Random Photos and Videos

Carsten is really growing up all of a sudden!  He is starting to walk all around the furniture.  He seems to crawl only to get to his next destination so that he can stand.  He also decided to wait until visiting Grandma and Grandpa Walker to start clapping.  It was awesome that they got to witness a few of his firsts with us.  He also mastered crawling over their step up from the living room.  We had never even saw him attempt anything like this before.  We managed to get the clapping on video while we were at Aunt Katie and Uncle Brad's house.

Jayden and Carsten have really been developing a close brother bond.  As Carsten gets bigger and more mobile, they actually play together now.  It is really cute to watch.  Jayden is an amazing big brother, and Carsten just adores him!  We could not have asked for a better situation.

Jayden also recently participated in our school's Turkey Trot.  He raced against the other 1st grade males in Hudsonville.  They ran for approximately 3/4 of a lap.  He had a great time!  He is somewhere in this mob of boys :)

Carsten is starting to find things really funny these days!  He is very adventurous and loves getting swung around, spun around, tossed in the air, etc.  He finds all sort of things hilarious as well, which causes everyone else to laugh right along with him.  I seem to never have my phone or camera handy when he really gets to laughing, but here are a couple of samples.

Jacob's 3rd Birthday

We had the pleasure of enjoying Jacob's 3rd Birthday recently.  Carsten and Jacob had some great cousin bonding moments.  It was wonderful to see all of the family and get to spend time with everyone.

Happy Halloween!

We had a great time this year for Halloween.  Jayden wanted to be Luigi (from the Mario Bros. Game) and Carsten was a dinosaur.  Jayden told everyone that Carsten was actually Bowser (the bad guy from the Mario Bros. Game, that happens to be a dinosaur).  I surprised Jayden, and showed up with Carsten at his school Halloween party....we all had a great time!

A couple other random Halloween pictures from our house.  One picture is of Jayden with his fake mustaches...he was really excited about that part of his costume!

9 Months Old!

Carsten is officially 9 months old today, 10/21/13!  It doesn't seem possible that he is already that old. However, to look at him, you would believe it.  In the last 2 days people have thought he was both 1 (in person) and 2 (in a picture)!  Apparently, he looks "healthy."  We're pretty sure that's the polite way of saying fat and/or huge haha :)  After he learned to crawl, within a week he had figured out how to pull up on things.  He currently cruises all around the furniture, and has even perfected standing up against the wall, a door, etc.  We fear that walking may be just around the corner, which in Carsten's world is more likely to be running.  Overall, he is a very happy, fun-loving little guy.  He is hardly ever un-happy unless he's hungry or tired, or possibly if his impending teeth are bugging him.  We've said it before, but we are very blessed to have such a wonderful child.  He feels our hearts will joy daily! 

 Jayden is also doing well.  He is having a great school year, and had a great football season as well (ok, not great, but he did improve quite a bit).  His last game went out with a bang....low 40s and raining (hard), but his team stuck it out and lost...again....to keep a perfect losing record.  Oh well, there's always next year.  He seemed to have a lot of fun.  The next activity that he wants to participate in is Ice-Skating lessons in the winter, followed by Baseball.  

Here are a few pictures and movies of Carsten over the last few weeks.  I need to be better about getting more pictures of Jayden, sorry.

 Carsten enjoying Jayden's football game last weekend (not the rainy one).

 Look Mom!  I'm standing in the tub!!!  (Scary!)

 "This is so fun!  I'm really impressed with my new skills!"

One of Carsten's favorites....taunting Hank from inside.

 The best possible seat for watching the Tiger's game....REALLY up close (this was a first, he still ignores tv for the most part).

Yep, this is a 12 month pants outfit (not capris like it looks)...just bought some new clothes for him, all 18 months.

The first day that Carsten pulled up on the table.

Carsten playing in the tub today, 10/21/13.  He's getting sooo big!  He really likes reading his Curious George tub book (thanks cousin Jacob for buying that for him).

For those of you that haven't heard of Bucket Fillers...the concept is that doing good things for people makes them happy, but also makes you feel good too.  Jayden wrote this message for me on his white board yesterday.  It melted my heart!  He can be such a sweet boy!!!  The picture is a heart letter with wings, next to a mailbox.

Crawling Machine

Carsten has turned into a little crawling machine!  It's amazing what such a short time can do for his coordination.  He crawls all over the place.  His favorite things are, of course, the things he shouldn't have.  When Grandma and Grandpa Walker were here, Carsten showed them how great he is at crawling while carrying things.....ok, it was Jayden's flip-flop....in his MOUTH!  So gross and funny all at the same time.  If only I had my camera around for a picture.  He looked like a little dog with a shoe hanging out of his mouth.  I did want to post a quick crawling video, so everyone could see the change.  He is also getting really good at picking things up, especially Cheerios, he loves them!  Other than that, he is just a fun, happy, little (not so little, really big actually) baby.  We feel so lucky watching him grow and change!

What a difference a week can make!!!

Carsten has had quite the past week! He has really changed significantly in only a short time.  Carsten has managed to learn how to push up to a sitting position from laying down, get down into a crawling position, actually started crawling, and also managed to get his first two teeth.  We didn't know that he could accomplish all of this in a one week, but he did.  Surprisingly, he took it all in stride too.  Teething has been a bit painful for him, but he hasn't been very crabby considering he got two bottom teeth within only one day of each other.  We were proud of our little boy and how well he handled all of these changes.....if only we could find a way to slow him down now :)

The new teeth...he HATES showing them when I make him.....ignore his angry face.

Carsten has also perfected crawling!  He started out a little wobbly, and not sure of himself....one week later, he's a professional!

These two videos are of Carsten crawling about a week ago.

Cheerios...Yummy!

Carsten has started eating all sorts of new foods.  We decided to let him try Cheerios, and they were a huge hit!  He only gets about 1 in his mouth for every 5 attempts, but he still loves them.  He just keeps trying to shove them in his mouth until there are 7 or 8 in there.  It's pretty funny to watch him try to eat them.  Here's a quick video of a Cheerios experience:

Hank is also a big fan of Carsten eating Cheerios....he's had more of them in the last week or so than he has ever had in his life!

Carsten has also enjoyed blueberries lately.  He got a few stuck to his hand, which really bothered him.  He couldn't figure out how to get them to fall off of his hand, so he just wiped them on his face.

Jayden's First Football Game

Jayden is playing football this fall.  His first game was this past Saturday (9/7/13).  His team did not win, but they had a great time at their first game.  Jayden currently plays left flank on offense and corner on defense. They get to play the games on the Hudsonville Varsity field, which is pretty exciting for them (it's also turf, which is a change from their grass practice field). 

Canada - July 2013

We made a trip to the Crawford Cottage in Canada in July.  It was a lot of fun for all of the cousins to get to play together.  Carsten experienced his first "toes in the sand" experience here, and Jayden had a wonderful time playing with Taelyn, Jacob, Kaelia, and Carsten.  It was really a great time!

Cumberland Falls

We were able to go down to Kentucky to visit family this summer.  One of our pit stops was Cumberland Falls State Park.  Apparently I didn't take a lot of pictures this summer in KY, I'm sure Grandpa has plenty to share :)

Random Summer Candids and Videos

We wanted to share a few cute pictures and moments from the summer :)

Daddy is really entertaining, but Carsten gets easily distracted by my phone!

Jayden is soooooo funny (this video is from this week)

Carsten went through a screaming phase this summer, which was pretty entertaining.

This happened yesterday (9/7/13)....scary thought...crawling is inevitable :)

Carsten Loves Food!

In the middle of June, we gave Carsten "real food" for the first time.  He loved it from the start and never looked back!  He has tried all sorts of fruits and vegetables, and has yet to find something that he won't eat.  We took him out to dinner on Thursday and he sucked on a lemon for a good 5 minutes!  He likes everything, and we are very thankful for that!

Jayden and Carsten's newest cousin

I realize that I have been slacking about updating our blog all summer.  The theme of our summer was spending time with family!  We were very blessed to have a wonderful summer, and lots of opportunities to spend time with family.  It started out with the birth of our nephew, and Jayden and Carsten's cousin.  Congrats to Todd and Lauren!  We love you Easton James Clouse!

Jayden's a Great Big Brother

As Carsten has become more interactive, Jayden has become very interested in helping with Carsten.  He is a tremendous help sometimes.  Jayden enjoys playing with him,entertaining him, giving him a bath, and even reading to him!  He had one day last week where he wanted to do everything with him!  It made for a few cute photos and a video.  For teachers, it's awesome to see your child learning to read....as parents, watching your child read to your baby is heart melting :)

Jayden's Last Day of Kindergarten

It's pretty crazy to believe, but our school year is officially over!  Jayden had his last day of Kindergarten on Thursday, 6/6/13.  He is officially a 1st grader.  They do not do a Kindergarten graduation, but he did come home with a cute badge "My last day of K."  He had a great year overall and has really grown up a lot!

It's Official....Carsten's Mobile!

Carsten can officially roll over now!  Yesterday (June 1) he perfected rolling both ways (though he prefers rolling back to belly).  He also does not get nearly as angry on his belly since he puts himself that way. He rolled about 2 1/2 weeks ago from back to belly and did it all day long, but never again.  It seems it's for real this time.  He has also recently started spinning around all over (on the floor, his crib, wherever he can!).  It's crazy how fast he is growing, but very exciting!

Big Baby!

Carsten is getting so big!  He had his 4 month check-up on Tuesday.  He weighed in at 17 lbs 8 oz and is 26 inches long!  That translates to the 83rd percentile for weight and 66 percentile for height.  He is very healthy and very happy (normally).  He has decided that he no longer needs to nap...ever....so he fights naps pretty badly, but nighttime isn't too bad, so we'll take it :)  Here are some random photos from the last few weeks (apparently I've been slacking...sorry!).

Carsten really likes his jumperoo, especially if Jayden is playing with him. He doesn't know how to jump in it but I'm sure he'll figure it out all too soon.  Thanks Grandma for loaning that to us!

Jayden's Last Soccer Game

Jayden had his last soccer game on May 18.  He has decided soccer is just not the right sport for him.  We have currently signed him up for football this fall : /  I love football, but your own child playing football....in 1st grade....takes on a whole new meaning!  He is very excited about it, so we'll see how it goes.