Bananas

Carter had bananas for the first time today. I pureed a little over half an average size banana with a little bit of breast milk and he ate all of it! He wasn't too sure about the first few bites but ended up liking it. It was a bit messy and sticky since I pureed the banana, but Carter kept most of it in his mouth.


I'm not sure about this stuff ...


Maybe it's not too bad ...


That was yummy!!!


Carter slept though the night again last night. He woke up (as usual) about 45 minutes after we put him down for the night and it only took a couple of minutes of rubbing his back and he was out until 6 am. The night before I fed him once around 1:30 am so sleeping on his tummy hasn't completely changed his sleeping habits yet but he's given me two wonderful nights with lots of sleep!

Breathable Bumper

With Carter moving around more, we decided to remove his normal bumper since we don't want him rolling into it and suffocating when he doesn't know how to move away from it (since he hasn't really mastered rolling over or scooting around yet).


I don't want him getting his arms or legs caught between the slats, so I bought a breathable mesh bumper today.


It's not the prettiest piece of bedding in Carter's room, but it should serve it's purpose until we aren't so worried about Carter getting stuck up against his other bumper.

Tummy Sleeping

Carter slept on his tummy last night for the first time. And he didn't wake up to eat until 5:45 am (which sort of sucked since I'm taking medicine to increase my supply - I thought I was going to die this morning!).

I had put Carter down last night after feeding him and he started crying right away. Brian went in to try to soothe him for a couple of minutes and he ended up rolling to his tummy with one of his arms trapped underneath him but fell asleep immediately like that. We left him like that and he woke up about 45 minutes later screaming (we think his arm may have been asleep). After a few minutes of soothing we got him back to sleep on his tummy again (this time with no arms underneath him).

He's like that again tonight. We'll see how long he makes it tonight before waking up to eat.

Here is a video from today of Carter rolling over from his back to his tummy.

Today's Pictures

I got some good shots of Carter today. These are my favorites.


If you click on the next 2 pictures, you can see Carter's two teeth that are coming in ...






Give me that camera! I've had enough!!!

More Rolling

Carter is becoming a pro at rolling over. This morning I put him on the floor on his back with a few toys while I got breakfast and he rolled over on his tummy a bunch of times. He'd then start screaming because he usually hates being on his tummy and I don't think he knew he could roll back over to his back even though he learned how to do this a while ago.

I started taking Metoclopram again to try to get my milk supply back up. It has just seemed low lately and I worry that Carter isn't getting enough to eat. He seems to be more hungry lately as am I because I think he's eating more. I wake up every night lately starving. And I've started losing weight quicker again.

Brian and I went to bed super early last night (9 pm!) in hopes of catching up on a little sleep but Carter had other plans. He was up from around 10:30 pm to 12:30 am. We tried a lot of soothing him in his crib and I even tried feeding him but what finally worked was me rocking him in the glider for about 20 minutes. He was just wide awake for those couple of hours. And then he got up early this morning after Charlotte had a sneezing fit and woke him up.

Our BOB jogging stroller is supposed to be here on Wednesday! I ended up having to cancel my order through the company I originally ordered it from because they said the manufacturer was out of stock. They were willing to upgrade me to a model that costs $50 more for free, but that model isn't very good for off-road and we really want that option. But on the bright side, Amazon currently has all their BOB strollers 10% off so I ended up saving a little money.

Soccer Game

I finally played soccer again today. Three of our six games this season have been rained out. We tied 1-1 which isn't bad considering the team we played. It was hot though. Both yesterday and today got to around 90F.

I am still SLOW. I've never had that good of ball skills but I was always fast and could contain well. I need to get that speed back. I want to run faster, but my body just isn't doing what I expect and the guys just pull away from me. Hopefully the more I play, the more my speed will come back.

We had a really good visit with Brian's parents. They got to spend some time with Carter and see how much he has changed. I think they were impressed with Carter's flexibility but wondered about his fascination with his toes!


Carter took another long nap today like he did last weekend. We got him to sleep around 12:30 pm and then I left for my soccer game. Brian said he woke up around 1:00 pm, looked around for a minute and then went back to sleep. He did the same thing around 1:30 pm and then got up around 2 pm. I'm going to try to really work on getting him to nap better this week. Maybe he's getting ready to take longer naps soon!

Mountain Biking

We got to go mountain biking today! Brian's parents are visiting this weekend and they were nice enough to watch Carter while we went out to I.C. King Park. We had never been out there before. It's a lot flatter than Haw Ridge (though it does have it's share of hills) and there are a lot more roots than rocks there. We probably rode about six miles and it wore us out since it's been so long since we've been out.

We all walked around our neighborhood this morning to check out all the yard sales going on. We bought a couple of things but I think we missed all the good stuff since we didn't get out there until almost 9am.

We went to Wild Wing Cafe for lunch. Carter did well until the food arrived and then he had to be held to keep him from fussing. We got to play "pass the baby" so everyone got to eat. Here's a picture of Brian's mom, Cinda, holding Carter.

Random Stuff

Carter laughed at something other than us today. I had him sitting on my lap outside and Charlotte came by stepping all over her ball to make it squeak and Carter just started laughing at her. It was really cute!

It was really warm here today - upper 80s. Carter only has a few 6 month size summer outfits and they are already dirty so I put him in a 9 month sized outfit and it fit him just fine. He's getting so big!

Brian's parents are coming in tonight to stay with us this weekend. They haven't seen Carter since Christmas. He has changed SO MUCH since then.

Our neighborhood is having a yard sale tomorrow. We must have missed it by a week last year as we moved in April 30, 2008. I've heard it's huge and crazy. Carter and I may go check it out depending on when he gets up in the morning.

I played Bunco with some women from our neighborhood last night. I had the most Funcos so I won back my $5 - woohoo! I missed having the most wins by one (that would have been another $15). It was good to get away for a few hours and get to know some of our neighbors a little better. Carter gave Brian a little bit of a hard time as he didn't want to take his bottle and had some trouble settling down. But once Brian got him down, he slept great! He didn't get up to feed until 4:15! It was great to get so much consecutive sleep.

Traveling

Brian and I really miss traveling. We didn't do much last year because I had such horrible morning sickness for the first half of my pregnancy and then my doctor didn't really want us traveling. I think we miss it so much because we traveled so much in 2007.

We started out slow with me tagging along to Dallas in the spring where Brian had training for a week. The training was at the Gaylord Texan (link) - a really amazing place to stay. I was really busy at work at the time so I did a little work in the hotel in the morning, went shopping in the afternoon, went running with Brian when he was done with class, and then we'd go to dinner. It was a really good break from the 60+ hour weeks I was working at the time.

Next, we went to southeast Utah for a week in May. We hiked around Arches and Canyonlands National Parks and the surrounding area. One of our favorite hikes was to the slot canyons of Little Wild Horse and Bell Canyons. We also stopped by Mancos National Park in Colorado on our way back to Denver (there's a nice direct flight now between Knoxville and Denver). We spent our last night in Durango, CO where a bike race was finishing that day and there was a great little street festival where we got to try the beer from some local breweries (including Ska Brewing Company). It was an awesome trip. I'd been to Utah once before in college and hiked the Escalante area and it was Brian's first time to the area.


In July, Brian went to Paris for 3 1/2 weeks for work and I joined him for a week. I did a lot of sightseeing during the day and worked on my photography. Then I'd head back to the hotel to watch the end of the Tour and meet up with Brian (and his co-workers sometimes) for dinner. By the way, I'd never been to Europe in the middle of summer before and I hope not to again. The lines to get into anything are insane. The line to get into Musee d'Orsay was so long that I didn't even bother waiting even though it's my favorite art museum. And Brian was lucky enough to get to go to Bangkok for a few days in the middle of his stay in Paris.


Next was Vienna in November. Again, Brian was there for work - this time for three weeks - and I joined him for a week. This was the third time he was there for work. We missed Christmas Market by a few days, but I got to see them setting up all the booths around town. I again worked on my photography, tried to see things I hadn't been to before, and took a day trip to Melk. Brian and I flew to Munich for a weekend where we about froze but still had a lot of fun.


And the best trip of all was to Peru. We hiked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. It was the hardest thing we've ever done but was super rewarding. We even lucked out and had a guide to ourselves on the trail (as well as a cook and handful of porters). We got to watch the sun rise on Machu Picchu on New Year's Day. We also spent a few days in Cusco at the beginning of the trip acclimating and a day in Lima at the end.


So, I think we are now ready to start taking Carter on some adventures with us. We will definitely be doing shorter hikes and staying in more hotels than tents but as long as we get to start traveling again, it'll be fun.

Right now we are considering a trip to southwest Utah and maybe the Grand Canyon. We'll see though.

Rolling Over

Carter is starting to roll over from his back to his tummy now. He did it for the first time Monday night when trying to get a toy that was on the floor above his head. He's done it a few more times since.

Carter and Charlotte have been really sweet with each other lately. Carter watches her all the time. Whenever she comes up to me and I'm holding Carter, he reaches out for her. Sometimes he'll get a hand on her and ends up with a fistful of fur. She's been sniffing his face more when he's down on a blanket and sometimes licks his nose or eyes. Carter will squench up his face but he seems to like it.

Charlotte still hates when Carter is fussing a lot or crying. She still does her own sort of crying or howling when he does this. I'm not sure if she's trying to soothe him, trying to get my attention because she thinks he needs me, or if she's competing with him.

Neighborhood Walk

One of the reasons we chose the neighborhood we live in now is because it is so big. At least big for a new neighborhood. In Knoxville almost all new construction is in small pockets of old farmland with less than 100 houses. I took Carter and Charlotte for a walk this afternoon and without leaving our neighborhood (except for walking a short bit on the road that connects the two entrances), I did a 2.2 mile loop. There are sidewalks on the main roads outside of our neighborhood which easily connects us to a bunch of other neighborhoods which is great when I want to do a long run.

Here's a picture of Carter right before we set out on the walk.


It's around 60F today, but super windy so I put a sweater on him. He looks like such a big boy in this outfit.

I still haven't gotten any shipping information about the jogging stroller I ordered. I hope it gets here soon so I can enjoy it before it starts getting hot!

Avocado

I fed Carter avocado today and he LOVED it (though you can't tell from the picture I took of him).



He ate it so quick. I didn't want to give him too much since it was his first time trying it and I don't know how his stomach will handle it, but he would have eaten more if I had offered it to him. It was easy to feed it to him because it was a little thicker than the rice cereal and sweet potato I have fed him before but it's really creamy. And it's so easy to "make" since you don't have to cook it or puree it - just mash it up a little bit.

Brian fed Carter solid food for the first time this weekend. They weren't too messy considering it was the first time Brian tried it.


Brian also gave me a break and fed Carter a bottle this weekend. Carter really wants to feed himself, but the bottle is a little too heavy for him when it's full.


And here is what Carter often does with his paci ...

He Napped!!!

Carter took a nap today that was longer than 30 minutes for the first time since he was about 2 months old. We had gotten him down in his bouncer and he woke up after about 25 minutes crying. Brian was able to sooth him back to sleep after about 5 minutes and he slept for another 50 minutes. It was so nice! We didn't know what to do with ourselves though!

Carter is starting to show some interest in crawling. When on his tummy, he'll bring one knee up underneath him and squirm around, but he hasn't figured out how to push off the ground with his foot to push himself forward. But if you put your hand behind his foot he'll push off of it and move forward. Carter still has a ways to go before he's crawling, but we're starting to see the first signs of him figuring it out. It's probably time for us to start figuring out what we need to baby proof!

Carter is also finally starting to babble again. He used to a lot but hasn't been very vocal for a couple of months. I was starting to get a little worried about the decrease but today he was super, super "talkative". It was a lot of fun "talking" with him all day.

Carter has been doing okay so far with his teeth that are coming in. He's fussy sometimes but that's normal for him and I have no idea if it has anything to do with his teeth. Here's a picture from Friday that shows how much his teeth are in now.


Carter has been doing great lately with letting us go out to eat. We had only gone out to places where you order at a counter, but tonight we went to a Mexican restaurant. It's still not fancy but a step in the right direction!

Home Office

We finally have our home office (almost) finished! We still need to set up our computers under the desks and hang a few more things on the walls, but we're essentially done. I'm so happy that the first room you see when you enter our house finally looks nice instead of a mess of our old furniture.

Dogwood Festival

Carter and I went downtown today for the Market Square Arts Fair that is part of the Dogwood Festival. There were a few good artists with pottery, jewelry, etc, but nothing so great that I wanted to buy anything. The Cirque de Chine group which has a show in Gatlinburg was performing on the stage when we had finished going through all the vendor booths. They do acrobatics, dancing, and other "tricks". Amazingly, Carter slept through most of what we watched, including the really loud drum performance.


I used the new Maclaren stroller we got today and loved it. It's so nice having a smaller stroller in crowds!!! There is a pocket on the back side of it that is perfect to hold my wallet and phone so I don't need a purse and the basket underneath easily holds everything I need for Carter. I really love how the end extends out for Carter's feet since he's not big enough yet to sit with his knees bent over the edge. Carter seems to like the stroller as well!

Carter also tried out his new swing today. He's a little small, but I stuffed a blanket around him to make the seat a little more snug. He really enjoy being outside and swinging.



Carter heard Charlotte on the deck above him and was looking for her.

Sweet Potato

Carter tried his first food other than rice cereal today - sweet potato! I baked a potato this morning and then pureed it with breast milk to thin it down some. Carter did really well and ate several bites.

Gimme, gimme, gimme ...


I think I like this stuff ...


I can even wipe my own face!


My plan is to continue the sweet potato for a few days and then try avocado. I'm glad Carter seemed to not hate the sweet potato as much as I dislike it - it's just too sweet for me.

BOB Stroller

I did it - I ordered a BOB jogging stroller tonight! I got the Single Utility Stroller.


Yes, they are expensive, but the reviews are awesome. And they seem to resell for 1/2 to 2/3 (at least) of the original price. I got the Utility instead of the Revolution (which is even more expensive) because I plan on using the stroller solely for running and thus wanted the fixed front wheel.

I can't wait to get it and take Carter running!!! I foresee a lot of family runs in the near future!

First Illness

Carter seems to be over his first very mild cold. For about a week he had some nasal congestion and had a snotty nose, but today he seemed to be back to normal. He was sneezing and coughing a little more as well this past week but none of it seemed to bother him.

Weight Update

I'm down to 130 lbs. So that's 40 lbs lost with only 3 more to go (plus the 10 lbs I was already overweight when I got pregnant). I'm still not fitting into a lot of my pre-pregnancy clothes though. Most of my tops might fit once I stop breast feeding. For now, I have no chance to fit into most of them. I'm starting to be able to wear some of my pants and shorts. I don't have a pair of jeans that really fits and that drives me nuts. And I've been shopping for a pair but can't find any that fit right.

We have about 2 months still until our beach vacation with Brian's family. My stomach is still trying to recover from being stretched out so far. Hopefully I won't be so jiggly in 2 months!

I bet I could drop the last few pounds pretty quickly if I started eating like I did before I got pregnant. I've been eating A LOT and not really exercising all that much. Breast feeding is a pain a lot of the time, but it sure is nice how many extra calories it burns!

Happy Easter!

Carter found lots of eggs!


He got a new toy to chew in his Easter basket. He's been playing with it most of the day - he really likes chewing and sucking on the ears.



We took Carter hiking again today. We went to Ijams Nature Center which is near downtown Knoxville. There are about five miles of trails out there including a boardwalk along the river. We've been out there only once before a long time ago when they had some bands playing but never to hike. Carter did really well again and even fell asleep for the last part of the hike.

Fall Creek Falls

Carter went on his first hike today! We drove over to Fall Creek Falls State Park and hiked around for a few hours. We parked at the Nature Center by Cane Creek Cascades and Rockhouse Falls and hiked the Gorge Trail over to Fall Creek Falls and Coon Creek Falls. Carter did really well the entire hike - he seemed to enjoy watching everything. His hat is a little big still and kept covering up his eyes though. He fell asleep about 20 minutes into the hike for about 15 minutes.

Brian and Carter checking out Cane Creek Cascades:


Brian and Carter on the suspension bridge:


At the overlook for Cane Creek Cascades and Rockhouse Falls:


Rockhouse Falls:


Fall Creek Falls and Coon Creek Falls:


Me and Carter taking a break:


Family Photo:


And a few pictures of me and Carter on the way back to the car: