The Celebration

We had a wonderful time this weekend celebrating Carter's first birthday. The celebration started with Debbie, Aunt Andrea, Banks and Mary Reese coming to town on Saturday. We were so excited to see them and have them visit with us for a little while. Carter took a little time warming up to more people in our house, but then he loved having his cousins to play with! We spent a little time swimming at the pool on Saturday afternoon, and then Debbie and Aunt E cooked a yummy summer vegetable dinner that night.

We started off Sunday with a delightful breakfast then prepared for the party. Carter was so lucky to have family and friends help him celebrate his first birthday. Below is a chronicle of the party in pictures.

The invitation and its inspiration

The CakeCarter's very own cake

An impromptu game of Bocce ball...Banks found it in the garage and was dying to play!Alex decide balloons were more fun than Bocce ball

The birthday boy with his cake after a yummy dinner of Dad's smoked pork! A family portrait...note who can't stop eating cake!

All done! (He had icing all over his face, up to his eyes!)After getting cleaned up, there was even more fun to be had with Carter's buddy Miles.All Carter's party-goers received these precious cookies as favors, thanks to Aunt E's talent and handiwork...check our her blog for the full story.

Thanks to everyone who has played a part in making Carter's first year of life wonderful and for supporting us as we have learned and grown as parents. We also appreciate the ways that our family and friends have helped us celebrate Carter's first birthday!

Happy 1st Birthday!

Just a quick re-cap of Carter's 1st Birthday:

He rode to school facing forward like a big boy! He loved it!

While at school, they sang Happy Birthday and took him to visit the new classroom room he will be moving to in a week. When we got home, Carter got to sort all of his mail and read his Birthday cards from family and friends.

Then Carter got to try out his new red wagon {which his Mom and Dad just got around to getting in time for his birthday, even though Popsy and Gigi gave it to him at Christmas}. Again, he loved it!

After a nice dinner of chicken, kiwi and peas, Nick, Carter & I drove over to The Flying Cupcake to pick out a special birthday treat. Carter picked out the "Happy Birthday to Me" chocolate cupcake with madagascar vanilla buttercream frosting. We brought it home to celebrate {along with one each for mom and dad!}, but Carter wasn't so sure about it at first.

He decided to taste a little icing.

...and then a little cupcake.
Pretty soon it was all gone and he had to wash it down with milk!

We are so happy to celebrate Carter's 1st Birthday today. This past year has been so wonderful and amazing having him as a part of our family. We look forward to celebrating his birthday a little bit more this weekend!

Thanks to those of you who left Happy Birthday messages already {and thanks again to Emma Hensley for the B'day hat--I just altered it a little from his 1/2 birthday! :)}

Where has the time gone?

Carter on his elephant rocker

It hardly seems possible that our baby boy is about to turn one! As I have watched him over the past few days explore his new-found mobility, I am amazed at how fast time has flown by. I can honestly remember looking at the Lily Pie ticker at the top of the blog when he was about 3 weeks old and thinking it would be forever before it got to three months. And now...at almost 12...where did it go?

Carter is becoming more independent, and it is so much fun to watch him play and learn. The picture above is of him rocking on his elephant rocker {a special gift to me/Carter from Dad--I loved it and registered for it, but they discontinued it. Nick had PBK call around to locate one and ordered it for me. He brought it home the weekend after we brought Carter home}. He can climb on the elephant and rock all by himself, and, as you can tell, he loves it! The picture is a little unclear because he is rocking in the picture.

Carter has lots of new favorites...his favorite foods are Nutra Grain bars, Kiwi, Nick's smoked chicken, and blueberries. He also likes cinnamon toast and toast with blackberry jam, but he doesn't get these treats as often. His favorite noise to make is "woof woof," which sort of sounds like "woo woo" when he says it. It is too cute...he will spot Wrigley and say it, and he says it when you ask "What does a puppy dog say?" He also has two favorite "lovies"--his Little Giraffe blanket that Banks and MarMar gave him and a lamb snuggle buddy that he has at school {and brought home this past weekend, he was so attached!} Carter loves books, and his current favorites is The Muddy Hippo.

Carter has also made the transition to a sippy cup full time! No more bottles around here {thanks for the suggestions! I went cold turkey...he did great!}! Tomorrow is my last day to have to take bottles to school, only because they won't give them whole milk before their first birthday without a doctor's note--nevermind that he has been getting it here for two weeks. I have to admit...as excited as I am about not having to make bottles every night, I am also a little wistful. As I thought about all of the joy, love, excitement {okay, and a little bit of stress!} that we have experienced as he has transitioned from a baby into a toddler, I had to remind myself that there is more joy, love, excitement {and stress!} to be had in the years to come!

First Steps

Carter is nowhere near a full-fledged walker, but he is taking steps in the right direction {pun intended}. Yesterday was the first time he took any steps on his own, and today he has enjoyed experimenting with it a little more.

Wordless Wednesday

Into Everything **updated**

Carter is definitely making the transition from baby to toddler. The picture above is Carter trying to climb into Nick's lap last night because he wanted to push the keys on the computer. He is really into everything these days, and lets us know when he wants something. Unfortunately, right now that involves a fair amount of whining. We are encouraging him to use his words, but we have a way to go with this.

Carter is also soaking up everything around him. This week, he grabbed his brush and tried to brush his hair. It is fun to see that he is connecting items with what they are used for {rather than just putting them in his mouth}. I am also trying to get him off of the bottle. He does pretty well during the day drinking from a sippy cup, but he still seems to prefer the bottle both first thing in the morning and at night {meaning that he doesn't really drink anything from a sipppy, but will drink it all from a bottle}. Any suggestions?

On a sad note, it appears that Dontrelle has left us for greener pastures. We saw him on Tuesday before work, but we haven't seen him since. He is an inside/outside cat, so it wasn't unusual for him to be roaming, but I am afraid that he might not be making a return appearance. He hasn't ever been gone this long before, so I am telling myself that he must have found something or somewhere more exciting. He has a microchip, so if someone were to find him, hopefully, he could be returned to us. We have had him for 5 years this month, so I am so sad for him not to be with us anymore. We miss you, D-train. :(

**Dontrelle has returned! :) The twins next door just walked him back over to our house. They said they saw him chasing a squirrel in their backyard. Still no idea where he's been since Tuesday, but he was really hungry when he got here! After he ate, he wanted to go back out. My guess is that Nick's supposition was correct...he probably got closed in someone's garage. Welcome home, buddy kitty!**

On the move

...well, with help, at least. I finally bought Carter a push toy this weekend, and he has rarely stopped pushing it around our house since Nick put it together. He is actually really adept at walking with it, turning it and navigating around obstacles. We're completely convinced that he could walk by himself if he wanted to, but so far he hasn't showed any interest. As he has done with most everything, including his arrival, we figure he'll just get around to it when he feels like it.

It's a good life!

Now, I'm Exhausted!

I truly am wiped out. This week has been crazy at work, and next week shows no signs of being any different. In fact, if anything, it will be slightly worse. I guess it doesn't help that I am not super-excited about my job these days. I suppose it also doesn't help that I don't work on Fridays, but there is no way I could give that up right now. Sometimes, I think it is all that keeps me sane in my crazy work world with a job I don't love right now.

Anyway, other than work being crazy, I think that part of my exhaustion comes from chasing Carter around these days. He is really into everything! Last night, in the time it took me to unpack bottles from his cooler from school, this is what he decided to do:

He was so proud and having the best time. He had the cabinet open too, but shut it just as I took the picture. {The bottom drawer is bottles and sippies, so I always let him play in there anyway.}

Carter is still loving climbing the stairs, and no, we still haven't managed to put a gate at the bottom. I have a project list a mile long and absolutely zero motivation to tackle it. I suppose that keeping mychild safe should be all the motivation I need, huh?

Carter has also started getting into a standing position on his own this week. For a while now, he has been able to stand on his own when he lets go of something or when you set him down on his feet. But just this week, he pushed himself up from the floor when I was sitting next to him, balanced himself, looked at me like "what have I just done?", and when I said "Yea," he started clapping! (and remained standing!) It is too fun too watch.

What a Week!

Exhausted!