Carter Gets a Visit from the Tooth Fairy

Carter lost his first baby tooth yesterday. It had been loose for about three weeks and we were wondering which would happen first:  Carter losing his tooth or baby Lauren’s arrival.  Lauren beat out the tooth by 10 days.  I can’t believe how long that tooth held on!

Carter’s tooth came out during snack time at camp. He was so excited when he came home and flashed me his smile.  He had his tooth wrapped up in a napkin and immediately ran upstairs to put it under his pillow.  He couldn’t wait for the Tooth Fairy to visit.

The Tooth Fairy did indeed visit, took the tooth, and left a $10 Target gift card in it’s place! The poor Tooth Fairy.  The price of teeth has far surpassed inflation in the last 30 years.  From what I hear, the first tooth is worth much more than subsequent teeth.

I can’t believe how much older Carter looks now with a gap in this teeth.  My little boy is really growing up.  *sniff sniff*

Lauren Audrey Gale

Lauren Audrey Gale arrived today at 10:55 am, weighing 7lb 2oz, measuring 20 inches.  We are completely smitten with her and are, once again, amazed that we created a person.

Though she is an average sized baby, she seems so tiny compared to Carter when he was born.  Carter was 8 lbs 5oz. That extra pound (plus!) really makes a difference. Lauren is our little bean.

She has a shocking amount of dark, dark brown hair.  It is so silky soft.  Unfortunately she also has some on her ears (like an old man) and on her back.  No halter tops for her this summer!  It will be interesting to see if the hair on her head all falls out like Carter’s did.  Ironically, around the time I was 5 months pregnant, we asked Carter what we should name the baby.  He suggested “Furry.”  Little did we know it would be quite appropriate.

Cat Stevens and Insecurity

I’m sure this post title has you saying, “Huh?”

Yeah, it doesn’t make much sense except that I want to talk about both:  Cat Stevens and insecurity…but not necessarily together.

Today was a perfect Michigan spring day.  It was in the low 60s, the sun was shining, and there was a nice breeze.  I was able to leave work a little early and I drove home with the moon roof open and the radio blaring.  I was singing away and was totally happy.  I don’t even remember what I was singing but was thinking that if Cat Stevens’ “If you want to sing out” came on the radio, it would be the perfect song at that very moment. 

All was right with the world.

For the moment.

A short while later, I was picking Carter up from school.  I ran into the mom of a friend of Carter’s.  We were perusing the books at the Book Fair and I asked if her son could read.  Carter is doing OK with sounding out some words and has a decent grasp of many site words, but he’s not a bonafide reader, yet.  We have other friends whose children are the same age as Carter and they are reading quite well, can write several sentences together.  I had just sort of chalked them up as anomalies…thinking they were just exceptionally bright children or they go to better schools. Well it turns out that Carter’s friend from school can read pretty well, too.  Hmm, definitely can’t blame it on the school, now.

So now I’m feeling all insecure about Carter’s reading and writing levels.  He’s a smart kid.  Just ask my husband or my parents.  They’ll tell you!  But somehow he’s not doing as well as his peers with reading and writing and it really disturbs me. I’m sure that it’s not a matter of his capability, but a matter of effort. My effort…or lack there of.  Now I really just feel like a bad mother for not spending enough time with him practicing.

And then I feel even worse when I think about next year. He’ll be in the first grade and we’ll have a young baby in the house.  It’s not like I’ll have more time to dedicate to Carter and school work next year. 

In less than two hours time, I went from a fabulous, spring-induced high to a new low brought on by parental insecurities.

Quick, find the nearest Walmart.  I need to go be reassured that there are worse mothers than me out there.  

Hey, at least Carter was in bed by 8:30, freshly showered and in clean PJs.  Oh, and he’s never had a sip of soda or chewed gum in his entire, 5 1/2 year life. 

He might be illiterate but at least Child Protective Services can’t take him away from me.

PS - While I’ve been writing this post, Ben has been working in the basement.  Filtering up through the vents are the sounds of wood being cut on the table saw, the air compressor charging up, the power nailer being used, and the occasional giggle of satisfaction coming from Ben.  Not only is he kicking butt down there and making great progress on finishing the basement, he is getting immense enjoyment and fulfillment from the task. 

I’m so incredibly envious.

Taekwondo Tournament

Carter participated in a Taekwondo (TKD) Tournament today at his TKD school.  Honestly, I was very much against him signing up for this.  He’s only been doing TKD for about 3 months.  He’s still the lowest belt level possible (white).  I was thinking that he would be the youngest, smallest, least experienced kid there and it would be a disappointment for him. 

Well, I was right on the youngest, smallest, least experienced part.

Given his level and (in)experience, he could really only participate in the board breaking portion of the tournament.  I was definitely not excited about this because he’s never tried to break a board before.  I was so nervous for him to try this in front of an audience.  To make matters even worse, they started with the least experienced kids and worked their way up through to the black belts.

You can see him in the picture below with one board in front of him and one board behind him.  The goal is for him to punch through the one in front of him and then whip around and punch through the second board in one fluid motion.

Carter didn’t break the first board on his first attempt.  But he totally stuck with it and on his third attempt (and after he calmed down a bit) he punched that thing in half. He quickly turned around and broke the second board into three pieces on his first try!

Sorry for the terrible quality of the photo but I was ridiculously nervous for Carter.  In fact, I only got that one photo because I think I was holding my breath the whole time.

Needless-to-say, Carter was beaming with pride afterwards (as was I).

Carter earned a participation trophy which he was thrilled about until he saw that it was possible to earn bigger trophies.  

PS – No, I was not thrilled that my son was strong enough to punch through a piece of wood, I was thrilled that he had the confidence and focus to do it.  I cannot say enough good things about TKD.  It has taught him confidence, respect, and self discipline and is a fabulous work out for him twice a week.  AND, most of all, he loves it.

New Bedroom Furniture

With a baby on the way, we needed to get Carter some new bedroom furniture. His furniture is actually part of the nursery set and so we need to move his dresser, nightstand, and bookcase into the baby’s room.

We decided to upgrade Carter to an even bigger “big boy” bed.  He now has a full size (aka, double) bed.  We are planning on this set lasting him for at least the next 13 years…at which point he’ll be sleeping in a crappy, twin-sized dorm bed.

 

I still need to find that perfect picture or two to hang above his bed.  It’s looking rather bare up there.  Do you remember the mod-podged stars from this post?  They’ll be moved to the area above his bookcase to the left of the bed.  I have a trophy shelf type thing on order that will go were the stars were originally hanging. 

Clearly there’s more work that needs to be done but we are making progress (which is more that I can say about the nursery these days!).

Hug O’ War

I have been reading a lot of Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends to Carter at night.  These are fun little poems that are sometimes just silly and meaningless. There are others that are cute and have a point.  Regardless, they bring back lots of childhood memories.

My favorite is Hug O’ War.

I will not play at tug o' war

I'd rather play at hug o' war,

Where everyone hugs

Instead of tugs

Where everyone giggles

And rolls on the rug,

Where everyone kisses

And everyone grins

And everyone cuddles

And everyone wins.

- Shel Silverstein

Do you have a favorite Shel Silverstein poem?  If so, what is it?  Or do you have a favorite from another children’s author?

Baby Girl Dresses

I have already purchased two dresses for our little girl.  I just can’t help myself.

The fact that I only have two articles of clothing for her proves extreme restraint on my behalf.  Clothes for baby girls are just so cute.

The Nursery

So with a little girl on the way in less than 4 months, we ought to be making plans for her nursery.  In theory, we don’t have *that* much to do as we are using everything from Carter’s nursery.  We are using the Chamois Lambie bedding that we used for Carter and using the same furniture. Really we should just be able to paint the room and be ready to go, right?

Of course not.  There are a couple of key things standing in our way. 

First of all, this is what the room looks like right now. (sorry for the poor quality photo.  My camera batteries were dying and I was too lazy to find fresh ones to put in it)

It’s currently Carter’s Lego room / an extra guest room.  On a daily basis the floor is totally covered with Legos.  Believe it or not, this is after I tidied up the room.  When the cousins come visit, I sweep all the Legos into the closet and open up the futon for the kids to sleep on.  Please note Shelby coming out of the blue & red storage bucket to peek out the window.

We are working on finishing the basement but really only just started. Ben is doing most of it himself (with a little help from his dad) and so he can only work on it nights and weekends.  He’s given me a completion date of xmas 2011.  So we are a long way off from having an appropriate place for Legos in the basement and for the cousins to sleep down there. 

Secondly, Carter is still using the furniture.  OK, not the crib but certainly the dresser, bedside table, and the book shelf.  We are looking to purchase a new bedroom set for Carter but can’t get over the sticker shock.  Besides, where are we going to put the old stuff when the new furniture comes in if the baby’s room is still covered in Legos.

And finally, the paint color.  I’m not sold on painting the walls green like we did with Carter.  I’m thinking I should soften the look and maybe go with a soft pink. 

Here’s a closer look at the pinks.  I’m not sure the camera / computer is doing justice to the shades correctly.

What do you think?  Would the bedding colors look OK with pink walls?  I’m thinking the 4th one from the top. 

Or should I rethink the greens?

Super Bowl XLV

This pretty much sums up our Super Bowl watching experience tonight:

The whole family is wiped out from our “eventful” night last night.

PUKE!

Carter puked for the first time ever last night.  He actually puked two three four seven times.

Seriously…this kid is 5 1/2 years old and has never thrown up before.  Were we the luckiest parents in the world or what?

OK, so that’s not entirely true. He threw up once when he was roughly one year old. He had a double ear infection and was given the antibiotic Augmenten.  It made him sick to his stomach and threw up once, we never gave him anymore of the stuff, end of story.

So anyway, back to last night (as if you are dying to hear all the details).  Shortly after putting Carter to bed, he came out of his room complaining of a tummy ache. I snuggled with him for a while and so did Ben.  Being totally exhausted from driving in hazardous snow conditions all afternoon, I went off to bed.  Ben woke me around 11pm saying poor Carter threw up everywhere and he needed help cleaning up.  

Ben was awesome. He had already stripped the bed and gotten Carter out of his nasty PJs and was tending to Carter in the bathroom.   Me? I’m terrible with vomit.  I violently gag if I have to clean up cat puke.  I absolutely cannot handle the sound of someone else throwing up.  And now, with my overactive sniffer (thanks pregnancy hormones) I have to go into a room and clean up birthday cake laced puke from the carpet? Yikes.

Suck it up, Carla!  What kind of a mom are you??

I got the room all cleaned up and Ben got Carter all cleaned up.   Having never done this before, Carter did not understand what happened.  He said something to Ben along the lines of, “ Daddy, that was terrible. I didn’t like that at all.

I spent the rest of the night running between the laundry machine and Carter’s room.   Fortunately, he picked up pretty quickly to the concept of getting it into the bucket.

Sometime around 4:30 am, he said to me, “I’m having a pretty rough night, aren’t I?”

Poor kid.  If he/his room hadn’t smelled so bad, I might have snuggled longer with him.

PS – I don’t recommend realizing you are missing a critical piece to your carpet steam cleaner AFTER your child has thrown up all over his bedroom carpet. 

Sledding

We had a blast sledding with some friends this morning.  Here are a few of my favorite pictures.

I love how you can hardly see Carter’s face in this one.  He’s made sure there’s no exposed skin to the cold air.

Sledding buddies!

Carter went down the hill all by himself…face first!

 

How cool is this kid?

It’s a Girl!

We went for our big ultrasound today and found out that we are expecting a little girl!  We are so excited. We would have been excited either way (boy or girl) but it’s such a relief to have all the anatomical measurements completed and to hear that baby is right on track for growth / size.

Here a picture of our baby girl.  Her nose is a little funky looking but you can see her hand up to her chin.

  

And here’s proof that she’s actually a girl. (That’s her bum on the right side with her two legs stretched out to the left)

Sorry if that was too much detail for you.

Carter was so excited that were were going to learn the gender of the baby today that I made a promise to him.  Since Nana was picking him up from school today, she was going to help him call me so that I could tell him over the phone instead of having to wait several more hours for me to get home from work.

Nana called as planned and handed the phone to Carter.  Here’s how the conversation went:

Me: Hi, Carter! Do you want to know what the baby’s going to be?

Carter:  Yes.

Me: It’s a girl.  You are going to have a baby sister!

Carter: I wanted a boy.

*click*

He hung up on me!  The poor guy wanted a brother so badly. Fortunately he got over it pretty quickly, came to terms with the fact that we don’t get to choose, and is excited about being a big brother even if it is to a baby sister.

Of course my own brain is just flooded with thoughts:  ooh, maybe she’ll color with me (since Carter won’t)…what am I going to do with her hair? I can’t even do my own hair! would it be wrong to give her a buzz cut like Carter?…girls’ clothes are SOOOO much cuter than boys clothes…and on and on…

Tae Kwon Do

We signed Carter up for tae kwon do at the end of last year.  We thought he needed some sort of physical activity for the winter months and we had heard that martial arts were great for helping develop focus and discipline in young children.

I’m not sure if we are seeing any improvement in focus or discipline, but Carter loves classes and looks so darn cute in his uniform.

2010 Gale Family List

10. I’m too busy to write a real holiday letter, so I’m cheating by making a list. I once vowed to never write a holiday letter. This doesn’t count does it? I don’t like breaking promises. [You are probably asking yourself, “Why can’t she just send a picture card like everyone else?”]

9. I have been terrible at keeping up with friends and family this year. I used to email, I used to keep a blog, and I used to be on Facebook. These things require time and maintenance. I don’t have the energy for either these days. BUT! I will try to be better in 2011.

8. We bought a house and moved into it. We gutted the master bath, we painted the inside, we painted the outside, we installed all new interior lighting, and we got new landscaping.

7. Carter is 5 and started Kindergarten this year. He also played soccer in the spring and summer. He’s trying tae kwon do this winter.

6. Ben and I both still work for Ford, nothing new here. We are happy to have jobs. We’ve been working on the new 2012 Focus for the past 3 ½ years and it will finally come out this spring.

5. Though our travel is not nearly as exotic since we are no longer in Europe, we did make it to LA, DC, NYC, Portland, Chicago, and Cincinnati.

4. I participated in the Michigan Breast Cancer 3-Day. I walked (almost) 60 miles in 3 days and raised close to $3,000.

3. We want you to come visit us. We have lots of room and promise to feed you. And, yes, we mean you!

2. We adopted a sweet kitty in the spring. Her name is Shelby.

1. Our family is growing by one in 2011! Gale baby #2 is due to arrive the middle of June. We should know January 19 if the baby is a boy or girl. Carter is super excited, but really wants a brother.

In Over My Head

So much has been going on here at the Gale household but I’ve had no time/energy to blog.  You are all probably wondering about the Breast Cancer 3-Day and Carter’s birthday…not to mention all the other stuff going on.

I can barely keep up. Where has the summer gone?  Carter starts Kindergarten in a week. 

A WEEK! 

Can you believe it?  I certainly can’t.

I am just barely scraping by these days. 

Here’s a picture of our lawn to prove that point:

Yes, we are those neighbors.

How awful is that? 

I’m struggling to be a good mom/wife/employee/friend/daughter/sister. I’m not sure I’m succeeding but I do know I’m exhausted from trying. Clearly, as evidenced above, I’ve given up trying to be a good neighbor/home owner. 

And blogging, well that’s down there on my list right after lawn maintenance. 

Wrong Number Text Pages

Do you ever get text pages on your phone that were intended for someone else?

I just now got a text that said, “Hi Pastor Mark. This is So-and-so. Just wanted to see if you have time to meet today.”*

I wanted so badly to call this guy and find out why he so desperately wants to meet with his Pastor on a Saturday morning.  Then again, I have enough going on in my own life that I don’t need someone else’s burdens.  I sent him a reply page telling him he reached the wrong person. I didn’t want him thinking his Pastor snubbed him in a time of need.

Ben has received “booty call” text pages.  He doesn’t respond to them and I wonder if the girl thinks the intended recipient is not interested in her.

I used to receive wrong number voicemails on my work phone all the time.  It was some poor kid looking for his mama to pick him up.  It was such a sad voice. He never left a call back number so I never knew how to call him back and say he has the wrong number. Gosh, I hope his mother eventually picked him up.

I also once got a voicemail on my phone from someone trying to go through the 12 step process and was in the apologizing step.  He left a long message and was asking for the girl to call him back so he could apologize properly.  He left a number but I never called to tell him he had the wrong number. I always wondered if he moved on to the next step properly without getting to apologize to the girl.

What about you? have you ever received a text page in error?  Do you write back?  Any interesting wrong number voicemails?

*names changed to protect the innocent

18.6 Miles, Oh My

Thus far my 3-Day training has been going pretty well.  I haven’t blogged about it because it’s really not that exciting.  It would go something like this:

I woke up on Sunday morning around 6am so that I could leave the house at 6:30. I met Lara (my 3-Day partner in crime) at Lower Huron Metropark.  We walked and walked and walked. And she talked and talked and talked.  And just a little over 3 hrs later, we had 12 miles done.   It was pretty easy.  I even did it one Sunday shortly after a bout with the stomach flu and it was no problem. And then a week later I managed to do it after a bout of food poisoning (how unlucky can a girl be?) though I had to cut it short just shy of 12 miles so I could make it to the bathroom. Too much information?

Anyway, my point is that all this walking is really nothing to write home about.  It gets done.  It’s uneventful. 

I really should stress, though, that Lara is a great walking partner because she keeps the conversation going which makes the time fly by.  I could not be doing this without her.  Thank you, Lara, for helping me keep putting one foot in front of the other.  I should also mentioned that Lara is in WAY better shape than me and I’m sure I’m cramping her style…or at least her pace.

At this point in our training, we are supposed to be doing some really, really long walks so Lara and I thought it would be good to sign up for one of the official training walks.  Maybe we could learn from some of the coaches and from some of the walkers who have done this before. We signed up for a 17 mile training walk. 

Today was that walk.

This walk kicked my ass.  There is no other way to say it. 

We walked about 8 miles and then stopped for lunch.  I was feeling pretty good at that point.  But then I really struggled after lunch.  I was just so overheated.  We were supposed to only walk another 9 miles after lunch but we missed our turn around point and ended up walking 10.6 miles.

To be fair, I think we managed to keep a decent pace.  Certainly not as brisk as when we would do the 12 mile walks together, but it was nothing to laugh at.  And, though there were many times when I wanted to just cut Lara loose because I felt I was dragging her down, I was not the slowest person out there.   Yes, I know it’s not a race and the point is to simply finish. But what kept me at the pace I was going was the thought that the faster I walk, the faster I finish, which means the faster I can get into my air conditioned car.

18.6 miles in total today.

Upon returning to my car, I took off my shoes and socks to put on a pair of flip flops. I found a nice pair of matching blisters. HUGE blisters.

I’m definitely getting nervous about the actual event but what I am thrilled about is that I’m only $128 from my fundraising goal of $2,300.

Now I think I need to start raising some money to cover my podiatrists bill.

Soccer – Week 5

F I N A L L Y ! ! ! ! 

Good weather.  And it made all the difference in the world.  Everyone had a blast.  Carter participated in the practice, played in the game, and was thrilled to wear his jersey.  There was no crying and only minimal whining.   It was actually an enjoyable Saturday morning and not at all a taste of purgatory like some of the prior weeks.

It’s really fun to watch Carter do the drills during practice.  When he’s focused, he’s quite good.  The problem is that he has the attention span of a Labrador puppy.

Carter is goofing around before the game with friend and former next door neighbor, Bennett.

Carter resting with Nana during one of the breaks in the game.  I swear these kids run the fastest when they are told it’s time for a water break.  They nearly race to the sidelines.

Aunt MB also came to the game but somehow I failed to snap a photo. 

 

In the final minutes of the game, Carter got to play at the same time his friend and classmate, Theo, was playing for the other team.  They were total goofballs together on the field.  They pulled their jerseys over their heads.  They pretended to shoot each other with their hands shaped like pistols.  I was laughing too hard to actually get a picture of Carter and Theo together.

Thanks to Nana and MB for coming out to the game and thanks to Mother Nature for FINALLY providing us some decent weather on a Saturday morning.

Next week I’ll have to miss the game as I will be walking 5k with my mom in the Komen Race for the Cure.  Hopefully I can convince Ben to drag the camera along and take some pictures and/or video of Carter in action. 

Hmm…maybe I can even get him to write a posting of his own.

Soccer – Week 4

The poor kid just can’t seem to get a break.   It was 75 degrees earlier this week, yet, today it was 38 degrees with gale force winds.  It was so dang cold and windy that my eyes watered the entire time we were out on the field.

The odds were stacked against Carter this week.  Not only was it frigging cold, but (because of the cold) the coaches decided to essentially skip the practice part and just play the game so we could all go home sooner.  Yep, they skipped the one part of the whole ordeal that Carter really enjoys.

 Coach Pat, Bennett, Carter, and Austin

Carter wasn’t too excited to play and preferred to be on the sidelines on my lap.  Truthfully, I preferred when he was on  my lap, too.  It kept me much, much warmer.

Right now the forecast for next Saturday is 65 degrees and partly sunny.  My fingers are crossed that we actually get that weather. If so, I have high hopes for Carter and soccer.

Mod Podge Wall Decoration

I finally found some time to do some crafting.  The whole “moving into a new house” thing really cut into my crafting time but yesterday (thanks to all the rain) I found some time to be creative.

Carter’s room, though cute, was looking rather incomplete because of the bare walls.  So when I found three metal stars on sale at JoAnn’s, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

Here’s one of the stars “as is.”  It’s a simple brown metal star, certainly not offensive looking but not what I pictured for a little boy’s room.

I used some craft paint to paint one of the stars navy blue.  The paint is still wet in the picture.  It’s not this shiny now that it’s dry.

I had some really cute red, white, and blue scrapbook paper that I had bought at a huge discount.  I used this paper and some Mod Podge to cover the other two stars.  I made each point of the star a different pattern.  I made a template of the point of out plain white paper first and then cut out the scrapbook paper to size.  I made the long ends a little wider than the point itself so that I could wrap the edges around the back of the star itself to give it a cleaner look.

I liberally applied Mod Podge to both the front of the star and the back of the paper, put the paper on the star, and smoothed out the bubbles with a brayer. I wrapped the edges and then used another liberal application of Mod Podge to the top of the paper.

 

I don’t have any “action” shots as my hands are usually covered in the “Podge” and I don’t want to get it all over my camera. 

I was using a fairly heavy weight scrapbook paper and so a lot of Mod Podge  is needed to get good adhesion for the wrapped edges.  I like using this kind of paper because it doesn’t just disintegrate and/or tear when wrapping around corners. 

 

I really haven’t found a time when too much Mod Podge is a problem.  It just means longer drying time.  For most people that’s likely not an issue but I’m so impatient and want to hurry up and finish.  For a project like this one, I suggest letting it dry after completing two of the points, otherwise you will not have a good place to hold onto when doing the rest of the points.

Once everything was dry, I hung them on the wall in Carter’s room between his closet and his window.  I can’t put a piece of furniture there because of the vent on the floor and the wall space wasn’t right for a picture, I would need something tall and narrow.  The three stars seemed to do the trick and add to the navy and red theme already in his room.

[By the way, please ignore the curtains.  I have some red fabric that I purchased to sew on an accent panel at the bottom so that they go to the floor.  I guess that will now have to be the subject of a future post…but don’t hold your breath. My to-do list is a mile long.]

This whole project was done in just a couple of hours on a rainy Sunday and cost me less than $25.  The 3 stars together cost me $21, I used 5 pieces of scrapbook paper (on sale for $0.40/piece), and Mod Podge and craft paint that I had on hand.

I’m pretty satisfied with it.  What do you think?