Carter is THREE MONTHS!

Somehow our sweet, easy-going Carter is already THREE MONTHS OLD!  Carter continues to be a very happy and easy baby which is AWESOME!  As long as his basic needs are met, he's content to go anywhere, do anything, or be held by anyone.  As I think I mentioned in a previous post, he rarely cries.  We all love Carter more and more each day.
It seems that three months is one of the first ages where babies begin to be able to do new things.  For example, Carter has become great at holding his head up.  He loves for you to hold him sitting upright (and not leaning on you) on your lap so he can look around.  We always get a kick out of how he does this when he's watching Big Brother Dawson because of how he snaps his head around so quickly following our very active Dawson around the room!  Now that he can hold his head up so much better we've been letting him spend a few minutes at a time sitting in his Bumbo seat which he can do much better than I expected at this age. 
During the day Carter is eating about every three hours.  In the evening no matter how recently he last ate, at 7:30 Carter is ALWAYS ready to eat again.  Then we put him to bed at 8 when Dawson goes to bed.  Most of the time he will sleep about a 4 or 5 hour stretch beginning at 8pm, then after that he is back on his every 3 hour schedule.  Usually about 1 time a week he will sleep his first night time stretch for SIX wonderful hours!  Carter is definitely has a schedule, even during the day.  He usually takes a morning nap not long after he gets up for the day and this will last anywhere from 1 hour to 2 hours based on what time he woke up for the morning.  A lot of times this nap is not at home since we're usually out doing fun, entertaining things for his big brother in the mornings!  But Carter is flexible, and this isn't a problem for him to sleep in the car, stroller, or Moby wrap.  Then in the afternoon he will nap for anywhere from 1 to 2 hours during Dawson's nap time...this is WONDERFUL!  There are a few days where their naps don't overlap, but I usually try to focus on taking advantage of the one on one time with each (although it does make it more difficult to get things done, it's nice to have special time with each of my boys)!  I do not know how Carter learned to go to sleep at Dawson's naptime and Dawson's bedtime, I won't take credit for it...but I won't complain either!
Carter's very favorite person continues to be Dawson.  Dawson gets the most laughs and smiles out of him.  I can tell they're going to be best friends already.  For the most part, Dawson continues to do well with having Carter around and seems to enjoy being a big brother and my helper!
I can't do a 3 month update on Carter without mentioning his hands.  He loves to put his hands, fingers, and thumbs in his mouth.  Sometimes he will pull his pacifier out to put his fingers in.  All of this makes for A LOT of drool!  If Carter touches Dawson with one of his drool-y hands, Dawson immediately requests to "wash this off!"  Every time we look at Carter he has his fingers in his mouth; apparently they're pretty delicious!  :)
I don't have any official stats on Carter for this month because he doesn't have to go for a 3 month check up.  I can tell he has been growing though because we're in the process of packing away clothes and moving him into the next size!   He goes back to the doctor for a 4 month check up in August, so we will update his stats then!  For now enjoy these pictures... 

Carter three months with big brother Dawson.

My boys!

Carter not looking//Dawson looking

Carter looking//Dawson not looking

Carter at Three Months!

He LOVES to suck on his hands!

Little baby, big chair!

Sweet brothers

Carter showing off his muscles

Check out all these rolls!

My sweet baby!

Look at that face!

Carter has been spending time

(in short increments) in his exersaucer.

I remember how much Dawson loved

his thing, and I'm hoping Carter will

too...so far, so good!  I think Carter

is just happy to have something he

can be in that holds him upright

where he can straighten out his legs

and push up like he likes to do!

Pajama pictures are the best!

Here is Carter getting ready for

bedtime stories on the couch

with his "panda duck" which was

the gift Dawson picked out for Carter

before Carter was born.

Our boys after bathtime in their pjs

with their "pandas" waiting on bedtime

stories on the couch.

(I think Carter looks a lot like his Uncle Logan

in this picture.)

Apparently something was funny to both boys!

Sweet Home, Alabama

On Thursday, July 12th we loaded up for Carter's first road trip!  Since Dawson's first road trip was Huntsville to Knoxville, Carter's was just the opposite-Knoxville to Huntsville!  It poured down rain the entire drive down, but thankfully the boys were good!  We borrowed a car dvd player from some friends, and Dawson thought this was awesome!  He was also a good helper with Carter.

When we got to Alabama, we stopped for dinner and did exactly what everyone there would have expected of us...went straight to the new Target that opened a couple miles from our house after we moved to Tennessee!  :)

Then we went on to our friends house where we were staying.  Our wonderful friends, Steven and Kelly generously offered to let us stay with them, and we took them up on it since they're always a lot of fun AND since they have all the baby stuff we might need!  The have a little baby, Henry, who is 6 weeks 5 days older than Carter.  We SO appreciate them allowing us to stay with them and the wonderful hosts they were.  I'm sure they're in need of a lot of sleep now that we're gone!  But we're excited to have planned a trip for them to visit us in October when we'll get to return the favor!

After getting to meet their sweet Henry for the first time and doing a little catching up, we tucked in since we knew we had a lot of fun events scheduled for our weekend.  Friday morning I took the boys to a playdate my friend, Rachel, hosted.  Including my two boys, there were FIFTEEN kids there total to play!  It was SO, SO wonderful getting to watch all these friends who have grown up together play, getting to introduce Carter to everyone, AND getting to catch up with all the other moms.  I have missed playdates with all these people SO much! 

Friday evening out friends the Perez's had us over for dinner and swimming, and it was just like old times.  Dawson swam like a fish in their pool with his Daddy before dinner.  They had smoked some some delicious meat, and the company was even better!  We miss having access to their pool, but we miss getting to laugh and have fun with them even more.

Saturday morning John played golf with Steven and Ben, and they had a good time despite the fact that it was possibly the slowest round of golf ever!  I didn't complain, though, because the boys and I got to hang out with Kelly and Henry!  We took them all on a walk and saw our friend Nikki who lives in Kelly's neighborhood and has two adorable boys that Dawson used to play with when we lived in Alabama.  We went out to lunch at Madison's new Texas Roadhouse.  We returned to their house just as the guys got back from golf!

Saturday evening our friend Steven and Kelly had a cook out at their house with the Burns, the Wayes, the Rollins, Kokans, and us.  It was great to see everyone and their kids!  It's amazing how much all the kids change in just the six months since we've seen them all!  We had burger, hotdogs, played corn hole, passed babies around, and the kids ran around and wore each other out.  I loved watching Dawson interact with his friends while we were there, he was so excited to see them and has not stopped talking about them since we got home!  Everyone with kids left and we put our kids to bed, and ended up staying up late chatting and laughing with the Houghs and Wayes.

On Sunday morning we went to church, which feels so much like home!  When we pulled into the parking lot Dawson said, "We're going to THIS church!!!"  He was so excited!  Now that he's three he goes to the big kid classes where they get to go to the "Treehouse" and have a little lesson and worship service there.  He keeps talking about how fun church was in the treehouse.  I'm pretty sure everyone remembers all the seperation issues we used to have at church, but he's such a big boy and was so excited...I don't think he cared one bit that we left him!  He keeps talking about his Alabama church and the treehouse now!

After church we went out to eat lunch (seemed like old times-just a lot more kids with us now!) with the Burns, Wayes, and Houghs.  There were 8 adults and 5 kids!  We had a fun lunch, and it was a good way to wrap up our visit.  Dawson and Connor sat across from me and Connor introduced Dawson to the art of telling jokes.  Connor would say, "What did the car say to the mountain?" OR "What did the wheel say to the car?"  Each time Dawson would smile and say, "Poop!" Then they would both laugh.  Pretty funny jokes, boys!  Oh my!  It was sweet to watch them interacting, laughing, and talking though.

After lunch we managed to get loaded up and we got on the road to Tennessee.  We were SO, SO sad to leave, but we know we have to go back again soon!  We miss everyone and hope they come to visit us here! 

Friday morning's playgroup at the Cobb's.

Back row left to right:  Jordan, Jayden, Jasper.

Front left to right:  Kailyn, Caleb, Caitlin, Juliet,

Bella, Blakelyn, Jonah, Henry, Norah, Jude,

Carter, Dawson.

I love all these sweet kids, and they have grown

SO much.  I have to say that one of the sweetest

things was when we came in the door, Jude ran

up (without instruction to do so) and gave Dawson

a hug, and they hugged for a good 10-15 seconds.

So sweet!

Our friend Mo getting some Carter

time!

Dawson swimming in the Perez's pool!

The Houghs had their bumbo

out for Henry, so I decided to

see if Carter was ready and he is...

at least for a few minutes before his

neck gets tired!  Here is Carter's first

time sitting int he Bumbo seat!

Dawson thought it was AWESOME that Carter

could sit up!  Check out their matching shorts!

Saturday morning Kelly and I took all three

boys plus her dog Maggie on a walk around

the neighborhood!

Then we loaded all three boys into my backseat

to go out to eat and to Target.  Dawson was

between Carter and Henry and it was impossible

to get a picture of all three because the babies had

to be facing backward.  My big boy in the middle!

We let Carter and Henry have plenty of

time to catch up and chat with each other!

Henry is a sweet baby with such an adorable

smile!  I think Carter and Henry have similar

temperaments because they both seem pretty

relaxed...I think they're going to be good friends

and buddies every time we get together!

Here are Carter and Henry just chillin'

in their plaid shorts.

Karen and her daughter Chloe

who JUST turned one meeting

Carter on Saturday!  Chloe

is so sweet!

Dawson and his bud Matthew!  We miss all

our playtime with Matthew and his sister

Caroline.  Dawson and Matthew are only

2 or 3 weeks apart!  If you're wondering why

Matthew is smiling so big, it's because I said, "Ok,

boys, say I LOVE MY MOMMY!"  Dawson said, "I love

my poop" and they both cracked up...boy humor!

Matthew, Connor, and Dawson were totally on the

same wave length with this.

I decided to get a group picture of all

the kids at the cookout on Saturday night,

but unfortunately Carter was already sleeping

and all the kids were super sweaty!  Oh well,

they're all still cute!

Left to right: Caroline, Dawson, Connor, Chloe,

Matthew.

John and Steven playing corn hole

in the background, and you can see Dawson

running in the front.  This was the cookout

on Saturday night.

Ben spent some time holding

sweet Henry who was very relaxed.

Dawson and Connor eating lunch after church.

Before the joke telling began.

Carter's in the car on his first

road trip!

My two boys in the backseat

geared up for Carter's first road trip.

June Part 2 AND July Part 1

The second half of June was equally as busy as the first!  We love staying busy so we were happy!  I had the opportunity to have lunch at Cheddars with my best friend from high school, Cassie, and we had a great time catching up as usual!  Dawson's friend Charlie and his mom, Andrea, came over to play with us by themselves once, and the following week they came over for a playdate along with a couple of friends we've met through them.  Including Carter and Dawson there were 5 little boys here to play!

On June 23rd Pop took Dawson to another Lowes Build It Clinic where he made a Madagascar Assault Vehicle (we just call it a Madagascar Vehicle!), and he earned another badge for his work apron.

The following evening my Aunt and Uncle had a cookout at their house.  Dawson and I twisted some dairy-free pretzels to take to share, and I took Dawson and Carter-since it was John's weekend to work.  Lolly held Carter, while I went with Dawson for a ride on the Dove's boat.  It was great to see everyone!!

On the last Wednesday of June I volunteered to host a playdate for the meet-up group at my house.  There were 5 other kids who came to play with Dawson, and Carter slept the majority of the time.

Also in June, we decided to let Dawson use part of his birthday gift from his Lolly and Pop-a certificate for him to go to Putt-Putt Golf and Games!  We left Carter with Lolly and Pop so that the evening could be all about Dawson.  This was Dawson's first time playing putt putt, and he loved it!  We were not sure if he would stay focused for 18 holes, but he was so into it!  John showed him how to do it, and he was pretty good!  I have always heard stories about how much John loved putt putt as a child, so I was excited to see Dawson loving it just as much...and I think it was special for John.  John got a few holes in one, and I got one hole in one.  Dawson actually would do really well, but when his ball got within about two feet of the hole, he would move it really close and then hit it in...hey, it worked for him!  After 18 holes, we went inside for ice cream (well, those of us who are eating dairy did!), and then we played kiddie arcade games.  Dawson got enough tickets to get a couple handfuls of tootsie rolls and two tattoos!  He had a great night!  Carter did perfectly, and, I'm sure, enjoyed being with his Lolly and Pop.

The last Friday of June, I went to my friend Andrea's baby shower.  She is having a baby girl in August, and it was SO fun to go to a girl shower-since the majority of my friends have boys!  Everything was so adorable-monogrammed, ruffled, and pink with bows!  While I was at the shower John took Dawson to the duck pond which is probably Dawson's favorite place to go, and Lolly spent a little time with Carter so Dawson could have one-on-one Daddy time!

On July 1st, the John Deere obsession continued at our house when Nana and Grandad gave Dawson a John Deere Gator.  Dawson absolutely loves his Gator, and he talks about it non-stop!  The week he got it we had record-breaking temperatures (up to 105 degrees!), but it did not phase our Gator-loving boy!  Dawson is especially excited for Carter to get bigger since there are two seats.  He constantly talks about where Carter will ride right beside him, and he tells me things that Carter will say when they are riding in the Gator together.  The Gator goes 4.5 miles per hour, has 2 gears plus a reverse, and you would think Dawson had taken driving lessons.  He is surprisingly good at it!  He can even back it UP the ramp into the shed!  I'm impressed.

The first Monday of July we met Charlie and Andrea at Smart Toys and Books for another Thomas Play Day.  The boys had a great time playing with trains, listening to a story, and coloring/painting with Do-A-Dots on Thomas coloring pages.

On the 4th of July, John happened to be off so we spent time playing at the house, and then went to the Zorio's for dinner.

Later that week we went to the zoo and Grandad came with us.  This time I took Dawson's water clothes for him to play in the new GIANT splash pad too, but he wasn't as into it as I thought.  He really just loves the zoo and the splash pad was a little bonus!  It was super hot, but everyone was a trooper and had a good time! 

Recently, Dawson also got to spend a night with Nana and Grandad and a night with Lolly and Pop. He enjoys the special time with his grandparents.

I feel like I haven't written much about Carter, but don't worry, his monthly update will be posted soon!  He's such an easy baby that he just goes along with us on all of these things we have done!

(Make sure you scroll down after the pictures, because I also did another blog post today on Father's Day!)

Carter starting to get a little

hot in his seat in the stroller.

I got him out right after this, and

took him inside to cool him down.

He was so good though!

Dawson checking out the splash

pad!  I would have loved to get in

it, it was so hot! I couldn't believe

he wasn't more excited...I think he

was just worn out at this point!

Oh, the Gator!  Dawson proudly showing it

off for the camera.

I think this boy might just be

a future AGR...John Deere shirt,

check, John Deere gator, check!

Showing me the seat where Carter will

ride.  He said, "Carter will say, 'I need

to hold on!'"  Haha!

Feeding and chasing the geese at the

duck pond...we would be here every

day if I let him!

Dawson and Charlie putting some trains

through the train wash at the Thomas

Play Date.

Figuring out how to get the stuck trains

out of the train wash...team work!

More Gator pictures!  I love the intensity!

Changing gears!

John and Grandad were assembling it in

the playroom since it was about 200 degrees

outside, and Dawson had to sit on it

while he was resting and having a snack...

I'm sure this made it much easier to put

together. Haha!

Dawson and Mommy playing putt putt.

This was after my hole in one!

Carter has been enjoying tummy time

a little more, meaning he doesn't get

worked up after only 3 or 4 minutes. 

Apparently tummy time is serious business,

look at that face!

Small smirk!  My sweet baby!

(These pictures are all out of order

for no reason, sorry!)

Dawson with Daddy after his hole

in one!

Dawson putting on his own

through the tunnel hole.

Serious putting!

(Out of order again, sorry!)

John showing Dawson how to do it on the

first hole!  This is history in the making,

you'll see Dawson on the golf channel

in a few years!  :)

Father's Day 2012

On Father's Day we celebrated by giving John a certificate for golf lessons.  He was really excited, and I was thrilled that Dawson had managed to keep the gift a secret since he had known about it!  We visited John's dad and my dad on Father's Day to celebrate with them as well.  I am very thankful for what a wonderful Daddy John is to our boys, and I'm very thankful for my Dad, as well, and I know John is for his too.  Below are the pictures from Father's Day, but unfortunately Dawson was crashing and beyond ready for nap when we left our visit with Grandad so we didn't get a Father's Day picture with him. 

Me, Pop, Carter, Uncle Logan and Dawson.

Happy Father's Day, Pop!

John and his two boys!

We had to make a quick trip to the duck

pond.  I'm very lucky to have these three guys!

Happy Father's Day, John!