Quick thanks!!

Since Thanksgiving...Carson has required minimal supplemental oxygen. In fact he has gone without ANY supplemental oxygen for the past four days!!! Yay!!!! This is SO exciting for us! I think we all expecting this to happen around 6 months of age...but hey, at least it happened! So we are all thanking God. Although this doesn't change much in terms of his care, it just means that his lungs are that much stronger and healthier! This is a great milestone for him!

We had fun this past weekend putting up the Christmas decorations! Yes, I think we were pretty much done on Friday...thanks to Preston's EARLY start : ) Here are a few pictures!

Kellen loves giving Carson 'rides'...Carson doesn't look so sure about it!

Nice work Poppy! Yes...Dad made a beautiful track (while the boys were asleep)...Don't worry his hard work was demolished within a matter of seconds once the boys woke up!

Something else to get into!

Clark Griswald at work...

Christmas tree is up : )

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! It is amazing to see how far the boys have come and how much they've grown. Every child is such a miracle from God and we are SO blessed to see Carson and Kellen's miracle unfold! We had a wonderful day yesterday at Mimi and Papa's house for Thanksgiving dinner and then we had a lovely evening at our home, which was topped off by a great meal/snack prepared by Glenda. Glenda was a true blessing to have this past week! And the boys found out she is the perfect playmate : )

Carson had some big news last night...he went ALL NIGHT without requiring supplemental oxygen! What a nice thanksgiving gift! Please continue to pray for the details of the Cincinnati trip...I'm really torn by whether or not to take Kellen. I can NOT imagine going three or four days without seeing him but I also know the trip will be a little harder with him because he is not used to traveling like Carson is. And then again prayers for little Carson's complete healing and for the physicians that will evaluate him in Cincinnati. We are so hopeful to receive good news or at least that they have seen something similar. So with that...I just ask for prayers for us, so that no matter what news we receive, that we will remain hopeful and at peace! And then my last request...prayers for Carson's nurses...we are very happy with the nurses we have at this time but the new year will likely mean we will be losing several of the nurses due to various reasons. God has provided in the past but it is always a little bit trying when we are in between our regular nurses. So we just ask for prayers to have good, caring, competent nurses for Carson.

We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and that it is filled with joy and peace!

P.S. More pictures to come of Christmas decorating and picking our tree out : ) Preston could hardly contain himself. I have a strict rule that Christmas decorations do not go up until after Thanksgiving, so....Preston was up bright and early this morning getting our decorations down and putting the Christmas lights up : ) I guess I really can't complain!!

First Birthday Party!!

Well we survived the first birthday and I think it went really well! Lots of people came in to celebrate the miracle of the boys' lives and this first year! We are extremely grateful for everyone that made the drive as well as everyone else that was there in spirit : ) The boys did really well. Carson was pretty tired by the time we were ready for cake so he didn't really care much about the smash cake, plus the fact that I accidentally snapped him in the face when I was attempting to adjust his hat...I know, MAJOR party foul! I don't have pictures of opening presents because we did that back at our house but we got lots of fun gifts and lots of new books! Yay!!!

Kellen has had a runny, stuffy nose for awhile now but then Carson ran a temperature on Sunday night and still has quite a bit of congestion! Please be praying that he can kick this bug without having to get back into breathing treatments! We had to stay home from Papa's birthday tonight because of Carson's secretions...bummer! But we wish Papa a VERY happy birthday! He is the greatest!

A HUGE thank you to Ahdra for taking these wonderful pictures! (I got them out of order somehow...oh well)

Sweet Kellen

 

'Aunt' Christi...one of our favorite NICU nurses!!

Monsters!!

Mom's 'grandkids'

Mimi and Papa and their grandkids

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How fun!

Playing with their toy from Aunt Amber and Uncle Mark

The creator of their shirts! So cute!

Oh wow...its furry : )

I'm not so sure about this!

Here Dad...try some!

The party gang!!

And the wild crew!! (The Bunches!)

Little Carson with Grampe Carson

Mr. Carson

Happy Boys!

My two loves!!

Poppy and Nana with the first two grandchildren

I think I'd rather just look at the hat...

What a year!!

The boys are ONE!! And we all survived the first year! YAY!!! It is amazing to think of how far we have come...a year ago today we were all anxiously awaiting what God had in store for us. He blessed us with two precious boys! One who had a long road ahead of him and another who was to be his best friend and biggest fan through it all! To look at Carson now, the smiling happy boy that he is, it is hard to believe where he has come from, that he was born with a neck mass over two pounds (over a third of his body weight). I will never be able to fully express my gratitude to the Fetal Care Institute at Cardinal Glennon, the wonderful physicians, nurses, and staff that made our miracles possible. They were the hands of God! And a huge THANK YOU to everyone that has relentlessly sent prayers up for our family and the boys lives! We would have had a MUCH MUCH harder year without all of you! People go above and beyond the call of friends and family and it is overwhelming at times to think of the graces and blessings we have received in this past year alone! I can't wait to see what the coming years have in store!

Carson's journey is not over and so we continue to ask for prayer...especially for the specifics of our trip to Cincinnati...lodging, travel, whether we should take Kellen or not, and for the physicians that will collaborate on his case. And as always, continued prayer for complete healing of Carson's airway and feeding. I will continue to pray for this until ALL medical equipment is gone from our house (okay...I may keep a stethoscope & thermometer just for good measure : )
And for Kellen's feeding...in many ways, tons of prayers have been answered because he is now eating much better and gaining weight and is definitely a healthy little boy but we are far from a typical eater. He still fights the bottle and will not take a sippy cup in any sort of volume : ) We will continue to persevere.

Both were waving to the camera :)

Our first family picture!

Thanksgiving 2011