Wednesday, July 29, 2009

An Unexpected Birthday Present

Last month, Tuesday, 23 June, was my second day of work in my new job at First Army in Atlanta, GA. It also happened to be my birthday. Consequently, Kari told me to give her one hour's notice before coming home. I did. On the way home I knew there was going to be something special waiting for me at home. At least I hoped there would be. And I thought I had a good idea of what it was.

Upon turning on to our street, I saw birthday balloons on the mailbox. Very sweet. I walked into the front door, and Kari greeted me while wearing a long black dress. Not what I was expecting. I then saw more balloons on the kitchen table and saw Carsten in the kitchen. He was wearing a baby blue shirt that said "Big Brother" in black letters; Kari then immediately told me, "Happy Birthday!"

Continuing to acutely assess the situation, I did not know why she was smiling so big...huge smile in fact. I could not figure it out; she then slowly said, "Carsten is wearing a B-I-G B-R-O-T-H-E-R t-shirt!."

"OH MY! You're pregnant!" I said. What a birthday present?! Carsten even kept it a secret until my birthday. Additionally, Kari prepared some "baby" back ribs along with some homemade barbecue sauce for dinner.

Definitely, one of the top birthday's I have ever had; I cannot remember a better one. Although, I remember getting the Pac-Man game for my Atari or getting the new (back then) Joan Jett, "I Love Rock n' Roll" 45 for previous birthdays but those cannot top this one.

We are elated that Carsten is going to be a big brother and that our family is going to be bigger....Lord willing. Much more to tell about this.

Chad

Monday, July 20, 2009

More birthday pics





The last one is actually from the ER after he got his new tube, I just thought it was too cute not to post:)

Birthday Boy!!!






Well I'm a little late but here are some pics from Carsten's 2nd birthday last Friday. We went to the Atlanta Aquarium. It was our second time, we went in April when we were here house hunting. This time was much better and Carsten was able to walk around everywhere and he LOVED pointing at all the fish! It is a pretty neat place if you can stand the mob of people (old people were actually shoving their way in front of little kids to see the fish:) After we let Carsten play around on some playgrounds in downtown Atlanta, it was a ton of fun and I think he had a great birthday.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Tube troubles

Carsten and I have an exciting day ahead of us. We get to go to the ER today to get his GJ tube replaced, whoo hoo!!!! I knew it was coming, the other day he pulled on it and I knew it was lose but it didn't come out at all. He's had this thing in since last October so really he's done pretty good with it. You're probably thinking, ummm, so you're going to the ER but you have time to write a blog, huh? Yeah, I keep a spare at all times. It's a pretty funny story. The alarm went off last night and I stumbled in to turn it off (interupting my crazy dream about Carsten picking up a fork and eating a salad like it's going out of style:) and find the "kink" in it as usual. I did a little tug on it and figured that should be good now and turned it back on. Back to bed, 2 minutes later, BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP, yeah this thing gives me nightly heart attacks, so nice to wake up to a loud beeping sound at 3 in the morning. So I drag myself back in there and this time check around the stomach, yup, sure enough, the whole stinkin' tube was completely out of his stomach. Poor guy, it had been "feeding" him for the last 30 minutes or an hour and he was soaked. So I call to Chad, uh Chad, you better come in here, I'm going to need some help. "Did the tube come out?" Yep. I wait a few minutes getting everything ready and I go to check on where he is. He's standing in the bathroom fully clothed ready to go to the ER. How cute is that:) What a good husband. So funny because he didn't realize I had a temporary spare to get us till the morning. So we get the bed changed, Carsten changed, the new tube placed in his stomach and back to bed for all of us. Not a great night but definitely not one of the worst. So I'm putting off our ER trip by writing this blog, at least I can take a shower before this one and pack a little bag, kind of like a picnic right:) HA!

And the worst part is tomorrow is Carsten's birthday:( I'm just glad it didn't happen ON his birthday, poor kid. We're going to have to do something extra special tomorrow to make up for last night and today. Maybe the aquarium or the zoo, Chad's taking off work so we'll see.

Toodles for now,
Momma Bridges

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Friends

"I count myselt in nothing else so happy
As in a soul rememb'ring my good friends."
- William Shakespeare

I have been thinking a lot about my good friends lately. Good friendships seem to come in seasons, sometimes you're blessed with a close friend(s) and sometimes you go for what seems like long periods without good friends, especially as an army wife. I'm realizing that every time we move is an opportunity to make new friends as well as think about old ones, some far away, that I miss so dearly. I'm just so blessed to have the friends that I do and I want more and more to nurture those relationships as I realize how special they are. I've made many mistakes with my frienships in the past, but by God's grace he will continue to teach me how to be a better friend in the future. I love my friends and I miss you all dearly, you know who you are:)