Are You Kidding Me??????

This picture pretty much says it all. This is me. I fractured my right foot and so now I get to wear this pretty "shoe" for 4-6 weeks. Luckily it matches with all my clothes so it shouldn't be a problem(sarcasm is dripping off the page). How cruel is life? Here I am as a new mom trying to get my pre-pregnancy body back when all of a sudden exercise is no longer permitted. Actually I am allowed to swim (but what new mom wants to be in a swimming suit???) and I can ride an exercise bike but it has to have basically no resistance. So it will be interesting to say the least.

So this is my "poor me" post. It's the first post that isn't about my baby though. I never have exciting things to post about me usually. And I wouldn't even call this exciting. Just very maddening. Oh yea-I fractured my foot by walking down the stairs, carrying Carter in his car seat, and at the bottom of the stairs was a shoe, which I stepped wrong on. And yes-it was my shoe that I had taken off earlier. I wish I could blame it on Neil.................

Off the Charts....

I took Carter to the Dr. yesterday for his 2 month checkup. I knew he had grown but I didn't imagine he had grown this much. He weighed in at a HUGE 15 pounds 6 oz and is 26 inches long. He has grown 5 inches since birth and is about a half pound away from doubling his birth weight. The doctor said he was perfectly proportioned though for his height. So we don't need to call Weight Watchers yet! He can still wear most of his 0-3 month clothes though. I don't know how since they say they only go up to 12 pounds.


Here are a few pictures that show some of Carter's favorite things. #1 Sleeping. And his hands must be by his face in exactly this position to sleep.
#2-Going running with me. He is a good little sport and loves to be in the jogger. He either falls fast asleep or just lays there and enjoys the view.
#3-This is his new favorite thing-his thumb. He's always liked to suck on his fingers or wrist because he just couldn't quite figure out how to get the thumb in there. Not anymore-that thumb finds its way into his mouth quite easily now. It is so cute to watch him suck on it. He makes these loud smacking noises and really goes to town on it. He mostly sucks on it right before he falls asleep and right as he's waking up. Neil is left handed and I think Carter might be too-he always sucks on his left thumb. Never his right one.
#4-His bouncer chair and Mr. Horsie. Carter loves to sit in his bouncer and stare up at the cow and duck hanging down. He tries his hardest to get his hands up there but he's not quite coordinated enough. Mr. Horsie is the brown thing next to his face. He's half horse, half blanket. I introduced Mr. Horsie to Carter about a month ago because I want him to have a "lovie" and this one is small and very cute. He likes to snuggle up to him and have his face right next to the softness. He does try and suck on Mr. Horsie's head if he can.
These are just a few of his favorite things.....

Life Of Carter

Carter LOVES LOVES LOVES to take baths. He never cries or fusses while in the tub. He just lays there content and talks and splashes around. He only fusses when I take him out if I don't wrap him up quick enough in his little monster towel. He is getting so big and has really started to fill out. According to the Wii Fit scale, he weighs 14.4 pounds! I cannot believe it. He will be 8 weeks on Monday and is 2 pounds away from doubling his birth weight.
Carter was blessed on Sunday. Here he is in his little white outfit. I was paranoid the whole time that he would have a blow out and ruin his little outfit, but he didn't. We made it unscathed.

Here is Carter with his 2 cousins Tyler and Kayla. Tyler was hammin' it up for the camera and Carter was tired of posing. Kayla loves Carter and always wants to hold him and play with him. She loves to show him toys and get his binki when he cries. I need her around more often. Does anyone want to lend me their 3-4 yr. old little girl??????

Last but not least, here is our "Redneck Carter." This picture was taken for Grandpa Etherington. He gave Carter his first gun at 10 days old. It is actually a BB gun and on the box it said "For 10 years and Up." Grandpa crossed out 10 years and put 10 days old! He is a big hunter and here is Carter getting ready to someday hunt with Grandpa. He's got his Camo overalls (minus a shirt for more redneck flavor) and his trusty gun. Too cute!
*****Please don't turn me in to Child Protective Services*******The gun was not loaded (I don't even know how to load it.) And we don't let him sleep with it, it's stored away until he's old enough to use it. Which may be never, at least around our house. Maybe he can only use it at Grandpa's house so his windows and his cats can be shot at, not mine. We all know how little boys are with BB guns. Nothing is safe.

Team Blakeslee '08 USA

So my family spent a week in Park City last week. We went all over and did all the tourist stuff. On the last day we visited the Olympic Park. My dad joked all day about wanting to ride the bobsled and everyone tried to convince me to ride with him. Deep down I really wanted to but the price was ridiculous. 60 bucks for 60 seconds. So I said no. But as the day went on and the pressure mounted, I gave in! And actually so did my sister Carrie. My dad actually rode the bobsled in Calgary several years ago, so he is a pro. Carrie and I were rookies though. The first thing we had to do was sign away our lives saying we could NOT sue them, no matter what. I gladly did this and got all ready to ride. Then right as were are getting on the bobsled, the man comes up and tells us some medical conditions that should exclude you from this ride. Apparently they mentioned these earlier but I missed them. Of the 4 conditions they listed, I had 3 of them and technically shouldn't be riding. The 4 conditions were #1-back or spine problems. Ok there. (this has changed since riding the ride though!) #2-Recent Surgery (oops-A C-Section 4 weeks earlier throws me in that category. #3-Recent Pregnancy (please refer to #2 and my baby in the stroller 5 feet away!) and finally #4-recent or current high blood pressure. (once again please refer to #2 and #3). But I already had my helmet on and wasn't going to miss this opportunity.


So here we are getting into the bobsled. I am in the black shirt with pink shorts, Carrie in the white shirt, and my Dad was already in bobsled. He sat in the back because that is where the brunt of the ride is felt. I figured since I shouldn't really be riding the ride, I'd sit in the middle/front where the least amount of "g's" would be felt. Our driver is in the blue shirt. I got nice and cozy with him in the bobsled! I really wished we could have been wearing spandex....
And we're off...............Positions-Front to Back-Driver whom I will call Pete, Me, Carrie and Dad. The first 5 seconds of the ride were really fun and carefree. Then we picked up speed and it got intense. I kind of wanted to scream but going 75 MPH prevented me from doing much of anything except praying. I had to consciously work on keeping my head up and not banging the driver with my helmet. You'd be surprised at what 75 MPH will do to your back and neck and how fast you can loose control of them.
Luckily-we did not flip our bobsled and we survived the 59 second ride. I told Neil later that it was the fastest yet longest 59 seconds of my life. I enjoyed the ride but it was hard on the old body and I thought my head would whip off at any minute. Our time gave us 3rd place for the day! Way to go Team Blakeslee-even though we really didn't have much to do with it! I recommend this ride to anyone who like to be next to the brink of death. I don't think I need to go to space ever in my life because this was my "once in a lifetime" experience. And please-don't tell my Doctor that I did this. And please, Dr. I if you are reading this, I did wear my seatbelt and helmet the whole time. That's got to count for something, right?
Here are the future Team USA Bobsledders. Jace and Paige wore our helmets which is the closest they will get to the Bobsled for a long time. Chloe-we wish you were in this picture with Jace and Paige. She didn't want to mess up her hair I think.
Since I KNOW I could never be a bobsledder for my career, maybe I will have Neil look into being a professional Skier. Check out his perfect form.

5 weeks old!

Carter is changing so fast. Everyone told me that he would, but it has happened faster than I thought! I look now at the clothes he wore the first week and how he'll never fit into them again! He still loves to be cuddled and held-and I love doing that.
One of the changes Carter has made is regarding his hair. He was born with a full head of even, beautiful hair. Now he has the hairline of a 50 year old man! He hasn't lost any in the back or sides, just the front. At first I was convinced I must have rubbed it too hard in the bath or touched it too much and made it fall out. I'm sure it will come back though. This picture shows his hair BEFORE it fell out.
Until his hair does come back, I am making him wear hats 24/7. Just kidding. But I do love this little hat of his along with its matching shorts. And his little cheeks are starting to fill out now and so they are very kissable. And they do get kissed a lot by me!
Carter's cousin Mitchell came to town for a few weeks and is obsessed with Carter. He always wants to touch him, and touch only his face! Carter is a good sport about it and let's Mitch get his feel. I think Mitchell is jealous of Carter's hair. My sister and I bought them matching outfits before Carter was even born. We have many many pictures of them in matching outfits. When they both grow up they will look back and realize how lame we are for making them dress alike. I know I look back and laugh when I dressed the same as my cousins!
SIDE NOTE: Don't let his cute face fool you too much. He is ALL MAN! He has sounds coming out of him that should never come out of a body this small. I was in mother's lounge at church today and Carter was letting off his typical "fireworks" from both ends and he got quite the reaction from the other mothers. I think they were jealous..................I on the other hand was a little embarrassed. But I still love him and think he's the greatest. Even if he takes after his daddy in SOOOO many ways!

Carter

Here are some more recent pictures of Carter. Most of his little outfits are still a little too big but these few outfits do fit so here are the pictures. The only thing that has changed with him is that his tear ducts are plugged in both eyes but I'm hoping they will open up eventually without any "help" from the doctor. Also-here is a picture of Grandma Blakeslee and Carter. She came for a week and was a great help. We loved having her here. Enjoy. Be sure to notice Carter's matching shoes with his baseball outfit. Those shoes only stay on about 3 minutes but it's worth it.

The Last Few Days

After posting about Carter's birth I realized that I never gave the "whole story." Monday morning it was determined that within the last few hours my body had developed the Hellp syndrome. (you may want to search it on the internet, it is very hard to explain) It is very rare and can be quite serious. My platelets dropped to a super low level which meant my blood may not be able to clot after childbirth. My liver enzymes had risen to a scary level which meant it could rupture if something wasn't done. So within a half an hour we were told we needed to have an immediate C-section and because my platelets were so low, I could have no spinal or epidural which is the normal way to do a C-section. I had to go completely under with general anesthesia, which means I missed everything and didn't get to see my baby until I came out of anesthesia. The C-section had to be done in about 2 minutes because they didn't want the baby to be put to sleep as well. And since this was real surgery, Neil didn't even get to be in the operating room and didn't see the baby until about 25 minutes after he was born. Right after surgery though, my body came out the Hellp syndrome and I have no lasting effects. The baby was never in danger during this whole thing, only I was. So now I have a nasty scar that I get to keep forever which means I will never get to be a bikini model!! Just kidding. But here are some pictures of Carter in the hospital and coming home. He was just as tired of having nurses come in every hour and poke and prod him as I was! We are just very glad that everything came out so well, we are very lucky and grateful. Here are some pictures of our stay in the hospital, coming home and our first day at home. Carter is a very sweet baby and very mellow.