First Thanksgiving

This post is backwards but it's being recorded for my memory anyways so it's okay.
Karter's first Thanksgiving was great. Brandon and I had talked about having everyone come over to our house since it would be easier for Karter. I told him we may regret this decision later but it really ended up being a great idea. Karter really does best when he is in his environment.
So we started inviting everyone over and they all thought it was a great idea too. Just about everyone had something to do the next day or just didn't feeling like hosting it again for the 1000nth time. So I made the turkey (the first one I've ever cooked) and it turned out pretty good. I was so Thankful for my brother for being here to help me cook. He did great and he had a fun time too. We had just about everyone bring a dish so we weren't doing it all.
List of the party people:
B, Me, Karter, Mom, Jody, Brittney, Austin, Jordan, Ava, Gracyn, Doug, Grandma, Chris, Debbie and Bridget.
Pretty full house. Most memorable moment was when Ava was in our room watching a movie and I was feeding Karter she said Aunt Shanna why do you always have new stuff in your room? All you ever want to do is "Change" "Change" "Change"
Then while playing scategories we were to list a famous person starting with the letter S
Ava yells out Strawberry Shortcake.

6 Month Checkup

December 7th I took Karter to his 6 month checkup. Dr. Prough said once again what a big baby he is. This appointment we went over his developmental skills (his 4 page checklist) He is hitting pretty much all of his developmental milestones. I was a pretty proud mama while checking off one by one. His weight and height have slowed down some. Dr. Prough says most babies slow down in growing around 3 or 4 months Karter needed a few more months to do this.

Here are his measurements for 6 months:

Weight: 19 lbs. 2.5 oz. 90%

Height: 28 1/2 inches 97%

Head: 45 cm. 90%

Can I just say I love having a big ole boy. Well other than the fact he is growing out of clothes like crazy.

We also talked about when to start giving him meats and other foods. She said we could start this around 7 1/2 months. She also told me to go ahead and start feeding him 3 times a day.

I am still nursing him like he was a new born (every 3 -3.5 hours)

And the big discussion came next "IS HE SLEEPING ALL NIGHT YET?" The answer "NO"

Karter gets his last night feeding at 9. He is up again at 2 and then again at 5. She says to go ahead and let him cry it at the 2 a.m. but feed him at 5. I'm not ready for this yet. I probably will start this when he turns 7 or 8 months. I don't mind feeding him at night but I'm sure I'll get there soon enough.

Karter still takes terrible naps. We are working on him sleeping in his crib but he will only do this for about 30 minutes or so. Guess it's better than nothing.

Some things Karter likes and is doing:

He loves to jump. Thank you to Kyle and Rachel for letting us borrow your jumper. He loves it.

Swinging his rings back and forth

Throws balls

Rolling everywhere

Eating Sweet Potatoes, Yogurt, Squash, Carrots, Peas, Green beans, Pears with Cinnamon and Applesauce

Reading books

Taking baths

Tags

Singing (especially the song Baby Karter to the boomer sooner song. We may be in trouble for doing this one day)

Sitting baby

Karter has started sitting up this month. Since November 20th he started sitting up on his own without support. Every once in a while he will lean to one side and get off balance. Can someone tell me where my infant has gone?

sitting baby

Two Teefers

On November 8th Karter got his two bottom teeth. They both came in around the same time. He had been drooling for a month or so. His Dr. said he probably wouldn't get them until he was around 6 to 9 months. He got them a little before that. 5 1/2 months to be exact. He wasn't too fussy but his sleep changed for sure. I think he's working on his top two now. The drooling has begun again.

So Thankful

This year I have SO much to be Thankful for.
First off I am so Grateful to God for everything. He has given me my little family of 3 that I've wanted for SO long. I thank him daily for that. I'm Thankful that God provides us with SO much. He protects us, He loves us and that He gave his Son to die for us. As I have my own son now I think about all that He gave up. I know I wouldn't give up my son for anything. This Thanksgiving I'm so Thankful to Him.
Second I'm thankful for these two faces. Brandon is everything to me. He works so hard so that I am able to stay home and take care of our son. He provides so much for us. I can't ever Thank him enough for that. I'm Thankful that he is a great husband who loves me and comes home to me every night. He takes such good care of me.
I am Thankful that he loves our son so much. I love seeing them together. It melts my heart every time
And last but certainly not least. I am SO SO SO Thankful for Karter. He is my little piece of Heaven. I prayed so hard for this little boy. He is perfect in every way. I'm Thankful that he is healthy and he is happy and that God sent him here to Brandon and I.
So this Thanksgiving has brought on a whole new set of Thankfulness.
I hope you to have lots to be Thankful for this year and years to come.

Karter's First Halloween

For Halloween we dressed Karter up as our Chunky Monkey. I think he was pretty darn cute if I do say so myself. Lots of people gushed about how cute he was. We went to our church for their annual Knock Knock Knight. We had lots of fun. They had chili and lots of goodies. Then the kids got to go around to all the classrooms and collect candy. The doors to the classrooms had been decorated so cute. Our personal favorite was the swine flu door. The first door we stopped at the person was dressed as Michael Jackson. Karter wasn't too impressed. He looked at her and turned back to me and started crying. We thought it was pretty funny. After wandering through the halls collecting our goodies we took our overly tired baby home to inspect all his loot. Daddy and I have enjoyed his candy for many weeks now. He made out pretty good I'd say. The following night we carved Karter's little pumpkin. I carved it with a "K" in it. After all it is HIS pumpkin. I'd say this year was a great first Halloween for all three of us. Next year we'll take Karter to the pumpkin patch to see all the animals and he can pick out the pumpkin he wants. Then we'll go trick-or-treating in a neighborhood near by. I'm sure Daddy and I won't have a problem inspecting all that candy he gets then too.

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

On October 20th Karter decided it was time to roll over. Now let me tell you Brandon and I have been working on him rolling over for about a month. That morning I had my good friend Amanda come over with her new little girl Kambri. Karter sees her and decides he will show off. He rolls over as soon as Amanda puts her in his view. Brandon and I think we may be in trouble when he's older if he's already showing off for the girls. Here's a picture of him rolling over for the first time.

Just for laughs

So I went into Walmart to get a few things (candy corn kisses, Karters first pumpkin and teething tablets) I went to the pharmisist and asked if she could show me where the teething tablets were. She pointed to the lady in front of her (another pharmisist) and said
1st lady: "teething tablets "
2nd lady: "for what"
1st lady: "for teeth"
2nd lady: "No DUH!"
2nd lady (looking at me) says: "Are they for you or the baby"
Me.....(not saying this but wanting to) I think I have all my teeth
I got the biggest laugh out of that. I think I laughed all afternoon

Just thought I'd share

Big Changes

Karter had his first "real meal" on Friday October 9th. We started him on organic rice cereal. We talked it up to him, like he knew what we were saying anyways. So after I nursed him we put him in his highchair, which we do every night during dinner, to give him his first taste. He loved it. He kept lunging at the spoon almost gagging himself in the process. I did the recommended 3 Tbsp. and he ate almost all of it. It was like he knew what to do the entire time. After the first bite he blinks really fast and alot. I have video and will try to post it if I can figure it out.
Also on the very same day we started cereal we decided we would try him out in his own room for the very first time. He has slept in his pack n play every night right by my side for the last 4 1/2 months. I was so nervous and kept asking Brandon if he was sure it was time. He was. I was too I was just scared. Karter cried a little bit so we went in his room to put his pacifier in his mouth and comfort him. After about 10 minutes he started crying again. I was about to get out of bed to repeat this step but Brandon said we'll try letting him cry it out. Thankfully B had the monitor on his side of the bed so I turned away from it and started crying. This lasted all of 15 minutes before he was out. I on the other hand took an hour to finally go to sleep because of the crying I did. I was too upset to sleep. I tell you Karter sleeps like a champ in his bed. I think he needed to be in his room and in his bed for good sleep. If I would've known it would only take 15 minutes of tears to get some good sleep for all of us...I would've done it a long time ago. Karter still wakes up at 3 to eat and then again at 6 but this was big progress for us. His Dr. says I can let him go all night without eating at 6 months. Hopefully he'll do it on his own and we won't have to make him cry it out again.

4 Months Old

Karter had his 4 month apt. on October 5th. The first thing Dr. Prough said was "Oh my Karter You're a real big boy" then she laughed. I get this alot. We went over the things he should be doing for his age. Like grabbing things (toys, clothing and pretty much anything in reach) he is right on. At this point he wasn't rolling over and had NO interest in it at all. Brandon and I had been working on it for weeks. She said it'd come with time and that he was close. She did warn me that once he figured it out..he'd be on the go. He is pretty busy this one. I also asked her why he wasn't eating as well as he once had been....she told me that he just has better things to do than eat. I know it doesn't look like he has a problem eating but let me tell you it is a constant battle in this house. I can't tell you how often I cry because he just isn't doing it the way he is supposed to. I have to put him to sleep and trick him into eating. I have to stay within 15-20 minutes of my house so I can rush home to do all of this . I continue to pray extra hard that my good eater will return to me soon. Dr. Prough seems to think it will. I hope she's right. At this apt. he had 3 shots. He was so mad this go 'round. Almost inconsolable. I hope this gets easier on him and myself. Right before she left she said we could start cereal whenever he was ready. Well I tell you this kid was ready long ago. He watches everything we put in our mouth while smacking his lips. He reaches for our food, sits in his highchair very well and his back and fourt tongue reflex has stopped. So that very day I went out and bought our first box of organic rice cereal.

4 month stats.
Weight: 17 lbs. 11.5 ozs. 95%
Height: 27 1/4 inches. 97% We have a tall little boy on our hands
Head 43 cm. 75%



Mom why do you always have that camera in my face?

Sitting like a big boy

Gonna be a football player for sure

Those are some big shoes to fill

So Sorry

Lots of posts, updates and pictures to come. Hope to do it this weekend.
Hang in there all 3 of you readers.

Nursery Pictures

I've had lots of requests to see Karters room. So here they are. Sorry it took so long to post these.

3 Months and new milestones

This last month has been pretty full and has gone by quickly. I'll start first by saying Karter had his very first cold on his 3 month birthday. Our pediatrician said to bring him in for a little check up only to confirm it was a cold. I had planned on taking him in that day to have a weight check so it work out that we were going there anyways. So his new weight at 3 months is

15lbs 2 ozs.

26 inches long

He grew 2 lbs in one month. Dr. Prough said this was great. She laughs at me still when I ask if this is adequate weight gain. He is still in the top 95% for everything. I love having a big boy.

Karter has had lots of firsts this month. Our friends Rachel, Kyle and Luke invited us to come along for a weekend trip to their lake house. Karter loved riding on the boat...He went to sleep EVERY.TIME. He did get to swim in the lake for a little while. He didn't like it at first but once he warmed up he loved it.

Also he has been talking ALOT. He found his voice about 2 weeks ago. He talks to his ceiling fan, the clock and his name above the changing table. He also loves to talk to his books and while he's trying to eat. He has also started giggling out loud. I love this. I try to get him to do it on command but I think it's still a little early for that.
Karter also found his hands this month. He always has them in his mouth or has them folded together.
Another first is he has stretched his evening sleep to about 6 hours at one time. We are getting closer and closer to going all night long. The cold kinda threw us off a bit.

He is also starting to get hard to feed. He has been a pro at eating up until now. I'm not too sure if it's because of his little cold he had but all I do is sit and worry about if he is full. So right now I feed him at every moment I can. About every 30 minutes to an hour. Dr. Prough says do this until he gets back on his schedule. I'll tell you he is a stubborn little boy. I know this will pass.

This month we also visited a local consignment sale called Just Between Friends. I love when this comes along because you can find good stuff CHEAP.

I had a few things on my list but my big ticket item was a high chair. And not any high chair I was looking for the Chico tan and orange high chair. I knew this would be a slim chance of finding it there. So when my mom, Amanda and I walked in I headed straight to the back. Only to see MY high chair sitting there waiting for me. It was the exact one I wanted and it was clean. Very Clean. And it was $70. Brand new this chair runs for $189.00 This is a huge savings. There was a lady standing next to it looking it over.....I quickly asked if she was purchasing it. She sadly said "no but she wanted to" I asked my mom to hand me the phone so I could call Brandon and ask if I could get it. He didn't want to spend the money right then but I told him about the good deal we were getting so he gave in. It was MINE. I couldn't believe it.

I also got a bunch of winter clothes including 6 pairs of pants, 1 jacket, 1 winter coat, 2 sleep sacks, 4 pairs of pj's, 5 shirts, 3 onsie outfits, a pair of winter mittens, a book, a pair of shoes and a toy....all for $230.30 And a few items still had the original tags on them. He is pretty well set for all of fall and winter.

Brandon and I just had our 4 year Anniversary. He took me out to supper at 12 oaks Restaurant here in Edmond. It was really wonderful. We had the entire place to ourselves (only because we went so early) My mom came over to watch Karter so we could go by ourselves. This was the first time we have left him. I was really nervous about it. We were gone exactly 2 hours (probably the longest 2 hours ever) We talked alot about the little guy and couldn't wait to get home to see him. We had a good time but I'm glad I got the first babysitting experience over with. I think it'll be a while before we have someone watch him again. I don't like to be away from him for long.

This is all for now. I'll try to do better about posting more often.

Karter's favorite position in his bath tub.
Brandon is so ready for Karter to ride on the 4 wheeler.
Karter's new highchair

Karters new digs from the consignment sale

Karter's first boat ride. Fast asleep.

2 Months

Karter turned 2 months old on Friday July 31st. People tell you time flies...They don't lie. Karter doesn't even look like a new born anymore. I have put away all his newborn clothing. He no longer wears newborn or 1 diapers anymore and hasn't for a while. This makes me so Sad.

I took Karter to the doctor yesterday for his 2 month well baby check up and for his first set of shots. I will say this was WAY harder on mom than him. I did hold in the tears until the nurse left though. I say that is pretty good. The first Vaccine was his oral vaccine...no one told me this wasn't a needle vaccine. So she is putting the liquid in his mouth I'm thinking this is the numbing medication. She laughed when I asked her if it was. He got his second and third in his left leg and the fourth in the right. He didn't know what to think at first and then did a pouty face and screamed. Face turned red couldn't catch is breath screaming. When she was all done I swooped him up so quickly. He stopped crying soon after.

2 month stats are:
Weight: 13 lbs. 3 ozs. 75-90%
Height: 24 inches 75-90%
Head: 40 1/2 cm. 50-90%
Dr. Prough says he is a big healthy boy. I was worried about him gaining enough weight...You never know how much they are eating when you nurse. She smiled and said Oh dear he is fine. She can tell he loves to eat.
We talked about sleeping. She told me that crying it out during the day is fine. I can let him cry but not longer than 25 mintues. She said this should only last about a week until he realizes this is where I'm gonna stay even if I am crying. I felt better knowing his Dr. was okay with me letting him cry. Now I am not to let him cry at night time until he is 4 months. This is fine with me.

Some thinks Karter is doing at 2 months:
-Smiling
-Some laughing
-Calms down real fast when mom or dad have him (We like this)
-Kicks legs and moves arms around real fast when looking at his name on the wall durning diaper changes
-sits in bumbo
-some tummy time (need to get better at this)
-Coos some
-Hates having clothes put on over the head
-Hates being put down during nap time
-Picky about his pacifier (only uses the one the hospital gave him)
-Can take a bottle if he's really hungry
-Loves the ceiling fan and clock
-Likes going outside with his daddy

We can't tell you how much we love being Karter's parents. We love this little boy and can't imagine life without him. He's perfect in everyway.

Over the last month

First 4th of July Celebration
Freedom and Faith Festival

5 Generation Picture

4 Generation Picture

Little Cowboy Fan.

Karter Loves sitting in his Bumbo under the

ceiling fan. He'll sit there forever.

Just watching his fan.

Daddy and Karter have matching outfits.

So cute

Karter's first walk in his stroller. I think he liked it.

Alot has happened since my last post.

On July 1st Karter got his cast off. The best birthday gift I could ever get. The doctor took new x-rays showing new bone growth. The bone had almost completely grown back together. There was still a small crack in it but Dr. Anderson thought it'd be easier on all of us to take it off. We were just really careful with it. We didn't pass him around for people to hold in the first few weeks after taking the cast off. We go back tomorrow July 29th for more x-rays. I'm taking homemade brownies the Dr. Anderson and his staff for taking such good care of Karter.

We had our first 4th of July. On Sunday before the 4th our church has a Freedom and Faith festival. So we went there for about an hour and a half. This was the longest he had ever been outside. Since then he has decided he is an outside kinda guy. On the day of the 4th we went to a car show for 20 minutes. It was extra hot outside so we didn't want to be out for too long. I took a bottle of ice water and a wash cloth and would dip the cloth in the water and put it on his little head to keep him cool. He really didn't know what to think about that. The rest of the day we spent inside. That evening we gave him a bath and listened to the fireworks outside. Brandon went outside to watch a few of them while Karter and I went to sleep.

Most of our days are spend hanging out at home just Karter and I. I love being able to be at home with him. The days go by so fast. He changes every moment. I couldn't imagine not being with him all day, every day.

Well I need to get off Karter is telling me he's hungry. Right on schedule.

Accidents happen is what I hear.

Well alot has happened in the first three weeks of Little Karters life. As most of you know on Friday June 12th Karter broke his little arm. Friday afternoon we were nursing and Karters arm was in a bad position on the boppy pillow. When he cried out I quickly picked him up and comforted him. We watched his arm the rest of the evening and noticed he wasn't moving it. Saturday morning we got up and took him to the emergancy room. They did x-rays only to confirm it was indeed broken. The next Monday morning I called his doctor to get a referral to an orthopedic surgeon. They did their x-rays and told us it was a "good" break and would heal on it's own in a few weeks. He put a new soft cast on it and sent us on our way. On Friday June 19th we went back to his doctor where she told us she spoke to the orthopedic doc. she says they are sure it happened during delivery. He did have a very hard delivery. I told her that was nice but I still felt like it was my fault.
We are getting better. I don't cry every time I look at him now. We are getting used to dressing, bathing and feeding him with it on. We go back to the dr. on July 1st to get the cast off. This will be the best birthday gift I will ever get.


In other news...Grandad and Meme came to Oklahoma to visit their newest great grandbaby. Brandon pointed out that we were number 11 great grandbaby but the first to carry on the Hayes name. We thought that was kinda cool. Karter and I talked about them coming to visit for a week. He was pretty excited to see them when they got here. I'd say they were pretty excited to see him too. Brandon and I love Grandad and Meme so much. They mean the world to us.

Will try to post more often. It's kinda difficult to get on the computer for more than a second at a time with a new baby.

Welcome Karter Jaron

Karter Jaron was born Friday June 5th at 7:31 pm. Friday morning at 1:00 am I got up to do one of my many runs to the restroom and felt a few contractions. I got back to bed where I had had a contraction every 10 minutes or so. About 2 am I felt like I was wet. I went to the bathroom again and noticed my water had broken. I got back to the room and felt all around the bed when Brandon woke up saying "what are you doing" I told him that it had broken....Well as some of you know we had just been to the hospital on Wednesday with a false alarm. So he told me to come back to bed and we'd wait a while. Well after about 5 minutes I got up saying I'm taking a shower then we are going. So after a shower and Brandon's breakfast we were well on our way to the hospital. We arrived there around 3 am and they checked me only to confirm my water had broken and I was dialated to a 1. I was staying for sure. At about 6:30 am they wheeled me up to my room and started my pitocin. At 12 I had my epidural.....The man was amazing. I agree with Rachel, this man was my new best friend. At 4 pm I was only dialated to a 4. Brandon was getting hungry so he made a quick trip to Sonic at 5. At 5:3o the nurses came in and said I was ready. FULLY DIALATED! I hadn't had time to talk myself in to the delivery part yet. At 6:00 I started to push. They noticed Karter wasn't in the right position. He was looking at 3 o'clock and should have been looking at 6 o'clock. I have 4 people trying to turn him while I would push during my contraction. This wasn't working so they decided to do the vacuum. My Dr. said if this didn't work I'd be sure to go in for a C-Section. I was not going to let this happen. I pushed with no break in between until Karter came out. He had the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck 3 times. He also had a bruise on his forhead from being stuck. They took him to the warmer to work on him. He failed his Apgar test with a 4 but returned five minutes later with a 9. We were pretty scared cause we hadn't heard him cry for a full 45 minutes. We were pretty scared by this point. They were going to take him to the nursery cause he was having such a hard time breathing. But all he needed was his mommy. Once I got to be with him for a while his breathing got regular. He wasn't grunting or flarring his nostrils any longer.
So there you have it. That was our birth story. A full 19 hours in labor and a beautiful baby as my gift. I'd do it again in a heart beat, although while I was in labor I was saying quite the opposite.
Here are a few pictures of our new little family.
Thank you to all who have prayed for us in our family planning period, our pregnancy, birth and now for our future.

1 week to go.

I've been told by many people that having a blog to look back on is one of the most precious things I could do for myself and for our family. Pretty much this will be about Karter because everyone knows B and I aren't That interesting. So here it goes.

Today I'm 39 weeks pregnant. I have exactly 1 week to go until little Mr. is here. I must say I think B is more excited for Karter to get here than I am. In the past few weeks we have had our baby shower hosted by the best girl friends anyone could ask for. It was perfect. Low key but still FANTASTIC! A shower hosted by our neighbors and showers hosted by both of our jobs. Karter came away with so many great things. We didn't realize how someone so tiny could have So much stuff. We also have finished up the nursery. My grandma made all of his bedding. She did an outstanding job.


We had our Dr. appointment today. I've only gained 21 lbs. Blood pressure is great. Did a stress test and Karter is perfect. They keep saying he is gonna be a big boy. I sure hope he proves them all wrong. Our next appointment will be next week if he stays in there that long. We'll see. I'll be sure to let everyone know if something happens.

Here are a few pictures to hold you over until the next post.