11 months (and 1 day)

I finished Carter's birthday invitations last night...
Wow...
We are one month away from his first birthday...
My how time flies when you're having fun!

Our baby is 11 months old.

Here are some of Carter's "loves..."
-his blanket!!!!!
-the bathroom
-standing by the tub
-taking baths
-playing in the kitchen drawers
-the dishwasher
-the vacuum
-his toothbrush
-his hairbrush
-spoons/forks
-my wreath that is hanging on the fireplace screen
-other babies
-being in a shopping cart
-going for walks
-playing with our computer (he knows exactly what button to push to turn it off)
-my cell phone
-our full length mirror in our room
-looking out the window from the couch
-REMOTE CONTROLS!!!!! (So much so that he ordered a movie)
-the drawers in the bathroom
-his toys
-playing in his closet with the toys that are put away
-closing and opening doors
-car keys (took me 20 minutes to find them one day on my way to a subbing job)

These are the things Carter loves the most! He is fun and silly and keeps us both on our toes!
Here are a few more things about our little man...
-He is finally drinking out of sippy cups and doing it well! This just started this last week.
-He is sleeping through the night!! Do you hear that folks?!?!?!?!? Sleeping through the night!!!!! We are at three full weeks of mostly successful nights! He goes down about 8 and sleeps between 6 and 7:30 usually. I cannot tell you how happy this makes me!
-Many days he only takes one nap. Some days he still takes two, it just depends on when he gets up in the morning and how early his first nap is.
-He is eating so much now. He absolutely loves avocado! He also loves cheese, egg, whole wheat bread, Greek yogurt blueberries, raspberries, banana, most veggies, cheerios and lots more. He really loves to eat what we are eating and does a lot of begging. Especially if he knows we are eating ice cream!
-He has six teeth now!
-He still waves ALL THE TIME! He loves waving at everyone. It is sooooo cute!
-He loves walking all over the house with his push cart or anything that he can get to move in front of him.
-He is losing his "babiness" look and looking more and more like a toddler everyday. :(
-He gets into EVERYTHING!
-He loves looking at books. He doesn't really wait long enough for us to actually read a page before he is turning the page but he still likes looking.
-He loves playing my moms piano.
-He still hates getting his diaper changed but we are starting to have a few more easy changes than we used to.
-He has a way of making people feel special. He is so good with people and really warms up to them.

I feel like I could keep going but I am going to go watch American Idol with my man! We are so thankful for the precious gift that Carter is to us! I know I say this way too often and I sound like every other mom out there...but our baby is growing up way too fast! I am grieving the time we won't ever get back with Carter and bursting with excitement and joy with the time that we still have with him and all of the new things he will do and learn!

Some cuteness

I haven't put any pictures of our furry babies on here in a long time. The top picture is of them snuggling. When I walked in there, Max was asleep but when I got the camera he looked at me. They really do love each other.

When we took down our Christmas tree we rolled up the area rug in the living room. Max thought it was a great place to hang out.


Carter LOVES to take all of the wipes out of the wipe bag or container. He could sit there and do that until every last wipe is out. I only let him take out a few and then put them away. Don't worry, I still use the wipes. I just put them in an empty wipe container by his changing table. He just cracks me up when he does this. He just quietly pulls out one at a time.

I love those blue eyes!!

Bedhead!

His hair is long enough for a Mohawk after his bath!

So sweet in his bath robe playing with daddy's socks.

He also LOVES playing with the baby monitor. He has figured out which buttons make noise.

Maybe he will be a drummer when he grows up...OH BOY! :) He does like drumming now though.


He also loves that flower! He carries that all over the house.

He will be 11 months old on Wednesday. WOW! I'll be back to blog about 11 months soon.

Happy Birthday Jay!

We had a few friends and our families over for Jay's 27th birthday. We just had some cake and ice cream. Isn't this cake awesome? For a 27 year old? Ha! It was the best I could do at Costco. They didn't have much to choose from for "grown up" birthday cakes. We were all saying that I should have scooped off the wheels and made it look like a snowboard. Oh well, it's cute. :)


I absolutely love the kids faces in the background. They wanted to help blow out his candles soooo bad but I told them only Jay could do it. I was trying to not have the kids slobber on the cake. I know...I'm so mean.

Okay...Emma and Liam's faces are PRICELESS!! Liam was playing with her and we all know how snippy she can get if she isn't in the mood. Well, she was letting him know she was annoyed and he thought it was hilarious. And so did the rest of us. We were encouraging him to continue bugging her because it was so funny!

Carter liked being the center of attention. He was checking out Jay's presents.

Tristan, Aaron, and Jonah

It was fun celebrating Jay with friends and family. We usually do smaller birthday's with just us but this year I thought it was time to have people over to celebrate with us! Happy Birthday Jay! (This post is a few days late ;)

Super Mom

Today I feel a little like super mom. I don't feel like this very many days so I think it is okay to feel like it every once in a while. I subbed in the kindergarten class all morning, home schooled Naomi, tutored a new second grade student, made baby food while cooking dinner and feeding Carter, dinner is in the oven and the kitchen is somewhat clean. I love days where I feel very productive. Now yesterday on the other hand...I was literally home ALL DAY, and yet I felt the complete opposite of super mom!!! Carter was cranky, neither of us got out of our pj's all day, the house was a disaster from my little 10 month terror (I only mean because he is into EVERYTHING), Carter decided on two different occasions that he didn't want to nurse (which broke my heart), our washer went crazy and I am just praying it isn't broken, I stepped on a block barefoot and seriously didn't think that could hurt as bad as it did, and didn't even come close to making dinner. How is it that on a day I am home all day with nothing to do I fell apart but on a super busy day like today, I got so much accomplished and felt great about everything? Oh well, such is life! And I am so thankful for my life!

Oh and just so you know, nights are still going great! We had one night he woke up at 4:45 and I ended up feeding him (go ahead, you can judge me) and then one night he woke up at 2 but went right back to sleep after Jay rocked him for a minute. The other nights, he slept all night! We are still in a groove! Today he has been awake since 12:45 with no afternoon nap so he should sleep great tonight!

Oh, the dreaded spare bedroom...

We have a spare bedroom (for a little while longer anyway.) Right now I wish we didn't have a spare room. Of course, as soon as we have a second child, I will be oh so grateful for this room but right now...I HATE IT!! Right now it has a computer and desk (which we use all the time), a bed that rarely gets slept in but is sure nice when we do have company, all of my scrapbook stuff, AND A LOT OF JUNK!!! This is the room, that when we have people coming over, we just pile everything in to keep the rest of the house clutter free. Am I the only one that has a room like this? I want it fixed so badly but I stand in it today, seriously at a loss for ideas. I don't know what to do with it!!! It's were we store the vacuum, all the household decorations while Christmas decorations take over the rest of the house, Carter's train set, the leaf to our dining room table, more photo albums than I know what to do with, Carter's bumbo that he hasn't used in months (seriously just put it in the garage!), Christmas wrapping paper that I just had to have because it was so cheap right after Christmas, a box of books that are too old for Carter, a shredder, picture frames that I have no wall space for, the baby gate that we never use, small tools because the garage isn't quite ready for the tools yet, a box of size one diapers for the next baby, a bag of clothes for goodwill, etc, etc, etc... I could seriously go on forever! I don't know what to do with it all!! And instead of working on it during Carter's nap, I sit here on my blog, telling you all about it...

Night #8

Ok, I know I said I was only going to blog about this for one week but on night number 8, he slept from 8:00 to 7:30!!!! 11 1/2 hours straight! Can I get a hallelujah?!?!?!?!? So I might be jinxing it but I think we are on a roll now and I thought I would blog about the changes we have made to help our little man sleep through the night. I have two reasons for this...1)It will help me remember for baby number two. Only for baby number two I will not be waiting until 10 months old to start trying these things, 2) If any of you that read my blog have a baby that isn't sleeping through the night, than you could try these ideas too.

First thing I did...
I had been talking to a lot of fellow mom friends to get ideas from them. It seemed like everyone I know with a baby, has a baby who sleeps through the night. I knew it was time to try something new. I got some great ideas from friends!

Then my incredibly smart husband borrowed a space heater because poor Carter has the coldest room in the house! I really think this has helped him sleep so much more!!! Also, on the two nights that he did still wake up in the night, Jay went in there instead of me. I think if Carter sees me, he expects food! He knows that isn't going to happen with Jay.

And then there is me...
I had to change my thought process on naps. I was letting Carter sleep way to late in the afternoon (thanks Hollie for helping me realize this!). Now we try to get him up by 4 every afternoon! Sometimes that means he only takes one nap because his first nap goes too late. Like yesterday he didn't go down for his morning nap until 10:45 and he slept till 1:45. That meant it would be the only nap he would get. He actually did great! I was afraid he would start melting down at about 6 but he was wonderful and made it till 8 and then fell right to sleep. Same thing today. His first nap went from 11:45 to 2:15 and then he just stayed up the rest of the day. I am going to continue working on this and I think it will make a big difference at night. I cannot tell you the joy I feel when I get up in the morning and realize I didn't get up at all in the night! I see the light at the end of the tunnel! At least until we have baby number two. I am going to bask in the sunlight for a while because I LOVE my sleep!!!

Now I just pray tonight isn't awful. Now that I just wrote all of this down with such confidence I could see tonight going badly.

Night #7

Well...I made it through a one week trial! Out of 7 nights, Carter slept all night five nights! Not bad. Last night was one of the two nights that didn't go as well. But he is sick so I am chalking it up to that. He has a terrible cough! I actually think for as bad as his cough is, last night went really well.

-Laid him down at 8:45 and he fell right to sleep.
-He woke up at 2:30.
-Jay went in and rocked him.
-He was quiet for a few minutes and then cried...and cried...and cried.
-I actually turned off the monitor and was going to let him "cry it out" but it soon turned to hysterical crying.
-So I gave in and fed him. I know...I am a push over. He knows exactly what to do to get me to give in. I was giving him a little extra grace since he was sick. :)

Night #6

Don't worry, tomorrow night is my last "night #..." posts. I just wanted to post about his nights for a week. Last night was great again too. He did get up a little too early this morning but not early enough that I should be complaining. And the poor baby was coughing so I am sure that is what woke up up.

-Laid him down at 8 and he fell right to sleep.
-Slept till 6, fed him and laid him back down, slept till 7. He was coughing real bad at 6 so I think he would have slept longer if it weren't for that. At least he slept all night!

So one thing I forgot to mention is that on night #1, we put a space heater in his room. I was really nervous to do that but his room is always the coldest room in the house and we were wondering if that was why he was always waking up in the night. Well...maybe that is why he is sleeping through the night now. I am hoping it has a little to do with me not going in there and feeding him too, those couple of nights that he did wake up. I would like to think I had something to do with it. ;) But, I don't care what it took...I am just glad we are on a roll!

Night #5

-Laid Carter down at 8 after having a very long day! I had a major headache all day and Carter was a little crankier than usual.
-HE SLEPT TILL 7:45 THIS MORNING AND I NEVER HEARD A PEEP OUT OF HIM!!!

I feel like we are making progress! Of course, I am probably jinxing it by saying that on only day 5.

Night #4

Sorry if you are getting bored with this but I will probably continue it for a few more days. Last night went great! Woohoo!

-We put Carter down about 8:45 and he fell right to sleep.
-He woke up at 11:45, thankfully we had not gone to sleep yet.
-Jay rocked him for a minutes and laid him back down.
-He slept till 7:45! Praise the Lord.

I wish he wasn't waking up at all but I am so thankful when it is just for a couple of minutes and he goes right back to sleep after a little cuddle. I am also SOOOOOOO thankful for a husband who doesn't mind AT ALL helping out and snuggling with his boy! What a true blessing!

Night #3

So...night number three didn't go as well as I would have hoped. I caved and ended up nursing him at 4:15. :( This is when I would typically just give up on trying to make him sleep through the night, but I am not giving up this time.

-I laid him down at 8.
-He fell right to sleep.
-He woke up fussing at 3:50. I let him cry until 4:15 and then I couldn't handle it anymore.
-I was going to try to just snuggle and rock him but as soon as I tried that, he realized I wasn't about to feed him and he freaked out. I was so tired that I just fed him and put him back down.
-I heard him crying at 6 but it must have only been for a second because I went right back to sleep and we both slept till 7:45.

Not the best night but we will keep trying!

Night #2

Jay worked an overtime shift last night so I was on my own. I was really nervous and new that I would probably give in and feed him if it came down to it since I was alone. But...

-I laid him down at 8.
-He really didn't want to go to sleep which made me a little worried that the night was going to be bad.
-I rocked him twice but then he fell asleep about 8:45.
-SLEPT TILL 6:45!!!
-I fed him and then he slept again until 9:00.

6:45 is fine with me! Especially since he almost always goes back to sleep in the morning. Thank you God for helping Carter have a great night, especially since I was by myself. I don't know why but I hate being up with a fussy baby in the middle of the night when I am alone.

Night #1

Yes, I am going to blog about trying to make Carter sleep through the night. Here is how night # 1 went.

-Put him down about 8:15 (he had been up since 3 in the afternoon so he was exhausted)
-Fell right to sleep
-Woke up at 11 crying, let him cry for about 10 minutes, crying soon turned into true unhappiness
-Jay rocked him for a minute
-Jay laid him back down
-My alarm goes off at 7:45...
-Praise the Lord!!!! I slept all night, which means, so did Carter!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please, please, please, let this be the start of a new beginning! Please don't get me wrong. Carter is a good sleeper. He usually only wakes up once in the night to eat but that is one too many times when he is ten months old! So I am finally going to start forcing the issue. No more eating in the night and I am just going to have to turn the monitor off if it comes down to "crying it out."

Saying goodbye to 2010...

2010 was a big year for the Hinderks family. Jay and I realized we were actually a bit sad last night to know that it was about to be over. This was the year that God blessed us with Carter. The year we got to be parents for the first time. A few other things happened this year as well. This was a big year for me because I lost my job as a second grade teacher. As hard as that was, it was a great chance for us to trust the Lord and see what the next year would hold for us. I started home schooling this year and have had the opportunity to do what I have always dreamed of doing...staying home with my baby! Jay and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary this year and every year we celebrate together, I am so thankful for my marriage and the wonderful gift my husband is to me! We are thankful for 2010 and will always remember it as the greatest year of our lives! We are, however, looking forward to 2011 with much anticipation. We will get to watch our little man grow into a toddler and maybe (just maybe, if God desires) welcome a second beautiful baby into our lives (nope...not an announcement!) We look forward to what this year has in store for us.

2010 in pictures...yes, they are mostly of the little man!


Holy cow! I forgot how huge I was!


Carter Stephen Hinderks...February 26, 2010


Carter's first time to Iowa meeting Grandma and Grandpa Hinderks.

My dear friend Lisa went home to be with the Lord.

We went to Vista, California to celebrate the life of my Uncle Jeff who went home to be with the Lord.

Lots of traveling...Spokane, Montana for wedding, and our Giants trip to San Francisco.


First Halloween with Carter

Bradley family reunion

Garage demolition! (This is still in progress but I will post pics soon!)

First Christmas with Carter

Our second wedding anniversary. I wish we had taken a picture of the two of us together but oh well.

Opening his first presents on Christmas.