Christmas Wrap-up

Hope everyone had a great Christmas! Our first Christmas with Carter was pretty laid back. We helped him open his presents Christmas morning. Thanks everyone for all your generous gifts. Some things that Carter got this year included lots of clothes, some new toys, several fun books, baby DVDs/CDs, very cute shoes, and a homemade hat. After opening presents, Mike and I enjoyed some seriously delicious french toast for breakfast. See Flickr for some pics.

Today Carter had his 4-month doctor visit. We had a second round of vaccinations resulting in a high-pitch scream I thought would shatter glass. But after a minute or so in Mike's arms, he calmed down to a quiet hiccuping sniffle. Then once we got home, it was as if nothing had happened. What a trooper! For those keeping track of his growth, he is 26.75 inches long (96%), 15 lb 3 oz (58%), and his head circumference is 44 cm (90%). So basically he's long and lean with a big head for his age. He's growing so fast! At 4 months old, he's just barely fitting into his 3-6 month clothes. Soon we'll have to switch over to 6-12 month clothes. We have another doctor visit at 6 months and around that time we'll be giving solid food a try. Oh, Carter got a new highchair too (thanks Grandma Lily!).

Have a great New Year everyone!

Christmas card crank!

Grr! I'm so sorry everyone, but our Christmas card will be late this year. I know some of you have been waiting for it and I apologize. I ordered some cute photo cards of Carter and they STILL haven't arrived here for me to mail them to you. I'm ready to give their customer service department an earful. So just think of our cards as New Years cards. Better late than never!

We have roll-over!

Big milestone for Carter yesterday...he rolled over onto his belly all by himself! It was amazing to watch. He had been trying so hard the last couple of days and yesterday he finally got it. He then proceeded to do it every time I put him on the floor without any problem. I tried to get good video of the task, but as soon as he sees the camera, he becomes fascinated by it and stops whatever he's doing. Check out Flickr for part of a rolling-over, and also a really cute video of him laughing.

Countdown to Christmas

I love this time of year! Christmas is my favorite holiday...all the decorations, hot cocoa, snow, trees, everything. I can't wait until next year when Carter is old enough to participate.

Last weekend, my Mom and Ed came to visit Carter. While they babysat, Mike and I went out and found the perfect Frasier Fir for our Christmas tree. I love how it looks all lit up in our front window.

Mom and I got ourselves new webcams for our computers. We tested them out yesterday and they are so cool! We had a live conversation over the computer complete with video. I had Carter on my lap so he could see her and she him. (Brenda we should look into this for you)

Mom and I did some baking over the weekend too. I made my new favorite: Chocolate chunk banana oatmeal cookies (sorry Ed, did you know there was banana in them?). I got the recipe from Martha here. I'm not a fan of nuts so I just omitted them and added more chocolate.

I fell behind with my bird feeders last month and I got back on track this past weekend. The birds must have missed me because they were crazy for the food. So many birds! In the past few days I've seen nuthatches, finches, bluejays, cardinals, juncos, titmice, woodpeckers, flickers, and probably others I'm not remembering. I love watching them.

Carter is growing so fast. It seems like every day he does something new. He's getting so close to being able to roll over. It's fun to watch him work at it, though he gets frustrated when he needs our help. Check Flickr for videos.

Hope everyone enjoys their Christmas holiday! Sorry we can't be with family this time around. We'll take lots of photos and videos though! Love you all!

Thanksgiving Wrap-up

Today we woke up to our first snow of the season! Christmas is in the air!

It's good to be back home. Thanksgiving in Arkansas was great! Carter got to meet so many new friends and family and he handled to trip better than expected. We got back last night, gave him a bath and a bottle, and he slept for 7 straight hours. Poor guy.

Highlights from the weekend:
1) Deep-fried turkey
2) Naps on the couch
3) Arkansas' amazing win over LSU in the final minute
4) Papaw making Carter laugh
5) Looking through Mamaw Bertie's old photos
6) Sleeping on a memory foam mattress pad (we must get one of those!)

We just discovered that the Minnesota Twins are coming to St. Louis this summer to play the Cardinals. I think that might be a first. I hope we can get tickets...I missed seeing the Twins play last year. Carter will have to wear a Twins outfit and a Cardinals hat.

Turkey Day Travel Plans

It's really mind-boggling the amount of stuff a baby requires when you travel with him. The packing list for him is longer than my own! Tomorrow we leave for Arkansas for Thanksgiving. I can't tell you how excited we are for a delicious home-cooked meal! It will be Carter's first trip into another state! We've packed the appropriate Razorback gear so he'll be sure to fit right in. The drive will be long but we're hoping that since we're driving at night, Carter will sleep for most of it.

New pictures and videos on Flickr!

Family Weekend

Ways in which you know you've become a parent:

1. You discover spit-up on your shirt and you aren't exactly sure when that happened.


2. You catch yourself licking your thumb and using it to wipe something off your kid's face after you swore you would never do that whenever your own mother did it.


3. Wearing any pair of pants that require buttoning and zippering feels like "dressing up".


4. You look forward to a shower like it was a visit to an expensive spa.


5. You prioritize tasks you can accomplish during naptimes.

Becca's sister, nephew, grandmother, and mother all can to visit last weekend. It was a miracle that this trip took place with travel costs, work schedules, and grandma's fear of flying. But it was totally worth it for everyone to meet Carter. Dalton (Becca's nephew) was really excited to tickle Carter and hold him in his lap. So cute! We painted some Christmas ornaments complete with Carter's footprint to commemorate his first holiday. Overall, a really great weekend!

Carter is unfortunately what we call "in between hairstyles" right now. He's starting to lose the hair he was born with and new hair is growing in, but the two events aren't happening in the same spots on his head. He looks like he's experiencing a grown man's balding, like George Kastanza from Seinfeld. Poor guy.

Mike's been doing some duck hunting on the weekends, but without much success. :-( He's a little more limited in the amount of time he can put into it and so he's been trying to hunt closer to home. Maybe next year he'll stock up our new freezer with lots of duck.