It's Been a While...

Hi, all... I know it's been a while since our last post on Carter. We wanted to share our family pictures that we had taken last weekend. Carter did a great job! We promise to post some new pictures on here soon, since Carter IS WALKING now....

Anyway, you are able to order prints via this link if you so choose....enjoy!

Jason, Melissa, and Carter

http://suehufferphotography.smugmug.com/photos/swfpopup.mg?AlbumID=9159887&AlbumKey=2TRFU

Carter Loves Hooters!

The RESTAURANT, People....you have such dirty minds! Great-Aunts Kathy and Tina were visiting today from Southern Indiana with Great-Grandma Faulkenberg, Aubrey, and Mackenzie. We had such a nice visit! While they were here, we went to Hooters to have some wings (YUM!). Meanwhile, Carter enjoyed a hot dog...amongst other things; check it out:

Happy Valentine's Day!

Carter loves to play with the balloon that Grammy and Grandy gave him! He says, "Boon! Boon!"

(Carter "made" these Valentine Cards for his grandparents for his first Valentine's Day.)

Carter and Macey Play

I've never seen a baby get so excited about his dog. Carter just loves Macey to pieces. He is thrilled to see her, and he just giggles and giggles at everything she does. His newest thing? He gets her baby and torments her by shaking it in her face and playing tug-of-war. She thinks he's pretty great too; although, she does still like her space....and her peace and quiet. Haha...

Carter is Crawling!!

February 7 -- Carter starts to crawl! Such an exciting time for him, and a busy time for Mom and Dad!!! He is keeping us on our toes since he is ALL OVER THE PLACE!! Good grief -- you think you have your house baby-proofed, but they still find things you never knew you had....

Carter's First Snow Day!

Nearly a foot of snow in Central Indiana allowed us to have two snow days this week. Carter, Mommy, and Daddy were all home on Wednesday, and boy did we have fun! Daddy got the sled out, and Carter experienced sledding for the first time....

A Proud Dad Moment!

Super-Mom forgot Carter's bottle at home this morning.... I called Jason on my way to work to see if he could run one over to him. (Carter probably would have been fine taking his formula out of his sippy-cup, but obviously the bottle was better.)

When Jason got to his mom's with the bottle, Carter was really excited to see him. He stretched his arms up and started his grunting. Jason picked him up, and Carter had the biggest smile on his face. Then he looked around at all of his friends with the same big smile on his face as if he was saying, "Hey guys! This is my dad! I am so proud of my dad!" Jason said it was really cute. To top it off, when Jason was getting ready to leave, he told Carter "bye-bye." Carter reached his hand out and did the backwards wave.

Jason was excited about his Proud Dad Moment.....

Showing Some Tricks...

Carter is so close to crawling. He's able to get over his leg from a sitting position and onto his tummy. He also loves playing Pat-a-Cake! He's getting so big!

We started eating regular "table food" in the last few days too. He had a waffle with syrup and yogurt with blueberries this morning for breakfast! He LOVED it! We'll be watching his tummy grow, that's for sure!

9 Months Old!

Wow--We have a 9-month old! Someone told me yesterday that Carter is now as old as how long I was pregnant with him....I didn't think about that! He's changed just as much too! It's hard to believe we'll be planning a birthday part in a few months. (FYI--the big birthday party is tentatively scheduled for the Saturday after Carter's birthday; April 18. You are all welcome to attend. Invitations will be sent closer, of course!)

We had our 9-month visit to the doctor this morning. Everything is perfect! Carter is in the 25th percentile in height, weight, and head. HEAD?! Are you serious? Haha....that's one big noggin for only being in the 25th percentile. The doctor said it "just appears bigger because it's perfectly round." I told her that's why we dressed up as Charlie Brown for Halloween! (We had to take advantage of the big, round baldy.)

Anyway, Carter is now allowed to eat table-food within reason. He ate some chicken that was broken into small pieces, and he had some cheesy biscuits from Red Lobster at Grammy's. He LOVED them!

Date Night!

Above is a picture of Carter and Macey. He just can't get enough of her....

Anyway, Jason and I are going on a date tonight! One of our gifts for Christmas was a night out to the movies and dinner with babysitting included from Aunt Kristen!! We're taking her up on it tonight, and we're so excited! We're going to Olive Garden for dinner and then we're going to see "The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons" at the theather. We haven't been to a movie since we were in Florida over a year ago!! I know Carter and Macey will have fun playing with Aunt Kristen tonight!

Fun Stuff to Share

A few random, but fun, things to share...

1) Every morning when we get Carter up, he is so giggly! Jason usually gets him ready in the morning since I take him to Grammy's for daycare. As they are going into the kitchen to get Carter's breakfast, they go through the same routine every single morning; it's so cute. Jason takes Carter down the hallway and stops at the big clock in our entryway. He talks to Carter about the clock, saying, "Tick, tock, tick, tock." Carter watches the pendulum intently. From the clock, they come into the kitchen where Macey is already waiting next to the highchair for any food that may fall to the ground. Jason says, "Look! There's Macey! Macey....Can you say 'Macey'?" Carter thinks that's funny and giggles at Macey. Then they come over to where I am making coffee, and Jason says, "Momma....Momma." Carter leans toward me and it seems like he's reaching for a hug. I tell him that I missed him while he was sleeping, and I give him a big kiss. We do this same thing every day.

On Sunday when we got Carter up, I was the one bringing him into the kitchen for his breakfast. When we looked at Macey and I said, "Look! There's Macey! Macey....Can you say 'Macey'?" Carter giggled of course. While he was eating his breakfast, he looked over at Macey, who was now sitting next to him at the booth. He said, "Dacey!" as plain as day! It was really cute!

2) Carter started eating some 3rd foods yesterday. We tried the chicken and stars with real noodles in it shaped like stars. The stars are small, so I'm pretty sure his two teeth can handle them. But he does have to chew them. He didn't like it yesterday at all! When we tried again today, he did really well. He was opening his mouth really wide for more and more. He was chewing the noodles up and showing no problems at all. I can't believe how fast he's growing!

3) I bought Carter a little shirt at Meijer today that reads "Birthday Boy". It's hard to imagine that we'll be celebrating his first birthday soon. There was a matching bib to go with it, so I got it too. (I went ahead and picked these up, because you never know how long things will be there!)
--They also had "Birthday Girl" shirts and bibs for all of my friends who have little girls!--

4) Finally, we had a monumental day at Grammy and Grandy's house today. Grandy changed a POOPY DIAPER of Carter's!!! Grammy says this is the first one ever! We just had to document it. So funny!!

Back to the Grind...

Vacation is over, and tomorrow we'll be back to the ol' grind....bummer. We had a lot of fun over the last few weeks! We spent a lot of time with family, we had a blast with Carter, and we were able to get together with good friends too.

Carter is all BUT crawling! He is trying SO HARD. When we put him on all fours, he will rock back and forth. He tries to lean forward when he's sitting to get on his hands and knees, but he has trouble getting over his leg. He's getting closer and closer though. We should take some guesses to see when he'll start crawling; any takers? I say...January 15 (9-month Birthday)!

Happy New Year!

We just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year! Jason and I are enjoying time off to enjoy Carter. He is growing so fast!

This picture was taken a couple of months ago, but it's one of my favorites! The sailboat in the picture is actually in his nursery; isn't it beautiful? (It actually belongs to Jason's Aunt Joni. She's letting us borrow it. So nice!)