lots of learning

jackson has been learning so much recently. i mentioned him saying bye and signing please. he's now learned how to blow kisses, say "woof-woof", he says "ooo" when he hurts himself (when it's not too bad to cry), and as he was sliding off the couch this morning i heard him saying "weee". he's so cute!

snow, snow, snow, snow, snow, snow...you get my drift

our area has broken a record for amount of snow fall so far this winter. we've had at least 12 feet of snow fall up at the camp...although there's only about 5 feet on the ground. last year i remember seeing dump trucks hauling away snow from store parking lots because they ran out of room to plow it. i'm sure that'll be happening again this year.
i'm just thankful we decided to trade in our taurus for a 4-wheel drive vehicle. i'd have been stuck at home most of last month.

jackson update

last week jackson learned the sign for "please" and said "bye"...two new things in one week! boy howdy, my boy's smart!

also, i learned why he's been so fussy recently (besides being a bit jealous of his little brother)...he's getting four molars at once. now that we've learned his reason for his behavior, we've given him some tylenol and he's been doing much better.

baby spanish

jackson was over playing with his cousins the other day. at one point the 3 of them were all hanging out around the table talking. lauren (3 years old) said that jackson didn't know how to talk yet to which daniel (5 years old) replied..."yes he does, he just speaks a spanish that no one else can understand."

1 month

dear carter,
i can't believe it's been a whole month already. your 1st couple weeks of life were pretty rough. you had to go to the doctor's office for the first four days after you were born to get poked in the heal. you were getting jaundice and they wanted to test your billirubin count to make sure it didn't get to a dangerous level. thankfully, buy the 4th day your numbers were down. however, that same night we had to take you to the hospital because you got a fever. they did all kinds of tests on you...poking and prodding and you were such a trooper. you had to be admitted and were there for 4 days. thankfully, you ended up just having a virus and your fever broke and we got to go home.
you also got your 1st hair cut at just 5 days old. the pediatric nurse wanted to shave your head in the spot where she was going to start the iv. she was really cute about it, saving the little bits of hair and taping them to a tongue depressor so i could scrapbook your "1st haircut".
after getting home, life became more normal (whatever "normal" is with 2 little guys under 18 months old!) you do the normal newborn things...eat, sleep, and go potty. when you're awake, you seem very alert, with your eyes wide open and taking in all that's going on around you. you're lifting your head quite a bit and trying to figure out what it is your arms and legs are supposed to do.
jackson is getting more used to having you around. although he still gets jealous when i have to feed you or hold you, we know he loves you. when daddy takes him down to bed each night, you are the first one he gives kisses to (even before mommy!) i'm looking forward to watching you guys grow up together and hopefully become great buddies.
during this last month you had your first christmas. you got all kinds of presents (books, toys, clothes) and of course your "my first christmas" pjs from us. you were supposed to have your first road trip to oregon, but we weren't able to go due to all the snow we had (over 5 feet) and all the snow in oregon. instead, we had christmas dinner at your oma and opa's house.
as of yesterday, you weigh 8lbs, 8ozs. so you've gained almost 2 whole pounds and you're beginning to look more like you and less like a newborn. we think you look like your daddy. we're excited to watch you grow and to see more of your personality come through.
we love you!

a woods update

it's been awhile...we've been busy these last few weeks. as you know carter was born on december 1st. each day after his birth we had to take him to the doctor's for billirubin tests. he was coombs positive which means he was more likely to get jaundice and get it quickly. at the hospital his billirubin count was up, so we had to get it tested the next day. it was up the next day as well, so we had to go again and again. thankfully, by that friday the numbers were down and they said he was going to be just fine!
however, that night i realized he felt kinda hot. after taking his temp. and seeing that it was 100.3, i called the on-call nurse (which is what we were told to do if his temp was 100.3 or above.) she had me take his temp again and it was down to 99.something...so she said to just keep an eye on it. if it gets to 100.4 or higher she said we'd need to go to the er. well, we got to bed around midnight and i just had a feeling that carter wasn't doing so good. so about 30 minutes later i took his temp again and it was 101.1. i got eric up and we headed to the er. thankfully, jennie was still here so i woke her up and asked if she'd take care of jackson. we spent many hours in the er where they did lots of tests...blood test, urine test, x-ray, spinal tap and they got an iv started (after 3 tries that had to do it in his head) and started giving him some fluids and antibiotics. around this time, a guy was brought into the er by ambulance that was getting cpr. all the er staff had to attend to him for a couple hours trying to save his life. after he was taken to a different department, the staff was available to finish up with us and the other patients. they finished doing the necessary tests on carter and sent us upstairs to be admitted in the pediatric unit. until this time, we kinda thought they'd get carter feeling better and we'd be heading home in a few hours. once we got up to the peds unit and carter's doctor was able to come see him (this is around 9am on saturday) we found out that we'd be staying at the hospital until at least monday. we found out that all the tests had come back negative, but the urine test they let sit for 72 hours to make sure there is no bacteria growing. and in the meantime carter is getting iv antibiotics as a precautionary thing. so i stayed with carter at the hospital and eric and my mom (who came on sunday) took turns visiting us anf taking care of jackson. when the doc came in on monday, he said he'd like us to stay one more day just to be sure. tuesday morning came, (carter's fever had broke sunday evening), and the urine test was negative, so we finally got to go home. it was a scary ordeal, but we're thankful that it ended up just being a virus and that carter is doing wonderfully now.

since we've been back home, winter has officially began and we now have 4 feet of snow!

jackson is getting more used to having carter around. every now and again he'll just stop and watch carter and touch his head and try to hold his hands...it's really cute! he's also been giving him kisses. he's going to be a great big brother!
jackson is seeming to grow up right in front of our eyes. he's doing his sign language lots ("more", "all done" and he's starting to do "please"). he's also talking some. he continues to say "daddy" all the time and he's said please, more, baby, and carter (which sounds more like "ca").

so there you have it...kinda long, but an update nontheless.

carter gregory

carter gregory was born monday, december 1st at 5:51pm. he weighed 6lbs 12 oz and was 19.5 inches long. we’re all doing well and are home trying to get used to life with another member of the family.