Salt, Teeth, and Ferries

We can't believe how big our little boy is getting!! He turned 8 months on the 4th and is more of a child than a baby now! He's officially getting into everything...including the salt shaker I sometimes forget and leave on the floor (when we eat at the couch). The other day we caught him a little late...he'd poured it all over himself, specifically his face! Apparently he likes the taste of it just as much as his mom.


Carter's still working on crawling, but is still only going backwards. That doesn't stop him from getting all over the apartment, however! He's so active and we really have to keep our eyes on him. He loves to play with non-toys, too, especially our spatula! He chats up a storm and loves being the center of attention. He's also got 7 teeth now! I keep looking into his mouth and seeing yet one more. It's crazy!

working on crawling

I'm not sure what this position did for him...but he was still trying to crawl

the beloved spatula

showing off a few teeth

I was trying to teach him to throw his arms up during the Super Bowl for "touchdown" but he didn't quite get it...although I saw him doing it while watching the Price is Right this morning (that's his favorite show, along with Wheel of Fortune). He'd throw his arms up when they were clapping and then wave at all the contestants! We think he's pretty cute.

waving hi

Last weekend we took the ferry across the Puget Sound for the first time! I don't know why we haven't done it yet, but we got an excuse when we went to visit our friends who live near Bremerton. Carter loved riding the ferry and looking at all the seagulls that went past. It's fun to do new things with him.






Carter is also enjoying playing with his friend Tiernan twice a week! This week he kept trying to stick his fingers in Tiernan's mouth...and Tiernan would then oblige and suck on them! They were too funny, although I put a stop to that pretty quick. They love to smile and talk to each other.

going for the mouth...

...trying again...he thought me pulling his hand away was a game...

Carter was holding his hand for a little while...too cute!

going for (supervised) hugs

2 cute boys! Carter @ 8 mos, Tiernan @ 4 mos

Here's a few more pictures and a video (if I can get it to download) for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

Head Banging Trouble Maker

Sorry it's been so long since the last update! Our computer caught a virus which wouldn't even let us reformat our hard drive! We called Geek Squad to see if they'd fix it for us, but the cost was almost as much as a new computer would've been so we used the rest of our Christmas money to go toward a new computer!!! It's extremely nice, but I'm mad at the stupid virus and miss the money. But now we've got a sweet new computer and can post videos, pictures, and updates for everyone who for one reason or another is interested in our lives.

I've been really busy the last month trying to get my heart issues under control, and it's still in progress! We found out in December that I had high cholesterol (which, may I just say, is RIDICULOUS!! I hate having the body of an 80 year old man...) At least my doc said it's not my fault...cholesterol that high at my age is 100% genetic, and the only way to treat it is by medication. Here's where it gets tricky...the best drugs are called statins, and you can't be on any statins and be pregnant. No, I'm NOT pregnant again, but I'm definitely not done having kids either, so we're looking at other options. I'm going to see a lipid specialist soon (still trying to get that appointment nailed down) and have gone to see a nutritionist. The goal for now is to lose weight through diet and exercising as much as possible, which means I also get to go to cardiac rehab! I went today for my orientation and met a bunch of old men who I get to exercise with. My nurse said I was the youngest patient she's ever had in her 20 years in this job! What can I say? Story of my life! I'm actually quite excited to start exercising as much as I can and get to go 3 times a week for the next 12 weeks! Hopefully we can figure out some sort of solution to this crazy cholesterol issue.

Our whole family has fought several colds the past month. Carter is over his ear infection but has come down with yet another cold! Tyler also got the 24 hour stomach flu recently and I've been fighting colds as well. It's annoying how often we've all gotten sick this winter! Tyler and I have both been busy with work. Tyler's work has put in some new equipment to make some changes to their ice cream, and he's been busy seeing that it's all running smoothly. I've been busy with a manuscript evaluation and watching Carter's little friend Tiernan twice a week.

Carter is continuing to grow and is getting bigger by the day. He's already in 12 month clothes! He is getting SO close to crawling but isn't crossing the threshold. He tries but just ends up going backwards somehow. He's much more mobile now, though, and we've discovered we have to keep a close eye on him or else he'll find some way to get into trouble. His most recent trick is head banging. He bounces and nods his head really hard back and forth! He's getting better at entertaining himself a little bit, too, and "talks" a ton. He's also started to spit while eating which I am NOT happy about! He used to be such a good eater but now as soon as he gets the food in his mouth he spits it all over everything, including me! I've tried saying "NO!", grabbing his hand, grabbing his face, and he doesn't seem to get it! I've even tried ignoring him, thinking he liked the attention, but nothing's working! Does anyone have any advice on what to do about this??

Anyways, here are a few pictures and videos for your viewing pleasure:

I read in my What to Expect the First Year book that Carter should be able to feed himself a cracker by now...but he'd never tried! This was his first attempt. He had a blast but most of it ended up soggy in his lap. The rest he just gagged on, but he certainly had fun doing it!

Carter's got so many toys now that we needed a big bin to put them all in! I just thought it'd be fun to let him test drive it before the toys.

After a bath

I was doing something the other day (I think making dinner) and when I looked over Carter had backed himself under the table! Silly kid.

Here is Carter waving hi:

Carter trying to show off a few tricks:

Fun in Atlanta

Happy New Year! To ring in 2010 we went on a trip to Atlanta! My brother James and his wife Alie recently had a baby girl named Mariah and we went there for her blessing. She's the sweetest little girl, and the first female grandchild for my parents, so it was quite the big deal. We had a BLAST out there! My entire family including my grandparents were there, minus my brother Don and sister-in-law Kim who live in Uganda...a little far to travel I guess. We had such a good time hanging out with each other, playing games, and letting the little cousins get to know each other.

Carter playing with his cousin Cohen

We also saw several Atlanta sites, including the Georgia Aquarium, which happens to be the largest aquarium in the world. Personally, I hate fish, so I was looking forward to the mammal population...but when we got there, the beluga whales, otters, and sea lions (basically all the mammals) were not on display. It sucked! We had a good time showing Carter the animals, though, and he seemed to enjoy himself.

Carter and his cousin Cohen looking at the fish and sea turtles

We also went to the World of Coca-Cola where we met the Coke polar bear, saw how they made Coke (which was, of course, why Tyler was so excited about it), and got to try different drinks that Coca-Cola makes from all over the world. The best was an apple drink from South America and the worst by FAR was a bitter soda from Italy...it almost made me vomit.

We also went and toured CNN, which was a little disappointing as we didn't get to see much going on. They didn't allow pictures to be taken, either, so nothing from there. We did spy Chuck Roberts, though. We also took a tour of the Lockheed Martin plant where James works. It was pretty cool to see how C-130's and F-22's (I hope that's right...) were made. Definitely a much slower process than Tyler's ice cream production plant!

Unfortunately I wasn't very good at taking pictures since my mom was there with her camera. We got several great group shots and some of all 3 cousins all together. It'll probably be a few weeks before I get those from my mom, but will post them when I do.

The bad part of our trip was that every single one of us got sick! Carter and I went out there sick already, but just got worse while there. My poor nephew Cohen got so sick with a high fever and other severe symptoms, so they had to bring him to the ER where they found out he had a double ear infection. Carter fussed the entire 5 hour trip back on the plane, and when we got home we brought him to the doctor and found out that along with a major cold and cough he also had an ear infection. Unfortunately, the antibiotics he's on have also given him diarrhea. Ugh. The only good thing about him being so sick is that he's really cuddly! It's such a rare event that I'm appreciating it. He's been pretty miserable for the last week. He's been sleeping and holding his ear a lot...in fact, while I was feeding him lunch the other day he did both in his high chair:

Carter is now 7 months old and is a BIG boy! I can barely carry him around anymore. He's now got 3 teeth and I can see 2 more working their way through. Is it normal to get 5 teeth in 1 month?? Fortunately only the bottom 2 really bothered him...at least I think. All this fussing from being sick could include some for these new teeth, I guess. He is learning to wave "hi" and "bye-bye" and is getting closer to crawling. He's also discovering the secrets of mirrors and that it's not a second mommy and baby in there.


So far 2010 has been a fantastic year and we're looking forward to the rest of it! Happy new year to everyone and hopefully this year will be amazing for us all.