Happy New Year! This past couple of weeks has been so jam packed with holiday parties, bowl games, and traveling that I'm just now finding a minute to sit down and do a Christmas recap...

Kicking off the holiday festivities was a trip to the children's service at church. As is usually the case during the Christmas season, the sanctuary was bursting at the seams. T had dropped C & I off at the door due to the frigid weather, and by the time he was able to find us again, I think the service was about halfway over! Luckily, someone recognized him, and had seen C & I sit down so was able to point T in the right direction. C did pretty good throughout (minus the singing of Angels We Have Heard On High...he's not a fan of 'in excelcis deo' during which he shed a few frightened tears), and was particularly fascinated by the children's skit, candlelight, and watching all of the people with sparkly Christmas sweaters.

After church, C got to open his gift from Santa; a few new storybooks (including I Am A Big Dinosaur by Francois Crozat - a new favorite after reading and re-reading it many times this past week!), a skwish stix ball, T-Rex PJs, and a new dinosaur stuffed animal from Jellycat. As you can see from the above pictures, he was really excited about the new books and ball, and had great fun trying to eat the shiny wrapping paper.

Christmas Eve with T's family got off to a late start after T left half of the gifts at home and had to turn around and go back to our house after dropping C and I off at his parents. I was so busy worrying about getting C all packed up and not leaving important things like diapers, suitcases, or babies at home, that I wrongly assumed that T had the gifts covered. I think we may need to make a checklist to hang by the door before the next holiday comes around so we don't forget the essentials...

 We were worried about the lateness of the evening and keeping C up past bedtime,
but after an initial meltdown - and a contest between C & the dog on who could scare each other more (one barks then the other cries or vise versa) - he enjoyed a meal, got into PJs, and his temperament shifted. He was perfectly happy to help unwrap the shiny gifts and stay up late as long as he got to be the center of attention.

Christmas Day was spent in my hometown surrounded by family at both my parents, and later with extended family at my grandparents. C was short on sleep from the late night on Christmas Eve, so ended up sleeping through most of the opening of gifts at my parents. Between nine adults and two babies, we had to stop several times so someone (adults included) could nap, get some food, or have a show-and-tell with whatever gift had been most recently opened. Ultimately, the day was pure chaos, and we loved every minute.

C had so much fun playing and roughhousing with his Grandpa, Uncles, and Cousin J, that I think he is still going through withdrawals now that we are back to our usual day-to-day routine without all of the commotion to keep him busy!

Later Christmas Day, we headed over to my Grandparents for an extended family Christmas. They had been in Florida enjoying the nice warm weather for about a month already, so it was nice that everyone was able to convene back in Iowa for Christmas Day. So much fun catching up! It was C's first trip to 'The Greats' house (he's been around them many times, but for some reason, never been to their main house until Christmas) and he had fun taking in all of the new scenery and rooms to explore.

Rounding out the holiday weekend, we got together with Mama J's side of the family, and had so much fun catching up with all of my cousins, aunts, and uncles. There were four little boys running around playing with tractors, and keeping everyone on our toes. After taking an epic nap, C was in people-watching heaven with all of the goings-on. He and cousin J had particular fun trying to figure out Grandma J's new ball popper. This may be the most still these two boys were the entire trip!

All in all, we had a wonderful Christmas holiday made even more fun this year by the presence of our little guy. Looking forward to what the new year has in store for us!

Carter: 7 Months

Month seven has been all about discovery. C has realized he has hands that he can use to reach for specific objects rather than just randomly grabbing for things. It has been fun to watch him figure out this new hand-eye coordination. His own hands have become more interesting to him than some of his toys. Go figure!

Our C has been a pretty happy baby this month, and I was FINALLY able to capture some of those adorable little smiles on camera. I think if I was to caption these two photos, the left would be 'Yaaa! I get to hang out with Dad!' and the right would be 'Hello Ladies!'. Seriously...this kid is going to be a handful. I can tell just by the look in his eyes!

The picture on the left reminds me of Grandpa T, and to caption the picture on the right 'C'mon Mom, can't you see I'm trying to watch TV here!'

C and Dad hanging out. Two peas in a pod!

7 MONTH FAVORITES

Cheek kisses

Oatmeal

Shopping

Storytime 

Motor boating 

The words 'chili' 'pepperoncini' and anything with a 'cha' sound

Peek-A-Boo



Visiting Uncle B & C in Iowa City...but mostly just C.
Seriously, we've only been to visit the homeland of IC twice since C's arrival, but when we walked in to Uncle B's earlier this month, it was as if C owned the place, and he was completely at home. Oh, and if Uncle B doesn't put a ring on it soon, he better watch out! He's got a serious contender in Carter, who has ABSOLUTELY LOVED C since the very first moment they met this summer. #loveatfirstsight

CURIOUS ABOUT

Water glasses

Clapping

Hands

7 MONTH LEAST FAVORITES

Napping when Dad is home
Acorn squash & avocado

MEMORIES & MILESTONES



Photo op with Gma S & Gpa D!

Celebrating C's first Thanksgiving! We started the day with a big group of T's family, and ended with a smaller smattering of mine. To commemorate the day, C got to try some of Grandma J's butternut squash for dinner. He liked it much better than the acorn squash I made for him at home!

 

Grandpa T 'helping' Grandma J carve the turkey on Thanksgiving. A.K.A. a reason to swipe some samples of turkey before mealtime.

Thanksgiving evening looked a little something like this. C & J were playing nicely...J was very curious about C, while C was just interested in looking at his hands. It was all fun and games until J puked all over C, and then that was the end of happy time! Better watch out J! C is known to throw a punch or two!!

C got to try all kinds of veggies this month. After getting the all-clear stamp of approval to start solid foods from Papa T and C's Doctor, we started C with the orange veggies first, and have now moved on to the green veggies. So far, he's had acorn squash, butternut squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, avocado, peas, zucchini, and green beans. Next up, broccoli and then maybe fruit! The idea is to give him all veggies first since it's unlikely that he'll want them after he gets to try fruit. Speaking of baby food, I've been making my own using the BEABA Babycook Pro rather than purchasing the overpriced single serving sized containers at the store. I like knowing that C's food is fresh, and without preservatives, not to mention, he usually wants multiple servings in one sitting, and it's just more cost effective. I can't say enough good things about this baby food maker. It steams and purees C's food all in the same kitchen tool, and cuts down on extra dishes for me to wash. Bonus!

T has been busy perfecting his skills on his new smoker this month. He smoked a brisket nearly the same size as C! Yum Yum!

C has been seeing a physical therapist this month. At his official 6 month checkup, we learned he's a little behind on the muscular development milestones (sitting unassisted, rolling over, putting weight on his legs), so at the recommendation of our Doctor, he's been working out with a therapist once a week ever since. This week, he finally figured out how to roll from front to back without us putting his arms underneath of him. He gets a little closer to figuring out these milestones on his own every week, but for now, he's a little more content to just watch the world around him than the average baby out there. That's our C! #chill

In a last minute decision over the weekend, we took C to visit Santa Claus! He wasn't too impressed with Santa this year (again #chill baby), and I'm honestly not even sure he noticed since he never took his eyes off me to actually look at Santa. We hit up Santa's Village at Arrowood Resort for the last 15 minutes of Santa's visit. From what I hear, there were LOTS of kids and a huge line earlier during the day, but when we got there, we had no line and didn't wait at all. Glancing around, there were about four other families with babies about C's age that had the exact same idea. 
Glad we're all on the same page!

I'll leave you with C's newly minted crinkle face. Usually only appearing when he is really happy about something, this picture was snapped while shopping for wrapping paper at Walmart!