5 Months old

Some more firsts since we have been back from Canada.
He had his 1st cold. It wasn't too bad, but it did affect his eating and sleeping schedule for a few days.
He weighs 16 lbs. He is getting so big!
......man, I need to write this blog when I think about it cause now I forgot the other "firsts" I was going to talk about. Maybe it will come back to me.
I remembered....he had his 1st babysitter. Last week Nicole, our niece came and watched him and Jim and I went to a movie. Of course I was a little nervous and Jim makes fun of me cause I texted Nicole a few times.Carter did pretty good till she tried to put him to bed. I think it was just because he was so tired, because he has had other people besides Jim and I put him to bed, but he freaked out a little. Nicole handled it and finally got him to sleep, hooray! It is nice to have family you can trust take good care of your baby. It was a big step for me!
Anyway, he has a new toy. At first he wasn't sure about his exersaucer...but he is liking it more and more. I need more to help keep him entertained. I feel like the same old floor time is not cutting it. He is starting to roll over from his back to his tummy. And he is better about staying and playing on his tummy. I have really worked with him the past few weeks to get him better at this. Apparently it is a big deal in how soon they will crawl and walk and all that good stuff. I can see he is starting to want to be more mobile and it is a little disconcerting. People are always saying how you want them to stay small and not crawl too soon, I can kind of see what they are saying. He is so good, but I am worried the little boy is about to come out in him. The mover and trouble maker. It will be interesting.

He is starting to laugh a lot more and get jokes. Last night Jim and I were in the back yard with him and Jim would chase me and I would run away, then I would turn and chase Carter. He was laughing a ton at this game. It is fun to see more personality....but I still want him to be my good baby. I have been spoiled.

This week he has started sleeping from 8 or 8:30pm to 7 am. It has been heavenly. The first few nights I still woke up but the last few I have slept and it has been fabulous!

He doesn't get swaddled anymore at night. He is free at last to sprawl out. He always wakes up happy and smiley and it is so fun to go get him once he wakes up. He usually just chats to himself for a few minutes.

He grabs his feet all the time and even eats his toes. His PJ's were wet in the toe when I got him up the other morning, and I had to laugh. A little appetizer before breakfast.

He likes to read books and sits still for a few in a row. When we go for walks he looks at the directions on the side of the stroller, I think he will be a good reader.

I bought a sign language DVD and we will see how that goes. I just watched a few minutes of it today.

  This was when we were in Canada. He was holding on to his car seat during the drive. I think Grandma's driving was making him nervous. JK

Baby's firsts

Carter had his first road trip. He travelled really well and I am always amazed how good he is. I don't think I slept well before the trip cause I was nervous how he would do in new places and sleeping in hotels and in his pack -n- play. I was so relieved that he adapted and went with the flow. We headed to Boise first. My brother and his darling family live there. We only got to spend a day with them and we met up with my parents there too. It was such a quick trip that I forgot to get any photos. But it was fun to see my brother JJ, Audie and their two girls. Jovie is such a performer and Oakley is such a ham.
From there Jim came back to Logan and Carter and I went to Canada with my parents. They have a ranch and a house in the city so we had lots of traveling between the two places.
Carter turned 4 months old while we were up there. He is such a blessing and is happy and smily 95% of the time. He still doesn't like getting burped (but knock on wood, since we have been home he hasn't made a peep when getting burped)
He is getting so big. Holding himself up well and sitting up with help.
He now grabs and holds onto his toes.
He rolls from side to side and is pretty close to rolling from his back to his stomach.
He loves looking at himself in the mirror.
He blows spit bubbles.
He started sleeping through the night. We put him to bed at around 8 and he sleeps till 5 or 6am. Then I feed him and he goes back to bed till 7 or 8am. It is fabulous. Now if I could only sleep through the night it would be great.
We got him a bumbo car and he sits up so well in it.
My sister spent lots of time teaching Carter to stick his tongue and blow air through it, not sure what to call that. I'm sure we will regret it one day. But he loves watching us do it and he tries it himself. So cute. I got it on video but that might have to be another post cause I still have to figure out how to rotate the video.
Some days he is really chatty, others he is just taking it all in.
It's nice to have in-house baby sitters. I went for a few runs, went shopping with my mom and sister, got a massage with my sister (heavenly) and when Jim came we went to a movie and golfing. And Carter's routine isn't affected. He is eating every 4 hours and some people think I am over feeding him cause he spits up but I'm not. He just spits up no matter what. Some days are better than others, and some days we use a lot of burp clothes.
He still chews everything and usually is eating his hands or fingers. But he isn't picky about what goes in his mouth. Here he is before our trip trying to eat his bear. Anytime a camera comes out he gets these surprised looks on his face.

Here he is sitting up in this giant bear chair at Grandma's in Calgary.

Amazing we actually captured a smile. It's because he was looking at my sister and not at the camera.

He is pulling this ring down so he can get the fish in his mouth.

His first ride in the old blue truck. It won't be long before grandpa is letting him drive it in the ditch.

In the fields with the horse and cows.

Silly face!

His first time riding an ATV. He looks like he is ready to take the wheel.

Bubble blowing/ drool! He needed to be covered up cause it is always so windy in southern Alberta.

First trip to Waterton Falls. Grandma wanted to give him ice cream, but I said no. Maybe once he can keep down a bottle we will think about ice cream. My sister cut my hair. I was hoping it would be harder for Carter to pull.....but nope he can still get a good hold and he has a strong grip.

Grandma and Aunt Tami protecting Carter from the mist coming off the falls.

We are trying to train him to feed himself. He does okay!

The farm shirt! Good old John Deere. Next time he will be ready to help Grandpa with all the farm work. He loves being outside.

Grandpa saddling Ginger to give Carter a ride.

First Horsey ride! He didn't enjoy it cause he was too tired and needed to go to bed.

Cute naked baby!

Sitting up in his bumbo car. He is a lookie lou like his dad, always wants to see what is going on around him.

He loved Aunt Tami's butterfly shirt. She was worried he was going to throw up on it. He spit up right down my Aunt Diana's shirt the first time he met her. It was priceless. Grandma was handing him to Aunt Diana and was in the middle of saying, "Don't spit up!" Classic!

Jim came to fetch me after 2 weeks. My brother Michael's family was visiting one evening so Kionah convinced Jim to play on the hay bales with her. He is a good sport.

Here is Kionah sliding down the hay.

Aunt Tami gave the kids rides on the ATV. Here is Levi in his cape that Tami and I gave him for Christmas. He wears it everyday. Glad he likes it.

Kionah turns 8 next month, she is such a good girl. She kept offering her polar bear to Carter to play with, so sweet.

Here are Sophie and Carter chilling on the floor together. Sophie just turned 2.

Here is Carter's Great Grandma at the Jacobs family reunion. She is still as sharp as ever! She likes Carter cause he is such a good boy!

My dad wears these caps and I wanted a picture of Carter wearing his too, even though it was a little on the small side. Carter has his grandpa's head shape.

First 4th of July!

Carter celebrated his first 1st of July (Canada day) and first 4th of July. Thankfully he slept through all the neighborhood fireworks. To be honest...I don't really get the buy it yourself fireworks. I think they make me more nervous than entertained.

Jim's dad also wears these "Paddy caps" as Jim calls them. Carter needed a picture with both of his Grandpas and their hats.

Since we have been home I think he is getting an ear infection. I am trying some ear drops and hopefully we caught it in time. Thank heavens my friend's baby had one and she told me the warning signs, otherwise I would have been clueless. (Thanks Lindsey) He didn't sleep well last night and today he hasn't been that interested in eating. We will see if we caught it in time. The ear drops have garlic in them, so now he smells like garlic baby. No vampires around our house tonight. But if it helps, it's a small price to pay.
We had a great trip, it's nice to be home but I miss having my family close by.