Life so far...

I have spent the morning updating everything else; our family blog, Facebook etc., it is now time to spend a bit of time here.

Karter has had an amazing few weeks. Each day I see something new in his eyes. A whole new world of wonderment (is that even a word?).

Christmas was so fun with him this year. He spent time opening his own gifts. We would put them on his tray, he would grab them and then rip the paper with his teeth until he got the gift open. It was really cute to watch, and his personality really shone through too!

We went to the train last night and he was able to take it all in, enjoying both the lights and the ride. I love it!

In am not sure if I updated about this yet... Karter had physio last week for the first time post surgery. We worked on moving him to the next step of his rolling. He is rolling regularly to his side to reach toys and each day seems to gain more strength in this. He has rolled completely over a few times, but right now because he tucks his legs up that stops him from getting over. I see more motivation in him than ever before, it is so exciting to watch.

During the physio visit, we tried sitting as well. I was absolutely baffled when I realized that Karter was able to sit on his own with very little assistance. The odd touch to his leg or back for support or to keep him in mid line and balanced. It was so great to see that he is capable of sitting. Now I would be dishonest if I said he is sitting. But I can honestly say that he is well on his way to getting there. We just need to build his confidence in his own ability. Right now he appears to be scared to do it so he pushed back to find a resting place behind him. But we are really excited to watch him master this skill over the next while.

I hope you all had an amazing Christmas season. We did! What a gift we have been given in Karter. Each day we watch a miracle in the making, what a blessing that is!

One Month Post-Surgery

It amazes me that time has flown by so fast. I spent a good portion of this morning at church testifying to many people who would ask, how amazing Karter was doing. Although I was able to verbally tell them, there were so many that saw the difference right before their eyes.

Karter has really gained the ability to focus so much better. He responds immediately when his name is called and will pay attention to whoever is calling him, he makes amazing eye contact.

When playing with his toys and grabbing them, he gets it first with his right hand, but the left hand is following quickly after to support his holding the toy. Although he is not very accurate yet, that left hand presurgery, would be flailing up in the air with no real purpose. Now it follows what the right hand is doing.

Karter has started to make a few sounds. If he is unhappy with something, he will make a whining sound that sounds like "Maaaaam". I am saying that he is calling me ;-). He has become very aware when I am out of the room or if he has been left alone. He really does not like that much.

Karter is eating better. He has been drinking out of an open cup because he would not suck from his sippy. Tonight however was the first night post surgery that he managed to drink an entire 8 oz out of his sippy by sucking - Praise The Lord!!!

The biggest news...Karter has learned to roll to his side to get a toy. Yesterday he rolled completely over two times! We have placed his favorite toys over his left side, out of his reach. He will roll over the grab them and will play with them. This is the biggest milestone we have seen from him and we are so excited!!! Here is a video showing him doing just that.



This past Wednesday we took a trip to Children's Hospital so that Karter's surgeon could check his swelling. He right side is very swollen still and I was concerned. The verdict...everything is completely normal. The excess fluid can take up to 3 months (sometimes even longer) to absorb into the body. It is nothing to worry about. Although it looks like it could bother him, it is said to not cause any discomfort.

Other than the swelling, Karter has recovered fully. The scar has healed well and almost off the stitches have dissolved and are gone. We are so excited and feel such an intense anticipation for what the future holds for Karter. He has been seizure free since surgery. This is such a miracle and such a beautiful gift! We continue to look forward to many more miracles before our eyes.

Here are a couple of pictures of Paige and Karter from the other day while they were having a PJ morning.

What does today look like?

I took a few pictures today while Karter was having supper. I needed to take some shots so that I could send them to Children's to show them how Karter's swelling looked. Normally, I would have had a hard time getting Karter to even look at me while taking a picture. Today, I could not get him to stop looking and smiling at the camera...what a nice change!







The most noticable changes in Karter have really been in his concentration, eye contact and responce to us. He smiles all the time and has resumed his infectious giggle which warms out heart beyond words. There have been many other little things that we have noticed as well. We count each things as part of Karter's healing

Karter has regained the majority of his appetite and is eating well. He does however play favorites and will sometime only take his food from Mommy; what a little monkey!!!! The drinking is slowly improving. He is drinking from a cup and has started to drink from his sippy cup from time to time. We are thankful for each step to recovery, he is doing so well.

The swelling is still there on the right side. We have been told that it will take a minimum of 3 weeks for the swelling to go down. We are praying that the swelling will subside quickly.

Karter's incision site has healed nicely. In case you might want to see a pciture of it, here it is.

1 week post surgery

Who knew a week could fly by so fast. I have been meaning to get an update up for 6 days. We spent last week just catching up and getting through it. We are so happy to have the support and prayers of all of you. That is what we were drawing strength from.

Karter was struggling with both his eating and drinking last week. To date, he is eating well however the drinking is still a bit of a struggle. We are pretty sure that it hurts his head to suck on his sippy cup and so he avoids it. I was using a syringe to get liquid into him, he was hating every moment of that. The past two days he has been taking liquid from a cup. This is a bit messy, but it works and he seems to really like it.

Karter went back to preschool today. He managed to last an hour and a half. I think he was happy to be back with the kids, but he did tire fairly easy. We will try again on Thursday and see if we can make it a bit longer.

Karter has been sleeping really well and has been pretty happy. We are very thankful for his quick recovery, he is blessed.

I will try and keep current updates coming. Next week is production and the following week we start the renovation on our new place. So we are gearing up for a pretty busy season.