Hello, World, I'm Two Months Old Today!

It's hard to believe a month has passed since I snapped that tummy time picture on May 7th. In the span of thirty-one days, Carter has learned two new skills that keep his (slightly less) sleep-deprived parents ready and eager to start each new day with their son: smiling (spontaneously and in response to his parents' grins) and "talking"...well, a nice mixture of cooing, grunts and non-verbal exclamations, all of which are vastly different from crying.

I spotted Carter's first smile on Sunday, May 23rd, but this milestone wasn't declared official until Carter grinned at his Daddy four days later. His smile is the cutest thing and usually starts with just one side of his mouth turning upward, then morphing into a smile that lights up his whole face. We are determined to catch this adorable achievement on our camcorder so we can post it here.

In addition, Carter has become so much more alert and aware and CURIOUS, it's unbelievable. He can focus on objects much more readily and is fascinated by trees and their leaves whenever he's outdoors. The more intricate the leaf, the better. We attended a BBQ with our friends a couple of weekends ago, and Carter spent the vast majority of his time there with his neck bent backwards and head craned back to study the leaves above him. Fairly antisocial, but cute none the less!

I'm also thrilled to report that we have survived several weeks of fussiness (everyday playing the "Does he or doesn't he have colic?" game), which peaked in the sixth and seventh weeks, and seem to be on a new and vastly more favorable trend of calmer days with more smiles, and a fairly standard early afternoon marathon nap, lasting anywhere from two to four hours. You can imagine how much this downtime is beneficial to the whole family! Dax should be credited with coming up with the saving grace of the month and the only surefire way of calming down our screaming son - bouncing on the exercise ball. We've both logged hours upon hours on that thing; our thighs have never been stronger!

I still have yet to catch up on my monthly reading (in her "What to Expect, the First Year," I'm still around week four) or the baby book entries, but that's only because each day brings a happier, more capable Carter, and I just can't stop playing with him...or bouncing him on the exercise ball.

This month also brought a few very special visitors into Carter's life... The Rilling clan met him the same day of his first smile, his Aunt Cari spent four days playing with her nephew, and Carter's Mimi returned during the first week of June to assist with the baby boy. Many thanks to everyone who relieved a very tired Kathleen and Dax from a couple of hours of bouncing and holding.

We're posting some snapshots taken today just before our afternoon walk - not the best quality pictures, but they do capture some sweet expressions and the mutual love between Daddy and son.