Carter's 9 month update

Gosh, I am so bad about keeping this updated. Wanted to go ahead and post Carter's nine month stats as of Aug. 21st:

23.7 lbs (90th percentile)
29.5 inches long/tall (90-95th percentile)
18.3 inch head circumference (90th percentile)

He is such a big boy!

Where oh where have I been?

OK, so it's been two months since I've posted. Shame on me! Needless to say, we've had a busy summer, but it sure has been wonderful. We've enjoyed lots of pool time. Carter loves it so much! He can't get enough splashing around.

In June, Chad and I took our first vacation away from Carter. We had such a wonderful time, but I could not get home fast enough on that last day! We had all kinds of problems getting out of the airport, and at the point I thought we wouldn't make it home in time before his bedtime, I actually started to cry. Boy, I've got to get better at this!

When Carter was about seven months old, I was watching him play one day and found myself focusing in on all the adorable little parts of him - his toes, his fingers, his ears, his mouth ... every square inch of him is so precious!

A couple of weeks ago, I got some much needed "girl time" in Destin with Stephanie and Laura, two of my best friends from childhood. We try to take a trip each summer, and we always have so much fun catching up with each other. We were laughing at how each year on our trip one of us seems to be pregnant - I think that has happened for the past four years in a row! This year it was Laura's turn, and she was such a trooper. Who will be next? Hmmm ...

Carter turned eight months old last weekend - unbelievable! He celebrated the day by starting to "army crawl" all over the place. He's having a hard time distinguishing between his toys and Marley's toys, and for some reason Marley's seem so much more interesting. Also, in the past couple of weeks, he has gotten three more teeth to add to the first two he got at five months. He has become quite vocal lately also - lots of ba ba bas, da da das, screeches and spits. Check out the video.

Here's hoping it's not another two months before I'm back ...

Riding the six month train

Carter turned six months this week - that's half a year, and I can't believe it. He received an A+ from Dr. G. and threw up (not literally, thank goodness) the following stats:

Weight - 18 lbs 7 oz - 75th percentile (up from 50th percentile at 4 mo.)
Length - 27 in - 75-90th percentile (compared to 90th at 4 mo.)

We've had a very exciting and busy May. Me-ma and Granddad came to spend almost a week with us, and Carter got them all to himself for three whole days while Mommy and Daddy were at work. Then Aunt Casey, Nana and Poppy joined us for Mother's Day, and Carter was dedicated at church that day. What a special time!

So Carter's having some very exciting playtime these days. He's rolling all over the place. He will stop whatever he's doing to watch every single move that Marley makes. His favorite exercise is jumping up and down in his Exersaucer, although he wants to bounce all the time whether he's in the Exersaucer or not. His favorite song for Daddy to sing to him is "Old McPoppy Had a Farm". Oh yeah, I almost forgot - he got his two front bottom teeth a few weeks ago, just after he turned five months. And there's nothing better than his giggles and belly laughs. Check out the video below ...

Hometown Disaster

On Thursday evening, April 9th, an F3 tornado whipped through my hometown of Mena, Arkansas. Fortunately, my family made it through unscathed; however, we have many friends whose homes, businesses and lives were ripped to the core. Miraculously, only three lives were lost in the storm, although that is certainly three too many.

I can't express the odd sense of loss. It sort of feels like a death, but it also feels like a robbery. I feel so sad that Mena - one of the most beautiful towns I've ever seen - will never again look the same. One thing the tornado can never take away from Mena, however, is its spirit. This community of people has already emerged from the devastation stronger and more united than ever.

(photo from www.arkansasonline.com)

Fun with cereal

Carter had cereal for the first time on Saturday morning. He did pretty well with it! We've all heard the old wives tales about cereal helping little ones sleep better at night. Well, he ended up sleeping from 8:00 until 6:15 that night - his longest stretch ever without eating - but I would be hard pressed to attribute that to the one tablespoon of rice cereal he had at 8:00 am. Of course my mind was racing trying to figure out exactly what might have helped him sleep that well - was it putting him to bed 30 minutes later? was it that he only napped a total of one hour 15 minutes the entire day (much to my dismay)? was it going out to dinner with friends (if so, then Emily, Brad & Haley have to start meeting us for dinner EVERY night!)? If you haven't figured it out already, the next night didn't go quite as well.

Check out the video below.

Four months already!

I can't believe Carter is four months old! Today he had his check up with Dr. G. I was expecting him to weigh in at 16 - 17 lbs, but he wasn't quite that big. He's still taller than he is heavy, which makes sense as he always seems to outgrow his clothes in length.

Weight - 14 lbs 15 oz - 50th percentile
Length - 25 3/4 in - 90th percentile

I've been especially looking forward to Carter hitting the four month mark because I was exactly four months old when my parents took me home. I'd always had the perspective that I'd been with my parents all my life because four months sounds pretty much like the very beginning. But after these first four months with Carter, I see that there is so much that occurs during those first months!

Just for fun, I want some feedback from blog readers. I've gathered pictures of Carter, Chad and me - all three were taken when we were four months old. Any opinions on who Carter looks like?

Everything's more fun with a child

Today was not only St. Patrick's Day but also my birthday. I usually leave for work before Carter wakes up, but on this day I needed some family time! We had a big photo shoot with Carter and Marley and had such a great time.

One of the many things I didn't realize about motherhood is how much more fun everything is. I'm not a huge birthday person, but Carter just made the day so very special. I felt as if I needed to celebrate the day more than usual - whether I wanted to or not - just because of him. And oh how I wanted to spend time with him - you would have thought it was HIS birthday!

Chad did a great job, as usual. He decorated all over the house with green stuff and leprechauns and even a pair of shamrock tights hanging from the chandelier. He took me to Bob's Steakhouse for dinner, ordered a huge chocolate dessert, and still got me a Marble Slab chocolate ice cream cake! The best thing he did, however, was help Carter prepare a birthday card for me. Inside the card was a tracing of Carter's hand as well as a very sweet "note" penned by Carter himself.

We are confusing this boy!

Will he be a Baylor Bear like Daddy?










Or a Razorback fan like Mommy?













Or - oh my goodness - a Longhorn like Granddad?

Rolls and Giggles

What an eventful Valentine's Day weekend at the Humphrey's house! Nana paid us a visit and reluctantly took on the difficult job of babysitting Carter while Mommy and Daddy went out for a REAL dinner date at Chamberlain's. But even more exciting was the two big milestones reached by our growing baby boy. The only bad thing was that Daddy missed them both by just minutes! On Friday evening Nana and I got to hear Carter's first laugh. That has to be the most wonderful sound ever! And then if that weren't enough, Saturday morning during tummy time, Carter rolled over for the first time. He was definitely motivated as he doesn't like being on his tummy at all.

Carter's first day of school

OK, so we weren't quite as happy about this as we seem in these photos ... but we were so pleased with how well Carter seemed to handle the day. My first day back to work is tomorrow, but today was our "trial run". Carter had a wonderful day at Mrs. Lisa's house, and he napped better than we've ever gotten him to nap (hmmm, what does that say about us as parents?).

Mirror, mirror on the wall

Carter is enthralled with seeing himself in the mirror. It is so entertaining! I read something the other day that said that one of the things that changes when you become a mom is that you stop looking at yourself in the mirror and instead look at your child. It is SO TRUE!

First trip to Arkansas

Carter made his first trip to Nana and Poppy's house this weekend, and he was certainly welcomed at the door! We had a great time visiting with family and friends, and Chad's weekend was topped off by his prize kill - a poor, innocent Canadian goose.

Just hangin' out

Carter was happy and alert at 7:30 am this morning!


This is some quality brother-sister bonding. Carter seems to be enjoying himself a little more than Marley these days.

I'm just putting this one here because a new mom in make-up is a rare thing - we must capture it!

Carter's first time to church

Now that Carter is past the six week mark, we were so excited to take him to church for the first time today. He did so well and made it through church service and Sunday School! He sure couldn't wait to get home and have lunch, though ...

So many expressions

We captured one of our sweet boy's first smiles ...

... but with the good also comes the sad ...

2009, here we come

Nana and Poppy, along with Brother, Dallas and Brandon visited on New Years' Day. Carter loved all the action that comes with 11- and 9-year old boys!

Baby's 1st Christmas

We braved the roads with a 5 1/2 week old and headed to Austin for Christmas with Me-maw and Granddad (Chad's parents). Carter slept the whole 3 1/2 hours, which sort of scared us at first since he'd never slept that long before!

Carter went to his first Christmas Eve candlelight service and did just what we wanted him to do - he slept through it like a champ! And just before Santa came on Christmas Eve, Aunt Casey surprised everyone with matching Christmas PJ's - aren't we all cute?

Carter loved meeting so many new family members, and Marley got to celebrate her 5th birthday on Christmas Day.

Nap time

Whew! We're all having so much fun with Carter that we had to stop to rest.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Boy, did we have a lot to be thankful for this year! Nana and Poppy (Melissa's parents) celebrated with us in our home.

It's time to go home!

We got to take our sweet boy home on Thursday. What we couldn't figure out was why they didn't send us home with an instruction manual!