Reed Baby Blog

It’s official. Carter is teething. While I see this as a huge step in him growing, I’m pretty sure he just sees it as a huge pain. We can see at least one tooth on the bottom trying to break through and can feel another. Oh, and the enormous amount of drool coming out of him is also a big clue. He cannot get enough of trying to eat his hands, and I even caught him with the pacifier in while attempting to shove both hands in as well. And of course, he’s more fussy than usual and isn’t sleeping as well as he can. Here’s hoping this process ends soon!

Carter has officially started rolling over. Over the past week, he spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to get himself off of his tummy, since he hates it so much! I guess letting him get a little frustrated spurred his determintation and he finally figured it out. However, it was a big surprise to him once he finally got all the way over. We don’t have good pictures or video of him in action yet, but here is a picture of the surprised look he had once he finally got over!

Oh, how I love Fridays. And not just because they start the weekend. I love them because they are “my” day with Carter. I need work to keep my sanity, but because they are rare, my days alone with Carter are so special. I love watching him grow and develop. He has made a friend that magically appears in every mirror that he looks into. And he LOVES to smile and laugh at the other baby. He is also trying really hard to start rolling over. Although, since he’s not a true fan of tummy-time, he’s starting out trying to roll from his back to his front. The only thing standing in the way is the shoulder. He has also discovered his toes. Socks and shoes now last less than 5 minutes before they are long gone! Here are a couple of pictures that show how big my little guy is getting!

I promise that we are better parents than we are bloggers.

We’ve been enjoying Carter so much that it’s been tough finding time to write. But now that I’m back at work, I should be able to find more time. It’s been a while since we posted, so let me tell you what’s been going on.

I went back to work part-time on January 12th, and it is wonderful because it lets me have my afternoons with Carter. Janie (Cory’s mom) is officially retired and is now employed as Carter’s nanny (or Jannie). She keeps him here at home, which saves us countless stress in the morning. He just goes downstairs in his pajamas when Cory goes down.

Carter had his two-month check-up on January 19th. He weighed in at 12 pounds, 11 ounces and measured 24 inches long. So far his height:weight ratio skews better than his parents. He also got a couple of shots, which made him scream. But since he has such a sweet disposition, he was laughing again by the time we left.

Speaking of laughter, there’s a lot more of it in our house now. Carter is full of smiles and laughs each morning and throughout much of the day. He’s trying really, really hard to laugh but so far has perfected nothing more than a dork laugh. Remember the inhaled laughs of the main characters on Revenge of the Nerds? That’s pretty close to what our little man does.

Carter recently spent his first day away from home. My parents kept him one day while I worked last week. They said he was a joy; full of smiles and laughter all morning long. However, he started getting fussy around noon and by 1:00 he had worked himself into a full-blown fit. They tried everything to calm him down and eventually resorted to taking off all of his clothes. Just as my Dad sat back down in the chair with him, he pooped. A lot. Everywhere. It got all over him, it got all over my dad, and it got all over the chair. That apparently did the trick. When Mom went to change him, he thought it was the funniest thing in the world.

Here are some pics of other moments we’ve enjoyed with him lately.

This was by far the best holiday ever! We did the usual holiday celebrations with family but there was an added bonus of knowing that we were exposing Carter to all of the love and support that Cory and I have been lucky enough to be given. Words don’t mean as much as pictures, so here’s a brief showing of what the holidays held for us.

Carter officially has a girlfriend. However, it may be more for our enjoyment than his at this point. Sara Marshall is the beautiful daughter of my college roommate, Shayna. She was born about 12 hours after Carter, which means that not only will they share an affinity for Texas Tech, they also share a birthday. Here are some pictures from their first date, which Sara enjoyed. Carter, however, found sleep more appealing than socialization!

It’s pretty amazing when you really think about all of the “firsts” a baby experiences during infancy. Everything is brand new. How exciting (if maybe only for the parents)!  Too bad the kiddos won’t remember any of it.  I got the BEST first the parent of a one month-old can get this morning.  After Carter ate his breakfast, he and I were just playing and talking.  When I smiled at him, he smiled back at me.  A REAL smile.  Not one that is the result of gas.  It made my day!  Since it was so quick, I don’t have a picture, but here are some of Carter’s other “firsts”:

First car ride:

First sponge bath:

First trip to the doctor:

Meeting my great-grandaddy Vick:

First nap in my big-boy bed:

First trip to a restaurant:

First Thanksgiving:

First big-boy bath:

Rest assured, there will be many more “firsts”!

I cannot believe that Cory and I started the whole “bring Carter into the world” process four weeks ago today with induction.  After 20 hours of labor, 2 1/2 hours of pushing, and a resulting C-section, you would think that we would have been too exhausted to enjoy Carter.  However, it was quite the opposite. These four weeks have flown by, yet I can’t really remember what we spent our time doing before Carter was here.  And I have no recollection of where all the love I have for him was hidden.  Carter has been welcomed into this world with so much love that he can’t help but be a little spoiled!

For those of you who have not yet heard, Carter made his arrival on Wednesday morning at 6:32 via C-section. He is perfect, although we may be a little biased! Here are a couple of pictures to tide you over until we can do an official blog update. We will be discharged home tomorrow, so updates will be coming soon!

I had another appointment with the OB yesterday and sadly have had no progress towards having this kiddo! It seems that Carter would be content to stay put until at least his first birthday. I, on the other hand, am soooo ready for him to be here. He has had adequate time to bake, and I am beginning to consider evicting him!

Even with random contractions, I am still barely dilated to 1 cm. My blood pressure has been high the last several visits but with no other signs of pre-eclampsia, Dr. Harris has been reluctant to push things. However, he and I are both now ready to proceed. So, on Monday at 1, Cory and I will go to the hospital to start the “ripening” process. This makes me feel a bit like a cantaloupe, but hey, if it gets things moving, I’m game. Apparently, they will place some kind of gel on my cervix, and observe me for several hours. This will either immediately start labor, or at least get me ready to actually induce later in the week. So, we should know by late Monday afternoon whether we will be staying in the hospital to deliver, or whether we get to come home and go back a few days later for induction.

It would be nice if Carter decided to come before officially being evicted (with induction), but if we need to get the sheriff involved I am fine with that, too. Either way, Carter should be here next week!