My dear sweet boy is sleeping. I'm hoping this will last a while. He had 8 oz in his bottle including some cereal. We've been giving him cereal before bed in the hopes that he will sleep through the night again. Tuesday morning, he woke up at 3:30 to eat. Yesterday morning, he work up at 3:30 again talking and cooing, and I was able to get him to sleep until 4:30 before he insisted on eating. Then, I had to wake him up to get him ready for daycare. This morning, he made it until 5:20. I never thought I would be happy about being woken up at 5:20.

I haven't had too much to do this week, but he has been going to daycare everyday. I want to be consistent. There is a little boy in the infant room who only goes one day a week and cries the whole time he is there. I don't want that to be the case with Carter.

Today, I had my pre-op appointment. They took a few vials of blood, and I had to talk with someone from the anesthesia department. That took almost 2 hours! After, I had lunch with a good friend of mine who had her thyroid removed a few years ago. She convinced me to not ask the doctor to remove the whole thing. She regrets doing that when she only really needed to have one side removed. I just fear having to go back for a 2nd surgery.

Tomorrow, we are leaving for Louisiana. I am nervous about flying with a baby, but we were able to score first class tickets with our frequent flier miles. I'm just concerned about carrying him and all of our stuff. Of course, we need lots of stuff for him when the airlines are charging for a 2nd suitcase. I think we will each check a bag and each have a carry on. My parents are going to fly back with us on Monday, so they can help take care of Carter and me. I am looking forward to going home. Carter will get to meet lots of family members and close family friends. We are going to have a get together after his Baptism on Sunday. He will also get to meet my nephew and brother-in-law for the first time.

Hopefully, I'll lots of fin pictures to post from the weekend.

Not too much going on here this weekend. We are all exhausted, but I'm not sure why. Carter seems to be waking up a little earlier each day. This morning, he woke up to eat at 5:00. The TV repairman called at 7:00 to let us know he was coming today. We ended up going back to sleep until 8:30. I was able to find the time to get on the treadmill today. I really want to get back into my old clothes before school starts in a little less than a month. I really wouldn't mind getting new clothes, but it would be a lot to replace. We don't have any big plans for tomorrow other than grocery shopping.

I attended my math workshop this morning. It was a little more boring than the rest of the week has been. After, I came home and mowed the grass. We were the "bad neighbors" on the block who hadn't mowed their grass in quite some time. I had 5 bags of clippings! Kevin was surprised when he came home. After I mowed, I called daycare to find out when Carter needed to eat again, so I could pick him up before then. I was almost there when I realized I had not put the car seat in my car, so I had to turn around, come home, and go back.

Carter is just growing up so quickly. It's exciting but breaks my heart at the same time. I was holding him this afternoon, and he noticed my watch. He began to touch it. This is the first time I have seen him really try to touch something. He also pulled his pacifier out of his mouth and out it back in sideways. He has to grab it one way and not let go to accomplish this. He has already started wearing some 6 month pajamas. I wish I could keep him little and innocent forever!

All smiles at bed time
Playing in the Exersaucer

I bought Carter an exersaucer today. I had to drive across Columbia to the only Target that had one in stock. I even assembled it myself. Carter enjoyed it when I put him in it. He smiled and cooed.

I have added new pictures and plan to add new videos to Flickr.

Carter survived his first full week at daycare. I think it was harder on me than it was on him. I was teaching a web design class during our technology "Beach Blast" week at work. This will get me 5 swap days during the school year.

Grandma Patsy and Grandpa Buck came on Saturday and spent the night. Carter was in a good mood and enjoyed the company. I was holding him while we were eating on Saturday and he laughed out loud while watching his dad and grandmother. He is really cooing a lot. He is also learning how to shriek when he coos too. I have always enjoyed him, but he is getting to be more and more fun. I just can't get him to talk while I am videotaping. I think he concentrates more on the camera and gets distracted. He also likes to be held in a standing position. We are going to buy him an exersaucer. I tried one out at daycare last week, and he seemed to enjoy being in it.

This week, I am attending a math standards workshop in the mornings. We are learning activities to go with the different strands in the standards. I really enjoyed today, so I hope the rest of the week is as good.

We have started giving Carter a little bit of cereal in a bottle at bedtime. He woke up at 2:00am Sunday morning to be fed. I like my sleep. The doctor had told me I could start whenever I wanted, so we did. This means more pumping time for me, but I am considering switching to formula for one feeding per day. I never decided for how long I would nurse him, and I am afraid my upcoming surgery may complicate things.

I hope I have time to upload pictures soon. They have been requested!

As many of you know, my new past time is reading blogs. I came upon this one today with a giveaway for a free quilt. Check it out:

http://oldredbarnco.blogspot.com/2008/07/win-this-quilt.html

In Dad's truck ready to go

Off to daycare

Trying out his big boy carseat for Dad's truck

Sitting on Dad

Daycare ended up going very well last week. I randomly stopped in during the day on Friday. Carter was in a swing smiling and cooing for his teacher. I did fuss at him for smiling at another woman. I found it was nice to be able to get stuff done around the house and to run errands. Kevin met me Friday afternoon to pick him up, so I could show him drop off procedures.

I worked today, so Kevin dropped him off this morning. I can't wait to pick him up this afternoon. He was gassy and fussy during the weekend, so I hope he had a better day today.

I realize I haven't uploaded pictures in a long time. Here are a few. There are lots on Flickr.

3 months old!

Smiling and Talking

On the way to daycare

In my previous post, I forgot to mention I took Carter to the pediatrician last Tuesday because he was spitting up a lot more than usual. We are now splitting his prevacid, so he has half in the morning and half at night. He weighed 15 lb 10 oz!

Today was a big day for us. Carter started daycare. I took him yesterday to enroll him. It was not a good experience. The infant room smelled like poop, and they had a number of toddlers in there because a teacher had called in sick. One of the toddlers tried to steal Carter's pacifier. As soon as I got into the parking lot, I started crying. I even stopped by my first choice daycare on the way home. (We are number one on their waiting list.) They said they should have an opening in August. I need to work for the next two weeks, so I would rather him in a consistent daycare than having babysitters here with him. I called to check on him, and he was doing fine. I picked him up around 12:30. He had just had an explosive diaper in one of their swings. I thanked him for not doing that at home. I just got to come home and soak his clothes.

That's about all the excitement here other than the cabinet pulls I finally got after being in the house for 2 1/2 years!

Why am I posting at 7:20 am? I'm waiting for Carter to wake up. We put him to bed at 9:00 last night, and he is still sleeping!!!! I thought he would wake up when Kevin got up at 5:30. I decided to use this time to get some stuff done around the house. (Ok, reading and writing blogs doesn't really count). This will be the 3rd night this week he has slept through the night. The one night I am not counting was when he woke up at 4:30. I just need to learn to sleep longer when he does.

I went to the surgeon on Tuesday. Come to find out, I do have to have the right side of my thyroid removed. I was misled when I spoke to his nurse last week. I was in a bit of shock. My nodule is a follicular lesion, meaning we won't know it is definitely benign until it is removed and sent for more tests. I went ahead and scheduled surgery for August 6th. I wanted to do it before then, but they won't let me fly after. We have a trip planned to Louisiana for August 1st, so my parents will fly back with us to help me take care of Carter after surgery.

We don't have any grand plans for the 4th. Kevin's parents should be coming in either tomorrow or Saturday. We will grill when they are here. That's about it for us.