Professional Christmas Pictures

Okay :) Here they are! :) Thanks for letting me share them!!

Christmas Recapped

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that you are all ready for the new year....2006! Can you believe it!!??

Our Christmas was so much fun! We had a great time with Carson, my family and our youth. It feels like we've been going non-stop! :) Carson did great during Christmas. He was a sport, even with the late nights and lots of time in his carseat. Speaking of which, he got a new one for Christmas from my parents, and it is AWESOME!! He loves it too. We strapped him in and he just talked and played for 15 minutes in our living room. We'll be installing it soon. Unfortunately, he can't face forward until he gains 2 more pounds. Oh well. He also got lots of fun toys and clothes. Of course, Cary and I unwrapped most of it, but he LOVED the bows and wrapping. It was lots of fun for sure! :) Here are some pictures for your enjoyment. The first is his carseat - he was grinning so big his eyes were closed!. The second is of him in his Christmas outfit. I'll be posting his professional Christmas pictures as soon as I can get them uploaded. They were great - even the ones with Cary and I in them! :)





Happy New Year everyone!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas with friends and family!! We love you all!!!!

Cary, Melissa and Carson

5 days and counting!!!

Carson's getting ready...are you???

Look at the tapestry I made for our home! :)

Carson's 7-month stats

Carson's 6th month check-up went well. We like his new pediatrician, and I'm relieved. I was really nervous about having to switch since I liked his other pediatrician so well. Carson was a trooper and flirted with the nurses. He even did well during his shots, and only cried for a minute. Poor guy...

So, here are his stats for those of you who are interested. He weighs 18 pounds and 12 ounces and is 26 3/4" long. His head is 17 1/2", and his percentiles are 53%, 38% and 55% respectively. He's our little chunker, and seems even more so because he's not very long...I guess daddy's dreams of him being CJ the pro basketball player aren't very likely. :) But thankfully, since he's not very long right now, he fits in his clothes a little longer, and I get to tickle his chunky legs! :)

Pictures from Carson's first Christmas celebration:

These next 2 are from the next day, but they're fun too! :)

Pictures from Carson's first play date

Hey everyone! Here are some of the pictures I promised a few days ago. Carson's little friend, Jacob, is Cary's boss' son. He and Carson had so much fun together!!









Carson the evangelist:

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

I have been a good girl.

It really wasn't my fault what happened at Cary's Christmas party. It was Natalie who spiked the punch with too much tea. I can't help it if I drank 5 glasses. It was so good---smelled and tasted just like dirty diapers.

I thought it was funny when I put Lindsay's shirt on my head and danced the macarena on the sofa while singing `I'll Be Home for Christmas'. I didn't mean to break Cary's TV and don't know why Cary would sue me for stealing.

I don't remember calling BJ's wife a beautiful chicken---even though she looked like one with green eye shadow and pink lipstick!

And when I threw up on Debbie's husband's arm, it was only because I ate too much of that macaroni and cheese.

After all that fun, I admit I was a little tired. So I fell asleep on my way home and drove my Honda Accord through my neighbor's living room. I don't think that was any reason for my neighbor to call me a funny yorkie and have me arrested for cruelty to animals!

So, Santa...here I sit in my jail cell on Christmas Eve, all gross and smelly. And I'm really not to blame for any of this ugly stuff. Please bring me what I want the most---bail money!

Sincerely and unfortunately yours,
Melissa (Really a nice girl!)

P.S. It's only 12 bucks!

Click here to create your own Dear Santa letter!

Thanks Lindsay! This was fun :)!!!


On a side note: I'm DONE!!!! with my Christmas shopping!! :O) Woo-Hoo for me!!! I can't wait for Christmas!! 10 more days!! :)

Holy Smokes!!

13 days until Christmas! I had better get to shopping! Thankfully I'm 70% done, but still...lots to do! :)

Poor Carson is going to the doctor's on Thursday for his 6 month check-up and shots. Yes, he does turn 7 months tomorrow, but we had to wait for our insurance to change over before we could take him. Oh well... And then on Saturday the three of us are going to get family pictures and Carson's Christmas pictures taken. So fun! I hope they turn out well.

Christmas has officially begun for us. We had so much fun in California for Cary's work Christmas party. Carson had his first play date with a baby his own age, and he and Jacob made great friends. I'll have to post some cute pictures from their play soon. Then last night, we celebrated Christmas with my mom's parents and siblings. It was so fun, and really made Christmas seem like it was here. We had fondue...Cary's first time with that, and it was a hit! :)

Hope you are all enjoying the holidays so far!

Long time no blogging, lots to say

Well, maybe not a lot to say, but we've had a lot of things happen. So, I'm going to try and go one by one and post pictures as necessary :)

We are doing well here in the Yocum household. Thanksgiving was wonderful - don't remember if I talked about that in my last posts - oh well. Carson enjoyed a lovely jar of squash as he shared in his first Thanksgiving :). The next day, Cary and I braved the crowds and went to Hobby Lobby - yes, Hobby Lobby :) to get Christmas decorations. It was so much fun! I was so excited that I put our tree up at 10 p.m. that same night! Carson LOVES our tree, especially the lights! Every time I turn it on, he just stares and stares!



We've been really busy with youth and church and my siblings games and concerts and such. Just today, we helped my sister move into her own apartment - so fun for her! and my brother had a basketball game. We have had three concerts and four athletic events since Saturday - it really is a little ridiculous, but it's lots of fun. Anyway, now to the point of my story, we have had a lot of snow in this last week, and with snow comes melting and freezing, and ice. My sister had a recital on Saturday, and as we were walking to the car, I fell.....while holding Carson!!!! Talk about a scary moment. He cried so hard!! Thankfully, neither of us were hurt, but it could have been so bad! Here is Carson during one of our busy days this week in the hat that Poppi (David, my dad) bought him:


Since we have had all of this snow, and Christmas is coming up, I decided that this would be a perfect time to take a picture for our Christmas cards. So, I dressed Carson all up in this great little outfit, and put a blanket out on the snow and sat him on it. He was so excited and started to play with the snow. I went to turn my camera on, and all of the sudden he starts SCREAMING like crazy! The only thing I can figure out is that the cold snow hurt his hands, but it was SO sad. Anyway, I took a picture because it was so perfect, and I wanted to have something to remember the moment, and then we rushed inside and got him warm again, he fell asleep in the process and all is well, but it was really sad and funny all at the same time. I suppose I'm going to have to come up with something else for our cards, but wouldn't this have been perfect if he wasn't crying:


Oh well! :)

Tomorrow, we are getting on a plane and heading for Cali for Cary's work Christmas party. His work is sending all of the wives to a day spa before dinner. Carson is coming along with us and is going to get to play with other kiddos his age. And, our good friends Natalie and Joey are going to be there too since Joey works with Cary. I can't wait to see them! It is going to be so much fun!! :) Hope you guys have a great weekend! :)

Milestones

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Cary was in Michigan on business all week, and our home computer was at the Dell repair center. Oddly enough, I had been feeling like I had nothing to post about, but when I was without a computer, I had all sorts of things to say. Isn't that how it always goes...

So Carson has learned many new things all of a sudden. He rolled over from his back to his stomach for the first time, so now we are turning circles. He is now a pro sitter-upper. I sat him down on the floor last Tuesday like I always do. Usually he teeters for a bit and falls over before 2 minutes have passed. On this day however, and every day since, he just sat there. In fact, he sat up straight and looked at me, then grabbed a toy and stuck it in his mouth in one foul swoop. I am so proud of him! Now, he prefers sitting to laying, and gets frustrated if I am not quick enough to set him up after he falls over. So funny! We also started a new veggie - sweet potatoes, and he LOVES them!! He went from eating 1/3 of a jar to a whole jar like it was nothing. He's such a good boy!! :)

We've been really busy too. Cary was gone all week, and I had stuff going on every night, which was nice because it made our time apart pass quickly. Then the day he was coming home, he had flowers sent to me. So nice! :) Just because flowers are the best!!! Saturday, we had a hayride party with our church. It was so much fun!! We had hotdogs and chilli and a hoedown band with banjo and washtub, spoons and guitars - too funny. And then we square danced - yeah you should have seen us - and made s'mores. It was so much fun!! Anyway, that is the short version of my weekless posting. Here are some pictures - since Cary was gone, I've been taking pictures like there was no tomorrow! :)



I know his eyes are closed on this one, but he was laughing so hard, I couldn't pass it up!


He was so funny sitting up for the first time in the tub. He just kept splashing the water with all of his might and then he would stare at the splashing like "How did that happen???"




This one is definitely one of my recent faves. He did this over and over again...too funny! :)

We have a biter

CAUTION....this may get graphic, so if you are male, or faint at heart....please come back in a day or two for my next post....




Carson bit me....on my boob....three separate times....I screamed and then nearly cried, and quickly smooshed his face into my boob so that he would let go. Don't worry, he was not in danger of suffication, I just had to get him to open his mouth. We're going to see if we can't nip this in the bud, but we may be speeding up this whole food introduction thing. Nipple piercing is NOT something I am interested in, and definitely not by way of small, sharp baby teeth!!! Oh, and the funniest part about it, is that every time he would finally let go, he would grin up at me with those two pearly whites like he had just done something SO funny!! It's a good thing he's cute!!! :)

Happenings

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I haven't had much to say, I guess, but I have loved reading everyone elses blogs. We've been keeping busy with youth and church and such. We've also been going to my brother Austin's games, which has been fun. He's quarterback on the football team, and indoor lacrosse just started. I'm sure Carson will become a quick fan when he realizes what it is we've been dragging him too. :) Our youth games went really well the other day. We had so much fun! My grandparents were up this weekend too. It was so great to see them. Seeing my family so often is definitely one of the benefits of moving here. Carson is doing well, and growing by leaps and bounds it seems. Cary has closed several more deals with his work lately, which is fantastic, although I'm afraid it means quite a bit of travel in the next few weeks. I don't mind him traveling so much, I just hate it when it's a lot close together or long trips. Oh well... We're hoping that one of his trips will bring him close to his sister so that he can see her while he's away on business....Hi Aunt Em!!! We miss you!!! Well, I suppose that's the gist of our happenings, sorry...this probably isn't of much interest to you all, but here are some pictures to give some oomph to this post :) I know that's why most of you check back here anyway!! :)

Here are some pictures from lunch right before my brother's football game last weekend:

TWO TEETH!!!

Okay, I know that I just posted, but this is so big it deserves it's own post!! So this is how it went: Today, Cary, my mom, my two sisters and I were at Target. I was trying to show Natalie Carson's tooth that he got Monday. I was pulling his bottom lip down and pushing back his tongue, (this is quite an effort because since his tooth came through, he is constantly rubbing his tongue on it...really funny) and she says "Wow! Two teeth!" To which I responded "TWO????" I had just checked them last night and there was only one, but I looked, and sure enough, there are TWO TEETH!! Our little guy is getting so big!! And he wasn't even upset about these sharp little buggers...in fact, he has been very, very happy all day. Sweet boy. So, here is a picture of Carson's first two teeth...in one week, no less:

Our Little Liger

Last night we had a Napoleon Dynamite dress up night at youth group. Carson was a liger.

Cereal

Tonight Carson got his first taste of rice cereal. It was so much fun! He seemed to like it okay, and even figured out that he could get more off of the spoon if he opened his mouth. I'm afraid he got more cereal on his face and bib than in his mouth, but it was fun all the same. Here are some pictures:

testing out his big boy highchair:






He kept trying to help me so I finally just let him play with the spoon:

Sure enough...

The game day is being postponed. I guess it's okay, I just hope we still have a good turn out. We're having it Sunday now instead, which is supposed to be a beautiful day. Besides, it would have been hard to have Carson outside all day when it is so cold, no matter how much I bundled him up. Oh well...

Possible bummer day

So our kids (the youth) are on fall break right now, and we have planned a fear factor meets the olympics game day for them. Everyone has been so excited, and tons of their friends from school are supposed to be there. Here's the problem...it rained last night, the event is outside, it's COLD outside, and it's supposed to rain more. UGGHHH!!! Pray HARD that the rain holds off until at least 5. Cary will be soooo bummed if we have to reschedule. :(

Oh!! Guess what!!! Carson's first tooth cut through yesterday, and I can see the second one right under his gums!! I can hardly believe it! As soon as it cuts through a little more, I'll take a picture and post it for you all. So cute!!! And he wasn't even really fussy about it! :)

Next stop...crawling

We had a great weekend here in the Yocum home. Cary went to my brother's football game Saturday morning and Carson and I hung out at home. It's cold in the mornings in the mountains! Anyway, Carson slept until 9:30 Saturday!!! Praise Jesus! I actually got to sleep in!!! When I went into his room to get him, he was talking to himself, up on his hands and knees, and rocking back and forth! Oh my! I couldn't believe it! He'll be crawling in no time!! Then I went to get a pedicure with my mom and sister, Kelsey...I know, rough life...and all of the ladies were ooing and aweing over Carson. I don't think I will ever get tired of that! :) Then Cary went and played poker with some guys in our apartment complex and won first place...Tommy would be proud. He was so excited...he won a clay chip poker set.

The other great thing is that Carson (who has been sleeping 7-8 hours straight through the night since he was almost 2 months) has been sleeping 12-13 hour stretches since Thursday night. And he's still taking good naps during the day. He is such a good boy!!!! I can't tell you how good it feels to go to sleep after he does, and wake up before he does, totally rested! This is awesome!!!!!

I tried to catch a picture of Carson rocking on his hands and knees, but he collapsed and laughed at himself before I could get a shot of it...


Hope your weekends were as good as ours! :)

Congrats Lindsay & BJ!!!!!!

The title says it all. Lindsay and BJ had their sweet baby girl after 22 hours of grueling labor. Poor thing! She's just beautiful, and you can see a picture of her if you click here. I can't wait to see her in person!!!

We've been doing well. We had our staff retreat/conference with our church at the beginning of last week. It was awesome!! We were in Vale at this beautiful home, and the conference speaker was Pastor Jack Hayford, which is always fantastic. It was really a great time of planning and bonding. The rest of our week flew by. This weekend we got to see my old boss and sweet friend, Marilyn. It was so good to see her again!! We were so busy this last week, I can hardly believe we are already at the beginning of another one! I know you all can relate. Tomorrow is the start of a new Beth Moore Bible Study that the women are doing at our church. I am so excited about it. Who knows, maybe I'll come up with some great insights that I'll have to relay here. Oh! Today we received our first big snow of the season! I think Cary was a little amazed. There is almost a foot of snow on the ground. It's beautiful, and we christened the moment with a sample of snow ice cream....yum!! Although we miss all of our wonderful, dear friends in TX, I can't say I'm minding this weather! :)

In all our busy-ness, I did manage to have a bit of a photo shoot with Carson. I must share!! :)

New Trick

Oh my gosh!! Look what Carson just did! I caught this right before he fell over, so he's leaning quite a bit, but I am such a proud mama!! :)

Johnny Jumper

Carson got his new toy yesterday. He just loves it! It's so funny to watch him bounce and spin and concentrate and laugh at himself. I think he would stay in there all day if I let him. Here are some pictures of his test run :)