Thanksgiving, Part One

My planning time this year has actually worked out to be perfect for several of Reid's preschool activities.  I surprised him and popped over for a few minutes of his Thanksgiving feast.  It was so cute!  And how wonderful that they could actually say a prayer (unlike public school!) before their meal.  It was precious to hear all those little voices praying.

After a marathon session of packing (I'd forgotten how much stuff you need to take for a baby!!), we left early Tuesday morning to head down to Houston.  We had to stop for lunch, of course, so what better than Lupe Tortilla??  Out of all the places down there, that's probably the one we miss the most...or good Mexican food, in general.  It was Carter's first trip to Lupe.  He couldn't eat anything there yet, but he seemed to enjoy it nonetheless.

 

Then it was on to Papa and Mamare's house.  Reid loved his time with grandparents and Aunt Kristen.  He and Carter played with the little kitchen center and he became annoyingly attached to this little mixer that he insisted was a "cutter" the entire time.

Aunt Kristen was so sweet to sit with Reid at the "kids" table--Reid loved it!  He also got to sleep in Aunt Kristen's bed and was so excited about it.  We just hoped she was able to get some sleep with the little wild sleeper...

Carter looooved rocking in the recliner.  If anyone went too slowly for his taste, he'd complain and try to hurry them up.

Of course, Reid wanted a turn, too.  Notice the hat he gave Papa...

And Mamare taught Reid a new game on her iPad.  He was quite enthralled.

This little butterball had his first Thanksgiving.  He didn't nap well the first day and was extremely cranky, but once he got a good night of sleep, he was all smiles.

 

It was so fun to catch up with the French side of the family.  We hated to leave, but loved that both families are close by so we could see each on Thanksgiving.  Much to be thankful for!

Brothers

I have to say... I have been very pleasantly surprised at the interest Reid has taken in Carter.  I honestly thought that he would care less once Carter came along, and that he'd be jealous of the attention a baby requires.  On the contrary, Reid has been a great big bro.  He makes Carter laugh more than anyone else, he can get Carter to stop crying (which has come in handy when Carter is strapped in the carseat and I need him entertained while I pack the car, etc.), and he brings Carter toys he thinks he'll like.  One day I even got him to feed Carter while I made Reid's breakfast. 

Carter wants to do everything big bro does, too.  He attempts to crawl out of the baby tub and I'm afraid he'll end up tipping it over, so I tried the big boy tub.  It was a no go and he flipped out.  But two nights later, I tried him in the big boy tub with big brother, and voila!  He loved it.  Couldn't really get a decent pic with no boy parts, but you get the idea.

Reid will randomly hop down onto the floor to play with Carter.  It's really sweet.

Carter is usually pretty laid back, thank goodness since he's dragged to all of our events.  Reid had a dentist appointment, so I left school and picked up Carter, then raced over to Reid's school to pick him up, then raced to the dentist.  Felt like I'd run a marathon by the time we got there, but thankfully they put us in the "family" area and Carter could crawl around.  He immediately went for the huge toothbrush.  Future dentist?   

...or future Marine?

He has been loving his finger food lately.  With all the drool, he gets puff stuck on his face and has no idea.  Pretty darn cute!

I got a travel bouncer free through BzzAgent, which was going to be perfect for traveling to Houston for Thanksgiving... so I thought, until I packed up every single thing we'd need, except for the bouncer and the food I was supposed to bring to make.  Sadly, I'd packed for something like three hours, too!!  Anyways, the bouncer's box entertained Reid, and Carter immediately explored the travel bouncer from the outside.

Captain Drool

 

This little guy is always on the move!  He looked especially dashing in his sweater vest and baby corduroys after church one day.

All my boys!  They even kind of accidentally coordinated that day.  With these growing boys, we have completely run out of space in our house.  We are looking forward to moving next summer, hopefully, and have picked out a new neighborhood and house plan we like.  It's fun to think about the boys having more space, hopefully some good neighbors to play with, and a much larger area to explore as Windsong Ranch will have hike/bike trails, catch and release ponds, and fun outdoor activities.  Plenty of things our little double trouble duo can do.

8 Months & Halloween

 

Yes, it's a miracle...  I am updating the blog!!  *Gasp*  Life has just gotten crazier in the past weeks and just never seems to slow down.  That being said, it's also no longer a one person job to take the monthly pictures of this guy.  He's been all over the place for about a month, and I now understand why people kept saying, "You're lucky!" or "Enjoy it!" when Reid took forever to crawl and be mobile.  He's no longer appeased to sit up or play solo.  He wants to explore anything !and everything!) and be in the middle of it all.  Even with our pretty quick camera, he was ready to move. 

Tried a toy...no success...

 

Daddy couldn't even back away at all or someone would topple out of the chair.

 

 In the end, this was as good as it got.  Oh, well.  Guess I should be glad you can even

see the number eight!

By the time Halloween came along, Carter was army crawling everywhere.  Before getting ready for his first trick or treat outing, we played a little peek-a-boo.

Reid never wants to be in pictures...unless I'm trying to take one of Carter.  They both had "I love my Mummy" shirts/onesies on, but I forgot to take the bib off of our little drool machine.

Reid was dying to trick or treat, so he actually ate dinner in a record amount of time (still slow by anyone else's standards, ha!).  We got the boys dressed, then convinced Reid to hang out for a few photo ops since it was Carter's first Halloween.  I promise I didn't plan on the safari theme.  Apparently, I have a thing for animal print.

Our little giraffe wasn't quite sure what to think since this was normally bath time, but he was a good sport.

Double trouble!

All set and ready to go.  In retrospect, I should've grabbed the giraffe Wubbanub (paci with attached animal) to do a better job of accessorizing...

Happy camper!  Reid's sole goal for Halloween was to fill up his bucket.  Later in the night, it was so heavy that Jason had to convince Reid to let him carry it. 

Carter was a pro and stayed awake until right around his normal bedtime.  As long as I was moving the stroller, he was a great napper.  Good thing the time change hadn't hit yet-the early darkness was perfect!

Reid had so much fun trick or treating and we enjoyed seeing how excited he got.  Carter was a great little bro and cooperated fully, even eating his bedtime bottle on the go.  Reid got so caught up in all the candy, decorations, and other fun things, but we were quite impressed that at the end of the night, he was pointing out more important things like the stars.  Hope this kid will always love nature.

7 Month Picture

Took forever to find time to download pics from the last month, but I finally have the 7 month shot.  Yay!  Jason was out of town twice, he had a stomach bug, our sitter had a stomach bug, then gallbladder surgery, then I got the stomach bug this past week.  Needless to say, it has not been fun to see our friend/sitter Holli be sick and in pain, scramble to find someone to watch the kids, and I have now used up nine (or all?  I lost count!!) of my sick days for the entire year.  And it's not even cold/flu season yet.  Fun times!

Reid was more of an observer.  He would sit in one spot and fuss because he couldn't reach the toy he wanted.  Carter, on the other hand, sees something he wants, and he finds a way to get there.  Eek! One of the times Jason had to be out of town, Carter discovered his first ball.  Wow, the love was instantaneous, and it was hilarious to watch him try to grab it, have the ball roll away, repeat. 

Backing up a few weeks, we had fortunately had our last trip to the pool on a very warm weekend.  Good thing...my appendectomy was soon after, so the pool was out of the question.

Grandma Penny had been planning a trip to come to Dallas to meet the newest French boy and see the kids/grandkids.  Carter loved her big smiles and I sure appreciated the help as it happened to be the week of my surgery and I wasn't supposed to be lifting anything above five pounds or so.  Hard to do when you have a 17 lb baby and hubby works far away.  We loved seeing her, but little stinker Reid decided to pull his usual and threw up while she was here.  (ended up being postnasal drip/drainage and a random fever, but we weren't sure at the time) So the boys and I pretty much didn't get to see the cousins, but we were excited that Penny stayed with us.  "Grandma Jellybean" did not disappoint and came with yummy jellybeans, as Reid had hoped :)  As always, her visit seemed too short, but we were so thankful she chose to use precious vacation time to come see us!

I realized I haven't taken many nudie pictures of our little roly poly baby.  But for some reason in these, our little chunk actually looks kind of skinny.  Weird.  But still so cute!

This is more like it...  Chunky monkey!  He's loving bath time now... chewing his washcloth, splashing, playing with anything (and everything).

And our big baby still loves his bath time, too.  This is the bath toy he picked out for baby Carter when we made our last trip to Babies R Us before he was born.  Guess who's the only one that plays with it?

Our other nightly rituals have evolved, too.  I pretty much take care of Carter and Jason pretty much takes care of Reid.  They read books while I give Carter his last bottle, then it's time for prayers.  Reid finds a new, random position to pray in each night.

 

Papa and Mamare made a surprise visit to see the cousins' various ball games, so they swung by in between to see our guys.  Carter was quite enamored with Mamare's phone.

"That text said WHAT?!"

Mamare had to get the traditional A&M gear shot with the newest grandkid.  The fit was close for this little chunk, but it worked.

They got to see him bouncing crazily, and Papa got a couple of kisses in.  Carter not only bounces, but rocks, sways, turns, and makes this bouncer do all kinds of things we didn't know it could.  Where Reid would bounce and only play with the musical part, Carter is all over the place and plays with every single thing on it. 

Our little stinker...

 

And this one has figured out how to put in his own paci.  He still prefers Wubbanubs because they are easier to grab with the animals, but this one was handy.  Ben's old bib still comes in handy, too!

Reid's imagination still cracks us up.  One morning, he decided that he and all of his friends were going to watch The Very Tiny Caterpillar movie.  They all had to be in a certain order, tucked in the blanket.  I had to draw the line when they all wanted their own snacks.  On Friday, Reid declared that, "Tomorrow is T's birthday!  His is in October, just like yours, Mommy!"  (T is the beloved teddy lovey)  I was hoping it didn't involve making a cake... But luckily he'd forgotten by the next day.

Carter has been loving his baby food "solids" but is quite impatient when it comes to my getting them ready.  So I tried him out a little early with a Mum Mum baby cracker.  He LOVED it!

And just as I figured, he's wanting to crawl.  Right after he turned seven months, he figured out how to get up on all fours and rock.  He'd cry because he wanted to go, but couldn't coordinate it just yet.

But he's pretty good at moving around despite that.  Our carpet is pretty much going to be shot.  Holli said, "I can't remember a baby that still had reflux once they were crawling/sitting up," and she's watched babies for about 16 years, I believe.  But this one is going to be an exception.  Ick. We already have a rainbow on our carpet, each one just past the huge blankets I've bought in an attempt to save the carpet.  Oh, well.

Last weekend I walked the boys to the park.  It's been unusually hot, but the morning wasn't too bad.  Carter hadn't been in the swing yet and Reid is learning how to swing by himself, so I traded off between pushing the two.