A Big Boy Bed!

Saturday night D made a big move!  He was loving the bed all day Saturday, but when bedtime came he was a little nervous.  (Although he wasn't nearly as nervous as his mama and daddy!)

He was sure to take care of all of the important things before settling down for bed.  He blew his nose...

"Ugged" his monkeys and doggie night night,

and waved good-night to us.

He was such a big boy that he didn't even want to read Gadget before getting in bed!  He knew something was going on, and when Justin gave him bedtime kisses his little bottom lip started to quiver  but he never cried!

He didn't, but I did!  Oh, I can't believe how quickly he's growing up!

D went right to bed and didn't make a sound.  He was sound asleep when we went to check on him before going to bed ourselves, and when we went in to get him Sunday morning...

He was still snoozing away!

 

D woke up a happy man,

told us all about his big boy sheets,

and looked pretty rested from his first night as a BIG BOY!

Where, oh where, did my little baby go?

Wordless Wednesday...My First Bowl of Cereal

A Sneak Peek at the Big Boy Room...

They've been working so hard,

well, Justin and Papaw have anyway.

This guy is SO excited he can't stand it!

And neither can I!!

It's getting there....

Twenty One Months!

{Late again.  I'm so sorry buddy!}

Derrick, you are already  TWENTY-ONE months old!  Wow, how time is flying away so quickly that I seriously have a hard time keeping up!!

You haven't been weighed at the doctor's office lately *thank goodness!* but according to our scale at home you have officially FINALLY hit the NINETEEN POUND mark!  You've been hovering right around it for a while, but you've finally made it I think!  You're still wearing size 3 diapers and your 12 months pants won't stay up without a belt.  I'm ready for spring so we can put you in shorts that actually fit you.  The pants thing is rough!  It's high-waters all the way if the pants actually fit in the waist.  And you know we can't have that!

You have become a much better eater lately.  You're a meat and candy kind of guy, but we'll take it!  You love "chick-n" and burgers.  Add in the dip (of any kind) and you're a happy guy!

You love to "Draw paper."  And I love Color Wonder Markers! :)

Ignore your outfit...you had just woken up from your nap so your jeans were off and you "needed" to wear your fireman boots!

Your big thing the last few days is cereal!  You ate a bowl of cereal the other day all by yourself and since then you've been hooked.  You bring the box of Fruit Loops to me and say "noodles, please."  We can't figure out why you call cereal noodles, but...

You think you need a "bork" (fork) for everything you eat.  Sandwiches, pizza, green beans...you name it, you need a "bork" to eat it.  You'll say, "Bork, need it.  Please."

You've finally mastered jumping.  You jump a lot, especially when you're sleepy and trying to stay awake.  You'll jump and jump and jump...

You think anyone who is not at our home or with us is at work.  You'll go through and list all of your cousins and anyone you know and say they're at work.  It's so funny!  It surprises us at how many people you remember though!

You've been talking about Jenny Kate lately.  You'll randomly say, "Jenn-ee Tate.  Work."

You talk mostly in phrases now.  They would be complete sentences (and some are) but you haven't figured out conjunctions and articles yet.  You pretty much have the rest down pat (even showing possession).  The words aren't always in the correct order, but they're there and they form a complete thought.  It's pretty crazy how much you say!

You can count to 10 when you want to.  You often leave out a number here or there, but you mostly have it.  You only do it on your own terms though, never when asked and certainly never for an audience!

You have this new thing for Vanilla Ice.  We watched a marathon of "The Vanilla Ice Project" on DIY one day and Daddy decided to download "Ice Ice Baby" on the computer.  Apparently you two jam to it a good bit when I'm not home and now anytime either of us is at the computer you say, "Ice Baby!"  You LOVE it!  I know, I'm sorry! :)  It does bring back memories, though! :)

You've learned the color red.  However, you call everything red.  You'll point to something red and say, "red," but then you call everything else red too.  I guess technically maybe you don't know the color red, but you do know that red is a color! How about that? :)

When I came home from work the other day you walked up to me and said, "Mama, hug."  Oh, how you have stolen my heart little man!

We read about 15 books every day.  I'm not exaggerating!  You'll bring a stack of three or four books to me and say, "Couch, read."  When we finish all of those books you say, "Nother one" and you'll go get another stack.  This will continue as long as your daddy or I will sit down and read.  Your favorite 'daytime' books are your Moses book and Ted's Red Shed.  We still have the list of books we have to go through at night too.  Inspector Gadget is still top of the list, along with The Little Engine that Could and two animal books.  You'll try to sneak in Itsy Bitsy Spider some nights too.  It literally takes 30 minutes to get you to bed but I don't mind at all.  I love our special time together and I LOVE that you love to read!

You have a memory 100 miles long.  Oh, my, you can remember things!

For some reason when daddy tells you "No," you tell on him.  I'm not sure if you're tattling or if you're upset that he told you no.  Even if he doesn't say "No" but says "Not yet," or something like that, you'll look at me and say, "No.  Daddy, no."  We haven't figured out why you're doing that.

Daddy set up Guitar Hero in the playroom and you ask to "Rock out" almost daily.  I can see the guest bedroom being turned into a sound-proof room in about ten years to support you and your love of music.  Loud music.

You still LOVE to dance!!

Little man, you sure are growing up fast!

Cheeky, you are more and more fun every day.  You keep us laughing all of the time...even when we shouldn't!  We're trying to savor these last few months of you being an only child because soon your little world is going to turn upside down!  We're so excited to see you as a big brother, but we're nervous too.  We don't want anything about you to change!!  You are such a sweet little man (although you do have a rotten side!) and we don't want to lose any of that sweetness.  We couldn't be happier with the little boy you're becoming (although we wouldn't mind if you would slow down a little!) and we love you more than you'll ever know!!   

To the moon and back, Cheeks....

Mama and Daddy

P.S. Anyone who's reading this...don't forget about the pancake breakfast!  Let me know if you want tickets!!  We'd LOVE to have you come out and support Hope for BraveHEARTS!!

Happy Glenn-iversary!!

 How a little guy can go from this...

to this...

in less than 24 hours is simply amazing.

And how that little guy can be here, like this...



one short little year later; full of life, highly-energetic, and bounding with personality is nothing short of a miracle.

And we thank God every. single. day. for the incredible miracle of His healing hand, modern medicine, praying friends, and spunky, 'complex-little-hearted' little boys.  

Happy Glenn-iversary Derrick! 
  

Things You Don't Want to Miss!!

The Saturday before Christmas we took the first donation check down to MUSC from Hope for BraveHEARTS.  We were so excited to present Dr. Graham with a check for $7,500 for CHD research.  We owe an enormous thank you to everyone who participated in the golf tournament, the breakfast in October, the bazaar at Christus Victor, and has sent in donations for Hope for BraveHEARTS.  It is purely because of generous hearts that our first donation was such a success. 

Elizabeth, Jess, Dr. Graham, Abbie & me

While we were at the hospital we took Christmas gifts to all of the pediatric cardiac patients and cookies to the nurses.  We got to see the new step-down unit and have a quick visit with some of our favorite doctors and nurses.  It's always nice to visit the hospital when you're there only for a visit.  :)

The other big item on our agenda that day was the Ronald McDonald House.  I don't know if you've ever stayed at the RMH before, but until we stayed there after Derrick was born we had no idea what an amazing place it is!  You could literally stay at the RMH and eat every meal, take every shower, and sleep every night (in a sleep number bed, I might add) for only $10 a day.  And if you can't pay your bill when you leave, you just leave.  There's no big X on your credit, there are no harassing phone calls telling you that you owe them money.  Nothing.  They ask that you remember them when your luck is better or to pay when/if you can.  Their main concern is that you focus on your sick child, and nothing else.  

Several Texas Roadhouse staff met us at the RMH to help out with some chores and to serve dinner.  They brought ribs, barbecue chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, those melt-in-your-mouth Texas Roadhouse rolls with cinnamon butter...mmmm, and sweet tea.  There was quite a crowd for dinner (way more than any of us remembered while we stayed there) and they sat around and chatted when they were finished with their meal.  It was such a homey feeling.  And maybe, just for a small second, it seemed that they could forget where they were and why they were there, and really enjoy themselves.     

Andy the Armadillo even came along to visit the kids who were staying at the RMH.

Hope for BraveHEARTS has a jam packed year planned with some things you don't want to miss!  We have our second annual Fatz Cafe pancake breakfast scheduled during CHD Awareness Week.  The really exciting part about that is that this year there will be TWO breakfasts!  One in Irmo on Saturday, February 5 and one in Easley on Saturday, February 12.  If you can attend either of those breakfasts, we would love to have you there!  

Tickets are $7 and kids 4 and under eat free.  We'll be serving pancakes, sausage and fruit from 7:30am until 10:30am.  We're looking for people to come eat, to help serve, and to help sell tickets.  We would love to have to work our fannies off because so many people come out to eat!  Please leave a comment or email me if you're interested in helping in any way.  (carolinacarters@gmail.com)

We will be collecting recipes until January 25, so if you have been meaning to send those in there's still time.  I have SO enjoyed getting recipes everyday in my inbox.  I've tried many of them out already and let me tell you, the cookbook will be well worth it when it comes out!  Be on the lookout for it to be available to order at the beginning of February.  

Also we have a fun contest for CHD kids and brothers/sisters/cousins/friends of CHDers to design the new HBH t-shirts.  Check out our website for the details. 

Thank you all so much for all of your support.  Knowing that there is a huge group of people out there willing to support a cause like CHD research gives so much hope to those of us who look at those little zippered chests every day and wonder...

Thank you!!