Christmas Gifts

Carter has gotten some more really cool Christmas gifts. Brian's parents got him a cradle swing. It arrived a little early so we went ahead and put it together last night. Here's a picture of him in it for the first time ...


Carter seems to like it. He's in it right now and is fast asleep. So far he's liking the swing more than the cradle motion (supposedly newborns like the cradle motion better, but not Carter!). He's been fussy and extra hungry over the last 24 hours (we're thinking a growth spurt?) and it's been helping to calm him down.

Carter also got an Exersaucer from my mom for Christmas. It also got here a bit early, but Carter is still too little for it. He has used the playmat that it comes with a couple of times.


Carter got some really cute winter-wear from my grandma and aunt. I really like the hat - it makes Carter's eyes look a really deep blue.

Night Out

We left Carter for the first time last night. Brian's boss, his wife, and three kids came over last night to watch Carter while we went to dinner and did a little Christmas shopping. It was a little weird at first leaving him, and I was a little nervous having all the kids around him, but we both relaxed during dinner. I had my first beer and sushi since before I got pregnant and both were very good. We stayed out two and a half hours and were told that Carter did really good while we were gone. He got lots of attention and wasn't very fussy. Charlotte was really freaked out at first when everyone showed up, but I think she relaxed eventually as well and enjoyed getting some attention. So we all made it through Carter's first evening without us!

Carter is starting to smile now in response to things. He even let out a little coo while smiling at me yesterday.

Feeding Carter less seems to be helping some with his spitting up. There are still a few feedings a day when he's throwing up a lot, but it's getting even more manageable.

Carter is making up for his good night last night with a very fussy afternoon and evening so far. Hopefully he settles down enough to sleep some tonight!

$72 Worth of Diapers

In case you're wondering, this is what $72 worth, or 400, diapers looks like. We had a coupon for diapers.com so I ordered two jumbo packs of diapers. Hopefully these will last us awhile!


Our new permanent line for our cable got put in today. It rained all day so I'm not sure how much they tore up the yard because I haven't gotten a chance to check it out yet. Hopefully it isn't too bad. We had a really dry summer again, but now it's raining more days than not. I'm still getting the hang of taking Carter out to run errands when it's raining. He didn't get too wet today!

One Month Exam

Carter had his one month exam today. He weighed in at 9 lb, 10 oz which puts him in the 46th percentile. So he is now 2 lb, 5 oz heavier than when he was born. He put on 20 oz since he was last at the doctor 12 days ago. The pediatrician we saw today implied that he may be putting on a little too much weight. I don't think I'm feeding Carter too often because I've been sticking to the recommendation of feeding him every 2-3 hours. But it's obviously difficult to know how much I'm feeding him each time. So he may be getting more than he needs at each feeding. And this may be contributing to him spitting up so much. The pediatrician recommended me ending his feeding session before he stops on his own. Also, we need to try to soothe him back to sleep at night instead of feeding him when it's only been 2 hours since his last feeding. Supposedly breast milk is most plentiful at night so Carter's probably getting too much at night and this is contributing to the extra weight he's been gaining. At the same time, it's good that he's still gaining weight instead of losing it!

Carter measured in at 20 7/8 inches which puts him in the 27th percentile for height. And his head measured 37.5 cm.

I guess this all explains why Carter's newborn sleepers have started to get too small. Though the 3 month size are still big but are getting closer to fitting. Soon he'll have lots of fun clothes to wear instead of just sleepers. Sleepers were all we really had in newborn size. I've started putting a bib on Carter all the time and this is helping us not have to change him a few times a day due to spitting up so much on himself and soaking his outfit. I bought some heavy waterproof bibs and they seem to be doing a great job.


Carter has a mild case of seborrhea, or cradle cap, which is a flaky scalp. Other than that, everything else was normal at his exam.

Right before we left to go to the pediatrician's office, I had my most fun diaper change yet! I had put a fresh diaper under Carter and was going for the diaper cream when Carter started passing gas. I quickly grabbed a wipe to put under him and hopefully save the fresh diaper when poop shot out of Carter. There was so much force behind the poop that it shot out several feet. It hit everything on the end of the changing table, the diaper pail, and the wall. While in shock from this, I didn't notice that the burp cloth I was using to guard against a pee accident had slipped away. So then pee was shooting through the air getting all over the carpet. On the bright side, I somehow escaped without getting any poop or pee on me.

Carter Update

In the last few days, Carter has started seeing and watching more things. We have a little mobile above his changing table that has a mirror and a lions head and legs hanging down. When we're changing Carter, he has started looking at the mobile on his own. We had been able to make him glance at it before when we moved one of the lion's feet that has a bell in it, but now Carter is looking at it all on his own.


Carter is also paying more attention to the characters that hang above his bouncer. He doesn't purposely reach out for them yet, but he'll hit the snail and turtle often when he's throwing his arms around.

We're still working on managing Carter's acid reflux. His one month check up is tomorrow so hopefully we'll get some more advice from the pediatrician. He has some good days and some bad days. Even when we do things the same during and after feedings, Carter doesn't always react the same way. But we're trying different things and trying to be consistent while testing them out. We're having the most trouble with nights right now. Because we can only slightly incline Carter's playard, he ends up throwing up a good portion of each night feeding no matter how long I hold him upright. He's waking up and getting fussy about every two hours, and I'm guessing he's hungry because he's not keeping much down. Since I have to hold him upright for so long after a feeding and because he still doesn't go right to sleep when I put him down, there isn't much time to sleep between feedings - maybe an hour.

Visitors

My dad and Jan came to visit this weekend. Here's a picture of them with Carter ...


Carter got some cool books for Christmas from them and a neat airplane piggy bank for his birth.


Brian and I finished setting up the treadmill on Saturday. The builder had run cable up to the attic so Brian was able to hook up one of our old TVs. Now it won't get too boring running on a treadmill instead of outside. I'm excited about starting to use the treadmill this week, even if it is for an insanely slow single mile right now.

4 Weeks Old

Carter is 4 weeks old today. It's hard to believe Carter has been around for this long already, but this has also been the longest four weeks of my life.

I tried introducing Carter to a new toy this morning. This is generally how he felt about it ...


Brian went to the office today to catch up on some work so Carter and I brought him lunch. Here's Carter sitting at Brian's desk ...


Carter got his first bath in his bath tub today. He did really well. He only started crying some at the end when we were washing his hair. He spent most of the bath checking himself out in the mirror.

Bigger Diapers

I think Carter has outgrown the newborn size Pamper Swaddler diapers. They've been great until last night when he leaked from three diapers in a row. The first time was while I was feeding him so I got soaked as well. I guess we'll be moving up the the Size 1 Swaddlers now. I got one pack of these as a gift so I put one on Carter this morning. It seemed huge going half way up his chest. But it didn't leak!

I'm looking forward to starting to work out again soon. We got our treadmill up to the attic last week and now just need to roll it to where we want it and set up a TV. I'm still losing weight with no effort, but I'm sure that won't continue all the way to my pre-pregnancy weight unless I exercise some too. However, cutting out dairy has really limited my diet, and I haven't been eating as much lately which may be contributing to the weight loss. When we got pregnant, I weighed 127 lbs (I was already about 10 lbs over what I like to be at - I worked way too much last year and never had time to work out). Right before Carter was born, I was at 170 lbs, so I put on 43 lbs while pregnant. Carter will be 4 weeks old tomorrow and I'm down to 144.5 lbs today. So only 17.5 lbs left to get to my pre-pregnancy weight. I'm still setting a goal for myself of running the Knoxville Half Marathon on March 29th.

Giant Pacifier

The pacifier that a nurse gave us in the hospital was huge, but this is the only one Carter has been willing to take so far. We don't use it often, but it does help to calm him down sometimes so he'll take a nap. However, Carter almost always notices when it falls out and starts moaning and then crying so it can be a major pain when he keeps losing it. I occasionally try to use it at night when Carter won't settle down after a feeding, but I pretty much have to hold it in his mouth because he'll lose it every 30 seconds because he's on his back with his head to the side.

The one we're using is the First Year Soothie. It is kind of cute how it covers so much of his face.


Chillin' before bath time this afternoon ...


Yes, I'm still giving Carter sponge baths. I plan to use the tub this weekend when Brian can help me give him his first real bath.

If you look real close, Carter has a mini-mohawk in this picture ...

First Bottle

Carter had his first bottle last night. He finished off 3 oz and slept like a champ after eating. Carter had no problem taking the bottle from Brian. We're going to try to do a bottle at least every other day so that Carter will be used to taking them. That will mean I can leave the house for more than an hour or two! Which is good since I have a dentist appointment on Monday.