The Luckiest No Matter What!

Our not so little Bing Bong is TEN months old.  Here's what's been up with him... What We Learned About Carter: This month Carter has been all about practicing to walk.  He LOVED to use the toy walker thing we have and he also likes to practice while holding on to someone's hands.  He can stand on his own now for a moment, but hasn't been brave enough to try to move his legs.  I'm assuming taking steps will be anytime now.  Since day one, he's been wanting to do what his brothers are doing; certainly walking is no exception.  His brothers are doing a fantastic job of making sure he stays safe.  If we are upstairs in a bedroom, Judah will rush to shut the door so Carter can't crawl away to head for the stairs.  If we are in our family room, they will make sure he stays there so he doesn't go heading towards the basement stairs.  Nolan and Judah, especially Judah, love to regulate on his behavior and make sure he's not touching, eating, or g...

Josh and I work hard to take our three kids to church.  I will honestly say it might be the longest, hardest, most difficult hour of our week.   We will attend whatever church seems to have the most convenient time for us on any particular week, but would choose every time, if we can get up, dressed, fed, and ready on time, to go to the 8:00am church at St. John's Student Parish in East Lansing. We started driving there, from Holt, when Nolan and Judah were probably six months old.  The 8:00am mass was a perfect for us at the time: We could totally be up and ready to go (boys were waking up at 6:30 on a good day) and we'd be home in time to put them down for a morning nap when we got home.  We went there for convenience, but stumbled upon an amazing "church family" there that we now love very much.  There are several families that have been sitting in the same spot, at the same mass, for years and years.  We, on accident, picked to sit by them and have ...

I'm sorry, but I am in awe of this child and how fast time goes.  My belly still looks pregnant for goodness sake!  How can I have a nine month old already?! What We Learned About Carter: Carter is in the stage of 'I'm always getting new teeth' so, what we affectionately call 'bite kisses' are in full swing.  MAN! Do those ever hurt :)  Carter has six teeth now, which pretty much came all at the same time and he sure acts like he could be sprouting some more any second.  I think there is no denying that Carter is a mama's boy so far.  He loves me and I love it.  He has been getting sad sometimes when either Josh or I might leave the room.  Like, huge tears sad.  In addition, he gets super excited when one of us (especially me) gets home.  Nolan and Judah love to run to the window in our TV room and jump up and down and yell when they see anyone's car that they know pulling up the driveway.  Carter now will crawl over and join r...

One of my biggest mom struggles is how to give individualized attention to all three of my little boys.  Living with three kids under three, it can be difficult, on the daily, to feel like you had special bonding time with each child in a meaningful way.  Sometimes it's all I can do to dress, diaper, and feed all of them (those things are taking FOREVER right now by the way).  Each one of my boys is special and unique and different.  Each one has talents and struggles and experiences a variety of feelings and emotions in any given day.  It is SO important to both Josh and I that we spend one-on-one time with Nolan, Judah, and Carter.  It is SO important to both Josh and I that we can foster a sense of confidence and self-worth in each boy as well.  It is SO important we let our boys explore and practice and experience things that they are interested in.  We want also, especially for Nolan and Judah since they are twins, that each of our ...

Because I wasn't great with my blog over the last few months, I wanted to get some things down here about Carter so they are not lost :) AUGUST (Carter was 3 Months) -Pavona family cottage trip -Goes up north for Aunt Ashley's wedding -Starts sleeping in crib SEPTEMBER (Carter was 4 Months) -9-3-15~ laughed out loud, like a belly laugh as I was making toot noises. He also rolled over from his stomach to back that day.  -9-9-15~ My dad got him up from a nap and said Carter was on his back... that would've meant that he had rolled over, but no one caught it! -9-12-15~ Caught Carter rolling over on video! -Starts sitting in Bumbo -Baptism OCTOBER (Carter was 5 Months) -Trip to Uncle John's -10-31-15 was a bumblebee for Halloween NOVEMBER (Carter was 6 Months) -11-3-15~ has solids for first time... over this entire month, he doesn't like most of what he eats except for apples and bananas and peas (what?!) He does not like baby oatmeal,...

The fact that I've been such a bad blogger is sad because some of precious little Carter's story is going to be missing.  Rather than try to back log things, I'm starting fresh and hoping to keep up much better in 2016 than I've been doing the last few months. Carter is eight months old and bringing a ridiculous amount of joy into our family.  What I Learned About Carter Pavona: Carter does not want to be eight months old, he wants to be 2.5 like his brothers.  He wants to run like them, eat like them, play like them.  Because of this, he is not the typical eight month old that I became accustomed to with Nolan and Judah.  Carter is crawling all over the place; he can easily crawl up stairs.  He has also been pulling himself up to stand on EV.ER.Y.THING.  His body can not quite catch up to his determination and so he definitely "humpy dumptys" a lot.  He is huge and his muscles cannot accommodate his chub when he tries to do things he shoul...

Time goes so fast.  As I sit and watch Nolan and Judah play with each other; I still see them as infants.  I feel like I just took them home from the hospital on one hand, but also don't remember my life without them on the other hand.  They are doing, saying, and experiencing so much!!! What's up with Nolan: Nolan Gerard is such a paradox.  He is thoughtful, but impulsive... aware of how others are feeling, but completely unaware of what's on the floor when he walks... he has an incredible memory, but no patience to learn...wants to do everything by himself, but is more scared then ever of things like the dark or heights... Stuff like this goes on and on with him.  One of my favorite things about him lately is how great he is at being thankful.  My boys know to say 'please' and 'thank you' but it's about immediate small things.  Just lately, Nolan is able to say things a little more deeply like, "Thank you Mommy of making dinner."  or...