Two.

Carter recently turned two! Its been over 6 months since I last posted here and realizing how much he's changed in that amount of time is overwhelming.  I am not very good at keeping up with this blog thing... but this was a milestone that I felt like I should take time out to remember.

Carter loves being outside. He REALLY loves being outside. Even during the colder months, he asks to go outside.  If I had a nickel for every time I saw him standing at the back door, asking "side?".  So for his birthday, even though it was hot, we decided to do an outdoor party.  We had a few friends and sweet family over to help celebrate.  And because our little guy loves being outside so much, his party had a little bit of woodland/outdoorsy theme.  I didn't let myself get as carried away with the theme as I did for his first birthday party... Even though it was hard, I showed restraint (believe it or not).  We had a cookout with homemade ice cream and cupcakes for dessert.  It was too hot for the s'mores but we sent the fixings home with friends to make themselves.  A few of my favorite moments:

 Carter and his Grandpa. 

Uncle Alex.

Carter's great Grandma and baby cousin, Campbell. 

My guys. 

My sister, Jenny, and Carter both have July birthdays. 

We sang Happy Birthday to Aunt Jenny too!

Grandma and baby Campbell. 

Carter's Papa, and a little friend from church. 

It was a great day and lots of sweet memories were made.  

Our big two year old is learning more and more words as each day goes by.  For the first time recently, he's putting two words together to say short phrases.  His favorite two word phrase is "big truck". He loves his Dada's big truck and asks to sit in it in the garage, press buttons, and blow the horn (sorry neighbors).  He is understanding more of what we say, which is really great for everyone, including the dog, as he's understanding that she doesn't like her tail pulled.  He is also getting clever when it comes to nap time and bedtime.  He doesn't want to go to sleep, naturally, so he tries to distract us by doing something adorable, i.e. asking for kisses or big hugs over and over.  We've started to let him get his wiggles out by jumping or wallowing on our bed first before taking him in his room to read a book and go to bed.  He loves being in our bed.  Especially when there is a mountain of unfolded laundry on it that he can roll around in or hide under.  

I loved Carter the baby so much and at the first realization that he was no longer a baby, all I felt were pangs of sadness.  Now we are getting to know Carter, the little boy, and that helps with the sadness.  He is so awesome, hilarious, sweet and clever.  He brightens up my day, everyday.  Here's to looking forward to what the next year holds... all the memories we will make and the new things we will learn about our Carter boy.