Carter's Baptism

"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.  Amen."

-Matthew 28: 19-20

With Carter being born in June we chose to wait until after football season was over before we baptized him.  I had always envisioned baptizing our little baby, as a newborn.  But with him being five weeks early and Matt going back to working seven days a week at the end of July it wasn't in the cards for us. And what do you know, football season lasted all the way until the weekend before Christmas!! So the first chance we had to get Carter baptized was January.

The weekend we originally planned to get Carter baptized ended up being cancelled because Carter had RSV, Graeme was still in the hospital, and Mama Jo had pneumonia.  So we pushed things back about a month to the middle of February.  And then the Thursday before the baptism Daddy collapsed and we were all in the hospital for a week.  So we were finally able to get our baby baptized a few weekends ago.  I should also mention that Mama Jo had bought his baptism outfit...a precious white satin outfit that Matt would have hated but was the perfect outfit.  And he grew out of it.  And they don't make those perfect little outfits for babies older than 9 months.  Fun times.

Four generations

I want to remember Carter's behavior during the church service.  He's going through a terrible separation anxiety phase, so he would not to go our reverend when she reached out to pick him up.  So she let me hold him over the bowl that held the holy water, and once he realized it was a bowl of water he tried to dive into it! He was also a ham for the congregation and drew lots of laughs.  I'm so glad I have it all on video.  Afterwards we dropped him off in the nursery because he cannot be quiet enough for a service these days.

Since this was our third attempt at his baptism party I had most everything already planned.  We hosted a lunch at our house after church with just our family, which was so nice.  I always love to have all of our family together for any reason.  We had pulled pork, potato salad, fruit, salad and cake pops.  I had planned to make and decorate a cake in the shape of a cross the night before and the cake fell apart as I was transferring it to the serving dish.  So cake pops it was! At least the cookie party favors turned out cute.

A big thanks to our family, especially Carter's godparents, Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Robby, for coming and witnessing his special day.  It definitely was lower-key than I originally planned, but it was absolutely perfect.  I'm so glad we ended up with a day specifically made for our precious baby boy.

A Day in the Life: 10 Months

I've been waiting for a "normal" day to document for 10 months but it seems like everyday we have something different going on.  This day I picked up Brooks from daycare and brought her to our house for some cousin time.

6:30- Why, oh why is this boy awake already?!?  All week he has been waking between 6-7am which is NOT okay with this Mama.  I rock him for a few minutes in his room and it is clear he is not going back to sleep so I give in, change his diaper and nurse him.

7:45- Carter's favorite time of day....breakfast! He will do just about anything for oatmeal and yogurt :)  He's also been very into toast and chewing on his sippy cup.  Whatever works, right?

8:30- Morning walk.  These don't happen everyday since he's prone to fall asleep in his stroller and I don't want to cross over into his morning nap.  Since he woke up so early today we took a quick stroll to the neighborhood mailboxes and back.

9:30- Morning nap for Carter and shower for me.

11:00- Carter's awake and saying "mamamamamama!" in his crib, my cue to go get him.  Diaper change, new clothes and some playtime.

11:45- Lunch with Nana at Chick-fil-A, our favorite.  I ordered C his own kiddie meal for the first time and he enjoyed 2 of the grilled nuggets.  He may have even had a french fry ;)

1:00- I leave Carter with Nana for awhile so I can run up to church to take care of a few things.  He refuses to nap.

2:00- I pick up Brooks from daycare and bring her with me back to Nana's.  She's very chatty right now, basically narrating our entire drive home, "there is a bird" "Minnie Mouse is on the TV" "Mandy drives the bus (??)"  When we get to Nana's she insists on doing a little vacuuming.

2:30- We get home and I put Carter down for a nap.  Brooks tells me she's tired so I put her in my bed with Mickey Mouse on the TV (thank God she's past the Caillou phase!)

3:30- Snack for me and Brooks! That girl will do anything for a blueberry.

4:00- Carter is up and I let the two of them play in the living room for awhile.  Carter loves nothing more than to just play alongside Brooks and watch as she busies herself.  Brooks and I ended the afternoon with new manicures.

5:30- I start dinner and soonafter Laura gets home to pick up Brooks.  They end up staying for dinner, which was nice since Matt had a late night.  Chicken, green beans, potatoes and bread- one of my favorite dinners.

6:00- We all sit down for dinner.  Brooks and Carter both decide that they do not like green beans.  Even Cooper won't eat them.

7:00- Bath, new jammies, bible story, nurse and Carter is asleep by 7:30.  He fell asleep on me while nursing...so sweet.  I wish he did this more often.

As if on cue, as soon as Carter's head hits the mattress Matt walks in the door.  Ugh, I hate nights like that.

Happy Birthday, Mama K!

I'll love you forever,

I'll like you for always,

As long as I'm living,

My Mama you'll be. 

April 22, 2013

Our angel baby would be 2 today.  Thinking of you today, and always.

Must Haves: 6-9 Months

1) Jumper

I simply cannot say how glad I am we registered for this jumper.  Initially I was hesitant since we also had this exersaucer, however they serve two different purposes and it's nice to have one in each room.  Plus, this one grows for much longer.  Mason and Brooks both still love to play in the jumper when they come over and they are both 2 years old!

2) Munchkin spoons

source

I tried the spoons that turned colors when food temperature was too hot but Carter didn't like those.  These are perfect for little 6-month-old mouths and the extended length is great when I'm fighting flailing arms and a head that never stops moving.  Anytime I feed Carter with a different type of spoon I always think about how much I like the Munchkin spoons more.  

3) Blow-up bathtub

To be perfectly honest, I put this on Carter's Christmas list simply because I thought it was cute and he would enjoy it.  It ended up being the perfect transition piece for him after the infant tub but before he was really ready for the full bathtub.  He would still fall over every once in awhile in the bath so the sides prevented his precious little head from hitting the sides of the tub.  We used this from 7-10 months in the tub and now just leave it in the playroom for him to crawl all over.  :)

4) High chair/ shopping cart cover

Once he started sitting in a high chair I was grossed out looking at the high chairs in restaurants.  They were sticky and nasty and there was just no way Carter was going to sit in one of those without wrapping him in plastic and dousing him in disinfectant.  Plus, for the first month of high chair sitting he still needed a little padding so he could stay upright in the larger chairs.  Nana got us this one for Christmas and it doubles as a shopping cart cover as well.  It washes well and has nifty little pockets that I can store boogie wipes and toys in to keep Carter entertained while we eat or shop.

5) A high chair you can CLEAN! 

We have the Graco Blossom high chair, which is nice, but if money were no object I would buy the Boon Flair.  Isn't it beautiful??

The problem with most high chairs is that they get messy.  Pureed food bits that have crusted over are tough to get out.  Plus there's always crumbs from cheerios, puffs, crackers, etc.  I want something I can just take out back and hose down, lol! The good part about ours is that it will grow with Carter and turn into a booster seat so I won't have to buy anything else down the road.

Must Haves: 3-6 Months

I found this post unfinished sitting in my drafts folder.  Ooops! I wish I had finished it at the time, but fortunately we still didn't need too much at this time.  Most of this is just what I can pull from memory and photos that I want to have saved for future babies.

1) Latchy catchy

When we moved Carter into his room at 5 months he was still a very light sleeper.  I would rock him to sleep, gently move him to his crib and tiptoe out of the room while praying he wouldn't wake up.  I put one of these on his door so that I wouldn't wake him up as I left and entered the room.  It has been a lifesaver and we still keep it on his door now that he is 10 months.  (Except now Cooper knows how to open Carter's door, but that's nothing that a baby gate can't solve.)

2) Moby wrap/ Baby Bjorn

Mason 21 months, Carter 6 months

We did a lot of baby-wearing when Carter was younger (and less active!)  I preferred the Moby, Matt liked the Baby Bjorn and Carter enjoyed both! He's definitely one of those babies that prefers to be held or in your lap (we're still trying to break that one) so wearing him allowed us to do things around the house or even go places without him being unhappy.  In fact, my favorite day of the week was always Mondays when we went to the grocery store because it meant a guaranteed long nap in the Moby!  At home when he was super fussy the Moby was always my go-to calming method.  I haven't tried it in awhile but I'm sure Carter would still enjoy being worn. 

3) Bumbo

Around 5ish months Carter was big and strong enough to sit up assisted in the Bumbo and that opened up a whole new world to us.  Need 10 minutes to get ready in the morning...bumbo.  Need to eat dinner with baby close by...bumbo.  First bite of rice cereal...bumbo.  And it's easy to transport so when we would eat dinner at someone else's house we would just bring the bumbo for Carter with us.  And it you don't put too much water in the bathtub it serves as a great bath chair too!

4) Teethers/ Hyland's Teething Tablets

Teething hit our house HARD after Carter turned 4 months and has not let up since.  Although Carter favors his fingers, we get by with lots of teething toys, Tylenol and Hyland's Teething Tablets.  I'm even debating on trying one of those amber teething necklaces.  I swear I would spend every penny I had if there was a cure-all for teething!

5) Excersaucer

We really didn't start using his exersaucer until he was closer to 6 months, but once he was wanting to move around more it was (and still is) so handy.  In the beginning it was helpful with him learning how to hold himself up.  Then it entertained him for extended periods of time with the lights and sounds.  When he was tall enough for his feet to touch the bottom he started bouncing and just thought it was the coolest thing!  It has 3 height levels and we are on the highest setting right now, so soon we will be transitioning it to an activity table.  One of my favorite memories was watching and cheering as he learned how to move the monkeys from one side of the arc to the other.  Matt and I cheered like he had just thrown the winning touchdown at the superbowl! My only complaint is the song the lizard sings, "red....yellow....and bluuuuuue" Ugh! So annoying!

6) Some good cousins

These aren't really a "must have" but they sure are nice to have! :)