A Glance at the Past

I thought it would be interesting to put together a collage of pictures to see how Carson has changed over time. Wow! Funny how soon we forget what they used to look like when they were just born.

Starting from top left corner, going clockwise:
0 weeks, 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks, 4 1/2 weeks, 5 weeks, 6 weeks, 6 weeks (happy), 3 months, 4 months, 5 months, 5 months (middle picture). I seem to have forgotten the 2 month pic in the collage. Oh well... you get the idea.

I did this using Shutterfly for the first time. Sorry the images aren't larger. I had to be creative in getting a jpg version to paste on here because they wanted me to order a print. Um, no thanks! Just didn't want to figure out how to do a collage in Photoshop at 1:30 in the morning :)

Mirror Magic

On Sunday, Carson was having a cranky day. He didn't nap at all during the entire 3 hours at church so he was t-i-r-e-d! To help cheer him up and stop the fussing, I initially filled the bathroom sink with water so he could put his feet in and kind of splash a bit. Then he discovered a cute kid in the mirror and he was all smiles! Thank goodness for the magic of mirrors.

"Gosh, who is this cute baby I see?"

"You look familiar...have I seen you before?"

"Maybe if I make a face he'll make one back."

"He's copying me!!"


Look closely and you'll see the drop of DROOL that his constant companion

"I see you, Daddy!"

"What's all that noise you're making? You're interrupting me."
(notice the "mullet" patch in the back...Danny wants to shave it off.
I'm trying to hold him off from doing that!)

"Are you taking pictures of me?"

"Ok, I'll do a good pose for you."

We love him to pieces! He's 5 months old now and is quite a character some days.

If You Got It - Flaunt It!

One thing our son has it hair, and quite a bit of it compared to some other infants. So after a bath last night, Daddy styled Carson's hair in the traditional mohawk that we've done basically since he was born. Mostly because his hair doesn't stay down. And because we think it's cute.

But later today I noticed it was curling over and starting to look like a wave, so I decided to fix it and comb it down. Doesn't he look so handsome? :)


And then the hair dried...and it looked like this.


A kind of comb-over going on here? Kind of reminded me of a picture I've seen on the internet...

Just kidding! I think Carson is so much cuter than Donald Trump's dog!

Growing Like a Beanstalk

That would describe our son! Carson has been growing fast in the last couple months. At his 4-month checkup (2 weeks ago - I'm late posting) he had grown 2 inches. That's an inch a month! Which would explain why his pants are usually looking so short, haha!

At this rate, his height is what keeps him growing out of his clothes, and that means he'll be wearing some 6-9month clothes pretty soon. I would have thought for being born such a big baby, his weight would have kept up, but apparently not as much. To which I am thankful!!!! It's still a workout carting around a nearly 15 lb baby in a carseat (which adds another 10 lbs). His pants might be loose around the waist and fall down every now and then, but I can deal with that.

"Look how long I am!"

"I love to blow spit bubbles!"

"My mom's funny and makes me smile"

"But no one makes me laugh like Daddy!"

Finished!

I realize the high temperature today in Arizona was about 87 degrees. However, I will still post a picture of my finished patchwork quilt.


It's been 2 years in the making, after all, and my husband had no idea he married someone who likes to start projects, but not really finish them :) So this is my proof that I can finish a project! And yes, even though the weather is warm here, I use blankets year-round. My family can attest to that! I'll most likely be sleeping with this blanket on top of my bed tonight too. Sweet dreams!

I [Heart] Budgeting

I know it sounds crazy. Who in their right mind loves to do budgeting? Well, I didn't until recently. See, I found this program over a year ago called PearBudget, which was basically a glorified Excel spreadsheet. And if anyone really knows me, they know I have a little love affair with spreadsheets (ok, probably just my husband really knows this). I do almost ANYTHING with spreadsheets (schedules, grocery list, calendars, weight loss tracking w/ bar graphs & charts, etc.). But even for me, the PearBudget spreadsheet system was still intimidating & confusing. And this is only 1 screenshot of many more pages.

OLD PearBudget

Now, say hello to the NEW PearBudget

Clean. Concise. Pretty to look at. This online system is so simple to use, I fell in love within the first few minutes. I did a 30-day free trial and couldn't be happier with how easy it is to keep track of all my spending, and see areas where I overspend (see "clothing" above. Disclaimer: the above is also not my real budget. If only I had so few bills!) The best part is I didn't have to program all the calculations in each little cell of a spreadsheet like I used to. Just grab my receipts, enter them in, "tag" each expense (this is probably my most favorite feature) and I'm done! Budgeting made simple in 3 easy steps: Plan. Enter. Review. Who doesn't want to have a more simple life? :) Happy Budgeting!

My Main Squeeze

Nothing can quite compare to fresh squeezed O.J. (except for fresh squeezed Tangerine juice :) ) Thanks to my mother-in-law, I was able to go pick 2 grocery bags of delicious Valencia oranges from her trees this week. Carson happily sat in his car seat during this time outdoors, and giggled and coo'd (not sure how to spell that ;P ) at the Grapefruit tree - silly kid! I LOVE my Bosch Juicer attachment!! It makes juicing all these oranges so fast and easy. And it's a work-horse -- not like your typical juicer that sounds like the motor is about to die when you put pressure on it.

I also snagged 2 bags full of lemons from her trees as well, so later tonight I will hopefully get those juiced and in the freezer. I'll save the lemon juice for some lip-smacking goodness when the hot summer days come around again. Although, with the weather we are having today and tomorrow (mid 80's), maybe I should make it now!

If anyone would like some grapefruit, let me know. My in-laws have a large tree overflowing with it and don't want it all to go to waste.