Carson David Pratt

Carson decided to arrive a little early but thankfully, he's a happy and healthy little boy.  It was a little crazy but it's over!!!  We finished his room just in time - here are a few pictures of his nursery:

I went into the hospital Monday with nausea and some "braxton hicks" (or so I thought) and I was told I was having contractions one right after another.  Long story short, I didn't progress and was sent home around 6pm.  By 8 oclock, I was having major contractions about 4 minutes apart and by 9:30, they were 2-3 minutes apart.  We made it to the hospital around 11:15 and Carson was born via C-Section (which was horrific - I'll spare you the gory details but let's just say my anesthesia didn't quite work and I felt almost everything).  He arrived 12:44am, weighing 7 pounds 13 ounces, 18 and a half inches long.  Although, today at the doctor, they said he was 20 inches.  I KNOW a baby doesn't grow an inch and a half in 6 days!  So, his height is still under discussion.  :  Regardless, pretty big for 36 weeks and 6 days.  His lungs weren't quite ready for the outside world so he was on oxygen for a few days in the special care nursery.  

Big Brother Michael LOVES "baby Tarson" and always had a kiss ready for him:

Sorry - I can't seem to get this picture to flip vertical on the blog.

After we thought we had the all clear to go home after being in the hospital for 4 nights, his biliruben count went up and we had to stay another night and do another check Saturday morning.  He had to do phototherapy on Saturday which was sad but HYSTERICAL.  How can you not love the picture below.  He had his own little tanning bed.  :)  But after this treatment - we busted out of the hospital and finally went home!!

Headed home!!!
We made it home just before Michael headed to bed - and there was no going to bed for a while!  Michael had a serious playtime with Carson which was one of the sweetest moments of my life thus far.  There's nothing like siblings.....

Sleeping Baby......

We put Carson in a swinging chair yesterday and attached the toys.  He was so excited he went cross-eyed!  He had definitely never seen "toys" and it was so cute!

Still sleeping.....

I'll add more pictures as they come!  Thanks for all of your prayers and help!!!

Snow...snow....more snow.....

There are 8 inches of snow on the ground (just from last night and today) and we're expected to get snow for the next 4 days.  Yes.  It's VERY snowy here and only going to get snow-ier.  Luckily, Ryan found some high school boys to snow blow our sidewalks and driveway so no more manual labor for him.  So, instead of spending all of our time shoveling today, we played in the snow!  Here are a few pics:

Yesterday, we painted in the basement with our new art "apron" that uncle Doug painted for Michael.  Here's M looking like Picasso:

Where did December go?

We went to Texas for several weeks over Christmas and it was a FABULOUS break from the cold weather here in Chicago.  We were lucky enough to miss the two, yuckiest, snowiest, rainiest weeks of the year so far here.  It saved Ryan's ears from bleeding from hearing me complain so much!  ha!  

We took over 300 pictures while we were there so here are just a few.  We've been VERY busy lately getting Carson's room ready.  He comes in 5 weeks and I can't believe we're about to be a family of 4.  That kind of creeps me out!  Once we're done with his new room, I'll post pictures.  And Michael's room has undergone some serious changes too!

M took a stroll outside Grammie's condo when we got there:

We met Melody and Luke at a bouncy place in Southlake but I think Ryan had the most fun:
My awesome friends threw me a surprise breakfast shower for Carson:
Michael rode his first big wheel thanks to Grandmommy:

This is Michael's attempt to be a thug like his big cousin, Corin:

For some reason, I can't upload any more photos right now but if you want to weed through 300 pics, let me know and I'll send you the link to our family shutterfly account!