Play Ball!

Silly little post to document some "play time" with Carter. He's a big fan of anything soft and anything that has chewable parts (previous posts have alluded to his taking-a-liking-to chewing on the, er, back side of most stuffed animals...and mainly just those with tails...).

Anyway, we captured a few shots of him playing around with some toys and having a grand 'ol time. See for yourself:
This next one shows off his two bottom teeth - ready to sink into this soccer ball:

While not his best shot, this next one has a good view of his top four teeth (we think he's got a couple coming in, as he's been a drooly fool lately...but none have peeked through this week):
And finally, pretty pleased with the morning's activities:

Ahh, to be a kid again and spend your morning playing with toys... Have a great day and hope you get a little "play time" too!
~kerrie

Hittin' the Sack

As I previously posted, Carter is crawling and sitting up all on his own. Earlier this week we put him in his "sleep sack" (from Aunt Becky! Thanks!)...it'd been a while since he wore it, so it was humorous to see him trying to navigate around without his legs being separated.

Here's a quick sequence of photos documenting the hilarity (with his trusty pinata):
This next one shows off his top choppers pretty well, eh?
Next one is my fave - "Seriously?!"
And finally, "You! You get that camera out of here!"

Unfortunately, he's now too tall to wear the sleep sack, so I guess we'll put him in PJs that allow for a little better movement from now on. There goes the fun... Shucks! :)
~kerrie

Look Ma, No Hands!

Lordy we're in trouble...not only is Carter crawling around the floor, he's learned to sit up (which means he can also reach up and pull on things...). Matt captured a couple quick videos of his accomplishment this past week so we could share in our delight.

Part 1:


Part 2:


Yes, it's only a matter of time before he's walking. Then running. Then sprinting...
~kerrie

Baby It's Cold Outside

Going to attempt to catch up on the blog today (Happy Thanksgiving!).... So I'll start with the weather. It's cold. Colder than I like (70's would be fine...always...).

Been having to really bundle up Carter before we hit the streets for our nightly walk. So far, he doesn't mind (and falls asleep almost instantly in the stoller...). Here's a quick snapshot of him with his new stocking hat (and pretty much the last day in this car seat, as we've moved up to the 22+ pound range):
Hope you're diggin' into the turkey and the trimmings today. We'll be joining our pals in Rio Rancho today (will post some pics later) and will stuff ourselves silly!

Happy Thanksgiving!
~kerrie

School Pictures

That's right, they start 'em off young... Carter's school had Picture Day earlier this month, so we participated in the fun (which also was a fundraiser for the school). I'm told that he was "fun and smiling" for the entire shoot and to help support the cause, we bought the entire photo package (I'm soooooo bad at saying "no"...).

We decked him out in some cute turtle overalls and the girls "fixed" his hair (what little he has). Here was the best shot, in my opinion:I love the "library" background (sure beats out the 'ol bucolic meadow from my school days...) because it makes our lil' guy look so smart, eh? Remember, he may look just like a little Matt, but he's got MY brain! Hehehe!

Here was the second pose, which to me looks a little awkward since he wasn't sitting all the way upright. Sorta looks like he has no torso...but he's still cute! :)
We'll embarrass him later by carrying these pictures around in our wallets. Anyway, I guess it's a good thing we're getting these taken so young, as it'll be fun to compare them year after year and watch him grow.

Hope everyone is enjoying the last few weeks of Fall. Winter is almost here!
~kerrie

PS If you haven't noticed, you can leave a message/thought/comment about our posts - just click the "comments" button below each post. We'd love to hear what you'd have to say! Weeee!

Brrrrr....My ears are cold!

Didn't have much time to post this weekend, as Carter was recovering from ear tube surgery and Matt and I both had to work. So here's a quick update for you...

The surgery went VERY, VERY WELL! Carter was a total trooper (Mommy not so much...) and we were in and out of there in about 4 hours. We were told he'd be "groggy and cranky" when he came to and he was anything but. The dude was smiling (and hungry...after going 12+ hours without eating...) and was quite happy to see us. So far, no reactions to any of the meds (he's back on antibiotics for the next 30 days) and we've started him on some yogurt to help combat the grumbly-tummy. He's diggin' the yogurt and so far, so good...

We have a follow-up visit during Thanksgiving week (bummer on the timing...still no traveling to see fam...) and hopefully we'll be in the all-clear. Now I just have to deal with the insurance folks, as we ended up paying out-of-pocket on Friday since the authorization paperwork didn't go through in time. Oh well, if we have to pay thousands to keep our dude healthy, than I guess that's what we have to do...

As of last night, he was back to eating well (previously been a little fussy, most likely because the swallowing was hurting his ears), sleeping well (even naps!), and is back to his smiley self. Carter is even getting a little more mobile, as he's started crawling on all fours...but only backwards...

I will post some recent photos here shortly, promise. Instead here's a quick shot of the Greenies vacationing in Durango, CO, back in 2006. While we don't have snow on the ground today in Albuquerque, it sure feels like it...it was only 24 degrees when we got up this morning! Brrrr!
Hope everyone is staying warm (and dry!) and looking forward to pigging out for Thanksgiving!
~kerrie

Goin' Under the Knife

Well, folks, it's scheduled....Carter's ear tubes go in on FRIDAY....(and not just ANY Friday, but Friday-the-13th...). We're pretty excited about getting everything all taken care of so quickly (and I should totally wear those "bossy pants" a little more frequently to get my way, eh?)!

Whole procedure should take about 20 minutes after he's knocked out, so I'm guessing I only need to be a wreck for about 2 hours... So wish us all good luck!

No Carter photos to post today, instead, I'll put up a few shots from our trip to Ireland back in May of 2008. From Blarney Castle - The Greenies (click to make these bigger...all that green made for very, very large photo files):Another view of the castle grounds:From Carla's "Traveling Troll's" point of view:And oddly enough (and tying into my theme of the day), while walking around the beautiful landscape, Matt spotted this steak knife sitting at the bottom of the stream bed (and of course took some photos of it...):
Weird, huh? Our traveling pals all scratched their heads at this one...who brings a giant steak knife to a tourist attraction!? *shakes head*

Anyway, will post more on Friday after we're all done at the hospital. Fingers crossed!
~kerrie

PS And YES, we DID kiss the Blarney Stone...didn't think I needed any more help in the gabbing department, but it's too late now! :)

Basketball Tubes

Quick post for the morning (didn't have time last night with dinner, laundry, and conference calls...) - Matt took the dude to the pediatric ear-nose-and-throat doc yesterday and it took him all of about 30 seconds to peek in Carter's ears to say, "Yep, he needs ear tubes." Maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration on the 30 seconds, but reviewing his medical history really hit it home. Guess we got a pretty good case of chronic ear infections, fluid build-up, horrible medicine reactions, and the like, so tubes will be the prescribed remedy.

He agreed that it's ok to be concerned (I mean it IS surgery), but he assured us that the tubes will DEFINITELY make our lil' guy feel better. So now I just wait on the surgery scheduling people, but the rest of this process should move much more quickly. And then we get to follow up with quarterly doctor visits for the rest of his life (ok, probably not quite that long...).

In other news, college basketball season is starting!!! For me, this is one of the most wonderful times of the year (cue Andy Williams song...)! Since I don't have any current photos with me to put up, I'll put up another first-month shot from the Spring - here's Carter getting ready for some much-loved KU basketball:

Wish us luck for a quick, pain-free surgery for our guy and for an even quicker recovery! And Rock Chalk, Jayhawk, baby!!
~kerrie

The Toothy Zoo Contraption...

So our wonderful, wonderful neighbor, Kristin, bought Carter this wonderful, wonderful "zoo contraption." Not only is it big and bulky, but it's made of chunky plastic (which Carter likes to bang on his head...or mine...or Matt's....)....but the best part really? IT PLAYS THE MOST ANNOYING SONGS EVER!!!

Yes, it has a "soundtrack" of about 4 REALLY awful songs and Matt and I drive each other batty singing them in the shower... And the worst part of it all, Carter LOVES the zoo contraption! He'll crawl all over the house just to get his giggles going.

Few shots from his level - yeah, busy playing with the zoo contraption here:
The penguin - always a tasty treat (and I just LOVE it when little babes wear blue jeans....CUTE!):
Dude, get away from my zoo!
Penguins AND elephants - yummm!
Ok, I'm only teasing Kristin about the annoyingness of it all (no I'm not...), but it IS totally cute that Carter is such a fan, particularly of the penguin.

A couple quick videos of his commando-crawling and penguin attacking - part 1:



Part 2 (dilemma, dilemma), with a sampling of that fantastic music:



And in other exciting weekend news...looks like Carter is getting a new batch of teeth in. Can't tell for sure, but we think it's a couple more on the top...but it could be a couple more on the bottom... Why can't we tell? Because we're brain-dead zombies today!

You see, we had about 2 hours total of sleep on Saturday night, as he kept waking up (and screaming bloody murder...) about every 2 hours and wouldn't sleep in his crib, just in our arms. So Matt and I took turns staying up, therefore neither of us got our zzzz's. As I type this, he's sound asleep in his crib (and has been for a couple hours, so let's hope he makes it until morning) and hopefully past the worst of it.

Also, Matt's taking him to the ear, nose, and throat doc (here in Albuquerque, yay!) tomorrow for his ear-tube consultation. Fingers crossed that the doc can "work his magic" and keep our boy ear-infection free for, well, the rest of his life! I'll post a quick update tomorrow after we get the news.

Hope everyone has a great night and a great week!
~kerrie

Diaper Challenge

So Carter has become a REALLY squirmy kid...ESPECIALLY when he's getting his diaper changed... The days of the "quick-change artist" are over and it seems it takes two of us to wrangle him out of his dirty diaper and into a new one. Alas, we'll stay the course and keep him in dry pants...but it won't be easy!

Here's an exciting video that demonstrates what we're dealing with now on a daily basis. I present to you, Mr. Squirmy Monkey Pants (and check out the calm-to-squirmy reaction time...):



Prior to Carter being decked out in his monkey PJ's, here are a few photos between wardrobe changes...and the green block is one of his most favorite toys (from a set of four, thanks Juliette)! Sitting up and sitting proud:
Pretty happy with himself here:
A little foreshadowing for Saturday night (next post...), the I-might-be-teething-look:
We all should be a little concerned, eh?
And, finally, an up-close shot that I thought was pretty telling of Carter....always going on and on and on (wonder where he gets his chatterboxiness, hrmmm?):

Anywho, one more post for the evening and then I'm hittin' the sack!
~kerrie

Cleaning Behind Those Ears

As I wait this morning for my bi-annual dentist visit, thought I'd put up a post about bath time fun!

Again, we're lucky, as Carter LOVES the bath. Matt is his primary bath-giver and I'm usually on dish-duty when he's getting our boy clean. Even though we have a 2-story house, you can hear the fun all the way down in the kitchen. Carter kicks all around and Matt can often be heard singing goofy songs while he's scrubbing (Carter tries to sing along...but it's more of a delightful squeal than actual singing...).

Few pics of the fun from last night:

In other news, I put on my bossy-pants and made a few more phone calls to the pediatric ear-nose-and-throat docs to see if we could get Carter in sooner. Guess I said the right thing, as we'll be seeing a reputable doc on MONDAY for a consultation!!!

Hopefully things will go well and we can get all of this ear tube stuff done before the year is up. Worst case, we'll be driving to KC for the surgery (thanks to a family friend who would work him in no matter what) and I sure as heck don't want to make the trip under these circumstances! But, we'd go to the moon and back for our lil' guy, so if that's what it takes, that's what it takes...

Hope you're having a fantastic week!
~kerrie

Carter is 8 Months Old!

Crazy how quickly time is a-flyin'!!! Our little boy turned 8 months old today!

First, a few stats before I put up all of the photos...

~~Biggest accomplishment of the month has been Carter's "commando" crawling (see post dedicated to his new mobility...yikes...)! We spent the previous weekend putting in outlet covers, gates, etc. It's only a matter of time before he's into everything and our hair turns gray.

~~He weighs in just under 19 pounds. Probably would be a little bigger if he wasn't on these super-antibiotics for the double ear infection. But hey, we love changing poopy diapers, right? Oh wait...

~~The size 9-month clothes are getting snug (except the pants, still has a skinny waist). So we're mostly in size 12-month now. Just have to do a little sleeve rolling for his shirts to keep them from hanging off.

~~Finally, Carter has eaten all sorts of foods: green beans, yellow squash, blueberries, green peas, prunes, sweet potatoes, cherries, mangoes, bananas, apples, peaches, pumpkins, and more! Haven't found a food that he hasn't liked, so let's hope it stays that way until he's 30!

And on to the photos...the "photo cards" are becoming a bit of a challenge to capture correctly, so here's a sampling of tonight's "KU Baby" photo shoot (and ignore the red eye...didn't feel like editing the photos tonight).

Take 1...oooh, what's this?!:
Take 2 - oooh, bendy!:
Take 3 - this is fun!: Take 4 - might as well eat it!:
Take 5 - Complete and total surprise! (one of my faves - click on it to make it bigger):
So I think I'll go with these next two as his "official" 8-month shots:
And this one - upside down still counts, right?:

Hope you're enjoying seeing our little guy grow up as much as we are! He's got such a great, sunny disposition, it's sometimes hard not to just smile when you see him!

Have a great night!
~kerrie

Baby Greenie's First Halloween

...would not have been complete without the requisite "Baby's First Halloween" bib (thanks Grandma C!) and a little asparagus to go with it:
(You'd be a little suspicious, too, if you had to eat pureed asparagus...) (But really, it doesn't taste all that bad...so here's a smile for the camera...)After a tasty dinner, the whole fam chilled out for a relaxing evening (and some candy...and more candy...). Carter got to wear these ridiculous PJs (guilty, I bought 'em...they're just SOOOO cute!):
(Ok, maybe he doesn't look TOO ridiculous, except those big, floppy footies...here's a goofy grin for the camera...)
Hope everyone is off their Halloween candy sugar high and ready for November!
~kerrie

Baby Smurf Ears

Well, Carter's school was having "Costume Day" today in celebration of Halloween, so we decked out the dude in his "Baby Smurf" costume. At first, he was a little wary of the hat:
(Apologies for the grainy photo - lighting not so great sometimes in our bedroom...)

But he quickly got used to the idea and gave us a smug little grin:
Makes a cute Baby Smurf if you ask me!

In other holiday related news, the Greenies are having to put the Thanksgiving travel plans on hold, as Carter was diagnosed with a DOUBLE ear infection this week (and got a super-duper antibiotic to fix him up). Next step is a consultation with the pediatric ear-nose-and-throat doc to see about putting tubes in before the year is up. Therefore, we have to travel to Santa Fe to meet with the doc in November and if he has to have the tubes, we have to keep him healthy.

So all travel has been put on hold for the rest of the year. Double-bummer, as T-day eating is one of my favorite days of the year! :(

Oh well, it's not his last Thanksgiving....we'll just have to organize something for the summer time when everyone in the family is healthy, eh? Nothing like roasted turkey on a warm, summer day! Oh wait...

Hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween!
~kerrie

The Best Baby Sitters

Felt that an entire post (my last of the night) should dedicated to the wonderful, wonderful friends that we have, Gundar and Myja, and put it in writing how thankful we are for taking care of Carter (overnight, too!) while we partied away on Saturday!

Gundar, Myja (and Noah too!), thank you, thank you, thank you! We couldn't ask for better friends!

Unfortunately, Carter was less than his usual sunny self for his overnight stay, as we're battling a THIRD ear infection... Yep, another trip to Urgent Care today and another round of antibiotics started. Bummer. Little guy's been feverish, snotty, and just generally under the weather. Shucks.

So far his new antibiotic (stronger than the last round) is making him feel even worse, with some vomiting and general crankiness. Let's hope it goes better tomorrow... We'll get a follow up visit to the pediatrician this week and start discussing putting tubes in his ears and get this ear infection business behind us!

For fun and to add a little light to this post, I'm putting in an oldie, but a goodie, photo from day 3 of life:
Boy our son has gotten so big!!

Hope everyone has a great week!
~kerrie