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.