Can't sit still

Today, they had a meet & greet with the toddler teachers at school...and he was so much fun to watch. Carter was all over the place, mostly chasing balls and pausing to look back and make sure I was still there before moving on to find another ball. He would run back over to me and fall into my lap, laugh hysterically and then get right back up and go running around.

He was also really precious with one of his friends from his previous classroom. Ben moved to a different toddler classroom, but when we were all together this afternoon, Carter and Ben were reaching out for each other and laughing/talking with each other...it was too cute. The teachers for both boys told me that they find each other on the playground and play together. It seems amazing to me that they form friendships this early!!!!

It seems that Carter is always on the go these days. It is so hard to get him to slow down long enough to do anything that requires sitting down or standing still. He is actually a great sleeper...once you get him to the bed...but he doesn't want to slow down long enough to get there. In fact, here are some pictures from this evening...Carter was tired, but wasn't going to stop

Just one more trip to the toy cabinet

A recharge on the couch
Walking and drinking...why stop to drink?
On the floor with the blanket...this is the key move indicating it is time for bed

Looking Happy

Not only am I happy today, I look happy today (unlike Saban)! It is always great to watch SEC football on a Saturday, but good games and upsets make it even better. I won't try to take Allyson's place as the NCAA blog of choice in my blogging circle, but I will say that there were things I saw yesterday that made me happy. The Tide was much better at using the clock to their advantage; snapping the ball with 1 or 2 seconds left on the play clock rather than 10 or so. They really look like a much-improved team all around compared with last year. Now, there were also things that weren't so great...can we say "let's not check out because we are up 31 points?" But, I guess the important thing is that the Tide left Athens with a W, and you can't beat that... even especially in a blackout.

Roll Tide!

Now Arriving...

Carter's first tooth! Yes, folks, that's right...at 13 months, Carter is getting tooth #1. It is his bottom right front tooth, and it appears that tooth #2 (bottom left front) is soon to follow. It made its appearance on Wednesday...and, boy, are we glad. Not so much because I was worried about the lack of teeth (I figured they'd come in eventually), but rather because last night was the first night Carter has slept through the night in about the last eight days! Whew!

You can see the tip of the tooth peeking through...I know in this picture it looks like it is his left front tooth, but that is just because I'm pushing his lip over

This and That

My apologies for the blog hiatus. I guess there hasn't been anything that seemed particularly blog-worthy going on lately. We enjoyed a nice weekend of SEC football and time with friends.

Playing with the football in anticipation of a big Tide victory

Carter and I went to a birthday party for a little girl across the street on Sunday. He was so fun to watch. Although it was a one-year-old birthday party, the honoree has two older siblings, so most of the party-goers were older. I don't think anyone bothered to tell Carter, he was right there with everyone else. He was climbing all over riding toys, kicking the ball, pushing trucks, and playing with toys. We got to tie-dye t-shirts as our favor, and while the "big kids" got all day suckers for a treat, Carter got a ball--and couldn't have been happier!


After the birthday party, we headed over to Haley & James' house to watch the Giants game (James is a native NYer). It was great to spend time with them and Carter loved having yet another house to explore. Once he finally figured out how to get from the dining room into the kitchen without tripping over the ledge in the floor at the doorway, he was off and running.

Flirting with Haley

Now, we are back into our weekday routine, and Carter's teacher told me that he is doing really well at school. He has gotten past crying when I drop him off, and she told me that he is really getting a hang of the routine and rarely cries at all during the day! Yea! (wish I could say the same about me at work...just kidding...kind of...)


On a separate note, I have been turned on to Goo.gle Read.er, which has transformed my blog reading experience. It makes blog perusing much more efficient for me, which is key. I love to keep up with everyone...but sometimes I just don't feel like I can invest the time in searching to see who has updated. Goo.gle read.er does that for me. The only problem is that I feel like a bad blogging friend because I don't think you can comment from Goo.gle Read.er. So, if any of you are more savvy than I and know if you can or how to comment from there, please share. And for all of you...know that I am reading, even if I might not be commenting as often. I'll make it back around to commenting...probably on the weekend, during naptime, if I forgo a shower...

Afternoon at the Park

Nick and I both got off of work a little early today, so we decided to take Carter and Wrigley to the park to enjoy the nice weather. Wrigs hasn't been feeling great, so she was content to just hang close by and monitor what was going on. Carter wasn't really sure about it all at first, but he ended up liking it. The slide was his favorite!

Hanging with Wrigs on the swings

Dad pushing Carter on the swingRiding on the merry-go-round with Dad

Mom posing...Carter wants to slide

Sliding...at last! Look at Carter's smile!

Maybe I can get back up there this way!!!

Roll Tide!

We figured that it was time to start the boy's training! He is getting the shaker action down, but we are still working on the Roll Tide.

(sorry the video quality isn' t that great...I think it wasn't sure what to focus on...just thought it would give you an idea!)

Have I mentioned...

...that I love our daycare? This week was Carter's first full week in his toddler room. Overall, he did really well. He cried each morning when I dropped him off {completely gut-wrenching for those of you who have not experienced this}, and he was generally crying when I picked him up--mostly because he was tired or his future teeth were bothering him. At any rate, his teachers swore to me that he was having great days; playing, exploring and interacting with the other children really well. I believed them because last week they were the ones giving me an honest assessment that he wasn't doing so well. So, yesterday afternoon when I picked him up, his teacher gave me this little booklet with pictures of Carter playing, learning and having a great time. I was touched by her thoughtfulness and loved seeing the pictures from his week.

Surprises & Fall Weather

When we got back from our trip to the beach, our neighbors ran over to let us know that a surprise for Carter had been delivered in our absence. It was a birthday gift from Uncle Steve, Aunt Button & Uncle Ken--a push around buggy!

Carter loved it so much that he couldn't wait for Nick to finish putting it together before trying to get into it!

Then, of course, we had to take it "out on the road."

Thanks, Uncle Steve, Aunt B & Uncle Ken! Carter loves his birthday gift!

On a totally separate note, I can only say that I am so sad that fall weather is coming so early this year. I forget how quickly summer passes up here. In Alabama, you get to enjoy summer well through September and into October...and while I do enjoy fall weather for college football, I generally prefer to enjoy it at the end of October rather than the beginning of September.

I almost cried when I heard the weatherman say tonight that we would have temperatures in the 40s tomorrow morning! Are you kidding me? I am so not ready for this yet.

Girls' Beach Trip {plus kiddos}

This past weekend, my two best friends from college and I went to Gulf Shores for a long weekend. Mary Ruffin and I took our little boys, and Jennifer brought her oldest, Avery. We had such a fabulous weekend! MR found us a wonderful 3BR, 3BA condo that was perfect for our group. The beach wasn't crowded at all {though mine preferred the pool, which was an amazing zero entry pool that Carter loved!}, and we never had to wait when we went out to eat. All things key when you have three under 4 with you!

Can we PLEASE go to the beach now?

The little ones were so fun to watch play together. Avery and David played really well together, and Carter wanted to be one of the "big" children so badly. He managed to hang pretty well with them.

Playing on the bed before bedtime. {Can you see how excited Carter is that he is a "big" boy?}

We finished off our weekend before our flight home by spending some time with Bamma and Big Pat who were also down at the beach this weekend. We had breakfast with them, and while Carter took a little cat-nap, I was able to go with my dad to look at the house they are building! It was really fun to see the work that has been done. It is hard to believe {but great to think about!} that probably by the next time we make it to the beach, the house will be complete! Yea!

Carter playing with the answering machine at Bamma & Big Pat's house. He LOVES cause/effect things and figured out that if he pressed the buttons it would play the outgoing message.

Carter traveled like a champ. We had to make a connection, and I was a little nervous about doing it all alone, but he was great. On three of the four flights, he slept the entire time. The last flight, from Atlanta to Indy, he had some fussy moments, but was generally still really good.

It was such a fun weekend to get to visit with Jennifer and Mary Ruffin and spend time with our children together. Can't wait for the next fun trip together!

Goodbye Summer

Sadly, we said bye-bye to summer on Monday, as we visited the pool for the last time this season. It made me sad to see the note on the whiteboard from the lifeguards thanking everyone for a great summer and hoping to see us next summer. At least the weather hasn't figured out that it is after Labor Day!

Despite our sadness, we've had a busy week. Carter started transitioning to the toddler room at school. Tuesday was a little rough, apparently. They schedule for them to go to the new room the first day for two hours. If the child does well, they will just go ahead and keep them there going forward. Carter cried when he went into the room and cried when they went outside. His new teacher told me that when they came back inside, he went over to a futon and just sat there surveying the scene and then he was ok. However, when his two hours were up, he went back to his old room--and was the only one from his old room who didn't stay in their new room! :(

His teacher said that he did so much better today, but he was still in the infant suite when I went to pick him up. I blame our trip to the doctor for that. Carter was doing really well, but after he had been in there an hour, I had to pick him up to go to the doctor. Apparently, it messed up his schedule, and he got a bit fussy. He did well enough, though, that his teacher said to have him start the day in their on Monday...scary! I hope he'll do better.

Our doctor's visit was a success. She was super-pleased with how well he is developing...happy that he is walking, saying some words (around 10!), and totally off the bottle. He maintained his percentiles from our previous visit, so she was also happy about that. The stats:

weight: 21lbs, 12oz

height: 31 inches