Christmas with Carter

I wasn't sure what to expect with Carter this year.  I knew he was far to young to understand the true reason for this glorious holiday, but I thought he could possibly get a little excited about the piles of presents.

I already feel a tad bad for the kid.  I would HATE to have my birthday so close to Christmas!  While I was shopping, I kept thinking, "Well, his birthday is only a few weeks away..."  I was trying to justify keeping the number of presents to a reasonable amount instead of going over-the-top crazy.  Perhaps we'll celebrate his half-birthday or Baptism birthday instead?!?!

Back to Christmas...he was such a cutie.   I'm sure I've mentioned that he is all about me lately :)   So while opening a gift, he sat on my lap, pulled out tissue paper one piece at a time (took a few seconds to play with each piece), and finally found his way to the gift.  

It only took about two presents for him to completely lose interest in the unwrapping part.  Now that all the presents are unwrapped, he adores them!  Except for the bathtub bubble blower.  That thing scares him to death! 

Because of the excess of toys, Travis and I are in desperate need of a shed and a few more storage spaces.

As a mother, I have a hard time not comparing him to other kids.  Of course I think he is the greatest-but I also see that a lot of the children in his daycare room are eating much more "adult" foods.  Feeding him pieces of food, no matter how small they are, makes me jittery.  My mind starts going a million miles an hour thinking of him choking.  Needless to say, this is something I need to work through.  With Christmas, came the the opportunity to let go and allow him to try lots of new flavors and textures.  In the past week, we have conquered (and liked) scrambled egg yolks, avocados, toast with jelly, Cheerios, mashed potatoes, rice, and spaghetti noodles.  Life will be great when I can finally fix Carter a plate of whatever we are having for dinner and I think that day is almost here!

Carter is a ham-at least at home.  I am beginning to see his shy side though, especially when we are visiting other people's homes.  All day at home he will yell, and laugh, and play catch with himself, and dance, and jump on the bed, and wrestle....we have a great time together.  The second we walk into someone else's home, he sits quietly on their lap or on the floor, looks around, and scrunches his shoulders up to his chin.  Where in the world do kids learn to do these things?  After awhile he makes himself right at home, but it amazes me how differently he behaves.

In the midst of the hustle and bustle of each holiday, I find myself thinking so much about Carter's birthmother.  I knew that Thanksgiving was tough on her.  I figured that Christmas would be even harder.  I don't know how she does it.  She is such a strong, caring person.  We know that she loves Carter as much as we do.  On Christmas Eve, I thought it would be the perfect time to tell him his complete story.  After all, Christmas is about the journey of a family and a baby.  This is a tradition I hope to continue for as long as he'll listen to me ramble. My prayer for Carter is that he grows up knowing that he is loved. By us. By our families. By her. By her family.  And by God.  That's a lot of love for one cute little guy.

Bully?

I was told recently that my sweet, adorable boy is the infant room bully!  She was sort of joking when she said it.  You see, Carter is now the BIG boy in the room.  Everyone else is pretty stationary.  Apparently, Carter crawls over to the other babies and steals their binkies. 

Of course, I thought it was all my fault.  I took his binkie away from him at two months.  He had a cold. His nose was stuffy.  He couldn't breathe with it in his mouth.  So.....why not?

Well, when we got home that night, I dug around in the cupboards to find the long, lost binkie.  Guess what?  Doesn't like it.  Go figure.  My guess is that he is just trying to get back at them for screaming during his nap time-in which case-I don't blame him:)

Baby's First Christmas

I am so excited for Christmas this year!!!  I understand that Carter will have NO IDEA what is going on. He won't understand the concept of gifts, but just having him here is a good enough reason to celebrate.  The idea of sending out a family Christmas card was something that warmed my heart. He is my gift-and I couldn't have asked for a better one!

We celebrated a little early with Papa Richard and Liz, and Travis's brother's family.  Carter liked to slap the presents (especially the squishy ones) to hear the crinkling noise.  He tried to eat the paper after it was off the presents, but eventually he realized there was a new toy sitting close by.  We took our pictures with Liz's camera, so hopefully we will have a picture to share soon:)

It has been really fun watching him play with the new stuff.  I still think of him as a baby, that he can't possibly be old enough to play with a barnyard set.  Then he surprises me by driving the tractor around and opening the barn gates so they make noises.  He's just so big!!

P.S. Check out my teeth!!!

Random thoughts and rambles

This picture is from November, but it was just developed.  No new pictures this week.  Sorry.

Craziness-the word that describes this week

I don't have enough in me left to develop a cohesive entry today, so here is what is popping in my head as I write.

Carter got mad at me for the first time this week. He raised his fists in the air and clenched his entire body while he grunted.  Then he went into the living room, stood up alongside the couch buried his face in the cushion.  He's only 11 months old. Oh brother....

He has been sick as a dog.  Antibiotics, eye drops, allergy medicine, and asthma medicine.  I'm so glad he is getting back to his normal self. (and that the snot is slowing down...)

Four teeth fill his mouth now.  When he smiles I can see them.  I don't like it at all.  They make him look like a boy, not a baby.

His hair is brown.  I just really noticed it tonight.

He likes to dance, and he really likes when I dance like a crazy woman in front of him.

Carter can open drawers now.  I need to find a day to baby proof-SOON!

He is going to be the best Baby Jesus in church Sunday School program history.  I will try to post the video in a few weeks.  I almost cried today watching it.

He loves the dog more and more each day.  This worries me.  I hope the dog can learn to love him and not nip when Carter finally gets ahold of him.

Ball-y

I think it is funny to sit back and watch Travis interact with Carter.  I knew that Travis would be a great father, but sometimes I can't believe how much he has changed since this sweet, little boy entered our lives.  Carter absolutely LOVES playing ball with Trav.  They throw it back and forth (Carter gets SO excited that he starts throwing his entire upper body up and down until he gets the ball back). This is their thing.  Carter does not, and will not, play catch with me no matter how hard I try.  Our thing is music:)

Anyhow, after Thanksgiving the ball went missing.  I had taken it to my parents' house that day and we just couldn't find it.  Travis kept asking about the ball. "Have you seen Ball-y?"  "Let's go buy another Ball-y." BALL-Y!  Who'd have thunk 10 1/2 months ago that my tough hubby would start using phrases like this in everyday conversation.  Without the ball we had to find other ways to hold his attention for more than 10 seconds. 

Baths work:

 New toys work:

Chasing the dog seems to be the best option yet:

At Thanksgiving (all 3 of them so far) Carter was spoiled with tastes of all the food.  His interest in baby food is getting less and less.  He wants whatever we are eating.  So, while I was eating all the yummy goodies-so was he!  He likes mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes (mashed and sliced), bread, pumpkin pie, jello and marshmallow dessert, and especially whipped cream. On a side note, I usually feed him very healthy, balanced meals.  This was just a really big treat! We loved seeing our family too!

I love Black Friday shopping, and this year was not going to be an exception. While daddy was slaving away at work, Baby C and I headed out around 7 A.M. to find the best deals.  I was able to get everything on my list (and more).  He is such a great shopper.  We both needed a break about half-way through, so we went to the local coffee shop, pounded on a coffee table, and shared a bagel.  I hope he wants to hang out with me like that when he's older.

As much as I despise winter, I adore decorating for Christmas.  I couldn't wait to see how Carter would react when the tree was lit for the first time.  I plugged it in and Carter stared at it, then at me, and back at the tree.  I think he was more confused than amazed.  He really likes this Santa, though.

Carter is still working on that fourth tooth this week.  This one is the roughest yet.  On the positive side, he is all about mommy while this is going on.  Whereever I go, he crawls there.  If I am standing somewhere, he is sitting between my legs.  If I am sitting somewhere, he is trying to sit in my lap. He wants hugs, smooches, and high fives non-stop.  This is great because Carter has despised cuddling from the beginning.  I am soaking it all in because I know it will not last forever.