Teeth!

Carter has his first TEETH (yes, plural), at less than 6 months! I took this pic to show the one, but as I look more closely I see TWO! They are not extremely visible, but when he bites down on your finger there is no mistaking that they are there. The first popped through a couple days ago, the second probably just today or yesterday. Actually, I am still not entirely sure that second one is through, but it is really close if it isn't.

Go baby, go! Blake didn't get his first tooth until he was more than 10 months old, so I was surprised that Carter got them so soon. I thought he would just be drooling unproductively for another 4 months. (It just adds to my conviction that poor Blake was malnourished for the first 6 month of his life before we had his allergies figured out.)

Carter is a much happier boy now that they are through!

Now if only Blake's top 2-year molar would stop torturing him and finally arrive...

Asleep.

Between Blake falling out of his big boy bed multiple times a night and also getting those nasty two-year molars, plus a baby Carter who just gets up a lot at night, no one is getting much sleep at our house these days...

Blake cried through what would have been his nap and then 45 minutes later fell asleep having a snack and watching "The Wiggles."

Big Boy Bed

Blake is in his big boy bed! Or, rather, we converted his crib by taking off one side of the bars.

Blake only fell out once the first night, and he was very excited that he could get back in "all by himself"!

Christmas Cookies

I let Blake help me make cookies this year! I'm using shortening instead of butter so he can enjoy them all. Blake tasted each ingredient as I put it in the bowl (except the eggs and baking soda) and declared "Mmmm!" after each! I let him mix a bit and then, of course, he cleaned off the beaters. Happy boy! My beaters were very clean!

Kisses

Blake leaned in to give Carter a hug good night and Carter eagerly reached out for his big brother, ready with an open-mouthed kiss!  I love that these boys love each other so...

Carter - Almost 5 months

 I owe the blog a lengthy explanation of all of Carter's health challenges and outcomes, but there is no time for that tonight. So I thought I should at least post some cute (ADORABLE) pics of our sweet little boy.

At his last doctors appointment (4.5 months, a little late due to an infection) he was in the 50th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height. So slightly taller than he is wide (the exact opposite of Blake). His head size is off the charts. But look at it! We love that big head!

He is so good at using his hands. He has a great mastery of them, picking up what I think are pretty heavy rattles, grabbing at toys (and Mommy's hair) and he loves to play with crinkly materials and soft toys.

The big news is we started giving him cereal the other day. Most babies just push it out of their mouth the first time they taste cereal - it is a process of learning how to accept and swallow the new type of food. However, this little stinker just gobbled it up! 

 It might not look like it, but he really did like it.

He acted like I have been starving him these past 4.5 months. The first feeding we only gave him a few spoonfuls since I didn't know how he would process it overall. But the next day when I fed him again I gave him more, expecting him to stop taking it so eagerly eventually. He just wanted more! Finally, after a half a bowl (about 2 T of rice cereal) I cut him off. Today I fed him cereal three times, and he took it eagerly each time.

We are looking forward to him (hopefully) sleeping a little better if his belly is full from cereal.

Brothers

It is SO sweet to see these boys enjoying each other! Carter has special eyes for his big brother. He watches his every move, and his eyes light up whenever Blake comes close. Blake loves to give hugs and kisses to his little brother and is consistently gentle (even if he sometimes doesn't want Mommy to pick up a crying Carter if it means that I can't continue playing with Blake).

Happy Birthday, Mom Mom!

Again, this is a very late post, almost a month overdue to be exact.

I had the bright idea of letting Blake help me ice a birthday cake for Mom Mom. Or, rather, I was going ice it and let him have a taste, and then he could help me put the sprinkles on top.  He loved the idea!

When I was mostly done putting the icing on the cake Carter woke up from his nap. I let Blake stay on the chair at the counter, but I pushed the cake out of his reach and gave him a small toy car to keep him happy while I went upstairs to get Carter. When I came back I found Blake contentedly...licking icing off his toy car! The little stinker found that he could just barely reach the cake if he reached WAY over and stuck his toy car in the icing! (Too cute to make me mad!) Unfortunately, I didn't think to take a picture of the crime.

 Then I let him put the sprinkles on. I gave him a demonstration first - I picked up some sprinkles with two fingers and dropped them on the cake. Blake picked up a handful of sprinkles and dropped them on the cake. Okay, I didn't mind so much that they weren't perfectly distributed. But then Blake decided he didn't like having sprinkles stuck on his hands so he brushed his hands together to get them off...sending sprinkles flying all over the kitchen! Ah, well. A very "sweet" memory was made!

I think he enjoyed the celebration (and the cake) more than Mom Mom, but that's okay with everyone. 

Happy birthday, Mom Mom!

Halloween

Knowing that we didn't have a lot of neighbors in walking distance, our kind friends, Brandon and Annie, invited us to their neighborhood to go trick-or-treating on Halloween. Since Mike was still hobbling with a cast, he stayed at their house and handed out candy with Carter, while we took to the streets.

Here you finally get to see our dinosaur in all his glory! And Nate is a little tiger!

Apparently he wasn't a very scary dinosaur. At least this little tiger wasn't very scared.

The tail was a bit of a hazard. But so cute!

After a little coaching the boys knew the drill...walk up to the door, knock, and say "trick or treat." Which Blake promptly followed with "Lolly pop please!"

It was hard to explain to a little boy that some houses actually might not have lolly pops! Why would a house NOT have lolly pops, after all?

It was such a fun memory, and we are very grateful to our friends for including us in their plans for the evening! Thanks, Brandon and Annie!

Harvest Party

Each year the church hosts a "Harvest Party" with games for little kids at the church, as an opportunity to enjoy a safe, non-scary environment and, of course, get lots of candy.

Our littlest monkey enjoyed the ride from the stroller. He was too hot in about 10 minutes, however, so most of the evening he sported just a white onsie!

It might be hard to tell, since the hood didn't stay on his head AT ALL, but Blake was a dinosaur! Despite a broken foot, Mike hobbled around to play all the games with Blake.

Here are some of our dear friends. The parents here get big props because they dressed up, too!

Baby Grace is one of Blake's favorite little girls. He talks about her all the time. And who can blame him?

Uh oh, Baby Grace, don't look now, but it looks like you might have a little competition! (A friendly greeting for Joanna.)

Here Grace is giving Blake little love-gifts of of leaves from the Harvest Party decor.

And Grace proceeds to take the flower out of her hair and give it to Blake. Needless to say, I think the admiration is mutual!

Here is Blake getting candy in one of the rooms. You will start to see a theme developing. Lolly pop here...

And here...

Still a lolly pop...

And yup, still a lolly pop. Blake (and a friend) plopped down in the middle of a very busy church lobby to enjoy their loot.

Blake is Two!

Before Blake turns 3 I better post some pics from his 2 year birthday party. (Blake's birthday was August 29!)

On the day that Hurricane Irene was expected to come through the DC area, we had a toddler birthday party planned at the "choo choo" park. It makes me doubly grateful for all the friends who came out to celebrate with us! The rain held off, but it was windy and very humid. Blake didn't seem to mind, however!

We prepped Blake for weeks in advance so that he would be ready to tell people how old he was, and we practiced singing the birthday song. He enjoyed it, even if the wind blew out all his candles before he could do it himself.

The mini-cupcakes were a hit (and this was Blake's first time having cake).

He got a new drum for his birthday. We thought he would love a drum with a strap that he could carry around (like he carries around his guitar). But he still loves best the tiny old drum I played with when I was a child, with a xylophone on one side!

Happy birthday big boy!

ABCs and 123s

Last week I was having a dance party with Blake, he was singing and playing his toy guitar, and what does he sing? The ENTIRE alphabet song from start to finish! I was shocked! Yeah! The best part if this is I am hardly working on the whole alphabet with him. (I've been doing phonics as I try to teach letters, and we are on "D.") He has a couple toys that sing the alphabet song and he must have been listening after all!

Then today as I was making dinner Blake started to count (I don't know why, exactly). And the little stinker counted from 1 to 14! Again, I was shocked. I don't remember ever counting above 10 with him, and Mike doesn't remember ever doing so either. But he must have heard it at least a couple times.

It is encouraging that, at 27 months, Blake is picking up so much on his own!

(Now, Grandparents, fess up! Who has been counting with our son?!)


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Oh so sweet, Carter

This is an old pic of Carter, but too cute not to post