Carter 4 months

Carter, you are 4 and a half months old!  You are still the same happy and smiling baby you have been ever since you emerged from your newborn stage.  You love to smile at most anyone who looks your way, but you smile the easiest and biggest for mommy! ;)   I love you to bits and can't get enough of your snuggles!

We weighed you on the scale here at home last night and we are sure you between 19 and 20 pounds!  We will get the official weight at the doctor later this week, but that is our estimate for now.  You are even outpacing your sister, who was a giant baby!  That makes you a super-giant baby! 

You wear 9 and 12 month clothes, and some 6 month but not too many because those are a little snug.  We basically just skipped right over that size!  You wear size 3 diaper.  You like your pacifier when you are trying to go to sleep or when you are starting to get hungry.  You also love to suck on your pointer and middle fingers.  You stay in the nursery each week while I go to Bible study and I left you with Nana and Papa for about 10 hours on New Years Eve, but other than that you and I don't get too far apart!  You take a bottle just fine (hallelujah!!).  You are pretty easy going, but you do seem to give some people, including daddy, fits when you get tired!  You will snuggle up with me and not make a peep while drifting to sleep, but you scream bloody murder with him. 

You nurse every 3ish hours during the day and either once or not at all during the night.  However, there have been some nights (more than I like to admit) where you have woken a few times in the night and you end up in our bed.  You like to cuddle with mommy (and me with you!) and its just easier for you to go to sleep next to me rather than me getting up with you again and again.  This was NEVER done with your big sister, so please don't tell her!   She had a very different baby personality than you and getting in our bed just made her more angry,  AND I was to "by the book" to allow such nonsense to happen! :0   Oh, how times have changed. 


Speaking of your big sister....she simply adores you!  She gives you nearly a hundred kisses a day and still tells me in her shrieky excited voice every single time you smile at her!  "Mommmmmy, he smiled at me!!!!!"   She is always trying to "help" you and I just know you two will be great play buddies very soon because some of your biggest smiles are for her! 

The pink glasses are compliments of her, by the way!  She said you "needed" them!

You like to reach up for toys and grab them.  Sometimes you try and put them up to your mouth.  You have shown a great increase in head and neck control and core body strength over the past week or so.  You have even tried to push weight through your legs the past few days!  You don't show any interest in rolling over or grabbing your feet, which will probably be awhile considering the large belly you have to work with!

You experienced lots of "firsts" the past month:  first Christmas, first 15 hour car ride!, first time to Indiana, first snow, and you met a lot of family members for the first time, including Great Grammy.  They were all as smitten with you as we are!

Lastly, as a disclaimer just in case you realize as an adult that you have a complex rooted back to your childhood......we really don't mean all of the fat/tubby/chubby jokes that you hear us make about you ;)  Just know that its all because we love you so very very much! 

a little bit of adorable for your Friday!

worldess Wednesday..of the iPhone variety.

We arrived home Monday afternoon and are still trying to dig ourselves out of the Christmas and traveling clutter.  It is insane!

Can't wait to get some pictures and stories up about our fabulous trip, but that will have to wait!  I haven't even looked through our camera pictures yet! There just hasn't been enough time.  Until then, enjoy some shots from my iPhone over the past few weeks.....

raising the festive index!

Olivia and I did our best to, indeed, raise the festive index yesterday!  (term borrowed from our friends Kacey and Justin! I think its fabulous!)

We made cut-out cookies and then searched the cabinets for all things sprinkly and shiny so we could decorate them!  As exhibited below, there was no shortage of decoration on each cookie!  The creative juices were flowing like wild and I loved watching our girl use her creativity!

And when it was all said and done, I came into the kitchen and saw this.....


I asked her what she was doing and she said, "I have sprinkles in my toes, Mommy!  I use towel to get them out!"

Well, okay!  The dish towel promptly went into the laundry room and I smiled to myself knowing that if she had sprinkles all the way to her toes that we had, indeed, raised the festive index right up where it should be!




Merry Christmas!  We are leaving soon for our long road trip to Indiana!  Just in case I don't blog until the new year (there is no Internet at my parents!)..... be safe, be merry, and give thanks to God for this wonderful time of year!  I hope your festive index is right up where it should be (and your cookie decorating leaves you picking sprinkles out from between your toes ;)

wordless Wednesday.

she didn't see my 'No parking' sign!

our 2 year old is too busy on the iPhone to have her picture taken!
We are in trouble!

who wrote the Bible?

ha ha ha!!!

whats been happening around here?

Not a whole lot, actually.
I've continued with Christmas baking, much to the dismay of our waistlines! I just can't help it.  I love to bake and the Christmas season gives me the perfect excuse!  The weather has warmed back into the 50's during the day so we've gotten back out to the parks a few times.  We've gotten our Christmas presents wrapped and loaded into a tub so they can be transported to Indiana.  I've attended a few Christmas parties (spouse group and Bible study) and came home with some cute ornaments from the gift exchanges.  Score!

I continue to procrastinate the arduous task of packing up for myself and the children prior to our departure later this week!  In fact, I should be organizing piles of clothing right now, but I'm sitting here on the computer instead!  Christmas music is playing, Carter is relaxing next to me, Olivia is asleep in her bed, dinner is smelling good from the Crock-pot, and I have no plans of tackling my packing to-do list anytime soon.  There is always tomorrow, right?!

With nothing too important to say, I will just post some pictures for the grandparents.  Nana and Papa, we will see you this weekend! (if we survive the 15 hour drive with the babies, that is!!)
Grandma and Grandpa, we will see you tonight for our Skype date!  Olivia can't wait to open the presents under the tree!!

Happy girl in her BLUE bath water!

Carter, you are growing up TOO fast!

story time is more fun when you can read a book
where Grandma is the author!

Carter likes to hang out and admire his baseball mobile.

I tried to get a pictures of the munchkins before we left for church on Sunday.  It didn't go too well.  We are in the stage where Carter can't sit up by himself, but big sister isn't quite skilled enough to hold him comfortably!  In this picture she just finished shouting "he is heavy, Mommy!".  Hoping for better luck at our next photo shoot ;)  However, I do agree with the heavy statement!  Our boy is wearing 6, 9, and 12 months clothes and has to be pushing 20 pounds!  Carrying him in the car seat has become a game of "not it!!" between me and Andy!  Oh, but how we love that fat and happy baby!