Carter Takes to the Skies

Last weekend, we made our second Los Angeles trip in Carter's 3-month existence. This time, though, we flew. We've heard the horror stories about traveling with babies, and we've both been on planes with children who screamed non-stop. So, I'd say we were overly prepared. Carter ate during take-off and landing for the trip down and slept in between. The trip back wasn't full, so he ate for take-off and landing and then played on the seat between us. He promptly pooped upon deplaning, as well. Gotta love changing that diaper in the airport bathroom. I used our peanut shell sling for both airport trips (sorry, no picture yet), too. He loves it, and now that he's old enough (and 14 pounds!), he was able to sit up in the "kangaroo pouch" hold. I promise to get pics in the next few days.

Our Three Year Anniversary

My how a year changes things! A year ago we were reveling in our new house, talking about getting pregnant and thinking about adopting a new dog. Here we are, 12 months later parents to a three month old and a new dog, Felix. We celebrated our third wedding anniversary by heading to Mendocino for a long weekend. We stayed at the amazing Little River Inn and spent the weekend exploring Mendocino, enjoying the hotel's spa, playing golf (Dave), hiking, loving our private jacuzzi, dining out, talking and of course, sleeping! How amazing to get two full nights' sleep again. Much thanks to Baba, Noni and Grandpa Jack for babysitting for the weekend and allowing us some time to spend together.

The Birth of Lilah Jo's Music Career

Jackie's sisters were bored the other night and decided to help Lilah Jo (our niece) launch her first music video. Check it out!

Carter for Obama

We had an important milestone today -- Carter participated in his first political event! It seems silly to say it, but mommy almost cried. Needless to say, it's been an emotional week for us all (see previous two posts). Dave had a relatively light morning work-wise, so the three of us (and the dogs) walked to our polling place and voted. I've never been so proud or had such a feeling of destiny and change on the horizon. I voted at this same polling place in the primary, and there were very few people there -- before work no less, when polling places tend to be at their busiest. This time around, we got to our polling location (a junior high school) at 10:00am (the middle of the work day, really) and it was packed! I had to wait to vote and a steady stream of people poured in the door while I was there.

I had this dream of holding Carter in the voting booth while casting our historic vote for Barack Obama, but he had other ideas -- he cried shortly after we got there. Dave thinks it's because he actually knew he was breaking campaign laws by wearing his Obama onesie within 100 yards of a polling place. Mommy didn't even think about it! The result was that Dave had to leave with him and go outside (classes were being held inside and they didn't need a screaming baby in the hallways)...it's like he knew. While my dream didn't really materialize like I wanted, having him there with me still created an overwhelming feeling that I was casting a vote that would matter most for him. We're having an Election Night get-together tonight, and we hope to be celebrating!

2 Month Doctor's Appointment

Carter had his 2-month doctor's appointment today. He now weighs 12 lbs, 5 oz (75th percentile) and is 23 inches long (50th percentile)! For the past few weeks, he's been incredinly cranky in the evenings (5pm onward). We're constantly adapting to deal with this time period in particular. He L-O-V-E-S his nightly bath and we've also started feeding him more. We're hopeful this block of time will ease as he gets a little older. On the plus side, he ate at 9pm last night, was asleep by 11:30pm (he's a night owl, like his dad) and didn't wake until 4:30am to eat. He went back to sleep fairly quickly and I almost cried when I woke later at 8:15am -- I felt so much better rested!!! Last night may have been a fluke, but even so, that random 5 hour stretch of sleep was a godsend!

On another note, we did a lot of research before this first vaccination visit and had a great conversation with the nurse practitioner about his vaccine schedule. Currently, babies receive 5-6 vaccines every-other-month until they are 6 months old. With autism rates skyrocketing for boys in particular, much attention is being focused on vaccinations (the number of vaccines, the number administered at one time, ingredients in the vaccines, etc.). After much deliberation, we agreed to have our little boy receive 2-3 vaccines every month for the first 7 months. It will definitely mean more doctors visits for us, but we feel good about this alternative schedule -- it's a reasonable and deliberate approach, while still providing him with some incredibly important vaccines. Carter did not seem to agree: he played throughout our entire conversation with the nurse, and then, despite mommy's best attempts to distract him, screamed bloody murder and turned beet red (as though he was holding his breath) when his two shots were administered (one in each leg). He's a fighter, though, and he calmed down very quickly, enjoyed his lunch, and promptly fell asleep.

Dave and Carter at the end of a particularly cranky evening