Where's Carter?

Carter is getting better at grabbing things. He also has started bringing his hands together and will hold one hand with the other.

Carter always wears a bib because he spits up so much and he has also started drooling quite a bit sometimes. He likes to play with his bib. This is often how I find him if I leave him alone for a few minutes with nothing else to play with.


I tried putting Carter in the Exersaucer yesterday. He's still too small for it. His toes barely touch the base and I have to stuff blankets around him to hold him up. But he seemed to like it for the short time I had him in it. I'm sure it won't be long until he can use it.

Charlotte & Carter

Charlotte was extremely friendly with Carter yesterday. Up until yesterday, she's only licked him a few times.

Carter was in his bouncer next to the treadmill while I was running. We keep it cool in the attic (it was 58F) so Carter had some socks on and a blanket covering him. (He doesn't wear socks that often because he kicks them off right away.) Carter managed to poke his feet out from the blanket and was working on pushing his socks off. Charlotte decided to help him. She was licking Carter's ankles and heels with huge licks helping to further push off his socks.

Charlotte often sniffs Carter's face, but that's it. Yesterday she was giving him lots of little licks on the face all day long. Carter seemed to like it. He gave Charlotte a few little smirks.

Today Charlotte is back to normal with no more licks, just sniffing.

A Cute Picture

I took this picture a couple of weeks ago. Sometimes Carter prefers his hand over his pacifier.

GER Update

Carter's GER (Gastroesophageal Reflux, or baby acid reflux) has been manageable for awhile now. The "trick" of holding him upright for at least 20 minutes after feeding him has helped a lot.

After Carter's night feedings (his last feeding before bed, his middle of the night feeding, and his first feeding in the morning), I'll hold him against my shoulder where he tends to fall asleep. Carter is still sleeping in the playard in our room. We have the bassinet propped up some so he can sleep a little upright. He tends to slide down during the night though and ends up perpendicular to the direction he started the night in. Carter will throw up about once every other night. Sometimes I catch it before I fall asleep and can clean him up. But not every time. It doesn't really seem to bother him too much though.

Most of the time during the day after I feed Carter, I prop him up with the Boppy on my lap facing me. He doesn't really like being up against my shoulder during the day - I guess it's boring. I try not to walk around with him right away after a feeding either because he tends to throw up more then. Carter now usually only has one bad feeding a day where he throws up a lot. The rest of the time it's not too much. He doesn't always throw up right after a feeding. Sometimes it's right before his next feeding.

I'm just glad he's not soaking me after every feeding anymore!

And here's a cute picture of a happy baby taken before bath time today ...

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.