The Old Cannery

The Old Cannery also has this really sweet train set in the children's furniture section. Carter loved to watch Thomas drive around. There were probably five trains going continuously. They also have two train whistles that the kids can pull.

Also in the kid's section are rocking horses and rocking chairs. He seemed to enjoy them.

Wild Wild West

I love The Old Cannery. They have some pretty neat promotions. We did our Christmas pictures with Carter there. This weekend, they did old western photos. We had Chandra come and bring Lydia so they could get pictures together. We had a lot of fun. Free pictures, Free lunch, and Fun - can't argue with that!!

Growling and Walking

I mentioned earlier that Carter growls. He loves to growl. Today I set him in the excersaucer in the hallway so he could see both dogs. He loves to watch them. When I came back he was growling at Blu. It was hilarious.


This is a picture of him holding Vortex' tail. He got a hold of it while we were practicing our gentle skills. He got a hold of it and wouldn't let it go.


The girl I babysit for, Lydia, is over a lot. Her mom has Carter a lot too. She decided to get a double jogging stroller so she could walk both babies on nice days. Here is their first time on a walk with it. The dogs haven't quite figured it out yet.

Swim Lessons

Grandma in Arizona sent this to Carter. I have to admit when I saw it, I said "That is really cute, but we live in Washington - when are we going to go swimming?"

Now, I knew that you never want to be without a swim suit. I learned that the hard way. I had two maternity suits at home, and I was in Phoenix the week my water broke. David said there was nothing I could forget that I couldn't replace in Phoenix. When I told him that I forgot the swim suit he realized there was (they are certainly not cheap).

It gave me an idea (having a swim suit). I enrolled Carter in Mommy & Me swim classes. Lydia is also with us, along with her mother Chandra of course. We are also joined by one of our playgroup friends. David suggested that we go on the nights that he works late so he won't miss any of his Carter time. Big mistake. I have to juggle the baby by myself. Chandra was there to help. We took turns holding two babies while the other changed and dried off. Wow what work!!

Carter did very well. He didn't seem to mind the water. He wasn't excited and happy, but he didn't fuss and cry. Lydia SCREAMED the entire 30 minutes. She didn't like any part of it. Carter put the distraction toy right in his mouth. He didn't mind all the different splashes and jumping that we did. He even didn't care about the dunking under water. He went under the water 4 times and didn't cry at all. Lets hope it stays that way.

In the rush to get him in to swim class I threw some stuff from his diaper bag into a plastic bag. I wasn't really paying attention and threw in a vest instead of pants. Lydia was more than willing to share her pants with him. He didn't seem to notice, as he has come home in her clothes before (just never this pink).

Carter's Doggles

I bought this onezie for the sole purpose of this photo shoot. I didn't get the picture I wanted, but I got a couple decent ones. The dogs were the easy ones to capture. It was Carter I had trouble with. It was really hard to get him to look at me. Those dogs are just too much fun. He loves Vortex!!!

Today I learned that he knows which one is which. David has trouble telling them apart at times, but Carter knows the difference. I called Vortex today and he immediately turned to see if Vortex would come. I called Blu, and she did nothing (her usual self). She completely ignored me. Carter turned to see what she would do when I called her name. I thought it was super cool. Then, they started growling and play fighting. They do it all the time. Carter started growling back at them. Vortex would growl, then Carter would respond. Blu would growl, and Carter would respond to her. I think that's where he gets his tongue hanging out thing too.

And they LOVE him. He is just so yummy.


He had a little meltdown - crying and kicking. The dogs just kind of looked at him with this "What is he doing???" look.

6 Years

David and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on Saturday. Can you believe it has been six years!!??!!

Eye Doctor

Carter went to see the eye doctor - Dr. Balough up in Newcastle http://www.coalcreekfamilyvision.com/. It was a 45 minute drive, but well worth it. He didn't fuss or wigle at all. He sat in the chair and looked through all the funny instruments the doctor had. He is nearsighted, and has a prescription of +2 in both eyes. However, Dr. Balough says that is normal for infants his age. He said Carter's eyes will focus more as he grows and doesn't need glasses. He checked for eye health issues, like tumors and cataracts, as well as nerve health.

Through a program called InfantSee http://www.infantsee.org/ infants age 6 - 12 months can have their eyes checked out for free. I learned about it when I worked at an eye doctor's office. Unfortunately, it wasn't the doctor that educated me. In the year and a half we worked there, we only had one infant come in through the program. (So, I chose not to take Carter to that office)

It is a great program. I believe that every infant should be checked out. It is more in depth than your pediatrician can check in his office.

I called all the doctors on the InfantSee website and asked how many infants they see. One office didn't even know they were participating. Very few saw more than a couple infants per year. Dr. Balough sees 2 or 3 per month.

It was super easy, I went to the website http://www.infantsee.org/ and clicked on the link to "Find an InfantSEE doctor" (the little one). Then I typed in my zip code. There were 23 within 10 miles of my zip code. You call the provider up and mention that you are making an appointment for your infant through the InfantSEE program. They schedule you an appointment - you fill out the InfantSEE paperwork - and get their eyes checked. No cost AT ALL.

http://www.coalcreekfamilyvision.com/

Mother's Day

He really is a sloppy kisser.

Peek-a-Boo

Carter has figured out the game of Peek-a-Boo. I have not practiced with him. He just grabbed his blanket/Giraffe thing and pulled it over his head. Then, he quickly pulled it down. He loves his new trick. He is not yet laughing, but he tries real hard. It is more of a "Ha Ha Ha". He did a lot of that. Apparently David has been working on it with him. Silly boy, it is bed time.

Baby's First day at the Race Track

High School drags were Friday night. David was super excited to have baby Carter out there to share it with him. Carter was there 2 weeks before he was born when David and I went to Pinks All Out. It was a lot of fun. Little did I know that baby Carter wanted to see it so bad he would start pushing out 6 weeks early.

Carter watched every car rev up, then fly all the way down the track. David was watching their times, and Carter was watching their tail lights.

This is his new face - mouth open, tongue out. He loves the attention he gets from it.

Being a teacher at the community college, David gets to sit up in the box seats above the track. It was ideal for a baby. Although being a teacher at the high school also - we sat in the stands mostly and fraternized with the students. David walks along the line up making sure all his students are prepared and have the right markings on their cars. He has some good kids (Not many unfortunately).

He did great. No crying, no blowout diaper. We stayed out waaaaay past his bedtime, but he didn't seem to mind. He was pretty upset to leave. Good thing it only takes 3 minutes to get home. Then it was pretty easy to distract him with food.

Peaches . . . . Yuck

I do not like peaches. I think they are gross. I have read that you need to feed baby a variety of foods, even if that means feeding them something that you don't like. I did it. I didn't want to, but I fed him peaches. The second day (Monday) he vomited. Only once. I didn't think much of it. Babies puke, just like puppies. I never freaked out when Blu or Vortex puked.

Wednesday night he let loose. Between 6:30 and 7:30 PM he vomited 11 times. He was only dry heaving by the end. His poor body. He never cried. Not once. He got nasty peach vomit all over my friend Chandra's carpet (Lydia's mom). Then on the way home, in Lydia's bib and with her burp cloth (we ran out after 4 pukings), he did it three more times in the car. I called the nurse hot line. I described his symptoms. They asked if anyone else in the house is sick. I wasn't feeling so hot - but nothing really to complain about. Sounds like peaches don't agree with him they said. They did not recommend getting him in. Me on the other hand had to come in right away. I wasn't vomiting. Neither of us had a fever.

We left for urgent care at 8:00 PM in Bellevue (about a 30 minute drive with no traffic). That is the closest one that our insurance will pay for. Sounds eerily like our having a baby experience. But they got me right in, and right out. We were home before David got home from work. I have Mastitis. By the time I got home I was in bad shape. I really started to feel it on the way over there. I got my medication and was feeling much better the next morning. They looked at baby Carter - smiling and flirting with the doctors. Sounds like he just doesn't like peaches they said.

We had a doctors appointment Thursday for his swollen finger, the red patch on the back of his head, and the vomiting. He was so happy to be there. He laughed and flirted with the nurse. Sounds like peaches don't agree with his tummy the doctor said. I have three medical professionals now that can attest that I don't have to get those nasty peaches out any more.

Sitting

Carter is now sitting. Not very well. He falls over quite a bit. However, he can hold himself for a couple minutes. I took these pictures this morning. He fell backwards onto his head twice. He was more interested in the dogs than me. He just loves those dogs, and they love the attention.