Happy Halloween

Here are a few pictures of some of our Halloween festivities...

Our lil' pumpkin in a lil' pumpkin patch

Our lil' pumpkin in a bigger pumpkin patch.

We visited a pumpkin farm last week to pick out our pumpkins this year. Carter was a bit young for some of the activities, but we plan on returning next year. You can take a hayride out to the fields where the pumpkins grow and pick your own pumpkin...sounds like fun to me!

The carving process. The littlest pumpkin is a very happy jack-o-lantern just like Carter is a very happy baby boy.
The finished product. I will try to remember to take some pictures tonight while they are lit up with candles. We are planning on taking Carter to a few houses on our street to "trick-or-treat." More pictures to come...

Nursery 101

Last weekend we took a trip back to Charlottesville to visit our old church. Adam needed to do some work in the computer lab at school and I was anxious to introduce Carter to friends who had only seen him via my growing belly. It was so much fun – everyone was thrilled to meet Carter and I had just a little bit of joy showing him off. :) We also managed to fit in a quick visit with my cousins and aunt – a definite bonus for the trip. (Thanks for letting us stop by on such short notice!)

I have missed going to church. Our church in Charlottesville provided good friends, fellowship, and a sense of family while our true family is many miles away. I know we will find that in our new city as well, but I have been afraid to explore the world of dropping off our sweet baby boy at the nursery. If we were still in Charlottesville, I feel certain we would be back at church and Carter would be a regular at the nursery. See, at my old church, I recognize all the names that volunteer to work the nursery and I would feel comfortable leaving Carter with those I had come to know over the years. But, that is not the case in a new city at a new church. I don’t even know where the nursery is at the church we want to visit, and definitely don’t recognize any names that work in the nursery.

I decided to take Carter to the nursery at our old church during bible study this past week to get a feel for how a nursery works. I asked lots of questions…what is a normal adult to baby ratio, are infants kept separate from older children, etc. I felt much more comfortable after my visit and called this week to talk to the Children’s Minister at the church we are thinking of visiting. The conversation brought even more comfort. At this church, Carter would be in the Bunny class…a class for babies that cannot crawl. Once babies can crawl, they are promoted to the Ducks class and so on. They have a beeper system to page the parents if babies become fussy or need to eat. They also have a pretty secure check in process with name tag and receipts to make sure babies are retrieved by only their parents at the end of the service. All in all, I was feeling about as good as I expected to feel after the conversation.

So, we are hoping to go back to church this week. We plan to take Carter to the nursery and attend both a bible study (with a class of other couples of young children) and the worship service. I am looking forward to it and will let you know how it goes.

Another first...rice cereal

We visited the pediatrician yesterday for a couple of small problems: 1) Carter poked himself in the eye on Sunday which caused it to get bloodshot, so I wanted to make sure nothing was scratched. 2) Carter is once again having digestive issues so I wanted the doctor to make sure all systems were still working properly. The visit was a success...all is well. Plus, the doctor gave us the go ahead to start giving Carter rice cereal twice a day. Here are a few shots from the first cereal experience last night.

mmm...this is pretty tasty.

Carter tried to help but ended up pulling the spoon out which resulted in a very cute face covered in rice cereal

are we done yet?
I know this face looks pretty unhappy, but he only fussed when the spoon wasn't in his mouth, so I think overall it was a success.

It's Official...

...Adam has been sworn in and is now an active attorney! Today was the official ceremony where he was admitted before the Supreme Court of the commonwealth to practice before the courts.

Carter and I attended the ceremony...but we just caught bits and pieces of the 3 hour process because he was extremely talkative and playful today. Each school had a reception room so we were able to visit with some of Adam's classmates who are also practicing in the commonwealth. It was fun to catch up and introduce Carter.

Here is how Adam wanted to celebrate...mmmm, ribs.

And here is how I helped him celebrate...

The ribs really were DELICIOUS!!!

Happy Game Day

Carter is all geared up for the Auburn game tonight...are you?

Track'em Tigers!

Can I get a Waaaaaaaar Eagle, Hey!

A Typical Playtime in the Life of Carter

Story Time Update

I had it all planned out. This is how the morning was supposed to go...

7:00 - We all wake up, have breakfast, Daddy goes to work, while Carter and I have play time
9:00 - Carter goes down for morning nap
10:00 - Carter wakes up and eats again
11:10 - Story time at local library, meet other moms in the neighborhood, Carter "meets" other babies
12:00 - home in time for Carter's nap

...but, here are the actual events of the morning

6:00 - Carter wakes up an hour earlier than normal and has no intentions of going back to sleep
8:00 - Daddy puts Carter down for morning nap and then heads off to work
9:00 - Carter wakes up again for brunch
10:45 - It is getting very close to Carter's next nap time (he is usually only awake for 2 hours at a time during the morning) but I decided to strap him into the car seat and head to story time anyway.
11:00 - show up for story time...
11:05 - wait for others to show up for story time...
11:10 - Carter gets solo story time. We are the only ones to show up. But, the story teller read him a fun book - Go Away Big Green Monster - very appropriate for the season, and a very cute book. Then we sang a couple of songs and ended the story time early.
11:30 - We make it home and I put a very tired Carter down for a nap.

Even though the morning didn't go as planned, I didn't really expect it to. I expected Carter's schedule to be off because we actually had something planned to do. I was a little disappointed that the story time had poor attendance, but there is another class for toddlers that the story teller encouraged me to attend. That class was letting out as I arrived and there were 5-10 kids there with their moms, plus a couple of younger siblings closer to Carter's age so I think I will give it a shot next week.

While I was there I checked out the library and was impressed. It is a small neighborhood library, but it is within walking distance from our house which is a definite plus. Also, it appeared that at least a third of the library (maybe more) was dedicated to children's books. I think Carter, Daddy and will become frequent visitors to our local library as Carter gets older.

In the meantime, Carter and I are looking forward to another Mommy and Me yoga class this weekend.

Fall is here...

Just last week we had a high temperature of 87...the next day a high of only 61. But, it seems that fall is finally here to stay. We enjoyed an evening stroll tonight and tried to keep Carter's head warm with this hat...isn't he a cutie?


We strolled down to the CVS tonight (I love having it so convenient!) so I could cash in on some more super savings. Unfortunately, I left my CVS card at home and would have missed out on $15 of savings, so I sadly returned everything and walked home empty handed. Good thing the CVS is convenient, because I will be returning tomorrow.


Also on the agenda for tomorrow is story time at our local library. They advertise that it is for ages birth to 24 months...so we are going to give it a shot. Will let you know how it goes.


Hope you are all enjoying the glorious fall weather wherever you are!

Esq.

I am proud to report that Adam passed the bar exam. I always knew he could pass, but the circumstances under which he prepared for the exam were less than ideal, so the good news today is a huge relief.

Congratulations, Adam. You studied hard while supporting me during the first difficult weeks of caring for a newborn. You are brilliant and loving at the same time and I am incredibly happy for you.

Carter's First Festival

There was a free folk festival downtown this weekend. The weather was perfect, the musical lineup looked good, and the food booths sounded tasty so we took Carter to his first festival. We are still figuring out tricks to taking a baby out and about but on this occasion Carter was a champ. When we got there we walked around for a bit and located a shady spot near the river and near a musical stage and food. We set up with a blanket and then took turns finding food. We had a gyro, crab cake sandwich, grilled sausage sandwich, and barbecue sandwich. Gotta love festivals…there is something for everyone. When Carter was ready for something different (aka he got a little fussy) we walked a bit more while he slept then headed home.

At least someone slept…

I mentioned in a previous post that Carter’s night sleep has been very choppy lately. Last Saturday night, the first night Poppa and Nana were here for their visit, Carter was up just about every hour. Adam and I did our best to quiet Carter and get him back to sleep each time without disturbing our guests. Well, the next morning, Poppa awoke before the rest of us and sent his mom (Carter’s Great Gramma) an e-mail bragging on how well Carter slept through the night. Turns out, Poppa slept great throughout the night and didn’t hear a peep out of Carter. Gramma got another e-mail later in the day explaining that the only heavy sleeper in the house the night before was Poppa.

Adam sleeps pretty heavy too (at least he did until Carter came along), so we are all hoping this choppy sleep is just a phase and that Carter inherited the heavy sleep ability from his Daddy and Poppa.

Gramma, thanks for the blog comment – here is a picture of 3 of your favorite boys.

A Web for the Web

We had a fun time decorating our front porch for Halloween this weekend...

...thanks for the catchy blog title, Poppa.

A Busy Saturday

Recently I have bragged on how well Carter has slept. Well, I may have jinxed our luck. Both Friday and Saturday nights were long with frequent trips to the nursery. Finally, at 5:15 this morning we decided to take a step back and re-swaddle with only one arm out. After that he slept for almost 2 hours – our longest stretch of the night.
Even though we awoke Saturday morning bleary eyed, we had plenty to do. Carter’s Poppa and Nana were on their way for a visit and we still had lots of cleaning to do. We spent a lot of Friday afternoon cleaning too, but I learned a valuable lesson: this house cannot be cleaned in one afternoon with a baby. Our home has more square footage than the total of our past 3 apartments combined. Our house is not huge, rather our previous apartments have been quite small – 2 of them less than 600 square feet. What used to take one afternoon of scrubbing and vacuuming now requires multiple cleaning sessions to get it all done. But, we made enough progress and Adam headed off to pick up our special guests from the airport.
Meanwhile, Carter and I went to our first Mommy & Me yoga class at a studio just a couple of blocks from our house. There was one other mom/baby in the class yesterday and we had previously met them in the neighborhood while out walking one day. The other baby was just 3 weeks younger than Carter. The class was a lot of fun. They encourage a lot of interaction with your baby while you stretch, exercise, etc. At one point we got in a circle and while holding our babies facing each other we would do squats. The babies loved looking at each other as well as the movement up and down. We also did some mini baby yoga moves such as moving their arms out and in and moving their hips in circles. It was relaxing and fun and Carter seemed to really enjoy it. He laughed and cooed and was an angel baby.

Yesterday afternoon we enjoyed showing off Carter’s tricks to Poppa and Nana. They smiled as big as Carter did. We also hung a new swing on our Japanese maple tree in the front yard (thanks Aunt Susan!) Carter is still a little small for the swing, but seemed to really enjoy just small movement with very close parental supervision. (Sometimes it is still very odd to me that I am now the “parental supervisor.”) Once it was nap time again, we got busy working in the yard. Adam mowed the back yard and I clipped some shrubs that had gotten extremely overgrown. It was another exercise that really made me feel like a homeowner – which I love.
Last night Adam grilled a wonderful meal for us and we even made a fire in our fire pit for the first time even though the temperature didn’t call for a fire. He grilled pork tenderloin, asparagus, squash, zucchini, and onions. It was all yummy.
We followed a very unfortunate Auburn football game via the internet and retired early. It was quite a busy day, a busier day than I have had in quite awhile, but very enjoyable.

Postcards from the Road

As you may remember from our last journey, Carter has an affinity for truck stops and rural areas (On the Road Again and Again). Well, the trip last weekend was no different. Carter found a closed-down gas station and decided it was the perfect place to stop for a while. It's always a journey with the little man.

Breaking News

Well, I didn't think that I would be posting anything this soon after last night's catch-up entries. But, I wanted to report that Carter rolled over this morning. I was in the kitchen fixing Carter a small prune juice bottle (poor guy) and Adam announced that Carter just rolled over. So I rushed into the living room and Adam put Carter on his tummy again and sure enough he rolls right over to his back. We are pretty proud. :)

Before & After #2 (continued)

Here is the before picture...just 2 short weeks ago.

And now the after picture. It is now definitely more green than brown. I think we should have thrown a bit more seed. But, we are pleased with the improvement for sure!
Here is a shot of a low spot in the yard. All of the seed gravitated to the low spot during a heavy rain. And here is a shot of Adam multi-tasking..."rocking" Carter while pulling weeds. Quite a combo, huh?

Breaking the Swaddle

We have been swaddling Carter for naps and for nighttime sleeping ever since we left the hospital. It is a wonderful soothing mechanism and it keeps him from waking himself up with a startle reflex. I have wondered for some time now how and when we would break the swaddle habit. I have been fearful that all of the nighttime progress we have made would be undone once Carter started sleeping un-swaddled. But, just recently he has started to resist the swaddle a little bit so we have started wrapping him with one arm out. Last night was the first night for Carter to sleep with one arm out and miraculously, it was a wonderful night. He slept from 11:00 until 4:45 and then until 8:30. The beauty of the one arm out method is that Carter can now soothe himself with his fingers/hand/thumb (whatever he can fit in his mouth).

Wonderful Wedded Weekend

A big congratulations to my cousin Kelly and her new husband Dave. They were married this past weekend in Georgia; unfortunately, the distance and a 3-month old prevented me from attending. But, Carter’s Gram and Mimi (aka the “co-grannys”) attended all of the events and reported every last detail to me – thanks for the great report. I wish I could have been there to see Kelly walk down the aisle, watch the first dance of the new Mr. and Mrs., and of course enjoy the delicious wedding cakes, but will look forward to seeing lots of pictures. Congratulations – we love you and couldn’t be more excited for you!

It was a popular wedding weekend. Our friends Matt and Lindsay also tied the knot in North Carolina. Originally we had planned to travel down on Saturday, but on Friday morning we decided that since Carter’s longest stretch of sleep is after his 7:00 pm bottle, we should travel then. So, we packed up a bit earlier and got on the road around 7:30 Friday night. Brilliant plan. Carter slept the entire way. Once we got to the hotel, our friends came to the hotel to meet little Carter. They showered Carter with fun toys and adorable outfits and we of course loved introducing him to some of his biggest fans. Here are a few pictures…

The wedding took place at the bride's parent's house out in the country. The setting was beautiful and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. Carter made a few sweet sounds during the prayer and was a trooper throughout the entire event. Here are a few more shots from the wedding. Congratulations Matt & Lindsay! We wish you guys many years of happiness.

Matt and Lindsay - the happy newlyweds.

Nick & Carter bonding during bottle time - Carter's favorite event of the evening.

I thought the table settings were gorgeous and perfect for a fall evening.

Carter eventually tuckered out and fell asleep in Daddy's arms.

Mr. Bird

Carter has a new best friend - Mr. Bird. Enjoy.

CVS Success

Grocery costs are rising. I hear about it on the news and I read about it in news magazines, but that still never prepares me for the total at the check-out line at the grocery store. Even on cheap weeks where I try to use meat from the freezer or items we stocked up on a while back, the total is still at least $25-$50 more than it used to be. In an effort to reduce some of this increase, I have started playing the coupon game. I have started reading various websites like Coupon Mom and Money Saving Mom. The theory is that items generally go on sale and/or the manufacturers generate a coupon in the paper approximately every 6 weeks. Therefore, you should buy items (in bulk if needed) when on sale so you don't have to when they aren't on sale.

So, I have started purchasing a Sunday paper each week and now clip coupons for items we use. Next, I look at these websites for hints on how to combine coupons with store savings to get the best deal. So far I have had the most success at CVS. Here is a quick summary of my trip last night:

What I purchased: 4 12 packs of Coke, 2 bags of Milky Way candy (for Halloween - very excited about having trick-or-treaters this year!!!), Cascade, Softspot hand soap, 2 boxes of Kleenex, Tide, 2 Old Spice deodorants, and Dawn dish soap.

Total Before CVS Sales: $57.56
Less CVS Sales: ($22.41)
Less Coupons Used: ($3.85)
Less Extra Care Bucks Used: ($15.00)
Total Out of Pocket: $16.30

Total Savings: $41.26!!!
Extra Care Bucks earned for next visit: $8.00


I have been shopping at CVS for many years, but have never taken advantage of the Extra Care Bucks (ECB). After my past two shopping trips, I will never miss out on using them again. It is like free money at CVS. For example, Adam always enjoys Cokes. CVS had 12-packs on sale 4 for $13.00 plus $3.00 ECB for a final price of 4 for $10.00. I had to pay $13.00 for the Cokes last night, but next week I go back and use the $3.00 ECB coupon off of my total. Do we need 4 12-packs of coke this week? I sure hope not. But, we will definitely use them before they lose their fizz, so I decided to go ahead and stock up.

The CVS insert in the paper each week makes it really easy to save. Another example. This week, CVS advertized Tide on sale from $8.99 for only $4.99. This was already a great deal - but the insert also mentioned "Look for coupon in Sunday's paper." Well, guess what. There was a $1.00 Tide coupon in the Sunday paper, so I paid only $3.99 for my Tide - a savings of $5.00.

I guess I should be honest and admit that the list above is not everything I purchased - just what was on sale. I ended up with a few items that weren't on my list. This practice does not help with the savings! But, I am working on it.

Happy October

It is definitely starting to feel like fall. Our forecast for the next week is highs in the mid 70's and lows in the 50's. Anyone want to come visit?

I really love being outside this time of year. Carter and I have been spending lots of time sitting on the front porch and walking outside in the shade of our Japanese Maple tree. We have new mums in our planters and pumpkins on the front porch. Our grass is germinating nicely. It now looks more green than brown. Soon it will be time to carve jack-o-lanterns. If only we could make it to an Auburn football game.