Bring on the Food!

Surveying my options

Trying it out

Learning to drink from a sippy cup

Thanks, Steve & Emily, for the sippy cup--I love it! RTR!

Carter had his 9 month Dr. appointment on Thursday. Dr. Bergsten said that she couldn't be happier with his growth and development. He weighed in at 19lbs, 8oz and is 29 and 3/4 inches tall (35% and 90% respectively). He was NOT happy to be at the Dr.'s office and was as clingy as I have ever seen him!

We got the ok to feed table food and she encouraged us to start him drinking from sippy so that he could be off the bottle around his birthday. Carter started his table food yesterday morning--he ate pieces of a blueberry muffin at school. His teacher called me to say he was loving it! She said he was shoveling it in, licking his lips and fingers and just loving being at the table with everyone else.

Nick and I offered him pieces of banana, cheese, and biscuits this morning. He wasn't too into the banana and cheese, but loved the biscuit. He hasn't mastered the sippy cup yet, but he sure looks like such a big boy trying!

A Very Merry Un-Birthday!

Well, kind of an un-birthday. Today, Carter is 9 months old! I can honestly say that I have no idea where the last nine months have gone. I feel like I blinked and nine months, gone; just like that. I am trying so hard to soak it all it. I find myself putting off things on my to-do list, just so that I can hang out with him and watch him learn and explore.

Carter is such a delightful and fun little boy. He is generally happy and loves to play! He is incredibly interactive, both with adults and with other children. Carter prefers now to play standing up and holding on to something,and he loves to climb--on, over, around; people, toys, pets; It doesn't matter. He is pretty adventurous and can entertain himself pretty well. He just crawls around until he finds something that interests him. Safe sometimes, scary at others. I feel like I need multiple sets of eyes and ears just to make sure he isn't into something he shouldn't be.

Nick and I comment almost every day about what a precious child he is and how blessed we are to have him as our child. We are so thankful that God prepared us to be his earthly parents! We love you little one and wish you 3 months more of Very Merry Un-Birthdays until we will celebrate the big 1!

Look what I found

Can't seem to drink it

Maybe this will help

By the way, I took Carter to the pool for the first time yesterday. He hated it. The baby pool was freezing, so I skipped it and got into the big pool with him. The minute his feet hit the water, he started crying. Not wailing or screaming, just crying. I tried showing him how to splash like he does in the bath (which he LOVES!) and putting him into his float. Still crying. So, we got out and sat in a lounge chair wrapped up in a towel for a little while. No more crying. Then, I got up, holding Carter, to walk around the pool to talk to a friend. As soon as I began to approach the pool, more crying. There are no pictures because Nick was playing golf, and it was all I could do to get the two of us into the pool. So, we'll try again this weekend, and maybe we'll appropriately start in the baby pool this time. And, hopefull we'll have pictures to share!

Now, I've found the good stuff

Happy 9 Months Baby Boy!

The Finished Product

pulling the pork

pork pulled

ready to eat

...exceeded expectations! The pork was wonderful! Nick did have to contend with a few temperature issues--both with the Big Green Egg and the pork itself--but it was well worth it. The pork was incredibly flavorful, and I am looking forward to some leftovers this week.

We were able to enjoy a nice BBQ buffet, complete with watermelon and slaw, with some good friends and their children. I suppose if I had been really on my game, I would have taken pictures of the people to accompany the food pics. Oh, well. Next time.

Thanks to Nick for his hard work on the pork. It was delicious!

Boston Butts (aka Pulled Pork)

The ingredients for the rub and the injection

The butts prepared for the rub

Getting a little help

Injecting the butts

On the Big Green Egg ready for smoking

I hope all is well. I am embarking on my first attempt to smoke “Boston Butts” (pulled pork) this weekend. The fun began this afternoon by making the dry rub and the liquid injection. The butts were then rubbed, wrapped and refrigerated for 4 hours. They have now been removed from the frig and place in the Big Green Egg for the next 12-15 hours. A mixture of Apple and Maple chips were soaked all afternoon and joined the butts in the grill.

If you are within 1,000 miles, feel free to hop in the car and head this way. Hopefully, we will have a yummy BBQ sandwich waiting for you. I did smoke several chickens last weekend, so there is a back up plan if the pork does not work out. Seriously, if you are in Indy feel free to drop by tomorrow afternoon/ evening for a cold adult beverage and a game of “corn hole” (aka “bags” aka “tailgate toss”). We should have plenty of food and the beer will be on ice by 8:00 tomorrow morning. I will let you know how they turn out, Nick

This is what it looks like...

...when you are nine months old and trying to feed yourself!

Carter cracks me up these days when I feed him. He grabs the spoon (with his left hand!) and shoves it into his mouth. Some of the food makes it into his mouth, some doesn't. Most of the time, I can even guide him to put more food on the spoon and then put it back in his mouth. We are a long way from his eating by himself, but it is fun to watch him learn and try to be independant!

I was hoping that we could have our first trip to the pool this weekend, but this week has been so cool, that I am afraid the water will be too cold. Maybe if the rest of the weekend stays in the 80s, the baby pool will be warm enough to explore on Monday!

Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and thanks to those men and women, past and present, who serve our country!

BC

Crawling under my exersaucer

Yesterday morning I was making a comparison of life now to life BC (that is, Before Carter). He has been a little under the weather lately, and my champion sleeper had a rough night Friday night. So, yesterday morning, after a fitful night of sleep for all of us, at 7:30, I looked at the clock and chuckled to myself. I had already unloaded the second half of the dishwasher (Nick unloaded the first half and posponed unloading the second half when Carter decided to try to climb into it!), fed Carter, and was pouring a cup of coffee and toasting a bagel. Carter was happily playing on the floor in the den.


I chuckled because a year ago--or any time prior to that--here is how my morning would have gone: Nick got up about 6:30 to leave to go play golf. I would blissfully sleep until about 9-ish, at which point I would pour that cup of coffee and toast my bagel. I would then veg in my PJs for probably another hour. After an indulgent shower (can't remember the last shower I took without fear of a child waking!), I would start my day around 11ish with a focus on what I wanted/needed to accomplish for the day.


Just as I was running through the differences in my head, I heard a little one "talking" to me. As I looked over our counter and talked back, I saw the sweetest smile, complete with dimples, as Carter bounced his arms up and down in excitement prior to crawling towards me.

Blissful sleep is a very distant second. Scratch that. Blissful sleep isn't even in the race.

Welcome Race Fans!

We hope you like the trees!

As part of Lilly's Global Day of Service on Thursday, May 15, our Six Sigma team planted 60 trees at a park close to our office in the morning. In the afternoon, our leadership surprised our team and treated us to team building at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, affectionately referred to here as "the Track." It was a great day!

Nick and I went to the 2006 Indy 500, the first year we were here, so I had been to the track before and experienced the fun. However, as part of our team building, we were able to have lunch in the Lilly suite at the track and check out pit and garage passes to get up close and personal with the cars and drivers! I saw Danica Patrick, Tony Kanaan, Graham Rahal, and Marco Andretti. I saw others, but those were the only ones that I knew (or whose names I could see on their car!)

Danica Patrick

I didn't take my camera (planting trees didn't seem particularly picture-worthy), but I think it turned out to be a blessing. My colleague, Stan Chapman, had his camera and his pictures are far better than mine would have been. Thanks to Stan for sharing his pics!

Scott Dixon

As for the little guy...he and I have been a bit under the weather with some sinus/congestion yuck. I have a video of his pulling up to post, but I haven't transferred it to the computer yet. I will add it soon!

Happy Mother's Day!

We had a wonderful day. Well, as close to wonderful as it could be--the weather was the only thing not cooperating. It was raining and in the mid-50s today. :( Despite the weather, I had a great first Mother's Day. Nick and Carter treated me to brunch at Highland--Yum; one of my favorites. Then, I got to spend the day hanging out at home with my two fellas--with no agenda. In fact, Nick even did the laundry that was on my to-do list, so that I truly would have nothing that I had to do. It was such a great way to spend my first Mother's Day.

I also had a special treat when I picked Carter up from school on Friday. His teacher had helped Carter create a Mother's Day card with his handprints. It was so sweet, and although the handprints aren't very defined (I can only imagine him as she tried to do this--moving all around, trying to put his paint-covered hands in his mouth, etc), I know I will treasure it for a long time.

What a difference a year makes, huh?

Mother's Day 2007

Mother's Day 2008

I am so blessed and humbled that God chose us to be Carter's parents. There are so many things that I love about being a mom, and I love it more and more every day. I used to be annoyed when people would say that parenting and the love you have for your child is something that you really can't understand until you have a child of your own. Now, I completely understand. Some things are just beyond our ability to characterize them in words.

Helping Dad plant flowers

Bumps and Bruises

It appears that the little boy we have on our hands is ALL BOY. Which is to say that he is quite adventuresome and thinks he is bigger than he is. Thursday, I got back to my desk after a meeting to a voicemail from one of Carter's teachers. She wanted to tell me that he had been pulling up on a toy, fell and hit the side of his head on another toy. She knows what my standard questions are and answered them: Is he bleeding? There was no blood; it didn't break the skin. Is he okay? He is okay now. Is he happy now? He cried for just a little bit and we put some ice on it and now he is happy and back to playing. When I picked him up, if they hadn't pointed out the red mark on the side of his head, I would not have been able to tell. He was in a great mood and didn't show any signs of slowing down.

Yesterday, I was on the phone at my desk, and my message arrow appeared. When I got off the phone, I listened to the message, which was from Carter's other teacher. She wanted to let me know that Carter had fallen again and hit his head. He had been crawling over and pulling up on a futon (one that is on the ground) and pillows and fell forward over one of the pillows and hit his head. Again, they iced it and he was doing fine now. She said that she hoped this calling with Carter's falling events wouldn't become a daily occurance.

In the picture above, the red mark in the middle of his head is from bouncing around in his crib this morning when he woke up. The bruise over his left eyebrow (to the right in the picture) is from yesterday's fall. The mark from Thursday's fall is long gone in anticipation of what will certainly be another one to take its place.

Pictures from our weekend

Nick was out of town this weekend, so Carter and I spent the weekend hanging out. Saturday, the little guy got to hang out in his PJs for a while. I managed to snap a few pictures from our weekend together.

Mom, where's my bottle?

Okay. Now I see it.

Are you serious, woman? Enough with the pictures. Bottle, please.

After we managed to fill Carter's tummy, he was off and playing again. He has really perfected his crawling and pulling up! I'll have to post a video of the pulling up soon!



Having a little fun under the barstools.

I am officially going to give up on buying Carter toys. His favorite toys are the remote control, the telephone, sticks, the dog, and his newest favorite--water bottles. If anyone has any recommendations for (safe) household items that could be potential new favorites for the little man, please let me know! I suppose if anyone has recommendations for store-bought toys that he would like, I would be up for that. I think he is ready for some new stimulation!

All Over the Place

I have been reporting that Carter is quite the crawler, so I thought I would give you some video to support my claims. He is a little more tentative in the one where he is crawling outside. Nick had just cut the grass, and I think he was getting used to the prickly grass sensation on his hands.

The video of his crawling inside shows how busy he is--going from toy to toy to toy. Tonight, we were playing in his room and he pushed a truck under his bed and crawled under there to get it. Unfortunately, he couldn't figure out how to crawl back out, so I had to help.

Carter is truly the greatest blessing! I can't believe he is growing up so fast. I am trying to savor every minute!

The Truth...

Quote of the Week

--Nick talking to Wrigley (yes, the dog) about Carter--

"Wriggle P, he is a lot of work!"

Truer words have never been spoken.

though he is also the source of a lot of joy...