5 months!

Are you thinking what I'm thinking? 5 months...There's no way Carson is 5 months old. Well my friends, it's true. Our little man is starting to become a medium man! Here's a recap of what's going on with the little guy:

• Length/height: About 17 inches long
• Diapers: Size 2, and he's still burning through them like they're free
• Clothes: Lots. Right now he's wearing mostly 6 month clothes, everything else is too short! I am having SO much fun getting him dressed everyday. The boy looks cute in everything :)
• Eating: Right now Carson is still taking 7 oz. of formula at most feedings, but it sometimes once or twice a day he only takes about half of that. For a few weeks he was eating cereal at night, but Monday he started eating oatmeal cereal, mixed with homemade applesauce, twice a day. He has his first bowl around lunch time and his second around 5ish. He LOVES the new cereal and I can't blame him. I tried a bite of it yesterday and if it didn't have the applesauce in it I'm pretty sure it would have tasted like cardboard.
• Development: It seems that Carson has got a new trick nearly everyday! The latest being standing up. This past weekend he started putting all of his weight on his legs and standing up (of course we have to hold him under his arms). He looks SO tall when he stands up...I love it! The little guy is into his feet right now too! Carson has not yet mastered the whole rolling over thing. Actually, he seems to have no interest in it at all. He rolls to his side all of the time but that's it. As a matter of fact, he's been sleeping on his side quite a bit :) As stated in a previous post Carson is using his Exer-saucer now, and he just loves it! He has also started really reaching for things. He's been doing this for a while but it seems that in the last couple days he's doing it even more, my mashed potatoes at dinner the other night for example. haha When he's playing on the floor he will roll to his side and reach out for a toy that is laying close by....too cute! Of course we still have a smiley baby on our hands! If you smile at him, he's going to smile back :) His "talking" has changed somewhat lately, instead of it being the high pitched squeals it's now more like grunting or something funny. He's trying SO hard to make words! And his laugh...oh my his laugh...the guy can just melt your heart with his laugh. Carson is really ticklish these days. His feet, his belly, and under his neck get him every time! So cute!
• Teeth: No teeth yet... He is drooling LOTS and wanting to chew and bite on everything he can get his hands on. We feel like they will be coming soon :)
  
• Appearance: Cuter than ever. As you can tell from all of my pictures we've definitely got a blondie on our hands! His hair is really filling in and getting thicker, which in turn is causing the mohawk to get longer! haha We're still keeping our fingers crossed that the little guy gets his momma's thick hair! Carson still has blue eyes, although they aren't really the dark navy blue they were for so long, now they are more like the color of my eyes, a bluish-gray.

Carson has truly been a blessing and everyday we love him more! We've got a busy weekend coming up with a trip to Owensboro, WKU Homecoming, and Carson's first Halloween! I can't wait to see him in his costume! What's he going to be? Well, I hate to spill the beans completely so I'll give you a hint: He's white, wears a hat, and says, "He heeee!"

An apple a day...

I said I would do it. I thought I would do it. I did it. I made baby food. I know some of you were probably quite skeptic when I stated wayyyy back mid way through my pregnancy that I was actually going to make Carson's baby food. Over the last week or so Carson hasn't been real enthused while eating his plain ol' rice and oatmeal cereal so yesterday we kicked it up a notch! I made homemade applesauce and mixed a little into his cereal, and like magic, he gobbled it up! I was surprised at how simple it was to make the applesauce. To be honest, I'm not quite sure why people actually buy the stuff in a jar? All it takes is coring, peeling, and slicing the apples; then steaming them, and mashing them. Wha-la Applesauce. No sugar, no preservatives, just apples. I love it!

I can't wait to start trying other foods! Next weekend we plan on trying carrots :) Carson however doesn't want to wait that long. Last night we were eating dinner, Carson was in my lap of course, and he literally grabbed a huge handful of mashed potatoes off of my plate! It was hilarious!

I challenge all of the Mom's out there to try, just once, to make your own applesauce. You'll see how easy it really is :)

House guests

This weekend we had two extra bodies in our house :) Our friends Tara and Chris came to visit from Bowling Green! They got in town Friday night and were here until Sunday around dinner time! They were our first house guests we've got to really "show-off" our new city too! We had fun visiting a few St. Louis landmarks! Of course our first stop was....you guessed it....the Arch! We didn't actually go up in it this time because we didn't feel like waiting until the next tour started so we just enjoyed the pretty day in the park for a little while! Of course we captured a few pictures...This was Carson's first trip to the arch! My goal is to take a picture, every October of our family in this exact same spot :)

After the arch came the next best thing in St. Louis... The Anheuser-Busch Brewery! Tara, Chris, and Carson had never been on the tour of the brewery before so they all enjoyed seeing the place and learning about the massive quantities of beer they have there. haha

After a full day of site seeing around town we headed back to our casa for a beers, pizza, and football. Combined with the good company and of course our smiley baby it was a perfect night! Sunday we did a little shopping at the St. Louis Mills outlet mall, and then dropped of Tara and Chris at the airport :) We really had a great weekend and enjoyed having them stay....Hopefully they'll be back soon!

They did however make us a wee bit jealous while they were here. Both days they slept until 9:00 am. What? Who does that? We can't even remember the last time we slept that late..... On Sunday we had already fed and played with Carson, went to get donuts, and ran in Target for some meds before they woke up. My goodness, Carson had already taken a nap before they got up. We are jealous. Maybe someday we'll be able to sleep in again, probably when Carson is in college...

On a side note: In my previous post Hook em' Horns I explained Carson's way of pacifying himself :) This weekend while we were wandering around the museum that's under the Arch we ran into this huge replica of a longhorn. Carson, being the photogenic little guy he is, knew exactly what Mommy was trying to capture in this picture.

This might very well be my favorite picture of Carson to date. It really doesn't get much better than that. I love this guy!

Hangin' with Mommy

I know that being a stay-at-home Mommy isn't for everyone but it is for this one! I couldn't be happier staying at home with my little man :) I feel like I totally "get him" because I'm with him ALL day! I get to see everything he does, all of the faces he makes, and I know (most of the time) what every little cry means. I love my job. I love my job. I love my job.

I know Carson loves having me here with him everyday too! How do I know, you ask? Well, it's the smile on his face and the excitement in his eyes when I get him up from a nap, the relaxation of our daily walks, the frequent photo shoots (Yes he likes these...what child of mine wouldn't?), and of course he loves having a playmate! I get reminded several times in a day how much he loves me. I guess I need to bottle up all of these faces and gestures and save them for when the day comes that I'm no longer "cool". haha I love it when I'm sitting in James' chair watching tv and I look down at Carson playing on the floor and I see this little face:

Another reason Carson loves having a stay-at-home Mommy is shopping of course! He loves being out & about! I haven't decided if he actually likes to "shop" or if its just the constant change of scenery that he loves. Either way we enjoy our little outings each day. For now they are centered around where Mommy wants to go:

Call me selfish but he doesn't seem to mind :)

I feel that my time of going where I want to go is limited. Now Carson can't give me the whole "Mom can we go now?" and I don't have to bribe him into shopping with me, "Carson, if you've good I will buy you ice cream when we get done." Before long we'll be spending our after lunch play time here:

or here:

or playing in this:

No worries, when this day comes I will love my job even more :)

My new toy!

This past weekend we decided it was time for Carson to try out his Exer-saucer!

The first time in he wasn't quite sure what to think...
I'm pretty sure this is his, "Uh, Mom...Dad...What is this thing?" face.

By day two of using the saucer he's having a blast! His favorite part are those three little circles (When you press them, they squeak!)
He hasn't really learned that if he jumps or bounces it will make the whole thing bounce. He loves it when we push down on it and bounce it ourselves! I can't wait to see the look on his face when he figures it out :)

"Trix are for kids"

Lately Carson has added to his bag-o-tricks! The original trick of course is flashing that big gummy grin which I'm sure, if you've met the guy, you've seen it! He is still just as smiley as he has ever been! I can't wait until he has some teeth to show off with that smile :)

Daddy has taught Carson another trick...Blowing bubbles! We've been working on this one for a while and he's getting pretty good. See for yourself:

Well, ok I know now it's a little more like blowing spit, or drool, but everyone once in a while a little bubble comes out... Guess its a trick in progress!

And the latest trick is moving and scooting his body around. No, he's not crawling, but he does seem to move around quite a bit when you lay him down on his back. I laid him down on the floor this morning like this...And less than five minutes later he was like this...

See what I mean...Pretty tricky huh?

Hook 'em Horns

Mommy and Daddy both went to Western, but apparently our little guy wants to be a Longhorn...? I'm not sure where he gets his burnt orange pride from. Only thing we can figure is that our old neighbor, Josh was teaching him this trick behind our back...

We love this trick because this is what Carson uses to "pacify" himself! He doesn't use a paci, just his horns! They are always with us and they never fall on the ground. Did you know that if you suck on your fingers it makes your nails grow faster? Yes, it's true ladies! The nails on Carson's two sucking fingers have to get clipped about twice as often as the others. If you see Carson rooting on the Longhorns you know it's either time for a nap, or about time to eat. He's pretty predictable anymore...I love this guy!

"Fall"ing behind...

The last few weeks have been crazy busy for the Harper's :) I just haven't had the time to sit down and "blog" about all that we've had going on! I promise I will update soon...But in the mean time I have a little something to share:

Yes! We are having an absolute BLAST with this little guy! I can't get enough of him and I'm pretty sure nobody else can either ;)

My boy is getting big!

It seems like Carson is getting bigger everyday! We love it that he's finally into his toys :) He has a talking puppy that Mimi and Poppy got him and he just started checking out yesterday, of course he loves it! He has also started using some of his other fun things we registered for...

Since he started eating cereal last Wednesday we've been using our highchair, which looks too cute in our new place :) (Holli & Stacey- No, this is not the highchair I registered that you got me, I saw this one not to long ago and thought it was way cuter so I switched it! haha)

Carson is getting SO much stronger too :) It's sooo nice that he can support his head! It makes him SO much easier to hold and carry around :) Because our little man is big and strong he is using his new stroller, he loves it and so does Mommy because it makes toting around a stroller much easier.

Does he look huge or what?!?!

Our little guy is also into anything that makes noise, the singing/talking puppy I mentioned above, his bug thingy that sings and flashes lights, and the list goes on! He enjoys laying in his bed playing with his toys :)

Before we know it this guy is going to be riding his bike around the neighborhood!