Two Months Old!

Carter is two months old today.  I can't believe we have had our wonderful baby boy for two months already!  He has brought so much joy and love to our family in such a short time.  Adalyn loves her baby brother and enjoys entertaining him and making him smile.  So far Carter is a very calm, mild mannered baby.  He is quite the eater and weighs about 15 pounds.  He is still eating every 2.5-3 hours and wakes up for feeding during the night at the same intervals.  Carter is a very smiley baby, especially when he has a full tummy.  He loves to smile at his sister and has also been getting excited at toys and reaching for them.  We look forward to watching him continue to grow and develop and cherish these days with our baby boy (yes, even the late night feedings:)

Survival Mode

About a week ago  Derek went on a business trip in Napa Valley, California.  He left very eary Thursday morning and got back very late on Saturday.  I was at home on my own with the kids, which was quite the challenge.  Thursday morning I immediately switched to survival mode.  Sure, Adalyn may have watched a few more cartoons than she is usually allowed to watch and both kids might have stayed in their jammies until after lunch, but we SURVIVED!  Derek's being gone certainly made me realize how nice it is to have him home in the evenings.  Bedtimes were a huge challenge on my own.  Carter still isn't sleeping through the night, and Adalyn has been waking up more often through the night since Carter has been born.  Needless to see, by the time Derek came home I was exhausted.  Even though Derek had a long day of traveling home, he let me sleep in on Sunday, which I greatly appreciated!  Sunday afternoon we headed to the Decatur Zoo.  The zoo was having a special event about keeping the animals cool and was giving out lots of ice cream to its visitors.  Addy loved her ice cream cones (yes, she had two!) It was a great way to end a hectic week! 

Addy loves to help me cook in the kitchen and helped me make a "welcome home" cake for Derek.

Derek and Adalyn checking out the goats at the zoo.

Carter and Addy's new ride

Festival season is just around the corner.  If you know us, you know that we love to attend the local festivals in our area.  Here is a picture of our friend Kim and Carter at the Sugar Creek Art Fair that we attended a few weeks ago. 

Carter continues to grow and grow.  He has grown out of many of his three month clothes and is filling out his six month clothes better than any other 7 week old I have ever seen.  Overall, he continues to be a very easy going.  He is smiling a lot now and loves to watch his busy big sister.  Even though he isn't consitently sleeping through the night, he has had some longer stretches without eating lately, which has given me hope that the light at the end of the tunnel is near.  For now, I will continue to take the four hour stretches when I can get them and remain thankful that he is sleeping as much as he is! 

It's never too early to put a bball in their hands (or feet)

Big Smiles!

Addy was a big help around the house when Derek wasn't home.  She has become more and more interested in playing with and spending time with Carter as he is becoming more and more alert.  It is a lot of fun watching her interact with him.  Sometimes she gets a little too rowdy and needs to be reminded that Carter's just a babe.  Potty training in the Freihaut household continues to be an intersting journey...full of highs and lows.  Last week we started a potty chart where Addy would earn stickers to work for a prize.  The prize was a set of Dora Mega Blocks that we found on clearance at Toys-R-Us and Derek just had to buy.  We decided it would make a good potty prize.   Addy is crazy about legos and loves to build things with her dad.  We put the prize on our dining room table and Addy sat and admired it many times throughout the days.  Needless to say it only took her a week to earn the prize and she was ecstatic to play with her new blocks.  After earning the blocks we took many steps backward and she is now on a "potty strike."  She wants nothing to do with sitting on the potty and is just fine with wearing her diapers.  We'll see if we can make progress in the next few weeks!

Catching Up

Yes...I am quite aware that I have not posted on here in quite sometime.  I don't really have any good excuses as to why it hasn't happened.  I just haven't sat down to write an actual entry.  Since a lot of time has passed since our last post, this post will be rather lengthy and have subtitles.  Don't worry, as we start to settle down into an actual schedule (I know I am dreaming here, but just let me dream) I hope to get back to blogging on a more regular basis.  Without further ado..read on to find about what is going on in the Freihaut household. 

Happy Fourth of July

Over the long holiday weekend my parents and sister came to visit.  They were on a week vacation from work and decided to spend it in exciting Illinois!  The motivating factor in coming to see was that they got extended time with Carter and Adalyn.  They got their fair share of time with the kids, as we kept busy and did lots of playing.  On Friday we had a picnic in the park and Adalyn got to play with Ashley in the splash park and playground. 


Saturday we headed to Logan's for dinner to celebrate Mom and Dad's 30th aniversary.  Ashley and I also headed to the mall by ourselves.  I was so happy to be able to manuever the stores minus a huge stroller or two kids.  We certainly were able to get around a lot quicker and take our time looking at things I would never to take time to look at otherwise. 

Thirty Years!

We celebrated the Fourth of July at home by grilling out, lighting a few fireworks and watching the fireworks displays of the small towns all around us from our back yard....which is one of the advantages of living in oh so flat Illinois!  You can literally see for miles and miles!  My parents and Ashley headed home on Monday.  We really enjoyed their visit and are excited about coming to Indiana to see them and our other family and friends later this summer.

Aunt Ashley & Carter

Playing in the backyard

My dad and Brian recently went to a Reds game and brought home shirts for us.  We are so excited that the Reds are actually doing well this season!  Let's hope it continues.  GO REDS!

Huey Fought the Deer..the Deer Won!
A few  weekendsago we headed to our nephew Cameron's first birthday party at his house in Indiana.  The original plan was for Derek and Adalyn to head there for the day and for Carter and I to stay home. saturday morning we made a last minute decision for everyone to go. We dicided that Carter would be fne on the drive and would probably sleep most of the trip and we would just hang out in the air conditioning for much of the party to keep him comfortable.  Carter did an excellent job on the trip and the party was a lot of fun.  Addy had a fabulous time playing with the other kids and swimming and playing on Cameron's new playset.  It was a successful day and we are really glad we all made the trip to see family and celebrate Cameron's big day.  He was a super cute birthday boy and handled all of the attention very well! I was so pleased with how the day had been going until our drive home when we hit a bit of a bump in the road....literally.  Just before exiting the interstate to begin the final 20 mile leg home, a deer jumped out in front of us and I hit him with the front right side of Huey (for those of you who don't know, we call our Saturn Vue, Huey:)  The damage the deer did was extensive and our vehicle had to be towed.  We were all ok and uninjured, but had to spend a bit of time on the side of the interstate waiting for the policeman and the tow truck.  We were happy to hear that the Vue wasn't totaled and it has already been repaired!

Cameron enjoying his first birthday cake

Happy Father's Day
We spent Derek's first Father's Day as a father of two at home relaxing.  We were a bit tired from our adventure to Indiana the day before and decided to stay home.  Derek enjoyed watching the White Sox game with his newest White Sox fan and we also grilled out.  Addy drew Derek a picture of the family that we were all impressed by.  It was complete with legs, arms, eyes, and mouths for everyone.  Usually Addy doesn't sustain long enough to get near that much drawing accomplished, so I must have caught her on a good day!

SIX YEARS!
Derek and I celebrated six years of marriage on June 26th.  Although it doesn't seem that long ago that we walked down the aisle, our lives have certainly changed (for the better) during those six years.  Six years and two kids later we are lovin' life and are excited to continue our adventures!

Lots of Visitors
During the month of June we were blessed to have many visitors come to stay with us.  Derek's mom came up with us after Cameron's birthday party.  In fact we were very fortunate that Derek was driving her car back to our house when I hit the deer because then we had a ride home.  While she was visiting we took the kids out and about to run errands and she watched Carter so that Derek and I could take Addy to her twos class. 

The weekend after Father's Day Cory, Courtney, and Cameron Freihaut came to stay with us for an evening on the way to a White Sox game in Chicago.  We really enjoyed their vist and Addy loved having Cameron at her house. 

Freihaut Cousins

Growing Like A Weed
A few weeks have passed since our last post and since then Carter has continued his rapid growth.  At his 2 week appointment on June 15th he weighed 11 pounds 10 ounces and measured to be 22.5 inches long.  He continues to gain strength and is starting to gain more control of his head.  I was jumping with joy when he slept five hours overnight this past Friday (July 2nd).  However, since then he has went back to his waking every three hours to eat schedule.  Hopefully we'll be extending those stretches very soon!  Carter has also started to pay more attention to people and their voices.  He has started to crack smiles when he is talked to and smiled for the first time last Tuesday (June 29th) when I was talking to him in the goofy "baby talk" voice. 

ONE MONTH OLD!

Little Mother Hen

Addy has really adjusted well to having a little brother.  She continues to be a huge help to me around the house, especially during diaper changes.  She loves to play with Carter and has really loved the fact that Carter has been more alert and wide-eyed during the last few weeks.  When Carter gets upset she sings her rendition of "Hey Jude" to soothe him.  We played/sang that song quite frequently to Addy when she was a baby because it was an instant soother for her.  It's very entertaining to hear and if I can ever get her to get over her aversion to cameras I will try to record it and post it on here.  Addy has also taken a liking to all of the "new" baby items around the house.  Even though most of the baby gadgets are on their second use, they are new to Addy and she is curious!  Just today she was yelling "help" in the play room and when I came in to rescue her she was in the bassinet part of the pack & play.  She has also tried to put Carter's diapers on her potato heads (she let us know that they don't fit) and she has climbed into the baby swing several times.

Since our last post we have also started taking Addy to a twos class that is offered through the parks and recreation department.  It meets each Tuesday evening and Derek or myself go with her.  The class focuses on art projects, stories, and songs that center around a common theme for the class.  We have had several classes and it has been a good way to introduce her to a structured classroom setting.  It is certainly interesting to watch two year olds interact in a classroom and I must say that storytime with a room of two year olds is a challenge for all involved--teachers, parents, and toddlers! 

On Sunday we took advantage of my parents being in town and left Carter at home with them as we took Adalyn to her very first movie.  Derek, Addy, Ashley, and I headed to town to see Toy Story 3.  We weren't sure what to expect from Addy, but she did a great job.  She did have to stand and move around through some of the movie, but for the most part she was very well behaved and paid attention to the movie.  She also took advantage of the all-you-can-eat popcorn and the fact that we let her keep her hand in the tub in exchange for being content.  It was good that there weren't more than 10 other people in the theater because Addy had the tendency to talk out loud and comment on the movie as it was playing. 

Our Little Bookworm

Addy continues to LOVE books.  She is always bringing us and anyone visiting a book to read with her. So, if you come to visit expect to read at least one picture book with our little bookworm!

Lots of things have happened throughout the last few weeks.  It is hard to believe that it is already July and that Carter will turn six weeks old this week! Wow,  time is truly flying by!