12 Months with Carter

9/28/13-10/27/13

I was pretty bad this month and didn't take notes for this post, so I'm just winging it and writing as I go. I'm realizing how little I remember of the last month!  This is exactly why I keep this blog...my memory is pathetic!

We started Carter's 12th month with a weekend off for Daddy.  We spent it running around like crazy as always!  We went to my little sister's volleyball game, did a little shopping, ate lunch at Paducah's BBQ on the River (a charity event with so.much.food!), went by a gun show, and dropped little man off at his grandparent's house to spend the night.  And that was just Saturday morning/afternoon!  Then, Brent & I had a wedding in the family to go to.  We woke up early to go to church in peace on Sunday (without little man for once!) and then to breakfast at my step-grandparents as usual.   Then we got to just enjoy being at home with daddy! 

The rest of the month was a lot of Mommy/baby time.  We spent many nights watching the Cardinals in the playoffs/World Series.  Brent and I got to go to a Florida-Georgia Line concert one night while Carter stayed with his Ninny and Aunts.  Then, Mommy got a night away to go see Luke Bryan in Nashville and let me just say, I really, really enjoyed sleeping in the next morning!  That hadn't happened in WAY too long!  I definitely missed little man, but his Nene & Pawpaw Red sent me lots of pictures to hold me over.  And of course we spent lots of time this month getting ready for the big O-N-E birthday party. 

My little man during a trip to the Pumpkin Barn

We spent as much time as possible enjoying the fall weather outdoors since that is where little man likes to be.  Anything that involves going "bye-bye" is his favorite!  And if it includes a ride on the Ranger or in his little blue car, even better!  I actually think that a complete stranger could come up to him and ask him to go "bye-bye" with them and he would be all in....maybe we need a lesson in stranger danger ASAP!

He was pretty excited to be sitting up front (in the driveway!)

Little man is learning so much everyday.  It's amazing to see him figure out how things work, how to open and close cabinets and drawers (and get his little fingers stuck many times!), how to go up and down stairs, and he even learned how to turn off the light switch!  I think now it's time we start working on how to pick up his own toys!

Climbing up our front porch steps!

He is still not walking, but standing for extended periods of time.  He can pull himself to standing with no help pulling up and he can even go from standing to squatting, back to standing.  He gets really tempted to take a step, but then he kind of gets scared and drops to the floor and crawls in lightening speed!

Carter is getting to where he really enjoys going through all of his books and turning the pages to see what is on them.  Brent and I will be in the floor of the living room with him playing with toys and suddenly he is just off to his room by himself to dig into his pile of books!  He is almost always perfectly content with being in there alone and rarely gets into anything but the pile of books, so really it doesn't bother us too much besides just wanting him to play with us!

We were finally able to break him from the bottle this month.  He only takes a certain sippy cup that is practically shaped like a bottle, but it's a sippy and that's all that matters!  We are now ready to tackle the changeover to milk.  As of now, he is taking a sippy of about 8 oz of formula 3 times a day.  And he is now liking juice in between.

In the learning days of the sippy cup...notice the milk running down his cheek! :)

On the food front, little man is pretty much a little garbage disposal.  He eats pretty much anything we put in front of him.  His favorites are probably lasagna, mac-n-cheese, yogurt, and bananas.   His serving sizes is the part that really gets me...it seems I can't make them big enough for my little piglet! :)

Having a french fry at Buffalo Wild Wings

He is now up to 6 teeth, 4 on the top middle and still the 2 on the bottom.  The top two that came in this month definitely required some Tylenol, but they didn't seem to keep him up at night or anything, so that was nice!

As far as clothes go, little man is still holding strong in size 3 diapers, but we have pretty much gone up to size 12 months or 12-18 month clothing.  I love that clothes are much easier at this age.  He seems to fit in more different sizes and be able to wear clothes longer these days.  In shoes, he is in a size 3...but 4's are pretty close in our future.

Overall this month, Carter's personality is really starting to come out and he is becoming so much more independent!  He really is a loving little guy that loves to give hugs and pat your back and give big slobbery kisses.  But he is also really headstrong and wants what he wants when he wants it.  There is definitely a temper in there somewhere as he can really get those legs kicking when he gets mad at me for changing his clothes or diaper.  He also seems like he is going to like to read and seems to prefer playing by himself.  And he has lots of boy in him...he loves the outdoors so much and anything with wheels is his favorite toy right now!

We just love our little man so much and can't believe it has been a year!!