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!