a Name and a Blessing

On Sunday Travis was able to give Carter a name and a blessing. It was such a great experience for us. I remember praying the whole time Carter was in the Hospital that we would never have to hurry and give him a blessing, because we weren't sure if we would be able to after. To be able to bless him at church was absolutely amazing! It was so normal and felt so good to be able to do it in front of our ward who has been nothing short of AMAZING!

One of the reason's that I wanted to be able to bless him after the hospital other than family being able to be present was that I was hoping he would be able to wear the blessing outfit Boston wore. It's the same one that my Uncles, brothers, cousins and pretty much all the boys on my Mom's side of the family wore when they were blessed. I think it is such a great tradition. I love the thought of something that special being shared for generations.

Trav did such a great job. He was beyond nervous, which is so not him. When he sat down he was already saying that he wished he would have said more. Lucky for him Carter hasn't and I don't think ever will have a shortage of needs for blessings. It was so special to me to have my Brother there. He is the only Priesthood member in my immediate family and I was beyond happy to have him be a part of it.

We sure love our sweet little Miracle boy. He is such a blessing in our lives and pretty much everyone who meets him lives as well for that matter. There is something so special about him. I feel very blessed to be a Mom to two sweet boys. Life really doesn't get much better than this.

*I am lacking on lots of pictures, but will post them when I get them from my Father in-laws camera.

Weekend Fun

Man I love three day weekends. On Friday night we got a knock on our door and MUCH to my surprise my Brother Kelsey was standing at the door. I was completely shocked! Such a great way to start the long weekend. We were lucky enough to have Trav's parents in town again last week. On Saturday my Nephew was baptized (no pictures. hate.when.I.do.that) and on Sunday Carter was blessed. Brandon, Emily, and the girls drove up from Boerne so pretty much it was a weekend full of fun. Highlights were Swimming, Cheesecake factory, Hand and foot, Sega Genisis, Catching up with my Brother, good food, and perfect weather. What weekend with family isn't perfect though?

Fragile

Last night we were reminded just how fragile life is. One of Carter's crib mates a sweet little boy named Colt passed away. He gave a tough fight and after seven months his journey here ended. Trav and I both took the news pretty hard. We sat there looking at Carter and just cried we couldn't believe it. It most definitely put things into perspective for me. There are times during the day that I am so exhausted, sick of lugging around all his equipment, loosing faith on the whole bottle feeding thing, and wanting to be free to take him where ever when ever, and this was a huge reminder of the absolute miracle that Carter is. I already know this and thank my Heavenly Father daily for him, but it just reminded me that it could be worse so so much worse. Please say a prayer for his sweet family I can't imagine the devastation they are feeling.

This Boy

I can't get enough of this Boy. He seriously is the best!!! I couldn't have asked for things to go better with how he is behaving since Carter got home. Of course he still has plenty of his "moments", but for the most part he is awesome. I can't believe how big he is getting. Seriously he just keeps getting taller and smarter every day. All the sudden he knows all his letters, talks like he is 10 years old, and is ALL BOY!!! Anything that can be jumped off of, crashed into, made a mess of he is all about it. I think most people cringe at some of the things little boys do, but for me it is so much easier to just go with it. We are both so much happier when I jump/crash/whatever with him. I am learning to let things go with this boy thats for sure. I have accepted that my house will not always be clean. In fact every three hours it turns into world war three. Lets just say that Boston hasn't always been the best when it comes to playing independently and now that We do Carter's treatments and feeds every three hours it is forcing him learn. His learning definitely is coming with a lot of messes.

This kid is absolutely hilarious! I wish I was better at recording all the funny things he says. Lately he has taken note that there are black and white people. Yesterday we were at Walmart and Boston said hi to this old guy and he didn't say anything back. Boston said "that old white guy is mean". Fast forward to when we were checking out. The checker was the nicest lady ever. She actually takes care of a little boy with a trach so we were talking about that. She was joking with Boston and when we were done and walking away he said "thank you for the groceries black lady". Luckily she busted out laughing with me. I am so glad because there was no way I was going to be able to hold that one in.

He LOVES his Brother! I think he was a little disappointed that Carter didn't come running out of the hospital and ready for him to play with. He adjusted quickly and has found ways to "play" with him anyways. Take this for instance when he set up this little spot for them so he could teach him about his trains. Seriously he had chairs, bumbo, and table all set up for me and then told me where to put Carter.

One thing he doesn't love is when I try to take pictures of him with Carter. He asks to hold him multiple times a day so I have plenty of chances, but no success. One other funny story is we were at the park one day and he wanted to play with something that another kid was on and he told the little boy "you need to listen to the holy ghost and get off that" again I died laughing. I am learning that when he says something funny I am terrible at disciplining or sticking to my word. I really need to work on that because he says funny things all the time when I am trying to get my point across to him.

Really he is such a great little boy. We are nuts about him and just think the world of him. I feel so blessed to be his Mom and when he says thing like "can I have this candy because I love you" I take it that he loves me back. If he could quite waking up multiple times a night to come join the party in Mom and Dad's room I would call him pretty close to perfect. If only he knew that his parents are probably the biggest party poopers do to being completely exhausted he would say asleep.

The Trophy

So I am pretty sure the best part about Soccer this year for Boston was the trophy. He Loves the thing! We have glued it back together a million times. Lets just say that in my opinion 3 is definitely too early to start sports. Would I still have done it... absolutely. He may have had no idea how to actually play the game, but it was good for him to be out with other kids and practice listening to someone else. It was so fun to watch him play every Saturday. One thing for sure is that 3 year olds playing soccer is very entertaining. They would walk off the field whenever, take a million drink breaks, kick the ball the wrong way, and you know the snacks at the end of the game were the best part.

All said and done he had a mostly fun time playing. He loved Coach Ryan and would talk about him all the time. He sure did love the team trophy party at the end of the season. Cute Kids!

5 Months!!!

LIttle man turned 5 moths old yesterday. I can't believe it! He is still a tiny little thing weighing in at 10 lbs 11 oz. He seems so huge to us because we saw him when he was just over a pound, but for a 5 month old he is tiny. He hasn't made his way onto the charts just yet, but hopefully soon. He is such a good baby.
Here are some things about Carter to remember
-He has the prettiest blue eyes and dark eyelashes ever! I am obsessed.
-He has become quite the binki snob since we came home. If only he could figure out how to suck it right to keep it in on his own we would all be happier.
-He sleep 8-10 hours every night. I'm tellin' ya all newborns should come with a feeding tube that can give them continuos feeds during the night.
-He LOVES his brother! Seriously the cutest thing ever. If he is around he doesn't take his eyes off him.
-He is doing great weaning down on oxygen
-He hasn't been doing as great with his bottle. I am pretty sure feeding will be our biggest challenge. We meet with developmental next week and I am hoping we can get something done to help him out.
-Thanks to the nector we add to his milk he has the smelliest poop and toots ever! DEADLY!!
-He is wearing 3 month clothing
-He would be perfectly happy to lay on his tummy on the boppy all day long
-He loves to be carried around in the Bjorn
-He LOVES to go on walks outside. Sleeps the entire time usually.
-Got his feeding tube switched out to a mic-key button yesterday. Thank goodness we have almost ripped that thing out so many times.
-His cheeks continue to be the first thing people notice when they mention him.

We are absolutely smitten with this little guy. He sure is a lot of work, but we will gladly do whatever it takes to keep him happy and healthy. It still breaks my heart that he can't make any noise. I hate it when he cries it's the saddest thing you have ever seen. Not a day goes by that we don't thank our Heavenly Father for letting us keep him here with us. I still can't believe he is mine and that he is home. We are so blessed. Happy five months little guy!