Happy Day

April 8th is a fabulous day for our family because it's the day that Beckett finally got to come home!!! I am still in awe of how Beckett was only in the hospital for only three weeks. At the time, it seemed like forever, but three weeks was nothing compared to how long we thought he was going to be in there. We are SO blessed, and I thank God every day that we have Beckett.

Here I am waiting for Matt to bring the car. I kept thinking that the nurse was going to say that they'd made a mistake and he'd have to stay longer. (Weird, I know.)

Yeah! The Rakes Family leaving Parkland!! Even though we LOVED the doctors and nurses and all of the excellent care, it was time! :)

Beckett slept most of the way. When we got home, we were so excited to show him his room and the house, but I think we stressed him out. He started breathing kind of weird, and it totally freaked me and Matt out. He was fine, but we decided that we overwhelmed and overstimulated the poor guy.

Sleeping his first night in our room.

Beckett's First Birthday

This last Saturday we had Beckett's One Year Old Party!! What fun!! Since Beckett was born on St. Patrick's Day, I decided to go with the lucky and green theme. We just had a small family party over at my mom's house.

Please note the difference between the cake I had made and the cake I made for Beckett-ha ha!! Don't worry, I'm not becoming a cake maker/decorator anytime soon! :)

Beckett did not like getting his fingers messy with the icing. He kept wanting me to feed it to him.

He's not having it. Who came up with this tradition anyway?

Get this thing away!
Em and Harper (Beckett's girlfriend--he REALLY loves her) It's adorable! :)
We're so LUCKY that Beckett's one and healthy!! Thank you God!! :)

Besties

A week ago, one of my best friends turned 30! I can't even believe we are at this point-no, no!! I like to think we are still 20. :) Anyway, my other best friend and I decided to go on a road trip down to Waco to celebrate the occasion. We had a great time, besides the fact that I got food poisoning--yuck!!!

Happy Birthday Holly!! Love you!!

Harper, Emily, Holly, me, and Beckett at Cathay House

Besties!!!

What a Difference a Month Makes

I'm not really being fair. This was the only 11 month pic where Beckett wasn't smiling. I just thought it was hilarious and had to share. He really is happy and has a fun personality.

Thankful

November 30, 2007 was the worst day of my life. To hear that things are not well with your baby is an understatement. To listen to a doctor tell you that organs are where they shouldn't be makes you want to turn back time and figure out what went wrong. I remember thinking, "No, no this isn't happening. This isn't the way it's supposed to be." I felt so devastated, but yet there was still a part of me that knew God was still in control and He had a plan. It might be different than the plan that I thought I needed and wanted, but it was still His plan. I have never prayed for something so much in my life. Matt and I prayed throughout the process that God would be glorified and there would be no doubt that He was the one who healed and saved this baby.

I am thankful that He answered our prayers in ways we never could have expected. I am thankful and humbled by God's grace, mercy, power, and love. I am thankful that I have experienced God's hand divinely placed on Matt, Beckett, and me. I am thankful that God gave me Beckett to take care of, love on, and raise him to be a man seeking after God's heart. I am thankful that everyday I get to hold, hug, and kiss Beckett. I am thankful that I get to see Beckett breath, laugh, smile, and I am thankful to the wonderful Maker and Creator who intricately formed and made him so perfect. I am thankful that November 30th is no longer associated with fear, sadness, and despair, but with hope and joy that we have an amazing Savior who performs miracles. I am thankful.

Successful Surgery

Beckett made it through his surgery like a champ! He even decided that he was going to crawl for the first time the day after his surgery. I don't want to go into too many details about the surgery because one day Beckett will not appreciate it, but the surgery was unrelated to his CDH. He had hypospadias. (I'll let you google it if you want to know more about.) Needless to say, the recovery has been a little rough! Diaper changes were not fun, but hopefully we're on the up and up now! We go back in this Friday for the doctor to look at things and take some stitches out.

Thanks for all of your prayers! :) We will try to get some pictures up soon!

Surgery

I know we've neglected the blog a little this past month. We'll get some pictures up soon. We did want to let everyone know that Beckett is having a minor surgery on Wednesday. This is unrelated to his problems he had at birth and should be a routine thing, however, we would appreciate prayers during this time. It's never an easy feeling when you know your child is going under the knife. Anyway, thanks for your prayers and we'll get some pictures up shortly.

Baby Burrito

How to make a baby burrito:

1. Lay baby on back.

2. Baby turns quickly over to stomach while holding onto blanket.

3. Baby is quite pleased with himself.

Two little miracles

Beckett and I had a playdate with one of my friends from school. Beth and I both had difficult pregnacies so we bonded a lot last year. Beckett and Jillian were born 4 days apart, and it's fun to get them together and see how they interact.

So sweet....two little friends




Beckett and Jillian

Checking each other out

A Haiku by Beckett

shot days are the worst
good thing i have tylenol
teething also stinks

Beary Cute

Some updates on our little cub-- 16lb 13oz 25 1/2in
Beckett is trying so hard to crawl. He definitely has the back scoot down, and he can get up on his knees, but he's working on moving forward.

Relaxing before bed

Almost 6 Months!?!?

Time is flying! We can't believe our little man is almost halfway to a year old! Every day he's doing something new. He's rolling over, and he's trying so hard to crawl. We love playing and loving on him!! Here's some of our latest pictures. Enjoy!!! :)

Don't you just love that crooked little smile??


Already reading-makes his mama proud!!


What a precious tush!!

Love that cute little face!!!

Providence Video

A few weeks ago, we were approached by someone on staff at our church and asked if we would film a video that would help illustrate the power of prayer. Of course, we were very excited to share the story of Beckett and God's answer to our prayers. One of the things we had prayed during the months prior to Beckett's birth was that God would work a miracle and use it to encourage others and bring glory to His name. We felt like showing this video at church may have had the affect we prayed for.

Beckett the Musician

Surfer Dude!

Last night we went to a birthday party at a splash park for Matt's good friend Chris Kouba's daughter. We'd never been to one of these before, so we didn't know how Beckett would like all the water. We got him all dressed up in his Surfer Dude outfit and took him out. He seemed to do pretty well with the mist, but he'll probably enjoy it a lot more in a few months. Anyway, here are some pictures from our fun evening.

Matt, Beckett and Chris

Blog Updates

So we are very behind on updating this blog...as many of you have kindly informed us :-)

Beckett is doing very well. He's starting to smile and coo more every day. He's definitely a night owl so far and thinks his bed time is around 1am. I think he likes to make sure he can watch Letterman each night.

Anyway, here are some of his latest pictures!

Check me out!


Can't a guy get some sleep around here??



Trying to smile

Pictures

"I'm so worn out!"

Surf's up Dudes!

Sweet Baby

Dad and Beckett

Beckett after bath time.

Crazy Uncle Mark visiting with Cousins Peyton and Devin. Thanks for coming over! :)

What's wrong with this picture?

The other night Matt was helping me out with Beckett, and I asked him to change Beckett into his pajama's before I fed him. This is how Matt brought him to me-the shirt inside out!! The best part is that Matt had NO clue! :) I just started laughing. All this no sleep is catching up to us. I wonder if it was hard to snap that way.

Shots!

Beckett went to his 2 month appointment last week. The doctor said he's had "excellent weight gain" and is now 8 lbs/12 oz and 21 inches long. He got all of his injections and we heard a new cry that showed off his great lung capacity :-) Luckily, the doctor had bugs bunny band-aids to make it all better.

Here's some of his latest pictures:

Cool Band-aids


Bath Time


Too Much Fun

Playing Catch Up

So we're still trying to catch everyone up on how Beckett's been doing and we'll have some more frequent blog posts now that we have this thing up and running.

We went back to see the surgeon on Friday for a follow-up appointment and he says that Beckett looks really good. He weighed 7 and a half lbs and is gaining weight like a champ...I promise we're not doing any weight training in the gym yet.

A few people have asked about what his scar looks like. We'll put a few pictures below and one has a good view of his manly scar.

Leaving the Hospital

Old Man Beckett Pose

Battle Wound