 5:30am! :)