Another First!

Ok, so now I have to add yet another to my list from the previous blog. This past week Carson finally started crawling more than one step at a time. Yesterday I set him down on the couch at Nana's and he crawled all the to the other end to get the remote off the TV tray! It was hilarious!

This morning was also a big deal. Carson woke up early with Mommy and Dada at 5:30, so I knew something was going on. He took his bottle then wanted to crawl off the bed. I put him down in the living room to play with his toys while I ate my breakfast on the couch and watched the news. He got tired and crawled over to me, whining for me to pick him up, I guess. He pulled up to the couch onto his knees like he has been doing. He has also been putting his foot on the floor, but this time he actually stood up! That was the first time ever at our house! I think he may have pulled up to Nana's couch either Monday or one day last week so he could see her little dog, Tiny. Carson was very sleepy, so put him in his crib so I could finish getting ready for work (Dada was already gone). When I went back in his room to check on him, he was pulling up on his knees as usual, but then he stood up! First time standing in his crib! Look out world, here comes Carson!

May...a Month for Firsts

It never ceases to amaze me how fast children grow. They have so many milestones they reach within their first year of life, it's just a miracle how it all works together. Carson can now crawl a few steps, walk with assistance, pull up to stand on soft surfaces (including people!)and stand briefly while holding onto something. There are also so many first events that have taken place within the last month (granted, a few were in April), that I just had to write a post about them.

Carson's First Ballgame


Carson attended his first ballgame on Friday, April 23rd. It was Lucas's teeball game at Hanceville Park (Lucas is the 4-yr-old son of my friend Shaunna). Callie, Luke's sister and one of Carson's many "girlfriends", was excited to see Carson there.
We were only there about 20 or 30 minutes before a bolt of lightning scattered everybody to their cars! Short-lived, but a first nonetheless.







Carson's First Party


Carson received his first invitation in the mailbox from our neighbors, Brian, Sabrina, Alexis, and Aiden. They hosted a cookout at their house for their family and friends and they had horse rides and a fire to roast marshmallows.


As it turned out, it got really cold that night and the fire was good to keep warm! Carson enjoyed walking Mommy and Dada around the yard and swinging in a swing for the first time. Unfortunately, no one took a picture of him swinging!




Carson's First Fix-it Job


Dada had to lower Carson's bed for the first time. Carson finally reached the point where he could pull up on the side of his bed, mostly on his knees, but enough to be a threat. He decided to "help" by holding the flashlight for Dada!



Carson's First Teeth!


Ok, so maybe they are a little hard to see. I made the picture as big as I could without just zooming in on his mouth. You try getting a 9-month-old little boy to open his mouth and then be still long enough to take a picture of it! LOL! We noticed Carson's first tooth a couple of weeks ago, and the next one was not far behind. He is the same age I was when I got my first teeth. He has been a little fussy with them, on and off, but overall is doing very well. So far there have been no injuries or damage to report, but we will keep you posted!

Let the Adventure Begin!

Well, it had to happen someday, and now that day has arrived: Adventures in Eating! A few weeks ago, we took over the responsibility of counting the phe Carson gets from his food every day (remember "phe" is short for the phenylananine in protein that he can only have a limited amount of). I am still in the learning phase of all this, so for any pros out there, pointers are appreciated! For now, this is what we are doing:

We have a special book that lists the amount of phe in just about any food you can imagine. Yes, we had to pay for this book. I call it Carson's Food Bible. Right now Carson's prescription consists of 100mg of phe from food, so every day I try to make sure he gets as close to 100mg of phe as possible. He is still eating mostly baby food, and I have his basic meal plan down to a routine. He gets his cereal and bananas for breakfast, 1 or 2 veggies and/or a fruit for lunch, and 2 veggies and a fruit for supper. I try to decide each morning what he will eat and give Nana his menu. I calculate how much phe he has had based on The Book. Just like the nutritionist told me, I pretty much have his main foods memorized now. I know that 2T of cereal has 30mg of phe, and 1T of bananas has 5mg, so his breakfast is 35mg phe total. Carson's newest favorite, green beans and rice, has 10mg phe per tablespoon. The way I figured this in the beginning was to weigh 1T of each food on the gram scale, then multiply the mg phe per gram of food from The Book. So I still measure his food in tablespoons, but each time I give him a new food I have to weigh it to get the phe. I write these down in the notebook I call Carson's Food Diary. I make a new entry for each day and we write down the time he eats or takes a bottle, how much he took of it, and what it was. I keep a running total so we can make adjustments to our meal plan if needed, like if he needs a snack during the day. The fun is trying to figure out how much of each thing to give him and how to make it all balance out. It is a work in progress, for sure. The hard part for me is just now beginning: table food. I am very nervous about calculating his phe and keeping up with his diet as he tried new foods. He eats any kind of baby food we give him, but table food is a different story.

We are trying to introduce some table foods, but it is not going well so far. I have managed to get him to take some carrots chopped up in his baby food carrots, finally. He hasn't taken to bananas yet, but we're working on it. Can you believe he doesn't like potatoes yet? That is a good thing for now, because they are a little higher in phe. He does like sweet potatoes though. His favorite is green beans and rice baby food. That's a good start toward table food because it is very lumpy. I actually fed him some of my green beans at church Sunday and he loved them! He has also tasted of olives, pickles, and French fries. Of all those things, he spit out some of the fries!

He is finally figuring out how to eat the apple wagon wheels, and he chowed down on one until it broke apart in his hand. Mommy was so proud! More adventures to come...