Weekend Woes

It started so promising. Colin got home right at dinner time so we headed out to grab a bite at a local pizza place. It was Carter's first pizza meal and it was a hit. He dove right in, sampling all the options.
Dinner was yummy but Carter had an even better time watching all the other kids run around and by waving/blowing kisses at all the adults.

After dinner was over, we checked out the game room. Carter had fun with all the sounds and colorful lights.He even tried his hand at a few of them. And met up with some other babies for some skee ball fun.

After all the fun, Carter was super sleepy so hit hit the sheets but was up moaning a few time throughout the night. In the morning he wasn't quite himself and we could tell he was sick. The little guy gave it a good go, but he ended up sleeping most of the morning.

At the same time, dad woke up with his chest hurting. His back had been bothering him for a few days but the chest was new so he decided to run by the Dr to get it checked out. Everything looked good except one spot on his EKG so they sent him down the road...to the ER. After several rounds of tests, everything checked out and dad was diagnosed with a slight inflammation around his heart (Pericarditis) related to a virus he had two weeks ago. With a script for ibuprofen, we headed home.

There grandmommy had been hanging out while the little guy slept. We ended up waking the little guy up around 5 (yes he had been sleeping from basically 8 the night before) and he still wasn't feeling too well which meant he was basically a little cuddle bug.

The little guy went back to bed pretty quick and dad hit the sack recovering as well.

Carter woke up Sunday back to 100% and had the appetite of a bear. He had about 5 normal meals Sunday and 6 snacks. He ate about every 1-1/2 hours. Dad took it easy Sunday and felt a little better by the end of the day.

Thankfully after the weekend, dad was back at half speed and Carter was back at full baby speed!

Wisconsin... Meeting the Family and Heading Home

After all the fun at the Zoo, we had to get home fast as the whole family was coming over for an outdoor picnic supper and fun time. Carter immediately learned that his hands up "hold me" pose was a winner with the family and he hardly had his feet on the ground. Carter was not shy either, so long as you would pick him up, he was your best friend. He got Uncle Rick suckered in quickly.Soon Carter started to notice another little fellow running around, his slightly older cousin JR. Although neither are speaking much discernible English, they had a great time running around squealing, giggling, and copying each other and generally having a good time.

Here are the proud two Dads (Colin and Britt) and their little guys (Carter and JR)

One of the great entertainments was watching Colin kick a big blue ball in the air. Both Carter and JR found it hilarious and exciting... until the ball got caught in a tree. Then the whole family found hilarity and excitement as Colin and Grandpa Holden tried to free the ball from the tree (only a few branches and about an hour of time was lost in that activity).

While the "grown ups" worked on freeing the big blue ball, the little guys quickly found a new ball to entertain themselves with

Needless to say, Carter and JR hit it off great

While our dessert was breifly interupted with a quick sprinkle, it soon passed and provided great sunset views of the farmland below Grandma and Grandpa's home. From hear you can see 10+ miles, including Mt. Horeb, WI in the distance.

It was a great evening and was great that both of the boys were able to spend some quality time with their doting great grandparents

We were doubly lucky to get in a great photo of the whole family including all Great Grandparents West, Grandparents Holden, Aunt Patty, all five McFadden's (with one significant other) and the Holden's from Atlanta.

Before the evening ended, we made sure to get a great shot of four generations of the West clan.

The festivities made for a very long evening for Carter (he was up almost 2 hours past his normal bed time), but he was a champ and had a great time hanging out with everyone. However, that evening he had some issues staying asleep and eventually ended up in Mom and Dad's bed. There he immediately crashed and was all smiles once it was time to wake up in the morning.He even had the poise to wave hello to anyone watching (I think Dad still needed his coffee)

While our time was quick in Wisconsin, we had a great time, but eventually had to head home. Although our flight was delayed, Carter had a great time watching the doings around the airport and did a great job on the flight home. It was a great trip, and he hope to be back soon.

Wisconsin... Part 2 at the Zoo

After a great full day in Wisconsin, it was off for the start to day #2. However, Carter was still on Eastern Standard Time, so his "get up and go" was ready to go much earlier than the rest of us. Luckily Grandma had found a good number of toys for Carter and Mom and Dad brought some Baby Einstein DVDs for entertainment till the rest of this part of the world was alive and kicking.
Luckily Carter was well entertained with his Grandparents around as the morning was full of rain (meaning no visit to the Farmer's Market, but we can save that for the next trip). Once the sun came out, Carter wanted to take a walk, and Dad obliged by heading out the front driveway with a more and more adventurous Carter.

After his fun walk, it was into the car and back to a place Carter had been before (albeit more than 10months back). We were off to the Madison Zoo.

Carter immediately headed towards the newly re-done children's area of the Zoo and quickly found the goats.

Grandpa was able to find a fwe quarters, and Carter was feeding his first farm animals. He really seemed to have fun with it and was not jumpy or timid while the goats nibbled the food from his hands.

We continued our walk through the Zoo and found a few monkey's hanging around...

Took the obligatory picture being a baby bear...Perched on Dad's shoulders to get the best views of the birds in the rainforest aviary

We were a little dissapointed to find that our wingspan was only that of a Peregrine Falcon

We continued to explore the zoo, all the animals were out and about, even the two-humped Camels who both came right up to the area Carter was calling them from.

Carter also enjoyed the funny looking ostrich with Grandpa

Overall the Zoo trip was a quick one, but we had to get home to prepare for the fun to come that evening

Fun Times in Wisconsin

Thursday was a day of travel for the Holden's as we headed off to Wisconsin to visit Carter's Grandparents. Mom and Dad were pretty nervous putting Carter on a plane seeing as his energy levels seem to continue to rise and his need for stimulation is unquenchable. To combat his restless nature, the flight to Wisconsin was purposely scheduled during Carter's lunch and nap time. The hope being that after eating his lunch on take-off, he would take a nap in Mom and Dad's lap... needless to say, this didn't happen. Mom and Dad did all they could to keep Carter entertained with books, snacks, and a quick Baby Einstein DVD and 1.5hours later we were landing in Milwaukee. Although Mom and Dad were exhausted from keeping Carter content and quite, he did a good job and a nice lady even stopped by as we got him settled in his stroller to comment about how well behaved he was on the plane.

Grandpa picked us up at the airport as he had flown in just an hour prior and we were off to Madison, of course Carter slept the entire time and hardly made a peep. Our first day in Madison was relatively relaxing with some backyard playtime and hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa. However, a small roadtrip to a local store (Duluth Trading Co.) in Mt Horeb which proved a much needed energetic release for Carter as he ran all through the store chasing Grandma and Grandpa... only to stop and look at the hardware museum.

Luckily all the tools are well secured, but Carter still had a great time as all the tools on the lower shelves were well within reach for his wandering hands. Then it was back to Grandma and Grandpa's for a more relaxing evening playing with the Grandparents and enjoying a great Wisconsin evening.

The next day we woke up excited for the day to come. We started out with a morning outing to a local playground an then a nap, then on to the excitement. We were off to the Madison Children's Museum. We are members of the Atlanta Children's Museum and have been to the Charleston Children's Museum, but this one was a bit different and a lot of fun. We first started off the Wildernest on the first floor, Carter immediately walked on the overhead bridge and surveyed the play are below him.

He quickly decided to walk to the back with Grandma and played a bit of dress up with a great cow skin vest.

Grandma wanted a picture, but Carter was ready to move. He started to crawl around the tunnels and bridges.

After a bit of fun crawling around, Carter found an area that really grabbed his attention, the water dome. Mom quickly helped Carter put on his protective bib (Mom and Dad thought it would help keep him dry... Mom and Dad were wrong).

Carter quickly found that the measuring cups did a great job of catching, and then throwing the water in the air.

He provided plenty of entertainment for all as he explored this new way to play with water.

Carter's entertainment seemed to multiply as the amount of water he splashed on himself increased.

Before Carter became wet from head to toe, we distracted him towards the music room hut and other huts in the Wildernest. Here Carter tried to show off his new found skills of cleaning things up and putting things away (notice how wet his right side is, it took all afternoon for him to dry off).

From the Wildernest we took Carter to the second floor to explore the Possible-opolis (yeah, that is spelled right). Although the area is geared towards kids 5 and up, Carter had a great time walking around and interacting with all the exhibits. He first worked on drying out his curls on in the old style hair dryer chair...

There was also a fun art area in the Possibile-opolis, here Carter worked on developing his painting skills. Although most of the paint he worked with ended up in his mouth or on his clothes, it appeared that he somewhat was getting the idea.

It really appeared that the part Carter liked in the art room was his cute little apron.

After our art adventure, it was back to the exhibits, Carter had fun playing with the marionettes with Grandma and then locked himself in an old style phone booth.

Then we were off to the Rooftop Ramble, we didn't know what to expect on the roof, but we exited the elevator to a great green roof. Before exploring the garden, we headed to the Clubhouse. There Carter met his first chick, and the nice employees even let Carter get a quick pet in.

After seeing the baby chicken, we were back outside, Carter opened the compost bin top and there before him were big grown up chickens. Carter stared in amazement, and even once he was put down, he still wanted another look.

We continued to play and explore the rooftop garden. The facility is beautiful and across the street from the State Capitol which made for some great picture opportunities.

It was a great and entertaining day, finished with a quick visit to Carter's Great Grandparents house, and then a nice fish fry dinner. Here are a few more fun photo's from the museum.