Happy Birthday Reid

With the help of Grandma Scott, Carter wishes his Uncle a Happy Birthday!

8 is Great!

Carter is proud to say that he is now a whopping 8 weeks old! It was a big week with his first weekend away from mom and dad and the start of school. So here are a few other highlights from his week.

We put Carter in the boppy chair for the first time. The height is actually perfect for keeping his head supported in the back. I don't think this will be a regular event for another month or so but he sure looked cute hanging out with dad watching soccer.

Dad also has a fun new game that Carter likes, though Madie isn't to sure. He lays on his dog blanket and Colin pulls him around the family room. He was confused at first but then got into it.

Carter's chub rolls are growing as well. He has Popeye arms only his are adorable baby fat not muscle.

All in all it was a great week but exhausting. Carter even fell asleep while playing in his activity gym for the first time. Also on the sleep front, Carter is up to a 5 hour stretch at night (usually 9-2). Hopefully that will continue to grow!

Sunday is his 2 month birthday and word is lots of people are planning fireworks to celebrate. Carter can't wait!

First Day of School

In anticipation of mom going back to work next week, Carter started daycare today. On the way over, he practiced his face for the ladies. There were two new girls starting today so Carter wanted to make sure made a great first impression.

After 4 hours, 5 diaper changes, 2 bottles and 1-45 minute nap, it was time to head home. Carter was worn out from all the fun but is excited to go back tomorrow!

Carter's Wild Weekend

While Mom and Dad were away, Carter and Grandma/GG/Nana/Precious/ TBD had a wild weekend (Pat hasn't decided what to call herself yet). Mom kindly watched Carter for us this weekend and gave us these pictures of their weekend fun. You can tell from the first that it was a wild time!

Carter liked to show off his skills in the activity gym.

His aunt Dee-Dee and cousin Samantha came to visit on Friday (I don't think Samantha liked Carter taking all the attention from Grandma!).

On Saturday, there was an impromptu photo shoot. At first Carter was scared...
And a little confused...

But then he got into it!

He even let Aunt Bailie's bulldog in on the fun.

Dad like to think this is an action shot of Carter showing the dog that Yellow Jackets are far superior to Bulldogs. From the sly smile, I'm not sure that I disagree!

Mom and dad missed Carter very much but we were glad he was in such capable hands. Thanks so much mom!

A Glynn Wedding

Mom and Dad Holden made the trip to Baltimore this weekend for the wedding of two wonderful friends, Rebecca and Leif! It was so much fun to celebrate with the Emory ladies (and significant others). Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the celebration.

The wedding was at the Hilton by the Harbor and directly across the street from Camden Yards. After the Rehearsal dinner, the Emory ladies came up to the bridal suite for some champagne and baseball.

Colin and I hung around after the game to enjoy some time with the lovely bride and we were treated to an amazing fireworks display. Apparently the Orioles wanted to celebrate the occasion as well ;)

I spent Saturday getting ready (it takes quite a while!) and Colin enjoyed watching soccer with our friends. Here are Lindsay and I, the Emory bridesmaids, with the lovely bride.

We took our wedding party pictures on the street in front of Camden. Colin took this picture of Leif and the bridesmaids from the hotel (I'm on the far right).

After pictures, we settled in for a nice dinner. Colin decided to take this picture of the world's longest wedding party table, it was longer than the dance floor!

Here are the Emory ladies and our 2 significant others (minus the happy couple!).

Mom and dad had a wonderful weekend.

Jodi and I posing during a break from dancing.

No wedding picture montage would be complete without an action shot.

It was a great wedding for two wonderful people. Hopefully the Glynn's will have fun on their honeymoon and we'll have an excuse to to this again soon [no pressure ladies =)]!

Where is Carter?

Can you spot the little guy?

Carter had a fun afternoon talking to all his furry friends in his room.

7 Weeks Old

Carter is officially 7 weeks old! He is continuing to enthrall his parents and is definitely a never ending source of entertainment. He is growing like a weed. His newborn clothes no longer fit and our unofficial scale says he is 11 pounds! No wonder he has gone from 2-3 oz a feeding to 4-5 oz.

His week was full of naps, diaper changes, feedings, a few errands and regular crying bouts. He has started the lovely practice of evening fussy time (apparently this is common). This makes it more difficult for his parents to take him out to dinner. He is a handful from around 5 to 8 and then settles down for the evening. His other crying fits throughout the day relate to his continuing gas issues (he lets you know it’s time with a nice pre-cry). He is also continuing to work through his nasal congestion issues and his baby acne is starting to clear up. He also has leg tremmors, very normal, but watching his leg shake for no reason is quite strange.

On a better note, he has started spending more time looking around and focusing on items. His new favorite things to stare at are mirrors and anything related to light (windows, lamps, etc.). He also loves going outside and listening to the birds that have made a nest above our deck. He is regularly comforted by lying on his belly, particularly on his dad’s chest. He is awake more and more of the day and enjoys spending time on the couch with mom and playing in his activity gym. But he still makes sure to get regular naps in!

Bye Uncle Reid

Uncle Reid is leaving today for a job in Costa Rica. He'll be back in December and it's amazing to think that Carter will be 7 months old and how much he will have changed by then. So the next time we take a picture of Reid and Carter it will look much different than the one above.

Have fun Reid and come home safely!

Happy Father's Day

Carter wants to wish his dad a "Happy Father's Day"! He is disappointed that his first trip to the zoo was postponed due to 95 degree temps but is enjoying spending the day with dad with air conditioning.

Yard Sale Sucess

Our neighborhood had its semi-annual yard sale today so we decided to take the opportunity to get in a walk before the temperature reached the 90's and pick up some stuff for Carter. The dogs lasted 45 minutes before we had to head home, but based on our loot that was probably a good idea because we couldn't carry anything else!

So for $42 we got the items below... including a jogging stroller, zebra ride, baby keyboard, a baby pool floaty and a few books. It was quite the successful shopping trip!

Week 5 Progress

So today little Carter is officially 6 weeks old so I thought I would keep track of the progress he made in the last week. So here is the good, the bad and the ugly from Week 5.

Follow that rattle... Carter has gotten decent over the past few weeks of following something with his eyes. His favorite object is the rattle shown in the bottom of the picture below. In the past week he has gone from following the rattle with his eyes to physically turning his head from side to side as we move the rattle from left to right. It is quite a neat trick.

Hand control... the jerky hand and leg movements of the first few weeks are starting to subside. They still occur but they tend to be smoother and aren't waking him up as much. He is also able to "hold" his bottle a little bit. Ok so really he happens to randomly grab his bottle in the right place when it gets low enough that he supports it without help. But it makes mom proud!

Tummy time... Carter is getting much better at holding his head up and will tolerate a few instances of tummy time each day. He loves to scoot himself across his mat by pushing his feet out (mom thinks the motion looks like a frog's legs when it is jumping). He has also started to become interested in looking at himself in a mirror.

Sleep... we seem to have finally gotten little man to sleep in his pack n' play after 4 weeks of co-sleeping. This is good news for mom and dad. It seems to also be helping him sleep a little longer. We are now getting at least one 3 hour stretch of sleep a night and we got our first 4 hour instance last night. This is wonderful compared to the every 2 hour feedings of the first month.

Tubby little guy... as I pointed out last week, Carter is growing! You can see his cute little fat rolls in the pic below. He has them on his arms and his neck. Which makes a great place for milk to collect so little man is enjoying daily baths before bed. Carter has also officially grown out of his newborn onesies and diapers. We unfortunately have to thank our wonderful friend Brittany for helping us determine it was time for to move up to a size 1. [B - I'm sure we'll repay the favor some day =)]

Gas... unfortunately Carter has developed a case of gas over the past week which results in this face several time throughout the day. I feel bad for the little guy but he is still pretty cute even when he is mad. Luckily with the help of Gripe Water and Mylicon drops he seems to be doing much better.

Smile... The good news is despite the ugly faces Carter has started to smile more. It's somewhat hard to tell a real smile from a gas smile but over the past week he has started opening his mouth when he smiles and occasionally keeping his eyes open. He is most prone to do it when dad gets home from work.

And just because I can, here are a few of my favorite other pictures of Carter from last week...