Be vewy, vewy quite, I'm hunting Chwistmas twees

Carter went on his first ever Christmas tree hunt this weekend and it was a great success. The weather even cooperated and it was cold enough to wear sweaters! We went next door to gather the Carter's friend Nathan and the rest of the Jernigans. We all carvaned out to the Alabama wilderness to the Wadsworth Christmas Tree Farm. It is a bit of a hike, but not surprisingly the only Christmas tree farm around down here in the land of the fake trees. We once again settled on a beautiful Leland Cyprus which makes a beautiful Christmas tree and smells wonderful. Carter was pretty impressed with our tree selection and was so worn out he slept the whole way home (which he almost never does). It was a great day.

An Alabama Thanksgiving

It may be a little late, but we have to recap our excellent Thanksgiving here in Alabama. Our friends Wes and Chrysi invited us to meet them in Cullman AL at Wes's sister and brother-in-law's house. We went up on Thanksgiving morning and Cooper quickly found out he was woefully overdressed for deep frying turkeys and skeet shooting. (See a video of Wes shooting here) It was a fun time. Later in the day, Carter had his first taste of turkey and really seemed to enjoy it. It was also out first opportunity to meet Wes and Chrysi's new daughter ( and Carter's future girlfriend) Madelyn. She is such a cutie! Carter wasn't nearly as interested in eating as he was with keeping up with the "big boys". He had no fear of getting right into the mix and occasionally reduced the older boys to tears for being in their "section". As they did in NJ, Wes and Chrysi's family took us in and made us feel so comfortable. Hopefully someday we can repay all their kindness.

Carter's Gone Batty

Carter's first Halloween was a great success. We found him a bat costume from Old Navy and he looked very cute. We think he was actually a little hot in the costume, but once we got outside, he didn't seem to mind the heavy fleece. We didn't take him trick or treating (as a lot of people around here do with their babies) but he did sit with us outside while we handed out candy. We combined forced with our neighbors who brought their son over and we all handed out candy in front of our house. We probably had close to 200 or so kids (and teenagers) come by. Everyone seemed to think the two babies were very cute in their costumes. We agree.

Cater and Emily's Trip to Fairport

Off to Fairport

Carter and Emily made a trip to Fairport during the weekend of Columbus day to the following Sunday. It was Carter's second airplane ride and he did great. Cooper was not able to go due to work issues. It was also Emily's first time traveling alone with Carter and it was a success.
In Fariport, they got to visit with Grammie and Grandpa and Uncle Tim and Aunt Hannah, see Bob and Inez, Linda, Maggie, Gregg and Abby. It was a whirlwind tour and as always seemed like it was over before it began. We are all looking forward to Christmas when we can travel together.
You can see all the photos by clicking here.

FedEx to Fairport

We are only joking, but every once and a while the thought is tempting. We came particularly close the other night...

Grandma and Grandaddy Visit

Grandma and Grandaddy came to visit two weekends ago and it was a lot of fun. In addition to getting to see family, we took advantage of one of the few cultural opportunities Montgomery has to offer. We all went to the Rosa Parks museum to learn about a true American hero. The exhibits were very well done and we all learned a lot. On Saturday night we tried one of the newest restaurants in Montgomery and were pleasantly surprised by the service and the quality of the food. Overall it was another great visit with our families.

We love our Quinny

This is the type of thing that we promised ourselves we would never get so excited about, but we just can't help it. The time has finally come for Carter to stop travelling around in the infant carrier. He has just gotten too big (and heavy!). With the loss of the infant carrier the snap and go is also now out of the picture. We had thought for a long time that we would go with a Maclaren. After some thought we decided to take a look a round and see what else was out there. We were forced to conducted a lot of Internet research since there are no decent baby stores around here. Finally we found a stroller that we thought we could love, and we do. We settled on the Quinny Zapp which is the smallest folding stroller in the world. It only weighs 10 pounds and folds up into its own storage bag. You can even fit it in the overhead compartment on a plane. It is so easy to push and seems like it will be a dream to travel with. You can see a video of it in action at this YouTube link.

Carter 6-8 Months

A collection of pictures of Carter from the last two months.

You Have to Crawl Before You Can Walk (part 2)

HE DID IT!

Another Great Visit

Cooper's sister came to visit with the boys this last week. It made for quite a lot of activity around here. We had plans to go to the zoo on Saturday, but topical storm Fay put a stop to that plan. Instead, the new Bass Pro Shop had to take its place. They have a very large freshwater aquarium with local fish and its fed by a two story water fall. You can check it out here Jamie and Emily baked some cookies on Saturday and Cooper took Jamie to the great Prattville recycling center as well. It was sad when everyone left and now we are back to three.

First Friends

Carter had a chance this past weekend to spend time with the first person he's met close to his age. Our new next door neighbors have a 6 month old son Nathan. We went over there Sunday evening and it was the first time one of the boys had not been sleeping. They played on the floor and were very interested in what the other was doing. They then had a contest to see who could have the more complete melt-down when bed time was getting close. We think Carter won for sure.

Splish - Splash

Carter had his first chance to go swimming this past weekend and he loved it! We went to a party at a co-worker's house and they had a very nice pool in the backyard. We bought Carter some swimming diapers and in he went. We was a little unsure about what to do and pretty much just wanted to hang on to daddy and watch what the big kids were doing. After a little while he decided he had had enough of the big pool and went to check out the girls at the kiddie pool.

The Big Bounce

Carter loves his exercise/bouncy seat. Check out this video.



Don't forget you can always see all Carter's videos by visiting our YouTube Channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/coopersteele

Life's a Peach

Even though it may seem we constantly gripe and complain about the things we don't like about Alabama, there is one redeeming quality: great peaches. Peaches are in season now and we picked some up at the local farmers market. They are SOOOO good. We bought a whole basket and decided to freeze them so we can enjoy them in the coming months.

You Have to Crawl Before You Can Walk

Carter is really trying to get the hang of this crawling thing. As you can see from the video he is almost there.

Faces

Yummy Yummy

Yesterday, Carter tried solid foods for the first time. Up to this point he has led a rather boring culinary existence with only milk and formula. As you can see from the picture the first food was sweet potatoes. He seemed more curious than really interested in actually eating them. It was fun to see him take a bite and then be surprised at the texture in his mouth. He probably only actually ate 2 tablespoons or so, but for the first time ever, he did very well.

Rollin, Rollin, Rollin

Carter woke up this morning and decided today would be the day to figure out if he rolled over more than once, he could get somewhere. It takes a little while between rolls, so we used the camera to make a time-lapse video. Next up...crawling!

Wood Works

Cooper has finally finished the bookcase and side table for Carter's room. Both are made from cherry wood and have oil and varnish finishes. They match the crib and changing table giving the room a unified look. As you can see we also hung some new pictures in Carter's room and made some other changes. We are finally starting to feel like the nursery is complete; six months after the baby was born. Better late than never.

Another Video Slideshow

Over the River and Through the Woods

And on a plane and multiple car rides to grandmother's house we go. Actually we went to all the grandmother's houses. We have just returned from Carter's first trip: a whirlwind tour of three states, multiple family visits and a baptism.

Carter did remarkably well on his first plane ride when we left from Atlanta on the morning of 15 May:

We arrived in Vermont and jumped into our very(free) upgraded car and drove to Aunt Mary and Uncle Ernie's house. While in Vermont Carter got to meet his Great-Grandmother (Steele) as well as Andy, Betsy, Dana and Lucy.

We drove back to Massachusetts with Grandma and Grandaddy (Steele) but stopped in Fairlee VT to meet Aunt Caroline.

It was then on to Princeton for a week long visit there. Catherine and the boys came mid-week to meet Carter. Click here to see a video of Carter playing with his cousins.

Uncle Chris came up on Friday and the entire Sorge clan came on Saturday to make quite the gathering. Sunday was Carter's baptism at the First Congregational Church in Princeton. Everyone got dressed up and looked very nice.
After a nice reception back at the house, we loaded up into the Sorge bus for the 6 hour trip back to Fairport.

In Fairport, Carter got to spend lots of time with Grammy and Grandpa, Uncle Tim and Aunt Hannah and Melisa. He also got to meet Bob and Inez, all the Sommers family and a whole bunch of other people (probably most of Fairport). Another highlight to the trip was a side visit to Corning to meet Great Grandma and Grandpa Sorge.

They were so happy to meet their first great-grandchild and Carter was more than happy to show off as usual. Soon the entire visit was over and we found ourselves once again going back to Alabama.

This is a pretty short recap of a very busy trip.

You can see all the pictures from the trip by clicking this link

And you can see all the videos from the trip by clicking this link

It ain't over till...

IT HAS HAPPENED! Emily has FINALLY finished her Master's of Science in Nursing. While the overall program was finished exactly on time, the emotional journey seemed much longer. On Saturday, Emily and I were able to attend her graduation up at UAB. It was held in a huge arena where the university basketball team plays. Neither of us had ever been to such a large graduation. Overall there were about 1000 graduates there and they called off each and every name.

As you can see from the picture with the arrow, it was hard to pick out your family member in the crowd.

Through the magic of text messaging, we were finally able to spot each other. I was not in a good position to get a picture of her on stage, but I did manage to get a video of her name being called (and me yelling congratulations). They conferred all the degrees to the entire arena all at once and only gave out hand shakes on stage. The ceremony lasted from 2:00 to 4:30 and where were certainly glad when it was over.

Our friends Bryan and Julie were kind enough to watch Carter all day for us and then host a small party with some of our friends to celebrate, champagne and all. To see the rest of the pictures and videos, click here.

Congratulations Emily!

You Must be at Least This Tall

Carter probably won't be getting on any amusement park rides anytime soon. In the meantime, at least he has Mommy.

Rock and Roll

Carter rolled over on his own for the first time on Saturday! He did it three times in a row and we caught the third time on video. We are so proud of him and he is obviously the most advanced baby ever.

Grandma and Grandaddy Came to Visit

Grandma and Granddaddy Steele came to visit Carter (and us) last weekend. It was Granddaddy's first chance to meet Carter and everyone had a great time. We spent a lot of time just hanging out with Carter, but did manage to take on outing. On Saturday we went to the Montgomery Home Builders Show and the new convention center in down-town. The show itself was a little disappointing, but the new convention center was impressive. You can see some more pictures from the visit by clicking here.