Malibu Memories and More!

Sona turned 30 (woohoo!) and rented a beach house in Malibu and was kind enough to invite us to join the party. It was an amazing night and we all had a blast.
Here are some pics of the awesome view:

Here we are with the birthday girl!

Carter was the life of the party....but then he crashed:

Dave got him to take a nap in a hammock (what a life!)

Here are just some pictures that were so cute I couldn't resist adding them to the end of this post. The first one is Carter in his own version of a "snuggie" which has been a great purchase since he absolutely refuses to be swaddled anymore!

And lastly, this picture cracks me up. I put him in his tough guy pajamas (they have a fake tattoo on the arm that says "Mommy.") When I went to take his picture, he gave me his best "tough guy" look!

Fun, Fun, Fun!

Carter is becoming interactive--he smiles and giggles and makes super cute baby noises. We love playing with him and watching him analyze everything that is going on around him. He started to get on a better schedule thanks to our pediatrician who asked us, "What time is his bedtime?" Dave and I kinda looked at each other and were like... "Well, um... I guess around 10:00, or whenever he falls asleep... uh.." It was pretty hilarious. As new parents, we had fallen into a newborn routine of waking and feeding every 3 hours so a bedtime seemed pretty pointless! Anyway, we finally established a flexible bedtime of 8:00. Last night he fed at 8:00pm, fell asleep and didnt wake to eat again until 1:30AM. 5.5 hours! It was amazing.

4 Months!

Today Carter is 4 months old. He weighs 9 lbs! He is still the best baby in the world. Today he took a 3 hour nap in his swing so that I could work. He never used to like the swing very much, but I found out that it reclines all the way back and now he loves it.

We Made It!

Well, we all survived my first week back to work... and we had many obstacles thrown at us. I feel much more confident now, especially knowing that it will probably never be as hard as it was last week! Dave had the flu ALL week, so basically I felt like a single working mom! But we survived and even managed to have a family day on Sunday. Carter and I watched Dave do some gardening, then we all went to El Torito for a delicious dinner. It was the first time we have gone to a sit-down restaurant and I was nervous... Carter, being the best baby in the world, slept the whole time and was pretty content. He is definitely growing bigger and becoming more aware of what's going on around him. Harmony and Jesse bought him a bouncy chair that has forest animals hanging from it. He finally is starting to interact with the animals (I call them his friends.) He smiles and reaches for them and makes all sorts of cute noises. It's so adorable!

Carter has also discovered that he has a tongue, and sticks it out all the time!

Here he is in a cute outfit from his Grandma:

And finally, this is a picture of all of us last night... exhausted from our long week!

A New Roof

We are getting a new roof today. They started at 7AM. I never knew the extent of construction noise until now. There is really no way of explaining how loud it is. It sounds as though our house is falling down and it is relentless. I hope it is finished today because I really don't know if I can endure another day of this. Here is a picture of our back patio after only a few hours of work:

Positive note: I am SO thankful that I have the best baby in the world who sleeps through anything!

Carter's Newborn Pictures

Check these photos out! Taken by Heather at Light Art Photography in Lake Forest, CA. She is amazing and I strongly recommend her for any of your family (or pet!) photography needs.

http://lightart.us/slideshows/Hill_Carter_Newborn_Showit/

Picnic with Grayson

Today we took Carter to visit Grayson. Dave and I picked up some lunch and we had a little picnic. It was nice to finally have our family together again, even if it had to be under these circumstances. It was hard on us to go there but being close to Grayson seems to help me feel a sense of peace, at least for a moment. I know that Carter shares a special bond with Grayson and I plan to always remind him of his brother and how much we love him and the special place that he has in our family.

Happy Monday

The exhaustion is finally getting to me. I am sooo absent-minded lately! I forgot to bring bottles to my mom's house but managed to remember to bring them to Dave's parents house, only to forget them there when we left! A testament to my exhaustion: I nursed Carter last night at 1:00AM, and put him over my shoulder to burp him. All of a sudden he was getting fussy like he wanted to eat again. I couldn't figure out how he could still be hungry until I looked at the clock. It was 3:30AM! Two and a half hours had passed with him asleep on my shoulder and me completely oblivious that any time had elapsed!
I start work again next Monday. I am SO lucky that I work for such a great company that lets me work from home. I just hope Carter gets on board with the transition and lets me have some time to work!
Here are some cute pictures from last week: