Random stuff

Hi all! Although I apparently have been too busy to post anything for over a month now, I really can't think of anything exciting the Freeman family has been up to to post about! I am having writer's block as well, so I thought I would just post some random pictures from the last month. Happy Easter everyone!

Mohawks rule!

Let's go for a ride!

I'm not so sure now!

Who needs toys when you have a bowl and spoon?

The ladies of the house!

Best buddies!

What do you think old dog?

I love my tongue!

Grandma Berry made me look cool!

My little chefs...or space aliens?

I'm on the move!

I love to patty cake!

Claire turns 8 months! This is the best picture I got..she won't sit still anymore!

Charlie turns 5!

Because sleeping at the top of the stairs is more comfortable than my bed???

I love my bed and my fingers!

Boy this is a big Easter bunny!

Claire tasting the plastic eggs

Taking inventory of the eggs!

Wrestlemania!!

I apologize in advance for the overload of pictures! I had a hard time narrowing them down! We have been busy! We are so thankful to have been able to spend time with the "other Freeman's" in Detroit last weekend. We spent 5 days with Jeremy's brother Al and his wife Nancy and their 3 boys, Ben, Nick and Sam. We got to watch Al coach his high school team in a district wrestling meet on Saturday and the boys had a tournament on Sunday. Carter and Jeremy got to help both teams work out while the girls took in all the action. I have to say that I need to get myself in better shape as I had a bad case of bleacher butt from sitting all weekend! The kiddos did great and Carter has been practicing his wrestling moves ever since. Carter taking down Sam. Jeremy and Carter getting a better view on the action.

Future champion!

We had a great time playing with the boys. Jeremy taught them some new card games and managed to clean out the boys piggy banks on poker night ( he gave it all back of course! )



The boys did great playing with Claire. Nick was especially fond of her!



The Freeman Five!

Carter has been extremely helpful around the house lately. He has been into "earning" things so this is his motive for being helpful. Although sometimes I catch him doing things out of the goodness of his heart. As I was getting ready to vacuum one day, I came back downstairs to find Carter already doing it for me! He has also been very helpful with Claire now that she is "bigger" He likes feeding her a bottle and is always bringing her toys.


Claire can finally sit up! I thought for awhile she was going to skip this stage as she is very close to crawling! She can get herself up on her knees and push herself to a goal, which is usually one of Carter's toys she isn't suppose to have! Baby proofing is much harder the second time around!

Carter got to go to his first cattle sale with papa a few weeks ago. He didn't say much about all the cows he saw, but talked alot about the man who talked very fast! (the auctioneer). He sure smelled nice when he got home! He was so tired from the big day that he fell asleep with his hand in the snack bowl!

The weather here has been so crazy lately! We have been taking walks whenever we get the chance. This stoller is quite the workout for me! With both kids in it it weighs close to 60 lbs! I feel like I've ran a marathon after going around the block!

Claire has this new face where she crinkles up her nose, closes her eyes and shakes her head back and forth! It just cracks us up!

Lastly, Claire turned 7 months last week. What a big girl!

FIRSTS AND LAST

We've been experiencing lots of firsts in the Freeman household this past month. Claire has had some good firsts, Carter some not so good! Claire is getting more mobile all the time and has found her feet AND can get them in her mouth now! Apparently toes make for a good chew toy! It is getting harder and harder to change her diaper, bathe her, dress her as as soon as her clothes are off she is grabbing for her tootsies! I wish I was this flexible!







Claire has also tried her first vegetable! We are on day 3 of sweet potatoes and so far so good. I decided to go with something a little sweeter for her as she still isn't crazy about the rice cereal and has a hard time eating it. I didn't figure she would go crazy for some green beans or peas for her first food.







Claire had a 6 month check-up today. She weighed in at 15lbs 2 oz (25%) and 26 3/4 inches long (75%) and her head was 16 1/2 inches (50%). Other than having a snotty nose like the rest of us she got a clean bill of health and more shots!

Carter also went to the Dr today to confirm his first ever ear infection! After a sleepless night for him and dad (thanks hon for getting up with him) I toted him along to Claire's appointment and was able to get the doc to see him too. Although Carter felt awful, he squeaked out a little smile when Dr Steve told him he had pus in his ear. "Cool" he said. Must be a boy thing. So that makes 2 of the Freeman's on antibiotics this week. Jeremy is also recovering from Strep. Will summer ever get here? We need to open the windows and debug our house! I am taking stock in Clorox wipes!

Carter also had another first a couple of weeks' ago. A strange object fell out of his nose one night while he and dad were having a wrestling match. After looking closer, we determine the object was a kernel of corn...from the corn pit...from OCTOBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He quickly admitted that his friend John from preschool told him to do it. We had a long discussion about not putting things up our nose. We were so amazed that it never hurt him or complained about not breathing well!

Claire's first guard dog.

Lastly, we celebrated our beloved Max's birthday this past week. He turned 13 on the 31st. It is somewhat bittersweet as we know this will probably be his last birthday. He has beaten most odds and lived this long for a big dog. We wonder if any of his litter mates are still living. We sang Happy Birthday to him and made him a steak dinner and served it to him on a special plate. Max has been through a lot in his 13 years, living in 11 places, surviving the addition of Charlie 5 years ago and then the kiddos.

Recovery phase....

We're still here....just recovering. Our bellies our recovering from the overload of yummy food we ate, our house from the overload of toys, and our pocketbook from overspending. Christmas is much like a wedding, so much planning for the big day, then it is over way too quickly. Carter is already asking when Santa is coming back. For the first time, we spent Christmas eve/morning at home, just the four of us, and it was SO wonderful! Jeremy and I made up a super special candlelight Christmas eve dinner including crab legs and prime rib, appetizers and of course dessert. We got out our Christmas plates and used our dinning room table for the second time ever! Carter was excited to have his milk in a special wine glass just like mom and dad (ours had the real stuff in it). We opened presents that night and did stockings and Santa gifts the next morning before heading out to see both sides of our family. It was a crazy day but nice to be home in our own beds at the end of the day. On the 28th, we headed back home for 2 more Christmas' totaling 4 in all. Carter was pretty funny as he really never asked for anything this year, however everything he opened he squealed in 3 year old delight " THIS IS JUST WHAT I WANTED!!) I hope his excitement over things he never asked for continues for years to come. He was also excited to help Claire open her gifts "she's too little mom". Thanks to everyone who remembered us at Christmas this year. We feel so lucky to have such great family, friends and neighbors. Here are some shots from the big days:





our big feast



Christmas at G&G Berry's

Batman jammies from Aunt Darcie he HAD to put on!

Trying out his new computer from grandma and papa

Yet another picture under the tree

Claire enjoying some paper

Claire telling Carter he better tell Santa what he wants instead of posing for the camera!

We spent New Year's at home with pizza and a movie. Carter was sick and I had to work on New Year's Day so we just hung out at home. I think the kids and I were in bed by 8:30. Pretty exciting!

In all the excitement, Claire turned 5 months old on the 27th.

Poor girl has had a rough last couple of days. She is battling a bad cold (snotty nose, cough, the works) and her first tooth decided to make an appearance. Our normally happy go lucky baby is needing a lot of extra love right now. I have been spending quite a bit of time snuggling with her. I'm not sure who enjoys it more, me or her. She has been spending a lot of time sleeping and sucking on her favorite fingers which seems to soothe her too. She even found the exercauser a good place to rest her head for a quick nap.

She is getting braver and more motivated to get things out of her reach. Luckily I had her buckled in the bouncy seat when I caught her doing this trick trying to get a hold of a toy on the floor.

She is close to sitting unsupported and is really loving touching our faces and reaching out to touch the dogs if they get close enough. She is also able to get a hold of her feet now but her chubby thighs stop her from getting them into her mouth just yet!

Gotta run, the new season of 24 starts tonight. Let's hope Jack Bauer can save the world once again!

Bowling, Blood, Bugs, Beaters, and bowls...of cereal

Although the title suggests these things may all go together ( and they probably could) it's just a sampling of what we have been up to the last couple of weeks. Last Saturday we took Carter bowling for the first time at Warrior Lanes, our little hometown bowling alley. Jeremy was a little leery to go bowling as every time he goes, he ends up hurting himself somehow. He is so competitive that he tries too hard and either throws his shoulder out or pulls a muscle. Well, I thought we were safe since his competition was a 3 year old and myself whose bowling average barely breaks 2 digits. This time his ring finger took a beating and I thought for sure he was going to call in sick to work because he couldn't bend his finger. After some ice and a lot of complaining, it seems to be better. Carter had a great time. We bowled 2 games, and during the second game, they turned out the lights so everything glowed which was pretty cool.

Carter also experienced his first bloody nose last week. I have to say he kinda deserved it. He has been told numerous times not to climb up the kitchen drawers to get something off the counter. Well, this time the counter won and he caught his face on the edge of it as he was trying to get down. Of course we made a big deal of it, pictures and all. After all the crying stopped, he said, " I can't wait to tell Miss Ashley at preschool that I got a bloody nose" Dad came to the rescue and pulled out one of his old wrestling tricks and stuffed a bunch of toilet paper up his nose.

I was home all last week with some crazy bug ( sorry no pictures) I was tested for strep throat and mono both and it all came back negative. When the Dr told me he was going to test me for mono I about passed out. All I could think about was "I can't have mono, I have 2 small children at home...are you crazy? Whatever it was, thankfully it is gone and so far (keep your fingers crossed) nobody else has had it yet.

We have started some holiday baking at our house. Most of the year sweets aren't allowed at our house, but we do get to enjoy some at Christmas time as we perfect our cookies for Santa Claus. Carter is such a good help if I bribe him with licking the beaters when we are done. He is learning how to measure things, crack eggs, and cut out cookies. He even helped Grandma Berry make some cinnamon Christmas ornaments and of course loaded our tree up with them.

I broke down last Sunday and bought some baby cereal for Claire. We've only found time to try it once and I think that has been enough for her too. She really wasn't too sure about it, and pushed most of it out of her mouth. Carter was brave enough to try it and reported it tasted like glue...hmmm, wonder how he know that.

The kids and I had plans today to go see Santa and finish up our shopping today, but old Mother Nature blessed us with some frigid temperatures with the wind chills topping out at -25. So we've spent the day bundled up at home with hot cocoa, movies, games and of course a nap, but I couldn't resist this picture of Claire all bundled up when we go out.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, safe travels and joyful times with family and friends. We are lucky enough to have family fairly close so we were able to spend some time with both sides of our family, which also means twice the amount of food! I always feel somewhat sorry for Thanksgiving as it seems to be overlooked by the upcoming Christmas. Is anyone sick of the Christmas music yet? Maybe I am just being somewhat grinchy (is that a word?) We definitely have a lot to be thankful for this year and we try to think about this every day, not just at Thanksgiving. Each night before dinner we sit down and go around the table and say something we are thankful for. When Carter was younger most of what he was thankful for was whatever was in his sight such as forks, milk, napkins, table, etc, you get the idea. Sometimes this could go on and on. The best ones are those he has to ponder for awhile. One night he said he was thankful for Walmart because that's where we get our food from and another time he was thankful for dog slobber so the dogs could give us kisses. Sometimes Jeremy and I find ourselves biting our lips as not to laugh at some of the stuff he comes up with. As he has gotten older and wiser he mentions being thankful for his family and friends (this gets him a lot of praise) or his toys or his soft bed. I am really glad we started this as he never lets us forget to be thankful for something each day, even if it is only a fork!

Claire turned 4 months old on Thanksgiving day. She had a well baby check today weighing in at 13lbs, 7 oz (50th percentile) and was 25 1/2 inches long (75th percentile). She is wearing mostly 6 month clothes now due to her length. She had 3 more shots today with big brother holding her hand. All else is well with her. For those of you wondering, the red spot on her forehead is a vascular birthmark called a hemanigoma. It showed up at about 4 weeks and will continue to grow for another couple of months before it will slowly start to disappear and will likely be gone by the time she turns 2. It is a collection of blood vessels that didn't form properly in that area. Sometimes surgery is needed to repair the skin after they disappear if they get really big as the skin will sag. Hers is not likely to get that big. Something to be thankful for! We were also given the ok to start cereal! For some reason I am not as excited about this as I was with Carter! In my mind I am thinking "when do I have time to fit this in?" I can't see myself being as regimented with doing this as I was with Carter. She continues to be such a content baby. We have found she loves Baby Einstein videos and will squeal as soon as we put one in for her. She is also having a harder time nursing if there is other things going on at the time as she is much more interested in her environment than eating sometimes! She started a new daycare this past week and so far so good. She is at the hospital's child development center, so I take her to work with me each day and drop her off. The best part about this is I can go check on her anytime I want. She seems very happy there so far!

















Did anyone go shopping on Black Friday? I seriously need to get some shopping done, but was not tempted by the early morning sales. Carter and I put the tree up today and have been to see Santa already, although Carter wouldn't talk to him and hasn't really told us what he wants for Christmas either. It was so fun watching him help with the tree today. If anyone actually sees our tree, they will immediately understand a 3 year old decorated it. We was adamant on putting on EVERY ornament we have and since he is only a little over 3 feet tall, the bottom of the tree is LOADED! It was very hard for me to leave it that way but I know if I move things around he will know and be upset. I am slowly learning to pick my battles!










We added a new member to our household this week. His name is Sam and he was a gift from Santa Claus. The story behind this little guy is that Santa sends him to watch over you at Christmas time to see if you are being good. Each night he goes back to the North Pole and gives Santa a report and returns before you wake up in the morning. This is the greatest invention! The key is to remember to move him each night before you go to bed as in the morning you look around your house to see where he came back too. Carter has had so much fun looking for him each morning in his new spot to "sit and watch" plus, we get to use this as trickery for good behavior, "Remember Sam is watching and will talk to Santa tonight". If anyone is interested I ordered him off Amazon for 29.95. It comes with the elf and a book that tells his story. Elf on the Shelf.





Lastly, we woke up Sunday morning to some pretty white stuff outside. I think winter is officially here as it was only about 20 degrees outside this morning! BRRRRR...Carter didn't seem to mind....








Stay warm!