Carson had a wonderful 1st Christmas! Well, it was more like 5 Christmases with all of the celebrating we did.

CHRISTMAS #1 – A Grandma “B” Christmas

The Sunday before Christmas we went over to Jordan’s Grandma’s house to celebrate Christmas with all of the Aunts, Uncles and cousins. We had such a fun time with everyone. Thanks Keri for putting it all together and having the idea to celebrate early! It was nice to be able to take our time to catch up with everyone and just enjoy our time.

Carson got to hang out with Gram.

Uncle Cory and cousin Jonathan entertained the family.

Carson snuggled with Papa. He ended up falling asleep just like this.

We spent time opening presents. Carson loved the book that Grandma “B” gave him.

Carson with his cousin Kaden. They had a great time playing together!

Carson, Uncle Cory and Aunt Tina. Yes, it is Aunt Tina now. Cory proposed to her on Christmas morning! Congratulations, we couldn’t be happier for you both!

CHRISTMAS #2 – Christmas Eve at Gram and Papa’s

On Christmas Eve we got dressed up and headed over to Jordan’s parents house. We ate dinner over there before heading to church. Their church had a beautiful service and Papa spent time with Carson during it so Jordan and I could relax and enjoy the service, which we appreciate. After church we went back to their house. Gram made a birthday cake for Jesus and we sang happy birthday to Him. Such a cute tradition to start doing for Carson and all the future grandkids. Right before we sat down to open up presents Taylor (Jordan’s brother in Africa) called. It was such perfect timing and everyone got to talk to him. It was the first time Carson was able to “talk” to his Uncle Taylor. We had a mini pool tournament after all the presents had been unwrapped. It was a great Christmas Eve!

Carson was trying to get into the Christmas presents early that day and he got busted!

Before heading over to Gram and Papa’s we got dressed and Carson got to open up his Christmas Eve gift, jammies!

Before Carson was born his Gram bought a toy for him to play with and he is finally big enough for it. He loved it!

Me with Carson’s Aunt Tina.

Carsons 1st Christmas jammies.

CHRISTMAS #3 – Christmas morning with Mommy and Daddy

We had a nice and relaxing Christmas morning. We had the fake fireplace on, Christmas music playing and cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Carson enjoyed getting into his stocking and opening up gifts. It was a lot of fun watching him try to eat the wrapping paper and take interest in the toys.

Santa brought Carson his very own remote control so he would stop changing the channels while Mommy and Daddy are trying to watch a show. It seems to be working…….so far.

The first thing he wanted to do when he unwrapped his first Bible was to eat it.

We spent the rest of the morning playing with some new games while Carson took a nap. And then head to Bakersfield after we ate lunch.

CHRISTMAS #4 – Christmas night at Mimi and Boompa’s

We arrived in Bakersfield around 4:00. There wasn’t any traffic and Carson slept most of the way. We exchanged gifts with my family and my Dad barbecued steaks for dinner. After dinner we played Catch Phrase and just hung out. What a great way to spend Christmas!

Carson was surrounded by gifts and Aunt Katey had a lot of fun helping him open his presents.

The next morning Carson had fun playing with all of his new stuff.

Carson, Aidan and Boompa all had a present to open together from Santa.

CHRISTMAS #5 – Christmas with the Stoddard Family

The Monday night after Christmas my Mom’s side of the family came over to celebrate. I’m so happy Jordan, Carson and I were able to stick around for the party. It was great hanging out with everyone and there were some family members that hadn’t met Carson yet. He got passed around and had fun playing with everyone.

Everyone wanted a picture with Carson under the tree.

Carson was able to meet cousin Kristen, Uncle Kent and Aunt Megan.

Carson helping his Great Grammy Elva open up her present.

Overall, we had an amazing Christmas and we hope all of you did too. As always, there are more pictures here.

See more 6 month pictures

Christmas photos to follow…

We still had plenty to be thankful for on Thanksgiving. Carson was able to be a light with everything going on. We are thankful for the life my Grandpa had and that my Grandma was able to come to my parents to be with everyone. And what a blessing it was that, the day after he passed, the whole family was going to be together! It’s amazing when the Lord works things out that way. We all had a great time catching up with everyone, eating great food and laughing a lot!

Thank you to everyone who has helped my family out during this time. Your love and friendship is appreciated! Please continue to pray for the family. Especially for my Dad who is accepting the loss but staying strong for my Grandma. And for my Grandma who keeps forgetting what has happened. We love you Grandpa!

A lot of fantastic moments happened over the holiday, including Carson’s 1st Thanksgiving.  He was able to meet his Great Grandma Pat and she just loved playing with him!

Carson decorated his 1st Christmas Tree. It was the first time in years that my Mom and Dad had all the kids at their house to decorate the tree together.

We also took some family pictures. Thank you Mary and Dallas Stumbaugh for taking the time to take pictures and finding such a beautiful location to take them! Dallas, you are one talented guy!

Jordan also practiced his photography skills.

As always, we have a lot more pictures from Thanksgiving weekend. Please check the rest out here.

We took him to the beach for the first time on Sunday. It was a gorgeous day and we had a lot of fun watching him explore the sand.

And yes, he did try to eat the sand. He didn’t like the taste of it, thank goodness!

Here’s a video of Jordan and Carson’s favorite game: The Hand Game…

Carson’s Aunt Katey came down to stay with us the weekend before Halloween while Jordan went on a camping trip with a group of guys. She was a great help to me and her and Carson got a lot of bonding time.

Halloween week we took Carson to the pumpkin patch. It was fun walking around with him and watching him stare at everything with wide eyes.

We got together with our wonderful friends in our Life Group to carve pumpkins. Our pumpkin is really creative, I know.

It was a year ago on Halloween that Jordan and I found out we were pregnant with Carson. We are so blessed to have him in our family. He brings us so much joy and it was fun to reflect on that Halloween morning. October 31st will always be special to us.

Halloween day my family came down and we went to Disneyland for the day. Carson had a lot of fun with his cousin, Aidan. He loved just staring at him and trying to play. That night we dressed Carson up and we went to Goofy’s Kitchen for dinner. His football costume was a hit! He was given so many compliments that night.

Hope all of you had a fun Halloween!

He is rolling over a lot. Just today he was on his play mat and he rolled two full rotations and ended up by the couch at my feet.  It was hilarious. I tried capturing the moment on video but I was too late. I did however, get a video of him rolling onto his tummy and lifting his head up. Check it out if you want to.

My best friend, Kara, came to visit last weekend to meet Carson for the first time.  She was kind enough to offer to babysit so Jordan and I could go on a date. We all had a wonderful time! Thanks again, Kara for visiting!

Carson is becoming very curious and aware of his surroundings. It’s a lot of fun watching him take notice of different things. He currently is really into the remote control (such a boy). He also enjoys looking at the books we read to him before bed time.

I would like to end with this….

Last weekend we took Carson on his first road trip. We went to Bakersfield to introduce him to family and friends. Carson made us so proud! He slept in the car all the way there and back. We were afraid he would get to overwhelmed with all the people that were coming over but he did really well. Everyone got a chance to hold him and he was fine with getting passed around. There were a couple breakdown moments but not as many as we expected there to be. Thank you to everyone who came by to meet our little guy! It was a wonderful day!

Carson’s Great-Grammy meeting him for the first time

He had an exhausting day! Aunt Katey is a great cuddler!

On Sunday we hung out at my parents for a while just with the family to celebrate Jordan’s birthday. It was so much fun watching our nephew, Aidan, play with Carson. Those cousins are going to have so much fun once Carson can play back.

He had fun with his Aunts, Uncle and cousin.

Aidan helped Mimi put the candles on his Uncle Jordan’s cake. There were different color swirls on the cake and he took the time to match each colored candle to the matching color swirl. He is so smart!

We have a lot of pictures from the weekend. You can check the rest out here.

To celebrate his 2 months we took him to Disneyland. On Friday night we went and enjoyed a fun dinner at the Blue Bayou for Papa’s birthday. After dinner we took Carson on The Jungle Cruise for his very first ride, he slept through the whole thing! He did wake up towards the end of the night to get some playtime in.

Happy Birthday Papa!

So sleepy…

The next morning we woke up early to go meet my parents at the park. They were staying at the Disneyland Hotel so we were able to join them for early admission into the park. We were there at 7:30 in the morning. All of us had a great time.  We took Carson on Finding Nemo, and thanks to Mimi and Boompa and the baby pass, Jordan and I were able to go on a lot of rides. The longest line we had to wait in was 15 minutes. It was a great weekend!

Carson was very excited to go to Disneyland two days in a row!

Meeting Mickey Mouse (Notice how there is not one person in the background)

To see the rest of the pictures from our Disneyland trip click here.

Here are some of our favorite faces he makes.

We took Carson to his first trip to the Disneyland Hotel to visit with Mimi and Boompa. We had a great time pushing him around in his stroller and eating a nice dinner. I can’t believe we forgot to take pictures!

Uncle Cory’s birthday was this month and we joined him for dinner at Alcatraz. Carson wore a special rock outfit just for his Uncle.

Carson’s Uncle Jeff, Aunt Leah and cousin Aidan came by this month to visit. We had a wonderful time with them. We put the boys in their strollers and walked to Oggi’s for lunch and then stopped by a park to play when we were finished. I had so much fun with playing with my nephew on the play structure. He is getting so big and says the cutest things! Aidan finally warmed up to Carson. We started out just by having him feel how soft Carson’s skin is and a little while later Aidan was giving Carson kisses. It was so sweet!

Carson’s Gram and Papa threw a family shower for him last Saturday. It was such a fun day and it was exciting to have everyone over to meet Carson. A huge thank you to everyone who came to the shower and for giving Carson such nice gifts. We are truly blessed to have so many close friends and family that love and pray for our little guy.

After the shower Gram and Papa watched Carson so Jordan and I could enjoy our first date since he’s been born. It was a little strange not having him with us but it was nice to get out enjoy a nice dinner. Thank you Ken and Heidi for such a great day!!

I should also mention that it was Uncle Taylor’s birthday this month as well. He is still in South Africa so we couldn’t celebrate with him but we definitely thought of him.

We are looking forward to another fun, yet busy month filled with Disneyland trips, birthday parties, having friends over, and Carson’s first trip to Bakersfield! If you want to see all of the pictures from the past month click here.

Carson turned one month old today. And it was a busy day. First Court brought him by my office and we got to show him off to my coworkers. He then had a doctors appointment. He now weighs 9 lbs! That’s a 50% increase in just one month!