No offical crawling yet...

but I would be surprised if Carter didn't start crawling any day now. We were surprised to find him sitting up in his bed this past week. So now he gets on his belly on the floor and suddenly moves into the sitting up position. At the point, he just prefers to "scoot" backwards. He's been taking pretty long naps so I am expecting either a growth spurt or a new milestone...crawling! Today, I put him down for a nap and heard him still playing 45 minutes after I put him down. Therefore, so far today, he has slept about 10 minutes on the way home from my grandparents house (since 7:30am!). I am hoping he'll snuggle with Aaron when he gets home and go right off to sleep!

A morning at the park

We went to the park on Saturday morning for a walk and to play on the playground. Right after we got to the playground, it started to sprinkle so Carter didn't get to enjoy the swing for too long. Video to come later (my files are so large and we downgraded our internet and its suuuper slow at uploading pictures and videos).

Poor little guy

This is the result after the Duke/State game where State blew another lead!!!

JUST KIDDING!!
But I did hear Aaron tell Carter (during the State/BC game on Saturday) "Carter, don't be a State fan. It's just too painful. " :/

During our fun snow day, Carter jumped head first off the loveseat onto the hardwood floor. We thought he just scared himself as he landed face up. Later that day, his eye was puffy and he had a little bruise on his forehead. The next day...
a black eye started to develop. Since Tuesday, it has changed in all different shapes and sizes. The worse part of it all is ALLLLL the people asking what happened. Poor little guy! Carter sits only on the loveseat or couch with someone beside him!

I wasn't going to take a picture but mom told me I should.

Kids Exchange

If you live in or around Raleigh and have children (or grandchildren!), you should check out the Kids Exchange. Its a HUGE kids consignment sale twice a year (January & July). Consigners get to shop early for selling at least 10 items. This time, I sold about 30 or so items and only had to pick up 6 unsold things today! :) I shopped on Thursday morning with mom. We went in search of summer clothes for Carter. It is crazy to think that we were buying 24 months size for Carter this summer! I got some really cute stuff! But my favorite purchase of the day was a pair of Sperrys!! They are size 7 (we are only in 4's now) but they were only $6 and look brand new!!!



Heather (a girl from church that's going to Meredith in the fall!!) watched Carter while mom and I shopped. We were there before 9am to get in line, shopped about 2 hours (1 hour 20 minutes spent just looking at clothes!) and waited in line to check out for an hour. I was exhausted!

Later that night, my lovely husband escorted me back to the sale to look for some toys. We got several Little People toys which Carter really enjoys. I am kinda surprised considering some of his favorite toys constantly make music or "do something"!

More Snow Day Pictures

Snow Day!!

On Tuesday,January 20th, we experienced Carter's first snow!:) The snow stopped about 2pm and we had 8 inches!! Since yesterday, we've gone out several times for short, short periods of time. We started off the morning pulling Carter in a trashcan lid but we wanted to lay backward. Later in the day, he upgraded to the swimming pool. Carter loves to be outside so he had a great time. We caught several videos too! (They take some time to upload so check back for those.)


Our house


The Fam


Carter's first sledding experience

Spelling in the bath tub

Carter LOVES bathtime...
splashing...
chewing on toys...
trying to drain the water...
turning in circles...
pulling up on the tub
and spelling his name of course!

I can't wait to see him in the pool this summer! :D

Playtime...

Here are some pictures of Carter playing in his room...
From falling off his car, rolling under the bed, playing with the farm and random ball toy (which he loves) to just chillin.

Aunt Rachel comes to Raleigh

On Rachel's way from Wilmington to Charlotte for Christmas break, she stopped in Raleigh and called us! :) We met for dinner with Rachel and her roomie Heather at El Rodeo for some yummy Mexican and hugs and kisses for Carter.

Visits from one of the best men & maid of honor

Aaron's best friend Matthew came for a visit in December. He lives in California and was in North Carolina for Christmas. We see Matthew when he is in NC so I am thinking its time we paid him a visit to CA! :) Ok, maybe when Carter is a little older. Carter enjoyed building and knocking down towers with Matthew.





We also had a visit from one of my bfs, Julie! :) Julie is a life long learner, tackling her fist year of PA School at Duke. We were glad Julie had a nice break from school for a visit. :) She brought Carter a Curious George for Christmas. :)




Kisses for Julie

NC State...

In attempts to save money, we no longer (for now) have season bball tickets...so we only occasionally go to games. :/ We went to a game at Reynolds (against Winston Salem State where 2 former Clayton HS bball players play that we know) and I was able to get a few pictures with Ben McCauley & Simon Harris. I love pictures with State bball players. :)

Christmas...and Sickness

I am so behind...

Christmas post will be brief.

Christmas Eve--Spent at my Aunt Deborah's house in Smithfield (my dad's side)
Christmas Morning--Spent at our house with Santa
Christmas Lunch--Spent at my parents house in Raleigh (my mom's side)

Day After Christmas--Off to Charlotte for Christmas with Aaron's family
Day After After Christmas through Monday--Off to Roanoke for Christmas at Aaron's grandparents house

We had a great Christmas and wonderful time with family. Carter got lots of fun stuff and lots of love! :)



Reading the Christmas Story




Checking out everyone's stocking stuffers


Playing with my new toy

I have LOTS of pictures..and since I am behind, this is the easiest way for you to view them. :)

Pictures #1

Pictures #2

Pictures #3

Pictures #4

On that Sunday night, I caught the 24 hour stomach bug and was miserable. The 3 hour ride back to Clayton was horrible. Aaron went to some friend's house with Carter to watch the State bowl game and stay away from me for a while. While there, Aaron started to feel sick and came down the with stomach bug on Monday night. By Tuesday night, Carter had it too. I had always wondered how would I know when Carter threw up and I found out. Carter is the only person I wouldn't mind throwing up on me. :) We hoped that Carter would only be sick for 24 hours but it lasted for 9 days!!! It was a miserable 9 days!!! Since Carter was throwing up, he was not allowed to drink milk (which is the bulk of his diet right now). He had a combination of rice cereal (with just water which we determined he liked better than mixed with formula), bananas and apples and attempts at Pedilyte. Carter was not interested in the Pedilyte...we served it in a bottle, sippy cup, regular cup, through a straw, popsicle form, shavings of popsicle, added water...still not interested. Luckily, he still managed to have wet diapers so we knew that he was not dehydrated. We survived that time with some visits from my mom to hang out with Carter. It was a rough 9 days. After the stomach bug passed and still to this day, we are battling teething issues. Carter's 1st teeth (bottom ones) snunk in in November with no trouble but these top 2 have brought on some fussy times. Every night we pray that when we wake up, those teeth will be in. No such luck, yet!

Randomness...

My mom and I took Carter to see Santa and it was not a pleasant experience. He's not a stranger anxiety kinda kid, he just doesn't like people in costumes (Santa, Mr Wuf).



Carter enjoys this little car. He prefers to scoot backwards. In a later post, I'll have a picture showing his exit method from the car.



Carter loves mirrors! Mirrors are a great distraction while shopping!

We are alive!

Man, I am sooo far behind and that doesn't make it easy to get caught up. We've been doing lots of traveling and had lots of sickness but I think life is almost back to normal. I hope to update more later...Carter is actually napping and I must spend this time doing things a little more important than blogging.