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It's been so long since I've posted about life that I forgot how to post... now thankfully my brain kicked in at some point so here I am....
Life is good at the Carter house. And I say it's good cause the Lord Jesus is still alive and active and giving out love and forgiveness. However, we have been struggling with some control issues and stress. I'll start with the hardest part of recent life, my grandfather died this past week. It was my dad's dad. He had been in the hospital for a couple of weeks. At some point "they," the doctors and family, thought this was just a close call, but it's turned out not to be the case. My dad did get to go home for a week to spend with him (while he was still going) and I am very grateful to the Lord for that. The family is planning a celebration of life in late May since so many will be traveling in from Peru and across the States. This is my first grandparent to die. And I think as a whole, our family is still in sock.
The more stressful part of life is my Praxis exam, aka... NESPA... my national board exam... the test a have to pass before I can officially practice as a SLP...
The test is tomorrow morning at 10:45. There's a slight hope I'll pass : ) If you think of it please pray to the good Lord that I'll pass. I just need a score of 601!
Well I'll end on a wonderful note, I love my baby and husband! AND I got to see a few minutes of the beautiful William and Cate wedding this morning! I would have baked scones and drank tea all day, but I had to keep my head focused on Brown's 14 grammatical morpheme markers, stuttering theories, Aphasia characteristics, etc.
Enjoy the pictures of my men, aren't they handsome!
Love
Jen

Friday and 4am

Well with all good things a little sacrifice is needed right? This morning my brain/worry/stress about driving 6-9 hours with my 5 month old next week to visit our best friends in southeast AR took over... so I decided to sacrifice a little sleep.
We just took a 5 hour trip to Houston this past weekend and Caleb really did quite well, but the last two hours on the way home was too much and he cried. Not that he normally doesn't shed a tear or two during the week but I guess since I'm working most of the time with school and life, I don't get the opportunity to hear him much and two hours was a long time for this heart and pair of ears. So this morning I decided with the good Lord's help and my computer, I was/am finding a place to stay for all 6 adults, 1 kid, 2 toddlers and 1 baby, that's closer than the previously mentioned time. Oh and not to mention, gas is crazy expensive AKA I paid over $50 yesterday!!!

The convention season came to a close on Sat. A day earlier than expected because I came down with something that lasted till this past Wednesday. It was like the flu, body aches, head/nose pain and stuffiness, exhausted, etc. but no fever or throwing up. So I went to clinic and class this week with tissues up my nose and coating my hands in sanitizer. All that to say, if I have to take one for the Travi/Carter house once a season, that's fine with me because no one else in the house, including my mom or baby got "it" and that a hallejah from me!!

I have a practice/graded exam today at 10 and then my spring break officially begins!
Here are some pictures from this past weekend,
Jenny
P.s. if you are ever in Houston and need a warm, inviting, happy house to stay, we recommend Gma's. She was the best hostess!

One of the best smile pics of our guy!

 

My men at breakfast. Kyle surprised me for my birthday and reserved a swanky hotel room for my birthday and it came with a yummy breakfast! 

Caleb in the Swanky hotel room! 

Caleb and Lindsey on my birthday lunch!!

Lindz and I at the Praxia bowl where TWU got 2nd place!!! 

What I meant to say...

... is I'll post once a semester! I'm sorry it's been so long since I've written. Life in the Carter house has been  crazy as normal. What with the normal class/clinic responsibilities, a growing and happy baby, parents who are struggling with physical changes and pains, trips, graduating, applying for summer clinic, scholarships, doc appointments, conferences, papers, and presentations, etc. Did I mention we are NEVER bored?

February is the month of birthdays for us. Starting off with Kyle's dad on the 8th, Kyle's on the 13th, my mom's on the 16th, my dad's on the 19th, Kyle's mom on the 28th, but a few great friends (aka Kent and my friend Cami's little boy) and then I turn older on the 4th (which everyone counts as a "feb" since it's so close to Feb.) and to be honest, I almost get sick of cake, almost : ) 

Last weekend I attended a Laryngectomy conference and learned tons! And received 5 hours of class/clinic    credit. This weekend, the Carter's crew are traveling to Houston for the TSHA convention. We'll be staying with Gma and hoping to see some friends as well! 

I'll have one more week of class and clinic and then my much needed spring break will start! We'll be headed to AR to see the Ruples and Kellars, which we are really looking forward too. 

Well friends, our baby turned 5 months today, and I'm exhausted... off to bed for me (thankfully Caleb is already asleep!) 

This is one of Kyle's fav pics!

Carters in the snow

I want to eat that snowflake!

I'm adorable 

Me and daddy

                                                                                     I'm ok....

I'm not ok...

Ok I have my passy...

One week and counting~

 I can't believe my break is almost over! Next Tues. I will begin my 2nd and last spring semester. I'll be taking one class on Fluency, one class to prep for my national board exam (which I'll be taking this April), and working at the Stroke Center. This will equal five days a week of school... a little different then last semester, but we'll take one day at a day  : )
We've been SO blessed to have my grandparents and the Ruples here this past weekend. Lots of love and laughter!

 Papaw and Caleb!

Nana and Caleb watching some news!












                 The Carters and Ruples!

Other than Caleb's first snow, life here has been slow and relaxing.
We do have a slight tradition coming up this next weekend... our movie marathon! The weekend before school starts Kyle and I spend three days catching up on all the movies we have wanted to see during the semester, but have put off because of responsibilities. This weekend includes a white chocolate cake from Romano's bakery (http://www.romanosbakery.com), Papa John's pizza and Dr. Pepper! What more could we want?
Hope you all have a great week!
Love, Jenny

                       And here are some of Caleb's first Christmas and snow!

Kyle and I's handy work!

Christmas morning was a little early for our tiny man

                          And just for giggles here's what we did yesterday!

Blood on Ice

Since we won't hear for several weeks about whether or not Kyle made it on the Amazing Race, we decided to continue on with life as normal until we win the million dollars.  So on the 23rd we went to our first professional hockey game together, the game was between the Calgary Flames and, of course, the Dallas Stars.  We tried to not shoot our eyes out kids(see Jumbotron). Inspite of not having any idea about the rules we had a great time, especially the WWF on ice which apparently is legal in hockey. 






We had a great Christmas and New Year's holiday, spending some great time with family which was made especially nice by seeing three of Kyle's brothers and 26 other family members that we don't see that often. 

Currently Jenny's maternal grandparents are visiting for two weeks and we will get the distinct opportunity of seeing Livy Ruple and her parents at the end of this next week for a couple days.  Here is a video of Caleb cooing, in case you have never seen a baby this cute.  Eat your hearts out, ladies.

Amazing Race

Just a life side note, Kyle just left a few minutes ago with a friend, to drive up to Durrant, OK to apply/interview for the Amazing Race!! If you didn't already know, Kyle and I are faithful watchers of all 18 seasons! So cross your fingers and lets hope he gets call backs.
Caleb is growing like a weed! He is now 12.8 lbs and 24.5 inches long! He made it through his 2 month appointment, which included 3 shots : ( He is now holding his own hands, pulling his legs up (while on his back), and cooing in sentence like form! His eyes turn from green to brown and he is still sleeping through the night.
It is also final's week for me. I took my voice science final on Monday night and it went ok. I'm pretty sure it will drop my grade down to a B, but I'm trying to accept that a B is still passing and no body will look at my GPA... really I'm just struggling with my pride.
The Ruple's were planning a trip this week, but their sweetest baby is sick so they aren't coming : ( Hopefully a Jan trip will make up for this sadness. Our next visitors will hopefully be the Kellar's, my Nana and Papaw, and Kyle's brother Michael and his new wife Haley!! We're so blessed to be with loved ones this season.
Well that's our update.
Much love,
Jenny
P.s. You know I can't post without adding some pictures!
Christina Bryant took these pictures of Caleb at 3 weeks!
There are more on her web site:
http://www.ninabphotography.com/albums/main.php 
Password: carter1

Gran took this picture and it's one of Kyle and I's favs! 

He's 6 weeks old here

*I'm not sure if I already posted this one, but it's super cute so enjoy!

Some more Caleb pictures

Here are some pictures from the last couple of weeks. I can't believe our little person is 9 weeks old already!

"I can touch you"

"Out! I want out!"

"I'm a sweet boy!!"

"I am superman..."

"They keep me in jail during the night... someone help me please...."

"Happy bath time with gran"

"Gran I like you..."