2011 Making Strides Against Breast Cancer

Fun little post about my BIG support of the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer event that is sponsored by the American Cancer Society here in New Mexico. This year's walk was held on one of the windiest days ever here in Albuquerque and it was cold, cold, cold. But the Greenies didn't let that stop 'em! We braved the cold and bundled, bundled up!

Happy to report that I was the TOP FUNDRAISER (!!!!) in New Mexico (up until the day before, when someone very, very generous made a giant donation to someone other than me and knocked me off my top pedestal)! I turned in almost $3000 this year and I think I deserve a huge pat on the back, as do all of my sponsors! *blushes

A few shots from the walk with my family and co-workers:

L-R (back row): Steve, Matt, Danita, Matt, Matthew, Jakob
L-R (front row): Carter, Kerrie, Heidi, Lauren, Elizabeth, Sarah, Jakob's cousin (I have forgotten his name...Cameron?)

And just so you know, Carter was wearing PINK socks to show his support for breast cancer research!
Tyler and his daughter walked separately:
And here's a shot of our FABULOUS t-shirts that my work generously sponsors. Just a tad too big for Carter:
Carter says "THANKS FOR MAKING STRIDES AGAINST BREAST CANCER!"
...and so do I! Thank you! Now...let's find a cure, eh?
~kerrie

Dino Kid

My final post for the night... I have to hit the hay, as tomorrow I'm giving three presentations at a local middle school for "Career Day." That's right, ALL the kids want to know about the life of a chemical engineer! (And well, I teach them how to make Silly Putty, so it's a blast!)

I digress...

Thought I'd post some photos from this morning of Carter in his snazzy dino outfit (thanks Grandma C!). His newest trick is to flip the walker-toy upside down so he can reach the wheels and spin them round and round (all while pushing it across the floor):
And of course, taking ALL of the toys out of the basket:
Including the Legos:
And the books:
And a final shot - Carter's latest achievement - standing up in the middle of the room (i.e., he doesn't have to pull up on the furniture, my leg, the wall, etc.):
Any minute now, he'll be running....AHHHHH!

Hope everyone is having a great week!
~kerrie

Lesson Time

On most days, the girls at school "style" Carter's hair. Some days it's combed to the left, sometimes to the right, and sometimes straight up. Apparently one day last week he "helped" by pulling it right up into a mohawk...

Often I'll leave it styled until bathtime and won't pay any attention to his 'do. I DO, however, make sure he's well hydrated:
Gets his exercise:
Practices his manners ("Please, Mommy?"):
We work on his attitude problem (kidding...) [and this pic shows off his sweet mohawk]:
I make sure he's a happy kid EVERY day:
And we practice multi-tasking (10 seconds of walking and drinking - AT THE SAME TIME!):


We'll keep on practicing our lessons and I'll be sure to keep you updated as to his progress! :)
~kerrie

PS One photo I have yet to snap is Carter and his love of books. We're reading him about 5 books a day lately and it's pretty endearing for him to grab a book from his basket, bring it over to me, and then sit in my lap so that he can be read to. Say it with me, "Awwwww!"

Scooter

Now that Carter has become more mobile, he's taken to relocating the furniture (why not?!)... One of his favorites is to scoot the kitchen stools around on the tile. A) It helps with his walking and balance, and B) It makes a God-awful racket (which is hilarious!?)...

Here's a quick shot of the correct chair-scooting form:
And if you can handle it, here's 14 seconds of chair-scooting fun:


Luckily we only have two stools, so the worst he can do is drag them both about and drive BOTH parents crazy at the same time!
~kerrie

Special, Special Day!!

Well today was a very special day at the Greenie house... I FINALLY finished Carter's baby quilt!! Yay!!! Figured I make quilts for other babies, I needed one for my own baby!

I used two different "monkey" fabrics and pulled it all together with a gorgeous chocolate brown. Few sample pictures of the finished product below.

The front:Shot of the front and the back:
Close-up of the monkey fabrics:
And the back (solid brown) with a corner of the front:
I make all of my baby quilts out of flannel, so they're uber-soft, machine washable, and plenty warm. And yes, I use yarn to secure my quilt fronts to my quilt backs (vs. doing some top-stitching). It's the way my grandma did it, so I'm carrying on the tradition. And it's fun for kids, as they're like little "grip" points.

But really the reason for this post....

CARTER TOOK HIS FIRST STEPS TODAY!!!!! ALL BY HIMSELF!!!

Captured a very short video with my cell phone this afternoon - and it's only 4 seconds, but that's as long as he lasted. And I just LOVE how he holds his arms out all Frankenstein-like for extra balance. Check it out!



And here's one more video (7 seconds this time) from just before bed time. Matt was home to see this one (and you'll hear his voice in the background). More steps, a little more stable... Watch out, folks, we've got a WALKER here!!!


We're so proud of our little guy! All those walker toys and practice around the living room are paying off! Next post I'm guessing will be along the lines of "Watch out! We've Got a Runner Here!"...

*two unbelievably proud parents*
~kerrie (& matt)

Wagons and Winners

Prior to hitting the monthly library book sale this morning, I tried to snap a few photos of Carter playing around in the living room. I tell ya, our lil' guy has gone from the potted-plant-stage baby to the busy-bee toddler in the blink of an eye!!! He wouldn't pause for a photo for anything!

He was pushing his new wagon (thanks again, Kristin!) back and forth and was having quite a good time:He then did a switchover to his walker toy:
Quick turn around and walked back the other way:
Ok, another switchover back to the wagon:
Seeing that in real time - here's a quick little (and a tad shaky, sorry) video of Carter pushing his wagon around:


Spotted some toys at the other end of the room - off to check it out:
Ah yes, it's the barnyard toys (...another musical toy from Grandma C...):
Then I gave up with the camera, as he was on to 5 other things! Let's see if this 'ol mom can keep up in the coming months, eh?

And yes, for the record, I only decided to snap the photos this morning because Carter looked so cute in his KU gear. Gotten enough crap for posting "other" collegiate teams on this blog, so I'm showing a little more love for my Jayhawks! Let's beat up on some Wildcats today! Rock chalk!
~kerrie

Swimming with the Fishes

While I've had the month from hell at work, I'm happy to report that the end is in sight and I may actually get to spend some time with my boys during the weeks ahead.

However, despite my hectic work schedule, I WAS able to sneak away from the office during the long New Year's weekend and the whole fam made it over to the Albuquerque Aquarium. Sadly, we forgot to charge the camera batteries, so we only have a few pics from our adventures...

First up, a photo with Daddy:
And a few with Mommy (and WOW! Carter's eyes were REALLY blue up against the blue waters!):
We stood Carter up right against the tank and he LOVED it! The divers were cleaning the goo and Carter had fun banging on the glass for them to see him:
THEN, the fish started swimming by and Carter REALLY had fun (especially as they swam right in front of him):
And our "buddy" (from my work holiday party post - the ugly fish that wouldn't go away!) - well he (or maybe it's a she...we'll settle for "it"...) wouldn't leave Carter alone. It swam right up to the glass - like RIGHT UP TO the glass - and I'm pretty sure it was thinking Carter would make a tasty snack:
Carter was beside himself with glee and kept pounding on the tank trying to get at the fish:
And that's when the battery ran out... So we finished off the day with a walk around the botanical gardens and let Carter take a little nap in the stroller. The weather started turning colder (but, yay, no snow here!), so we called it a day and I headed back in to work.

Hope you're keeping warm, as this winter stuff is getting brutal in just about every state! Happy to rub it in that it's nearly 50 degrees here and sunny! Weeeee!
~kerrie

Cheeky Monkey

Today I ran a quick errand over at the mall and picked up some new tennis shoes for Carter. Since he's standing around, it's only a matter of time before he's walking. And well, the girls at school said it's finally time to be putting him in some shoes (I've put it off as long as I could...because, well, non-walking-babies and shoes...what's the point?!).

He's not QUITE walking yet, but he's starting to "cruise." Yep, grabbing on to furniture, chairs, our legs, etc. to get himself around. Actually pretty amusing, as you can almost SEE the little cogs in his brain working to figure out how to get from Point A to Point B! Also pretty funny to watch him "dismount" (as we call it)...it's just sort of a PLOP down on his tush. Good to see that he isn't one of those kids that freaks out because he can't figure out how to get down now that he knows how to get up!

Took a couple photos tonight while he was jumping (yes, jumping...) in his crib. I'm too lazy to adjust the red eye and well, he looks a little evil against the red wall, eh? (Click to make them bigger.)

In other news, he's got an appointment tomorrow with Dr. R to check out his rash on his cheeks. It's definitely gone down, but it's still hanging around. Doesn't appear to be itchy or burning or anything like that, it just makes him look goofy (and not nearly as adorable as he should be). So we'll check it out with the doc and have a report tomorrow.

As you can see in the next couple of photos, it's still red and still looks like he got a nice sunburn.
And this next one shows off his choppers pretty well...of which he has a new tooth on the bottom. Took a while for this one to come in, but finally it poked through. So our little man now has SEVEN teeth. More than any of the other babies in his class! That's right, he's an over-achiever already! Will post something quick tomorrow after the doctor's report, so cross your fingers that it's just something simple. Like my laundry detergent choice. Or something silly like fuzzy toys. Or whatever... Just something non-serious.

Alrighty, time to wash up some dishes. Have a great night!
~kerrie