Carter's Journey: Carter is 2!!!

It is hard to believe Carter is 2 years old today! It seems like he was just born. Carter has been through so much in his short life. You would never know he has had over 30 surgeries and has spent months in the hospital. Carter absolutely loves life! Some of his favorite things are...

Throwing balls (or anything he can find)

Rocking with Mama in the recliner

Running

Dancing to any music he hears

Jumping (stomping his feet :))

Spanking Da-dee

Being a helper by taking things to Da-dee

Wearing shoes (he sometimes takes a nap in his shoes because he throws such a fit if I take them off. I refuse to let him sleep in them at night :))

Barking like our dogs

Climbing onto anything

Opening and shutting our cabinets

Cleaning the floor (he brushes everything away with his hands)

Helping Mommy sweep the floor

Anything with wheels

Slides

Anything that involves water

Giving aww-wee's (he lays his head on my legs and says aww-wee)

ANYTHING that involves Veggie Tales. He would Watch Veggie Tales all day if I would let him.

Carter is still not really talking, although he has started making sounds and his singing has returned :). His vocabulary consist of..

Mama (usually Maaa!)

Dada

Da-dee

I want my Mama

He can sign jump, I love you, more and we are working on thank you and please.

He currently weighs 25lbs. 5oz. He is 31 3/4" long. He wears size 12-18 month clothes. Size 3-4 shoe. Size 3 diaper. He is tube fed for 16 hours a day. We are still working on getting him to eat orally. He recently stopped taking his once loved paci, because he doesn't like things in his mouth. He is

now sleeping in his own bed all night and seems to really like it. We have planned a Veggie Tales party for him on labor day weekend. We really want to influence how special God made him and how much He loves him.

Our prayers for Carter for this year are...

Carter will stay nutritionally adequate enough to qualify for his bladder closure surgery.

He will continue to tolerate his tube feedings and start eating orally.

He will continue to maintain his weight.

He will be able to have his pelvic surgery to close his hips so he will be able to walk longer periods.

His intestines will continue to wake up so we no longer have to flush them manually.

The vomiting will subside.

Most importantly Carter will continue to love life as much as he does now.

We are so thankful for our little gift. God has really blessed our family with Carter. This has been the hardest and best 2 years of my entire life. Carter is so perfect and we absolutely love him to pieces. Thank you God for allowing me to be Carter's Mommy! To Him be the Glory!

Our good friend Laura with Flutterby Photography took Carter's 2 year old pictures. She does an amazing job! You can check her out at Flutterbyphoyography.net