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.