2-Month Doctor Visit

Carter's 2-month doctor visit was this morning and it was a big one. Poor guy had 4 immunization shots today and he took it like a champ (i.e. screaming and crying on end). Now we're back at home and he's sleeping it off peacefully. I'm sure by this afternoon he'll be exacting his revenge on Mommy. He continues to grow, weighing in at 11 pounds, 14 ounces (56%) and stretching out to 24.25 inches (91%). His head circumference is in the 82%. His big head might explain the apparent receding hairline. He's growing so fast that his hair can't keep up. We may need to resort to a "comb-over" for the Christmas photos.

Duck hunting season is approaching so Mom is looking forward to many mornings alone with Carter while Dad is out bringing home the spoils. Mom started playing volleyball again last night and boy she is paying for it today. While I have new found strength in my arms (carrying a 10-lb baby around does that), my legs seemed to have forgotten how to move properly on the court. Still, it was good to have a two-way conversation with an adult for a change (no offense Carter).

Leaf color is peaking right now. The hillsides look like the trees are on fire, so much red, yellow, and orange. A fat, fluffy, goldfinch sits outside at the bird bath. Probably wondering if I'm ever going to get out there and refill the bird feeder.

Oh, new pics on Flickr! Check 'em out.

Horray for Fall!

Our favorite season is approaching. The weather has turned cool and the leaves are beginning to change. The trees lining the roads around our house are going to put on a spectacular display this year. There's also something in the air...a crisp woodsy scent that makes me want to go camping.

Last weekend was the annual Pumpkin Daze festival in Republic, MO. Every year, gardeners from the region grow the largest produce they can and enter it in the festival's contest. The two biggest draws are the pumpkin and watermelon contests. Mike's Dad is a regular competitor (and winner) of the watermelon contest. This year, his biggest melon placed 4th with the overall winner weighing in over 200 lbs. The largest pumpkin was bigger than a washing machine! Carter was dressed in his pumpkin outfit. He got to meet more family and experience a new level of spoiling.

Carter is finally big enough to fit into the bumGenius cloth diapers we invested in. They are still a little bulky on him, but it beats spending money on those disposable diapers. He kind of looks like a sumo wrestler when he wears them.

Mamaw and Papaw gave us a ton of pears at the festival. I used a bunch of them to make a pear & cranberry pie tonight. Yummy!

Schedule? Ha!

5 weeks old yesterday!

Just when I think we've established some semblance of a routine, it's thrown out the window. However, some things that continue to happen without fail and like clockwork:
1) Carter never wants to go back to sleep after Dad leaves for work in the morning, robbing Mom of a much-needed extra hour of sleep.
2) Carter usually sleeps in the late afternoon during my one hour guilty splurge of watching Gilmore Girls reruns. No matter how peacefully he appears to me sleeping, he wakes up just before Dad pulls into the driveway. It doesn't matter if Dad gets home at 4:30 or 6:00 pm, Carter always times it just right.

Pumpkin Daze this weekend! I've started a list of things we'll need to bring for the trip. We may need to buy more luggage to carry it all.

The pictures from our professional photo shoot look amazing! Some of my favorites are uploading to Flickr right now.

Happy Birthday Karen! Hope you have a fantastic day!

Baby Stats and First Date

My multi-tasking skills have always been quite good in my opinion. But now I have transcended to a whole new level. As I type, I am rocking the baby in his bouncy chair with my foot, uploading photos on my computer, all with the washing machine and the dishwasher running, and stopping occasionally to add items to my growing shopping list.

The baby is doing great! We had a doctor appointment last week and he's up to 9 lbs 4 oz and 23.75 inches long. His length puts him in the 97 percentile for his age so he's pretty long! He's already starting to hold his head up a little bit and he likes to listen to music too. We had some professional photos taken this week and I have to say...the little guy is a natural. He hardly fussed at all and seemed to love having his photo taken. As soon as we get these pics, we'll get them online. In the meantime, check out the very unprofessional pictures we've taken on Flickr sometime today.

My mom left this morning after spending the week here with us, helping out with the little guy. She was especially a big help yesterday. Mike and I got to clear out our vegetable garden. We harvested the remaining peppers (over 30!) and pulled everything up for composting. You should have seen the enormous horn worm we found. Ew! Then Mike tilled the ground for our winter preparation. It was great to be outside on such a nice day. I can't remember the last time I could do something without feeling physically limited in some way. It was liberating!

Then last night, Grandma watched the baby again since Mike and I had plans for our first post-baby date. We went to the sold-out show of the St. Louis Symphony performing the score to the Lord of the Rings movies. It was so amazing! I had goosebumps nearly nonstop...the vocals, the orchestra, all of it was really wonderful. Then we hurried home right after to see our boy to bed. Thanks for all your help Mom!

Today we are back on our own and the house is quite while the little man sleeps. We're counting down the days to the annual Pumpkin Daze festival in Republic, MO. The little guy will get to meet so many new family members and begin to learn the art of growing huge watermelons from his Papaw.

Dreamy Laughter

Today our baby is 3 weeks old! Parenthood is still surreal. Will we ever really feel like parents? Every time we look at his face, it seems impossible that he was actually inside me...or that we created him.

While he was sleeping in my arms today, I swear he giggled. I wonder what he was dreaming about. The smile lingered on his face for a few seconds. I can't wait to start seeing that smile all the time.

Few new pictures on Flickr and also a video!

Home Alone

Day 2 of Mom and Carter's home alone experiment. Today has gone better than yesterday. Some things I've learned over the last couple days:

1) No baby is a textbook baby. Every baby is unique.

2) Stick to my own system. What works for other people may not work for me.

3) Personal hygiene isn't really that important.

Mamaw and Papaw have returned to Arkansas. :-( I've posted some new pics on Flickr of their visit here. Thanks for your help you two!

Missing Dad Already

A somewhat sad day in the Bunn household. Mike had to go back to work today. Thankfully his parents are here for several days so they will make the transition to stay-at-home-mom a little easier.

Yesterday we took Carter to his first volleyball game. He was amazingly well-behaved the whole time, though he did get a little warm in the Moby Wrap. See pictures on Flickr.

Speaking of pictures on Flickr. If you wish to download some of the pictures from Flickr, you are out of luck. Flickr protects its users' photos from copyright violation and prevents rampant downloading. If you really want a copy of a particular picture (or several), just send me an email with the names or descriptions of the pictures. I will email you the original files or work something else out depending on your needs.