blur..

that's what Carson is now...just a blur. All over the place...was loading the dishwasher this morning and he decided he wanted to help. Grammie and I took him to a fun little play gym today and he had a blast. Didn't get that many photos of him and what I did get is blurry. Just wanted to enjoy his first time there and not worry about having a camera in my hand...left that up to grammie. Next time daddy is coming....wasn't able to today since he was working. Have been super busy the last couple of weeks hence my absence from the blog...and have had to nurse sick boys in the henkel household...and even a run to emergency last weekend for baby boy which ended up being a respiratory infection with 2 earaches....and high fever. Poor baby is better now.

Hard to believe Carson is 7 1/2 months now and before we know it he will be 1 year old. Wow!

He's 19 lbs. now with 7 teeth. The top 4 are still pushing through but you can definitely see them in all their glory in the photo above.
baby talk...dada, mama and up
liking sweet potatoes, green beans, squash, sweet peas and really loves rice cereal
loves music...enjoying his new maraca from grammie
favorite new toys-laughing clown doll, jingle bell and holey balls all from gymboree
xoxo

loads of smiles...

clothes from japan...make me laugh and smile great big! My brother and sis-in-law sent this for Christmas. There is a frog on the bottom with an accordian that's why it's says accordian on the hat. Poor Carson is just going to love this picture when he is grown. love you buddy!

Another picture that makes that me smile great big is one of baby and daddy when we were shopping for a new "family friendly" sofa...which we will be smiling about when it arrives on Sat. yipee!

Carson will be doing some serious smiling when the 4 top teeth make thier way through. We can see them now just waiting for the big debut!

You know me and my love of music...a new one to be sure to check out is "Sleep through the static" by Jack Johnson. Be sure to check it out!

xoxo

wow...

I was invited to be a part of an super fun creative day called artistic affaire at the fabulous home of Kim Caldwell! I'm happy to say that it is sold out...although Kim is taking names for the wait list just in case. Always have a great time teaching with my dear friend Emily...and really excited to be with Candice and to meet Lori Marie too! May 3rd just happens to be National Scrapbook Day too...who would've thought.

In other news, Carson is just a few days shy of 7 months and is really keeping us on our toes...rolling, crawling, pulling himself up, sitting and teething...3 on the bottom and soon-to-be 4 on the top.

Went to CHA today and am excited for some of the yummy scrapbook stuff to start showing up in stores. Will have to share a few favs in the next few days. Thanks sweet Candice for allowing me to be your guest! Just waiting for my tuckered out baby to come home with daddy after a fun filled day at grammie and grandpa's house. (thanks mom)
xoxo

sending special...

birthday wishes to my sweet, talented, beautiful new sister-in-law! Wishing you a fabulous birthday! xoxo

congrats...

to my sweet friend candice on her soft opening of her new web boutique called "Peacoats and Party Hats". The name alone makes me want to celebrate! I know good things are going to happen there! Be sure to check it out! xoxo

look...

below at the photo of carson and then the photo of me above when I was a wee one. any resemblance? xoxo

photoshoot...

with grammie on tues. for valentines. Carson had a great time and so did grammie. Love the shots and will be hard to choose which one...sigh. Kirsten from Fresh Focus Children's Photography is really amazing and hope to meet her in person someday for another photoshoot...maybe for Carson's 1 year birthday. Thanks Kirsten for fabulous photos that take my breath away! And thanks grammie for taking Carson for a day of fun! xoxo

a few favorites...

my MOST favorite newly married couple...Mr. & Mrs...so excited to have Chihiro as my sis-in-law. love you both!

oliver jeffers...favorite illustrator and children's book author

raffi...favorite children's music...favorite song (for today...may change tomorrow) "blessed be"

xoxo

downward dog...

carson has been practicing his yoga skills lately! xoxo

what...

a week! Poor Dave was sick on his birthday but is much better now! In fact, so much better so we went to the Wild Animal Park yesterday. Had a great time! Was nice to be outside. We were able to see 3 baby elephants which were adorable...playing and grabbing onto each other's tails.

Was able to finish a scrapbook page that has been on my desk for awhile now. Felt good to do something creative and looking forward to doing more handy-crafty things in the near future.

baby update for mommy at 6 mos.
teething and waiting for the top teeth to poke through soon
loves to chew on daddy and mommy's fingers
can pull himself up while holding onto objects
almost crawling and can get to where ever he wants to be
can sit up by himself
gets so excited by making his panting noise and moving his legs
pushes his bumper pad down on his crib so he can look out through the rails of his crib...quite the sight when you walk in his room in the morning....makes me smile
loves eating rice cereal
xoxo

happy...

birthday to carson's daddy (on Monday the 14th! And happy 1/2 birthday to Carson too!)

There are so many reason's why I love and appreciate my hubby and can't even begin to list them all here. Think I will have to tell him in person!

Been under the weather and wishing for more stay-at-home days! Will hopefully be able to share more photos and stuff soon as I'm better!

xoxo

happy...

new year! Been trying to post here for the last couple of days and haven't had much luck...wonder if blogger has many users that have resolutions to post more thus the busy activity and being unable to post. Hoping this one works. Had a great time at Disney for New Year's Day...actually went to California Adventure. Will go to Disney next time since we bought annual passes. I know Carson won't remember it but he did have fun looking at everything and enjoyed being with our friends children too! Went on Heimlich's Chew Chew Train for his first ride. What a cute ride...in a cute little area called Flik's Fun Fair. Looking forward to what 2008 has to bring and seeing Carson grow and laugh and smile....xoxo

p.s. love the shirt carson is wearing in the "kicking it" shot with daddy. Was a gift from my brother and sweet future sis-in-law from Tokyo Hard Rock Cafe. Thanks Gary and Chihiro.

edited to add photos finally...
p.s. guess blogger still isn't letting me post pictures...so until then I'll go ahead and post this so you know all is well here. would love to hear if all is well with all of YOU! xoxo

photoshoot...

mentioned in an earlier post this month that we took Carson to one of my favorite little boutiques as they offered a photo shoot for wee ones (sitting fee was complimentary). Well..I really liked all of the photos and asked if we could buy all of the photos on a CD...and the rest is history...so here are just a few. Loved Alex...you can see more of her work here! Thanks again sweet Alex...we love them all! xoxo

happy...

christmas! Is it already here? Hard to believe that we are celebrating Carson's first Christmas today. He's sleeping and we will open gifts when he wakes up. Speaking of sleeping...that's what he did when we took him to see Santa...and what a great santa he was...didn't even prompt santa to make the "shhh...baby sleeping" sound and pose. Love it. Will cherish this one forever...my sweet, sweet baby boy! Hope you have as happy of a Christmas as Carson's mommy and daddy will have today! xoxo

"get-it-done" sunday...

welll...it's early sunday morning and all i can think about while i'm up feeding the baby is my endless list of what i need to get done...so while it's all up in my noggin, i think i will jot it down here so i don't forget anything...
update photo of the day (done)
decorate tree (that has been waiting for us to do so all week) (done)
wrap presents
order and send christmas cards (ordered and purchased...need to address and send)
tidy up around the house (done)
order a special birthday cake xo (done)
buy a few more gifts...almost done (done)
add photo to this post

oh the hustle and bustle of christmas and a busy, busy working mommy.

mentioned last week we went to a photoshoot for carson...oh my goodness...i love, LOVE all the photos she took. they look like print ads. will be sure to share once christmas cards have been sent out.

took carson to see santa yesterday and it was the perfect santa. i'm sure you all know santa has a great personality. i'll be sure to show you what i mean after i share the pics with family.

p.s. bottom two teethers have made their debut as of yesterday...along with rosy cheeks too.
xoxo

uneventful weekend...

for most but for a new mommy of course every moment seems unforgettable. Did go to one of my favorite children's boutique for a complimentary photoshoot. Excited to see what will come out of the fun times we had with Carson through the lens of this photographer. On the way there, he fell asleep and I caught the photo above....not the best photo but one that melts my heart to know that it wasn't a planned photo just one that I wanted since my sweet boy decided to put his hand in mommy's before drifting off for a little nap. be still my heart!

notes for mommy-
at 4 months and 3/4 he is 15 lbs. 11 oz.
on 12/6 grammie discovered his first teeth poking through...daddy calls them his little "pokers"
enjoys his walker...scoots backwards
love seeing how ticklish he is...which creates some fun belly laughs
xoxo

woweee....

what an amazing day we (my mom and i) had yesterday! Took a trip to Roger's Gardens to check out the new holiday decorations. It was even more amazing than I remember. Can't wait to go back at night to see all the beautifully decorated trees with the lights on. Carson enjoyed being all bundled up close to mommy since it was pretty chilly.

We then went to South Coast Plaza for some shopping...mostly window shopping....which was just as much fun! We went into great new store filled with yummy smelly things called "Fresh". Want to go back and get a soap...love the pretty packaging.

more pictures from our fun day coming soon on my mom's blog.

xoxo

blessed...

aah...Thanksgiving...so much to be thankful for...especially a little one with the initials CPH. Pure bliss..every moment I am with him. Enjoyed doing just that for Thanksgiving day with my family. Had a delicious dinner at my aunt and uncle's house...even had seconds of my grandma's noodles and yummy wild rice stuffing which I really need that recipe cause I want more of it.

did some Christmas shopping today with dave and carson and ran into these silly geese. Hope they make you smile.

Just a few happy snapshots from the last few days. (Gotta love that adidas outfit a friend gave Carson...thanks sweet Chrissy. Miss you tons!) xoxo

notes for mommy:
is 4 1/2 months old
starting to imitate us
makes fishy faces by puckering his mouth
there isn't anyone that can make him laugh bigger than daddy. :-)
loves rolling all over his ABC...mat
wearing 6 month clothes
xoxo

whew...

sick mommy and sick baby...not so much fun! Much better today but have been wiped out the last couple of days with a cold. We are sure making baby's immune system stronger. He is as happy as can be...has just had a stuffy nose. Would never know that he was sick since he is such a happy-go-lucky baby.

I love reading and singing (even if I sing off key, he has no clue and makes him smile great big) to Carson and a new favorite author is Todd Parr. A friend of mine gave Carson the book on Peace and now I would love to buy him a couple more. Parr even wrote a book called Underwear do's and don'ts ...will definitely make you smirk and wonder what's inside...and how can this be a children's book.


for mommy to remember
4 months and a few days old
reaching for toys
rolling ALL over the room now...can't leave the room or he will run into something
loves to put his feet in his mouth
loves to pull off his socks...and then put them in his mouth...I'm sure that will stop when he is walking (ewww)

xoxo

tag...

welp, guess it's hard to avoid when you're tagged twice...once by my friend Susan and then by another friend Emily. So here are 7 random facts about me.

1. When I was little I used to chew on my books. My mom used to cover the chew marks with masking tape. Guess it was due to my love of paper.

2. I absolutely hate mustard. Just the smell of it gives me the heebie geebies.

3. Dave and I eloped. yep, just the 2 of us in paradise (Hawaii) with the wedding coordinator, photographer, videographer and minister that reminded us of Don Ho. We came home and had a great reception to celebrate with family and friends.

4. Before I was pregnant I didn't care for carbonated water. Once I was pregnant, I craved it all the time. Now that's all I drink...just carbonated water (and just one cup of decaf pumpkin coffee in the morning).

5. I was a band geek in high school. Was a flag in the color guard. Met Dave while I was a member of Fantasia an indoor guard at Riverside Community College. He was the drum instructor.

6. Referring to the random fact above...We started dating when I was in high school; our 20 year dating anniversary is next year.

7. I was in the miss teen california pageant when I was 16. They had best interview award, best talent award and more...I won the best scrapbook award.

Now I'm suppose to tag 7 more people, but all the people I would tag have been tagged already so I will call it a done deal.

And now for some Carson sweetness.
xoxo