Last night one of our guys sang in a school production... so the rest of us walked down to see him. Dan and I were having trouble getting out the door... so our other two guys carried Carter down to the school. It was really sweet to see the two (both tall basketball players) walking down the block... one with Carter on his back. Here is a picture of him after we got home.Digital lunch with daddy today...

"Helping" with the dishes...

For some reason Carter is fascinated with our trash can. This is what happened today when I turned my back for a second...

Swinging

Swinging at the park yesterday. This great playground was just around he corner from our old house... now we have to walk about 7 blocks to get to it. It's good exercise though... and we always see friends there.

This has been one of those weeks that started out with a bad day and just turned into a bad week. It's probably partly me. It's a good thing I am the only female in this house because I have more than enough crazy in me to go around. It all started with taking our car to get an emissions test done on Tuesday. Dan had the day off so we decided we would go together and then stop and get breakfast later. After waiting in line for more than 45 minutes for the test, our car stopped working as soon as they plugged it in. The workers pushed us out to the parking lot and just left us. I was so mad... and kind of lost it in the office saying things like "I hate the state of Missouri"... which I really don't. Dan kept giving me the look... sorry Dan. Our good friend Sarah drove all the way out to get us (thank you Sarah... for picking us up and helping us relax:)). Anyways, our car was towed to the mechanic to get the problem worked out and we still don't have it back.

I am such a "glass half empty" person. The good parts of my week really should outweigh the bad parts... but I just don't ever look at it that way. There have been some great parts to this week... like dinner with friends, making Carter laugh, talking to my best friend Lisa, playing video games with the guys, and getting to go outside without a coat on for the first time in months. I really am going to try and be "half full" for the rest of the week.

Here are some pics...

Dan took these cool pictures of the sunset casting shadows on our wall a couple days ago. It has been so nice to see the sun lately.


This is the "I know I'm not supposed to be here" look.

Taking a bottle break.

Carter is so much fun... but has also been making me go a little nuts the past week. He was such a hard newborn, but seemed to have turned a new leaf once he started moving around Christmas. He was never a good sleeper, but around that time finally started to sleep 12 hours at night and take two really good naps. Last week he started to pull up on things and at the same time stopped taking naps. He just sits (or stands) in his crib and talks to himself while he unties the bumper pads. I'm learning that nothing stays the same for very long.
Here are a couple pictures from last week:

He drinks one handed...


He LOVES the water. It takes two of us to make sure he doesn't hurt himself. I wish you could buy bumper pads for the bath-tub.


Valentine's Day... the little guy brought me my favorite flowers.

Thank you Dad!

Am I SERIOUSLY posting for the third time today. Let me just say that our car is frozen shut and the first time I left the house today was about 5 minutes ago to take out the trash. I am just going to post one more picture.

Dan got some shoes in the mail today that kind of matched the color of the alligator on Carter's little shoes. I just thought it was cute.

Dad, I know what you're thinking right now... that I have too much time on my hands. I really am about to start doing other things!! Anyways, here is what it looks like now. I doubt we'll get 5 inches.. but it's still fun.



This little boy is refusing to take his naps today. It must be because he wants to keep watching the snow fall. :)

One of my favorite things about St. Louis is the snow during the winter months. We get just enough to make it fun. I've had a relaxing morning sitting on the couch watching the rain change to ice and then snow. We could get up to 5 inches by noon. Here is what it looks like now...

Thanks to Scott and Cari... we are OBSESSED with this website.

Carter is finally big enough to sit in his highchair. He is the 4th of the Swanson generation to use it. It was my Grandma's chair... she then used it for my Dad. My Grandpa drove it from Minnesota to California when my Aunt was a baby, and my Aunt Jan and her fiance Alex drove it out to us from Washington in October. It's just one of those special things to have that makes me feel closer to family even though we are so far away. Thanks again Jan and Alex for bringing it out for Carter to use!

Like his father... Carter takes a while to get going after a nap:



This is what we call multi-tasking in the Reeve household:

I've noticed that Carter prefers to eat with one foot bare...

It's only right to have some good winter fashion for our single digit temperatures here in STL...

I had to finish a project today... so Carter spent a good amount of time with Dan. It was nice for him to get a little taste of my afternoons!!!

Trying to escape...

still trying...

Settled down for about two minutes.

The start of dinner...

and the end of dinner...

I wish Dan was home every day!

It has been so cold in St. Louis the past week. One of our guys is on the basketball team... so we've been going to a lot of evening games lately. It's only about a two minute walk to school... but it feels like our ears are going to fall off by the time we get there. We bundle Carter up so tight he can hardly move.




I'm also learning new ways to entertain Carter in the afternoon. His attention span is so short! I give him a spoon, banana, and water cup... that helps me keep my sanity for a good 30 minutes.

Check out the link below to an article that came out today about Joe's Place:

Christian Science Monitor