The weather made things a little more difficult, but we were able to travel to New Richmond, Lakefield, and Hudson for our Christmas celebrations. It was so much fun to watch Carter experience Christmas for the first time. We had Carter's first, first Christmas the weekend before Christmas with my dad and Sabrina. On Saturday night we baked and decorated cookies, and on Sunday we opened presents. Carter opened all but one of his presents from Jeff and me on Christmas Eve. We saved the present I was most excited about - a blabla doll named Bandit - for Christmas morning. Jeff and I snuck into Carter's room when he woke up and had him open his present in bed. (Okay, in his swing.) Then we went to church and waited for Mike, Alanna, and the twins to arrive. The next day we all drove down to Lakefield for the weekend. There we had two Christmases, one with each set of great-grandparents. On the Tuesday after Christmas we drove to Hudson to celebrate with my mom and Stan. My mom had made stockings for Carter, Lila, and Evan. Carter had so many Christmases and received so many great gifts that I'm sure he'll appreciate someday. At the time, however, he seemed more interested in the wrapping paper and boxes!
I had been stressing about having Carter baptized for several months. It is one of those things I should have organized before he was even born. I was too overwhelmed to even think about it during those first few months, and by the time I was ready to finally do something about it, Alanna was on bedrest. Since Alanna and Mike are Carter's godparents and Jeff and I are Lila's, we decided to wait and have them all baptized together. All three babies were baptized on Saturday, January 2, at First Lutheran Church in New Richmond. It was a special day, and I was so happy that we could all be together. My grandma and grandpa Jerlow and my grandma Bauer drove up from Lakefield, and Jeff's mom drove down from Moorhead.
I had also been stressing about the fact that Carter was still sleeping in his swing. While we were in California over Thanksgiving, we noticed that the swing was no longer working its magic. Carter started waking up several times during the night while we were on vacation, and that continued even after we got home. I decided that it didn't make sense to make the transition into the crib until after the holidays, since we had so much traveling to do, but I knew the time had come. I figured that if he was going to be up a million times at night, then he may as well be in his crib acting like a newborn baby again. Carter has been sleeping in his crib since the beginning of January, and things are definitely getting better. The first few weeks were difficult, with no one in our house getting very much sleep. While Carter was trying to get used to his crib, he was also getting his two top teeth. Jeff kept joking about Ferberizing him, and after almost a month of no sleep, I was finally ready to try anything. After feeding him, I put Carter in his crib. He slept for less than an hour and started crying. Instead of feeding him, like I had been doing, I waited five minutes before comforting him. The hardest part was not picking him up, although that hadn't been working anyway; the only way I could get Carter back to sleep at night was by feeding him and laying him down fast asleep. I comforted him for a minute or two. As soon as I left the room, he started crying again. Jeff waited ten minutes before doing the same thing, and then I waited fifteen minutes. I hated listening to him cry, but Carter fell asleep before Jeff had to go into his room for the second time. Carter didn't wake up until 8:00 the next morning. I couldn't believe it! Knock on wood, but Carter has been sleeping well ever since.
Carter's eating and sleeping schedule has changed over the last couple of months, but it's getting more and more predictable. He nurses as soon as he wakes up in the morning, which is usually around 8:00, and again around 10:00. He usually takes a nap after that; it can last anywhere from ten minutes to two hours. At noon Carter eats lunch; I've been making my own baby food, and I can almost always get him to eat some of the fruit. He nurses again around 2:00 and then takes another nap; again, it can be very short or very long. Carter nurses again around 4:00 and eats dinner at 6:00. Jeff and I feed him his favorite, yogurt, for dinner along with some of whatever we are eating. I want him to eat a well-balanced meal, but I never force him to eat anything. Like with everything else, some days are better than others! After a bath and a book, Carter nurses again around 8:00 and then goes down for the night. What can I say? I guess he's still a milk man!
Carter will be nine months old this Saturday. Where has the time gone?! Carter isn't walking or even crawling, but I'm trying to enjoy the fact that I can still contain him. Jeff keeps saying that Carter is going to go right from sitting to running, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if that's what happens. I think he's going to keep me very busy! He started rolling from his stomach to his back again, but he is showing no signs of rolling from his back to his stomach. Maybe that's because he hates being on his stomach so much... He has his doctor's appointment this Thursday, and I can't wait to see how much he has grown and hear about what the next three months will bring.
No comments:
Post a Comment