Professional Pictures (6 months)

I had Carter's 6 month pictures taken on Valentine's day. I was worried that he wouldn't be happy because the one day he decides not to take a nap happened to be this day. He fell asleep 15 minutes before the appointment. But he was happy when he woke up and was being a ham for the camera. He was really smiley and didn't seem to mind the strangers too much. He has really been showing stranger anxiety a lot lately. So anyway, I just thought I would post his pictures.

EEG test

Carter During the EEG.


All Smiles after it was over

Well we had the EEG today. Things look pretty good. We won't have the final results for a couple of days, but from what the tech could tell he didn't have any major issues. The test went smooth and I am glad it is over and we will have some answers soon. Carter was a trooper and did really well. He was very sad that we had to keep him awake though. He didn't do so bad in the morning at home but the car ride to the test was horrible. Grandma Ellen had to open the window, touch him with her cold hands, and talk loud to keep him from falling asleep. It was so sad to see how tired he was but it payed off because they were able to get a good reading. He of course is a little off today with his sleeping but hopefully he will be back on track soon. Thanks for all the prayers. I will write more when I get the results.

Prayers

Please pray for us. We are taking Carter to have an EEG done tomorrow morning. He had another episode this morning and the doctor wants to do further testing. We are still hopeful that it is just the gastric reflux that is causing this but we are scared every time it happens. I will post more when I know more.

6 Months Old!

Our little man turned 6 months this last week. I cannot believe how fast it has gone. It seems like only yesterday he was my 6 pound little baby. Now he is turning into a little man with a personality all his own. Turning 6 months means a trip to the doctor and the dreaded immunizations. Here are the statistics. His weight was 15lbs 8 oz which is in the 20th percentile. He was 26and 3/4 inches long which puts him in the 55th percentile. The visit went really well and the doctor was happy with his progress. The immunizations really bothered him this time and he screamed. It only lasted a minute but this was the first time he was really upset about it. He is also starting to get stranger anxiety and was leery of people messing with him. He is still being a stinker about sleep and has his days where he wakes up early and days he doesn't take good naps but it is all random. We just keep trying different things and hope that he will grow out of this crazy stage. Now on to the scary part of the week. Yesterday I was feeding Carter his bottle when he starting have seizure like movements. His head was shaking and his right arm was shaking. I yelled for Chad to come into the room and by the time he got there it had stopped. But a few seconds later it did the same thing. We went into the office and Carter was checked out. The good thing about all of this was the episodes only lasted about 10 seconds each and he seemed to be aware of what was going on. Afterwards he wasn't tired and seemed to be himself. We thought this trip to the doctor would be worthless since they would probably say "he looks fine, just watch him and keep us updated." But after doing a neurological exam the doctor seemed to think that things looked good. So he asked us a bunch of questions and came up with the idea that he wasn't having a seizure but was having spastic movements due to Sandifer Syndrome. What it really is is a reaction to gastric reflux. If he is having stomach acid coming up his esophagus and burning, his body does these movements to ward off the pain. The doctor thought this might be it since it happened during a feeding. Also over the last few weeks Carter has been harder to feed. He has been fussy and pulling away from the bottle (which can be signs of gastric reflux). We were happy to hear that this might be the problem because 1 it means he is not having seizures and 2 the treatment is reflux medication. So now he is back on Axid for reflux twice a day. He is still not out of the woods yet though. If it happens again or if it happens not during a feeding we may have to do an EEG or try and catch the episode on camera. We are still a little scared but are hopeful that this is the answer. Please keep us in your prayers.

February Fever

This week doesn't have a lot to tell. We didn't do a whole lot. Carter did get sick on Friday and had a fever of 103 and was spiking fevers all weekend. This led to having an irritable baby and bad sleep. He woke up a lot on Friday and Saturday night but he seems to be doing better today. A funny story about this. On Saturday morning he was up at 5 fussing around and we tried going in and giving him his pacifier but he was hot and felt miserable so I thought maybe we should bring him into our bed and see if he falls asleep. We really thought it would be a long shot since he never sleeps with us. His eyes were huge for a while trying to figure out where he was. Then after about 10 minutes he decided he was safe next to us and fell asleep until 8:30am. This extra sleep was great for all of us. So the same situation happened on Sunday morning. He woke up around 5:30ish and we couldn't get him to go back to sleep. So out of desperation we brought him back into our bed. He fell asleep right away and we got to sleep till 8. We knew we might be playing with fire but he was sick and we felt sorry for him. So Sunday night he slept well through the night but was up at 6ish. I went in and put his pacifier in and he calmed down. But five minutes later he was in there crying. So I went in, got him, and put him in my bed. (Chad was in the shower and I was falling into the trap of "taking the easy way out") He fell asleep in 30 seconds. Chad came out of the shower and started laughing. He said "your son is playing you." It is very true. Our six month old son now knows how to manipulate us. So we have now learned a very valuable lesson. There will be no more sleeping in our bed in the morning. He may have tricked us once, but not again. :)
Carter has also outgrown his 6 month clothes. We are slowly moving over to 9 month clothes. His pants have been too short for a while now, but now his onesies are getting tight and having trouble stretching over his torso. I cannot believe how big he is and that he is almost half way to 1 year!
Pictures: The first one is Carter in his bouncy seat. The second he gets in it he puts his feet up. He has just starting doing this, and it is super funny. You can see him trying really hard to get his feet propped up on the seat. The second one is Chad giving Carter a bath. It is a family affair in the Scribner household. The pugs sit in the bathroom with Carter thanking their lucky stars that it is not them in the tub. The next two are us watching the Super bowl. we had a nice relaxing evening at home since Carter was sick. You can see Tatze giving Carter some love in the second picture. The last picture is Carter playing in his exersaucer. He is liking it more and more, and is discovering all the toys around it.

Oh how they change...

A rare picture in the swing ( he doesn't like his swing that much)


Bath time fun!


Eating pears


What a crazy week around here. Carter has been changing like crazy and not all for the better. He is eating his solids very well and turning into a little man. He is enjoying his new freedom in some of his new toys, and the new things that his body is doing. He is starting to bring everything up to his mouth and gets frustrated when things don't go the way he wants. He loves interacting and playing games with us. On the down side he has been testing his boundaries by crying *a lot* when we lay him down for naps. With that he also has developed a new high pitched scream that he likes to use to get our attention. Neither Chad nor I enjoy this new noise and hope it is just a phase. He hasn't been sleeping as well during naps this week and has been waking up early. Luckily when he wakes up early he just plays in his crib until we go in and get him at 7. He will also wake up at least once a night, cry out for a minute, and then go back to sleep. Very weird. He is also becoming more mobile. When I go in to get him in the morning he is upside down or sideways kicking at his toys. It is pretty cute. He has also rolled from back to front several times this week. He gets mad when he does this because he doesn't like tummy time and he will try to roll back the other way. I can't believe how much he changes. It is amazing how you get into a routine and things start to go smoothly and the baby changes it up. I guess we now know Carter will always keep us on our toes.

Identical Cousins

Maybe not identical but they sure do look a lot alike. This is Carter and his cousin Xander. Probably close to the same age. There are a lot of old pictures of Xander that make me think of Carter. People are starting to say that he is looking a lot like the triplets now.

Rolling over

Being a Ham!

Just playing.............................. Starting to get frustrated


Realizing he might be able to turn over


Reaching high.................................almost there....


SUCCESS!

Sorry for no post last week. It was a little bit of a weird week for me. I spent two days getting my PALS certification during the day while Carter spent time over at Aunt Carrie's house. It has been a while since I have had to study and take a test so I had a pretty stressful week studying for PALS. Luckily I passed, and now I am officially certified for two years! (for those of you who don't know PALS stands for Pediatric Advanced Life Support. It is similar to CPR but it is specialized for children and is more in depth.) We have to be certified to work up on pediatrics. Carter got to enjoy time with Aunt Carrie and cousin Noah while I was there and he had a great time. It is so neat to see them start to interact, or at least notice each other. I can't wait for them to be old enough to play together. Carter has also had some new things happen this last two weeks. He rolled over from front to back one time completely unassisted. (I caught this with my still camera) I had put him on his tummy and the next thing I know he is trying to roll over. The whole thing took him a few minutes. He would give up and lay down and then try again. We have yet to see it again but hopefully he will do it again soon. He has also started eating rice cereal every evening and we even introduced pears. He is a huge fan of pears but not a fan of rice cereal still. We mix them together and he is happy. He is starting to get more coordination with his tongue but it is still a little difficult in the beginning. On a more yucky note I noticed this weekend (and so did grandma) that Carters lymph nodes in the back of his head and ear were pretty swollen. They have been swollen for the last few weeks but not as bad as they were on Sunday. He hasn't seemed sick or anything but I started to get worried that they were getting bigger. So I took him into the doctor today and he has a little ear infection and the doctor thought he might have a little bit of an upper respiratory infection. He still doesn't act sick but in retrospect I remember him pulling at his ear some over the last few days. I just didn't think that a baby this young would do that. He got put on some amoxicillin and hopefully that will take care of it. Chad and I also got to get out for a little bit over the last few weeks and we even got to go up to Omaha to hang out with our friends Abby and Jason. We ate dinner (without a baby) and then got to go to a movie. It was so nice. We went and saw Juno which I highly recommend. That about wraps it up for us. Talk to you next week.

Neonatal Developmental Clinic (5 months old)

Triplets 2nd birthday party

We have had a pretty busy week. I spent the weekend pureeing baby food (and food for a new recipe book I got for Christmas) with my friend Christy and trying out the new recipes. They have been pretty good so far. I have enjoying making the meals and they are healthy! Our evenings have been filled doing odds and ends. Carter has also had a couple new things this week. He went to the Neonatal Development Clinic yesterday. When we left the NICU they asked us if we wanted to be a part of it. All they do is collect some research and track how the NICU babies do once they leave the unit. It is no cost to us and gives us another set of eyes to make sure Carter is on track with his development. We got great reviews. Even though Carter just turned 5 months he is really about 3 3/4 months adjust age. When it comes to development that is the age they use. They said he is doing above what a 3 3/4 month baby would be doing. They weighed him (with his clothes on, and a full diaper) and he was 15lbs 8oz. They measured his head which they said was good and that his head shape is looking great. (preemie babies tend to have abnormal skulls since there bones are more pliable) He was able to track a toy all over, turn to my voice and hold his head up with good control. She was impressed ( a developmental pediatrician). It always makes you feel good when someone tells you your child is on track so I am happy with the report. Carter also has started to giggle every time I tell him "I'm gonna get you". He will laugh and put his arms out in front of him (like superman) as if to protect himself from the "tickles". It is so funny. If I can get it on video I will post it soon. Chad and I got to get away on Saturday night for a few hours to celebrate our friend Jessi's birthday. We had a good time. The last thing we did was celebrate the triplets 2nd birthday. It was a lot of fun watching them eat their cake this year. We are going to do a bigger celebration in the summer since they just got a ton of gifts for Christmas. Chad and Carter stayed home since it was past his bedtime but I got to go and watch them eat cake. I am trying out Picasa for my pictures this week so you will have to let me know how it is. The pictures are of Jessi's birthday party, the triplets cake party and some random pics of Carter. I have to explain that the ones of Carter where he has a hat that is too small and mittens on. After we give him a bath we always have to lube him up with lotion and aquaphor to his body and head (due to his really dry skin). But when he gets super tired he rubs his face with his hands and also scratches at his head. So the combination of lotion plus tiredness leads to him scratching at his face and head and getting the aquaphor everywhere. So we have to put a hat on him (to make sure the aquaphor soaks in) and mittens to prevent him from scratching his face. He looks like a gangster in the photos so I just had to explain it.

Thank You Uncle Gary and Aunt Natalie!

Thank you Uncle Gary and Aunt Natalie for my super cute outfit you gave me for Christmas! I love it. It keeps me warm here in Nebraska! Thanks for thinking of me. I know someone in California loves me!
Love,
Carter

Welcome 2008!

Carters favorite thing right now
Hi Guys!

He still gets mad at tummy time (check out the real tear) - Him on his side


Rice cereal attempt



We had a pretty boring start to the new year. I was at work, Chad was at home in bed and Carter had been fast asleep for 5 hours. We are very hopeful for a great new year that will have a lot of firsts coming from Carter. Carter seems to be changing like crazy every day. Here are a couple things we have noticed. He has mastered turning on his side and spends a lot of time there. We work on rolling over but he seems to have no desire to flip all the way over. He has realized that once objects move out of his sight he can turn around and follow them. He especially does this with the pugs. He will sit in his jump chair and spin around and follow them all over the living room. He loves watching them play and enjoys the occasional pug kiss. Since he is spending a lot more time in play things at pug level the pugs continue to take more and more of an interest in him. Carter also likes to sit up and try and pull himself forward when you hold him or when he is in a bouncy seat. I think he enjoys the new control he has over his body. He went through a major growth spurt over the last couple weeks and went from drinking 25oz a day to 30oz. He has also started to giggle when I tickle him. He has to be in the right mood but it is very cute to see. He had a couple of days where he ran a low grade temp and started taking longer naps, and that trend seems to be continuing. It is still a little hit and miss but he is much happier if he takes a nap that is longer than 30mintues. The other big news here is that Carter tried rice cereal for the first time. Our doctor recommended we wait till 6 months to do solids but since he went through that growth spurt we thought we would see if he was ready. He didn't really like it very much and even went as far as to gag a couple times. I think for right now we will just try it every couple days just to get him used to eating and when he turns 6 months we will do more. I didn't take a lot of pictures this week since I was working a lot, but here are a few I took.

Baby's First Christmas

Carter had a wonderful first Christmas! I am not sure he was able to distinguish it from any other day other than we were surrounded by a lot of people for two days straight. He enjoyed being around family and having more people to see and play with. We spent most of Christmas eve with The Scribner/Hardt family and then we spent Christmas day with The Niebuhrs. He enjoyed watching us unwrap gifts and he even held on to some wrapping paper. He got a ball from grandma and grandpa Scribner that he loves. It has a lot of holes so he can hold on to it and it was a hit! He got a lot of nice stuff from everyone and will be set for the next year or so with toys to play with. Chad and I also enjoyed our first Christmas morning with our new family. Even the pugs got to unwrap gifts with us. Chad has the rest of the week off and will hopefully get some time to rest. I am back to work tonight and tomorrow but will have some time to spend at home relaxing with Chad. We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! Click HERE for more Christmas pictures.
(I also updated the pugs blog so you can go there too!)

It's a Pugs Life!

It has been a busy week getting ready for Christmas and doing all the last minute shopping. We have had week that has been all about the pugs. As you can see in the first 2 pictures the pugs were up to no good. Tatze has a huge love for my monkey slippers and will steal one from the closet frequently. It really is the only thing she has ever gotten from the closet. Whereas Nase will take anything and everything. I don't really blame her for wanting it since it looks just like one of her toys. The funny thing is that I wish I would have captured all the things she has done with this slipper. Most mornings when she gets the chance she will take the slipper and bring it out in the living room. She usually doesn't play with it she just sits it next to her. There have been other times where she will bring it up onto the chair and fall asleep on it. I was beginning to think they were developing a friendship. Until that fateful day. I am not sure what the monkey slipper did to Tatze but it must have looked at her funny because she tore it to shreds. Not only that but Nase joined in on the massacre. When I heard the ruckus I came up stairs only to find 2 pugs with white stuffing in their mouths. Boy were they proud! The pictures are of the aftermath before I had to clean it up. The pugs got in trouble for their naughty behavior but Tatze did not learn her lesson. The next morning she went for the other slipper. (She might have thought the monkey came back from the dead.) Nase on the other had has taken a strong interest in Carter this week. The pugs have slowly adjusted and showed more interest, but Nase has given up on being the "baby" of the family. He will sit right next to Carter in the bouncy seat or jump chair and almost every time I feed him he sits on the chair with us and watches Carter. It has been pretty cute to see. He is very careful around the baby and is attempting a friendship. Tatze could care less if she was friends with Carter or not. Maybe someday. I will post more after Christmas.

Babbling baby

This is a little bit of carter talking. It is hard to catch him on tape because he seems to stop and become enthralled with the camera. Ignore my stupid commentary.

Christmas hustle and bustle

Carter in the jump chair ----------The Pugs playing with Carter

Sleepy baby ------------------------Happy baby

Hangin with Christy

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. Time has gotten away from me lately. I can't remember all that has happened but I will try my best to think of the new things. Carter did have his 4 month check with shots last Friday. He weighed in at 13lbs 6oz. which is in the 25 percentile. he was 25 1/2 inches which is in the 75 percentile. He got his shots without too much fuss. We talked with the Pedi about his development and things are looking good. He has started to really notice his toys and has started grabbing and batting at the toys hanging from the play gym. He has also started to sit in his jump chair which he really enjoys. It is a lot of work keeping his upper body upright but he pushes off the ground and spins himself around and thinks it is pretty fun. He is also eye level with the pugs and is watching them chase each other. The pugs have started to take a more active interest in Carter and have been licking, smelling and laying next to him a lot more. Nase also got his first taste of the kung foo baby grip. Nase was sitting next to the bouncy seat and Carter reached out for him and grabbed the side of Nase's face. Carter grabbed a chunk of fur and Nase was left stunned at what just happened. Nase then backed up a foot or so to be out of reach of Carter. Looks like we are going to have to start early with teaching Carter how to touch "nice" around the puppies. :) Carter has also really discovered his voice. There have been times where he will babble for 5-10minutes. It is pretty funny watching him. His face is so animated when he talks. I was able to catch some of it on video so I will see if I can post it. Carter also had several outings over the last couple of weeks. He stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Scribner while Chad and I went to our young couples Christmas party and he stayed at Grandma and Grandpa Niebuhr's Tuesday night and all day Wednesday so that I could finish up my Christmas shopping and get a few things done around the house. He also spends time every week over at Erin and Brian's while I am at work and is getting quality time with his cousins (and his aunt as well). Erin tells me funny stories of how the kids try to help her with Carter by getting his things for her. They are all very helpful and they enjoy playing with the baby toys again when Carter is not using them. She told me that Xander decided that Carter needed to wear the pumpkin bucket as a hat and kept trying to put it on his head, but Carter wanted nothing to do the bucket. It is just so cute how they think he can do the same things that they can. That is about all that I can think of that is new. I have been spending my free time wrapping gifts and writing Christmas cards. I can't wait for Carter's first Christmas! ( I will post pictures tomorrow)