Visit from Aunt Erin

Aunt Erin (my youngest sister) came to visit this week! We had a gap in child care so Erin was nice enough to watch Carter for us during the week days and then she even let Dave and me go out on a date Saturday night to celebrate our anniversary!

When she wasn’t watching Carter for us we went to a Counting Crows concert at my work, watched The Hunger Games at a free community movie and took a trip to our downtown area for lunch and ice cream. We all had a great time!

Carter had a great time getting to know his Aunt Erin better and I’m pretty sure she enjoyed getting to know her nephew as well.

Thanks so much for all of your help this week, Erin. We couldn’t have done it without you!

Happy 6th Anniversary!

Happy 6th Anniversary to the love of my life! I can’t believe it has already been six years!

 
Dave - The last six years have been full of amazing adventures and I’m so lucky to have shared them with you. From date nights, camping trips, hikes, vacations, moving, growing our family to everyday mundane happenings, everything is so much better because you are with me.

I’m so glad our family grew this past year and that I can finally fulfill this part of my wedding vows:
“As we are blessed of God with children, I will strive to bring them up in the love and wisdom of God, as Jesus Christ is the most important person in our lives, because He gave us life.”

Happy Anniversary, Dave! Here’s to many, many more! I love you!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July, my favorite holiday! We had a great day spending time together as a family since Dave is still on paternity leave and I had the day off of work! We started our morning with some patriotic pancakes. I’m a sucker for themed food on holidays!

I then tried to make some patriotic cake pops but failed horribly. Seriously, baking and I don’t get along. Some day I will master making cake pops, but today wasn’t that day. It was so bad that I didn’t even take pictures.

Later in the afternoon we went to a friend’s house for a BBQ dinner and we had a great time! After dinner we were sitting around chatting and I gave Carter a bottle. All of a sudden he started laughing at me! Then if I pretended to laugh it made him laugh even more! It was the most we have ever heard him laugh and it was so cute! Everyone at the BBQ was laughing at how funny and cute he was. Luckily Dave was able to catch the tail end of the laughing streak on video. Check it out:

After chatting we headed out to watch our city’s fireworks. Well, sort of. Our city shoots them off at a local college and charges $20 per carload to view them up close, so being the cheap-os we are we found a nearby spot to park and watch for free. Ha! ‘Merica! Carter seemed to be watching the fireworks and enjoyed them. It was nice that they were further away so the booms and bangs weren’t loud enough to scare him.

It was a great day and I’m so glad we got to spend it with friends. Happy Independence Day!

Bath time

Carter LOVES to take a bath! And his favorite part is to splash around in the tub, trying to kick the rubber ducks. He makes such a mess that we put Shamwows on the bathroom floor around the tub to catch all of the water. This nightly occurrence is hilarious to watch (at least to us) and we especially love the serious look on his face when he’s trying to get at those ducks. Enjoy the video!

Carter - 3 months

Carter James, you are three months old! This month you have become so much more inter active. You have started to play with toys when we are holding you or when you are in your car seat or rock n’ play. You are very good at holding on to your toys and then trying to put them in your mouth, in fact, you now try to put everything in your mouth. You have even tried grabbing your binky when it falls out and putting it back in - you haven’t quite been able to aim and guide the right part of it into your mouth, but you’re getting closer and closer to making it happen! You now use a wearable blanket at night since you have learned to grab your loose blanket and pull it over your head. You are a mostly happy baby and only fuss when you are hungry or bored, which keeps us on our toes finding new ways to entertain you. You love your nightly bath and you love to splash and splash while trying to kick the rubber duckies in the tub. Mama went back to work this past week but Daddy is on paternity leave and will be at home taking care of you for the next few weeks before you start daycare. You two are having a lot of fun getting to know each other better! We’re working hard to get into a new schedule and routine but it is taking some getting used to. This month has been so much fun for us to watch you grow and we can’t wait to see what new talents you will develop this next month. We love you, Bug!

Weight: 14.3 pounds

Length: 25 inches

Clothes size: You are wearing size 3 month or 3-6 month clothes.

Diaper size: We are just moving to size 2

Sleep: At night you go to bed between 10:00 and 10:30 p.m. and usually sleep until 2:00-3:00 a.m. and then after I feed you, you go back to sleep until 5:30 a.m. You may or may not go back to sleep after our 5:30 feeding, it just depends on your mood. You seem to be napping less during the day because you are so interested in everything that is going on around you.

Eating: You are eat for 15-20 minutes on each side and have gotten better about letting me know when you are ready to switch sides or are done altogether. You usually have 3-4 3oz bottles of expressed milk during the day now that Mama has gone back to work and we still breastfeed any time Mama is not working. 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 and splashing, 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 Going to the Zoo, Wheels on the Bus, Patty Cake, Jesus Loves Me, You are My Sunshine and the special song Grammy made up for you.

Dislikes: Dropping your binky, being hungry, being bored and being overly hot.

Milestones this month: Laughing for the first time, really recognizing who Mama and Daddy are, ever-improving motor skills and you are starting to play with toys.

Memorable moments: Going on your first road trip to a family reunion. People you met for the first time this month: Great-Grandma Barb, Great-Grandpa Dick, Great Aunts and Uncles and second cousins on Daddy’s side of the family, Brianna, Rob and William and more of Mama's co-workers.