Carter's First Christmas

Well Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you had as good of a Christmas as we did. Carter and I sat down Sunday night and emailed Santa a letter to tell him we would be in St louis on Christmas morning. He surprised Carter and brought his presents on Christmas Eve morning. Mommy video taped it, but she can not multitask, and some how didn't manage to get any pictures of him opening those presents..oh well, come watch the video if you want to see it :) So we opened presents, then packed up and headed to grandma's house. Mommy got to open her present from daddy and Carter there. It was a GPS for my car, YAY! I've been wanting one for a very long time :) From Grandma's we went on up to St. Louis. We went to see Great Grandpa, and he gave us another present. Then we went back to the hotel and went swimming. The pool was so warm, it was like taking a bath...it was great! We ordered pizza and sat by the pool while we ate. We pretty much had the whole hotel to ourselves... and it was a new hotel, the guy at the front desk said that we were the first ones to swim in the pool cause it had just opened the day before. Santa surprised the boys by dropping off gifts in our room while we were swimming. Dylan and Carter both got new christmas pj's and a game to play. After swimming our hearts out Carter fell asleep and we went up to Grandma's room to visit for a little while before going to bed. When we woke up on Christmas morning, Santa had come again! He was a very busy man and he still found time to visit several times. This time he brought Carter a book, a john deere truck, and a bath toy. Plus Carter got to open his presents from Aunt Laura and Uncle Chuck because they were in the mail when we checked it before we left home. They got him two of the cutest books I've ever seen. Thanks Guys!!! Great Grandpa came to the hotel to eat breakfast with us. And of course, it was pool side, since there was no one else around. It was great. We had bagels and coffee cake. Carter, Dylan, Grandma, and Daddy went swimming again for a little bit before we had to leave. Then we went to Aunt Diane and Uncle Tim's. They got Carter a Noah's arch toy that is huge! It sings and talks. We ate lunch and then headed back to Grandma's in Rolla. Carter got to open even more presents from Grandma and Aunt Katie. Grandma got him a train and a sled. And aunt Katie got him a john deere blanket and bear, and a bunch of other stuff too. Mommy got a digital picture frame from grandma....(daddy plugged it in today and it blew up, so we have to take it back and get a new one, but it was a great gift and one I really wanted!) There was hardly any room left in the car for him when it was time to leave, and we still had one more stop to make. We thought Daddy might have to get back to work, so we didn't know for sure if we would get to go to Grandma Beth's house. But work could wait, so off we went. Grandma Beth fixed a big ham dinner for us. Carter ate carrots and green beans and mashed potatoes. I don't think he was very hungry though, because he threw most of it on the floor. This was the grin he gave after he raked his food on the floor :).Then we opened even more presents. Cooper got Carter some bath toys and a push behind toy. Grandma Beth got him a john deere bear, sweat shirt, and a pop corn popper toy. WOW what a day. Carter was pretty pooped by the time we got home. So when we got up this morning he finally got to play with all his new toys. It was so nice to be home. Carter loves all of his new toys. I love getting to see everyone on Christmas, but it sure wears you out.

Carter also got a rockin horse for Christmas from Santa. He loves riding it! Just push the play button below to see him giddy-up.

Stand by Me

Carter has started to stand without holding on to anything. He is growing up so fast. Pretty soon I'll be posting a video of him walking for the first time. Where does the time go?


(I do figure out that you can't record sideways eventually)

Doctor, doctor!

Today was Carter's nine month check up. Dr Hakan says he is growing good. I question that, considering he hasn't gained any weight in the last 3 months, but Doc said it was not a concern since he is crawling and burning more calories. He has grown 2 inches, putting him at 29 1/2 inches (75th percentile) he weighs 19 pounds (25th percentile) and his head circumference is only in the 10th percentile....his daddy has a little head too. Clayton has a hard time finding baseball hats that don't make him look like he is a little kid wearing his dad's hat. Carter has definitely slowed down on his massiveness. At one point he was in the 95th percentile for height and weight. Now he is just tall and skinny :) That's okay though, I'm the one that has to carry him around all the time, so I don't mind that he isn't in the 95th percentile anymore :)

He also had three shots today. I'm pretty sure he thought he was going to die...he's kinda dramatic when it comes to pain :) (I can only guess where he gets that from... I am a wuss, recall the trip to the doctor for an ingrown toenail that apparently wasn't bad at all?) Well anyways he was crying so hard after the first one he didn't even notice she gave him two more, so I guess in a way it distracted him. He goes back in a month for a flu shot booster.

We walked in the door, and he gave daddy the 'she took me to a bad bad place' pout on his face...he was really pathetic looking, it was sooo cute :) Daddy snuggled with him for a few minutes and everything in the world was good again.

SNOW DAY!!!

SO we got a massive 7/10 of an inch of snow....well I just couldn't resist letting Carter get his hands on it.

hmm...what is this?

Okay, okay, I don't like it....get me outta here!!

Ahh, my mommy saved me.

Look at that little tear :(

Yummy nummy nummy

Oh what a mess. Carter is eating solid food...well, let me rephrase that, Carter is mashing real food in his hand, smearing it on his face, dropping it in his high chair, and barely getting any in his mouth. He's been eating puffs for a long time. (aunt shelly's mom introduced those to him at the end of september.) He does a great job with them, never misses one. This week we started on other solid food. Boy its a whole new ball game when the food isn't dry and hard :)

ENJOY :)

Bad knees and skinny jeans

Well call it a christmas miracle if you want. I have been running and dieting for almost 2 weeks...and that's pretty much a record for me. I've lost about 5 pounds and I can finally say I've lost all of the weight I gained while I was pregnant. Well at least since the doctor started counting. I'm pretty sure I gained about 10 pounds before I ever even went to my first prenatal appointment, haha, but that doesn't count right? I've not really been dieting, but I haven't been eating big mac's and taco supremes everyday...hey ya gotta start somewhere right? I also have not had a regular soda, and I really haven't had too much caffine either. We've been eating lots of chicken and lean beef and not too much pasta. I just ask myself, would I let Carter eat this when he gets a little older? If the answer is no, then I don't eat it. I am well on my way to those infamous skinny jeans we all have. I try to run or ride my bike for at least 30 minutes everyday..depending on how long I can get carter to hang out in his pack and play if clayton isn't home. Unfortunatly I've started having pain in my knees with every step while running. I've done some research, and apparently it's Carter's fault. Hip widening and flater feet from pregnancy and childbirth can cause problems in your knees....who knew? Really not too sure what I am suppose to do to make it better, except ice my knees after I run and put heat on them before bed. I also bought those lovely knee support things and I wear them whenever they hurt and while I'm running.
On another note, Carter has really started to say Mama all the time. Mama pick me up, mama feed me, mama change me, mamaamammamammamamamamam I'm grumpy. mama this, mama that. The only problem is he doesn't say all the stuff after he says mamamamamama so I have to fill in the blanks :)

Carpet Farm

Daddy and Carter like to farm the living room :P