Seven Months

It’s so hard to believe seven months has passed. I remember having visions of long walks with my happy baby in a stroller. Or a gurgly baby on a blanket in a park in the sunshine. HA! Having a baby in the fall in the Pacific Northwest puts those visions on hold.

Poor Carter had to wait until he was almost 7 months old to experience such goodness without freezing his patootie off. We introduced him to the giant burning ball in the sky.

goodness gracious, great ball of fire

He thought it was pretty funny. And LOVES facing outward in his Bjorn with daddy.

it's so funny to face outwards!

He’s a snuggly little guy. He mimics giving me kisses all the time. Maybe because I’m always kissing on him?

snuggling on mommy

We finally had our day in the park. Thankfully the beautiful weather coincided with a weekend and the whole family was able to venture out! High five to the sunshine!

sitting in the grass at the park

Okay, down to business. Guess who is SEVEN months old?

soooooooooo big!

This little giggle box.

i got to do a photo shoot with daddy there too!

He’s really starting to show his personality. He loves to mimic anything you do too. Make a face, he’ll make it too.

he makes funny faces

He watches every move you make and decides if he likes you/what you are doing. So be careful!

here daddy, i think you should wear this hat

And OMG! He has four teeth. Yeah. I’ve talked about it before. But they are still wreaking havoc on our sleep, so I figured I’d keep talking about it. 🙂

can you see all four of 'em?

Some notes about our little bundle of happiness…

29″ long
21 lbs
4 teeth
rolling and scooting

At 7 months, he is a rolling machine. It’s his mode of transportation at home. Roll, roll, roll….got the singing dog. Roll again to get the ball. Try to roll holding all of the loot. Hilarious. He’s also started scooting by pushing backwards with his hands when he’s on his tummy. We don’t have carpet in our house, so it’s pretty easy for him to get around this way.

His reflux is still pretty active as we dropped his dosage at the beginning of the month and could hear the heavy congestion behind his sinuses build up over those few days (and a few other unpleasant side effects).

He loves his solid foods! We’ve explored rice & oatmeal cereal, avocado, peas, green beans, sweet potato, butternut squash, prunes, pears, carrots, spinach, mango…..and today we tried fish! He spit the fish out, but he tends to do that with every food the first time and he’ll generally like it the 2nd time.

He says “mama” and “bababababababababababa.” I don’t think he understands what he is saying when he says mama, but Scott thinks he does. I’ve been working with him on “dada” too. I’m also working on teaching him a few basic sign language skills.

I’ve recently realized that he’s been mimicking us “washing our hands” since he was 3-4 months old. I’m always putting on lotion or handtizer (abby’s word for hand sanitizer) I guess because when I do that, he rubs his little hands together. He’s been rubbing his hands together like that for months and it just clicked for me why when he was watching me and did it last week.

He loves to give kisses. Big, sloppy, open mouthed kisses. Today, I was kissing all over his cheeks and dancing because it made him laugh. As soon as I stopped, he nuzzled in and tried to replicate. *swoon*

official seven month photo

He’s still keeping us on our toes, but mostly in giggle fits. He’s just awesome. Love you, kiddo!

Happy Halfsies Carter Joe!

Wow. My boy turned six months old today. I feel a little sappy about it. He’s really changed my world – in all good ways. It wasn’t until they laid him on my chest at the hospital that I understood the deepest bond and love one could ever feel. The one your mom talks about. The one that other moms talk about. That feeling of completion you didn’t know existed. This kid fills it. Becoming a parent is terrifying in the best way possible. It’s hard to become so vulnerable and open to pain, but it’s the most exciting and enjoyable step in life one can take. I’m so thankful to know that potential pain because it means I know the best love. My sweet family has made me feel more alive than I’ve ever felt.

Uh, yeah. I’m in love with my little munchkin. *awkward pause while I compose myself*

Time for his six month pictures? Ok…

Carter decided he wanted to dress up for his pictures this month. I mean, it’s time to show off! He’s a half year old!

where's my orange onesie, mom?

But with a tie, comes attitude. This boy is busy. He’s got teething toys to decimate and has no patience for his mama snapping picture after picture.

this better be the only photo shoot, i'm busy today!

That’s right. He’s cutting his two bottom teeth. He’s just  a bit fussy and a little more jumpy (Scott walked in to quietly say good morning and the kid jumped out of his skin)… oh and he’ll chew your face off if you get too near his mouth.

oh? no orange onesie this time? whew!

Seriously, he’s got appointments. And toys to focus on. In the picture below he’s staring intently at his dump truck that throws blocks off the back. He wants it bad. And he knows if he stares long enough the magical powers of mommy will bring it to him.

oh, i need to get busy chewing on that dump truck!

Yep, he’s got it right. I’m wrapped around that little finger.

will you bring it to me?

But I’m on to him.

if i smile bigger will you?

Soon, I’m going to make him start crawling for those toys. His first experiment with it yesterday went perfectly as planned.

oh, i guess i have to get it myself

Until I got those sweet pleading eyes asking for the dump truck with blocks.

pretty please?

I’d been had. I gave him the blocks. In all seriousness, he’s starting to show signs of an army crawl (not getting up on all fours yet) to get to things. He lays on his belly and scoots (over a very long period of time) toward what he wants. He yells (but doesn’t cry) and grunts out of frustration at his inability to get them (I’ve tried whispering in my best obi wan voice “use the force, young one” but it doesn’t work). He’s rolling over both ways now and that’s another mechanism of getting what he wants. He’s not quite sitting up on his own. He will for a few minutes, but then topples over to one side. He’s a little blockhead and has a lot of weight up there to hold up.

He’s one of the smiliest kids I’ve ever met.  He still tucks his little face into your neck when someone smiles at him from afar. It’s his little game of pretending to be shy. When he gets really excited about something he pants a little bit and then lets out this little squeal of delight. I took him swimming this week for the first time. Much like his garden gnome experience, he sat in a trance for the first few minutes until it “popped” for him that this was fun. After that he was kicking, splashing, and trying to tell everyone in the pool how much fun he was having. His way of telling them was to make eye contact and let out his long string of babble. In the locker room after, he was even more chatty. I thought he was going to pass out from all the glee (maybe it was all the tatas? we were in a locker room). He was panting and kicking and just outwardly talking to everyone in there. He’s usually pretty shy with new people…I guess new experiences are opening him up a little bit.

He’s weighing in at a hefty 21 pound and is 28 inches long. Still a moose.

Five Months

February was a short month! Can you believe Carter is already five months old?

i've learned how to stick out my tongue...good trait for later

He’s developing quite the squirmy, happy personality.

i can't sit still for very long

These “birthday month” photo shoots are getting more difficult.

full of smiles and giggles

Because someone I know is trying to sit up on his own in his little chair.

whoa mom, that camera is close but look at me sit up

And surprises himself when he gets a little of that independence.

did you see, mom?

But he can’t sit still for long. Most of the 300 pictures I took look like this.

gotta go. there are plastic giraffes that need squeezing.

He rolls right out of his chair and sits on the floor. Hey, at least I can snap some pictures near his chair.

oh, i'll sit here for a bit

His other favorite thing to do is put EVERYTHING in his mouth. Anything. And everything. Let the babyproofing begin.

can i eat the chair?

He’s a lot of fun though. He’s a giggle box. He sometimes will laugh completely unprompted. Just lets out the giggles. Especially if he sees another little person. They’re the funniest.

sweet baby

He’s finally started liking hats. When I used to put hats on him we’d have a screaming fit like no other. He seems to like them okay now.

the apple of my eye

At five months, Carter weighs 19 1/2 pounds and is around 28 inches long. He’s a big dude. One of his favorite activities is pulling both feet up to his mouth. He’s successfully chewed both big toes in one sitting a few times, but usually only has one at a time. He’s still not rolling from back to front, but he is very close. When he lays in his crib, he’ll arch his back and look up at the camera watching him, he almost flips over to his belly when he does this. Little stinker.

He’s still quite a snuggly baby. Especially when he just wakes up from a nap. He loves his daddy. If he doesn’t get to see daddy one day (sometimes he has to work late), he sleeps poorer and is not as cheery as normal. I think it’s related.

He’s really ticklish. If you tickle under his armpits he lets out an adorable belly laugh. That belly laugh will brighten any gloomy Seattle February day.

 

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.

Three Months Old

Carter turned three months old on January 1. It’s hard to believe how quickly time is going. I already miss the snuggle bug who burrowed into the crook of my neck and slept there for hours. He’s still a big time snuggler, but sleeps exclusively in his crib now. It’s bittersweet. It’s nice to have my arms back, but oooooh, so sweet.

We didn’t have a doctor appointment this month, so my measurements might be a tad off, but he seems to weigh about 17 pounds and is 25.5″ long. He’s FULL of smiles. 

hey mama, what's that clicking?

He does this thing where he tucks his chin and smiles with his eyes.

oh, is that for me?

Sometimes he does a sharp intake of breath that turns into all he can muster as a laugh.

you're taking a lot of those pictures

And just in the last day or two he’s been full on laughing. A good hard chuckle. I’m still trying to capture it on camera.

you're embarrassing me

He’s such a happy baby. He is chuckling at more than lights and fans now.

those clicks are making me laugh

If you repeat after him (agoooooo, gurgle gurgle gurgle) he’ll play with you for hours.

okay, last one. i'll smile big.

agooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo