Here is a poem that was sent to me today from a very dear friend, Thank you so much Tiffany!!
(Although Carter will definately Laugh and Play, actually he already does), but I LOVE the meaning of this poem!

HEAVEN'S SPECIAL CHILD

A meeting was held quite far from earth,
It’s time again for another birth.
Said the angels to the Lord above;

This special child will need much love
His progress may be very slow,
Accomplishments he may not show.
And he’ll require extra care,
From the folks he meets down there,

He may not run or laugh or play,
His thoughts may seem quite far away.
In many ways he won’t adapt, and he’ll
Be known as handicapped.

So let’s be careful where he is sent, we want
His life to be content.

Please, Lord, find the good friends who, will
Do a special job for you.

They will not realize it right away, the leading
Role they’re asked to play.
But with this child sent from above, comes
Stronger faith and richer love.
And soon they will know the privileges given,
In caring for their gift from Heaven.
Their precious charge, so meek and mild, in

Heaven’s very special child.

Carter Man Update

Post Copied from Carter's Caring Bridge Page:

Sorry we have not updated in a LONG time. For the most part Carter has been doing Wonderful over the past 3 months. His little personality is coming out more and more every day and he has been talking up a storm! We now have a new Physical Therapist & she is great!!! She has to remind me that what Carter is doing now is "normal" for him, and his "normal" is not the same as everyone else's "normal". At this point he has wonderful head control, he rolls from his tummy to his back and he is sooooooo close to rolling from his back to his tummy. He also can sit for short times unassisted & loves playing with toys especially anything that lights up and makes noise.

Have I mentioned that he loves to eat and I am enjoying making all of his fruits & veggies. I have been steaming the fruits and veggies, and then pureeing them in the food processor and freezing them in ice cube trays & he LOVES it!!


I can not believe that our baby is already 7 months old!! I get very sad thinking about it!! People always would tell me to cherish all the moments, bc they go too fast and I don't think that you truly understand that until you are a parent! At his 6 month check-up he weighed 16-12 and was 25.5 inches. He has been sleeping through the night for several months (Yay!)
Well on a not so great note, we went to see Carter's Neurosurgeon for a routine check up and he doesn't think that Carter's shunt is working like it should be, we were sent for a CT that day and they also scheduled a MRI. We will be having the MRI this Wednesday and we are desperately hoping that it is working and that he will not need surgery, although it seemed that Dr. Boop was leaning more towards needing the surgery. We will know more once the results are back. Please be thinking of Carter this Wednesday, as he has to be sedated for the MRI and can not eat for 4 hours beforehand(which to him will be the bigger issue, that boy LOVES to eat!)

And on a happy note, I have entered my Precious boy into a Baby Gap Casting call. I thought it would be something fun to do and it would be awesome if he won! I don't think that any special needs/ Spina Bifida baby has ever been the picture of BabyGap & of course I think that he is the Cutest baby in the WHOLE world!!! So we would appreciate your vote if you can. All you have to do is register (it takes about 2 min and you can check the things at the bottom so they don't send you additional emails) and you can vote on each picture once every day. Here is the website: http://family.go.com/gapcastingcall/entries/CourtSmith0602/
We will try to update when we here the results of the MRI and when we know if Carter will need surgery. Thanks in advance for everyone thinking about our precious son!!
Oh and I LOVE this pic, but he will kill me for it one day, LOL!!


Courtney

We have a new PT!!!

So today we met with Carter's new physical therapist!!! She was AMAZING!! She was so knowledgeable and I think she is going to be wonderful for us!! She even gave us homework, which we were very excited about! After nursing school I never thought that I would ever say "I want homework!" But it also kinda pissed me off today when we left thinking about the type of care Carter was receiving from our other PT. I knew she wasn't the greatest but I never knew she was that bad until today. It was like opposite ends of the spectrum! Carter did really well too! The main things that we are going to be working on right now is head control, sitting, finding his feet, and his right foot. If you ask me I think his little piggies are PERFECT!!

Carter Month by Month

Gosh he has gotten so big so fast!!

Our Happy Boy!!

Happy 4 months little man!!!


I can't believe our little man is already 4 months old!!! I really can't believe how fast time is going! Carter's four month stats are: 15lbs 1oz, 24.5 inches and 41cm head circumference. He is getting so big and so much fun. He also had to have shots at this appt, but didn't even cry! I will have to add his 4 month pic later (since I can't find the cord to put the pics on my computer). He is really starting to get a personality right now. He has started talking so much, and the other night in bath tub he was so excited that he was splashing water everywhere!! He is also laughing out loud which is so dang cute!
I also started back to work about 2 weeks ago. BOOHOO! I was very upset about this and not looking forward to going back, but it hasn't been too bad! I am very thankful that I have someone that loves him dearly to watch him!

One of his favorite activities is laying and playing in the pool. It is so funny how he just lays back and chills out!

Our last weekend at the river was so much fun! We had some great friends Courtney and Lance up and my sister, all for the first time. We had a lot fun relaxing on the TN river!


Oh and have I mentioned that he loves his Daddy!!! When I have trouble getting him to sleep(bc he has now started fighting his sleep) all I have to do is hand him over to Webb and he is out like a light! I am so thankful to have a husband that is so involved and such a great daddy!!


This week Carter has become much more active as well. He is now grabbing things, and sitting assisted for just a second or two. We are so proud of how well he is doing!!


Well thats all for now, you can thank Bridgette for this post, LOL!! She says I'm a terrible blogger!!

He ROLLED over!!!!

Happy 3 months to my little man & happy Memorial day weekend!!! (pics to come later with his onesie) And would you believe that on his 3 month birthday the little angel just rolled over! Like it was nothing, one moment he was staring Allie Ruth in the faceand then the next second he just rolled over! (This pic is mid first roll!!)We spent Memorial Day weekend at our cabin at the TN river, with some of our closest friend, or really more like family. Although we did not get to go out on the boat very much (due to the weather), we had a much needed, very relaxing weekend. Carter Loved the boat and slept almost the whole time that we were out. He looked too cute in his life jacket.We also spent a lot of time on our new deck, which I love!! Carter loves being outside, so we bought a rocking chair for the deck & he loved it! If only we could find some miraculous way to make all of the misquitos and bugs disappear!! Ever since we bought our cabin I have been complaining about the bugs, but Webb just tells me its no big deal, well he woke up Sunday morning with a moth on his forehead and went straight to town and spent $100 on stuff to kill bugs, LOL. He sprayed around the house with this thing attached to the water hose, sprayed with a hand held thing, bought a bug zapper(which will be more of entertainment than anything), citronella candles, a misquito fogger and bug bombs!!! Hopefully the bug problem is now solved, I bet a bug won't come within 1000 feet of the place, atleast thats what I hope!!!


So haven't updated in a while, mostly bc we have been crazy around here!! In the last 2-3 weeks we have had 2 hospital stays 3 days each for a fever of unknown origin. The finally ruled it to be a virus, but he also had an upper respiratory infection and a slight UTI. His fever got up to 104.3!!! Anytime that a baby with a shunt has a fever, it is a BIG deal!! They have to be very certain that the fever has nothing to do with his shunt, bc if it did he would have an infection in his brain and we were told if this happens, we would more than likely be looking at a 2-3 week hospital stay!!! NO FUN!!!!! Of course we are still feeling the effects of the hospital stay, pertaining to Carter's sleep habits. Before he stay he was sleeping one 8 hour stretch at night, which was fabulous!! But with all the machines and people waking him up during the night we started again waking every 3-4 hours. Hopefully soon he will fall back into his normal routine! So we have been more than a week with no fever now, thank goodness!!!

Carter also had his first of many physical therapy sessions this last week and he did wonderful. She gave us a couple of things that we could work on with him, but said overall so far he is developing great and commented on his great head control. I can't wait to tell her this week that he rolled over! It feels really good to see him hitting develpmental milestones on time!

Oh and did I mention that I got a new camera!!!! I am sooooo excited! I already had a wonderful SLR camera, a Canon Rebel XTI, but I needed one smaller to take everywhere with me and be able to carry in my purse or the diaper bag, so after some research I chose a Canon Powershot and I LOVE it!!! It also shoots videos! Here are a couple of pics that I have taken so far:


Hopefully it will not take me so long next time to update!! Did I mention I only have 3 weeks left before I have to go back to work? BOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!! I just left Carter for the first time this last week for 1 hour at three months old and in three weeks I am going to have to leave him for 13 hours, it makes me nauseous to think about!!!

Courtney

Just Starting...

So I have decided to give this blog thing a try. I Love reading other people's blogs, so I thought it was time to make one for my own. Webb and I welcomed our miracle little boy, Carter on Feb. 24, 2009. He is 10 weeks today!!! Wow how time has flies when you are having fun!! Carter man has Myleomeningocele Spina Bifida and had surgery to repair his spine and a shunt placed two days after birth and everything went smoothly. I will explain later exactly what spina bifida is and what all it entailed.


Well 1 thing that our little guy does like a champ is EAT!!! He also is a great sleeper at night, which I am very thankful for!!! He wieghed in at 6lbs, 8oz at birth and was 20 inches. Well at his 2 month check up he weighed 12 lbs 2 oz!!!! And he was 22.5 inches. He is growing and changing way to fast and I cherish every minute I spend with him!!!


Two of Carter's favorite things to do is go on walks in his stroller and bath time!!! I am also very lucky in that I am able to stay home with him for 16 weeks, which means I only have 6 weeks left!! I wish that I could hit the jack pot and not go back!!!! Well I am off to feed this little man, AGAIN, lol. I will try to update often, esp. pics!!! (bc I think so far I have taken like 5000) haha!! I have added a couple of pics to show you how much he has changed the last two months!!

P.S.- If you would like to follow Carter's Journey with Spina Bifida his website is: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/carterallensmith

Courtney