Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday

The Christmas season has come and gone and this was a fun one for us. As always we started out our traditions with Jack Stack on Christmas Eve and it was (as always) delicious! Then Reid and I exchanged our Christmas PJs and Carson was sound asleep in his reindeer jammies.

Christmas morning, surprisingly, Reid and I woke up before Carson. I got the bubble bread going and turned on some Michael Buble before going to get little man. We had a great time opening presents and it's so fun to see Carson experiencing new things. Santa was good to little man this year and he, of course, had the most presents under the tree!

After the Christmas festivities were over, Reid headed to the airport to pick up our friend Donnelly. Then later that evening it was time to celebrate Reid's 28th birthday! We had our traditional pizza and holiday beer and then birthday cake. As always I stressed over making him a cake, but I got cute idea at the final minute and it turned out ok. A white cake because he didn't get a white Christmas.

We all hit the sack early and woke up refreshed and ready to go for a hike! We went up to Chief Mountain (11,709ft) outside Evergreen, CO. The weather could not have been any better and Carson even gave us some smiles at the summit. And this also happened to be the first "summit" Carson has ever made. After our outdoor adventure we took Don to Champa for some yummy burgers!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! Hard to believe we are about to ring in 2014!

Carson: 7 Months

Hard to believe another month has come and gone and Carson is now 7 months old! We went to the doctor, again, and I'm happy to report he is finally packing on the pounds. Keep it up kiddo!!

Newborn: 8lbs 6.3oz and 20.5in

Two Weeks: 9lbs 1oz and 21in

Two Months: 12lbs 9.5oz and 25in

Four Months: 13lbs 13oz and 25.5in

Five Months: 13lbs 11.5oz and 26in

Six Months: 13lbs 7oz and 26.5in

Seven Months: 14lbs 5.5oz and 26.75in

Carson's newest trick now is sitting up by himself! He's getting so big and growing up soo fast!! Reid also said he saw him crawl a couple steps last night. Usually he gets around doing a lunge-worm move, but it seems he might finally be figuring out how his hands work. He is still a very silly boy and loves laughing at Snyder. Today at church I felt a little pointy stub poking through his gum! He might not get his wish of two bottom teeth for Christmas but it won't be too much longer.

We are still loving the food and I think his favorite is avocado. Recently I've started letting him munch on an avocado chunk in the mesh feeder. He is getting very good at using his hands and this keeps him busy for a while. I also let him finger paint with some bananas and he seemed to enjoy that once he figured out what was going on.

I think we have decided forgo Santa this year and are going to start a new tradition next year of going to a mountain town to visit Santa. We live in Colorado so why not do something Colorado-ie! Nonni and Poppa are visiting right now and we are having lots of fun. Carson got to open his first Christmas present with them and it was very cute!!

Stay tuned for our Christmas celebrations!!

Grammie Comes To Town

We are in full swing of the holiday season and ours started with a visit from Grammie!! My mom came out last weekend to babysit Carson while Reid and I went to his work's holiday party. I have to say I was able to enjoy myself much more knowing he was home safe and sound with family. Grammie also got to see Carson in action at Gymboree. She got some good pictures :) The last picture is Carson during his favorite activity...the parachute!

Next up Nonni and Poppa are coming to town!! Hopefully we'll make it out to see Santa Claus next weekend too. After that Carson will get to experience his first Christmas :) Mommy and Daddy are already spoiling him (ok it's more excitement for me) and we are excited to start our traditions with him. Christmas Day we have a good college friend coming to town and then hopefully Grammie will be back with Grandpa at the end of the year.

Don't worry my Christmas card and letter will be out soon. I didn't know it was going to take 2+ weeks for my cards to process and ship :(

All I Want For Christmas Is My Two "Bottom" Teeth

Over the past few weeks Carson has not been himself. Of course Reid and I always talk to each other about it, "Well what do you think it could be" and no one has the answers (babies are tricky!). Teething keeps coming up a lot and I have noticed some signs, but never really thought it was only teething problems. So out of curiosity I Googled teething yesterday. Thank you http://www.breastfeeding-problems.com/teething-baby.html for the spot on description of little man! I hope we get some teeth soon because this is no fun...

What are the signs of teething?

- Teething rash ~ This is a rash found on baby’s chin from all the drooling: it's not bad but occasionally you'll see a little rash on his chin

- Chewing on everything in sight: he's always put everything in his mouth but lately he chomps on  your finger

- Waking up at night (plus other changes in sleeping patterns): Mom has been on a workout hiatus thanks to this

- Reflux (spitting up more often): just when I thought we were getting better!

- Becoming fussy at the breast: this is not helping his weight-gain issues

- Ear tugging and eye rubbing: tons of ear tugging, and silly me was thinking the eye rubbing was allergies or something

- Congestion or runny nose: we've had congestion since Sept. but it has picked up a lot recently

- Excessive fussiness: this started yesterday for the little guy. We tried ice cubes in the mesh feeder. Today we'll try a frozen banana!

- Excessive drooling: Carson has always drooled a ton but his new thing now is to blow spit bubbles. Too much drool!

- Swollen, red gums: I haven't noticed this one, but his bottom gums are a little white

- Teething fever and diarrhea: no fevers thankfully 

- Infant Diaper rash: poor guy has had two instances of extreme diaper rash

In other news we travelled to Texas for Thanksgiving this year. Carson is a squealer now so the guy next to us on the plane probably wasn't too happy with his cute baby noises at 7:00a. When we got there, he was a little overwhelmed at first with all the people staring at him, but was happy and content when mommy was around. So thankful we could make it down there! Reid and I even had an evening out with the cousins. Carson apparently did not approve because he did not cooperate for bedtime. Sorry Grammy!!

I'll leave you with a video of a new food we tried! Since we didn't have much luck with sweet potatoes (gobbled them up but did not sit well with his stomach), we went for another orange food, carrots! This day he wasn't really interested in food in general, so we are going to wait a few days and try again.

Yummy Yummy In Carson's Tummy

So we have recently started solids with Carson and it is going pretty well. This kid will be in heaven when he can feed himself, as he is already trying to do so. Our first food was oatmeal cereal. We started pretty runny and he just had a little trouble figuring out this new way of consuming food. And today we started sweet potatoes. Instead of putting potatoes in a blender, we just mashed them with a fork. This left tiny chunks and every time Carson ate a chunk he got this sour look on his face!

Aside from starting new foods, Carson is getting soo close to crawling! His latest obsession is papers and magazines. Probably knows it something he's not suppose to play with :) In other news, we are very excited to be traveling to Texas for Thanksgiving on Thursday. Everyone is very excited to meet Carson!! I'm ready for a break from work and other people to entertain little man!

Lastly I mentioned a few posts ago Reid was redoing our dining table. Well he finally finished! We love how it turned out. Next up is some new chairs to match.

Carson: 6 Months

How can Carson be six months old already? This little guy is such a joy to be around, and I'm thankful that I am able to spend my days with him. Of course we have our "bad" days here and there, but he's a baby and can't be perfect all the time! But he is pretty darn close :)

We headed to the doctor's today and this kid lost more weight :( He dipped below the 2nd percentile for weight but is staying steady in the 50th percentile for height. Our doctor isn't too concerned about his low weight because he is so alert and meeting his milestones. He said we just need to figure out a way to get the pounds to stick. We got the okay to start solids, so this next month should be very adventurous for us all!

Newborn: 8lbs 6.3oz and 20.5in

Two Weeks: 9lbs 1oz and 21in

Two Months: 12lbs 9.5oz and 25in

Four Months: 13lbs 13oz and 25.5in

Five Months: 13lbs 11.5oz and 26in

Six Months: 13lbs 7oz and 26.5in

So what has Carson been up to? He LOVES cups, well mostly he loves trying grab anything you have in your hand that resembles a cup (or something drinkable). He is getting closer to crawling. He started balancing on his hands/knees and rocking, progressed to moving his legs forward (he still hasn't figured out that his arms can move) and now he pushes his butt in the air, balancing on his hands and toes! He is able to sit unsupported for good chunks of time. As evidenced by my recent Facebook post, he still topples but we're working on it :) He's very good at grabbing toys, and especially bringing them to his mouth! He has now started to get frustrated when he pushes a toy out of reach. Soon enough he'll be able to chase after them.

For his 1/2 birthday Carson and I went to a Gymboree class. He was a little on the tired side but I think he had fun. His favorite thing was the parachute. All the babies were laying on their backs in a circle and we were waving the parachute up and down. As the parachute got close to him, he would extend his arms and get this big smile on his face. Then after about the third time it went back up away from him, he started to cry because he couldn't grab it! Poor guy, but it was too cute!

Oh Mr Carson...

Yesterday Reid spent the day singing silly phrases to Carson to the tune of "On top of spaghetti, all covered in cheese. I lost my poor meatball, when somebody sneezed." Of course he didn't want me to write any down (I should have secretly), so here's a few I tried to remember:

Oh Mr. Carson kicking your legs, now it's time for me to have eggs

Oh Mr. Carson you like to drool, that is because you are very cool

Oh Mr. Carson it's time to sleep, we better not hear a peep
Oh Mr. Carson you wobble when you sit, that means you need to practice a bit

In other news...K-State played a great football game yesterday! Way to go 'Cats!! After the game, Carson and I took Snyder on a walk. We decided to stop at a park to swing and play on the slides. When I first put Carson in the swing, he fussed a little. But he started swinging and instantly got a smile on his face. We've got to take advantage of these beautiful fall days before having to bundle up for the chilly winters.

Aside from Carson, Reid decided to re-finish our dining room table. We're doing a gray-wood stain on top and a cream bottom. We'll let you know how it turns out. Today I'll leave you with a cute clip of our future soccer stud!

Poor Guy

I had my first "I'm so sorry I can't help you" moment last night with little man. It all started with me being beyond frustrated that he wouldn't go to sleep (see that playful face above). Reid took over a feeding and rocking duty and this kid still would not go down. So it became my turn again. I decided to change his diaper (since we were on an hour now of trying to get to sleep) so he'd have a nice clean diaper for the night. When I took the diaper off, the poor kid had the worst rash I had ever seen!! It was so bad he was in extreme discomfort and there was nothing I could do to help those cries. Saddest mommy moment to date. We let it "air out" a bit and even got pee'd on in the process :( but at this point I didn't care. I wanted my little guy to not be in such discomfort. So we sat him in a warm bath while I called an on-call nurse line just to make sure it wasn't something serious. I didn't know a rash could spring so quickly! Thankfully he fell asleep for the night and it was already looking better by the morning. I've been caking the diaper cream on and it's doing even better. Whew, glad that's over!

Happy Halloween!

We finally had success with trick-or-treaters! Of the 4 years we have been married, we had one group of trick-or-treaters (and they were even too old to be out) until last night. Our new neighborhood was a huge success which makes me excited to decorate the front porch next year and buy MORE candy!! We had to call it quits a little early because we ran out.

Reid and I aren't really in to Halloween so of course we didn't dress up. But it's fun handing out candy to the little ones. And next year Carson will be old enough to walk around and get his own candy. Can't wait for that! So since I don't have any costume pictures of Carson, we did have a Halloween onesie and I painted a pumpkin for him. Hope everyone had a safe, and fun-filled day yesterday.

Carson: 5 Months

Very curious about our feet

Little man was 5 months old on Tuesday! So hard to believe!! At our last doctor's appointment, they wanted to start keeping track of his growth since he tapered off a little. So Reid and I decided to take him back at 5 months for a weight check and it's a good thing we did...

Newborn: 8lbs 6.3oz and 20.5 in

Two Weeks: 9lbs 1oz and 21in

Two Months: 12lbs 9.5oz and 25 in

Four Months: 13lbs 13oz and 25.5 in

Five Months: 13lbs 11.5oz and 26 in

 

Our doc didn't have a medical concern about him losing weight because he is still growing length wise and basically it boiled down to we think Carson is burning more calories than I can give him. This kid won't sit still no matter where you set him down. Hopefully we can beef him up a bit and he'll be back on track for when we decide to start solids.

 

So back to how much Carson is changing!! Our newest skill we are working on is crawling. While we aren't there quite yet, we sure are working on it. I've also been working with him on sitting up. We borrowed a Bumbo seat and he can tolerate the "tripod" position for 5min at a time. Then we topple :) But the best news for Mom and Dad is that he sleeps 9-11hrs at night now. After a rough month of waking up multiple times at night, we bumped up his bedtime to 7:30p and he's sleeping like a champ. I've got the morning nap mastered and am now working on a little rest in the afternoon. We sure do love this little guy to pieces.