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Most people said they thought we were having a girl. I think it was just wishful thinking. It is human nature to want something you don't have right?

I may not get a daughter now. However, I think I get the better end of the deal this way. I don't have to deal with the drama growing up. Or the butting heads and clashing as a teenager. 

I just have to wait another 20 or 30 years, and I will get my daughters - fully grown and excited to join the family. I am so excited for my boys to meet that woman who will be perfect for them. 

Of course at that point, my boys will no longer be part of my family as it was. They will be branching out, making their own family. They will need space to nurture their family.

I can't expect them to love me like their mother. However, I can treat them like my daughters. I can love them and show respect for them. I can incorporate them into my family as best I can. My attitude as mother is what really sets the mood of the relationship.

I have a friend whose mom put it this way:

http://hillarystuff.blogspot.com/2012/01/loff-my-other-kids.html

It will be so fun to see how they choose to raise their family - what they do differently, what they do the same, how my new daughters bring their upbringings into the mix. They may choose to do things completely different than David and I do now. 

I can't wait to have my daughters, but I will have to. It will just take another 20 or 30 years.

So much for the super cute bedding set I found at a baby sale! It was such a good deal, there was NO WAY I was going to pass it up. I've been storing it for over a year, and will have to pass it on to someone else. Oh well.

Silly Strawberry Face Boy

Carter is making some amazing connections. I can't believe how well he understands such complex things. 

One of the things that he does that I love is pretending to read. Not just read, but sounding things out. I don't know where he gets it. He will pick something up and move his finger along the words while saying "Glu Ten Free. No Dai Ry. This Is Car Ter Friend Ly. " Then look up at me and say "See Mommy? I can eat this."

David asked him what he had in his mouth (He often hoards food, and comes close to choking on it at times). He responded "I don't have anything in my mouth. I only have teeth in my mouth."

I was tickling him and he was laughing saying "Tickle me!" I rolled onto him and said "What? Tackle you?". He would repeat "No! Tickle me." Then I say "Okay, tackle you." Repeat for a few minutes. He was starting to get frustrated, so I told him that I knew he was saying "Tickle", but I was pretending that I heard him say "Tackle". He responded with "Oh, you were playing a joke on me! Ha Ha Mommy."

He has excellent comprehension skills. It is really cool to see him hear someone say something, then repeat it in his own words - words that he is more familiar with.

Current obsession: Helmets. 

David's friend Matt rides a motorcycle and has a helmet - and Carter idolizes Matt. He loves to walk around Matt's bike and ask him what happened to his helmet (He has to hide it so Carter won't try to put it on).

Carter came to me and said "Helmets are really espensive." Oh, are they? David just bought a new helmet and Carter must have overheard him telling Matt about the differences in price because we didn't really discuss it with Carter present. He also describes the plastic in the front over the eyes as a "Windshield". It really fits because that is what it is. I think it is so smart that he can describe something so accurately, in terms that he understands. He is also very critical of people not wearing helmets. 

David lets Carter play with his old helmet. He looks like a bobble head doll!! Carter comes to David and says "Daddy, I have a surprise for you!" David says "Really, where is it?" Carter: "In a box in the office." David: "What box?" Carter: "A helmet box!" David: "Is it my new helmet?" Carter: "Yeah! Come put it on. Then we'll all have helmets on!" He is constantly trying to convince David to wear the helmet just like him!!!

Today was Carter's first day of partaking of the Sacrament at church. We had been unsuccessful at the rice bread. I found a corn chip with flax seed at the store. They passed around the tray today with the corn chip on it, and he took it. He told me that during the Sacrament we think about Jesus, and we should be reverent. He even pointed out people who were praying, and that was also something he said we should be doing. He was very quiet and he folded his arms!! I have never seen him so reverent during the Sacrament portion of the meeting. He MORE THAN made up for it during the rest of the meeting. He was loud and rambunctious.  He climbed all over me. He grabbed my hair with both hands and pulled. He wiped his face on my shirt over and over again saying "Snot. Snot. Snot." each time he wiped. It was awful! I figured that I get the same amount of energy during the day, he just saved it up during the quiet time and spent it all right afterwards. 

On the way home from church he told us about the lesson in his Sunday school class. It was the first time he was really able to regurgitate the lesson. I was very happy about it, especially since he escaped from class twice!!! It was a rough day.

Such a boy!!

When did my toddler become such a boy??

He is OBSESSED with balls.

He laughs whenever someone says "poop", and he tells "poop" jokes, laughing hysterically at himself.

When Daddy passes gas, he claims it!!

Calls everything pink: "The girl one".

Is followed around by little girls.

What happened????



On a weird note - he wore shorts for the first time in over a year today & we saw NO BLOOD. It is a miracle!!! We MIGHT try again this summer. (He was still running through the store falling down and sliding on his knees. So, it was only by Grace that he wasn't bloody.)

Mommy, come here! Take a picture!!

I hear Carter calling me. He wants me to take a picture of something. I come in the room he is in with Daddy, and he is posing for the camera. I COULD NOT get him to look at me. Oh well. He set up the scene and wanted it documented.

So much fun to have Daddy home for a few weeks!!!

You know you're pregnant when...

You know you are good and pregnant when random men in line with you comment on your pregnancy.

I have found men especially will not comment on a women's pregnancy (for fear it is just a weight issue) unless they are completely confident that she is pregnant.

I had a man in line behind me at the bank comment on my busy child, and my soon to be new baby.

I must be getting big enough huh!!

Animals

I got this really cool mat for a quarter. It has all the letters of the alphabet on it, with pictures of zoo animals. It came with no animals. I thought it would be a really good learning toy, even without the animals. Then, my friend Chandra found 13 of the animals at a garage sale. She gave them to me, and now I am on the lookout for the rest. Carter has a lot of fun with the animals. He gets stuck on Monkey though. He says that Monkey starts with "W, and upside down W". We are working on it.

So, this is my fun summer project - find the rest of the animals. So far I have and need:

Alligator

Bear

Camel

Dolphin

Elephant

Flamingo

Giraffe

Hippopotamus

Iguana

Jaguar

Koala

Lion

Monkey

Nightingale

Ostrich

Penguin

Quail

Rhinoceros

Seal

Tiger

Urial - like a big horned sheep

Vulture

Walrus

X-Ray Fish

Yak

Zebra

We have a Zebra and white Bear that we have been using - but I am still on the lookout for the ones with the red letters on their chest so Carter can see the "match". We have also been using it as a matching game.

Follow the Prophet

Tonight our Family Home Evening was on following the prophet. Carter was very excited, and wanted to teach the lesson. With my guidance, he did a very good job. We learned that our prophet speaks for God, and gives us instructions (mostly to say we're sorry for bad things we've done). There have been lots of prophets throughout the world's history. The Bible is mostly compiled of the teachings of the prophets and apostles - Noah, Moses, Abraham, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John - and of course Jesus himself. We opened up the words of our current prophet Thomas S. Monson from the last General Conference. There is a picture of every general authority in the church, starting with the current prophet and his 12 apostles.

Carter was very quick to point out Thomas S. Monson, Henry B. Eyering, & Dieter F. Uchtdorf (How many of your 2 year olds can pronounce that name huh? I just had to boast a little there.). I was surprised when he started naming others from the 12 apostles: Boyd K. Packer, Russell M. Nelson, and my favorite "That's Tom" L. Tom Perry (He's was an attorney, so he can abbreviate his first name. They all do that right?)

Afterwards, we got into a discussion about husbands and wives. I tried to explain that I am not just a mommy - I am daddy's wife. Carter had a really hard time understanding this. I told him that before I was a mommy, I was just a lady. "Nooooooooo, Mommies can't be ladies." So, David tried to explain that mommy was just a girl. Nope. So, we skipped the before part and I said "I am Daddy's wife, and he is my husband." Carter responded with "And I am my sister". Nope. I still don't think he got it.

Then, he went on to explain "My Daddy has older boys who are tall. They say bad words and make bad choices. Daddy has two three year olds." I'm not sure where he gets this stuff.