Carter - 2 months

Carter James, you are two months old! We can't believe how much you have changed in just these two short months. You seem to have gotten past your initial fussy stage and you (generally) only fuss now if you are hungry or overly tired and fighting sleep. But you will also let it be known that you dropped your binky and want it placed back in your mouth. During the day you have more periods of being awake and you like to interact with us by smiling and cooing and singing songs (well, we sing the songs and you just smile). We try to take pictures of you smiling but we either can't seem to get the camera out quick enough or you move around too quickly making all of our pictures blurry! I'm sure we'll capture that sweet smile one of these days. We are enjoying getting to know you better as you get older and we look forward to watching you grow in the coming months. We love you, Bug!



Weight: 11 pounds

Length: 23 and 1/4 inches



Clothes size: You are wearing size 0-3 month or 3 month clothes. They are only slightly loose on you length-wise but still loose around your chest.

Diaper size: Size 1 is fitting you well.



Sleep: At night you go to bed between 9:00 and 10:30 p.m. and sleep until anywhere in between 1:00 and 3:30 a.m. and then sleep until anywhere in between 5:00 and 6:00 a.m.; although sometimes you still have nights when you are up every couple of hours or won't go back to sleep for over an hour after eating. You nap off and on during the day but you love to be awake as long as you can to take in all of your surroundings - which sometimes makes you fussy and fight going to sleep.



Eating: You still love to eat! We have (mostly) ditched the nipple shield and you are now dining au natural. You are still eating for 20-30 minutes on each side and I usually cut you off when you start to get too playful or when you fall asleep. You also take bottles of expressed milk with no problem when we are on the go or when your daddy wants to feed you. So far we've had no issues with going back and forth between the breast and bottle.


Likes: Eating, being in your sling, sucking on your binky, taking baths, playing on your play mat and aiming for and hitting the dangling toys, looking at lights and ceiling fans, going to public places and taking in all of your surroundings. Favorite songs right now are Wheels on the Bus, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Jesus Loves Me, You are My Sunshine and the special song Grammy made up for you.


Dislikes: Dropping your binky, being hungry and, at certain times, not having mama in your sights.


Milestones this month: Smiling for the first time, rolling from your tummy to your back, cooing, needing your nails cut for the first time and being able to better control your head and neck. 


Memorable moments: Sharing my first Mother's Day with you and dedicating you at church. People you met for the first time this month: Granddad, Uncle Curtis, Aunt Daché, (great) Uncle Tim and a few of Mama's co-workers. 

Amgen Tour of California

It’s no secret that Dave is a huge cycling fan. So it was no surprise that we would venture out to see the riders in the Amgen Tour of California when one of the race routes went through our town.

It took a lot of planning ahead and packing of baby items to get out of the house for a few hours but we did it and we had a great time - and Carter did great! He slept most of the time we were gone and ate from a bottle like a champ when it was time to eat. I think we’re getting the hang of getting out of the house with him :-)

We started the day at the race starting point and walked around hoping to see some of the more popular cyclists coming out of their team RVs. Lucky for us we were walking by the BMC vehicle just as Tejay van Garderen was coming out! At the time he was the race leader (had the best overall time) so there was a swarm of people hanging around him, but Dave was able to get a pretty good photo!

After wandering around for a bit we headed over to the start of the race to watch everyone take off.

That’s where we ran into our friends Andrew and Nicole. We hung out with them and walked around downtown where the race sponsors had tents and booths set up with various cycling equipment, souvenirs, etc. were set up.

Dave and Andrew thought it would be funny to buy giant cutouts of Peter Sagan’s head (even crazier that the team was actually selling these) and carry them around. At least they made form some funny pictures.

In case you were wondering, that head now lives in our garage. Maybe I should host a competition for the best speech bubble phrase to put next to the head on the wall…

Anyway, after checking out the festival we had lunch and then headed to the sprint point where the riders were going to be passing through town again. When the riders came by the crowd started to cheer and whistle which totally scared Carter. Poor baby! I guess we won’t be winning any parent of the year awards for bringing an infant to a loud bike race. We’ll be sure to be more sensitive about potential loud noises when we take Carter out to events. At least Dave got some great photos of the riders as they passed us.

After the race we all headed back downtown for nachos and a beer. It was a fun day and we enjoyed taking Carter to his first bike race! We are definitely looking forward to more fun outings as a family.

Rolling over

Carter is not a fan of tummy time. Every time I put him on his tummy for a few minutes he would get fussy and bang his head against the floor and then cry so I would just pick him up and try for better results again the next day.

But today, he won the tummy time war… he learned to roll himself over onto his back! I did not encourage him at all and could hardly believe what I was watching. I mean, he’s only six weeks old! So much for tummy time…

So when Dave came home last night I thought I'd try to show him Carter’s new trick - which was only the second time he has ever done this. Well, we caught it on video and here it is. My super smart six-week-old rolling over!

Head vs. Heart

I've been woken up every two to three hours all night by a crying baby who wants to eat. I dutifully get up, change his diaper and settle in for the 40 minute feeding. I then take the fussy baby (fussy only because I've taken my breast out of his sleepy, open mouth) and try to get him back to sleep which sometimes requires only a few pats on the back but other times requires 10-40 minutes of walking, bouncing, singing, rocking, etc. Once he's asleep I place him in his bed and pray that the transfer doesn't wake him up. Then, I drift off to sleep until we repeat the process all over again.

But right now, after a morning feeding, I sit on the couch while my peacefully sleeping baby snuggles into my chest. I'm exhausted, but my heart is full.

My head tells me to put him in his bed so I can get up and clean the kitchen or tidy up the house or start a load of laundry or squeeze in a quick shower or write more thank you notes or take a nap. 

But my heart says to stay put because I only have five more weeks at home with him before returning to work, he'll never be this small again, and there will come a day where he won't want to snuggle on me any more.

So I think I'll just sit here and watch is little face, listen to him breathe and soak in all that is my sweet six-week-old boy. The rest of the world can wait  :-)

Mother’s Day weekend

It was a very special first Mother’s Day weekend for me! My parents and my brother and sister-in-law came to California to meet Carter and celebrate the holiday.

My mom was there when Carter was born and stayed in town for the first week after he was born but the rest of the group was meeting him for the first time. Carter loved meeting his Granddad and aunt & uncle! And I’m pretty sure they enjoyed meeting him as well :-)

I started off the weekend by going to a special Mother’s Day tea with my mom on Friday afternoon while my dad and Dave watched Carter. There is this super cute tea room in the town next to us and they offer tea parties with sandwiches, pastries, fruit and a whole menu of different teas. We tried the Almond Joy and Cherries Jubilee teas and both were delicious - and the food was amazing as well! It was a very special afternoon and I’m glad that I got to spend some alone time with my mom :-)

On Saturday we all took a driving tour of the town we live in and stopped off at the winery I work at to taste some wines and enjoy a shared bottle of chardonnay on the patio (which I didn’t get any pictures of, oops!). We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out and Carter got to know his extended family a little bit better. And Gromit got in on some of the attention too.

Twins with Uncle Curtis! (We didn’t plan this…)

Mother’s Day was baby dedication day at church and that made the day all that more special for me. We were glad to be able to dedicate Carter to God and it was extra special to have my parents and Curtis and Daché here for the event.

We have become very close with our pastor and his wife so it was even more special that he did Carter’s dedication ceremony. The pastor was even a little emotional during the dedication, especially when Carter grabbed his finger during the prayer. So sweet!

It was a great weekend and we’re so lucky that Carter got to spend some time with extended family and celebrate Mother’s Day together.

I love my little baby bug and I am so glad that God chose me to be his mommy! My life is so much better with him in it and I loved celebrating my very first Mother’s Day with him. I look forward to all of the Mother’s Days to come!