Zombie Girl [ewwww, TMI!!!]

[ PS I revised this post to include a bail out link and a little quip about Carter's 80's jeans.]

And my final post of the night (which, hooray, makes me finally caught up!). My disclaimer for this post:

I'VE INCLUDED SOME GNARLY PHOTOS OF MY EYE IN THIS POST - IF YOU'RE THE QUEASY TYPE, I'D SKIP THIS ONE. CLICK HERE TO JUMP TO THE PREVIOUS POST (and then you can use the archive list to move around the blog).

There, you've had your disclaimer. Exit now. Or keep reading (as a bonus, there are cute Carter photos at the end!).

So let's begin. Carter (below) is expressing how I felt on Thursday morning (and check out the sweet 80's stonewashed jeans! And the whiny look was due to the fact that I accidentally peeled his orange. You CANNOT peel his oranges, tangerines, clementines, etc. He will either A) just eat through the peel or B) do it himself, thank you!):
I woke up with a ruptured blood vessel in my left eye (pictures coming, you can still bail out here...). Never had anything like this, so I was a tad freaked. I went to the eye doctor and he checked it out. Wasn't alarmed, but wants to see me again next Friday to be sure.

Let it be known that when I'm famous and they write my biography, there will be SEVERAL chapters on how I've stumped the medical profession...

You see, blood vessels can rupture from the silliest of things - sneezing, blowing your nose, lifting something heavy, and well, just because they want to.

I had a headache last week for about 3 days (and I only remember this because I NEVER get headaches, so when I do, I complain about them to Matt profusely). Doc said this MIGHT have something to do with the rupture, but maybe not. Needless to say, after the rupture, the headache was gone...

So you wanna see it?

Really?

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Ok... Here's a close up of my left eye (and this looks WAY better than it did on Friday...it was still bleeding then and moved further down on my eye):
In comparison to my "good" eye - if I look to the left, this is what you see (and I didn't get a picture of it, but above my retina is some SERIOUSLY gnarly bloody stuff - see, I'm sparing SOME details as to not gross you out TOO much...):
Looking straight ahead - ewww:
And my "normal" look - with glasses - most of my co-workers avoided eye contact with me on Friday because I was so freakishly zombie looking:
Doc says it should only take a month to clear up... Yay (says Carter):
Hooray for 4 weeks (says Carter):
That's like a touchdown, right (questions Carter):
So I'll post a follow-up next week (and maybe take a photo after the blood starts to absorb into my eyeball...and then it turns yellow like a bruise).

Just thought I'd have a Too Much Information, or TMI, post to change it up 'round here on The Greenie Times! :)
~kerrie

School Pictures 2010

It's been a while since I posted some "stats" on Carter. Since we don't have to take him to the doctor as much as we did during his first year of life, we don't have as good of a handle on his height, weight, etc. But let me say this: We have a very healthy and happy little boy!

Carter just rounded the 22-month mark and will be turning 2 before we know it! He's the tallest in his class (of 1 year olds) and while we haven't measured him, he's at least 3 feet tall. He's hanging steady at the 30 pound mark and still can fit in size 5 diapers and mostly 24-month clothing (although we have him in 3T PJs because he's so tall).

Last time the doc checked, his ear tubes were still in position and that's a big relief for us. I like to think we've avoided a zillion ear infections by having the tubes in.

Carter has had a couple haircuts, but he's still mostly blond. It is a little darker than before, but not much. I keep it cut short so that shampooing is pretty quick (and Carter LOVES the bath...and splashing).

He still eats pretty much everything we put in front of him and has gained a new appreciation for "cookies." We rarely have cookies in the house, so it's kind of funny that he REALLY wants one after dinner. It's hard to say no because he asks for one so cutely :)

School is still wonderful and I think his development is right on target. He knows most of his body parts (including where the "poo poo" comes from...although he's showing not much interest in using the potty) and he's got a pretty lengthy vocabulary. I thought for one of my future posts I'd put together a list of all the words he knows. Would be a fun reminder once he's older and talking non-stop, eh?

He's big on coloring lately, as well as reading books. I'm glad he's enjoying the stories and we read 3 or 4 books minimum each night before bedtime. Matt does a better job at making silly sounds than I, but I'm trying...

And finally, I thought I'd post Carter's school pictures from November. They had a professional photographer come in and take photos of all of the kids, just like they do in elementary school. We had three shots of Carter to choose from and this one (below) is my favorite:
This next one is also cute and I like that he's holding onto the ball:
And this last one makes him look like he's really pissed off...so it makes me chuckle:
Thanks for reading and hope you're staying happy and healthy too!
~kerrie

Time Out (for Brussels Sprouts)!

This will be a completely random post, something I'm fond of doing every now and then... And well, it's MY blog, so I can do whatever I want. So there! :)

I'll start with a few cute photos of Carter trying on Daddy's shoes. He was quite proud of himself for being able to "walk" (which was more of a shuffle) in them:
"Bravo!" as Carter says!
Next up, a few silly photos of Carter running around with the stalk after I pulled all of the Brussels sprouts off for dinner. Both him and Matt are Brussels sprouts avoiders (fine with me, more for ME!), but Carter was keen on helping pull them off and put them in the pot. Actually, he had more fun running around with the stalk afterward. See?

It's a sword:
No, it's a broom!
Maybe it's edible?
Nah, yukky. It's trash, here Mommy:
And the next few photos include Carter's "time-out" timer (just a basic kitchen timer - he gets one minute for bad behavior and has to sit in his time-out chair - or "the thinking chair" as they call it at school - and then he has to say "sorry" and give a hug once the minute it up). Anyway, he climbed up on the furniture and swiped the timer the other day. He was quite proud of his accomplishment and was quite willing to "smile" when I asked him to for the camera:
And I'll end with one of my favorite shots of the year:
Is our little guy handsome or what?!
~kerrie

Greenfelder Christmas 2010

As I stated in my last post, I'm still trying to catch up the blog before I turn into a scrooge! After looking back at the photos of Carter enjoying his second Christmas, there's just no way to be a scrooge! So let me take the time to share our memories with you!

I am a holiday decorator and this year was no exception. I mainly put snowmen all over the house, all of which I've collected over the last 15 years or so. The Greenies put up a tree each year (a wonderful artificial 6-footer...but next year will be a new TWELVE-footer!!! Whooo hooo!). I change my mind on tree decor every few years, but we went with the same theme as last year - snowflakes and blue ornaments.

After Daddy had the tree erected, Carter wanted to stick the snowflakes on ASAP:
However, we had to put on the lights and garland BEFORE we got to the let's-add-ornaments point. So we had a little dinner (and a change of clothes due to Carter's messiness - and yes, I was too lazy to put him in pants...) and got back to decorating. Carter "helped" me put the hooks on the blue ornaments and would hand them all to Daddy to put on the tree:
Occasionally he would "help" Daddy by shoving his play balls into the tree (you see, we have some big 'ol ornaments and to hang them, they have to be tucked into the tree and hung from a better support than just a normal tree branch). So after removing a few soccer and footballs from the tree, Carter continued to help with the hook installtion:
A few shots of our "momento" ornaments for 2010 - starting with Carter's. After a couple trips to the airport this past year, we taught him to wave "bye bye" to the planes taking off. Now EVERY time he hears a plane, he stops to wave "bye bye" to the passengers. Ain't that sweet?! So it was only fitting for his ornament this year to be a plane:
I'm rather easy to ornament shop for (you see, it's supposed to be a secret, I buy Matt's, he buys mine, and then we swap)... Snowmen are my favorite and Matt did well with this Frosty ornament for me:
Matt is a little more difficult to shop for... I decided on a robot for him because, well frankly, that's how our lives have been the last year... We've both been a bit robotic and have really stuck to schedules, our jobs, dishes, laundry, and making sure we're doing our best at raising our kid well. And also, robots are cool!
We also added a "family" ornament this year - one we picked up in the Bahamas:
Should be fun to look back in 10 years or so and see the hodge-podge of ornaments on the tree - ALL with great memories behind them!

After the tree was decorated, Carter "helped" me hang our stockings with care (I opted to put them way up on top of the nicho and not the fireplace since the stocking holders are cast iron snowmen and Carter could reach them...and well, let's just not think about what could have happened...let's just be thankful he can't reach way up to the top of the nicho!):
One for Matt:
One for Carter:
And one for me!Fast forward to December 24...

Carter helped each day with the Christmas count-down (was tough only letting him do ONE each day, so we cheated and let him put up a couple each day):
We started a tradition at the Greenie house last year where we read "The Night Before Christmas" to Carter on Christmas Eve. Grandma C sent us the book last year and I think it'll be a fine tradition to keep up!
And then we went to bed. Looks like overnight Santa brought a whole slew of gifts (and by "Santa," I mean UPS, FedEx, and the postman...):
Carter was uber excited and we let him open Kitty-Kitty's gift first (a mouse toy):
He then showed off his new Christmas PJs from Grandma C - check out the reindeer feet (which, in case you didn't know what sound reindeer make, it's "RAWR!"...):
And then we set up Skype to let Grandma and Grandpa C "watch" Carter open up his gifts. He got some GREAT stuff, including some sweet KU toys, a handmade snowman (or "mayo" as Carter says...) from Aunt Katrina, a giant garbage truck (also from Aunt Katrina and Uncle Jason):
Some Winnie the Pooh fabric from our neighbor, Jean:
A jack-in-the-box monkey from Aunt Becky:
But the highlight for the morning was indeed the giant garbage truck. Carter ran it all over the kitchen saying "BEEP! BEEP!" all morning long:
After breakfast we let Carter open the gifts Matt and I, ahem, SANTA brought him. It was a new Thomas the Train set and for the rest of Christmas Day, all we heard was "Choo! Choo!" coming out of his mouth:
WAY excited about the train - see:
And finally, Matt and I decided that even though we weren't going out, weren't having company, and it was just the three of us, we should still make up a big holiday meal. So we did. We had ham, our famous green-chile stuffing, cranberries, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and all the trimmings. And for dessert, homemade pumpkin pie!

Carter had his very first piece of pumpkin pie and he was indeed a fan (especially of the Cool-Whip!):
I think the sugar overload made him turn into a complete nut, so I captured it on video to embarass him in the future (*grin*). While Matt was working on some leftover packing, Carter was trying to shout across the kitchen at him. Each time he'd shout, I'd tell him to "Shhh!" Then I started shhh'ing him BEFORE he would shout and that made him giggle like a goon.

See for yourself - two videos - a short one and then a tad longer (first one is 4 seconds, second one is 17 seconds):






I told you he was silly :)

Well, folks, I think I'm caught up with the holidays and I'm about ready to start on the New Year! I hope that you and your families all had a wonderful holiday season!
~kerrie