The Great Minnesota Get Together!

On Sunday we were super excited to head to St. Paul for the "Great Minnesota Get Together!"

We braved the crowds to see all the we could.

There were somethings poor little Karter just couldn't see! This was the animal birthing center and it was so crowded, none of us could see anything. There was a calf being born while we were there, so everyone at the fair wanted to see it.

Kristoffer and I were most excited to go to the livestock barns and let Karter walk around and pet the animals.

He absolutely loved it! He would run from stall to stall pointing at all the different animals, always looking up to make sure we saw it too!

Daddy loved showing him the sheep.

I am a proud 10 year 4-Her, and MN is lacking in the 4-H participation!! During my 10 years I ALWAYS did clothing and this is the clothing section at the MN fair. There are only four racks of clothes and over half of them are what they call "Clothes You Buy" (aka Flash with Cash). I was totally disappointed!

Aren't these two just the cutest things!

This is Deano, and he is Minnesota's largest boar weighting in at 1310 lbs. I think someone needs a little exercise!

Keeping with the large theme...this is Minnesota's largest pumpkin and it weights 1186 lbs. Good luck carving it!

Princess Kay of the Milky Way is a pageant that is put on by the Midwest Dairy Association. It is a tradition to have Princess Kay (that is not the actual princess' name) and her court's heads carved into butter.

Being from Indiana, we are very partial to the Indiana State Fair...and this is no Indiana State Fair. People don't really go to this fair to see 4-H exhibits...they go to EAT! So, eat we did! He had our fair share of fried foods, but Kristoffer enjoyed his macaroni and cheese on a stick first!

Sweet Martha's cookies are a big deal at the state fair, so we also had to eat some fresh chocolate chip cookies!

The popular thing to get at Sweet Martha's is the bucket of cookies, but we didn't think we "needed" that many cookies. We settled for a funnel of cookies, which they probably stuffed 20 cookies into!!

We finished off our day at the fair with the daily parade. We just happened to be there the day that the U of M cheerleaders and marching band were there.

Who knew band geeks could do toe-touches!? I was a little out of it when the band went by and was playing "some" song, it turned out to be Minnesota's school song. Oops, guys I don't know the fight song!

Goldy was even in the parade!

Karter LOVED watching everything in the parade, he clapped and waved at EVERYTHING!

And Princess Kay of the Milky Way waving at her people.

Our very own Hastings HS also happened to be in the parade yesterday!

This guy looks kind of creepy if you ask me, but he was a huge hit with the Viking fans in the crowd.

SPAMIE! After our trip to Austin in May, Spam holds a special place in our hearts.

We left the fair tired and very full! It was a great day for the three of us to spend today enjoying a Minnesotan tradition.

18 Weeks

Today marks the 18 week mark for me and baby K #2! This pregnancy is going very fast and is completely different than when I was pregnant with Karter. It is true what they say, all children are different...even this early on! Karter and I just got home from my 3rd OB appointment. This was the first time this pregnancy that I have been able to see my Dr (she just got back from maternity leave) and I forgot how much I loved her! She is SO fantastic, as soon as she walked in she gave me a huge hug and told me congratulations. She is so easy going, it is like talking to one of my girlfriends during the appointment. I'm glad she is back and doesn't have any vacation/pregnancies planned between now and January 29th!

My appointment itself was pretty boring...during pregnancy boring is a good thing! I was kind of surprised I only gained 1 lb in the last 5 weeks, which means I am still down 2 for the entire pregnancy, not too bad for almost being halfway done. Karterman doesn't like it when mommy has to have Dr's do things to her, so he was sure to sit on the table next to me as we listened to baby's heartbeat. Oh what a wonderful sound that is! I must admit, after being sick this week (and being the worry-wart that I am) I was nervous about how the babe was doing, but its heartbeat was a nice strong 145bpm. My next appointment is 2 weeks from today, and that is THE BIG 20 week ultrasound! How exciting, in 2 weeks we will know if baby K #2 is a boy or a girl! Kristoffer will be leaving work early that day to meet me at the hospital for the appointment and then all three of us will go out to celebrate.

Happy Friday!

What a week...

This has not been a very good, or healthy, week for our family. Karterman has spent most of the week walking around in just a diaper, because why should I waste time putting clothes on him when he has had diarrhea and/or vomiting for the last 4 days! He has been on the B.R.A.T. (bananas, rice, applesauce and toast) diet since Monday and will continue on that for at least the next day. I thought today would be the last day for it, because he hadn't had it coming out either end (sorry...gross thought) for 24 hours, but his lunch didn't settle well with his stomach. After talking to his doctor they want us to continue with it for at least another day, and if he is still sick tomorrow she wants to see him. He is much better than he was at the beginning of the week, but I just want our little man healthy again.

Karter hasn't been the only sick one this week! On Monday, Kristoffer had to take his first ever sick day from work to take care of Karter so I could spend the day on the couch, because I couldn't keep anything down. I thought I was getting better on Tuesday, but took a turn for the worse on Wednesday. If I wasn't pregnant, I would have toughed it out and kept going, but I always worry how things are going to affect the baby. I ended up calling my OB yesterday, and she wanted me to go straight to the ER to get IV fluids since I hadn't kept anything down in 3 days. We were a little frustrated with my ER doctors because they kept acting like I was just having morning sickness, but believe me this was NOT morning sickness! The fluids and anti-nausea medicine they gave me have helped tremendously, because I have felt normal today!! Hopefully Karterman will be normal again tomorrow.

Wow, aren't you glad you read this disgusting post!

Doing Laundry

This week I brought up a basket of folded laundry at the exact same time Karterman woke up from a nap. After changing his diaper I put him down to go play while I went to wash my hands. I was gone no more than 20 seconds and came out to find that he had pulled everything out of the basket!

Sometimes he isn't a very good helper, but it is hard to stay mad at such a cutie!

Hamming It Up

Karterman loves the camera. Whenever he sees it, he just has to have it! Yesterday, after his afternoon nap, he found the camera that I had forgotten to put up on the shelf before he got up. He loves for you to take his picture and then show him what it looks like on the screen. He was having so much fun being a little ham for the camera, that he let me keep taking pictures for about 20 minutes! Here is a small serious from our photo shoot...

Silly boy, what is going on with this look!?

I love how his little hands are resting on my knees.

"I'm #1!"

I couldn't resist taking a couple of me and my boy together! Hmmm...I wonder where he gets those chubby checks...

Right of Passage

This week I have been having a major craving for cheese ball. I had bought the stuff to make in on Monday, but didn't get around to it until today. Karter patiently sat at the counter watching while I was making it, but as soon as I was finished he was all about the beaters!

I think this is the first of many times he will be begging for the beaters!

14 Months!

Sorry for the lack of posts, we have been busy around our house with some new things brewing for the Gray's (more on that later). With all of our business, we couldn't forget to celebrate our little man's 14 month birthday on Sunday! Karter is growing up so quickly and becoming quite the character! Here are a few things he has been up too...

• RUNNING! Karter never stops, he is always running around the house. Poor Rascal, he is usually chasing him.
• Playing with toys. Over the last month he has actually started to play with his toys (for their actual purpose). His favorite things to play with are cars, phones and balls. He will get down on all 4's and push a car around the living room...it is so cute! He almost always has a ball in his hand and will chuck it at just about anything/anyone. Sorry Grandma Terry, most of the time it is one of Rascal's balls he is carrying! The cutest thing (in my unbiased opinion) is to watch Karter play with a phone (or remote) he walks around with it up to his mouth and ear "talking". So stinking cute.
• Waving! He still thinks his life is a parade and will wave at just about anyone or anything. My favorite wave is when I lay him down in his bed and tell him goodnight and he waves night-night at me! Dare I say it...so cute!
• Hugging and Kissing. Karterman is a lover! He is always giving smooches, again to just about anything you tell him to. We are trying to teach him where the baby is, and he will come over and lift up my shirt and wave and kiss my belly...again, stinking cute! Sorry, we will not be doing any demonstrations in front of people!
• Whining! Between 6-6:30pm continue to be our roughest time of the day. Daddy isn't home from work yet and mommy is trying to cook dinner. Karter starts to whine and insist on being picked up, and he doesn't give up! He is starting to get old enough to where I can sit him on one of the stools and he will happily watch what I am doing. He just wants to be in the middle of everything.
• Most of the time he is so happy, but he is starting to really show what he likes and doesn't like. Some major fits have occurred when we've told him no or tried to get him to stop doing something. Most of the time his little jaw will tighten up, he stares at you and hangs on to whatever he has in his hand with all of his might...can you say stubborn! Most of the time major screams and crying occur too, but he can easily be distracted.
• He is still a very good sleeper and has started to sleep until 7am or after....which I really like! Although, with sleeping later, he has started to drop his morning nap and then sleep longer in the afternoon.
  
• Eating hasn't ever been a problem for Karter, and he continues to be a champion eater. He is going through a phase now to where he doesn't eat that much, but doesn't seem to be hungry outside of meal time, so we aren't worried. He has been off of the bottle for probably 2 months now, and just recently we started giving him some juice in cup, which he loves!
• This next little Karterman fact will probably embarrass him if he ever reads it, but I must document what is going on in his life! The poor little guy has had a very irritated bottom ever since vacation. We thought it was a reaction to the salt water and sand, but he still has it. The doctor doesn't think it is anything serious, because it gets better sometimes. We are just watching it and keeping creams on it and hopefully it will get better soon.

Wow, this turned into quite the list, congratulations if you made it all the way through!

Happy 14 months, Karter!

Silly Boy

It is no secret, I love corn on the cob, especially when it is homegrown! My wonderful father-in-law knows this little fact about me, so when our guests arrived on Saturday they came bearing gifts...a bag full of Indiana sweetcorn and 2 dozen eggs.

We have tried all summer to get Karter to eat fresh corn, but we usually just cut it of the cob for him. Apparently he knows that corn just tastes better when it's still on the cob!

He has his technique down, no hands necessary!

Good Times: Part II

Monday was another fun filled day with Kyler and Kara! We packed up our lunch and headed to the Minnesota Zoo.

Karter always has his picture taken by this turtle...it is amazing how much he has changed in the 5 months we have been coming to the zoo!

As always, Karterman loved the aquarium!

New to the zoo is a butterfly garden. None of us had been inside one before and it was really neat to be surrounded by so many butterflies.

Karter always wanted to break the #1 rule...do not touch the butterflies. Luckily, Uncle Kyler was there to keep him in line!

At the farm, Uncle Kyler took Karter in to see the goats. Mommy didn't want him to actually touch any goats though!

We were all ready for a little break, so we decided to watch the cow milking demonstration.

Charlotte is a very well trained cow and didn't mind having an audience during her milking!

Karter missed the last couple of exhibits because he passed out. By the time the rest of us finished looking at everything, we were ready to do the same thing!

Tuesday was another day of exploring, but unfortunately this is the only picture I took! After lunch we went to the Mall of America and then to IKEA. After we had walked all we thought we could, we headed downtown to meet Kristoffer at work and check out his new team. He had a little bit of work to do before he could leave, and Karter wasn't very happy daddy wouldn't pay any attention to him! After we finally found a place to eat dinner, we headed back home for ice cream sundaes and an intense game of Operation!

Kyler and Kara took off after breakfast on Wednesday headed south to visit the KC Grays! Thanks for coming to visit us, we had a fantastic time!!