Month 9

This has been a big month for Carter! He's officially crawling, which means we can't leave him alone on the floor anymore. He'll crawl across the room if you turn around for a second, or try to crawl up the stairs. He can pull himself up standing, but he doesn't know how to safely fall down. He's had a couple of good falls!

Carter now can also stand up in his crib when he's sleeping. It's led to some interesting nap time experiences. The minute he goes into this crib, he flips himself over on his stomach, pushes himself into a crawl position, and then pulls himself up standing. In less than a minute, he's shaking the side of his crib wanting to be let out. Yola (from day care) says all kids go through this phase and it's just a matter of time before they settle down again and realize that standing up is not so novel. Also, once he figures out how to lower himself safely, he'll be back to his normal napping self again. On the flip side, Carter has been sleeping through the night (3 nights in a row!). We had braced ourselves for some serious crying at night in order to get him to sleep through the night, but so far it's been relatively painless. A little crying here and there, but nothing serious. We hope this is the start of something really great!

Carter had his first hut trip at Red Mountain Pass a couple of weeks ago. His ears didn't feel so great because he was getting over an ear infection and we were sleeping at 11,000ft. But, he had fun and he and Luna got to share a nice bath together.

Month 8

The past couple of months have been hard on Carter. Since January 14, he's had three colds, two ear infections and one throat infection. Just as he gets better from one illness, he catches another. He's getting exposed to so many germs at day care! He's been surprisingly upbeat despite being sick so much. He is still very happy.

Carter now has four teeth -- two on top and two on bottom. His new teeth help him bite on food, which can be somewhat dangerous because he can now chew off big bites of food (like toast). He's been eating a lot of solids now. He loves his veggies, but what he really loves is dairy. He can't seem to get enough of yogurt and cheese. If he's unhappy for some reason, all we have to do is give him a piece of cheese and he'll calm down.

Carter is also very close to crawling. He can get on all fours and move his arms, but he won't move his legs. It's been hard for him to practice on the hard wood floors because they are so slippery, but he's had much better luck in his bedroom where he has floor mat tiles. He's definitely mobile though. He can scoot himself around and he's able to get to whatever he wants. Most recently he's been holding himself up standing...although he's not very stable. We are going to have to childproof the house soon!

For a while we thought that Carter said his first word - "ga," (which we thought he was trying to say dog). Every time he saw Charlie or another dog he would say "ga." It now turns out that everything is "ga." Ga ga ga ga ga!

Month 7

Carter has become a really fun kid to be around. He likes to play with his toys and he even likes to dance to music. As you can see, he's sitting up on his own really well now. While sitting, he will lunge forward to grab something, and often times he'll fall on his stomach/face. Sometimes he's OK with that and just hangs out on his stomach, but other times he'll cry because he's stuck. I think it's that lunging movement is the start to him learning how to crawl. He just needs to learn to put his arms out to break the fall!

He also has two teeth on the bottom now and his top teeth are coming in. Teething hasn't been that bad of an issue and I probably stressed reading about more than I stressed about it when it was actually happening. This just goes to show that you can "over read" parenting books!

Carter has also been going out on some hikes in his new Kelty carrier. The front carrier is OK for short walks, but he's getting too heavy. He loves the back carrier because he can see really high and it's ultra comfortable. The carrier is like his Cadillac.

During January Carter got his first cold. It's been lingering still, but it's probably also because he started day care. Every kid in day care is sick, so it's probably a shock to his immune system. It's so hard to hear him cough, but he seems to somehow sleep right through it. Amazing! Carter really enjoys day care. There are usually five other infants at day care, which means many other babies to play with. We thought he might cry when we left him, but he barely even noticed that we left. It's only when we pick him up that he wants to be picked up right away. If we linger and talk to the teachers a little too long, he'll give a good shout out to us. He's also learning how to reach for us, so it feels so good to pick him up and have him hold his arms out for us!

Carter's personality is really coming out these days. He's a real chill baby. If we go somewhere new, he'll sit down and take a while to observe things. It's like he's just taking everything in and you can almost see the wheels in his head turning. He's also talking a ton these days. His favorite sounds these days to make are "ga ga ga" and sometimes we'll hear a mama and dada. Such typical baby babble!

Month 6

Month 6 was a big month for Carter. We got back from Costa Rica and then a week later headed to CA for two weeks. During our stay in CA, Carter began to be able to sit on his own for long periods of time. This is great for us because we can now play with him by handing him toys and watching him stuff things into his mouth.

Carter has also begun to "wiggle," where is shakes his head and whole body. He especially likes to do this when you are holding him and he's standing. It looks like he's dancing. It's super cute. He's also adopted a very loud shriek that he like to use when he's in his bouncing chair. We are trying to not encourage this, but we're not sure how successful we will be.

The other big news is that Carter has his first tooth coming in. It's on the bottom and we felt it just a couple of days ago. It's pretty sharp and it's broken the skin now. No wonder he was so drooly recently. I didn't seem to be too fussy about it though (although I don't want to jinx ourselves with the other teeth). He's also almost ready to feed himself. He can grab things and put them into his mouth, but his coordination still needs a little refinement. I can't wait to watch him eat on his own!

Month 5

Month five has been full of milestones for Carter. First, he's now eating solids two to three times a day. His favorite food include pears and sweet potatoes, although he's also had peas, avocados, apples, and bananas. He has been very interested in watching people eat -- he moves his mouth when we eat and will open his mouth if food is near his mouth. He also loves sucking on beer bottles...

Second, Carter has been rolling around a lot on his back and can now roll from his back to his belly. He loves "happy baby" pose and sucks on his toes a lot. It's hard to get his diaper on because he pulls his feet up to his mouth whenever he's on his back! He's also at the point where we can't leave him unattended anymore because he really will roll off the changing table. A couple of times, he's even turned himself 180 degrees in his crib.

Third, Carter is now really good at recognizing people. He smiles a lot at those that he recognizes and laughs out loud when interacting with us. He's also learning to reach for people, which feels especially great when I come home from work!

And lastly, Carter has become very verbal. He'll spend up to an hour in the morning talking to himself in his crib. We listen to him on the baby monitor (trying to delay getting up from bed) and it's hilarious hearing the sounds that he makes. I can't wait to hear him talk!

Carter celebrated his four month birthday in Australia and his fifth month birthday in Costa Rica. He's been such a great traveler so far. We are flying to SF next week and I hope that he keeps it up!

Four months

Carter is such a big boy now. He's really good at grabbing objects and stuffing them into his face. His fingers are still his favorite item to chew on though! We've also started him on solid foods and so far he's eaten rice cereal, bananas, carrots, peas, and pears. The bananas and carrots are causing some serious constipation, so we've been only feeding him pears and peas. Hopefully the fruit and vegetable will help things get moving!

Carter is also now more aware of other people and animals. He loves to watch Frida and Charlie play in the house. He and Luna have played together a couple of times together. The most recent time was the best, since they were both able to sit up and grab toys from each other. I can't wait for them to be older and really start to play together.

Carter is still refusing the bottle and this has made my life very difficult. I've been coming home from work at lunch to feed him. Hopefully in a couple of months he'll be able to drink from the sippy cup and then I can be away from him for more than 4 hours. Who would have thought that a three day hiatus from bottle drinking would have led to this?

Week 14/15

Carter is no longer a newborn and has become a very active baby. He can sit up very well now while propped up with pillows and he can hold his head up pretty high when he's on his belly. It really is only a matter of time before he can roll himself over. He is also getting very good at grabbing things with his hands and his movements are so much more controlled. It's so neat watching him develop.

Now for some good and bad recent developments. The good: we moved Carter into his bedroom full time now and it's worked out great. He's now sleeping in his crib at night which means that we are all sleeping a lot more. He usually gets his bath at 7 pm, gets nursed, and then is asleep a little after 7:30. He'll sleep until 12:30-2:30 am, nurse, and then go back to sleep. He will then wake up anywhere between 6:30-7:30 am. We sleep better since we don't hear every little grunt that he makes (we also don't have to hear him poop all night long!).

The bad: Carter will no longer drink from a bottle. He was drinking great from a bottle from 4 weeks old until a couple of weeks ago. Then, we didn't feed him with a bottle for three days and after that, he refused the bottle completely. He cries whenever he sucks from the bottle and will go the whole day without eating if I'm at work. We thought he would eventually take the bottle, but it's been 12 days now and he's winning the battle. He's been eating 8-10 oz less milk per day and he's losing his belly (he's suppose to drink up to 32 oz in a day)! The pediatrician said that when we come back from Australia, he'll be 4 months old and we can start introducing solids to him so that he eats while I'm at work. Then, in a little while, we can start giving him a sippy cup instead of the bottle. I'm not sure what happened, but he is one stubborn baby!

Other than the bottle strike, Carter is still a very happy and chill baby. He naps great and doesn't cry very much at all. However, I know that his stubbornness will be interesting once he becomes a toddler...I can't wait.