And Then There Were Two

Ryan Steven Carter was born November 20th, 8:49 am. Everything turned out fine and we were able to bring him home on the 21st. The measurements were 8lb 7.4oz; 19.5 inches long; 15.25 inches head. We just went to see the doctor for a check up today and he measured 21 inches; so the first measurement seemed a bit off because he'd didn't grow a whole inch and a half in less than a week. He looks very different than his brother--I had a hard time picturing a non-Trevor looking baby, but he's definitely his separate self. He has a whole bunch of hair that's thick, dark and slightly curly and blue eyes for now.


















































Trevor is not sure about this whole big brother thing quite yet. He's become very good at strokes and soft touches and likes to visit with his brother for short amounts of time. Every morning and after nap the first thing he asks is "where's my baby?". I guess the nurses got a kick out of him in the maternity wing--he was super chatty and very diligent about washing his hands (that is a very admirable trait to them).































The grandparents are here and very helpful so both boys can get a bit more attention and I can get a bit more sleep. I'm still very boring now as I am not supposed to lift more than 10 pounds for a month and a half or so. I think Trev is sick of the phrases "careful" and "watch out!". He's got plenty of baking and decorating plans made with grandma and grandpa is able to get some extra throwing around time in with him; despite that he has now announced that "I no like football!".

Last Hoorah for Three

John had a conference in LA this week, and I was officially off work so Trev and I got to tag along. It worked out pretty well. I was (as always) worried about nap times, but Trevor managed to sleep in the car going down and back just fine. It was actually harder in the hotel because of the big window and all the airplanes flying by (we were near the airport). But I'm probably way more interested in napping than anyone reading this, so...

We went to Santa Monica the first day--going down the pier and to the beach. Trevor liked the beach and found the birds eerily not scared of him. When he'd get really close I don't think he quite knew what to do. We took him on the ferris wheel, which was very exciting--seemed like the down trips were the most fun. And he liked looking at the ocean at a safe distance.





































On our last day we went over to Venice Beach for the morning where the ocean was a little more scary. John took him out closer to the waves and one managed to touch his feet so he started crying and running back to me farther up. John was not able to lure him back closer to the water; even with the promise of mud and sand castles. When he was looking at the pictures today he was still referring to the 'scary ocean' and how it 'comes to get him'. Maybe next year.

We're planning on having the baby this Thursday sometime, so we're gearing up for it. I plan to accomplish an amazing amount of things on Monday. So we'll see. I think technically if we had a baby to bring home now it would be just fine; but I would like the house to be a little more pretty. We're still telling Trevor stories about bringing his baby brother home and the latest was in the car explaining how baby brother will sit next to him in the backseat. So he was agreeing and pointing to where the car seat would go and then adds "baby don't talk though". So we agreed that babies indeed do not talk. And then he added "I show baby how to talk". It was pretty cute.

Happy Halloween!

Trevor ended up having two Halloween days--one at daycare the day before and then one on Halloween. I was in Apple Valley and didn't get to go to the daycare event but John got to go over and help out and play along a bit. From his description it seemed like a pretty serious affair with lots of time spent looking in the candy bag to see what was there. When I saw him at home he was pretty excited to tell about getting candy from doors and his friend wearing a hat (John explained she was a witch).



























John took video too... at the beginning he's commenting on the doors that don't have candy, then he hears airplanes (they hear them a lot since the daycare is on base), then he's correcting one of the teachers that he's not a dragon, he's a dinosaur (which seems obvious, I don't know what she was thinking).



Halloween at home actually took a bit of convincing in getting him to trick or treat at home. We put the costume on and I told him that we were going to say trick or treat to houses and they'd give him candy. He was pretty insistant that there was candy in the bowl (that we were passing out)and we should get it from there instead. Which, technically I guess that would be the easier way over all. But he went along with doing it the hard way anyways. He'd say "trick or treat" before the door opened, but that was about it. A few people asked him if he could say trick or treat and he said "yes". He appreciated the Halloween decorations people had outside and talked a lot about one of our neighbor's "scarey windows". And of course, the candy was good.