A special start to a special day.

It was the perfect way to start Christmas morning...

Carrigan was the last one asleep and I didn't want Gavin to have to sit around waiting for the Christmas fun to begin. After a few attempts from big brother to wake her up by asking if she wanted to open presents, I told him to crawl up, give her a kiss and whisper "Merry Christmas." She immediately opened her eyes, smiled at him and leaned up to give him a big hug. It was just the thing to start our wonderful day!!

So cute. So precious. So little!

I'm sure I posted this long ago, but GOSH they were beautiful babies!!! -- Even when they were fighting while waiting on the doctor. :)


*sorry for the low quality. I don't know why it uploaded that way and have no idea how to fix it!*

It's all in a name...

My name is Laura. It's a pretty simple name. I didn't mind it growing up, I only wished people would pronounce it correctly. "Hi, my name is LaH-ra." "Oh, nice to meet you, LOra." *groan* Still, people don't get it right, but I don't mind so much anymore. I've moved on to another part of my name.

Carson.

When Levi and I got married, he knew I wasn't going to take his name. He knew before we even got engaged. He never cared. He never asked me to. I wanted to keep Carson, and that was perfectly fine with him.

People seem to get our names right, then they go to mail a letter and get it all mixed up. (sometimes on purpose, which is what gets me. So WHAT if I kept Carson and my kid's names are hyphenated) Believe me, you aren't going to offend Levi. He is happy when I am happy. (meaning when it's wrong I usually gripe and gripe and... ) I love that I kept my maiden name and haven't regretted it for one second. I love that the kids have my name. I am proud of my name. I will never feel bad about my decision. (even if you want me to)

So... Here are our names and how cards should be addressed during the upcoming Christmas season and such...

Levi King

Laura Carson

Gavin Carson-King

Carrigan Carson-King

Levi & Laura Carson-King

Levi & Laura Carson-King and family

The Carson-King family

Thanks in advance.

Laura Carson

Cat People. It's who we are.

I am a cat person. Always have been. My children are very much the same. They are afraid of most dogs, and the ones they aren't, they get tired of quickly. So... we have cats. We had Mindi Lou, but Carrigan was too rough with her, so we gave her away. We had Tinsel, who was WONDERFUL, but chose to be a stray. :( -- we still spot him, so we know he is okay and probably being fed by a neighbor . Carrigan was heartbroken when he stopped coming around. She asked for a "tiny, tiny little baby girl kitty" for her birthday. She was very particular and wanted the perfect one.
Just the other day, we were driving home from the store and I spotted two little tiny baby kitties. Both girls. We were all thrilled! (minus daddy, but eh... )
We brought them home and they are just adorable! I didn't want two cats, so we gave one away to our neighbor-friends, so we can visit any time! (Gavin was still heartbroken)

Tara is the sweetest little gray & white kitten. She is small, much smaller than her sister, calm, quiet, and very willing to let Carrigan push her around in a stroller. She is perfect!
*UPDATE* Tara has been renamed Mindi Lou Part 2. :)

The second night in the house we smelled "the smell." Levi and I searched and searched.... but just couldn't tell where it was coming from. Out of frustration, I asked Carrigan where it was coming from and she replied... "*sniff, sniff* It's in my nose!!!" Gosh, it was cute. :)

(unrelated cuteness about the 4 senses)
We ran out of the kid's toothpaste, so they had to brush with mine. Mint of course... Afterward, Carrigan wanted a drink of water. She took a sip, with her fresh mint mouth and surprisingly asked, "What kind of water IS this???" Oh, it was funny. :)
I love my sweet girl. ;)

Gavin is 4.

I expected to lose it when Gavin turned 4. I had little panic attacks when he turned 3. I don't mind him getting older as much as I don't want him in school and away from me 40 hours a week. If we can manage to live directly across from his school with a full view of the playground, I might be alright...

39 inches - 25th percent
30 lbs - 5th percent

Gavin is still the same kind hearted, gentle boy he has always been. He has definitely taken on the role as big brother and is proud of it. Carrigan is a princess, but he is no prince. He is a knight in shinning armor. He takes pride in being mine and Carrigan's protector and being able to save the day.

He has a very big heart. He likes to learn about Heaven so he will know what I will be doing if I die, or what he will be doing if he does. He tells me often that he will miss me so much if I did and it can lead to tears. He will come up to me, give me a hug and kiss and say, "I like you and I love you so much". It's my favorite thing he says to me. :) He also knows he is my true love. I love Disney movies so much more since he was the one to refer to me as his true love first. :) -- He also doesn't want to get married if he can't marry me because he doesn't want to live in a different house. I love that boy. ;)

Gavin has a very set way about him. He likes to play by the rules. It doesn't matter if it is a board game, pretend play, or running around with friends, he knows the rules and they should be followed. He is not a child who runs around aimlessly, loud and out of control. He can be rough, and tackle, but there has to be some sort of order. This even applies to building with Lego's. You won't catch him just stacking blocks. He is making something specific. He is also very competitive with friends his own age. He wants to be the strongest, best, fastest and of course, the winner.

Food used to be a major issue, but now you could call him just plain picky. He still won't eat most fruits and vegetables, but he is making progress with trying new things. He will now eat spaghetti, take a bite of a hamburger, (just plan meat, cheese & bun) and likes things such as pop tarts, popcorn, pretzels and peanuts. He still only wants ice water to drink, but will on occasion take a drink or two of super chocolaty chocolate milk. He does love tea, but I try to avoid sugar at all cost....

Chocolate is THE best thing in the world (avoiding sugar, but wanting him to have calories is like arrrggghhhh ..... ) He loves Superheros and never will pretend to be the bad guy. He loves weapons (another thing I try to avoid at all cost) and video games (again... ugh) and playing with older children.... that has a lot to do with the "playing by the rules" thing.

He l.0.v.e.s. his Nana. He spends all his time right beside her when we are with her. He likes to write the names of myself, sister, daddy, Nana, Aunt Alicia & Madi. He can write his name by his self and the letter 4. He is very interested in writing, so I imagine very soon he will be writing quite a few words by his self. He also has a very good memory. We have been caught off guard by what he can recall. I hope this benefits him in school!

We still plan to keep him back a year from Kindergarten. He just barely makes the cut off date, and being small and shy, it only makes sense to hold him back a year. This way he and Carrigan will be in back to back grades too. Next year we are going to put both kids in a 2 day a week preschool and they are already excited about it. We will see how I do next year!

Trick or Treat!

Ever since we got back from Halloween at church last year, Gavin has been asking when Trick or Treating would be again. He had SO much fun going down a huge inflatable slide with Nana and going on a hay ride. He as to have asked 100 times this year. I asked them what they wanted to dress up as a couple of months ago. They went back and forth between so many things! Batman, Spiderman, Bumble Bee, Wonderwoman, Dread Pirate Roberts.... I wanted them to "match" so it made it sort of tricky. Our neighbor gave us some movies to borrow, and in the stack were two versions of Peter Pan. They fell in love and we had our costumes!

I went to the store for yellow hair spray color (not sure what to call it) but they only had blue and pink. I picked up the pink since I didn't want to come home empty handed, and let her decided if she wanted to use it. She did. That explains the hair.... and the pink stained car seat. :)

Sunday night we went to the church function. They got to do everything they were expecting to do and got goodies in their buckets. Monday night we went to the library and did a couple of crafts and they got prizes. Then came the BIG fun. We went with Nana Trick or Treating through her neighborhood. Gavin was SO excited. Carrigan was a little more reserved, but followed right behind him. There were lots of trick or treaters out and it was the perfect neighborhood. It was rare that two houses in a row weren't handing out candy. Gavin made sure say "Trick or Treat!" and make eye contact with everyone to say "thank you". Their sweetness even got them a few hugs to go along with the treats! Their buckets so full to the top! Combined with the night before, they came home with a HUGE stash!

I let a friend borrow my camera so I don't have any other pictures besides camera phone pictures of them in their costumes. Levi took the one above with his phone, and I think their facial expressions are too funny! I will be taking "official" costume pictures this week.

I asked them both if they'd rather have a birthday party or go Trick or Treating and they both said, "CANDY!" ha!

Carrigan is 3!

When I was pregnant with Gavin (and even before) I wondered what in the world it was like to have your youngest child not be a baby anymore. How surreal that would feel... how strange it would be to have conversations with your "baby". Now here I am. My baby is 3. I still don't believe it. One is 3. One is 4. Next year I may have a breakdown. *sigh*

39 inches (same height as Gavin) 95%
33.6 lbs - 75%

Carrigan is obviously very bright for her age, which is good because she looks much older! We have been told on more than one occasion that she looks 5, and have thought she was older than Gavin. She has been able to carry on a full conversation for a long time. It was always funny to hear our 2 year old use worlds like "ridiculous" and "hilarious".

Carrigan also has a HUGE imagination. She will pretend any 2 objects are people and they will have a long journey and colorful conversation. She likes to pretend she is the Mommy & Gavin is the baby or she is Tinkerbell and he is Peter Pan. If she is Buzz Lightyear, then by golly, you'd better call her Buzz Lightyear! Her favorite pretend is to act as a baby or a cat. She does not break character for anything. We can be out all day and she will not use words, only "meow". She will crawl and point if she has to. If she REALLY has to speak she will say, "uh huh" and "uh uh".

She is still very dramatic. As I was putting her in the car the other day, she started fighting with Gavin because she wanted to be on his side of the car. I jokingly said, "Fine, then I'll put you in the trunk!". She gave me her signature "mad at you face" and said, "I'm not a grocery! I'm not milk or a shoe!" I think she knows how to get a laugh to avoid being in trouble. :)

She is a girl who loves being a girl and the youngest. She reminds us often that she is "very smaller" and "just a tiny baby". It is funny because when she tells you about when she was a baby, she starts with, "When I was a baby kitty I...". She obviously loves kittens more than most things in the world. :)

Carrigan loves her Girl Baby. It's her only toy she is protective of. She will sit through a whole movie and LOVES when we bring home a new one. She doesn't like being at other people's house for very long. She asks to come home often and will even try to escape multiple times. Her favorite restaurant is Chick-fil-A. She loves the color pink, daddy calling her his Princess, and lipstick, eye shadow, & nail polish. She is a fruit lover and stuffs herself full of bread if it is included in a meal. Chocolate milk & red grapes are her weakness. She still needs Mommy to be in her room to fall asleep.... but hopefully not forever!!

We love every bit of her and can't imagine our home without her. She adds so much life and joy to each day. She is truly full of life and energy! We love you Carrigan Bailee!

Children's Church

Most 3-4 years old's are starting their first day of preschool. Mine are taking it a bit slower and started their first day of Children's Church! I was going to wait until Carrigan turned 3, so they could go together, but I threw her in there last minute. :) (with her birthday 2 months away, what is the difference? :) )

I told Gavin he would be going to Sunday School earlier in the week and he was excited. It wasn't until the night before that he got nervous, but with the reward of a whole bag of M&M's all to himself, he was anxious to go!

That morning Carrigan decided she wanted to go in with him, so I told Levi if she was happy to let her go in, but if she started fussing even for a second, to pick her up and walk her into the sanctuary as quickly as he could. I didn't want anything making Gavin nervous.

Nana and I walked them into to the room. We found a superhero toy for Gavin and a Dora doll for Carrigan and they felt right at home! We walked out and neither one of them cried, or followed us to the door. I stayed, watching through the window for several minutes. They were going to see a puppet show in a much larger room next door with all the big kids, so I let them know I would come back and be in the hallway when they walked through.

I heard the man (Carrigan called them the Grandma and Grandpa) telling "Devin" (because Carrigan introduced him as her "Davin Boy") to take his sister's hand and walk her to door. The "Grandpa" held one hand and Gavin held the other as they led the line walking to the puppet show. Gavin noticed me in the hall, grinned and kept walking. Carrigan didn't notice me and was perfectly fine. It was SO strange to see them in an environment that I have not been in being led by people I do not know. I was so anxious to hear what they had to say about their morning. NEVER has it been that Mommy, Daddy, or Nana hasn't been by their side during any event. Sunday School was big deal for us!

Levi and I decided to leave church a little early to pick them up. Carrigan was being held by the "grandma" crying. She had just started, so I'm glad we got there early! They said Carrigan stayed close to Gavin's side, but he was more outgoing and interacting with the other children.

I am so proud of them and I can't believe I of all people didn't take any pictures!

The sweetness that is Carrigan

.........................................(if you notice her teeth, she was eating chocolate!)


I love the way Carrigan speaks. She tells stories with such feeling. She gets loud, quiets to a whisper, then laughs long and hard over the hilarity of her story.

She also has a cute way of saying her words. As she gets older it will go away, so I am appreciating it while it lasts!

She puts a hard ED at the end of words: "Kadence just laugh-ED at me."

"I just gooed dat." (I just did that)

"sm" is still hard for her: "I pell suting tinky" (I smell smething stinky)

As most toddlers do, she uses a "w" in place of "r" My favorite: "Dewick is getting mawied!"

When she and Gavin are having a quiet moment alone, I usually hear her sweet voice say, "I yove you, Davin." Precious. :)

"I love you, Daddy Boy."

When she talks about something in the past she says, "Last morning...."

My favorite little thing she says... She will tell you something, pause, then gives you a loud, drawn out "but...", however she pronounces is, "BOUT..." I love it!

She is good at complimenting others and herself, "I'm very good at jumping." "You're very good at brushing my teeth." :)

She over uses the word "should" and its so cute! "Tinsel should like me to hold him." I should want to go to Kai's house." "You should be very pretty in a dress."

Girls are more dramatic

Carrigan is a milk lover. I have said before that she could be on a juice and fruit diet and live happily ever after. Well, because of this, she has to wear pull ups at night... pull ups sometimes leak and Carrigan is hard to get back to sleep... SO

New Rule: Nothing but water after 6:00 p.m.

The second night with the new rule, she asked for her usual chocolate milk at bedtime. (chocolate on the side of the cup, not mixed it. Her rule. If she can't see it, it isn't there... Silly child) I told her no milk until breakfast and this was her loud, very dramatic reply:

Carrigan: "But if I don't get my chocolate milk my bones will break! My bones are starting to break! Holds arm up to my face and cries: See?? They are breaking! See?!? My arms are breaking! CHOCOLATE MILK!!"

Ah the child... I am used to it though. It was much better than the usual, "I don't like you. You are not my friend! The boys (daddy and Gavin) are my friends. I want you to live in a NEW house!

We heard her first, "I hate you!" Oh how I thought it would be many more years before that would happen! --Am I allowed to be happy I wasn't the parent it was directed to? (it was a bedtime of course)

She can be so delightful when she doesn't want to go to bed!! But I LOVE her anyway!

Family

In contrast to my last post, I'll share what we love around our children.

Family!

I love that our children are aware that having the status of Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt, Uncle, & Cousin has meaning. They even try to give the title of "cousin" to their best friends. Gavin doesn't care what I say, because he loves his friends they ARE his cousins!

I love the way Nana is the kid's favorite person in the world besides Mommy & Daddy. They love when she comes over and hates when she leaves. She knows their ends and outs, lets them wrestle all over her and most importantly, they trust her. I didn't grow up near my family, so being best friends with a grandparent is fun thing to witness!

Levi's parents live in San Antonio, so we only see them a couple of times a year, but the kids love when we do. We've had the rare privilege of seeing Grandpa 3 weekends in a row. They had gotten quite comfortable with him and Carrigan enjoyed several games of Hide and Go seek! I've always loved the fact that even though G'ma & G'pa don't get to see them as often as they'd like, they still love them as if they do. Grandparents are the only people who think your kids are as cool as you, and that's pretty awesome!

Aunts and Uncles are great too! I sat and talked with Uncle Zeke for a while and even though it's sad, it's very nice to hear the Uncles who live 4 hours a way miss them! Zeke is such a sweet Uncle! Levi's cousin Derrick has been in town a few times recently and Gavin & Carrigan are thrilled when he stops by for dinner. Gavin begged me if he could PLEASE be Uncle Derrick instead of cousin Derrick.
Levi has a lot of family in NWA, and hopefully by next year, Carrigan will be easier to travel with, and we can make the drive up!
Carrigan has really become as girl's girl. She loves talking and playing with girls. She loved, loved her alone time playing with Aunt Alicia (Aunt Eca) at Gavin's birthday party!

Cousins are also great! Gavin has always loved playing with bigger kids, so he does great with his two older cousins. Hopefully they can get to know their two younger cousins as they get older and traveling becomes easier.

Gavin is very interested in Heaven because of my Dad. He has cried because he knows PaPaw misses us. He gets excited to join him one day. I LOVE the way he loves his PaPaw. Madi always had a large interest in him, and I am thrilled Gavin does too!

It is our plan in the next few years to move out of Searcy, (probably Arkansas all together) and and I know I'll be so homesick for family when we leave. I never thought I wouldn't want to leave my hometown, but it's terribly hard to take your children away from the people who love them most. Family!

My promise of protection

They say you can't protect them forever. My mission is to never stop trying.

God says He will never give you anything you cannot handle. A life without my children is a life I cannot handle. The moment Gavin was born, it was my passion to keep him safe. Watching him in other's arms the first few months of life, tore me apart. I wanted to scream, "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" to all who came. Let people enter the hospital room and hold my minutes old baby? Are you kidding me? Again, I wanted to scream.

Human beings need breaks. They need to part from their every day stress. My every day stress is also my beating heart; my every breath. How can I hand that off just to relax?
In some strange force of nature, God put the two most protective parents with each other. Levi and I are not a match made in Heaven on many accounts, but on this, we stand together, and we stand strong.

I assume, no I am certain, that most all believe I am behind the "no babysitter" rule. Believe me, the few times, which I can count on one hand, that our children have been away from either of our watchful eye, was strongly protested by him. It is human nature to protect your children above all others. We will settle for no less. Our children are ours, they will remain with us.
....Much to both Grandmother's dismay, we are aware....

I watch my children grow. My baby who is my heart in human form, just turned 4. It is amazing that I can say that without pain in my chest. My sweet girl will be 3 in 3 months. As many times as I say it, I don't believe it. She leaves me in disbelief that a human could be so kind, so loving, so beautiful.

Part of growing up, the point of growing up really, is to leave the nest. If I had the power, I would keep them small forever. Some dream of fancy things if winning the lottery. I dream of a home tutor so they never leave the walls in which we live. (How I feel about my children spending 40 hours a week with a strange woman surrounded by strange children is a post all in its own)
When they are older, they will be hard pressed to find a place I will not follow. Believe me my dears, I will never leave you. Your daddy and I have many plans to keep you near. :)

Then there is marriage. It is said that a father gives away his daughter. Every woman knows it is the other way around. A mother gives away her son. The role of the mother is replaced by the wife. The mother of the new mommy is the first to see the grandchild. She is blessed with generous time on holidays. For this, my boy, is the reason I wish you to marry an orphan. (as horrible as that is to say)

There are things I will keep you from in your childhood in hopes you will keep away from them in adulthood. Water, guns, motorcycles, dirt bikes, ATVs, temperamental people, and the list goes on... I could worry about offending people and let you around these things, but your safety is my priority above the feelings of others.

I do not believe I love my children more than others, or perceive others choices are wrong. Some leave their very small children with family members and travel to other countries with their spouse for romantic vacations. They may say their faith and trust that God will take care of their children is above mine. Maybe this is true, but far less happens to a child when she is not let out of her mother's sight.

Again, I will settle for no less.

Just like his Momma

So as it turns out, Gavin is me. Well, me as a child. He is exactly the way I was, in every single way. It's scary how much he takes after me.

Most of all though, it is a blessing. I know how to go into situations, because he is going to react the same way I did. It is really amazing. He doesn't like new things, not even if it is better. Things need to stay the same. I needed things to stay the same.

He doesn't like going to sleep alone. I was probably 11 before I quit asking my parents to lay in bed with me, and it was a few years after that when I slept with the closet light off.
He is terribly shy. He won't talk to new people and doesn't like playing when a lot of children are around. He is loyal to the ones he loves. Gavin has a 3 yr old neighbor boy who he can see from a bedroom window. He checks to see if "D" is playing outside and insists "D" will be his only friend....other than his cousin Madi, of course, who is the best kid God ever created in his opinion.

He also likes to bug his sister. I bugged my sister to death! Just one time I said the phrase, "Nanananana" and now he says when he gets the last one of something, gets something first.... well for EVERYTHING! (and of course Carrigan has picked it up too...yesh)

A benefit to this is that I can hopefully prepare him for school. I had such a hard time with making friends, but luckily I had several kids from my church in my grade. I have been encouraging him to play with other children and talk more!

And one more thing... it bugs me to no end that people (well people who know Levi better and some strangers) say he looks just like him. I tell you, if that boy had dark hair and eyes, no one would say that! He (rather unfortunately) has my profile... eyes and cheeks. I want to hug people when they say he looks like me. :)

Daddy/Daughter Date

She is a really big fan of her Daddy. Can you tell?? :)

I think they also look alike. I don't know why people never say it! They have the same face shape and eye shape... and she did get those long eye lashes from him. I wish I could take credit for them!! The bottom half of her face belongs to her Aunt Alicia though!

She uses faces with him that she never uses with me.... and they usually get Daddy to do whatever she wants! When they have special days out, she talks about it when we pass the places they went. She loves to play "baby" with him. She used to run and get her paci (an old one of Gavin's we recently found -- or a single lego she'd stick in her mouth) and lay in his lap without talking, then crawl when she'd need to go get something.

They have special watermelon breaks together. This doesn't sound like much, but they share a LOVE for watermelon!

We definitely have the Daddy/Daughter -Mommy/Son relationship in our house. We both love each child so so so very much, but the bond is special. I couldn't be happier that we have one of each.

Friendship

I have to say, there are days when I wonder how on earth a mother of an only child survives. So many moments of our day are spent with Gavin & Carrigan alone in their own world.... usually on their cars going to Taco Bell, Chinese, and Chick-fil-A. :)

One of my favorite things in this world is listening to their conversations from the other room. It tickles me how Carrigan's answer to the question "Why?" is always "Because I don't want to" and how frustrated it makes Gavin. I love the way Gavin bends down so far to put his face right in Carrigan's to make eye contact when he really wants her attention, even though he is only an inch taller. :)

Carrigan is terribly imaginative for her age. This makes her the perfect playmate for a 3 yr old boy! They will play Buzz & Jessie for days. (from Toy Story) As I am writing this, they are in the Vamoosh with the cat and being told I am too big to fit. (a vammosh is a flying vessel from the British cartoon, Pocoyo)

Each of them has inherited 2 of my very useless talents. Gavin can imitate Carrigan perfectly. She has quite a few phrases that she says the same way every time. Gavin loves to repeat her phrases when he is in the same situations.
Carrigans useless talent she got from her Mommy is learning a song after only hearing it a time or two. She completely amazes us when she burts out in a song she only heard once a few days before and gets almost all the words right. We are serenaded at almost every meal and car ride . :)

They do get into arguments. Gavin is the hitter. Carrigan r-a-r-e-l-y hits. For how emotional she can be, she doesn't have much of a temper.... which is a good thing because the girl is STRONG.

I very much hope they stay this way for years and years to come. I dread the day they "hate" each other!

Potty Trained!

For about a year, Carrigan has been using the potty. The only catch is she has to be naked on the bottom half. Two weeks ago, we went to the zoo and she told me she had to peepee and went in the potty. She did again when she stopped to eat on the way home. She kept doing this in public so I bought her some pull ups. They never worked with Gavin. It was just like a diaper. Carrigan calls them her Dora panties and she has only gone in them once and it was overnight.

The past 2 weeks she has stayed dry! Her only hold up is being afraid of some public bathrooms. Even in the ones she isn't afraid of, she doesn't want you to flush it. I have to wait until she is by the sink before flushing. She says they are too loud. :)

It is so strange to have half a box of diapers and all the pulls ups in the house that I might just have to throw away. I can't believe I won't be buying diapers anymore. My babies are so big!!

A much needed visit to the park