Kylie

Kylie is 9 months and our little piece of heaven. Sometimes she goes by Kylie, but usually something like baby, tywie, sweetheart, angel, etc. She helps us lower our blood pressure (If you are wondering why we may have blood pressure spikes, I would refer you to the previous post. Bless his heart, he's teething.). She gives sweet kisses and snuggles. We LOVE her sweet cheeks, and her chubby arms and legs! She has started getting into crawling position and rocking, so she may melt away some of those rolls. I hope not too fast though. She loves balloons (mylar ones in the store). At home, she loves to look at pictures hanging on the walls. You can hold her in front of pictures until your arms get tired, but she won't tire of looking at them. She can imitate some sounds like "aaa" for a sheep sound. My favorite is her trying to say "hi." She is just so expressive!


She is so tolerant of our adventures. Here we are on a train ride.

In the stroller, Little Kylie has to put up with a LOT of wiggling and getting squished and she isn't quiet about it. She does have fun with Carter and thinks he is funny until he takes her toy away.

She doesn't hesitate to get messy. She was nearly hyperventilating she was so excited to get the bowl of baby oatmeal from me just so she could play in it. We need a dog to clean up after her experiments with gravity. She will pick off the foods she doesn't like, reach her arm out to the side and drop. Just this month, she went from 0 to 4 teeth and handled it rather well.

Growing up too fast!

Kylie spends a Lot of time in the Bjorn. She LOVES dogs and elephants! She points to things all the time.

Carter picked the lion costume for her. Kylie has a special squeal of excitement when Jason comes home from work. They are just so cute together. Her favorite is when he plays with her while I'm holding her. She just eats up all the attention.

Bits and Pieces about Carter

Carter has turned into a mini adult sometimes. He'll ask with such a mature voice things like "How was work dad?" or "How was your run?" Sometimes if he is sad and then you give him a drink, he'll say thank you through his tears. We have some really great moments with him and then the other moments....

Seems like we've had a lot of "those" days lately. At the end of one, I asked our sweet little guy, "Are you ready to be a nice boy?" to which he responded, "Are you ready to be a nice mommy?" I think I got put in my place. Another day, I was not a nice mommy and asked if he wanted a new mommy or something like that. I thought we need to get out of the house for everyone's sanity, so I instructed Carter to get ready because we were going to go somewhere. He asked, "Are we going to give me away?" That day someone's prayers were answered and Jason got off work really early like 3ish. A true miracle since that was the worst day we had ever had. He is very sweet and we have had many conversations about forgiveness and he is a great example to me.

Carter (bless his heart) is two. Sometimes when he is whining out in public and people (usually young girls) ask, "What's wrong with him?" I respond, "He's 2."

He is really into rubbing things on his hands lately. He has scooped handfuls of substances namely peanut butter, vaseline, and chocolate syrup and rubs them around his hands as if he is rubbing in lotion. When I found him with the vaseline all over his hands and in the carpet, I was quite frustrated and then asked him, "How did you think I would react?" He said "Funny" and started laughing. I was surprised by his little answer which was probably honest and started laughing.

On a positive note, he is really good at climbing and problem solving. He knows the 11 basic colors including grey and knows some numbers and letters. I have been trying to have alone time with Carter during Kylie's AM nap and we do preschool activities to fulfill my retired teacher itch. Every night I go to bed thinking I'm a lucky mom and am very grateful for this little guy. He surely makes us laugh!

Carter's "cheese" face on the King Street Trolley in Old Town Alexandria


Carter's cold face. He insisted on posing back in a little corner by my bed stand.


He loves animals.




Luray Caverns


Some things speak for themselves.


He LOVES tools.


Climbing at this bouncy house place. I was a little nervous at first, but he never fell. He was so tired by the time we left he couldn't lift his arm to feed himself. I have never seen him so tired and have so much fun!


Kylie's up next post.

As I see pictures, I will add little blirps and they may not even relate to the picture!

Jason finished all of his classwork in December and all of his exams in May which means he is a "PhD ABD" (ABD= All but dissertation). He really actually qualified for another Master's degree! Congrats! Way to boost that CV. I thought we needed donuts for the occasion.


Carter wants to be involved now every month when we take Kylie's picture. They can wear each other's diapers, so looks like they were both sporting "Kylie diapers" at that moment. Kylie is now 7 months old to show how behind I am.



Now every time I ask Carter if he wants to hold Kylie, he asks to take their picture. I just love it! We just switched their car seats to the other car and Kylie's base was in the middle. We asked Carter if he wanted to move Kylie's chair to the side and he said, "No. I don't want Kylie over there." He wanted to keep their car seats next to each other and then he shared his toy with her. Kylie is so much happier having her car seat by his and the mirror hanging so she can see herself. Here are the kids in their PJs.

Family Pictures

Family pictures by Summer (my sister-in-law). Thanks Summer! Every member in the Potter family got together in June over Father's day weekend. We packed in as much as you possibly could in a one weekend, but all amazing events that I'm glad we could all celebrate with one another. Mike graduated from his Orthopedic surgery residency and we got a killer dinner for free! Way to go Mike! Carter spent the night with ALL his cousins and loved it! Cousin Mikayla got baptized. We took family pictures and then had a pizza and pool party. Easton and Alex were blessed on Sunday.

Carter was so big on Father's day. He gave ALL his binkies to his cousin Easton. I had started talking about giving our binkies to the babies about 2 weeks before we went to New York. When it was about time to leave, we told him it was time and he walked to Easton with every one watching and gave him the binkies all by himself. We were standing 10-15 feet away. I was heart broken and sad watching him give up one of his most prized possessions. Maybe it was partly that my little guy was growing up right before my eyes. He was just so mature. Later that night, he was sad when he tried to go to sleep. Jason ended up rocking him for a few hours that night and then we had a hard time with sleep for maybe 2 weeks and now he is a big binkie free boy. He got a few "Thank you" presents a few days later that were labeled from Easton and Alex. Cousin Alex came to visit with one of his binkies and Carter picked it up and gave it to Alex. He wasn't even tempted to suck on it. I continually amazed by this kid. I don't have that kind of will power.



Happy Father's Day Jas! He is so good to our kids. Kylie laughs so much with him! Carter loves him to pieces!





The 3 2010 Potter Grandchildren born within 3 months of each other. They nearly killed off Grandpa Potter with having to share my mom as each of them were being born. Kylie is 5 months old, Easton is 8 months old, and Alex is 7 months old.

Alex (Brett and Carrie), Kylie (Ours), Easton (Mike and Summer)

Blessing Day!

We blessed our little Kylie last Saturday at our house. She looked like a little princess and very precious!



Kylie and the grandmas


Kylie and the Grandpas


Kylie and Me


Kylie and Jason


With Grandma and Grandpa Jorgensen


With Grandma and Grandpa Potter


The Princess in her dress


Coincidently, we blessed Carter when he was 4 1/2 months old as well.


Carter and Kylie


Carter folding his arms, which probably lasted as long as the picture was taken. When we went to say our family prayers, I told him we were going to say a prayer and he asked "for Kylie?" since we had a special prayer earlier for our sweet Ky.

Angels Among Us

Another possible title could be "Charity Case". I think it is some of both.

Just yesterday, I went to Target. A nice shopper was turning Carter into a Target worker as a missing child as I was about 50 yards off walking over to claim him. It was nice of her to restrain herself from adopting him. I was walking out the electronic door and trying to ease the cart over the bump so as not to wake Kylie( and appearing as if I was very weak and unable to push a cart) and a Target guy came over to push our cart out to the car. I didn't know Target had car service (P.S. We have also had personalized service at Wal-mart.) Then, we went to the park. As I fed Kylie, Carter decided to leave the park, when a nice grandma yelled for someone to "grab that little boy." As we left, I was heaving the car seat loaded with Kylie and holding Carter, which is normal, but somehow my muscles are still so weak. Here comes the construction worker to my rescue to carry Kylie to the car. People are so nice! Seems everyday I come home and report to Jason how many times I have lost Carter and how many people have helped us throughout the day.

The Zoo! I LOVE the Zoo! Thankfully my BFF Krista does too, and our kids are just along for the ride. In my attempts to get there, the kids and I hopped on the train, switched trains and then exited 1 stop past the zoo. The next stop makes the walk down hill and it is the same distance from the zoo. We were inching our way off the train. Carter was moving extra slow and then his foot got caught in the stroller, only briefly, so I got that out and moved to the front of the stroller to pull it out and hold Carter. Well, Carter and I made it off and only got bumped by the doors as they were closing, but our Kylie was still in the stroller on the train. I could see her through the windows and could do nothing. Nearly all the people on that train, about 5, jumped up and wrenched the doors open so I could roll the stroller onto the platform and get my Kylie back. Turns out the elevators were out at that station and we had to get back on the next train to go back to the zoo stop. In the meantime Carter was climbing and fell off the marble bench. Cleveland Park was not my favorite stop that day, but at least I made it out with both the kids safe.

The ZOO was amazing as usual. I always leave thinking my life is nearly complete after going to the zoo. This time it was the gorillas chasing each other all around the cage and the baby lions that did it for me. A spontaneous day with Krist always does the trick too (please don't move)!
Kate, Carter, and Brooklyn. Krista's girls have the cutest little poses and Carter was running away.


Going home, my metro fare was short, but the guy took what I had left on my card and called it good. We had to get off the metro 1 stop early because the elevators were out at our stop. This added a least 30-45 minutes waiting for the shuttle bus, but one lady pushed the stroller onto the bus that took us to our metro stop. Walking back to our car a lady pushed our stroller like 2 blocks while I carried Kylie.

I think the moral is that I try things that I think I can do, but it appears otherwise to everyone else. Hasn't stopped me yet...

Melissa's House!

We went to Melissa's house (my sister) in Ohio for a week. I braved the 10-10.5 hours in the car each way with 2 kids. We faired pretty well considering. Carter had a ball and loved all the cousins especially Tristan. They spent so much time playing on the new tramp. I think we may need one of those soon, maybe as much for me as for Carter. On our way home, I asked C if he wanted to go home or to Melissa's house, and he picked Melissa! He is usually such a home body and a daddy's boy, so I was quite surprised.

Of course, he chased the kitty and was only mauled 1 time which did not deter him.




We went to a farm and Carter LOVED the tractors! He couldn't have cared less about the cows and goats and just wanted to ride the tractor. At one point, he got a strange orangish brownish substance on his pants, so he took them off. THis is his new remedy for even the slightest drip on his shirt of pants, GONE! I was nursing Kylie and used my word power, "Please don't take your pants off." It never works, me asking that is.






We went to this fun museum where the kids can pretend in a lot of adult situations (i.e. mechanic, grocery store, vet, jail/court, etc.) and do experiments. Carter is an escape artist and snuck away several times to go down this multi-story slide. He was usually predictable as to where he had went except for the 1 time we lost him for a little bit longer. I always seem to find him though.

Kylie Cakes

Happy Birthday Carter!

We now have a 2 year old which keeps things interesting! He absolutely LOVED his birthday! I had no idea he would be so excited about his party, friends, presents, cake, party hats, etc. When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he said birthday cake and party hats. He is just a little ball of energy.

From this tiny little 4.5 pounder to...


This wild and crazy fun little boy!

Bring on the gray hair!

Good news first...

Kylie is just a little doll. She LOVES her daddy. Jason gets her to coo and gurgle so much. She smiles at him right when he gets home. It is so fun to watch. She is up to 11 pounds 2 weeks ago and just an average girl for everything. We just eat her up especially her sweet cheeks. Carter gently points to her cheeks and says "cute cheeks". It is very sweet.

Carter: Doin up there? (Cueing me to ask him "What were you doing up there?")
Mom: What were you doing up there?
Carter: Um (the eating sound when you take a bite)
Mom: What were you eating?
Carter: Soap
Mom: Was it good?
Carter: Yeah!

In a later conversation he told me it was "yuty" (yucky). He had nibbled on all 7 bars of soap. We keep our soap in a big ziplock bag because Carter likes to unbox all the bars when we get new soap, and I now let him because it makes it easier when you need soap to just open the bag and not have to worry about the box.

Carter: made that mess? (Who made that mess?)
Carter: Carter did it.


You may be wondering. Why are there no pictures? Our camera broke AGAIN! We bought this lemon Sony camera in July and it has broken 2 times in 9 months. We will have only had the camera in our possession for less than 8 months since it will be out for repairs for over a month between the 2 repairs. Thank goodness for the 1 year warranty. After paying $20 for shipping this time and $15 last time, I was annoyed to say the least. I called Sony and told them of my woes to which they responded "There's nothing we can do mam." After like 30 minutes of persuasion (really badgering), the poor customer service guy said I could fax in my latest receipt and now they are sending me a check for $20. However $20 doesn't quite cover the ticket I got for making a left turn a block from the UPS store. There was a sign No Left Turns from 7-9 AM and it was 8:50 AM. I was so mad! I rarely drive in Old Town Alexandria, so I had a mapquest map in my hand when the officer pulled me over. I did notice the sign after getting in the left turn lane, but was I really supposed to merge back into traffic or just make the left turn 10 minutes before I was supposed to. Maybe I should have waited out the 10 minutes in the lane. Who knows, but I was so frustrated with the officer. Between the 10 minutes, obviously not familiar with the area by use of the map in hand, and I was so close to our final destination, it was maddening. Plus, 1 week before we were hit by an uninsured driver and he didn't get a ticket (see below).

I got into the left turn lane and the light was yellow and I stopped. This guy collided with the back of our car. He swerved to the right and the impact was to the rear bumper on my passenger side and to the front bumper on his driver’s side. He quickly got out of his car and asked if we were okay. We came up with the plan to drive to the parking lot and he actually did it, but I had his license plate written down just in case. I had Carter and Kylie with me. It was really minor so minor Kylie stayed asleep and Carter didn't even react. He said his name was Thomas Matthews and gave me a phony number. I had forgotten my cell phone which forced me to use his phone and gave us the name Anthony Coleman and the actual number. Thank goodness the government has good caller ID. We had his number on Jason's cell, but not the name. I made him write me a statement and he wrote “I promise to pay for the incident.” and signed “Thomas Matthews” on a coupon for a donut. He signed "his" name "Thomas Mattews" with all the letters. Typically signatures are automatic and you don’t form every letter. He used lower case letters for the first letters of his name. If it was his actual name, he would probably know how to form capitals for the first letters of his first and last name. He said he didn’t have his insurance information on him, but that he had liability with Senate and it would cover us but not him. Geico tracked down his insurance and got me the policy # and phone number, so I called to report the incident before he gave them phony information. Well, he HAD insurance but it ended February 12 and we needed it March 1. So close!

I called the phony number the next day and obviously it didn't work, so I called his number from caller ID. I asked for Thomas Matthews, the name he gave me, but obviously that was the "wrong number." I responded, "Sir, I recognize your voice, you are the one that hit us yesterday." So I asked for Anthony Coleman, and then he claimed to be Thomas's brother. I asked who the owner of the car was and he responded that it was not Thomas's but in a friend’s name. Anthony Coleman, who I was speaking with, was the owner and didn’t provide that information. I had to have my insurance company find out the information (i.e. the owner of the vehicle and the insurance information) through tracing his license plate. He did provide some foreshadowing though. He said that he didn’t think “Thomas Matthews” was with Senate insurance anymore.

Our insurance which I do recommend, Geico, is going to cover everything for a $0 deductible. If we didn't know the person who owned the vehicle, then it would have cost us $200. Now Geico is going to attempt to get payment from the man AC!

I should just never make left turns!


So I have spent the month of March on the phone with car insurance (both AC's old insurance company and my insurance co), health insurance, dental insurance, and the Sony people. Apparently your health and dental are automatically stopped at the end of the month following your 6/8 weeks off from maternity leave, so Februrary 28 our insurance ended. It takes a few days to get entered back into the system before you officially have coverage again. I had no idea and had a doctor's appt. for Kylie (2 month check up) and a dentist appt. scheuduled at the first of the month. Our insurance was going to be back dated to March 1, but at the time of appts. we were not going to be covered. It all worked out. The insurance agent called the doctor's office for me to let them know we would be covered soon and I just rescheduled the dentist. Now we have all insurances in working order, but it was a lot of phone calls trying to figure out what to do and when our insurances would be on. Turns out we are very blessed to have all these insurances and no one was hurt in the car accident.

February

Happy Presidents' Day! We visited the FDR Memorial since that was the closest memorial to where we parked. We originally set out to see Lincoln, but figured Carter probably didn't care where we went as long as he could run.



Kylie's participation in our outing.


We went to a Wizard's basketball game a few weeks ago. We got free tickets from our neighbors that got them for free for donating blood. Kylie did well and Carter loved climbing all over the Verizon Center. It was fun to see the players dunking in real life even from the top of the stadium.


Carter with his loot (binoculars, juice and golf caddy) on a Sunday before church.

Carter loves trunks and knows how to pull the handle if he gets locked in.

Carter helping wash the table.

Carter helping cover Kylie up. The only problem is that it is her head he is covering. He is sporting some cute little rattle booties meant for an infant.

Carter reading his dog Scout a story. He loves this toy from Grandma Jorgen!

Carter with a little ruffle bum. He loves to wear underwear over his diaper. He found this pair in Kylie's drawer. When we went to buy him underwear, he requested "Dora underwear." To which Jason replied, "We are not getting you Dora underwear." I laughed and may have been tempted to get it for him. His next choice was Yo Gabba Gabba underwear which we ended up getting him.


Kylie is just so sweet. We have loved having her in our family! All her cooing and smiling makes me so giddy and giggly. It has been so fun to dress a girl even though that is her least favorite thing, well except getting smashed by her favorite brother.
Kylie at the first of the month.

Kylie sporting a bow my mom made.

Our happy little girl during one of our "girl talks."