Holiday Update - Baby's 1st Christmas

Unfortunately, our digital camera isn't communitcating with the computer, so pictures will be delayed. It's time to update anyway!

This has been a bittersweet Christmas this year. My work schedule has been very taxing on Carter and Steve, and there wasn't much time for the usual Christmas celebrating. No tree or decorations, and presents were bought at the last minute. We even went through all the trouble to get Christmas cards made, and they didn't even get mailed! Of course, all these things arent't the point of Christmas anyway, but it will be fun to do them next year when Carter is older. My supervisor was very kind and I was off on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so we were able to spend some time with Steve's family. I know it was a hard Christmas for them this year as it was the first without two of their grandparents.

We celebrated Christmas with my family the weekend before Christmas, and Carter has so many toys we don't know where to put them. ( I started with getting rid of our collection of VHS tapes!). We only got Carter and little Cars couch for him to watch TV. He got enough from everyone else (but he still prefers playing with our cell phone the most). Speaking of TV, Carter pulled up on the entertainment center this morning, turned the TV on, and scrolled though the channels unitl he found the cartoon he wanted to watch. How about that?

The big news is that Carter started walking just about on his 11 month birthday. He's still a little shaky, and has the bruises to prove it, but he gets better every day. He REALLY needs a haircut ("Is your baby a girl or a boy") but BeBe and Pop Pop are quite opposed, so I figure I won't get his first haircut today as planned since it is Pop Pop's birthday after all. Carter's also been clapping and is quite proud of that, he dances to the TV now, and he does some silly thing were he clasps his hands together and twists back and forth.

Carter sort of has a second word besides MaMa. He calls our cat Sally "So". He only says it when pointing at her, except sometimes he uses it for our cat Harry as well (who looks the same as Sally).

Catching up...

There are a lot of things besides blogging that I should be doing right now, but I am going to do it anyway. My work schedule has been quite busy the last few weeks, and my pager doesn't stop. Today I tried to take a nap twice, but got paged before I could fall asleep. I even had time to go get a manicure/pedicure, but was too exhausted to even do that! I figure a little blogging about all the good things going on in our lives would lift my spirits.

Phoenix trip - Steve and I had a nice time in Phoenix. The resort, the Phoenician, was beautiful, and had lots of places to hang out and enjoy the scenery. They back of the resort was basically multiple levels of outdoor seating areas, complete with fire pits to stay warm. I was in conferences all day, but Steve got to hang out by the pool and climb Camelback mountain. We missed our little man, especially that last day. We couldn't get home fast enough to see him.

Thanksgiving - We went down to my cousin's Cindy's house north of Orange. Getting there was a challenge. Usually Carter just sleeps on the 2 hour trip. This time, it took about 3 stops to get out of the care and see why he was crying wildly (we took two cars). Nothing was really wrong - dry diaper, not hungry; he had just had enough of the car seat. Once we got there, Carter enjoyed watching the cows up close and personal. We stayed in town so BeBe and PopPop could watch Carter while I worked on a work project.

Christmas pictures (this story really deserves it's own blog entry)- My schedule hasn't allowed anytime for taking Carter's Christmas pictures, but I wasn't going to let that stop me. Turned out to be a crazy day. First of all, going to take Carter to Picture People by myself is not the greatest idea. It's truly a two-person deal. We pulled up to the Galleria and parked, and I got the stroller out. We had just driven in from Orange, and I had made it to our appointment just in time. This valet person then informs me that this part of the parking garage that usually isn't valet, all of a sudden is, even though there are no signs marking it as such, and I need to pack it up and find another place to park. I offered to pay valet, but they only took cash or check, neither of which I had. I was livid at that point. It was just a sign of things to come...

Fast forward to getting pictures made. Carter had a cute reindeer sweater vest, so I bought him a reindeer stuffed animal to hold. Turns out he hates it, and kept pushing it out the way. I also brought a strand of battery operated Christmas lights that I though would be a cute prop, but he would not keep them out of his mouth. Everytime I put him down on the floor for the photographer to take a pic, he would turn around and try to crawl up the backdrop, which just cracked him up. It's amazing we got any good pics ( we did!)

It was going to be 20 minutes to see our photos, so my bright idea was to get in line to see Santa. We waited 40 minutes. Carter's diaper has never leaked in 10 1/2 months (which is a blessing in itself!) but for some reason, it was our turn next and I noticed his jeans were soaking wet. I basically told Santa we weren't going to wait in line again, so I was going to put a burp cloth under Carter to keep Santa's costume dry. Carter just stared at Santa like "what in the world am I doing on this person's lap?" and we got a cute pic. No smiling, but no crying either.

I then proceed to change his diaper back at Picture People. His jeans are wet, and I didn't bring a change of pants. So yes, that was me with the baby in the button-down dress shirt and a diaper and no pants! Soooooooo tacky, but I had come so far that day, I wasn't leaving without my pictures!! And somehow during the diaper change I managed to get the lid off the container of Gerber puffs so that they all spilled out on the bathroom floor!

We came home exhausted, both or our pride had been hurt, but I sure am proud of those pictures!

What else is new... We continue to experiment with solid food, which makes me nervous. Carter took down some Tex Mex yesterday - beans, rice, and shredded cheese. He sat in the high chair and ate the entire time we were at the restaurant. He also likes teething biscuits, puffs, and the Gerber Wagon Wheels. Dado (his sitter) says he loves bread. He also loves yogurt, and drinks the drinkable yogurt through a straw. He will stand for 3-5 seconds, and gets closer to walking everyday. He loves books, and of course TV, and big cardboard boxes. He hates the high chair. We aren't going to make it to the one year mark before his first haircut. He says a lot of "doh!" and what sounds like "wow", and has 3 and a half teeth on top, two on the bottom. And, as always, he has more energy than both Steve and I put together!

Bittersweet...

Today Steve and I are going to a conference in Scottsdale, Arizona and will be gone 3 nights. Our little one is well taken care of, but it was hard to say goodbye. This is our first venture out for more than one night since Carter's been born (minus my stay at the hospital), so we will try to enjoy it.
We saw a 5th tooth last night, which explains a lot the last couple of weeks. He is doing great, except a little runny nose. He needs a haircut so bad, and is getting a mullet. I can 't bring myself to do it yet. He has said mama a few times, and is getting stronger in regards to trying to stand and walk. He is an absolutely joy and we are really enjoying him right now. He is worth the exhaustion!

Happy Halloween!

Carter's outfit from BeBe says "Little Monster". Of course, he's really a sweetie, but it was a rough night. He was up from 1:30 am to about 4 am with teething issues, so we're a little sleepy around here. He's otherwise doing fine... it got a little cold here this week. The only thing cuter than a nekkid baby is a bundled up, snuggly one!

9 month checkup!

Carter had his checkup on October 23rd, one week after he turned 9 months. All was well, and we will start introducing milk and cheese. She asked us to stick with the Nutramigen. He weighed 19 pounds, 8 oz (35 percentile), measured 28 1/2 inches (50%) and had a head circumference of 18 1/4 inches (80%). His little personality continues to develop. There's lots of happy growling, cute babbling, and hugging my legs when I am standing. Supposedly we are to start saying "no" which will be harder for us than him!

Pumpkin Head -- October 11, 2008

I think CWH is just the cutest little guy I ever met. I know I am biased, but so be it. He is doing great, and we are in a bit of a routine, although a busy routine. His babble sounds more like talk, and it clearly means something to him. He can "walk" if you just support him with one hand in his. He likes his new "chair", and the hammer that Lindsay gave him this weekend. We were going to call her "tia" because that sounded cute for an aunt, but CWH has decided to call her ZeZe. This week will be a trial of food containing milk to see if he can tolerate it. His 9 month birthday was last Friday, and his checkup is this week. Hopefully, Steve will scan in his 9 month pics from picture people soon!

They didn't have this when I was a kid!

High-tech CWH has been enjoying hanging out with his grandparents via webcam. I think it'll be a pretty daily routine to say good night to BeBe and PopPop. The webcams were an anniversary gift to my parents

CWH went to Orange this past weekend, which is the pic with his Pop Pop. The two hairdo pics are just me messing around after his bath, and then the last pic shows that the box is always more fun than the toy inside. CWH has enjoying toddling around with the walker that his grandparents got him last weekend. He's still a sweet angel, plus the occasional tantrum.

Carter has more energy than his parents combined

CWH is pretty much over his illness, thankfully. His dad, however, is on day 9 of being sick, most likely due to all the nasty, filthy, moldy muck that is now inside all the homes in Bridge City.

A coupe pics are posted from the last week or so. It's getting harder to get a good shot, since he won't keep still. CWH bumped the area over his eye on my watch, and he has one incisor tooth hanging down, so his dad says he look like a boxer. My favorite pic is his great-grandpaw eric pushing the stroller around the driveway to get CWH to sleep. It worked. He's been so full of energy lately that I've needed advil for all my aches and pains. This week he's gone to bed at 7, which has helped me out (except when he wakes up at 5:30...)

8 months today!

Yesterday, we all ventured down to Orange to help out and let Carter bring some smiles. Steve headed to BC, but we kept CWH away from there. It was good to be with family after such a devastating event. I saw some pretty crazy pictures of the Ike aftermath. Beyond words, really. There was already mold growing everywhere. What a mess. Wish we could have stayed longer, and hope to go back soon.
I dropped CWH off at the sitter's today since he was doing better. About 2 hours later, she called me and said she thought he should go to the hospital. By the time we got there, he was fine, and was flirting with the nurses as usual. The wait was going to be horrendous, so we just headed to the clinic. He checked out ok, thankfully.
He played hard tonight, and even ate all his smelly spinich and potatoes. His new thing is that he likes to be held around his arms and let his feet dangle, then he does bicycle kicks as hard as he can in the air. This boy is going to need a yard to play in before too long. He also likes to splash as hard as he can in the bath, so that you are soaking when he is done. He does NOT like his nose wiped. He's enjoying all the new toys Jenna gave him, especially the cell phone, of course.

Pray for the folks in Bridge City - their lives have been literally turned upside down.

First visit to the ER :(

Rough night last. Not long after blogging, CWH kept waking up and crying and had to be put back to sleep. I had been trying to console him for about 10 minutes, and his crying was exacerbating the croup. He made these little gasping sounds, and essentially quit moving air into his lungs for about 20 seconds or so. He also went limp during this time. By the time I laid him down on the diaper changer, he had recovered, but it was the scariest thing ever. The fear in croup is respiratory failure. We were out the door in no time. We felt better off driving him to Texas Children's ourselves, as post-Ike it is unclear what the resources are. He remained stable, and we checked in at 12:10 am. We weren't seen by the doctor until 7 am! I didn't care, though, as I was much more comortable being in the hospital just in case he got into trouble again. Finally around 7:45 am, he got his steroids and they let us go a little after 9am. He seems to have improved. The real test will be how he does tonight and in the morning. I hope to never have to go through something like this again, and am so thankful that this didn't occur right in the midst of the hurricane.
If CWH is doing ok in the morning, and if Steve can get off of work, we will head to Orange in the am. Both of our parents went to survey the damage in Bridge City, and both houses were total losses. The water line was over my dad's head (he's around 5'10 I think). There were all sorts of FISH in the house - gross. Furniture was upside down, and there was a foot of mud on the ground. A picture album of me and my sister's baby pictures was buried in the mud. My parents have a shed in their front yard that does not belong to them. There was an alligator seen a few blocks away. They plan to go back tomorrow and take what they can. I figure CWH can cheer them up a bit. They have a long road ahead of them, but fortunately God has promised to supply all our needs.

Ok, can't keep my eyes open any longer...

Post-Ike update

Wow, what a whirlwind weekend. With Ike headed our way, we headed out to Katy on Thursday night to stay with Steve's sister and family. Carter had a wonderful time playing with his cousins and their toys. He woke up Friday morning hoarse and coughing, and I eventually figured out he had croup. Early Friday evening, the lights begain flickering, and eventually were out. The scariest part of weathering the storm is not being able to be updated via TV. You have no idea what's going on and what's next.

In the middle of the night, the croup got worse, which is typical for the virus. Under normal circumstances, I would not have taken him to the ER, but I knew that if it got worse, I would not have 911, and might not be able to make it to the hospital. We turned on the hot water in the bathroom and made a sauna and tried to keep him calm so things wouldn't get worse. It was pretty scary for a moment. The next morning, there was not much damage to the immediate area, but no power. Our old-school answering machine picked up when we called our home, so we knew we had power, and headed back to Houston. There is some damage to our condos in the way of downed trees, messed up fence, but nothing too terrible. We are basically sitting pretty with out power that never went out, and running water. The only mini-crisis was finding me a diet coke! We are very, very, very blessed, and Carter is hanging in there. His illness should be gone in a couple more days. God is good!

The bad news is that our hometown of Bridge City was pretty much a lake with rooftops peeking out. My parents house had about 5 foot of water in it, and they are going home to check it out tomorrow. We don't know about Steve's parents' home yet, but the flooding was very bad in that area. My cousin's house, which was originally my grandparents', burned to the ground. Fortunately, everyone else's house in my family is reported to be in good shape. That's a good thing, since the insurance on my sister's new house kicks in tomorrow! I know cliche', but what's important is that everyone is safe. The personal property loss is devastating, but secondary.

Seems superficial, but I guess I could update on CWH's milestones. Not much new since last time. I get bummed every time I hear "DaDa" as he has made no progress on "Mama". He's a strong dude and can climb to the top of the stairs by himself (with us right behind, of course!). He likes fresh fruit in his mesh "fresh food feeder". We got a spot at the UT Development center, but I decided I wasn't ready to put him in traditional daycare (not with the winter coming). He has such a sweet lady that keeps him (although she doesn't have power right now - not sure how that will work out this week! ). There is an upper tooth coming in that's adding to his misery. His hair is laying down and doesn't look so crazy. And of course, I love him and spending time with him more than ever! Hope to get our camera back this week. Otherwise, will have to post crummy cell phone pics! Be safe everyone.

7 months and some change (I've lost track of the weeks!)

I should be working on my presentation for in the morning, but I've been working on it all day, and I need a break! I haven't blogged in 2 weeks, and that's a lot of milestones for little CWH! Weekend before last, he was hanging with me and his Granny and he cruised the couch. He can crawl up the stairs (were we to allow him!). He talks now in such a way that he clearly thinks you can understand him completely. It is also quite clear that at times he is cussing you - like when you are putting on his jammies. He's still requires a lot of patience when feeding him solids. I've given up on the hair chair. I got him his own remote, but he still mutes the TV with the real one.

He been showing some stranger anxiety for a couple of weeks now, especially with men. The flip side of this is that he also shows mommy and daddy recognition, which is very rewarding.

I brushed his teeth for the first time last night, which he loved. He got a death grip on my hand, and made me brush where he wanted to brush! He cried when I stopped brushing, so I kept going until HE was ready to stop.

No pictures for a bit. I left the camera at Steve's grandmother's house this weekend. Hopefully, I can post some pics this weekend. His hair is getting even thicker, and he's getting quite handsome. He's looking more like a little boy everyday. It's been a trip watching his personality develop!

30 weeks 5 days

It's official! CWH is crawling. He's quite proud of himself. A new era begins....

30 weeks 4 days

CWH sat up by himself today :)

Discovery Green Park - 7 months old today!

Long time no blog. It's been a busy rotation for me this month. I am enjoying my Endocrine fellowship, but it's hard to get home late right before he goes to bed. I miss spending time with my dude! Next month will be better.

Today, we went to Discovery Green park, the new park that opened in downtown Houston this past spring. It's beautiful and very zen, and CWH is going to have a blast playing in the fountains this time next year. I just noticed while posting the pics that he's wearing the same rockstar outfit as the last post. Oh well, it's my favorite right now anyway while his hair is so spikey.

As far as what's new with CWH, his "daa daa" sounds are becoming more distinct. About 10 days ago, he learned to say doi, doi doi. He clearly has two bottom teeth when he smiles. His favorite toy is an obnoxiously loud piano that sings about farm animals. He and our cat Sally are becoming fast buddies. We moved the crib to the bottom level, just in case. He is mobile, in that he can get where he wants, but it's not a traditional crawl yet. He does get on all fours and sway back and forth, as if he's getting revved up to go. He loves for us to help him walk. He can pull up on you to standing with minimal assistance. He doesn't like his diaper or clothes changed, so it takes all out "wrastling" to get it done. In fact, I usually put him on a blanket on a floor to put his clothes on, so I can have a greater advantage. He's not a big fan of sitting in his high chair or eating peas. He can stay in his bathtub indefinitely until YOU get tired of watching him and pull him out. Bathtime is no longer him sitting and playing with toys; it's him trying to stand up, climb out, reach the water spout, etc. so it takes a bit more energy on our part. He took a second swim in the pool last week, and was much more animated and seemed to enjoy the doggy paddling.

He continues to steal my heart - my favorite time of day is feeding him his nighttime bottle and watching him fall asleep in my arms as he pats my hand with his little hand. He's such a sweet angel. We have been so amazingly blessed with his good health, and pray that it stays that way.

28 weeks 3 days

I have not been a good blogger this week. I started the inpatient service this month, which is a lot busier that the typical endocrine fellowship months. A lot has happened in Carter's world since last post. His aunt Lindsay got married last Saturday and now Carter has an uncle Scotty and a cousin Jenna! Carter looked dashing in his outfit, but was a little fussy during the ceremony. It required a PopPop intervention.

Carter has been making a sound similar to Ma Ma for about 10 days now. I know it's not the real thing, but it's awfully close, and other people have heard it as well. A couple times I've heard a Da Da sound, and I clearly hear a Na Na sound, which is what I called my grandmother. He has bottom left tooth that has broken though the gum. He's eaten all sorts of baby foods - carrots, sweet potatoes, apples, pears. Today was a very successful try of an apricot/apples mix. He likes to pull himself to sit or stand with your help. He also occasionally sucks in his cheeks and makes a fish face. He's very close to crawling. He is mobile, and gets to where he wants to go by some combination of log rolling, belly crawling, and caterpillaring. He can get up on "all fours" and rock back and forth. I have noticed a few times now that when watching Baby Einstein, he can be just fine, then starts bawling when they show an elephant, then is fine when it is over. No clue.

Yesterday, Carter had a nice time playing with Granny, who came for a visit since Steve and I both had to work on Saturday.

Today Steve is working so I am home with Carter and we are having a little mommy and me time. The big accomplishment today was that he rode in the Target buggy like a big boy. It was kind of like those game shows where you run around the store throwing things in the buggy as fast as you can before the time runs out. I figured I had about 30 minutes to get it done. I was so rushed I even accidently bought a pink sippy cup. I wonder if Steve is going to make me return it. Carter was just wide-eyed the whole shopping trip, taking it all in. Later, he had "pedicure", but wouldn't be still for the manicure part. I posted a few pics of our play day today, since I know that's why anyone checks the blog anyway! The one in the jumperoo shows how his hair stands straight up.

27 weeks 1 day

Today was 6-month shot day :(

The same nurse as last time came in to give them to him. Carter usually smiles when someone talks him, but he just stared her down like he knew something was up. His crying breaks my heart while he's getting the shots, but he stops crying as soon as they are done. In fact, he just woke up in a great mood from a long nap. He is now at the 35% percentile for weight (up from 25%) and 80% for height (up from 75%). His head is at the 65% percentile, and his weight is 16 lbs 10 oz. We'll just keep on doing what we're doing as far as feeding, but will start giving him a sippy cup with water. That should be fun to watch! He also has a couple of lower teeth about to come through.

The pictures are him showing off his Rockstar romper, complete with rockstar hair (it's just the way it is, I don't do anything to it!) Also, his new deal is to always have his tongue out, even when he's just looking around..

26 weeks 3 days

CWH celebrated his 6 month half-birthday this past Thursday. He has discovered how to actually jump in his jumperoo, instead of just hanging out in it. He goes crazy, and I think it's the funniest thing I've ever seen. Seriously, it looks like someone gave him a bottle full of red bull. I laughed until I cried. We'll have to figure out how to get videos on here.
CWH went to Kemah this weekend, and even watched his mom eat some BBQ crabs at Sartins. Nowadays, he is usally pretty chilled out at restaurants until the exact moment the waitress brings out my food :) He is on day 2 of sweet potatoes, and is eating about three meals of "real" food a day.
Today he was super happy, and even threw out some smiles during his pictures. It's our 6th time at picture people. I have a bit of an addiction to that place. Yes, I spend too much money, but at least they edit the drool out of the pictures! We have plenty of drool-ful pictures on our own camera! However, now that he has hit the sixth month mark, maybe we can back off of getting pictures made every month. Maybe.

25 weeks 5 days

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Above is a little note typed by Carter! He is sitting up great! Tonorrow is 6 months.......

25 Weeks 3 days

Carter's first swim! He looked sooo cute in his swim outfit...He enjoyed it, he was just "chill" the whole time. We bought him a little swim turtle float with a hood and a spash area.

Right now he is eating peas for the first time, and Mikey likes it!

24 weeks

Here are some new pics of CWH. The ones on the mat are him trying to crawl. He can get his legs up under him, but then he falls to the side. A couple are in his jumperoo. There are two in his infant seat/bouncer chair, showing that he likes to sit upright and is starting to grow out of it. His new thing is to razz, which is really cute, except when he razzes all his cereal out. Apparently, after a cereal meal, the sitter says she has cereal all over her face, clothes, hair....He also likes to chew on his bottom lip and he likes to gum your fingers and gnaw on them - baby pirana-style. Diaper changing is getting progressively more complicated. We employ the "diaper changing dog" which is a stuffed puppy that plays music that can distract him. We thought we lost the dog when we went to a friends' housem, but it was thankfully recovered!

I started my fellowship this week, so I was sad to have to drop off Carter so early. I am looking forward to hanging out with the little dude over the three day holiday! I am trying to teach him ma-ma-ma-ma....

23 weeks 2 days

Saturday morning naptime!

23 Weeks

Time for an update! We have been really busy around here, as this past weekend was PawPaw Hightower's funeral, and also our 6-year wedding anniversary. I am so thankful that Carter and PawPaw Hightower were able to meet one another.

I have been home this month, and bring him to the sitter later in the morning so I can run errands and get things done! Carter has been doing great, and has been on rice cereal for over a week now. The pediatrician suggested waiting until 6 months, but the little guy was just too hungry. He still working on trying to crawl, he has a full-belly giggle, sucks his thumb and toes, and has new fuzzy hair that sticks staight up. He also purses his lips together, sometimes smacking. He looks like an old man. Here are some recent pics - two are watching his videos (he is watching PraiseBaby right now - the music is peaceful and he likes watching all the other little babies), and one is what he looks like after his daddy fed him cereal. When his dad isn't feeding him, Carter is a fairly neat eater. He even uses the bib to wipe his mouth. However, he did grab the spoon out of my hand and put it in his, slinging cereal everywhere. Mr. Independent.