Christmas!

We celebrated Carter's first Christmas in West Virginia with Nate's family. Even though Carter is still really young, it was wonderful getting to watch him get to spend time with his grandparents, aunts, and uncle, and getting to see him experience all the joys of Christmas! We had to open our presents on Christmas eve because Christmas Day was on a Sunday, and we were going to church and then leaving right after that to drive 2 hours to visit Nate's grandparents and more family there in Ohio. Carter was pretty good at opening presents, even though he was more interested in eating the wrapping paper than the actual present though! He got some good presents that I'm excited to see him use now and in the coming months! Christmas morning we opened stockings, and then got ready for church. Carter wore a new Christmas outfit that his grandma had gotten him, and he was ADORABLE in it! Then at church Nate's dad led singing, and of course Carter decided to poop during a prayer (complete with many loud grunts), so I had to take the walk of shame to go change him after it was over! Then we drove to visit Nate's grandparents, and had a late lunch up there with a bunch of family we only see whenever we are up for Christmas. We got some good pictures with Carter and his great-grandparents which was good.

We were supposed to see Nate's other grandma on Monday, but she had gone to the hospital on Christmas day for a bacterial infection which changed those plans. Everyone went to see her in the hospital after we got back from Ohio, but obviously Nate, Carter and I didn't go because we didn't want to expose Carter to hospital germs. We were worried she wasn't going to get to see Carter before we had to leave, but luckily she got out of the hospital on Tuesday, and she was able to come visit for a few hours Wednesday morning before we left. We only drove part of the way that day, so we were able to leave at 2:30PM and still get to the hotel by 10PM.

We were worried we weren't going to be able to leave on Wednesday though because Carter had been really fussy Tuesday evening, and ended up running a fever. I was kinda freaking out because it was his first fever, and we weren't at home. My baby 411 book had said babies under 6 months with a fever needed to see a doctor the next day. I called the doctor on call though, and they said we could just keep doing Tylenol every 4-5 hours until we got home. However, Carter did NOT sleep well that night, and was fussy the next morning so we decided to go to the doctor. That involved calling our insurance to find a doctor "in-network" and then getting in to see them. We went to a minor emergency place and were able to get right in because there was only one person ahead of us. I'm glad we ended up going to the doctor because it turned out that Carter had an ear infection in one ear and fluid in the other ear. Then we had to find a pharmacy to fill his prescription and wait for it to get filled. We finally got all that done by noon and made it home to eat lunch and spend some time with grandma before leaving. Thankfully we got everything taken care of and Carter was much happier once he got an antibiotic in him.

We had a good time and were excited for Carter and his first Christmas! Here are some pictures of the cute boy!

Smiles!

Carter has finally decided to start smiling for pictures again! I went through a month of "deer in the headlights" pictures. Carter would be happy and smiling until the camera came out, and then...nothing. I think he likes it that I'm sitting him up for pictures, because he gets really excited about it. I'm just excited to have my smiling boy back!

Carter can sit up by himself! (if I get him positioned!)

Be sure to read the 5 month update on the post under this one!

5 months!

So I've been terrible about posting lately, but with a job and a baby there just doesn't seem to be much time for anything else. I haven't even done his 4 month post, but I will try to get on that later. I can't believe my little boy is already 5 months old! He is getting so big and doing so much now. He is now 17 lbs 11 oz and 26.5" long. 95th percentile for both. He's going to be a big boy.

He is sleeping from 7:30 at night to around 6:45 every morning. Ever since the time change he hasn't been sleeping till 7 anymore. He wakes up occasionally in the night but if i put his pacifier in his mouth he falls straight back to sleep. He will go to sleep great: I usually read a book or 2, sing a few songs and rock him and then lay him down in his crib with his paci and his snuggle puppy and he goes straight to sleep. He has rolled over from his back to his front a few times now. He had done it by accident in his crib a month or 2 ago but it scared him and he started crying when it happened. He still doesn't roll from his front to back much, I think he decided that he's mastered that and it's time to move on to something else. He has started grabbing at things lately, and our plates of food are no longer safe if Carter is around! Everything he grabs goes straight to his mouth. He has also started grabbing his feet but hasn't gotten those to his mouth yet. Carter has been working on sitting up and has now been able to sit up for a few seconds unassisted as long as we get him "in position." he is a pretty easy going baby and will go happily to just about anyone. He has been developing a little attitude though and if he's doing something he doesn't like he will give a loud angry squeal. Yeah...kinda embarrassing in the middle of church!

We have been doing cereal since he turned 4 months but he's not a huge fan of it. After his 4 month appointment on Nov 22 we have started other foods. He has now had sweet potatoes, green beans, and apples. He seemed to like the apples the least but he may have just been getting full from the green beans I gave him first. I also let him try mashed potatoes at thanksgiving and some guacamole when we were out to eat one time. He is a good eater and always gets excited about his food. No matter how much I give him it never seems to be enough! He is getting to be such a big boy and can now hold his bottle by himself and even feed himself! I still like holding my little baby to feed him though.

We have just started taking him to class at church, and I am still going with him because there are so many babies in the class now that there never seem to be enough teachers! Carter has been doing great and will sit quietly and watch and listen to the teacher.

We love our little boy so much and can't believe how lucky we are to have him!