What We’ve Done This Week

Not much really. Just hanging around the house. Going to the pool on Wednesdays. Walks on Tuesdays. You know. Working on mama’s basement. She keeps frantically talking about Monica? Who’s Monica anyway?

nothing to see here, folks

What? You saw something in my mouth?

ooooooooooooh, you came to see my pearly whites?

Oh. THOSE! Yeah. I’ve been sprouting teeth. These are only two of ‘em. Next week, I might show you all four if you’re really nice. But for now…here’s what I got.

i'm proud of 'em, but they sure hurt!

Earth Laughs in Flowers

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

We’ve been working on a new (improved) nap schedule the last few days. Which leads to what I like to call “the witching hour.” That time when Carter should have gone down for a nap, but would have slept till bed time. And who does that (I’d like to)? Typically, I fill that time with a bath or some other nonsense. On Sunday, since Daddy was home, we all went to the park by our house. It was cold. It was raining. But Scott can make almost any kid laugh in almost any situation.

what's up in the trees?

It’s a gift. He has woo’d all of our nieces and little human friends with his silliness.

what are you doing daddy?

Some of them (abby) will call my cell phone and demand to talk to him. When I tell them he’s at work there’s a (ho-hum) “oh” followed by awkward silence. Then a prompt from the adult voice behind the phone “tell anKim you love her!”

seriously. don't embarrass me in front of my tall yellow buddies.

It’s really pretty entertaining. It’s one of my favorite features of my husband. I now have a few tricks up my sleeve and can get them to engage me on the phone.

someone? help? what's daddy doing??

But I’ll never have the skills of my husband in ‘make any kid laugh in any situation’ department.

maybe if i give this fake smile, he'll stop

Did you notice Carter’s been sitting up all this time? He sat all by himself through the whole photo shoot (3.273 minutes or ~175 pictures).

ok. he's actually kinda funny.

He also cut three teeth last week. THREE! One on top, two on bottom. He does not like to show them off though.

right, mama?

He’d far prefer to stick his tongue out at you and blow raspberries.

hahaha. i thought so!

He also loves to do 360 rolls now. You set him down and off he goes.

blurrrrrrrrrrrrrbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb

Today, he learned how to open drawers. I fear for what is to come of my house.

ok, let's get serious. mom's taking pictures

It is not very organized to begin with. Add to it someone little who likes to open drawers and doesn’t like to put things back.

i can't hold it in anymore

This is why I’ve been making more progress on his playroom downstairs. I’ll put up some foam walls and just plop him down there, right? No? Hm.

big smiles for a family day (minute) at the park

Hope you enjoyed our trip to the park on Sunday. Spring is making itself present in small doses, but they are bright and pretty doses! Bring on summer, already!

Who Should I Strangle?

What genius came up with the idea to flavor baby medicine PEPPERMINT? I mean. Really. Peppermint! These things make a mother want to walk up to the door of the pharmaceutical company and ask if they ever had a kid.

Carter has reflux. A fairly decent case of it. It was diagnosed when he was 6 weeks old (after a couple weeks of non stop screaming, poor me little guy). His pediatrician prescribed Ranitidine, or Zantac. The formula is specifically designed for babies. And it’s peppermint flavored. The pharmacy can add a sweet flavor to make it better. So we add tutti frutti. It’s sort of coconutty. Pina colada if you will. Cherry would be red and my house would then be red. So white tutti frutti it is.

You know when you go to the beach and the waiters bring by fruity drinks with flowers and umbrellas in them? Has one of them ever offered you a pina colada mixed with a candy cane? If they do, decline politely. It’s vile. Straight up vile. Poor Carter has to take 1.6mL of this stuff three times a day. He’s getting more and more creative at avoiding it. My favorite is when he sneezes immediately following a bit. Then I get to be coated in Pepperina Colada too (it actually burns my lips when it hits them). Sadly, he used to just cry every time. But now he is far more creative…

Four Months

hey guys. guess what? i'm four months old!

mom keeps taking pictures of me. i love my chair. but i'm tired of this orange shirt.

i like to spice it up and pretend the chair is full of hot coals. don't put your feet down!

no. seriously. don't laugh at me, you can't put your feet down!

oh, aaaaaaaaaaaah, one dropped!

whew. they are back up. that was close.

at my 4mo checkup, my doctor told me i was a thriving, healthy baby. she told mama to stop swaddling me (hooray, i'm so tired of the straightjacket look).

she also said mama could stop feeding me when i'm half asleep at 11pm.

eeeeeeeeek. STOP for a minute. she said what?

but...but...i'm just going to waste away. mama, doctor lady, didn't you hear???

oh hi. this funny thing keeps popping up into my face.

whoa. there's two of them! when did those get here? feet are funny.

oh, hey. check out the fan! fans are hilarious. especially if they have lights on them.

what was i saying again?

mama. you are nuts.

remember, feet up! no touching the chair!

didn't you HEAR the doctor? tall and slender! don't I look skinny to you?

i'll probably just have to eat my hands if you won't feed me at 11 anymore.

oh. hey! there's another foot. i wonder how many i have?

feet up folks!

seriously mom, i'm wasting away. don't cut out the feeding.

please?

Carter went in for his four month check up this week. He is growing well, at 27 1/2″ and weighing 17 pounds. Apparently he’s a light weight and only in the 75th percentile for weight. We all thought he was a tank, but he’s got some room to grow if he would like. He’s rolling over from front to back and is a champion tummy timer. He makes new sounds every day and is always keeping us laughing. He sleeps great at night (knock wood), but isn’t a huge fan of napping during the day. He’ll do it, but not for long.

He’s started “hugging and kissing” me when I’m burping him. He’ll put his arms around my neck and put his face on my cheek with his mouth wide open and burrow in. I have no idea if he’s actually kissing me or thinking my cheek might be a source of milk, but I love every second of it. The minute he sees his daddy his whole face lights up and he gives the biggest grin. Scott said it well when he said Carter smiles with his whole body. He squinches up his knees, tucks his head and his eyes light up. He loves his O ball. In fact, one day he held on to it for 4 hours straight. All the way through a nap and a feeding. He’s that way with a lot of things. My hair. My earrings. My shirt. He doesn’t like to let go of things easily. Just after he turned three months old, he started laughing. At just about anything…but he really loves it if you scare him a little (but not too much because then you get the face crumpling cry and it will make your heart so sad). Weird kid.

We are having so much fun with him and are simply amazed at how quickly he is growing up.

January Sleep Study

As you may have read, we ran into some sleep issues and I called in Mimi to control her boy. Actually, my sweet mom offered to come help me so I could get some rest. I even slept until 10am one day! Carter got some much needed snuggle time with Mimi and all was right with the world again.

what? me? i've not been causing any trouble.

I’m sure this is the first of many confusing “what happened to my sweet baby” moments. But it was brutal with a capital B. Thankfully, we’re back to long sleep cycles. The last four nights have been 12.5 hours minus a little dream feed. I’m knocking wood. Right now. Because I know that with each minute, he could wake up sick, hungry, or just wanting to hang out with mommy and daddy. All night. You hear that kid? I know it’s temporary. But keep it up! For the next 17.5 years!

uhoh! who brought in mimi? can you get my mommy under control, she wants to sleep through the night.

While Mimi was here, we decided to put together the exersaucer. The kid went cross-eyed (see below). It’s kind of funny. With all of his big toys, his main focus on the first few days is the arms that hold up the cool stuff.

ten whole milestones!

He’d still rather snuggle with mimi.

mimi and her boy

Oh! In the midst of all this craziness, he learned a few things: he’s rolling over from his front to back and almost his back to front. He’s mastered grabbing both feet… so sayonara cute socks. We should just plan to have mixed socks from now on as he loves to tug them off and chuck ‘em. But who cares? Look at those chunky thighs! So adorable.

chunky monkey

Alas, Mimi had to go home. We were so thankful for her help and got some much needed rest, a date night with my hubby, and some good chat time with one of my favorite people on this planet. Love you momma (sm).