First of Many Christmas'

So our first Christmas outing was to my parents a few days before Christmas. They decided to cook for me since I had to work on Christmas eve and would have to miss my Mamaw's Christmas. It was DELICIOUS!! Fried Turkey, dressing, Green beans, etc!! Thanks so much Mom and Dad!!! I LOVE YOU more than you know!! Here are a few pics I took of C in front of their tree with his new walker!! LOVE them!! He also opened his very first Christmas presents of the season. He got a Hilarious yet obnoxious Laughing Monkey, a hammer that makes noise and Scamper the movie!! An ALL time FAVORITE in the Krug house growing up!!

Stay Tuned, many more Christmas pics to come!!!

Courtney

Fever, Bad luck and Holidays!

So if you know my family very well you would know that Holidays in the Smith household are not usually a good time for us. Recap- Webb's first father's day- find man breaking into our car at the mall, webb's birthday 2010- Carter Diagnosed with Syrinx and non working shunt. The next week our car gets blown up in our drive way., Mine and Carter's birthday- Carter diagnosed with Grade 5 kidney reflux and has emergency vesicostomy the next day to prevent kidney and bladder damage. Our anniversary this year Carter has a Shunt Malfunction/Revision. Webb's birthday this year- Another Shunt Malfunction/Revison. Then a week later back in the hospital with a UTI. So with it being Christmas week, it did not surprise me when C started running fever on Saturday afternoon!

I decided to call the Neurosurgeon on call and they told me since he didn't have any other symptoms to wait it out and give him some Tyleonol/Motrin and wait and that if he had any other symptoms to bring him in. Well that night he did fine, his temp came down and hovered around 99.5 and he was symptom free(well except for some fussiness). So the next morning Webb left for the river with his dad to work on the cabin. So I was planning some shopping with Mom and Allyson that Afternoon. C was acting fine that morning so I laid him down for a nap and M&A came over. After he woke up and ate lunch he felt a little warm to me, so I took his temp- 102.6!!!!!!!!

So that landed us a trip to the dreaded Lebonheur ER. Usually we get VIP treatment with Carter having a VP shunt. But not this time. They were booked and there were probably 50 sick kids in the ER!!!! We waited 3 hours before being seen. I was NOT a happy Camper!! Thankfully we have uploaded some videos on my iphone so Carter watched movies, read books and was so good for the waiting. Carter's recent favorite movies are Mickey Mouse Club House and Backyardigans- the Pirates Episode, which is what he is watching here :)


During this time, webb was able to get home, pack our things, and get up there before we were ever seen. So after SEVERAL attempts to get an IV started and drawing some labs, Shunt Tap and having a CT and x-ray. We had no answers. Shunt seemed to be working fine(thankfully). They decided to keep us for observation. We didn't get into a room until 4am and Carter maybe slept 1 hour of the whole night, so when they let us come home the next afternoon we were beyond THRILLED!!

That night Carter threw up, and the next day started having a green runny nose and congestion. so it seems that it was all a Virus. This is your life if you have a child with a shunt. A simple virus with a fever lands you in the hospital with several Testing and long days/nights. This is why it is so important for us to be so diligent on washing hands and keeping away from sick people/kids.
This is one thing that I am nervous about Carter starting his Play, do Learn program. Which should start in the next week or two, EEK! Anyways we had a wonderful Christmas. and have a long post with Many Pics that I will have to do later. Too late right now. Here are some pics taken with my IPHONE, and the bottom is a video of how tired and miserable he is in the hospital. Poor Baby!!



Courtney

Carter's New Walker!! And MORE Progress!!!

I always believed that my baby would walk one day, but didn't realize that after he first started that he would make progress sooooo fast!!! It is really unbelievable to watch him and his determination!!! We finally got the walker that we once ordered at the beginning of August. The one they ordered for him the first time was WAY too big!! No wonder he wasn't doing very well with it. So I picked this one up on Monday afternoon and would you believe that Monday night he was taking steps by himself with it!! And who doesn't love the Lime Green?!?!?! Look at him GO!!! For some reason my little video upload feature is not working so here it is uploaded.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt3U550CgJE
What we have been up to the last few days: work, work and more work!! Worked my three in a row and now I am off for a few days, with LOTS of Christmas shopping to do! Last night we went to Webb's Mamaw's Christmas party. I was fun to get together with the Family, then afterward we went to dinner with Ashley, Brent and kids. Today we will have yet another Christmas party!! I just can not wait until Christmas and seeing Carter's face when opening his new presents! Wish I didn't have to work on Christmas or Christmas eve, but atleast Carter has no clue about what day it actually is. So we are going to celebrate with Webb's family on the 23rd and Do Santa and my family on the Christmas Eve before I go to work.
Oh and Bridgette and I took the kids to enchanted Forest this week to see Santa. Lets just say that we got the "Screaming, Get me out of his lap" Santa pic this year! Ha they are too cute!!! will have to post pics of it later. But in the mean time: My handsome little man!



Courtney

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO US!!!

The boy that was born with an open spine.
The boy that we were told may never walk.
The boy who twice lost function of his lower extremities bc of a shunt malfunction, and we were told he may never regain sensation back.
The boy that has had 5 shunts, 1 spinal surgery and 1 bladder surgery.
The boy with endless determination and heart.
This is MY BOY and he is WALKING!!!!!!!!!
He has totally stolen my heart and I am sooooo proud of him and all of his accomplishments.
He is my HERO!!!!
Carter Allen I have learned so much from you, & you continue to AMAZE me and so many others!!!!
WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Keep it up Carter Man!!!


Courtney

Dear Santa...... I can Explain.....

How cute are these???? These are one of our Christmas Cards this year. I have a more formal card, but also wanted to do these, before he gets too old for this type of cutesy stuff. He was probably thinking "A photo session involving cookies, now that's more like it mom." LOL. Anyways worked last night and slept most of today. Went out to dinner with some friends. Hoping for a fun, laid back weekend and to maybe take C to see Santa this weekend. Will post pics! Oh and BTW Carter Burnt his hand pretty badly this weekend and he has just been pitiful when having to dress it. I can only imagine how bad it hurts. Was baking cookies with his cousins and touched the outside of the oven, and it was Hot enough to burn him pretty bad. Who would have ever thought that an oven could get that hot on the outside? I hope it heels VERY soon and he doesn't get an infection from it!!! Will post a pic of it later and one with his bandage :( Here are some of the cookie session outtakes: SOOOO CUTE!!!!




Courtney

New Year's Resolutions!!!!!!

I have been such a terrible blogger lately. Heck, who am I kidding- I was never a great blogger!! But I am going to be trying something different now. It is my New Year's Resolution to do two things(but I am starting now!!!)- Start blogging more about Carter and his condition. I have been truely inspired reading someone else's blog and caringbridge about her son with SB. It is amazing how much Carter is changing and how much he is accomplishing lately and i want to Remember it Forever!! I think it will also be cool to have for him one day to read. Although I wish I would have done this sooner, I feel like I have missed out on sooo much!!! My second resolution is to start not having the computer out while Carter is awake and with me. It is so easy with a laptop to be on it while Carter is playing in the floor with his toys. I am not on it all day by any means and we do a LOT of playing together, but I do think there is always room for more PLAY and more PT!!! So that is it! Please hold me accountable if you see me starting to slack off with my posts!! oh not to mention I am going to try and post LOTS of PICS too(which I know is what people truley care about, :))
So what's going on Lately? Carter is Changing so much and getting stronger and stronger. He is starting to pull up on just about everything!! Today when Webb got home and put his keys on the end table Webb called my name and Carter had totally pulled up to get the keys off. Now that is WONDERFUL but also scarey at the same time! BC once his legs get tired, they just give out. He doesn't quite know how to get down gracefully yet. So if we are not right there with him he could fall backwards and hit is head on our concrete floors. I always joke that maybe we need a helmet for him. There is NOTHING stopping him. He is also talking a lot more! It is just crazy at this age how much they soak in!! One BIG thing is that he is starting a little school program next week. It is through special kids and families called Play do Learn. It is half typical pears and half special needs kids. The program sounds AMAZING! Their teacher to kid ratio is 3:1, which is just awesome. They also have a nurse and speech therapist. Also LATEX free(which is sooo important with SB kids- they are at risk for Latex allergies). So as excited as I am, I am a little sad too!! My baby is turning into a BIG boy!! I will add some adorable pics later!!!
Courtney