Bridges Update

I have to confess I haven't been faithful to our blogsite again! Hopefully these recent pics will make up for the the time since our last post:) We have been pretty busy lately. We arrived home yesterday from our trip to Florida, yep, just mommy and daddy this time! Carsten stayed at his Grandmomma's and Nana's while we were gone. We went to Saint Augustine Florida for a week and let me tell you it was the best thing we have done all year. Chad and I got to rest, well, as much as he would let us. Chad is a fan of the memorials, museums, forts, tour sites, trollies, etc... The funniest part about watching him on these trips is during our museum visits. He HAS to read every little caption on the walls and memorials about the place where we are. No skipping anything! So, most of our pictures are me walking way ahead of him trying to get him to keep going so we can either get to the food or lounging area!:)
Carsten had a fun time with his grandmothers and I think they were glad to have us home so they could get some rest too! Praise report on Carsten's eating, he is now eating cereal and baby food!! I included a picture of daddy feeding him some rice cereal. He will eat about 2-3 servings a day. Still no bottle, but we are so thankful for the progress he is making and know that his drinking will come in time.
Another important update is our moving plans this July! We will be moving to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas for a year. Chad has been accepted into a military studies program and will get his Masters during our stay at the post. We are excited about our move and I am especially curious to see what life is like on a military post!
Enjoy the pics! I will post more soon...
Love,
The Bridges

Carsten's Dedication

Hi Everyone,

We had a pretty busy week last week. I am now a proud wife of a Major! (That would make me a Lieutenant Colonel by the way). Chad had his promotion ceremony on Friday and is now officially Major Bridges. There were tons of people at the ceremony and lots of family came in to see him. I had to pin him during the ceremony which was quite interesting. I didn't know exactly what to do and Chad said that I stood there at attention like a soldier the whole time:) After the ceremony, I threw him a party at our house. Then Sunday, we dedicated Carsten at church!! It was a very special day and of course we both cried. The verse we picked out for him was Revelation 4:11 "You are worthy our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being." Carsten has started to memorize it but it will probably take him a while to get it down:) We picked this one because we feel like the Lord has created Carsten for a specific purpose on this earth and we are both very proud to be his parents and watch him grow to fulfill that purpose. Thank you for supporting and loving us during the good and bad times. Many of my friends seem to be pregnant right now. In particular, you can pray for my friend Amy who is pregnant and came down with the flu. That can be scary and I'm sure miserable to be sick and pregnant. Please pray for a speedy recovery and protection for the baby. Back to being a mommy and will post again soon!
Momma Bridges

You know you're a mom when

You Know You're a Mom When:
You spend all day feeding, changing diapers, and removing snot and other bodily substances
You have to do at least 2 loads of laundry a day to keep clean throw up rags
You maybe have taken a shower by 4o'clock
You are on a playmat in one spot ALL DAY
You are starved for human conversation when your husband gets home
You're house is a constant tornado site
You've never been so happy when you're husband gets home and you can have a break and do something for yourself
All day is centered around getting him to take a nap!
Getting ready to go someplace like church is a two hour ordeal
You're car won't start because you haven't driven ANYWHERE in so long:)
You're constantly putting your baby back on his tummy when he rolls over so his head doesn't get flat in the back
You are SO excited when family comes for the weekend because you know they will help out
You are constantly wiping a runny nose
You are always saying "NO" and he has no idea what you're talking about
You are always waiting in a some waiting room to see some doctor and you don't even know what was accomplished afterwards
You are the happiest person in the world when you get your baby to smile and laugh
You're favorite part of the day is the morning when you get to snuggle with your baby in the bed
You get to show your baby off to other moms:)
You are so proud of your baby for the smallest things like babbling and rolling over
You wouldn't change a thing or take your life back before you had him:)
You are blogging instead of being a mom and doing housework:)

Have a great day!
Love to all,
Momma Bridges

Free Day!!

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

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

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

Love,
Momma Bridges

Christmas and New Years

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

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

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

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

Momma Bridges

Tired

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