One more pic with Santa!

Here is a picture of Carter with Alex & Santa, that day we were in Grapevine. He took to this Santa MUCH better than the last! Maybe that's the key...take them to as many Santas as necessary, until they are comfortable enough to behave! ;)

Merry Christmas! (And Carter is 10 months old!)

On Christmas day, Carter turned 10 months old! It has been a rough month for the little guy. He got sick the week of Thanksgiving, and has pretty much been sick since. Pink eye (twice), an ear infection that would not go away, RSV. Poor little thing! He is hopefully on the mend now, getting to spend 2+ weeks at home with Mommy. We have managed to have a little fun, in spite of all the sickness. Carter's favorite things are playing with his toys, walking (not quite on his own yet), taking baths, playing outside (especially with leaves), going for walks, taking baths and eating, of course. He is starting to turn down baby food, aggressively, might I add. I guess he just wants to feed himself, like a big boy! He eats toast, bananas, pears, cheese. We are experimenting with all kinds of big boy food. He also likes to help Daddy around the house (see the fireplace pic). And of course loves to tear up magazines (what?!?! Bizarre, I know). We also got a visit from Gigi, Uncle Scotty and Cousin Alex. We went to Grapevine for their Main Street Christmas festival. Santa and Frosty the Snowman were there, we took a hayride through downtown and all kinds of cool Christmas stuff. He is a little young to enjoy it all, but we still had a great time. Carter's first Christmas was awesome! We got to spend a lot of time with all of our families. Of course, Carter got an INSANE amount of gifts. It was ridiculous! Toys, toys, toys. Books, puzzles, clothes, a new Baby Einstein video. You name it! And he loves playing with all of it. And even had fun learning how to open his gifts!

Santa!

This past Saturday, we had a Christmas Party up at my school. It was a family-friendly party, where everyone brought their kids (and all 23 babies born to teachers at Lamar last year!). There was a huge pot-luck dinner, Christmas Carols and of course SANTA! So we couldn't pass up the opportunity to put Carter in his lap. Here are a few pics. I know some are blurry, they are taken with a camera phone. But you get the gist! 1) Carter thinking..."Who the heck is this weird guy holding me?!" 2) "I'm good. Semi-smile for the camera." 3) "Mommy! I've had enough!!" (I know that last picture is so blurry, but it is so funny. That is me, in the red, leaning in to pick him up. And notice Santa's hands are off him, like, "I didn't do it!") More Christmas fun to come!

"Apples & Chicken...GROSS!"

Dr. McElroy gave us the go-ahead to try baby foods with meats for Carter once he turned 9 months old. He said he would LOVE them. Um....maybe not? This was the first thing we tried. Apples & Chicken. Side note: He loves apples. Another side note: My opinion, how disgusting. Ingredients: Apples, Chicken, Water. Yuck!! Now the video...Tim and I got some good laughs. Don't know if it quite stands up to "Bananas Make Me Twitch," but still hilarious! The best part is that Carter does his little giggle laugh several times. Like he is trying to enjoy the situation with us. What a good sport! Although, I wonder if we are damaging his views on food & eating by all of this trauma we keep putting him through?!?!

9 months old AND First Thanksgiving...

On Thanksgiving Day, November 25, Carter turned 9 months old! WOW. Hard to believe. (He weighs 22 lbs 4 ounces and is 28 1/4 inches tall). He has had a busy month. Along with getting his first 2 teeth (by the way, the 3rd looks to be soon making its appearance), he is crawling all over the place, pulling up to standing on anything and everything he can, and walking holding onto furniture. I fear real walking is coming very soon! Let's just say he is BUSY. Into EVERYTHING.

Clearly he is still very vocal. He says "mama," "dada," "baba," and considering he will mimmick ANY sound or word you say, we have gotten him to say "apple" and "duck." Random, I know. And the video below is just a little taste of one of his hilarious laughs. Yes, he has SEVERAL.

He is still eating like a champ. He will be trying Stage 3 foods and more and more table foods during the next month. And (sorry to say), he now loves real bananas. But no fear, those of you who love the banana video. People are already begging me to try more and more new foods so we can try and get priceless video # 2, to go along with "Bananas make me twitch!" :)

His first Thanksgiving was awesome. On Wednesday, we got to spend the day with Tim's side of the family. Carter got to see all his cousins & have a fun-filled day at Uncle Cole's house. And on Thursday, we make another trip to Houston to spend time with my side of the family. Carter got to play with Cousin Alex, they had so much fun! AND we even went to the Old Time Christmas Tree Farm, where we got to pick and cut down our very own Christmas Tree for Gigi's house! So fun!