Reed Baby Blog

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.

Carter celebrated his first Easter last weekend, and it was one of the busiest of his life. His Papaw Bart and Uncle Will drove in from Arkansas on Friday to stay the weekend. Carter hung out with the boys all day, visiting a Starbucks and a book store.

On Saturday, we all got up early and drove to the Dallas Arboretum, where we met our friendEmily Mulkey for a photo shoot. Carter, all decked out in his linen shirt, sweater and blue jeans, did really well. We had lunch at Ojeda’s and then went to his Mimi and Papa’s for an early Easter dinner with my family.

Sunday, we had lunch at Cory’s Uncle Randel and Aunt Sheila’s in Dallas. Carter put on quite a show, even if he was dressed like a redneck. He got lots of loving on the floor with his Aunt Sheila.

Despite short and infrequent naps, he was a trooper. Cory and I, on the other hand, were ready to drop by Sunday afternoon.

Emily’s pictures will be posted soon, but here are a few moments from last weekend.

Two of Carter’s three grandpas.

Yummy Easter basket.

Getting cheeky with cousin Lauren.

Floor time with Aunt Sheila.

Do I use my spoon to eat my enchiladas?

Wouldn’t I have been a cute newsie?

WARNING: Pity Party to follow. Read at your own risk.

I think that the worst part of parenthood so far is that birthing Carter seems to have reset my immune system. Back to zero. Here’s a little glimpse of what my body has decided to do to me lately: heal from the c-section, wrist problems from “holding” Carter incorrectly, a cold, mastitis, another cold, another bout of mastitis, and yet anther cold. All within 4 months. How can one person be sick so much? Granted, my immune system wasn’t stellar prior to having Carter, but I don’t think that every germ that jumped onto my body felt a warm, inviting spirit like it does now. Can I please go back to being mean to germs?

That being said, I would do it all over in a heartbeat to be able to wake up to this every morning!

Last week at the doctor, we learned that Carter might be ready to start cereal. Amber said some of the signs that babies are ready include eating more than 40 oz of milk per day and getting hungry between feedings. He’s been taking more than 40 oz a day for a while now and for the last four nights, we’ve gotten up for at least two feedings. I really wanted to hold out until he was closer to six months, but sleep deprivation won out. Tonight, we went to the store and bought the boy some rice cereal.


Here’s some video of his reaction.



Carter’s First Taste of Cereal from Cory Reed on Vimeo.


He wasn’t quite sure about it, but we think he’ll like having a full tummy.

Carter’s had a exciting week that culminated in a huge day of activity and fun today. My brother and his wife, Carter’s Uncle Sean and Aunt Lori, visited this week from Rhode Island. They spent a couple of days in Arkansas and Louisiana, and my mom went with them. This meant Carter got to spend a couple of days with Lisa’s parents, Mimi and Papa Jack. Everyone had a great time, with lots of smiles and laughter. In fact, he’s been extremely happy all week. After being sick and teething for the last two weeks, we think he finally started feeling well again, and was quite happy about it. The week included lots of family dinners at Ojeda’s, The Cheesecake Factory, and here at the house.

This busy week was all a build-up to a big day today. We started out the morning by taking Carter in for his 4 month checkup. He weighed 15 pounds and 11 ounces (60th percentile), measured 25 3/4″ (75th percentile) and his big ol’ Reed noggin measured in the 85th percentile, which is expected considering all of the brain matter that has to fit in there. The doctor gave him a great report. He’s meeting all of his milestones and will likely start cereal within the next month or so. She was a bit surprised to hear about his teeth. One has broken through and another is right behind it. That’s a bit unusual for a 4-month old, but again, he’s just so advanced. However, he did have to get a couple of shots, and that didn’t please him at all. He started wailing as the needles were coming out, but was quickly settled with a bottle.

Shortly after we got home from the doctor, we left for the Dallas Arboretum.

It was a beautiful day to be outside, and Carter loved it. He got to nap.

He got to sit with Mommy and Daddy.

He got to stand in the grass.

He got to sit in the grass.

He got to lay in the grass.

He got to roll in the grass.

He got to chew on a tree.

He got to hang out with his Aunt Lori and Uncle Sean.

He got some playtime on the ground with Mommy.

And he got carried around by Daddy. All in all, a pretty awesome day.

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!