Carter Update

Matt was out of town for two weeks in a row, so I got a little behind on updates. We’re so glad he’s home now…Carter & I miss him so much when he’s gone! Matt gets pretty homesick too after a couple days. It is so hard to handle Carter, the dogs, the house…everything by myself when he’s gone. I’m so thankful my mom spent the night with me one night so I could get extra sleep. She also took off work the next day, so Carter got extra special playtime with her too! Matt is going out of town again in November for two weeks, so I’m already dreading it.
Carter is all over the place now…he started crawling on August 17th. And just a few days later was already trying to climb the stairs. This weekend alone, he climbed up four steps in seconds, pulled the door stop off the office door, tried to pull out the night light and stick his paci in, and found the power strip and started chewing on cords that were plugged in…that’s just a few highlights! He keeps us busy these days…he’s so funny too! LOVES: playing Peek-a-boo, his new book Llama, Llama Red Pajama (which I must admit, is my new favorite too), splashing like crazy in the bathtub, strolling outside, cruising around furniture, when daddy tickles him, when mommy dances him around the den, bananas, puffs, squash, and his new favorite- Cheerios! NOT A FAN: Bedtime, Diaper changes, having his nails trimmed, when mommy leaves his sight, and being put in his highchair (or anything that confines him). He still loves playing in the kitchen and now knows how to open the cabinets…the first day he learned how, he pulled out all the Tupperware and climbed inside…it was so adorable, but a mess to clean up (see pictures in the September monthly pics folder).
Carter’s second tooth popped through on September 9th. We keep forgetting to get a rail cover for his bed, and yesterday he started gnawing on his bed. Luckily I saw him on the monitor, so he didn’t do too much damage…it’s also a good thing that he only has bottom teeth, so the marks are on the inside of the bed.
Carter makes lots of noise and loves to babble. He says Mama really good now and also says “My Baby”…apparently I say that a lot and he picked up on it. A few weeks ago we just thought he was babbling and it just sounded like that, but now it’s definitely something he says often…so cute! He says “Ba” for ball and when he’s waving bye, “Pa” for puppy, puff, and papa. He also says mimi sometimes (which is what my mom is going to be called…that will be much easier for the babies to say than meepmers)- not sure if that’s what he means when he says it, because he also says mammy and maw maw! : ) He moves his mouth like he’s repeating words after us all the time, and sometimes he whispers words too.
Carter had his 4th haircut on October 3rd. He was tired & was kind of fussy, but not too bad.
I finally updated the growth chart section from his last visit. He was a little over 18 lbs, but we’re pretty sure he’s already over 20 lbs now.
Carter’s 1st birthday is coming up very soon…I can’t believe how quick the past year has gone! I can’t believe how much my little man changes every day and how quickly he learns things! He’s going to have a pirate party on November 16th…arrggg matey! : ) We looked all over for a cool location…we really wanted something near the lake in Hendersonville, but a lot of things close after labor day and the other locations were either way too expensive for a 1st birthday party or were outside, which probably won’t work for a mid-November birthday. We finally decided to have it in the new addition at our church. We have reserved the photographer that Shanda & Matt had at Mere’s party…she takes great pictures, so we’re really excited! We ordered the invitations yesterday…I can’t wait till they come in!
Now we just need to finalize decorations and food and figure out what Carter is going to wear! Oh, and I think I’m going to make his cake…I bought a jumbo cupcake pan this weekend, so I just need to try it out and test out some recipes! I thought that would be really neat. I had wanted to take a cake decorating class, but never looked into it and it’s too late for that now. Not sure what kind of cake we’ll get for all the guests…Matt wants a Maggie Moo ice-cream cake…we’ll see, we’re both addicted to it!
Shanda, my mom, & I went to a scrapbooking event at our church called ScrapPINK this past weekend…it was so neat and they were able to raise a lot of money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation. A local doctor’s wife had breast cancer and passed away about a year ago, so he donated all of her leftover scrapbook stuff to raise additional money. They have a son who is now 3, so we all put together pages, using the items she had selected for her son’s scrapbook. I bawled my eyes out when one of our Creative Memories consultants was telling us the story…how special those pages would be to the dad and his son. I’m so behind on Carter’s album and only managed to complete about 2 ½ pages before I had to leave, but I guess that’s 2 ½ pages closer to getting caught up! : ) I wish I had more time to work on his album and his baby book and his 1st year calendar. Luckily I keep a journal, so I have all the important dates written down…I just don’t have much time to put the information in his books. Hopefully I’ll be able to take some extra time off around the holidays and get lots done! We’re also going to a Croptoberfest on October 11th and we’ll be putting together a mini album, so after Halloween I’ll be able to add Carter’s pictures and it will be done very quickly…I can’t wait!
We recently found out lots of friends are having babies…congrats to The Proctors, The McDonalds, and The Baggotts!!! We’re so happy for them all…yeah, new friends for Carter and Mere! : )
Matt’s birthday is coming up on Saturday, October 4th…Happy Birthday sweetie! I tried to get him Vanderbilt/Auburn tickets, but the price has gone up way more than I should pay. Oh well, at least he knows I tried. He may just have to settle for dinner and some Maggie Moo’s ice cream! : ) We have been trying to have more date nights lately…we used to have date night every Saturday, but it doesn’t happen as often now. It’s important to me that Carter see us make time for each other and spend time together. Anyways, guess I better run!
Thanks for checking in!