Blue Eyed Boys, the Blue Screen of Death and Boxes

Carter and I enjoyed a coffee/play date with Baby J and his mama, this week. The boys are just a month or so apart in age and were really cute playing together. They would both share their toys with each other then they would both take back their sharing. Baby J has two older brothers who tend to take Baby J's toys every once in awhile (according to their mama) and Carter is used to all of the toys at our house being his, so it was interesting to see them share, but then realize they liked it better when they had the toy.

Don't they look so cute playing together?





B-mama also invited me to join her MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers) group. I attended for the first time this past week and really enjoyed it. The speaker last week discussed how we try to live as modern women...which is really difficult because a modern woman seems to be one who has a job, raises a family, is up to date with all the latest in politics, literature, etc, ages gracefully while spending lots of money trying to look younger, and basically just has it all together. I admit I do try to do too much and be too much at times so it was refreshing to hear that other women feel that same pressure.

The reason for the lack of posts lately is due to my computer experiencing what the Geek Squad like to call the "Blue Screen of Death." I got this scary blue screen a few times over the past few weeks, but a reboot seemed to take care of the problem until last week. But, I got it back last night all reapaired and ready to go. The only problem is now Carter and I are leaving for a 8-day trip down south to see family, friends, and to attend a very special 2-year old's birthday party.

We recently got Carter a new carseat so he now faces forward and absolutely loves it. It was a great purchase because not only does he love the new ride, but he is having a blast with the box that the carseat came in.

Thanks, Poppa

We had a wonderful extended visit from Poppa last week. He and Nana drove up Labor Day weekend and Poppa stayed the entire week. He said he wanted to come up and help us with some projects around the house so we made a list that would keep him here until Christmas. Even though he did have to go home a week later, he accomplished lots in a short amount of time...

...installed a new light/fan in my craft room (i.e. sweat shop). Last year we had some rain come through the ceiling and the fan hasn't worked since.

...insulated and enclosed the crawl space under the addition to our house. The addition has a ton of windows and very little insulation so all of our heating/cooling efforts are lost. Also, a neighborhood possum had been carrying some dirty Carter diapers under the addition...gross! So, now the crawl space has new insulation and is enclosed to keep those critters and diapers away.

...replaced our shower head (whose pressure had been dwindling for some time)

...miraculously made all of our gates much easier to open and close

...installed a new light/fan in our bedroom. This change was more cosmetic that functional, but I love the new look!



...introduced Carter to the joys of wandering down the many aisles of Lowes.

...babysat for Carter so Adam and I could go on a date. We went to a really cool new restaurant right on the river. The food was decent and the atmosphere swanky but casual - is that possible?

...taught Carter all kinds of new animal noises. They read the Brown Bear Brown Bear book well over 100 times I am sure and Carter can now make cow, horse, elephant, dog, sheep, cat, and Poppa noises. Yes, Poppa noises. Occasionally when Poppa and Carter would be exploring together, Poppa would say "mmmmmm" a lot. Eventually Carter would mimic him and say "mmmmmm." By the end of the week, if you asked Carter "what does Poppa say?" he would reply, "mmmmmm."



...oh, and he brought Adam's kayak up on the truck. Apparently you can put a kayak in the James near downtown, so I have a feeling Adam might start heading to the river some days after work.

We enjoyed watching some good football, eating some good meals off of the grill, and just hanging out. It was a fun week and we were sad to see him go. Thanks for all of the projects you took on Poppa and thanks to Poppa and Nana for coming to visit!

To: Gram, Mimi, Granddaddy & GG, Poppa & Nana, Gramma, and Granddaddy Bowen

Happy Grandparent's Day!



With the recent passing of my Grandmother I have been doing lots of reflecting and I have realized over and over again how special a grandparent's love is. I have been blessed to know 3 of my 4 grandparents. I learned piano from one, craftiness from another, and I'd like to think some wisdom and math sense from the other because I certainly didn't inherit any of his golf skills! A little over 5 years ago I gained another 3 wonderful grandparents by marriage who have always treated me like I was one of their own. All of our grandparents love us unconditionally, love to spoil us, and basically just love to be with us. I wish I could spend more time with each of them because they are all so generous, loving, and wise.

Over the past year, we have had the joy of seeing our own parents become grandparents to our little Carter. What a treat. They have empathized with the sleep sags stories (there have been PLENTY of those), laughed over any number of diaper stories, and beamed with each new Carter trick. And whenever any of them are around Carter they all smile non-stop. And so does Carter.

So, to our Grandparents and to Carter's Grandparents, and to all other Grandparents out there - you guys are the best and we love you bunches!

Love,
Tracy, Adam, and Carter

busy, busy, busy

Wow - I don't know how long it has been since I have blogged - but it seems like forever. I know Adam has been keeping you guys up to date over the past few weeks while I was out of town and more recently while I have been working in my sweat shop. :) But I thought I would just take a minute to say hello and let you know that I plan to be back soon.

Little Bittle Designs has taken off both on Etsy and with my friends. I have 42 items waiting for me to complete right now. Yikes. How did that happen? But, I am still loving it!

Here is a picture of some of all of the items I mailed yesterday...



I also delivered 2 of these cute football shirts for Notre Dame fans, but they were already wrapped up before I decided to take the above picture.



We also have a special visitor this week. Poppa is here playing hard with Carter and working hard on our house. We are sad that Nana had to go home on Monday but are enjoying a few extra days with Poppa.

I promise to write again soon...

More Cowbell

Hi there. Adam here. If you are a fan of Will Ferrell and/or Saturday Night Live (circa 2000) then you will get a kick out of this. If not, then this is just a little nonsensical Carter story.

First, you should know that Carter is now using several signs to communicate. He mastered "fan" and "light" long ago, but now he has added "milk," "diaper," "bath," and a few others. While the official sign for "more" is tapping your fists together, Carter's version is essentially just clapping, but it works.

Carter spent a good bit of time at Tracy's Grandparents house last week. He would tromp around and explore. Occasionally he would stop by Tracy's Granddaddy to deliver a toy or a hug or some drool. And Carter regularly ventured back to the office to enjoy Grandmother's bell collection. This collection covers three of four bookshelves and features bells of every shape and size. The first shelf was barely within Carter's reach so he would pull down whatever bells he could and ring, ring, ring. I would help him get bells from the upper shelves, including a cowbell that was very loud and--judging by Carter's laugh--very fun.

One afternoon, after we'd made the full circuit around the house, Carter found his way back to the bell collection. He clapped his hands and pointed to the large bell on second shelf. Translation: "More Cowbell."

In other news, Little Bittle did not take a break during Tracy's absence. The orders have been steady, and she's busy in the sweatshop. More updates from her soon.