Carter & 2.0 Updates

Carter Updates:

Where do I begin? Carter. [sigh] Carter. So cute, is it the chicken or the egg? Or Nature or Nurture? Or is this Darwinism survival of the fittest at its finest? Whatever...Carter is growing to not only be cuter, but more independent by the day.

A favorite game of mine and Carter's that he has been playing for over a month now is "nigh nigh!". This game involves running with a pillow, blanket or something soft and throwing it on the floor, near someone who is also pretending to sleep, and pretending to sleep. This game is the best at 6:30 am when you are dead tired on the weekend.

Carter has more teeth. Finally, something to report on the tooth front. All his eye teeth are in, and his two molars on the bottom are in, along with two more boring their way up top as well. This has made tooth brushing more imperative, but not always a fun process because I think his mouth is sore a lot. Matt and I have started brushing our teeth with Carter---this has improved his want to tooth brush substantially-as he is big into imitation right now.

Carter's vocabulary keeps growing, and our understanding of words is increasing as well-although he often has a running commentary of the world that I just cannot understand.

Tee = teeth
Mou = mouth
Ea = ears
Hai = hair
To = toes
Fee = feet
Doe = door (I am sure this is because of the door project, that seemed to imprint a lot on Carter. He now also has an obsession of closing all doors. Not being tall enough to open them, he will at times shut himself into a room, but often he is shutting himself out)
dawg = dog
ca = cat (he is getting better with animals, and making animal sounds)

I know there are more words, but I don't know what I have reported on, and what words are new and improved. Obviously, with his comprehension of words building at about 10/day at this age, his vocabulary is bound to be growing by leaps and bounds as well.

When I think of 2.0 arriving any day now (a strong contraction as I was writing that last piece for anyone who was wondering! 1st one today that I am timing, so we will see!) I can't even imagine Carter being so little. I can't imagine him getting any bigger. I can't believe the time has gone so fast. Lastly, I still am in a little denial we are going to be doing this again, with a set of small pudgy helping hands.


2.0 Update

2.0 (yes we do have a list of names, and no we are not keeping them from people, it is just a list, and we all know how long it took to name Carter, in addition to the fact that Carter was not even on our list-but Ant Jennette's list-which Matt and I both at the time nixed, then decided that we had come up with it all on our own. We are so creative!). Just as active as ever. You'd think with the limited amount of room s/he has left that the fetal movements would have simmered down. Not really. This is one busy baby.

On Friday (according to our doctor, 6 days past due) we had a non-stress test scheduled and 2.0 passed with flying colours. Two tests were done, an ultrasound and the non-stress test. On the ultrasound, we got to see a little bit of head/face (but not a lot), 2.0's heart beating, baby fat, and spine. The technician was primarily looking for amniotic fluid (presence of, enough of etc...), and seeing the baby breathe, and as well as watching 2.0's movements. For the other test I was hooked up to a fetal monitor, and a monitor to measure my contractions. I also had a trigger switch to measure each time 2.0 moved which allowed them to compare 2.0's movement to those two variables (fetal heart beat and contraction rate/intensity). Of course, 2.0 passed with flying colours, and everything was fine.

Now that the baby is late, and we are not really wanting to push labour on unless it is happening naturally (e.g. no pitocin if we can help it!) this test has to be done very three days. Fine with me. This baby will come when it is ready to come, and no sooner. I am a little surprised that it is taking this long, as I was always under the assumption 2.0 has been trying to find new and inventive ways out for the last 9 months, but that is not the case.

Regardless, we are im/patiently waiting the arrival of our little one. I am feeling fine-little to no swelling, Matt is happier because work is slowing down a little, and house projects are more completed, and Carter is getting better and better at identifying "baby" (which is pronounced Bae) things and the baby things in our house.

Our Carter care team, Uncle Corey and Auntie Kate are on 24 call now that their wedding is completed (which was amazing by the way-even with the all day/night rain). I hope that the baby arrives before their honeymoon in a few weeks, otherwise we are screwed!