The Boy Can Walk!!!

Here we go. Let go daddy!
I'm coming mommy
This is taking forever
Half way there!
Back to daddy

It is official. Carter can now walk. Over the last 2 weeks or so he has increased the number of steps he had been taking. Then the last week or so he would just stand up in the middle of the living room and take steps to something. Now he walks around to everything and if he falls instead of just crawling he stands back up and continues walking. The only hang up we have is shoes. It seems to be so much harder to walk in shoes. I am not sure if it is because the soles stick to the carpet and floor more or because he hasn't worn shoes hardly at all since he was born. We have taken to wearing little leather soft shoes that are almost as soft as socks. Those seems to work the best next to bare feet. Yea Carter!! As exciting as it is, I am also a bit sad as it is just one more step farther away from babyhood and into toddler hood. I guess knowing he is my last I am a little more sad to see the babyness go away. I have included a few pictures of him in action. Since my camcorder is way too old to put video on here you will just have to imagine the motion!!

WELCOME LUCKY!

Ok, so for awhile now the kids have been bugging us to get a dog that could be inside. As you may recall, we have Oscar who is part Lab and we think part some sort of Spaniel. Anyway, he is so big that the kids haven't really enjoyed him and when I was doing daycare he had to become an outside dog due to the state daycare rules and now I do not have any interest in having that giant in my house again even if we could get him retrained. Anyway, we broke down and got a dog for the kids for in the house. We thought this would be easier on them since we are going to try to find a new home for Oscar. We are trying to find him a farm or something in the country where he could have space to live and run around. I am hoping to intice someone by offering up his big pet taxi and his metal kennel to whomever would like to have him. I would really like to see him go to a good home as he is a very trainable loveable dog. He really liked the kids but we just don't give him the attention he needs. So we have now welcomed "LUCKY" into our home. He is a 3 month old Bichon Frise/Cairn Terrier Mix. He seems to be adjusting well to our home and even had a good first night here. Now comes potty training and unfortunately for Carter the dog is really drawn to him when he is crawling and wants to play. Carter is almost walking though, so hopefully this phase will soon pass.

Perseverance Pays Off

It has finally happened after 5 times of interviewing, Jason got a counselor position at the Training School!! YEA!!!! Of course with any job it is not always about who is the most qualified so over the last 6 or so years, Jason has applied 5 times for a counselor position. Every time being looked over. We knew that it had to be getting close to his turn but sometimes they surprise and hire people from off grounds (which they actually did for the other open position-someone from the girls training school in Tama) but eventually they were going to have a hard time justifying not hiring him. It isn't simply a promotion job (like we all think it should be) he actually had to interview and go through all the steps like it was a new job. So for the first time since we have been together - wait for it - Jason will be working Monday-Friday 8-4:30. He has always worked 2nd shift and at least one weekend day since we have been together. The biggest blessing will be for the kids as they will have their dad around more. He will still continue for now being the supervisor for Marshalltown office of Horizons. It will have to be seen whether or not he can still do all of his supervisor resposibilities. He will continue to work 2-3 nights a week at this job having a staff meeting and seeing the few clients he has. This will be ok because we are used to him being gone at night and truth be told he will probably just mess with our routine. I have asked him to schedule his days to work around my tv nights as we do not like the same shows. Therefore I would appreciate him working on Monday nights and Thursday nights. I don't know how but he doesn't like The Office and it is my favorite show. The other nice thing is that he will not have to use as much vacation time just doing regular things like parent/teacher conferences, church programs (oh, and I will no longer have to take 4 kids to church by myself!!! YEAAAAAAAA!!!), and other school activities for the kids. We were hoping and praying that this would happen before any of the kids were too involved with sports. It hasn't been to bad this far. Anyway, hopefully in a couple of weeks all the changes will be done and our life will be on a more normal path.

THE BIG ONE!!!

Friday November 9 our sweet little Carter turned one. I have no idea where the last year went. We have been so blessed to have him in our family. He is a very happy go lucky baby who is always full of smiles and mischief. I have included a few pics. One in his birthday shirt. The close up and the one of the 4 kids are from Friday. The kids couldn't wait another minute to give him his Thomas chair they had gotten him. They are all dressed alike because they had a Veterans Day program on Friday morning at school. The others are from his party on Saturday afternoon. We had a really nice day and a wonderful party filled with our family and friends.