A week of firsts

We had such a fun week! It started on Monday with a visit from Auntie Scarlet! Justin, Theresa, and Blake came up to our house to see Scarlet and she was introduced to her two little nephews. It was a great visit, and we are excited for the boys to meet their Uncle Jake!

Wednesday brought Trey's first road trip and our trip to the NCAA men's basketball first round playoffs! Grandma Lo, Grandpa Mike, and our family loaded up the suburban and headed off to Portland to watch UW and Gonzaga as well as the other teams playing there. Trey did so well during his first road trip and we were SO lucky to have such awesome Grandparents to make the trip with and watch the little guy while we were at the games.

And...I've saved the very best first for last...While making wrust at Grandma Li and Grandpa Terry's house, we were treated to TREY'S FIRST SMILE!!!! He is 5 weeks old and continues to grow and change. We weighed him on Sunday, and he was up to 11 lbs. Yey!!!

3 weeks old!

Blinn and I have a 3 week old son! Every Sunday we can't help but look at the clock and remember what we were doing on February 15. Blinn is back to work full time and my mom is staying with us this week to help out. It has been great having her here! Not only does she snuggle, spoil and change Trey's diapers, she's also really helped ease the transition of not having Blinn around during the day. Trey and I are looking forward to enjoying some March Madness together soon. Let's go Dawgs! ; )

Mom and I took Trey to get weighed today and our little guy (pun intended) is at 9 lbs 15 oz! He's one healthy boy! The nurses that saw him said how he was "all boy" and what a "big guy" he was. He holds his head up on his own very well, knows my voice and I think Daddy's too, eats VERY well (we call him the TERacuda), is okay with bath time as long as he has a warm washcloth on his tummy, and he does a million other things I'm not thinking of at the moment. Bottom line is he is well loved, growing, healthy and ours. We're very blessed!

One week with our Trey

One week ago today our son Terrance Myron was born. He was born at 11:43 am on February 15, 2009 weighing in at 8 lbs 9 oz. This is 100% cheesy but 150% true, we LOVE being Trey's parents! He is such a good boy. He truly only cries when he is hungry or needs a new diaper. It's been a great week of figuring thing out together for Blinn and I. We have had a ton of support and love from both of our families and friends for which we are grateful. He has had the chance to meet a lot of them already and we look forward to him meeting more soon.

Here are 7 pictures to show a SMALL portion of our first week with our son. I can't believe that a week later I'm finally posting pictures; but it's also hard to believe how quickly a day goes by even though we're just feeding, diapering, napping, and snuggling him! Thanks to all for the thoughts and prayers sent our way- we are definitely feeling them. Enjoy some pictures of our little man!

Oh, and Gus is adjusting well to his new brother. I had to mention our first "baby". :)

A couple more Blake pics

Meeting Baby Blake

Blinn and I met our nephew Blake today! He is absolutely precious. He looks A LOT like his Daddy with perhaps the chin of his Mommie. :) He was such a good boy while we were down visiting and before we left he woke up for us.

Justin and Theresa are both doing really well and were getting some help from Theresa's mom. It's hard to believe in less than a month he will get to meet his cousin Trey! Another huge congrats to Blake's proud parents; thanks for letting us meet your son!

We're an Auntie and an Uncle!

We just heard that our nephew Blake Alexander arrived this morning at around 10:00! He is 19.5 inches and 7.7 pounds. His Dad reported that he is healthy and that his Mommie did great and is feeling well too. CONGRATULATIONS TO JUSTIN AND THERESA! We can't wait to meet him and rest assured we will post pictures as soon as we have them.

This is Blinn writing. In this video we see Gus enjoying the snow as Addie plays with her new video camera. There was a great deal of snow, more than 2.5 feet.

Look at all that snow!

This photo is before the butler shoveled the front walk.

Christmas Lights are Up!

3rd trimester!

We have entered the final stretch! I'm still feeling very well and Blinn continues to take good care of me. :) I feel Trey move all of the time and now his kicks and punches are strong enough for Blinn and other people to feel too. In less than 2 months we will be a family of four!-we can't forget Gus!

Post work-out pic. Not my best material.

NKOTB Round 2!

Sixteen years have passed since my mom took Em, Liz and I to see the New Kids on the Block concert at Beasley Coliseum in Pullman. Last weekend, Kristin, Ashley and I saw the New (older) Kids at the Tacoma Dome, and I think I screamed just as loud as I did when I was 10!!! It was such a fun time both at the concert and visiting Kris in Seattle. Blinn and Jay watched football all day at the bars while Kris and I prepped for our big evening with breakfast with Lyssa and a manicure.

The concert crowd was made up of 24-35 year old women and everyone screamed and danced while NKOTB played mostly old songs that we knew ALL the words to. When their new songs came on, the three of us took that opportunity to sit down for a rest. :)

Here are some pics from our evening. Notice my shirt...it was Trey's first concert! Probably not exactly what his Daddy had in mind. :)

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Our family sure has a lot to be thankful for this year. We're getting ready to head down to my mom and dad's house to enjoy all of the Thanksgiving fixins; including the best stuffing in the WORLD! YEY!

Escape!

We had such great plans for our Veteran's Day morning. Blinn and I had just hopped in the car and we're getting ready to head to breakfast at McDonald's. For the record, their $1.99 mochas ARE as good as they look. Before we can pull away from the curb, Gus sprints around from the side of the house like a mad-man. He had accomplished his first escape of the morning. Blinn put a couple of boards supported by a 25 lb. bag of mulch in front of the fence that he had sneaked through. We waited a bit outside in the car to see if Gus could get out, and once we were confident his escape route had been patched up, we left for breakfast.


We got home to an empty kitchen and backyard. Gus had made escape number two. Only this escape was different. Gus had realized (he is SO smart) that we were no longer out front and had tried to get back into the backyard. That pesky bag of mulch was in his way, so resourceful as ever, Gus ripped through the sealed bag of mulch to get it out of his way. The end result looked like this:

Gus had his second bath in less than a week after this picture was taken. Here is the mini-Houdini on his favorite perch post bath:

In other Carstensen news, we have reached 25 weeks in my pregnancy which means we are now officially in the sixth month! Baby Trey moves a ton and does not seem to share his mother's love for all things tomato based- indigestion is no fun! At our last ultrasound appointment we got to see Trey move his mouth and at one point he moved his little hand and tried to get it into his mouth. It was awesome. Everything looks great with the little guy and we're getting his room ready slowly but surely. It's hard to believe that in three months we'll have him with us! Here I am this morning in all my 25 week glory. :)

Happy Halloween!

Our little bat says Boo!- and give me a treat for wearing these stupid wings. : )

It's a...

3D picture of Trey!

If you look closely, you can see "the goods" between his legs!

Baby Boy! Blinn and I (Gus too as you can see) are so excited to announce that Terrance Myron Carstensen, "Trey", will be joining our family in late February. I'm posting some ultrasound pictures, though I realize that they are hard to figure out. But for those ultrasound experts, here you go! I've been feeling him kick/ move around regularly for the past 2 weeks or so. Blinn even got to feel one strong kick! It has been a dreamy 21 weeks of pregnancy so far. The family pictures were taken the morning after we found out we were having a boy.

We've had a great October so far. We took a trip to Greenbluff with Gus to pick some apples, and then of course the big news that we'll have a son this time next year. So amazing! I'll let the pictures do the talking...not much else to say right now except we're just over the moon about Trey!

NYC Vacation Pictures

Manhattan Island taken from Ellis Island (I don't usually look "that" pregnant yet; this was right after lunch) : ). Our last dinner at a restaurant in Little Italy.

Times Square
Yankee's Stadium!
We had breakfast at the Seinfeld diner!
Dad and Blinn by Rockefeller Center.

Mom and I with NYC's finest!
After our Today Show debut with Mr. Matt Lauer!
Mom and I with the lovely Meredith. ALL of the Today Show people were sooooo nice and friendly!
Lunch at Tavern on the Green.