Baseball Player Turned Golfer?

My dear husband Ryan loves baseball through and through. He perfects his swing at the most random times.

My dear husband Ryan has little to no interest in golf. His perfected batting swing really hurts his golf swing.

However, he will be golfing in an upcoming World Impact 100 Hole Golf Marathon. On Monday, April 19, he will be attempting to play 100 holes of golf at Terradyne Country Club just outside of Wichita, KS. (Yes, all in one day!) The fundraiser is being put on to support World Impact Wichita. All of the money that he raises will go directly to boost our personal support with World Impact. Our ministry operates best when all of us missionaries are 100% supported.

His personal goal for the day is to raise $5000 for our support. That equates to $50 pledged per hole played. So, for instance, a pledge of $0.25 per hole would be a total $25 donation, and a $1 pledge per hole would be $100 total.

Would you consider helping him in his goal by sponsoring him per hole or giving a lump sum gift?

If you are interested, you have several options in ways to give:

1. You can email us at ryanambercarter@yahoo.com with the per-hole amount of your sponsorship. Then after the marathon, I will let you know how many holes he golfed.
2. You can also trust that he will golf 100 holes and mail your check in to World Impact ahead of time or give online here (choose Ryan Carter from the missionary drop-down box at the bottom of the form).
3. You can make a non-cash gift. Click here to learn more. If you choose to give in this way please include on the note that this is for Ryan Carter.

You can mail any donations to this address:

World Impact
Attn: Ryan Carter
3701 E. 13th St.
Wichita, KS 67208

Make checks payable to World Impact.

Here is some more information from World Impact Wichita's website (that I just happen to administrate from home during nap times and after bed time :)

Thanks for considering this. Please let me know if you have any questions.

A for Effort

I couldn't bring myself to tell him they were a little too big, a little too feminine and generally off limits for him. He worked so hard to get them on.

And then he attacked me.

We have just about survived with no daddy today, but Ben is already wearing girlie shoes and attacking his mommy. I hope we make it through tomorrow.

Overdue 12 month stats

(Click on the picture to see it bigger)

I completely forgot to post the finished product of the comparison pictures throughout this first year.

He visited the pediatrician last Monday and we were told everything looks wonderful and he seems to be progressing perfectly. He still had a little of his cold so it was nice to have him checked out and make sure nothing had moved to his ears or chest.

Weight: 21 pounds - 25%
Height: 28.25 inches - 25% (I don't think that is right. The nurse measured before I even had him completely laid down. Ugh.)
Head: 18 1/8 inches - 50% (woohoo for a growing head)

He is still not letting go and taking any more steps than the 3 he took on his birthday. He does cruise everything at lightening speed and crawls even faster.

He is full of personality and certainly understanding more and more. He likes to nod his head now. I can ask if he is hungry and he will nod yes and crawl to the high chair. I can ask if he is ready for nite nite (nap or bed time) and he will nod yes and immediately lay his head on my shoulder while we walk to his room (pretty much the only cuddles I can get out of my squirmy worm).

When Ryan calls to say he is coming home Ben recognizes the ringer and goes to the front door to wait.

He is starting to mimic the sounds of words. When we say "all done" he signs and says "ah duh." He also uses the sign for all done for anything and everything that he is tired of doing. With his cold, I have had to suck his nose quite often and wipe it with tissues and he adamantly signs all done while I do both tasks. He also uses his sign when getting a diaper change. He used to love the changing table, but no longer. It is a wrestling match these days. He will throw a toy that he is tired of and sign all done as it rolls away. I could go on and on. At least he uses it correctly.

Back to words - I tell him "up" when he pulls at my pants to be held and he says "uh." When Ryan isn't around he will say "dadadada" and go looking for him. When I am not around he says "mamama" and comes looking for me. So sweet. When my mom was visiting last week she was making some oatmeal for him for breakfast and she reported that he said "mamama" - good boy, he knows his mama makes his oatmeal in the mornings!

He loves to throw his balls and any other toy for that matter. He has quite a good overhand throw that makes his daddy proud. He generally throws with his left hand, but feeds himself with his right. Who knows.

He is starting to want things repeated. If something is funny or fun to do, let's do it a million times!

He continues to love to 'read' his books. He likes for us to read them to him, but he turns the pages so fast that we really don't get many words read. But, we go through this over and over with all the books or just again and again with one book. I think all the Mercer Mayer, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Brown Bear Brown Bear are among his favorites.

We think he might be cutting a molar right now, so say some prayers for us. Lots of drool, fussiness and the entire hand in his mouth at all times.

A new thing - when he fake laughs he squints his eyes and moves his bottom jaw sideways, very weird looking :) Yeah for cute pajamas!

Mama D Birthday Visit

My mom came for a few days to visit the birthday boy. She fed us too well, bought Ben too many things and we miss her already. Ben still has his cold (although he is on the mend) so he did not nap well and was discontented a lot. Sorry mom! However, she flew out this morning and he napped better today than he has in quite a few days and he ate like a horse again. Woohoo.

Ryan has a conference here in town this weekend. I have had a live-in nanny with my mom here and now I will be a single parent for a weekend. Hopefully, Ben's good mood will stay through the weekend.

Ben's new Chateau

Nite Nite Lovins

Ben the puppy

Bath time fun tonight

Ben's 1st Birthday Party

Warning: Picture overload!!

Today was Ben's 1st birthday party. We had many friends / coworkers that joined us for a fun time. Ryan definitely wins husband of the year because he took care of Ben all morning, went to two grocery stores to find some baking powder (I thought that stuff never ran out :) and he helped pick up and get everything ready for the party. I could not have done it without him. Thankfully, the big 1st birthday only happens once.

Trying to get all the kids together for a picture was impossible, but lots of fun to watch. Ben didn't move from that spot, but everyone else was all over the place.

We had a friend take pictures for us which was wonderful because I could just enjoy all our company and watching Ben without worrying I was missing the chance to document something wonderful. Ben got a cold yesterday and has been feeling very lousy. He was pretty out of it for the party. He just sat in the middle of the floor and watched everything going on around him. Poor baby.


He got his first real piece of cake. Like we expected, he was not too sure about it when we first gave it to him and then slowly, very slowly, decided to devour it. He did it very neatly though and with only one hand for the longest time.

I finally put the first bit of icing in his mouth so he would try it. He got a little on the side of his mouth and was trying to lick it off.

Another trick - he does a great fake yawn. It is hilarious.

He stood in the middle of the floor keeping his balance for a good 60-90 seconds and then sat down, never braving a step. We all watched and clapped and called for him to walk, but he just stood there proud of himself. It wont be long now.

The decorations: I hung some of Ben's outfits with pictures of him in those outfits, coming home from birth care center, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months.

The table: Ben loves balloons and we had orange punch, rice crispy treats with chocolate chips and the most fun sugar cookies ever.

Priscilla, thanks for the coolest cookie cutters ever. Everyone asked how I did it! It was so much fun.

My mom comes to town tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully the weather will hold up, it has been dreary and rainy for a few days. I have gotten Ben's cold and Ryan is not feeling completely well either, so this might be an interesting next week. We took video of him eating the cake, but it is 8:54pm while I type and it is the night of springing forward, so I like to think it is 9:54pm and that means I need to go to bed. Goodnight.

Happy 1st Birthday Ben

I can't believe this day has finally come, and almost gone by now. It has been a momentous day for us in many ways. "At this time a year ago" has been running through my head all day long.

At this time a year ago Ben was still in my tummy (he was born at 9:24pm). When we got to take him home he was so helpless and tiny. Today he seems like a little man and even took his FIRST STEPS. Yes, he took 3 steps toward Ryan this evening. We had friends over at the time so we have witnesses.

I feel like there is so much I should gush over about him to make sure I get it all written down, but my head is so full of so many different things that I don't even know what to say.

So, instead of gushing, here is a 3 minute video of him seeing his gift from Grammy and Papa Tom. They were supposed to be arriving in town today, but Grammy is not feeling well so she wont be able to come right now. She did send money for the gift though. haha. Such a great Grammy! (I promise to look the other way if you don't all want to watch the entire video - it was mainly for Grammy and Papa Tom.)



Here are some wonderful pictures of Ben's wonderful day. And some to remember him from a year ago.

Perfection.

Leaving the birth care center to go home.

First day at home.

Birthday crown from one of Ryan's students.

His t-shirt for the day.

Done taking pictures.

His fauxhawk for church on Sunday.
Mommy and her little bug.

Thanks for the ball pit balls Uncle Randy, Aunt Becca and all 6 crazy cousins!

The party is on Saturday, so there will be much more birthday fun to come.

Maybe a girl would be ok

I have always said I didn't really care if I have a daughter one day. I am terribly nervous about raising a girl/young woman for a million reasons.

Today, I was able to watch a friend's 5 1/2 year old little girl and we had so much fun. She is an avid reader and loved reading all of Ben's books. He really wanted her to play and was trying to crawl all over her to get her attention.

Then, she let me play with her hair. She has picture day at school tomorrow, so we attempted a great picture-day look. I am planning to make a house call at 7:50am tomorrow morning to fix her hair. What am I thinking? I don't know, but I am totally excited about it. I'm already up, might as well help out a friend, right! Angie, just know that I will not have my boots on for this occasion :)

Then, we experimented with the coolest cookie cutters ever (thanks Cilla). I forgot to take an after picture since her mom picked her up right as we were finishing, but just imagine orange dough and the cookie cutters press words into the cookies. So cool.

Thanks for coming to play, Bree. We had SO much fun. Ethan (her older brother), we will have to find a time when you can stay and play with Ben some more.