This is a very old picture (I think Carter was three weeks old in this one) but we have been crazy busy and this is all I had time for. But to fill in everyone on our life, we had an adventurous Thanksgiving with a water pipe breaking at my Mom's house so we moved in two days earlier than we planned. We love our new place it has great space and Carter loves it too. We had a wonderful Christmas this year! It was so nice to get to talk to Jas, or Elder Watson, in Russia. He will be home August 17! Brad's job is going well but we are excited for him to start his Masters program in May. He is getting his Masters in Higher Education, so he can teach high school. I am loving being home, and I have been getting creative on ways to keep busy. Thanks go out to everyone we know for making this a great year! Happy 2009 to all!

Crawling!

Today is a monumental day, Carter is officially crawling! Not his little worm scoot, but actually one hand one leg at a time. Oh man life is so fun watching little babies figure things out! So that is our exciting news, and of coarse he has figured all of this out just two weeks before we move into the town house that has stairs, good thing someone invented baby gates! We are so excited to move, and exited that Carter is doing great! Brad and I are doing great too!

Halloween Fun!

Carter was a skeleton during the day and a tiger at night. Both costumes were very cute, so thank you to both Grandmas who bought them! I think the cutest part was Carter attacking the candy bowl. He loved all the colorful candy wrappers, just wait till he can actually eat them!

Grandpa's Number One Fan

Grandpa Parkin has started Carter early on cheering for the Rams! He picked out this jersey for Carter last Christmas when I was just five months pregnant! But Brad loves it too, he can't wait to have his little linebacker in Pop Warner Football.

This is a picture of Carter, two days old. It was just too cute not to use. But lots of people have been asking questions about Carter and what he has, because I have been so bad at keeping in touch with everyone and keeping people updated. So I thought I would write a little bit about him and what has been going on since he was born.

Carter was born May 6, 2008 in Idaho. We moved back to Mesa, AZ three weeks later. On June 30th Carter stopped breathing while my Mom and I were shopping at Wal-Mart. An employee did CPR until the paramedics arrived. He was admitted to the Pediatric ICU for a week, where he was diagnosed with Gastro Esophical Reflux Disorder, Tracheal Malasia, Laryngal Malasia, and a narrowing in his airway to his right lung. Sounds like a lot of big words. But in short what happens is he reflux when he eats and he has a floppy airway so the food gets into his lungs and closes off. This makes him pass out and stop breathing.

We have all been trained in infant CPR now and are as prepared as possible to help him. Since he has been home we have had several reflux seizure episodes, but we have been able to keep him breathing each time. We are preparing ourselves for the winter season because if he gets RSV or pneumonia it will be very difficult for his airway to stay strong. Anyways, I hope that was a helpful update. We are so grateful for all the help we have had from friends and family. Overall, Carter is doing really well for his condition and we count our blessings everyday!

Carter has been doing so well lately that we have slowly been trying going out more, like to church on Sunday and little things like that. But this past Sunday after a busy weekend Carter had another horrible reflux seizure like episode that lasted about an hour. The doctor stayed on the phone with us until Carter fell asleep around 10 that night, but it really shook us up again. I know that we have been so blessed that he is doing so well, it is just hard to remember how sick he really is until he has another episode. Brad and I stayed up a lot of the night to watch his breathing. He is doing better this week but we are back to staying in the house 24/7. This gets hard, but our little buddie is worth it!

Elder Watson

So I thought I would write a little Jason update for everyone. He has been in serving in Novosibirsk, Russia now for thirteen months! The time has flown by so quickly all ready. He is doing great, and he is currently serving as the Russian traveling secretary. I had no idea what that meant so you probably don't either, but basically he is in charge of getting the travel documents ready for all the missionaries in Russia. Pretty cool if you ask me! We miss him tons and I can't wait for him to come home next year and meet Carter!

Today is the dreaded second series of Carter's shots. You would think after holding him through CAT Scans, EEG, Brain Ultra Sounds, IVs in the Head, and many other horrible things that should never happen to babies, that I would be strong about these dumb shots. But no, we have exactly two hours before we have to leave for the doctor and I just don't want to go. There is just something awful about holding your sweet little baby down so someone else can inflict pain on them. Oh well, hopefully Carter will be stronger than me today!

October

Brad and I were talking the other day about favorite holidays. Halloween is definitely not my favorite holiday, but I really love the fall. Even though we recently moved back to Arizona and by looking out the window on any given day of the year, you would never know it was fall rather than summer because there are no trees with leaves, and therefore they cannot fall. But nonetheless I love the fall and I can't wait for it to cool down and wear hoodies again. 

Carter Update

Carter has been doing really great this week. He is laughing and giggling more everyday. He loves to jump around in his jumper and roll all over the floor. He scoots around too, but he usually rubs his nose into the carpet and gets frustrated. I think he just can't wait to crawl around! He gets his second set of shots in two weeks, which we are not looking forward to. He is getting more fun everyday!

Carter was born May 6th weighing 9 pounds 2 oz and he was 22 inches long! He is the perfect liitl baby and we are so glad he is finally here!

We are now just eight weeks away from my due date, and we can't wait. It seems to be going really slow but when I look back it is also going fast. Brad is staying really busy at school, work, and his internship. Work is going well for me. Brad will be leaving for New York in three weeks to debate on the BYU-Idaho Model United Nations Team. He is really excited!

No, we don't live in Antarctica this is Rexburg! We have had record snow fall this year, and we are getting used to digging out the car every morning. February is the worst month for snow so hopefully Spring is just around the corner!

Welcome to the Parkin Family Blog! Brad and I got married April 22, 2006 and we are living in Rexburg, Idaho. We can't wait for Baby Carter to join us in a couple months!