5 hours!!!

5 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Last night. Very exciting.

All the books say that most babies start to sleep for longer periods at 3 months. Well, Carter turned 3 months last Thursday. On Friday night he slept from 7:00 - 1:15. Unfortunately, we were up for some of that time watching the presidential debate. Last night Carter slept from 11:00 - 4:15. Amazing. Can't remember the last time I slept that long uninterrupted - last January? March? I was up in the middle of the night several times while pregnant changing positions or going to the bathroom, so this was quite an accomplishment.

For those Bama fans out there - quite a game last night. The Tiger/Tide match-up this year might be a little more interesting than the past 6.

3 Months Old

Today is Carter's 3 month birthday. So far he is making the most of it by not sleeping very much.

He is changing every day. Here are a few of his latest tricks...putting however many fingers or hands he can fit into his mouth whenever he can, blowing bubbles, smacking, sticking out his tongue, kicking and batting at toys, making enough movement in bouncer and on play mat to activate toys with sound, full body smiles and laughter, cuddling, grabbing onto my shoulder when I hold him, and making more new noises than I can keep up with.

Thought you might enjoy a slideshow with some recent Carter pics...

Before & After #2

We have lots of projects in mind for our new (very old) house. So, I thought I would start a "Before & After" series to document our changes. This weekend, Adam and I made a trip to Lowes for a random list of things for the house (fall mums for our planter boxes on the front porch, new light plate switches, caulk, etc.) We had a coupon for $10 off a $50 purchase. Well, our total came to approximately $40 which meant we needed to spend another $10 to get $10 off. So, what do we do in this spur of the moment spending spree? Buy a bag of grass seed for our brown front yard. The result of this "free" bag of seed? Several hours of intense manual labor! Adam scalped the yard with the lawn mower, then de-thatched the yard with a rake, seeded and fertilized the yard, and watered the yard thoroughly. The picture is an in progress picture...I hope to post a beautiful lush "after" picture a few weeks from now.

Mimi's Here!

A very special visitor arrived this weekend - Carter's Mimi (aka Adam's mom). She arrived Saturday morning and I don't think she has stopped smiling yet. She sure does love her grandson. Here are a few Mimi quotes from the weekend so far...

"He is so strong...so alert...so handsome..."

"What a bright little boy!"

Adam: "Can you watch Carter while Tracy and I go run an errand?"

Mimi: "Oh Darn! Please don't make me take care of Carter - the most wonderful job around." :)

Ahoy, me hearty!

Adam and I took a day trip back to Charlottesville and I visited some friends from work. Here is just one of the many reasons I miss those folks at WCS...they informed me that it was International Talk Like a Pirate Day. How did they know this? I have no idea...but they are always full of fun facts and silly information that brings fun and laughter to the workplace. In honor of such a special day, young Carter is wearing his "Argh!" onesie. We tried to get him to make the "Argh" noise - this is what we got. (Translation: "mommy and daddy - you are weird!")

Another fun piece of information for today...our gas only cost $2.33 per gallon. Before you all rush out to try to find a gas station with such great prices, let me explain. Our grocery store started a new program called Fuel Perks. For every $50.00 we spend in groceries, we get $0.10 off our next fill up (up to 20 gallons). Well, I had been letting our Fuel Perks accumulate all summer and finally cashed in this morning. What a cool program, huh?

New Toys

We tested out another generous hand-me-down from Aunt Susan today - the Bumbo Seat. Carter looks like such a big boy to me in this seat. He is really doing well with his head control lately and loved looking around while in the Bumbo Seat. Also, we are pleased to report that bath time is now an enjoyable activity. We seem to get cries now when we take him out of the water instead of when we put him in the water. We started to try to teach him how to splash in the water the other night...but then we realized that we would probably regret encouraging that behavior...so we are going to let him discover the joys (and messes) of splashing all on his own.

Tummy Time

Kitchen Experiments

I usually shy away from all of those fancy recipes at the back of each Southern Living or Real Simple magazine. But, the most recent Southern Living had several simple recipes worth trying. I'll share two below that we tried this week. I bought 2 steaks and Adam grilled them at the same time - which made the cooking time for the second recipe later in the week minimal.

For the past couple of years our weekly meals cycled through 5 recipes or so that made large portions so we could have leftovers to take to work/school. I would occasionally try a new recipe here or there, but rarely felt I had the time or energy to find a new recipe worth trying, create a detailed grocery list, then actually make the recipe. Although the energy component is still lacking on some days, I am enjoying experimenting a bit more in the kitchen. I wonder if Adam is enjoying the eating as much as I am enjoying the cooking...

Orange Beef Pasta (pictured)

Ingredients:

½ 16 oz. package vermicelli
¼ c soy sauce
1 T vegetable oil
¼ c orange marmalade
2 carrots, cut into ¼ “ slices
¼ t dried crushed red pepper
1 ½ c snow peas, trimmed
1 lb cooked sliced Greek Style Beef (see recipe below)
1 14 oz. can beef broth
Toppings: sliced green onions, toasted sesame seeds

Directions:
1. Prepare pasta according to package directions
2. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add carrots and snow peas, and stir fry 4 to 5 minutes or until crisp-tender. Stir in beef-broth and next 3 ingredients.
3. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat; add Greek Style Beef and hot cooked pasta; toss well to combine. Serve immediately with desired toppings.

Greek Style Beef & Vegetables

Ingredients:
1 lb 1” thick boneless top sirloin steak
1 red onion, cut into ½ inch thick slices
3 T olive oil, divided
1 lemon, cut in half
2 t kosher salt, divided
1 10 oz. box plain couscous
1 t freshly ground pepper, divided
1/2 4 oz. package feta cheese
6 medium size yellow squash, cut in half
Chunky Cucumber Mint Sauce (separate recipe below)

Directions:
1. Preheat grill to 350º to 400º (medium high). Rub steak with 1 T. oil, 1 ½ t. kosher salt, and ¾ t. pepper.
2. Brush squash and onion with remaining 2 T. oil; sprinkle with remaining ½ t. kosher salt and ¼ t. pepper.
3. Grill steak and vegetables, covered with grill lid, over 350º to 400º (medium high) heat 5 to 7 minutes on each side or until steak reaches desired degree of doneness and vegetables are tender. Remove steak and vegetables from grill; squeeze juice from lemon over steak and vegetables. Cover steak and vegetables with aluminum foil, and let stand 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, prepare couscous according to package directions.
5. Cut steak across the grain into thick slices. Top couscous with vegetables; sprinkle with feta cheese. Serve with steak and Chunky Cucumber Mint Sauce.

Chunky Cucumber Mint Sauce:
Stir together 1 c plain yogurt; 3 T sour cream; 1 small peeled and chopped cucumber, 4 t chopped fresh mint, salt & pepper to taste. Makes about 1 ¾ c.

"Wait a minute...that's not milk in my bottle!"

NOTE - this post may fall under the category of "too much information". If you wish to not read about our son's digestive track, please skip this post.

So Carter has been less than regular recently. At the recommendation of the pediatrician, we gave Carter a bottle of prune juice, diluted with water. Well, that did the trick. Less than 2 hours later we were cleaning up a very messy diaper.

Just a week before, Carter had not been soaking his diapers as much as mommy would prefer. I started paying careful attention to each diaper change, and even called the pediatrician with my concern. Well, during a 3 a.m. diaper change last weekend, Carter showed mommy that he was just fine...hello Carter Fountain.

We are hopeful this next week will be uneventful in the diaper department.

Before & After

So, Carter's nursery is still a work in progress. At this rate it won't be complete until he graduates high school. But, I thought I would share the latest project.

I found some simple navy canvas curtains with black-out lining on sale at Linens N Things. Plus, I had a 20% coupon. I had previously seen some navy grommet curtains at Pottery Barn Kids on sale that I liked, but they were on back order, so I decided to keep looking. I purchased a set of panels from Linens N Things for less than the price of one curtain panel on sale at Pottery Barn Kids. (By the way, I recently learned that Linens N Things accepts their competitors' coupons. So, hang on to all those Bed Bath and Beyond coupons that come in the mail every week and know you can use them at Bed Bath and Beyond or Linens N Things. Also, Bed Bath and Beyond are not sticklers about the expiration date, so you can use their coupons whenever.)

When I got home I was anxious to check out the new curtains in Carter's room. Unfortunately, the curtains were about 2" too short - see picture below:

But, I had recently ordered some fabric to make a crib skirt (still in progress...more to come later) so I decided to use some of that fabric to extend the length of the curtain to the floor. Here is a picture of the finished project:

And here is a close up of the crib skirt fabric. I am a very beginner sewer so I added the red grosgrain ribbon to try and hide my inevitable un-straight line of joining the crib skirt fabric to the curtain panel. It is definitely not perfect, but I like it and I think Carter does too!
Now the only dilemma is where to place Mr. Turtle? (see first picture above)

Happy Grandparent's Day

we have a feeling Carter will learn this strategy quickly

Hello Hanna

The rain started last night and just stopped a little bit ago.

While our de-humidifier is a handy machine - it's no match for Hanna.

Water has been seeping into our basement - but luckily the drain is working well - espeically with a little broom assistance.

Just another one of those joys of home ownership.

The Many Faces of Carter

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So what do you do on a rainy day? You become the paprazzi.

For those die-hard Carter fans...there are more pictures in the September album.

Who is that?

After 3 years of t-shirts and shorts while slaving away at law school, Adam headed off to work today all suited up.
Also, I am happy to report that we finalized the car search yesterday!

We decided on a Toyota RAV-4 - it is roomy, drives great, and still has decent fuel economy for an SUV. Carter slept great in it yesterday on the way home too - a definite plus.

I think I will go run errands today just because I can.