Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Six months, trip to Colorado

First, today Carter is six months old. Six months! It's so hard to believe, partly because I think of him as his adjusted age of 3.5 months. He weighed 14 pounds, 5 ounces this morning, which is just amazing to me. In the last week, people have started coming up to me and saying, "What a big baby!" There was a time when I couldn't imagine anyone would think him big, ever. :-P

And so we've earned this ribbon for six months of breastfeeding. Yay!



(Ribbon is from here.)

He's doing so much that's new that it's hard to keep track. He's getting really good at grabbing the toys that dangle from his baby gym. He'll often have one in each hand and will try to get them both in his mouth at once. He's getting better at putting stuff in his mouth, but his hands still get in the way. He pulls his hand to his mouth first and then works his way over to the object, but sometimes that strategy doesn't work so well and he gets frustrated. He also really loves standing and can stand for a good ten seconds. I need to get a video of that...

It occurred to me the other day that I don't really have a baby book for Carter. I bought one, but found it hard to enter stuff because the little blanks didn't coordinate with his life so far. Part of it is being a preemie, so the time scale is just off, but it's also because we're doing things a bit differently than perhaps the "average" parent does. For example, we're putting off solids until at least six months (adjusted), and we're going to skip purees and go right to finger foods (something called "baby-led" feeding, which I'll eventually post more on). So a lot of the blanks in the baby book don't really correspond. But this blog is really his baby book, you know? This and his CarePage document his life so much more than I would ever do in a book. At some point I'll have to save all these entries as pdfs or something. I'll make a book, heh.

Okay, on to our trip. We went to Colorado last weekend to visit Doug's parents, who had never seen Carter before. Carter did really well on the airplane both directions. We changed planes in Dallas, and it went so smoothly. He was awake for the entire trip on the way, and asleep for the whole trip on the way home, but it was really very easy. It's crazy that Carter will have been on more airplanes by the time he is one year old than either Doug or I were before we were 20!

Here he is crashed on my lap at the airport. It's amazing how BFing knocks babies out!



Here is Carter with his Grandpa Smith.



And with Grandma Smith:



Here he's with his Great-Aunt Elaine. He was so sweet and smiley for everyone! I know that stage won't last forever, but it's great right now.



Carter loved looking at the ceiling fan above the dining table, and so one night we just set the table and ate around him! It looks sort of macabre, but it was funny!



And the obligatory bath in the kitchen sink picture. Carter didn't like it very much, though. I think it will be a lot easier to bathe him when he can sit on his own!



We had a great time, and it was lovely to see Doug's parents again. He will be a lot bigger when we're back there for Christmas!

And finally, here is a video of him and Grandma, playing with a remote control. He is WAY too interested in television...

5 comments:

Aidan and Emma said...

OMG Jenn, he is a big boy now! I love the bath pic, you can see he little rolls! I could just squeeze him! He is going to be so much bigger when I see him again. He really has jumped leaps and bounds with his weight, its just amazing! Miss you! Give Carter kisses from his Aunt Donna :)

kirsten said...

Whoa, six months! He's so beautiful -- and I just adore his nose. Something about it is so adorable.

Congratulations on the six months of breast feeding!

Debby said...

WOW!!! Carter is huge!!! It looks like Ray and Bonnie had a great time with their little grandson. I can't wait to see video of Carter standing. I miss you guys so much. Love you, Nana B

Mattison Grace said...

He is such a big boy now. He looks like a little man. You can tell he is so interested in the world around him. He will be doing so much for you over the next few months it will be hard to keep up with everything. Welcome to the roller coaster of milestones! It does not slow down!!!!!!
The bath in the sink looks familiar. He looks like he is almost to big for the sink now!
Give Cater a big kiss and hug from me. I really hope to get to see him soon!
Love,
Julie

wklovelace said...

OMG that is my Anunt and Uncle. Have not seen them in a very long time. Glad that you enjoyed your visit..