November You Have Treated Us Well

This has been an amazing month!!!  It has been a busy one.  We took another trip to John Day to see John's mom.  Fortunately she still remembers who John is, and for me she just looks at me.  Now that we have Carl she looks at him the whole time.  This visit Carl was very interested in her and he kept trying to take her blanket.  That got her to laugh a little bit.  In addition to seeing Grandma Lois, Carl got to hang out with two other amazing people, Uncle Nick and Aunt Linda!  We all love getting together with them.  They got Carl his first toy tractor!  We spent the afternoon hanging out and talking.  Aunt Linda held Carl while John made him laugh, and Uncle Nick and I talked sports!  I sure do love seeing them.

Then two weeks later we took a trip to Seattle.  I love visiting Seattle because the trip usually means I am seeing my family.  That weekend I got to see my step-momma!!!  It has been a few years and I was so happy to see her.  And I know she was excited to see me and her mom and brother and sister, but I am sure she was most excited about meeting her grandson. :)  He sure did love her.  At lunch they just talked and laughed.  That weekend was definitely a cold one for Seattle.  That wind was very arcticky (I know not a word.)  So Carl was all bundled up the first time this year!

That following week was definitely a cold one here for us in Portland.  I was hoping for snow, but we only got a dusting and then it was freezing temps for a few days.  Carl hung out inside while I braved public transportation for the commute.  It was packed!! Nobody wanted to drive themselves into work.

Then of course we are wrapping up the rest of the month with one of best holidays ever; THANKSGIVING!!!  A holiday where we get to be gluttons for just a day, or in my case two days. LOL!  Seriously though, I loved Thanksgiving this year!  I think having a child puts a new spin on the holidays.  You are definitely filled with more excitement and joy.  I have a lot to be thankful for this holiday.  I have a little boy that brings so much joy into our lives.  And I am so thankful for the doctors and medical technology that exists today that have saved my son.  And I continually pray they find a cure for hydrocephalus.  I am also thankful for John.  He is such an amazing husband.  At times in our marriage it has been hard, but he is my best friend and I look forward to each new day with him and the years to come.  We have been together for six years now.  The Monday after Thanksgiving marks when we first started dating.

This year we went to Kayleen's for the feast.  We enjoyed food and games.  My nephews sure did crack me up with their antics over Catchphrase!  Then as a big group we played Apples to Apples Bible Edition.  Miguel and Kayleen were trying to own that game.  The last time I let them sit next to each other! LOL!

This face just cracked me up!

We had another Thanksgiving hosted at our house.  I call it Friendsgiving.  Since my house is small we only had a few friends over and it was last minute.  So I am hoping next year it is bigger.  This was my first turkey that I made and Giada De Laurentiis from Food Network provided the amazing recipe for it!!  It was so moist and yummy!!!  Definitely making it for the years to come.  Carl did not have any turkey but he enjoyed some yummy rolls and potatoes and then proceeded to fall asleep in mid meal.  It was pretty cute!

The Friday after Thanksgiving I bought Carl a couple of Christmas presents.  Thank you Black Friday specials, and Friday also marked Carl's 8 month mark.  I can't believe he is getting so big!!! I can't even begin to guess what he weighs now.  I do know he is about 26 inches or longer.  He sits up now all by himself.  He is almost crawling.  Right now he practically gets up in a push up position.  It is quite humorous.  He is also an eating machine!  When we eat he wants to eat.  When we're not eating he wants to eat.  He is nursing, and eating food.  He is feeding himself for the most part.  And of course he is moving all over the place and talking up a storm!  The sad part of this month has been teething.  He has been teething the last few months, but now it has kicked up a notch.  The night before Friendsgiving Carl was up all night!  He was so miserable and nothing seemed to soothe him.  The teeth started showing themselves but the gum is covering them up again!!!  Poor guy.  But he is still as cute as ever even in the midst of teething pain!

The day of Friendsgiving.  He was miserable, up all night and crying most of the day.

Daddy was exhausted too!

The best way to wrap up the busy month was seeing Santa Claus!!  Carl didn't fuss or cry.  He didn't really smile either.  He looked more intrigued.  He was more excited about the Christmas Tree and the lights.  So there will be a lot of Christmas festivities for us to do this year!  I CAN'T WAIT!!!

I love love love this picture!

It happened again!!

Yep life got busy and I neglected the public by not posting updates.  The joys of life!!!  So there are few things I would love to share with you!  Some are short some are long.  Instead of doing separate blog postings I will just have five different sections!  Neither section really relates to one another except they all relate to the Driskill family's life.  So read the whole thing or read whatever section you would like.  It will go as follows; Utah trip, 99 mph, He Really is 7 Months, Halloween,  and Kicking off November.

Utah Trip
Back on the 14th I took a "quick" drive down to Utah where I spent the weekend.  It was my first time back there since having Carl.  It was the first time my sisters, grandma, and great grandma got to meet Mr. Carl.  I was also able to squeeze in some short visits with my buddies Shay and Peter.  The trip went by in a whirlwind.  I filled my trip with food!  Leatherby's, Best Burger, Training Table, and Dee's.  I was sad that I was not able to hit up some other Utah faves.  I have this rule when I go anywhere outside of Portland I will only eat food that I can't get there.  So Utah is full of places that I can go to.  Besides eating I went and saw my grandma, and great grandma.  I love those women to pieces!!!  And before leaving Utah my sister Brandi and I took our kiddos to go do pictures.  Below are some quick pictures of the visit and the professional ones too.

Meeting his GG for the first time (great-grandma)

Codi and Carl  (CC Cousins)

My grandma with her great-grandbabies.

Three generations

Carl and Aunt Nikki

How ferocious!

Rawr!

Brandi and I and our kiddos!

99 MPH

Life is going going and going.  When I open my eyes it isn't a day that has past it is months!  That is what it feels like anyway.  I started my new job the end of September as a Social Worker.  I only work two days a week, but I love it.  And in the future I do hope it will be more.  But right now it is perfect.  The days I don't work Carl and I spend going to Indoor Park and Book Babies.  It is quite interesting to see how social he is. When I am not filling my days with work and family I am trying to spend my time with my hobby of photography.   This is my favorite of October!

Working on a quote for this. . .

He Really is 7 Months Old!
On October 26th Carl turned 7 months.  Everyday he is doing something new.  He makes everyone laugh and smile and it is crazy to think that our world existed without him.  At night as I am putting him to bed I will just stare at him and I know that God has something amazing planned for him that I can't even begin to daydream about it.

So what is Mr. Carl up to?  He is rolling everywhere.  We can't turn our back on him, if we do he has moved several feet.  One day I went into the kitchen and when I came back out he was gone.  It definitely gave my heart quite a jump.  I quickly found that he had rolled underneath the coffee table.  When I found him he gave out a big squeal of delight he thought it was the funniest thing.

In addition to rolling over Carl is rather talkative.  He loves to babble and he is possibly saying Da Da.  I say possibly because he will say it whenever, but when John goes to grab him or says hi, he does say Da Da.  It is rather cute!!!

He almost has his two bottom teeth.  His bottom gum is super swollen and those teeth will break through any day now.  I do feel bad though because it appears to be absolutely miserable.  He isn't too fussy because of it but there are times when he cries and cries with no comfort. 

So stay tuned to for an update on his pearly whites!


Halloween
Carl's first Halloween!!  Definitely not a night full of trick or treating but the weekend was exciting and makes me look forward to next year's Halloween.  We went to the Pumpkin Patch on Sauvie Island with John's Aunt Marcia and Uncle Dick.  It was super fun.  We got there before the weather was crappy.  We went on a hayride and picked out some pretty good pumpkins!  Before we left we enjoyed some pulled pork sandwiches and an elephant ear!

After the pumpkin patch we went back to their place to carve some pumpkins and eat the pumpkin seeds!  It was a great start the weekend.  Later that day instead of dragging my hubby to a Halloween Party I took him out on our first date since having Carl.  We enjoyed dinner and then after a nice drive through the city we decided we were old and ready to go home.  So we stopped at the grocery store and picked up some goodies then went home.

This year there was no trick or treating but Carl still had a costume.  Enjoy the pictures.

Definitely looking forward to the rest of the year.  Carl's first Thanksgiving and Christmas is just right around the corner!!!!