"He's The Smallest But Definitely Has The Most Heart."

Those are the words of the YMCA referee after last weekend's game. He went on to say, "I would take that before anything on my team any day!" Carter is definitely NOT AFRAID to go after the ball, the only issue is, since he is usually to the ball first, he many times has 65 pound players on top of him. The picture below happened to be the worst of the worst so far. Look for Carter in the red shirt at the very bottom of the enormous pile.

He still makes plenty of time to horse around with Cash.

The big thing with Carter being substantially younger than every other player is combine that with his hustle and determination results in 4-5 mini break downs during the game while playing if a ball hits him in the face.

Blake and Ben are doing such an excellent job with the team and both agree that some Saturdays are better than others as far as having the attention of the players.

Before each game, the parents and players join in and say the YMCA motto about Kids First, Game Second!

A typical Carter Brown "rebound!" Hands up for a little defense!

Saying good game at the end! Mommy and Addie supporting the team!

"Baby School" According to Macy Metcalf.

The first lesson was on how to "burp" a baby. Addie opted for the less traditional method of face down on the floor...

The second lesson was on properly rocking a baby...

After passing that chapter of class, it was on to swaddling and putting them down for a nap...

After nap time, it was the final chapter on how to properly take them on a safe walk...

Addie really got to spend some time with Megan and "got" that there was something inside her tummy...

Ella getting some additional practice since she is going to be a big sister in just a few months...

Thank you to sweet Macy for always being such a special helper with the girls!

Rejuvenating Trip To Mexico with Alli!

Our 30 year old feet!

For my 30th birthday last November, Blake gave me a long weekend trip to Mexico with my best friend Alli, from college. Alli has Trey, 10 months old, and this was her very first trip away from him. This was the most perfect amount of time to spend together and we had 3 main goals to accomplish.

1. Catch up!
Although we talk on the phone on a regular basis, 20 min a week is barely enough time to dive into how the kids and work are going so when we first saw each other at 10:50 AM on Thursday at the Houston airport until we went to bed at 11PM that night in Mexico, we literally did not stop talking once except to order drinks on the plane, in the airport and at the hotel! It was so amazing how 12 hours later we were just beginning to feel reconnected.


2. Sleep!
We slept in EVERY morning, Saturday until 10:30 AM.... Wow! The only reason we got up then was to get the best meal of the day we had found, breakfast and it stopped at 11AM! We napped by the beach and each of the 2 afternoons took 2 hour late afternoon naps before getting ready for a late dinner. (When does that EVER happen?!?) On that note, eating each night at 8 or 9 PM was a major shake up of our normal 5PM dinning with toddlers! But such a welcome change for just a couple of days. Speaking of sleeping... it is not often I have slept with out 2 monitors in the same room and having a completely silent & still cabana definitely took some getting used to the first night.

These were the magazines we read while there.... I actually finished 8!!! That is as many as I finished reading all of 2009!

3. Do Nothing But Relax!
We had amazing 90 min massages that were one of the best ones we have ever had! We made a point not to be scheduled. We lingered at all our dinners and didn't worry if we didn't do something we really had talked about - like going out in our private canoe that we had delivered to our room. (lol)


The water was incredibly beautiful and if it wasn't for the dark clouds and tremendous wind that afternoon, we would have been out there enjoying the insanely clear water. Alli and I made a pact to do a trip every year, not always out of the country, however I returned home feeling re-energized feeling fresh and ready to face a new year and more importantly focus on my family and the real world. Thanks Alli for a wonderful weekend and can't wait for next year.

Carter's Ears Are Clear And Doing Much Better!

Exactly 2 years apart (in this very same chair) at the Ear, Nose and Throat doctor - Dr. Nau. Carter, at the age of 10 months, suddenly got an ear infection that 5 different antibiotics over a 2 month period, never seemed to go away. As a result, a day before his 1st birthday, he got tubes.

His tubes stayed in VERY WELL, never getting another ear infection for nearly 2 years. However, in the early summer of 2009, Carter got a bad case of swimmers ear and since that point has been fiercely afraid of getting ANY water in his ears, whether he is in the swimming pool or bath tub. In the last couple of months, randomly every few days, he would grab his right ear and complain a little. I would always ask him if it hurt or "felt weird," and he would always answer the later. The complaint would always disappear as quickly as it came about however we did get it checked out my his pediatrician, Dr. Cuming, 2 times this fall as well has taking him in 2 months ago when Addie had her "post op tubes" follow up with Dr. Nau. All visits resulted in the doctors saying it looked okay and let's just watch it.

Then, 2 weeks ago Ms. Sandy, Carter's teacher called saying Carter was crying and complaining of his ear and unable to sleep during nap. I immediately took him in the following morning to Dr. Nau (ENT) and he did say both tubes were out for sure and the right ear did look like it had fluid and was infected. We started him on 10 days of antibiotic and went yesterday for his follow up visit. On the way to the doctor, I asked him how his ears were feeling (knowing he hadn't complained AT ALL in last 7 days,) and he said, "Mama... they feel muuuuccchhhh better!" Ahhhh.... loved hearing that!

The doctor said hopefully this was just a fluke and since his ear canals are bigger and more developed, he won't be having regular infections like this. Blake and I have seen a dramatic difference in his personality the past 10 days, as far as less whining and bad moods, maybe this was the culprit.

Addie Potty Trainned Herself??!?! WHAT?!??!

Trust me.....I know... so incredibly insane before she was even 20 months.

As I type this, I know that any moment, Addie's gonna say, "Ha ha gotcha! I was just teasing!"

So this is how it happened. Less than 2 weeks ago, Addie got real interested in a "potty book" Santa brought her and wanted to read it all the time. At the exact same time, every evening before getting in the bathtub she successfully went "pee-pee" on the big girl potty and we would go crazy with praise and she would get 1 M&M or "smarties" (just like we did with Carter.)

Within a few days, she was going at least 1 time during the day at school and then 2X/day as well as at home. Then I left for Mexico on Thursday morning, she gets a horrible nasty 24 stomach bug with daddy, I come home Sunday and she is potty trained. No kidding, but from Sunday evening until I dropped her off at daycare on Tuesday morning, she was in real big girl panties and didn't have one accident except in the middle of the night. All we do is ask her every 60-90 min or whenever we think of it if she needs to go "potty?" Half the time she will nod or say "yea potty" and the other half "no."

In fact, for the last 3 mornings (Sun-Tues) she has woken up crying between 4-5 AM crying for the potty and at 4AM when I put her on it, she goes within 3 seconds.... I know! CRAZY!!! Her first day back at daycare this morning, I did put her in a "big girl pull up," so we will see how she does.

We are confident that a huge part of this must be due to Carter and her watching him. So thank you Carter... we will get you a really nice prize if this does "stick" and we save $500 dollars over the next year in diapers!

Carter Can Write His Name!

This was the first time EVER Carter has been able to write his entire name with absolutely no assistance from us. He was so proud and at exactly 1 month past his 3rd birthday, we are very proud of this milestone!

His favorite letter to write so far, which was also the hardest for him to master is "R." He is so proud when he does it perfectly. He is very focused wanting to practice all the time even on paper.

This letter writing has quickly become a near obsession for him and he wants to practice day and night.

Little Bakers

At nearly 20 months old... is this fun or what??!?!