Well my precious babe is now almost 7 months old.  I have been slacking at writing in this journal because I forgot my password and login information but I figured it out :)  Memory loss lately, gotta love it.

A lot has happened since I wrote last.  Whew, I don't even know where to start.

Carter has severe eczema.  It was to the point where he was scratching himself, causing it to bleed on his legs, face, head, arms - everywhere.  They would then scab up, itch and he would scratch again.  A problem that was going nowhere.  He was also not sleeping, crying constantly. 

Carter also developed a weird rash/skin disorder on top of the eczema.  So I brought him in three different times to Fairview and they could not figure out what was wrong.  So I had enough!  I scheduled an appt with the pediatrician my sister-in-law sees and I love him!!!  Immeidately he took blood tests, and told me to change his formula regarding the skin disorder and his eczema.  He suggested Nutramigen, which is a predigested formula. 

We tried the new formula and within 24 hours he was a new baby.  His skin was clearing up immeidately and he started to nap during the day.  What an accomplishment for our family! 

The downfall is that the formula is $26 for a 16 oz can, which he goes through about 3 cans per week.  So it is getting to be a tad bit spendy.  It's all worth it though.

The allergy tests can back that he is not allergic to milk, soy or rice, which made no sense - we thought for sure he was allergic to his formula.  But the dr. said that he could still be allergic to one of the components of the milk based formulas and since they can't test for that - the best for us to do is try this new formula which is already predigested.

We also went to an allergist appt to confirm that Carter was not allergic to anything else, but to my surprise they did not test him for anything new.  That bummed me out, but at his young age, for his skin to be the way it is, they figure it is something he is eating and if the new formula is helping, then as far as they are concerned, we've figured it out.

Since then we did get the "go ahead" to start Carter on veggies and fruit.  We have only started him on veggies and he loves them.  He eats so much food!  We will be introducing fruit soon.

Carter weighed 17 lbs 9 oz at his 6 month well child visit.  He is very tall, 75% for his age group and 50% for his weight.

He can sit up for quite some time by himself.  He is getting more of a personality every day. He LOVES Cameron.  He wants to play with him so bad.  They lay on the floor together and Cameron always brings Carter toys.  It's so cute.

The only thing I can complain about is the fact that Carter is not sleeping through the night yet.  Not even close!  We have a lot of sleepless nights and we've tried just about everything we can think of, so I guess it is something that we will have to deal with for now.

We have an appt with the dermatologist on March 12th, maybe we'll get some new answers then.

I will post some new pictures soon.  He is Erik Jr. FOR SURE!

I'm sure I'm forgetting a ton, but it's been a long time!

Well a brand new year ahead for us to learn, explore and grow.  Carter will learn to crawl, walk and lose the bottle this year!

Our peanut is now able to sit up for 1-2 minutes at a time, by himself!  He is so strong and loves to hold things, he puts everything in his mouth.

He will not take naps - unless you hold him.  He is still drinking 6 ounce bottles every 3 hours.  Before bed he eats rice cereal and we will soon start rice cereal in the mornings as well.

He is such a happy boy in the morning - he does not take after his mom in that area. :)

Other than that - nothing much new...just calming down after the holiday craziness...

Precious Carter had his very first Christmas yesterday!  He loved all of the attention he got from all of the different relatives and cousins :)  He got quite a few gifts too.  Some include: clothes, new scrapbook (for mommy to fill up!), book club from his godparents, some toys - of course the good ones that make noise and wiggle :)  Santa brought him lots of good stuff!

He really enjoyed hanging out with his brother Cameron.  Cam always shares his toys with Carter and most recently likes to pick up Carter and walk around the house with him.  Mommy and Daddy don't let him do that alone yet.

Carter is now into a pretty good routine at night.  He goes to bed around 8:30 or 9:00 and sleeps all night long - it has been one week!  We love it.  He is doing so great.  He wakes up with Mommy in the morning and they do the morning routine and he is just such a happy little guy.

He is sitting very well - he can sit up by himself for a second or two before falling over.  Quite advanced little man...

Well - we have another Christmas party this weekend with Grandpa Nelson and then New Years - full of fun stuff coming up!  I'll update pictures soon...

Carter slept the entire night lastnight!  He ate at 9:40 p.m. and went to bed at approximately 10:00 p.m.  and didn't wake up to eat until 6:30 this morning!

Yae!  What an accomplishment after almost 5 months!~

I'm so excited for Christmas this year with Carter.  He is just such a joy and our family really needs the extra special gift that Carter is this year! 

It will be fun to have our very first christmas with our family "complete"

Love you Carter!!!