Our newest addition...

Soooooo fast Carson!

For months Carson has been talking about jet packs and rocket boosters (something he learned from his big brothers).  When he’s riding in the shopping cart at the store and wants me to push faster, he tells me to turn on my rocket boosters.  When he wants to run or ride his scooter super fast, he “turns on” his rocket boosters or puts on his jet pack.  So, when I saw this jet pack on Pinterest, I knew immediately that Carson would LOVE it!  Boy was I right!  He wears it all around the house and even insisted on wearing it to story time at the library yesterday.  Probably not a good idea since jet packs make you run really fast…we’ll definitely be leaving it home next time!   I love how Carson’s imagination can just run wild, he cracks me up!  I think I’m going to have to make a jet pack for Luke now…and Carson seems to think that Daisy needs a little jet pack so she can fly around, too!

Kisses from Carson

I don’t think that I could even begin to explain how much Carson adores his baby sister.  He can’t enter a room without giving Daisy kisses.  When she’s sleeping she needs kisses, when she’s crying she needs kisses, when she’s happily playing she needs more kisses!  Carson talks to Daisy, plays with her, gets her pacifier when she’s crying….Daisy Marie, your big brother sure LOVES you!!!

Been Too Long…

It’s only been 2 years so I decided I would go ahead and do a week by week update of the past few years of our lives…NOT! I’m just going to start with the here and now and the rest will hopefully  fill itself in eventually. Our most recent BIG announcement?  The arrival of our sweet baby girl. FINALLY!

Fall

Luke and Carson...

March

This was a busy month as the kids adjusted to having a new little person in the house. Jeffrey was underway with his ship for a couple of weeks and I was blessed to have a few visitors during this time. First was Jeffrey's mom, followed by a visit from my sister, Rebecca, and her daughter Maci. The kids had so much fun with our visitors and I loved the help!

We began having concerns about Carson this month. About a week after he arrived home from the NICU we began to notice that his breathing was really loud, especially while he was nursing. All of our babies were loud eaters at first so we didn't think much of it. Then he began coughing and coughing and coughing.... Not just a little cough but a really deep, wet sounding cough. He was also having a hard time regaining his birth weight. At the end of the month, Carson's pediatrician decided to send him in for a few tests. One was an upper GI test using a barium labeled milk. This showed that he had significant amounts of reflux, a surprise to us since he NEVER spit up. We were told that he had "silent" reflux where it would come up as high as his nasal cavity and then go back down, which could be causing much of his coughing. He also had an airway fluoroscopy test which showed that his airway was partially collapsing in on itself during breathing, which caused stridor, or loud breathing. He was put on Zantac to help with the reflux, started having regular breathing treatments to help with the irritation in his throat, and was referred to a pulmonologist for further testing. Carson was an angel this month and is such a sweet, calm little guy.

We're Back!

Yep, we're still here and ready to enter the blogging world once again. Things have been very busy since my last post....be prepared for a long update coming soon!

So Fitting

"Just give me snacks and nobody gets hurt!"
My sister Melanie and her family got this shirt for Ethan....so perfect for our little snack lover!

Happy 4th Birthday Ethan

Our dear Ethan turned four earlier this month, the day after his baby brother came home from the hospital.  We had planned a little Star Wars party for him and he had a big grin on his face the entire time.  At the party we made "space bottles" (water bottle with blue water, glitter, stars), had an asteroid hunt (foil covered candy hidden around the house), ate lunch, and finished the afternoon with an R2-D2 pinata.  Although Jeffrey and I got about two hours of sleep the night before (thanks to Luke and Carson!), it was totally worth all the work to see how happy our sweet Ethan was.

Luke's Surgery

Luke's surgeries happened to fall on the day that Carson came home so it was a bit of a crazy day for us.  He had tubes put in his ears, a cyst removed from his forehead, and a small cyst removed from under his tongue.  He was such an angel the day of his surgery but had a pretty rough night and few days after.  Poor little guy, his forehead was pretty swollen and seemed to really bother him the most.  Things seem to be healing up pretty good now and it's a relief to know that he won't even remember it!

Proud Big Brothers

Carson sure is a lucky boy to have three older brothers who absolutely adore him!  Tyler loves to hold him, Ethan loves to look at all his tiny fingers and toes, Luke loves to bring things to him....toys, diapers, blankets....and all three boys love to give Carson kisses!  It is so much fun to see how proud my big boys are of their baby brother.

Sweet Baby Carson is here!

It has now been three weeks since we welcomed our precious little Carson Eyre into the family. Jeffrey and I arrived at the hospital at 7:30 am on February 25th for a scheduled induction. I had a wonderful, quick labor and delivery....gotta love those epidurals!....and Carson arrived at 2:02 pm. He weighed 8 lbs. 12 ozs. and was 20 inches long....our smallest baby so far. I was really nervous during the whole delivery, partly because of his arrhythmia and partly because of what happened with Luke. I couldn't believe how beautiful he was when I saw him for the first time and I couldn't help but notice all that hair! Just after he was born the pediatricians quickly noticed that he was having a hard time breathing. They said he was grunting and seemed to be breathing like a preemie. These were two things they said about Luke so I was terrified. They quickly took him up to the special care nursery to see what was going on. I will be forever grateful to have my mom there by my side as I waited for the news from Jeffrey. An x-ray showed that a small portion of his right lung had collapsed (pneumothorax) and he continued showing signs of respiratory distress. The doctors decided to transfer him the the Children's Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit right away. It was definitely a hard night, trying to sleep in a different hospital than my new little boy. Jeffrey was able to go and be with him while my mom stayed with the boys and I was able to get discharged the next day. Over the next few days Carson improved quickly. He was placed in an oxygen hood and then eventually given oxygen through a nasal canula. They did an echocardiogram and EKG to see how his heart was doing and noticed a small amount of blood being shunted between the R and L atrium. This is something we'll have to follow up on, but it will most likely resolve on it's own. He still has a small arrhythmia but it's not causing any problems, and chest x-rays showed that his pneumothorax had completely healed. After five long days in the NICU we were able to bring our sweet little guy home. His big brothers were so excited to finally meet him and have been eager to help out in any way. These past couple of weeks have been a bit crazy around our home, but thanks to my wonderful mom and Jeffrey's wonderful mom we've been able to manage our house full of boys! Our little Carson is so incredibly sweet!!!

Our BIG baby boy!


First night in the NICU

                                              First Feeding

                                      Visit from Grandma Baker





                                              Coming Home!!!

Ready for Baby!!!!!

I don't think that I've posted any pregnancy pictures so I guess it's about time since tomorrow is the big day!!! We'll be heading the the hospital at 7:30 am for a scheduled induction. I'd have to say that I'm a little nervous but I'm so excited to meet this precious little baby. He's got three big brothers that are ready for him to "come out and play"! We got out the cradle a few nights ago and Luke spent the entire evening rocking, singing to, and taking care of his little baby. He is going to have so much fun being a big brother. My mom is flying in tonight so that she can be at the hospital and help out with the kids and I am soooo excited! We'll try and post pictures soon!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Fun with the Bakers

A couple weekends ago we had a wonderful visit with my brother Richard and his adorable little family.  We hadn't seen them for over a year so it was sooo good to see them again and meet the new addition to their family, little Maya.  The boys had so much fun "attacking" their Uncle Richard and Luke absolutely adored his cousins Aidan (who is only a few months younger than Luke) and Maya.  He immediately became attached to Maya and loved giving things to her...blanket, pacifier, bottles....  Seeing how sweet and gentle he was with baby Maya got me so excited, he is going to be such a good big brother!  I can't even express how great it was to see family after so long, thanks for the visit Richard and Jessica!  Can't wait to see you all again!