2 months old

Dear Carter,
    Hey my little sweetie!  You are 2 months old today.  We're having so much fun getting to know you and seeing you develop your personality more and more everyday.  You have brought so much joy to us.  Each day is special because we get to spend it with you.  We can see many changes since you were born.  You wake up around 8 a.m. and start smiling and stretching right away.  Then you start making lots of new sounds.  You have the sweetest little voice, even when you cry.  You love to straighten your legs and try to stand up, but you're very wobbly.  It's hard to burp you, because you're always trying to stand up.  On your 2 month birthday, I decided to let you sleep as long as you could at night, and you slept 9 hours straight with no crying!  I was shocked, you're a very good sleeper at night and not so bad during the day.  Sometimes you wake up early from your afternoon naps or refuse to fall asleep for them, but that's not a big deal.  There are a few funny things about you, that I don't want to forget.  Your hands are always sticky, like a tree frog, so between your fingers you have tons of lint.  It cracks me up.  You've learned to grab things, like mommy's hair.  On two occasions, you figured out how to pinch me, because you were hungry.  It hurt, but it sure was cute.  You're getting better at entertaining yourself and learning how to calm yourself down when you wake up early.  Surprisingly, your love affair with the pacifier has seemed to come to an end.  Now, you only use it while we're out and at nap time you usually spit it out.  I spent so much time debating whether to let you use the paci, now I wish I would have relaxed a bit.  Bath time is so much fun, you really enjoy being in the water.  I can't wait to put you in the pool this summer.  You're gonna love the beach, too.  Next week, is your 2 month check-up and I think you might be 13 lbs. already.  You've become such a good eater this month and I'm really proud of you.  Mommy and Daddy are feeling much more confident being parents.  You make it easy!  We love taking care of you and can't imagine our life without you.
                                                                                                                 Love,
                                                                                                                 Mommy and Daddy

7 weeks old

My little monkey

I love to smile now!

My neck is getting a lot stronger.

My first big boy shirt, thanks Brittany!

Calling my girlfriend.

Getting to work.

Listening to dad pluck the ole guitar.

New Apartment

 

              We were planning to stay in our 2 bedroom flat for another year, but the plans have suddenly changed.  Just 5 weeks before we come home for the summer, our landlord tells us she's raising the rent significantly.  We were bummed, because we want to save money and didn't want to bother with moving.  Our friends were moving to a village house and they told us there were other units available.  We thought why not take a look.  A village house is a 3 story building in a neighborhood and it's more like living in a house.  You can just rent one floor and it's about 800 square feet.  The benefits of living in a village house, instead of a high-rise, is you save money and you get more space.  Typically I'm anti-village because when I first worked in Hong Kong I lived in a village.  Geckos were all over my walls and would watch me sleep.  They would even jump in the shower with me.  This village house is only 2 years old and neighbors have reported very low gecko sightings.  Now having Carter, I know he will need more space to move around and places to put all his stuff.  I'm actually thrilled because we'll have 3 bedrooms and I can decorate a room for Carter!!  Finally!  I have so many ideas.  Also the village house is very dog friendly.  It's about 10 minutes farther from work, but with all the money I save, I can take taxis more often :).  In August, we'll be getting a helper and she will be living with us also.  After lots of thinking and praying, we decided to become village people.  There were many variables that had to line up to make this work out and of course, God handled every detail.  We move in May 25th and fly home June 1st, therefore we'll be running around like crazy with a baby in tow.  I'll post pictures once we get in the place.  Hopefully we'll have time to paint the walls, too.  I want the living room and Carter's room to be robin's egg blue and maybe green apple in the master bedroom and the kitchen.  Trust me, it will be awesome, you'll see.  Oh and we have a family from school staying there this summer to watch Asia for us and hold the fort down.  Please pray that we have an efficient move before we come home June 1st and that there are no hiccups at the airport (tickets, visas, layovers, etc.).  I can't put into words how excited I am to bring Carter home for the summer to meet his family. 

Rub-A-Dub-Dub

    When we gave Carter sponge baths he hated them, probably because he would get too cold.  He didn't care for his bathtub that kept him from getting submersed either.  Way too drafty!  Once we put him in his real bathtub and actually got him in the water, he didn't cry at all.  Now he really enjoys getting clean.  The hard part is getting him out of the tub, because then he gets cold and starts crying.  We have bath time right before bedtime, as part of our routine, but I don't give him a real bath everyday.  He probably needs daily baths, due to the excessive amount of milk he spits all over his body everyday.

   

6 weeks old

    Carter is 6 weeks old and what a huge difference that makes!  He has started interacting with us so much.  For the past 4 mornings, he has made eye contact with me and smiled the biggest smile ever.  The first time he smiled, I was in shock and I couldn't help but get tears in my eyes.  It gives me the most amazing feeling to know that he is happy to see me.  It's like he's missed me during the night time and is relieved to see me again.  His first smile was at 4 weeks and that was for his daddy.  I included 2 videos showing his sweet smile.  Also, Carter has been cooing, ooing, and awwing a lot more.  I do my best to keep a conversation going with him throughout the day, so he'll keep chatting with me.  I'm happy to say since he's much more alert, he'll nurse for 15-20 minutes now, instead of only 7 minutes.  I'm so proud of him for stretching his little tummy out and getting enough to eat.  In fact, he now weighs in at 11.4 lbs. and he was 8.3 at birth!  WOW!  You go boy.  He can also lift his head really well and push up on his legs.  Carter, you're growing so fast!

   
     Now there is only one thing that I regret to tell you, Carter has a little piece of umbilical cord that will not fall off.  At first it looked liked a very tiny piece of ground beef or a little worm.  I know disgusting, right?  The end of it kept drying up and falling off, so the worm would get shorter.  I took him to the doctor 2 weeks ago and they put some chemical on it to make it fall off.  Well 5 appointments later, the worm is almost gone, but it still a tiny stump.  On Tuesday, they tied a string around the worm and lopped off most of it.  We're going again today to see what the ole doc wants to do about the tiny stump that's left behind.  The worst part is the nasty stuff that it leaves on all Carter's clothes.  I can't wait for him to have a normal belly button. 

1 Month Old

 

      Happy 1 month birthday to my precious little boy!  Time certainly does fly.  My life has forever been changed for the better.  At his 1 month check-up we learned that he was 10.6 lbs., which means he's a healthy boy!  He's was 8.3 lbs. at birth.  The doctor did some different tests and declared him "normal".  He didn't tell me much else.  Carter got his Hepatitis shot and barely cried at all, thanks to the pacifier.      

      I'm going to try to describe what I know about Carter after spending one month with him.  He has grayish, blue eyes and blond hair.  He's got daddy's chin, mouth, and cheeks.  He has mommy's eyes and nose.  I think he will look more like Blair, as he gets older.  He is a really great sleeper and I have to wake him so he'll eat.  I only wake him 1 time in the middle of the night to feed him.  Sometimes he cries when we put him down to sleep and he'll usually calm himself down.  He loves his pacifier, but we're already trying to cut back on using it.  I can see how it can be a major crutch for parents.  Carter smiles all the time, but I don't think he does it on purpose.  He likes being swaddled and now that we bought a velcro swaddle blanket, he stays in it the whole nap.  Carter is little bit ticklish on his feet and belly.  He doesn't mind going out, even when it's noisy he'll sleep.  We can take him anywhere, so far.  He loves his stroller, swing, bouncy chair, carrier, and sitting in the boppy.  Carter hates bath time.  He always calms down when daddy holds him and he likes to make eye contact with him.  He eats 7-8 times a day.  I'm so shocked that I have an easy going baby, because Blair and I are so loud and dramatic.  Of course, I fully expect Carter to reveal his real personality in the coming months.  Thank you God for this first month with my sweet son.  Every month we'll take a similar picture to show his growth in relation to the guitar.  Daddy hopes Carter will rock out on this guitar one day.   Mommy hopes just the opposite.

To my beloved pacifier

Me and Paci

Dear Paci,
   I loved you from the first time I laid eyes on you.  You give me so much joy and peace in my little heart.  I pray that you'll always be a part of my life.  Even when mom and dad try to pluck you from my tightly closed lips, I will not forget you.  I promise to cry until they give you back to me.  Thank you for always being there for me, Paci!  It's you and me against the world!
                                                                                                                Yours truly,
                                                                                                                 Carter

                                            Here is me crying until you come back to me, Paci!

Cruising in my new wheels

Gigi and Grandpa bought me this awesome new stroller!  This was my first ride.  We went to Mong Kok and ate at California Pizza Kitchen.  Talk about a lot of people!  Good thing we can roll over them, if they get in our way.

My first trip to Genki Sushi, which is dad's favorite restaurant.

I'm perfectly content in my new ride.  I like to sleep in it, too.

I'm still a little too tiny for my stroller, but I'm growing fast.  Thanks Gigi and Grandpa!

Easy Baby

    I've heard people say they have an easy baby, but I've come to realize that is an oxy moron.  There is nothing easy about having a baby.  Sure there are different degrees of difficulty, but it's all difficult.  It's around the clock, non-stop, and each day just rolls into the next.  That being said, Carter is definitely what you would call easy.  I'm scared to say it because I think he could change at any minute, but so far he sleeps like an angel and I've been getting plenty of sleep myself.  He follows a schedule, even when mom messes it up, or takes him out and doesn't feed him on time.  When we take him on the train or bus, he just sleeps.  He sleeps in restaurants or when company comes over.  He sleeps while daddy plays his guitar with the amp.  The only trouble is feeding time, because he just would rather sleep!  We tickle him, take his clothes off, sit him up, do bicycle legs, and even sprinkle cold water on him, but still he sleeps.  When he's finally ready to eat, he'll nurse for about 7 minutes, spit it all up, and then return to sleep.  I'd be more worried if he wasn't gaining weight, passing stool, and reaching little milestones, but he is doing all of those things.  The pediatrician said he's getting enough to eat, so I guess he's a fast eater.

    Until this week, breastfeeding was excruciating!  I wasn't prepared for that level of pain.  Everyone said it would get easier and 2 days ago it started to be much better.  Now I dare to say, it's nice and I can see how it will be good bonding time.  I'd just like a few less bonding sessions a day, because it's pretty time consuming.  Thanks to my mom for helping me to calm down and not get too upset while it was hurting so bad!  Gram stayed for 2 1/2 weeks and never left my side.  She really helped me learn how to be a good mommy.  We miss you so much!

    I love staying at home with Carter.  It's so nice having 5 months off of work.  My favorite thing to do is wake Carter up.  He's so cute when he stretches and smiles unintentionally.  He's masterful at breaking out of his blanket, when dad and I work so hard to swaddle him tightly. Just this week, he's started focusing and paying more attention to us.  I can also tell he's getting stronger, because he will hold up his head briefly and kick his legs much harder.  Since Carter spits up a lot, he gets to show off about 3-5 outfits a day.  That's a good thing because everyone gave him such cute stuff to wear.  I do laundry every morning to wash out all the poopy and spit up.  I am more productive than ever before.  Blair is on diaper and swaddle patrol.  After I feed him, he changes Carter and when he's ready to sleep daddy swaddles him up.  Daddy is quickly learning 2 things:  ALWAYS cover the wee wee and ALWAYS keep a diaper under his booty!  I'm sure you heard about Carter shooting pee straight into Blair's eye.  After 3 1/2 weeks with Carter we've already surrendered.  Our furniture will never be the same, we've already lost the war on spit up, poo, and pee!

    My recovery has been very easy and I really feel like myself again.  The first few days were tough, but after that, it was no big deal.  Strangely, I missed my belly for awhile.  It was sad not having my baby in there anymore.  Of course, it's a million times better having Carter here, to hold and play with.  I love taking walks with Carter in the carrier or our new stroller (thanks Linda!).  The weather has been so beautiful.  It's nice having a spring baby.  God has blessed us with a peaceful, sweet baby (as long as he has his pacifier) and we're so thankful.  We don't deserve Carter and we're humbled to be his parents.

The Story of Carter's Birth

         It was Tuesday, March 22nd at 11:45 pm, Blair and I were watching "The True Hollywood Story of 24".  As I was laying on the couch, I thought my water broke, but I wasn't positive.  I told Blair and he started freaking out.  After 30 minutes into a show about a colossal squid, I knew for sure my water was breaking.  It didn't happen all at once, but gradually over the next few hours.  I wasn't having any contractions, so we looked online to see what we should do.  Then we called the hospital and they said we should come on in.  We were so thrilled that it was actually time and we knew we'd meet our son in less than 24 hours.  We called our parents, then I took a shower and got ready, while Blair finished getting our stuff ready to go and called a taxi.  At this point, I was surprisingly calm, even though I was running around my apartment in a total daze.  At 2:45 am, we hopped in a taxi and headed to Union Hospital.  A nurse checked to make sure my water broke and told me I was 1 cm dilated.  I was a little sad to hear that, but figured things would start progressing soon.  At 3:45 am, mild contractions started, and I was feeling just fine.  About an hour later, the contractions got really painful and I was not feeling quite so fine and already thinking, how on earth am I going to handle this?  A nurse came and checked me around 6:00 am,  I was still only 1 cm.  I  felt pretty frustrated, considering I was already in a lot of pain and I had 9 cm to go.  They gave me laughing gas (like at the dentist) to make me feel better and it did help.  Around 8:00 am, Dr. Wong showed up and told me I was still 1 cm and since I was in such pain I could have an epidural now.  I said no, because I thought it would slow things down.  Dr. Wong said the epidural wouldn't slow things down, but I thought "nobody gets an epidural at 1 cm".  I was already a total MESS, I was in so much pain, and I felt so discouraged.  At 10:30 am, I gave in and got the epidural.  Getting the I.V. was the worst part, because I hate needles anyway.  I felt much better with the epidural, (and so did Blair) but still uncomfortable and exhausted.  At 12:00 pm, I was still 1 cm and very upset.  They gave me pitocin to speed things up, but that made Carter's heartbeat irregular, so they had to stop giving it to me.  When they stopped the pitocin, my contractions slowed down and stopped being regular.  Dr. Wong said that since things weren't progressing, he thought I might have to have a c-section.  I immediately broke down and started crying.  I've never had surgery before and I was in no condition to cope with the terrifying feeling that it was coming to that.  I was scared to death.  He said I could try for another hour and see if I progress.  I tried hard!!  Guess what, still 1 cm, 15 hours since my water broke and virtually no progress.  At 2:30 pm, Dr. Wong asked me if I wanted to keep trying, but I really felt like there was no way I could push, if I ever got to that point.  Since I had made no progress except to become more frustrated and exhausted, and things weren't getting better, I felt I didn't have much of a choice.  More importantly, Carter couldn't stay in there much longer without it becoming dangerous for him.

      The moment I said yes to the c-section, there were 5 nurses swirling around me, prepping me for surgery.  It was very alarming and nerve-racking.  They put Blair in scrubs and wheeled me down to the emergency theater.  The anesthesiologist said he would put more stuff in my epidural, but I would still feel tugging, pressure, and pulling.  I was getting nervous, and then they strapped my arms down!  I felt really nauseous and threw up.  Then they started testing to see if I could still feel stuff.  They would poke me with a scalpel in the stomach, and ask if it hurt.  I could feel it very clearly and it hurt.  I also felt intense lower back pain.  I started panicking a bit because the last thing I wanted was to feel the surgery as it happened.  The doctor asked (hopefully) if I wanted to be put completely under with a general anesthesia.  I said yes, because I was about to lose it and as having severe anxiety when they couldn't seem to get me numb enough.  Since I was being put under, they said Blair couldn't be in the room, and the next thing I know he's being rushed out of the room.  With tears in both our eyes, he tells me goodbye, and goes to wait in the hallway.  He is now scared to death, things happened so fast.  The next thing I know, I'm awake and the nurses tell me Carter's healthy and everything went well.  I was pretty out of it, but I'm looking around for my baby.  They start wheeling me to my room and then I see Blair.  The nurses tell me I'll get to see my baby tomorrow.  Bear in mind it's 3:30 pm and they want me to wait until the next day to see my baby.  I was so upset and could not believe that, after everything we had gone through, they expected me to wait overnight to see our baby.  I told them that was unacceptable, and I looked at Blair with a crazy look in my eye and told him to handle it NOW. Praise God, because Blair was able to find the head nurse and persuaded her to make a phone call  by telling her that his wife was VERY upset about not being able to hold and breastfeed her baby.  It was against their policy, but shortly after that, they wheeled my bed into a private room and let me see my son for the first time.  It was the most surreal experience.  I didn't remember anything about the surgery and then I was looking at this perfect little boy, and he's mine.  I never imagined he'd be so perfect and beautiful.  We were able to spend around  40 minutes with him.  I even got to breastfeed him.  Blair and I were so emotional.  We knew ahead of time that Carter would have to stay in a nursery, and we accepted that.  That night the head nurse would come every 4 hours and wheel my whole bed to a private room, so that I could nurse Carter.

This is the first time Blair got to see Carter.  He was in an incubator.

        Even though the labor and delivery was not how I envisioned it at all, I'm so thankful for the whole experience.  It was certainly traumatic and there were points where I swore I would never do this again (Blair said I had that look in my eyes when I said it),  but it all turned out perfectly.  My recovery has been great and I loved my stay in the hospital.  I was able to visit Carter as much as I wanted to in the nursery.  The bad part was that Blair was only allowed to see him 30 minutes a day.  Your prayers and messages throughout my labor were so encouraging.  I was able to check them through Blair's  iPhone and that really kept me going.
       

           Carter was born one day past his due date on March 23rd at 3:26 pm, he was 8 lbs. 6 oz. and 20.5 inches long.  We're so blessed to have such an amazing son to share our lives with.