Carter's 1st Birthday celebration

We celebrated Carter's birthday just the four of us at home on Carter's actual birthday as well as a celebration while in North Carolina.

We got Carter a new push bike.  We also got Maddie a special gift to celebrate.  Here they are on their new wheels.  They love them!

This is one of my most favorite photos of them.

This picture shows his cute pre-haircut fly aways haha

He wasn't really into eating the cake, but rather just playing with it, squishing it between his fingers and rubbing it all over his face.

When we were at home in the States, we also celebrated with the family.  It was so fun to have all the cousins together.

He had a lot of help opening presents :-)

Carter: 1 year old!

What's new

He can sign "more" and "all done", wave, clap, blow kisses, high five, and understands a lot more than we know.  He knows who we (three) are, he understands things like "do you want to go outside?" or "bathtime" or "eat/drink" or "go get the ball/car."  He can say "uh oh" ("uh uh") when he drops (or intentionally throws) things, he can say "ball" ("bah"), and even though they sound similar, he says "Maddie" and "Thank you" ("dah dee").  He can also say "more" ("moh").

He's pulling up on everything but isn't super steady.  He loves balls-he throws and rolls them.  He loves cars and trucks.  He loves playing in sand.  He loves his bike that we got him for his birthday.  Now at 13 months, he is cruising on everything-walking around holding on to things to keep steady.  He loves his walker toy that Nana and Papa got him for Christmas.  He goes in circles around the family room and kitchen then back again.

He had 5 teeth at 12 months, and now at 13 months,  he has 7 teeth.

He also constantly has bumps, bruises, and scrapes all over.

Brother and Sister

In honor of National Sibling Day which was yesterday, which I didn't even know existed until my social media began blowing up with posts and pictures honoring it, here is my post-

Boy, have we come a long way!

They're getting along pretty well.  They copy each other all the time.  When they wake up from their naps and in the morning, they look for the other one.  When he is still sleeping, she wants to wake him up to play.  If he falls asleep in the stroller, I am pulling her away or distracting her from waking him up.  They make each other crack up all the time.  They kiss each other.

She is still wild and rambunctious, but knows how to be gentle with him.  She understands her capability to hurt him.  When she accidentally really hurts him and we can all tell by his cry, she gets really upset and usually cries (especially depending on my reaction).  I still need to remind her every now and then, "when he cries, that means that he doesn't like _____" (i.e. when you roughly brush his hair with your hard plastic baby doll brush or when you throw the ball at his head or when you snatch a toy out of his hands).

She loves to point out that she is his sister and he is her brother.  She'll also point out her friends, like, "He is her brother, just like Carter is my brother!!"

Now here we are, almost a year in to having these two little people in our home, and I can't imagine not having them here with us, together, as sister and brother.  What a blessing!

Carter: 11 months

TODAY, this little boy is 11 months old.  My next update will be his BIRTHday.  And it wouldn't be the first time I've cried thinking about him growing up way too fast.  Both these little kiddos.  Gah, what am I going to do?  If I'm a mess now, boy, will I embarrass them when it comes time for events like the first day of kindergarten or any graduations, for that matter.

Back to this blue eyed, red haired angel baby of ours.  This little baby is really becoming a little boy.  He has opinions, preferences, and a personality of his own.

What's new
Carter loves to blow kisses, wave, play peek-a-boo (or cuckoo here) in the curtains, clap his hands, and push doors open and closed.  He's crawling faster going from one room to another.  He understands who "mama", "dada", and "Maddie" are and looks for them when you mention them.  He loves to pull things off shelves, empty out bins, baskets, and bags, take puzzles apart, and turn the pages of books.  He's enjoying walks in the stroller.

He still LOVES his mommy.   If I'm in sight, he'd like to be near me, pulling up on me, fed by me, held by me, even better with my full attention smiling and talking right at him.

Still grinding those teeth

He's not interested in the iPad or shows.  If Maddie is watching a show and laughs, he copies her and laughs.  In fact, they love to copy each other.  He's really ticklish and has the best belly laugh.  He likes to pull up on things to stand up or get up on his knees like the dishwasher.

Getting into Maddie's markers and crayons while she takes a nap.

He still only has 3 teeth-the 2 bottom and one front top tooth.  That second top tooth is driving me nuts.  It's been 3 weeks right there, the gum is red, and it's obviously bugging him.  He's never had a problem sitting in the car seat until recently.  He really wants to see me, hear me, or touch me, so a lot of times, I have to reach back and hold his hand or rub his cheek while we're driving home.

Sleep
Not much new here since last month...most nights he sleeps from 7pm-6am waking once or sometimes not at all.  His teeth have been bothering him a little, so every now and then he'll wake up twice.  He's up for the day between 6-6:30am.  He usually takes 2 naps a day, about an hour each, but it changes depending on our schedule.  If we're out in the morning, he usually just gets a cat nap or none at all.  I do make it a high priority to put them both down at the same time for an afternoon nap.  They usually go down between 1-2pm every day.  (Sanity, anyone?)

Eat
Not much new here either.  Lately, he's been eating: chunks of bread, yogurt, about 4 oz of whole milk a day, raisins, green peas, pureed carrot and apple sauce (favorite!), chunks of banana, chunks of cheese, baby oatmeal with fruit puree, sweet potato puree, other purees I've made like pears+quinoa, beets+blueberry+banana, rice cakes, saltine crackers, animal crackers, cut up grapes, scrambled eggs, he even ate up a piece of deli meat torn up a few days ago.

They say that girls are made of sugar, spice, and everything nice.  Well, I could strongly argue that.

Maddie at 11 months.

An accomplishment

Just a few days ago (a couple days after I wrote his 10 month update), Carter realized that he can actually successful crawl to get somewhere.  He is getting better and quicker by the minute.  And he is so happy about it.

It doesn't feel like just an accomplishment for Carter, but for us, too.  He's been crawling for weeks now and I still get so excited to see him move to grab a toy.  It's been so amazing to watch his confidence grow as he learns.

My mommy brain was thinking all sorts of unnecessary worrying thoughts--will he need physical therapy or some help to crawl? are his gross motor skills delayed? what should I be doing to help? why is it taking him so long to get the hang of it when other babies his age are crawling?

I definitely learned one thing: scouring the internet for information can be super discouraging and dangerous to the emotional mommy.  It's easy to say "every child is different" but it's nearly impossible not to compare your child to others.  It's also way too easy to think that it's something I am doing wrong or not doing enough of another thing.  I think the most comforting comment I've ever heard about parenting was this:

You were chosen to be (Carter's) mom.  Nobody else could fill that role but you.  Find confidence in the sovereign power of God and His plan for your family.  God chooses exactly the right parents for each individual child.  The parents that are best equipped to support, grow, and nurture that child's gifts and abilities so that he/she reaches their full potential.  Only you are equipped with the right talents, gifts, dispositions, and decision-making abilities to raise (Carter) the way God intended, because He chose YOU.

How amazing, right?!  As a parent, insecurities abound and every where you look, it seems that someone else is better which makes you feel less of a parent.  Even so, there are so many choices and decisions to make as a parent even by the minute (lately I've been focusing on my reaction to certain situations which is a challenge in itself) - not to mention all the changes that a child goes through in the first few years of life.  I definitely need this reminder every single day--to remember that this entire thing called life has been planned far beyond myself.

All I know is, I am feeling beyond thankful for this seemingly big accomplishment, but even more thankful for being chosen to be his mommy.

Carter: 10 months

We are getting close to his birthday and I kind of can't believe it.

He brings all of us so much joy.  Just today, him and Maddie were "taking a trip to China" together, which is her favorite thing as of late.  She had her Dora backpack all packed with necessary items like Little People and a blankie.  She got her backpack on and with Carter sitting up, she pulled him by his feet all over the apartment.  He thought it was hilarious and they were giggling for a good 15 minutes together.  Then she jerked him a little too hard and he felt backwards (oops!!).  It was heaven while it lasted to hear both giggling.

He went shopping with me for an afternoon last weekend.

There's really not much new to share since last month besides more teething.  His top front left tooth took a good 2 painful weeks to come in and it looks like the top right tooth has just started.  The top two were the worst for Maddie and it looks to be the same with "Bubba" as she calls him.

He is mobile to a certain extent but is so frustrated that he isn't fast or efficient as he'd like to be.  He isn't full on crawling but can do a very slow army crawl or scoot himself along the hardwood floor in sitting position.  He likes to sit so much that he now can go from laying on his belly to sitting position quite easily.  He pulls up on things to get on up on his knees and sometimes on his feet.

I love this outfit on him because it's almost the exact same color as his eyes :-)

Eating
He loves milk.  I give him 2-4 oz of whole dairy milk once a day.  You aren't supposed to until 12 months old, but he loves it and that's the only way he'll take a bottle.  I change up when I give it to him so he's not used to a particular bottle every day.  It's definitely really nice to know he'll take a bottle if I am apart from him for more than a couple hours.  Other than that, not much new here.

Sleeping
He is getting into a good habit of sleeping all night.  About half the time, he sleeps from 7pm until around 6:30am.  The other half, he wakes up around 4-5am to feed.  Since teething lately, he isn't napping well, but in general, it hasn't changed.

Now that he has his bottom teeth and one top tooth peeking out, he has a habit of grinding them together.  It's a pretty horrible sound.

Madison at 10 months old.

Sleeping babies

A sleeping baby is quite possible the most delicious, lovable, kissable, cutest thing that ever happened.  If you have ever held a peaceful sleeping baby, you definitely get it.  I could take pictures of sleeping babies every day and still find it beautiful.

Some people have babies that fall asleep any time, anywhere.  Do babies that sleep all night from the start even exist?!  Maybe so.  I wouldn't know.  

Enter: the sleep saga.  So many conversations with different people, especially other parents, end up revolving around our kids sleeping habits which inevitably affect our sleeping habits unless your like one of those husbands that pop ear plugs in every night.  

It's so cute but such a bummer when they fall asleep for a short nap in the stroller because that means NO good longer naps at home in their own beds (at least for her, that is).

I sleep trained Maddie at six months by letting her "cry it out" for two weeks.  She was only waking up once a night but after those two weeks, she wasn't waking up at night.  She would go usually 11 hour stretches.  She's always been an early riser and we've grown accustomed to waking up between 5:30 and 6:30am for the last 29 months.  She's also not a long-nap taker.  We're used to her getting about a 40 minute nap in every day and if she's super tired, she sits up or moves around, then naps for another 40 minutes or so.  If that happens, she always wakes up extra cheerful and lovable.  I get at least three kisses right when I pick her up and she says "I love you, Mama!"  Shortly after she loves on me, she asks for Carter and then exclaims, "I love you, Carcar!"

Having a baby is enduring some kind of change in routine almost on a weekly basis.  I was scared of each change.  When we moved her from the pack in play in our room to her crib around 3 weeks old, then each time we moved or traveled for multiple days, going from formula to dairy milk, going from bottles to sippy cups to nothing most nights before bed, going from crib to pack n play to toddler bed, and all the other little things I'm forgetting.  I watched a Gray's Anatomy recently (because I am hooked and just started watching the show for the first time ever about a month ago on Netflix), and one of the themes was that it's okay to be scared because that means you have something to loose.  So yes, I was scared with each sleep change because we all had sleep to lose. 

The stool was promptly removed from her room after this.

I just want to share one thing in case you are a parent with a similar strong willed, independent child.  Just so you don't feel like you are the only one because I did until I read more online about it: we locked her in her room when we started the toddler bed.  We don't have to lock it any more because she rarely even gets out of bed once we put her down (unless her stoplight alarm clock turns green in the morning).

Now, I am a proud parent of a little two year old who goes to sleep without bottles of milk, in a toddler bed in her own room, falling asleep on her own for naps and bedtime.  It feels like such an accomplishment after a long rocky road!  

Now I get to do everything all over again.  On the other hand, this little boy is totally different than his sister, so it feels like a big new challenge.  The only thing is, I'm not as scared, because I'm aware of the ability to function with nearly no sleep at all.    

Carter actually took a pacifier or "binky" which was pretty nice.  He no longer wants it.

We sort of "sleep trained" him for the two weeks after Thanksgiving by wearing ear plugs and keeping our door closed.  When I took them out, it just seems like his nighttime sleep is so inconsistent still because of a dirty diaper or acid reflux or just being a really light sleeper.  In general, though, I feed him once or not at all from 10pm-6am, which is great considering that I went for three months waking 5-7 times a night.  But then each time we travel, we regress and have to get back into our home routine.

He also refuses the bottle.  He was taking it a little bit for a couple weeks but now we have a very picky milk drinker.  Hopefully this doesn't last too long because Mommy would like to have a break longer than 2 hours.  He hates formula but seems to like dairy milk.

Aren't those cheeks irresistable?! And those thick little hands!

All this to say, and I'm convinced that you have to expect and accept no good sleep for the first three years after a baby because there's no telling what it will be next: poopy diaper, teething, pee through the diaper, night terrors, nightmares, traveling, sickness, scared, lonely, or just stubbornness.  Maybe some would even say that once you have a child, you won't sleep well again.  I don't even want to imagine staying up late when they're teenagers coming home after curfew!  (...I've cried multiple times holding these two little ones thinking about how these moments are flying by...)  Parenthood is such a journey.  Tough and rewarding all at the same time.  I'm glad that I have a great man to walk beside on this journey because I don't know if I could do it alone.  

She was protesting her nap with a tantrum on the floor and ended up falling asleep after almost an hour of fussing.

He is now a side/belly sleeper (without the pillow). 

On my birthday, I spent the day with the two greatest gifts...

We do have a newly developed challenge now.   Maddie wants binkies, bottles, and bibs nearly every day.  We have talks about big girls all the time.  "But big girls get to eat cookies, go down the slide, jump on the bed, eat pizza, eat ice cream, eat lollipops!!!!"  I try not to make a big deal about it and distract, but she loves acting like she's a baby.  

I do recall being six years old when Amy and Aaron were born, thinking that it was so cool to drink chocolate milk out of their bottles.  

As long as they don't have a binky or diapers when they go to kindergarten..........