14 months

It seems I am now going to write monthy blogs about Carter every other month. For some reason I skipped 13 months but I think it makes sense to start going every other month. So here is our Carter man at 14 months old...

He is a walking man 100% of the time. He started walking on his first birthday and took it real slow for about a month. Right about 13 months, he decided he preferred walking to crawling and just took off. He loves it! He seems happier and more content now that he can walk all the time. He LOVES walking outside and could do it ALL DAY LONG! He throws a fit when I bring him back inside after a little walking adventure in the yard or down on the sidewalk. He loves going across the street when our neighbor and her dog are out in the yard. He loves the dog Cooper and loves walking around her driveway and up and down the curb. He loves pushing anything he can including his stroller, chairs, his horse, his push cart, toys, etc. I would say that walking is his favorite thing at the moment and we just love it! I actually don't think that it has really made our lives harder like I thought it would. I think it has made some things actually way easier. I love being able to set him down somewhere and I know he will stay off the floor. The walking thing has definatley been his biggest change over the last two months.

He still has many other "loves" in his life...mommy, daddy, grandparents, dogs, all animals, chuggington (cartoon), his blankie (he is still obsessed with his blankie and I love it!), flowers, graham crackers, keys, bath time, playing in the bathroom (not one of my favorite of his loves,) standing on the couch looking out the window, his toothbrush, oranges, bananas, pens/pencils, mama's water bottle, Max, and anything that he can do independently!

We have officially finished nursing. I am so thankful for 13 1/2 months of nursing but also feel very ready to be done. I had many goals along the way and I surpassed all of them, for which I am proud. My first goal was to make it to six months, then 12 months, then I said I would stop at 14 months. Carter just seemed ready to be done about two weeks ago which was just perfect timing for both of us.

He is sleeping great still but lately has been getting up way too early in the morning. Anywhere from 5:30 to 7:30 but pretty much anything before 7 is way too early for me! Today he slept till 8:30 though which was a tremendous shock and a huge blessing! Naps are still good but they seem to be getting a little shorter. Most days he still needs two, especially on those days that he is up by 6. He usually does an hour to an hour and a half morning nap and the same thing in the afternoon. I am going to keep letting him take two naps until it just isn't working. I like the two seperate breaks during the day.

He has so many teeth now that I actually can't count how many he has. I think he has 12 but he makes it almost impossible to see in his mouth most of the time. Usually I can only see back up there when I am changing his diaper and he is screaming. But I have to look quick and it is hard to count. He had a really rough couple of weeks about 2-3 weeks ago and I am pretty sure that is when a few more teeth came through. I know he has at least 12 with the possibility of more up there.

He is still a super happy guy with lots of smiles and giggles throughout the day. He is a little more shy with new people than he used to be though. He isn't loving the nursery right now and cries everytime we drop him off. He always stops by the time I peek at him a couple of minutes later. He also isn't loving being left with the babysitter at our Life Group. He did better last week and only screamed for a few minutes and then only a couple times throughout the night. The week before he screamed pretty much the whole time. It was really hard on me because that just isn't my boy. He is such a happy guy but he is definately going throug an "I want mommy or daddy" phase right now.

He loves to play with us and trick us. Jay will ask him for a kiss and Carter will go in for it and then stop and look away with a smile on his face. He is so silly. He loves to make us laugh! He will try to give Jay a drink from his sippy cup and when Jay gets close to it he will pull it away and laugh. He is just so silly.

He is an independent little guy and extremely determined. He has a little bit of his mommy's personality on that one. :)

He loves to eat but has his super picky moments. He loves graham crackers, goldfish, black beans, any kind of cheese, avacodo, oranges, bananas, whole wheat bread, greek yogurt, cottage cheese, macaroni and cheese, most spaghetti type meals, and usually whatever Jay and I are eating at the time. He also loves to throw food on the floor and doesn't really like trying new things. It seems like it takes a few tries to get him to try something new. It drives me crazy but I am trying really hard to not let meal time become a battle.

He talks all the time and seems to really be trying to say things. Every once in a while it seems like an actual word comes out but we just aren't completely sure right now. He is a babbler though!

He is sweet and loving, loves to give kisses and loves to us and to all of his stuffed animals. He is stubborn and defiant like most toddlers but fills our hearts with more joy than we new was possible. We are extremely thankful for Carter and can't even imagine what are life was like before he entered our family.

We love you Carter! Happy fourteen months (tomorrow!) We can't beleive how fast you are growing and changing!

Easter

We had a nice Easter. We spent all morning at church. We went to the first service and then we were teaching the 4's and 5's class for second service. It was a great Easter service, celebrating Christ's resurrection! Then we came home, gave Carter a nap, and cooked a big Easter lunch, just for the three of us. Jay and I cooked a ham and then I tried four new recipes from Taste of Home. I made a lemony, herb rice dish, homemade herb biscuits, and yummy parmesian cheese red potatoes, as well as a cranberry/raspberry parfait. Everything turned out really good (pictures at the end of this post,) which always surprises me because cooking is not my fortay. After lunch we just vegged! We did decided we really wanted a family picture on Easter in our Easter clothes so we went over to my mom's and had her take some pictures of us. I love how they turned out. :)

We even got a picture with Grandma.

Our Easter lunch...

We had such a nice, relaxing and productive weekend! This is my third post for this weekend. We had a lot squeezed into the last three days and I loved spending so much time with my guys!

Easter Egg Hunt

I helped run our church's Easter egg hunt this year for the first time. I enjoyed helping out with it but I really enjoyed being able to be with Carter for his first Easter egg hunt. He loves easter eggs since we have had about 2500 of them at our house over the last few weeks for the church's egg hunt. Carter loved running around in the grass and liked getting his eggs. He didn't really understand the concept though. He would get a couple of eggs in his basket and then he would take them out and throw them back on the ground. It was pretty cute. I have always looked forward to easter egg hunts with my kids so it was special for me to finally be able to participate with one of my own!

The Zoo!

We took Carter to the zoo for the first time today! He loved every minute of it and all the animals! We were so thankful for BEAUTIFUL weather!!

He loved the elephants!

I love his face in this next picture. It's like he just can't believe what he is seeing.

Talking monkey business!

This goat loved Carter. They became fast friends.

Out of all the animals...the fish might have been his favorite. Silly boy!

Showing his independence!

Watching the bears

We also got to view our Eric John pictures today that we had taken right before Carter's birthday. They were AMAZING! We bought four images to put on our blog and facebook so we should have them on here in about a week. We also bought two prints and I can't wait to get them. It was a great day with my two guys!

the end of the cherry blossoms...

I had been hoping that the weather would turn decent quickly so we could go down to the capital and take pictures under the cherry blossom trees. I should have done it a couple of weeks ago and never thought about it. We made it down there today to see the final days of the cherry blossom trees. Carter loved chasing the birds and squirrels, pushing the stroller around (next time I will leave that in the car), and picking the dandalions from the grass. He was fun and totally in his element, just running around in the grass. It wasn't the ideal photoshoot for me though. It was chilly, sprinkling on and off, he wasn't in the best outfit for pictures, and I had a full memory card. But we did it and got a few cute pics.

It worked!

We planted tulips back in the fall and it actually worked. I don't always do well with flowers or plants so I was really excited that the tulips are blooming. Maybe it's because Jay actually did the planting...