Friday, January 30, 2009

Rascal - Protector of the Innocent

Karter fell asleep on the way home from our outing today. I was able to transfer him to his crib without waking him up (yay!). After awhile I went looking for Rascal and noticed that the nursery door was open, and found him standing guard at Karter's crib. I quietly tried to get Rasc out of the room, but he wasn't budging. I went back later to check on them and this is what I found...

...Rascal laying down on the job. It is so hard to find good security around here!!

Luckily, Karter sleeps pretty peacfully and doesn't need Rascal's protection!

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Safe

My hard working husband, Kristoffer, is just that...still working! You may have heard that earlier this week Target Corporation cut 9% of their workforce. Thankfully, this did not affect our family, Kristoffer still has his job! In Kristoffer's job he works with a lot of people in the stores, and they were all thinking of him yesterday calling to make sure he was ok. I am a very proud wife of all the hard work he does, and the care he gives to everyone/everything he works with.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

On the Move!

Karter is always on the go now. He absolutely can not sit still! As you could tell from the videos last week, he has started crawling. Well, his version of crawling anyway. He has definitely mastered his technique and has gotten very quick! He favorite targets are Rascal, Rascal's toys, any electrical cord and Rascal's food dish. We have had to put almost every thing that was once on the floor up higher. Poor Rasc, he doesn't get to eat or drink all day, because I had to move his dish so Karter wouldn't put his hands in it! My days are much busier now, and I seem to say "No" a lot more too. No matter how tucked away a cord is, he always seems the find it. It really is a lot of fun to watch him scoot around, and I don't think I'll ever have to polish the wood floors again!

This picture just makes me laugh! I was snapping some photos and he saw the strap hanging down and wanted to get it. Don't you just want to squeeze those cheeks!?

Now what about those thighs!? Karter saw this cord in his room last weekend while Kristoffer was changing him. He had to get it, and didn't have time to wait for pants!

He loves to upset his toy box too. I think it gets picked up about 20 times a day!

Chasing after a ball.

He loves to go under the tables, and some times those pesky legs jump out and hit him in the head!

He's got his sight locked on the computer cord.

He gets a toy (in this case a coaster) and chases it all around the living room/kitchen.

Rascal thought he was safe hiding under the table.

He soon realized, he isn't safe anywhere! Poor guy, just trying to sun bath and then the next thing he knows his beard is being tugged on!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Shopping with Karter

Karter and I try to make weekly outings, but with the weather being so cold lately, we haven't had many outings in the last few weeks. After planning out our menu for this week, it was pretty apparent that we HAD to make an outing to Target this week, because our cupboards were getting pretty bare! We got bundled up and headed for the store, the car said it was 0 degrees. When I went to get Karter out of his car seat, this is how I found him....

Of course! He had pulled his socks off. Does he not realize how cold it is!?

Checking out the new crib display...his daddy would be so proud!

This is the same look Kristoffer gives me when he thinks it's time to go! Too bad for Karterman, we had just started. This is about the time I pulled out his snack and sippy cup, and everything was right with the world again! He spent the rest of the time "talking" to everyone in the store. He loves Target...again his daddy would be proud!

Friday, January 23, 2009

Thursday, January 22, 2009

100th Post! Video Week - Day 4: Karter "Crawling"



This video was taken on Monday, but Karter has gotten MUCH better at crawling/scooting since then. He is SO fast, much less side to side action and more straight ahead.

I dare you to watch this video without smiling at my two cuties! It makes me love my husband so much more when I see him playing with our babe.

Happy 100th post!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Video Week - Day 3: Good Morning Karter



This was taken last Thursday, Karter has gotten much better at his scooting/crawling skills!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Monday, January 19, 2009

Lucky Lady

I've talked before about how much I love Saturdays, and this past Saturday was no different. It was a wonderful lazy day! We spent the morning shopping at Target and the afternoon trying to teach Karter to crawl. It was a great day and I was able to spend it with the two cuties above....I am so lucky!

Last Friday, I finalized a disk on our video camera and uploaded a bunch of videos onto the computer. To share them all with you, I am dubbing this week as "Video Week". For your viewing pleasure on Day 1 of Video Week, here his Karter opening his first present on his first Christmas....

Friday, January 16, 2009

Happy 7 Months!

Our baby boy is 7 months old today!! To celebrate....we braved the -22 degree weather and went to the doctor. Karter had to get his second flu shot today, and he took it like a champ. Everyone in the doctors' office thought he was so cute in his monkey suit...everyone was checking him out!

Before we left, I decided to have a 7 month photo shoot with him. It didn't really go as I had planned because 1) it was his nap time so he wasn't really into smiling and 2) he kept taking his socks off! What is it with him and his socks!? Here are a few pics from this morning...

This one was before we changed clothes, but I thought it was too cute not to post!

Found his sock!

"Got it!"

Too cute for words...

He likes to try to attack the camera.

This is how he always is...one on and one off. Eventually, he will pull this one off too!

LOVE these eyes!

Pondering what we should do.

Here is a list of what he's up to these days...
  • Eating like a champ! He eats 3 "solid" meals and 5 bottles (still about 40 oz) a day. Starting last weekend, Karter gets meat with his dinner. He has had turkey, beef and chicken, and loved them all. He still doesn't eat fruit, but I've been sneaking it in with some of the veggies and he hasn't noticed...so don't tell him!
  • Started drinking out of a sippy cup this week. While we were on our "Indiana Vacation" he started taking little drinks of water out of my cup. When we got home, any time he saw me with my cup he started going crazy and HAD to have a drink. So, I decided to get out the only sippy cup we had and fill it with water. The first day he drank about half of it...well, some probably dribbled down the front of him! It has a hard top, so he can't suck on it as well as a soft top, but still manages to drink a lot. We will be getting a different cup this weekend.
  • Still a great sleeper. He gets his bath at 7:30 and goes to bed shortly after and will sleep until 7-7:30 in the morning. While we were in Indiana he wasn't sleeping the best, partly because he wasn't in his bed and partly because he was sick. A couple nights after we got home, he was back on schedule. He also takes 3 naps a day...1 long nap and 2 1-hour naps. Should he be down to 2 naps by now? I don't know...it works for him.
  • Speaking of baths....he still LOVES them. I think it is his favorite time of the day. Kristoffer always gets him ready for his bath and he is all smiles when he gets in the tub.
  • Chews on everything in sight. We've been thinking he's been teething for the last couple months, but there still isn't anything poking through. Although, he does have bumps on his gums...so maybe soon!
  • He is always moving his hands. He will "clap" them together and this week has started waving. I'm always waving and saying hi to him in hopes that he will start to wave...I guess it's paying off!
  • Hates to have socks on apparently. He doesn't fuss about them, but he always takes them off almost immediately after I put them on.
  • Loves to jump. Whenever he is in the exersaucer or jumperoo he is jumping like crazy and blowing raspberries or talking the whole time. It is SO cute.
  • He is gaining mobility! I can no longer put him in one spot on the floor and gaurantee that is where he is going to stay. He hasn't gotten craling down, but he knows how to roll and get where he needs to be. He can be surrounded by his toys, but when he sees Rascal with a toy or a treat he must have what Rasc has. He will roll and scoot around until he has it.
  • Speaking of Rasc, they are best buds! Karter didn't see Rascal for about a week while we were in Indiana and when he saw him for the first time he giggled and clapped his hands. Every morning after I get Karterman up, we go in to say good morning to Rascal and he is all smiles.
I'm sure I'm forgetting something...but that's all for now! Have a wonderful weekend! Nothing big planned for us. Just heading to Target (extra 10% day!) and trying to make doughnuts again on Saturday, and Sunday we are going sledding with the kids. Should be fun!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Adventures in Homemade Baby Food: Butternut Squash

I love to cook and trying to make new things, so when we found out we were pregnant we always talked that we/I would make most of Karter's baby food. I was very nervous about it, because I wanted to make sure that I was doing everything properly. After a little research, I found out just how easy it is. I was also nervous, because many people have talked about how much time it would take. Then I thought...how much more time can it take than pumping 4-6 times a day!

I am happy to make his food for many reasons, but most of all because I know exactly what is going into it and it is much cheaper than store-bought food. I couldn't be more thrilled for this chance to cook for him.

The first vegetable puree I made was sweet potatoes, from left over Thanksgiving potatoes. Since then, I have made peas, mixed vegetables, apple sauce and now butternut squash. Everything has been super easy to make and doesn't take that much time at all, and once you have a freezer full you are set for awhile. As far as cost goes, this was a steal compared to store-bought baby food. It ended up being about 9 cents per serving versus 50 cents per serving for store-bought. I will continue to make most of his meals, the only thing I'm not ready to make is anything with meat in it. For now, I will let Gerber make those for him.

Here is my adventure in making butternut squash! (If you don't care to see a step-by-step, feel free to scroll to the bottom to see picture of my cutie eating it up!)

You start by, using a heavy duty knife and cutting the squash in half. Then scoop out all of the seeds. (Please ignore the messy counter, I was also making hamburger buns.)

Once all the seeds are out, you are left with two beautiful halves of squash.

Place them, flesh side down, in a baking dish and fill with about 1 inch of water.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 50 minutes.

You will know when they are done when the skin turns this pretty brown.

Once the squash is cooked, scoop out all of the flesh and puree until very smooth. You can puree using either a food processor or blender. We don't have a food processor, so I use a blender to make all of Karter's food....it works great!

After you have pureed it, fill up ice cube trays with the squash. Helpful hint - don't use these kind of trays...they stink! They don't release the cubes and you are left trying to pry them out with a knife. So, I have ordered silicone ice cube trays and should be here in a couple days!


After you have pried them out of the ice cube trays, put them in a freezer bag and label them. They are good in the freezer for up to 3 months! Each cube is about 1 ounce, and he eats 2-3 cubes per meal.

Now all you have to do, is add one hungry baby! No, the squash is not green when you thaw it out, I mixed it with a cube of peas. Peas are a little more tricky to make, because the skins don't puree completely. So you will notice that he is not wearing any clothes. This is because of a gag reflex incident we had at the beginning of his meal. I had to make sure I mashed them up better, and then he ate it right up. This kid loves anything with vegetables!

Finger licking good!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Picture of the day...


Picture 004, originally uploaded by minnesotagrays.

Tricky Mama



This weekend we picked out a mesh feeder for Karter. It is a really neat thing that you can put fruits, cooked veggies or meat into and they learn to chew without the risk of choking on the food. He loves to suck on them when there is ice in it, so I tricked him yesterday and put a slice of apple in there with the ice. He still won't eat any fruit, but he did continue to suck on it after the ice was gone!

Monday, January 12, 2009

IU Baby!


Picture 096, originally uploaded by minnesotagrays.

Being a Hoosier is in Karterman's blood...we went to IU, ALL of his Aunts and Uncles went to IU and even his Grandma Terry went there. He most definitely is an IU baby and we can't wait to take him to visit the campus some day. Thanks to Aunt Emily and Uncle Zach, he can proudly show off his love for the Hoosier State!!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Back on Schedule

We are finally settling back into our normal routine of eating, napping and playing. The hunger strike is officially over, and Karter is up to eating 3 "solid" meals a day. However, he is still hating ALL fruits. When everything finally got unloaded from the car and put away, it was like Christmas all over again for Karter. He has so many new things to play with, he wasn't sure where to start!

He must have been on Santa's good list this year, because he sure made out good!

Here is a look back at our Indiana vacation....

We left Minnesota Christmas morning at 2am. After a long day in the car, Karterman was exhausted after Christmas at Great Grandma's. Great Grandma Ellen was more than willing to let the little guy sleep in her arms.

Jonah had a great time with Rascal. He loved to walk up to Rascal , who he was eye level with, and let Rascal give him kisses.

Mom was surprised by the bike that we got her. I'm sure she was disappointed that it wasn't the pony we had promised, but hopefully she will get more use out of the bike!

It is always fun to spend time with Jake, Joscelynn (not pictures) and Jonah. Jonah loves his daddy.

Great Grandpa Harold loved watching the boys play at his house.

Kristoffer and his mama....isn't this just a cute picture?! Everyone in the house were my subjects as I tested out the new camera!

Kamaron and Anique were close by as I tested out different camera settings...aren't they a cute couple! And, in case you are wondering...those are the same shirts that Kristoffer and his mom were wearing too. Our family doesn't always dress the same, we had just gotten back from having our pictures taken.

Kristoffer's college friend, Cliff, came over on New Year's Eve to have dinner with us. Sorry Cliff, Karter was pretty sick that day!

Aunt Emily helped out a lot with Karter. She even changed some poopy diapers and dressed him in the tightest shirt ever!

Uncle Kyler had a lot of fun playing with Karter...it looks like the feeling was mutual.

Grandpa Kim and Grandma Terry love their Tunkin!

The whole trip, Karter got his baths in the kitchen sink. It was a little tricky since he loves to grab for everything, but A LOT easier on my back and knees than in the bathtub.

Karter got LOTS of daddy time during our trip. It always melts my heart to see my hunky husband with our little guy!!

It is always a great time spending time with our family, especially when the 3 of us get to spend so much time together!

If these photos left you wanting more....haha...feel free to clear your afternoon and browse through all 178 photos!