Climbing the Stairs

Carter can now climb the stairs. We have gates at the bottom and top of the stairs so he can't do this unsupervised!

Tonight Carter made it up all 16 stairs to the second floor. And he didn't even seem worn out afterward!

Fort Loudon

We took Carter over to Fort Loudoun today. The fort has been reconstructed at the original site. It is now surrounded by Tellico Lake which was formed when the Little Tennessee River was dammed. It was neat enough and got us out of the house for a little bit, though it was hot!

For some reason this sign spelled Loudoun without the second "u" ...


Carter and me in the fort with Tellico Lake and the Smokies in the background ...


One of the cannons ...

9 Months Old

Carter is 9 months old today! He's starting to figure out so much!

Today Carter enjoyed handing small toys to us and us handing them back to him. Usually he refuses to give anything up! It was neat to see him willing to share.

Carter is starting to really like the ball popper my mom got him several months ago.


It used to scare him when we turned it on, but now he gives a happy scream. He likes to hold on to it while sitting on his knees and try to grab the balls before they shoot out.

We've nicknamed the little guy "Carter the Destroyer". We got a bag of Mega Bloks recently and Brian and I will build stuff while we play with Carter. As soon as we finish something, he loves to knock it down and pull it apart.


So, 9 months after giving birth to Carter, I am down to 5 pounds below what I was when I got pregnant (I'm currently at 122 lbs). Unfortunately I still can't get my stomach to tighten up. I see a tummy tuck in my future when we are done having kids! I got no stretch marks on my belly when pregnant but I really look like someone that was obese and lost a lot of weight quickly so they have a bunch of extra skin. But when I look back to my pregnancy pictures, it's amazing my stomach has recovered as much as it has! Carter was sticking so far out that I looked like I had a basketball under my shirt!

Feeding the Dog

Cheese

Carter tried cheese this afternoon. I'm not sure he's my child anymore - he didn't like it! I LOVE cheese. I'm not sure if it was the texture or the flavor or the fact that I gave it to him as a finger food and it wasn't Cheerios like he expected. I put a few pieces into this mouth myself and he made lots of unpleasant faces. He ate what I managed to sneak in, but pretty much refused to open up his mouth after just a couple of pieces. I think I'll try one more time as a finger food and then maybe I'll try melting it on some of the foods Carter likes.



At dinner Carter was purposely feeding Charlotte his Cheerios for the first time. He gave her the majority of his Cheerios and only ate a few. He'd hold a few in his hand off the side of his booster seat and let Charlotte nibble his hand to get them out. If she wasn't quick enough, he'd just drop them on the floor.

Laurel Falls

Sarah's brother and his girlfriend are in town for a few days for Mary Grace's birthday. Sarah decided to take them to the Smokies today and she invited Carter and me to come along. We hiked up to Laurel Falls since it is a paved trail which meant we could push the kids in the strollers. It's not the smoothest ride, but it is 1.3 miles uphill into the woods so it's hard to expect much.

Luckily there were still a few available parking spaces when we got to the trailhead. This is a really popular hike because it's not too difficult and it's really close to Gatlinburg. The trail was crowded but when we were at the falls there weren't too many people there.



Carter only slept the 10 minutes on the drive to Sarah's house this morning so he was exhausted. I thought he'd sleep on the drive but there was too much going on that he didn't want to miss. He did really well though for how tired he was. He finally passed out on the hike back to the car.


We stopped in Pigeon Forge for lunch and made it home around 2:45 pm. Carter didn't sleep on the drive back either but finally passed out for about an hour once we got home.

I dug out an old photo of Brian and me from the first time we hiked to Laurel Falls. This was taken in March of 2002. The picture was taken from the lower section of the falls. Today we were standing up by the bridge that crosses over the falls that you can sort of see at the very top of the old picture.

More Standing

We had a storm come through this afternoon so I pulled the blinds up in our bedroom and set Carter standing at the window so he could watch it come in. The window is the perfect height right now for him to stand at.



Here's a video of Carter hanging out ...

Before the storm, Sarah and I took the kids on a walk and then to our pool. The pool was the warmest it's been all summer - it was so nice! I think it closes around Labor Day - Carter and I are going to miss going so much!

This afternoon I ran over to Target and found some bins for Carter's toys. I'm not sure how we're going to store toys as we get more but I found some cheap crates that will work for now. Here's a picture of Carter trying to get some of his toys out of one.

Holding On

Carter is getting really, really good at pulling up on all sorts of things and standing while holding on. All day today when I was sitting on the floor with him, Carter would pull up on me and then dive over me to the other side (he does get his arms out in front of him first before doing a face plant, usually). And then he start over again to get back to the side he began on. And repeat, repeat, repeat ...

Here's Carter posing for a picture on the wrong side of the gate at the bottom of the steps ...


If you enlarge the photo, you can sort of see the bottom tooth that is coming in (it's on Carter's left side).

Mary Grace's Party

Carter went to his first birthday party today. Mary Grace had her 2nd birthday party this afternoon. Sarah and Brent threw her a really nice party at their house. Here are a couple pictures of the birthday girl blowing out her candle and eating her cupcake!



Carter had lots of fun exploring a different house and pulling up on new things. He was a little unsure when we first got there but warmed up quickly and was all smiles for everyone.


Carter had some crazy naps (for him) today. He took his first nap from around 9:15 to 10:30 am. He was so tired that he fell asleep as soon as I sat down to rock him for a few minutes before putting him in his crib. Then we held off on another nap for him until after Mary Grace's party. He was looking really tired as we were leaving and fell asleep in the car before we even started driving home. I transferred him to his crib when we got home and he ended up taking a 2 hour nap!!! That was the longest nap he's taken since he was a few months old.

Right now Carter usually takes 3 naps a day that add up to about 2 hours of napping so this was a lot of sleep for him today. I'd love to transfer him to just 2 naps but there's usually no way I can keep him up that long between naps. He'll either fall sleep in the car if we're out or be a monster at home because he's so tired and I can't keep him entertained enough to fight through it. Maybe if Carter starts getting up later in the morning I can push back his first nap which would make 2 naps a day more of a possibility. He's still first waking up between 5 and 6 am, though I don't get him until at least 6 am (it's usually closer to 6:30 am).

Almost 9 Months

Carter is one week shy of being 9 months old! Those first few months were the longest of my life, but time sure has been flying by this summer. I can't believe our little baby is so old already!

I took some photos of Carter this afternoon. It's getting a lot easier to get some good photos of him. Here are some of my favorites from today.