A Trip to the Zoo

On Saturday, we made a trip to Lake Tobias Wildlife Park, which is a small local zoo that is perfect for a day trip. Gramma and Pa came long for Carter's first zoo trip. There are lots of animals like bears, zebras, tigers, lions, camels, alligators, and tons more. You can walk around the park seeing many of these animals, but they also have a fun little safari ride that goes out in a huge wildlife area (like 200 acres or something), where you can get right up close to elk, water buffalo, deer, and emus among many other wildlife. Some of the animals even walk RIGHT up to the bus and you can hand-feed them crackers.

A "ze-donkey"!!

Carter did okay on the safari ride but it was so hot, so he was a little bit fussy. Once we got back from the ride, though, we did the walk through of the park, grabbed a Slushie, toured the reptile building, and went to the petting zoo.

Carter was soooo cute in the petting zoo. I honestly thought he might freak out in there when the goats and mini horses walked up to him but he didn't at all. He LOVED it and was having such a blast. It was hard not to smile watching him have so much fun. He pet the goats, and loved giving them food. Whenever he ran out, he found Seth or I or Gramma for some more.

There was a tiny little horse in the petting zoo - Carter walked right up to him and squatted down so they were eye level. He then proceeded to just hang out right beside him and keep feeding him. He didn't like when we moved him away so some of the other kids could enjoy feeding him. :)

After we toured the whole zoo, we had a picnic lunch at the pavillion. It was a great way to end a great (and hot) day. Carter was so happy the whole day (besides the original bout of fussy on the safari) and he seemed to have had a ton of fun. A three hour nap followed so I think it was a success. Thanks for coming along, Gramma and Pa!

Parenting Advice...

I'm clearly no expert - heck, somedays I simply survive. I probably had way more parenting advice to give before I actually became a parent myself (isn't that funny how that works??), but now my advice is vastly different. I imagine that every "I will never do that" or "I will do x, y, z" that came from my mouth was giving God a SERIOUS laugh.

My advice is pretty simple: you have to do what works for your child. Some kids sleep. Some don't. Hypothetically speaking, of course. Some kids eat well. Some don't. Some wake up late. Some don't. Again, hypothetically speaking. You can plan and plan to your little heart's content, but parenthood is a play-it-by-ear sort of thing.

My other advice is to try to remain as calm and patient as feasibly possible. I realize that those of you who know me may be laughing right now, but seriously, this is important and I'm working on it. Some things in life are not worth the drama of getting worked up.

Finally, do not compare your child to other people's children. Again, every kid is different. In just fifteen short months, I can remember freaking out because Carter wasn't a) walking b) teething c) sleeping d) crawling e) all of the above. Turns out, he learned all of those things and grew all of those teeth (trust me, he let us know for every.single.tooth). Who cares if Jack walked at 8 months? When they're 3, none of that will matter. And when they're 18, no one will say "well, I had all my teeth by the time I was a year old." Who cares?! It all happens when it's meant to happen. :)

They grow up SO FAST - enjoy it. Case in point: this picture is ONE YEAR AGO. I almost refuse to believe it, and it has me all sappy and mushy.

That's all for me. We're doing this parenthood thing...and loving it. Sure, some days are REALLY hard, but more times than not, they're great. We owe it to the squishy little blue-eyed, blonde-haired, cutest little boy in the world to be the best parents we can be.

So we'll figure it out day by day, even if it means we're scratching our heads wondering what in the world we're doing. :)

Troublemaker

Convicted {and Blessed}

I'm ashamed to admit it, but lately, I've been a little 'woe is me' about some things. You know - Carter has a fever again, stress at work, teething that tests the limits of my patience, fussiness, a messy house. Real problems, of course. OR NOT.

You know what is a real problem? This.

Now THAT is not fair. That is a real problem, and thirty minutes of reading that has me so convicted, I can't describe it. 

How in the world could I possibly think that my life is stressful when I'm dealing with fussiness and a less than 101 degree fever that gets my child sent home from daycare???

Unreal. 

It's really hard in life to think that your problems aren't really problems at all, huh? Turns out, I/we DO have a perfect life full of one blessing after another. A healthy, happy, growing (and adorable) little boy, a husband who I love more than life itself, our faith, a house, plenty of food, jobs, cars, a cutie dog, and on and on.

A sign I saw on Pinterest said it best: "If we all threw our problems in a pile and we saw everyone else's, we'd grab our's back." Pretty true.

So, convicted and BLESSED, I will find the positive in today and the ones to come as best as I possible can. Because friends?

What I have are not problems.

Pray for that precious little boy and his family as they make some tough, tough decisions on his behalf.

Think About Such Things.

(source)

Knock, Knock...

...anyone still here, reading this little blog? It's been quiet and dead and not sure if anyone still reads the musings de Ran family.

Let me know if you are still here!

Growing Up...

[The final Ocean City posts are up so see the posts before this one for the final wrap up!]

It seems that within the past week or two and while we were on vacation, Carter reached a few new milestones that I wanted to record.

- He properly identifies and says "mama" and "dada" all the time now. He said them a lot before, but now he points to who he wants and says their name. It's like his little mind is putting all of the puzzle pieces together.

- He says a few words: mama, dada, kite ("kigh"), duck (sometimes clear as day, and sometimes "cuck"), dog, and bubble. And, interestingly enough, when I picked him up from daycare last week, his teacher said "um, he said blueberry today." What????? She said it was as clear as day and he said it when he was eating them and when they told him to say it. He is starting to comprehend hearing a word and saying it back (i.e., "Carter, say 'duck').

- He is starting to identify body parts - right now, we are working on nose, eyes, and mouth.

- He started signing for "more" and "all done." We've been working on this for a few weeks but he's also connected those pieces too and has started doing it appropriately. By the way, this is totally adorable.

- He responds to simple commands - Come, sit down on your bottom, give mommy a kiss, etc. That made him sound like a dog, but you know what I mean. :)

- He got another molar. We thought he got this one about two weeks ago but it was a false alarm. It is in now, and I think number four is coming this week.

- He can successfully point some things out in books if we ask him where they are. I love when his chubby little finger points things out and when he gets so excited when he is right.

- He started using utensils on his own and shockingly not making that big of a mess.

- He is independent. The other night, we were in the living room and Carter toddled out to the kitchen, which is no big deal. Except that things got very quiet. Next thing I knew, I heard the chains of the hammock stand clanking on the deck, and ran to the kitchen. That little stinker OPENED THE DECK DOOR HIMSELF and went outside. Guess it's time for constanting locking that door! He also doesn't love to be in the stroller, and will find himself a snack if you tell him "no." See?

It is so hard to believe that just fifteen months ago, he was a newborn and now he is running around, talking, eating with a fork and spoon, throwing mini temper tantrums, and developing a little personality. He is such a little cheeseball (as we like to call him, because he is such a ham!), and he is the most precious little boy. We're really trying to slow down, take deep breaths when he challenges us, and enjoy this phase of our lives! :)

Ocean City, MD [Day Eight]

Last day of vacation...boy, that came quickly! We were mostly packed up by this morning after some stuff we did last night. I had all of our laundry washed and dried so that I could just unpack at home. Love doing that - saves so much time.

Carter had a rough night last night (I guess after sleeping through the night for a week straight in a strange place in a pack n play should be considered a victory though), so we were up super early. We decided to go out for breakfast today so that we wouldn't have to worry about washing dishes and whatnot before we left. We headed a few blocks north for a buffet only to find out that one no longer existed. Then, we went a few more blocks north to another which wasn't open yet. So, we turned around and went many, many blocks south to one the guys swore they saw a bit past our place. We walked and walked and didn't really see one, so we popped into the Dough Roller instead. It turned out to be really good, so I think it was a good decision! Carter liked being a little beggar from Opa and anyone else who was willing to give him some yummy food.

After breakfast we packed up the last of our things and we were all on the road by about 9:30 a.m. The ride home wasn't bad, though Carter only slept two hours this time and spent the last two hours alternating between being happy and being incredibly antsy and fussy. In the grand scheme of things, though, he did overall very well on vacation and we're happy with how things went.

We had a great time on vacation - Carter's first!!! - and can't wait to do more vacations in the future. Thanks, Oma and Opa!

Ocean City, MD [Day Seven]

Our last full day started early (like normal when you’re vacationing with an active toddler) with blueberry pancakes made by Oma. Seth and I had already decided that we weren’t even going to brave the beach today because Carter just never learned to like it that much. So we went for a walk after breakfast (which Carter fell asleep on - SO cute!) and then came back and packed things up to go to the pool. Oma and Opa were going to go to the beach but then decided after their super long walk that they’d rather just come to the pool, so we were all there together (and only us – there has rarely been anyone at the pool when we’re there!).

When Carter was tired/losing it, we went inside for lunch and put him down for his afternoon nap. Seth and I walked the boardwalk some more. While we were out, I started feeling dizzy and became insanely tired. I have a bit of a sunburn, so I wasn’t sure if the sun has just taken my energy (or if the energy has been sapped by a little boy who shall remain nameless). I took a lovely afternoon nap, and when I woke up, we walked with Carter down to the pier. We stopped on the way for some Fisher’s popcorn for Michelle and Jason for watching Bentley, and then hit up the tram. I had been wanting to take the tram all week, but Seth was never that into it. I convinced him to finally do it, promising him Carter would love it. Well, we stopped SO MANY TIMES in the thirteen or so blocks we went that it was absolutely absurd. Carter had ants in his pants, and I was getting frustrated. It was fun, though, but I wish it would have been a bit more non-stop.

We showered and headed to de Lazy Lizard for dinner. We decided to sit inside for some a/c. The food was good even though Opa’s “fish and chips” was missing the “chips.” Weird. We were SO FULL, so we didn’t walk the boardwalk, but rather parked it on a bench and people watched. Carter was in rare form (clearly overtired), so we didn’t stay too long. He kept walking over to the statue man (a man who paints himself silver and stands really still on a stool…for money, of course) and trying to pull money out of his bucket. That’s our kid. Ha!

He finally tuckered out around 8:30 p.m. and we got some more things packed up. Tomorrow we head home…sad to leave but excited to see Bentley too!! :)

Ocean City, MD [Day Six]

Today we woke up and went to a local place called Layton’s for breakfast. It was good and nice to get out and break up the long morning at the beach. By day six, we sure thought we’d have this whole baby-at-the-beach thing in the bag. Not so much. Little boy can’t seem to decide if he loves or hates the sand. We rigged up quite the playland today at the beach – kiddie pool in the beach tent with a neat sheet outside of the tent entrance. Our plan was to limit sand exposure as much as possible. This plan worked for about fifteen minutes until he decided he might want to explore a bit. He happily set out and walked all around the sand, even down towards the water. But then, all of a sudden, he hit a wall, and it sort of sent me over the edge. It takes so much time to drag everything to the beach and set up only for the babe to decide he hates it an hour in.

Soooo, Carter and I headed to the pool while Seth stayed down at the ocean for some relaxation. Turns out, Oma decided to come up with Carter and I and Opa decided to go to the beach with Seth. Carter was much happier at the pool (and so was I – what’s that phrase? Happy baby, happy life.). :)

By 11 a.m., Carter was dragging. I took him downstairs and gave him lunch, and he kept falling asleep while he was eating. It was darling. He fell RIGHT asleep when I put him down and slept another almost three-hour nap. Seriously….heaven. Because I was on baby duty all morning, Seth stayed with Opa at the condo and Oma and I headed back to the beach. I parked it in my chair and promptly fell asleep. I was good for about an hour and a half and then I could see/feel the sunburn appearing, so I called it a day.

After a shower and some down-time, Seth, Carter, and I hit up the Christmas shop and Starbucks for some wi-fi and iced tea. Mmmm.

For dinner, we went to a Mexican place on the boardwalk called Guidos Burritos. I thought it was really good and Carter loved it, too! We walked a lot on the boardwalk after dinner – all the way to the pier, down to the inlet, into lots of shops, and back up. Carter has so much fun walking on the boardwalk at night. He loves to wave to people and be a general goof. People kept commenting about how cute he is. :)

It took him a bit to fall asleep tonight but I think he was juiced up on energy from tonight. If all goes well (KNOCK ON WOOD), tonight will be night six of sleeping-through-the-night gloriousness on vacation (he does STTN at home, I just mean I’m so thankful he is here too since he is out of his general routine).

Last full day tomorrow. Booo. I have lots planned for us to do tomorrow, so we’ll see!