Campbell's room

We have finally finished Campbell's room! I am glad Campbell has waited to arrive until I could get it done. At our Dr.'s appt. on Wednesday they did another ultrasound and said the fluid level is up! Although, Campbell is still very small, only weighing 5lbs. 12oz. The doctor's aren't' concerned, they just say she is going to be small. We go back on Friday for a non-stress test and as long as everything looks good then they will go ahead with the planned induction on January 2nd! So this time next week Campbell Elizabeth will be here! Oh my!

What a fun day

Truck and 4 wheeler

Look what Santa brought

Ready for Santa

We all had a wonderful Christmas! It was so much fun watching Carter with all his toys! Carter must have been a good boy because Santa sure was good to him!

Carter with Santa

Carter wasn't very fond of the jolly old man this year! We tried everything we could to get him to calm down. But at least we have a picture for the scrapbook! I am sure he will look at this picture one day and get a good laugh; or be totally embarrassed!

No baby yet!

I had my 37 week appointment today and Campbell is doing okay. Her abdomen is now 3 weeks behind schedule but everything else is measuring perfectly. The doctor thinks she will just be skinny; much like Carter :o) At today’s appt. she weighed 5lbs.11oz. The fluid level was measuring okay but on the low side. I am almost 2 cm dilated so I have been instructed to drink as much water as possible and rest, rest, rest! They didn’t feel that the baby needed to be delivered right away so I will go back for another ultrasound on Wednesday the 26th. At that appt. they will decide if they should induce or if I will go back on the 28th for another ultrasound check. I am scheduled for an induction on Wednesday, January 2nd so if all goes well between now and then; that’s when she will be born. So far, it doesn’t look like we will have a Christmas baby! Whew!!!!!!

Update on Campbell

At my 36 week doctor's appt. I measured back on track! Thank goodness. At my 37 week appt. on Thursday they will do another ultrasound and if Campbell is still measuring small they will go ahead and induce! I sure hope she is back on track too because I am not ready to have a baby at the end of the week!

Campbell's baby shower

On the 9th my wonderful friends showered me with gifts for Baby Campbell. We all had such a wonderful time and had the most fun with all the girly things! I am so fortunate to have such loving friends!

Still not enough

In the middle of all of this too, Brandon started feeling bad. He went to his doctor on Wednesday and discovered he has strep throat! Haven't we had enough going on already! Brandon is on antibiotics too and I have been very busy cleaning everything multiple times in hopes of not getting sick! Thank goodness for Clorox Anywhere spray!

Glimpse of Baby Campbell

In the middle of Carter's illness I had a doctor's appt. I am measuring a little on the small side so they wanted to do an ultrasound of the baby. She looks good but her abdomen is on the small side. While it is on the small side, it is still in the normal range so they aren't terribly alarmed yet. I have been instructed to rest on my left side for 2 straight hours a day. Not easy to find with a 20 month old running around! They did a regular 2D and then they did the really fun 3D/4D picture! I thought it was so cool so see our little one! I am also already 1cm dilated but they say that's not out of the ordinary for this to be a 2nd baby!

First sickness

Carter made it 20 months before his first sickness! They were pretty impressed at the Dr.'s office! Carter decided for his first sickness to be a real doozy! He started out Monday night with a low grade temp, which on Tuesday progressed in to a cold. Still a low grade temp. so the Dr. said to treat it as a cold. He was miserable all day and night, waking up about every hour and just crying! Well, on Wednesday after my Dr.'s appt. Carter had a temp of 104.5, oh my! Called his Dr. and of course they wanted to see him. They discovered he had an ear infection in both ears! Yikes! Brandon says the child shows no pain because he never once pulled at his ears. Now he is on antibiotics and is doing better. We had some pretty tough nights but thank goodness things are starting to get back to normal!

Thankful for . . .

Food
and Daddy's shoes!

Playing ball with Granmama at Thanksgiving

I am way behind on updating pictures so I am going to try and get up to speed. This was Thanksgiving night while Carter and my grandmother were playing ball. We had such a nice Thanksgiving and have so many things to be thankful for this year!

5th hair cut

Carter got his 5th hair cut the other day! I can not believe how fast his hair grows. We really do have our own Chia Pet! Since Carter has had so many hair cuts he is becoming very aware that they are the most fun thing in the world. As soon as he was strapped in to the car (chair) he lost it! Thank goodness for a movie on the TV and a lollipop in one hand. She tried the cape and he cried harder so we settled with collecting hair on his shirt! Hopefully this hair cut will last until Christmas!

Sneaky

This is what happens when I don't watch Carter's every move! I was busy in the kitchen while Carter worked hard on this one! This car was in the study so he decided to drag it to the bench in the foyer, climb on the bench and attempt to get in this car that he is now too big for! Looks like he had a fun time though! When I saw him he gave me the biggest smile ever! He was so proud of his accomplishment!

Happy Halloween

Carter had a very fun 2nd Halloween! Our neighborhood had a little parade at the park before trick-or-treating. All the kids were adorable! Carter's 1st adventure trick-or-treating though was very tiring. It took a few houses for him to get the idea and then he wanted to eat the candy as soon as he got it! I would tell him to tell people thank you and he would do the sign for thank you, so everyone thought he was blowing them kisses! It was very cute! Towards the end I put Carter in the stroller because I was exhausted! We only went to the houses of the people we knew but it was still tiring! Carter LOVES candy! I finally let him have a lollipop on the stroll home which of course got all over his costume and turned his lips bright red, but he loved it nonetheless! We can't wait until next year!

Carter's Stats

Yesterday Carter had his 18 month doctor's appointment. Carter got 3 immunization shots and 1 flu shot! He was such a trooper! Here are the stats on the official weigh in:
Height: 34 inches (92%)
Weight: 26 pounds (60%)
Head cm: 19 3/4 (90%)
According to Brandon, we have tall, skinny bobble-headed kid!

Costume party at Hadley's

Puppy Dog - Carter

Pumpkin - Hadley

Giraffe - Jacob

Hadley and Carter at the ball toss Carter had a fun time at Hadley's costume party yesterday. It was very hot which is why Carter doesn't have on his puppy dog ears for most of the pictures! We all enjoyed seeing the little kids in their costumes. There was also yummy food, pumpkin and cookie decorating! Thank you Hadley for a great party!

Smiling from heaven

We had a sad end of the week last week; my granddad passed away. He had been struggling many years with heart disease and this past year had been very hard for him. Last Tuesday, he passed peacefully in his sleep at home. I am comforted by knowing that he is in heaven with no pain. It is very hard on my grandmother, they were married for 67 years! After the funeral on Thursday all the kids were out in my grandparents yard picking up pecans from the many trees! I know my granddad was smiling from heaven watching us enjoy all the pecans and collect them to make yummy things for the holidays! Picking and eating pecans with Aunt Lacy!

18 months

Carter turned 18 months old last week! I can not believe how fast time flies and how big he is getting! Bailey normally gets in the picture with Carter but he was too excited to sit still so Bailey skipped this picture. Carter has just about all of his teeth now and needs his 5th haircut! He is our own little "chia pet!"

New bed

Check out Carter's new bed! We set it up over the weekend and decided to try him in it for the first time last night! He did great! After his normal routine of bath, massage, brushing teeth and reading stories we put him in the bed and he went right to sleep! He didn't even try to get off the bed! We went in to check on him and the picture above is how we found him! He's so cute! We do have a rail but I decided not to put it up because I wanted to see if he would actually stay on the bed. We put pillows on the floor just in case. Well, at 6am this morning he rolled off. He only fussed for a couple of seconds. We went in there a few minutes later only to find him asleep on the floor between the rocking chair and the ottoman! I imagine he just rolled off the bed and kept scooting around until he got comfortable enough to go back to sleep. We picked him up and put him back in the bed. He went right back to sleep! He still tosses and turns all through the night so I think tonight we will try the rail. I tried the bed with the rail on at nap time and that didn't work! All he wanted to do was get up and play so I put him back in the crib! I am sure this is going to be a "try, try again effort!"

Pumpkin Patch

Carter had a great time at Burt's Farm picking out the perfect pumpkin! Mimi and Pop were in town for the weekend so we all took a family trip to the pumpkin patch! It was a hot day but we enjoyed taking pictures of these HUGE pumpkins. The pumpkins that were really small Carter thought were perfect for throwing! We indulged in some delicious pumpkin muffins on the way home and had a fun family day!

WAR EAGLE

Way to go Auburn Tigers! Thanks for a great game last night, finally!

I love trucks

Carter loves trucks these days. He likes cars too but he has the best time playing in Brandon's truck.

Update on the Van Orden kids:
Baby #2: While she still has no name, she is growing and moving a lot. Hopefully by the time she arrives she will have a name. According to the books she weighs 1.5 pounds so far. Carter is very fond of his baby sister already and knows exactly where she is. While I am sure he has no clue how his world is going to change we are all loving his excitement of the baby so far. We are in the process of working on the nursery/guest bedroom. The plan is to transition Carter to a twin bed and the baby will have his crib! Oh my!

Carter: He is as active as every 17 month old boy probably is! He now knows how to climb on everything and thankfully get down as well! He is getting his 13th and 14th teeth right now. So far it hasn't interrupted his 12 hours of sleep each night; knock on wood. He knows lots of sign language but we are working on the words as well! He can say about 8 words or so and he can have a very lengthy conversation with you or anything; if only we knew what he was saying!

Playing baseball

Future ball player!
Check out that form! Throwing with the right . . .
throwing with the left!
On Sunday Brandon had his last baseball game. It was the third game of the play-offs. After the game Carter enjoyed playing on the field. He was right at home! Carter discovered a bag of baseballs and proceeded to take them all out and practice his pitching arm or arms! As of right now, Carter throws with his right arm sometimes and with his left arm sometimes! Who knows, he may just be a MLB player one day!