It's Carter's First Birthday!!!!

Wow, how time flies. Today is Carter's first birthday. Mean oh mommy had to take him to the pediatricians office today for a well check. He had to have 2 shots. What a birthday! Carter is officially a toddler now. I can't believe it. Carter a few weeks back started taking a few steps but only towards something like the couch etc. Just this week, he has decided to start just standing up in the middle of the floor and walking around just to walk. He goes a little further each time. He gets a face of pure excitement when we sees how far he made it. The doctor says that Carter is still in the 90th percentile for his height and he still believes he is going to be a tall kid. Like I have said before, I still am not sure that it can be true but mommy is holding onto the possibility and loving every comment she gets about how long he is. (As short as I am, I never thought I would hear tall in a conversation about my family) The doctor says he is healthy but, could stand to gain a few. He ordered more table foods for him so as to add the extra calories. Lot's of scrambled eggs said doctor Deharo. So a scrambling we will go. He also suggested I give Carter a nap bare Butt so that he little hiny could air out. He said put him down on a nap with a towl under him. This is something he has suggested previously and to be honest I haven't done because of fear of a mess. But I felt I better try since the doctor keeps insisting on it. So this afternoon I put him down for a nap on a towel like suggested. Would you know, he immediately peed all over me as I layed him down. Then he preceded not to nap because he wanted to play peek-a-boo with the towl. I knew it wasn't a good idea :) But finally, he did eventually go down bare butt and all. I just can't wait to see what the crib looks like after the nap ;) Here are some pictures from the birthday party that we had for Carter when we were in Chicago visiting my family. There will be more to come because we are going to celebrate again next week when Jeff's family is in town. What a spoiled kid. Also, if you scroll down far enough you can see other pictures from the 4th of July and our visit to Chicago.

Trip to Chicago

Happy 4th of July!

I can Stand on my own

Hmm, Aubrey's toys look like more fun....

Community Pool

Last weekend we took Carter to the community pool. They have a really nice baby wading area with big mushroom sprayers etc. He loved it. He splashed around and waded in the water like crazy. In fact, he had so much fun that he was completely wiped after we got home. The picture of him in his car seat is what he looked like when we made it back home. The other shots are of him another day. He loves to look out the window. In fact, if there is a bird in the yard, he will get onto his tip toes to watch it.

Ready, Set, Go!

Carter has begun letting go of the couch and balancing standing up on his own. He has gotten pretty good and each day he stands for a little longer. So as I always do, I bought him a new toy to encourage the new milestone. This time I got him a little cart that he can push while walking. The first time he pushed the cart and he realized it was rolling with him, he let out a loud gleeful laugh. It was so cute! Here are some videos of him moving.

Cool Dude!

Day Trip to the Zoo/Aquarium

On Saturday, we planned a family day trip to the San Antonio Zoo and Aquarium. The aquarium was small but, it was just as well as it seemed that Carter was more interested in the zoo anyway. Jeff and I think that we were probably just spoiled growing up close to the shed Aquarium. So we will try the Shed out on our next trip out by Chicago. Carter enjoyed the Rhinosorus the most out of all the animals. It was a fun eventful day.

Finger Foods

For several weeks, I have been putting little finger food puffs on Carter's high chair tray just to try to encourage him to self feed. He usually just played with them of course and tossed them on the floor for Aubrey to eat. Aubrey doesn't seem to mind this by the way. Well out of the blue the other day, Carter decided to try them out for himself. I quickly ran for the camera and here are the shots I was able to catch.

Check out my cute shoes

New Chompers

We have teeth everyone. Carter has had his two bottom teeth for a little over a month now. Recently, he has gotten in 3 other top teeth. I haven't been able to get a picture of him showing his teeth until now. Didn't expect that once they started coming in they would come in so quickly. He had his 9 month check up last week and the doctor says he is doing fabulous. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Carter didn't need to have any vaccinations this month. He is so much more aware now and I was dreading him getting his shots. So I can take a deep breath for a few months before I have to prepare myself for shots in July. :)

Passing Time

I'm 9 months old now

Carter Bunny

Carter's first Easter.

Moving Like Crazy

Proud Mommy

One day while at a friends house, Carter got a little scared from a loud noise. He quickly grabbed me by the shirt and pulled himself up. I thought it was just a fluke that he did it. Apparently, it was no fluke. Ever since, he has been pulling himself up using anything he can grab onto. I bought him a new toy, to celebrate the milestone. Right away, he pulled himself up to play with it. Check out the picture below.

A Day at the Park

March Madness

Just Hanging Out with Friends

Carter and I went over to my friends house for a little play date. My friend Shelli's daughter is about 7 months and my friend Debbie's son is 8 1/2 months. Carter falls in the middle at 8 months. They had a great time together. Carter as you will see in the pictures always wants the toy that the other one has. Sharing is something I think we may have to work on. :)

More Rasberries

Rasberry Sounds

Got Teeth anyone?

Carter hasn't been sleeping well throughout the night. We figured do to teething. This morning he finally allowed me to get my finger in his mouth to feel his gums and ah ha, there was a pearly white beginning to pop through. So that leads mommy to wonder, how long will this teething thing last? Is it an on again off again thing? Mommy needs some sleep!!!!! :)

What's that flash?

Jeff went to snap this picture of Carter and the flash happened to go off twice. The first one scared him so much that when the picture took, you can see the scared look on his face. It is Jeff's favorite picture of Carter. He thinks Carter's expression is priceless.

New Happenings

Carter is getting quicker with his forward crawling now. Jeff was watching Carter as I washed dishes the other night and he watched as Carter crawled from one end of the living room to the other. Jeff was so amazed how quickly he picked up the pace that he could hardly contain himself. We no longer can put carter into his bouncy seats because he tips forwards trying to crawl out. He has moved into his bigger convertible car seat instead of the infant carrier. He has finally become steady enough sitting up that he can sit in a grocery cart. I am pleased to not have to carry the infant carrier any longer. It was getting too heavy. Carter is also pulling up from a crawl position back into a sitting position on his own. This has made my life a lot easier. He used to cry when he wanted to change positions. It is just so amazing how every day he accomplishes something new. :)

Early Spring Fun

Playing the Drums and More

Rubber Ducky You're the One

February Slideshow

Moving on Up

This video is actually from several weeks ago. It shows Carter scooting backwards. Recently he has began to figure out how to scoot forwards but hasn't completely gotten the movement down pat yet. Now he scoots backwards at a pretty fast paste. I am sure it is all a matter of time before life as we know it will forever be changed.

Laughing Histarically

Carter's Medical Update

Friday Jan. 26th Carter had his 6 month checkup. The doctor mentioned that he would like me to call a physical therapist to have an evaluation done of Carter's neck. He has a small flat spot on the right side of his head and the doctor thought it might be because he favors laying on that side due to a stiff neck muscle. The physical therepist would do an evaluation to determine if this was the case. He also mentioned that I might call a cranial specialist to have Carter's head shaped back round but that it would not be covered by insurance. As you might imagine I was a little bit upset that the doctor was suggesting that something medically could be wrong with Carter. I never felt that his head was that bad and had always heard in the past from the doctor that this would go away in time as he got older. He has never seemed to have a problem with turning his neck in either direction or shown favoritism to one side. But I went ahead and did as the doctor said and took him to the physical therapist for the eval. Jeff and I decided that we would call the cranial specialist depending on what the physical therapist thought. You will be happy to know that the physical therapist tested him for about an hour and found that he had full neck extension and head control. In fact she said that he actually tested stronger in these areas than typical 6mon babies. I was so happy and surprised to hear her say that. I expected she would claim he would need 3 days a week treatment in an effort to make money off of us even if he didn't need it. I guess I need to have more faith that there are honest people out there. We have decided not to take Carter to the cranial specialist as this would mean him wearing a helmet for 23 hours a day. When I mentioned this idea to the therapist she said that his head wasn't bad at all and that as he becomes more mobile it will shape itself. We are happy to hear it. We are considering changing pediatricians as while ours came with glowing recommendations from friends, we tend to leave his appointments upset. The therapist mentioned she wasn't sure why our doctor even sent us. She said he could have evaluated Carter himself and ruled out the neck problem. We think he is a great doctor but someone else might better suit our new parent needs. :)

Starting Veggies

"Peas please" is a phrase I don't think we will be hearing from Carter. I think the pictures speak for themselves.

Jumping For Joy

Carter is now a crazy man in his jumperoo. He really gets it moving.

Da Bears

I guess we know he likes football!

Just Playing In The Yard