8 month update...finally!

Ok, so I started this blog trash talking my husband for never updating Brady's website and here Carson is 8 months old and I have not updated since he was 6 weeks old! Forgive me, I will not tease my husband again! I love you honey! So I will do a nice long blog to fill you in on his big milestones and how he is growing. Carson is such a blessing, he is sweet and lovable and desperate to do things with his big brother Brady. Brady is the best big brother Carson could ask for. In his attempts to keep up with Brady, Carson began army crawling at 4 months pulling himself across the floor through multiple rooms or our house with only his arms. This has made us need to childproof our house-fast! He was a bit slow to sit up on his own mastering that skill at the early 7 month mark. The reason for this is that he is always on the go and never wanted to slow down to just sit for anything! He even hates sitting still to have his diaper changed and will always try to crawl away in the middle of a diaper which isn't pretty when it is a number 2! At the same time (I believe it was in fact the same day!) he began crawling on all fours and let me tell you that he is one fast little booger! About 2-3 weeks later (end of 7 months) he began to pull himself to standing (one of the first times he pulled himself up on aunt Julie in fact!) And now in the past few days (8.5 months) he has started crusing around the furniture. I think Dr. Girod was right...he will probably be walking at his 9 month check up at this rate. He also has at least 4 teeth (He did have 6, but I think the 2 molars that came in early went back under the gums) His first words were Dada around 7 months and Mama was short behind. His stomach issues have resolved and he doesn't seem to be spitting up as much anymore either, but it did take longer to resolve than Brady and didn't fully clear up until about 7.5 months. We now have a happy, healthy family and couldn't be more blessed as we enter into this Christmas season with 2 beautiful, healthy, happy, loving boys! Hope this post finds all of you happy and healthy as well this holiday season and we look forward to seeing you soon.



Love,

Karena

The following pictures are of Carson's first food, Carson with Sarah on our trip to Kentucky for Natalie and Savannah's baby shower, and the two best brothers in the world!

This Is What Dreams Are Made Of

I was flipping through Carson's pictures and found this video file of Carson and Mommy's first moments together. Enjoy, I know I did! :)

6 Week Update

Well, it has been a little while since I've last updated and a lot has happened in that time, so this will probably be a few updates in one. Carson is getting bigger every day and at his one month check up, weighed in at 9.5 pounds and 21 inches! He is currently in the 50th% for everything, but I think he is trying to give his big brother a run for his money in the big boy department (after all Brady was 95th% for everything!) Carson is now working hard at rolling over and picks his head up really well. He has excellent head and neck control already. He is definitely Mommy's boy and likes to be held....a lot...so Mommy is working on getting Carson comfortable with playing by himself a little, but so far no dice. For now that is okay because Mommy loves holding Carson, but we are hoping to break this before he has to go to daycare all day. Carson seems to have developed a little difficulty in the last 3 weeks with reflux which has made him a little uncomfortable, so we are working on fixing that right now so we have our happy little squeaker back, as he has gotten a little fussy the last few weeks as he has begun to spit up quite a bit which makes him very vocal at times. Hopefully we get his tummy feeling better ASAP. Now here are some pictures to enjoy!
Tummy Time!
My First Bath! The fog is because we ran the shower to get the bathroom nice and warm before we got him cold and naked!
More Play Time!
Some cute pictures of Carson and Daddy!
Happy Boy!
Relaxing!
Loving my Big Brother, Brady!

2 Weeks Old Today!

Well Carson is officially 2 weeks old today and is already growing like a weed. We had is first check up on Monday and he is now 8 pounds and 20 3/4 inches in length. We have had a fair amount of visitors lately which we love! My friends from Indianapolis came up for a visit over the weekend and we visited with Uncle Paul and Aunt Mary as well. Carson does great with visitors and it is so nice to hear what a good baby he is. We certainly think it and it is nice to hear it from others as well. We also heard on Monday from our doctor that Carson is the best looking baby she has delivered in a long time! That is really saying something. Of course we all know he is cute as can be, but once again the validation is very nice! Carson is eating well from a bottle right now which in combination with his bili blanket has eliminated his jaundice. Now that he isn't yellow anymore, we are trying to get him back on breast milk, but it is a slow process. We will try for a little while longer, but mommy has decided not to be hard on herself about it if it doesn't work out this time around. We will update more later, but for now, enjoy the pictures of Brady and Carson with some of our weekend visitors!
"Mom, what do you mean we have to keep him?"
I am a very proud big brother!
Having fun with Jenny's little man, Will!
Teasing his Aunt Amy!
Aunt Amy with Carson
Aunt Kim with Carson
Aunt Mary with Carson
Aunt Jenny with Carson
Carson is already a thumb sucker!
Mommy gets a little picture happy!

Carson Is Here!!!

Hey Everyone!
I am very proud to announce that Carson is here! He made his grand debut following 16 hours of labor on March 31, 2010 weighing in at 7 pounds 11 ounces and 19.5 inches in length. He has a full head of beautiful dark brown hair (which explains mommy's heartburn the last 9 months)! We arrived home yesterday (April 2) and everyone is doing pretty well. Carson does have a slightly elevated bilirubin level after a follow up trip for lab work today and home health care stopped by to give us a bili blanket to keep him lit up on all day. We go back for more labs tomorrow to see if he can stop using it or not. He is such a good baby and doesn't do much but sleep at this point in time (that will likely change very quickly so we are enjoying it while we can!) Brady is adjusting well to being a big brother and is fascinated with his new sibling. He is learning what it means to be gentle and loves to help feed his little brother! Here are some pictures of Carson and the family, I will update more later! Thanks to everyone for all their love and support!

The Big Day Is Here

Hey Everyone,
The big day has finally arrived. Despite a few false alarms this past week, Carson has decided not to come on his own. Thanks to all of the extra fluid he has been sleeping on, he doesn't want to engage and keeps bouncing around in Mommy's tummy. Mommy is currently 2 cm dilated and her blood pressure is now on the rise, so it is time to induce. Tonight at 6pm we will head in for our induction and Carson should make his debut tomorrow morning. We are all having a lot of nervous excitement, but we are all ready to meet Carson. I think Brady may be a little confused to see that Carson is no longer hiding in Mommy's belly, we will have to see! :) To give you all a little to tide you over til pictures arrive tomorrow, here are a few pictures from this morning so you can see just how much little Carson is growing and how excited we all are to meet him!

Carson 37 Week Check Up

Hey Everyone,
We are now closer than ever! Carson has dropped 3 centimeters and I am now 1.5 cm dilated. The doctor says things are progressing very well. She says I have a lot of fluid in my womb so he likely isn't quite as large as he seems ( I am hoping for under 8 pounds), but she can tell that he does have a good sized head, therefore the latest news is that if Carson does not decide to come on his own this next week I will be induced on Tuesday with his arrival likely on Wednesday. So the good news is that we are down to our last week officially. It looks like Carson will be a March baby instead of an April baby, so we can finally finish our census paperwork lol! On a side note, we would also like to send congratulations out to Tricia and Mark. Carson and Brady's newest cousin arrived this morning at 1:05 a.m. weighing 5 pounds 3 oz and 19 inches. Welcome to the world, Corbin Patrick William Clark!

Cason's 36 Week Check Up

Hey Everyone!
Everything is looking great and moving right along! Carson had a check up today and he is measuring full term 40 weeks and Dr. Girod says it looks like he will have a big head just like his brother Brady. His heart rate is holding steady at 138 bpm, and mommy is already dilated to 1 cm. Everything checks out well and doc says we may go any day. We may start taking walks, etc to speed this process up, but it looks like Carson may end up being a March baby after all! We'll keep you updated!

Carson at 33 weeks and 3D Ultrasound!

We had a very awesome experience this weekend! As a family, we went to Miracle in Motion and got to visit with Carson. It was very cool to see him in 3D. It is amazing how many details you can see, from him opening his eyes and yawning, to waving his fingers. They even gave us a 4D video so that we can watch him over and over. I have already watched it twice since we've been home. It has made me all the more excited to meet him in a few weeks. Let me know what you think!









We also were given some additional 2D images, so here is some more pictures of Carson at 33 weeks!