Carson Quote of the Day

So these have been stacking up. It's more like "Carson Quotes from the past few weeks..."

"Daddy, you need to go to bed because if you sleep on the couch, it'll give you bad breath." I have no idea where he came up with this one!

Carson was watching his girlfriend on t.v. when Ryan came downstairs. "Dad, can I have a juicy orange?" Apparently Giada was making something with "juicy oranges." (wink, wink)

He's really been into cooking lately. He always wants to be in the action, helping my stir, pour, and crack the eggs. I asked him if he wanted to be a chef when he got older and he said, "No, I'm going to be a big daddy, just like Daddy."

Same night, Carson was helping me make cookies and he kept wanting to eat the dough. I gave him a few bites but he kept asking for more. I kept telling him that he had to wait until they were cooked and then he said, "Come on, Mommy. You can do anything, you're a mommy!"

I think he's getting a little bored with the songs we sing to him at bedtime because they are starting to go something like this: Whenever I hear the song of an... orange, or look at the blue, blue... orange...

*Update on Carson's recovery* The scabs fell off today, that's a good thing, but he was in a little bit more pain then normal I think because of it. He wouldn't ever tell us when his throat hurt before because he knew that we would give him more medicine but today he kept saying that it hurt. It was really tough a few days ago because he was not getting enough sleep at all. He was staying up late, waking up early, and not taking naps. He looked horrible! He had dark circles under his eyes, pale, eyes half closed, he walked around like he was half dead. We went to his post-op appt and the doctor said to give him some Benedryl to knock him out. I was a little surprised but it helped a bunch! He's a completely different kid when he's on his meds! We can tell when it's getting time to give him another dose because he gets really quiet and weepy and then he gets totally irrational and emotional. It's been a long road, but it's not any harder than I would've expected. I'm just wondering how much longer I have to be giving him hydrocodone. We're going on day ten and that just seems like a long time to be on such a strong drug!

Tonsillectomy

Carson got his tonsils and adenoids out on Thursday. The doctor said that his adenoids were so big that they were completely blocking his airway (and that was after they had shrunk them for the surgery). He sounds totally different now when he sleeps, he doesn't snore at all! It was a really good thing we decided to have the surgery!

Carson on Versed. He was pretty loopy!

Just after surgery. Not feeling too good. He wouldn't let Ryan out of his sight. It was really sad and he could barely talk but when he did it sounded like Mickey Mouse.

Usually they let the kids go home after a few hours but because his tonsils/adenoids were so big and because he was so small, the doctor wanted us to stay the night. Too bad no one else knew that. We had to wait forever to get a room! It was a pain but we did eventually get a room. He did really well through the night and we left first thing the next morning.

He got to keep the flashlight.

He's doing really well in his recovery. You can really tell when his meds are wearing off but once he's drugged up again he's back to his normal self. He hasn't thrown up or anything so I'm counting my blessings because I've heard some major horror stories! Going through this process really brought back memories for me when I had my tonsils out. They're probably some of my earliest memories. I remember going back into the O.R. with my big white teddy bear and the nurse putting the gas mask on my face and telling me that I got strawberry flavor but it didn't smell like strawberries at all. I remember she had me start counting and when I got to ten she told me to put my head down on my bear and the second I did, I was out. Then I remember driving home in the Honda with the little pink bowl that reminded me of a hotdog, trying really hard not to throw up. And for some reason it seems like Jeff threw up a lot but that could've easily been me.

Reese is ONE!!!

Reese and I had a hard time falling asleep last night. I think it was because we were replaying the events that happened a year ago, the glorious day when Reese made his entrance into the world. It's been a tough year, no doubt about it. But there's no way I would give it back if I couldn't keep my Reese.

Reasons why I can't get enough Reese's Pieces:

*He's got a quiet curiosity. He's always watching and learning and when you least expect it, he'll be climbing up on something or doing something he shouldn't. The other day, he quietly climbed up the stairs without Ryan and I noticing and he just sat up at the top yelling for us. It took us a couple of minutes to figure out where he was but he was so proud of himself when we found him.

*He's got the most beautiful baby blues. I didn't really ever understand that phrase "getting lost in someone's eyes" until I had Reese. We honestly can just stare at each other, completely wrapped up in ourselves.

*I love it when he'll just be sitting there with a blank look on his face and if you catch his eye, his whole face will light up with this awesome "I love you!" smile.

*He's such a tease! He's a good match for Carson. He'll even start the wrestling match! I'm sure I'll be playing the referee for the rest of my life.

*He loves it when I play with his hair and I love it when he plays with mine.

*He loves soft fuzzy things! He'll jump right into a soft blanket or teddy bear and rub it all over his face.

*He also loves silky things, just like his daddy. He's very into textures, even when he eats. When I'm feeding him and I give him a bite of something and then a bite of something else, he'll spit it out and inspect it before he puts it back in his mouth.

*Even when he was really little he would use his little finger to point at things. It's so cute! He'll pull out books and start pointing and talking like he actually knows the story.

*He's got the cutest little round head covered with beautiful blonde hair topped with double crowns.

*It's so hard to change his diaper because he loves to be naked! If you let go of him for a second, he'll take off running and giggling.

*He's really ticklish! Even using a lufa to clean his feet in the

bathtub makes him giggle.

*He's pretty independent for a one year old and he totally thinks he is older than he is.

*He's way too strong for his own good and he's pretty motivated to do things that he sees his older brother do. Bad combination.

*He cries when we get mad at Carson.

*He loves music and does the cutest little bum dance when he's sitting on the ground.

*He's always making noises even when he is eating. And when he's upset he sounds like a space ship.

*He makes a great little brother and son and will make a great missionary and husbandsomeday.

Now on to the festivities!

Starting off with some red almond blueberry pancakes for birthday breakfast. Reese snarfed like six pancakes!

And of course we had to throw him a party! It's not like you turn UNO everyday. I saw on another blog that someone made their son an UNO shirt for their first birthday so I just took the idea and ran with it and it was so fun! I didn't know this about myself, but I really like planning parties! Originally I was only going to invite family and just make it a small get-together, but that didn't last long. Pretty soon the guest list included 14 adults and 9 kids! But people didn't show which was disappointing but a lot less stress. It turned out to be just right with the Crandalls, Fuquas, and Nakayas.

The Decor

We started off the night with an UNO competition. Jeff won the prize box which included a word search book, candy, and a High School Musical UNO card game.

Next up was the pinata. I made this a little too strong, the kids had a hard time breaking it open. Note to self: take cereal box out, only use newspaper layers, and put the candy in after it's dry.

I was nervous that the kids, especially Reese, would be scared or intimidated by the pinata because when you hit it, it was a pretty loud smack. But they all LOVED it! Reese had a big grin on his face the whole time.

They took turns, youngest to oldest. Ryder was after Reese...

...followed by Carson (he kept hitting lefty)...

...then Yuki with some "help" from Masaru...

...Jory and then Masaru (but I don't have a picture of him actually hitting it)...

but after a few rounds we had to break out the big guns. Adam finally had to beat it to death to get it open.

Then it was cake time!

Thanks for your help, Melissa! It turned out awesome!

After we got the cake cleaned off of Reese, he opened a ton of presents! He got so spoiled! Thanks Mom, Jeff & Julie, Stacy & Keith, Melissa & Dru, Chelsie & Shawn!