Carter is 6 (1/2 now...) months!

Oops! I'm a little late! Carter had his 6 month appointment a few weeks ago and he's doing FANTASTIC! He's such a big boy! He was 28" (90%), 18 lb 2 oz (70%) and his head is 85%. Whatever happened to our little baby? This kid's a big boy!! He's getting more and more fun, too. He's incredibly antsy (hmm I wonder where he gets that from) and always wants to be on the move. He thinks he's more mobile than he really is. He now does this wiggle-bum thing when he's on his tummy, apparently thinking it'll get him somewhere. It won't be too long before he's crawling! I tried to catch it on camera, but he doesn't do it too much:

Carter has also started to get his first teeth! They've officially broken through the gums and we can see and feel 2 little sharp teethlings. They're not enough that I can officially say, "He has his first tooth!" but we're getting there.

We also brought Carter to the craniofacial specialists at Children's Hospital a few weeks ago and they said on a scale of 0-4 with 0 being no problem and 4 being majorly deformed, his skull is at about a 1 1/2, which is pretty borderline for needing a helmet. We further discussed it with his pediatrician at his 6 month appointment and he said he was really pleased at how Carter's skull was rounding out, and that he wouldn't suggest getting a helmet anymore. We think it's gotten a lot better, too, and should continue rounding out as he gets older. So he is officially NOT getting a helmet! Woo hoo!

We've been pretty busy getting ready for Christmas and can't wait to celebrate Carter's first Christmas ever! Merry Christmas everyone! Here's a few recent photos:

Sitting in the Bumbo waiting for dinner! He's almost outgrown it and DEFINITELY won't sit still in it. Guess what he's getting for Christmas...a high chair!!

Carter got to meet Santa at the church Christmas party. At first he freaked out a little but then he's like, "Meh, whatever..."


Carter likes to sit on Daddy's shoulders. He LOVES to feel Daddy's hair. It's really funny! He will sometimes laugh and laugh while he strokes his hair.

Funny happy boy. He loves to stand and bounce.

Carter in his church clothes after a long day at church. He was glad to be home!

Carter at the Beach

I was finally able to download a video!! This is Carter's first time at the beach...he doesn't do anything incredibly interesting, but at least it's something!

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving Tyler and I took a long road trip. We first went to San Luis Obispo, CA to visit Tyler's family. Carter got to meet some new family members, including his newly arrived cousin Milla! Here they are together...Milla at 1 month and Carter at 5 1/2 months.

Carter also met his Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Wallo for the first time. He had a blast playing with them and they were nice enough to have us over for dinner one night.

We spent Thanksgiving with Tyler's family, then went over to visit his Grandma and Grandpa Andrus and Uncle Danny and family, and then I finally got to go see New Moon! I thought I'd hate it, but like the rest of America's teenie-boppers, I loved it.

We spent a lot of time around the house spending time with everyone. Here's some of Carter's fun with his Grandpa:

On Saturday we brought Carter to the beach for the first time! It was a little cold and windy, but a lot of fun. Carter enjoyed playing in the sand and looking at the water. Really, he had no idea what was going on but we enjoyed the moment!

Carter with Grandma Kim and Grandpa Dan

...and cousin Milla!

Milla in her mommy's cool MOBY (I think I want one!)

3 generations of Wallo men

After the beach, Carter's grandparents graciously offered to watch him while Tyler and I went off on our own to the Melodrama in Oceano. They did a trio of plays/skits in a Holiday Extravaganza. It was a lot of fun, and as always, nice to get out baby-free!

On Monday we went to spend a little more time with Carter's Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Andrus,

then drove out to Morro Bay.



On Tuesday we drove out to Reno to visit my parents. Unfortunately I didn't get out my camera, as Carter's Grandma Cyndi always takes an ample amount of pictures. I will get them from her one of these days. We had a great time visiting with them, and went bowling and miniature golfing, as well as visiting the world's largest sporting goods store. My grandparents also came out on Thursday and Carter had a great time getting to know them better.

Overall, Carter drove in the car for 38 hours (what a trooper!), saw 2 sets of grandparents, 3 sets of great-grandparents, 1 new cousin, 3 aunts and uncles, and a whole bunch more extended family! By the end of the trip Carter was so ready to be out of his car seat and all 3 of us had bad colds, but it was well worth it.

Nap time!

We are going out of town on Tuesday, so I thought I'd post something before we left! We've finally drawn the line and are making Carter nap on his own in his crib now. Previously he'd take daily naps with Daddy, but we discovered it took him a lot longer to get down at night after being used to falling asleep with someone. Carter's done great, and he's a lot happier when he's well rested. I don't know why we waited this long! He's also started sleeping better at night again. The past month or so he would wake up 2-3 times a night, but now he's sleeping really well through the night again, usually only waking up once. It's been really nice, but I'm sure this trip will probably mess it up for him again.

We're excited to be able to see family over the next couple of weeks and allow Carter some time with his grandparents. Happy Thanksgiving!

Daddy & Carter relaxing (not napping!)

Bath time! Carter can sit up on his own for short periods of time, now.

Happy boy! This is one of my favorite pics of him to date :)

Tyler & Carter again

Chewing on his exersaucer toys

Play time!

I also had a couple of videos that wouldn't post...one of him rolling from his back to his tummy (a few weeks old) and a recent one of him playing in his exersaucer. I love being able to blog but blogger can't really handle videos longer than 10 seconds apparently... Just imagine him being really cute!

Our Cute Little Giraffe

This year for Halloween we went down to Portland for Tyler's cousin's baptism. It was fun being able to spend time with family and we went ahead and dressed up Carter as a giraffe! We thought it was a little ironic since he doesn't have much of a neck...



...and some more pictures...




On the 4th Carter turned 5 months! It's hard to believe he's been around that long...he's getting to be so big and we love our little boy!



Carter also learned how to roll from his back to his tummy a couple weeks ago and does it CONSTANTLY. The problem is, he doesn't like being on his tummy but seems to have forgotten his previous skill of turning from his tummy to his back. So he'll sit there for a few minutes happy with himself, realize he's on his tummy, and then cry until we flip him over. Silly boy.







We had a few tragedies occur to people we love the last couple weeks and it's given us a new found appreciation for our little guy. Life is precious and every minute we have with him is a gift. We love him so much and are so grateful to have him in our lives!!

On another note, Carter went in to the doctor this week to get his skull checked again. The doctor wants us to go meet with a team of specialists at Seattle Children's Hospital to see if he needs to be fitted for a helmet. (For those of you who don't know, the back-left side of his skull is flat and the back-right side sticks out) She said it's all completely up to us, that it's a cosmetic issue more than anything, but that his skull will be hardened by 9 months so if we want to get it fixed we need to do it now. We're not sure what we want to do at this point, but will at least meet with the doctors. Any recommendations from anyone out there as to what to do? I hate the idea of having my little guy have to wear a helmet 23 hours a day for 3-4 months and I think he'll hate it too, but it is just a short-term thing. We'll keep you posted on what we decide to do.