Weekend Photos

Carter got his first dip in the pool this year, he loves the water.

Then the boys sat on the swing and watched Bryan, Loren, Shanda and Lyle play Bocci ball.

Before long, Carter was feeling a bit sleepy from all the activity.

Sleepy Sunday

Just trying to keep my eyes open . . .

Still trying . . .

. . . Ok, I give up, Nap time!!

Isn't Technology Fabulous?

Here is the 1st 3D Ultrasound of the newest addition to our family. For those of you who can't tell her head is at the top of the image, and her left arm is wiping her eye. Her little legs are all mixed up in the umbilical cord. At 12 weeks this is pretty impressive to be able to see so much.

In this image, her head is to the right. They were looking at the spinal cord and facial structure in this one. You can barely make out her little face (she's looking up) and cute button nose just like Carter's. She kept jumping during this shot, Dr. said she had the hiccups.

Congratulations to Marshall and Mollie . . . hitched today!

March 31, 2007.

To see some pictures take this scavenger hunt. Go to "Anderson Antics" on your left hand side of the screen, on the right hand side of that screen go to "Derek and Sara", then on the left side of that screen go to "Daily Photo Journal." Derek Pearson posted some pics from their wedding already, thank goodness. I couldn't wait till they got home to see. Derek is an awesome photographer. Marshall and Mollie didn't need any help looking stunning but he certainly did a fantastic job capturing it.

More laughing...

Grandma sent this to me today . . . pretty much sums up life right now.

Before I was a Mom
I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.
Before I was a Mom - I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.
Before I was a Mom
I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.
Before I was a Mom
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to
put them down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I
couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.
Before I was a Mom -
I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so
important and happy.
Before I was a Mom -
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every
10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache,
the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom.

Laughing

Into Everything . . .

Everything at his eye level seems to be the most interesting contraption possible. The photo printer for one has several very fun buttons and a couple neat plugs to stick little fingers in!!!! Yikes.
The laptop cord is a close 2nd, highly dangerous so he loves it all the more. I promptly took this from him and he promptly threw a fit.
I replaced the hazardous toys with those suitable for a 8 month old. He them decided he could pull himself up to pick out his favorite toy.

Pictures from the past week . . .

He will kill me later but the bunny ears were irresistible.

Mastering the art of crawling. Grass is not his favorite turf, too prickly on his hands so he makes sharp concentrated movements to keep his hands from spending too much time on the grass.

He crawls into the bathroom for bath time. Saves us from carrying him all the time.

Just a quick update . . . pictures later

This was a busy past week. . . Mom and Erin came to town. Lucky for me because Jeff had inventory at work and wasn't home that much. Sad for Mom and Erin to miss his handsome face but I really appreciated the extra hands. Carter is officially crawling and pulling himself up on things, only to crash down and look up at me like, "Mom, how dare you let me fall like that!" So, as usual my mom spoiled me with meals in the freezer for those nights I don't want to cook . . . (EVERYNIGHT???) and she planted new plants in our backyard which is slowly coming together. Erin and I shopped some and had a good time just watching Carter and his new found freedom.

In other news, the bun in the oven gave us a bit of a scare when the Dr. called and said my blood levels were off and she wanted me to go have an emergency ultrasound to check for a heart beat. I went to the specialist on Thursday (the next day) and the immediately called me back into the room to look for a heart rate. IT WAS PERFECT. 160 Beats, happy little baby waving at me. I cried like a giddy child. Then they sent me back out in the waiting room and told me they would do the other tests I had scheduled when it was my turn. It was nice they gave me peace of mind while I sat there and waited. An hour or more later, I went back for more tests. The Down Syndrome test and checking for brain function and proper blood flow, (all standard in high risk pregnancy) and everything was as it should be. Baby is growing beautifully. I measured at 12 weeks and 1 day. Then MY FAVORITE PART . . . Dr. asked if I wanted to know the sex. UMMMMM, Yeaaaaaa!!!!! We thought we wouldn't know until week 16 but he said he could tell. We got some great 3D Ultrasound pictures that I will try to post as well. AND NOW THE MOMENT YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR . . . 90% chance Carter will have a little sister. Either way Jeff and I are happy. Our only requests are another happy, healthy baby. However, I think I made Mom and Erin's day, they are thinking PINK now. (Secretly so am I.)

I will try to post some pictures of Mr Carter soon.

Last week I . . .

Went to Lake Las Vegas with my Mommy and Daddy. I watched the duckies, they make funny sounds.
Mommy asked me if I was cute . . . I said " I dunno, am I?"

I decided to try to crawl, I am making slight forward progress.

. . . I continued to smile, no teeth yet though.

Mom and I surfed the web . . .
. . . It was warm here so I got to wear my red hat.

I'm Wiggin

This one's for you Auntie Erin, remind you of anything?

Sunday morning routine...

Mom and Dad came up to get me outta bed, I was already waiting for them. They slept in, slackers.


While they rubbed the sleep out of their eyes, I did my morning work out. I'm up to 25 reps on my push ups and not even breaking a sweat.


While we waited for my Harley to warm up in the driveway, Pops and I mugged for the paparazzi.

Will do!

I have had some requests to update pictures (ERIN!!!!) I would do so now but the camera is in Carter's room and he is napping. I have learned nap time is precious, not because of how cute he is when he is sleeping but because of how much I get done when he is down.

NEVER disturb a napping baby.

I will try to post some cute ones of Carter and the good weather we had this weekend later tonight.

Sorry SEEEEEEESTER. Check back later.

Priceless pictures

For those of you who don't venture to other blogs, here are some pictures that Shanda took a couple weeks ago while she was watching Cubby. Her cousins kids were in town too so they played with Carter. Looks like the had fun.

Carter and Ophelia at the M&M factory. They look hungry. Ophelia named Carter, "TARTAR." We all thought it was pretty funny.

Shanda is famous for dressing Carter up SOOOO cute. I love coming home to see what outfit he will be in. This day she was being sun cautious so Carter wore sunglasses and a hat. When I saw his little sunglasses falling off his head I laughed so hard I had tears streaming down my face.
He looks like an old man. Carter and Ella Pearl. Best buds.

Lucky Number Seven

We have noticed recently that the number SEVEN keeps popping up around here.

This is what we mean . . .

1.) It's the year Two Thousand and SEVEN to start.

2.) Carter turned SEVEN months old on Saturday.

3.) I have SEVEN loads of laundry to do today.

4.) SEVEN is the number of minutes I am allowed to shower according to Carter.

5.) Carter woke me up at SEVEN this am.

6.) Carter eats SEVEN times a day which explains #7,

7.) SEVEN diapers to change.

8.) SEVEN = times Jeff told me he loved me yesterday.

9.) SEVEN unpaid bills on my nightstand.

10.) SEVEN O'clock is the time we went Carter's 1st Hockey game on Friday.

11.) Number of finger foods Carter tried to put in his mouth ALL at once = SEVEN.

12.) Number of seconds mom panics while clearing his mouth out = SEVEN.

13.) I usually get SEVEN cuddles a day from Carter.

14.) But more like SEVEN HUNDRED smiles.

15.) How often I have to clip Carters nails, every SEVEN days.

16.) Minutes left in Carters morning nap . . . probably only SEVEN.

17.) But the best one, Carter will become a Big Brother in SEVEN months.
18.) Number of people rereading #17, . . . . . .

Random pictures

Peek- a - boo, Carter looks over his shoulder in his carseat at us in the front seat. He's just making sure we haven't gone anywhere.

Learning to stand.

His new favorite toys consist of a wooden spoon and tupperware.

Events of the week . . . in short

1.) Went to visit my parents aka Grampy and Grammy in Seattle (and Auntie Erin of course). Had a wonderfully relaxing time, getting relief from the occasional feeding, diaper changing and night time bottle. Plus, getting some grown up time out with our bestest friends Dave and Elise, Eric and Johnny K who was visiting from Australia.

This was Carter's 3rd trip on an airplane (not counting the one to Canada when I was 6.5 months pregnant) The sweet old lady I sat next to on the flight up assured me it was no trouble to her to sit next to her, (she has 18 grandkids she said) until about 1 hour into the flight when Carter unleashed and she promptly stopped the flight attendant to ask for EAR PLUGS! Do her grandchildren have no vocal cords???? Carter calmed down and so did she. On the flight home however I boarded 1st, so whoever sat next to me it was their own fault. It ended up being two lovely ladies on a trip to an art convention in Vegas. Carter slept for an hour and then was entertained by these angels in the air who insisted on holding and playing with him for the duration of the flight. Carter and I agreed, it was the best flight ever!

No, Carter isn't wearing his own glasses. He just has an infatuation with pulling Daddy's glasses off his face and wearing them himself. He is also tugging at his mouth so we may see some teeth appear shortly.

2.) Carter has a new found love for boxes. This one entertained him most of the time in Seattle. It was an imaginary boat and toy chest, etc. Grampy pushed him all over the house in it.

3.) Birthdays are fun! Carter got to celebrate with his Grampy. Erin and I made quite the cake I might add.

4.) Lastly, I had my first experience with a heart attack . . . not literally, but close enough. My new phrase for the week is "No more Monkeys rolling off the bed!!!" I turned my back for 1 second (something I am always warning Jeff about) and what does Carter do? He attempts a 10 point high dive from the bed. I, envisioning a broken neck, leap like a spastic frog for him and thankfully catch him before he plummets to the floor. He ended up with a minor rug burn on his head from where he rolled out of my arms to the carpet. I, on the other hand, popped my shoulder out of it's socket and cried harder than Carter did. Carter's spot disappeared before the following morning, I'm still recovering . . .I'm just glad there were no trips to the hospital. But with Carter growing more and more active as the days pass I am sure there will be many more spills in our future . . . but not from the bed . . . he is floor bound now.

Picture fix for Grammy

This week in the life of Carter . . . . .

Mr. Ireland came to visit his sweetheart, Kari. They came for dinner to visit my sweetheart, Carter.

Carter got a higher point of view atop Daddy's shoulders.
Big smiles.
Big scowls.
See you Wednesday Grammy and Grampy. Hopefully this holds you over till then.

Up to No Good!

Carter has now learned to pull him self up on his bounce seat. He should be reclining for safety reasons, however he thinks it is much more fun to sit up now and bomp his head.

We are putting this in the garage now.

Carter's new trick when we try to change him.

Roll over, grab a toy, THEN maybe get a diaper on.

But who can resist this little mischievous face!

How Cubby got his name . . .

Today at work, a very pregnant lady said she and her husband couldn't decide on a name for her baby and she asked me how we came up with Carter William for our Cubby.

I thought I would let you all in on the process too . . . . .

We went round and round for weeks and weeks with our favorite boy names. (and one girl name just in case) Finally, Jeff and I settled on three names to take into the delivery room with us. They were Brady, Carter and Landon. We decided we would make the final choice once he was born. Believe it or not, I got the name Carter off of a baby book made by "Carters" the baby clothing brand. It was the last of the 3 names we liked, I was about 6 months pregnant and filling in some things in the baby book and saw the name on the tag. We loved it from then on. And now most of his clothes have his name on the tag too!

We had already chosen his middle name (William) for several very important reasons. William has special meaning to both Jeff and I. My dad's name is William, Jeff's grandpa (Lyle's dad) is William and our good friend Bill Nielson is a William too. We thought it would be special that our first born would be named after the strong, faithful and loving men in our lives. Our hope is that Carter will gain some of the characteristics of these few good men that we cherish.

So back to his 1st name. On 08/03/2006 at 12:28 in the afternoon a bright eyed Carter came into the world. I thought that I would have a say in the final name, however my dear hubby said the second he saw him, "He looks like a Carter, I'm going to go tell my parents." And off he went. I was a little high on adrenaline at the time, I love the name Carter too but to be honest Carter didn't LOOK like ANY of the 3 names at the time. I left it up to Jeff and that was that.

. . . and that is how Cubby became CARTER WILLIAM SHEPHERD.

Zion hike.

A couple pictures from Zion, what a beautiful place.

Some trails, like the one we chose, were closed due to ice.

My weekend with the Shepherd Family

Auntie Kari and I have breakfast.

Grandpa and I catch some sunshine.

And I watch my favorite cousin Bree play.

Mommy and I swing.

Uncle Bryan teaches me to stand.

And Uncle Kevin gives me the giggles