First visit with Santa

We took Banks to the Anderson Mall to visit with Santa for the first time. We had to get the typical "crying baby" picture, but Banks always has a way of making things interesting. We did get the initial crying picture, but after about 5 seconds of crying, he went completely emotionless. No laughing, no crying, really not even any blinking. He completely checked out and went to his happy place. The girls taking pictures were dancing, putting on crazy hats and everything trying to get Banks to smile, but he wasn't going to give in.

Decorating for Christmas

Even though last year was Banks' official "1st Christmas," I feel like this year is more like it. Patrick even got in the spirit and let me decorate a day early (usually I have to wait until Dec 1). Banks enjoyed helping me decorate too :-)

Clemson vs Carolina

Finally, we broke the 5 year streak... Clemson is back on top! 35-17 final score

11 Months

Banks is 11 months old! (as of 6 days ago) The most exciting thing about this month is that he is now taking some steps. He'll definitely be walking by his first Birthday. He still isn't consistently eating solid finger foods (still mostly puree), but he is trying some things without gagging so much he throws up. He has successfully eaten some puffs, peas, spaghetti noodles, and peaches. I'm so glad he is making progress in this area. He still mostly says, "dada," but he will occasionally throw in a "mama" when I'm lucky. He throws in a lot of, "baba" too. His newest sound is "roro" which is cute because it sounds like he's roaring like a little tiger.

One of my favorite things about Banks is that he laughs ALL THE TIME, which is precious. He thinks Demi is hilarious. He even has RSV and an ear infection (his second one) right now, and he still giggles constantly. I'm so blessed that my sweet baby is so happy. He is also doing much  better with sleeping through the night. He claps, shakes his head no, and will "pound" my fist when I hold it up to him.

He also loves playing peek-a-boo. He'll go around a corner and peek his head around at you and laugh. He responds to his name and definitely knows what "no-no" means, although he doesn't always listen, haha! He is still the life of the party at daycare. He is moving up to nursery 2 on December 1, which will be a very emotional day for us all. I will miss Jeri and Beverly so much, and I know Banks will!

My favorite thing in the world is still the mornings with him, when I go in his room to get him up. I say, "Good Morning Banks" in a whisper, and without fail he gives me the biggest smile, with his eyes still closed. He steals my heart all over again every single morning. Long story short, our sweet baby is PERFECT!!

High School Reunion

Wade Hampton High School Class of 2004, 10 year Reunion

Banks' First Halloween

Anyone that knows me is well aware that I LOVE holidays. Patrick jokes that I had a baby just so that I could go all out for the holidays and act like a kid again. :-) That being said, I actually kept things kind of simple for Banks' first Halloween costume. He already had a grey sweatsuit so I ordered him a shark hat from Etsy, and BAM he was a SHARK! The cutest little shark ever! We took him to his daycare's fall festival where he enjoyed watching the older kids play games and run around in their costumes. We also took him to a pumpkin patch, but we didn't get a pumpkin this year (the first year in a long time I haven't gotten one!). Last year I bought a pumpkin, carved it, and bought lots of candy to give out only to have 2-3 kids come trick-or-treating. I guess it's because we live in the back of our neighborhood. So this year we went to Mellow Mushroom, ate pizza, drank some pumpkin beer, came home and put Banks down, and then watched a scary movie. It was a fun Halloween! I look forward to taking Banks trick-or-treating next year :-)

Clemson vs Louisville - Banks' INCIDENT

Clemson played Louisville for the first time this year. There were surprisingly a lot of Louisville fans that made the trip to see the game. Clemson brought home the W, but this game was a fail for the Carters. This is a story we're not proud of, but one we will surely laugh about one day...

My mom ended up having to travel for work at the last minute, so Patrick and I decided we would just take Banks to the game with us. We have seen lots of babies around his age in the stadium and figured we could do it too! It was another 3:30 game, and he did great at the tailgate the week before. The weather ended up being really hot, which was much different from the last game. Banks did great at the tailgate, and took a nap during the first quarter of the game (I took him under the shaded area in the stadium). He woke up for the second quarter and seemed to be enjoying himself. We were about to go out for halftime when all of a sudden everyone around us in the stands gasped. The sweet older couple that sits in front of us for all the games turned around and we realized there was something wet all over the man's back. Turns out, Banks had HUGE blowout... actually the biggest one he had ever hand and there was poo EVERYWHERE. I'm talking all over Banks, Patrick, me, the man in front of us, the ground, the diaper bag, the seats. EVERYWHERE. It was so embarassing. I've actually never seen Patrick so embarrased - he just kept saying, "Oh my God" over and over again. We cleaned up everything and everybody the best we could with wipes, stripped Banks down to his diaper, and ran out of the stadium and back to the car. We got home as fast as possible, submerged us all in bathwater, and watched the second half of the game from the couch.

The poor boy ended up having a terrible stomach virus that lasted the rest of the week. And we were left with the memory of Banks' first time in Death Valley. As the sweet couple in front of us said, "That will be a story you tell at his wedding one day." I'm sure Patrick would rather just forget it haha.

We did get some cute pictures before the incident happened: