When The Lord Closes A Door...

I wanted to write a blog about the family. There have been a couple of changes, but none too drastic. I am starting my new job on January 8, which is this coming Tuesday at Utah Surgical Center. I am really excited, nervous and sad. I am excited to start a new job and meet new people. I am nervous to learn everything all over again when I just left something that I was very comfortable with...and meeting new people. It is nerve racking to learn all new doctors and remember everything they want for surgeries. I am sad because I am going to miss all the other people I worked with at the hospital and Dr. Slawson, who was my favorite surgeon to work with. I promised him I would come back to Jordan Valley, but going to this surgery center works better for me as a mom. I am really sad to leave Carson. I know that he will be with people we love and he is going to be well looked after. I wrote a 2 page schedule and instruction "manual" for my mom and sister. My mom probably would've done the same if she had to go back to work and I can see Gina doing it when she becomes a mommy. I am trying to keep him on a schedule so on my days off he isn't all confused. Kirstin and Angela may have an opportunity to take part in that "manual". :)

My job is going to be great! Not only does it pay better than Jordan Valley, I get more breaks, they have profit sharing (bonuses) every 3 months, and free lunches everyday! You can't go wrong with that! It's weird because I have to sign up for a couple of days a month where I have to worry about lunch, I buy it or make and then they reimburse me. I get a Christmas Savings Plan or Vacation Savings plan that pays me 5% interest. They take what I want out of each paycheck. I signed up for the Christmas savings plan and they give me the check the 31st of October. If I dip into it before then, they won't pay me the 5% interest. I will get all of my money back anyway, so it's nice to have that money I won't see in my checking account. I won't be tempted to spend it either. Last but not least, there is no call!! No 2 a.m. surgeries. They are all so nice. I went in to get my paperwork done and they all were so friendly and eager to meet me.

Dave didn't get his job in the marketing department at Usana. He feels okay about it considering he has some other opportunities in the legal department. I hope he doesn't mind me telling everyone. We know that when the Lord closes a door, he opens a window. Things happen for a reason and when he graduates in May, we will see other windows, maybe even doors of opportunity open for him. He has to take 2 Spanish classes and his Advanced Mangament class and he will get his Bachelor Degree in May from the U. We are really looking forward to that moment. With school and work, Dave is really good at helping me with Carson. He is a good dad. He can make Carson laugh a lot more than I can. He's very helpful and Carson loves his daddy! We are proud of him for trying for that job.

As for Carson, he is still growing. We are trying to get him to fall asleep on his own instead of rocking him to sleep. It's hard, but we are still picking him up if he wakes up to calm him down. I would be scared too if I was a baby and woke up and it was all dark. Sharing a room with him is hard, but it's only temporary. I will be more grateful for a 2 bedroom apartment or a house when we get one. Carson can sit up on his own pretty well, with a few wobbles. He is eating rice and oatmeal cereal and occasionally some sweet potatoes, squash and today my parents fed him a little bit of banana. I am now regretting taking back my diaper genie. Just kidding. We have a little trash on our patio that works just fine.

I know that if we have the faith and pray to Heavenly Father for things we need and want in life, He will make it possible. Life is good. Change is hard, but life is good.

Happy New Year

Dave, Carson and I had a very fun new years eve. It was really nice to spend some time with his family. In order to keep Carson on his schedule, we had to leave before midnight. He didn't sleep on the way home, but when we got home, we made him a little bit of cereal and put him in his exersaucer and got to celebrate the coming of 2008 with us. We gave him lots of hugs and kisses and sent him to bed. Dave and I followed. I guess that once you have kids, the partying stops. Well, I have really never partied on New Year's Eve. Here are some pictures I took right at midnight. I was saying "happy new year, Carson" to him while taking some pictures. I got some cute ones. Dave and I were talking about new year resolutions. Of coarse there is the typical one about losing weight and exercising everyday. Then by January 14, the resolutions are long gone. I hope that everyone can make some sort of change in their life for the better. That is the only type of resolution that I believe in. We hope all of our friends and family have a happy new year.

Cute Sweater

I told everyone on my Christmas blog that I would let you all see the cute sweater my brother Nate and my sister-in-law Angie gave him for Christmas. Handsome, handsome!

Sweet Potatoes

On December 21, we started to feed Carson some baby food. We have been giving him rice cereal for a couple of weeks now, and decided it was time to introduce him to some veggies. Kirstin gave me some extra baby food that she had left over from when the twins were eating it. So, we gave him Sweet Potatoes. He loves them. He did really well with them. He is so funny. I didn't know they would be so messy, considering I am a first time mom, so we had all of his clothes on. Luckily, with some Shout, we got all the potatoes out!! Since then, I have learned to keep him in his diaper. It is so funny because it will be all over his mouth and he will stick his hands in his mouth then rub his eyes. We are always prepared with nice warm wash cloths for him after he is all done eating. He now has 2 teeth that have broken through, so he will be eating solids before we know it!! He's growing too fast.

Little Feet

I found this picture that we had taken at Kiddie Kandids. His feet are so little!

Christmas 2007

This is what Carson got for Christmas. It wasn't much, considering it was his first Christmas and Santa knew he was too young to remember it. We had other people spoil him, so we knew that Santa didn't have to.

This is Jackson and the twins opening their gifts from Nana and Papa.

Dave and I are blessed with very generous parents. My parents got us a filing cabinet, that picture by Simon Dewey, and a complete stocking with Jones soda, nuts, bananas, oranges, chocolate oranges, Toblerone candy, batteries, Similac for Carson, etc. His parents got Carson a Peek-a-boo Rain forest thing for his crib that plays soothing music to help him sleep. It also has cute characters that move so he'll watch them and get tired. He is still a picky sleeper at night and needs to be rocked to sleep, but he really likes listening to it for naps. Peggy and Randy also gave us a DVD player for our bedroom, a folding table for camping and a Welcome doormat, which is so much nicer than my other one. Maddie had Carson and gave him this adorable mooing cow flashligh! Thanks Maddie! Gina and Beau gave us a gift certificate to Chili's for a date night and Nate and Angie gave us a baby sign language book that will come in handy.

This is the gigantic puppy dog that Gina, Beau and my parents got for him. It's so cute. My brother Nate and Angie gave him the cutest sweater, that I need to get a picture of and add it later.

This present was from Noel. She is so creative! I am sure we will get a lot of use out of our ice cream cups and scoop! Dave eats ice cream all of the time.

This is the picture my mom and dad gave us for Christmas. It's called "He Lives" by Simon Dewey. My favorite one by him.

Gina and Beau got this for Carson for Christmas. It's a fun toy that converts into something as he grows.

This is the Jumperoo that my parents got him for Christmas. He loves to jump! He has a blast in there!

Here are the Mangums on Christmas opening some gifts. I love drawing names for the kids because it's so fun to see what they all get!

Carson had Nicolas this year. We gave him a Spider-man football. We also had Doug and Kirstin. We thought it would be fun for them to have a movie pack considering they got their new projector for their new basement!! We got my parents an itunes gift card, some pyrex bowls because they bake their chicken for their diet, and some kitchen shears, since they were using their paper scissors to cut their chicken. We got Gina and Beau and Nate and Angie Ikea gift cards because they both love Ikea. We got Randy and Peggy a hot chocolate maker with some cute mugs to go with it. Dave and I were so blessed this past Christmas season. Not only do we have such a fun little guy to share with it, but I got a new job that I hope I will enjoy and things have been going well, thanks to Heavenly Father. We were so happy to share this season with the ones we love.

All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth

I wanted to just to a separate blog about how Carson cut his second tooth on Christmas day. We thought it was really fun, yet we felt sorry for the poor thing!

The Petty Christmas Party

Grandma Petty with Carson

Dave and I have so much fun every year at the Petty Christmas party. It is always nice to see the Allen family and Grandma Petty. They Allen family used to live in my ward before I knew Dave, so I think it's so fun to see them considering I've known them longer than I've known Dave. We look forward to the dollar gifts because they are so fun! I got a purple flower night light, which Macey wanted, so I just gave it to her. She wanted to trade me it for her baton, but since I lack in the baton twirling skills, I decided to let her keep that one too. Here are some fun pictures.

Everyone opening their gifts.

Funny Faces

These pictures I took of Carson the other day were so funny that I had to share them. He is such a happy baby and keeps our household full of smiles. It doesn't matter how bad of a day or how long of a sleepless night we have, all we have to do is look at Carson's face smiling back at us and all chaos is forgotten.

Teething At Four Months

I can't believe that Carson is already teething! The past 3 days he has been so fussy, slobbery and tired. I didn't put two and two together until today. I looked at his gums and sure enough, there is a little tooth poking through! I stuck my finger in his mouth and he chopped on it pretty hard. I felt something sharp and hard. He also started to cry because of him chopping down on my finger over that tooth. I gave him a little tylenol and I put his teething rings in the fridge so they were cold when I gave them to him. I have been putting him in his Snugli because he won't let me put him down anywhere! Not even in his exersaucer, which he usually can stay in for quite some time. He will sit there in the Snugli and have that huge teething ring in his mouth with a huge smile on his face. I think he really likes the cold. I know that he's been chomping on things and slobbering lately, but I thought that was just a normal thing for a baby to do...somewhat. His slobbering has gotten a lot worse the past few days, so that was a huge hint. I am so proud again, of this fun, yet loud milestone!

Eight Year Anniversary

Erin, Janel, Carson, Christine, Cindy and Gina

Not Pictured: Shalea and Amber

Looking at the title, one could wonder what on earth am I talking about? A eight year anniversary? For what? Well, every year since 9th grade (1999), all of my friends and I get together for our annual Christmas party. It all started at Erin Wadsworth's house (the cute girl with the glasses) and we have done it every year since then. We even had the party at her house this year! We have seen people come and go, but there are 7 of us who have remained faithful to this wonderful tradition. Shalea unfortunately couldn't make it this year and Amber left before I remembered I had my camera. Of coarse this year Carson was probably the biggest addition and attraction to this party. They all begged me to bring him, so I did. He was such a well behaved boy during the whole thing. The funnest part about the whole thing is drawing names for presents. This year I had to get Cindy a gift(the one sitting next to me). I gave her a gift certificate to Maurice's, which is her favorite store in the mall. Erin had me! Erin gave me the most creative and most useful Christmas present. She gave me a cupcake cookbook with decorating ideas. That will come in handy for my monthly family home evening with Dave's family when we have to bring the dessert. She also gave me the cookbook called "Deceptively Delicious" by Jessica Seinfeld, which is Jerry Seinfeld's wife. It shows you how to sneak veggies into your food without your kids knowing it when they won't eat them. So, basically, I need my blender a lot. That will come in handy when Carson gets older. This Christmas season has been hard. I know I have to go back to work after all the fun and excitement is over, so I've been dreading it to come and go. I applied and had an interview at Utah Surgical Center, so the hours will be the same, but no call!! They are also offering me more money, so I am happy about that. They are going to let me know by this Friday if I got the job. It's going to be a hard adjustment, but I am glad it's only 2-3 days a week. That will still give me a lot of time with my cute little baby boy!! I hope it's not for long!!

Sitting Up...Well Sort Of

Carson is so strong. That is one thing I know that Dave and I are both very proud of. I know all parents are proud of the smallest things, but I think this is a very big milestone for him. He is starting to sit up pretty well. After a few seconds he will start to lean forward. It is so cute how he wobbles to keep his balance. He loves to sit and stand up. When I change his diaper, he cries because he sits there and does crunches trying to get himself to sit up. So, I let him and took some cute photos. I am sure he will be sitting up in no time.

The Ward Christmas Party

Last night we went to the ward Christmas party. It's always nice to go eat some free food, talk with our friends and neighbors and see our primary kids perform the nativity scene. The funnest part of the whole thing was Santa coming to see the kids. One of the kids in our primary class, John, sat there forever and named about 100 things off the top of his head. Totally John. We got some cute photos of Carson with Santa. The funny thing is, is that Carson has found his tongue! All day yesterday he was sticking out his tongue. So, when we got these photos, Carson had to show off his new little trick. It was a lot of fun.

Four Months Old

As you all know, Carson is four months old now. He is getting so big. We took him to the doctor today to get his four month check up. He weighs 16 pounds, 12 ounces. The doctor told us his eyes will probably stay blue. He also said that his strength is advanced for his age. He is really amazed how strong Carson is. He said he may be an early walker. We will see! We hope, but then I want him to stay a baby forever! I also need to put Carson on his tummy a lot more. It was just hard because he spit up so much, but now that he's on a bottle, he really hasn't spit up. I am glad Dave came with me today because the poor thing got his shots again. He did really well. He didn't cry. He fussed like he does when he gets tired, but he didn't cry. We are so proud of him. He is such a good boy! I am also proud of him because after he woke up from his nap today, he took a bottle from me! I was ecstatic! I am glad he didn't want to nurse. It's sad in a way to break that bond, but yet I am so happy because now, I can give him to Dave in the morning and he can get a bottle ready and feed him while I sleep!! Hallelujah! I know I did many posts about his bottle feeding, but this is for sure the last anyone will hear of it because he's on a bottle and that's it! It finally happened! I am still grateful that Dave gave him a blessing. We are so happy that Carson is doing so well!

The Millionth Blog

Okay, now he'll take a bottle from his dad at home. I should have been more patient to blog about the whole bottle fiasco. I used to top him off before bed, but we stuck a bottle of my milk into his mouth when he was falling asleep so he would learn not to depend on me now for bed. I am so happy this is all happening, but he does get his shots tomorrow so I'm wondering how he will react to the bottle. I'll let you all know how it goes...if you aren't sick of hearing about this bottle fun!