Jabbering Baby

Carter rose a bit earlier than expected this morning and as you can tell from this video he had no interest in sleeping. The lighting was terrible (it was still dark outside and I didn't turn on enough lights) but the sounds are the best part of the video, so turn up your speakers and enjoy.

Happy Gameday

WAR EAGLE!

Redefining "Stay at Home Mom"

As many of you know, we have been a one car family for over 3 years now. It has been nice to have only one car to get serviced, one car to insure, one car to fill up with gas, etc. But, Adam has started back to class/work and needs the car every day which leaves me truly being a stay at home mom.

So, that means we are in the market for car #2. We have narrowed our search down to a Honda CR-V or a Toyota RAV-4. Both of these cars seem to have good reliability ratings, are very safe, and keep a strong resale value. Anybody out there have any pros or cons they are willing to share? If so, please leave a comment! We are hoping to find a good Labor Day/end of the month special this weekend.

Incoherent Daddy Speak - Part II

During the night feedings for Carter, Adam and I have worked out a tag-team approach. I get up to feed Carter when he awakes hungry and then change his diaper. Once Carter is clean and full, I wake Adam and he swaddles him and rocks him back to sleep. On a good night, this approach usually keeps both of us awake separately for 30 minutes or so. But, occasionally Adam's duties take longer depending on Carter's sleepiness - or perhaps I should say unsleepiness.


Last night, I went in to wake Adam after a feeding and Carter and I followed him to the guest bed where Adam usually lays out the swaddle blanket. But, when I got there and was ready to set Carter down, I noticed it wasn't a swaddle blanket on the bed, rather it was Adam's green polo shirt that he had worn that day. It would have been interesting to see how the swaddle would have turned out in a polo shirt. :)


I hesitate to poke fun at Adam's middle of the night ramblings or funny actions - partly because I fear the blog entry he will post about my many mishaps or funny mothering moments - but also because I haven't written about how incredibly helpful Adam is in caring for Carter. He gladly changes any diaper, he patiently walks and rocks Carter to sleep no matter how long it takes, he has created endearing voices for those animal paintings in Carter's nursery and talks to Carter in those voices, and he sings to him and makes silly faces at which Carter adoringly smiles. I am so appreciative of his help in caring for Carter - especially his middle of the night help - incoherent or not!

Weekend Naps...

A picture of Carter trying to break free of the swaddle.

When we swaddle him to put him to sleep, both arms start down by his side.

But lately, either one or both arms break free before his naps are over.

Carter & Daddy enjoying a Saturday afternoon nap.

Tomatoes and... Jazz?

We'd been looking for an excuse to visit the Botanical Garden that is just a mile or so from our neighborhood. And we found our excuse: tomatoes.

As part of the summer special events, the Garden invited a local organic farmer to host an heirloom tomato tasting. The farmer had quite an assortment, including Cherokee Purple, Wapsipinicon Peach, Green Zebra, and Purple Calabash. Or, as I like to refer to them, the purple ones, the fuzzy ones, the green ones, and the funny looking ones. All were interesting and delicious.

Throughout the summer, the Garden hosts various evening programs. And so, alongside the Tomato Tasting were wine tasting and live jazz. It was quite a mix for a summertime evening.

After getting our fill, we strolled through the beautiful gardens. As you'd expect, they had lovely flowers and ponds and wooded paths. Plus, they have a children's section that young Carter will enjoy in a few years.

"This isn't so bad" - Great Granddaddy

Our last stop on our post-bar exam trip down south was to visit Carter's Gram and Great Grandparents. Gram threw a party for all of her friends to come meet Carter then she invited her parents and brother's family over for dinner. My grandmother has been very anxious to meet Carter and was thrilled to finally be able to hold him and talk to him in person. (She has a picture of him at her table and she talks to him and prays for him everyday - how sweet!) Grandmother was just as anxious for Granddaddy to hold him too - but he kept declining, encouraging Grandmother to hold him.

The next night, we visited with my Grandparents again and this time we put Carter in Granddaddy's arms. Carter started making lots of sweet faces and Granddaddy's face lit up too. While holding him and grinning from ear to ear, Granddaddy said "This isn't so bad!"

Nothing like the love of Grandparents

We are pretty sure Carter was spoiled rotten before he was born - but if there was any doubt - it was dismissed after our trip down south. Carter's grandparents and great grandparents cuddled him, rocked him, played with him, showered him with gifts, and more than anything else, loved him dearly. We (especially Carter) love his grandparent's too!

Carter's First Party

Carter's Aunt Susan was so sweet to host a party so mommy and daddy could introduce Carter to several of their friends.

It was such a treat to catch up with dear friends that we don't get to see often enough.

Photos from Party

Mohawk Anyone?

Between preparing for the bar exam and taking care of Carter, Adam had little time for much else, including getting his hair cut. He planned on getting it cut during our trip down south and as it turned out his nephews needed their hair cut too. Susan arranged for four hair cuts back-to-back at Mr. Clay's Barbershop. On the way to Mr. Clay's, Adam encouraged Robert to get a mohawk. Robert's response was quick: "No - YOU get a mohawk!" So, in the process of the buzz, Adam requested a mohawk, which caused for many squeals of excitement and laughter from Robert. Here are some before and after pictures...

You know it's time to start wearing your glasses when...

...you are scrolling through the tv schedule and you select the show "Knitting for a Living" only to find out that you really selected "Killing for a Living"

A Joyful Noise

We decided today was as good a day as any to attempt to visit our first church in our new city with our new son. We have never been good early church attenders, but with Carter as an alarm clock that may change in the future. Still, we did good to make it to the 11:00 service on time and with a sleeping baby. We took him into the church in his car seat and sat on the very back row in order to make a quick get away if needed. We were prepared with paci and burp cloths - but neither were needed.

Carter was an angel baby and slept through the entire service. But, since Carter was unable to participate in the hymn singing or responsive reading, he chimed in by "tootin' for Jesus" with some noisy gas.

Here is a quick video of some of Carter's other joyful noises while he is awake and playful.
(you'll notice some of Adam's joyful noises too - anything to elicit a smile)

Just an everyday update...

I know we have been out of touch the past few days and I am not real sure where all the time has gone but somehow the end of the day would arrive and exhaustion would set in before we managed to post updates to our blog.

We are currently in the middle of a two week vacation at home. Adam starts back at work/school the week of August 25th, but until then, we are working on a long list of items that grew all summer while we were busy with a new baby/bar exam/etc. Here are just a few items we have been working on…

Visited the Lakeside farmers market and planned out our meals for the week…tomato sandwiches, tomato and basil pizza, tomato and olive oil pasta…mmm summertime.
Adam purchased a new grill compliments of some graduation gifts. He spent most of yesterday afternoon constructing said grill and we were thrilled when the gas burners actually ignited. The disappointing part of this activity is that the only thing we had to grill were tomatoes so we plan to visit the store today and enjoy something tasty off the grill this evening. Any recommendations?
We also purchased a small window unit a/c for our playroom/office addition that is not connected to central air. Luckily, since it the end of the season, the unit was on sale. As I type, Adam is working on the installation.
On Thursday, we took a day trip to Charlottesville. I had my post delivery check up (all is well) and Adam purchased his books for his last semester at UVa.
Oh, and we fed Carter, played with Carter, changed Carter’s diapers, walked with Carter, and occasionally slept when Carter slept.

Normally, we would tackle the entire list above in a day or weekend, but we are often distracted by Carter’s schedule and his new adorable smiles and gurgles.

Happy Weekend to All.

Home Sweet Home

After a splendid trip to visit family and friends, we returned home this afternoon. We were thankful for the good times we had with everyone, and we were thankful for Carter's agreeable demeanor, and now--after a couple of weeks on the road--we are thankful for our own bed.

We'll try to post a few of the better stories from the trip over the coming days. Here is a picture from one of our many Carter snack/playtime stops along the way.

Carter's Cousins

Carter is meeting lots of new folks, but none are as entertaining as his cousins, Robert and Jack. Just shy of four years old, Robert is a bundle of energy: inquisitive, playful, and always in motion. At ten months, Jack is a happy little fella who’s always smiling and enjoying his new mobility--crawling everywhere. He’s still refining his motions, so at times Jack was amusingly “a bull in a china shop.”

In the first thirty minutes of meeting the cousins, Carter surely had more entertainment than in all of his first thirty days. Running, bouncing, crawling, talking, jabbering, and giving very personal greetings (thank you for the hand in the face), Jack and Robert offered an exciting greeting. Throughout the visit, the entertainment continued.

Sunrise at the Lake

We've always had a special connection with the Lake. In our early days of dating we had fun weekend trips there, I proposed to Tracy at the Lake, and we were married in a small chapel on the Lake. And so, it is always a treat to return.

There is always plenty of action at the Lake -- as you saw in the previous post, I challenged the Lake with the wakeboard...and the Lake won. But, it is also a place for rest and relaxation. As you certainly know, Carter's schedule does not always align with any notion of R&R, but wonderful support from Poppa, Nana, and Gramma meant the we could enjoy a few, brief moments to relax.

Through the years one of our favorite activities at the lake was taking the boat out for a ride just before sunset. We'd hoped to take a sunset cruise during this visit, but Carter had other plans. His evening schedule always conflicted with dusk, but it also coincided with dawn. Thus, we enjoyed beautiful sunrises each morning.

For more Lake shots, check out the link for updated "Month 2" pictures.

Adam vs. The Lake

There was a new toy at Poppa's house this weekend - a wakeboard. Adam has been itching to wakeboard for a good while - and this weekend he got his chance. He watched a quick video on how to get out of the water, how to hold the rope, and then more importantly, how to do lots of cool tricks. Adam was quick to get up on the water (a task that would take me MANY attempts) and quickly moved on to the fun tricks. Here is a shot of Adam attempting a jump over the wake. He actually landed this one and was able to continue wakeboarding.

But, you can see here, on other attempts he was not as successful. Upon returning from one excursion, Poppa reported that Adam took a face plant so hard that he could hear it on the boat. Knowing that it would be a few minutes before Adam was ready to try again, when Poppa drove the boat back around to where Adam was waiting in the water, he turned off the boat, grabbed a life jacket, and jumped in to cool off a few minutes.

Once Adam had his fill of fun and falls, Poppa enjoyed some kneeboarding. Poppa's ease of getting out of the water, turning 360s, and staying on the board put Adam's efforts to shame.

To see a play by play slideshow of one of Adam's better jump attempts and falls, click here.