Valentine Day Kisses

For Valentines Day (well, for all days), Cooper showed his love for Ella with what else but a bunch of doggy licking kisses. She receives them well with big grins and as much of a giggle as she can muster under Cooper's big tongue. Happy Valentines Day!

Ella holding a flower from mommy's valentines bouquet...

...Ella realizing she's holding a flower from mommy's valentines bouquet!

Let the kisses begin!

Cooper thinking about going in for another....

That's it! Happy Valentines Day!

Happy 2nd Birthday to Cooper!

Our little furry buddy turns 2 years old today. His morning birthday present was a romp in the woods near our house. He was a maniac: jumping in and out of creek beds, crashing and splashing through the thin layer of ice that covered parts of the creek, running in big circles in the woods (spaz mode we call it), chasing squirrels, and generally getting nice and dirty and ICY. Cooper needed his fur defrosted next to the space heater when we got back to the house. He loved every minute of it and so did Tim (except the drying off part).

Infant Massage Class

Tonight, Tim and Erika became infant massage connoisseurs....well, sort of. But we sure learned a lot during the one hour class offered through our church and Ella for the most part, did pretty well. We learned all about technique, methods, and benefits for providing our little one with a good 'ol rub down. There were 4 other babies with us and the instructor offered a really nice class for all of us. We used olive oil for the massage and Ella enjoyed every bit of it...except when we laid her on her stomach for the back portion. Ah well - she got happy again as soon as she saw the other babies laying around!

Getting a foot massage from Daddy

Working on the ankles

Mommy and Ella post massage - Ella is all relaxed!

Ella with her parents

All about Ella...

Guess this will never change! Erika got a new camera for her birthday (thanks Mom and Dad!) and since then has been going crazy with the picture taking. Ella has fallen victim to the new craze and every now and then Cooper gets looped into the picture frenzy madness. Doubtful that it'll let up soon since Ella is just so cute!

She's just about 4 months old (already! Jeesh, time FLIES by!) and had a check-up with the doctor this morning. We're happy to report that she received a clean bill of health! But boy, has she grown since her 2 month check-up! She now weighs in at 14.8 lbs (75 percentile), measures 26 1/4 inches long (95 percentile!), and her little head grew 1 1/2 inches (65 percentile). All this growing has retired many pieces of her wardrobe...we can no longer squeeze her into 0-3 month clothing (tear, tear, mommy needs a moment......) but at least all this growing gives Erika a good excuse to go shopping for more baby clothes! She also had another set of shots, too, but recovered quickly...with just a few tears and a few screams, she was back to her normal smiling self. We are so proud of her.

We also wanted to congratulate our friends Sara and Eric on the birth of their daughter - ALLISON LAYNE who was born on February 5th at 7.5 lbs and 21 inches long. We are so excited for the new parents as they embark on the wonderful journey of parenthood! Congrats, Sara and Eric and welcome to the world little Allison!

Got a few seconds to spare? Then check out some pictures from the past week by clicking here!

Ella Gets Baptized!

On January 20th (yes, we're a bit behind in our updates!) Ella was baptized during the morning mass at St. John Neumann. Many our friends and family traveled from afar (Oklahoma, North Carolina, Maryland, and Florida!) to celebrate with us; it was such an incredible day. Ella wore the same baptismal gown that Erika and her brother Grant wore - it was sewn by Erika's grandmother over 30 years ago! How neat is was to see our little one wearing it and what a beautiful gown it is. Best of all, Ella was an absolute angel during the mass and baptismal rights - she was just picture perfect and although she was a little shocked at the water on her head, she recovered quickly and responded with the biggest, cutest grin. It was a sight to see! After mass, Erika's parents hosted a brunch at their home...everyone enjoyed lots of great food, mimosas, and bloody mary's!
Enjoy some of the pictures from the baptism weekend here.

Last week, Erika turned 25, er, um, okay, 31, but who's counting anyways? The birthday was celebrated at one of Erika's favorite steak restaurants in Arlington with our friends Shaun, Sandra, Meredith, Molly, and John and was followed with some after dinner drinks at the Wolff's home. It was such a fun evening! We decided that a relaxing night was in order on Saturday so we enjoyed a evening with a warm fire, a bottle of wine, and perhaps one of the stupidest movies ever...for those of you who had intentions of watching Snakes on a Plane should either save their money or delete it from their Netflicks cue! Some of the scenes were so bad, they were almost comical...but anyways, we're no movie critiques and can't complain too much since Ella let us enjoy the entire movie!

Otherwise, all is going well here with the Carlson's! Ella, of course, continues to be our little shining star and is just about the sweetest thing. Big congrats to Tim who received a major promotion at work, Erika is very proud of him....it was so well deserved and will be sure to open continued doors of opportunities for Tim!

J'aime Paris!

All bundled up! Check out my legs!

Working on rolling over....almost there.

Vegas vs. Reston

This was Tim's first weekend away since Ella has been in our lives and while Tim was celebrating our friend Shaun's bachelor party in VEGAS, Erika stayed busy with Ella and Cooper in RESTON. Okay, so hard to compare the two cities, there's no high rolling in Reston of course, but Erika managed pretty well! Besides, it might be true for this Vegas trip that there's not much that needs to "stay in Vegas" since the guys realized by Day 2 that it takes a little more effort these days to hang in Vegas. Let's just say that recovery time more than doubled....Hmmmm. Regardless, they had a great time and while Tim didn't come home with any big winnings, he certainly didn't lose much either (Erika is thankful).
Ella is doing wonderful, as usual! Again, she seems to be developing so quickly! Whereas before her most coordinated hand movements involved placing her fingers in her mouth, she can now (although not so gracefully!) reach out and touch the hanging toys from her chair. Erika was in the kitchen and heard the hanging toys moving around and thinking Cooper had crept in for an Ella face licking party, was delightfully amazed to see Ella reaching out her hands to touch the toys. She is such the little wonder. And her legs! Boy, does she love to stand now! We wonder if she'll be an early walker?
We can't ignore Cooper, either. He's been such a trooper since Ella has been born :) His weekend treat was a play date with his buddy Arlie. Erika and Andrea took the dogs out for a good romp in the woods...creeks+mud+Arlie+wrestling+running like hell = dirty Cooper = bath time. Let's just say that Cooper was wiped out for the rest of the day. Below are a couple of pics...

Our "ribbon" princess

Dinner at the Wolff's

Ella gets a hug from Charlie

Whee! Action shot! Full charge out of the water - watch out!

Getting wet

Life doesn't get any better for two dogs

Blue-eyed blueberry

When Ella doesn't get what she wants.....

Congratulations, Christi and Jon!

Yesterday, our good friends Jon and Christi welcomed their first baby into the world. Claire Sophia was born on January 9th at 8 lbs 8 oz and with a head full of brown hair!

Welcome to the world, Claire!

(1/11 Update - Below are some pictures from the hospital visit)

Little Claire is soooo tiny!

Claire getting adorned by her mommy

Sandra takes a turn....

....and Meredith!

Two new mommies!

Claire's babysitters :)