Hey Mommy,
Happy Valentine’s Day! I tried to get you a card. I really did. Even went to two different places. There’s like 20 different “to Daddy from Daughter” Valentine’s Day cards, but not one stinking “to Mommy from Son” card. Seriously.
So, I thought it would better if I made something for you. The video below shows some of my favorite moments with you. I love you! Happy Valentine’s Day!
I PROMISE that I am a better mother than I am a blogger! We are enjoying Carter more and more every day and are trying to expose him to as much fun as we possibly can. We stayed busy this fall with a week-long visit from Cory’s 5 year-old cousin Lily, the Dallas Arboretum, the State Fair, and a visit to the Pumpkin Patch.
For Halloween, Carter decided to be an elephant. And he was CLEARLY, the cutest elephant ever! We trick-or-treated at Mimi & Papa’s, Grandaddy Vick’s, and at a few houses in the neighborhood. Since Carter has become shy lately, we had to improvise with stroller-trick-or-treating, as Carter had no interest in walking up to strangers to get candy! But, he was sweet enough to share his loot with Harold.
The day after Halloween was beautiful, so we decided to make another family trip to the Dallas Arboretum. We have really become fans and will enjoy our newly purchased “Family Pass” for many trips in the future.
Carter is such a happy kiddo and adjusts to whatever we throw at him!
Carter’s first birthday is coming up this week. His Aunt Lori and Uncle Sean were here for a visit this weekend, and Lori was gracious enough to produce this incredible compilation of the first year of Carter’s “pics of the day.”
Pics of the Day – Year One from Cory Reed on Vimeo.
Thank you, Lori – not only for the video, but also for being way more organized than us with the pics of the day.
We recently took a family trip to Rhode Island to visit Lori and Sean, while also being able to take in a good friend’s wedding in Connecticut. Getting ready was a little challenging, since “someone” didn’t want to be left out.
Each day, we had a lazy morning in the hotel before Sean and Lori met us for the day.
Our day in Boston was spent in a touristy Irish pub in Quincy Market for lunch and spent walking (or sleeping) around downtown before heading to Rhode Island.
Our first day in Rhode Island was a little rainy, so we went to a cafe in Narragannsett for lunch, had some Brickley’s ice cream, and hung out at Sean and Lori’s before having seafood in Wakefield.
Sunday morning we started the day off with breakfast in Wakefield at the Bluebird Cafe, and then Cory and I got ready for a friends’ wedding at the Mansion at Harkness State Park. Aunt Lori & Uncle Sean babysat while we went to the wedding, and we were relieved to find Carter sleeping peacefully when we came back. Based on the pictures, he had a blast, too.
Monday, we took a picnic to Beavertail State Park and enjoyed the scenery. We also managed our second trip to Brickleys in 3 days…because Carter wanted ice cream!
We had a wonderful trip and were all sad to leave!
This summer has been super busy…hence the lack of posts. To fill you all in on our summer activities, without you having to read a novel, I thought I would do a post with mostly pictures. And really, why else do you come to the blog, but to see pictures of Carter?!
Carter and I started Father’s Day off by making breakfast in bed for Cory and later celebrated with the Burnside clan:
Papaw Bart came out for the 4th of July and we took Carter to the Dallas Zoo for the first time and then followed that up with fireworks at Kaboom Town. Carter was a trooper, as ALL of that was in one day. Poor baby finally fell asleep during the fireworks and missed the grand finale!
Carter has had friends over to swim, gone on dates with Sara, and learned to play the piano.
Carter also learned to express his own opinions and started to eat table food.
Carter’s little cousin Emma finally made her debut on August 12, which also happens to be Mimi’s birthday.
Oh, and most importantly, he’s learned to walk independently with his lion:
All in all, a wonderful summer full of adventures!
Last month, we took our first family beach vacation. We rented a house in Ft. Morgan, Alabama, just outside Gulf Shores. It was a full house. Cory, Carter and I were joined by friends Annette, Marty and Frankie, and Cory’s parents, Janie and Dave. Taking vacations with built-in babysitters rocks.
The house we rented was beautiful. It had four bedrooms, four baths, a hot-tub, and it was right on a private beach.
It takes 12 hours to get to Gulf Shores, so we started the drive just before midnight. My speed demon of a husband made great time while the rest of us slept. Once we got to Alabama, we had to take a ferry from Dauphin Island over to Ft. Morgan. Since it was nap time – and hot – Carter wasn’t all that impressed with the ferry.
Carter enjoyed the sand, but wasn’t crazy about the ocean. The waves freaked him out. He also enjoyed our dolphin cruise, despite the life jacket that swallowed him. Well, we say he enjoyed it, but he actually screamed for the first 30 minutes of the cruise. We were definitely NOT the favorite passengers on the boat. The rest of the week was spent eating meals on the porch, walking on the beach, and relaxing in the sun.
All in all, it was a wonderful week. And thankfully, Carter shows no lasting effects of me allowing him to roll off of the bed onto the hardwood floor!
Sorry for the lack of posts recently. We had MAJOR issues with WordPress but should now be back on track. Be prepared for an overload of posts in the near future. We have 5 weeks worth of material to share!
Carter made his debut in the pool on Memorial Day! Grandpa Dave has been sneaking his feet in the water for a little while now, but we heated both the pool and hot tub on Memorial Day to make things a little more like bath water for the initial entry. I’m happy to report that Carter throughly enjoyed himself. He is a lover of the outdoors and has been eyeing the pool for some time. Janie bought him a float that has a palm tree to provide a little shade. I also tried a sun hat but he would have none of it. I do believe that we will all be pruney by the end of the summer!
Last week, Carter returned to his roots. This meant he also made his first plane ride when he and I flew to Baltimore. Cory had to work in Baltimore last week so Carter and I joined him mid-week for our first family vacation. I was a little apprehensive about traveling with him by myself, but all turned out fine. We sailed through security (after they tested each of the seven bottles of milk), and were fortunate enough to be able to snag a better seat. When we booked the flight, the only thing available was a middle seat in the back of the plane. Fortunately, I was able to talk the gate agent into giving us a window seat. Before getting on the plane, I ran into a friend from college. I haven’t seen Beth in nearly 10 years, despite the fact that she lived in Baltimore while we did and now lives less than a mile from us. Carter handled the flight really well and made friends with the guy beside us. My treat of Oreos and ear plugs for the other guys on the row probably helped. I also had a stroke of genius: I tied all of Carter’s toys together on a ribbon so that when he tired of one and threw it, it didn’t hit the floor and we could move on to the next. Anticipating that I might have had a bad flight, Cory met us at the airport with a dozen roses. My boys missed each other.
Thursday was spent visiting friends at Cory’s work and at Hopkins. Carter easily met 40 new people and received dozens of raspberries on his cheeks. He handled it like a pro. That night, we had a wonderful dinner in Columbia, MD with friends Wil and Elisa.
Cory took Friday off, and after a leisurely morning at the hotel, and lunch at the “gas-ateria,” we headed down to Washington, DC for some site-seeing. While Cory and I enjoyed the sites, Carter seemed to be more impressed with the throngs of people. It was Memorial Day weekend and DC was packed. Crowds were everywhere, so we chose to do something that didn’t require standing in line. We parked outside the Dept. of Commerce and walked around the ellipse and up to the White House where Carter got his first look at his future home. He also got to see his first political demonstration. Native Tamils from Sri Lanka were petitioning President Obama with a chant that we still haven’t gotten out of our heads. Friday night we met my friend Susan for dinner at the best Italian restaurant period: Sabatinos in Little Italy. Cory practiced his right-handed eating while taking care of Carter so that I could catch up with Susan. A good time was had by all.
On Saturday, we visited our old neighborhood and stopped by to see our neighbors. Thankfully, Carter didn’t meet any Baltimore rats. However, we did climb Federal Hill so that he could get a good view of the Inner Harbor on an absolutely gorgeous day.
The flight back was uneventful, even if Carter didn’t sleep as much as we would’ve hoped. He was more intrigued with the baby across the aisle and the man sitting behind us making faces. We’re so glad Carter was a good traveler and we hope this is the first of many trips.
Carter had his 6 month check-up on Friday. He weighs in at a whopping 18.3 pounds, is 27 3/4 inches long, and has a head circumference of 18 inches . Those come out to be the 62nd, 87th, and 92nd percentiles, respectively. So far, he still has a pretty good weight to height ratio. Hopefully, he got the tall skinny genes that both of his uncles have!
Carter is now sitting on his own and thinks that he is so big! If we stand him up and hold his hands, he takes off walking. I fear that once he has balance, he will be gone! He’s working on the top 2 teeth and based on the amount of drool, they can’t be that far off. We started him on baby food and so far, he likes his peas much better than green beans. Once we get through the green veggies, we’ll try the yellow ones and then fruit. He’s also getting oatmeal in the mornings for breakfast.
Weekend before last, we took a trip to Louisiana and Arkansas to visit Cory’s dad and grandparents. Carter was a hit with the whole family and acted like a ham the whole weekend. Here are some pictures of our last few weeks, as well as pictures of him eating. Oh, and the last picture should help explain the title of this post!
The weather is finally getting nice in North Texas, so Carter had his cereal outside last night. Before he ate, Grandpa helped him practice his balancing skills while he sat on the side of the hot tub. About half-way through his cereal, Carter decided to jump straight to dessert and chew on his sock.
Dining al fresco from Cory Reed on Vimeo.