Ok...so I'm a little behind!!!!

Man this blogging business is hard work! I thought I was doing something easy, I had no idea what I got myself in to :-) For real this time, I promise to do better! Between work, getting my masters, an 8 month old, and a husband....I would say I am a little busy!

I'm going to go all the way back to Carter's 6th month and start there...We took our first family vacation! Chris won "Salesman of the Quarter" at work and they provided us with a condo right on the beach for 4 days. It was amazing! Such a great time for us to spend quality time together with NO plans! Chris went fishing in his kayak. He was so cute. Look at him :-)




We took a ton of walks down the beach. Thank goodness the BOB is a-may-zing! It was perfect to watch the sunset with my two special boys. I love them so much. Aren't they the cutest thing?




We attempted to take Carter to the beach but that was a disaster. When he wasn't sleeping....





He was trying to eat EVERYTHING! Sand, toys, sand, more sand! He chews on things like he actually has teeth, but nope...none of those bad boys yet! Ee decided to go get him a little floaty and take him to the pool. Much better and that baby LOVES the water. We are so glad!



We ventured out into downtown Charleston a couple of nights and walked around and visited the market. It was so much fun. We look forward to going back.

Here are some of Carter's 6 month pictures. Once again, Kat did an amazing job. Carter has his 9 month pictures next month so I will definitely be on top of putting them up more quickly. She has an adorable idea for his pics, I cannot wait.












At 7 months Carter FINALLY decided that he was ready to sit up all by himself. He was so cute once he figured it out.



We had our families in town for Carter's Baby Dedication at our church. It was such a special day for us.



Carter is about to move up classes at church...this means that he is getting BIG. He will no longer be in the "baby, baby" class...now just the "baby" class. Chris asked if it made me sad...the honest answer is, YES :( We are still loving our small group at church. We meet on Thursday nights at a different member's home each week. We love it!

He is a talker! Carter talks all the time. It is so cute. He says "MaMa" all the time. He looks at me when he says it and so I would like to think that he knows what he is saying :-) He makes sounds with his tongue and is just the cutest little thing....EVER!

I am loving spending the summer time with Carter. We have so much going on and have a full day every day of fun things to do together. I'm loving it! We go to Baby bootcamp Mon, Wed, and Fri and Mommy gets her butt kicked! It is so hard but I love it! We are doing story time, playdates, and swim class also. It is so much fun being a Mom! I couldn't have imagined myself doing these things 2 years ago but I would not trade it for the world now. It is the best!

Carter is 8 months now and is sooo almost crawling. I am trying to enjoy these last couple of weeks before the chaos begins. He LOVES all of the food that he has tried but especially loves his red vegetables. He even likes the meat! (yuck!) We are so lucky to have a good baby! He is soo chill. We love it!



We are still trading with Katie and Jason (our neighbors) once a month so we can have a date night. It is really great! We are counting down the days until our cruise. Although I am NOT looking forward to leaving Carter for 4 days and don't know how I am going to do it, I know we will have an amazing time. It is our anniversary and birthdays, all in the same week. Plus we know that Carter will love being with Grandma and Grandpa and playing with Eli and Aiden, too! Because we will be gone for 4 days, I decided to stop nursing because I did not want to pump, etc on the cruise. Plus, I nursed him for 8 straight months so I feel I gave him what he needed! He doesn't seem to mind one bit, he loves the formula just as much :-)He is still an amazing sleeper. Gosh, what did we do to get so lucky? We have a little routine for the evening. Daddy comes home from work and we eat dinner as a family, then Daddy and Carter have their time while Daddy gives Carter a bath and then we put him to bed at 7:00. He sleeps until 7:00 the next morning. No complaints here!

Oh, Mother's Day...I forgot! I had a great first Mother's Day! Carter got me a Waxing Poetic necklace and I love it! I am very much looking forward to Chris' first Father's Day. Carter has a few surprises up his sleeve!

On a side note-we are doing some remodeling to our house. We are enclosing our porch to make into a play room for Carter. We also just had a deck built and are having a fence put in next week. I will put pics up when finished.

I PROMISE PROMISE PROMISE to do a better job updating this thing! Mom and Nanny are coming next week so I will put some pics up after that!

HAPPY SUMMER!!!!!

Catching up. . . .

Wow time flies! I am way behind and have a lot to catch up on. I know, I know, I'm a tad bit behind on updating! I can't believe my baby boy is 5 months old already! I totally understand now why people say they grow up so fast! Carter is doing great, growing and growing! He is now 14 pounds, and almost 26 inches! He is in the 75th percentile for his height! YAY! He is going to be a tall boy like his daddy. He is also continuing his awesomness of a sleep pattern! He sleeps from 8:00-6:30, eats and goes back to sleep until about 9:00. It's amazing and definitely no complaints here! We have him on a great schedule and it works for all three of us! Daddy is still giving him his bath at night. It is probably his favorite part of the day. And yes, I still listen to them talk, laugh, and play. It's so cute! We got his 3 month pictures back and were so pleased with them. Also pleased that we were able to get them in before Kathleen gave birth to baby Elijah :-) Here are some of my favs. . .



A lot has happened over the past two months, I'm not really sure where to start. We had a wonderful first Valentine's Day as a family. I was the luckiest girl in the world to have two handsome Valentines! I got a massage and another Willow Tree which I love! Of course they treated me like a princess; I must say that being the queen of the house is not a bad thing :) I could get used to this!


Carter in his Johnny Jump Up from Gigi and Poppa


Thank you God for making these two boys especially for ME!

Carter had a wonderful visit with Gigi, Poppa, Granny, and Aiden Valentine's weekend. Gigi and Poppa were so excited to bring Aiden and Carter to the aquarium. Of course, they spoiled Carter while they were here. We did some shopping :-) We are excited to have them come back in April for Carter's baby dedication. We just cannot wait! He has the most adorable little outfit to wear also! Here are some pictures from the aquarium. . .


Poppa and his boys


Granny and Carter checking things out

Last month we took Carter to Huntsville, Alabama for Krislyn's mom's wedding. It was so much fun. Grandma came with us and kept Carter while we went to the wedding and the reception. It was so nice of her and we had such a great time. On Sunday we went to a brunch at Edye's house. Here are some pics...



Carter has started eating baby food now. We started him on rice cereal first. Here are some pictures of his first encounter with a bowl and spoon.






What happened to the food mommy?

And this is what happens when you try to feed a tired baby!



He is such a big boy. Chris and I both agree that this is just such a FUN age. He laughs, plays, goes nuts in his excersaucer and loves to listen to stories. Gigi and Poppa got him a Johnny Jump Up and it's so funny to watch him in it because he hasn't quiet figured out how it works. He is reaching out and grabbing things and rolling over. The days of leaving him on the changing table for a second to grab something are O-V-E-R! He is just the most precious little angel. We are just so very thankful for him and thank God every day for our miracle. We love him 100,000 times more each day.



Carter LOVES his teachers at church. We love our church and look forward to bringing Carter on Sundays because they just love up on him and are so great with him. He gets to spend an hour with about 10 other babies just his age. It is so good for him to have the interaction and he learns so much!



He is also loving Miss Lara. She cares for him while we are at work and is so great with him. She does all of these neat assessments, etc to make sure that he is developing age appropriately (of course he goes above and beyond the normal :-)) She gives us a daily report and lets us know every little thing that he does. We couldn't ask for anything better and it's so nice to NOT have to worry about him! We are looking forward to spring break in a couple of weeks. We are taking Carter to Niceville to spend the week with Grandma and Grandpa. We cannot wait to put those little toes in the sand and play at the beach! We are also excited to introduce Carter to everyone there that he has not yet met.

I will do better at updating more often..promise!

Happy 2010!

Wow! What a busy and crazy past month! Where do I begin?? Lets start with the SUPER good news! Today Carter saw the G.I. Doctor to try to fix this constipation issue we have been having. He did an exam and a few tests and the good news is that there is nothing serious wrong! YAY! He tested Carter for food allergies and he does not have any so that is awesome. He said that Carter is still learning how to use his bowels and until he figures it out, we have to help him a little bit with some medicine. Mommy and Daddy were so happy to hear that it was nothing serious. PHEW! Also...he weighed baby boy and he weighs 13 whoppin pounds! Can you believe it? Speaking of pounds.................the baby weight is G-O-N-E! Yeehaww! Somehow I managed to lose all 30 pounds PLUS some extra...thank you breastfeeding :-) Here is Carter, all 13 pounds of love!


"This whole tummy time mat works GREAT for a nice nap, thanks Santa"

We had an awesome Christmas. We flew to Texas to spend some time with my parents and then drove to Arkansas with my family so that Carter can meet his super extended family. He met his great-grandparents, great-aunts/uncles, cousins, and long time friends of the family. Carter got to meet his cousin Emma who is just two weeks older than Carter. They were so cute. Of course we did a photo shoot, those pics to come later!


Poppa and GiGi got a cool train for the boys that goes around the Christmas tree!


All of our stockings!


Warn out after opening presents! Time for a nap!


Chris with Carter and Aiden

Carter did such a great job on the flight. Holy Moly, who ever thought that one little person would add so much stuff? We had a total of 5 suitcases, 2 carry ons each, diaper bag, pump, stroller and carseat. Try getting all of that (minus the 5 suitcases) through security. I felt sorry for the people behind us, it took us 12 bins to put all of our stuff in! On the way back we had to sit on the plane for 2 hours while they "fixed a problem on the plane" YIKES. The flight attendant told us that Carter was the best passenger! We wouldn't expect anything less :-) Here he is on his first flight. He is such a big boy!



The day after we got to my parents house, it started snowing like CRAAAZY! It ended up being a blizzard. On Christmas Eve we had pictures for Aiden and Carter. On the way home, it took us over 4 hours to drive about 10 miles! It was the craziest thing. Cars were sliding off the road left and right. Here is a pic!




Me and Mom, bored in the back!


Carter, not phased the LEAST!

Carter got some serious loot for Christmas. Santa hooked him up! He got clothes, toys, stuffed animals, bumbo seat, and even his very own savings bond! BUT, I have to admit that Santa brought the PERFECT gift for baby Carter.....his very own Sperrys! They are just like Daddy's and so cute. Check them out next to daddy's!


Well, maybe Carter's are a tad cleaner!



When we got back home I definitely had to do some cleaning out to make room for all of his new stuff. Plus, Grandma and Grandpa Albrecht came, which meant more loot for Carter! Sadly and tearfully, I packed away his preemie and newborn clothes. I didn't realize how sad it would make me. But I had to make room for all of his new, cute clothes. Whoever said boys clothes weren't cute? Oh my goodness, they are adorable! He looks like a little man in his little outfits. I love it! Here is a pic of Carter's first pair of pants compared to the pants he wears now. I didn't realize how tiny they were until now! They look like little doll clothes. I can't believe he wore preemie for almost a month!



I start back to work on Friday so Carter has spent a couple days at daycare with his new friends to get accustomed. Lara is WONDERFUL and loves and cares for Carter so well. There are 2 other little girls there. Claire is 1 1/2 and Natalie is 3. Carter is a ladies man :-) They love him and carry around their baby dolls to pretend they are taking care of Carter like Lara does. How cute is that?! I knew it would be hard, but I could not wait to go pick him up! I know it's good for him to be around the other kids, and it will get easier! I know he is in good hands and that's what matters most!

This past weekend we took Carter for his 3 month pictures. We cannot wait to get them back. They are so adorable. I mean adorrrabbble!!! He is changing so much. He's holding his head up, giggling and smiling, and soo close to rolling over! He loves to sit in his bumbo seat and play. I love to walk across the room and watch him follow me with his eyes. My favorite thing is when Chris gets home from work. As soon as Carter sees him he starts to giggle and gets the biggest smile on his face. It is so darn cute. Carter loves when Daddy reads to him at night, they are so cute. We had a little bump, but back on schedule so all is well with his sleeping. His nightly routine is bath at 7:00, bottle with daddy at 8:30 (sometimes he takes 7 oz!!!), asleep by 9:00-9:30 and wakes at 6:00! GO CARTER! It works for all 3 of us and makes us ALL happy people :-)

2009 was the best so far, so lets see if 2010 can top it! We are so excited for the new year and our new family. God has blessed us with so much to be thankful for! So, what is our best moment of 2009? Do you need to ask???!!

Tis' the season....

That quote says it all! He is a piece of Heaven! This picture was from our newborn pictures when Carter was just 8 days old! We have an amazing photographer who just loves Carter to death. We were also able to squeeze in some maternity pictures TWO DAYS before Carter decided he was ready to be here! She is so talented! www.vkp.me
Thanks Kathleen!











Yes we made it all 9 months without finding out the gender...best surprise EVER!




We even kept our names a secret. We made Kathleen swear to secrecy for this picture!




You would NEVER know I was covered in pee here :)














Ok, so here we go...this is so new to me but I've enjoyed reading my friend's blogs about their family and wanted to create one for us so that everyone can check up on baby Carter!

Carter is 10 weeks now. Last week we had his 2 month check up. I can't believe it's been 2 months since he made his debut. He is growing so fast and changing so much every day. His latest weight was 11 pounds, 6 ounces. He is 23 inches long. That's a huge change from the 5 pounds, 15 ounce boy we once had! Needless to say, those premie clothes are packed away! I'm so excited that he can wear cute little man outfits now and finally size 1 diapers! Jaundice is completely gone which we are SO thankful for. Praise the LORD! I know it is very common, but not something that a mother wants to go through with her child. He is still having reflux, but the prevacid is working so well. It's worth all of the $75 dollars! We are still loving our pediatrician. She is the best and cares so much about Carter. He is still having some tummy issues as he is still learning how to use his bowels. If he is having a tummy ache, Dr. F calls on her cell phone on the way home from work to check on her "little man". She also went to Florida State, which is a plus in this house :) On to better things....Carter is sleeping through the night now, YEAH! We stuff his little belly until we can't stuff any more, put him in his crib (yes we moved from the basinette next to mommy into his own bedroom) around 10:00 and he's out by 10:30 and wakes around 5:00-5:30 for a quick snack and back out until 8:00 or 9:00, depending when I wake him up. With all of that said...he is SUCH A GREAT BABY! He was referred to as the "chill baby" at the hospital and it totally fits his personality...he's just what we needed. This is so nice because I go back to work on January 15th and I require a full night's sleep :) Thanks Carter! I will post a video once I figure it out so that you all can hear the sounds that come from this little man when he's sleeping (sounds from BOTH ends-haha!) One of those he got from his daddy! Here is a picture of his little crib. He's the cutest...oh and check out his name, we had it made for him and it is so neat and all one piece!








Guess what? Santa Claus was making his Pre-Christmas rounds and decided to make a stop at the Albrecht's! He left Carter some goodies! YAY! Since we will be traveling for Christmas, we have special permission from Santa to have Christmas this Sunday night! Our church's Christmas program is Sunday morning so we're very excited for an awesome day. I would be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to seeing what Carter got me for Christmas. Yes, he is advanced and can already shop, wrap, and write on presents...amazing! One day he even left me a note! He's so special.




This outfit has been passed down from Chris' older brother Lucas, Chris, Elijah, and now Carter. Let me just say that those buttons were a little tight...my little chunker :)

This year we decided to start our own tradition and cut down a Christmas tree for Christmas. It was so much fun. We went with our friends Jim and Kathy and their daughter aka Carter's girlfriend Claire....Claire is 6 months old and the sweetest little girl. Here are some pics of our adventure. This was the first time I've busted out the Bjorn and how amazing is that thing! Whoever invented it should get a prize!


Daddy trying out the Bjorn, making sure it is safe :) I can't figure out how to turn this picture



"all ready mommy"



Kathy and I...it was SO cold! We had the babies bundled extra well..don't worry :)



Family Photo



Chris about to "dominate" our tree...see the seriousness?



Ta da! The finished product!



Carter is already loved by so many people. He has already had tons of visitors. He had several in the hospital and over the past 10 weeks has had several at the house. Last week, Aunt Alysha came and spent a week with us. She was so excited to meet Carter and brought him tons of prizes. We did a lot of Christmas shopping and she even babysit Carter so Chris and I could go on a date. We went to the Saints vs. Falcons game. Carter got daddy the tickets when he was born and we had a great time! Mommy's gift was a ring to add to my wedding set. He told me that the 3 rings represent our new family. See, I told you he was advanced! I love my boys!






Some of Carter's Special Visitors from out of town....



Grandma and Grandpa Albrecht



Gigi, Papa, and Aiden



Aiden LOVES his cousin Carter



Auntie Danielle and Uncle Josh (Josh, we NEED a picture of you with Carter!)



Aunt Linsey and Carter



Aunt Alysha and Carter



Aunt Jessie and Uncle Brian with Carter



Megan, Michaela, Kristin, Dolores, Sarah, and Carter

yes, Carter has 100 aunts and uncles :)

This year we are flying to my parents for Christmas. This will be our second trip with Carter. Our first trip was to NC for Thanksgiving to visit Uncle Lucas, Aunt Jen, and Elijah. We were so excited to introduce Carter to them and see their beautiful new house. Elijah loved Carter and was so cute walking around saying "Carter"...we couldn't find Elijah at one point and this is where we found him all nice and cozy....





He loved the swing that Jen had set up for Carter. He loved it so much that he even shared it with Carter...




Thanksgiving was a blast. It was the first time that we had seen Jen and Luke's new house. Also the first time we have seen Lucas since his last deployment. Chris was very excited. Lucas deep fried a turkey for the first time and he did a great job! It was delicious. We made all sorts of fixings and the most amazing apple pie ever! When we set down to eat, we gave thanks for all of our blessings...we are truly blessed! How lucky we are to have such great families, great friends, food to eat, and a roof over our heads.


Carter with Aunt Jen, Uncle Lucas, and Eli in the background

Have a very Merry Christmas. More to come after the holidays and Carter's 3 month pictures!