Christmas!

Sorry that it has taken me so long to get a Christmas post together. To make up for it (and to save myself from some serious photo editing), I've created a slide show of our holiday for you.

Christmas was -hands down - the BEST day of Carter's life. He was so excited about his new toys, he loved unwrapping gifts (he helped everyone unwrap), he got to go to the airport to pick up Mama Helen and Daddy Phil (where he was allowed to run around the large hallways) he ate LOTS of really good food, and was generally the center of attention all day.

I'll try to post a video of his discovery of the gifts from Santa later this weekend. You can hear him saying "Whoa. Whoa. Whoa." as he walks into the room and sees what is waiting for him. Santa brought him some cardboard blocks a wooden tool set (one of a couple different one that he got for Christmas - he loves them all!) and a thing called the Learning Tower, which allows him to stand at counter height safely.

As for us, even though Thomas and I had agreed to get each other small, boring gifts, he surprised me with a new digital camera (sorely needed) and really beautiful, fun, sparkly, gold, wedge heels.

My parents were here until yesterday afternoon and we had a lovely time together. We don't have any New Year's plans - or any plans between now and then so we are going to enjoy some down time for a few days.

Here's the slide show for you!

Photo with Santa

For those of you who've been awaiting a picture of Carter with Santa, this is as close as you're going to get:

I've been getting some measure of grief from some of you (who shall remain un-named ;) who think we're grinch-ish parents for not wanting to sit in traffic, fight for a parking spot and force our toddler to stand in a long line to do something he doesn't understand...

I have no problems with parents who do take little ones to see Santa. I just prefer to avoid the mall at all costs, so until Carter wants to go - we aren't going! (We were somewhat hopeful that we'd be able to easily see Santa at our town bonfire and marshmallow roast last week, because I do think Carter would enjoy the Santa getup, but, alas, it rained - of course, we can't really complain about rain these days).

I promise we will take Carter to sit on Santa's lap when he's old enough to get it. For now, you get a picture of Carter on Cart Cart's lap, with a Santa doll. This, he enjoyed immensely.

In Staples

We're moving up in the world of head sutures: from stitches to staples... all in one month!

Carter had a little accident this morning that warranted another trip to the ER, and three staples in the back of his head. As usual, he's very resilient and is doing fine. One of the discharge instructions suggested that we keep him calm and have him play quietly for the next 24 hours. HA! These instructions clearly weren't written by anyone that has had an 18 month old!

As a side note, head wounds bleed profusely. I really wish I hadn't decided to wear cashmere this morning...

WBFP

For those of you who haven't spent hours pouring through ads looking for the perfect place to live that included a Wood Burning Fire Place, you may not find this that exciting. But for those of you who understand the search for the elusive WBFP (the little extra that makes the place-where-you-keep-your-stuff so much more special), we have the best news: our fireplace is suitable for wood burning! And burn wood we did!

We were so eager to enjoy our first fire that we weren't fully prepared (the grill tongs got a bit of an unexpected workout pinch hitting as a poker), but we had a lovely fire this evening. Park and Ashley were over to enjoy it with us (check out our niece-to-be - she's coming along very nicely, eh?)

Holiday Decorating

Sorry we've been so behind on posting. I've been in NYC this week.

It's so fun having your own house at Christmas! We've been busy decorating (as well as having some rooms painted, acquiring some dining room furniture and hanging our first few pictures), so, at long last, here are a couple pics of the inside of our house...

Culture Shock: Delivery

It took us almost an hour last night to find a restaurant that would deliver something other than pizza. And what did we finally find? No surprises here - Chinese.

We were oh so spoiled by all the delivery options in nyc! It's little wonder that when I'm in there each month I only eat Thai, Indian, and other old standbys that are more difficult to find here...

Documentary Plug

In case you don't surf over to Aartilla the Fun regularly:

My friend Aarti co-produced a documentary called "Sand and Sorrow" about the Darfur crisis that airs tomorrow at 8 on HBO. Check it out if you can!

And if anyone out there has HBO and still has VHS... can you tape it for me? Or, if there's anyone in the Atlanta area with HBO and DVR, record it and we'll have a documentary date...

Check-up

Carter had his 18 month check up this morning. It's official, at 37 inches tall, he's more than a yard of fun! He's also starting to fill out. At 27 lbs, he's 75th percentile in weight, whereas he's consistently been at 50th percentile on previous visits. And he has a big head - but that's to be expected!

Haircut

Carter was starting to get a little shaggy, so we took him for his first haircut on Sunday. We went to one of those cute places that have cars for the kids to sit in and show movies to distract them. Carter was a bit squirmy (to be expected), but overall, he did great.

Before


After

Yard Work

We filled up 13 bags with leaves and pine needles this weekend. And that was just the front yard!
Thankfully, Carter was there to help...

In Stitches

After Carter's successful first haircut this afternoon (pics of that tomorrow), we made our first family trip to the ER.

Upon leaving the salon, Carter tripped on an umbrella stand (the kind for an outdoor cafe). The stand was empty, so it was essentially just a foot high metal pipe. He caught his nose on the pipe and cut his right nostril. That's as much detail as I'll give in order to be kind to those of you with weaker stomachs. I'll add only that it was immediately obvious that he'd need stitches.

Luckily, we live only a mile and a half from the children's hospital at Emory. At 3 hours, it was the fastest ER visit I've ever experienced. The staff was very friendly. They had bubbles in triage and a DVD player at every bed. That went a long way to making it a bearable experience. The roughest part (other than the actual stitching) was at the end when Carter no longer wanted to be held or touched in any way by anyone, but the medicine they gave him to relax him hadn't worn off, meaning he couldn't stand or walk on his own, so that was... unpleasant. For all of us.

Since Carter's accident happened right after his haircut, I had my camera on hand - thus the pics below.

More Excuses...

Earlier this month, I posted about why I've been so out of touch lately, and I knew that I'd be making more excuses for myself soon. Here's the other reason that I've been so non-communicative. My company did all the analysis for the project, and we've been working on it for months. The print issue hits newsstands on Monday. Here's hoping things slow down soon...

Thanksgiving Pics

Here are some pictures from our weekend in Arkansas.

Carter and Daddy Phil.

Enjoying the fountain outside my parent's house.

Carter enjoyed two things about thanksgiving dinner: the food and the fun under the table.

Carter "helped" with Christmas decorations - in his angel's halo.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sorry for not posting earlier in the weekend. I couldn't get my camera hooked up, and it took days to realize that I could at least post a few pics from mom's camera.

We've been having a lovely time at my mom and dad's new place in The Largest Gated Community in the US. I'm not kidding.

Some findings from the weekend include:

1) We can make the 10 hour drive straight through, even if we don't leave Atlanta until 4:30pm.

2) If everyone else is eating off of china, Carter does NOT want to eat off of plastic.

3) Carter loves sausage. LOVES it.

Fall!

Fall has definitely arrived in the south (despite the nearly 80 degree weather). The trees are just gorgeous here right now. We're lucky to have three red beauties in our yard.

We're headed to Arkansas tomorrow evening to spend Thanksgiving with my parents in their new house! We'll drive part way and then make the rest of the drive in on Thanksgiving morning. Here's hoping that Carter likes road trips...

Mommy Day Care

Our nanny was out sick today, and neither Thomas nor I could really take the day off, so I multi-tasked and did childcare while I worked. It isn't at all difficult to take care of a toddler while attempting to participate in conference calls and work with large data files...

Recent Photos

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, I got home from NYC on Thursday night and then promptly caught Carter's stomach bug. We all seem to be recovered now. Here are a few recent pics.

Dinner-time antics
Lately, Carter has taken to balancing food on his head while he eats (and he's really good at it). We know that he will never stop doing it if we keep laughing hysterically, but it's just so funny!

First Popsicle
As I eased back into solid food after my bug, we also introduced Carter to popsicles. He only licked it a few times but he said "Mmmmm" incessantly.

Snack time in the rocking chair
When my parents were here last weekend they brought this little rocker that was mine when I was a kid. Carter loves sitting in it.

Train

Metro-North is the best train in the country. Well, that's not quite true... The Acela Express is the best train in the country, but that's not really a daily commuter train, so, I'll revise to say: Metro-North is the best commuter train in the country. It is clean, on time, well lit, nice conductors - plus, I get a seat almost every time. Plus, you get to go through Grand Central, which is gorgeous (way better than Penn Station). Of course, it's kind of expensive $15 (for round trip peak ticket) + $2 (coffee for the morning ride) + $9 (two splits of wine for the ride home). The morning coffee vendor remembers my order even though I only see him a couple days a month and its pretty much impossible to be running too late to get a drink for the ride home. The vendors are on the tracks! They give you a cup and a straw for any beverage (which was definitely wierder for coffee than wine, but you get used to it - and appreciate that you haven't spilled on your suit!). It's a really great train. Better than the subway or NJ transit -- and definitely better than the MARTA in Atlanta (though I'll leave Thomas to rant about that another day).

You may have guessed that I'm in nyc again this week. I am staying with Patrick and Kirstin and am working looong hours. I'm headed home tomorrow night and can't wait to see my boys!

Zoo

We went to the Atlanta Zoo yesterday, where Carter got to see a real life Giant Panda (Theodore, the stuffed animal he sleeps with is a panda).

Atlanta Zoo has one of the country's only baby Pandas, but she was sleeping, so we only saw her back. This one was much more fun to watch.

You'll notice that I pretty much only have pics of Carter if he's running straight for me or if he is caught unaware (I wrote in yesterday's post about his new found love of taking pictures). Doesn't he look like such a little boy??

Culture Shock: Poultry

While this was apparently a pretty common sight in my brother's old neighborhood in NYC, I didn't ever just happen upon poultry until I moved south...

Visit

My parents made a very short visit this weekend, mostly to bring a trailer full of my things that they wanted to get rid of. We look forward to spending more quality time with them at thanksgiving (because this visit was less than 36 hours long), but it was great to see them!

Carter and his namesakes, Grandads Phil and Carter.

Carter apparently want to go for a bike ride. He climbed into his bike seat twice while we were unpacking things in the garage...
If you've noticed that we haven't posted many pics of Carter lately, its because he's become obsessed with taking pictures himself. If he sees the camera, he wants to be behind it (taking after his uncles, perhaps?). This is a pic that he and I took of Mama Helen.

Excuses, Excuses

If you've been wondering why I've been so out of touch lately, its partially because we're still unpacking, but mostly because I've been insanely busy at work. The insanity has been, in part, due to a re-launch of www.SchoolMatters.com. We launched the site on Friday, so check it out.

Bluegrass Weekend

On Friday night we went to a BBQ and Bluegrass young adult gathering for the church (thanks to Park and Ashley for the babysitting services). It was definitely the first church function I've ever attended where everyone was required to bring either a six-pack or a bottle of wine. Then yesterday we went to a Chili Cookoff in a neighborhood called Cabbagetown - complete with bluegrass music, a cabbage shredding competition and lots and lots of chili.

This is our 6th weekend in Atlanta, and we've been to 4 festivals - Arts&Music, Halloween, NASCAR (we happened upon that one while shopping) and Chili. During these last 6 weeks we've also missed at least three festivals in our own neighborhood.

I'm not sure if this is just festival season because the fall weather is so lovely or if there is just always a reason to celebrate in Atlanta.

Halloween!

It was a successful Halloween evening (even though Thomas thinks that everyone thought Carter was a girl).

It took a few houses, but Carter more or less got the hang of trick or treating. At first he was taking candy out of the house bowl, waving it about, putting it back in the house bowl and saying bye-bye.

We did trick-or-treating in Carter and Donna's neighborhood, which is very nice - and very hilly. Below, Carter's thinking, "I have to climb up that hill -- for candy? I'm not even allowed to eat candy!"

But he did climb the hill.


He didn't mind because he got a sweet taxi ride from house to house...

Pumpkin Carving