Baby's First Christmas

Carter, your first Christmas was really fun!  We spent the morning opening stockings and gifts at our house before heading over to Bastani-land.  The day was filled with gifts, food and lots of love.  You got to meet your Uncle Daniel for the first time and you took to him right away!  He had you smiling from ear to ear!

Even though you slept through all the gift opening, you still had a great day.  You received lots of nice gifts like sleepers, slippers and a big stuffed Rudolph plush.   We cannot wait for more holidays with you, especially once you learn about Santa and can open your own gifts.  

For us, you are the best gift we have ever received and we loved celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior with you.  You're an awesome reminder of His great love for all of us.

We Love You!  Merry First Christmas! 

Opening gifts at home  

At home with our tree

Hanging with Grandpa

4 Generations with Grammy J and Great Grandpa Diven

LOVES his Uncle Dan and Aunt P 

Cute baby is really cute

Checking out Rudolph

2015 Diven-Bastani-Bruce-Howard Family Photo

Sitting with Dad

Ready for dinner!

Thanksgiving in Genoa

For your first Thanksgiving, Carter we went to Genoa to your Grami Pam and Poppy's house!  We were in for a treat because we got to also experience your very first SNOW!

The story is best told in pictures!

Carter 4 Months

FOUR MONTHS?

Carter you are now four months old.  A lot has happened since last month!

You are now confidently rolling from front to back and trying your best to get from back to front.  So far, you're teetering on your side.  You can do a full cobra on occasion too, I know you're just going to continue to get stronger and stronger.

You LOVE to make noise, most of which sound like Jurassic squeals from a pre-historic creature.  But we love them none the less.  It makes our hearts leap when we see how happy you are all the time.  You give out huge smiles and belly laughs freely!

You weigh almost 14 pounds!  You jumped way up in height since  your 8 week doctor's appointment, you're in the 66th percentile now!  Long and lean, not like your mom and dad, haha.

Carter, you are getting very very busy.  You love your baby gym and have started to tug and grab the dangling toys, you also like to crinkle the elephant's ears and make noise.  You're fascinated by the mirror and looking at yourself, probably because you're one good looking little baby and you know it.

We can't keep you entertained with any one thing for long.  You're trying to jump out of your glider and love to scoot scoot scoot down to the bottom of it anytime you're sitting in it, or a lap, or a chair.  You met Sophie the giraffe and think she's pretty fun to gnaw on here and there.

The big news is you are sleeping through the night with some serious consistency now.  Night before last you slept 9pm - 6am, last  night 9:30pm - 5:00am.   And for that, mommy and daddy are very grateful.  Some nights you still wake up for a 2 or 3am feeding, but that's ok because you eat and then fall right back to sleep for us.

We also transitioned you from your rock and play sleeper into your crib.  We were prepared for a few long days and nights, fortunately it was just one long day of short naps.  You figured it out pretty quickly.  First we stopped the rocking motion of your rock and play, then we moved you and your infant pad into the crib so it'd feel cozy and smell like you.  Then we removed the infant pad.  You're still swaddled up snug as a bug for now...maybe we'll tackle swaddle weaning next month ;)

Louie is still your best bud and you've figured out how to pet him when he is close enough.  It's pretty cute.  He loves you...or he loves that you are usually covered in milk which tastes good.  We're trying to limit the dog kisses on the mouth because they make us feel like negligent parents, but I read somewhere that pets in the household are good for babies, so when it happens we just try to get to you as soon as we can to stop the tongue kisses, haha.

Last but not least you're growing hair finally!  Somehow in this past month you got some eyebrows that look like little fuzzy caterpillars on your face as well.  Seems like your eyes will be brown, although sometimes when the light hits just right they look green.

Carter Michael, we are amazed at you and who you are turning out to be.  Your dad and I talk about you all the time and how incredibly blessed we are to have you as our son.  God was so good to us to give you to us.  You are the best baby and we love you so.  We're so excited to celebrate your first Christmas this month and all the new traditions our family is beginning like visits to Santa followed by Chinese food, a special book each Christmas from mom and dad and whatever else we happen to think up to make this season special just for you.

Love,

Mom and Dad

Two Generations...of Jingle Bears

On your left, Carter's Jingle Bear, a gift from his Grami Pam.  On the right, Corey's childhood Jingle Bear.  In the middle, the cutest Jingle Baby ever.  

Here Comes Santa Claus!

Baby's first Christmas means starting traditions for our little family.  One tradition we're excited to begin is a visit to Santa!  We went to see Santa at Blackhawk Plaza.  Big, jolly Santa met teeny, tiny Carter.  Carter was a champ, didn't even cry!  

Afterwards we went out for Chinese food for lunch.  I think that should be part of the tradition too ;)  The special thing about the particular restaurant we chose is it's the same place I used to go when I was a kid with my dad.  The same waiters STILL work there.  They met me when I was 9 years old and here I am 25 years later with my son.  Wild.

O Christmas Tree

This weekend we got our first family Christmas tree from the tree lot in town run by Boy Scout Troop 900.  They are just the nicest boys!

We actually bought the first Noble Fir our scout showed us.  The whole trip took about 20 minutes which was perfect for baby.

It was also Carter's first trip in daddy's truck!  I think that just might have been more exciting to Corey than getting the tree.

Dropping the "Dream Feed"

"Is he sleeping through the night yet?"

Probably the #1 question I get about my baby and a source of anxiety for me honestly as most of the time I answered..."Sometimes"...

It's a mommy mark of pride when baby snoozes away for 5, 6, 10 hours straight it seems.  But, it's also something I feel like you have very little control over.  I'd heard how sleep deprived parents of newborns are, I assumed that lasted a month at best, maybe two...but here we are inching closer to four months and I'm still tired!

I read all the books with schedules and advice. I bought these books on amazon prime usually at 3am when I was at my wits end...someone SOMEONE must know how to get a baby to sleep more than 3 hours in a row, right?  I listened to his pediatrician who said stuff him full of milk during the day.  He also told me not to hold my breath for a full night sleep since babes is still small weight wise and that I probably wouldn't catch any relief until Carter hit 14+ pounds.

The piece of advice most of the books and blogs swore by was the "Dream Feed".  It's a feeding you do right before you go to bed around 10:30 or 11pm.  I have been doing it for about 2 months now.  "Before I go to bed" is a subjective term...I cannot go to bed at 10:30pm because I'm so exhausted there's no way I could just stay up until then anyways.  I try to go down at 8:30 or 9 when the baby goes down.  Then I set an alarm and drag myself out of bed to dream feed the baby at 11pm and pray it lasts him until 2 or 3am when he'd wake up and need to eat again.

Did I mention how sleepy I am?  How miserable having an alarm go off at 11pm is after I just fell asleep?  How tired I am of being tired?

Ok, now that I got that out of my system...

So last week I dropped the dream feed.  I was tired of it.  It wasn't helping him sleep through the night anyways, he was still waking.  I figured I'd let him wake me up when he was hungry, whenever that might be during the night.  He's old enough to do that now.

And wouldn't you know...

That little bugger has started sleeping through the night most nights.

9pm until 5 or 6am.

Go figure.

2015 Bruce Family Photos

Christmastime is the ideal time to do family photos, perfect for the annual Christmas card (of which were sending out a bazillion this year because we only sent birth announcements to relatives).  

A friend of mine recently started her own photography business, I've used her before for other shoots and was excited for her to capture our little family.  I was also excited to look a little more alive than I did 5 days post-delivery at our newborn photoshoot ;)

The holiday special pricing was for 5 hi-res images from the session.  It was tough to pick as the lighting for the shoot was perfect and the baby was cooperative, but in the end, I did decide to just pick the 5 I liked best and were well rounded as a group (me and baby, dad and baby, family artistic, family straight on and the cute kissy one).  

Just like I said with the newborn pics, you get all these images and praise God when there's more than one decent one, but what do you actually end up doing with them...mine tend to sit on the computer for the most part so 5 was just fine with me.

We'll for sure be blowing up the artsy one (image 4 below) for a canvas for the house.  The rest you'll see on the Christmas card!  

Carter: 3 Months Old

Three months and time is flying by!  It's amazing to see how each week alone you're changing and growing.  

3 months old!

Learned to roll!

You are SO CHATTY.  You love to make noises at us and have very serious conversations in your lounger with mommy.  You squak and talk at the ceiling fan from your favorite swing in the family room for at least 30 minutes every morning.

You've also really started to give those big smiles out for free to anyone who gives one to you.  You're such a happy baby.  We've even squeezed a few belly laughs out of you now that you're getting more ticklish on your tummy and feet.  

Always smiling!

You're grabbing at your toys more and able to entertain yourself with your baby gym. 

You're so good at tummy time!

You and mommy spend all day together and when daddy gets home he watches you while mommy goes to the barn to ride Pongo.  You and daddy laugh and giggle, watch you tube and Seinfeld apparently too. 

You've had a few GREAT nights of sleep, five or more hours in a row!  But, most nights still need a late night feeding around 2:30 or so.  During the day you're taking less cat naps and staying awake longer after eating.  You let mommy know most of the time when you need to take your nap, you get pretty fussy.

Month three we also dedicated you at church.  So many family and friends lifted their hands and prayed over you and our family.  You are so loved by so many.  It really made mommy and daddy think about how special you are.  In just three months you've stolen a lot of hearts baby boy.  None more so than ours though.

Dedication Day!

We love you!

Milestone! Rolling Over

When do babies roll over?

Babycenter.com says...

"Your baby may be able to kick himself over, from his tummy to his back, as early as age 4 months. It may take him until he's about 5 or 6 months to flip from back to front, though, because he needs stronger neck and arm muscles for that maneuver."

But Carter you're no ordinary baby it seems!  A champ at tummy time, our little strong man has mastered the tummy to back roll...in BOTH directions (tummy to the left and tummy to the right) at just 2 days shy of 3 months old.

I was so excited to catch his very first roll on video.  It just looked like he was thinking about doing it as he was doing his baby push up move so I grabbed my phone, and wouldn't you know, he did it!

He thought it was so much fun he kept rolling over every time I'd set him back up on his tummy.  

Milestone: Thumb Sucking!

After about 2 weeks of utter fascination with your hands, tonight, right before bed, you figured out how to suck on your little right thumb.

It was just for a minute since it was time to get swaddled, but it happened!

It's to be expected...mom sucked her thumb too (even after your Grandpa put Tabasco sauce on it...which for the record "Is NOT nice to do to your child!", haha!).  

At least now I wont have to worry if we can't find a binkie if you ever get upset, you'll just use your built in one.

Milestone: Sleeping Through the Night

October 30th...mark the date!

You slept through the night for the very first time!

10:45 - 6:15!

You were all smiles, and so were we!

Carter's First Halloween

Halloween in our neighborhood is a big deal.  We live in an area with epic home displays and loads of kiddos.  The energy is always high and the candy plentiful.  Even better, Carter treated us the night before Halloween by sleeping SEVEN hours straight!  

To add to the fun we live on a court with great neighbors who love to dress up and get together.  We started the night with a court BBQ.  Corey manned the Weber serving up burgers and hot dogs.

Carter was awake to hang out for just a little while.  He's so small most of the Halloween costumes I found were too large for him, so I opted to buy a couple cute hats instead to pair with jammies. 

He was the cutest pumpkin candy corn (umm...is that even a thing?) and elephant (definitely a thing) you ever did see!  Corey and I dressed as Zombies...AKA...parents of a newborn, no special make-up or get-up required, haha!

Cute pumpkin bib from Grammy J

Elephant hat...say awwwwwwwww...

While Dad went out and trick or treated with the kiddos and all our friends, I stayed home so Carter could snooze and stay on his schedule.  I sat in the dark so no one would ring our doorbell and make the dogs bark.  

#momlife

Fall/Halloween Photoshoot

A few pics of us and our little baby elephant's very first Halloween!