Free Day!!

Well, this is Momma Bridges writing from my empty nest. Yes, Carsten has gone to stay with his Nana (Chad's mom) this weekend. We dropped him off last night and I got home and didn't know what to do with myself. There were no bottles, syringes, or tubes to clean, no putting him to bed or setting the alarm to get back up at 1230 and 330!! Yipppee! It has been nice but I do miss him more this time than I thought I would. I think I'm getting more attached as he grows. I did swim this morning and then I tried to go get my OT license renewed but I couldn't get a mile down the road for all the traffic of these crazy Arkansas snow drivers! So, I'm back home now, have talked on the phone and I decided to blog a bit before Chad gets here.

God has been amazing this week! I have seen him work in so many ways both to encourage me and encourage others. I started going to a bible study called Stepping Up by Beth Moore. Its all about the Psalms of Ascent and the Jewish pilgrimage to the temple. It takes their journey and relates it to our journey towards God in our emotions, behaviors, and worship. I've also been in Revelation 4 last night, pretty neat how it describes the Throne of God and the 24 elders around the throne with the four living creatures around Him also. Did you know the living creatures have eyes all on their bodies even under their wings! What a sight to see, the creatures fall down to worship and then the 24 elders lay their crowns and they all cry worthy is the Lord, to receive glory and honor and power!

I'm writing too much now but it is pretty fascinating! Chad is home early, yeah! More on this later.. Update, please continue to pray for Carsten's feeding and reflux. His reflux is slightly better but it comes and goes. His is still not eating anything however we are trying rice cereal with a spoon. So far he just tastes it and babbles spitting it out of his mouth:) We will keep trying and not give up!

Love,
Momma Bridges

Christmas and New Years

Well, the Bridges Christmas adventure is officially over! We spent a total of 20 hours driving to different places seeing family and friends. We visited Searcy, Jonesboro, Bentonville, Rogers, Fayetteville, and Muskogee, Oklahoma. Needless to say, Carsten won the prize for most presents and was the center of attention. Here is a picture of our cutie in his Christmas outfit in the prayer position as usual:)

I went to work for the first time since Carsten was born on New Years Eve, then we spent our New Years Eve night in the ER for Carsten's G-tube. The pediatrician thought it might be infected but after 7 hours of the waiting room it turned out to only need some cortizone cream!

Last Friday Carsten had a cardiology appointment and another ECHO was done on his heart (like an ultrasound of the heart). The doctor said that his heart has improved even since the last visit and the holes around the patch are closing up well, praise God, what a miracle! He still has a very minor leak in his left mitral valve, which according to her he can live with it with no major problems. They will continue to keep an eye on it as he grows. We are thankful to start out the new year with such good news.

Carsten should start his therapies tomorrow with Kidsource. Thanks to his OT momma:) Carsten finally rolled over both ways in the last week! His Daddy was even there to see it for the first time, very special! I will try to be better about adding pictures and updating more often!

Momma Bridges

Tired

Can I just be real for a moment and say that I'm tired! I'm so tired of Carsten throwing up. I'm tired of him gagging all day long and coughing and choking. It starts at 6 in the morning and goes until 12 at night. And now, he's doing this weird smacking thing in the middle of the night and it wakes me up. I'm not even in bed yet and I can hear him in our bedroom smacking away! I'm too afraid to put him in his crib because I'm afraid he will throw up while he's lying down and choke to death. So, he's still in our room waking me up at all hours smacking or snoring like a freight train because of his small airway. Of course Chad sleeps through the whole thing and it doesn't even faze him. And now, I have to wait about four hours between feedings so I'm up about 2 times a night. If anyone reads this, please pray that Carsten would grow out of this vomiting thing SOON! Its so stressful and draining. I was just reading someone else's blog talking about the story behind the song "It is well with my soul." About how the author had lost all four of his daughters in one day and how he still praised God for his faithfulness. I don't think I've praised Him one time during Carsten's vomiting. Still somehow, the story brought me a sense of peace and a sense that God is in control. I know I need to look to Him and upon Him during these times and He will get me through.
Isaiah 26:3 "You will keep in perfect peace, him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you."
For all that have been asking, I promise I will update with pictures soon.