Some Funny Videos

I came across both of these videos via twitter and absolutely HAD to share because they are hilarious!

This video is the EXACT reason why I am nowhere near ready to have two babies (and what I’m pretty sure Justin would be like keeping two babies by himself):

And this video pretty much sums up what I imagine my life will be like with more than one child (parts of it even apply now):

Also came across this via twitter this morning:

HA!!!!  How true.  In Carter’s case, I’d have to write that on his thumb.

I should make a blog label for Funny Video Friday.  Pretty sure I would not be doing it every Friday though!  Anyway, new post below on Carter’s 9 month update!

Carter - Nine Months

After a couple of pictures, he got bored and decided to climb the chair….

**I am totally aware that Carter’s monthly posts have become small novels.  I can’t help it….I want to remember everything so I’m as specific in possible in my posts.  Apologies!!**

Diapers

Still wearing 3’s.

Shoe Size

3 1/2 wide.  Yes, he has wide feet.  I hope this changes as he grows.  Wide shoes are hard to find!

Clothes

He wears 9 month tops (even though they’re still slightly big on him) and 6 month pants.  I bought two pairs of Koala baby 6-9 month shorts when he was around 4 months old thinking that he would be able to wear them soon.  They’re still gigantic.  My guess is that by the time he can wear them, it’ll be winter, therefore, I wasted money on those.  Note to moms out there….Koala Baby clothes run BIIIIIIGGGGGG.  I went on a shopping spree at Carter’s in the Leeds shopping center.  Since it’s turning into fall pretty quickly, I racked up on some jeans and several long sleeve shirts for him.  This BEAUTIFUL weather the south is having is causing clothing changes.  Evening golf cart rides definitely require long sleeve shirts, pants and socks now!

Nursing

Gave up nursing right when Carter turned 8 months old and my milk is now dried up.  This will be the last month that the nursing section will be in the posts.  Tear :*(  On the bright side, weaning from nursing didn’t hurt me at all!!!  It was uncomfortable right when I started, but never painful.  Super easy.  I think this is attributed to the fact that I did it for 8 months.  Had I weaned when he was nursing more than 4 times a day, I’m sure it would have been incredibly painful.

Feeding

Carter is still eating Stage 2 foods as well as various table foods from us when we’re eating.  Table foods he has eaten include bananas, peaches, bread, strawberries, peas, pork chops, mum mums, lima beans and brown rice.  We’re also trying to introduce the sippy cup.  My plan is to have him fully weaned from the bottle by a year old or sooner, but I’m not going to force him.  I’ll let him wean at his own pace.  I bought a sippy cup that he apparently wasn’t a fan of.  I’m learning that sippy cups are like pacifiers.  You gotta find the right one for your baby.  He liked the one Nana and Papa have at their house so we ended up just buying the same one.  Also, Carter’s appetite decreased quite a bit this month.  He got to where he was rarely finishing his bottles, leaving as much as 2 or 3 ounces in some.  This is a side affect of teething which is what has hit him BAD this month. 

A major change that happened in the feeding area is that I started making Carter’s food.  About a week and a half before turning 9 months old, I purchased the baby bullet and started making Carter’s food using real fruits and vegetables instead of buying him the packaged stuff that has TONS of preservatives in them.  It’s been quite a change and we’re still adjusting to it.  It’s actually much easier than I thought it would be to make his food, that’s for sure.  But for Carter, the taste is completely different.  He is resistant to eat the real stuff so we’ve had to slowly adjust him to it.  He usually eats about 3-4oz of baby food 3 times a day.  Right now, we give him about 2oz of the real stuff and then 2oz of the packaged stuff.  I plan to do this until he can eat the real stuff only and he’s almost there.  I am aware I waited too late in the game to do this.  I should have done it when he started solids at 6 months and that way, he would have had no food taste expectations other than what I created for him.  Even though he’ll only be on baby food for a short period of time, I want him to eat the real stuff as much as possible.  I think it will make the transition to real fruits and vegetables easier for him.  Not to mention it is SO much healthier and don’t even get me started on how much cheaper it is!!  So far he loves the real sweet potatoes.  He didn’t initially like bananas or avocado, but they’re growing on him.  He HATES raw carrots.  That’s my bad.  I should have cooked them before making his food but I didn’t.  He cried anytime that stuff even touched his mouth.  We’ll try the peas and green beans next week…and I definitely WILL remember to cook them first ;)

Sleep

Still takes 2 naps a day that are roughly an hour and a half or longer.  When he does something particularly exhausting (like going to the zoo like we did this month) he’ll take a super long almost 3 hour nap.  He still goes to bed somewhere between 7:30-8pm.  There was a period of time when Carter was 8 1/2 months old that he was waking up SUPER early between 5-6am.  Fortunately, he always went back to sleep after about 30-45 minutes of talking to himself.  This waking early phase only lasted a little less than a week though and then he was back to sleeping until 7:30 or until I woke him up.  Carter was teething pretty bad this month and even though it made him fussier than normal, we are extremely lucky that it never disrupted his sleep. 

Waketime

No major changes this month.  He still loves being outside doing anything.  He loves golf cart rides and playing on the swing set.  I also bring him outside in the front yard to practice standing up without holding onto something and walking.  He is starting to grow tired of playing with his Ocean Mat and I may be packing that up soon.  Now that he can stand up he does it all the time and wants to play standing up, not laying down.  So I had to buy him a stand up toy for him to play with.  He still plays with the piano on the music mat though.  I absolutely love watching him play.  He literally does circles in the living room.  He starts with the stand up toy, stays there for a while, then crawls to the exersaucer, then he crawls to the piano mat, then he crawls to the center of the room and plays with handheld toys.  Then he starts the process over again with the stand up toy.  Kid cracks me up just doing circles in the living room!  When he tries to do something and succeeds, he looks at me like with the biggest smile on his face as if saying “mommy I did it!!!”.  He is truly such a joy.

New things he’s done at waketimes this month included going to the Birmingham Zoo and also going to story time at the public library with Nana while mommy works (daddy also took him to story time this week because he was in town all week and played the role of  “stay at home dad”).  I’ve finally found the best way to read to Carter.  He is such an active little boy and refuses to sit still to let me read him a book.  The only way I’ve found that I can do it is while I’m feeding him his bottle before bed.  The lights in his room are off and just his closet light is on (so that I can see what I’m reading - I really need to buy a lamp) and he sucks on his bottle while I read a book-usually either “Just in Case You Ever Wonder” by Max Lucado because it’s my favorite or chapters from his baby bible.

Mother’s Day Out

Naps are still decent at MDO, but nothing like what he does at home.  He takes anywhere from a 20 minute catnap to a 45 minute nap.  Shockingly, he sometimes sleeps in the swing in the nursery, but occasionally will only sleep in a teachers lap.  He has NEVER wanted to sleep in a swing at home.  I’m impressed that he’s broadening his horizons.  He is still slowly adjusting to someone taking care of him other than us or the grandparents.  He is fine when I get him there but the second he sees me head for the door he bawls.  I read in the What to Expect the First Year book that separation anxiety peaks around 8-10 months.  Awesome.  I’ve noticed this in other areas too.  He won’t let anyone hold him that he isn’t really familiar with and if he does, it isn’t for long.  Any suggestions on how to help the separation anxiety would be extremely helpful!

Justin’s Travel

Now that it’s fall, Justin’s travel is in full effect.  My husband travels almost every week during the fall.  And not road trips.  Cross country trips.  This month he went to Washington, New York, Oregon and Oklahoma.  On big trips like these, he usually gets home Friday night and leaves again Sunday morning.  Needless to say, we’ve begun using Facetime on the I-Pad/I-Phone so that he can see Carter.  I tend to get lots of sympathy from people when I tell them that I work full time and my husband is only in town on the weekends.  That’s when the “oh honey you must be superwoman!  How do you handle that?” comes in.  It’s honestly not that hard.  Debbie (MIL) keeps Carter while I’m at work and by the time I get off work to go get him, he’s only awake for about 2-3 hours before going to bed for the night.  And I love that time I get with him since I haven’t seen him all day.  I also love seeing Carter’s face when he sees daddy for the first time all week.  That smile will light up the room!

Statistics

Carter’s 9 month appointment was today.  He is 28 inches tall (50%) and weighs exactly 19lbs (30%).  His head is 17 1/2 inches around (30%).  Looks like his height is starting to slow down but so is his weight!  It’s hard to get a baby to gain weight when they’re as active as Carter is!  At this appointment Carter had 3 shots (I think - it may have just been two) and got his finger pricked to test for anemia.  We have to go back in a month, not to see the doctor, but to get the flu booster.  His next appointment will be when he’s a year old.  Wow.  It’s almost heartbreaking to say that.  A year old.  Where has the time gone???

Abilities

Carter learned an insane amount of abilities last month.  This month, I think he’s solely focusing on standing up on his own without holding on to anything.  He will frequently pull up in his crib with both hands on the crib slats and then all of a sudden let go of both hands and stand on his own, however this only lasts for about 2 seconds before he loses his balance and falls.  But he does it over and over again!  He has also showed a HUGE interest in walking already.  I frequently get him to walk with my assistance around the house or outside and we also practice standing outside.  I’ll hold both of his hands and then let go of one and then count “one….two….three!” and then let go of the other.  He’ll wobble for a few seconds and then eventually fall onto me, laughing hysterically because he thinks it’s a game.  But he is incredibly good at balancing by only holding onto something with one hand.  It’s quite impressive.  Also, while Justin was playing the role of stay at home dad this past week, he taught Carter to high five. 

Teething

I HATE TEETHING!!!  Carter’s bottom two teeth came in when he was 6 months old and they never affected him.  Not so with these top teeth.  I started seeing white “bumps” on his top gums right when he was 8 1/2 months old but he started having teething symptoms for these top teeth right when he turned 7 months old.  These teeth have taken almost 2 months to finally cut!  I could tell he was in so much pain because he was CONSTANTLY putting his hands in his mouth and crying while he’s doing it.  He also started sucking his thumb pretty much all the time (he used to do this a lot but stopped for a long time and has picked the habit back up this month). 

See?!?  He is officially a thumb sucker again.  Other symptoms he experienced were a massive increase in drooling and decreased appetite. His top left incisor started poking through the gums around September 20, 2012 (8 months 3 weeks old). The top right incisor was right behind the left one and came out around September 25, 2012.

Discipline

I’m adding this section this month because I’ve started “disciplining” Carter this month.  I’m using that word in the absolute loosest of translations.  By “discipline” I mean that anytime Carter is doing something I don’t want him to be doing, I pull him away, make sure he’s looking at me and say “No Carter, we don’t do that” (except that I say what he’s doing) and shake my head.  Shockingly, I think he knows what I’m telling him.  He kept trying to pull up on the entertainment center that is under our TV that has shelving that holds the DVD player, DVR player and all kinds of electronics.  Anytime he even starts crawling in that direction I get ready for it, but I don’t usually pull him back and say “no” until he touches the shelving.  I don’t want to correct him for doing something he hasn’t done yet, even though I know he’ll do it.  In the past two weeks, I’ve noticed that once I tell him that one time, he’ll go play with something else.  A few minutes later, he’ll start crawling back to the shelving and then he stops mid-crawl before getting there, looks at me (and sees that I’m staring at him) and then he crawls towards something else.  I’m so impressed with this!  At 8 months, they are supposed to be able to understand what you’re telling them not to do, but this is the first time I’ve really witnessed it.  I don’t want to start off telling him “no” to everything, so I’ve been picking my battles for now.  I’m focusing on him not getting into those shelves under the TV, not getting into the little corner of the kitchen that holds Gizmo’s food and water, not standing up in the bathtub during bathtime and not banging his hands on the high chair tray during meal times. 

Other Notable Things

This month was Carter’s first time to go to someone else’s house and stay for a long period of time and even take a nap (not including grandparents houses).  We went over to our friends Devin and Mary’s house to watch the Auburn and Alabama games and brought Carter’s pack-n-play so that he could take a nap there.  It was his first time being away from his own home or the home of the grandparents for such a long time and I was afraid he would get upset and want to go somewhere familiar.  He did great though!  He played with his toys and pulled up on absolutely everything and loved watching the dogs.  When it was nap time he went to sleep easily even though he was in an unfamiliar place and slept the normal hour and a half.  Justin and I forgot his rain machine but Tiffany was going to her house anyway to get some clothes and she just brought us Harper’s rain machine.  I have no idea if Carter would have slept without that machine or not, but I didn’t want to risk it.  We should totally do this more now that we know we can.  Both Justin and I were afraid to take him out of his comfort zone for such a long time and were certain we were headed for disaster, but he proved us wrong!

Likes

Carter still likes everything I’ve put in this section in the past several months, so I won’t repeat all of them, but will just list the likes that seem the most prevalent this month:

• Golf cart rides
• The swing at the playground
• Puffs and mum mums- absolutely loves puffs but still struggles with using the pincer grasp to feed himself.  We’re working on this.  He can pick up the puff with his whole hand and bring his hand to his mouth, but he can’t get the puff out of his grasp to get it into his mouth.  Mums are bigger so it’s easier for him to feed himself with those.  One pack has two mum mums in it and I will break it into several pieces and he’ll feed the whole pack to himself.  Also, Gizmo is loving this pincer grasp training because she picks up anything Carter drops on the floor.
• Standing up in general.  It is literally the cutest thing in the world when he sees me out of the corner of his eye, turns and looks at me, drops whatever toy he’s playing with and crawls to me and then uses my legs to pull up on and then hugs my legs once he’s standing up.  Justin doesn’t think this is funny because when he pulls up on Justin’s legs, he ends up pulling his leg hair.  Carter wants to pull up all the time but he doesn’t want you to do it for him, he wants to pull himself up to a standing position on his own.  He’s so dang independent…and kind of stubborn!  He gets that from me.  That and his lack of interest in cuddling.
• Watching me or Justin jump.  Yes, this is weird.  But he gets the biggest kick out of just watching us jump up and down.  Crazy kid!
• Older kids.  I can’t even begin to explain how much he loves to just sit and watch other kids, preferably older ones that can walk and talk.  It’s like he studies them.  He just stares.  So weird!
• Mornings.  You wouldn’t think he loves mornings since he typically is a late sleeper, but he is a hoot when he wakes up.  I’ll come into his room and he will immediately stand up and look at me and start cooing.  I love it!!  I have to get a video of it because it literally is the cutest thing!

Dislikes

• Not a lot of dislikes this month other than those related to teething.  Due to the teething he had to be kept busy to keep his mind off the pain, which meant he really didn’t like sitting still.  Though I think this also is attributable to the fact that he’s a boy (boys are typically more active than girls) and that his parents are me and Justin, two people that have no idea what “relax” means.
• Being away from me or Justin or the grandparents (separation anxiety)
• When you wipe off his face.  He HATES having his face wiped, whether it’s to wipe off food or to wipe off buggers or snot.  HATES it.

Overall, I must say that this is my FAVORITE baby stage.  I am loving the 6-9 month time frame and I know I’ll love the 9-12 month one even more.  Don’t get me wrong, I love me a little newborn baby, but this stage is so FUN!  Newborn babies are cute, we all know that.  But with newborn babies come sleep deprivation, crazy schedules and really not knowing what on Earth they’re crying about.  Those burdensome traits are long gone now and I am loving watching Carter now that he’s mobile.  He crawls all over the place, pulls up on any and everything and is even walking with assistance (holding onto me or someone else or some kind of furniture).  His personality is so fun at this age and I can’t wait to see what the next age bracket brings!

Wordless Wednesday

Good Walking Practice

Carter now pulls up on any and everything that he can and he LOVES to walk while holding onto something.  This weekend, Justin was running a race in Oregon so I had the little one to myself all weekend.  Since it was rather hot on Saturday, I decided to go to our neighborhood pool.  I was shocked that no one was there.  I know we’re pretty much out of pool season, but you know, it was 85 degrees so to me, that’s still pool season!!!  We had the entire pool to ourselves too!  I usually put Carter in a float and we get in the big pool together, but the water was a little cold for me so instead, I put his float in the baby pool.  That pool is only 1 foot deep so Carter could have literally stood in it if he wanted, but he used his float to find a more entertaining way of keeping busy:

Love him :)

On another note, today marks 4 weeks since I got off facebook.  Let me just tell you, it’s been pretty incredible.  I have no idea what is going on in other people’s lives and honestly, it’s rather freeing.  I don’t see the insane negative comments and slander going back and forth in my newsfeed due to football season, I don’t see complaints left and right about people’s jobs or families nor do I see those insanely crazy “please pay attention to me” type of status’.  I find that I am much happier, literally.  My mood has been so incredible because I am off facebook.  There have been moments though that I have wanted to bring my page back.  No addiction goes away without the desire to get that craving filled hanging over you like a cloud.  But honestly, the temptation has been so much less than I expected.  I have plenty of other things to keep me busy and I am truly just enjoying MY life instead of knowing what is going on in everyone else’s life.  Even if you get off facebook for just a week or even a month, I suggest it!

Slightly Wordless Wednesday

“Yes Mommy, this is what happens when you take me to a zoo for 3 hours.  Take me to my crib!”

“What are you looking at?  Leave me alone and let me get back to my Baby Einstein!”

“Well the strap tastes just as good as those veggies and I don’t have to wait on you to eat this!”

**Ordered iPhone 5 today so my phone picture quality will be improving soon!**

Mom’s - HEADS UP!!

If you’re a mom of an infant, you probably feed that infant rice cereal at least once a day if not three times a day (like a lot of moms do when their babies start solid foods).  Well according to studies that were reported this morning on the today show, there are “WORRISOME” levels of arsenic in rice foods.  That includes foods for adults too.  However I don’t think it’s as alarming for adults because we don’t eat rice once a day (at least I don’t know anyone that eats rice that much) much less three times a day….but our babies do!!!

I plan to talk to my pediatrician about it to get his thoughts, but in the meantime, I will not feed Carter the Gerber Single Grain Rice Cereal.  Lately we’ve been feeding him the Gerber Oatmeal and I looked at the ingredients this morning and didn’t see any rice flour as an ingredient.  But if someone knows anything else about the oatmeal, definitely let me know.  Arsenic has always been found in foods and water but there are FDA regulations for the amount that can be in foods and water for it to be on the market.  There are NO regulations for rice, however.  I copied the video from the today show segment and put it below.  Watch for yourselves and do what you want for your household.  I just wanted to make sure to spread the word and ensure that people are aware of the issue!

Special thanks to my sister, Lindsey, for the heads up on this topic!

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

#42 - CHECK!

Number 42 on the list of 101 things to do in 1,001 days was to have Carter’s 6 month pictures taken.  They ended up being his 7 month pictures by the time Justin and I found the time to take him to my sister’s studio in Tuscaloosa.  They were taken August 4th and Carter had just passed his 7 month birthday.  They turned out sooooooo incredible!!!  See for yourself…these aren’t all of them, but just some of my favorites.

That one deserved to be all by itself.  LOOK AT THAT POUTY FACE!!!

Photos done by Lindsey Smith Photography

#47 - CHECK!

Number 47 on my list of 101 things to do in 1,001 days was to take Carter to the zoo.  My mom and I went to our zoo in Birmingham this past Saturday.  I kind of wish we would have waited until this weekend because this weekend is supposed to be much cooler than it was last weekend.  On Saturday it got up to 86 degrees so we and the little man were pretty hot.  We took our umbrella stroller (first time we’ve used this so far) and packed up any and everything Carter would need and headed to see the animals.

Not sure if I’ve mentioned it, but teething has caused Carter to pick back up his thumb sucking habit.  It went away for a long time, but he’s started doing it again to make those top gums feel better.

Mom and I were looking at the bald eagles…not sure what he’s looking at.

Lovin on some Gigi

The animals didn’t really faze Carter all that much.  He is obsessed with animals, but some of them were too far away for him to actually see.  I didn’t get a picture of it, but he did try to crawl into the cage with the huge snapping turtles, so I know he saw them ;)

Man I love those precious eyes!

Again, not really sure what he’s looking at!

He was laughing like crazy in the reptile house.  I think it’s because we kept getting in front of air conditioning vents and it felt good to him since it was so hot outside.

And this is how he rode the train pretty much the entire time:

Not really sure why he looks up at the roof of the train.  He does this in the golf cart all the time too!

I ended up getting a zoo membership just so we have somewhere to take Carter so that he can be outside, which he loves more than anything.  I added my MIL on the membership so that she can take him whenever she wants since she keeps him 5 days a week while I’m working.  I’m hoping that he’ll become more interested as he gets older and understands animals better.  I wore him slap out though.  When we got home, I put him down for a nap and he took over a two hour nap.  On Sunday after church, he took an almost 3 hour  nap.  He hasn’t taken a nap that long in FOREVER!  Now I know what to do if I want him to take a super long nap…ZOO!

I’m Sexy and I Know It

I took this picture yesterday and sent it to Justin and that quote was his response.  Too funny.

Yesterday, I decided to go to Stride Rite in the mall to get Carter fitted for his first pair of shoes.  Now that he pulls up all the time, he’s shown a huge interest in walking and is constantly walking while holding onto something.  He has wanted me to help him walk on the driveway and on the sidewalk in our neighborhood and I figured it was time for shoes because I don’t want his sweet toes to get scraped up on concrete!  On top of that, when we go to the playground, he likes to stand up on the play set and the play set flooring is wired metal with holes in it and I definitely don’t want him to get a toe caught in those holes. 

So we went to the store and got fitted!  He is a size 3 1/2 wide.  My kid has wide feet.  That cracks me up!  Here’s what we got:

The store rep put the shoes on him and we let him stand up and play with the mirror and another wall toy they had in the store.  I was so afraid he would be confused and try to take them off.  Apparently a lot of babies that have been barefoot all their lives resist shoes, but Carter just kept playing with the toy and it never phased him that he had shoes on.  He looks so old in them….like a big boy!  Next purchase…jeans.  Fall in the south is in full effect and the weather is INCREDIBLE.  It’s getting pretty cool here.  Next week the highest it gets is 80!  Doesn’t sound very cool but the morning and evening temps are in the low 70’s and high 60’s.  Our golf cart rides are about to consist of pants and long sleeves for both Carter and mommy!

Wordless Wednesday - Sort Of

Just an FYI - my Wordless Wednesday posts are usually pictures that come from my phone and I am one of the few that still has a blackberry and the picture quality sucks.  I am getting an I-Phone this month though!  The I-Phone 5 is expected to debut on September 21st and my contract is up on September 19th.  Perfect timing!  Better quality pictures to come in the next few weeks.

Want a better picture?

Yes, Carter’s 7 month pictures are done now :)  Lindsey is mailing me a CD so when I get it, I’ll post the pictures.  LOVING them!!

Baby Proofing vs. House Proofing

“Now a bit wiser in the ways of parenthood, I realize now that there’s only really one true way to baby proof a house: use lots of duct tape”.

**Picture and quote come from here.**

How hilarious is that?!?!?! 

Baby Proofing vs. House Proofing.  By first glance, they sound the same right?  Actually, no.   Baby Proofing is protecting your baby from your home.  House Proofing is protecting your house (and other houses) from your baby.  Still sound the same?  Let me dive in…

Baby proofing is going through your house and putting outlet covers on every single plug.  Putting soft material over every single corner of every table or piece of furniture.  Gates in every doorway of the house.  All breakable items removed within reach of the child.  Basically taking away any and everything a child may have to be told “no” to touch.  House proofing is “baby proofing” the important things that could cause injury and that’s it.  I’m a house proofer.  I will not baby proof absolutely everything in my house, but I will get the important things.  I definitely don’t want Carter to be in a dangerous situation that could risk his life or cause serious injury.  But at some point, kids WILL fall.  They WILL get bruised.  They WILL cry and scream bloody murder as if their world is ending.  But they WILL learn from it.  And if you baby proof everything, you’ll never give them that opportunity.  I plan to get a gate for the steps.  I already have soft lining around my fireplace (because God forbid if he did fall he could crack open his skull on a brick fireplace).  Our outlets in our new house came baby proofed already.  This is all I honestly see myself doing.  There’s several reasons for this, but let me quote a fellow blogger Chronicles of a Babywise Mom for why:

“I realized that homes that were child-proofed rather than house-proofed were producing children who didn't have knowledge and control to not touch the property of others. I am not talking other kid's toys; I am talking things in your garage or even cars. Whatever they can reach is fair game.  And doesn't that just make sense? Doesn't it make sense that a child who is given no physical restrictions in the home will carry that over around the neighborhood? Doesn't it make sense that the child who is allowed to be overly physically active in the home with balls and other toys because there is nothing breakable around will translate that into the homes of others? Of course they will!  House-proofing your child helps your child to learn boundaries. It helps your child to learn respect for others and for the possessions of others. You can't touch whatever you want whenever you want in the real world.”

She says it perfectly.  If Carter is surrounded by nothing but things that he can touch and play with, he’ll never learn that there are things that are off limits, like vases, picture frames and televisions.  I do not plan to install a stopper on every single cabinet in my kitchen.  There are tons of them and that would take forever.  But mainly, I want Carter to know that he can’t just go through cabinets and pull stuff out.  Every house we go to is not baby proofed.  The stoppers may keep him from getting into our cabinets, but they won’t keep him from getting into our friends cabinets that don’t have kids or whose kids are well past the baby proof stage.  It will take training on our part to teach him these things.  I will constantly have to pull him away from things, say “no Carter” to him and have time-outs when he doesn’t listen (no time-outs now though - he’s too young to understand).  But I still think it’s worth it.  This is my theory and how my household will approach this issue.  I want to raise a well behaved child and that training starts in our own home.

Baby Divided

Everyone that knows Justin and I knows that we are a house divided when it comes to the fall.  Justin roots for Auburn while I root for Alabama which makes Carter a baby divided :)

Two weekends ago, Carter only wore his AU gear because the Bama game was after his bedtime.  This past weekend he wore both, but I only got pictures when he was in his Bama gear.  We went over to our friends Devin and Mary’s house to watch the games.  We actually didn’t get there until halftime of the Auburn game because Carter decided to take a long first nap.  Carter was in his AU gear and just crawling all over their house pulling up on things and playing with his toys.  He went down for a nap over there and slept for an hour and a half.  It was the fist time we’ve brought his pack and play somewhere and put him down for a nap.  I was so afraid he wouldn’t sleep because he wasn’t familiar with his surroundings but he slept really well!

When he woke up, the Bama game was already one quarter in so I changed him into his Bama outfit and shorts.  We left their house around 6 so that I could get Carter dinner and a bath and put him down for bed.  Of course when we got home, he didn’t want to do any of those things…he wanted to play!

I truly hope that the books are right and that a baby’s eye color is set at this age.  I would LOVE Carter’s eyes to stay this color!

I get this look from his daddy pretty frequently.  He looks exactly like Justin and everyone sees it EXCEPT Justin. 

We are ALL about standing up to play now that he stands up.  I had to go buy him a stand up toy to play with because he’s losing interest in his play mats that he’s had since he was a baby.  He still plays with the piano on the music mat, but we’re pretty much done with the ocean mat.  He never plays with it.

Sweet happy baby!

His ability to stand up makes him look like such a big boy to me. 

I mean, I see the picture above, and all I can think is “where on Earth did my baby that use to love being held in my arms go???”.  He’s growing too fast!