33 Weeks, 1 Day Appointment

I had an OB appointment with an ultrasound today.

Everything is good with me. My blood pressure was 102/62 and I'm around 157 lbs.

Everything is good with the baby too. His heart rate was a strong 148 bpm and his head is down. However, he's measuring a bit large. Averaging out everything that they measure during the ultrasound (his head, abdomen, etc), his size is more like 35 weeks (rather than 33 weeks, 1 day). His weight is estimated at 5 lbs, 14 oz which puts him in the 82nd percentile. If he puts on the expected 1/2 lb per week and I make it to 40 weeks, he'd be 9 lbs, 6 oz! I met with the nurse practitioner today and she said that anything over 9 lbs is when they start preparing you for a possible c-section since a vaginal delivery may not be possible. Since it's still several weeks until my due date, I'm scheduled for another ultrasound in 4 weeks to check on the baby's growth again.

The ultrasound tech was nice today and switched over to the 3-D imaging for a little bit. Here are a couple of pictures of the little guy ...



And, he's still a boy ...

Sit 'N Spin

Carter is getting a lot better at his sit 'n spin!

18 Months Old

Carter is one and a half today!

I had decided that I would turn Carter's carseat around at 18 months. He's weighed enough for awhile now to be forward-facing, but rear-facing seems so much safer. However, Carter has not enjoyed being in his carseat for awhile now. I always give him a paci in the car because I cannot handle the screaming. He can't see much and I think that is part of what gets him so upset. He's always stretching his neck trying to see out the side windows. So my deal with myself is that I would turn him around starting today but there would be no more pacis in the car (other than long car trips). I stuck with my deal today because Carter was generally happy in the car, but we'll see how long his happiness and my willpower last!


Carter really enjoyed being able to look out the front window and smiled at me when I looked at him.

Spoon

Carter is good about letting us feed him with a spoon still for about half of whatever we're giving him (yogurt, applesauce, etc). Usually for the second half, he wants to feed himself. Usually he'll let us get food on the spoon for him and still hold it with him also holding it. Sometimes he wants to do it all himself and a tantrum results when we won't let him (I'm not a big fan of food on the walls.)

However, last night Carter was doing good with helping us and so Brian let him use the spoon on his own for a little bit. He did a really good job.

Here's a video of Carter eating applesauce mostly on his own ...

Playing with Mary Grace

Sarah and I walked this morning and then went back to her house to have lunch and let the kids play outside. It was another warm day today so Sarah got out their inflatable pool. Mary Grace has a really cool slide and the kids really liked sliding into the pool. After a little help, Carter figured out how to climb up the rock wall and then sit down and slide on his own.


Here's a series of photos of Carter going down the slide ...






Carter had lots of fun. We had one mishap though. Carter decided to climb up the slide (I was sort of impressed he could do that) and Mary Grace went up the rock wall. Two kids don't fit too well at the top of the slide. Carter slipped off and fell. We think he hit his face on the way down and busted his lip before landing on his back. Actually, it's the area between his inner upper lip and gum line. It seems a little swollen right now but it almost looks like the inside of his lip is stuck between his front teeth. It's not bothering him at all so we'll see how it looks in the morning. Carter cried for a few minutes when it happened but then he heard an airplane and was over it. He's so tough!

Carter went back to playing on the slide after about 15 minutes.


Carter's favorite toy at Mary Grace's house is this little car. He played on it as much as he played in the pool or on the slide.


I'm so glad that Carter is finally getting old enough to actually play with Mary Grace. It made our afternoon so much easier. Sarah and I got to sit down and relax a bit and watch them play instead of having to keep them entertained ourselves.

Inflatable Pool

I finally set up Carter's inflatable pool in the backyard today. We were using it for Carter's ball pit but decided we could put up the 300 balls for awhile and use the pool as a pool!

Carter and I spent a couple of hours outside this afternoon playing in the pool and around the backyard. Carter had lots of fun in the water, watering plants, and climbing on all our outdoor furniture. It was really warm so I enjoyed also sitting in the cool water for awhile. We don't have a single flat spot in our yard so the pool was on a little bit of an angle. That just meant there was a shallow end and a deep end!


Watering the grass ...


Carter figured out quickly how to get in and out of the pool without putting his face in the water.


I love when Carter sticks out his bottom lip when thinking about something ...


Carter's just hanging out on his belly in this picture, but he did try to drink the water a few times.


So happy that he climbed up to these places on his own ...



Carter watered the grass and random areas of mulch a few times, but with no encouragement, started just watering plants. We haven't watered plants around him before so I'm not sure how he figured this out!


Here's a short video of Carter playing ...

Carter and I also went to the Mother Goose program this morning. Carter actually sat with me during most of the songs! The kids there today didn't wander as much the kids that have been there before so Carter didn't have as much encouragement to leave me. He was really clingy at first before class started but loosened up quickly. Carter can be so independent that it's weird to have him attached to me!

Airplanes, Trains, and Trucks

Carter loves airplane and trains. More specifically, he loves when he hears either one.

Sometimes our house is in the flight path of the planes landing at the airport and we can hear the planes when we're inside. Carter will stop what he's doing and point to the window. Whenever we're outside and he hears one, he'll point to the sky and look up trying to see the plane.

Carter loves trains just as much. There are train tracks behind a ridge near our house and in the early morning you can sometimes hear a train. When this happens, Carter gets really excited and points toward the back windows. Sometimes he'll start banging on the windows even though he can't see a train at all.

Trucks are another favorite of Carter's. He points to them whenever we're out and often makes excited squeals. Anything bigger than a small pickup truck gets his attention. He's such a boy!

Really?

This would only happen at Walmart ...

When Carter and I were grocery shopping today, a couple of women were admiring Carter and telling me how cute he was. Carter gets this a lot because everyone seems to love his hair color. I said my normal "thanks" and we moved on. (By the way, what are you supposed to say as a response? It's not like I have any control over how cute Carter is.) Anyway, one of the women came back up to me and asked, "Is that a boy or a girl?" I was confused and slowly answered, "Boy." And she said, "Oh, he's just so pretty. I wasn't sure."

Seriously? I don't think anyone has ever asked me if Carter was a boy or girl. Not even when he was a newborn. He was wearing a typical outfit of cargo pants and a long sleeve t-shirt today. I am still pondering how someone could think Carter is a girl.

So, Carter may be ready for one nap a day. Today I put him down for a morning nap around his normal nap time of 9:30 am. He was up early this morning - I got him around 5:30 am - so he fell asleep quickly. He then took a two-hour nap. He never takes long morning naps. I tried to put him down for a nap this afternoon around 3:45 pm and it was a bust. So that's 3 days in a row with no afternoon nap. Luckily Carter wasn't as moody this evening (probably because he took a longer morning nap), but he did fall asleep as soon as we put him to bed. I'm not sure what my plan is for tomorrow - I may try one more day of his regular two nap routine and see what happens.

I think it's time for me to move our trash can in the kitchen into the pantry. Carter has recently gotten in the habit of when he finds crumbs or a blade of grass or something else that doesn't belong on the floor, he'll pick it up and throw it in the trash can. Today, however, right after a changed the bag, he threw a spatula and one of Charlotte's toys in the trash can. I'm starting to wonder if anything else has made it in there that I didn't know about.

Carter is getting better and better at climbing on things. Today he was hanging on the stove with his feet on the handle for the bottom drawer and his hands on the handle for the door. Luckily I was right there and he didn't have a chance to lean back. The image of him falling on the tile with nothing to break his fall as the door opens isn't a good one for me. Last week Brian and I were finishing up our dinner at the kitchen table and Carter was playing. I thought he was either playing in his tent or in Charlotte's crate in the dining room. He started making a lot more grunting noises so I went to check on him. Carter was hanging off the dining room table with his upper body on the table and his legs kicking around in the air. And he was sliding his arms around on the table trying to find something to hold on to. I'm just waiting for our first trip to the emergency room.

Happy Mother's Day

I hope everyone had a good Mother's Day! I did.

I got to sleep in this morning to 8 am!!! I haven't slept in past 6:30 am in months (I usually get up way before that though). It was so nice. I had so much energy today. When I got up, Carter and Brian were finishing up a card for me.


Carter helped by letting Brian trace his hand and arm and also by coloring a little on the card.

After Carter's morning nap and some playtime, we headed down to Maryville for lunch. Cheddar's just opened so I was hoping to go there, but as expected, it was way too crowded. So was every sit-down restaurant in the area so we went to Zaxby's. Ultimately Zaxby's was the better choice since Carter hasn't been behaving all that well in restaurants lately!

The weather here was amazing this weekend. The high was only around 70F both days with lots of sun and a nice breeze. So after lunch we headed to the downtown area with plans to walk on the greenway. We used to run here every weekend when we trained for the Richmond Marathon. The greenway follows a creek and there are several parks adjacent to it. It's a really pretty area - I just wish it was a little closer to our house.

When we got downtown, we found out that the Tomato Head Omnium was going on. We watched part of the men's criterium. Carter did a pretty good job clapping for the racers (with some encouragement from us) when they went by. The loop was pretty short so it kept Carter's attention.


We let Carter run around one of the parks for awhile. There were lots of rocks that were just the right size for him to sit on.




Looking at some birds ...


"Bird" is one of Carter's handful of words. He's really interested in watching them when we're outside.

Playing with his favorite outdoor toy ...



We saw a duck with some ducklings at the Bicentennial Greenbelt Park ...


Some family shots ...



Cutie ...


On our way home, we picked up my favorite spinach dip from Cheddar's to go. It was after 3 pm and the place was still packed with probably an hour wait.

We tried to put Carter down for a nap when we got home, but for the second day in a row, Carter refused to take an afternoon nap. So this evening was filled with a lot of whining and screaming.

A happy moment ...


A not so happy moment - "I want to go outside NOW!" ...



At least we were able to put Carter to bed early last night and tonight.

We didn't do too much yesterday. I took Carter with me to run errands while Brian tried to get some work done.

On Friday, Sarah and I took the kids for a walk and then to the splash pad. Again, Carter wasn't too interested in getting wet. He still had a lot of fun though playing around the water!


I love the hugs between these two right now. They are at this cute height difference where Mary Grace looks like she has Carter in a headlock whenever giving him a hug!

Bulldozer

Carter is getting better at riding his bulldozer around the house. He's gotten super fast and very good at turning it (usually by lifting it off the ground). It seems like he's almost starting to get too big for it!

This isn't the best video of him riding the bulldozer, but almost every time I try to film him on it, he stops as soon as I get the camera out.