Carter Walking with Dada

Here is a video of Carter walking holding Dada's hand. He isn't quite ready to let go completely yet, but he is very close. A couple days ago he took 5 steps on his own while practicing his walking between Mama and Dada. Now whenever he realizes he's walking on his own he sits down. It is really cute! He has also stood on his own which has startled him too. I'm sure once he gets his confidence up he will be walking without any help at all.

Carter's First Haircut!

Yesterday Carter turned 11 months. He is such a big boy and we are so proud of all he has learned! He has discovered the joy of clapping in the past couple days. He also loves to say "uh-oh!" It is soooo cute!

After much lamenting about Carter's ever-growing mullet, I finally bit the bullet and made an appointment for Carter's first haircut. Here is a "before" photo from a couple days ago. As you can tell, Carter needed a haircut (and a face wash too! he loves his avocados!)


Dad came to witness the event and take pictures too!

Bree Gentry, who cuts Mommy's hair, did the honors and she couldn't stop saying how good Carter was for his first haircut! And Carter loves Bree! Here are some photos from the event. Mommy also got her hair cut while we were there.

Back in the swing of things??

Carter loves to rock his Radio Flyer Pony. He rocks so hard it moves across the hardwood floors. It is pretty funny! Today he started jumping in it and making the Pony hop across the floor. We both got a big kick out of that.
Daddy had a ball putting Carter in his mega blocks wagon and wheeling him around the house. Carter wasn't as amused as Mom and Dad were but he was kind enough to humor us.

Carter with his girl Abbey.

Alright, alright. I know it has been AGES since our last post and I am so sorry for that. Everyone has been reminding me and asking for updates and new photos. I just haven't been very good about carving out the time lately but I will work on it!

So much to update...

The month of December was highlighted with Christmas visits with both sides of the family. Although our original intent was to drive to Sacramento, then fly to Portland to see my family (flights from Fresno direct are a dime a dozen and so very expensive). Unfortunately, due to the snow storms, the flights were cancelled and/or being diverted to places like Boise, ID. While I've heard wonderful things about Boise and would love to see it someday, Ryan and I did not like the idea of spending our holidays stuck in the Boise airport with a baby. So, we rescheduled our trip to the Diltz Family until after Christmas and spent Christmas with the Whitehouses. We had a great time and it worked out beautifully. Of course, my mom was pretty disappointed but everyone understood the events were out of our control. Besides, as Ryan so kindly reminded my Mom, Jesus was actually born on the 27th but we celebrate it on the 25th! Betcha didn't know that! :)

Here are photos from our visit with Ryan's family.

Here are photos from our visit with Deanna's family.

*SORRY FOR THE LACK OF PHOTOS - WE ARE HAVING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES WITH THE PHOTO CD FROM COSTCO. I WILL POST AS SOON AS WE GET THIS WORKED OUT. MEANWHILE, I AM POSTING THE MOST RECENT PHOTOS I HAVE FROM JANUARY.

Once again, Carter traveled beautifully and even agreed to sleep in his pack n play this time which was so helpful!

As for other updates, Carter popped through his 4 front top teeth nearly all within the same week so he now has 8 teetch total (4 top, 4 bottom). Just yesterday he decided it was pretty cool to grind those pretty little pearly whites together making the most horrendous squeaky, grinding noise. It is awful! I've read that is not uncommon and will pass soon enough. Thankfully it is not his obsession. Instead, he spends most of his waking hours pulling himself up on furniture or anything else stable enough and cruising around the house! He also enjoys having Mom or Dad stoop over holding his little hands so he can walk us all over the house. You can imagine how good that feels on our backs!! Nevertheless, it is so precious and he cruises with a purpose directing us to where he wants to go.

Carter is also starting to babble more. He has added "G" to his consonants and makes some pretty funny sound combinations at times. His favorite is still "Ba" and he and Dad have fun repeating that one over and over to each other in variations. Yesterday, Carter started saying "Uh-oh!" when prompted. It is too cute! He has also learned to clap but sometimes gets his hands stuck together which looks pretty funny. Tonight at dinner I taught Carter to stick his tongue out (I didn't truly think he'd figure it out!). It is pretty funny and he does it without prompting which is a real crackup. Of course, after he figured it out (and awfully fast, I might add) I realized it might not have been the best idea after all. As I said this aloud, I said "uh-oh, what did I do?" to which Carter immediately replied "Uh-oh!".

Unfortunately, Carter got his second childhood illness last week when he caught the stomach flu from our playgroup. We have been very blessed so far that Carter has been so healthy. He has only had 1 cold and now this stomach bug. I am certain that breastfeeding and being careful where we take him, etc., has helped tremendously. After Carter recovered, he was kind enough to share with Mom, and then promptly with Dad.

Carter will be turning 1 year old in just over a month now and all of his buddies in the neighborhood are turning 1 around the same time so we will be busy attending 1 year birthday parties over the next few weeks which should be fun!

On March 2nd, Carter is scheduled for an MRI to assess exactly what damage was done to the left temporal lobe of his brain. The MRI will include a dye so the Neurologist can see the vascular structure in that same area of the brain to hopefully understand what happened and why and if it is something that could recur. I am eager for those answers and yet nervous about the actual procedure since it involves IV sedation (imagine telling a 1 year old "okay now, Carter, I need you to sit very still for 2 minutes while we run the MRI". Hence the sedation!).

Last week we had our check-up with the G.I specialist and she has asked me to "generalize" my diet and observe any affects in Carter for 2 weeks. In other words, I can now reincorporate dairy and soy. Hooray! I've been on this diet for over 6 months now and so I'm struggling with what a "normal" diet is like. My natural inclination now is to reach for and prepare foods without dairy and soy so it feels a little akward but I'm sure that will pass soon enough. I've also noticed that the milk that I so enjoyed in my morning coffee doesn't taste so great anymore! The last few mornings I've defaulted to my hazelnut milk because I prefer that taste now. Strange! Hopefully all will go well and Carter has outgrown this food allergy. If so, we will be cutting back on the prevacid and then at 1 year Carter can enjoy some dairy foods of his own like cheese and yogurt and perhaps a little cake on his birthday?? ;)

Well that's enough for now. Now that I've caught us up on the blog, I will make sure to update you in the next week or so.