A Little about Carter...and a bit more!

Carter, also affectionately known as Bubby, is 10 months old now. After Carter was born and we got him home, we were sure he would be the best baby ever! My one desire more than anything else was that he would not be colicy like Anna was. Sure enough, though, Carter started crying every night, and just like Anna, he was mostly inconsoleable! With Anna, it seemed awful, and maybe because it was our second time around with a colicy child, Carter didn't seem quite as awful! We just got into a routine where I would wrap him in a blanket and hold him just so, and then just pace the floors of our tiny apartment singing or humming every primary song I knew! We got it down to a point to where he would only cry for 30-45 minutes and then he would go to sleep! Carter wasn't crying anymore at nights by the time he was 4 months old....hurray!

Ever since we got him home, Carter has been a great eater and sleeper! We learned a lot with Anna about what NOT to do! One thing I vowed never to do again was let my babies sleep in my arms! I let Anna do it, and she never would sleep in her crib! I had to teach her to fall asleep...whew, that's hard! With Carter, when he would get sleepy, I would feed him, and then put him in his crib, and halleluia, he learned to go to sleep by himself! It is the best thing any parent could do for their child and for themselves!

Carter is a happy little boy and he loves mom and Anna. When he started laughing, it was Anna that he would laugh for, not mom or dad! Anna has loved being a big sister and helps a lot...sometimes too much! I found her feeding Carter various things he would definitely choke on or things he just couldn't have yet! She is always piling toys on his lap and telling him what is and isn't OK to do!

Carter just barely started to crawl Memorial weekend and we are all so excited! Just like his sister was, Carter discovered he could walk holding mom or dad's hand, and that was all he wanted to do! If we layed him on the floor, he would cry like we broke his heart! So, for awhile there, we listened to a lot of crying from him as he pleaded with his eyes and his wails for someone to walk him around!! Anna would show Carter how to crawl all the time, so now when he crawls Anna excitedly tells me, "Mom, bubba's crawin, come see, come see!" She has also come to realize that now Carter can get to her and her toys....not good! She tells me quite often to take him somewhere else, to put him down for a nap, to feed him so that he won't get to her and her toys! Her newest phrase is, "Mom-mom, Bubba's buggin me! Yeave me ayone bubby!"

Carter is curious about everything, and has to explore every nook and cranny of our apartment! He loves books and paper and anything Anna has in her hands! He also loves little, minute pieces of anything left on the carpet, where he promptly puts it in his mouth! Then he screams and cries when mom has to pry it out of his mouth! Did I mention that I vacuum a lot? Carter eats heaps and mounds...he now weighs over 20 pounds and is in the 75% for his height! His favorites are macaroni and cheese, cheddar cheese, little chocolate chips, ravioli, bananas, apples, applesauce, graham crackers, ritz crackers, licorice and suckers, yogurt, green beans, beans, any pasta....list goes on and on! It has been so great to have a baby be such a good eater! Anna was the pickiest eater ever! Some days we wondered if she would end up just starving because of all the foods she refused to eat! Luckily she is growing out of that some!

Well, this post is long enough, and there will be much more to come! We love our kids more than life and it has been our greatest joy to watch them grow and develop and learn. Parenting has also been the toughest thing Russ and I have done and we rely so much on the Lord and those who have gone before us! Thank you to all of our family who have been such a blessing to us in our times of need!