Carter Turns 1 in Alabama

These are just a few pictures of Carter's 1st birthday party in AL. We also had a MS birthday party. I will post those later. He had a great time. He loved the cupcake. He had a chocolate cupcake with a Milky Way center. Yummy!! All of his friends were there and helped him open presents, which he got tons! Over all I would say the birthday was a success.

Play That Funky Music White Boy

Carter loves the drums. This is not something that we started, although we may have encouraged it once it began. It is just so cute and he loves it so much. It all started with Carter making drums and drumsticks out of other toys. Then we let him bang on pots and pans while I cooked at night. Next thing I knew we were sitting at the drums with him in out laps and letting him play. The funny thing is, we never had to show him what to do. He just knew!! Adam has some mini drumsticks that he made as a little boy that he gave Carter. Carter loves those. As soon as he could crawl he went straight for the drum set with his mini drumsticks and pounded away. Now we can put him at the drums in he bouncy seat and he goes to town. I must admit this is not the instrument I would've picked for him, but the heart wants what the wants and his heart wants the drums!!

Carter Gets a Haircut

It was finally time to take Carter to get his first real haircut. I have trimmed it around the ears and of course as we all remember the rat tail. I tried to trim his bangs and he moved too much. I kind of gapped his bangs a little so I gave up. I took him to get his big boy haircut to get ready for his 1st birthday. I can't believe we are about to celebrate his 1st birthday. WOW! Carter was so good while getting his hair cut. Enjoy the pictures.

Go Dawgs!!

Here we are at Carter's first MS State. He loved the game. The only thing he hated was when everyone yelled at the refs. I guess that was too loud. We got to spend lots of time with family and we even got to see some god friends. Carter learned a new trick, as you can see in the picture. He has learned raise his arms when you say, "Touchdown!" We also got to eat at Mugshots, woop woop!!

This weekend we also got to go to Veteran's park and see Pop's veteran's paver. The park lined the walkway with bricks honoring veterans. Here are pictures of Carter with his great-grand Pop and then 3 generations all around the brick.

Toes in the Water, "Bottom" in the Sand - Life is Good Today

We are blessed by wonderful friends that took us with them to St. George (thanks Josh and Rachel and Barry and Pam). We had a blast! We stayed on the kid floor and shared a balcony with some friends that have a little girl about 3 months older than Carter. Every morning we woke up around 7-7:30 and went out on the balcony, that overlooked the ocean, for breakfast and coffee. That's the life.

I copied this idea of naked pictures on the beach from a friend. These are some of my favorites. Carter loved every part of the beach: the sand, the water, the pool on the beach. He loved the sand so much that he ate lots of it. Luckily we had a doctor with us and he said not to worry it was good for his colon. Ha ha! The picture on the left says everything about how excited he was to be on the beach!!

We, of course, took pictures on the beach. Above a just a couple.

These are two of my favorite beach pictures. The pretty little girl with Carter is his friend Lila. They had a lot of fun together on the beach. They loved kissing. Well, at first she loved kissing and he loved hitting her. Then, he came around to the idea and they kissed non-stop. It was cute.

This is our family picture from the balcony where we ate breakfast every morning. It was a wonderful vacation!!!

Let Me Catch You Up!

These are some of his 9 month pictures.

Wow! It has been a long time since I have posted. This summer has been so crazy and has gone by so fast. So far, no luck in finding a way to keep Carter a baby and not let him grow up. He is growing up so fast and it seems to get faster every day. Let me tell you all his new tricks:

He can wave bye-bye.

He can cover his face and play peek-a-boo/"where's Carter?".

He gives high five.

He has a toy phone and when you say "hello" he holds it to his ear and starts jabbering.

He scoots all around while sitting up (He really hates being on his belly).

He does patty cake.

He loves to drum.

He really loves music all together. He claps and drums whenever music is played. Sometimes he even sounds like he is trying to sing.

He recognizes people and show affection.

He gives kisses.

I can't believe he is 10 months old. I have started looking at things for his 1st birhtday and it makes me want to cry. I mean serioulsy, he was just born yesterday. He should not be getting so big already. Don't get me wrong, there are benefits to him getting older: he sleeps longer at night, he is becoming more independent which equals easier, he knows people and show affection. Watching him grow has been one of the greatest joys in my life. When he grabs on to me and squeezes there is no better feeling. When he looks at me a gives me that huge smile that covers his entire face my day is always better. Being a wife and a mommy is the greatest blessing God has given me.

All I Want to do is Have Some Fun

Adam and Carter playing in the pool in the backyard

Little man all tuckered out at the Cardinals game.

Mommy and Carter laying out.

All of us at the Cardinals game.

We have had such a fun summer. We have taken Carter all around the country and back. We have been swimming and cooked out and spent lots of time with family and friends.

Carter loves the water. As soon as he hits the water he kicks and splashes. He is so close to crawling. He scoots and swims on the ground. He loves to be read to and to look at pictures. He absolutely loves the dvd Praise Baby.

Carter is growing up so fast. I am so excited to see what he will do next. I can't wait to see his first steps and to hear his first words. At the same time I want to freeze time for a little while. I am not ready for him to be a big boy. That is the joys of motherhood. I am enjoying every moment of motherhood (well most moments anyway :) ) This is an amazing journey God has allowed me to be a part of. I can't wait to see what happens next!!

Father's Day

Adam is such a wonderful father. I wanted to make his first Father's Day special. I made a sign to put on the fireplace. I let Carter hold the pen and scribble all over the sign. It looked fantastic. We gave Adam a big bag of gummy bears, a pop up shooting house, and 2 cds. I made his father's day card by tracing Carter's hands on the front and letting Carter "write" on the inside.

He deserved this and so much more. He is so wonderful with Carter. Carter lights up when he sees his daddy. Adam is not only the fun one, but he has been so much help with Carter since day one. He has also made an effort to make sure we have dates and time together. He helps me not be too crazy as a first time mommy.

He wins best all around for being a daddy!! Thank you, Adam, for being the best husband and daddy in the world. I love you!!

St. Louis

Carter has been a traveling dude this summer. We have been to visit grandparents, on a mission trip to Maine, and on vacation in St. Louis. We met the West family in St. Louis for a little vacationing. We went to 2 Cardinal games, to the zoo, to Grant's Farm, to the top of the arch, and had lots of good food. Carter loved the fish and the snakes at the zoo. He got to pet the goats at Grant's Farm and ride the carousal. He got to share Dippin Dots at the games. He had a blast! We had a blast taking him to all those places. It is so amazing seeing how much he is growing and changing everyday. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Maine

The bottom 2 pictures are Carter on the plane. The top picture is the family eating lobster rolls in Maine and the 2nd picture is Adam and I at the top of the light house in Pemaquid.

We went with the youth, to Maine, to work with a church that our church partners with. We stuffed bags, passed out candy, fliers, and ice cream. We held a youth revival on two nights and we did some work for a youth center. We had a great time. Carter was wonderful. He went with the flow and was a perfect baby the whole time. We couldn't have asked for more from him. I really enjoyed getting to hang out with all the youth and to work with the church in Maine.

You are My Sunshine My only Sunshine

These pictures are from Adam's company picnic. It was a great way to kick off the summer. They had anything and everything you could imagine to eat, games, music and lots of fun stuff. The picnic is one of the many things his company does to promote family. We are so blessed by his job. Carter had a blast until he got hit in the head with a volley ball. It was pretty much game over at that point. It didn't help that it was getting close to bed time. Look how cute he looks in his little hat. I can't wait to see what else the summer holds for us!!

Swim Fishy Swim

This is Carter's first time in the pool. I was scared that the water was going to be too cold or that Carter was going to hate it, but I was wrong. He was like a little fish. It was amazing how he just seemed to know what to do as soon as his little body hit the water. He kicked and splashed as fast as his little arms and legs could go. I tried to get a picture of him looking at the camera in his float, but he was too interested in eating the float. He had the best time. I finally had to make him get out when his lips started turning blue. haha First time swimming was a success!! Can't wait to go again.