Still monkeying around at the Zoolights

Towards the end of the night, Carter wanted OUT from thestroller so Steve took him around for a strool.he was walking thetown..

LOVE this picture ofLaura, Cartrer and me in front of the lights. Sums up a wonderful evening

Zoo Lights with Auntie Laura

The day after Christmas, Laura, Steve, Carter and I went down to the Lincoln Park Zoo Zoolights festival. It was so WARM outside and we had such a nice time. There were so many lights, the zoo was gorgeous and a number of the exhibits were open so Carter got to see some real animals too.

For some reason, ever since I was a little girl, I always associated gorillas with my Dad. It was a huge joke within my whole family. Whenever I was going to the zoo as a kid, I would always be telling people that I was going to see my Dad there. When I got there and raced to see the gorillas, I would tell the people around me that they look JUST like my Daddy at home. I thought the big, macho, strong gorillas were just like my dad. See what drinking while pregnant can do to your kids, Mama D.????

We all thought that it was HIGHLY APPROPRIATE for Carter to take some pics with the gorillas just to let Grampa Drnek know we were thinking of him. Here is Laura, Carter and I hamming it up with some...


Steve saying "I can't BELIEVE I married into this CRAZY family!" Carter has just given up by this point...


Yes Carter, that is your Gramps Drnek
I LOVE this picture!! A great family shot of the 3 of us outside in front of all the lights at the zoo.

Christmas Morning Part 1 - Gramma Drnek's house

Well, Carter had a very full agenda on his first Christmas morning. First we started off opening gifts at my Mom's house, which took us a couple of HOURS. He got so many great things, we are still trying to figure out where to put everything! Then, we went over to Gramma and Grampa Wielgus' house to open EVEN MORE great gifts. The pictures of that are above. Then, after a LONG NAP back at home, we spent Christmas Day with both Grammas and Grampas at the Talcott Chateau. Carter got to see his Great Gramma Wielgus too.

Of special note, Carter's Auntie Laoise bought him the ADORABLE red long johns he has in these pics. They have a butt flap that buttons up and down and says "My First Christmas" on the butt. He LOVES them and they were perfect for his first Christmas morning....

Here he is taking a juice break. Opening all of those presents was HARD WORK...



Yup, loved all the EMPTY boxes and tissue paper. They were much more fun to play with than all of the gifts inside them.

Christmas Morning Part 1 - Gramma Drnek's house

Here are some more pictures from the Christmas Morning Present Opening Extravaganza at Gramma Drnek's house. Here is the little elf in his Santa hat playing with one of his new toys from Auntie Debby...


Carter wanted to try on Mommy's new scarf and hat but it seems to be a little too big on him...

Just hamming it up for the camera among the sea of presents...

And like Mommy said, what was Carter's favorite part of opening his presents? Getting to play with the boxes! Forget about what the GIFT was...


Uncle Scott and Stacy sent Carter this book. He LOVES it and wouldn't stop looking at once he opened it....

Carter's First Christmas Eve - Clowning with Grampa

We have TONS of great pictures from Christmas Eve, Carter's Gramma did a great job of taking shots all night long. As soon as we get those from her, we'll post up here. Just FYI, at 9 months old, Carter did a PHENOMENAL job sitting on Santa's lap. Not a peep out of him.

My dad came home for Carter's first Christmas. We are so happy he is home. Here are some shots of Gramps clowning around with the little one...



And here is Carter taking Grampa for a walk....

A NEW KIND of sippy cup

Being that he's mastered the NUK one he has, we thought Carter might be ready for a more advanced sippy cup...one with a straw that DOES NOT hold suction. Went over O.K. but I think it was too much work for our little man. He definitely likes his other ones better.

Discovery of Chocolate Ice Cream

So Carter got A+++ marks at his 9-month check up. We were ALSO told that CHOCOLATE IS NO LONGER OFF LIMITS!! So of course, we buy chocolate ice cream on the way home from the doctor's office. It went over PRETTY well, as you can see below, with both Carter AND Mommy...