Carter's Quiet Book

Since I have had more time this summer to craft, I decided to make Carter a quiet book for him to play with in church! I got all my ideas for pages off of pinterest, and I've posted the links at the end of this post in case you want to see my inspiration. I am planning on this being part of his birthday present, since he is still a little young for most of these activities. I decided to use the 3-ring binder method so I can add and remove pages as needed as he gets older. I have TONS of ideas for more pages and can't wait to create them! Here are the websites that I got my ideas from! http://servingpinklemonade.blogspot.ca/2011/01/quiet-book.html http://camillescasa.blogspot.com/2011/04/janettes-quiet-book.html http://thecraftingchicks.com/2009/09/tiffanys-quiet-book.html http://homemadebyjill.blogspot.com/2009/06/finished-quiet-book.html http://www.oopseydaisyblog.com/2010/09/quiet-book-makes-its-debut.html

That's my boy!

Well, I'm getting terrible at sharing monthly updates on Carter. To make up for it, here are some cute videos of my big boy! Carter standing by himself at 9 months. Carter sharing his paci. Carter walking at 10 months! I can't believe he's already walking!

My big boy!

Carter is getting less and less like a baby and more and more like a little boy! He just said "dada" for the first time a few days ago, and now here is a video of him walking like a big boy with his walker! Crazy! Where has the time gone?!?

A day of firsts!

Carter and I had a big day today! I am on Spring Break and enjoying spending all day with my son! We are getting pictures taken of Carter on Friday so I decided that he needed a haircut because his hair was getting really long and wild. Even so, I was kinda freaking out about taking him to a salon because I wasn't sure how Carter would handle it since he had never been there before, and had never had his hair cut before. Well I worried for nothing! He did a great job. The booster the salon had didn't have a belt on it to strap Carter in, so I positioned myself right in front of him in case he decided to roll off, but he stayed put and didn't even try to move! He was happy the whole time, even with the stylist messing with his hair, and another woman (a customer!) taking pictures of the event for me! He would turn his head occasionally but for the most part did a great job facing the front (possibly because I was bribing him with puffs!). I thought for sure we would have had some tears or at least some apprehension, but apparently a haircut doesn't phase the boy at all!

That evening, we had our first "mommy and me" swim class. I was really excited about this class because it will give me good tips for things I can do with Carter to help him enjoy the water, and get ready for swimming lessons when he is older. However, I was also a little concerned because he had never been in a swimming pool before (since he was born in July I wasn't about to take a newborn baby to a pool!). I wasn't sure how he would handle the new environment as well as the deep water. Well Carter did great with that as well! He never got upset the entire time, and the few times he started to act concerned, I would hold him close and then he would start laughing and splashing! He let me pull him around in the water on his stomach with his legs behind him, and he also let me put him on his back with his head on my shoulder. I was even able to bend down enough where the water actually covered my shoulder and Carter was "floating" for a second. At first he didn't seem to like the water going in his ears and kept trying to sit up every time that happened, but once I gave him a toy to play with, he didn't seem to notice it at all! The only time he got fussy was right when the lesson was over, and I think he was just getting cold and was ready to get out! I was so amazed at how well he did with that, and can't wait to go back tomorrow! (hopefully he will do as well as he did today!)

Sewing again!

Well I DEFINITELY haven't had much time to sew since Carter came into our lives. However, with Easter coming up I got inspired to make him a cute little outfit for warm weather. We have an adorable button-down shirt/sweater vest combo I thought would be good for Easter, but I decided to make another outfit as well in case this Easter turned out to be a warm one. Here it is! Yes...I know the plaid isn't even on the front, but oh well! The shorts drove me insane because the pattern I had was NOT very good, and I had to end up ripping out the stitching and almost completely re-doing them to get them how I wanted. I still haven't had a final fitting because Carter is asleep, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed! At least now if I want to make anymore shorts, I know what I need to alter about the pattern to make it work. Hopefully I will get inspired to make more outfits because I love the coordinating I can do when I make it myself.

More Videos!

Well Carter has FINALLY figured out the crawling thing, and he's getting pretty good at it! He is also pulling up and "cruising" along some of the furniture. Here are some videos of the cute little guy!

7 Months!

Well...so much for my 6 month post! Just know that he's gotten a lot bigger! That's probably all you need to know. He is now 20 lbs 12 oz and 28" long; we need to buy a new car seat soon because the one we have only goes to 22 lbs. He is still a great sleeper, sleeps from around 7:30PM to 7:30AM. He does, however, decide to wake up at night occasionally and start fussing until I go in there and give him his paci. I will try to do as little as possible while in there, and he will go back to sleep as soon as I get the paci in his mouth. I just don't enjoy the small interruption to my sleep! Not really dying to try any "cry it out" methods though, unless it starts getting more frequent or he won't go back to sleep after I go in there.

He is still a good eater and has 4 bottles every day and 2 meals of baby food. He eats a TON! He has gotten good at eating finger food, and now gets upset if I don't provide some finger food at every meal. He can eat mum mums, gerber puffs, cheerios, minced and cooked carrots, and pinto beans. He is good at chewing now as well even though he still doesn't have any teeth! I need some more finger food ideas, preferably that don't involve a lot of cooking!

He is sssooooo close to crawling! He has FINALLY (today) started some forward movement, and even though it's not exactly crawling, it's definitely a step in the right direction. See the video below. In it I see at least 2 or 3 different versions of "crawling" that books say babies might use, so maybe he's trying to figure out which one works the best!

Nate, Carter and I were all sick over the weekend with colds, but I took Carter to the doctor on Sunday when he kept fussing and crying for no reason. Turns out he had an ear infection (#3), and we got a prescription for an antibiotic, but we are waiting a few days to see if it clears up on its own. I hate giving Carter that many antibiotics when he is so young! He seemed to do a lot better today so he may not need it.

We love our little guy so much and are so thankful for him!

Videos

We've gotten some cute videos of Carter lately, so I thought I'd share them! I have great plans to post his 6 month update, hopefully that will happen soon!

Carter's first Christmas!



Carter can play peek-a-boo!



Carter plays ball!

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!

Finalization and an update!!

We finally have a finalization date! If you recall from my previous posts, birth parent rights are terminated after 10 days in Arkansas, but our adoption still has to be finalized in front of a judge. We have been waiting for our agency's attorney to finish all of the paperwork for Carter's adoption, get it sent to the judge, and schedule a time for the lawyer and us to meet with the judge for our adoption. Well...we finally have our date set for November 2nd, at 9AM! We are very excited! Though we are obviously Carter's parents, I think technically until finalization we are only considered legally to be his guardians, and I think that our agency may still have some legal tie to him until finalization. It was interesting at the hospital, because Carter was signed over to our agency worker, and then she gave him to us. So...technically I think she may legally still be his "guardian" as well until all this finalization is complete. Anyway, I don't even PRETEND to understand all the legal stuff involved with adoption, I just know that we have to meet with the judge, so that's what we're gonna do! After finalization, (according to our agency) we have to wait 6 months before we are able to receive a new birth certificate with our names listed as Carter's parents. That kinda stinks because that is right around tax time, which means we may not get it before our taxes need to be submitted, which means we will have to try to get Carter a temporary ID number. Not only is it a hassle, but I'm not even 100% sure we will be able to do that. But...we shall see.

We are definitely excited about this day and are looking forward to it. If we decided to celebrate any sort of "Adoption Day" or "Family Day" this would be the day we celebrate. We can't celebrate "Gotcha Day" because that doesn't make much sense considering we "got him" on the day he was born! Also there is some controversy in the adoption community about the use of the term "Gotcha Day". So if we decide to celebrate anything special besides Carter's birthday, it will be one of the ideas I mentioned earlier, and we will celebrate it on November 2nd! Please pray everything goes smoothly!

PS Make sure you look at the post below this one to see Carter roll over!

Carter Rolled Over!

Well last Tuesday our darling little boy decided to roll over for the first time! Unfortunately, it was at his babysitter's house, but luckily, she was able to get him to do it a few times, and she got a video of it. Without further ado, here is our smart little boy rolling over!



Of course, now that he's done it, he doesn't seem to be too interested in doing it anymore. I have only been able to get him to do it twice for me, and he has started this thing where instead of lifting his head off the ground like he normally does, he is using his legs to lift his bottom off the ground. Any ideas what he's trying to do there? Anyway, his doing that makes it difficult for him to roll over. But he's a cutie and we are sssooooo proud of him, so I had to share.

3 months!

My baby is 3 months old now! Where has the time gone??? Carter is getting to be a big boy! He is now 14.5 pounds and 26 inches long. We have done a lot this month! The biggest event being my return to work this past week! Luckily we have a church friend watching him, so we don't have to worry about him being around a bunch of different people or sick kids. It's been difficult for Nate and I getting into a new routine, but Carter has done amazing. He hasn't acted like the change has effected him at all, and he has even been taking better naps for his babysitter than he does for me.

Carter has been an amazing sleeper and now sleeps from 7:30 PM to 6:30 AM. Since I've been back to work though, I have been trying to wake him up a little earlier so I can feed him before I have to leave. He's had a few times (especially this past week) where he woke up before it was time to get up, but he wasn't hungry and will fall asleep after I put his paci in his mouth. We had to start making 8oz bottles for Carter this past week! We had already switched to 8oz bottles, but we were only filling them 6oz full. After Carter started consistently eating 6oz at a time though, and was still acting hungry afterward, we decided to move him up. It's a little sad, my boy is getting so big!

He is still working on laughing, and has the cutest little "laugh". He has also been squealing some, and making other noises and blowing bubbles as well!

Carter has gotten really good at holding his head up, and can now sit in his bumbo for short lengths of time unassisted. He still only tolerates tummy time, though he is really good at lifting his head and chest up off the ground. This month he discovered his hands! He will clasp his hands together, and especially loves sticking them in his mouth! He has figured out how to suck on his thumb, though he hasn't figured out how to curve his fingers while doing so, which means he ends up gagging himself with a stray finger or poking himself in the eye! Poor kid! He also likes to hold on to me or whoever is feeding him. He will grab my fingers, my shirt, or my arm while he is eating. So sweet!

(Warning this paragraph is about poop!)
We have had some issues this month with Carter and digestive issues. He has some reflux, though the doctor doesn't want to treat it with medicine because he is still gaining weight and it doesn't seem to be effecting his sleeping (and medicine's aren't that great for babies!) So, I tried switching to a different formula that would help with that. Unfortunately, this new formula is thicker, and gave Carter constipation. The doctor suggested Karo syrup, which worked, but only as long as Carter was on it. As soon as we stopped, he was constipated again. After going through an ENTIRE BOTTLE of karo, I didn't feel comfortable giving it to my baby anymore. Then, the doctor suggested using 2 oz of pear juice. I have been doing this for a while now, and I dilute it with 2 oz of water. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to help much at all. Carter is still pooping, and will occasionally have semi-normal poops, but the majority of them are way more solid than they should be! I have just started on my own trying to substitute one scoop of regular similac formula for one scoop of his regular formula. This helped his constipation very quickly, but has caused his tummy to hurt him because he isn't used to the formula. I would like him to be able to get used to the similac so he won't be constipated, but not sure if that's going to happen or not. We shall see.

We traveled to Texas and West Virginia in September to visit all the grandparents, and let some of Carter's great-grandparents meet him for the first time. Carter did a great job on both trips. He did well in his carseat, let me feed him in it, slept a lot in it, and still kept a regular sleep schedule even though he was sleeping in a pack-n-play in strange places. It was an exhausting few weeks, but I'm glad that we got to see family and they got to see Carter!

2 Months!!

Our little boy is 2 months old! I can't believe how fast it's gone, and how big he's already gotten. Looking back on his pictures from the hospital he already looks a lot different. He has started losing some of his hair in a "male pattern baldness" formation, but there is also some baby fine hair coming in as well. It's just taking forever! His eyes are starting to get lighter and are looking like more of a light blue/grey instead of the dark blue that they were. Not sure how much longer we have to wait before we find out his permanent eye color. He has been smiling all the time and seems to be practicing laughing. We haven't heard a "true" laugh yet, but I think he's getting pretty close. He has been a lot more vocal though, and not just when he's upset. He is really a pretty happy baby, and if he's crying, I can be fairly certain that he is either hungry or tired. If he just ate then I will go rock him or sing to him and that usually does the trick. His favorite song to calm down to is "God Loves Carter," which you have probably heard me sing if you've been around us when he was getting fussy. He is getting stronger and still moves himself around in his cradle and on the play mat. He can hold his head pretty steady while being held in a sitting position, and he is starting to push himself up a little to raise his head when he is on his tummy.

He is going to bed around 8PM and sleeping until 5 or 6AM every night. He has still been sleeping in his cradle up until this point, but we are planning on moving him to his crib in his room this week. I'm a little worried because he does have some times that he wakes up in the night, but I will just put his pacifier back in his mouth and hold it there a few minutes and he falls back asleep. Now I won't be able to stay in bed and reach through the cradle bars to do this, I will have to get up and go into his room. Hopefully this won't happen often!

We had to switch him to the 8oz bottles a few weeks ago because he was completely finishing his 4 ounce bottles, and either needing to eat more right then, or getting hungry again 45 minutes later. We are only filling them to 6oz right now, but he is consistently eating 4.5-6oz at every meal, and we have had quite a few times where he ate all 6 ounces. I can't believe what a big boy he is!

Legal documents

On Thursday we received the legal documents from Bethany's lawyer for us to look over and sign. Somehow the lawyer got our house number wrong, but luckily our postal worker figured it out. We also had some questions about the papers because they made it sound like Carter had to remain in Arkansas until finalization. We contacted our agency, and luckily that isn't the case. I think our "residence" just has to be in Arkansas, but Carter is allowed to travel out of state. We are glad about that because we have family still waiting to see him!

After going through the documents, we had to get them notarized and then mail them back to the lawyer who will then complete everything, and send it to a judge in White County. The judge will put us on his "docket" (hopefully within the next few months) and we will go before the judge and answer a few questions to finalize our adoption. Six months after finalization we will be able to receive a new birth certificate with our names listed as Carter's parents. Unfortunately this timeline puts us very close to tax time so we will probably have to get a temporary identification number for him since we can't apply for a SSN until we have his birth certificate.

I'm a little confused about the "six months after finalization" rule, because my understanding had always been it was six months after placement (when we took Carter home). I was talking to a worker at Searcy Children's Homes and she was surprised it was six months after finalization as well. Not sure how that works, but our agency has been around many years and done tons of adoptions so I assume they know what they are talking about! Does anyone else familiar with the adoption process have any insight on this? It's not a huge deal except we have to wait until the period is up before getting Carter's new birth certificate. Oh well, by this point we've definitely gotten used to jumping through hoops!

We are loving spending time with our little man, and he is getting cuter by the day! He has started smiling at us daily, and seems to be practicing laughing (not quite a laugh yet but sounds like he's trying!). We can't imagine life without him!

My first smile! (caught on camera anyway!)

Carter has been up a lot more during the day, and he seems to be in pretty good spirits every morning. Here is a smile his grandma caught on camera. Isn't he adorable???

1 Month!

I can't believe our sweet boy is already 1 month old! It has gone so fast! He has definitely gotten bigger, he weighs 10 lbs 5 oz, and is 22 in long. He has been eating every 2-3 hrs during the day, and 4-8 hrs at night. Yes we have had two 8 hour nights! Unfortunately that 8 hrs started around 8pm so we didn't get to sleep as long as Carter did! He usually makes it about 6-7 hrs though which is really nice!

He has started making really good eye contact, and he's gotten better about holding his head up on his own. He isn't a huge fan of tummy time but he will tolerate it for short stretches, and he can lift his head up briefly and move it from one side to the other while on his tummy. He likes laying on his back and looking around, but he MUCH prefers being held while he's awake...which makes it difficult for me to get alot done! Hopefully I can wean him of that once he starts staying awake more.

He likes taking baths, and has finally started enjoying being changed more (this used to be the WORST thing in the world!) He has smiled occasionally, and Nate said he even heard him laugh once. He likes to stare at our faces, and will follow things with his eyes. He makes little "eh" noises alot whenever he's awake.

He still likes being swaddled and sitting in his vibrating chair. Those can usually calm him down, even though he rarely gets upset unless he needs something. He has started using his pacifier more as well. He is still a big mover, and will move himself around in his cradle or on his blanket while on his back. He is already in size 1 diapers, and wearing 0-3 month clothes, though we have some of those that are starting to get a little small on him.

I've enjoyed getting to stay home with him, though it is difficult to get much done. I have to make good use of the times he's asleep. Luckily I've usually been getting a good night's sleep so I don't have to nap during this time!

We had Nate's parents come visit right after Carter was born and my Mother-in-law stayed to help out the next week. Nate's brother Eric and his wife came down at the end of July and stopped by to see Carter, and then my mom and sister came down at the end of July with my nephew Jaxon. Now Nate's parents are here again along with his sister Rachel to watch Carter while I'm gone all this week to in-service at school. Even though I'm taking 7 weeks off at the beginning of the school year, I still have to get my in-service hours. Thankfully they were able to watch him so we didn't have to figure out something else!

We have been enjoying being a family of 3 and cant wait to see what the next month has in store! Here are a few pictures!

Jaxon giving Carter kisses!

Stationery card

Check out the birth announcement I made for Carter! Thanks to Taylor and Jen Howard for taking the cute pics of him!

Hopscotch Time Blue Birth Announcement

Create beautiful birth announcements with Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.