happy three years from daddy

Dear Carson,

You’re 3 years old! Where has the time gone? It seems like yesterday we were waiting on your arrival. Now you’re such a big boy! Watching you grow over the last year has been so much fun!

It’s been neat to see you become so comfortable in our new home, in our new city, and with our new church family. What a fun treat it is to live in such a fun place and have such a loving church family. We’ve had fun going and enjoying many of the perks of living in the Atlanta area: the zoo, the aquarium, the children’s museum, and Braves games. Your excitement at experiencing these fun places and events makes the experience even more fun for me and for your mama!

As I think back over the last year we’ve begun doing lots of fun things together. We check the mail together each evening after I come home from the office. You help me when I cook food on the grill. We watch basketball together. We listen to music together. You sit in my lap and watch concerts with me (your favorite is Trombone Shorty). We read books together.  We make music together with your harmonica, your pitchpipe, your xylophone, and your drums. I love for you to be my helper to go shopping; we go to Kroger and Sam’s most of all. You especially like the car shopping carts at Kroger!

It’s amazing how much you’ve changed. You’ve slimmed up and grown taller. Your vocabulary has expanded exponentially. You know so many songs (your mama and I estimate you probably know significant portions of a couple hundred songs). Your imagination has continued to become more and more vivid. Your creativity has developed a lot, too.

My favorite thing about you is how much you love people. You care for everybody you know. If friends are sick, you want to check on them and help them. If people are sad, you want to cheer them up. When I come home each day, you always ask me about my day and tell me about yours. But perhaps the greatest example of your love for people is the way you’ve welcomed Charlie to our family. You have been so sweet and loving to him, and he loves you so much.

Carson, I am so thankful for you! I love you so, so much!

Love,

Daddy

three years old!

August 2, 2013

42 pounds (99^th percentile)

40 inches tall (91^st percentile)

Dearest Carson,

It’s difficult to find the words to express just how much I love you, my sweet boy. I am so very thankful that I get to live life with you. You are an absolute joy. Watching you grow and learn is such an honor. In some ways, it’s hard to believe you’re already three, but in other ways you seem much older and it’s hard to remember my life without you.

This year has been extra special because I’ve gotten to see you become a big brother! Not long after your second birthday, we found out I was pregnant and Daddy and I decided to tell you right away. We knew it was a lot for you to process and would be a long time to wait, but you did great! You watched my belly grow as Charlie grew inside me and loved to talk to him, sing to him, and give him kisses before he was even born. You were patient with me while I was pregnant, sleepy, and unable to carry you. You went with us to my doctor’s appointments and loved getting to hear your baby brother’s heart beat.

My very favorite moment of being a mama so far is seeing you and Charlie meet for the first time. I will never forget the excitement and love in your eyes as you came into the room and crawled into the bed with me to see your brand new baby brother. You talked, sang, and kissed just as sweetly as you had when he was still inside of me and over the next few weeks you kept saying, “Mama, can you believe Charlie is really here?!” Since then, you’ve continued to show him love, care, and patience. I am so thankful Charlie gets to learn from you!

I love to hear your sweet voice call for me in the mornings. “Mama, I’m awake!” What a joy it is to be greeted with such love each day! Some days, we snuggle for a little while when you wake up, and other days you’re ready to play. You like to know what day it is, and have been working to better understand time, so several months ago we put a calendar in your room, and you’ve enjoyed learning with it in the mornings. You can sing both the days of the week and months of the year. A couple months after that, we added a United States map. You’ve really enjoyed learning where various states are on the map. You can already locate and name 12 different states.

Your favorite toys are Fisher Price Little People and plastic animals. You use your imagination and play for hours with them. You also like to build with blocks and legos. You’ve started watching TV some and your favorite shows are Little Bear and Clifford. We still love reading books together, especially snuggling and reading one after another. You also like to play and explore outside. Rocks and sticks are some of your favorite toys. You like to call your grandparents on Facetime. You love your stuffed animals. Sometimes you try to put all thirty in bed with you at once, but you normally sleep with about 10 each night. You especially love Tiny, Teddy, and Pooh.

You don’t always nap anymore. Some days you will nap for three hours and other days, not at all, but you always stay in bed and rest for at least an hour and play with your stuffed animals and sing.

One of the highlights of our year was potty training! Just two months after your second birthday you started using the potty and wearing big boy underwear during the day. It’s been challenging at times, but you’re doing really well! You are 42 pounds and 40 inches tall. You wear size 4T-5T shirts and 3T-4T pants.

Daily tasks are fun with you. You help me with cleaning, laundry, trash, and mail, but our favorite task is cooking. I love spending time with you in the kitchen and teaching you as we prepare dinner and make yummy breads and cookies. One of your favorite parts of cooking is sharing with friends and neighbors. Your loving and generous spirit challenges me almost every day.

You really like to go out and about and I enjoy running errands with you. We go to the post office, Kroger, Sam’s, Target, and Hobby Lobby. You help me find the things on our list and we enjoy chatting while we shop. We also go fun places like library story time and the park together. We’ve made sweet friends this year so sometimes we invite them over or meet them at the park, library, and Chick-Fil-A. At least once a week during the day we spend time with Shannon, Laura Beth, and Caroline; Kristen, Colin, and Owen; or Keely and Addison. In the evenings or on the weekends, we have lots of fun with Brian, Kathy, Graeme, and Miles.

You love people and are thoughtful and compassionate beyond your years. You’re outgoing and friendly and remember everyone you meet. You have friends of all ages including our neighbors and church family. You love going to church to see people you love and sing. Singing, oh how you can sing, my sweet boy. You’re almost always singing! It is such a joy to both listen to you sing softly as you play and to see you grab anything you can find to use as a microphone and sing loudly and with great passion. You still love Thank You Lord and The Doxology, but a new favorite this year is 10,000 Reasons. You love to sing at church and at Southland, the nursing home we visit once a month, and you’ve even gotten to help lead songs a couple of times. Your worship is not only a blessing to God, but also to everyone around you.

As is our tradition, you woke up to balloons in your room on your birthday and we had pancakes for breakfast. You also got to open gifts and go to Loco FroYo. We made chocolate cake and shared it with friends at church. I had a lot of fun planning your birthday party with you! It was fun to share ideas and see you get excited. We ended up finding inspiration from one of your favorite books and had a bear hunt party. Everyone brought their teddy bear to hunt and we ate milk and cookies. A lot of friends came to celebrate with you.

Carson, I pray that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ-to the glory and praise of God!

Thank you for being my boy! I love you so much.

Mama 

halloween 2012

In brainstorming what Carson should be for Halloween, I asked myself what is he into? I was thinking a tub of playdoh, a chef, or an artist, when it hit me, a MAILMAN! 

Carson loves to check the mail. It's been a highlight of his day for as long as I can remember. When we lived in Tennessee, the mailman drove an old white car, so anytime we saw a white car that looked similar to his, Carson would excitedly proclaim, "mailman!" When we visit Pops and Granny in the country, he gets to walk down a long dirt road to check the mail, and when we visit Bobel and Reenie in the city, he gets to check the mail in a little box with a key at the front of the apartment complex. When we moved to Georgia, he was excited to see our mail carrier drives a real mail truck and comes in the morning!

With a quick google search, I found this adorable mailman uniform with the real USPS logo, mailbag, and hat, the decision was made and Carson was thrilled. He's been excitedly telling everyone all month that he's going to be a mailman and say trick-or-treat on Halloween, and that's just what he did! 

Here are some more pictures of the cutest, sweetest mailman you'll ever see;)

 ringing the doorbell because we have a package!

Mailmen must hold on to their hats on windy days:) 

On the way to our friends' house for pizza and trick-or-treating, Carson spotted all the mail trucks lined up at the post office, so of course we had to stop for a photo op! Perfect!

We had so much fun trick-or-treating with sweet friends! 

CANDY!!

And for a little trip down memory lane. Here are links to see my sweet baby lamb in 2010 and my adorable Jack-o-Lantern in 2011. We missed having Granny make his costume this year, but we all agreed the mailman costume was too perfect to pass up:) Besides, Granny is busy making Aunt Misty's WEDDING DRESS this year!! We are happy for Misty and Matt and impressed with Granny's skills! 

pumpkin fun

We've celebrated the season and had fun with pumpkins the last few days! 

My little "pumpkin" and I had lots of fun at our neighborhood party on Saturday. Unfortunately  Daddy was sick and didn't get to join us, but we loved getting a chance to get to know our new neighbors, share a meal with them, enjoy a campfire with Carson's first roasted marshmallow, and listen to live music! 

Carson had fun painting pumpkins! 

Proud of his masterpieces:) 

When it came time to carve the big "Daddy" pumpkin, he was not a fan of touching the pumpkin goo! Like father like son! I say, dig in, the messier, the better;) 

For the first time, I decided to roast the seeds this year! It was fun, easy, and quite tasty. Carson thought they tasted like peanuts, and they reminded me of popcorn. Definitely a new tradition around here!

Posing with our Jack-O-Lantern. Carson decided he had a twinkle in his eye like the one in his very favorite Halloween book, The Runaway Pumpkin. I'm just thankful he wasn't quite as big as the one in the book;)

Fall is such a fun time of year, and I'm thankful to be able to spend my days enjoying life and making memories with the sweetest boy I know! 

pumpkin patch 2012

We enjoyed a fun day at the pumpkin patch with some sweet friends from church on Saturday. Carson has grown a lot since last year's pumpkin patch visit:)

hay ride!

love this!

he was brave this time:)

baby chicks!

sweet friends

driving the tractor

family shot

been farming long?!

over 3 feet tall!

sweet boy

shopping:)

heavy!

i sure do love these guys! 

chick fil a ice cream cone afterwards

back home with our pumpkin family:) 

carson has loved "showing" the baby his/her pumpkin

Thank you for your congratulations on our news. We are excited and prayerful as we await another baby Clark! Carson is super excited about being a big brother:)

TWO years old!

August 2, 2012

37 pounds (99%)

3 feet tall (88%)

Sweet Carson,

I can’t believe you’re TWO!! They say time flies when you’re having fun, so I guess that explains it, because being your mama is certainly the most fun job I’ve ever had! I am trying to soak up each moment with you because you’re growing and changing so quickly. You are friendly, thoughtful, loving, and curious. We just moved from Tennessee to Georgia, so it’s been a chaotic six months for our family without many of your normal rhythms, but you have gone with the flow and handled the transition so well.

At the end of March, Daddy accepted a new job as the Senior Minister of the Southern Crescent Church in Tyrone, Georgia. We spent a long time thinking, praying, and talking about whether or not to pursue this new opportunity, and eventually decided it was best for our family. We were sad to leave our home and church family in Hohenwald. It was the only home you’d ever known, and everyone loved you and you loved them. At 18 months old, you knew most everyone’s name at our 150 member church! We spent the month of April packing up our house and spending extra time with sweet friends. We went to our favorite restaurants: Casa Grande, Snappy’s, and Junk Yard Dog. We had dance parties with Sonic milk shakes with KK and LaLa and spent time with our sweet neighbors, Jon and Michelle.

In May, we headed to Tyrone to look for a new house. We looked at about 25 houses in two days, and you did great getting in and out of the car multiple times and exploring so many different houses. We decided on a perfect house just two miles from the church building. After that, we headed to the beach for a family vacation. We had so much fun playing and relaxing together! After the beach, we drove to Texas to visit friends and family. We had lots of fun with the Riches, the Graves, Pops and Granny, and Aunt Misty! After that we went to St. Louis to spend time with Bobel and Reenie and to Memphis to see Mamaw and Fred and Jo Beth. We went 5,000 miles in 5 weeks before going back to Hohenwald for about a week to finish packing.

We didn’t get to move into our new house for about a month, so a sweet family at church invited us to live with them while we waited. They were so sweet and hospitable to us and made us feel right at home and are dear friends! We’re finally in our house and are getting settled in. Pops and Granny came to help us unpack and celebrate your birthday. You woke up to balloons in your room. We had pancakes for breakfast and interviewed you about your favorite things. Then we went to the playground where we played and fed the ducks and geese. Then we went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch, ice cream, and more playing! After that we went home and you took a big nap, and that evening, we went to the Desgains for pizza, swimming, and gifts. It was a special day celebrating you. The next day, KK and LaLa came to visit and we all went to a Braves game.

You look like a toddler instead of a baby these days. You wear mostly size 3T clothes, but some are 4T and even a couple of 2T shorts still fit. You still wear size 6 diapers. You have TTed in the potty several times, so hopefully we’ll attempt potty training soon.

You are quite the talker! Everyone is always surprised how much you talk for your age. You speak in complete sentences and include words like definitely, actually, and also. You love to carry on conversations and learn about the world around you. You’ve learned so many names at our new church already, and we’ve just been here about six weeks. I love to see how much you love people!

You love to find different kinds of trucks when we’re out and about and you always look forward to seeing the trash truck and mail truck come to our house. You like to play with cars and trucks, too. You also know all of your colors and enjoy making art with paint, crayons, markers, pencils, pens, and stickers.

You love music. You like to listen and have dance parties. You can sing several songs all by yourself, including Thank you Lord, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Take Me Out to the Ballgame, Make Me a Servant, and The Doxology. I absolutely love to hear you sing.

You still like to help do chores around the house and were a big helper with packing and unpacking. You had fun decorating the boxes with crayons! You love to help cook, and I have fun teaching you in the kitchen.

You like to say the prayer before meals and thank God for the various foods we’re having and for people you love. You still like to eat a good variety of foods.

You pay close attention to what’s going on around you and pick up on things quickly. You can spell your name and know your birthday!

Just a few days before your 2^nd birthday, you started sleeping in your big boy bed. You’ve done a wonderful job remembering to stay in bed until Mama or Daddy comes to get you. You sleep with several of your favorite guys, including Teddy, Pooh Bear, Big Monkey, Little Monkey, Tiny, and Other One. You have fun playing with them, talking, and singing until you fall asleep. You usually go to bed at about 9:30 pm and usually sleep until about 8:30 am. You take a big nap each day that’s usually about 3 hours long. Instead of cuddling in the rocking chair at bedtime and naptime like we used to, I usually lay with you, snuggle and say prayers in your bed for a few minutes. I love sharing that special time with you.

Being your Mama is absolutely wonderful. I knew I would love being a mama, but I had no idea just how wonderful it would be. I love you so very much, Precious Boy of Mine! Thank you for loving me and for making my days extra special.

I pray that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God!

Lots and lots of love,

Mama

my little artist

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to let Carson paint a birthday gift for his daddy. With this tutorial as inspiration, we made our own smaller version. I cut out sticky vinyl letters with the cricut and stuck them on the canvas. Then, I gave Carson a brush with blue paint and another with green paint. He loved it and would sign and say more when his brush got dry. It was lots of fun for both of us!

It was a great big mess, too! When your nose itches, you gotta scratch it, even if your hand is covered in paint, right?! After I got the everything cleaned up and the paint was dry, I peeled the letters off to reveal the message for Daddy. Carson was excited there was an o! O is his favorite letter and he loves to find them everywhere:)

I thought it turned out pretty cool. Carson was excited to give it to his sweet daddy, and Daddy loved it!

18 months

February 2, 2012

32 pounds 13 ounces (98%)
34 inches (92%)
Head (90%)

Sweet Boy!!

We love you oh so very much! We love to watch you grow and learn new things every day. You are such a blessing to our family, and we can’t imagine life without you. You’re sweet and fun. You’re friendly and full of energy. You love to talk and explore. You love to read books and play outside. You love to sing songs and do chores. You give big hugs and kisses. You are an absolute joy!

You are a big boy. You’re taller and stockier than most other kids your age. In fact, you’ve even passed up the two boys that used to give you hand-me-downs, and they’re a year older than you are! The doctor says you’re perfectly proportioned and just right! Reenie says you look a lot like Daddy did when he was your age. We are so very thankful that you are such a healthy boy.

You started walking just a few days after your birthday and gradually got faster and more comfortable on your feet. It wasn’t long until you were even running! As long as you’re awake, you like to be on the move. You’re curious and you’ve got plenty of energy. We love to watch you explore your surroundings.

You say so many words! I’ve done my best to remember them and list them here, though I’m sure I left out a few, because lately you say a new one every day.

Mama	hi	eye	Bible	nana (banana)
Daddy	bye bye	ear	ball	bagel
Baby	thank you	mouth	backball (basketball)	potapota (potato)
Bobel	please	nose	car	green beans
ReRe (Reenie)	more	teeth	tractor	bread
Papa (Pops)	clap	knee	boat	cheese
GiGi (Granny)	aw oh	back	bear	cream cheese
Meme (Aunt Misty)	ouch	bebe (belly button)	dog	cado (avocado)
Laura (Aunt Laura)	wow	chin	turtle	yoyo (yogurt)
KK	whoa	arm	mumu (music)	apple
LaLa (Lindsey)	rock	hair	beans	pear
Rick	stop		beads	wawa (water)
MarMar (Margaret)	no		sock	milk
Don (Jon)	go go go		shoe	bite
Bo			hat	ice
me			diaper	spoon
			moon	bowl
			Hohoho (Santa)	light

You like to make animal sounds and can say so many! You know the sounds for sheep, cow, dog, cat, horse, duck, monkey, and owl.

You can point to lots of body parts too. You know head, hair, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth, tongue, chin, neck, shoulders, arms, hands, fingers, tummy, belly button, back, legs, knees, feet, and toes.

You have a lot of nicknames, so not only do we call you Carson, we also call you Carsy, Cars-a-Doodle, Doodle, Doodle Noodle, CarCar, Mr. Handsome Pants, Buster, and Butternut.

You love when we sing songs with you. Your very favorite is “Frosty the Snowman,” and you request that we sing it over and over again by saying and signing “more.” You join in by singing “La La LaLaLa,” and when we get to the end you pat your legs when we say “thumpity thump thump.” Then, you say “bye bye” to Frosty. Some of your other favorite songs are “I Just Wanna be a Sheep,” “This Little Light of Mine,” “All God’s Aminals,” and “Thank you, Lord.”

You always remind us to pray before meals. You fold your little hands, bow your head, and say “thank you, thank you.” It is so sweet. You like to eat lots of different foods. Every morning, you wake up ready for a banana. You also like yogurt, blueberries, bagels with cream cheese, muffins, pancakes, and eggs. For lunch, you like sweet potatoes, sandwiches, cheese, bread, avocados, goldfish, and peanut butter. For supper, you like green beans, chicken, hamburger meat, rolls, and pasta. For snacks, you like pears, apples, animal crackers, and graham crackers. You love to get drinks of water from Daddy’s big cup with a straw; it’s such a treat! You always ask sweetly by signing and saying “please.” You also really like to get bites of ice for a little treat.

You and I take a walk every day that the weather allows it. You do such a good job riding in your stroller looking around and waving at cars. You do a good job in the grocery store, too. You are always friendly to the other shoppers, and it makes the older ladies so happy when you smile and wave at them. You’ve taken a lot of big trips and are a great car rider, and we are thankful for that. You love to listen to your CDs, Playground and Slugs and Bugs, as you ride in the car. You love to go to Bible class and spend time with your sweet teachers. You blow kisses and wave good-bye to people. You love to read books. Sometimes we read as many as ten in a row! You love your babies. You carry them around the house and take good care of them. You also really love your blue teddy bear. You are great at putting your rings on the stick, and you are beginning to stack blocks and work puzzles, too. You are having fun with your new car and basketball goal that your grandparents got you for Christmas. You recognize the letter o and love to find it everywhere! Anytime you see words, you begin looking to see if there is an o.

You even like to help do chores. You help clean up your books and toys. You take things to Mama or Daddy for us. One of your very favorites is empting the dishwasher. You hand me the clean dishes so I can put them away. You also help put the clean clothes in the dryer, and identify each piece of clothing as Daddy, Mama, or Baby. You lead us around the house and gather up trashcans and dump them in the big can in the kitchen each week before we take it outside. You put paper in the recycling basket. You make doing chores lots more fun!

Aunt Misty made you a fun game with all of your family members’ pictures on magnets, and you love it! You look at the pictures and talk about your sweet grandparents and aunts all the time. It is precious! When you think about your family members and friends from church, you say their names, look for pictures of them, and sometimes you even pray for them. You’re such a sweet and thoughtful boy!

You go to bed about 9:00 pm. At bedtime, you put your babies and bear in your crib and give Daddy hugs and kisses. Then, we go to your room, and you push the button to turn on the sound machine and turn the light off. We read books, say a prayer, and sing songs while we rock for a few minutes. Then, I put you in bed and you have fun playing and talking to your babies before you fall asleep. You sleep for 11-12 hours. We love waking up to your sweet and happy voice saying “Mama, Mama, Daddy, Daddy” ready to begin a new day!

Thank you for being your precious self, Carson Clark. We love you so very much and are thankful that you’re our boy! Raising you is an honor and a joy! We’re trying to soak up every minute because you’re changing so quickly. We pray that you continue to grow and learn. We pray that you know how much we love you and how much God loves you.

Mama and Daddy

what a difference a year makes: christmas edition

I realize it's now February and a bit late to post Christmas photos, and yes, I'm always playing catch up when I finally decide to update the ole blog, but to be fair, we didn't celebrate Christmas with Keith's family until mid-January, so I'm not quite as late as it might seem:)

We had an absolutely wonderful Christmas this year, with both sides of the family. Spending time playing and relaxing with the people we love is such a blessing! My parents and sister were able to come here and celebrate with us for a week, then we were able to spend another week with Keith's grandmother and parents in Memphis and St. Louis. Carson is at such a fun age and really enjoyed the Christmas festivities. He got some fun new toys and both of our talented moms worked really hard to make him fabulous handmade gifts too. They each made awesome quiet books that are perfect for church!

For Thanksgiving, I posted some pictures from this year and last year to compare and see how much Carson has grown, so I thought it would be fun to do the same thing with a few photos from Christmas. Of course, there are lots more pictures on facebook, if anyone is interested:)

with his stocking last year:

(my sweet mama made our adorable stockings!)

with his stocking this year:

(no the stocking didn't shrink;) my boy has grown sooo much!!)

reading with granny and mama last year:

reading with granny and mama this year:

(yes, i realize i'm wearing the very same pjs!)

reading with bobel last year:

reading with bobel this year:

wordless wednesday: carson meets santa:(

what a difference a year makes...

We had lots of fun in St. Louis for Thanksgiving with Bobel and Reenie again this year. Here are some photos from this year and last year. Carson has grown and changed so much over the past year!

Last year, Carson and the turkey were the same size. They were both 14 pounds!

This year, not so much! Carson more than doubled his weight, but the turkey stayed about the same:)

laying just like daddy last year

laying just like daddy this year

special time with Bobel and Reenie last year

special time with Bobel and Reenie this year

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, both this year and last year. We have so much to be thankful for!