Basket liner and lamp shade re-do.

So, I really have been trying to keep myself busy and occupied. I've been baking and crafting and reading and watching Pretty Little Liars. Anything to keep me from thinking about Eden too much. It has really been helping me. If I start dwelling, I start crying--and I can't stop. So this past month I've done a few things to keep me going.

I've been wanting to re-do a lampshade for awhile now. My friend Nicole was having a yard sale and was selling the perfect lampshade for my project. Thanks, Nicole! Here's what I did:

I messed up the first time I attempted this. The top of the shade is a little smaller than the bottom, so it was a little tricky. I can't find the exact tutorial I saw. But if you search Pinterest I'm sure you'll get the idea. This was so fun and I love how it turned out!

I used the extra fabric to re-do a basket.

The ugly before and much better after. This was way easier than I thought it would be. And it was really fun. If I had more fabric, I'd do it to the other baskets I have. I didn't have a tutorial for this one--which I'm proud of. I just ripped apart the original and used it as a pattern. :) I felt very crafty once I was done.

Carson is 9 months

Here's what he's been up to:

-He started crawling a few weeks ago. It's so fun! 

-He claps, waves, and gives high-5's. Every night I tell him to say goodnight to the fish and he'll frantically start waving his hand around at them. 

-He started eating real people food for every meal. He doesn't like baby food so much anymore. Because of this he started sleeping through the night! He was waking up once around 430am to nurse. But now he sleeps 12 straight hours! Woohoo! 

-He is down to 2 naps. He usually takes a nap at 9:30 and 2:00. It's so nice knowing when he'll be napping.

-He still doesn't like nursing too much. He usually nurses 1-3 times a day. He has gone a day or two with no nursing. And some times he'll take a bottle but most of the time he won't. And every time I nurse I get bit--hard! He's got 6 teeth in there! I had to stop scolding him for biting because he started crying every time after he latched--right when he was thinking about biting. I noticed he will nurse more now. So I have been trying to suck up this scrutinizing pain. Instead of yelling I wince and just switch sides or tell him he's done for now. No fun. Only 3 more months, right? Ugh. We'll see how long we can keep this up. 

He loves stuffed animals-especially Scout.

He went through this phase of hiding under furniture. This was before he was crawling and he thought he was so smart to get in those places.

We had a visit from Trevor and Karin. It was so good to see them!

We love putting hats on Carson. And we loved this one! He looks so cute.

Eden.

On August 7, my beautiful 16 year old sis was in a car accident. Some family members and her were driving to a cousins' house when a drowsy driver hit them head-on. Eden was in the back middle with a lap seat belt. She folded in half then torqued and landed in the seat next to her. They weren't going fast and they were in a neighborhood. No one else in the car was seriously injured. 

She has been in the hospital ever since and the doctors say she'll be paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of her life. I don't know when she'll be able to go home. Her body is not recuperating like it should. 

I'm so grateful for all the people willing to pray and fast for her--even strangers to her. Many people around the country have put her name in various temples. The kindness people have shown has been humbling. Many people have been reaching out to our family and I am very grateful for their generosity. Thank you, thank you to all those many people! I love you all. 

Hang in there Eden! I love you so much. You're so strong.

Carson is 8 Months

Carson has been such a sweet little goober this past month. 

-He learned how to clap. And he loves doing it. 

-He dropped his 3rd nap. And we're still adjusting. Let me just say I'm glad we won't have to do this again for awhile. It takes a lot out of me.

-He's done with teething--for now. 

-He loves watching Kidstv123. We tried to get him to watch other stuff but he doesn't like it nearly as much. Between his teething and nap transition, it has been a life savor.

-He rolls everywhere! And scoots sometimes. He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks and rocks but can't quite crawl yet. He ends up going backwards when he's in that position and gets really frustrated. 

-He likes eating anything we are eating and tries to swat things off our plate. 

-He knows where the fish are. Whenever I say, "fish," he looks straight at the tank. It's cool that he is starting to recognize certain words and sounds. 

-We have been working on waving. He's done it a handful of times. He enjoys clapping more.

-He loves his Dada. Whenever Cory is in the room, he just watches what he's doing. As soon as Cory gets home, Carson gets a huge grin and can't wait for Dada to play with him! If he could play all day with Dad, he would. 

Here are some pictures for you viewing pleasure.

Love this one. He's got the Facebook shot down to a perfection.

A friend let us borrow this and he loves it!

He loves the splash park now! He hated it in AZ for some reason.

I love his church outfit. We finally found him a shirt he could wear with the tie I made him!

Carson's 7 Month Update

Carson is so much fun. Here's what he's been up to:

-He rolls everywhere! 

-He's not crawling but sometimes he does this cute scoot thing on his bum. 

-Another tooth popped through. He's got 3 now. I think more may be coming in though.

-He still loves all kinds of baby food. And he still doesn't like nursing very much. And somewhere in the past few months he stopped taking a bottle...? So getting him to drink anything has been a challenge. I'm at a loss.

-He's not as happy as he was last month. Ever since we got back from Arizona, he's been a grump and teething. So that hasn't been too fun. Thank you Ashley for teaching us about Kidstv123 on Youtube. It has been a life savor! That is the only thing that keeps Carson happy for more than 5 minutes.

-He's growing more hair and it's coming in lighter! I think he's going to have light brown hair. Some patches are pure blonde though. He's got 2 different colors going right now--it's cute.

Arizona 2012

We got to fly to Arizona this Summer and it was so much fun! Carson did pretty good flying. I was so incredibly nervous about it. He did cry a little on the way there but we sat next to a nice guy who didn't mind...the 3 beers he drank must have helped. On the way back he slept the whole way! He did great. 

Here he is on the way there.

Amber & Warren blessed Leah while we were there. Here are some pictures of the night.

I'm a mean mom. Poor Carson.

We went to the Aquarium

Carson & Andrew loved playing together!

Carson had so much fun playing with all their cool toys!

We went swimming and Carson loved his blow up chair. He almost fell asleep in it at one point. He was so relaxed!

4th of July

Mean Uncle Cory wasn't so mean after all...

Here are some of us saying goodbye

 

We had so much fun! It was so good seeing all the new babies and family. We miss everyone already!

Ohio Visit

We drove to Ohio to visit Jimett and Tom and her family. We celebrated Jimett's birthday and attended baby Camille's blessing. Trevor and Karin & Grandpa Wes and Emmy were there too. It was great to see them! We had a lot of fun spending time with family. 

Carson loved meeting his great-grandparents and playing with his cousins!