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.

April Showers Before and After

It's been raining nonstop for over 30 hours. I'm not kidding, it hasn't stopped even for a moment.

Before all this rain came, we had some beautiful weather during the week and Carter and I made the most of it. We hiked at Shaw Nature Reserve and saw spring wildflowers blooming including daffodils, bluebells, and poppies. Flowering dogwoods are finally showing their white blooms within the towering oaks around our house. Next we visited the St. Louis Zoo and saw bears, penguins, big cats, and more. Then finally we visited the Botanical Garden, which was really the most spectacular. I've been to the garden more times than I can count, but I think this time of year is my favorite. The spring tulip display is really amazing. Anyone who visits us here can count on me recommending the garden as a place to spend the day.

Tomorrow is opening turkey hunting for Missouri and Mike is chomping at the bit to get out and "bag a bird". Everyone cross your fingers for a good hunt this year.

Couple new videos are up on Flickr. Make sure you take a look at "The Amazing Flying Carter!" and how Carter reacts to the sound of Mike's owl call.

Momma's Little Bear

Not too much to update in the Bunn household. Just a few tidbits...Carter has officially lost all of the dark hair he was born with. Now his head is covered only with the light brown fuzzy hair which has earned him the nickname "Little Bear" from his mom. Still no crawling, but he could win a breakdancing contest with the way he spins around on his belly. And finally after getting his first two bottom teeth at 4 months, two more teeth on top are emerging just after 7 months.

Mike is working hard getting our garden ready for planting and I continue to tend our seedlings. Today I took Carter to a farmers' market and we enjoyed checking out all the flowers and plants for sale was well as some early produce. I can't wait until local veggie availability picks up full swing.

More to come soon...we've got some fun things planned for the upcoming weekends.

Sprouting Seeds and an Irish Jig

It's a bit of a whirlwind to have two sets of Carter's grandparents visit on back-to-back weekends, but totally worth it. Mamaw and Papaw took us all to the Blue Owl for breakfast and enjoyed a walk around the neighborhood with Carter on a warm Saturday afternoon. Seven days later, Grandma and Pop visited and went swimming with Carter at the rec center while it snowed outside. Other than the weird changes in weather, the two weekend were great and Carter looks forward to more visits.

Thankfully the snow has already melted and the sun is shining. As pretty as everything looked covered in white, I am anxious for the warm weather to come. Especially since we started some of our vegetable seeds indoors this week. Already we have some sprouts from our Roma tomatoes. I hope Carter will tolerate sitting in his play pen (or play penitentiary) in the shade while mom and dad work in the garden.

A hilarious new video will be posted on Flickr momentarily. St. Patrick's Day may be over, but the Irish are still dancing in Hillsboro. Could Carter be the next Lord of the Dance? Check out the video to see Carter's Irish jig.

Carter Updates

I hope this warmer weather has arrived for good! It's really let us break in the baby backpack carrier. Carter seems content to ride around and look at things, though sometimes he has trouble staying awake.

Carter updates:
- He's getting really good at grabbing little puffs with his tiny finger and thumb, then putting them in his mouth. He seems delighted when he succeeds.
- A few more inches and he'll be too big for his carseat. We'll have to upgrade to the next size up.
- Celebrated his first St. Paddy's Day at the popular Irish pub McGurk's in St. Louis.
- Tons of new pics on Flickr...check them out!