The Bridges Bunch

Blogworthy

2012-01-06T14:15:00.001-06:00

http://noahsdad.com/target-down-syndrome/

Hope this brightens your Friday, it sure did mine! Oh and Go Hogs WPS!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-25T20:53:00.001-06:00

I just read this wonderful Thanksgiving message from Governor Palin and couldn't resist sharing.
Hope you enjoy!

www.conservatives4palin.com/2011/11/governor-palins-thanksgiving-message.html

Eat Carsten Eat!

2011-11-18T12:19:00.001-06:00

This post comes with very fresh tears. I am thinking back to our very first days with Carsten and his eating problems that began to surface soon after he was born. I remember even a post that Chad wrote in the NICU about trying to get him to take his bottle, I think he titled it Eat, Carsten Eat! Well, here we are FOUR long years later and we are still saying it, but now we are saying with even more expectancy and hope than ever! Our God is good people, for today Carsten ate a whole hot dog before school. I can't even write that sentence without sobbing. The emotions, the memory, the pain, the tears, the vomiting, the tube feeding, the prayers, the hopes, the waiting are all so raw and so fresh in my mind. Carsten truly is a miracle and our God truly is the Miracle Maker. He has brought us so far. He has brought us through this fiery trial of feeding and we are finally seeing some victory.

I began to wonder last fall if God was going to work in this area this year. Our first service at our church here in Fairfax was called "Hold on". One of the worship leaders had written a new album and she sang this song and then the lesson from the pastor was all about "holding on." I felt in my spirit the Lord was referring to Carsten's eating as my "hold on" signal. Later on last year I read a book by Leslie Parrott called "The First Drop of Rain." (I highly recommend this book, it was funny because it is all about spiritual paradigms related to rain and while I was reading it it was raining everyday:)
In the book she happened to talk about her little boy that had a feeding tube and feeding troubles like us. Eventually the boy overcame them after a very long and hard journey. I wondered if the Lord was speaking to me also saying that we would get through this too.

Now here we are today and Carsten just ate a whole meal with no pureed food. He had a hot dog, piece of toast, some banana, and blueberries. We have discovered that he likes ketchup and barbecue sauce. It was so funny because he was eating his hot dog pieces after dipping them in ketchup with a fork. So I thought, let's try banana with a fork. Lo and behold, he ate the banana pieces after dipping them in ketchup! Ok, I said, I don't care what you dip in ketchup as long as you eat it, AMEN?! So for now, Carsten's repertoire is chicken nuggets, hot dogs, french fries, and toast. He can eat all kinds of "snacky" things as long as they are contained to one bite that he can put on the side of his mouth, like a teddy graham. It was funny because we went on a little family getaway last weekend and this is where Carsten started eating (and liking) chicken nuggets. He started eating cheerios on our summer trip back in July. So I told Chad I guess we're just going to have to go on family trips all the time to get him to eat more ;)))

This all started to speed up a few weeks ago and he has been slowly gaining momentum with eating. Now I feel if we can add to his variety and textures we will be getting closer, so close I can taste it! Last week after church I was able to say in faith that Carsten will eat lunch at Kindergarden next year, oh wow, more tears. Again, God is good. God is good even if Carsten never ate, or never eats, He is good all the time. But His Goodness in the "goodness" is oh so much sweeter.

Leslie Parrott couldn't have summed it better:

"Every time I see John take a bite of salmon, or spinach, or even lick an ice cream cone, I marvel. It's a miracle. Two miracles, really. We all survived the drought and, somehow, John adapted.
In the desert, after a rainfall, color explodes everywhere. Flowers bloom overnight in response to rain. They last for only a short time, but they make an appearance. They celebrate.
So do I. Grace before a meal is less a ritual than a time of true celebration. "Give us this day our daily bread." And thank you, REALLY, for the ability to eat it."

Carsten using the Proloquo2go

2011-11-12T14:03:00.001-06:00

Here is a link to the video of Carsten using Proloquo2go at school. This is the one that was submitted to the Congressman to petition for iPads in the Virginia school system.

Carsten on Capitol Hill?!

2011-11-12T12:28:00.001-06:00

Carsten is well into his first semester at Kings Park Elementary school in the preschool special needs program. We LOVE Mrs. Melissa his teacher and his class is full of boys, Carsten loves older boys. Carsten rides the bus to and from and goes Tuesday through Friday from 12-4. The teachers realized early on how much Carsten could understand and demonstrated a large sign vocabulary when prompted but his classmates struggled to communicate since sign language isn't universal. So they wanted to try something else with him and suggested an application on the iPad called proloquo2go. Within the first day of using this application at school Carsten was using 4 word sentences to express his needs and wants. He was able to tell the teachers what he wanted to play with, what he wanted to eat, (yes eat, that is another post!) and talk to his friends through proloquo. Well word kind of got around how he was thriving with it and other teachers began asking about Carsten and how they could get iPads for their classrooms. Mrs. Melissa's husband happens to work in Congress as a graphic designer. So she began taking videos of Carsten using the proloquo2go and put together a small paper on him and research articles to support proloquo2go. Her husband then created a finished video of Carsten using it in different settings and the whole thing has been submitted to Congressman Connelly of Virginia. They are using Carsten's success to petition for iPad distribution in the Virginia school systems. It is pretty neat how the whole thing happened and Chad and I are excited to see if it will be presented in Congress. Mrs. Melissa is keeping us updated so we can go to the open session if they play Carstens video. I will try to put a copy of the video here on the blog, and I will keep you updated on what happens. Either way, we are so proud of him and are blown away by the school systems and Mrs Melissa his wonderful teacher, they really not only see his potential but try to help him reach it as well. Go Carsten!!

Falls here!!!!

2011-10-14T13:31:00.000-05:00

Come on cold! I'm so excited for fall this year. I've recently decided that fall is my favorite season. I love the feeling you get with the first cold air, winter is coming, and so is change. I love the fall recipes like apple cider, apple crisp, soups, stews, and crock pot cooking, bring it on! I used to hate the cold when I lived further north. But after being in Atlanta for a year in 100+ degree weather, moving so many times in the July heat, and toting 2 kids around in hot weather, I get so excited when fall rolls around. I also admittedly love my coat collection. Here are a couple of my "secret" recipes. I make the apple cider for our small group on Wednesdays and the soup I have to make when Chad is gone since he won't eat anything with the word squash in it. Actually, I did get him to eat a whole butternut squash last year (I told him it was a sweet potato, hee hee ;)

Apple Cider
1 gallon apple cider
1 spice container of red hots
10 cloves
3 or 4 cinnamon sticks

Percolate the cider with all of the spices on top :) Yes, the secret is the red hots.

Butternut Squash, Carrot, Ginger soup
1/2 medium butternut squash
2 TB olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 lb carrots
3 cloves garlic, diced
1 (2 in) piece ginger peeled and thinly sliced
4 cups water
salt and pepper to taste
1 pinch ground cinnamon
1/2 cup heavy cream

Bake the squash cut side down in greased baking dish until fall apart tender. Scoop out squash and discard seeds. Heat olive oil in saucepan add onion and garlic, cook until soft. Pour in water, add squash carrots and ginger. Bring to boil, cook at least 20 minutes or until carrots tender.
Puree mixture into blender (something I've gotten really good at with Carsten's diet:) Should be thick and creamy. Season with cinnamon, salt, and pepper. Mmmmmm :) Anybody have a favorite fall recipe, please share with me!

God at work

2011-10-14T12:49:00.000-05:00

Happy Down Syndrome Awareness Month!!! Okay, I'm a little late this year, my sweet friend Stephanie always reminds me every year to do the 31 for 21 blogs, (31 days of blogging for Trisomy 21) well how about 1 for 21, better than nothing right? :) Okay take a close look at this picture. Yeah yeah ok what's the big deal, its just a boy throwing a ball at Carsten with a bat.
But it's so much more than that. That special day at the park, we met two boys about 7 years old that automatically "took" Carsten in and were "teaching" him how to play baseball. I was hesitant at first as Carsten ran in between them trying to get into their game (like he usually does when any older boys are playing sports). I always cringe and usually apologize over and over telling them that he just wants to play with them. But this time was different, the two boys were excited about him playing with them and actually began to "teach" him how to play. I watched (with tears in my eyes) for about 45 minutes while these boys (with the most patience I've ever seen from 7 year olds) showed him how to play. Finally after all that time, he hit a ball and the two boys went crazy screaming yeah Carsten yeah!! It was such a special moment for me to see the goodness in those boys, sent straight from above. Moments like those give me so much hope for the future. If that ain't some Down Syndrome awareness encouragement I don't know what is:)

Savoring my kisses while they last!

2011-09-22T15:16:00.001-05:00

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Mall train with Nana

2011-09-22T15:15:00.001-05:00

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Just wanna eat her she's so cute!

2011-09-22T15:14:00.001-05:00

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Carsten Chad and Papo

2011-09-22T15:10:00.003-05:00

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Carsten and Grandaddy

2011-09-22T15:10:00.001-05:00

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Mimi at Aunt Jacquis house

2011-09-22T15:08:00.001-05:00

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2011-09-22T15:05:00.001-05:00

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Love this

2011-09-22T15:03:00.001-05:00

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Chucke cheese

2011-09-22T15:00:00.001-05:00

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Starting to warm up to the costume people.

Six Flags

2011-09-22T14:55:00.001-05:00

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Water bug

Dallas trip

2011-09-22T14:50:00.001-05:00

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At Chads aunts house in her pool! Aunt Nae and Nana in the pic.

Waikiki Beach

2011-09-22T14:45:00.003-05:00

IMG_1054.JPG, originally uploaded by chad.bridges.

Views from the top of the crater of Waikiki beach where we stayed.

Diamondhead crater

2011-09-22T14:45:00.001-05:00

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This is the second time in my life Chad has dragged me up this crater! Ha! But the views are breathtaking and totally worth it. It is about a 45 min hike up. We were hiking up this when we heard about the earthquake at home in DC, crazy! Whe we got home there were pictures that had fallen all over the house. I was a little disappointed because I've never felt one before.

Hawaii! This is the life (or should I say USED to be the life!;))

2011-09-22T14:38:00.001-05:00

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Summer surprise trips

2011-09-07T14:10:00.001-05:00

Yep! I'm still not sure if it was real or a dream but I think I was in Hawaii for 6 days two weeks ago. We did a summer circle to see Chads family, drop the kids off at my folks and headed out to Hawaii for a few days. Chad trip was half work and mine was ALL leisure! I still really can't believe I got to go and I think for the first time I understood the word "vacation" and took it literally by relaxing and rejuvenating. The trip was almost as unforgettable as Carstens face as he ran towards us at the airport after that week, it was priceless and we didn't even get it on camera:(. More pics to come of our trip there and to Dallas to see Chads family and Cmans first day of school yesterday! We were gone nearly three weeks so I'm still getting caught up and back into a routine. Hopefully I can get back into blogging soon with updates on Carsten and Chloe. Stay tuned....

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2011-09-07T13:55:00.003-05:00

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While they were doing this at my parents house........

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2011-09-07T13:55:00.001-05:00

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We were doing THIS in Hawaii!

2011-09-07T13:48:00.000-05:00

Williamsburg and Virginia Beach trip

2011-07-13T14:22:00.001-05:00

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Family pic

2011-07-13T13:54:00.001-05:00

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This was the only pic we managed to get of the four of us, a kind soul took it on the pier at Virginia Beach. The kids enjoyed Busch Gardens and Water Country USA the best so we'll probably skip the beach next year and just go for the amusement parks!

Fun at the beach!

2011-07-13T13:43:00.001-05:00

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Love him!

2011-07-13T13:40:00.001-05:00

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Pure elation

2011-07-13T13:31:00.001-05:00

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Chad and I love this picture and laugh over and over again at his face!

Turns out he's an amphibian

2011-07-13T13:29:00.001-05:00

IMG_9224, originally uploaded by chad.bridges.

Jumping into the pool! Can you believe his school PT said he might not ever jump?!!

"I wa Babuuuus"

2011-06-30T15:44:00.000-05:00

Yep! This is what I heard come out of Carsten's mouth last Monday at speech therapy, "I want bubbles!"
Some of the first words I've ever heard my little boy speak, can you say tears please?!!! He also said "apple" and "blow". "Dada" is an everyday occurrence now around 6:00 when the outside door handle starts to turn.
And let me tell you he sure isn't going to let his sister get away with saying anything if by golly he doesn't try to say it too! So yes, many things have been happening at the Bridges house, many good things:)

I wrote this little poem Monday after I heard him talk

My son said bubbles today,
it nearly took my breath away.
I never thought tears would come from such a simple phrase,
but this is the pure way of God.
A gift he's given if I just open my eyes to see.
You may just think its a delay,
but I see miracles like this everyday.
So much joy from simplicity,
an innocence only heaven knows,
but I've been given a glimpse
inside Kingdoms gate,
through the mouth of my babe.

Cman eating update

2011-06-30T15:24:00.000-05:00

Wow! Three posts in one afternoon! This is what happens when you take your kids to a splash water park in the morning and (secretly) wear them out, ha ha mommies are so tricky :) Quick update on Carsten's eating. His new feeding therapist is absolutely wonderful!! She is actually trying to feed him verses past therapists that never get much beyond the chewy tubes. Last Monday he ate about 2 tablespoons of peanut butter on crackers. He is eating blueberries at home now with a little help getting them to the side to chew them. He is eating cheeto puffs on his own pretty much! This is BIG ya'll and God has brought us so far! Even though we still have so far to go there is hope and we are encouraged with the progress. He is now drinking all of his milk through a straw (with a little encouragement) and I no longer have to manually give him drinks. He is still on pureed food which I have to blend daily and feed him but I am just recently adding a "snack" to his meals like 15 blueberries or 2 pieces of graham crackers. I think once the skills come the challenge is going to be programming him to actually like and/or want food. I believe he knows now when his body needs water and will drink quite a bit throughout the day, but the food part will be harder. So, big big progress and much to be excited about but also a journey ahead of us. I have to look at it like a marathon, it is long and sometimes slow but we WILL get to the finish line! I often tear up thinking about the day that Carsten can finally eat on his own and how amazing it will be to look back and see God's faithfulness and I pray I will NEVER take for granted the simple things such as going through a drive through or flying on an airplane, or going to the beach and being able to just throw him a banana, I believe it will come to pass!
Please keep praying for our little guy as the Lord brings him to mind, he is a miracle in the making!

Growing roots

2011-06-30T15:04:00.000-05:00

The dark roots in my hair are not the only roots that have been growing lately. I'm feeling my roots grow down deeper into this city, this life, these friends, Carsten's schools, his therapies, church, our beautiful little lake I get to walk the kids around everyday, and pretty much everything about this place. And being a military wife (and a follower of Christ in general), this is NOT good! I just feel like it is and has been an answer to so many prayers after a year of drought in Atlanta where I didn't have many friends or outlets. I confessed this to Chad the other day and he pretty much told me I better not water my tree quite as much so that my roots don't continue to grow because we could and can be uprooted at any time. Well, I understand his advice, but I'm going to continue to drink the water from this tree in faith. I'm going to take hold of the blessings He has given and try, somehow to hold them loosely, ready to be replanted at any time. I have seen that God is faithful even in the droughts and that water is always coming if you can just hold on in your thirst. So I will drink in the blessings and the water He has given and I will drink enough to keep me going during the next drought. I will let my roots grow and delight in it knowing that if I am torn up from this ground that there is another sturdy ground waiting to take me and nourish me. It might not always be the kind of soil I want but it will always be the kind of soil that my soul needs. As for now, I'm simply thankful for the kind of soil He has provided and pray that I, in return, can be a life giving tree in this place.

Girlfriends!!!

2011-06-30T14:30:00.000-05:00

Girls night!! Oh yeah, it actually happened and here's the proof!! We were seriously investigating a chocolate shop in the city to make sure it would be a prime spot for a wedding shower we're throwing. After we were forced to try the wine and chocolates we decided it would be the perfect venue. Can you see how giddy I am? Chocolate, friends, wine, city, even iced hot chocolate drinks, it doesn't get any better, especially when you've been cleaning poop diaper after poop diaper in the suburbs all day. Thanks hun for watching the kiddos!

Schools out!

2011-06-23T13:42:00.000-05:00

School is officially out for the summer and Cman is done with his first year of preschool at Cardinal Forest! We had to say goodbye to our favorite teacher Mrs. Ginger because Carsten will go to another elementary school next year called Kings Park. He was supposed to go there this year but they were full. And as it always happens, we (or should I say I) became attached to Mrs Ginger and now I don't want him to change schools. So in a desperate last minute attempt I tried to find another house in the Cardinal Forest school district but it just wasn't going to happen so I said my teary goodbyes and now off we go to start a new adventure next year. Now I am excited about Kings Park and have heard rave reviews, but we sure will miss Mrs Ginger, a southern military transplant like us that loves the Lord and sees her profession as a calling not just a job, oh how we were (are) blessed.
Carsten wrote Mrs Ginger a little goodbye poem for the last day :)
I love my teacher Mrs Ginger,
I am very sad that we have to part.
She was my first you see and she gave me a head start.
She taught me to eat, and talk, and play,
with her I had so much fun everyday.
She encouraged me and pushed me to learn,
I got better at waiting and taking my turn.
Many teachers will come and go,
But you will always hold a special place in my heart I know!

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2011-04-26T17:46:00.001-05:00

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Happy Easter!

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2011-04-26T17:43:00.001-05:00

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Easter Weekend fun!

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2011-04-26T17:35:00.001-05:00

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Doesnt get any cuter than this!

NOT playing catch up

2011-02-27T21:53:00.000-06:00

So okay yes it has been four months since I updated our blog, oops! I do apologize to our faithful bridgesbunch blog readers (all two of you probably:) We have been crazy busy and enjoying our new life here in Virginia so I guess it's a good thing I haven't been blogging. We had a crazy marathon Christmas in Dallas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas visiting family. We have also had visits here from my parents and Chad's family so we are just about experts with the "dc tour" by now and I can even tell you what and where the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monuments are!:)

Let's see, my big boy Carsten started school!!! He is in an afternoon preschool class four days a week and is thriving beautifully. He is loving it and has lots of "girl"friends that Miss Ginger his teachers says "asks for him" constantly when he's gone:) Chloe turned one on February 11th, unbelievable right! She is walking around everywhere and even saying some words, "dadda" is a favorite. Her and her brother are smitten with each other as long as she isn't playing with one of HIS toys. Carsten has been trying to talk and has said dada and bye bye in the last week! Chloe is turning out to be quite the little signer as well and is learning new ones everyday. Carsten has started with a new feeding therapist last week who I am VERY excited about and anxious to see some progress with. He has made a little progress just seeing the kids eat at school but feeding is still a struggle and he is still on a pureed diet. He had a new set of tubes put in his ears at Walter Reed Medical Center a couple of weeks ago and an adenoid revision, we're hoping will open out his ears and assist in his hearing and speech for more progress.

We are settled into our routines here, loving our suburb Burke, and enjoying having some military friends around. We love our church Fairfax community church and host a small group that Chad facilitates on Wednesday nights. The Lord has given me a great friend Erica who is in our small group and also has a son with a disability. We are incredibly blessed here and I will definitely be sad to say goodbye to this place when that day comes, but I'm not even thinking about that now and hoping it's still far off. There are so many other things I want to do and get involved in, however, my days are pretty much just filled up with these two little wonderfully and fearfully made creations and when my head hits the pillow at night, it hits it hard! Chad is enjoying his job and is working with national guard units all over the country that are deploying to Afghanistan, proud military wife here as always! Well that's about it for us for now, I will try to be a better blogger but I'm not making any promises. I even signed off of facebook (gasp!) temporarily, I guess I just felt like I couldn't keep up with all of the online "obligations" so I'm taking a little break but I will be back to blog again hopefully before summer, ha! We miss all of our Arkansas folk!

Hugs from the "southern" east coasters!

It's Down Syndrome Awareness Month!

2010-10-13T08:59:00.001-05:00

Little did I know...

Little did I know what the Lord had planned,
something he knew before the world began.
He set me up all along,
to be a very special kind of mom.
I used to wonder what all the disability was for,
I even wanted to learn more.
So I set out to help a man,
he had cebrebral palsy and couldn't stand.
He taught me that he was a person with dignity and brains,
he could even drive me in his car down the lane.
Then after him I became an OT,
I wanted to help people like him you see.
I studied and studied and learned all the right things,
but words weren't enough to make my heart sing.
So then down the road I was working with others,
living my dream and helping the mothers.
But that wasn't enough the Lord said to my soul,
he allowed me to conceive, He had another goal.
Then one day I found out at work,
your child will be like these, and I will be your providential stork.
At first I was afraid and cried for many days,
but the Lord brought peace to my heart saying "for my ways are higher than your ways."

Then my baby was here, he came after a very hard and long night,
he was an angel, the most beautiful thing in sight.
Now fast forward a few years later, I am no longer the teacher,
he is teaching me and making me a believer.
My love for him will never change,
he is my son, through storm, sun, or rain.
Little did I know, but I'm so glad now that I do,
that everything the good Lord put in my past was pointing me to you!

For my beautiful son Carsten, I love you more than anything!

Down Syndrome Awareness Month!

2010-10-12T14:36:00.000-05:00

Creed of Babies with Down Syndrome

My face may be different
But my feelings the same
I laugh and I cry
And I take pride in my gains
I was sent here among you
To teach you to love
As God in the heavens
Looks down from above
To Him I'm no different
His love knows no bounds
It's those here among you
In cities and towns
That judge me by standards
That man has imparted
But this family I've chosen
Will help me get started
For I'm one of the children
So special and few
That came here to learn
The same lessons as you
That love is acceptance
It must come from the heart
We all have the same purpose
Though not the same start
The Lord gave me life
To live and embrace
And I'll do it as you do
But at my own pace

-author unknown

October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month!

2010-10-04T11:18:00.000-05:00

Fun Facts about Down Syndrome:

*Down Syndrome or otherwise known as Trisomy 21 occurs in approximately 1 out of 800 births a year.

*There are three types of Down Syndrome: Trisomy 21, mosaic, and translocation

*Trisomy 21 is when there are three copies of the 21 chromosome in every cell which occurs during initial cell division resulting in every cell having 47 chromosomes instead of 46

*Mosaic Down Syndrome occurs when there are three copies of the 21st chromosome at some point in cell division resulting in some cells with 46 chromosomes and some with 47

*Translocation Down Syndrome occurs when extra genetic material from the 21st chromosome is attached to another chromosome, typically the 14th. This is sometimes caused from a parent carrier and other times spontaneous

*Carsten has 14/21 Translocation Down Syndrome

* Trisomy 21 is the most common

*Translocation Down Syndrome accounts for about 3% and mosaic 1-2% of children with Down Syndrome

*Many people with Down Syndrome can lead independent lives

*Some people with Down Syndrome get married and go to college

*People with Down Syndrome have hopes and goals and dreams just like any other person

*Many times people with Down Syndrome have higher receptive skills than expressive (meaning they can understand more than they can express)

*A typical stereotype of children with Down Sydrome is that they are so "loving", they are indeed "loving" and "special" however have different personalities just like anyone else does including temper tantrums, disobedience, and the ability to make their parents crazy just like as any other child :)

*Some things to avoid saying to a parent of a child with Down Syndrome (from my experience): "he is so lucky to have been given parents like you" (just the usual you are so lucky or blessed to have him will work:) "God gives "special" children to "special" parents" (we are no more special than anyone else even though yes God has ordained Carsten to be in our family just like any other child is ordained to be in theirs) "well that's just the way the chromosomes fell", "they are kind of like dogs, you can yell or hit them and they'll still love you back" (yes, this was actually said to me!:) "is he mild or severe?" (this question is okay however we don't really "label" anymore and the abilities of a person with Down Syndrome can not really be detected until later in life. "how cute his little tongue is sticking out" (LOL, okay, children with Down Syndrome have tongue protrusion because their mouths are weaker than ours so the muscles don't hold the tongue in as well, typically it gets better with age and increased muscle tone. I write these from a heart of laughter not of bitterness just so you know:)

*"Rosa's Law" was just passed by Congress to officially change the wording of Mental Retardation from federal laws to a person with an intellectual disability! So from now on please no "R" word, it hurts, this comes from a person that used to use the word probably everyday growing up.

Okay I have two hungry mouths to feed, more to come later.....

"It's Down Syndrome"

2010-10-01T19:32:00.000-05:00

"It's Down Syndrome" I heard those chilling three words almost four years ago on a phone at work and my world forever changed.
Grieving, loss, numbness, hurt, pain, questioning, tears, many many tears.
Then the words began to evolve and one day became, "a boy with Down Syndrome" something I could personalize, there was a ray of hope.
More learning, waiting, and wondering mixed in with a dash of hope.
Suddenly he was here, it was no longer a "boy with Down Syndrome", it was now "my son with Down Syndrome."
Hospital, sickness, waiting, hoping, praying, then finally "we're going to fix his heart this week"
Tears of sadness turned to tears of happiness, more hope, expectancy, but still unknown.
The day finally arrived, time to go home! Therapy, appointments, feeding tubes, vomiting, lots and lots of vomiting.
But also in increasing measure there was laughter, joy, hope, happiness, smiles, giggles, fun, relationship, rejoicing over milestones, a normal family.
As months went on, I realized that the words I heard in my office at work so long ago had become void. Now, forever, the words have permanently become Carsten, just Carsten, my gift, my beautiful son.

It's Down Syndrome awareness month! I will be blogging some as I can about Carsten and Down Syndrome so please check back in later this month!

Carsten's 3rd birthday party!

2010-08-11T15:08:00.000-05:00

Crazy us!

My good friend Sarah from grad school and her husband Joel and her daughter Makenna

Chad and Jeremy one of our friends living here from AR

Miss Brooke (Carsten's "girlfriend" from Kansas:)

I'm three!

Brooke's baby brother Alex and their dad Andy

Blue spongebob cupcakes courtesy of yours truly (okay so not as good as his first year cake but they tasted way better)

New to the east coast life

2010-08-11T15:00:00.001-05:00

Whew! Wow, finally a breather. Okay so the last what 2 months have been literally crazy out of control this is seriously the first time I've sat down at the computer! If you all know me you know one of my favorite movies is Overboard with Goldie Hawn, I know I know old and corny (I still cry at the end every time)! But the last few days all I could think about was how I feel exactly like she did at the end of her first day working at the house and the three boys find her sitting on the couch and all she could say was bababa ba ba bababa.
You have to see the movie to understand:)

Anyway, yes we are finally SETTLED in North Virginia in a little suburb called Burke. I absolutely LOVE it here, my only complaint so far is there are NO drive throughs anywhere, nada. Welcome back to city life I suppose. It's just too hard with two kids to just "stop by" and grab a coffee, boo, oh well I've had to resort to my faithful Folgers. Chad's commute isn't too horrible (yet) and we've already got Carsten started in all of his therapies. We've have a ton of doctors appointments and school paperwork to turn in trying to get his IEP (individualized education plan) finished. I'm still waiting on the official meeting and more testing, but I'm hopeful that Carsten will start school this fall! He will most likely be at an elementary school that has a special needs preschool program 5 days a week in the morning. He is so wanting to talk and babbles more and more and his sign language vocabulary keeps increasing. I'm really hoping that this is the year he will take off with language and eating.

Our baby boy turned 3 on July 17th! We had a little birthday party for him two weekends ago. Lots of kids running around, spongebob pinata, cupcakes, the works. My good friend Sarah and her family even came to visit from Illinois, what a treat that was.

Today is Miss Chloe's 6 month birthday! She is quite a delight to watch grow as she is babbling a little bit now, rolling everywhere, laughing, and watching every move her big brother makes! It's so much fun seeing their relationship develop.

Other than that, we are excited to be in DC and so thankful to have friends around this year. I am meeting new moms every week at therapy and praying a little group will develop between some of us. Chad and I have been to a church the last few weeks that we have really enjoyed called Fairfax Community Church. We tried the mega church McLean Bible (I will save that experience for another blog:) We will prayerfully see where it goes but I'm hoping we've found a spiritual home. Hope this finds all of you enjoying your summer! After two summers in Atlanta and now here in Virginia with record highs I hate to say it but I'm ready for some nice fall weather! I was so hot yesterday running both kids around everywhere I told Chad to just go ahead and sign us up for Alaska next, ha! I'm obviously not so much into blogging at this time in my life but I will try to update and post pics when I can (i.e. if the kids are ever both fed, asleep, and/or happy at the same time which is rare but nothing is impossible with God right?

Carsten Eating Update

2010-05-24T10:27:00.001-05:00

A lot of people ask how Carsten's eating is going when I talk to them so I thought I would post a quick update on that this morning. He has made very good progress so far with the vomiting and ability to take in a larger amount of food. The nutritionist was here last week and Carsten has grown in both height and weight!! For a while he wasn't gaining any weight and Chad and I were getting a little concerned with the protocol from Baltimore, whether it was going to work. About a month before Chloe was born the vomiting kind of hit a pinnacle and brought Chad and I literally to our knees. He got a stomach bug and was vomiting multiple times a day. Other than the bug, he was still having reflux quite often (like a few times a week at least) but ever since one night when Chad and I were literally in tears, the reflux seemingly disappeared! Praise God! It was like the Lord knew Chloe was coming and he gave us all a little break. Since then, we have been able to increase his intake to about 10 ounces of food for lunch and dinner and 4 ounces of milk (which I think contributed to the weight gain). I am still a pureeing fool and spend much of my time pureeing and preparing his food and then manually feeding him four times a day. It is very time consuming and puts an extra burden on our family (especially for family outings) but we are thankful that he is eating and so we continue with the protocol from KKI. Lately, Carsten has been a little more aversive to his drinks and eating. It takes him a minute to get going with his bites, I believe it's a control issue that was spurred on by Miss Chloe and I'm hoping with time it will go away. The vomiting is rare these days (when I say rare I mean maybe once every two or three weeks if that) except when Carsten gets really hot. There have been a couple of times at a park or an inside gym where he gets too hot and out it comes and I mean everywhere! We are hoping he will continue to grow out of it as he gets bigger but know that it's something we will have to deal with for quite a while still. We are still going to weekly feeding therapy and working on solids. He still does not have good oral motor skills and cannot manipulate food in his mouth so the food ends up getting stuck on the back of his tongue and he gags, making it quite scary for me to attempt solids with him at home. We do work on gerber puffs a lot and he does okay with small pieces. We are still working on independent drinking and feeding, he has shown some increase in desire to put things in his mouth, using a pincer grasp to pick up food and knows how to tip his cup to drink but has little control and it ends up everywhere. He can and does drink from a straw but only water, go figure! But we praise God for his progress and maintenance of his oral intake and are looking forward to being in DC and hopefully getting better services. He will start preschool this fall in what sounds like a very well equipped preschool program for children with special needs, I am VERY excited about it and know that Carsten is MORE than ready to start school. His sign language is really coming along (as is mine:) and he is learning signs faster than I can learn them:) He is starting to use it spontaneously, meaning he will initiate a sign without me asking him for the word. This is encouraging that he has a desire to communicate and will with time and patience.

Aside from eating, we are getting ready to make our PCS June 12th. We will be heading to Arkansas for a couple of weeks then making the long trek out to Washington. We will be living in (I guess considered a suburb) Burke, it is just west of the city but will be somewhat of a commute for Chad. We ended up in this area mainly because of the services for Carsten and what other people recommended. I am excited and just trying to get things in order, organized, and honestly doing my best to just keep both kids fed, dry, and happy :)

They are starting to interact a little more which is so much fun to watch. Chloe watches every move Carsten makes and they are smiling at each other now. Carsten likes to hold his big sister and kisses her all the time and then signs "thank you" because we always say thank you to him after :). Chloe is finally growing out of her Colic, PTL! She is MUCH less fussy throughout the day and sleeps most of the night, sometimes she eats at about 2 or 3 and some nights she will sleep till 6, so I really can't complain. I have given up dairy food along with breastfeeding and if you know me it has been REALLY hard. I am starting to get used to my new diet now though and not missing cheese and milk as much as I did at first. I have noticed a huge difference in her eating when I have not had any dairy. So we will keep going as long as we can, my goal is 6 months to a year, I am just so thankful she is eating after everything we've been through with Carsten.

We will be in Arkansas from somewhere around June 12th through the end of the month. We would like to see as many people as we can so give us a call!

Happy Monday!

Momma Bridges

Fun Pics

2010-05-17T08:54:00.006-05:00

"Carsten who stares at goats" Coming soon to a theater near you.

Chunky Monkey. Could I look anymore like my daddy?!!!

Swimsuit model boy :)

Happy Monday!

Easter Family Pics

2010-04-05T13:24:00.008-05:00

Here are some pics from Easter weekend. Had our first "real" outing as a family of four, went to Stone Mountain on Friday and broke out the ole double stroller, talk about working off those pregnancy pounds I told Chad they should use those things for PT tests in the military! Saturday was the egg hunt in our neighborhood, thanks to me and my awesome gadget abilities none of which got recorded, I swear I thought the play button was on, total Kari move. Anyway, Carsten fanned out better this time, he managed to retain his easter basket and even got about 10 eggs with the help of his dad of course:) Church Sunday and Chloe's big debut, notice she's looking at her crazy brother in our pics, I couldn't get her to look forward but she was a doll I can testify. We did our best with our automatic camera, makes you really miss extended family on these special days. Happy Easter!

Real meaning of Easter

2010-04-01T14:30:00.007-05:00

Wow, surprised to find this article on Easter on FoxNews website.

Easter at the Kids Spot

2010-04-01T13:56:00.002-05:00

Carsten had his first Easter celebration today at his little gym The Kids Spot. He goes every Thursday for a moms day out program, he loves it and I really love it! Today the Easter bunny was there and they had a little egg hunt, we had ample practice yesterday in the living room so he was ready to go! He found about 5 eggs until another little boy stole his basket, oh well. It was fun and the first time Carsten has gotten within arms reach of a big character in a costume so big big progress for him, yeah! Maybe next year we'll actually get a picture with Santa:) Chloe was there all dressed up and bows in her hair. It was a fun morning and now Cman should be ready for the egg hunt Saturday in our neighborhood. (wow I can't believe I've blogged two days in a row) Enjoy!

Here ya go

2010-03-29T15:00:00.004-05:00

One of my very hilarious, cute, and successful attempts at stealing some attention away from my sister!

This is what happens in the target cart when we refuse to take a nap at home!

Daddy giving me a much needed break!

Miss Priss and her first smiles!

Four Words

2010-03-29T14:59:00.000-05:00

IN OVER MY HEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I do miss you my blogger friends. I apologize for my lack of blogs lately as I've been buried in diapers, crying, eating, throwing up, sleep, (or lack thereof) guarding the infant from her overzealous sibling, and dinner making. Yep, that's about it these days plus or minus a few things including my own daily showering:)

One day I will see you again I promise, hopefully sooner rather than later when more of a normal routine sets in. Right now Chloe is taking up pretty much all of my time. We are struggling with colic, constant breastfeeding, and what we'll call a VERY "high maintenance" little girl. I can barely set her down during the day or she'll scream her head off, will not take a pacifier. It's like her internal alarm goes off when she's not physically touching me or her dad and she doesn't like it! This is all new territory for me and confirms the fact that Carsten was literally an angel when he was a baby. Not so much these days however, he's having a hard time adjusting to sharing all the attention and he lets me know it pretty much all day long with his screaming and crying. On top of this we are getting ready to PCS (move) in June to DC and trying to find a house and getting things in order. So thank you for your continued prayers for our growing family and I hope to blog more in the future. I will keep putting pictures up when I can. And I promise the birth announcements are on their way so be looking in the mail!!!

(For some reason I can't get pictures to download right now so I'll post them later)

Flying solo with 2!

2010-03-01T13:19:00.000-06:00

It's my first official day as a mom of two! My parents left yesterday afternoon and Chad went to work this morning, that leaves me ALONE and RESPONSIBLE for two children, yikes!!! I have to say it's going smoother than I suspected, I've even taken a shower already and we're headed out to the pediatrician at 4:30. However, you might as well call my new role the "diaper changer" or "feeder" because that's literally ALL I do! I seriously have to give good ole' Octamom and Duggar mom some credit here, I don't know how they do it! I think since last night I've changed at least 20 diapers. This is going to be crazy but fun, I am so blessed! Will post new pics soon!

Pictures with Dr. Broadney

2010-02-19T14:28:00.000-06:00

Just got back from my follow up OB appt. I absolutely LOVED my OB, she was so sweet to us the whole time I was excited to bring Chloe in for her to get a quick snug! She was so encouraging to me the whole time and always made me feel at ease. Oh and a couple other cute pics of Chloe in her pink and brown, I never thought I was the girly type and have always worried about having a girl but I think I'm going to get used to this dressing up stuff really quickly! (I've had her in two to three outfits a day just for the fun of it)! This one was from her Nana.

Meeting my sister for the first time!

2010-02-18T14:22:00.000-06:00

Chloe and Carsten

Here are some pics of Carsten in his big brother t-shirt meeting his new sister!! When he saw me coming down from the elevator in the wheelchair with Chloe in my arms his mouth dropped open, his eyes rolled back, and his head started to droop:) He definitely knew "someting was not quite right" and that his world would forever be changed. After he warmed up a little to her we got him to sneak in a few kisses on her forehead, now he wants to look at her in her crib constantly, points at her, and will give her kisses (only if you tell him too:)

As for me and Chloe, we are spending time bonding and learning the "art of breastfeeding" (more like bootcamp training than art) while my mom helps take care of Carsten. I am learning a whole new vocabulary of words such as "latching on" "let-downs" "football hold" and "cluster feeding" :) It has been a challenge for me so far but I'm determined not to give up without prayer and a good fight. We are so blessed to have both Carsten and Chloe and we can't wait to watch them grow and blossom together. The Father has blessed us beyond measure and are hearts are so full even though our eyes are tired. More later but first back to learning my new "art" ;)

Chloe Abigail is here!!!!

2010-02-14T14:44:00.000-06:00

Introducing Chloe Abigail Bridges

February 11, 2010

8lbs3oz

20 inches

Chloe Abigail has arrived safe and sound, praise God!!! Thursday was quite a day to say the least all starting about 4:30 in the morning. Our c- section was scheduled for 8:00am and we went into the OR at 9:00. Chloe Abigail arrived at 9:49 am. I have been busy ever since recovering and learning how to care for a newborn again. Chad is enjoying having a daddy's little girl. This has been a whole new experience for us to say the least and quite different from last time. We are overwhelmed with thankfulness for God's grace and his beautiful gift. We arrived home today and Carsten got to meet his little sister just a few hours ago. More blogs to come about the birth story and Carsten meeting his new sibling but just a few sneak peaks of our little angel!

24 Hour countdown!!!!

2010-02-10T07:02:00.002-06:00

I thought I would get one more blog in before the big day tomorrow! Our C section is scheduled for 8:00 tomorrow morning. Between my anxiety and the constant contractions thinking the baby is coming sooner I haven't been able to sleep very late in the mornings but I am getting pretty good rest still at night so I'm thankful. At my OB appointment last week I was 3cm and having contractions 10 minutes apart and they have been coming and going ever since. Needless to say I told my mom to get on a plane and then of course we've just been staring at each other ever since:) But I'm glad she's here and don't have to worry now about who will watch Carsten. I have one more appointment today so we'll see what she says, I was wanting to try a VBAC but I think we're going to go ahead with the section tomorrow if nothing happens today or tonight. We are very excited and can't wait to see baby!!!! We appreciate your prayers and will update as soon as we can. We have an email list together so I'm sure if you're a reader here you're on the list. Love to you all and soon to be family of four!

The Bridges
Psalm 139

Hats, toes, and stomach bug randomness

2010-01-31T13:56:00.000-06:00

Playing hats with daddy. Starting to learn about clothes and body parts thanks to Mr. Potato Head!! But hats is definitely a favorite.

The stomach bug going around here in Stockbridge came to our house last week. The baby and I were very lucky to miss out on that one. But I did get lots of fun snuggle time with Cman, isn't it sad how us mommies take advantage of all the good snuggles when their sick, that's our job I suppose and hey we'll take it when we can get it right?:)

My just for fun pedicure, justified by the fact that I literally cannot reach my toes anymore, notice the alternating pink and blue, which will it be?!! My mom said that's something I would have done in high school, I couldn't help it though I thought my OB and the nurses in the surgery room would get a kick out of it:)!! 11 days and counting if not before, 38 weeks today!!!!

Baby Shower

2010-01-17T15:38:00.003-06:00

The sweet ladies from my bible study threw me a little baby shower today after church. I just about cried when they asked me because I didn't think I'd get one.

They are all so sweet and they made it very special for baby and I:) I got a whole bunch of target gift cards I can use (had to keep it gender neutral) maybe for a bunch of girl outfits, maybe:) These are some of the women from last semester that walked and prayed us through our Baltimore experience, I'm very grateful for them.

Me and my new bud Eli

2010-01-17T15:37:00.000-06:00

Getting ready for church and a playdate with my new friend Eli.

Watch out Ladies!!!

2010-01-16T12:00:00.000-06:00

2010-01-14T13:52:00.001-06:00

I haven't blogged in a while because Carsten is keeping this pregnant momma very busy and literally out of breath! I finally have a moment to sit down, relax, and write a little update. Things are great, busy, but great. I am now officially 35 weeks 4 days along, feeling like I'm carrying a bowling ball in my belly or at least that's how my back feels. Being pregnant with a toddler is a WHOLE different experience this time around. You just can't avoid picking them up and having to cart them around everywhere, it's impossible. They "say" you're not supposed to lift heavy objects for 6 weeks after a C-section, yeah right, we'll see how THAT goes! We're most likely planning on a C section the 39th week (around the 8th of Feb) unless I go into labor before then I might try and give it a go. Needless to say, I am very ready to get this show on the road, but I'm also thankful that he/she is still safe and sound hopefully growing nice and plump and I try to remember that with every ache and pain and yes, episode of incontinence, LOL!

We have finally narrowed our names down to a boy and a girl choice, sorry you'll have to just wait and see!
We're getting really excited to hear, it's a BOY or a GIRL, we absolutely have NO idea. It's so funny how people love to give you their opinions on what it is, "Oh it's a girl I can tell by the way you're shaped," or "It's a boy I'm sure, you're so low." I even had a nurse with some kind of telepathic powers tell me in the elevator in Baltimore who I'd never talked to before say, "Honey I'm so sorry, I hate to tell you this, I know you want a girl but it's a boy!" It was a little creepy I have to say because how would she have known that but then she changed her mind about a week later so who knows!! But I have to say one of the worst comments I've been getting a LOT lately is "when is your due date?" after I tell them it's "Oh honey, you're SO big, do you think you're going to MAKE it THAT long!" LOL! Whatever the baby is, they (not literally "they" Lord help me if that was the case!) will be a blessing and we're so ready to meet him or her.

Other than that, just trying to keep the house somewhat organized "just in case" and I need to get a bag packed this weekend. I've been having lots and lots of Braxton Hicks so I know it's getting closer. We've enjoyed spending time with our new friends that have a son with Down Syndrome named Eli, Chad has been on some travel duties, and we did find out that we will most likely be moving to the DC area around June! I'm so excited to get up there and be closer to some military friends, get Carsten going with school, and have some stability at least for a few years.

I've been involved in a women's bible study this year at my church and we just started a new book called "Calm My Anxious Heart" by Linda Dillow. I love the book and have read it before but never done it in a group setting. It is a large group of women of all different ages and I'm excited to see how the Lord works this semester.

Well dang, he's up and it hasn't even been an hour! Gotta run but I thought I'd post this poem real quick. Quick Fact: Many people with Down Syndrome have a Simian Crease, it's a singular line that run through the palm of the hand instead of the typical three. Carsten doesn't have the Simian Crease for some reason but the poem still makes me cry everytime :)

A Line Across His Hand

by Deborah L Sardone

The day my son was born the sun shone in the sky
My life would change forever and here's the reason why
You see my son is different, things did not go as we planned
For my son was born with a line across his hand

A line across his hand
A line across his hand
Things did not go as we planned
Because of the line across his hand

They said that he would be slow to learn and never read or write
But when he took his first steps it was a special night
They said he'd never be a man and always be a burden
But he'd show them wrong, it was the one thing I was certain

A line across his hand
A line across his hand
When his hand's held in mine
I can't see that line across his hand
Oh how very hard it was to learn to tie his shoe
There were days we thought it was something he'd never ever do
But then one day he made the bow up right and neat
Oh, his life ain't always easy but his victories are sweet

A line across his hand
A line across his hand
That shoelace didn't care
There was a line across his hand

I always dreamed we'd play with a baseball and a bat
But in our life together we jog the High School track
There are many things that he can do and things that he can not
He's much more than the sum total of the syndrome that he's got

A line across his hand
A line across his hand
Don't judge who he is by
That line across his hand

If I had the power to change his life I'm not sure what I'd do
But his life has been a blessing 'tho I've shed a tear or two
I love my son more than I believed all those years ago
I guess in this life we do reap what we do sow

A line across his hand
A line across his hand
Doesn't change the love you feel inside
that line across his hand

Now my son is grown and holds a job and has a lady friend
He is proud and kind this message I will send

A line across his hand
A line across his hand
They were wrong, I know that now
This boy of mine's a man

Carsten's Christmas with Nana, Aunt Nae, and Uncle Boo

2010-01-06T13:25:00.005-06:00

Well Carsten is finally done with his Christmas! Chad's side all flew down last weekend and Carsten got to open another round of gifts! He quickly became a pro at ripping the paper off the boxes, he definitely knows what they're for now:)

He got a lot of fun stuff including a rocking horse from Toby's parents and a new table for crafts and a first Thomas the train set. We still haven't figured out how to keep him from tearing the tracks apart, I think we might have to glue them but he sure does love trains and cars now.

We got to take them to the aquarium again and the Coka cola museum which was pretty cool and YES I cheated and drank a few sips of coke and YES it was oh so wonderful!!!! :)

Enjoy the pics. We were so glad everyone could make it down here.

Love you all!! Happy Birthday to Nana today and Happy 37th Anniversary to my parents!!

More Christmas Pics

2010-01-06T13:17:00.003-06:00

A few more pics from our first Christmas.......

XMAS with Mimi and Grandaddy

2009-12-29T19:58:00.000-06:00

We had a great time with Mimi and Grandaddy last week for Christmas. They drove down from Arkansas to spend a few days with us, we (me and my big belly especially) were thankful they were willing to come and give up Christmas with the rest of the family this year. Carsten had his first Santa surprise waiting for him Christmas morning and was highly entertained the rest of the day with his new toys, his face was priceless when he walked out and saw the toys waiting for him that morning. We also had a trip to the Atlanta Aquarium and got to go to the Christmas eve church service. It was a great week but we definitely missed everyone else and will be making the trek back to Arkansas next year for sure. We're looking forward to Chad's family coming in this week for Carsten's second Christmas so I'll post pics from that next week. (33 weeks now, have an OB appt tomorrow so only 6 or 7 weeks to go until Baby Bridges #2 arrives!! Please keep the prayers coming our way!)

A soldiers Christmas poem

2009-12-14T15:26:00.001-06:00

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS,
HE LIVED ALL ALONE,
IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE MADE OF
PLASTER AND STONE.
I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY
WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE, AND TO SEE JUST WHO
IN THIS HOME DID LIVE.
I LOOKED ALL ABOUT,
A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE,
NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS,
NOT EVEN A TREE.
NO STOCKING BY MANTLE,
JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND,
ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES
OF FAR DISTANT LANDS.
WITH MEDALS AND BADGES,
AWARDS OF ALL KINDS,
A SOBER THOUGHT
CAME THROUGH MY MIND.
FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT,
IT WAS DARK AND DREARY,
I FOUND THE HOME OF A SOLDIER,
ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY.
THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING,
SILENT, ALONE,
CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR
IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.
THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE,
THE ROOM IN SUCH DISORDER,
NOT HOW I PICTURED
A UNITED STATES SOLDIER.
WAS THIS THE HERO
OF WHOM I'D JUST READ?
CURLED UP ON A PONCHO,
THE FLOOR FOR A BED?
I REALIZED THE FAMILIES
THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT,
OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS
WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT.
SOON ROUND THE WORLD,
THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,
AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE
A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.
THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM
EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR,
BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS,
LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.
I COULDN'T HELP WONDER
HOW MANY LAY ALONE,
ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE
IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.
THE VERY THOUGHT
BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY EYE,
I DROPPED TO MY KNEES
AND STARTED TO CRY.
THE SOLDIER AWAKENED
AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE,
'SANTA DON'T CRY,
THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE;
I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM,
I DON'T ASK FOR MORE,
MY LIFE IS MY GOD,
MY COUNTRY, MY CORPS.'
THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER
AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP,
I COULDN'T CONTROL IT,
I CONTINUED TO WEEP.
I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS,
SO SILENT AND STILL
AND WE BOTH SHIVERED
FROM THE COLD NIGHT'S CHILL.
I DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE
ON THAT COLD, DARK, NIGHT,
THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR
SO WILLING TO FIGHT.
THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER,
WITH A VOICE SOFT AND PURE,
WHISPERED, 'CARRY ON SANTA,
IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY, ALL IS SECURE.'
ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH,
AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.
'MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND,!
AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT.'

This poem was written by a Marine.
The following is his request. I think it is reasonable.....
PLEASE. Would you do me the kind favor of sending
this to as many people as you can? Christmas will be coming
soon and some credit is due to our U.S. service men,
women, and Canadian Forces for our being able to celebrate these festivities.
Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we
owe. Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and
dead, who sacrificed themselves for us. Please, do your
small part to plant this small seed.

So proud of my little man!

2009-12-03T13:50:00.000-06:00

I'm so proud of our C-man and amazed daily at the new things he is doing I had to blog about it. I can remember just before we moved to Atlanta I thought sadly, he's never going to communicate with me. Well fast forward just a few months and he is finally taking off! I just know someday the signs will turn into words but for now I'm so thankful for what he is doing. Just this morning he's already signed eat, car, play, all done, dog, cat, bird, hat, (he loves hat or maybe he just likes hitting me on the head:) shoes, water, fish. The most recent one we've learned is "car". I say Carsten, do you want to go in the car and he signs "car"! I am noticing how he'll initiate the sign when I say the word, I no longer have to sign it for him for some of them. Just before his nap we read a few books and I can say Carsten where is the "dog" and he'll point to the dog and so on and so on! I think our next sign is going to be "potty"!!!! I guess I'll get the potty out for him to get used to and we'll learn the sign and so forth. I've been teaching him diaper in the last couple of days and I think he'll get that pretty soon then maybe move to potty:)

Oh and the other sign we've been doing lately is "baby". I'm going to teach him the sign and then go out here in a couple of weeks and buy "Carsten's baby" so he can get used to being gentle with it and the goal is hopefully that will transfer over to the real baby:) (thanks Emily for the suggestion!) But I'm actually running out of signs that I know so I need to get out the printouts I have of my sign language and start studying them I guess, I think he's going to continue to use sign for a few years at least before the words come. Hopefully one day I can use the sign that I've learned as an OT.

Carsten is now going to a mother's day out at this place called The Kids Spot. It's a little gym with lots of equipment and fun stuff for him to climb on and develop his gross motor while being around other kids. He LOVES it! Right now it's just Thursday from 9-12 but I'm thinking about adding Tuesday. The owners are Christian and they play christian music and always do a craft and he gets two gymnastics classes while he's there. I dropped him off this morning and he just ran in and jumped into the ball pit, turned around and waved bye bye, I went to the car to get my kleenex! He's growing up TOO fast!!!

He loves to pull up my shirt and feel on my big belly too, so cute, if he only knew what was really coming:)

Well that's about all the news I have. His eating and drinking is steady, I will be so glad the day he can eat independently but I think that is still a ways off though he did drink 4 ounces of water today from a straw!! Baby steps, baby steps is what I was thinking this morning, the hard work will pay off and one day I believe I will send him off to school with a lunchbox, God is faithful and He will do it (1 Thes 5:24)

As for me, I'm feeling like this seriously can't go on for another 10 weeks! I've already moved over to Chad's side of the closet for most of my clothes:( I've gained too much this time I'm afraid (hence why you never see ANY pictures of me on the blog or facebook:) but at least I didn't drink caffeine right, I just chose to reach for the big glass of whole milk instead, yikes! The sleeping is getting pretty miserable as well and if you know me you know that's not good. I woke up this morning feeling like I had run a marathon overnight I was so sore everywhere, mainly my hips (thank the good Lord I'm not still on that chair at KKI). I welcome February 14th for two reasons, finding out the sex and Grande white chocolate mochas from Starbucks! (I'll be needing that when I've been up all night long then have a toddler to take care of during the day) God definitely has a sense of humor though because I've had two dreams now where once it was a girl and the other a boy, guess He wants to keep me hanging right until the end.

Oh and I did finish Palin's book Going Rouge! Anyone else out there read it? I really enjoyed it, especially her testimony and the part about findout out about Trig and everything. Politics aside, I believe she is a woman after God's heart and He will still use her in the future. And I just know we're going to have a playdate someday with the two kiddos, maybe when we move to DC next year:)

Thanksgiving pics

2009-12-01T14:22:00.001-06:00

Carsten's Nana and Aunt Nae came for Thanksgiving this year. It was the first time we had a holiday at OUR house! I think everything went pretty well considering. I made my first dressing (southern cornbread of course) and we had Ham, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green bean bundles, rolls, cranberry dressing, deviled eggs, and my homemade apple pie! I'm starting to really love cooking and at least they "say" I'm good at it:)

Carsten also had his second trip to Chucky Cheese which he LOVED this time, last time he was still a little young and was scared of everything. This time he had a blast, well except for Chucky the mouse, he was still a little scared of him:)

Home sweet home!!!!!

2009-11-08T20:21:00.003-06:00

We are on day 3 of being home and thought I would get in a quick update in case anyone was wondering how things were going. So I would say the first amazing thing with Carsten's eating that we noticed on the way home was that he ate in the car WITH NO TV!!!!!! Chad couldn't believe I just sat in the back and did the protocol and he ate 7 ounces of food with no crying, fussing, turning head, nothing! We had to stop and do drinks because it's pretty complicated and still messy but there we sat in a Wendy's and gave him 4 ounces of milk, not really caring that other people could hear me say "Carsten take a drink, good job taking that drink!" 20 times in a row:)

Once I got over the shock of coming home to a bachelor's house for the past 8 weeks, (catch my drift ladies?:) got a little cleaning and organization going, and a BIG trip to the grocery store, Carsten has been doing all his meals beautifully! We haven't had to tube any formula since before our last week in the hospital! I've been feeding him his three meals a day plus a snack at night. The hardest part has been figuring out the art of pureeing food but I think I'm getting a little better at it. For example, today for breakfast he had pureed oatmeal, fruit, and toaster streudels, mmmm:) Lunch was lasagna, peas, and fruit. They gave me a recipe book before I left that I'm sure I'll be dependent on for a while till I'm ready to branch out on my own but his diet is definitely way more varied than it used to be. He is still learning to tolerate the volume in his stomach and has thrown up once Friday morning for breakfast but other than that he's done pretty good so far, I know it will come though so I have to mentally prepare myself for those days and try try try not to show my emotion when it happens (meaning not kick, scream, cry, get upset with Carsten, and throw a pity party like I'm so prone to doing).

The drinking is slowly coming along and I think in a few months he will be able to take sips from the cup till he drinks it all. Right now we are doing 1/4 of an ounce a drink so it takes about 20 drinks to get 4 ounces in, it really goes pretty fast though and takes about 10 minutes to finish. Yes, it is tedious, yes it is hard work, yes it's like feeding a 7 month old, and yes it's going to be hard getting out for more than 2 hours at a time but I believe it will be worth it in the end and he will continue to progress with textures, efficiency, and independence in eating with this as a foundation. All I can say is that Mimi, Nana, and Daddy better learn this protocol quick because when this baby comes I'm going to need some HELP!!!

As far as a baby update, I have another ultrasound on Wednesday and I'm excited to tell him/her hi again. I think I better be extra careful not to look at certain "places" during the ultrasound not to ruin the surprise:) Chad is currently in the Middle East for the week with his boss, I'm excited he got to go on this trip but ready for him to get back so we can be a real family again. It's beautiful here in Georgia, I LOVE the weather and all the gorgeous trees, makes me really appreciate the south even more.

That's about it for now, sorry it was so long I'm not sure if anyone cares but I thought I'd give a fun feeding update. More pics from the hospital to follow. Again, we are so thankful and overjoyed with Carsten's progress and know it will only get better and better. We miss the schedule and the playrooms, but I hope I can find a good mom's day out program to take him to until we move again next June, after that he will defininitely start some kind of school. Well it's 10:05, 5 minutes past this exhausted preggie momma's bedtime so more updates later and pics to come!

Blessings!
Momma Bridges

Free and almost there!

2009-10-31T17:46:00.000-05:00

We now have three days and a pick up left!! I really can't believe it is coming to an end. In some ways it seemed very fast and in others it seemed like a very slow 8 weeks. We recieved the good news yesterday that our flu cultures were negative and Carsten was allowed out of his room. Let me tell you it was like a cannon ball flying out of a cannon I've never seen so much energy come out of a little kid before he was practically bouncing off the celings he was so happy.

We had a rough week this week with eating because he was sick and congested. I also started feeding him last Monday so it was hard for me to start out like that, he was vomiting just about every meal. But today he is finally doing better and he hasn't thrown up once today, he still has a snack to go tonight though so we'll see. But we are OFF the TUBE except for water!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really am excited about this I'm just so exhausted I don't think it has really sunk in yet. So basically this is his meals, breakfast 7 ounces of food, 2 ounces of milk; lunch 7 ounces of food, 4 ounces of milk; dinner 7 ounces of food 4 ounces of milk; and a "snack" (which I call a fourth meal) 4 ounces of food, 4 ounces of milk.

Yeah praise God for such great progress here I'm so thankful we were able to come and go through this program. It is still going to be a lot of work for me at home I think that's why my excitement is still a little reserved. I will be pureeing all his foods to a junior texture and doing his drinks which take about 15 minutes to get 4 ounces in him right now. I think it will get faster as his skills progress but it is definitely going to be a task at home and I know I have my work cut out for me, especially with baby on the way.

I'm 25 weeks now, getting excited to find out the sex, we've made it this far though and really 3 more months seems like a short wait to find out. Either way, it's going to be a fun surprise and Carsten is going to be such a great brother.

Please pray for my endurance and strength to get us through the last three days, I can't wait for Chad to get here. I've never been so excited to sleep in my own bed in my life!

That's it for now, gotta go do our evening "snack":) Thank you for your prayers and encouragement, it got us through.

More later....

Day four of quarantine

2009-10-26T13:51:00.001-05:00

So we're going on day 4 now of being quarantined here in our room and I just found out this morning it could be many more days:( People always say that the last part of the marathon is the hardest part, well I can completely relate to that now. These last two weeks are proving to be the ultimate test to our experience here at KKI. The deal is that Carsten tested positive for regular influenza A. The H1N1 I guess is still pending. So, they started him on Tamiflu last night (after having symptoms since Friday!) and told me this morning that he has to complete his round of tamiflu which will be five days and then get another culture which takes another 3-5 days to come back before we can leave our room! Which means that we could potentially be in here until we leave next Wednesday. Seriously we're starting to feel a little like Tom Hanks and Wilson and we're not even half way done.

So here we sit. Since I'm sick too they informed me this morning (after probably being contagious since last Friday) that I'm really not supposed to be out and around the other patients, well what's a mom to do. They called Ronald McDonald house and they won't take me sick either even if my mom came out. I guess just ship me off to Mars or something, they are acting like we have the stinking plague talking at least 5 feet away, masks, etc etc.. and we don't even know if it's H1N1 like it would really make a difference.

Anyway, please pray for our sanity. Despite the setbacks, Carsten is eating like a champ and his drinking is really coming along too. He's drinking two ounces a meal before his food which equals 6 ounces a day. His weight was even up today which is amazing so we still have the potential to be off the tube except for water by next week, another reason to endure this horrible situation and not go AMA running the car and driving back to Atlanta tonight (which I'm really tempted to do).

So the worst is it could be up to 8 more days in this room with a 2 year old that knows how to open door handles, hates being cooped up, is opening all my drawers and throwing clothes out every chance he gets, and going in the bathroom and pulling the emergency light on every 5 seconds, really, how bad can it be? Oh and did I mention I'm 24 weeks pregnant:)

I fed him for the first time at lunch, looks like I'll take it from here out except the drinks, I haven't done those yet. I should also get a lesson on how to puree everything in the kitchen too. You should be hearing a lot from me in the next 8 days, what else do I have to do but blog to you my wonderful blogger friends:)

Congested and claustrophobic,
Kari, Carsten, and baby bridges

Setbacks

2009-10-25T20:12:00.000-05:00

Well we've had a few setbacks in the last week. This won't be long because I'm completely exhausted long story short Carsten decided to pull his tube out of his stomach last week so he had to go in for a procedure to put it back in which required anesthesia. That went fine then later that night he developed a high fever around 2 and that's when everything went awry. We're both sick now and his regular flu culture came back positive we're still waiting on his swine flu culture.We have been quarantined pretty much in our room, Carsten can't leave only me which I rarely do in fear of transmitting to someone else. We won't be able to be off of isolation until he gets another culture that comes back positive which could take many more days. We are tired, fussy, and discouraged to say the least. His meals have actually been going pretty decent though and he's been taking all of his drinks. They have to come up to our room to do everything. Chad was here this weekend so I was able to go pass out at the McDonald house for literally about 14 hours. I'm just back from the ER and we're both on Tamiflu finally so we'll see how we feel in the next day or so. Please pray for our endurance, patience, and health. We are very ready to be home now but also want to try and stick it out to see how far he goes. Thank you for your prayers, going to pass out now.

Update - yes we're still here!

2009-10-20T13:53:00.003-05:00

We're still here in lovely Baltimore (lovely minus the third world country road conditions) and we're approaching the middle of our 6th week. Things are going well. We said goodbye yesterday to our good friends and roomies (I'm not supposed to mention names because of privacy but I'm sure they wouldn't mind) Megan and Mason. Carsten was sad to see his buddy go. He did everything Mason did, if Mason jumped, Carsten jumped, if Mason wanted to play with the trucks, Carsten played with the trucks. It was so cute to watch him mimic and learn from Mason, I even started thinking a brother for Carsten wouldn't be so bad afterall:)

Carsten's eating is steady and they are still progressing with the drinks. He is starting to accept liquids from an open cup more than before and they have switched from apple juice to milk with carnation instant breakfast to boost the calories some more. He's at about 600 calories a day by mouth so he has about 400 to go which could be made up with liquids and/or an evening snack which I think they might introduce once I get trained this week or next. The feeding therapist seems to think he still has potential to be off the tube except for water so I'm going to go with that but still guard my heart to see where we actually end up. Either way he still won't be getting any formula through the tube during the day and just a little at night so I'm still happy but of course I would love to see him go all the way.

Two sweet little girls just checked in today with sweet moms I'm looking forward to getting to know a little. Carsten has already squished his way in between the two to make sure they are BOTH his girlfriends:) His favorite sign right now is "my turn" in which he politely uses when he wants a toy another child is playing with:) They think he will do great in preschool and has developed some really good play skills.

Chad will be here Friday and Saturday so that will be a nice little break before we enter our last two week lap. The only thing that's hard for me right now is seeing all the cute little Pumpkin Patch pics of my friends and their kids:( I want a pic of Carsten and a pumpkin too! Maybe when we get back we can find one still open somewhere, if not I'll just buy a pumpkin and snap a shot:) That's about it for now, pumpkin-less but still cute pics to come I promise!

Love,
Kari

Funny story

2009-10-13T09:29:00.001-05:00

So Saturday morning Chad and I got up and started to head on over to the hospital like we had the day before to meet my mom and Carsten. Lo and behold after we ran into two blocked off streets we realized, uh oh, the Baltimore Marathon!!! To make a long story quick, we literally drove around for two hours trying to find an open path to the hospital. After getting on every highway in Baltimore and trying to inch our way into the city we finally got about a half a mile away from KKI. So we parked and started walking only to find ourselves at the cross point of the runners. We literally had to make a mad dash between thousands of runners turning a corner with our suitcases and Chad in his workout clothes and nice shoes! Just to report we made at through and neither of us were trampled:) Let me tell you it was not a fun morning but I know we'll look back on it and laugh maybe in about ten years from now!

Other than that, we all had a great weekend, got some amazing seafood and enjoyed some time outside of the hospital. Chad got to see all of Carsten's therapies and his meals and the look on his face when he saw his daddy was priceless!! I'll give a feeding update a little later and pics from the weekend but just thought I'd share our horror/comedy story of the weekend! Gotta go grab him from speech.

Approaching the halfway mark

2009-10-07T13:56:00.002-05:00

The end of this week will be the halfway mark for us here at KKI. It is actually going pretty fast and this weekend will be a much needed break with Chad and my mom. Carsten is going to be sooo excited to see his daddy I can't wait to see it. Well today is going so so. He threw up at breakfast during his drinking trials after he had eaten the 7 ounces, not fun to watch. Then lunch was better, kept it down but fought like a boxer to keep the drinks away from his mouth! I'm starting to come to the realization that we will still be working on drinking once we get home, I'm still optimistic however and know that anything can happen before we leave, but he just needs time to develop the skills to drink and eat texture. They are making another tube cut tonight so whoo hoo! That's great. So basically he's eating 21 ounces of pureed food a day and then he gets 14 ounces milk overnight. Really that's better than he's ever done so Chad and I are happy. They added some texture to his lunch, 4 bites of junior consistency, we'll see how far he goes with that, I'm sure the more they add I expect to see an increase in vomiting.

On a lighter side, the privacy thing here is really a bummer, I mean I think I have had about 5 people walk in on me peeing so far in the bathroom. Good thing I'm not very modest anyway but seriously. I have learned to change clothes in like lighting speed time or else someone is going to walk in on me and see the pretty pregnant birthday suit:) I guess that's what they get if they don't want to knock:) But the last five nights here have been a Godsend, no roomate, the nurse has got to the bag and refilled it before it goes off and Carsten and I have been able to sleep straight through the night for the first time.

Is it Thursday yet?:) Hurry up Chad!!!

update

2009-10-02T13:05:00.002-05:00

Well today is going a little better so far. Carsten threw up at breakfast which was expected, then he was able to keep 7 ounces down at lunch. Now we'll see how dinner goes. I'm trying not to get so caught up in every individual session and see the bigger picture and where he'll be in 5 more weeks. They're giving him drinks from a bigger spoon now to try and get more liquid in and still alternating with the cup. It was so cute today at lunch when he was done she said and signed "all done". Oh boy his face lit up so fast and he was signing "all done" like a professional signer:) I think his favorite so far is pureed pizza, yuck! Poor kid. At least he doesn't know what the real thing tastes like.

My roomate just left to go back home to San Diego:( Yep they come from all over here. I'm pretty sad actually, feels like I just lost a college roomate or something. She was happy with her sweet girl's progress. She was almost exactly the same size as Carsten so they had fun together. Maybe someday we'll meet again ordering happy meals together for our kids:)

That only leaves 2 other people here and us in the feeding program. Our discharge date is still set for Nov 9th so that leaves 5 weeks to go after this week. Chad's coming up to visit next weekend right at our halfway mark, yippee! We went on an outing last night to a park, a cupcake shop, and stopped and got takeout from this amazing Mediterranean restaurant. We were all laughing, the feeding kids going to a cupcake shop (it was really for the pregnant ladies in the group)! Carsten did eat a little of the hummus I got and I think he liked it okay. Hoping to take a TLOA this weekend and get out again with Carsten.

That's it for now.

Here we go roller coaster again

2009-10-01T13:12:00.000-05:00

Well I'm trying hard not to get on the usual roller coaster ride of having a child with a disability. These days will come. Today is just a dip in the ride. He threw up his breakfast and lunch. They are trying to give him 7 ounces a meal and he just doesn't seem to be able to tolerate it yet. I'm sure they'll keep trying until he just throws up every session and we know he's hit his cap. He did it last night so I know he can do it again. Mornings are just altogether bad for him and lunch was a fluke gag when he got a bite with his head tilted backwards. He's like the most sensitive time bomb you've ever seen, one little touch gone awry and up it comes! Oh the day when I can look back and laugh, for now I'll try to laugh at the days to come. (proverbs 31:25)

The Lord reminded me of a verse he promised long ago Proverbs 37:5 "Commit your way to the Lord, trust in Him and He will do this, he will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday. Be still and wait patiently for the Lord."

Giving up my own strength and trading it in today for His. Please continue to pray for our little man.

Love,
Kari

Here we go week #3!

2009-09-28T12:35:00.001-05:00

Time is flying by here at KKI. The weekends seem to drag on a little but once Monday hits we're off and running. Carsten's already eaten twice today and gotten speech therapy. They've increased his volume to 6 ounces now, whoa! So at lunch he ate 6 ounces of pureed food, had his first taste of cheeseburger with ketchup!!!! I think he liked it:) They've switched to liquid from a spoon now just during the 1 feeding session a day when they do drinks. He took every bite of liquid from the spoon which was great. It was probably around an ounce of liquid but they'll tell me this afternoon after they weigh it. The goal is to eventually transfer from the spoon to the cup. For some reason he's just afraid of the cup, frustrated, unsure, we're not sure? So exciting updates for sure. I'm very encouraged and I'm trying not to let myself on the usual roller coaster emotional ride but it's nice to see he can handle 6 ounces without puking. I'm so proud of my little c-man, he's such a trooper. That's it for now. I'll post some more cute pics later from the playroom. Oh, I made a list of all his signs he's starting to use and he's now doing "more" "all done" "eat" "brush teeth" "milk" "fish" "ball" and "shoes"! Yea, go Carsten, I'm such a proud momma!!!

My new haircut!

2009-09-27T10:23:00.000-05:00

"I don't know about mom but I'm keeping a positive attitude with this whole KKI thing!"

KKI update

2009-09-27T08:43:00.000-05:00

Today is the last day of our second week here at KKI. They have increased his oral feeds to 5 1/2 ounces of pureed food a meal. We are starting to notice an increase in vomiting since yesterday, he threw up at lunch and just now this morning. It is very upsetting for me to watch and I feel so helpless to do anything. There are so many variables and factors as to why he could be voming which is frustrating. Please pray for the little guy that he would continue to tolerate volume increases and they could figure out why he's vomiting. They made his first tube cut (giving him less formula through the tube) two days ago (which I was very excited about) but I know when he vomits he's got to be hungry during the day with no formula in his stomach so it's hard as a mommy to watch. I'm trying to stay as positive as a can and I knew that when we came here we would have days like this but I'm a little down today, trying to stay hopeful, we still have 6 weeks to go so a lot of time for improvement and progress.

Update on team meeting

2009-09-24T13:30:00.000-05:00

We had the team meeting this morning with Chad on conference call. Overall, positive, the main concern is Carsten's poor oral motor skills with drinking and textures. They are going to push pureed volume as far as possible and make tube cuts as appropriate but the bottom line is he HAS to learn to DRINK to get as far as we'd like. So, this will be the priority in OT and speech while the psychologist feeding him his meals will continue to push volume. They just can't predict what his percentage of independence from the tube will be once we leave. They mentioned 50-75% this morning but it's really up to Carsten. We will be here the full 8 weeks and projected D/C date is Nov 14th?, somewhere around there. I'm slowly becoming hospital delirious and forgetting days and times as usual. I did get to go to Wal-Mart last night for a parent outing, let me tell you it was maybe the most exciting trip to Wal-Mart I've ever had:)

Carsten is making lots of friends and really starting to pick up on some sign language. He is signing "more" "all done" "brush teeth" very consistently now, for some reason "brush teeth" is his favorite thing to do, GO FIGURE!!

He's a trooper and we're proud of him and the sky is the limits for this little boy. Please continue to pray for textures, drinking, tolerance of pureed volume, remaining well, my relationship with the women here. Thanks!

Blessings,
Kari

Week #2 - Riding the buggy to lunch!!

2009-09-22T08:51:00.003-05:00

We're on week two now, I thought this program was going to seem like ages but I'm already feeling the time crunch as I know that time here is so precious, and EXPENSIVE!! Thank the Lord for Tricare!! I had a good conversation with the nurse practitioner this morning. She does rounds every morning and sees all the feeding kids. She said that their goal this week is to continue to increase volume with purees. Once Carsten gets to his max volume on purees and tolerates it okay they will add texture and liquid. Speech and OT are still working on the drinking and textures. Carsten took one good drink this morning from the open cup during his breakfast! Poor thing, he's just frustrated and doesn't know how to do it. But last night we worked on it and I think he has good potential, just needs repitition, repitition, repitition. But the nurse practitioner reassured me that they ARE working towards textures and that Carsten WILL have tube cuts by the time we leave, we just don't know the percentage or how much will be by texture or liquid. They have lots of neat little tricks to add calories like carnation instant breakfast in milk and adding lots of good fatty stuff like butter, whipping cream, whoa, wish I could be on that diet:) Then of course adding water to keep them hydrated. I'm just glad Carsten is eating more meats in his diet even if it's pureed such as chicken nuggets and pasta. But I'm trying not to be anxious and wait on their timing and expertise to bump him up to the next level. God is in control for sure.

I'm getting to know the moms better and I've really enjoyed just spending time with them. It's just kind of this ahhhhhhh you understand feeling. I wish I could take them home with me:)

I'm sure we'll get emails and stuff. So that's about it for now. The big team meeting is Thursday at 9:30 which I'm anxiously awaiting to see what they say as far as prognosis. Thank you for your continued prayers, they are invaluable!!

Toodles for now,

Kari

Update

2009-09-19T17:09:00.002-05:00

We've approached our first weekend here at KKI. The weekends are going to be considerably slower here, yet he still gets his three meals a day with the feeding therapist. I got a pass and was able to go across the street to their workout facilities and get a good workout in and I feel so much better. It was so beautiful outside today, perfect fall weather, actually makes me miss the north quite a bit. I'm really hoping we end up in DC next year. I got some pictures of the front of Johns Hopkins Hospital, it is pretty neat to be at the same place where the movie Something the Lord Made was filmed. (If you haven't seen it it's such a good movie about the two men who pioneered the first cardiac surgeries here)

I've gotten to know a couple of the moms in the program better in the last week. The Lord is really opening my eyes and showing me that I'm not just here for Carsten but to support and love on them too. It's so nice to be around moms who just "understand" what it's like to have a kid with feeding problems and just be able to spend time with them. There is only 4 other kids in the inpatient feeding program and my roomate is scheduled to leave in the next two weeks so I'm sure someone else will be coming in. Carsten's meals are going well. He's up to 30 bites a meal with pureed food and they're working on open cup drinking once a day then separately with the therapist till he can learn the skills better. She said by Monday Carsten should be cleared to eat anything pureed, so far it's been chocolate pudding, applesauce, yogurt, and carrots. I'm anxious for them to move on to textures but I know I have to be patient and wait on the protocol but maybe by the end of next week he can move to a more junior consistency.

Please pray for the three other moms here and their situations, one has three other kids at home and a husband deploying in October, I can't even imagine! I hope I can be an encouragement to them and they would see God's joy in me. I will try to post some pictures later but gotta get ready for the Razorback game, GO HOGS!!!!!

Blessings,
Kari

Finally rested and rearing to go

2009-09-17T09:11:00.000-05:00

Well we finally got our first GOOD night of sleep last night. Got all the kinks worked out with the nurses coming in and so forth and Carsten slept like a charm and I did too. So here we go on day #4, only 52 to go! Carsten's feeding therapist is AMAZING, I really really like her and can't say enough good stuff about her. She's actually a behavioral psychologist. Believe it or not, all kids are fed by behavioral psychologists here. Then they get OT, PT outside of feeding sessions. Basically they all work together in the most harmonious way I've ever seen and are all constantly communicating with each other. The OT and speech therapists let the psychologists know when they're ready for more texture, etc.. based on assessing and working on their oral motor skills. Carsten gets speech and OT three times a week plus his three meals a day with the behavioral psych and they are also putting in a PT referral for him. But the program is VERY psychologically based, it's so interesting, reminds me of my psychology classes in school. Then between sessions we go to the awesome playrooms which are supervised, ahhh, supervised, which means momma gets a break every once in a while. But by the end of the day we are EXHAUSTED!

So, today they are making some big changes with his eating schedule. He's not going to be fed any formula through his tube AT ALL during the day . Then tonight we will start running his pump into his intestines all night long so he still gets his formula at night. The goal is to increase hunger during the day but maintain nutrition. It's going to be hard for me just getting through today knowing I can't feed him but he will still get his three meals then start the pump tonight. When they start pushing volume during the day they will SLOWLY decrease the pump feeds at night, and voila, that's how they wean them from the tubes.

Our BIG problem is drinking. They want him to learn to drink from a cup and he's been drinking from a straw for almost a year now. The problem is it's hard to get the volume and measure with a straw so we're going to an open cup. He has a lot of trouble with figuring out what to do with his mouth and and his tongue gets all in the way. So, the OT and speech will be working on that and letting the feeding therapists know when he's ready to do open cup drinking.

That's about it for now. Breakfast went great, just trouble with the open cup, but he's taking all his bites. They have all these terms I've never heard of before but apparently we're still at baseline treatment where they're taking data and determining how compliant he will be with his bites. There are two people in the treatment room when he's eating, one feeds and the other has a computer and takes data. I will try to take some pictures if I can. Got to go grab him and take him to OT and speech. Will update again later.

Blessings,
Carsten's feeding coach:)

Quick KKI update

2009-09-15T20:41:00.000-05:00

Well we're on our second day going into the third. The team is amazing, really amazing. I am blown away by how systematic, detailed, meticulous they are about everything that goes in/out of the kids. I have been feeding Carsten at all his sessions so far in the treatment room while being recorded with the therapist watching from the dark room. He's had two really nasty throw ups so far with texture, but starting tomorrow, his feeding therapist will take over. So far, he's eaten mainly pureed foods but today he had a pureed hot dog, Carsten's first meat he's ever had!! It's really amazing how they can puree anything down so smoothe, I hope they teach me. His feeding therapist is amazing, awesome, so positive and encouraging. She and the OT who watched him today are very excited and think he's going to make some great progress and that he has a really good foundation of eating the pureed food. I think they're already going to begin on textures which apparently is way ahead of most the kids. It's a VERY stringent protocol on how they do everything. The sleep situation is not great so please pray that we get rest. I think I have maybe a 5X5 space including his crib but thankfully Carsten's crib is nice and he's been sleeping okay. The verse that came to me all day yesterday was "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus." So, I'm not going to complain about the little "bothersomes" of being in a hospital and just be thankful we're here. I was thinking about the story of Corrie Ten Boom and the flies in the Hiding Place. Great book if you have never read it. Anyway, I'm blown away by everything so far and so thankful we're here and can't wait to give more positive exciting updates!! It looks like it will be the full 8 weeks. I have a meeting with the whole team next Thursday and they will give me goals/expectations/plan so we'll see how that goes. By the way Baby Bridges is kicking away pretty much all the time I can feel him/her, this week is 18! Thanks for your all your prayers and encouragement. Oh, most of the kids in the program all get sick from each other at some point or another, apparently a stomach bug went around a few weeks ago so we missed that, whew! Please pray for divine protection for Carsten that he would not catch any "bugs" or community viruses while here, I'm believing in faith that he will stay well. Will update again soon.

Love,
Kari

Baby Bridges update

2009-09-11T13:03:00.003-05:00

Well we had our first ultrasound this morning! The whole Bridges Bunch was there so that was fun. Carsten was looking at that big screen I'm sure thinking, "I'll show YOU pretty soon!" Ha.

We even got a shot of Baby Bridges waving at us! The Lord has been good to us and we're so thankful he's brought us this far and given us faith to trust Him for his wonderful gifts.

I'll post a pic of the ultrasound one of these days when I'm not trying to pack for an 8 week trip:) The baby looks healthy thus far and the main thing we wanted to see, the heart, had four chambers and everything you would expect to see this far along. We didn't even venture down south so sorry but no sex report yet:) Chad is ALL about surprises and I too admit it would be pretty special to find out the sex the old fashioned way so we're shooting for that if we can make it:) Oh some other fun information was that I am actually 10 days further along than we thought, 17 weeks, so now our projected due date is Feburary 14th, Valentine's Day!!! How great is that, our little Valentine baby, God is so good. Happy Friday everybody!

Trusting Him,

The Bridges

2009-09-09T13:27:00.000-05:00

So I've decided this morning I'm going to write a book, it will be called "Christian parenting and children with disabilities, how to be a grace-filled advocate." That is how I felt this morning after I chewed out a therapy supervisor on a voicemail anyway. The verse that came to my head later was when Paul was talking about "doing what he DIDN'T want to do." Yep, that's me pretty much all of the time. Well I'll let you guys know when I figure out WHAT EXACTLY to put in the book, I think I'm about 20 years (or never) to figuring it out. I have so much to learn about being Carsten's advocate yet so much more to learn about being grace-filled. That's all I will say about that, I'm definitely a work in progress.

We leave Saturday for Baltimore!! I got my hospital packet in the mail, I read every word of it and let me tell you I'm going to bring the exact amount of underwear they tell me, no chances of getting kicked out:)
I'm looking forward to the drive with Chad and the weekend, hopefully some good family time before we say our goodbyes. I'm thinking the hardest part is going to be that I can't eat seafood and we'll be right on the east coast!! I'm sure Chad will get a lobster or something Sunday night to rub it in:) I don't see the hospital offering lobster anyway so I shouldn't be too tempted otherwise.

Chad always talks about the one positive reason you go to the hospital is for having a baby. Well, I have to respectfully disagree with him now. This is a pretty positive reason and I just know the fold out couch, roomie with screaming child, cafeteria food, boredness, trying to contain a two year old, tiny room with one phone, constant vitals, (ugh) no privacy, separation from my spouse will all be worth it in the end!!! I'm think this time will be much different than the NICU stay and open heart surgery.

I heard baby Bridges #2 heartbeat this morning! This was the second time I've heard it. Waited for 2 hours to pee in a cup, get my blood pressure, then listen to the heartbeat; definitely worth it though and Carsten was a trooper as always. I'm 16 weeks this week, unbelievable. I need to post some belly shots soon! Someone told me yesterday for the first time she noticed a "bump":) Now if I could only count my love handles in the back as part of that "bump"!

Soon to be blogging from Baltimore!
Momma Bridges

Atlanta NASCAR race

2009-09-07T20:11:00.008-05:00

Okay Ladies, take a nice close look at the hot guy in the middle of the picture. Look closer, yep, believe it or not it's Tom Cruise!! My darling husband was inches away from the heartthrob of the century last night at the Atlanta Motor Speedway while I was home eating takeout pizza and changing poop diapers!!! Now if that is not WRONG, I don't know what is!!

I wasn't really jealous about Dale Earnheart, Jeff Gordon, or any of those other people he got to see while he was watching the race from the PIT! But this just draws the line!!! Bitterness aside, Tom is pretty hot in person don't you think? Chad is calling him by a first name basis now, I guess he feels that being a foot away from him for 5 seconds qualifies:)! I would post more pics from last night but seriously what else do you need to see:)

Now take a look, this is the real hottie right here. I think he beats Tom Cruise anyday:) I'm so glad you had fun last night babe!

KKI here we come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (It's for real this time!)

2009-09-02T14:12:00.003-05:00

Just got a call from the KKI girl this morning, the finances have been negotiated and she asked if we could be there by late next week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've been crying all morning I'm so excited!! I found out at the gym, the people probably thought I was crazy when I started raising my hands, crying, laughing, and screaming. But I don't care, we're going to Baltimore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We want to stop and give GOD the GLORY first!!! This is all him and we would be stupid not to thank Him for making this happen. He is so good to us and his plan and timing is perfect. We are trying not to put all our hope in KKI but continue to put our hope in God. We know it might not be a miracle fix to Carsten's eating but we do know it's another step in the right direction. Just thinking about him possibly being able to eat a cracker brings tears to my eyes. Okay, no more crying because I already got ready and have eyeliner and mascara on:)

So here are some prayer requests if you think of Carsten and our upcoming adventure. Please pray that Carsten, Chad, and I arrive safe home on Saturday (I've been in NWA visiting family for the past week and a half and Chad flies into Little Rock tomorrow to ride back with me). Pray that I remain calm and get everything done that needs to be done before we leave next week. Pray for safe travels to Baltimore (we don't know if we're flying or driving yet) and that Carsten would NOT get sick before we go or during our stay which could really prevent him from making good eating progress there. Pray for Chad and I, this will be the longest we've been away from each other (the program is 6-8 weeks). It's nothing compared to a deployment which I'm sure we'll face one day so we're looking at this as practice:) And please just pray for wonderful, amazing, progress and a child that eats primarily by mouth when we leave.

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!!!!! That's it for now. We might look into a small laptop for me to take to Baltimore so I'll definitely be blogging through the program to give ya'll updates:) Thanks for your prayers, love, and support.

Love,
The Bridges

KKI - feeding clinic

2009-08-28T17:20:00.000-05:00

We just got word from our case manager that the inpatient feeding clinic in Baltimore has been APPROVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you can imagine me with the biggest happy face and many happy tears that is how I look right now! We had almost given up but we decided to try once again here in the Tricare south region and it looks like it might work out. Waiting on a call from the KKI people for a date and they still have to negotiate prices but it is looking VERY positive! Please continue to PRAY for this, it has been a long road and much battling and the relief Chad and I feel is indescribable. I just pray that so many others will be able to go with Tricare insurance as well. I will post more details as they come but we're hoping to be there this fall!

Love,
A VERY HAPPY Momma Bridges

Panama City Beach!!

2009-08-20T11:48:00.003-05:00

We took a little trip down to PCB a couple of weeks ago. We're so close this year we couldn't pass up the opportunity. Nana came with us and we all four had a great time!! Carsten loved the sand this year and he might as well be a fish he likes the water so much! We were blessed to have our AC breakdown the first night and got upgrated to a beach front condo, ha!!
Nana even watched Carsten one night so Chad and I could go out on a much needed date. It was a great trip! Enjoy the pics.

More PCB pics

2009-08-20T11:38:00.001-05:00

Panama City Beach!!

2009-08-20T11:25:00.003-05:00

Bridges Update

2009-08-11T09:01:00.000-05:00

So I've been slacking on my blogs lately. I kind of wanted to just let that last one sink in a little before I posted another one:) I can't believe this is week 12 of pregnancy for me:) I have an appointment tomorrow and I'm anxious to hear the heartbeat. Our due date is February 24th. Carsten is very excited to be a big brother let me tell you. We got to babysit a sweet little 6 week old boy last week and it was fun to watch how Carsten responded. He was just STARING that baby down in my arms let me tell you and he was NOT happy about it! He would look at Chad, then look at me and try to climb up and sit right next to me, hmmmm, I think someone was JEALOUS!:)

We had a fun week last week with Carsten, Chad, Nana, and I. We went to Panama City Beach for a few days and it was a blast. The weather was perfect and it couldn't have been a nicer break. I will post some pics from that a little later.

Other than that, I'm still struggling to get Carsten started with all his therapies, this has been a very hard move for us in that respect. The services are slim in the area and the therapists are not recommending a frequency I'm happy with. Our case manager is still working on a feeding clinics other than KKI. There is one here in Atlanta and one in Florida that she's looking into so we'll see how that goes. I'm praying/thinking about putting Carsten in a two day Mother's Day out program at a local church here in Stockbridge. He's been doing really good at the church nursery on Sundays, loves it actually, (I cried when I saw his first little craft that he made in there, what a great feeling as a mother:) and I think he would really enjoy being around some other kids for a little more during the week. So the program is Tuesday and Wed from 9-12, nothing huge but gives me a chance to do some errands and him have some fun. I've got to call today to see if they'll take him (the last church said they weren't "equipped") so I'm praying that works out.

That's about it for us. I'm feeling really good so far. Had a little morning sickness at first and my main symptom was EXHAUSTION. I literally couldn't stay awake during the day. But I'm past that now and feeling great. We don't know if we'll find out the sex yet. We didn't want to know with Carsten but ended up finding out so we might wait this time:) However, I am craving the traditional pickles and ice cream, hmmmm:) Anyway, so fun I get to blog through this pregnancy, we didn't have the blog before Carsten. We would REALLY appreciate any prayers offered up for Baby Bridges B and for Momma and Daddy Bridges to have calm hearts trusting and thanking the Lord for His GOOD gifts:) Toodles for now.

An Unexpected Birthday Present

2009-07-29T18:08:00.000-05:00

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

More birthday pics

2009-07-20T12:35:00.002-05:00

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!!!

2009-07-20T12:24:00.006-05:00

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.

Tube troubles

2009-07-16T08:29:00.002-05:00

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

Friends

2009-07-14T13:59:00.002-05:00

"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:)