Growing, Growing, Everyday!

This post is kinda random stuff all put together, so bear with me!If there's one thing I've learned so far as a parent, it's that children never stop growing! Imagine that! It seems like Carter is in a new phase everyday! He is still super cute (I'm sure I will always think so!) He is grabbing things all the time--on purpose now. He sits up in his bumbo pretty well. We've given him cereal a couple of times (I will post some pics of that later). He's just all around a great kiddo!

The Friday night after Thanksgiving, we got to spend some time with Jared's brother Jason, his wife Rachel and their son Caleb. Every time Carter and Caleb see each other, Caleb gets so excited. Carter still doesn't quite know what to think about it all.
We also recently had some pictures taken. Here are a few of my favs:

The family pic:
The sisters and kiddoes:
The Cousins:
And, here's our little reindeer! He absolutely loved wearing his antlers!
Thanks for checking in with us!

This One's for Kate!

We recently made a quick trip back to Kentucky to get a few things at our house when we were gently reminded by some friends that we were terrible bloggers! So, this post is in honor of Kate...sorry it's been so long!!!

In the last two months a lot has happened! We celebrated Elli's 2nd birthday. As you can see, she got her own guitar and she was absolutely thrilled! She was so cute through the whole celebration. She really enjoyed her "Happy Birthday cake" and "Happy birthday presents."We also made a family trip to the pumpkin patch. It was the second week of October but it felt like the middle of July! So, we made our trip quick!



Today Carter is celebrating his 4 month birthday. I just got caught up on his baby book...I guess it was about time! Carter is the sweetest little boy you'll ever see! He is very smiley most of the time. We had a rough last month fighting congestion and a cough, which made it very hard (for all of us!) to sleep. He has put on the weight that the doctor wanted him to. He's about 14 lbs now. We go to the doctor tomorrow for his 4 month visit and more shots.

Carter is very ticklish all over and will just melt your heart every time he laughs. He is still very snuggley! He is able to reach out and grab things--sometimes on purpose, sometimes he's just lucky--and we are really working hard on sitting up! Most of all, we are reminded daily that we are truly and amazingly blessed to have this little boy in our lives!

By the way...we have a great house in Kentucky for sale if anyone is interested :)

Two Months Old!

Well, yesterday Carter had his two month birthday! We celebrated by taking him to the doctor (lousy, I know!). Carter had to get a shot and we had him weighed and everything. We found out that Carter dropped to the 5th percentile for his weight. So we are working hard to get his weight back up using some supplements. I think our generation has this stigma about formula...some how we are lesser moms if we have to give our babies formula. But, I had to get over it and realize that my body wasn't providing what Carter needed. That's hard to swallow as a mom...that you can't give your child what he needs. But, since we have been supplementing Carter's meal times, we have noticed that he is sleeping better (and longer, yay!) and he is much happier when he is awake. All of those times I just thought we was "fussy" he was actually probably hungry. Makes me sad to know that I let him go 2 months without realizing what the problem was! Anyway, here's a pic from last night. He fell asleep on my mom's bed and we decided he must be playing air guitar in his dreams :)
Also, be in prayer for Jeremy and Amanda. They are en route to pick up their son in China. We can't wait to meet Ezra Jackson when they return! Check out their blog at www.norrisfamily.squarespace.com.

Visit to West Tennessee

This past Friday we went on a trip to West Tennessee to visit with my grandparents. They live on a nice big farm west of Jackson, so it's a great place for kids to run and play! It has been awhile since I've posted anything about Elli. She is 22 months now and full of energy. Thankfully at Mawmaw and Pawpaw's house she had plenty of things to do to fill her time, like...

Checking out bugs...

Kissing baby Carter...

Swinging on a big girl swing (for the first time!)...

Tickling Carter's feet...

Swinging with Pawpaw...

Running up and down the wheelchair ramp (over and over again)...

And, of course, just being cute!

Here are some other pictures from our visit!

Elli, Carter and Pawpaw

Elli, Carter and Mawmaw

Yaya, me and Carter

Elli, my Uncle Bill and Carter

Grandad, Carter and Me

All in all we had a great visit in West Tennessee. It was great for everyone to get to meet Carter and Elli kept us entertained for the entire afternoon! This last picture is from the morning after our visit, but it was too cute not to share! Elli loves her cousin Carter and really wants to hold him and love on him all of the time. So, we make sure we have baby dolls on hand in case we need a distraction. Saturday morning was one of those days! I thought she was too cute holding her baby in my sling! So sweet!

Catching Up!

Well, this post has a few things that I didn't have time to blog as they happened. Back before we moved, Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Amanda and Cousin Will came for a visit to meet Carter. They were also kind enough to stay with Carter while Jared and I attended our last church service at Simpsonville. Here are a few pics from their visit!

When Carter turned 2 weeks old, he was allowed to have his first paci! He loves it. When we first gave it to him, it was almost as big as his head!Then we moved to Yaya and Grandad's house and a few weeks later Carter had his one month birthday. Needless to say, he wasn't too cooperative for his one month pictures!
Whew, it's exhausting being a newborn!

One Month Old

Well, Carter will be one month old on Thursday. It's hard to believe how fast time flies! Well, I feel like I need to give everyone an update on where we are in our lives right now. We've had a lot of changes in the last month. Of course, on July 15, Carter entered our world and turned it upside down from the get go! One week before Carter was born, we sent a letter to our church membership with Jared's resignation. Two weeks after Carter was born, we packed up the car and moved to Tennessee where we are currently living with YaYa and Grandad. Jared is now the children's minister at a church here in the Nashville area. So, if you're keeping tabs, in the last month Jared finished school, we had a baby, resigned from his job, started a new job and moved a two week old baby to Nashville. whew...we're tired!

Anyway, despite all of our life changes, things are going well. Carter seems to be adjusting to his new home pretty well and Jared and I are very lucky to have the help of my parents! Carter can already hold his head up on his own for about 10-15 seconds. He is sleeping most of the night...waking up only to eat once or twice. He has his fussy moments, but overall, we have the best baby in the world! He is pretty easy going during the day, but I think he gets bored with me sometimes!

Today I realized I hadn't had a quiet time since we brought Carter home. I can't imagine why not?!? So, today after we got our baths and got dressed, Carter and I sat down to have our first devotion together. We read in Luke about the Centurion that had such a great faith and then we prayed and sang some worship songs together......okay, I sang and Carter fell asleep, but it was still a sweet time together. I am so thankful that God has given me such an amazing son. I can't believe he was almost a month old before I took the time to slow down and read him God's word. I am ashamed! Keep me accountable and help me be the mommy Carter deserves! This should be happening everyday!

We Made it Home!

Aren't I a handsome boy?! Well, we came home from the hospital last Sunday and have been having so much fun at home! We went to the doctor on Wednesday and found out that I am almost back to my birth weight, so we were excited about that!

This is our first family picture at our home.
Yaya helped us get home from the hospital and then got to stay with us until Tuesday! We were sad to see her go so soon, but then....
Grandaddy and Grandmommy got to come and stay for the rest of the week!
On Wednesday we got a surprise visit from my Great Uncle John and Great Aunt Jan!So, overall we have had a whirlwind of a week! I have gotten lots of cuddles and snuggles and might even sleep through the night if mommy would stop waking me up to feed me and change my diaper! Grandmommy and Grandaddy just left, so mommy and daddy are on their own! I hope they don't fall apart without anyone here to help them!!

Welcome Baby Carter!

Here are a few pictures of Carter! Enjoy!

Elli, Carter's big cousin, holding him! She is a great big cousin!
Carter and his momma!
A closeup of the superstar! He weighed 8lbs 4oz and was 21 in long!

If all goes well, we should get to go home tomorrow (Sunday)! We can't wait!

Come on Carter!

Well, we are going to be 39 weeks tomorrow and still no indication that Carter is anywhere near making his debut. Officially, a full term pregnancy is considered to be 37-41 weeks, which is all fine and well, except that at 37 weeks, we started thinking it could be "any day now." This could drive a person crazy! Every little pain, every movement....it makes you think...could this be it? So, far, it hasn't been it. Carter is pretty cozy in the womb and may never come out! And, scientifically, other than pitocin, there really is no way to get labor started.

But, just for fun (and to give us something to do while we wait!), we have decided to try every old wives tale that we can find for starting labor. So far these have included:

Walking-we do this every night anyway, but now we walk with meaning!

Swinging-Fun, but unproductive

Eating Spicy Food-I've tried, but I don't do spicy very well, so it has been minimal

Talking to the baby-Not sure how this one's supposed to work, but we've done it!

Consumption of Tropical Fruits-Mmmmm....Pineapple mango smoothie!

Massaging the Achilies tendon-yep, for real...didn't work!

Having a spa day-meant to relax the mommy...didn't work, but sure was fun!

Various methods of "Stimulation"-This is a PG blog, so I'm not going to elaborate, but let's just say that's not working either! At least Jared's enjoying it!

So, needless to say, none of these things have done the trick. One thing that is highly recommended is drinking castor oil, but it also comes with violent diarrhea and upset stomach. So, I'm gonna pass on that one! Let me know if you've got any other ideas that I should try!

Maternity Photos

This week Jared and I went to have our maternity pictures done. Angela Wisley, a girl from our church, did our maternity session. She is 16 and just starting out in her business in the last year or so, but she did a phenomenal job! We didn't start until about 7:00 Thursday night but it was still so hot that we were all sweating! But we had a lot of fun. This is just one of the great pictures Angela got. Hop on over to her blog to see some more: http://angelawisley.wordpress.com/

Camp Survival!

Well, we survived the week at Centri-Kid (all three of us!). Though people thought I was crazy to go to camp at 36 1/2 weeks pregnant, it was well worth it. The folks at Lifeway really do know how to do camp and Centri-Kid is very chaperone-friendly! The only challenge I had during the week was that it was so hot! We did have one mis-hap while we were at camp, which is now pretty funny, but at the time not so funny.

So, we were getting out of the adult gathering while the kids were at Bible Study. All of the adults were walking together from the chapel down to the rec field for what is called OMC (organized mass chaos). This is like the hi-light of Centri-kid and what everyone looks forward to. Anyway, we're walking and all of the sudden Jared trips over the uneven pavement and rolled his ankle (which is not uncommon for him). He falls completely down, rolls over groans a little bit and hops back up. Me and Jared and the others around us kind of laugh it off and keep going. Just a few seconds later I look back to check on him and notice he is staggering. I thought, wow, his ankle must be really hurt. As I was saying "Are you sure you're okay?" I happened to notice that Jared's face was sheet white and his lips were a nice shade of blueish/purple. And, he wasn't staggering from pain in his ankle...he was passing out. So, in the 2 or 3 seconds it took me to figure all this out, Jared had hit the ground. (Much thanks to Peter who helped Jared fall in the mulch rather than the pavement!)

Anyway, Jared was out cold! I immediately hit the ground and started patting Jared's cheeks and yelling his name. By this time, I was totally freaked out and crying, and we were creating quite the spectacle! Someone ran up to me and asked if we needed anything (Jared was still out cold). I said, "we need the nurse!" Apparently she thought I was the one with the troubles, because she came back with an OB nurse that was chaperoning for another group! Anyway, right before the nurse gets there, Jared opens his eyes and in the most peppy voice, asks, "Did I fall down again?!" then closes his eyes back. Anyway....in the end, he was fine. The ankle was fine. He simply passed out from the combination of the pain/dehydration/getting up too quickly after he fell. Then for good measure, he got stung by a wasp 2 hours later! It was quite the day, but we survived.

So for those of you who are wondering...yes, Jared did dislocate his shoulder 2 years ago at Centri-Kid doing cartwheels. And, yes, that's the only other year I've been to camp. So, I'm thinking maybe I just shouldn't go to camp anymore!

Columbus Zoo

Well, last Friday was my last day at work. So, as a celebration of my first week "off," Sara and Elli came for a visit this week. One of the things we did was drive to Columbus, OH to go to the Columbus Zoo (which recently surpassed the San Diego Zoo as #1, thanks to it's new polar bear exhibit!). Sara and Elli, who are from Alabama, drove to meet me in Tennessee and then came to Kentucky with me. When we were half way to Columbus, Sara says, "Are we, like, in Canada, because it feels like we should be in Canada." I guess they had done a lot of driving! (**We later found out it would take 8 more hours to get to Toronto which is the closest place to crossing the border, however if we could jump across Lake Ontario it would be much quicker.)

Anyway, we called to invite Rebecca-a childhood friend from TN who lives in Columbus-and her son Ethan to go with us. She in turn invited us to stay with them. So we had a great visit with them. These pics are all pretty self-explanatory. Just know that we had a great time.

And by the way....when we asked Elli what animals she wanted to see at the zoo she said the "quack quacks" (ducks) and the "fishies." Luckily the zoo had both...unluckily, we almost drove to Canada for her to see some ducks and fish.Stylin' in her cool hat and sunglasses.

Me, Sara and Elli with Rebecca and Ethan.

A very cool turtle.

Thanks for checking in. Have fun reading all of the things I posted tonight. It's amazing what one can do with time!