Judgment

Our family took a trip to Seaside last week. We had a fun time at the little aquarium, going to the candy store, and playing in the sand. On our way back to the car, Carter was in the front of the double stroller. I'm not sure all the reasons why he flaps his hands and makes a kind of grunting/yelling sound, but he does it often. I think the it's usually because he's excited about something. Anyway, for whatever reason, he was doing it as we were headed down the main street to our car. He does it often enough that I rarely take notice of it. However, I was made aware of it on this particular day because a young man walked by us with a girl, and after passing us I heard him making fun of Carter. Even as I type this now, my heart hurts and I'm getting angry all over again. How dare he make fun of my son!
We were just about to our car at that point and I said something to Eric about how pissed off I was. I kept thinking of all the things I wanted to do or say to that guy. Thankfully, I didn't do or say any of those things.
As I've had time to think about this situation, I can recognize that these things are part of life. Carter will not be my only child to be made fun of. I've had time now to cool off a bit and to really think about what I'd like to tell that young man. What keeps coming to mind, and what I think I'd say if I were in a similar situation again is, "You don't know his story". I know there are mean people in this world, but I'd like to think that most people, after knowing Carter's story, would look at him differently and wouldn't think that some of the things he does are so weird and would hopefully not make fun of him.
It's also got me to thinking about all the people I look at and think, they're acting weird or talking funny or choosing funky clothes to wear. It happens far too often.
Don't you just love how God so often takes the yucky things in our life to show us a little bit more of Him? It's like I'm looking through a different pair of contacts since this experience I had at the beach. In no way am I claiming that I no longer judge others, but my hope is that it is happening less. What would happen if before we thought a judgmental thought or said something judgmental about someone else we reminded ourselves that we don't know their story? What if we would strive to be a little bit more like Jesus in this area.

"The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." I Samuel 16:7b

Promise

Tomorrow is Carter's first occupational therapy appointment. I'm actually really excited for it. I'm ready to learn and help Carter learn. However, I'd be lying if there wasn't a part of me that's still grieving or sad or scared or all of the above.
That being said, I was just checking my blog reader and saw my daily promise for tomorrow (it gets posted the night before). This is what it said:
"Don't worry. I will take care of you." (from Matthew 6:25-25)
I love it when God speaks loudly and clearly right to me!

Jackson's turn to go to the hospital

Early tomorrow morning, I'm taking Jackson to the Gerry Frank Center for children at St. Vincents to get a CT scan done on his throat. For many weeks his tonsils have been very large. A couple rounds of different antibiotics and steroids did little to decrease the size of them. The Ear, Nose, Throat doctor said it may just be an infection/virus that's resistant to medication and just making it's home in Jackson's tonsils. Or it may be something else. That's why we need the CT scan to hopefully get a better picture of what we're dealing with. If they find something other than infection/virus, he'll most likely have his tonsils removed and biopsied. If it's not, and his tonsils don't get better in the next week or so, he'll most likely have his tonsils removed and biopsied.
I'm a bit nervous about tomorrow because we've decided that Jackson will need to be sedated in order for the CT scan to be successful. I've told him he's going to the hospital and that they need to get pictures of his throat. I explained that he'll have to change into a robe, lay on a bed and they'll help him sleep, then they'll take the pictures they need. He seems just fine with this especially since there will be no "pokes" (needles). There will in fact be an IV, but they'll be able to place it after he's sedated. (Which is other reason we feel like he needs to be sedated. He had to get his blood drawn a few weeks ago to test for mono, and it was not a pleasant experience.) The other thing I'm just a bit nervous about is that he won't get to eat until after they're done. Thankfully, the CT is at 9am (check-in at 7:30), so we won't have to starve him for too long. :)
Please pray for peace for Jackson and his momma and that they'll be able to figure out what's wrong with him.

Woods Family Update

The following is an email we sent out Tuesday evening.

Dear Family and Friends,

Most of you know that we’ve had concerns that Carter has autism. His pediatricians, both in Idaho and Oregon, expressed similar concerns and recommended that he be evaluated. Today we had Carter evaluated by several therapists and doctors at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital and it was determined that Carter has autism. While we weren’t surprised to have this confirmed, it is still a difficult thing to hear.

The doctors were encouraged by some of the skills that Carter has and gave us a lot of hope for his future development. Among these are his fine motor skills like feeding himself with utensils and holding pencils and crayons. It was also encouraging to hear that he is not dealing with many of the things that go along with autism like stomach issues, anger and violence, sleep disorders and seizures.

There are many opportunities available for Carter and us to take advantage of to help him in his speech/ language and social development. We will begin making contacts and setting up appointments in the near future. We will also have some follow up with the professionals at Doernbecher in the next few weeks and months.

We are sending this e-mail so that we can get the news to everyone without having to explain it a million times. ; ) However, we are not resistant or offended if you want to talk about it or have questions. We are not trying to keep this a secret and we are not afraid or ashamed to talk about it. This will be a learning process for all of us. We trust the doctors and therapists and feel that we are in the right place to get Carter the best help possible.

Above everything, we covet your prayers for our family as we begin this new chapter in our lives.

With love,

Eric and Janell

Jackson, Carter and David

pictures

wow...i haven't updated my blog in quite some time. since my last post: david is 2 months old already, jackson will be 3 in a month, the camp season has come and gone at twin lakes friends camp, eric and i celebrated our 8th anniversary, we took a trip to oregon, played at the park, etc, etc...
instead of trying to catch up on everything, i'll just post some random pictures. enjoy!

they both loved the beach
susan, dad, me and david

after he got used to the sorta cold water, jackson LOVED swimming

david and david (notice baby david's shirt? "team grandpa")

fun at the park

during our time in oregon we spent a day at the coast. this double decker bus is at the blue heron cheese company in tillamook...it's originally from coeur d'alene

my boys-love, love, LOVE them

smiles!

bedtime story

"reading"

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to the best dad our boys could have. Thank you for always working hard to provide for our family and always finding plenty of time to play with our boys and help take care of them. Your love for them is so evident. We all love you so much!

Daddy & Jackson 9/10/07
Daddy & Carter 12/1/08

Daddy & David 6/4/10

David Michael

David Michael was born Friday, June 4th at 8:45pm. He weighed 7 pounds 3 ounces and was 19 3/4 inches long. We're all doing good and are now home. Enjoy the few pictures my slow internet will allow me to upload.

good sleep begets good sleep...

...unfortunately, the opposite is also true. ever since the boys got sick in february, they've been working on getting back to their normal sleep schedule. it seems like they're getting close. last week they started falling asleep well, sleeping until at least 7am (often until 8 or later!), and they took their normal naps (2+ hours for jackson and 3+ hours for carter). before this, jackson would wake up anytime between 4:45am and 6:00am (if he slept until 6:30, i

was excited). and when jackson would wake up, so would his brother. they would then take short, disrupted naps and have a hard time falling asleep. it was becoming a vicious cycle. i'm not really sure what changed...maybe they just got so overtired, they finally slept well. it sure has been nice to get more sleep myself, but even better is how much happier and well behaved they are when they get the sleep they need.

a perfect example is what happened yesterday and today. for some reason, jackson didn't nap well. he woke up early and woke carter up, they had a hard time falling asleep last night and then woke up by 6 this morning. those couple hours of lost sleep have really effected their behavior today. i had a couple little grumpies all morning (including myself!). i'm just hoping that they take good naps today and get back to how they were sleeping last week.

*this is what happens when they don't sleep well. i took this a couple weeks ago. it was only 9:25am and jackson was fast asleep in the car.

what's in a name?

we've decided on a name for our baby boy. we are going to name him after my dad...david. and here's why:
the other day i was rolling up a sleeping bag and i had to get it really tight so it would fit into the bag it came with. i had no problem getting it to fit, because many years ago my dad taught me how to properly roll up a sleeping bag. that got me to thinking about other things my dad has taught me.
he taught me how to open a box of cereal. don't you hate it when it doesn't pour out of the bag correctly and you end up with cereal floating around in the bottom of the box? well, that doesn't happen at my home...i know how to open it right! when i was learning to drive, i remember him saying, "if you're going to pull out in front of a car like that...you better step on it." that's come in handy a time or two. the first time he took my brother, sister and i backpacking, he quickly figured out that jen and i didn't know how to pee in the woods. he gave us great tips and i've never had any issues since. he's taught me to finish what i start, to work hard, to be honest, and many, many other important life lessons.
but the most important thing my dad has taught me (and continues to) is the unconditional love of my father in heaven. dad has been the biggest example in my life of this truth. through thick and thin, dad has accepted me and loved me for me. he's always been available to listen to my joys and sorrows. he always has just the right advice for anything i'm dealing with...even if it's hard for me to hear. he's able to be honest and share truth in love.
dad, i have never once doubted that you love my unconditionally...thank you for being such an awesome example of how God loves me. my prayer is that our little david will possess your love for God, his family and those around him.

we're looking forward to the end of may when we'll get to meet our david michael!

sick

We've all been sick the last few days. It started last wednesday when carter threw up. It was a one time thing, so we didn't think too much of it. Then he threw up the next day. Other than that, he seemed normal, so we still didn't think to much of it. Fast forward to saturday at noon...we were on our way home from the store and jackson started crying, then threw up. Okay, now we think something must be up. Jackson continued to throw up that day and by 9pm, eric and I were both sick. Seriously not fun. Jackson and eric slept on the couch, I slept in the lazy boy. Carter slept in his crib and was really the only one that slept much saturday night. Sunday was more of the same. Jackson wasn't keeping anything down all day, so after talking with the on-call nurse, we took him to the ER. Thankfully, he wasn't dehydrated. They gave him some anti-nausea meds and a popcycle. After he was able to keep that down, we went home. Carter was at eric's parents' while we were at the ER and although we thought he was getting better, he threw up all over his oma (so sorry vicky). Thankfully, we all got some decent sleep sunday night. Monday was a good day for jackson, but carter was throwing up some and was just really miserable. We woke up this morning at 4:30am to crying from jack's room...more sheets and pjs to wash. After giving him some pepto and little bits of juice at a time, he hasn't thrown up since about 6am, and carter has kept the very little he's had in too! Carter's going to the doc this afternoon and I think we've figured out how to keep jack's tummy not so upset. Hopefully, they'll both be feeling better really soon (thankfully, eric and I started feeling better by sunday night/monday morning). So...that's what we've been up to. Hopefully we'll be having better days here soon.

jackson at the ER eating his popcycle

A few days ago I mentioned that Carter got 2 new teeth, but I lied. The 2 new ones I was talking about were the top two next to each of the top front teeth. I thought it was a little strange that the top ones came in before the bottom ones (but maybe that's how it usually goes, I can't remember.). Anyway, I was feeling around in his mouth to see if the bottom ones felt like they might come through and I felt something towards the back of his mouth...could it really be a molar already? Sure enough, he has 3 of his one-year molars. I had NO idea he was getting those teeth...it sure does explain the extra fussiness we've been experiencing. Now, is it me, or do babies usually get more of their regular, front teeth before molars? I can't remember how Jackson's came in. Anyway, I'm glad he has them, it'll make it a lot easier for him to eat all kinds of food.

P.S. Side note: Why does Jackson call me daddy a lot? I'll tell him I'm not daddy and then he'll say mommy...what's up with that?

what's been going on...

i keep getting online and wanting to blog about something, but it seems like there haven't been too many exciting things going on in our lives right now. i decided i'd update you all on all the not-super-exciting-things that we've been up to.
carter and jackson have both been sick for over a week now. carter seems like he's just about better, but jackson is still coughing a lot. i feel bad for them, but also fortunate that this is the first time they've been sick in quite awhile.
a few weeks ago we transitioned jackson from his crib to a "big boy" bed. we're happy to report this has been an easy move for all involved. moving jackson out of the crib also means that carter finally gets to move from the pack-n-play he's been sleeping in. he really seems to enjoy the extra room (and more comfortable mattress). the next transition will be moving carter into jackson's room. i like that they both sleep so well, and i'm nervous about upsetting that by having them share a room. since we have another little one on the way, it's something that we're going to have to do eventually. we're thinking about having all 3 boys share a room, then they'll have a separate room that's just for playing in (and it'll be our guest room).
eric has been busy remodeling the bath house here at camp. it was in desperate need of an update, and i'm sure the work he's putting into it will be well received by our campers this summer.
pregnancy #3 has been going fairly well for me. so far, my midwife says everything looks as it should...which is always nice to hear. it does look like the hernia i got while pregnant with carter is showing up again. so far i've had minimal pain from that, and i'm just really trying not to lift too much (including our kiddos...unfortunately carter's not walking well enough to not be carried some, but i'm doing the best i can). hopefully, this will be my only "complication". also, we're pretty sure we've settled on a name for him and we're also pretty sure we're going to keep it a secret (until he's born, of course). when we decide for sure on his name, we'll make the final decision on whether or not we're going to tell people before the birth, but until then, mums the word. (is that the correct expression???)
like i said, not too exciting...

walking (and other stuff)

carter took his 1st step on January 26th and since then he's been gaining more confidence in his "walking". he's walked across the living room a number of times now (probably 10-15 steps). he definitely prefers crawling still, but i'm not worried that he'll be walking well by the time his little brother is born.
in other news:
*carter got 2 new teeth last week, making a grand total of 6! his little teeth take so long to come through, that we're always glad when they finally do.
*jackson has enjoyed playing outside A LOT these days. we've been fortunate to have a mild winter this year, so he has been able to enjoy the back deck quite a bit.

(i have some cute pictures that i tried to upload, but my internet connection is too slow...i will try to upload them on facebook)

Oregon Zoo

we were in newberg last weekend for some meetings i had to attend. eric was able to come with the boys and me, so we stayed a couple extra days to visit family and to go to the zoo! i've been wanting to take the boys for awhile, but it hadn't worked out on any of our previous visits. the weather was decent, so we took the boys and our niece and nephew (kiah and micah). jackson LOVED it. carter seemed to be somewhat interested in the animals, but i think mostly enjoyed being pushed around in the stroller outside.

i'm still here...

i'm not sure if there's anyone out there that still reads this blog. it's been a couple months since my last post and before that i've only posted about once a month (letters to carter). with our 3rd kiddo on the way (we found out today we're having a boy), i'm not sure if i'll ever post again! i hope so...i figure with 3 boys under 3, i won't remember anything about life unless i do a good job writing stuff down. so, my goal is to get back to the blog...at least for my sake. and now that we have internet that's a little faster than dial-up, i should be able to post more pictures (without having to wait forever). here's a picture of the most recent addition to our family (his name has not been decided yet...hopefully soon):

11 months

Wow, Carter...in less then a month we'll be celebrating your 1st birthday! It's been so fun to watch your little personality develope each day. You are such a happy, content little guy. This last month you've continued being more mobile and have been practicing a "real" crawl (although you still prefer the "army crawl"). We took a trip to Newberg for a week, and while there you learned how to get to a sitting position all by yourself! You've started eating some big people food recently. You like crackers, bananas, and pizza crust.
You continue to sleep like a champ! You wake up around 7, take a nap from 8:30 or 9 until 10, then another nap from about 1-3:30 or 4, and you go to bed at 6:30. Some mornings you miss your morning nap, but you seem to deal with it pretty good.
It's been fun to watch you and jackson enjoy each other and we've even caught you guys playing together sometimes (without taking each other's toys!). You enjoy bathtime together. When you hear the bathtub being filled, you stop whatever you're doing and make your way to the tub as fast as you can...it's really cute!
We love you lots!

double digits!

Wow, Carter, you're 10 months old now (and 4 days). What a joy you continue to be to our family. Jackson just can't get enough of you. When you're napping he'll ask over and over, "Carter? Carter? Carter?". When you're up, he loves holding you, laughing with you, playing on the floor with you, and steam rolling over you. We're often saying, "Jackson get off your brother!".
You've perfected the army crawl and have enjoyed the freedom that brings.
Those pesky top teeth have still not made an appearance...hopefully soon. Teething is not a fun part of baby-hood (for you or mom).
Aunt Jennie came for a visit, but you didn't get to spend lots of time with her this time because she and mom did lots of scrapbooking while dad took care of you and Jack.
You had your 1st fat lip last month. Jackson was driving one of his metal tonka trucks around and smashed into your face. You got a small scrath above your eye and one below your nose as well as the fat lip. At first, Jack thought it was funny, but quickly realized you were hurt. He got his truck taken away and after you calmed down he said sorry and gave you kisses. Then all was right with the world again.
Today, while I was feeding you breakfast I was trying to get you to say "ma-ma"...but what did you say instead?..."da-da". Jackson did the same thing. Oh, well. I know one of these days you'll say ma-ma. We love you lots!

getting older

Carter,
Sorry for slacking on writing this month's letter. You turned 9 months old on September 1st...It's now the 14th! August didn't seem like a super busy month for us, but it sure did fly by. The highlight of the last month was your Tante Bean's (Aunt Elizabeth) wedding. The day started out overcast and rainy, but by picture time the weather was perfect (which was important since the wedding was outside at the camp). I (mom) was in the wedding so Dad had to have you and Jackson by himself...and you both behaved wonderfully!
You continue to move around more and more...we're pretty sure you'll start crawling here soon. You can sit like a champ and you will still eat anything we offer. You've started eating more solid food like puffs and cherrios. One of our favorite things now is to watch you and Jackson interact...you both get such a kick out of each other.
At your 9 month check up you weighed 19.1 lbs and were 27.5 inches. Still in the 25th percentile for both. The doctor said he seldom sees such a perfect growth curve...nicely done!
Well, I guess that covers it for this month...hopefully I'll get next month's letter written on time.
We love you lots!
Mom & Dad

another month...another blog post

Carter,
You are now 8 months old and counting. This month you've been rolling over a lot...this becomes a problem when all you want to do is roll and we're trying to change your diaper. You've also been sitting up lots more and have learned that you'd rather ride in the shopping cart than in your car seat. We like Costco because both you and Jackson get to ride in the same cart...you guys are so stinkin' cute! Also this month that pesky first tooth pushed it's way through. Followed quickly by tooth #2. You ended the month with a weekend without mommy. I had a fun girl's weekend and you, Jackson and daddy enjoyed a first guy's weekend!
We've introduced you to lots of new food (including peas again) and we're finding you are not a picky eater at all. You continue to giggle lots and have started interacting with Jackson more.
Lots of love to you little munchkin!

it is time for my montly blog post...

carter, you are now just over 7 months old! there has been lots of activity here at the camp. we've had staff training, a work week for our summer staffers, and sr. high camp. you've been around for parts of all of those things...and of course everyone loves to see you.
as i was thinking about what i wanted to tell you this month, i just kept thinking about the bond you and jackson have been forming. it warms my heart to see the two of you smile and laugh at each other. and i've been known to get a little teary-eyed when i'm holding you and jackson comes over and insists that he get a turn. he enjoys letting you sit on his lap and the two of you just giggle and giggle...it's so precious! our prayer is that you guys will continue to grow close and be great friends!
development wise, you've mastered the art of blowing raspberries....you get soaking wet, and it's quite entertaining. the last few days you've been saying "da-da-da" a ton (which of course your daddy loves to hear!) we've been trying to provide more floor time so you can practice rolling more, but you haven't quite gotten all the over from your back to your tummy yet.
we're still trying some different foods with you, but pears and sweet potatoes are still your favorites.
we also had a dedication service for you at church. we want to let you know that with the help of our family, church family and friends we will show you the love of God. we want you to grow up knowing that God loves you and we want you to love God. it was special that some of your extended family was able to be there.
carter, you are such a delight!
love, mom and dad

(pastor bob praying with carter)