Remembering Nana V.

My dear Carter Lee,

Our little family is so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family that surround and support us.  With all my heart, I wish that one of those people were your daddy's mom, your nana.  Three years ago, grandma Melody went to live with Jesus in heaven.  She was sick for a while, and God wanted to make her well again by calling her home.  We miss her everyday, especially your dad.

My heart breaks that you didn't have the chance to meet her.  You'd have really loved her, and she would have adored (and spoiled) you.  Here are a few things that we want you to know about her:

1.  She was a wonderful mom.  Your dad has told me numerous times that your grandma was his best friend.
2. She was hilarious!  Her jokes weren't always appropriate, and she always said exactly what she thought, but if you were around her, you were most definitely laughing.  Your grandma's laugh was the LOUDEST laugh I have ever heard.  Once, when your dad was a teenager, he heard her laughing clear across Meijer.
3. She loved every single holiday.  The house was always decked out with holiday decorations.  For Halloween, she wore this hideous old man mask and would jump out and scare anyone she could.  For weeks I would be nervous walking around their house for fear of her and her mask.
4. She was the best cook!  I still make a lot of her recipes.
5. She was kind and caring.  At her viewing and funeral, so many people came to show and tell us how much Melody meant to them.
6. She would have loved you so much!!!

One day you'll get to meet her...and hopefully she doesn't have her old man mask on:)

Chocolate Day!

Chocolate Day at Shipshewana is one of my favorite days of the year!  If you don't know what I'm talking about, you are missing out.  It is like a scavenger hunting for chocolate while you shop.  Best of both worlds!

Carter experienced the fun this year with Pam, Allison, Eric, and me.  It was an amazing fall day.  I was nervous about how Carter would handle being in a stroller for a big portion of the day.  Now that he is mobile, he prefers to be on the ground.  He did GREAT!  All the sights, sounds, and smells held his attention all day.  I'm sure when he grows up he will want nothing to do with shopping with me, but for now, I love having him in tow!

On the Go....

Well, since I last wrote Mr. Carter has mastered crawling.  It is so fun to walk into another room and hear his hands pounding the floor as he crawls to wherever I am.  When I say "his hands pounding" I am not exaggerating-he slams his hands down with each crawling step he takes.  It makes it really hard for him to sneak anywhere!

Wait, I take that back.  The one place that Carter does sneak to is Hendrix's food bowl  If it is anywhere in sight, that is exactly where he is heading.  The other day, I plopped him into middle of the kitchen floor, left for less than a minute to grab his diaper bag in his bedroom, and came back to find him in the hallway chewing on a piece of the dog's kibble. Yuck!  I guess I'll have to find a new place for Hendrix to eat so that Carter doesn't.

Besides dog food, he is eating everything in sight and no longer gags at different textures.  Travis and I have learned the value of cereal puffs and how important they are to take EVERYWHERE.  No matter when he last ate, what time it is, or how many teeth are popping through Carter is happy when he has his cereal puffs.

Speaking of teeth, he now has three and is working on the fourth.  Every once in a while you can catch a toothy grin. Carter got his first toothbrush the other day.  He likes the taste of the bubble gum toothpaste, so he doesn't mind having them brushed as long as he gets to chew on the toothbrush for awhile afterwards.

As much as I don't want to admit it, I'm pretty sure he is saying "da-da."  Okay, let's be honest.  He says it all the time.  At first I told Travis that it didn't count because he was just making the noise.  We agreed that we wouldn't accept it as his first word until he actually knew what it meant. So now that he says it when Travis walks in the room, I guess it counts. Bummer...

Oh Technology...

Well, our computer is down for the count (I'm typing this on a TINY borrowed netbook) and we are very impatiently waiting for the computer guy to call us.  Be assured that we are collecting lots of great photos and videos to share soon.  Here's a look forward to what will be covered:
Crawling
Dog food
Da-da
Teeth
and much, much more.  It has been an exciting few weeks in the Vonderau household!

Happy Halloween!

Just last week I was telling one of the fabulous ladies at daycare that Carter was "teething challenged."  This kid has been teething on and off since he was three months old with nothing to show for it.  Anyhow, as I was saying this, I poked my finger in this mouth and was REALLY surprised to find a tooth popping through.  FINALLY!  Needless to say, Carter has been very vocal in letting us know his tooth is coming through.  On top of this he also had a cold, which is getting better now. 

I didn't want to take him trick-or-treating this year (partly because it is too cold and partly because people would know we were doing it only to get the candy for ourselves!!!)  I couldn't resist buying him a costume though.  Instead we had a great dinner at Pam and Frank's and helped them and Eric pass out candy.  Carter was very interested in watching all the little kids walk up in their costumes.  He also LOVES their dog Chief and could be kept busy for a very long time playing with him. 

Carter is growing and changing so quickly.  He has mastered the art of standing up while holding onto furniture and is getting braver about walking down the length of the couch. He still thinks he is dying when he falls (which makes me VERY nervous about when he starts to walk).  He moves constantly, rotating from belly to sitting to a four-legged butt in the air yoga pose to kneeling to standing... With all this exercise he is napping much better these days!

Mr. Carter eats everything in sight.  He hasn't met a food he doesn't like.  There are some textures that will bother him after a few bites but even that is getting less frequent.  I am preparing for the days when he will bring his friends over after school and eat us out of house and home.

My favorite part about this age is that, even when he is so busy playing and moving, he will occasionally stop, look at me very seriously, grab both sides of my face (or my hair), and give me a nice, slobbery kiss.  It melts my heart every time!  To be honest, pretty much anything he does makes me realize how lucky I am.

My Big Boy

The past two weeks were some of the hardest of my life.  I had the opportunity to travel to China as part of an education initiative connecting schools from Indiana with schools in China.  I was able to sight-see the amazing ancient Chinese buildings, climb (and tobaggan down) the Great Wall, and be treated like a celebrity-but they paled in comparison to missing Travis and Carter.  I was able to Skype them but not as often as I would have liked because of the 12-hour time difference.

Needless to say, I was SPEEDING home to see my boys.  I could not believe how big Carter had gotten!  Travis did an incredible job taking care of him.  (You have such a great daddy, Carter!!!)  While I was away, Carter learned to pull himself up into standing position on toys and in the crib.  Today we will be lowering the mattress.....

There was no better feeling than opening the door and seeing them.  Carter stared at me for a few seconds then started a slow, creep across the face, then ear-to-ear smile.  Since I've been home, I can't get enough of him.  Although I've known it all along, two weeks away certainly makes a person realize how blessed they truly are.  I'm so glad to be home!!!

Friends

When I was in college,  I met Biz, one of my very best friends..  Although I was a Christian, it was Biz (although she may not know it) who inspired me to refocus my faith.  I am blessed to have such a great friend, and can only pray that Carter will be blessed with many friends like her when he's grown.

Now, Biz and her hubby have two girls-the cutie pie, Grace, in the picture and one on the way.  They were nice enough to invite Carter over for a visit.  It looks like they had a blast! 

Right when I saw this picture (I stole them from her), I fast-forwarded fifteen years to a time when Grace and Carter were being teased about their first slumber party.