Carter is 18 Months!

We cannot believe our "baby" is 18 months old!!! He had a great check-up yesterday with the doctor. He is 28 lbs. (75th percentile) and 33 1/2" tall (80th percentile). We are so proud of our Carter! His favorite thing to do is be outside. He loves playing outside with his sidewalk chalk, riding in his red buggy car, going for walks, helping mommy and daddy with yard work, playing on our neighbor's swing set and going to playgrounds. Carter babbles nonstop and points to everything he recognizes/wants. He is also able to say a few words including "boo, uh-oh, eese, mama, dada, up." He is great about listening and following directions when he wants to. He knows to sit on the step so I can put his socks and shoes on. He also knows that time-out is sitting on the step and calming himself down when he is being disobedient, which doesn't happen too much. Carter loves reading books, throwing balls, hitting the baseball with his bat, pushing his lawn mower around the house, watching Barney and his favorite DVD which still is Praise Baby. We love that Carter is a snuggler. He loves giving hugs and kisses. Some of our favorite moments is in the morning after he wakes up to put him in our bed to have some cuddle time. He loves laying on mommy and daddy and we love tickling him and just waking up together, even though it is often 8:30am. We cannot thank God enough for creating Carter. He is such a wonderful gift and blessing. We know he is going to be a wonderful big brother in about 10 days. Carter, mommy and daddy love you more then you will ever know and we know God has special plans for your life.

Down the Shore with Best Friends!

On October 11th and 12th we had the fun privilage of going down the Jersey Shore with some of our best friends, the Coucharas (Joe, Laura and Joey) and Reigners (Eric and Carol). Laura and Carol are my two best friends from high school and it is rare to be able to get away with them and their families. We all got down there on Saturday and after lunch we got the two little guys, Joey and Carter, to the beach. Since it was pretty breezy outside we bundled them up and didn't expect them to enjoy the ocean water as much as they did. To our surprise Joey was the first one to fall into the water, which he actually loved! Carter was also eager to jump the waves with his daddy and eventually fell into the water as well. The boys loved just sitting on the wet sand playing with some beach toys. Soon it was back to the house for naptime. After the naps, we all got ready to go to the boardwalk. We had a nice dinner at Mac n Manco's Pizza and enjoyed taking the boys on a few rides. After a nice walk on the boardwalk we enjoyed some ice cream from Kohr Brother's. After putting the boys to bed, we adults enjoyed watching the Office all night long thanks to Carol! We had many good laughs and good talks. Sunday was spent eating some great meals and just enjoying being able to relax at the beach house. It was the last big getaway for our family since baby boy #2 is suppose to enter the world in about 2 weeks. I think the reality of it hit me when Carol said to me as we were saying our goodbyes, "Well, I guess the next time I will see you is at the hospital with your newest addition!" Thank you best friends for a great weekend getaway!

Happy Fall!

Carter and I went to Willow Creek Orchards with our MOPS group on October 9th. It was a beautiful day and actually felt more like summer then fall weather, but it was still a lot of fun doing something in honor of the fall season. Carter's favorite part was picking berries and eating them...or should I say having his mama pick them and give them to him to eat while he sat in the lovely grass. Carter also got to go to their pumpkin patch and pick out his first pumpkin. He picked a great one which now sits right outside our front door for decoration. I am blessed to be able to stay at home with Carter and do these fun events...thank you Ryan for working so hard for us...we love you lots!!!

Sesame Place

Our wonderful friends, Albie, Katie and Landon Guerra, invited us to spend a fun-filled day with them at Sesame Place on September 27th. Landon is about 4 months younger then Carter and they are quickly becoming good buddies. They enjoyed playing together and going on some rides together. Sesame Place was decorated for the fall season, which was beautiful. The boys walked through their first cornstalk maze with their mamas who couldn't seem to find their way out without the help of the daddies. It was a fun day with great friends...what else could we have asked for? Thank you Albie, Katie and Landon!!!

A Wonderful Week at the Jersey Shore

Do you ever wonder why God is so good to us? I do! Our family was blessed by God with another wonderful week down the shore. It's an annual summer vacation we look forward to every year with the Hooper side of the family. Mom and Dad Hooper graciously rent a house each summer for us "kids" to enjoy. We had beautiful weather all week long. We did many fun things this year and Carter was at a perfect age to start enjoying them. In the mornings the grandkids loved going on walks and bike rides with Grammi and Papa. They walked to the sticky bun shop, the beach and the local park. Carter was aways ready for his morning nap after being out in the mornings with some of his favorite people and Ryan and I greatly appreciated that! The middays were spent at the beach. It was fun to watch our brave boy walk right into the ocean water. He loved jumping the waves with Daddy and Papa. He learned how to dig some big holes with his shovel and loved going in and out of them all afternoon long. After naptime in the afternoons, we enjoyed relaxing with family. We went to the boardwalk a bunch of times and Carter is starting to love his rides. Carter enjoyed eating ice cream and drinking some fresh lemonade for his treat. We did have a bump in the road when Carter's molars decided to make their entry into this world. Carter spiked a fever of almost 103 degrees and was just not himself for a couple of days. Thankfully the fever didn't last forever and he had many loving adults around him to comfort him during such a rough time. Little does he know how those molars are going to help him chew some red meat one of these days...Rye is looking forward to that day! We praise God so much for a wonderful week at the shore and look forward to next year bringing our newest addition. Please keep us in your prayers as we transition from one to two boys in the Correia household. November 1st is rapidly approaching...

Beautiful Bermuda

Ryan and I spent the second weekend in August in beautiful Bermuda! We went mainly for his dad's wedding and also considered it our last chance to get away before baby boy #2 arrives. We had such a great time visiting family whom we have not seen in two years. Thanks to Grammi and Papa Hooper we were able to leave our little guy in PA while we traveled abroad. It was very hard for us to leave Carter, but knew it was the best thing for him at this time. Of course he was spoiled while we were away and he loved every minute of it.

Ryan and I enjoyed staying with Aunt Doris and Ted in South Hampton. The house has a beautiful pool house which we lived in for the weekend. We enjoyed eating out, swimming, taking walks, relaxing and just talking with one another and family. We had a great time attending Jerry's (Ryan's dad) wedding. The ceremony was conducted on a sailboat which was very different then an American wedding. We also enjoyed celebrating at the reception which was at a restaurant overlooking the ocean. We are very excited to welcome Allison to the family and wish them many wonderful years of growing old together as a married couple.

Ryan and I were super excited to return to Carter after being away for a long weekend. We rushed home after our flight returned and ran into the house to see our amazing son. We will never forget his precious face...he just looked at us with a huge smile on his face and began laughing hysterically. He was so excited for us to be home and we were too. It's amazing how much we love Carter!

A Weekend in the Poconos

This past weekend was spent in the Pocono Mountains with the Hooper side of our family. We spent all of our days at the swimming lake which Carter loved. He is so content to just play in the water, shovel the sand and play on Grammi's beach chair. At the house we spent a lot of our time outside with the kids. We took walks, played on the swings, and watched the goldfish swim in the pond. We also went out on Saturday night for some ice cream. Ryan and I decided to not get Carter his own cone, but for him to share with us, well, he not only ate almost all of our ice cream, but everyone else's as well! He would walk from adult to adult taking huge bites of their cones. What a character! Thank you mom and dad for a wonderful weekend in the Poconos!