Say Cheese!

I may be a little partial- but can he get any cuter? I mean really?! Thank you Uncle Brant once again for some incredibly cute pictures!!

Birthday pics with Uncle Brant

So loving these!!! Cannot decide which one is my favorite!!!

It's party time

His monthly "rocking chair/watch me grow" picture


Enjoying his birthday cake (he ate little small bites for about 30 minutes!)


Helping Poppa put together his wagon at his family birthday party


Cake covered "OH" face!

Carson and Friends!

From left to right: Jaxon Meredith, Beckett Rogers, Mallory Cloud, Madison Freyaldenhoven, Sarah Grace Larkin, Carson, Caroline Larkin, Jace Akin, Riley Davis, Macy Cloud, and Bennett Oliver (Owen and Olivia Hill were present but unfortunately not pictured).

ONE YEAR

CARSON JACK WALKER

Born August 3, 2009 at 4:24am weighing 7 lbs and 1 oz. and 20.5in long

Carson so excited to celebrate his 1st Birthday!!!

It seems impossible to believe that our sweet baby boy has turned ONE! This year has been one of the most exhilarating and life changing years of our lives. It has presented a few challenges along the way but many, many, many joys and blessings! We have watched our precious baby boy grow from an infant totally overwhelmed by his bright new world to a curious happy boy who loves life and can put a smile on anyone's face. He greets us each morning with a smile, ready for another fun-filled day and goes to bed peacefully each night exhausted from everything he has learned that day. I simply cannot imagine my life without Carson...and even though he has only been with us for one year, it is hard to remember life before him. His smile, laugh and hugs melt my heart everytime! Thank you Lord for our precious son! Thank you for choosing Larry and I to be Carson's parents! May we raise Him in Your Ways and may he continually be full of Your joy, contentment, love, and peace.

Now for the milestones...at 12 months (the point at which we sort of switch to referencing his age by years instead of months...)

-He has a big smile

-Is full of hillariously animated expressions (especially the "OH" face)

-Sweet to give cuddles

-Quick to investigate how everything works

-Easily entertained by anything that makes noise/music (loves to "play the drums" on anything and bounces up and down to the music...especially his toy that plays the "ABC" song)

-Had his first major case of separation anxiety/mommyitis at the time of the move (big changes+Bebe being gone+ear infection=cranky/clingy Carson) Thankfully it only lasted 2 weeks and then he was back to his easy going, fun-loving self!

-Crawling quickly all over the house and finally up on all fours instead of the army crawl.

-No signs of walking yet, but pulling up to things much more!

-Wearing size 12-18 month clothes

-Has 6 teeth (top 4, bottom 2)

-Weight and length to be determined at his 12 month check-up this Friday (my guess is 22.5lbs)

-Enjoying a wide variety of foods...although he does not love his sippy cup yet (it is growing on him though)

-Tried whole milk for the first time yesterday (didn't bother him at all- didn't seem to notice or care the difference)

-Waving consistently, still loving to clap and make the "Indian sound"

-Loves sitting in his rocking chair (the one in the birthday pictures) and looking out his big window in his room...he sat there for a good 45 minutes watching the tractor out front dig while placing a gas line and then again when the sod was laid.

Thank you to all of our family and friends who love Carson and have invested his life over the past 12 months! I cannot adequately put in to words how much I appreciate your kindness, guidance, selflessness, and love! You all have played a major role in allowing Carson to grow and thrive in a secure, safe, fun and loving environment whether he is at home or not! For that, I am so appreciative!

Happy Birthday sweet baby boy!!! I love you!!!

Major updates...all in order

As you can see from the posting dates...it has been over a month since my last post! And of course it has been one of the most important/busy months of updates...things that are definitely "blog-post worthy." So without further delay, I will try to capture the past month for all who are interested. On July 18th, we moved in to our new home!!!! The home building process took exactly 4 months to complete and although it was a bit stressful at times, it really went much smoother than I had prepared myself for. And in answer to our prayers, our marriage survived what we hear can be one of the biggest tests of your relationship (hahaha) and we even came in on budget! Praise the Lord! Now, 3 weeks later, we are still sorting through, cleaning out, unpacking, etc. but have settled in fairly quickly. Sorry I don't have a final picture of the outside...that will come...sod has been laid and fence is up...landscaping to come. And yes, the move happened while my parents and brother were in India visiting my sister! Good times!

Then, on July 26th, Larry and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary! Given the chaos surrounding it and the fact it was on a Monday, we didn't get to celebrate with a date until later in the week at which time we romantically included our daily trip to Lowes. Don't get too jealous! Ironically, it is the only picture we have from our anniversary!

The biggest celebration of all came on August 3rd!!! CARSON'S FIRST BDAY!!!! This will get a blog post or two all of its own, but suffice it to say, we had a fantastic day with two super fun birthday parties! Our baby is growing so fast.....anyways, before we break out the tissue box, I'll wrap up the summary. On August 6th was my 29th bday, enough said- haha! Today is August 8th and I'm left to ponder/rejoice over all the many blessings the Father has poured down on us! And I'm longing for a few days of rest! :)

Our kitchen at move in time


Furniture in- YAY

Happy 7th Anniversary!


Carson enjoying his new view from his room :)

11 months old

Time for the monthly milestones! As usual, this month has gone by quickly and once again I am amazed at how Carson seems to be learning new things every day. He is such a happy and content little baby (intentionally saying "baby" instead of "boy" as I'm getting super sappy and emotional over the thought of his birthday party and how fast time flies...). It gives me such JOY being his mommy! What a blessing he is to our lives - we are basically head over heels in love with our son!

-As you can see from the previous posts, he loves his little swimming pool

-Two new teeth...we are no longer a vampire, his top to middle teeth have come in. That makes a grand total of 6 teeth now!

-Trying a variety of finger foods but still really likes his baby food. As you can tell from a few of these pictures, between the carrots, sweet potatoes, squash etc- his nose has taken on that token orange hue.

-Crawling well and now crawls from room to room to find me if I leave his sight. Also very good at going from belly to sitting position.

-CLAPPING- his new favorite game...after weeks of trying to get him to clap it was literally like the light bulb went off in his head one day and he started clapping out of the blue and hasn't stopped yet. He also does this really cute thing where he randomly throws his arms in the air...after which we shout "Praise the Lord" and he laughs:)

-loves his cheerios- never truly appreciated the entertainment factor they provide as well...he will sit content with handful of them long enough for me to shower and get ready

-cut back to nursing only 3 times a day...as hard as it is for me to admit it, he is weaning himself. I'm so thankful I have been able to continue breastfeeding him, and I really never dreamed it would be this hard for me to let that go...one more month...

-enjoys being read to at night and very good at helping me turn the pages...no, really- he sits very still and lets me read most of the page and as soon as I lift the corner of the page, he turns it for me.

Enjoy- his 11 month pictures in his rocker with Bundar! (I recruited some help from Larry to help take these- that's why he is sitting still compared to last month's attempt).

Carson's new favorite "toy"

Poppa surprised Carson with a new "toy"- his first little swimming pool! He LOVES it! He has always liked his bath so I'm not too surprised by his taking to it...he splashes and wallows arounds in circles in it and has the best time. He also went swimming for the first time in Bebe and Poppa's real pool and liked it too...but not as much as his own!

Here is Poppa and Carson at the campgrounds swimming for the first time....warming up to the idea



Here he is in Bebe and Poppa's back yard after running in a road race with mommy- had to cool off you know

Here he is with Bebe in the middle of his soon-to-be new living room while mommy and daddy paint trim

In the background, you can make out his new room (the green wall!)