The Terrific Two-Year Old!!

Well, we made it to two years old!  Still hard to believe time has flown by and our boy is two!

We celebrated with a dinosaur party!  This wild, outgoing boy was suddenly Mr. Shy when we sang "Happy Birthday" to him!  He had a blast with friends and family, and got more presents than any kid deserves!!

A few pictures:

The hit of the party was the "Dino Dig" where the kids dug for dinosaur bones!  Everyone had a "Dinosaur Nest" cupcake and Carter got his own dinosaur cake. 

So thankful for this little guy!  Hard to believe this sweet busy boy is the same 3-pounder that had tubes going everywhere when he was born!!

Nearly Two Years Old!

Carter is fast-approaching the two-year mark!  So hard to believe!
Over the last few months, he has learned and progressed at an amazing rate!  He now has many words in his vocabulary, and even know some sign language as well.  And though he doesn't always "say" what he wants, he knows exactly how to make it known to you.  He no longer uses a bottle.  He is at the beginning of potty-training.  (We are hoping eventually it will bother him to have poop in his pants!)
He loves anything water-related, and is an examiner of all bugs and animals.  He much prefers outdoors to indoors, and is always unhappy when it's time to go in.
We are working on using our "whisper" voice for church, although he hasn't quite mastered that yet.  And he is totally interested in the workings of everything.  Think you have "baby-proofed" something?  Just let him see you open it one time and he remembers how to get things open. 
He recently welcomed a new cousin, and he loves to give her hugs, but has a little trouble differentiating between "big" hugs and "gentle" hugs, so we have to keep a sharp eye out when the baby is around. 
His favorite thing is dinosaurs.  We are gearing up for a dinosaur birthday party, which should be a real hoot!
He is a connoisseur of corn on the cob!  He enjoyed the first Fourth of July he was able to participate in at the lake with our family.  Great Grandpa even let him drive the boat!
And he loves to do everything "just like daddy"!  He's got some big shoes to fill, because we think his daddy is pretty special!
Here are a few pictures!!!

Carter Welcomes Spring!

Carter is growing sooooo fast!  It seems like he learns something new every day! And he is actually starting to have hair!  Really blonde but it's there!  He is now the master of bubbles!  And who doesn't love bubbles? Easter was a big hit - new toys and lots of bubbles! 

He helped color easter eggs - sort of.  We handed him an egg and he hurled it into a cup of color with a huge splash!  There was color on us, the table, the floor, everywhere!  When it was all over even his tongue was blue! He has also figured out what a squirt gun does - a great discovery!  He and Great Grandpa enjoyed an I Spy book during church, and Grandpa Shane took him for a "big boy" ride on the Commander! Every time the took off, Carter just laughed and laughed - while his mom shouted things like "Slow down!"
He loves being outside, doesn't matter what he's doing, just so he's outside.  He is busy all the time.  Oh, if I had his energy!  We just love him to pieces!

Growing Like a Weed!

Well, Carter is now 17 months old! He is growing so fast, and learning new things every day, it seems.  He has a mouth full of teeth (and yes, he knows how to use them when he's mad) and eats whatever we all eat.  His favorite at the moment is popcorn!  Of course, we have to be the portion control or he'll have a mouthful before you know it!  And goldfish crackers.  He still takes a bottle a couple of times a day, which is the next hurdle.  I don't know why, maybe because he was a preemie, but he never wanted a pacifier, and never really had a "lovey" or anything.  But the bottle, well, that's it.  He really doesn't care if he runs out of milk, still wants that bottle in his mouth!  So that will be an ordeal when it's finally taken away.
He is the king of pointing and grunting.  I have told him eventually, he will actually have to say words and he just looks at me like I have worms growing out of my head. He knows exactly what is off-limits in my house, and guess what he wants to do? The most fun is turning the TV off and on, done with a big smile,of course! And most of my cabinets are harmless, except for under the sink where the cleaning stuff is kept.  He has no interest in all the other cabinet doors, only those.  So, still never a minute without having him in eyesight.
He is finally starting to have an interest in books.  Not to read, only to point out objects on the page and talk about them.  Reading will come, in time.  Right now, it's too slow-paced for him. 
My husband has a hunting show on TV, and the other night, we were watching it.  I said, "Look, there's Grandpa on TV.  And look, there's Grandpa on the couch."  He had the most confused expression as he looked at the TV, then to the couch, trying to figure out how Grandpa could be 2 places!  He makes us laugh every time we see him.  And there is such excitement, as everything is something new to be explored.  We worried when he came so early that he would be delayed in his development, but we really see no evidence of that. We thank God for this little blessing!!
A few every-day pictures!!

ONE YEAR OLD!!!!!

Well, we have been sooooo busy with Carter, I haven't posted in a LONG time to this blog.  Felt it was time, now that he is ONE YEAR OLD!  September 3, was the actual day, but we celebrated his birthday on the 6th, so friends & family could come.  We are all amazed at how far he has come in one short year, and marvel daily at all the new things he is learning.  He has 6 teeth, and eats "Big People" food now.  He is about to turn loose and walk, and often stands alone until it occurs to him that he is standing alone.  He gets around so fast with this weird crab-crawl thing and it's hard to catch him when he has his mind set on going somewhere.
We celebrated his birthday with a "monster" theme.  The cake & cupcakes were made by local baker, Mindi Jennings, who did a marvelous job! Attaching some pictures below.

Five Months and Trucking Right Along!

Wow!  Didn't realize how long it had been since I had posted!  Time flies when you're having fun - or having babies! 
Carter was 5 months old on Feb. 3.  He is nearly 14 pounds now. The doctors said to judge his development by his "adjusted' age, not his real age, which as of Feb. 3 would only be 3 months old.  I think in some areas, he is equal to 5 months, others still 3 months.  He is just now starting to grasp things on purpose and look at what he wants and reach for it.  He has been sleeping through the night for some time now.  I told his mother, she was very lucky - a good night's sleep is worth a lot!
He is just so cute!  He smiles and laughs at everything.  He is already a TV junkie - seems to be mezmerized by it!  He has rolled over a few times, but we're not sure if it was on purpose or an accident.  He wants to sit up, but can't totally do it yet, so he gets frustrated with that.  And he is already becoming a little bit "bossy"!  When he is mad, everyone knows it!
We have decided that from the nose down, he looks like Courtney, but from the eyes up, it's Cole.  I think his eyes are going to be blue.  But the little expressions he has on his face are totally Courtney!  And we all know, when that bottom lip begins to curl out, you'd better be scrambling for something, because the mad wail is coming!  He loves to read books and now wants to feel of everything. 
The doctor upped his medicine he takes for the hemangioma and he is tolerating it well, so he no longer has to go every week for a blood pressure check.  His next appointment will be his six month well baby check.  He has to go to a follow-up NICU appointment in a couple of weeks, and will see the speech therapist and occupational therapist that visited him in the NICU and they will see how he is progressing.  I am excited for them to see what a big boy he is now!
More to come...

4 Months Old!!

Well, Carter has survived his first Christmas, and attended his first New Year's Eve party!  He is now 23" long, and up to 12 lbs.  His coo's are becoming much more often, and sometimes really loud!  We did a lot of reading about preemies, and most things say that for their development, you need to judge them according to their age if they would have gone to term.  In other words, even though he is 4 months old, he should be behaving like a 2 month old.  This is kind of weird, because some things he does are that of a 2 month old, and others a 4 month old.  So it's really hard to determine if he is even, ahead or behind!  He is real champ at holding his head without bobbling now.  He looks and really studies everything around him.  He has some weird fascination with ceiling fans - it there's one in the room you're in, he cranes his head to watch it.  His reflux has improved vastly, as has his choking episodes.  For a while, he would choke nearly every time he was fed, and now it's only every few days or so.  The reflux seems to be better, with him only having a few episodes a week.  And it seems to be worse if he is jostled around after eating.  The doctor says he can begin to explore some cereal, so we will start that soon. And we no longer have to use distilled water to mix his formula.  His last visit, he got 3 shots and made it known that he did NOT like it! 
They make you fill out a "4-month questionnaire", which asks the most ridiculous questions - do you do drugs in the presence of your baby? Do you drink hot liquids while holding your baby?  Do you ever shake your baby?  Really?  Are there people who answer yes?
His blood pressure remains good with the beta blockers he is taking.  The hemangioma has shrank, both in diameter and depth.  The doctor is really impressed with how well it is doing.  We still ask a thousand questions at each visit and get in the car to leave and remember at least one thing we forgot to ask!  The nurse said they are finally getting their own blood pressure machine, so we don't have to walk to the icu to borrow theirs. 
For Christmas, I got him a huge plastic bucket with the rope handles, and Courtney asked why.  After Christmas, she knows. We all went crazy with toys and such, so now he has a place to keep them! 
He joined us for our annual New Year's Eve Party, and had a major reflux while I was holding him - went on my shirt, my pants, the floor, everywhere.  So I smelled like baby spit up from head to toe!  Oh, well, such are the woes of babies! 
All in all, we are amazed at how well he is doing.