All ready for the game (If you enlarge this picture, you can see his teeth)

Holding my bottle like a big boy

We were really looking forward to the weekend just so we could rest.

Friday night, Kevin got Carter up to eat before we went to bed, and he was hoarse and coughing. We decided to put him in his bassinet in our room, so we could keep an eye on him. He can pretty much touch all four sides of the bassinet at one time.

He seemed a little better in the morning, but I canceled the babysitting reservations at the gym knowing he needed to stay home. We didn't do much at all yesterday.

Today was another quiet day. Carter is still rather hoarse. He tries to scream and can't. Sometimes, we can't even hear him cry. Poor little boy!!! I did escape to go shopping with a friend. It was nice to be able to aimlessly wander through stores and not justify to anyone why I was going in each one. I amazingly didn't buy too much....some fleur-de-lis wall hangings and a cross ornament at Kirklands and some makeup at Ulta. That's about all the excitement around here. I just hope Carter feels better soon.

This post has no pictures.....Sorry to disappoint you!

Yesterday, when I picked Carter up from daycare, it was almost time for him to eat. Because we were going to the doctor, I decided to feed him. Well, his teacher told me he could hold his own bottle. Low and behold, he could!!! He has been doing this for about 2 weeks. I asked if there were any other tricks I didn't know about, but that was it.

Another big milestone...I started brushing his teeth tonight with a finger brush. I am getting worried that he is going to be a biter. He tried to bite my chin this evening. I'm hoping he is just exploring something new and will become bored with it VERY soon. I sure don't need my child expelled from daycare. Thankfully, he has not bitten me while nursing. I have been very afraid of that.

We went on a field trip today to the Discovery Place in Charlotte. It was great. We started the day with an IMAX about dinosaurs. After, we went to a really cool exhibit about Pompeii. After, we let the kids play with all of the science and math stations they have. I can't wait until Carter is old enough to take there. Our kids were also very well behaved (for the most part). I was proud of them.

It has been a wild week! Although we had Tuesday off to vote, it just seemed to be crazy. I can't even put my finger on why.

We have a had a good weekend. Nothing spectacular. Friday, we went and finalized our wills. I know. It seems totally morbid. After, we went to the mall on the other side of town. I received a Baby Gap gift card when Carter was born, and we have not been to the mall where I thought there was one since then. Surprisingly, the closest Baby Gap is in Charlotte. It looks like I may have to do some online shopping.

Yesterday, I went to USC for ADEPT training. This will qualify me to have a student teacher, but it doesn't guarantee it. After, I met Kevin and Carter for lunch. Then, we came home and had a great nap together on the couch.

Today, it was Kevin and Carter's turn to nap together.
I signed up to make dinner for a coworker who had surgery on Friday, so I spent my afternoon working on that.

See, it wasn't very exciting. I'm hoping this week is less stressful. Hopefully, I won't have any parents accusing me of not sending them information that all the other parents received via email by replying to the email in question. The fun never ends....... Enjoy the pictures. There are more on Flickr.

Bed Head

I won't let the Clemson loss put me in a bad mood!

I'm such a ham:

We are having a great weekend. My parents flew in on Thursday night. They kept Carter home on Friday and took him to have his portraits done. I have a few on here, but all are on flickr.

My dad and I took him to a few neighbors' houses last night. One had even bought him a gift! After, we went out to one of our favorite pizza places and found out it was their last night in business. :-(

We started today by going to Pig on the Ridge, a local barbecue festival. We definitely ate WAY too much, but it was great. After, we went to the parade of homes. We dropped the boys off at home, and mom and I went shopping. It has been a long time since I have been shopping without a baby in tow.

When we got home, we fed Carter. He decided it would be fun to make razz noises. When my mom would jump back, he would crack up laughing. He is SO fun. His bottom right tooth has been coming through for about a week now, and the left tooth started popping through today.

That's about it around here.

For those of you who expect my Sunday night posts, I apologize. I don't know what happened. I'm guessing last week was rather uneventful because not too much sticks out in my mind. Carter did cut a tooth. Just a little piece has come through his gums. It isn't easy to look because he sticks out his tongue when I try. We continue to enjoy Carter every day. He is so much fun. He likes to play peek-a-boo and laughs whenever I make lamb noises. I was reading a book to him and he cracked up laughing when I made the lamb noise, so now I know I can do that just to get him excited.

I've been trying to get him to use a sippy cup or at least hold his own bottle. He can't seem to understand he needs to hold the bottle up. When I try to show him, he just lets me hold it. Instead, he holds it down and sucks on it. Last night, I found a cup with a straw but a nipple-like top. He was able to drink juice out of it tonight!

This picture:
shows why we had to go to Target. My dear cat knocked the sterilizer off the counter and ate the tops of the nipples while we left for 10 minutes to drop my car off for routine maintenance. I'll spare you the picture of when he decided to give the nipple tops back.

A crazy hairdo from this week:

On his way to daycare this morning after dad wrangled him into the car seat:

We have had a crazy week. Tuesday afternoon, I got a call around 1:20 saying Carter had a temperature of 102.7! I tried calling Kevin, but he was not answering his phone. I quickly got my class to join the other 6th grade science class (we were planning to combine classes anyway.) Robin, the teacher, is a saint. She took my kids without flinching. I headed to daycare, got Carter, called the doctor to make an appointment for later that afternoon, dropped Carter off at Kevin's office, called a substitute, and made it back to school before it ended. It was Extended Tuesday, so I really couldn't miss that. He just had a cold. With daycare, Carter couldn't go back until his fever was down for 24 hours. I stayed home with him on Wednesday and Thursday. I was excited Thursday morning when his fever broke, and his temperature was 97.7. It was back over 101 by that evening. Kevin stayed home with him on Friday morning, and brought him to work on Friday afternoon. Carter stayed in a good mood through all of it.

We had a nice quiet weekend. We went to the gym yesterday morning, and I took a nap with Carter yesterday afternoon. I decided Carter needed to nap in his crib today. He cried himself to sleep, but slept for over 2 hours. He doesn't usually nap that long at home and has to be held. I got SO much done during that time. When he woke up, we went to the pumpkin patch. You can check out more pictures on Flickr. One of my students was working there, so he was eager to help us and take pictures of us.

I love this time of year! The weather is gorgeous, and it's cooling off! Hopefully it stays this way.

I only have to teach for 4 days this week. We have an inservice on Friday. Of course we have not been told where or what we will be doing. Friday was a swap day, but someone changed their mind about a month ago, just as I was considering buying tickets to go to Houston. Par for the course! Hopefully, I will get time to write about all of the craziness at work. After Friday, I truly beleived working in a mental ward would be easier.

Guess who lost the green bean battle?


He was hilarious. He wanted to chew on his plastic links while I fed him and became furious when I took them away. I gave him a spoon to hold on to. Then, he ripped off his bib and started swinging it around like a lasso. When we took out the video camera to record this, he would stop. As soon as I put the camera on the counter, he would start again until I pressed record. Little stinker!

Sadly, the weekend is almost over. We are on our way to get flu shots at the pediatrician's office. Well, most of us are. Kevin has elected to get the flu mist. WIMP!

We dressed Carter in his Halloween onesie today hoping to take him to the pumpkin patch. Within an hour of being dressed, he managed to spit up peaches all over himself. We'll go next weekend.

We have had a nice relaxing weekend. Not much going on here at all. Carter has been sleeping in his bed for a week now! He does usually wake up once during the night. Most of the time, he will go back to sleep until time to get up.

I'm dreading this work week. I have a student who has been on a downward spiral, and I think the parents are starting to blame me. The student got in trouble in my class, so being responsible, I informed them. Later that day, the student walked up to me, looked me in the eyes, and called me the devil. Since then, there has been one more extreme incident (not involving me....thank goodness!) Anyway, the parents sent an email to my lead teacher saying they had a major issue with one of the teachers. Considering, I am the only one who has been in contact with them, it would be me. I love my students, but parents can be tough to deal with! For the most part, parents have been very supportive this year. I hope the trend continues.

Time to head to the doctor. Wish us luck.

Oh yeah, check out flickr. I added a bunch of pictures of the cutest little boy in the world.

Carter had his 6 month doctor's appointment today. He weighed in at 20 lbs 1 oz and is 27 inches long. The doctor told me he could start eating foods that would dissolve in his mouth, so he had graham crackers:

Yes, I realize I didn't update over the weekend. Our weekend was SO busy, I almost looked forward to work yesterday (minus getting up at 5:30)

Carter is 6 months old today! I forgot to get a picture of him earlier, so here is one of him passed out on the living room floor.
He is able to sit up for longer and longer periods when we set him in that position. He is also sleeping in his bed!!!! He still isn't back to sleeping through the night. I have to go upstairs to nurse him during the night, but we are making progress. Carter has his 6 month old well visit tomorrow, so that means shots! We are all getting flu shots on Sunday too. Well, my wimpy husband is getting the mist.

I think that is all that is going on here. I'm too tired to think!

I finally got my video camera hooked up to my new computer. I've added new videos to flickr. Some are of Carter enjoying bath time on 9/13. The others are of him sitting! He can sit for a few seconds and gets very excited when he realizes it.

Carter slept through the night on Sunday and Monday, but we were up at 4:00 this morning. He did go back to sleep after I fed him, but I am always exhausted when this happens.

Last week was a pretty good week. How could I beat 2 days without my 6th grade class?

Carter is also just growing up right before our eyes. On Friday, he rolled across the living room. He had yet to roll from his back to his stomach. That only happened once. I'm sure he will do it again. Yesterday morning, when we put him in his swing so we could get dressed, he decided he wanted to sit up.



Yes, it was rather early. You can tell because it was still dark outside. Carter wants us to be exhausted. He'll fall asleep in the car when we can't nap!

For the most part he has been a happy baby, but he did start waking up again early on Friday morning. I think I fed him at 4:20. He woke up early yesterday morning, and last night felt like we had just gotten home from the hospital. He woke up to eat at 2:00, 4:00, and 7:00. After he ate at 7:00, I couldn't get him back to sleep, so I brought him to the the couch. I think we both ended up falling asleep. He woke up, and I put him in his exersaucer. In an attempt to win an award for worst mother of the year, I went back to sleep while he played.

I started exercising again. On Monday, I survived the spinning class. It was humbling to be the first to have to sit back on my bike. I used the elliptical on Wednesday, and had my personal training session on Thursday. I thought I was just going to get set up on weights....no, no, no. I had a fitness test. How many squats can I do in a minute and a half holding a medicine ball, get a drink of water, oh, do it again. The squats weren't too bad. Then, came the push ups. Now, I know why I have always thought girl push ups were easy...my hands weren't in the right spot. I almost died on those. Then! Then, came the sit ups. HA! I used to be the sit up queen when we did our physical fitness tests in elementary school. Not anymore. I would be embarrassed to admit how many I got in a minute. Then, I had to do them again, but that time, he modified them for me. I did enjoy walking around he track doing arm exercises. I also enjoyed running around it and totally beating the time he set for me until I finished, and I immediately had to do sit ups again. This time, I couldn't get 1! Luckily, he modified them for this out of shape mom. Needless to say, I have been rather sore since Thursday. On Saturday, I went back for the trainer to show me how to use the weight machines, and I also signed up for 6 weeks of training sessions. I think I must enjoy the torture or really don't want to buy new pants for the winter.

We had a good weekend. I just hate it's over already. Since I've had Carter, time flies. It's also good because my weeks fly by. Unfortunately, I started morning duty on Friday. I did get the media center which is better than the gym or the cafeteria. I will have duty for the next two weeks. I am looking forward to Thursday and Friday when my 6th graders will be on a field study. woo-hoo!

This past week was ok. Thursday, I had to write up 2 6th graders. It was amazing to see the change in the class's behavior on Friday. I didn't have to correct anyone! Friday was a half day. We had a 7th grade teacher luncheon when the kids left. After, I went to get Carter because many of my coworkers were asking about him. None of my conferences showed up. I really wasn't expecting any to. Carter spent time being held by various coworkers and spitting up on each of them. I did learn how to maintain our magnet program's webpage. My friend and I have been updating it, but the district made their own version of it. We had one we could make changes to, and another (the one everyone looked at) that we couldn't update. It is much more complicated than using Frontpage, but at least we can make changes. I think some people have nothing better to do than sit around and email about webpages not having the information they want on them. Carter and I left school around 2:45, came home, and crashed.

Thursday night, Carter became restless around 4:00 am. He didn't really wake up, but was very noisy. I put him in bed with us, and he kicked me. When I got up, he stretched out and slept very peacefully. Little booger! The 4:00 am grunting recurred Friday night and last night. I'm hoping this isn't going to become a habit. The past two nights, I fed him just to get him back to sleep.

We had awesome weather yesterday. We started the day by going to Target to buy things for the three birthdays we have this week.

After, we went to the Columbia Greek Festival. I had heard wonderful things about it, especially the food. It was ok. We spent almost all the cash I had. (close to $40!) $10 of that was a super cute garden flag.

Kevin isn't a big fan, but I told him that being the only female in the house, I needed something girly! I really wanted this one,

but they were out of H's.

After buying the flag, we wandered around to buy food. We bought a plate of pastries, a gyro each, and a Greek salad to split. We ate outside and did our fair share of people watching.

When we got home, Carter and I went for a walk.


Don't you like the coolness of the foot propped up?

Today was less eventful. After a frustrating trip to Wal-mart, ( I don't know why I punish myself) we came home, and Carter passed out for a good 3 hours. During his nap, I went to the post office to mail packages and cards. When I got home, I decided to make some pacifier holders for him and figure out how to use my snap putter onner. I would share a picture of one, but that isn't possible right now. One is connected to a sleeping Carter, and in typical Natalie fashion, I can't find the other. Anyway, I just used ribbon, two snaps, and a suspender clip. I can change which one is connected to the clip. They aren't fancy. I was considering finding some cute buttons to attach to the clips. We'll see. I've been meaning to make these since early August and just got to it today because the 2 from Target no longer stayed on. Anyway, I woke Carter up banging the snap with a rubber mallet. Kevin swears he was sleeping too, but I thought he was awake. Instead, here is a picture of a burp cloth I made using a cloth diaper when I first had the idea for the pacifier project:

I have more fabric and ribbon. That one is rather messy, but I just don't have long periods of uninterrupted time to work on them.

After Carter woke up, I fed him, and we headed out for our 2nd set of errands. We joined the Jewish Community Center. Yes, I know we aren't Jewish, but they have a great work out facility. A former student actually showed us around. I even signed up for the 3rd level spinning class tomorrow night. Anyone want to volunteer to come scrape me up off the floor after? Kevin's coworker who usually attends the class is at the beach, and I get winded just walking. I am determined to get back into shape. I don't think I have been in this bad of shape since 9th grade! I also want to fit back into my old clothes, so I don't have to keep buying new stuff in larger sizes.

After , we went to Target to buy what Wal-mart didn't have and to Ulta because shampoo was on sale.

We ended the night with Shrimp and Grits. I have started eating milk products again but have to take Lactaid, or I get sick. I have been SO hungry for Shrimp and Grits and enjoyed every bite. For not being from South Carolina, I do make mean Shrimp and Grits!

This is my first blog using my new computer

Of course, it had to be blue. I had bought my desktop for grad school. It did a great job and got me through grad school and my National Boards. I think I exhausted it. It was starting to take hours to open documents. Yes, seriously, hours if it did so at all.

We have had an uneventful week. (those are always good!) It flew by! I sent home the first interims of the year and actually didn't have too many parents to call.

Yesterday, we took Carter to have his first hair cut. I scheduled it at a kids' salon. It went well. I just wanted to trim the sides that curl up and take some off the top where it's really thick. He was really good, but wanted to move around to see everything that was going on.


Today, we took Carter to have pictures taken. I've been trying to take him once a month. We went to Portrait Innovations. I love that place! We started with pictures of Carter in his white outfit I bought for his baptism and his shoes with him name on them. I didn't think I wanted pictures in this outfit, but they turned out SO well!




We quickly changed him into his "big boy" outfit. (This place doesn't charge for multiple outfits!) Carter was such a ham. He was smiling in almost every picture. The photographer couldn't believe how happy he was. I had brought back up outfits due to his history of spitting up, but he made it thought the whole sitting. As soon as we were done, he spit up all over Kevin and got fussy.




They give a cd-rom of all the pictures they took. Our pictures were ready in 20 minutes, so we did a little shopping at at Bath and Body works to buy Wallflowers. We found this great new scent:


After, we went to Yankee Candle Company to buy a new Fall Festival candle since ours from last year is almost gone. When we got home, I noticed we already had an unused one. I love fall and am enjoying all the fun accessories that go with it. I hope I have time to decorate for the fall this year. I really want to get a nice fall wreath to put over the fireplace.

Anyway, we went to get the pictures, and all 180,000 were ready. (Ok, it did feel like that many when I was cutting them.) We went to Bi-Lo to buy the groceries Wal-Mart didn't have. After, I noticed a few of the pictures were messed up, so we went back to Portrait Innovations. They reprinted them immediately, gave me extras, and profusely apologized. That is far better than the experience I had with Olan Mills. I would have gotten the pictures in 3 weeks, they would have been damaged, and I would have had to wait another 3 weeks to get the reorder. After that, they wouldn't have even apologized and would have treated me like dirt for filing a complaint!

Carter did start a new trick tonight. He can suck on his toes! He is starting to play with toys too. He loves the little plastic links. He can hold on to them, chew on them, and shake them.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures. There are a few others on flickr. Hopefully this week will fly by as quickly as last week did.

Last week was not as bad as I thought it would be. It was busy! Kevin had to take Carter to the doctor on Tuesday for a cold. He weighed 18 lbs 11 oz! She told Kevin we could start giving Carter juice and water, so he has started getting pear juice.

Friday night, we took Carter with us to eat hibachi. He enjoyed watching everything. At the end of dinner, I was holding him, and he spit up all over me. I didn't know half the restaurant was watching until they all started laughing at the same time. On the way home, he got fussy, so we pulled over to make a bottle. Carter didn't want the bottle (later, I found out Kevin only put half the formula in for the amount of water I had.) We stopped at Bi-Lo to buy juice and bottle water. Kevin went in, and I stayed in the very scary parking lot. I could see Kevin wandering around the store, so I went in to help him. After, we were cleaning out his milk bottle and feeding him juice in the parking lot....the things we do!

Saturday and Sunday were nice and quiet. We have been enjoying just relaxing during our weekends.

Yesterday, we did get a call from Bank of America fraud services. Apparently, someone had tried to use our credit card at a Wal-Mart twice and a gas station in Columbus, OH on Saturday. Thank goodness it was declined at both places. We canceled the card immediately. The person from the bank told us that our information was probably taken and loaded onto another card. This morning at work, I went to tell my friend what had happened, and she stopped me. The same thing happened to her. Someone used her debit card at two different Wal-Marts and a few gas stations in Columbus, OH on Saturday. They were able to get her money. I hate this happened to someone else, but we were able to narrow down where someone got our information. We figured its one of two restaurants we went to together. Now, we are having everyone else we were with check their credit card info. I think I will start using cash when we go out to dinner and never let my card out of my sight.

Anyway, there are new pictures and videos on flicker. Carter has been a lot of fun and in a great mood despite his cold. We are enjoying him so much!

Carter's first game... too bad it was a disappointment

We have had a quiet weekend. No one in our house has felt well for awhile, so we rested..... a lot. We also stay tuned to CNN as much as possible to watch footage from Louisiana. My parents evacuated, but we were still worried about Lafayette.

Carter has been congested with a cough. I've been running the humidifier at night and cleaning out his nose as much as he will let me. He slept like a champ on Friday night. He woke up around 7:15. He napped a lot except for today and was in a surprisingly good mood. I need to upload the video I tried to get of him laughing. He also rolled over today. I'll admit I am a bad mom and rarely give Carter tummy time. I would do more, but he spits up SO much. He rolled over twice today. He can also sit unassisted for a few seconds. He tries to sit up when he in on his back. I hate that he is growing up, but it is also tons of fun to celebrate these little events.

I'm dreading this week. It's only 4 days, but those always seem very tough. We have our first extended Tuesday tomorrow, I have a dentist appointment on Wednesday, and we have open house on Thursday. All of this while anticipating Hurricane Hannah. I want to be prepared, but I also don't want to look like an idiot. I think we will purchase a generator this week. Kevin has been considering one since he built a generator panel into our house. Even if we don't need it now, we may need in during the winter.