11 Months with Carter

8/28/13-9/27/13

Am I really sitting down to write the last monthly post before my little man is ONE?!?!  It seems impossible!  This month has been pretty laid back, but little man has had tons of major developments.  I will just start at the beginning.

Pretend-driving the Ranger...his favorite!

On Labor Day weekend, Brent was off work.  We always tend to pack his weekends off with tons of fun stuff and end up wearing him out worse than when he is working! Oops!  That weekend was no different.  On Saturday we drove around an hour and a half to visit my cousin Andrea & her husband Payton and see their new home.  They spilled the beans to us that they are having a baby in April! :)  We are so excited for them and are so happy we got to be a part of taking the pictures they used to surprise their parents with!  Then we went out to eat with them at a wings place and Carter was such a good boy.  He munched on some fries and celery and just hung out in the high chair.  On Sunday we went to visit my parents at KY Lake where they camp.  We went out on the pontoon and Carter took his first dip in the lake!  Then on Monday we marched in the Labor Day parade with Brent's union.  Carter was not happy with being in the stroller while we handed out candy (it was during his naptime) so we ended up carrying him for most of the parade.  Then that night, we ate at Ashley and Layne's and Carter and his cousin Brayden got to play together.  Brayden was really taking some crawling lessons from Carter man!

Riding in the Labor Day parade...at least for a little bit!

The rest of our time this month has been pretty laid back.  Brent worked the rest of the month, so our weekends were pretty much just spent playing around the house with an occasional shopping trip or visit with family.  I have to say that going to church has been a struggle at this age, especially when I am going on my own.  Carter just wants to get down in the floor and to make noises, but he isn't big enough to understand he can't do that in church just yet.  We are working on it and I'm trying my best to keep on going so he can learn, it's just hard!

Making one of his favorite faces this month! He knows it makes us laugh!

In the middle of the month, little man got his second ear infection.  I really think it was caused by some drainage and stuff that started due to teething.  He is working on getting FOUR more teeth, which will bring our total up to eight!  The top two on either side of the two he already has are visible ridges under the gums, but have yet to pop through.  Poor baby!

Speaking of teeth, he has started grinding them together, and it is making me NUTS!  I don't know how to stop it besides sticking his passy in there so he can't do it.  We have also added brushing his teeth to our night time bath routine.  He loves it!

Last month, I wrote about how little man started holding his breath a bit in the bath tub and sticking his face down in the water.  Well, this month, he learned to blow bubbles under water!  I'm so amazed at the things he learns on his own!

I love his hair in this one! :)

Carter is still mainly crawling, but he can cruise along the edge of things and has started using a push walker.  He got the hang of it in seconds and has learned to keep it under his control so well!  He still hasn't figured out how to turn it, however...hopefully he can work on that so momma can stop having to constantly turn him around!  He is also standing on his own for several seconds without holding on to anything.  I really feel like he will be taking his first steps any day now.

Brent & I are continually amazed at how much Carter understands these days.  He is starting to be able to follow simple commands from us and it is just so cool!  I can tell Carter we are getting ready to go "bye-bye" in the mornings and he will suddenly go along with whatever I need from him (like cooperate while I change his diaper and dress him!).  He also knows "go get the ball" and other short phrases like that!  

As far as eating goes, he is having very little baby food these days.  I'm thinking we will just donate what we have left to a food pantry or something because he is not interested.  He has been eating what we eat for the most part!  It makes our lives so much easier!  Just this week, he has had fish, chili, hot dogs, a little bit of BBQ, tiny pieces of pizza, and tons of other stuff in addition to his normal veggie/fruit sides.  We are amazed every night at the amount of food the boy puts away.  His teenage years are sure to make us go broke!  We are still working on the sippy cup idea!  He's not too into it and I haven't really pushed it much.  This month, we are really going to try our best!  He is still taking about 3-4 8 oz. bottles each day.

 I didn't say he wasn't messy!

Sleep is still going strong.  He goes to bed around 8 and is up around 6.  He has woken up a few times here and there crying, but it is usually when I find his passy in the floor or something.  Once I give it back to him and get his lovey cuddled up to him he is pretty much passed out again.

He is still wearing size 3 diapers and we are pretty much up to size 12 month clothes.  He is still wearing 6-12 month stuff fine though...it's just a little snug.  I'm holding off on buying many clothes for him until we see what he gets for his birthday!