Raising Bruce Babies

Sunday, June 5, 2016

First Mother's Day

The first piece of "Carter Art" I ever received. I LOVED it!

Mother's Day was extra special this year. For the first time I got to be celebrated!

Last year, you'll remember that I did get some sweet gifts and cards...and my husband got a new car...

THIS YEAR I was so looking forward to Mother's Day and it was an amazing day. Carter and I were both battling a cold, but felt well enough on the big day to go to church and then brunch and then the Nevada Museum of Art to see the Horse exhibit.

Cool Bronze sculpture

Corey did such an awesome job planning a fun day. It meant so much to me that he made it so special. It was a perfect day from start to finish.

I think Mother's Day might just be my favorite holiday now...replacing Thanksgiving ;)

You and Dad at the exhibit

Don't worry Turkey Day, you're still a very close second.

I felt really overwhelmed with Love for God and my family as I sat in church. Blessed that I have the opportunity to be a mom and that God gave us a healthy, happy, beautiful son whom I could not love more.

Having your own child really helps you understand God's impossibly huge love for us. I would do anything for that kid, anything. There is no one or no thing that could replace the space he has in my heart from now until forever. The gratitude I have for getting to be his mommy is immeasurable. I just love every day with him, even the hard ones.

The best gift I received that day was my own "Carter Art" from Baby Base Camp at church. I will always treasure that first painting from Carter!

Not Mother's Day, but the next night we let you sleep in bed with us because you were so sick :(

All smiles on Mother's Day

The balcony at the NMOA

Carter and Dad at Brunch

New York City!

In May we all went to NYC to visit your Auntie P and Uncle Daniel. As an added bonus, we also got to visit Long Island and your Great Aunt Joyce and Great Uncle Charlie's home to have a mini family reunion. Your Great Grandpa Diven drove (in his new car!) all the way from Ohio to see you and his other 4 Great Grandkids.

Getting Ready to Board in Denver

Lunch on the river NYC

Obsessed with this ribbon! Wearing your cute Newsies hat.

Loving Central Park

Family Pic!

Your Aunt and Uncle...not a kidnapper! HAHA!

Kisses in the Park

The best pancakes in the entire world...yes, they were for Carter

The Space Shuttle!

The fountain at Lincoln Center

Swinging in Central Park

2 out of 3 Charles

MORE Swinging fun

Auntie P being maternal...kind of...

Uncle Daniel time

Playing with Cassidy

Carter and Baby Charlie

Great Grandpa Diven with Carter, Macie, Charlie, Cassidy and Dylan

The whole family

Nicku, Parisa, Carter and Grandpa Diven

Carter: 8 & 9 Months

Months 8 & 9 were big months for our family, Carter.

We moved to a new state! Your dad and I thought it was important to put our family life first which meant leaving CA. The area we were living in had many great qualities and people, but it was not very affordable and did not have the most family friendly values. Some might call us old-fashioned, but it's important to us that you have mommy at home with you growing up and that we aren't on the forefront of everything liberal. In 1 Corinthians 10:23 the Bible says...

"I have the right to do anything," you say--but not everything is beneficial. "I have the right to do anything"--but not everything is constructive.

While your dad and I want to teach you what Jesus commanded...love God and love others, we don't agree that everything is beneficial in terms of the youth and family culture happening in the Bay Area. So, we prayed much and with courage, left what was familiar to us.

Here's the good news...God has really blessed those decisions. The hard path is not always the popular or easy path Carter. In fact, the road less travelled might look downright scary. You're going to hear your mom say this to you a million times as you grow up.

The right thing and the easy thing are rarely the same thing.

If you take the road less travelled you are guaranteed to have an adventure! Always choose the adventure.

You've changed so much in these past 2 months! You got your first two teeth! They're so cute and bright white! You decided to change from "the inch-worm" crawl to full on crawling at the end of April...including bear crawling on the hard floor. You are pulling up on everything and standing assisted as much a you can. You love to BOUNCE BOUNCE BOUNCE on everything!

8 months

9 months

You LOVE your push walker!

ABS...always.be.standing.

You're eating many more solid foods like PB&J sandwiches, yogurt, all sorts of fruits and soft veggies. We also started pasta and quesadillas. Your game to try almost anything we are eating.

Making messes

You've been a champ in the car for our trips back to the Bay Area for work.

Happy in the car!

Bath time at Grammy J's house

You took your first big airplane trip too, we'll save that for another post though! However, after your trip and all that plane time snuggling with mom and dad you learned how to give snuggles. Now, you cuddle up and hold us around the neck so tight. We love how you lay your head on our shoulders and even play "shy" when strangers say hi to you while we're holding you.

So many fun times and new things to experience! We love sharing each and every one of them with you silly boy!

Love,

Mom and Dad

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Carter: Updated Month Progression!

Our month progression is starting to get really cool as Carter is getting older! Here's month 1 through month 7!

Month 1 to Month 7

1 Week Old vs. 7 Months Old

1 Month Old vs. 7 Months Old

Carter: 7 Months

Your Dad and I read somewhere that parents should do their kids a favor and get them an email address so that when the billions of other kids with their same name grow up and want to get an email address, it's already taken.

CarterBruce was already gone...so CarterMichaelBruce it is!

Dad and Mom are getting ready to write your VERY FIRST EMAIL! We can't wait for you to receive it and we plan to write to you often as you grow so you can read what's gone on in your life throughout the years when you're old enough!

You're now SEVEN months. Say what?

Much smilier for your 7 month photoshoot :)

Crazy hair, don't care

You've really blossomed into a determined and strong boy this month. You're one cool dude!

You started crawling everywhere but have quickly discovered STANDING! is way more fun...walking is even better. You are standing up and hanging on to everything you can and love to hold our hands and stomp around.

Little man, standing tall!

You go BOOM! often...mommy tries to keep you from crashing on your head...she does just an OK job at this so feel free to blame me if you have issues when you're older. I probably should have given you a helmet.

You visited the pet store for the first time and LOVED all the animals, just like mom and dad.

Must love animals

You've started new solid foods, real foods...you've had banana pieces, avocado pieces (yuck), "puffs" (YUM), mandarin oranges (SUPER YUM) and tonight...real broccoli which you enjoyed very much!

Proud after eating a puff!

You're continuing in swim class and even sitting up on your own in the bath tub! You also make a really cute face where you tuck your lower lip under your upper one when you're concentrating...Turns out mommy makes this face too when she's working out....You also have a favorite toy...it's a FREE CUP from the local BBQ joint, Dickey's. Go figure.

Tucked Lower Lip and Your Yellow Dickey's Cup

Hellllooooooooo

In just a couple of weeks we are moving to our new state and new home. This is where we think you'll grow up, time will tell! We've chosen to move largely because of you. We want you to have a nice big house and yard to play in, good schools and mommy and daddy around all the time. You're moving away from your Grammy J and Grandpa, but we'll see them once a month for a couple of days when mommy comes back for work. We're moving closer to Grami Pam and Poppy. They're excited to be around even more as you grow.