So we already have a few hundred pictures of our perfect little boy so if you want to see them all click below:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mcjenson

We will do our best to keep it updated with anything new that we don't put on the blog. There are just way too many cute pictures to choose so this will make things easier all around.

Carter has been doing extremely well sleeping, eating, and entertaining us. He only wakes up about twice during the night and he sleeps for 3-4 hour increments, so Christina is surviving pretty well. Hopefully these good habits will stay. He also has been very alert since day one. He stays awake and alert a few times a day for 1-2 hours. It's just so much fun to watch his every movement and facial expression. We just can't get enough of him!!

Carter is exactly one week old this minute! We have had a fantastic week with him. He is just the cutest! He loves to be snuggled, and he is doing pretty good of getting the hang of feeding and us in general. He is also pretty alert for a new born. He will stay up for an hour or two a few times a day with just the biggest eyes trying to take everything in. He does well at sleeping in his crib, but he s having his diaper changed. He usually only cries if he is hungry or if we change his diaper. We'll see how long that last. ;-)

We are just so thankful that he came into our lives healthy and strong. It's so amazing that he is finally here and we are loving every minute of it!

Here are some of his latest photos. Carter is will my very first college roommate and friend, Amy. Then he is sleeping with Grandpa Habel.

Christina's best friend Cecilia stopped by for a minute since she was in town. He found his thumb really good. We wonder if that trait will last.

Mike's brother-in-law Steve who didn't want to hold a baby, but is doing pretty good. Then there is Christina's Aunt Cindy who's excited to have another great-nephew.

So right after we got home yesterday we headed over to the bank to sign for our new vehicle! With the problems with Mike's truck, as well as it not being a family vehicle we knew that we needed a new vehicle soon. Mike has done tons of research and he finally found this great buy of a 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Since most people are getting rid of their SUVs because of gas prices, we got a steal of a deal on it. It has a V-8 engine, with only 42,000 miles, as well as automatic everything, sunroof, and 4-low drive option. It's truly so fantastic to have a reliable car that we can all fit into comfortably. Things were extremely tight yesterday when we took home Carter, so it's nice that getting the car seat in and out is an easy process now. We are still looking to sell our truck, so we pray that we'll be able to do that soon.

Christina's sister, Sarah who just had her boy a few weeks earlier also had to get a new vehicle, but they had to upgrade from a minivan to a 12 passenger van! They also wanted to have the option for natural gas to save a ton on filling up, but sadly the van doesn't have any automatic locks or windows. They still love the van and it's nice to have all of the family back in one vehicle.

Home Sweet Home!!!


After 4 days of recovery at the hospital our little family is ready to go home. Right after the surgery Christina was nauseated for about 4-5 hours, but she has been feeling pretty good since then. She is still a little slow getting up and down, but overall things are looking really good. They took the staples out today and put steri-stripes that will be in place for about 10 days over her incision. It was a low bikini line horizontal incision, and it looks to be healing very well.

We were excited to put Carter into his going home outfit. Unfortunately the 0-3 month overalls were just a little too big. :-) We absolutely love putting shoes on him. What a stud!!

He really had no problem going into the car seat and he stayed this way the whole way home. Never once opening his eyes or crying. Hopefully the good behavior will last. :-) It was fun to take him home in our green machine, even though we're getting a new car tonight (more details to come.)

It feels so good to finally have Carter in his room. It was so much fun preparing it for him, and now it will be even more enjoyable.

Wow! What a weekend!! We were blessed on Friday, July 11th to finally bring our little boy into the world. He did not come as expected naturally because he ended up being breeched with his bum down. We did not find that out until Christina went in for a "routine" non-stress test. They weren't able to turn him manually because there were not enough fluid, the uterus was tight because it was our first, and our baby was so big. So the only option was to have a c-section. This was a very hard reality to grasp at first, but we felt much peace and reassurance as we prayed and Mike gave Christina and our baby a blessing. Our doctor was going out of town for the weekend for a family emergency so she would have loved if we came back in an hour and a half and had the baby on Thursday, but we didn't feel like we needed to rush that much. So we scheduled to have a c-section on Friday at 1pm. By the time we got there, checked in, and the anesthesiologist came it was 3 pm, but it turned out for the best because Christina's mom was able to fly in, and all of Mike's family was able to be there as well.

A cesarean delivery was kind of scary to go through since Christina has never had any type of surgery, but Mike was absolutely perfect and supportive through the whole ordeal that it calmed her down tremendously. He was even brave enough to watch the surgery. Our little boy Carter Lewis came into this world screaming at 3:57 pm weighing almost 8 pounds at 7 pounds and 15 ounces, and he is also a long boy of 21 inches long! No wonder Christina had such a large tummy! :-)

No matter how a baby comes into this world it is truly amazing, and even though Carter's birth did not happen as we thought it would the Lord knew best because Carter had created a "true knot" in his cord. Meaning that if he had come vaginally we would have probably had to do an emergency c-section anyway because the knot would have pulled even tighter and caused more complications. The Lord has been watching over us from the beginning and are so blessed to have Carter in our lives. He is absolutely perfect in every way. Even in his first minutes into this world he was already trying to open his eyes and take everything in. As well as licking his lips and searching for something to eat.


Here is our first family picture. Carter already knew how to frown. What a proud looking new Dad!! It's crazy how quickly you fall even more in love with the life that has been growing for 9 months. We're getting along really well. :)

Carter already has so many people that love him. Thanks to everyone who came by to visit, sent emails and texts, or called. We loved seeing and hearing from everyone.

So today is the official due date of our baby boy, but sadly he has not come yet. :-( We've been so ready the last few days that it was kind of hard to hear that Christina hasn't really progressed at all. She still hasn't dilated and the baby hasn't dropped enough yet. Plus, she hasn't had very many contractions, especially painful or consistent ones. She is though about 80-85% effaced, so that is positive, but it may not be enough since everything else is so tight. So, the plan right now is to have a non-stress test for the baby on Thursday morning. Then on Monday Christina will be checked to see if her cervix is ready enough to be induced, and if it is not then she'll be put on a drip that night and then if all goes well she'll be induced next Tuesday. So, if all else fails naturally then we'll have our little boy next Tuesday, July 15th. We'd love to be induced this weekend, but the hospitals will not let first time mothers be induced any earlier than a week after their due date. Hopefully he'll just come on his own this weekend! We'll keep you updated! :-)

Happy Fourth of July!!!

We started off our holiday with taking Mike's truck to a shop to get the engine replaced. We were doing really well until a rod blew and black smoke and oil came barreling out behind the truck. Our little green machine was covered in oil from it. Luckily we were able to exit safely, but we were so sad that the engine now was completely shot. The twisted piece of rod that Mike is holding was the culprit that put a huge whole in his oil pan. We're lucky that it didn't shoot out and hit anyone or anything. We were kind of close to the shop, but with the engine shot we had to have Mike's brother Dan come and save the day and tow us the rest of the way with the Land Cruiser. It was sad to leave our truck, but hopefully the guy won't have any problems replacing the engine. He said he'd get it done this weekend, so we'll keep our fingers crossed.

We did have some fun though today by buying a video camera! We got a great deal on it at Best Buy. It is a 30G Hard Drive recorder, and we got an extra battery and a sweet case for only $470. Plus, we even got a 4 year replacement warranty for only another $120. It may sound like a lot, but we think it is the best deal out there, especially for the hard drive models. We also love that it is blue. :-) Now we are officially ready for this little guy to come so hopefully sometime soon!

We finished off the day by going up to Park City to watch the fireworks and enjoy the cabin afterwards. Absolutely perfect! The boys had some fun juggling the Boccie balls that glow in the dark. It was way entertaining!

Happy 19th Birthday Andrew!!!

He got the absolutely coolest looking Mountain Dew bottle from Angela. It was perfect!



We're so "happy" to have you as a brother. ;-)