Merry Christmas

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas! We had such a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed our time off together! Carter was able to help open his gifts and take everything out of his stocking this year...and he was so excited about all of his toys! I took way too many pictures, so I'll just post a few...

Oh boy, Santa came to see me! : )

I love this picture of Matt showing him how to ride his 4 wheeler!
Santa Babies!

New tricycle from Mimi and Grandaddy

Loving on his teddy from Granny
Our annual "cousins" picture at Granny's house...we missed you Jana!
Loving his rocker from Gamma and Grandpa (Gamma got this rocker when she was 1 and Daddy used it when he was little too)!Trying on Grandaddy's hat collection...

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Matt surprised me with tickets to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra tonight. We had wonderful seats in Deloitte's box and the show was amazing. I expected a regular orchestra, but it was more like a rock concert.

Happy 50th!!!

SURPRISE! : ) Mimi and Grandaddy both turned 50 within a couple weeks of each other, so we had a surprise party for them.

What's a party, without Carter ending up with a bow in his hair?!?!

Carter had Chili for the 1st time and loved it!And Mere even used her potty...go Mere! : )

Happy Thanksgiving

Carter wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

We enjoyed spending time playing with our little guy and watching the parade. Later that night, Matt's dad brought dinner to our house since his mom wasn't feeling well. And the next day we celebrated with my family. We are so thankful for everything God has blessed us with!

1st Waffles & Carousel

I made Carter waffles for the first time this morning (without the butter and syrup- I don't think we're quite ready for that yet!) and he loved them!

We are so animated these days! : )
Carter also enjoyed his 1st carousel ride this afternoon.

Carter's 1st Birthday

Carter's party turned out great! He had such a fun time with friends and family and received lots of wonderful gifts! He wasn't crazy about the birthday cake when he first tried it, but had some again later that night and decided he loved it! : ) Here are some pictures of his fun day...

Thank you all for your love, support, and prayers during Carter's 1st year!!!

Party Plans

Well, we are about ready for Carter's 1st birthday party on the 16th- just a few last minute things to take care of. I can't believe how quick the past year has gone...it has been so amazing though!!!
Back to the party- I changed the cake plans yesterday- we had planned on ordering Gigi’s cupcakes, but I found the neatest pirate cake from Publix, so we're going with that instead.

We also found out that the cute little pirate t-shirt that we had ordered Carter weeks ago, will not be coming. We finally had someone call us back last night and per the guy on the phone "they are basically out of business"...at least we get our money back.

I can't wait to post birthday pictures and I'll try to get the Halloween pictures posted soon too.

Ready for Halloween

We had our family pictures on October 25th and we can’t wait to see how they turned out! Mere and Carter did so good- we even got some pics of them in their Halloween outfits! : ) Later that afternoon, our Uncle Fred had a mild heartache. He was able to go home from the hospital earlier this week and thankfully his tests today went really well (this was an answer to our prayers!)…he will be starting cardio rehab soon and can gradually return to his normal activities.
Carter has been so funny lately…he makes us laugh so much! I was telling a friend how quick the past year has gone- his 1st birthday is kind of bittersweet- my baby is growing up so fast! : ( At the same time we are loving his developing personality! He is so amazing and funny and smart- I love playing with him and reading to him…and just watching him, I could stare at that precious baby forever! We love trying to teach him new words…it’s so sweet, he tries so hard to say them! : ) Recently we’ve been trying to teach him where his head, nose, ears, and eyes are. He doesn’t always point to what we’re asking him, but usually he will start sniffing if we ask him where his nose is…so funny! : ) Mere used to do that too and now she will bat her eyes if you ask her where they are…soooo cute!!! Speaking of Mere, Shanda & Matt found out that she has a fairly severe allergy to eggs yesterday. The poor girl can’t have anything with egg in it and they have to carry around a little epi-pen with them at all times. She goes back in 6 months for more tests, but hopefully this is something she will outgrow.
This week Carter has tried soy beans and pinto beans…let me tell you, this boy loves his beans! : ) Next, we may try pieces of potato or green beans. So far he has loved everything we’ve given him! However, the last couple days he has started throwing his noodles and corn…guess he’s getting tired of those.
Unfortunately, we still don’t have any good house news. Our real estate agent, Barry, sold his company and has joined another real estate group. He said everything would still be the same, just the name on the sign would change- can’t even remember what it is at the moment. We’re still praying about what to do everyday- we don’t feel led to take our house off the market, but at the same time I don’t want to be stupid and leave it on at a time when our economy is doing so bad. It’s crazy…we know we don’t want to be in this house for the long haul and Carter is going to be walking soon and it makes me so nervous with the steps! Maybe God is working on our patience…it’s very possible, I could use some help in that area!
We’re excited about getting Carter dressed up in his Halloween outfit on Friday and taking him around to see grandparents, great grandparents, and a few neighbors. This is my baby’s LAST 1st holiday!!! I’m sure I’ll have lots of pictures to post this weekend! Other than that, we don’t have a whole lot going on this weekend- craft fair at church on Saturday, nursery at church on Sunday morning, and we definitely need to go birthday shopping for Carter! We’ve only bought him one gift so far, so we’ll have to see what all we can find! Oh, and Matt has some major studying for the CPA exam…he had taken a break for a while, but really needs to get back to it! It’s so hard for him to fit it in though with work and traveling and spending time with me & Carter. I totally understand the time he needs to put into it though. Maybe one day I’ll get back around to it too...it’s still a goal of mine, but with Carter here it’s further down on the list.
Thanks for checking in.

Smart Boy!!!

It’s amazing how much Carter has learned within the last few weeks- he is such a smart boy! My mom showed him the apples in our kitchen on October 3rd and he started saying it that night and has been saying it ever since. It’s so funny to hear him- he says it so clear and repeats it over and over and points into the kitchen until we take him to see the apples. He started saying Dada on October 12th (which Matt was absolutely thrilled about). And then started saying Nana the very next day. He loves going into the garage to help Matt take care of the dogs. As soon as we get home he points to the garage and says “pa” until we take him out there. There’s been several occasions within the last couple weeks where we had actually forgotten about Maggie & Lola, luckily Carter remembered - the puppies are very thankful for Carter! He loves being around them and watching them play outside, but he is still scared of them…he clings on so tight to us and even cried one day at the black covers on Matt’s golf clubs because he thought it was one of the puppies beside him. : )
He points at everything and wants us to tell him what it is- it’s so cute! He has been such a daddy’s boy lately- he wants Matt to carry him around with him wherever he goes! : ) He loves balloons lately too…last weekend he was fussing for one at Publix so the nice workers there gave him a free one. We ended up buying him another one when we went there this past Sunday. He is so funny with it…he carries it around everywhere! He even held onto it the entire time he was eating dinner last night.
He’s been eating more table food the last few weeks also…corn, peas, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, chicken, noodles. He has been doing so great and seems to really like feeding himself.
He’s cruising all over the place, but not taking any steps yet. A couple times this past week, we noticed that he would let go of whatever he was holding onto and would stand for a couple seconds. He loves his little walking toy (it was passed on from Lauren Edman to Meredith and now to Carter)…he thinks he is such a big boy now! J I’ll have to post some pictures.
Slept through the night from October 7th to October 9th…that is a huge accomplishment! The last week or two he hasn’t slept quite as good…we think his 3rd tooth may be trying to come in.
He had his first flu shot on October 15th and he didn’t even cry…we were impressed! : ) He’ll have the second part when he goes back to the doctor for his 12 month check-up on November 17th. I still can’t believe that my baby will be 1 in less than a month.
Still waiting on 9 month pics…I’ll post the link when we get it! We’re anxious to see how they turned out…both him & Meredith needed naps! As long as the weather cooperates, we’re going to have family pictures this Saturday…my mom is having the lady that took Mere’s (and will take Carter’s) birthday pics come out and take some fall pictures of our whole family.
Hopefully I’m not forgetting too many details…it seems like he does something new every day!

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!