"I'm THREE!"
(A proclamation from Carter almost every day since his birthday. I wish we could all be this excited to age).

This post is long overdue, Carter turned three almost exactly one month ago and I still haven't posted any pictures! Without further ado, here is how his birthday went.

We started the day at John Ball Zoo. It was a great day to see the animals, it was a bit cool so everyone seemed to be out and about roaming their cages. It was also a week day, so it was not crowded and we took advantage of no lines and did a camel ride. Carter acted a little excited to do this ride but afterward he told me the camel was stinky. You can't get anything by a three year old. We also petted some stingrays, climbed on the wooden train, and ended with the obligatory photo on John Ball's lap. I have quite a few old pictures of me and Lee when we were little sitting on this same statue.

In the evening, we had a party at our house with family and friends. Grandpa and Grandma Jernstadt, Grandma Webb, Uncle Josh, Uncle Mark, Deb, Grandpa Mike, and the Burke family all came over to help us celebrate. Uncle Mark came over a bit early and let Carter open his present before everyone else arrived. It was a huge bouncy castle like you see at carnivals (but on a somewhat smaller scale). Carter was so excited to jump in it, he could hardly sit still for the two minutes it took to blow it up. Carter also received a ton of other fun presents from all the party-goers, toys which he is still playing with non-stop.

When we asked Carter what type of birthday cake he wanted for his birthday, he told us "a Lightening McQueen cake"...and so we bought a car cake mold and Dave decorated it to match Lightening. That's supposed to be a "3" in the upper right corner...not a random letter "m."

Half A Year!



Mia turned 6 months old today. Hard to believe we're half way to her first birthday already! I know I've said it before, but Mia is an incredibly good baby - very flexible and good natured. She has been very healthy and at her last Dr.'s appointment (end of August) she weighed close to 16 lbs. which was right in the middle of the pack percentage wise. As far as sleeping goes, we call her our little teenager. She goes to bed around 8pm and we usually have to wake her up for daycare around 7am on the week days. On the weekends she usually sleeps until 8am. Physically she is getting stronger and more coordinated every day. She mastered sitting up by herself right at the 5 month mark and now she can sit for long periods of time while playing with toys. She also acts very interested in crawling - she tries very hard to move when she's on her stomach. I think she is really close to scooting. She still loves watching her older brother play and run. In years to come, I think a lot of her motivation to learn new things will be due to watching her older brother do it.

Mia also started eating real baby food about a month ago. We started with veggies and moved to fruits and she's pretty much through the whole spectrum of flavors. She definitely prefers the vegetables at this point (just like her brother always did), we just don't have any sweet tooth babies in this house. I think carrots are her favorite so far, the couple times we fed her carrots she went nuts. I couldn't shovel them in her mouth fast enough and she would eat the entire jar at each sitting. Carter loves to help feed Mia, he thinks it's hilarious that she gets so messy when she eats.

Something that cracks Dave and I up is the fact that Mia is obsessed with remote controls...sound familiar? We have another Carter on our hands. Anytime she sees a remote lately she starts grunting and squealing and grabbing for it. She's happiest when she can just stare and play with one.

Here she is playing on our bed with Carter and her remote.

This was taken about a month ago when she first started sitting up by herself.

We had a fall or two.

That last thing that I must mention is her hair. I cannot believe how fast her hair grows. This picture doesn't do it justice. I'll try to do a separate hair post coming up. It is getting so long in the back and on the sides, and I love figuring out new ways to put it in barrettes and pony tails (the pony tails are still a bit scraggly but she sports a great little sprout on top of her head). Lately after her bath I've noticed it's a tremendous problem combing through her hair. She gets the worst knots and tangles...I think I'm going to have to get some of that "no-tangle" shampoo already!

Happy 6 month birthday Mia!!