Snow

Yesterday we took Carter to the zoo, and today we got a few inches of snow! We got 3 to 4 inches at the house. It's already starting to melt, but it may get pretty icy tonight. I took Carter out while it was snowing for a few minutes. He liked the cold on his face, as usual. Here are a few pictures from the front and back porches ...

Trip to the Zoo

We finally had a warm (mid-50s) and dry day so we took Carter to the zoo. We got a new annual membership because we plan on taking him there a lot. We stayed about two hours and Carter did really well. He didn't last very long in the stroller as he got fussy pretty quick, but Brian then picked him up and he fell asleep for awhile. When he woke up, I put him in the Baby Bjorn and he did really well. He slept the whole way home too.

The zoo was really empty today - probably because of the Super Bowl tonight. We were often the only ones at an exhibit. The gibbon was really active today and kept coming up to the window to look at us. And one of the beavers was treading water for awhile in front of us. It was a good day!

Dog Park

We took Carter with us to the dog park for the first time today. It's the first time Charlotte's been there in over a year (maybe two). It's in the mid-40s today so I bundled Carter up in a sweater and hat and put in the Baby Bjorn. He seemed to like the cold air, though his cheeks are a little chapped now. Several dogs came up to me and sniffed at Carter's feet. It seemed a lot them were curious about him. A few people told me that their dogs had never seen a baby before. Luckily everything went fine, though I was pretty nervous about protecting Carter.

Charlotte seemed to enjoy herself. She was generally independent and enjoyed sniffing around instead of playing with the other dogs. She went in the pond just enough to get her belly wet. She was pretty shy when other dogs tried to get her to play and sat down a few times with her tail tucked until the other dogs left her alone. She's not as quick as she used to be when she could outrun any other dog at the dog park. I think we're going to try to go there more often though since Charlotte has been a little neglected lately.

Tummy Time

Carter is starting to lift his head up a little higher during tummy time. I am starting him off in this position, but he can hold his head like this, drop it, and lift it again to this height.



Brian, Carter, and I went to Salsarita's for lunch today and we survived without too much fussiness. I had to take Carter out of his car seat when I was almost done eating because he was getting hot and a little fussy. He only got really fussy near the end when he was getting tired.

Next time ...

Next time we are not going to have a baby at the beginning of winter! I am going crazy being at the house so much. It seems like it's been colder and wetter than most winters, but that's probably only because things are different now with Carter. I really want to get out more, but I'm limited on what I can do because everything has to be inside. I can only go shopping so much (especially now that we're down to essentially one income). And Carter is still not a baby that will chill on your lap or in your arms or in his car seat when you go out to eat or somewhere else (like a sporting event). I don't mind if he fusses or cries a little, but I can't stand to disturb everyone else the entire time that we're out. If it were warmer, we could do more outside where he wouldn't bother people as much with his fussing.

But for my sanity, we're going to have to get out more. Carter is getting a little better each week with his fussiness so hopefully he'll be a lot better soon. I'm going to try to do lunch with Brian later in the week and see how that goes. Hopefully it won't be too stressful.

And hopefully we'll have a warm, dry weekend soon! We really want to take Carter on a hike. Just something local and short.

He Found His Thumb!

Carter found his thumb for the first time today. He's been sucking on his fist some the last couple of weeks, but today he found his thumb for a couple of minutes.

Some More Smiles and a Huh?

Smile

Mr. Blue Eyes

Carter has beautiful blue eyes right now. And long eyelashes which he gets from Brian.

Decorating

I've been working on decorating some over the last week. We've reorganized the family room by moving the desk to the foyer, removing the big leather ottoman (it's now in the bonus room), and making more open floor area by pushing the loveseat back. Now we need a rug and new coffee table. I wanted more open space and a rug so we could play easier with Carter on the floor downstairs since we don't have any carpeting on the first floor. We hung a mirror and added new decoration to the mantle. And hung some canvas prints on one wall.


I also bought a rug for the foyer. We moved the Mac to the desk we moved to the foyer as well. I really like the foyer area now and it doesn't feel like wasted square footage anymore.



I ordered a bunch of prints from Shutterfly this weekend so I'll be hanging more pictures up soon.