9 Months with Carter

June 28th-July 27th

This month brought lots of mommy/baby time as daddy is working 7 days per week, 10 hours per shift.  This was supposed to increase to 12 hour shifts beginning in August, but thankfully, they have decided to stay on 10's for now.  Carter has been a good boy for mommy though, learning to crawl around and play a lot on his own.  Anything that is not supposed to be a toy has become his most coveted "toys".  Electrical cords, phone/laptop chargers, and balloon strings are his favorite for some reason.  If there is any type of electrical cord in sight, we have to barricade him from it or it is the first thing he goes for!  Such a weird child! :)

Just checking out the plumbing...taking after daddy! :)

Not only has he learned to crawl like a pro this month, he has also learned to pull up...causing this momma a head full of grey hair!  It is so stressful because he is such an adventurous, curious kid.  I have to watch him learn that pulling up on the swing doesn't work and learn how to go from being up to being down without bonking his head every time.  And he is constantly exploring, no matter where we are or what we are doing.  This is making things like church, grocery shopping, etc. (when he can't just get in the floor and check everything out) nearly impossible!  

One of his first times pulling up.

Carter is still saying "dada" all the time, and has pretty much stopped saying "mama" altogether unless he really needs something.  He loves to give us big slobbery, open-mouthed kisses and hug our necks.  He has even started patting our back (a bit too hard, but hey, who can complain!).  You can tell he is recognizing certain people now because he gets so happy when he sees the people he loves.  He has started waving bye bye most of the time now, I think mainly because he loves going outside!  He really enjoys just sitting on the porch and watching the cars pass by.  You hear them before you can see them, and every time he knows which direction it is coming from and will watch that way until he can see it, then he follows it all of the way by!  A new favorite this month is riding daddy's new Polaris Ranger.  Our little man is content as can be on that thing!

This boy loves to swing!

He is really loving animals this month, and has taken great interest in our chocolate lab, Bella, & my parent's Yorkie, Gizmo.  Both dogs are lickers, so when they give our little guy kisses, he just grins as big and he can and squints his little eyes. It is so precious!  We can't wait to share our love for the zoo with him, but with daddy working so much it is going to have to wait a bit. 

Such a BIG boy these days.

Carter man has still yet to pop a tooth through his sore little gums, although I feel that we are right on the verge of having several all at once.  And thankfully, he is still sleeping well...usually from 8:30pm-6:30am.  Naps are still a struggle most of the time, but I can usually get two two-hour naps out of him (normally 10-noon & around 2-4).  Sometimes after a busy day at the babysitter he will fall asleep on our ride home around 5:30 and I usually try to wake him by 6:30 so we don't ruin bedtime.

Such a sweet sleeping boy.

As far as eating, I have been feeding Carter a lot more foods that he can feed himself.  We have done lots of steamed green peas, sliced avocado, pieces of banana, and puffs this month.  He also loves plain yogurt with some sort of baby food fruit mixed in (especially peaches!).  He is still eating two meals per day, but we may start doing a light breakfast since he can have eggs and toast/pancakes now.

Eating some green peas.

This month has brought lots of fun times, as we got to celebrate Carter's first 4th of July and went on our beach vacation (which I still need to do a recap of!).  Our town has a parade and fireworks the Sunday before the fourth.  Brent was working until after the parade was over, but he was able to join us for dinner and fireworks.  The parade was fun to watch, but Carter was not a fan of the sirens/horn on the fire truck.  We were at the very beginning of the parade route at my grandma's house, so we didn't get to hear it gradually get louder, it just turned on all at once when the parade began.  It scared my poor little man to death...he stuck his little lip out and real tears started falling.  But once that passed, he enjoyed watching everyone go by on floats and tractors and horses.  We even got him a big red sucker and he was in baby heaven!  We had to keep him from gagging himself with it because he was sticking it WAY back in his mouth so we couldn't take it from him.  Once we took it away, he was a sticky mess, but you can bet it was worth it.

Just eating his lollipop! :)

Him & Memaw took his cousin's car for a spin & decided he needed one of his own!

Carter was actually able to stay up past his bedtime with us for the fireworks.  I was worried about trying to get him to sleep before them and then him getting woken up by the noise, but I was also scared to push bedtime back so far.  But, it worked out, and although our little guy was definitely worn out, he seemed to enjoy the fireworks.  The noise didn't bother him at all, and sometimes he didn't even pay them any attention if they weren't too big and exciting.  He fell asleep in the car on the ride home, but was easily transferred to bed and slept great!

Watching fireworks with Daddy.

The Gulf Shores trip was definitely the highlight of the month as we got to spend the week with our families and friends on the beach with our new addition.  It was exhausting tackling vacation with a baby, but so much fun!

Checking out the ocean for the first time with Daddy.