Carter Oliver Months 1-5

Well hello there. Talk about being way behind on posting on this blog. I guess that's what happens when you have two kids. Life got way more busy than ever before. So let's try to catch up on the first five months of Carter's life. Carter started off from the beginning being a good eater and a pretty good sleeper. However things changed when he was about two months old and he started having symptoms that appeared to be like reflux. After that, we got a cranky (read: colicky) baby who often times wouldn't eat well and really didn't sleep well. That left me completely exhausted and drained me until about a month ago. We tried a couple of different medicines and what seems to help the most has been just time. He seems to be finally outgrowing it. Hooray! 

Now we have a growing and happy baby and I couldn't be happier. At three months old he was about 14 pounds. At his four-month appointment he was just shy of 15 pounds ( 4 months: 14.8 lbs, 25.25 in, 15.75 head). And then at five months he was over 15 pounds and a couple days ago (5 1/2 mo) he was 16 lbs. 6 oz.  So he's really been growing a lot recently and I think that's because he's finally feeling better. 

Anyways, this baby loves to smile and laugh. You can talk to him or tickle him and he just cracks up. He adores his big sister Audrey and she loves him so much. She is always kissing him and hugging him and playing with him... she just loves him. 

Things he loves: his sister, his mommy, his daddy, his papi, his play mat, grabbing toys, going on walks in his stroller and just being outside in general, being talk to and tickled.

Milestones: grabbing toys, rolling from his stomach to his back (4.5 months), sitting in his Bumbo, cooing and "talking", grabbing his feet, recognizing voices, turning his head when he hears his name.

Schedule: Carter is still breast-fed so he gets a combination of bottles with pumped milk and nursing. He does well with the schedule he eats at 7,10, 1, 4 and 630. He eats and plays and then after being awake for about an hour and a half he gets swaddled and goes for a nap. He goes to bed around 630. He now is only waking up a few times for his papi and one time to eat. This is a huge improvement from how it's   been the past 3-4 months. We've tried rice cereal twice but he's not quite ready so will reattempt that in a couple weeks.

Life with two children is busy.. Way busier than I thought! We are all adjusting and it's been a process but I feel like we are in a good place now!

Okay time for some cute pictures!

1 month old

2 months old 

3 months old

4 months old 

5 months old 

Introducing Carter Oliver Roberts

A belated post to welcome our new son, Carter Oliver.  He was born on Thursday, May 1 coming 3 days past his due date of April 28.  I guess he just really wanted to be a May baby.  He was 7 lbs 6 oz and 19 3/4 inches and arrived at 12:19 pm.  He took to breastfeeding right away and has been doing great since then.  He has lighter and less hair than Audrey did and blonde eyebrows and eyelashes.  I wonder if he will be dark haired initially like his sister, who stayed that way until her 1st birthday when she turned blonde.  We shall see.  We were soooo lucky to have all of his grandparents there to meet him on the day of his birth as well as his PROUD big sister.  Audrey adores him.  She loves to kiss him and touch his soft hair.  Carter seems to be ok with it!  Paul was able to stay home for 3 weeks which was great and we have had tons of visitors in the past 3+ weeks.  At his first pediatrician appointment, he weighed 7 lbs 3 oz (his weight had gone down to 6lbs 14oz when we were discharged from the hospital).  At his 2 week appointment, he was up to 8 lbs 9 oz, 20 1/2 inches long, and 14 inch head circumference.  He has outgrown several newborn outfits and is in a lot of 3 month onesies.  He is doing well with a flexible schedule of eating every 2 hours during the day.  At night, he goes anywhere from 4 to 8 hour stretches.  Last night was his best yet sleeping from 8 pm to 4 am.  I woke up before he did and went to check on him because I was shocked he had not woke up yet.  I'm well aware of an infant's ever changing sleep/eat pattern, but I'll take the long stretches when I can get them.  And I will GLADLY nurse every 2 hours during the day when that means longer stretches at night.  We swaddle him at night, as we did Audrey... we are big believers in swaddling! I'm anxious to get into a routine with balancing 2 children.  It's a different ball game with 2 and Audrey is going through an adjustment for sure.  3 year olds can be trying at times. 

Here's some pictures of the new man in my life!