Swim Lessons

Carter and I went to a swim class tonight over at Village Green. Meredith told me about it today and she and Wes brought Blaine to the class as well. I'm not exactly sure how the program works yet but the lady that teaches the class is supposed to email us some information tonight. All I'm sure about is that she said she only charges $20 for 8 30-minutes classes. For that price I don't mind if we don't get all that much out of it. But I think the class tonight went well.

The class was pretty big (maybe 15 kids) and I think Carter was the youngest kid there. I think the class is supposed to be for 6 months to 3 years. Most things are geared for a little older kids, but I learned some basics for encouraging Carter to kick his legs and move his arms in a doggie-paddle motion. Carter seemed to really enjoy it.

Carter's been enjoying the pool in our neighborhood more and more. He's been getting brave and sticking his face down in the water some (I think it's on purpose). Sometimes he brings it right out and is just fine. Other times he coughs up water for a minute. Carter loves, loves, loves splashing. He'll smack the water and usually splash himself in the face and is just fine with it. I'm glad he enjoys it so much!

Crawling

Carter discovered a whole new world today! He's been crawling all around the first floor of the house today. He's still not up on his knees with his belly off the ground yet, but he is using his legs more which means he's getting faster. This morning he started in the family room, went around the island in the kitchen, to the front door, and back to the family room.

Here's a short video of Carter showing off ...

And this one is just funny ...

Cute Pictures

I got a few cute pictures of Carter today after breakfast. There's a bit of oatmeal on his face still, but I really like some of these shots.






The last one is my favorite.

Carter just discovered his own hair about a week ago. He'll pull at it for a few minutes when he finds it.


Carter is quickly turning into a toddler. We won't really be able to call him a baby for much longer. He isn't pulling himself up yet but he can stand by himself if he has something to hold onto like a table. We finally lowered his crib last night. There are 4 levels and we moved it down to the second lowest position. He's also jabbering a lot now. I keep trying to catch him on video but when I get my camera out he usually stops.

Books and Blooms

Carter and I went to the UT Gardens today for the weekly Books and Blooms program with Sarah and Mary Grace. There is an outdoor classroom with benches where they read a few books to the kids and have them do a project. They said that it was too hot today so they were skipping the project but I know they planted sunflowers a few weeks ago. Today's theme was frogs so the books all had frog characters and the kids got to color a picture of a frog while waiting for the stories to start. After the stories they turned on some sprinklers so the kids could run around for awhile and stay cool.

It was a really well organized program (and free which is always a plus!). They even had a microphone for the speaker so everyone could hear. There were lots of kids there of all ages. I think we'll go again next week. Carter and I still go to Baby Bookworms at the library every Wednesday but this is something completely different for him to experience.

The gardens are really pretty. There are gravel paths to follow and tons of flowering plants even now. There is a pretty water feature too where the kids watched some fish swimming.


Sarah and I stayed after the program and had a picnic lunch with the kids. We found a really nice shady spot and had a good lunch.


Carter and I went to the pool this afternoon. For the first time he seemed to really have fun. He's never hated the pool but usually he's just chill. The water was really warm today so that might have made him happier. He kept laughing and trying to bounce around in his float. He was a lot of fun!

We took the BOB stroller down to the pool. I usually put a towel in it on the way back so Carter doesn't get it soaked. The way it ended up with the straps made Carter look like Dracula!


When we got back from the pool, Carter tried a new food ... zucchini.


As usual, he liked it! He even had seconds!


During Carter's bath tonight, I finally set him in his tub so he was sitting straight up. It's actually easier to wash him when he's reclined and he seems to like being that way because he can kick and splash more so I'll probably go back to the reclined position tomorrow.


Carter had a really happy day today. He seems happiest when I fill the day with lots of different activities. He's going to wear me out when he gets older!!

Beach Photos

One evening while we were at the beach, I had Brian help me take pictures of Carter in the dunes. I always see awesome family photos done by professional photographers and I thought we might be able to at least get a few good pictures. Carter was in a bad mood the entire time and not very cooperative. I didn't get one picture I love, but here are a few of the best ones we got.

Oatmeal and Teeth

Carter tried oatmeal today. He seemed to like it a lot more than rice cereal.



I finally got a picture of Carter's new teeth! You may have to click on the picture to get a better look. We first noticed them starting to break through about 1 1/2 weeks ago.


Carter loves smacking the cable box and when he spins around he ends up with half of his body underneath the TV stand.

Happy Father's Day

We didn't do much today. Hiking yesterday was our Father's Day activity since I had a soccer game today.

Carter had another rough night last night and we're tired. We tried going to bed early (around 9:30 pm) but he was on to our plan and woke up then. We tried soothing him a few times but he kept waking up. Since Carter's front top teeth are taking their time to completely break through his gums, we've been going to him more at night since we think he might be in pain. And he's been different when we're checking on him - completely awake, pushing up, and screaming. We didn't seem to be able to help him last night so we eventually had to let him cry it out and we got to sleep around 12:30 am.

I fed Carter around 2:30 am and he was up around 6 am as usual but I was able to get about an hour more of light sleep before he had enough of playing in his crib on his own. I put him down for his morning nap around 9 am and since Brian was still sleeping I decided to take a nap as well. It was really nice to get some extra sleep - I may have to do that more often!

We watched a lot of golf and spent most of the day chilling out. Hopefully Brian enjoyed his first Father's Day!

Midnight Hole

We took Carter hiking this morning in the Smokies. We went to a place that I've always wanted to go to photograph - Midnight Hole. It's a small waterfall into crystal clear water on Big Creek.


We entered the Smokies just off of I-40 at the NC-TN border. The hike starts just a few miles off of I-40 at the Big Creek Campground. Carter was super happy to get into his pack!


The trail was very easy - wide and not very rocky. The hike in was a gradual uphill which made the hike back to the car really easy.


Midnight Hole was gorgeous. Unfortunately there were a ton of bees at the viewing area so Brian and Carter stayed up on the trail while I took some pictures. I also didn't bring my Chacos so I stayed on rocks that were out of the water to take pictures which really limited me. I got a few pictures I am happy enough with but next time I'll be more prepared and hopefully will get some better photos.



Midnight Hole is a popular swimming hole and thankfully we were there before the swimmers arrived. We passed dozens of people heading up to the hole on our way back to the car. I have no idea how that many people could enough such a small swimming hole at the same time!

After I finished taking pictures of Midnight Hole we continued on the trail for another half mile to Mouse Creek Falls. It's a pretty cascade that flows into Big Creek.



We headed back after seeing Mouse Creek Falls because it was supposed to get into the mid-90s today and we didn't want to bake Carter. When we got back to the car though he had totally passed out in the pack. We got our other pack emptied and our shoes changed and he was still sleeping so we took our lunch to a picnic table and left him in the pack. We put it on the ground next to the table and Carter slept through our entire meal. We eventually had to wake him up so we could start heading home.

We had a lot of fun hiking today and plan on doing the hike again so I can get more pictures.

Secret City Festival

Carter and I went up to Oak Ridge today with Sarah and Mary Grace to check out the Secret City Festival. They had a kids section set up that we spent some time in. They had several of the blow up bouncy houses and slides that the kids would have loved if they were a little older. They also had a petting zoo. Carter really liked looking at all the little goats.


Here he is checking out the camel that was getting a little closer than I liked.


There were also some arts and crafts booths set up that we walked through for a little bit. Overall it was a pretty good festival for Oak Ridge. Here's a picture of Carter and Mary Grace in front of the fountain. It was so hot that jumping in was really tempting!


I love this picture of Carter. He looks so happy!!!

Beach Trip: Days 7 & 8

We had really awesome weather all week. It only rained in the evening a few times after it was already dark. We got to see some spectacular lightning shows!

On Friday we didn't do anything special - just tried to make the most of our last day with family.

Here's Carter hanging out with me and Grandma:


Cinda got Carter laughing by giving him raspberries on his neck:


Carter found a girlfriend at the beach ... Brian's cousin, Dana. Whenever she was in the room with him, he'd just stare at her.


We took one last walk on the beach with Carter:



Linda got Carter giggling:


On Saturday we drove back to Knoxville. We got up early and got on the road by 6:45 am. We first drove 2 hours down to Wilmington to pick up Charlotte. Carter did awesome on this short part of the trip and slept for at least an hour. The rest of the drive was a bit more stressful as Carter was pretty fussy. I think his front teeth that are coming in may have been bothering him some and being strapped into a carseat instead of playing didn't allow him to forget about the pain.

This is when we all enjoyed the drive:


And this is when we didn't:


Unfortunately, Carter didn't nap much.

We broke the 7.5 hour drive from Wilmington to Knoxville into three segments and took 30-45 minute breaks between each segment which made the drive about 8.75 hours. We made really good time.

On one of the few occasions when Carter was happy, he started to figure out how to clap. He finally started opening up his hands when he brings them together. He's not really making much noise yet but he's getting better. He also seemed to like to copy me when I clapped.

Happy Baby

For some reason Carter is usually really easy to get laughing when we're getting him ready for bed. Here's a short video of our happy baby one evening while we were at the beach.

Beach Trip: Days 5 & 6

Wednesday was more of the same - playing in the pool, walking on the beach, and hanging out with relatives. One of the major past times for everyone was trying to teach Carter to crawl. He's got a sort of army crawl figured out where he mainly uses his upper body (and a little bit of pushing with his feet). Everyone was trying to teach him how to use his knees and raise his stomach up but they never succeeded (which is probably good because our house isn't quite ready for a true crawler yet!). However, he did get a lot better at not getting his arms stuck under him after pulling forward and then having to roll over some to get them out.


On Wednesday we noticed Carter chewing on his fingers more than normal and discovered that his top two front teeth are starting to come in. He started to get more fussy during the day after this. Before that everyone was asking us if he ever cries because he was so chill all the time just taking in all the new experiences and people.

Here's Carter with his Great Grandmother!


On Wednesday night we took Carter up to New Bern with us to have dinner with our friends Johnny and Anakah. Brian has known them since middle school and Johnny was Brian's best man at our wedding. Carter was a little fussy because he was tired and I think his teeth were hurting a little bit, but overall, he did well. We brought along his portable high chair and give him his first Cheerios to keep him entertained while we ate dinner. He only choked on the Cheerios a few times and was able to clear his throat quickly each time. Johnny and Anakah have two dogs and Carter loved them. He screamed at them the same way he does for Charlotte. They licked his face and Carter didn't mind at all. He just loves dogs!

Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures when we were there. But thanks for a great dinner you guys! It was great catching up with you!

On Thursday we took Carter to the NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores. Brian's parents, his Aunt Linda, and cousin Amy came along with us. We got in free because we have a Knoxville Zoo membership. We've really enjoyed that membership since we've also already used it to go to the zoo 4 times this year!

The aquarium was remodeled recently and we were really impressed. It's not huge, but the exhibits are nice and there was a pretty good variety of fish to see. Carter really seemed to enjoy looking at the fish and trying to reach for them.






Carter fell asleep right before we got to the huge tank with the sharks!


But he woke up in time to get his picture taken as a hermit crab!