Happy 4th Birthday Lucy!

4th of July Weekend

Friday night our friends Freddie & Rebecca brought their mini-person, Levi, over to play with Carter. The boys rolled around on the floor and "talked" to each other. Freddie and I have been friends since we were 5 or 6 years old and it is so neat that our kids will grow up together (although he did inform me that I was bossy little 5 year old, which Brad truly believes!). Saturday, Brad, Bennett (his mom), Monkey and I went to visit Jerry & Betty, who have a lovely home on the Pamlico River. Betty's daughter, Amity, was also there with her mini-person, Braxton, who just turned 2 years old. We LOVE going to visit them and jump at any invitation we get to go. Not only do they have the most relaxing home in the whole world, but they are great cooks and we always leave with full bellies. We didn't make it out on the boat because the water was too choppy, which would have made for a really rough ride for the little ones, but we did get to play in the River before the jelly fish rolled in. This is too funny not to mention: Braxton calls Betty (his grandma) "mine" ~ as in, "she's mine and not yours!"

"Mmmm...chewing on B's toys""Yeck! There's sand on this thing!"

The water was warm and Carter LOVED it! He kicked and splashed and even tried leaning over to touch the waves when we picked him up.
Carter's foot inside Brad's footprint. He's got a lot of catching up to do!

This is the tantrum that ensued when we took him out of the River!

Sleepy baby! Playing on the beach in the sun results in the BEST naps.

You can't see it very well, but he was laughing and smiling with each dunk.

Happy Father's Day

hi everyone, it's me, carter. mom and dad are sleeping, so lucy and i are up playing on the computer again. i wanted to say "happy daddy's day" to the best daddy in the whole world ~ MY daddy! i am finally figuring these two people out and boy do i have them wrapped around my finger. they've been trying to get me to say "dada" for a few weeks now ~ ever since i said "mama" to win her over. you noticed that after i said "mama" she gave me chocolate icing, right?

i've been practicing when they aren't around, which is hardly ever. (do these people have a life outside of me? they really need to listen to davis's mommy & daddy and go out to dinner) i decided that if i said "dada" this weekend, i could win him over, too, and it would be the best present in the world. so, today, i was talking and just started babbling "dada dada dada." i think it really made daddy happy!

so happy daddy's day, dada. thanks for everything you do for me, especially cleaning my "p-ewes" in my diaper and my pukes.

i love you,
carter

p.s. lulu says she loves you, too. that's why she licks your knees all the time.

Memorial Day

Although many see today as the official start of Summer (at least those of us who live near the beach do), please take a moment to remember what the day is all about ~ recognizing the U.S. men and women who have lost their lives serving our military. It's because of them, and all of those who have and continue to serve our Country, that we have the freedoms we have. THANK YOU!

We spent much of the weekend outdoors and wouldn't have it any other way. We did a "dry run" with the boat because we planned to put it in the water this weekend, but the battery had other plans. So, while Brad worked on the boat in the yard, Captain Carter and I played on the boat. I think he's a natural!

Happy First Mother's Day, Mommy!

Dear Mommy,

Thank you for everything.

From the 9 months of food cravings and swollen ankles....

To the weeks of bed rest....

To the constant worry that I would be ok...

To the 4 months in the NICU...

And all of the lost sleep since I came home....

I wouldn't be the happy, healthy little boy I am today without you. I love you so much!

Love,

Carter

Happy St. Patty's Day

And also Happy Birthday to Meg! How cool would it be to have your birthday on St. Patrick's Day? I'm a little jealous :)

Here are some pics of Carter decked out in his green, thanks to Melissa & Michelle. The first picture of Carter laughing at Lucy is my favorite!

Poor Lucy...already putting up with the abuse from Carter :) Sorry the video is sideways. I always forget about that problem when I take them and I haven't yet figured out how to rotate them.

Happy Birthday Brad!

I want to wish my hubbie a very Happy Birthday. He's such a wonderful husband and father and deserves to have the best day ever. I don't know how I would have survived the last year without his support.

We love you so much!

Kellie, Carter and Lucy

p.s. I won't tell everyone how OLD you are :)

Happy 2009

First, we want to wish all of you a Happy New Year. We hope 2009 brings you health and happiness.

2009 started with a bang...or I should say, a syringe. Brad decided to try syringe feeding Carter today and he took 10 cc's on day shift and 10 cc's on night shift! Brad would squirt a little milk into Carter's mouth, immediately stick the paci in there, and he'd suck on the paci and swallow the milk. It didn't take him very long tonight to drink the entire 10cc's (which isn't that much, but in Carter's world, that's a lot). This makes us very hopeful that he'll get the hang of eating by mouth.

I bought this shirt for Carter when I was pregnant and I think it's only appropriate for Carter to wear it since Brad did such a great job with feeds while I was gone.

Brad's brother, Brian, came to visit last week and told us he's taking Carter home with him. Get in line buddy! It's so cute when "Uncle Brian" visits because he and Brad look so much alike that Carter looks back and forth at them like he's wondering, "which one of you is my Daddy?" Now we just have to get "Aunt T" (my sister) up here for some snuggling!

Grandparents

Carter's Granmda & Granddad Z, Grandma Bennett and Great-grandma "Red" came to visit and were able to hold him for the first time. He was a little grumpy when they visited, so we hope he'll feel more like playing the next time they visit. I think they are just a little bit proud--what do you think??

Merry Christmas!

Carter's had a big week. When we arrived this morning, Nurse Shanda had him dressed in a Santa outfit (which she saved from a diaper blowout just moments before we arrived!) and he was quite handsome. He's so much bigger than the other babies in the ICN, they all probably thought he was really Santa!

Nurse Brigit was able to get him to take 15 cc's from a bottle and let us snap some pictures of him without anything on his face or tubes in his nose, which was the first time we'd EVER seen him bare-faced. He was royally spoiled with presents from people in the community who donate gifts to the babies in the ICN and by his nurses. I'll have to post a pic later of him in his Duke ensemble from Nurse Rachel. Baby Christopher (Right-Sided CDH) gave him an outfit that says "Babe Magnet" which is very appropriate.

He's still having withdrawals as they continue to wean his Methadone, but they are improving. We're working very hard to get him to feed from a bottle. One of his biggest problems seems to be that he's just plain NOSY! If there's anything at all going on around him, he's more interested in watching that than taking the bottle. Either that or he takes 2 sucks and then falls fast asleep! Just to put it in perspective: Carter is fed 103 cc's every 3 hours via NG tube and is only up to about 10 cc's per day by bottle. He needs to be taking the full 103/3hours by bottle to get home!

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving has taken on an entirely new meaning for us this year. It used to be a day that we spent at our Grandparents' houses, eating a feast of yummies and spending time with family, planning what you were going to purchase at those Friday sales. This will be the first time we've both spent Thanksgiving somewhere other than at "Grandma's House" and not just because of Carter. But we are grateful for our new family and plan to spend most of the day with Carter and our extended Duke family. Before you start to feel sorry for us, I have to share--Jes & Ashley's (Parker Reese Fndt.) Church is making food for both families staying in Parker's House and our families will be here this weekend to feed us.

In light of our new appreciation for this day, we wanted to share a few of the things we are giving thanks for. Obviously, we can't list every single thing we're thankful for and these are in no particular order, but here are a few...

We give thanks for our faith; God; Carter; each other; friends; family; Lucy; lungs; breath; ECMO; nurses; doctors; nurse practitioners; respiratory therapists; many, many other hospital staff; Duke University Medical Center; Jessica, Ashley, Parker & the girls; Rob & Joanna McGuire; Hope (the concept and the person); our jobs--not just because we have them, but because they have been so supportive; health insurance; Baby Jack, our never-ending source of hope for Carter; our CDH Family; and each and every one of you who have sent cards, called, emailed, commented on the blog, thrown baby showers, set up fund-raisers, donated vacation time to Brad, worked Kellie's shifts at work, said prayers, or anything else that has allowed us to have Carter in our lives.

We've talked about this a lot in the last week and although it may sound like a ridiculous thing to give thanks about, we are thankful for CDH. We would never wish CDH on our worst enemy, and we pray every day that a cure is found (we know Dr. Cotten and Dr. Benjamin will find it!) so that no other families have to endure this living nightmare. But, in every road bump there are lessons to be learned. We may never know why we were chosen to be CDH parents and what knowledge we were supposed to gain from our experience. I can say that this has certainly strengthened our faith as we have seen the full power of prayer and have a living, breathing miracle in our presence daily. CDH has caused us to cross paths with people we never would have met before and we have many new friends who we'll treasure forever. It has allowed us to help others. It has given us a new appreciation for life and shown us just how precious life is. It has strengthened our faith in the human spirit. It has made strangers into friends. It has made us stronger than we ever imagined we could be. It has made us appreciate the first time you hold your child at 6 weeks old and the first time you hear your child cry. It's even made us appreciate poopie diapers :)

Although we wish we could spend Thanksgiving sitting around the table with our families eating till we're stuffed, we are happy to spend it sitting around Carter's bed giving thanks for his life. With any luck, and a lot of prayer, his homecoming will be the best Christmas gift ever.

THANK YOU!