RRRRIBIT, RRRRIBIT!

Carter's first Halloween was a huge success! Banks and Mary Reese so kindly loaned him their first Halloween costume so that he could be a frog tonight. And what a PRECIOUS frog he is! (if I do say so myself) He was a terrific sport. He didn't mind the costume at all, nor did he mind us dragging him around trick-or-treating. He even managed to grab quick snoozes in the car between stops.

Hanging Out with my Friend, Connor Murphy, on Halloween

Our first stop was at Deanna and Pat's house so that we could hang out with them and let Connor and Carter get their Halloween picture taken together. We can't wait until they can trick-or-treat together...it won't be long. After visiting with the Murphys, we headed to the Gilroys' house to trick-or-treat. Thanks to both families for having us hang out for a little bit. We tried to make a few more stops, but everyone was out trick-or-treating, so we missed a couple of people. So sad...maybe next time!

On a different note (yet equally exciting!), Carter got in to Lilly's Child Development Center! He will be in the Red Caboose room. I am beside myself with excitement! When I toured the center, I would have left him there that day if I could have (only I was pregnant at the time); that is how comfortable I felt. The children were so happy, the staff and teachers were incredible, and I just felt good about it, in general. We just got the call yesterday, and Carter will start on November 26th! Such a blessing from God. We have been on the waiting list since last January, and I have been praying that God would help us find the right place for Carter spiritually, mentally & physically, and I know this is an answer to our prayers. Please say a prayer of praise for our good news!

Happy Halloween!

Pictures from the Fishing Trip

Here are just a few of the pictures Nick took on his fishing trip this past weekend. Visit our shutterfly site (the link is on the right) to see more pictures of the fishing trip and some from previous hunting trips!

Big Weekend!

Really, a big long weekend. It started on Thursday with our two month visit to the Dr. Carter is definitely a growing boy. He weighed in at 12lbs, 2oz and is 24 inches long. I can hardly believe that he is getting so big. Dr. Bergstein asked us about Carter's sleeping habits, and we gladly reported that he has been sleeping about 8 hours (from about 11 to 7!) for the past week! She concluded that he was just showing off prior to his doctor visit, but he has continued to sleep well. (Let's hope that I haven't jinxed it!) He survived getting four shots and an oral vaccine, and so did I. He did really well, crying a little bit, but calming down pretty quickly.

Later on Thursday evening, our friends Deanna and Pat, had their baby! Since they didn't know what they were having either, we were super excited to find out that Carter has a new friend to play with--Connor Murphy! Carter and I went up to the hospital on Friday to meet Connor and check on his parents. All were doing well, and Connor is too precious! It was hard for me to believe that my 12 pounder was ever that small! And it was only 2 months ago.

To round out the weekend, Nick left on Friday to go to Tampa for a fishing trip for his buddy, Matt Taylor's, 30th birthday. Martie, Matt's wife, organized a boys' weekend fishing trip to help Matt celebrate, and Nick was excited to go. Yes, my friends, that meant that I was at home with Carter by myself all weekend! My mom kindly offered to come up and help me, but we decided to take her up on that offer when we go to Vegas for the weekend to celebrate Nick's 30th birthday in December.

So, Carter and I hung out on Friday during the day and two of my girlfriends came over for a girls' night on Friday night. Luckily, their husbands were traveling home from having been out of town for work at the end of the week, so we were all husbandless on Friday night! It was fun to hang out with the girls (and Carter), and it was nice to have some adult interaction. Carter and I also hung out yesterday and watched Gameday and some football, and now we are looking forward to heading to the airport to pick up Nick!

I am sorry for the lack of pictures, but Nick took the camera with him to Tampa. If he has any from his trip, I will post them soon!

How Special!!!

Isn't this precious? Carter is so blessed to have such a talented aunt! My sister, Button, cross stitched this precious design for our little one. I am eager to have it framed so it can find a permanent home in his nursery. (You can't tell very well from this picture, but it has his birthday and his birth weight in the clouds.) I just had to post a picture of it because I thought it was so cute and special!

On the Road, Again!

Yes, we made the trip down to Alabama for a second time! Our little man continues to be a great traveler. We went down to Alabama for the UA-UT game this past weekend...what a great day to be a Tide fan! Nothing like a 41-17 victory! It sure was fun to watch all the orange leave the stadium with roughly a quarter left in the game!

This was the first Tide game for me this year (even though I went and tailgated at two others!). A huge THANK YOU to Aunt Stacey for keeping Carter so that Nick and I could both go to the game. He told us that he had a great time! When we got to Decatur on Saturday night, Debbie was trying to teach him to ask for "prizes" at Target the next time he goes with Stacey!

On another note, as you can see from one of the pictures, Carter found his thumb this weekend. While I am not really excited about him sucking his thumb, it is nice that he can soothe himself. I just had to post a picture of it because it is too cute. Hopefully, we can break the habit before too long.

It is hard to believe that he is eight weeks old today! We go back to the doctor for his two month appointment on Thursday...and his official two month birthday is Saturday! Time sure does fly. I guess that means I will be going back to work before too long. Well, at least I have five more weeks as a stay-at-home mom!

Push Ups!

Our little guy continues to be such a delight! We are always amazed at the precious things that Carter does. This weekend, I put him on his belly for some tummy time, and he actually didn't scream (usually, he hates tummy time!). He looked too cute looking at me and pushing up--so I had to take some pictures. The picture of him sleeping is his TOUCHDOWN ALABAMA pose. Nick took that picture during the UA game this weekend, right after a touchdown. We generally call this "assuming the position" because it means Carter is down for the count...it is his favorite sleeping position. But, since it was during the game, we decided he was excited about the touchdown. Let's hope there are lots of reasons for him to give the pose this weekend versus Tennessee!

I survived the Babysitter!

Our precious son

Last night Nick and I had our first night out without Carter. I am happy to report that I survived! It was never a question of whether or not Carter would make it--always whether or not I would. I didn't have any problem leaving the house, but as the night wore on, I began to get more apprehensive. It turns out that he did really well--didn't fuss much and slept most of the time, according to our babysitter. She is a student at Butler and was recommended by our friends Stacey and Kevin--to whom we are very grateful! I had tried to find a babysitter all week, but Butler's fall break is this weekend, so many girls were out of town.

As for our night out, we had a great time with the Murphys, Firebaughs, and the Gregorys. We had drinks and dinner in Broad Ripple, and it was nice to feel like our former "couple" selves. Not that we would trade our parental status for anything, but it is nice to have a night out with other adults without tending to the little one. We also received some great tips and advice from the Firebaughs, who have three precious, well-behaved children--and we employed Aimee's sleep techniques with Carter last night, and it seemed to be pretty successful. We look forward to seeing if the progress can be sustained tonight! Thanks to our friends for a great night out (and a good night's sleep!).

Saying Goodbye to Summer

Our Happy Baby!

We enjoyed what will probably be our last hot weekend this past weekend. It was 91 degrees in Indy yesterday--super hot for October here! Carter has been enjoying the weather, too. He loves to be outside, so we walked to a cute little lunch place on Friday with my friend Casey and her daughter Maureen, who is almost 4 months old. It was a beautiful day and we were able to sit outside (in the shade) and enjoy our food, the weather and the company! Nick and I took Carter and Wrigley for a walk on Sunday, and we had Carter in the Baby Bjorn for the first time. We weren't sure if he was going to like it or not because he was fussing when I was figuring out how to put him in it, but once we got walking, he dozed right off! It was much easier than trying to navigate the stroller on the sidewalks, over the curbs, around the potholes, etc!

Nick was off work yesterday for Columbus Day, and Carter and I enjoyed having him home! We went to Petit Chou for brunch (yum!) and then Nick watched Carter so that I could run some errands child-free. I even had time to stop and get a pedicure, which was a nice treat! I am missing having him home today. :(

I am happy to say that Carter is getting to the point where he can be awake and content, which is really nice. It is much more fun to be able to play with him rather than just try to console him to get him to stop crying. He is growing and changing so fast...we go back to the doctor on the 25th and I can't wait to see how much he has grown. The bad part is that he has to get his shots this visit, but everyone says this is harder on me than it is on him!

Nick and I are getting to the point where we are ready to go out sans baby, so we have been meeting babysitters and trying to figure all of that out. What fun..we are reaching yet another milestone as parents! If anyone has any babysitters they recommend, please let us know. Now, if we could just get him to sleep through the night!