Hamper fun

Helping with the Laundry

Attempting to fold daddy's shirt - Having fun sitting in the hamper

His eye caught his toy---he started to lean----and over he fell

Determined to get the toy

Success!

Hamper day fun! It will be more fun when he knows how to fold the clothes.

Outdoor Fun

Playing outside on the blanketAction shot of Nase and Tatze playing

The backyard

Nase helping Carter

Playing with his remote

There have been some beautiful days here in Lincoln and Carter and I have taken advantage of them. He really enjoys being outside. The pugs like it too! It really helps break up our day a little bit.

Trying to feed himself

Messy FaceAll Done

At Carter's 9 month appointment the doctor said he is going to start wanting to feed himself more and will become more independent. He will feed himself cheerios and puffs but really hasn't show a ton of interest in doing other foods. So I attempted to let him do what he wanted with his food and he had no desire to put the food in his mouth. He just wanted the spoon and to tip the bowl upside down. I don't even think he knew there was food in the bowl. It was funny to watch him. Now that we have tried more finger foods he is better about doing it himself but I still have to say he is a smart boy and would rather sit back and relax and have us feed him.

Carter's 9 month pictures

We got this one done for Al and Karen



I got my picture taken with Carter at 3 months so I wanted Chad to have some pics too!


Sweet and Innocent.........................biting and pinching.




Sorry for the late post. Things have kept us pretty busy around here. We got these taken on Mother's Day. They turned out pretty good considering the studio was an hour behind and Carter was tired and hungry. We also took him for his 9 month appointment and things looked pretty good. Carter was happy because it didn't involve any shots. He was 18lbs 14oz which only put him in the 25th percentile. Some other things he is doing is eating table food. He has now had cheese, turkey, chicken, hummus, diced pears, diced peaches, mandarin oranges, pita bread, crackers, cottage cheese, green beans, ham, and pasta noodles (which he isn't quite ready for). We have let him try quite a few things off our plates and he seems to like most of it. Chad of course gave him a bite of pudding which he loved. He is not crawling yet but has his own version on army crawl but it doesn't get him around fast yet. He will roll to get what he wants and spends a lot of time on his belly. He still rocks in the crawl position but hasn't done it yet. He can spin himself around on his belly to do a 180 if he needs to get something. His favorite toys are a spatula, an old remote we gave him as a decoy, and his busy ball choo choo. He is a lot more content on his own to play because he can move to get things. He spends a lot of time on the counter with me watching me cook or doing dishes. that is how the spatula became one of his favorite toys. He stands up on things we put him at and will do that for a while but will occasionally let go out of no where which only leads to tears. He has become a lot more interactive with the dogs and grabs for the chains on their collars. Both of the pugs will sit next to him and let him touch them until Carter makes a sudden movement, loud noise or grabs a fist full of hair. When any of those happen Nase retreats back to his bed or sits just out of his reach. We have been going on a lot of walks together as a family in the evening and Carter has really enjoyed that. We have also had some quality outdoor play time as well. He has been busy with lots of family and friends over the last few weeks. He enjoys being the center of attention.

First Mothers Day

Karen Chad and I eating at Panera

Chad and his mom

Carrie and Carter joking around

The Scribners (Shawn, Karen, Noah, Chad and Carter)

Karen with her grandkids

My mom and I with Carter on Mother's Day

My mom with Carter

I was so excited for my first mothers day, and it turned out pretty good. I started off by working Saturday night and sleeping in until 11:30. (I didn't go to bed till about 5am) Then I woke up got ready for work and went over to my moms house for lunch and strawberry shortcake! It was delicious! I was hoping to get put on call for work but unfortunately had to go in. I did however get a nice card, and a mother/son book from Chad and Carter and a gift certificate for a pedicure from my parents before I had to go it. I was surprised when I got to work and found out that some patients were going home and that I would be able to leave early. Since Chad had already eaten dinner he told me to pick up the dinner of my choice. I decided to stop at Olive Garden and get a steak meal with fettuccine and gorgonzola cheese. But the best part is the dessert. My favorite dessert of all time is there. It is their lemon cream cake. mmmm....it is so good. So I was able to bring that home and chat with Chad and Carter before Carter went to bed. Chad also picked up the house, mopped the floors, vacuumed and did lawn work! I don't think I could ask for a better Mother's Day! I am looking forward to watching the season finale of Survivor and hope that I don't get called into work. Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day.

All Better

Carter just wanted to say he is feeling "all better" and so are the rest of us. I am looking forward to my first Mother's day, even though I will be working. Be sure and check out all the post below. I updated a few since I was behind.

Happy Nurses Week!

Just wanted to wish all of my nurse friends a happy nurses week! Here is a picture of the flowers my wonderful husband gave me for nurses week!

Swimming Lessons

As you know Carter has been taking swimming lessons. His last lesson was this past Thursday and I am a little sad they are over. Carter of course did better and better each week and the last week he had a ton of fun. I think I might enroll him again. They say the more exposure they get before they turn two the better. Anyway here are a few pictures of him getting ready for swim lessons, at lessons and then him with his certificate. (he is chewing on his package of fruit snacks he got from his instructor)

Swim lessons

The Big 30!

Chad turned 30 on May 2! We celebrated in Texas by going out to dinner at Pei Wei's (owned by PF Changs, just cheaper) and then we went to Pete's Dueling Piano bar in Addison Texas. It was also Ray's 29th birthday. It was so much fun. Sarah and I sent the boys up on stage for their birthday (see video below). It was pretty funny. We sang our hearts out, had a few drinks and spent some good quality time away from kids. The only problem was we stayed out a bit to late and our baby woke up early. Needless to say the next day we were pretty tired. Here are the photos of our night out.

Chad's 30th Birthday

"Come Back To Texas"

Trip to Texas

Here are some pictures from our Texas trip. Chad had a business meeting in Richardson, Texas so we thought we would make a family trip out of it and go see some friends. We went down for a whole week and stayed with our good friends Sarah and Ray. This of course meant a lot of firsts for Carter. He got to go on his first plane ride which he did really well on. We had a direct flight which was really nice. He was able to sleep for about 30 minutes of the flight and the rest of the time he got our undivided attention to keep him from crying, yelling or misbehaving. He seemed to enjoy it and looking out the window seemed to keep his attention for a little while. When we got there he got to meet the whole Proctor and Miller family for the first time and got two new playmates for the week. We spent most of our days relaxing and letting the kids play. We got to hit up all the wonderful restaurants we miss so much which is a must have when visiting Texas. Chad and I took Carter to the Knox-Henderson area and did a little shopping and walking around. The weather was beautiful but the humidity sure was starting to creep up there. That is probably the only thing we don't miss about Texas. Oh and the roaches. We went out to dinner a few times and got to hang out with Gerry and Missy. (Gerry is a guy Chad used to work with at Raytheon) Carter was a trooper throughout the whole week and was able to get some sleep. He did have a little trouble adjusting at first. The best part of the weekend was the night the four of us got away for dinner and a night on the town without the kids, thanks to Jess who watched them for us. (I post about that separately) Overall we had a great time and miss our home away from home there. I want to say thank you the the Millers for letting us stay at their house and to the Proctor family for letting us invade their home and refrigerator for a week. We loved seeing you guys and spending time with you and the kids. The trip home was no fun at all but we made it back in one piece, were able to just get settled in at home and Carter got a stomach bug. Fortunately I was at work when it started so Chad got the brunt of it, but after a few days he was feeling better and then Chad and I both got it. Thanks to my mom for taking off an afternoon to keep him so we could recoup and get better! Yesterday (Tuesday) was the first day we have felt like we were back to normal. Hopefully we are on the up and up.

Sick days

April 2008

Well it has been a busy couple of weeks. Carter is officially holding his own bottle all the time now. He has learned how to open the "pop ups" on his toy by pushing down the lever, turning the key, sliding the knob over, and pulling out the knob. He doesn't always do it but he has done every one of them purposefully. He is liking swimming lessons more and more. Every time he gets a little better. We are still working on the crawling thing. He does well some days and others not so much. We went over to my parents house to celebrate Chad, Brian and my mom's birthdays. It was a good time, and Carter got to spend some time with Oma and Opa. We are also really excited about out upcoming trip to Texas. Chad is going there for business and I am tagging a long, with Carter, and hangout out with my good friend Sarah. I can't wait for that. One bit of bad news this week was that Carter had to go to the doctor. He has had a cold for 2 weeks now and just hasn't seemed to be able to kick it. I wanted him to be checked out before we leave so I made an appointment. The day before the appointment he started running a fever and was really fussy. He was up all night screaming and there was nothing we could do to calm him. When we went in it turns out he has bilateral ear infections. So they put him on some antibiotics and he seems to be doing better. I put the pictures on the picasa web album because I had so many. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Sarah!

I just wanted to wish one of my bestest friends in the whole world a happy happy birthday!! I can't wait to visit in 12 DAYS!

Sleeping baby

So the other day Carter got a cold and was a pretty run down. We had had a long day with not very many naps. I was exhausted and so was he. He was having trouble breathing out of his nose and had trouble falling asleep. I laid him in his crib and he cried for a few minutes and then fell asleep. I was putting some things away when I heard him start crying. I went in his room and his eyes were puffy and you could just tell his was super tired. After all my efforts to get him back to sleep I picked him up and put him in my bed. I finished putting some things away in our room and he sat there fussing. I went over and laid next to him and bed, gave him a hug, and was just talking gently to him and the next thing I know he is fast asleep. Afraid to move, I just laid there next to him in the most awkward position. I ended up falling asleep for about 20 minutes, when I woke to a searing pain in my arm. (from the awkward position) I was able to get up without him waking up and he slept sound for a good 2 1/2 hours. He even slept through his 3pm bottle. I caught a few shots of him all snuggled in our bed and a few when he first woke up.

Cheap Toys

I just had to post these pictures of Carter. We emptied his diaper box and put him in it and he loved it. Why we buy him toys is beyond me. Chad pushed him around on the carpet in it and it was huge hit. Smiles everywhere.

Baby Teeth

Carter by the waterfall
monkeys in the jungle

Family Pic

The gorilla looking right at Carter

Well we had quite the eventful week. Last weekend we went to the Omaha zoo with young couples and Carter had a great time. He also got his first 2 teeth. He got one on April 1st and the other on April 5th. They are the bottom two. They didn't seem to bother him too much but we tried a few teething rings and some motrin. The other thing we started was swim lessons. (I am not sure if I posted about this last week.) We are taking 6 weeks of mommy/baby swimming lessons at the YMCA. It was pretty amusing. Carter cried a lot the first week. I think it was because the water was a little cold and because it was super loud. Carter is a kid who does not like loud noises. I think the new environment, cold water and crazy echoy loudness lead to an unhappy baby. The good news is this last week he did really good. He had a few fussy moments but over all did pretty well. He was also able to try avocado and corn. He didn't like the avocado as much but I mixed it with some prunes and apparently that is a good combination. He is a fan of the corn. Skills why he is sitting great, reaching for toys and even falls gracefully to the side when he is done sitting. But he still has the occasional *fall backwards* that is not nearly as graceful and even brings on a few tears. We are trying the happy *yay* approach when he falls to see if it will prevent him from crying and it works pretty well. He has also mastered the backwards scoot. He isn't any closer to crawling since he rolls over in 10 seconds after we put him on his belly. We are working super hard on trying to crawl but he has different plans. We go to the NICU developmental clinic tomorrow for his *adjusted* 6 month check. I will post any new info from that.

Doggie Pile

Here are a few cute pictures I took this week of Carter and the pugs. They love each other! Carter loves to grab for them now and he has a good grip so we have starting working on *gentle* Poor pugs. They have no idea what the next few years have in store for them.