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!

Beach Trip: Days 3 & 4

Carter slept well in his playyard Sunday night. He actually slept better than he usually does at home. However, that may have been due to us wearing him out with all the new people to play with!

We were up early on Monday morning so we took Carter for a walk on the beach.



After breakfast and a morning nap (this was the last day of long naps the entire trip), we got Carter ready for his first opportunity to play in the sand. Here he is chillin' with Grandma before heading down to the beach.


We quickly figured out that playing in the sand isn't much fun when we're trying to keep Carter from eating it the entire time. We had pretty much expected that though.


Sandy belly:


After getting very sandy, we took Carter down to the water. The ocean was pretty cold still and Carter wasn't too thrilled about the whole thing.




We did enjoy watching the waves roll in though. We'd stand in the shallow surf and he'd just follow the wave as it came in and went past us. Here's a short video:

After the beach, we went straight to the pool to get the salt off of us. It was really nice having the pool. Carter enjoyed it a lot more than the beach!



After lunch and another long nap, we took Carter back down to the beach to see if he'd be better in the hard packed sand instead of the finer stuff. It was a little better, but still difficult. I bet we'll all enjoy it more in a few months.



Carter enjoying the pool again after the beach:


Before bed, Carter hung out on the back deck with us for a little bit. Here's Carter with Grandma:


And here's Carter with his buddy Dale (Carter really enjoyed hanging out with him):


On Tuesday, we decided we didn't need Carter eating any more sand so we didn't play on the beach. But we did try playing in the surf a little bit. Again, Carter wasn't too happy about it.


Grandma helping to feed Carter his lunch:


Carter enjoying some time with Ken:


We spent most of the day hanging out with family around the house and playing in the pool. We had lots of great babysitters so Brian and I got some time to hang out by ourselves in the waves for awhile. Even though Carter had been getting upset around strangers starting a few weeks before our vacation, he loved everyone in both our families right away. I was really nervous about this and am so happy that he did so well!

We took a walk with Brian's parents on the beach before Carter's bedtime.


Carter fell asleep on Grandpa:


Carter had another fun filled day of fresh air, water, and family!

Beach Trip: Days 1 & 2

We went to Emerald Isle, NC last week with Brian's family. We had a lot of fun and Carter got to meet lots and lots of extended family!!!

I don't want to go on vacation ...


Well, maybe it'll be okay. How do I close this thing?


We didn't leave Knoxville until 7:45 pm Saturday evening because Brian was playing in a golf tournament that afternoon. Saturday was his birthday so at least he got to do something fun that day!

We fed Carter a bottle in the car and he fell asleep pretty easily. He did great until we stopped for gas around 11 pm. The bright lights at the station woke him up and I could not get him back to sleep. And he was not happy to be awake. He fussed for the next 2 hours. On the bright side, we were dead tired and he kept us awake!

Carter finally drifted off around 1 am and we got to Brian's parents' house in Cary, NC around 1:30 am. They had set up a playyard for Carter to sleep in and I was hoping to transfer him to it without waking him up but it didn't work. He was wide awake again (but happier this time). We visited with the grandparents for a few minutes and then I fed Carter and got him to bed.

Carter slept well in the playyard. This was the first time he's slept in something other than his crib at night since we moved him there at 3 months. He was still up early and got to hang out with Art and Cinda for a little bit.

Carter in his sunglasses that Cinda got for him:


When we left Art and Cinda's house on Sunday morning we drove the 2 hours down to Wilmington to visit with my mom and drop off Charlotte. She took care of Charlotte for the week while we were at the beach house (thanks, Mom!).

My sister, Karey, and her boyfriend, Mike, were in Wilmington for the weekend as well so we got to visit with them for a little while at my mom's house.


After breakfast we headed over to my dad's house for a few hours. My uncle (Jerry), aunt (Mary), and 2 of my 3 cousins (Amy & Mike) were staying in Wilmington the same week as our vacation so we got to visit with them for awhile. My other cousin (Jennifer) who didn't make the trip had a baby (Charlie) the day after Carter was born. Hopefully Carter and Charlie will get to meet sometime soon!


Carter and Aunt Mary:


Carter and Uncle Jerry:


Carter and Amy:


Carter and Mike:


Carter with my dad and Jan:


After lunch and cake (we celebrated Brian's and Jerry's birthdays), we drove up to Emerald Isle (which took another 2 hours). We had both sides of a duplex beach house that was right on the beach with a pool.

Back side of the house:


View from the house's beach access:


We were lucky enough to get two bedrooms in the house so Carter got his own room. This meant we didn't have to worry about waking Carter up when we went to bed! Brian's parents got to the house first and picked out a quiet room for Carter. It was really nice being able to spread all of his stuff out in his own room.

Brian's mom has 3 brothers and a sister and they all made it to the beach house this year. His grandmother also made the trip which we were super happy about. Including us, there were 15 people staying at the house:

Grandma Bonnie
Uncle Ken
Aunt Linda, her husband (Bob), and their daughter (Amy)
Uncle David, his wife (Jess), and their daughters (Darcy & Dana)
Uncle Dale
Art & Cinda
and Brian, me, & Carter

Carter got to go out to the beach for the first time ever when we got to the house.


After briefly meeting a bunch of aunts, uncles, cousins, and a great-grandmother, Carter went off to bed. Carter did really well and slept in his playyard as if it were his crib!

We're Home!

We got back tonight from our beach vacation. I'll be working hard the next few days to get the trip summary and many, many photos posted!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!!!

Jumperoo

Carter is finally learning how to jump in his jumperoo ...


Carter is also developing a morning nap (hopefully!!!). For the last week he's slept for an hour to an hour and a half about 2 hours after getting up in the morning. He even took it a little later (closer to lunch time) the day that I went walking with Sarah and Mary Grace in the morning. Hopefully this week wasn't just a fluke!

Happy Anniversary

Today is our 4th wedding anniversary.

Trying to Crawl

Carter is still rolling around to get where he wants and he will spin around on his tummy to get the direction he wants to be in. But sometimes he sees something in front of him that he wants and he tries to get there dragging himself forward. It'll be so much easier for him when he figures out how to crawl!

Bonus Room

I finally finished painting the bonus room. I did the second coat last night after Carter went to bed. The color is called April Sky. As the day goes on and the light changes, the color gets more and more blue. I really like how it turned out. We're going to paint the guest room the same color (it is currently pink thanks to the previous owners of our house).

Before:


After:

Afternoon at the Pool

Carter and I went to the pool this afternoon.


He used his new pool float today. He's a bit small for it so he falls back in it. He pretty much just floats on his back then but it works.


My neighbor was at the pool and wanted to hold Carter. He started screaming as soon as I handed him to her. He definitely has some stranger anxiety right now!