1st birthday celebration!

Carter had such an AWESOME 1st birthday celebration! These first few pictures are from dinner on Saturday night. Gigi, Pappy, Grandma (Carter's Great Grandma), Uncle Scotty, Rachel and Alex were all in town from Houston for the night. So we went out for a little birthday celebration dinner. We gave C a cupcake, and the sequence of pictures below expresses exactly what happened! (I think the tears / meltdown had more to do with how long dinner took & how it was past bath / bedtime!) His actual birthday party was Sunday afternoon & it was SO FUN! He had SO many people there celebrating with him. All our family from Houston, Tim's whole family including all of Carter's cousins & then tons of friends as well. I know Carter felt so loved (and we felt so blessed that so many people were there to celebrate this special occasion with him). His party was at The Little Gym, and it was GREAT! The kids had an absolute blast running around like crazy. And the girls who "led" the party were very sweet & did a good job keeping the kids entertained. The end pictures are of Carter playing with some of his gifts that evening...and the last two pictures are PRICELESS. He LOVED his balloons...and he held one, while he ate his entire dinner. So sweet! Can't believe our little man is 1! :)

1 year old...

Oh my goodness...our little boy is 1! It is so hard to believe. I can remember the day he was born, like it was yesterday (And if I can be honest for a minute, there are times that I just want to go back...have him all over again...experience this last year again. But at the doctor's office for his 1 year wellness checkup, a nurse named Mel, who is so precious & sweet gave me some great advice that someone had once given her. She said not to miss the joy of today, because you are spending so much time thinking about and mourning what has passed. Well put, and so I begin trying to not wish time back, but enjoy every great joy this little boy brings us each day!)

Anyways, Carter is seriously one big ball of AWESOME-NESS! He weighs 24 pounds and is 30 inches long. His doctor said he is doing great! (Except for a visit to the ENT that is now in order. Booooo!) He absolutely loves, loves, loves to be outside! We have spent so much time on walks / jogs, playing in the backyard and at the park. It makes me SO excited about getting to do so much fun stuff outside with him this summer! One of his favorite things right now is playing catch! Oh my gosh, does he love it! The only problem is, he does not differentiate between playing catch with balls & playing catch with keys, hats, sippy cups (see where I am going with this?!). He only eats table food now, and drinks whole milk (bye bye Enfamil! ) with a new favorite stepping into the picture...mexican rice! He also loves playing with his toys (especially his basketball goal) and playing with Tyson! (There are 2 videos at the end of the post where you can see him playing basketball & playing with Tyson - too cute!) And the walking...oh the walking! He is doing so great with it. I think he is finally figuring out that walking IS more efficient than speed-crawling! He can even walk, bend over pick up a ball, and then stand back up & keep walking. What a big boy! Pictures of his 1st birthday ~ coming soon!

Walk this way!

A few weeks ago, Tim and I saw Carter take his first step in his room. (And I proceeded to cry at not only the thought of but the witness to him growing up before my eyes). Since then, 1 step has turned into 2 or 3 (usually followed by him falling down). We have tried and tried to get it on video, but have been unable to. Low and behold...Saturday, we got it! It is actually 6 or 7 steps AND for the first time, he didn't fall afterwards. We are so proud...what a big boy! (And once again, like I usually say before every video, ignore my screaming. GEEZ!)