Oh Croup!

Well, last night Sawyer's cough turned into CROUP. This is his first time being sick. It's so so sad to see a sick baby. And crazy that even through his barking cough, every now and then he'll spark a smile, and try to babble at us with his seal-like voice. Funny thing is, I was reading my friend's blog a few days ago about how her baby has croup and I was thinking "I'm glad I've experienced croup with my nanny kids, because if not I think I'd freak out if Sawyer had it!" My experience as a nanny has definitely paid off when it comes to practice with mothering. Jacob was asking if we needed to go to the Doctor and I was like, "well, not much they can do for croup...let's take him in the bathroom and steam it up, and then step outside for a couple of minutes." Which is what we did several times throughout the night in between his bouts of fitful sleep. The big difference in caring for my own croupy child vs. my nanny kids when they were sick is that back then, I got to go home at the end of the day and get a full night of sleep myself. Now, our whole little family is sick and I'm hoping Sawyer is the first to show signs of wellness...and that eventually we'll all get back to good health soon! Now, Jacob is off to work and I am off to care for our little "pup". Wish us luck!

***Update: The next evening we ended up going to see our pediatrician because Sawyer's breathing was more labored with some wheezing. Since Sawyer is still such a wee one, the Doc ended up giving him a steroid to help clear his airway as it was quite swollen...I crunched up the pill, put it in his rice cereal (which for some reason he likes best PLAIN) and by midnight he sounded much better. It helped a lot but he's still battling the nastiness/coughing/congestion of a bad head cold. It's been a rough few days, but I think we're all on the mend, which is a great thing! Nothing like a little nasty sick to help you appreciate general good health! :)

Christmas in Utah

Well, we did make our flight out last week and made it to Salt Lake City in time to share a special evening with friends and family at Cafe Rio and strolling around Temple Square. Our little man was quite tuckered out by evening's end.

It was truly a gift to reunite with some of my absolute best friends, Brian and Brooke, for the evening. I sure miss having them around here in Seattle! It was so SO great of them to take some time to spend with us - thanks you two! (We'll have to see that frozen waterfall next trip!) We were also able to meet up with a couple of Jacob's old roommates from Utah State.(Everett and Amber with their kiddos and Barry!) Very fun to see you all! Good friends are such a treasure!

The lights truly were spectacular. And the music and everything in between. Thanks to Jacob's family for braving the cold winter weather to show me something I've yet had the pleasure to enjoy! It was such a fun evening! When we got home, Emma even made us some hot chocolate - a perfect ending to a wonderful night!

Of course the Salt Lake Temple is always breathtaking, especially all the white and lights set against the bleak winter night sky.

Us.

Christmas Eve was spent with Jacob's sister, Erin, and her family. Sawyer was awfully excited to meet his 2 cousins on the Carter side. Hunter and Levi are super-fun little boys! It melted my heart the way cute almost-2-year-old Levi would walk over and point to Sawyer and explain in one-word increments "baby...Sawyer...cute!" I am excited for Sawyer and his cousins to play together again! They are all adorable, with big, little-boy eyes filled with curiosity and wonder! I love it! And thanks to Erin for the amazing spread she prepared for our special dinner :)

Christmas night, Martha organized a live nativity. This was the first time I had done this, and it was very fun. I was Mary, Jacob was Joseph, and Sawyer was, yes, the baby Jesus. The funniest part of our play were the "sheep". Emma took cotton and and made the miniature yorkie dogs (mom Carter has several) into the sheep. You might say they kept the Shepherds busy and the rest of us amused!

This has truly been a special season. Thanks to Jacob's family for sharing and making memories with us. Rather unfortunately, we finished our trip with all 3 of us coming home with sore throats and a bit of the winter sickness...not fun. However, we made many wonderful memories together as a family as we counted the days down to the Celebration of Christ's birth through our advent activities and readings. We feel blessed to have wonderful families and friends and to have shared some of this special time of the year with them. We are grateful to have returned home safely. Now, we hope to mend ourselves and get well so we can be ready for the new year ahead! We better be ready, because Sawyer is now about to erupt a few teeth and he is CRAWLING! Yes, watch out world!

We hope you all had wonderful holiday adventures and a great time celebrating this season!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Merry Christmas to all!

Good Cheer from Snowy Seattle!

Merry Christmas! Well, sort of. We decided to celebrate our own Christmas yesterday, as we are pretty much snowed in and church was canceled. We haven't been able to leave our apartment, except on foot, for several days now. I must say, we are quite enjoying it! (Although we're really hoping we can still make our flight and get to Utah for Christmas with Jacob's family!) It has been fun to look out our window and see people sledding down our street (it's closed) using everything from plastic garbage bags, to sea kayaks, and air mattresses - we just aren't used to White Christmas' here in Seattle, and even though the conditions are rough, most people are making the most of it! We also feel really grateful that we've been working on beefing up our food storage because we have felt peace and comfort knowing if worse came to worse, we'd eat warm food and stay warm for over a month!

Sawyer got a visit from Santa Claus.

Oh, was he ever over-stimulated by naptime! He really enjoyed what Santa left for him, as well as the present we gave him: old-fashioned, wonderfully-designed wooden blocks. He giggles when we knock them over (when he's not trying to eat them, of course!)

Talk about a wide-eyed child on Christmas morning!

Since church was canceled, it was a really relaxing, slow, wonderful day spent together (Jacob is usually in meetings and at church for about 8 hours on Sunday).

We played with Sawyer and his new toys.

And watched him practice crawling.

Then, we bundled up and went outside to play in the snow!

We brought Frosty to life, and tried to help Sawyer make his first snow angel (the snow was falling and melting on his face - he didn't like the snow-angel making part very much.)

We have to say, it was a Christmas to remember!

May you all be safe and warm and get to your Christmas destinations safely! We are keeping our fingers crossed that we'll be seeing some of you tomorrow in Salt Lake City!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Sawyer meets Santa

Today, Sawyer and I braved the cold and snow and pretty much ice-skated our way to the streetcar (I only wish I were joking). We were lucky to make it there without crushed body parts, or fractured skulls, seriously it was so so icy. But we made it! And then we rode downtown to Nordstrom and waited for an hour and a half (no wonder so many kids are crying in the photos...they are at the end of their ropes after such a long wait!) to see the big man in red.

Sawyer quite enjoyed Santa. He was a warm and jolly fellow, and Sawyer was glad to be out of his bear suit. He wasn't at all shy or afraid of him. If anything, we were lucky he didn't pull his beard off! We had a nice visit with Santa, and then we both got big candy canes on our way out. (PS rather than pay the $30 for a 5x7 with Santa, I just took a few myself. They were very cool about it.)

Nice meeting you, Santa! We'll hope you stop by to see us in a few days!

Let it Snow!

We woke up this morning to SNOW!

I know to many of you, snow is no big deal. But in Seattle, it is! Because of our generally mild weather, the city isn't equipped to deal with the snow. Add in the steep hills (like the one we live on!) and it is a recipe for disaster. So, when snow starts to fall, everything shuts down, and people celebrate! In the mere anticipation of snowfall, all of Seattle schools were closed yesterday, with not even a flake to be seen. Today, however, was a true snow day!

We bundled Sawyer up and went out in the snow this morning (Mama in her pjs) before Daddy walked off to work.

He kind of looks like he's ready to go snowshoeing or something, rather than walk just over a mile to his office. Cute. Unfortunately, no snow day for Daddy - his office is busy getting Starbucks holiday mugs and tumblers designed for next year, and the snow doesn't excuse the deadline! (Today was not a bike-to-work day, nor bus-to-work as buses are on a different "snow" schedule and some of them are stuck on the side of the road!)

In catching up from our last week or so of Advent activities...well...we bundled Sawyer up several times and kept him up past his bedtime. He doesn't really like his "polar bear" suit. But it does keep him toasty. We learned that as much as we try to plan, we can't plan for everything. Like waiting for an hour on the beach in the dark for the Christmas Ships - and them not showing up (that would be due to cold/adverse weather and winds on the Puget Sound). Luckily, there was a bonfire and we had a good time with good people while we all patiently awaited the boats. Also, who knew Mommy would come down with the flu? And Daddy's workload would go bonkers? So we had to be a little flexible. The holiday dinner for Jacob's work was at a place called Lark, on Capitol Hill. The cuisine was honestly to die for. (Great choice, Mike & Linda!)

We did have an enjoyable time walking around the Path of Lights at Greenlake, and listening to the carolers with ukeleles. However, because it was late, and FREEZING (us wimpy Seattlites!) we didn't stay all that long.

Last night, Jacob and I made and decorated our Gingerbread Houses. We were going to do this activity with friends on Sunday evening, but since I was sick, we traded days. I ended up making a church...

Jacob made this ski house/cabin complete with deck and two gummy bears enjoying a romantic moment on the "porch"...before they ride off on the sleigh.

In other news, Sawyer's favorite new toy is our Christmas tree. Every day he gets closer to crawling. Well, he does crawl - just backwards, for now. Somehow, though, he gets over to the tree and loves to bat at the ornaments and grab the branches (he does it softly, so I let him as long as I'm supervising so he doesn't all of a sudden yank the tree down on top of himself!) He also loves grabbing the bows and ribbons on the packages - I think he's going to enjoying ripping into the paper more than finding out what's in the package. He also loves playing with the boxes of Turron my friend sent me from Spain. I'll have to be sure and tell her (Gracias, Elena!) Well, only about a week to go until Christmas! If the streetcar is running tomorrow, I plan on taking Sawyer downtown to meet Santa Claus for the first time!

6 Months Old!!

A special thanks to Daddy for taking me to my 6 month check-up while Mom was home with the flu. I got a chance to show him how brave I was - after 3 shots and 2 minutes of crying, I was reaching for the check up table paper and ready to tear it to shreds again!

I am 6 months old.
I weigh 17 lbs 9 oz. (50%)
I am 25.5 inches tall (25%)
I am one healthy boy...on the verge of crawling, super coordinated, and according to my Pediatrician have an unusually sunny disposition and am "VERY motor!!! - watch out!"

This past month I:
-Went to Oregon and had my first Thanksgiving (Mom gave me some mashed potatoes!). At Grammy and Gramps house, we also had a bonfire and I watched everyone roast hot dogs - but mostly I just LOVED staring at the fire, and the stars. Mom & Dad, Aunt Jamie and Brandon all took me swimming and I had a lot of fun in the pool, I even made friends with a little boy named Jesse (he's 5).
-Love to BOUNCE and JUMP up and down in my exersaucer.
-Still enjoy sucking and gnawing on my hands, fingers, fists, and toes.
-Learned to sit all by myself and now proudly sit in the bathtub and play with my squirty toys.
-Really like to experiment with my voice. I've discovered that when I squeal in church, it echoes. Lucky for me, they all adore me and don't mind the noise (I'm the only baby).
-Am still watching Mom and Dad sign a few basics at me. I'm thinking about responding...eventually. I have let on that I understand the "more" and "all done" signs at mealtime.
-Had my first (paid) sitter come over to watch me while Mom and Dad went to Mint's Holiday dinner. I didn't take the bottle, but I had a great time playing with my sitter!
-Finally have my nap schedule down pat. I usually sleep about an hour at 9am and then about 2 hours at 1pm. Yay for naps! (Now, if I could just get my Mom to take one!)
-Have started saying "Ma-Ma" a LOT (among other vowel-sounds, also "Na Na, Da Da" etc.) but it's more just because it's fun to say than because I'm directing it at Mom (yet).
-Am starting to get the hang of drinking from my sippy cup.

I love:
-My homemade toys and my stacking cups (they are SO fun to knock over!).
-Bathtime w/ my bathtoys!
-Storytime, books, and activity songs and rhymes. My favorite songs are: The Wheels on the Bus, I am a Child of God, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, The Grand Old Duke of York, and Silent Night.
-Snuggling and cuddling while Mommy rocks and sings to me.
-Being outside and looking at everything there is to see.
-Touching many different textures.
-Sitting on the kitchen floor and watching/helping/cheering on my parents while they cook.
-Giving my Mommy slobbery kisses all over her cheeks. (But not Daddy, his face is too rough and bristly!)
-My class at school. And all the friends I have that are my age! We are starting to notice one another more and more and interact - it's fun.
-Food. Organic Carrots are my absolute FAVE!

I don't like:
Well, it's pretty frustrating when you get yourself situated in one direction and try moving forward...but end up pushing yourself up and scooting yourself backward, even further away from the object of interest. I am so close to getting it - I wriggle and roll and often get my target - but I just need to get this crawling thing figured out and I'll be super happy - and super into EVERYTHING. I'm an extremely energetic guy! Good thing my parents think of me as a Little Scientist and let me explore everything (within the realms of safety). Life is Good!

Hot Chocolate and Santa's Helpers

Night before last, we had our Hot Chocolate Party. Sawyer even got to stay up past his bedtime to join in on the fun. We turned off all the lights, except for the tree lights, and lit some candles. We listened to the Nutcracker Suite. We sipped our Cocoa and held hands, and kissed our little guy's chubby cheeks. It was so relaxing, and it was magical. Maybe not a hoppin' and jumpin' party...but very enjoyable and it was wonderful having the special time together.

We did try something new to "spice" up our party...or should we say our Hot Chocolate. We tried adding peppermint ice-cream to our drinks...and guess what? It was SO GOOD! You've got to try it! I think the Hot Chocolate Party was one of our favorite things on our list so far. Also, this week Sawyer and I went to pick a name of a child off the "Giving Tree". Problem was, every time I poked around the tree and looked at all the tags, I got a bit teary. I wish we had the means to help all of those kids! We ended up with two tags. I called Jacob and said, "I'm sorry - but we chose a 3 year old girl who wants a Barbie Doll...and also a 12 year old boy who just wants a coat." (He, of course, said "why are you sorry?") It was really fun, and really special, shopping for those two kids. I hope our tradition of being some of "Santa's Helpers" will one day be as cherished by Sawyer as it is by me.

My mother was and is an amazing helper to Santa. I will never forget the year that she went to buy some shoes for one of my siblings (there are 8 kids in our family) and she discovered that the shoe sales lady was a single mom who couldn't afford to do anything for Christmas for her little son. My mom came home, touched with the spirit of charity, which is a pure, Christ-like love. She enlisted our help and we picked out and wrapped toys for the little boy, pajamas and perfume for the mother, and put together two boxes of food for a complete Christmas dinner. My mom had me and my sister, Rachel, find the woman in the shoe department and give her a card from "Santa's Helpers". It said she needed to go by the catalog department (I think it was in JC Penney - back in the day!) before she went home that night, as Santa had left a few things for her. The woman started crying. My sister and I ran off. Our hearts were overflowing. What a priceless lesson my mother taught us.

Anyway, this season has been so special. We are enjoying each day of our Advent. We hope you are doing the same!

All in 182.5 days! (aka Sawyer's 1/2 Birthday!)

Yep. 1 week, 3 months, and now 6 months! This time there was no just laying there for the picture...it's all about mobility and seeing the world from different angles! Hooray for our happy, healthy baby boy!

Happy 1/2 Birthday, Sawyer - we love you bunches!!!

The Origin of Baubles

Last night, for our Family Home Evening, we did some searching to discover any significance behind some of what are todays common Christmas Traditions or symbols. Most of the "traditions" have pagan origins, but not all. Many people have found a way to create significance that ties into Christ, but most did not begin with that intention. One symbol of Christmas we were quite fascinated with are trees and ornaments. We certainly love our dear old Tannenbaum, but you must admit it seems a little silly that people grow a tree for 10 years to cut it down and display it in their living room 2-4weeks out of the year. Or spend hundreds of dollars to have an artificial one on hand for the occasion. It's a little weird, don't you think? While I won't share everything we learned (try it out - it's very interesting and fun and Wikipedia has a lot of information)...I do want to share a bit about ornaments...or bulbs...or BAUBLES.

Baubles have been in production since 1847. They were first made in Lauscha, Germany, by Hans Greiner who according to legend, began hand blowing glass into Christmas decorations because he couldn't afford the usual ornaments (which at that time, trees were adorned with nuts, apples, fruits and candy). You can see above an idea of what they might have been like...who would've thought? Nuts and fruit? Maybe that's where the string of cranberries fits in...hmm...

Anyway, the inside of his hand blown glass decorations were made to look silvery, at first with mercury or lead, then later using a special compound of silver nitrate and sugar water.

As demand for the new decorations grew, Greiner began making new shapes, including the sphere. After Queen Victoria's tree was pictured in a London newspaper decorated with the baubles from her husband's (Prince Albert - he was also her cousin) native Germany, Lauscha began exporting its products throughout Europe.

In the 1880s, American F.W. Woolworth discovered Lauscha's baubles during a visit to Germany. He made a fortune by importing the German glass ornaments to the United States. Today there are still about 20 small glass-blowing firms active in Lauscha that produce baubles. One of the producers is Krebs Glas Lauscha, which I found on-line and grabbed some of my favorite ornaments from their website to display here for all of you.

I think I may have found something new to collect. The only things I collect are vinyl records and magnets of places I've traveled. Perhaps I can save my pennies and collect an ornament each year so by the time we take the plastic ornaments off of our tree in about a decade, we'll have some very cool - perhaps I should say BEAUTIFUL - and authentic baubles to decorate with, shipped straight from Lauscha, Germany. I am, afterall, half German. :)

Okay, one more bauble of interest. Have any of you ever heard or done the tradition of the Christmas pickle? We had not heard of it before, even though it is supposedly a favorite game in most American households (a game, yet again, of German origin - we found that many Christmas traditions seem to stem from Germany). Apparently, it is a pickle-shaped ornament hidden in the tree. The child who finds it on Christmas morning receives an extra present. Anyone looking for a new family tradition might consider the pickle.

If you want to take a look at more of the beautiful baubles from Krebs Glas Lauscha, you can take a look here: http://www.krebslauscha.de/
Be sure to click on the English option and remember to calculate the exchange rate for dollars to Euros. Hope you enjoy!

Christmas Newsletter

Happy Holidays! We hope this little letter finds you and yours healthy, happy, and enjoying the Holiday Season. This is our first attempt at a newsletter. We are hoping to make it a tradition to send a little note with the highlights from our year. This year, we’ll make it short and sweet. Surely, as time goes on and our family grows, the letter will get longer, but since this is the beginning…

We spent much of our year anticipating and preparing for the birth of our first child. In January, Jacob surprised me and whisked me away to spend a long weekend in the San Juan Islands to celebrate our first anniversary. It was absolutely beautiful, and we lucked out with great weather for hiking and exploring all around the island. On my birthday, we had the ultrasound that told us we were likely having a boy! We painted his room and got everything ready. We waited and watched my belly slowly grow to look like a soccer ball.

Sawyer James Carter entered the world on June 12, 2008. He weighed a mere 5lbs 12oz. and was super alert at birth. Just as we were enjoying the thrill of welcoming a new life to the world, we also had to say a bittersweet good-bye as my grandfather passed away two days after Sawyer’s birth. We are sure he gave Sawyer some words of wisdom as they passed each other in the corridors between heaven and earth. Our son is such a miracle and a marvel, just bursting full of smiles and energy. We absolutely love being parents to such an amazing little child. He fills our lives with joy and keeps us grinning…sometimes even at 3am.

We were also blessed to be able to get together with family several times throughout the year. We had a fun and low-key summer, and were blessed to spend some time together as a new little family on the Oregon Coast early this fall. We enjoyed some hiking, hunting for lighthouses, and time spent together walking on the beaches.

Jacob continues his amazing work as a Graphic Designer at Mint Design here in Seattle. I love being a stay-at-home momma and sometimes still wonder if people think I am Sawyer’s nanny when they see us at the park. People have begun to inquire about my love/hobby of photography and I have begun working with babies, children, and families and am planning (with Jacob’s help) to start a small business next year, just for fun. Sawyer continues to grow “like a weed” (only much cuter!). We are hoping he will hold off on crawling until after the holidays, as he’s raring to go! This should be a very exciting new year ahead for all of us!

Sending all our love, and wishing you all a blessed and very happy New Year!

Decking our Halls...

We have had a wonderful time doing our advent so far. On Monday, we got out all of our decorations and went at it. We put away all of our glass ornaments and probably won't see them again for the next decade (you know, little fingers and hands and glass just don't mix!) Now, we have plastic ornaments. They actually look pretty good. I am thinking of adding some red to our silver and antique blue. We also have snowflake ornaments that I adore. My grandmother made them for me when I first moved out on my own. They are crocheted, and add a bit more of home to our tree.

I think it turned out pretty nice. I just love looking at the lights and getting lost in my thoughts as I look at the tree, reminiscing of times past, of the glorious present, and of times yet to come...

Besides our tree, our stockings, and our advent, we really don't have a lot of other decorations. Well, we do have the snowflake decals that stick to the windows. My favorite of all, is our Nativity. Jacob and my parents helped me complete the set last Christmas. Not pictured are the wise men, and the camel and other shepherd and animals. I just love the simplicity of this Nativity scene.

Oh, the baking! Okay, so I think when I decided to bake "goodies to share" I should have known I'd go overboard. By the way, Sawyer was an excellent helper in the kitchen.

We ended up baking several types of cookies (including the Spritz cookies above) as well as mini loaves of banana bread. I also added some chocolate truffles, mini candy canes, and favorite quotes to the loot.

We made 20 goody bags to share. Whew!

This is my favorite part of this Christmas. Sawyer loves the tree just as much as we do. His eyes light up and he can sit there just staring for quite sometime. He likes the lights, the shiny ornaments (which he has grabbed off twice - the plastic ornaments were a great choice!), and also the colorful packages beneath the tree. Talk about incentive to get crawling! I found him like this yesterday, just laying there taking it all in. He then proceeded to scoot himself over and grab a bow. I just love watching his eyes light up with wonder and awe!

See what I mean? What a sweet, sweet boy we have!

Of course to go to our dinner party last night, we left our apartment right about the time we usually start our bedtime routine. Sawyer was a trooper (and a swooner with his "cool" hair: the ladies just adore this little man!) We had a nice time at the party, enjoyed the live band and good company, and then left before dessert was served. Gotta love the lifestyle changes of parenthood. Jacob and I both agree: he is well worth it!