First Halloween

Fall Festival


Chad and Kevin with their babies.

Logan and Carter, birthdays are 4 days apart :)

The first Halloween activity began on Wednesday night at our church's Fall Festival. Carter has 2 Halloween costumes this year. One that his Grandmom picked out for him and bought (Tigger), and the other is one my neighbor gave me (Spider), so our Halloween costumes were free...fine by me! He wore Tigger to the Fall Festival because he would be seeing Mom and Pop there (Chad's Mom and Dad) and the Spider to go Trick or Treating with Avery on Halloween night. The Fall Festival went GREAT. He loved looking around at all the people and didn't seem to mind the costume one bit. We socialized with friends and family and Carter got some pictures with his buddies. All in all, it was a fun night and we had a great turn out!

Trick or Treat!

Grandma bought me a Halloween gift!

He likes the card the best

"If you take a Mouse to the Movies" book.

A Ladybug and Spider

The melt down begins.

I hate that this picture is blurry...riding in Avery's wagon in the neighborhood.

Thursday, Carter woke up with a nice fever of 101.3. This week he had been on an antibiotic for an ear infection, but apparently that wasn't cutting it. So we went back to the Doctor on Halloween Eve and received a 2nd antibiotic to try. I really didn't even think that this would put a damper on the Halloween plans, but come to find out I was terribly wrong! As the afternoon went on yesterday, Carter got more and more snotty...and more and more fussy. Probably the fussiest he has EVER been. Basically he was just irritated at all the mucus in his nose and just felt terrible.
Well, when Carter woke up from his nap today at 4:00 (3 hour nap mind you), he looked terrible...watery eyes, snot pouring, fussy, you name it, that was him. Despite the cold, we decided to venture out into the Halloween night....
The plans for Halloween included going to Cousin Avery's house and Trick or Treating in her neighborhood. It was a big deal and we ordered pizza and all the parents and KK came over to take pictures and experience the first trick or treat for both babies. After we ate, got them dressed, and took a few pictures it was time to trick or treat....and Carter lasted all of about 1 house. That's it. One Milky Way and Snickers later he was done....and when I say done I mean SCREAMING. So we loaded him up, waved bye, and went home to a warm bath and bed. So that was exciting. Not quite what I expected, maybe next year will be more fun! My poor baby, he tried, but just felt too bad. Colds aren't fun when you don't know how to blow your nose.
Hope everyone else had a Happy Halloween! Now, on to Thanksgiving.

Oh my.

As of yesterday, Carter had not yet found his knees. Meaning, when I would put him on his belly or he would roll over onto his belly, he would stay flat. Not one bit interested in crawling. Well I have noticed that he would get very fidgety on his stomach and move his legs back and forth, so the other day I actually moved his knees up under him and held him there for a minute...you know just so he could get the gist of it. I know I'm a terrible Mother for forcing him to reach a milestone, but I was just so curious to see what he would do! Well, tonight when I put him in the floor he immediately pulled his knees up under him as I set him on the ground and started rocking back and forth!!! For the longest time I was just so sure he was not going to crawl and just go straight to walking (just like his Daddy did), but now I'm not so sure anymore! Above, there are pictures of Carter finding his knees :)

NEW POST below...

Rewind...

Just for a sec, I am rewinding about 9 months and 3 weeks....when sweet Carter was born. This is not going to be a long post, but quickly, if you followed my blog back in January, you know that I had a very difficult birth experience. Traumatic and not being at all what I expected, I found myself really grieving my birth experience. I thought I was absolutely crazy for being so upset about it when I had a perfectly healthy little baby to show for it, and a healthy Mommy. But, apparently I'm not crazy and what I am/was feeling is perfectly normal. I received this link from Baby Center by email and I found it very interesting!
So if you are a new Mommy and your birth experience was not what you expected and you find yourself pretty emotional about the whole thing, this link might make you feel better, it did me. I'm not crazy, whew!

Click HERE to read...

The Burg.

Waiting to eat at Bubba Gump's

He loved the exit signs

Enjoying The Mill Restaurant

Little late updating, but we had a really good time in Gatlinburg. I think I could have stayed one or two more days. We mostly ate and shopped. Isn't it funny how your whole vacation is centered around eating? We would plan out our eating each day and then do things in-between to fill in the time! Not that anyone cares, but we ate at the following places:

Jacks- on the way there ; )
Pancake Pantry
Mr. Gady's Pizza (sp?)
Calhouns
The Donut Friar
Jose's
Bubba Gump's
The Mill
Applebarn-went here for the apple jelly, everyone was too full to actually eat.
CiCi's- on the way home

We, of course, walked the streets of Gatlinburg. Friday was not crowded at all, but by the time the weekend arrived it was a bit annoying. Sidenote: I have never noticed how many sketchy people vacation in G'burg. There were nights when I was a little scared of the folks we saw on the streets. They have a lot of haunted attractions there, I think 3 or 4 haunted houses and shows, a haunted tour, etc. I am beginning to think that might be the reason for the scaries. Either way, everyone needs a vacation, right?
We stayed at Jack Huff's, but instead of staying in the actual motor lodge, we rented their Wilhem House on the street behind the lodge. It was huge and big enough for all of us. Weather was great, low 70's and upper 60's the whole time we were there.

I was a bit worried how Carter would do going with the flow. He is a wonderful baby but sometimes he can be a little high maintenance. He is such a schedule baby, and he thrives on it, so you can imagine my concern. But, actually, he did quite well! The biggest bump in the road was when we first arrived at the Wilhelm House. It was about 12:30am and Carter had slept in the car, in PJ's, all the way there. I think he was a little confused, since things were obviously different and "off". He woke up when we arrived in the house and played and talked for about 30 minutes. Then he saw the pack-n-play get setup; I put him in it and he went NUTS. He cried and cried for 30 minutes straight. He was in a strange place, he was tired, and he was not about to go to sleep there! Needless to say, the first night he slept in-between Chad and I. Other than that instance, he went with the flow, took naps in his stroller and in the car, and had a really good time.
I have never been Mommy on vacation before and it was a different experience, good, but different. Just the amount of stuff I had to get together before we left for the whole day was overwhelming. Also, Carter now has happy hands and whenever we sat down at the table he was all over it grabbing anything he could find. And trying to get him to eat in public, when there is so many more interesting things to look at, is impossible. Everyone enjoyed watching him go nuts and I was the one having to counteract every move, so it was a little tiring, but it was so much fun. He would eventually get tired of the high chair and get passed around the table or walked around outside, so sometimes we ended up eating in shifts.
I love his age. He is learning so much, I love watching him experience new things. That has to be my favorite thing about being a Mom right now!
We also went shopping at all the Christmas shops! Going in there will definitely get you in the mood to decorate, I cannot WAIT!! I have new plans for decorating out house for Christmas and I am pumped. I have a few crafty ideas I am working on.
There are a few pictures above, but if you are my friend on Facebook, they are all there :)