Thanksgiving Program

Carter's preschool put on a wonderful little Thanksgiving Program. Each of the kids did such a great job. They have been working all month on this "secret" production, making props, costumes, learning songs and their parts. Unfortunately, many of our photos didn't turn out well to see all of these things. But we did get video:)!! Carter was a chef and his part was to place the Turkey on the table. Apparently, there was more to the turkey than what is pictured, but when practicing he had a hard time carrying it because it was so large and ended up dropping it 90% of the time, so the decision was made just to place the turkey leg on the table. I was going to put the video on, but came to realize that perhaps it is something "only a mother can love". Lots of wiggling little 4 and 5 year olds, hollaring their loudest possible making the songs absoulutely impossible to decipher. But, afterall, they were told to sing loud!! I loved every minute!!

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween! Our celebrating started off on Wednesday with "Trunk or Treating" at the church. The boys played games, did a cake walk, and Carter participated in the "trunk or treating". Jake got a tootsie pop from the first person we went to, and voted to stay in the car with daddy to eat his sucker and hand out candy. On Halloween night we did the traditional neighborhood trick-or-treating. Interesting how at their ages the fun comes from who gets to ring the doorbell. At one of the houses we went to, the man was sitting outside to hand out candy (because here in AZ where it is still 90's in late October, you can do that). Jake ran right past him to the door. He pressed his face right up on the screen door and yelled "You got any candy in there?" Strictly business with this little guy!

Carter's 5th Birthday

I simply cannot believe that Carter is 5. Where does the time go? Today was a great day! Carter woke up full of energy and loudly proclaimed "Today is my birthday!! I am 5!!" Good thing he reminded us! :) How much our lives have changed in the last five years! I am excited to see what the future holds for us!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARTER! We love you so much!!

Brothers

Carter's best bud Jake came along in July of 2006. Carter has been an awesome helper from the beginning, and just like mommy is a little bummed that Jake is growing up so quickly. Carter still wants to "hold" Jake when Jake is fussy or just waking up and wants to be cuddled, unfortunately Jake only wants Mommy at those times. Besides, Jake is only 7 pounds less than Carter at this point. Carter has been an excellent big brother and loves to teach Jake new things, some not always so good though, like climbing out of the crib! Jake is constantly 2 steps/words behind Carter. He repeats nearly everything that Carter does. Having 2 boys is great! Sure we have our moments when mean words are said and someone ends up in tears, but they certainly do think the world of each other. On a recent trip to Oklahoma to visit Uncle Tyler and Aunt Kyla, where Grandma & Grandpa and Great-Grandma Venece would be meeting us, Scott was walking with Carter and asked if he was excited to go to Oklahoma and Carter said "Yes". Scott then asked "Who are you most excited to see?" Carter matter of factly said "Jake!" Of course, one of my greatest wishes is for Carter and Jake to continue throughout life being the best of friends. I love every moment when they are playing together, and especially now that Jake is talking more, I love to catch those times when they are carrying on a little conversation between themselves. They are hilarious!

Trains!

This is a favorite photo of mine for so many reasons. First and formost, it is of my 2 handsome boys surrounded by the magic that Christmas brings. To know Carter at all, is to know his love for trains. This obsession started while in the hospital with Pneumonia and he was given a train to play with, and we first watched Thomas the Train while there. Since then Thomas has been like a family member. Afterall, we are on a first name basis. Thomas has accompanied us to the grocery store, out to dinner, and made the long trek to Grandma & Grandpa's many times. We were even able to visit Thomas a couple times when he made his way to Williams AZ. Carter has quite the collection of these pricey little trains, and I shiver each time I see the basket where they are kept and realize that each one got a good $5-8.00 out of us. Add in all the track and stations and we are talking about the possiblity of feeding a small country. I am so proud :(! Just glad that we decided to go the die-cast route vs. the wooden ones, they are much more. When Jake came into the picture and Carter learned that his middle name was "Thomas" (after a Great-Grandpaa, not the train) he was a little upset. Kind of a dirty trick I guess. Hey Carter, here's your new baby brother that is going to demand lots of care and attention from mommy and daddy, and we gave him your favorite name... how do you like that? I was hoping that Jake would carry on this train obsession, but unfortunately, he likes "Cars" much more. Of interesting note though, Jake learned to say "All aboard! Choo-choo!" long before he said much else. Our Christmas train was a big hit for the last 3 years, but unfortunately its run came to an end this year. Perhaps Santa could find us another one!

Such a handsome little guy!

I just wanted to share with you some of my favorite photos of Carter.

Sick, Sick, Sick!

Here are a few moments that yes, made me feel completely helpless, but also made me feel those ever defining "mom" feelings. These are those times where you would take over all of your child's aches and pains so they can their normal carefree selves. Unfortunately, Carter has given me and his dad quite a few of these moments.

Our first situation I described in a previous post, was having to do the at home bili-lights. Sure it was great that he didn't have to stay in the hospital, but having to leave your newborn in that "suitcase" whenever he wasn't eating, that was awful!

When Carter was approx 10 weeks old and his first Christmas, he got RSV. This was terrifying! Once again we were able to stay out of the hospital by seeing the pediatrition each day and doing breathing treatments every 3-4 hours. We had taken Carter to the ER late on the 23rd where they gave him a few breathing treatments and sent us home to follow-up with md. I took Carter to the dr myself that day, where he tested him for RSV. (Scott will probably not appreciate this, oh well!!) Scott got home from work that afternoon just as it was time for a treatment I had placed little restless Carter in his swing to show Scott how to do the treatment. Almost immediately after the medicine started Carter stopped moving and crying, and closed his eyes. Scott became very concerned and yes had tears in his eyes, he thought something was wrong. Actually, completely opposite. The treatments allowed Carter to not have to fight so hard to breathe so this is when he fell asleep. Unfortunately, it may have been from this RSV at such a young age that Carter has Asthma.

On Carter's 1st birthday while watching him play I noticed a lump on his neck. It was small about the size of a pea and didn't seem to bother him. We had his one year check-up 2 days later. The doctor told me to watch it and if it became bothersome to him or grew to let him know. Well it did grow and became red and inflamed so we were referred to a pediatric surgeon. Carter was scheduled for outpatient surgery on a Thursday. The surgery went fine, although, watching a toddler come out of general anesthesia is horrible, lots of tears from mommy, I thought he was in pain, but they nurses insisted that this was a common reaction from the anesthesia. The surgeon decided to admit Carter overnight for observation. The lump that was removed was a necrotic lymph node (how or why was never really known). He said he was concerned because it was larger than suspected and close to the trachea, so he would feel better if we would stay in the hospital just in case the swelling were to close off his trachea (as if we were going to argue). He was released the next day. Later that night Carter began throwing up. Saturday I took him to the pediatrician because I was concerned there was some sort of infection from the surgery. They didn't think he had an infection that he was probably allergic to the antibiotics or had the flu. Monday, Carter and I flew to Las Vegas to stay with my mom for a week. He was still sick, but the surgeon had given his blessing to go on our trip, and what better place to be than with grandma when your not feeling well. Upon boarding our flight Carter proceeded to vomit all down the front of me when I was in front of the passengers, and some old man decided to make a fuss and ask the flight attendant if she was going to allow that sick baby to fly--I was already in tears. We made the flight and immediately after landing drove to an urgent care. We were sent from there to a surgeon who completely thought that his site was infected and he would need strong antibiotics and possibly have to be put under anesthesia again to have the infection cleaned out. Luckily the antibiotics worked. Five days and five shots of Rocephin later, Carter was better.

February of 2006, Carter started having breathing problems again and I thought surely he had RSV again. We were completely blindsided with Pneumonia and admitted to the hospital for 5 days. It was so horrible to see my otherwise, uncontainable 2 year old lying in the hospital bed, with absolutley no fight in him, he didn't try to get out of the bed until day 4. They were doing breathing treatments every 2 hours with chest percussion every hour for 20-30 min. (Worse, than breastfeeding a newborn). This went on for about 5 hours our first night there until I threw a big crying fit because Carter cried and fought the entire time they were doing the percussion-- to be expected I know, but I also felt that he needed some sleep to get better too. God Bless pediatric nurses, parents are the worst to deal with!! The order was changed to every 2 hours. This was an awful experience because of course the pediatric floor was overflowing because of RSV. This became my first hand experience of what it is like to be a patient on a floor where the staffing is just not what it needs to be. I have many complaints about this stay, but also have been the nurse in difficult times, so I will keep these complaints to myself. Besides, Carter did get better.

Once again, 2 days before Christmas, Carter broke out in this horrible rash!! He had a mild fever and said he "didn't feel good" but gave no specifics. I gave him benedryl that night. The next morning he looked worse, believe it or not, so off to the doc again. Dr. Nemivant knew upon walking in the room Carter had Strep Throat. Who knew?!? Well, probably all the other mom's out there, but I had no idea strep throat could make you have a rash like that, and he said his throat didn't even hurt. CRAZY!!

This June I received a call at work from Scott. Who, prior to me, had scared the Triage staff because he had called there looking for me, sounding a little frantic he said he needed to talk to me it was an emergency. They asked if he was okay and all he told them was "I am, Carter's not". They transferred the call to me and of course I was in the middle of excellent patient care, so I didn't hear that I had a call. In the meantime a few of the triage staff had ran to the pod I was on to tell me "Scott is on the phone. It's an emergency! He says it is Carter!" I nearly lost it right there, for I knew that the babysitter was planning on taking the boys in the pool and it would be right around this time. I was already in tears and shaking by the time I picked up the phone. Hearing my reaction, he said "He's fine, he just needs some stitches!" What a relief, stitches I can handle! Apparently, Carter was just sitting on a skateboard when one end flipped up and hit him in the chin. He gets his grace from me!! The babysitter had tried to reach me, but couldn't (due to the excellent patient care I was providing), so she got a hold of Scott. She said he was doing fine, he just didn't like all the blood. Yea, neither would mommy! I met the sitter at the ER and they fixed him right up. No stitches needed, just a little glue!

As you can see we have had our share of issues with Carter, luckily none too serious. Carter's asthma is not a fun thing at all, although we are lucky that it really isn't a problem until he gets a little cold or allergies. Then it is straight to his chest and we are dealing with the respiratory distress, which is always so difficult to try and stay calm when you have to watch how hard it is for your child to breathe. Although, they say "God only gives you what you can handle". With all mommy's anxiety issues I think it is fair to say he's pushed it. It is hard enough to watch your kiddo wake up with his arm or leg that has fallen asleep and try to explain why that happens to a toddler.

This is hard!!

Our first few days were difficult, as I am sure everyone experiences, but I felt pretty much clueless. Luckily, my mom was here to help out. Sure I knew that newborns breastfeed every 2-3 hours, but what I didn't realize was that meant during the night (1am) you breastfeed for 30-45 min, get the little guy settled then you can't sleep because he makes so many noises and your eyes pop open with every little sigh, then you barely dose off and BAM!! (3am) ready to eat again. Scott got food poisoning or something on our first day home and was out for the count. But we made it through just fine! I remember asking my mom "Do you think all mom's find their little babies lips so irresistable? I just can't stop kissing him! And when I'm not, I am constantly staring at him because he is so amazing and beautiful!" It all goes by so fast! I still want to kiss him all the time, although, now sometimes it involves chasing him down!

Week of Carter

I got this great idea from my wonderful friend Nicole. Carter's 5th birthday is this coming Saturday, so I am dedicating this week to him. It is my intention to share some memorable experiences and fun pictures with all of you.

Carter was a completely planned pregnancy. Whether Scott was ready or not, I had decided that it was time. Fortunately, I was one of those who got pregnant immediately after stopping the pill, we all know I am horrible at waiting. My pregnancy was a little less than wonderful though, I was nauseated the entire time, and also had gallbladder issues. Not only difficult for me, but difficult for all that were around me, I don't like to keep my complaints to myself. Many were concerned that Carter was going to be a really big baby, but turned out that mommy was just big.

If you have ever wondered, Carter was not named after a President or John Carter from ER. To be completely honest, I cannot remember how it first came to mind. I remember a discussion with Scott about names for a baby long before I got pregnant and we had both agreed on Carter. His middle name, James, was my grandpa's first name and my brother's middle name and seemed to fit well with Carter.

I woke up on the morning of October 25th, 2003 with contractions and some bleeding. We arrived at Good Samaritan Hospital (where I work) just after 7am. I was able to have my great friend Nerissa's boyfriend (now husband) be the Resident for my labor and delivery. Although a little wierd at the time, I am so happy that he was there. I think it will be awesome for Carter to have a personal relationship with the doctor that delivered him. After many painful hours of labor--not really, more like a couple "painful" contractions and an epidural later, Carter was born at 7:44pm. He weighed 7 lbs. 10.6 oz. and was 19 inches long. It was an amazing experience that some of my very wonderful L&D friends were able to share with me. It is simply incredible the instantanious love you can have for this tiny little person.

Here are some pictures from our first moments together. The blue "suitcase" with the lights was Carter's take home bili-lights for Jauntice. I had no clue at the time that this was a possibility. Poor little man stuck in there his whole first days at home, no wonder he figured out that it was necessary to eat at least every 2 hours, he needed out of that thing! This became the source of my first anxiety attack.

One thought that stands out in my memory at this time, was looking at Scott after I was told I was completely dialated and asking him if he was ready for this, I don't remember his response, but sure he said "no", then telling him that from that moment on it would no longer be just us (me and him), it would be "us" (Scott, Carter and I).

"Punkin' Patch" 2008

Thursday we made the long awaited trip to Schnepf Farms. Ever since we went last year, Carter has been waiting to return to the "Punkin' Patch". We arrived early afternoon, despite the heat, and stayed until 7:30pm. The boys had a great time riding the bees and going down the really big slide. Carter really enjoyed the roller coaster, a big hit from last year for which he was so eager to return. We ate some home-made pumpkin ice-cream, and were entertained by Jake's tantrum in the dirt. By learning from our mistakes, we were sure to ride the train before dark this year! We watched a few shows with pig racing and juggling, had some dinner, and of course, picked out some pumpkins. The boys killed some time at the playground where Carter raced tricycles and Jake failed miserably at avoiding the mud puddle! We had great time!

Proud Mama

You may be a bit confused as to why I am so proud as I begin this story, but hold out till the end. Today Scott picked up Carter and Karina from school. Karina is Carter's adorable little friend that he is lucky enough to attend the same school as, and the daughter of my wonderful friend Nicole. Scott's side of the story was that as each of the kids approached the car, there ensued the battle of who would open the door. Scott won, by locking the door until he could open it. Not much talking occured on the ride home (not a rare senerio as this is often a grumpy time for tired -- no longer napping preschoolers) but Carter was reprimanded for tossing fierce visual daggers! Scott claims he never heard any communication (clueless). Well......... shortly after returning home I receive a call from Nicole. In her most identifiable sarcastic tone she asks, "What did your son do to my daughter?". Unable to ask Carter who went straight to his room to serve his sentence for being mean to daddy, I reply "What?" Apparently, soon after walking in her door, Karina broke into a river of tears because "Carter said he didn't want to be my friend anymore!" and to Nicole "You need to call Kristi and tell her what he said!" Nicole insisted that her call was merely to humor me and suffice Karina, that I didn't need to woory about it. I disagreed! I called Carter to the couch for a little talk with Mommy. I asked him if he had said something mean to Karina and he nodded his head. I asked what he had said and he told me with tears in his eyes "well, I wanted to open the door, but Karina got there first!!" as if ending the friendship was the only answer. I again and again asked him what he said. Finally, "I told her she wasn't my friend anymore!!" daggers full force again! I asked him if he knew what that meant. He didn't really so I tried explaining that if they weren't friends anymore that he wouldn't be able to play with Karina and on the days that Nicole drove them to school I guess he would just have to stay home because he couldn't ride in the car with someone who wasn't his friend. With some coaching from mommy, discussing that who opened the door is a silly reason to end a friendship, and that he had really hurt Karina's feelings by what he said, I asked if he would like to call Karina and apologize for what he said. He jumped right up to make the call. Sidenote... we did discuss what he would say, and this is the first time he has talked to one of his friends on the phone. Nicole answered of course, Carter said "This is Carter, can I talk to Karina?". After repeating three times and a disconnection he said "Karina, I'm sorry for what I did! Can you still be my friend?" He got a huge smile "She said 'Sure!" I was very proud and quite a bit misty eyed! Their friendship was saved! Nicole insisted that it wasn't necessary, but it sooooo was!

First Day of School

Today was Carter's first day of 4 year old Preschool. He was very excited! It has been a very long summer! He was most excited for seeing his friends from last year and "meeting some new friends" and eating lunch in the cafeteria with the big kids. Although, I am looking forward to the few hours during the week that I don't have constant fighting, questions, stories, and "really funny jokes", it was still a little hard to drop him off today.

Thought I would just give you all a little update on Carter. We have had a weekend of ups and downs, but I think we are finally out of the woods. Up until now we haven't had to do much for Carter's asthma, except breathing treatments when he gets even a little sick. The doctor now is starting him on Pulmocort, a daily breathing treatment for asthma to hopefully lessen the severity of these episodes. Thanks to everyone who was thinking of us!

Brotherly Love

While "helping" daddy fix the tree in the front yard, Carter kept insisting that I take his picture with Jake. I sure am glad I did! What cute boys!

Breathe!!

Unfortunately we have had a little drama here. Carter started an astma exacerbation yesterday. It came on very quickly! Just some coughing in the morning then by evening he was really breathing hard! After two breathing treatments in just a couple hours with no improvement and him telling me it was hard to breathe we went to the ER. His chest x-ray was clear no pneumonia yet. After some oxygen for a few hours, steroids and a mac daddy breathing treatment, they let us go home. We were there until 2 am then Carter was bouncing off the walls from the treatment and steroids so we sure didn't get much sleep. This morning he woke up in distress again and after 2 treatments and no improvement we went to see the doc. He had to have 3 breathing treatments in the office before Dr. Nemivant was comfortable sending us home. He says we're just on the verge of having to be admitted to the hosp. I have to do breathing treatments every 2-3 hours until our appointment tomarrow with the doc. You would think that he would act sick, but he is absolutely crazy wired from all the meds. No rest at the Tucker household even when we can't breathe!!

Naughty!

Jake is going through a horrible little, what I hope is a phase, right now with biting. Here he is in his first time-out! Looks as though he is doing well, but really he spent most of the time turning around and laughing at me. Little stinker!

Taller

Many of you have heard this, but I love this story so I want to share it with all of you! So Carter had been asking me so many questions like "Mommy why are you so short?" and "How come you won't grow any bigger?" After many answers I eventully told him "Because God made me this way." He looked at me very inquisitively and said "Was he playing a joke on you?" So here is Carter being soooooo big!

Crazy Magnets

Since so many humorous things happen in our household I had to start out with this great story..... A few days ago, I was caught up is one of my many shows I can't live without, and the boys were playing somewhat quietly. Carter comes to me and says "I bet you can't find the magnets!" The boys had placed their alphabet magnets all over the house to anything metal. You can see them on the wall in this picture. I found magnets in so many places; door hinges and plates where they shut, door knobs, the metal garbage can, candle holders and the wall corners. I was so impressed that they figured out that the corners had metal. What smart boys! I am still finding magnets! I also like this picture because they look like they love each other.