9 Months Old Today!

Today Carter is officially 9 months old. I can't believe how fast he's changing. I just posted some pictures and videos of him on Flickr. In the short time since I took those photos, he already seems stronger and more coordinated. Mike and I have been watching Carter's second pair of bottom teeth make their way out, but it wasn't until the other day we realized he simultaneously had his second set of top teeth breaking though as well. Working on 8 teeth total now! We can't really say that Carter officially crawls yet. He can certainly hold himself on all fours with no problem, and he routinely goes from laying down to sitting to all fours, and then starts the cycle all over again. He has been caught doing a couple crawls to reach something he wants but in general it's still not his preferred mode of travel. While he's not anywhere near walking independently, he will pull himself up to standing at the coffee table and walk along the edge. He also likes to walk along the couch and in his crib. To him, pretty much any walking/standing opportunity is never considered a moment wasted.

Moving on to a garden update...my efforts to repel the deer seem to be working. They have not sampled any more vegetable plants, though I have seen them in the woods behind our house during my morning investigations. If anyone is curious, I've been using Liquid Fence and I also surrounded the perimeter with netting. The plants that escaped consumption are doing well and my hanging tomato plants have been flowering for a week now. Yummy tomatoes coming soon! The watermelon/weed patch is doing okay. We don't put as much effort in our garden maintenance there. It's more of a "natural" garden. Ha! Since we didn't cover the exposed soil with mulch, there are all sorts of things growing there. About a hundred maple seeds sprouted so there is a miniature forest of maple trees growing. Also there are at least 9-10 squash plant growing there. We didn't intentionally plant any there so they must have survived our compost pile and sprouted on their own. Ironically, they are doing better than the squash we planted in our main garden.

I Hate Deer!

I'm too lazy to write in paragraphs today.

Good news: Carter is a master at pulling himself up to standing at the coffee table, in the crib, etc.
Bad news: Carter feels the need to share his talent along with major yelling at 2 am.

Good news: We've had absolutely beautiful weather all this week, which means lots of time outside.
Bad news: I found two ticks on me today. Ewww!

Good news: The garden really perked up after an application of fertilizer last weekend and all the sun this week.
Bad news: Tomatoes were ransacked by a deer last night. Ugh! I hate deer!

Good news: Long weekend coming up. Hooray!
Bad news: Mike is fishing all day Saturday (just kidding, this is good news too).

First Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms!

Wow...it's been a long time since we last posted. I'm not sure I'll remember everything that's happened since the last post, but I'll do my best!

Let's start with the most recent. Today is my first official Mother's Day! Kind of puts a whole new perspective on the holiday. We celebrated by taking Carter on a picnic lunch at the local park. After a short walk with Carter in the backpack, we had lunch and then Carter had some fun in the swings at the playground.

After that, we came home and Mike looked after Carter for the rest of the afternoon while I planted our vegetable garden. I'm really pleased with how our seedlings turned out this year. I hope they do well in the ground too. However, I've noticed a few new tenants in our neighborhood. Since the day we moved in, I don't ever recall seeing any rabbits until this past week. I caught one scoping out our garden like it was a buffet. Extreme measures may become necessary if I spot any nibblers.

Carter and I have been doing more hikes and walks these past few weeks. Every Wednesday, we walk with a group of folks at Shaw Nature Reserve and admire all the native wildflowers. We've also hit some parks with our new sport utility jogging stroller (thank you Craigslist). Also, with the coming of summer, we've begun a tour of the area's farmer's markets. There are several smallish/mid-size markets throughout St. Louis, and also the huge Soulard Market. So far my favorite is the Tower Grove market. Maybe it was the perfect weather or the location in the park, but this market was so much fun to attend, and it had a great selection of goods.

Turkey season has come to an end and sadly Mike came home empty-handed. There's always next year though!

Carter still hasn't started crawling yet. He manages to get around a little with a combination of rolling, twisting, and spinning. But usually this effort ends in whining as he still would much rather stand on his feet and have us help him walk. He stands unsupported at the coffee table and some of his toys. But when he reaches for something, he forgets to move his feet and topples over. We've introduced some chunks of fruit and veggies. He seems to like watermelon and pineapple though the latter brings on a twist of his face with its sour taste.

Hope everyone is doing well. I am way behind on my picture posting but I'll get some online soon.