Cracker Monster

One of Carter's favorite words lately is also "cracker". He learned it one day when I was eating a box of cheez-its. I had no idea he knew what it was but he just said "cracker" out of the blue, then grunted and whined until I gave him one. I won't mention how many crackers he ate that day!

My Little Talker

Here is a little video of Carter's vocabulary. Since this video was taken, he has learned to moo like a cow and "cack" like a duck. He also knows "hot" and unfortunately learned the meaning of that word tonight. We probably should teach him "bruise" next since he seems to be getting a lot of those these days too!



My personal favorite is "car". He sounds so southern when he says it "caaahhh".

Another thing I have to get on video: I taught Carter "This Little Light of Mine". The second verse, I sing "Hide it under a bushel" and he shouts "No!". Oh my word, it is the cutest thing. Who am I kidding, HE is the cutest thing!

Oh, and that video gives you a little idea of how busy the child is. Never. Sits. Still.

(P.S. That is not normally where our TV is. We have since bought a LCD to hang above the mantel, so our old one was staged in the living room for a few days.)

Smash Cake Fun!

I just realized that I never shared the pictures of Carter's 1 year smash cake session! After taking Carter's 1 year portraits, we stripped him down and let him dig into a cake (his first ever!). I'm pretty sure he is as big of a fan of Publix cake as his Mommy is. Yum!
He had fun until the end when he realized the white stuff on his fingers that was mighty tasty was NOT coming off!

2010!!!

I was thinking the other day how crazy it is to know that Carter has now lived in 3 different years. He just doesn't seem old enough!

I know it's been a month since I posted, but I have a good reason...ladies and gentlemen, I have a toddler!! It pains me to say it, but Carter is faster than a speeding bullet and gets into EVERYTHING. I remember the days when I could put him in the bouncer next to me while I blogged. Not anymore, folks!!

If you want a recap of all of the December festivities, read the posts below.

So, what have we been up to? Well...Carter was just diagnosed with his first double ear infection. He had been sick off an on since before Christmas and just couldn't shake it, so I took him in. He is in a remarkably good mood for being so sick! He is such a good baby.

By Christmastime, Carter was walking like a pro. Here is a video of his skills from Christmas Eve. As you can imagine, it being a month later, he is FAST now. I love to watch him kick up his little legs and try to run from you.



He is also quite the little parrot. He will repeat (or at least try to) anything you say. Right now he consistently says ball, car, truck & duck (these kinda sound the same), bye-bye, night-night, please (his please starts with a d - "deeeese"), and thank you (sooooo cute!). Of course he is still a fan of Dada, Mama and Bubba! I did take a video of him talking the other day, I will try to post that this weekend!

He also WATCHES everything you do. This video is a month or so old too, but one day he grabbed my cell phone and put it up to his ear like he knew exactly what to do with it! Well, he doesn't exactly put it up to his ear...more like the back of his neck. So cute!



His favorite place to hang out these days is in our bathroom. He makes a game of throwing anything he can find in the bathtub. This morning for example I found in there his shampoo, soap, some q-tips, a sock (mine), and a card with my passport information. He also has a ball opening and closing the drawers and door. Thankfully he hasn't shown any interest in the toilet...yet.

He is such a big boy now! I am at the point when I look at his baby pictures and videos and get soooo sad because he is not a baby anymore. Of course he is still small, but that is okay by me!! I don't think I could love him any more, but I know come tomorrow morning I will!

I don't know who reads this blog (if anyone), so I've contemplated not posting anymore. But I'm going to try my best to keep everyone (or no one) up to date on our little boy! I know that when he is older I will be glad that I did.

Carter's First (not really) Christmas!!

I realize that this past Christmas was not Carter's first, seeing as he was born on the 22nd, but to be honest with you, last Christmas was TERRIBLE. It was after our first night home from the hospital in which Carter didn't fall asleep until 9:00 a.m. Yes, you read that right. Needless to say, Christmas 2008 was quite the blur for me!

So this Christmas I was pretending was Carter's first. He actually slept in a little (yay!) but we were excited when he finally woke up! Of course he went straight for the toys. We wrapped everything but his big stuff.

After we showed him what the toolbench did, he seemed to enjoy it. What kid wouldn't enjoy beating on things with a plastic hammer though?

The he had to test out his little walk-n-ride toy! There is one of those toys in the church nursery and he pushes and pushes, so I knew it would be a hit.

Of course he had waffles for breakfast again, but this time Daddy drug his high chair into the living room so he could watch his new Veggie Tales DVD while he ate.

After Carter's morning nap we headed to Mimi and Papa's house! Carter got lots of fun things! Since he is such a good walker, he pretty much tottled from one toy to another the whole time.

He did sit to let Uncle Mitchell read him one of his new books!The next stop was my parent's house. He had too much fun opening there as well and exploring all of his new toys. He didn't last too long though, as it was nearing his nap time!! All the present opening must have wore him out as he slept over 2 hours!

Christmas isn't Christmas without a photoshoot by the tree, of course. (Corbin isn't in any of these pictures because he was sick on Christmas and feeling awful...and thus napped the afternoon away himself!)

The last stop of the evening was my Grandma's house to visit with my Mom's side of the family and eat supper. I didn't take any pictures there (sorry), but Carter had a big time. His cousins (my cousin's kids) played with him and they had a ball. They are all older than him, and I had to pull him off of them a few times because he was being too rough. We definitely have a BOY on our hands!!

We had a fabulous Christmas and it is definitely true that it is so much better with children! I am so excited for Carter to get older and we can teach him the TRUE meaning of Christmas. We are so thankful to God for blessing us with our precious gift, but are most thankful for the gift of his Son.

Christmas Eve!

I always loved Christmas Eve growing up because it meant candlelight service at church and getting to open one present! My parents always let me and my sister open one present on Christmas Eve and I was HOPING that we could continue that tradition, but Corbin nixed it very quickly. Oh well. We DID however still go to a candlelight service!

Our church didn't have a Christmas Eve service this year, so we went to my parent's church. It was Carter's debut at First Baptist, and boy were the Grandparents excited! I was excited to get to dress Carter up in his Christmas clothes!

I'm sorry, but is he not the cutest boy alive?!? I LOVE a baby boy in a sweater vest! Gets me every time.

Carter did pretty good in the service. He danced to the music and everything. Of course once the preacher got up there, he was done, so we retreated to the lobby! My Dad came and brought Carter back in for the candlelight part and he held/chewed on a glow stick so he could be a part of the festivities!

Once we got home, Corbin and I had the BEST time getting Carter's Christmas presents situated under the tree. We were so excited wondering what the little guy would think of his gifts!! I have a feeling that is going to be one of my favorite things to do at Christmas!

Carter's Birthday Party

I tried to make the day of Carter's birthday party as special as possible for him since I knew his real birthday was just a plain ole Tuesday (and he was getting shots!), so we started with his favorite breakfast of blueberry waffles. The kid can put down some waffles. Who am I kidding, he can put down anything!

The party was a jungle theme, but rather use the cheesy stuff that Party City had to offer, I decided to go a more homemade route using browns and greens and animal print! I made a birthday banner to hang and the cookie bar had different animal print fabrics!

After partaking of some of the yummy cookies (lovingly made by Carter's mom, Mimi and Grandma), the Birthday Boy opened his MANY presents! And by the Birthday Boy, I mean the Birthday's Boy's mom. Ha! I guess I didn't realize how NOT into present opening he would be.

We did manage to get him to sit there for a few of the gifts.

As we expected, the big flashy toys were his favorite. When we opened this truck, he was in love! Something with wheels and big buttons? He's a fan!

I was most excited for Carter to get his Cozy Coupe. I just knew he would love it, and I was right! He sat in it for the most of the evening and enjoyed being spoiled and pushed around like royalty!
Besides fun toys, Carter got lots of super cute clothes. Here he is modeling a vest! I think it makes him look like SUCH a big boy!

The next order of business was the cake!! Carter dug into the cake at his 1 year portraits, so I was expecting the same reaction, but this time he just kinda picked at it. That was fine with me, though, as there was no need for a bath.

Such a sweet boy sharing with his mommy!

Overall, I think the party was a success! I am so thankful to all of our friends and family who came out to celebrate our little boy's first year of life. He is so special to us and it is such a blessing to know he is special to others as well!!