Remember when.....

Remember when my baby would lay on the floor and drink his own bottles.....
remember when my baby would lay in the bath to get washed......
remember when he would lay down in his bed and go right to sleep without a fuss....
I remember those days...it was a few weeks ago and it was heaven. Not sure what this new phase is but it is killing me.
You have to let him sit up and you have to hold his bottle so he can drink it....and he isn't finishing any of his bottles.
He wants to only sit up in the bathtub which makes it hard to wash his hair.
Jim is on his 5th story before putting him to bed cause he starts to fuss when you go to lay him down, but he will sit quietly for stories. I'm glad he likes to read but there has to be a line.
This 8 month old stuff is crap.
He is now able to stuff bread and other finger foods in his own mouth after I have been practicing with him this week. We saw our neighbors kid on Sunday feeding himself and he is a few weeks younger than Carter. So I pushed it this week and am happy to say he can feed himself. We did go through a few days where we were fighting for the spoon when I tried to feed him, but luckily I won that fight and he keeps his hands out of the way for the most part.
He can crawl on all four but still chooses to army crawl mostly to get around.
He is fun, but also more challenging. But I guess that is part of parenthood. Give me strength. I know I am too old to have started this, but I had no choice.

Fall is Here!

I had to show the cute shirt Carter was wearing. It says hug magnet and he certainly is. So cute!

 The weather is cooling down, but thankfully it was perfect last week and we still went on walks and hung out outside on the grass. Grass doesn't bother Carter at all. He will crawl, sit, and even lie in it.

Love his smile. Although this last week he isn't smiling as much cause he is sucking his lip, so I think his teeth are bugging him more....honestly teeth, what a pain.

My sister and her family came to stay with us last weekend. Her kids were so good with Carter. They wanted to love him and he wanted to love them from a far. He loves it when they play soccer in front of him, he laughed and laughed. It's funny how a new toy is fun for kids at any age.

We dressed Carter up in his Halloween costume to show his cousins. Lucas is roaring and Jessica and Jacob are holding the wiggly dragon. We had a lot of fun. We played school and we wished it was nicer so we could have played soccer outside but the boys played it inside. We went to Jim's parents house and went swimming. Carter loved it. He loves the water and had fun playing with everyone in there. There were races and kids getting thrown in by Uncle Jim. Good times. We were glad Jim got off work earlier from work so he could be there, cause the kids love him.

I can't believe how grown up these kids are getting. Jessica is so good and loves to read. Jacob has really matured and I was proud of the young man he is becoming. Lucas is so fun and was fascinated with Carter. They are such good kids and I'm glad they moved closer so we can see them more often. The are BIG BYU fans so I think there was some smack talk from the Aggie fan and the BYU family of fans.

Lucas ..... think he is winking at the camera. Not sure!

We went to an Aggie football game Saturday and we had to dress for the cooler weather. Here is Carter rocking his cool look. He keeps me toasty warm sitting on my lap and he loves looking around at the people around us. He is a good baby, he sat for the whole game...well we left at the 4th quarter cause it was bed time and the Aggies were killing it.

He has discovered the fun of making noise, throwing things, banging things, and the sound of the door stops. He always looks in our closet to see if we are in there. He also loves crawling for the bathroom, he gets a kick out of it when we are in the bathroom. Funny kid.

He has been doing this for weeks and has faint bruises all across his forehead to show for it. He pulls down the bumper pad and peeks out when he wants to get out of his crib. What a boy!

We put up a few Halloween decorations and Carter seems to like them. We hope the nice fall weather stays for at least a month longer. I am not ready to be shut up in the house. And already everyone's kids are getting sick. Not ready for winter!

Just the last few days he has started clapping by himself and signing more to me when he is eating. The other day we were chatting with some neighbors and I put Carter down on the grass so he could crawl around. He started crawling towards me then he saw Mason with a cookie in his hand and changed direction towards him. That is not like him to go towards anyone else, so he must have really wanted that cookie and thought maybe he could get someone else to share with him what his parents won't. Sorry little guy, soon you will get more food, but not yet.

People Always Ask

It's a commonly asked question, "Who does Carter look like?" So here is a picture of Jim and me at around 6 1/2 months old. And then there is a picture of Carter at the same age. I will leave it up to you to decide. 

+

=

Here Comes Trouble!

Army crawl or not...this kid is getting around. I put long pants on instead of shorts and off he went on the hard floor. Trouble is coming! He loves the top of his toy, that is what motivated him to go the distance.

He also loves to stand and he is getting better about holding on.

September fun!

For my birthday Carter and I flew to Vegas to meet up with Jim who was at a Conference. We luckily got upgraded to first class, so Carter was spoiled for his first flight. We did not get excited looks when we sat in our seats, and I don't blame people. It is not fun to be sitting next to a crying baby on a flight. But thankfully Carter was an angel. He didn't fuss at all and did amazingly well all flight. In part thanks to Heather, Jim's sister who was sitting next to us and helped distract Carter. She was awesome, and Carter loved playing with his Aunt Heather. Vegas was a great time as always. Carter traveled well and did well at the hotel. He was overwhelmed by all the lights in Vegas. We went to dinner at an Italian restaurant inside a casino and Carter was so noisy talking and probably trying to hear himself over the Vegas noise. As we left the restaurant some lady scoffed at us having a baby in a casino. "why don't they get a babysitter?" It's not like it was late or that we were playing the slots, we had to walk close to the casino to get to a restaurant. Anyway....we did get a babysitter later that night. My wonderful cousin Krystal watched Carter while we went to a Garth Brooks concert. He was amazing! No back up, it was him and his guitar and it was one of the best concerts we have every been to. Such a great birthday!

We drove back with Jim, Don, and Heather. Carter has started making this funny face and breathing funny too. He scrunches up his nose and starts blowing air out his nose. We call it his piggy face. He looks a little evil and thinks it is funny to do. We videoed it as well, but not sure I will figure out how to post it from my phone. It cracks me up.

Jim left for a 4-wheeler trip, conveniently the weekend my parents were coming, haha. I love having extra hands in my house to help entertain Carter, babysit, and help with meals. I see some benefit of being a sister wife...jk. Carter had a great time with Grandma and grandpa. I think he was missing his dad though cause he had a rough couple of days while Jim was gone. And he was so happy to see Jim when he got home yesterday. Carter decided not to nap Saturday and instead joined us in watching conference. He actually sat for most of the session on our laps and just watched conference. When I took the picture he looked over, but it was amazing that he would sit and watch with us. He loves the music. For the other sessions we didn't get as much out of conference because we were playing with my cute baby. Grandpa would hide behind the couch and play peek-a-boo with Carter and he loved it. Grandma would sing to him at night. We will miss our company, it nice to have my parents visit.

His shirt says Here Comes Trouble. And before long this will be true. He is really starting to figure out how to get around and crawl. He had 2 or 3 bumps on his head this weekend to prove it. Honestly, I need to bubble wrap my entire house. I really do wonder how much Jim's absence affected him, cause for a couple days he cried when I tried to put him down for a nap and he was grouchier. Maybe he was growing, or his teeth were bugging him, or he wasn't feeling well....who knows, but it was when Jim was gone. And he is back to my regular perfect baby today, thankfully, but I think he missed his daddy. It is a really fun age and he is curious about everything. We look forward to next weekend when my sister and her 3 kids are coming to visit. Carter loves to watch other kids play around him so he will be in Heaven.

7 months

The weekly changes are amazing. Carter is starting to explore his surroundings. Just in the last couple of days really getting up on his hands and knees to try to crawl. He is also quite the talker sometimes. What cracks me up is how his whole jaw moves.

He has already had a few bumps and bruises. This one across his nose was from taking a nose dive when he was sitting in the grocery cart. I thought it hit his cheek but for the rest of the day there was a nice red line on his nose. Poor baby.

He also doesn't like to sit still for diaper changes anymore. So I give him something and have started changing him on the floor. He was pulling himself to look over the edge of the changing table....and he lunged for the fan while on a chair the other day. So, the floor it is!

He is also enjoying pulling out toys from his toy basket. The question is will I be able to teach him to put them back in?

Here we are going for our daily walk. He loves grabbing my sunglasses and his, I guess.

It's hard work crawling around....he is resting!

I went on a scrapbooking retreat last weekend and Jim watched Carter. He did awesome and Jim is an amazing dad. Carter wouldn't go to sleep the Monday after I got back, not sure if he had anxiety about me not being there when he woke up or what. Thankfully he is back to his regular schedule. It was hard for me to leave but it was a lot of fun. The girls are a blast, the food is fabulous, and I got caught up on Carter's scrapbook. This weekend we are taking Carter to Vegas. His first plane ride. Hope it goes well.

Exploring

So first off, I just want to say that I am so grateful that Carter is healthy. My niece is sick in the hospital and it is heart breaking. I don't do well with children being sick, my sensitive side can't take it. My brother and sister in law have been amazing. Their strength and faith inspire me, but I know it is not easy. So my heart and prayers go out to them and I am thankful for Heavenly Father and know he is looking out for Sophie and her family.

Hard to want to update about Carter when that is on my mind, but I need to stay on top of it. He is becoming quite the mover and shaker. On Labor day he was sitting playing with a toy, I think he tried to climb on it. Next thing I see his whole body somersaulting in the air and he lands on his head. He had a big red bruise there for a bit. But I guess that is a glimpse of things to come. He is rolling or army crawling places, not far yet, but I'm sure it won't be long. Cause he has started getting up on his hands and knees the past few days. He has also become quite the little talker. He was all sort of noisy yesterday at church. His whole mouth moves and it looks so cute. We tried to video tape it, but then he clammed up of course.

Here is his bruise, sure he will have more where that came from.

Here he is exploring under his crib.

He loves to chew on his rubber ducky in the bathtub. It looks like he is protecting it here, so it doesn't float away.

He has started splashing more and really enjoys his bath time. The other day he was sitting up and he was splashing, then he would laugh when I splashed or splashed with the duck. He thought it was hilarious!

He is discovering details. Here he is playing with the handle of the coffee table.

He was on all fours, but by the time I got the camera he was sitting back a little. But he is going to be crawling soon. WOW! He always wants to stand. He reaches for my hands, telling me he is ready to stand up. Jim even tried to walk with him. He loves looking at himself in the mirror. He holds on the towel ring in the bathroom when I put him in front of the mirror. He loves it!

Hopefully he survives all the bumps and bruises that are in his future. Hey, I am just hoping he survives the weekend. I am going scrap booking and his dad is watching him. Don't get me wrong, Jim is amazing with him. So cute and fun....but he is a guy. He has already suggested taking him on a motorcycle day ride or just following the ride from an all day bus ride. Or golfing 18 holes. I know Jim needs to learn things for himself, I just don't want Carter to be tortured in the process. I'm sure Carter will love it.....it's just me that will be nervous.

Today we had a park play date. My friend Lindsey has a little boy a few days younger than Carter. It was the first time getting them together. It's so amazing to see that kids develop similarly and it's nice to have another new mom to talk to about everything. At our 6 month appointment the doctors measured Carter and I didn't think it was correct. Graham measured bigger than Carter, and so I compared them today and Carter is clearly bigger. Glad to know it wasn't me that was off. Anyway, of course the boys weren't exactly sure what to think of each other...they did try to grab each others toys. And Graham did try to grab Carter, which Carter didn't like. It's so funny to watch. Glad after months of talking about it we finally had our play date. Can't wait for more in the future. Graham was so cute and smiley...I'm not sure Carter liked sharing my attention. He was looking at me like...hey lady...why are you playing with that kid?

My little boy is getting so big. It is interesting how he is okay with some people and then not okay with others. Jim and I went to the Parade of Homes this weekend. One of his friends was holding Carter while Jim and I walked around the house and Carter was fine. But other times he is fussy when others hold him. Who knows. He went to his first USU football game. He wasn't a fan of the noise for the first few minutes, but then he sat good for the rest of the game. He did enjoy the small nibbles of popcorn I gave him.

He also loves his Baby Einstein video. The first time I only watched it for a few minutes and turned it off cause I thought it was random, but Carter likes it. So once a week I put it on, and he laughs and is glued to the TV. I love my cute baby!