6 Months with Carter

March 28th-April 27th

Whew, this was a busy month for mommy!  Tax season is officially over now, thank goodness! Now I get my Friday's (and Saturday's & Sunday's too!) off to spend with baby Carter and Brent!  It was a rough few months, but I am so happy to have them behind me.

Carter with the Easter Bunny

We started off the month with Carter's first Easter.  We went to late Mass so we could have more time to sleep in, get ready for church, and check out what the Easter Bunny left for Carter man.  Turns out, he left Carter a beach towel for our summer beach trip, some teething & bath toys and pacifiers.  It was funny to see just how interested he was in his basket!  We didn't expect him to know what was going on, but he sure seemed to catch on quickly.

He really wanted whatever was in the basket! :)

After church, we headed to the Thomas family lunch.  There were 2 other babies born in October as well in the family that both made long trips in to visit.  It was fun having the three of them together!  Then we headed to the Smith's for supper.  Carter was a trooper that day.  He really did well considering how much he was passed around and how long of a day it was for us all.

Church on Easter Sunday

Sometime on Easter Sunday, Carter picked up on how to make the "BBBBB" noise from his daddy. (You know the one...where your lips are wet and you blow out to make the fart noise.)  He did that practically nonstop for the next week!  It's funny how he picks up on everything we do now.  The next thing he caught onto was sticking out his tongue with mommy.  I love seeing him learning from us, even if sticking out his tongue may not be the best thing to be teaching him!  He is also really studying our faces and wants to touch every part of them.  Brent said he spent one afternoon feeling his teeth!

Relaxing at home after a LONG Easter day!

We moved Carter to his crib during the month.  He really didn't object to it at all!  I just laid him in there one night and he kind of gave it a look over and then closed his eyes and went to sleep.  He has been rolling around quite a bit in there, and most nights he ends up on his belly asleep, but we feel okay with it as long as nothing is near his face.  He has had a few nights of full sleeping from about 8-8:30PM to 5-5:30AM, which is wonderful, but for the most part he is still waking up around 2/3AM for a bottle.  I'm hoping the pediatrician will tell me that he's okay and we can cut that bottle out, but for now I'm giving it to him. 

There's nothing sweeter!

A major, major change for both mommy and Carter was that we started supplementing with soy formula around the beginning of his sixth month.  I was barely making enough to satisfy him and felt like if he had more he would be happier, so I started by just adding a bit.  Then, my supply dipped even further as the stress of getting everything done by April 15th at work got worse, so I had to supplement even more.   I was having to give him full formula bottles quite a bit, and he was taking them just fine and his belly was doing perfect.  So I decided to slowly wean him to the formula, as he was doing well and my breastfeeding goal was 6 months anyways.  By the end of the month (on 4/18), I had completely stopped breastfeeding and Carter was taking around 5.5 oz of soy formula, still about every 3-4 hours during the day.

Shopping with Auntie Claire!

My grandma went on a trip to Rome in the middle of the month, so Carter went to his full-time babysitter everyday during those two weeks and will continue to do so from here on out.  He is loving all of the interaction with the kiddos there, and seems so incredibly bored when we bring him home!

Mommy & Carter before leaving for work/babysitter's one day.

He is teething like WOAH...full on drooling, whiny, chewing on everything, runny nose, feeling a little warm but no true temperature, chewing on his bottom lip and everything.  We have tried Orajel but it seems to make him spit up more than normal, so I am swearing by the teething tablets.  I haven't had to give him tylenol except for a few times thank goodness.  But the little toot hates it to have his mouth or nose wiped.  It's killing me!  I want to get that drool and snot wiped up constantly, but he turns his head and whines like it is the worse thing in the world!  I can't wait for an end to all of this drool.

Chewing on his bottom lip...we call it the "Delmer face"
after Brent's grandpa who always takes out his dentures!

As far as mobility, Carter has started scooting backwards when I lay him on his blanket in the floor.  He gets on his belly and just kind of slides backwards somehow.  He hasn't quite figured out what he is doing just yet enough that he can get to someone/something on purpose, but I don't think it will be long!  It's so funny because he gets on his belly and pushes his hands up and just kind of rocks back and forth and whines because he knows he wants to be moving but he just can't quite figure out the crawl just yet!

Sweet boy playing in the floor

Carter stayed the night with his Nene & Pawpaw Red while mommy & daddy went on a bachelor/bachelorette party on 4/20.  They said he was great (of course) and although we enjoyed our night out and our sleep, we really missed our little man and couldn't wait to pick him up the next day!

Daddy & Carter in their hats! :)

Our little man has gotten to where he knows exactly what he wants and when he wants it this month.  He even throws a temper tantrum sometimes, although it is mostly over bottles! Apparently we aren't fast enough for him.  But it is amazing to see how much he has learned and developed this month, I can't wait to see what the next one has in store!