First Month – Summary and Photo Dump

Little Carter Anthony Jay has been with us for over a month now.  He took his first bath at 5 days old, was able to lift his head and move it from side to side at 9 days old, lost his umbilical cord stump at 12 days old, and grew out of newborn diapers at 25 days old.  Carter is a snuggle bunny and is happiest being held, which translates into lots of time in our arms or in a carrier (Bjorn, moby, or sling), but he is also a huge fan of his swing.  He gets swaddled at night and sleeps fairly well in his pack n play, usually with one middle of the night wake up and one wake up about an hour before it is time for everyone to get up, but he doesn’t usually like to nap in the pack n play during the day.  Carter seems to be a little more difficult than Graham was; he doesn’t sleep quite as well, is not as independent, and has more fussy periods, but I’m absolutely embracing the phase that Carter is in and I’m enjoying it much more than I did with Graham because I know it will pass so quickly and my newborn will be gone forever.  Carter doesn’t like his car seat when he is first strapped in and when he is not moving, but he sleeps peacefully once the car is in motion. In general, Carter is a good and easy baby, I just need to remember to evaluate him on objective standards instead of Graham standards
Managing both boys has been easier than I expected, but I attribute that to Carter’s love and willingness to fall asleep for hours in carriers and Graham’s continued 4 hour naps.  Carter goes back to sleep quickly and easily after waking up for food in the night, so I feel like I’m actually getting more sleep than I was in the latter stages of my pregnancy with the insomnia and frequent trips to the bathroom.  Graham is incredibly sweet with Carter.  He tries to rock Carter, burp Carter, or offer Carter his pacifier, and will sing a lullaby if Carter is crying.  Graham has been extremely understanding when he has been told that he needs to wait or forgo an activity or story because Baby Brother needs attention.  Carter has picked up a few nicknames including Baby Brother, BB (short for Baby Brother), Card-ski, Chi-ter, and Cartier. 
  
Here are all the rest of the photos and videos to share from the first month of sweet baby Carter’s life.  No particular order is how we roll at this point ;)

My mom and Mark and Alethea paying Carter a visit at the hospital (1st day of life):

My first walk with both boys.  I carried Carter in the sling while Graham pushed his tricycle.  We walked to a neighborhood playground and met up with Alethea and Nick who drove Graham and his tricycle home while I walked back with Carter (18 days old):

We took a picture of Graham when he was 9 days old in almost this exact same pose (outfit and all).  It is crazy how much these two boys look alike (20 days old):

Speaking of looking alike, here are Nick’s baby pictures.  What do you think?  Like father, like son?:

Cater with some visitors at the house, including my sister who drove up for two days of baby/Graham watching and Tammy pampering time (6 days old, 13 days old, 14 days old, 23 days old):

Showing off his post-bath Mohawk (1 month, 5 days old):

Some pictures showing how small Carter is compared to his changing pad and wearing one of our favorite outfits from when Graham was a baby (21 days old):

Cute (18 days old):

Awww (8 days old):

Little, then slightly bigger toes (2 days old, 13 days old, 25 days old):

I’ve been absolutely obsessed with taking sleeping pictures, so here are a bunch (all from the first month of life) to enjoy:

Looks like head shots are my other obsession:

Snuggling with my little one on my birthday (23 days old):

Carter’s first videos.  These videos show Carter’s scrunched little alien face doing some awkward things on the 2nd day of his life, but I love watching his brand new self just learning how to manage living in such a strange new environment (2 days old):

Cater at his second doctor’s appointment.  Stats: 9 lbs, 7 oz (55th percentile), 21.5 inches (63rd percentile), 14.57 inch head (58th percentile).  (21 days old):

Video of our tummy time star lifting up his head and moving it from one side to the other.  The first time he did this was at only 9 days old (1 month, 1 day old):

My first walk with Carter in the jogging stroller (8 days old):

Daddy reading his boys a book (G: 2 years, 7 months, 20 days old / C: 9 days old):

My first outing with both boys was to Graham’s swim lesson.  It was exhilarating to successfully survive the outing.  It was also our first time testing out the ‘around town’ double stroller and managing both boys in a shopping cart.  Everything went really well!  At swimming, I let Carter stretch out and watch his brother (if you look carefully, in one of the pictures, you can see Graham in the pool doing his crab walks).  After a brief cry, Carter loved the stretching time, and Graham LOVED the stroller with his new ‘standing’ option and also seemed to enjoy the cart; flashing his goofy picture smile (G: 2 years, 7 months, 21 days old / C: 10 days old):

Our first dinner out as a family of four (G: 2 years, 7 months, 23 days old / C: 12 days old):

One of these boys is bigger than the other (17 days old):

I snuck in a few x-rated pictures during Carter’s naked photo shoot (7 days old):

Daddy and Carter catching a snooze together; asleep with iPhone in hand (8 days old):

Ahhh, my first glorious cocktail (a pomegranate margarita at Carlitos) after abstaining for many long months.  My mom and sister were both in town, allowing Nick and me to sneak out for a date night:

Carter checking out his new giraffe buddy from Grammy and Grandpa (3 days old):

Video of a sleepy little boy.  This video is long and not terribly eventful, but I wanted to capture some infant sleep, given that I know this stage will be gone in the blink of an eye (21 days old):

These go down as some of my favorite pictures to date (2 days old, 4 days old, 8 days old and 27 days old):