The Neglectful Blogger Has Returned

Hello everyone! Long time, no see! It's time to catch up. I have been neglectful of the blog and apologize profusely (especially to my grandma for whom this blog is a sole source of pictures of her great-grandson!).
This entry has no pictures, but will catch you up on the goings on in the Carr family. Pictures shall be posted in the next entry (aka when I am at home with access to the pictures!).

So the last post was from Austin's birthday. Geez. That feels like a lifetime ago. Summer was good in the Carr house. We went on several day trips to the beach - which Austin loves and we also went on several trips out of town. Austin began walking in mid-June, at about 14.5 months. Shortly after, he began running and has been on the move ever since! We have been very fortunate. There have been no major falls in our house (knock on wood) and no injuries. Before he started walking, he said a few words, but after he really began walking, the vocabulary took off. He now says a bunch of words. Daddy and Aunt Jess estimate the word count at 50-60. Some are clearer than others, but they all have specific meaning. As an amusing aside, if you are around my child, and hear him gleefully say "Boobies!", he is not referring to any anatomical part - rather he has seen or heard a bird. I promise. He loves to make animal noises too. Lion noises were his favorite for a while but the current favorite is a rooster, which he indicates with "Cock-a-doo". It is truly adorable. It has been amazing to watch him developing speech and it is so much fun to communicate with him. He even has a couple of two word phrases, including "shoes off" and "shoes on".

In July, Austin was the ring bearer for my cousin Carlie's wedding in Jacksonville. I use the term ring bearer rather loosely, because it entailed Carlie's friend Mikey carrying my crying child up the aisle. He wasn't walking very far on his own at that point, so we opted that he be carried down the aisle. He was feeling shy and somewhat freaked out by the whole event which resulted in the crying. There wasn't sobbing or anything, just tears running down his cheeks as he looked woefully for mommy and daddy. Daddy came in and saved the day by whisking Austin out to the foyer for juice as soon as he was finished walking down the aisle. He was super super cute in his tux though!

In August we went to Sanibel Island for a long weekend to celebrate Nathan's 30th birthday. It was a very relaxing weekend. Austin wasn't much in the mood for the beach, but we had fun taking walks and he enjoyed riding in the wagon. We got an unconventional wagon - it is a lawn cart from home depot! But we love it! It is bigger than a regular wagon and will hold up to 700 lbs, so we should be able to use it forever! No, I am not saying that Austin will be riding in the wagon when he's twelve, just that it will be put to other uses once he's finished with it. It's been to the beach and all throughout the neighborhood.

In September we took our first real family vacation. We spent a week in Yellowstone. It was FANTASTIC. We had such a great time. Nathan and I both prefer to get away from it all on vacation rather than doing the whole amusement park/resort/lots of activity thing, so this trip was perfect for us. We flew into Jackson Hole, Wyoming and then drove up into Yellowstone, staying a couple of nights in three of the different resort areas in the park. The term resort in Yellowstone is a bit of a misnomer. None of the hotels have televisions and most don't even have a phone. They are rustic. We spent our days relaxing and spending time together as a family. The wildlife and scenery was just amazing. We saw elk, chipmunks, buffalo and even a black bear. One day we were driving along and traffic came to a stop. Next thing we knew, there was a buffalo walking down the middle of the road. He passed within feet of our car!! How cool is that?!? The whole trip was amazing. I'd worried for weeks about how Austin would do on the planes, being out of his normal routine, and all sleeping together in the same room, but he was terrific. He was so easy going. I think the best part of the trip was just getting to spend lots of time together without the cellphones, blackberry, tv, etc. I hope that we can take another trip again next year.

A week after returning from Yellowstone, we were on the road again for a trip to Indiana for my cousin Stacie's wedding. Austin's Aunt Jess lives in Indiana right now, so we started the weekend in Bloomington visiting Jess and then traveled up to Auburn for the wedding. It was a busy but great weekend. Once again, our little traveler was happy and the trip went well.

October was an exhausting month. We spent three weekends in Jacksonville visiting with Nana (Nathan's grandmother), who was very ill. She was in a hospital for each of our visits, so Austin wasn't able to go in to visit, but on Halloween, we convinced Nana to come out and see Austin. She was only outside for a couple of minutes, but we will treasure that short visit forever. Nathan and I saw Nana for the last time on November 1. She passed away on November 7 and we will miss her dearly. Despite the reason for the trip to Jacksonville, we managed to have a fun Halloween. The weekend prior to Halloween, we went to a pumpkin patch near Mimi and Grandpa's (aka BePa. Austin can't really say grandpa, so he calls grandpa BePa) house. It was fun to see all the "Pumpkees". Austin had a good time. Then on Halloween, we dressed Austin up and went trick-or-treating at a few houses. Austin was a bumblebee and was a adorable. He would talk about all the pumpkees as he and Daddy walked up to the door and then once the door opened, he just stared at the people, not saying a word. As soon as the door closed, he started talking again. It was pretty funny. We weren't able to get a "trick-or-treat" out of him, but we've started working on "Ho ho ho" and "Merry Christmas" and they are promising to be much more successful. :-)

Austin has a task that he loves to do at home - feeding the dog. He is really proud of himself each night when we feed the dog together. He runs around shouting "bowl! bowl!" and then brings the bowl to the pantry for food. He helps to dump the scoop of dog food in the bowl, and then he carries (with our help) the bowl over to the stand where Daja eats and says "okay!". It is hilarious to watch. Wonder what else he can do???

Austin had his 18 month checkup last week. He weighed in at 24 lbs and measured 34 inches. Doctor Weiss says this is 25th percentile on weight and 90th percentile on height. It also explains why I cannot find clothes to appropriately fit my child! By the time I get them long enough, they are huge in the waist. Hopefully one day he will have clothes that fit! He is a healthy little boy who is full of curiosity and energy. I am incredibly thankful for our healthy, happy little boy. He brings so much happiness and laughter to our home and we couldn't ask for anything more.

Updates - Part 2

As promised, here is part 2 of the pictures updates!
The Saturday after Austin's birthday was the day of his birthday party. We managed to keep things in control and not go overboard. We had a few close friends and their kiddos (born and a couple not yet born!) over. The day started with a boo boo. Austin tipped over while sitting in his car and hit his head. He had a nice goose egg on his forehead but was okay. Here is Austin and Daddy drinking some juice and calming down after the accident. (and Doug and Janan, we promise that we do NOT hold you guys responsible in any way!!)


Austin playing with new presents with his two favorite girls in the whole world (besides Mommy!) - Tessa and Kyleigh Tenorio. Tessa is the love of Austin's life. :-)


The parade of the smash cake.

I had a super cute cake for the other party goers, but in all of the excitement, we forgot to take a picture of it. :-(
Before things get messy....
Now for the fun part!

After this picture, we promptly went in for a bath!

Here is one of the party guests, one of the Ninja Twins (either Aidan or Adelle, but I have no idea which one!). She was enjoying the party in her own way-fast asleep.


Opening presents with Daddy

All in all the day was really fun. Austin seemed to have alot of fun and enjoyed everyone singing Happy Birthday to him. It was a great way to celebrate our first year with our little boy!

Moving Better & Feeling Hopeful

Wednesday was a tough day for us. Nathan took Daja to the doggie neurologist and at first they thought she'd had a stroke or some other high blood pressure issue. She wanted to do labwork and an MRI to see what was going on in Daja's brain. Depending on what she found there, she felt they might need to do a spinal tap as well. She did end up doing all of the tests, including the spinal tap. We waited on pins and needles for the results.
I don't really understand it all, but it boils down to Daja didn't have a stroke (yay!). In discussing things with the doctor, it turns out that one of the medicines Daja takes for her stomach issues can cause every symptom she is having and that Daja was actually taking twice the dosage for a dog her size. Lovely. Our regular vet (who is new to us) told us two weeks ago that we needed to get Daja off the medicine for her stomach and we had already started a strict food trial with her as part of beginning the process of getting off the medicine. This latest development sped things up a little since we are now not giving her that particular medicine.

We still don't have the official diagnosis for what is actually wrong yet. We have to wait on the results of the lab work, which we should get tomorrow. After those come back, we will be able to discuss treatment options.
Today Daja has been moving alot better. She has even been running around a little though she still has moments when she gets pretty weak on her legs. She isn't eating much though, so I hope that picks back up soon.
Overall, we are beginning to feel more hopeful about the situation and the possible outcome of all of this. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. They are greatly appreciated.

Our other child....

Updates part 2 will be coming shortly....

In the mean time, I figured I would update you on the latest goings on in the Carr house. This weekend while we were in Jacksonville, Daja somehow hurt herself. She started limping on Saturday and by Saturday night was really really limping. We don't know what happened. The only thing we know of that happened is that Daja was out by the pool and accidentally got one foot in the pool. To clarify, Daja is rather terrified of the pool (which is ironic since weims are water dogs. They even have webbed feet for swimming) and so getting one foot in the pool is a traumatic event which requires yanking said foot out of the pool as quickly as possible and then not going near the pool for the rest of the weekend. I didn't even see it happen, so I didn't really think anything of it.

By Sunday night, however, Daja could barely walk. So yesterday morning I took her to the vet. They took xrays and determined that she had no bone damage in her back. They think she has some disc damage and so we got an anti-inflammatory and a muscle relaxer to give her. The muscle relaxer did quite a number on her. When I got home from work last night, she had absolutely no control over her legs. It was horrible.
This morning she was able to hobble around again, but could not walk in a straight line. Nathan took her out to potty and had to walk with her to keep her from running into the house. She veers left almost constantly. We thought at first that it was just lingering effects of the muscle relaxer, but supposedly no.

After another call to the vet, they decided she should see the doggie neurologist. Who knew such a thing even existed?? At any rate, we are nervously awaiting our appointment tomorrow morning and hope to get some good news. I think having dogs and cats causes as much emotional stress as kiddos do. This whole ordeal is so emotionally exhausting. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers!!

Updates - Part 1

I have been terrible at posting. I've just been having too much fun not working like crazy. In the evenings at home, I've been too tempted to just sit and enjoy a good book instead of posting. But I've finally procrastinated too long, so here's part one of the update.

The coloring on this one isn't great, but I love this picture of Daja and Austin.

What a smile!!

This is also a very common smile - the fingers automatically fly up to his mouth!


Since the last post, we've done some fun things. We took Austin to his first Easter egg hunt at church. He didn't really grasp the idea, but we all had fun with it. For the little ones, the eggs were just laid out in the grass and you were supposed to get the eggs shown on your piece of paper. We ignored the rules and just got a few eggs. Here is Austin and Daddy getting eggs.

"What else is in this basket??" Note the grass from the basket is all on the ground.

The bulk of our pictures from this event look something like this. Evidently plastic eggs are quite tasty!


We took Austin to the pool for the first time. I think he is going to be a water baby. He seems to love it.

The first time we just went in the kiddie pool. We got Austin a little ring float and put him in the float. He was able to touch the bottom and walk/float around in the pool, which he really seemed to enjoy. His favorite game is to take Daddy's hat off and throw it in the water. Luckily Daddy is a good sport about wearing a soaking wet hat!!



That's all for now. More pictures will be posted soon!

Mr Personality

A week ago on Sunday the space shuttle took off from Cape Canaveral. We were able to see the shuttle from our backyard. It was really cool!! We were able to even see the shuttle separate from the solid rocket boosters.

Sometimes I am confused as to who is the dog around our house.

Here is Austin standing at the coffee table. One of his favorite activities these days is stand at the coffee table, grabbing everything possible, or banging on the table.

Here are a few fun high chair pictures...




Saturday while I was at work, Nathan and Austin went to the barber shop for Austin's first haircut.
Checking out the cool cape!

"Not too sure about this, but hopefully Daddy will protect me if things get hairy."

Here we are, all done. What a handsome boy!!

The only downside to the haircut was the stylist's fragrance. Two whole days later, his hair STILL smells like the lady. And it isn't a pretty fragrance. I've even tried using adult shampoo on his hair to get rid of the smell, but to no avail.

Up and Moving!!

Yes, this post is quite belated, but there is this pesky thing called tax season that has been keeping me rather busy. The latest pictures will be posted soon, along with a video or two.

So tax season has been going well. Balancing work and family has been challenging, but the stress is mostly self-induced. I won't bore you with the details of my crazy schedule other than to say most mornings I feel like a zombie. I am trying to learn as much as possible and make up for my shortened tax season last year. Which brings me to another thought - At this time last year, I was on my second week of "house arrest" and wondering when this baby would come. Life has changed so completely for us in the past year and we love it!! We are so blessed to have such an amazing, happy, healthy little boy.

So here's what the Carr family has been up to the past month.
Somewhere around the middle of February, Austin began to army crawl over to you and try to pull up to a standing position on you. He needed only a little bit of help.

Feb 22 - Nathan leaves for his annual ski trip with work. The same day, Austin sits up by himself. It is a slow process, but he has it mastered by the end of the day! This is a great improvement because it means that he can sit up and lay down at will, and doesn't have to scream when he lays down and can't get back up!

Beginning of March - Tooth number six breaks through. Austin now has three on top and three on the bottom.

March 6 - Austin stands up by himself in the pack n'play at Karie's and stands for several minutes at a time.

March 10 - Austin begins cruising in the pack n' play. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, cruising refers to the action of holding on to something and walking. For example, holding on to the coffee table while walking. He is still very unsteady, but is ready to move!

March 12 - Tooth number seven breaks through. Austin now has the four center teeth on top and three teeth on the bottom. He is also chewing on his fingers like crazy, so I think another tooth is on the way.

As you can see, it has been a busy, busy month! Baby boy is SO much fun right now. He is saying all kinds of baby words - ma, da, ba, doe, la, etc. He finds beating on things to be great fun - anything that makes noise is fair game. I gave him a large plastic serving spoon from the kitchen a week ago and you would have thought I gave him gold! He waves it around and bangs it on stuff. One night he insisted on taking it into the bath, so for the time being it is a bath toy.

Lotsa Pictures!!!

Austin finally has enough hair to play with and so we had a little fun with it!!


Austin and Mommy having fun. If you look closely, you can see his single upper tooth on the left side of his mouth. He looks totally snaggle-toothed!


Whatcha got there mom??


Here is sleepy baby boy early one morning before going to Miss Karie's house. He looked so cute and snuggly warm in his car seat that we had to take a picture. Notice the cute hat on his head - this winter hat is a size 2-5T. Yes, that's generally for TODDLERS. He has a LARGE head!!



A couple of weekends ago, Grandma Short (aka GG to her great grandkids) came to Sarasota with Aunt Sandy to meet Austin for the first time. We had a great visit!


Tiger decided that it would be fun to see what the pack-n-play is like.


My two favorite Gator boys. Austin has finally learned to hold his own bottle.


Here are a couple of my favorites from our attempts at a Christmas picture.
These two definitely look like they will be getting into trouble together soon!!

This picture cracks me up every time I see it.