Milestone Update

I keep a calendar in Carter's room that I use to record his milestones. I didn't even attempt to do a baby book this time because I rarely filled Lexie's out. Plus, I use the blog to keep up with most things. Well, the calendar for August was pretty empty, but Carter sure made up for it in September.

--As far as food goes, he LOVES it!! He is pretty much done with baby food. He wants the real thing. I have had to get pretty creative because his appetite is ready for a lot more than his digestive system is. Right now his favorites are soy yogurt (Thanks for telling me about it Angie), spaghetti, and grilled (soy) cheese sandwiches. If you remember from one of my previous posts, Carter loved yogurt. Well his tummy hurts if I have dairy, so you can imagine what happened when he got it first hand. Luckily my sister told me about the O Soy yogurt, so Carter can still have his yogurt. (It has a small amount of dairy because of the cultures, but it doesn't seem to hurt him.)

--He has started doing a cheesy smile. He closes his eyes, scrunches his nose, and smiles with a quite mischievous look. It is so cute.

-- He now has 2 teeth. He got them just a couple of days apart, no wonder he was so cranky!

--He has been able to get around by inch worming for a few weeks, but a couple of days ago he started the traditional crawl. Luckily he is still pretty slow.

--Last night he pulled up in the bath tub. He tries to pull up all over the place, and if he has a hold of our fingers he can pull up easily to the standing position. He can stand for a couple of seconds. He wants to walk everywhere, unfortunately he doesn't know he can't walk yet. He is getting pretty dangerous. He wants to stand all of the time (holding on to something), and he gets very angry if you try make him sit down.

I know in most of my pictures he is only wearing a T-shirt and diaper, but I really do put pants on him.

-- He climbs all over everything!! (Especially mommy and daddy)

--He has definitely learned how to throw a fit. If he doesn't like something, you'll know it!!

--Separation anxiety has started... Fabulous! I can't get anything done. He wants me to sit next to him or hold him all of the time. He is fine if Monte holds him and they walk out of the room, but if he sees me walk away then all heck breaks loose.

--He loves the trash truck!! On Wednesday mornings we go out front so he can watch the trash truck. He is in awe. After the truck picks up and dumps the container, he will start clapping. "Yay for picking up trash!" If Monte is holding him and he hears the trash truck, he will practically break his neck trying to find it. It really is funny.

--We go to story time at the library. Carter loves books. When he is happy about something, he will definitely let you know. A few weeks ago when we went, when the lady finished the story Carter started clapping. Then he took it one step further, he started yelling "WOO WOO" while he was clapping. It was so funny. There's nothing like positive feedback. The librarian loved it.

He also likes to swing at the park. He has to have that blanket wrapped around him though. If I put him in without the blanket he cries. I think he feels a little too free without it; he wants to be secured tightly.

-- I don't have any official stats on weight and height. His 9 month check up is the second week of October. Unofficially he is still a little over 17 pounds and around 26 inches.

Happy Birthday Uncle Dan!

My brother's birthday was last week. We had a party for him last weekend. Don't you just love his girly cake. His kids picked it out for him as a joke because he is always harassing them (in a fun way). After he blew out the candles they surprised him with the real one. It was much more manly.

Carter checking out Uncle Dan.

She's 13!!!!

On September 21, 1995, at 1:19 am, a little 5 lb. 13 oz, 18 inches long baby girl entered my life and changed it for the better. I finally understood all of those things my mom told me about worry, hope, and love for your children. I can't imagine what my life would be like without Lexie, she has brought me so much joy and happiness, and I feel truly blessed to be her mom. I can't believe she is already 13!! (Although, I swear she's been a teenager for a couple of years now.) We had so much fun celebrating her birthday. We partied all weekend.

Our big gift to Lexie this year was a trampoline. She LOVED it!! Monte worked so hard to get it put together before she got home from school. We surprised her early with it because she was having a couple of girls "sleep" over.

My parents got her the safety net to go around it, so they came up to help us surprise her. Yes, that is my mom jumping on the trampoline with Lexie. AWESOME!! My parents have so much fun with the grand kids. They aren't afraid to act silly and have fun. I hope I am like that when I am a grandparent.

Carter also loved the trampoline. He got crazy excited just watching people jump on it. Then Lexie put him up there and let him "jump". He laughed so hard!!

Lexie and her friends jump at the "sleep"over.

We took a few of her friends to Fastlane. They had a blast!!

We finished of the weekend with a party at my parents' house.

She blew out all of the candles. I hope she wished for something good!

Happy Birthday Lexie!! We love you!!!

We are so proud of you, Lexie!

Lexie was first baptized when she was in 2nd grade. She recently decided that she wanted to be baptized again. She said she thinks she might not have fully understood what she was doing when she was eight, and it would mean a lot to her to do it again now. She helps her Aunt Angie (dad's sister) teach children's church every other Sunday, so she thought it would be even more special if her Aunt Angie baptized her. I am very proud of the changes Lexie has recently made. I can see so much improvement in her in so many ways. (I know the pictures are bad, the lighting was not good for photography. But, I wanted to share Lexie's special moment with you all.)

Lexie, we love you and we are so happy for you!!

Before


The dunk

After

8 Months Old

Carter turned 8 months old on Sunday. This year is going by way too fast!! I know he can't stay little forever, but I just wish time would slow down. I learned with Lexie that time goes by faster than the speed of light, so I am making sure I take time to enjoy every little thing now. Even in the middle of the night (yes, he still wakes up), I rub his hands when I feed him because I want to memorize how little and soft they are. Sometimes I look at Lexie and Carter and think, "Wow! What did I do to make God reward me like this?" For me, being a mom (and a wife to an awesome man) is the greatest thing. Even on the tough days , I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

Whew, I got sidetracked. Here are the pictures of Carter's 8 month cupcake tradition. I started thinking that all these cupcakes might ruin the nostalgia of the smash cake on his first birthday, so I decided I will really have to let him go all out on his birthday. I will let him make a huge mess (and eat as much cake as he wants)!

"Wow! These fit nicely in my hands."

"Hmm, so far mom hasn't noticed I am eating it."

"HAAA!! I got some cake and I LIKE IT!!"

"Why did she have to take it away?"

Random photo:

I took this picture at breakfast this morning. I think he looks so big drinking from his cup. (He loves the straw sippy cups.)

The differences in men and women, Carter's first word, and Branson

Men and Women Really Are Different!

Monte and I were sitting around Thursday after the junior high football game. Here is how the conversation went:

Me: "The team looked really good!"

Monte: Silent- Sitting there impressed that I noticed the team played well. Excited that I am actually trying to have a conversation about FOOTBALL!!

Me: "I really like the bright red jerseys. They look cool with the bright white pants."

Monte: Still silent- Thinking he can't wait until Carter is old enough to watch football with him.

This reminded me of another difference I noticed a few days ago. Monte and I went into the store together. (We rarely go to the store together.) We had 3 things on our list. I follow Monte around as he finds the 3 things on the list. After he finds the 3 things, we go straight to the checkout!! This amazed me. You see when I go to the store, the list is the things I can't forget. As I am finding the things on the list, I stop by the cards because I am sure someone I know can use some cheering up. Oh cute, look at the Fall decorations... maybe we need some of those, too. Wait, my sister was telling about 100 calorie guacamole packs, I wonder if they have them here? etc.

I watched a conference given by Gary Smalley, and he described this perfectly... Women go "shopping" at the store, and men go "hunting" at the store.

Carter' First Word

When we were at Silver Dollar City, Carter said his first word!!!

I carried him for 39 long weeks (2 months of which I was on bed rest), I eat bland food so that I don't make milk that hurts his tummy, I am sitting in the bathroom at SDC feeding him, and he looks up at me with his big brown eyes, smiles at me, and says...Dada.

Oh, the heartache. Looks like Carter has already figured out who the fun one is! I supply the food, Dada supplies the fun.

Branson

We went to Branson for the weekend. We were beginning to wonder if we should have stayed home because as soon as we got to Silver Dollar City, it started pouring down rain. (The forecast said high of 75 and sunny.) We decided to wait it out. Lucky for us, it quit raining and most of the people left the park. It turned out to be a great weekend!

"I'll pay for dinner."

"It costs how much?!?!"

Carter and Dada checking their emails before we leave.

"Wait shouldn't I be in a car seat?" (Don't worry, I don't let him ride in the car without his seat.) This is the shuttle from parking to SDC.

The traditional pose in front of the SDC sign.

Carter's first amusement park ride.

"Throw your hands in the air. Wave them like you just don't care."

Of course! Monte and Lexie had to win "worthless crap".

This is the swing ride. It was so much fun. I didn't get to ride it last year because I was pregnant. Notice I am double checking to make sure I am securely fastened.

As you can see, I was securely fastened. Lexie kept slapping me because "Mom, your not supposed to hold on!!"

Lexie pulling herself and Monte to the top of the Silo.

Charlie's Angel

"Here Monte, let me show you how to cheat."

Carter wasn't sure what to think of the flooded mine.

"I like this place!"

We went swimming at the hotel when we got back from SDC.

Sunday morning, we went to the outlet mall. I found these gorgeous glasses. What do you think? I think they look better on Johnny Depp.

"Look mom, two silly monkeys."

After the mall, we went to Playtime Pizza for lunch and video games.

They also had this game at the hotel. Monte and Lexie would go shoot Bambi every night while I put Carter to bed.



This game was fun for the whole family. (Can you see the people in the background watching?) It was a virtual reality game. We laughed as Monte walked in circles while he played.

We finished off the day with Black light mini golf. Monte won, Lex came in 2nd, and I came in 3rd.


New Milestone

Carter was napping while I was typing this massive post. I went in there when he woke up, and he was sitting in his crib. He had pushed himself up from sleeping on his tummy to sitting. Yay Carter!! This is going to be a milestone month!