6 Month Old Pictures!

SWEET, SWEET BABY!!

Colby Turns 6 Months Old Today!!!!

Well, today is the day. The big 6 month old birthday. I can honestly say that it has been a real joy. Granted, the first couple of months, during all of the colic, were some of the roughest months of our lives. Ever since Colby got tubes in his ears, he has been a little bundle of joy. He is always smiling, laughing, talking and putting everything in his mouth. Last night, we played peek-a-boo and Colby loved it. Every time I would pop out, he would let out the loudest belly laugh. I considered it a milestone. Margaret and I just laughed and enjoyed the moment.
So, how is he doing now? He is on a fairly good schedule. He gets out of the bed about 8AM and eats his breakfast which usually consists of 6 oz of formula and a stage 2 fruit. He plays for a while and usually takes a mid morning power nap. (30 minutes if Margaret is lucky) He eats again at 12 (7-8 oz of formula). If he gets a little hungry between 8AM and 12PM, we usually give him some Pringles and cheese dip. Just kidding. He usually gets a juice mixture of 1/2 apple juice, 1/2 water. He plays a while then takes a decent nap from 2-3 or 4PM. Next is dinner. Usually 6 oz again and a stage 2 vegetable. (sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, green beans...........no peas). He plays again and then takes another 30 minute power nap between 6:30 and 7 ish. Then at 8PM, time for a bath, 8 more oz, then off to bed. By the time he finishes his bottle, his eyes are usually struggling to stay awake. If all goes well, he sleeps from 8:30 PM to 6 ish. He will wake up for a few minutes around 6, Marg gives him his pacifier, and he goes back to sleep until about 7 or 8AM.
Sure beats the "feeding every 3 to 4 hours, 24 hours a day".

Changing Every Day!

In four days our little boy will be 6 months old and we can't believe it. My goodness how time flies. Colby is changing every day and it amazes me how wonderful God is to have entrusted us with such a precious gift. God's creations never cease to amaze us. We are so thankful and proud that Colby is our son.

Colby is working on sitting up now and his new favorite thing to do is to jump in his jump-a-roo. He gets in it and jumps until his little legs can't jump anymore. If we turn some music on while he is jumping he smiles and goes crazy. He is eating fruits and vegetables however he does not like peas and squash at all. (They make him gag ) We are finally getting on somewhat of a schedule now that the holidays are over and that makes for a happy mommy and a happy baby. Colby has developed his own little personality and we love to hear him giggle. I think he is going to be a talker like his daddy because he talks all the time.

Next week he will go for his six month check up and get more vaccinations. The vaccinations are no fun what so ever, but at least they are quick. Tomorrow we are going to make a trip to TCDC, my old work, and visit with everyone there so they can see how much he has grown.

We hope that everyone has a fun and exciting day tomorrow.

P.S. The picture above is a picture of Colby with his cousin Riley from Christmas Eve. My brother Jon and his family stayed with us for Christmas and it was so much fun seeing Colby and Riley together. Riley is 2 months younger than Colby.

He Did It!

This evening, Colby, Margaret and I were visiting with our neighbors Deann, Parker and Kinley. While we were there some friends Patrick, Lindsey and John Patrick (who is a couple weeks older than Colby) stopped by. Colby was having fun watching all the kids. We were talking about how he could not figure out how to roll over, his elbow kept getting stuck underneath him. While we were all sitting there talking Colby was on his back and would you believe it, he rolled over!!!!! Everyone in the room was watching him try to roll over and we all cheered when he finally did it. Next up, sitting up on his own.

Colby is now 14 lbs and growing like a weed. He is eating some baby food now. He is not too crazy about carrots but loves his sweet potatoes. He is doing so much better now that he has his tubes in. Much happier baby these days. (Much Happier Mommy too!!) Now if we could just get him on a napping schedule and sleeping through the night we will be doing good. He truly is a blessing to us and we are so very thankful to be able to spend each day watching him learn and grow.

We have so much to be thankful for in 2008 and we are looking forward to 2009 and a lot of firsts. His first crawl, walk, words, teeth and all that good stuff. We are so thankful for all of our friends and family and for all the memories we have made this past year. We are looking forward to many more in 2009. We hope that everyone has a very Happy New Year!!

Tubes Are Done

Colby had his tubes put in this morning and everything went well. The surgery was over before we knew it and we were back home by 8:00a.m. The doctor said that he still had a little bit of fluid behind his ears so that it was good that we decided to go ahead and put the tubes in. Colby is doing o.k. He has been a little fussy today but boy does he have his appetite back. We are hoping that he gets a good night sleep and that by tomorrow morning he will be a happy camper. Thanks for all your thoughtful emails and prayers.

Tubes Tomorrow

Well, early tomorrow morning we will be heading to Children's South for Colby to have tubes put in his ears. He has had 4 double ear infections back to back so the ENT said that he needed to go ahead and have tubes put in or else he would just keep getting ear infections. So tomorrow morning we have to be at the hospital at 5:45a.m. and his surgery is scheduled for 6:30a.m. They said that the surgery itself will only last about 15-20 minutes and he will be in recovery about 30 minutes before they bring him back into the room to us. I know that this is a quick and easy surgery but I am still nervous about handing him over to the nurses and him being put under anesthesia. We are hoping and praying that everything goes well and that Colby feels much better afterwards. We will let you know how everything goes. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Completely Humbled!

So I was sitting in the waiting room with Colby at his GI doctor's office thinking about how tired and stressed I was because this was our 4th doctor's appointment this week, all of which we had to wait at least 1-2 hours in the waiting room, and Colby was fussy and next to me was this 11 year old girl and her mom. They started asking me how old Colby was and the little girl(Jordan) was talking to Colby and asking me why we were there. I explained to her that he has reflux and that he had an upper GI done last week and that we were here for the results and to talk to the Dr. more about his reflux. I continue to sit there just feeling sorry for Colby and everything that he has been through already and getting really tired of waiting rooms and I start talking to Jordan about why she is at the doctor. She and her mother explain to me that Jordan has Chromes disease, colitis, and severe acid reflux. My heart just melted. Jordan continues to tell me all about her situation and how sick she is all the time and her mom just looked so tired. Her mom explained to me that Jordan was up 4 out of 7 nights of the week doubled over in pain for 1 year until they finally found Dr. King and he diagnosed her. Before that some Drs. thought that she may have bone cancer, some said it was all in her head, they really didn't know what was going on. Her mom said that she is doing better now but that she is on a lot of medicine and steroids. Jordan proceeded to tell me about her best friend who was 10 years old who is at Children's because he has leukemia and just had a bone marrow transplant. Jordan was telling me all about this boy's condition and how his white blood cell count was slowly coming back up and how no one could go see him because of his low immune system. Again, my heart melts. Here I am feeling frustrated because we are having to wait so long to see all these docs. and here is this 11 year old girl who drove an hour and a half to see this doctor and this little boy in the hospital who is so sick and can't even see his family. I am truly humbled by their strength, patience and courage. And all this time Jordan is just talking and playing with Colby and being so sweet.
So I wanted to ask that this holiday season you all pray for Jordan and her family and for the little boy in the hospital with leukemia. Jordan's mom was struggling with trying to decide if she should pull her out of school and home school her because she misses so much and the school was giving her a hard time about that. So please pray for healing and comfort for Jordan and wisdom and peace for Jordan's parents. And please pray for a miraculous recovery for Jordan's friend in the hospital and that he will continue to improve and that his family will be able to be with him soon. I can't imagine going through either of these situations and am in awe of the strength and courage of these children and their parents. This just reminds me to be so thankful that we have eachother and to be thankful for the people we have in our lives. I know sometimes life is rough and our situation that we are going through at that time may seem terrible but just remember as Jordan's mom told her "hey, it could be worse". There are so many people out there who are truly suffering and in need of a miraculous recovery. Please Pray!

Romans 12:12- " Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer,"

Completely Humbled,
Margaret

Tubes It Is :-(

Well we went back to the ENT today because Colby has double ear infections again and he decided that we need to go ahead and put tubes in. Colby did not pass his hearing test in the right ear but they think that is because he has a lot of fluid in that ear. So next Thursday morning our little man will get tubes :( I have mixed feelings about it because I know that he will be much happier and feel much better afterwards but at the same time I don't want him to have to undergo anesthesia. The doctor said that it is light anesthesia so that is good.
We would like to ask you all to please pray for our little one next Thursday that everything will go smoothly and for his mommy and daddy to be strong.

Colby needs your vote!!!!!

Hey Everyone, Marg entered Colby into a baby photo contest. Please forward this to your friends and family. Here is the link. Please vote.

https://www.greatamericanphotocontest.com/voter1/index.aspx?referid=EmailFriends&p=895769&x=.jpg

Here is the picture that was entered:

4 Months Old!

We hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday. We enjoyed spending time with family and friends. Oh, and the food, of course. We have so many things to be thankful for this year but the thing we are most thankful for is our little man right here. He is so much fun and we love him to pieces. As our 4 year old neighbor says "I could just eat the fire out of him." I cannot believe that he is already 4 months old. Today he had cereal for the first time and loved it. He did really good for a first timer. We have heard him laugh a couple of times and it is the sweetest laugh I have ever heard. I think back to before Colby was born and remember the times when Scott and I didn't know if we would ever be able to have children. I think of all we went through to get him here and realize how truly blessed we are that he is here and happy and healthy. We had so many fears due to me being high risk, but we knew that we had to trust in Him that everything would be o.k. I am amazed at this tiny little miracle and feel completely blessed. We love our little man and feel privileged to be his mom and dad.

HALLOWEEN PICTURES

OUR LITTLE PUMPKIN!

GOT MILK? EAT MORE CHICKEN!

MY GIRL ISABELLA!

Colby's First Hair Cut!

Colby had his first hair cut today and he did well. His hair had gotten so long that it was hanging over his ears and down over his shoulders. So today he and I went to the Salon and both got new do's. Melissa just took a very little bit off around his ears and in the back but took a lot off of mine. What do you think?

OUR NEW DO'S!

Big Day for Colby!

Today was another first for Colby. I had Bible Study this morning so Colby went to the nursery for the first time. I was a little nervous, mainly because I am a fanatic about germs and stuff, but the nursery workers were so sweet there. When I came to pick him up one of the ladies was rocking him and all three ladies said that they were taking him home with them. They said that he did great and that he loved watching the other babies crawling and walking around. One lady that everyone called Nana, said that she had to rub his hair one more time before we left. It made me feel good to know that they enjoyed keeping him and are looking forward to seeing him next Monday. I was very proud of him for doing so good and felt very comfortable with the ladies there.

Tomorrow will be very interesting because Colby is getting his first hair cut. I know some of you probably think that I am crazy cutting his hair already but his hair is growing so fast that it is very long and shaggy looking. Seriously his hair is down his back and is hanging over almost to the bottom of his ears. He is having his 3 month pictures made on Thursday so he's got to be looking sharp. We will post a picture of his new do tomorrow.

Still Have Ear Infections!

Well, yesterday was one of the hardest days we've had in a while. Colby was still acting like he was painful and then around lunch time he started having breathing problems again. So, back to the doctor we went. This visit was a ROUGH visit. The doctor ran blood work, collected urine, tested his ears again and took a chest x-ray. Colby screamed for every single test. Lets just say he was pitiful and there was nothing we could do to help him. It was 2 hours of sheer pain for Colby and us. The doctor came in and said that his white blood cell count was high and that meant that he was fighting a virus, probably a little cold. He also said that his ears were still infected so they were going to give him a rocephin shot and continue his antibiotics and that should help knock out this ongoing ear infection. So after Colby finally calmed down and fell asleep they came in with the shot and that sent him and me over the edge. The screaming was so bad during all the tests that another doctor came and asked me if we were ok. I just feel so sorry for the little man he has been through so much.

Today was a little bit of a better day. Colby got a pretty good night sleep and then we got him up and ready and off we went to his GI appointment. This appointment went much smoother. No tests. We met the doctor for the first time today and loved him. He was so helpful and encouraging. Oh, and he was hilarious. Which is exactly what we needed after yesterday. He explained a lot to Scott and I and he said that Colby's ear infections are due to his acid reflux. He made some changes to Colby's meds and is going to do an upper GI in November to check the anatomy of Colby's digestive system. We are praying that the changes to his meds and the increased antibiotics will get Colby feeling better soon.

We would like to ask that you keep Colby, Scott and I in your prayers. Please pray that God will heal Colby of all these issues and give him peace and that He will give Scott and I patience and faith that Colby will be better soon. Thank you all for all your thoughts and prayers.

The Pumpkin Patch

Marg, Colby and I went to the pumpkin patch in Clanton with our neighbors Jeremy, Deann, Parker and Kinley. We had a blast. It was our first trip to this "patch". What an experience. It reminded me of an old time country fair. Food booths, pony rides, tractor rides, petting zoo's, inflatable slide, an Indian Village and the famous Hayride to the Pumpkin Patch kept us all busy. We ended up finding some great pumpkins.

Question For All You Moms Out There! Please Help!

Well I did it. I knew when I typed the blog "It's A Miracle" that I was probably speaking to soon and sure enough I was. Last night was a rough one. Colby went to sleep at 9:30 as usual but then he tossed and turned all night and woke up at 2:30 a.m. and was screaming crying until 6:00 am when he finally fell back asleep. Needless to say Scott and I were both worn out by 6am and very GROUCHY. Well this morning Colby still was not acting himself so I took him to the doctor and you won't believe it, he has 2 ear infections again. The poor kid is on his third set of ear infections and is only 12 weeks old. We did not get to see our doctor today but the doc that we did see thinks that we need to go ahead and start talking about tubes. He said that he would discuss things with my doc tomorrow and they would give me a call. Well as I was walking to my car I ran into my doc and he was shocked to hear that he has 2 more ear infections but said that he thought Colby was a little young for tubes, which I think I might agree. I have seen tubes do wonders and am not against them but I feel like he is a little to young for them.
So my question for all you moms out there with children that have had tubes is, how old were your kids when they had tubes and do you know how old kids usually have to be before they do tubes?

The Potato Harvest

I was cleaning out the flower beds the other day when I got a little surprise. We had a little 6ft round flower bed in front of the house. There is a flowering crab apple in the middle. Well, we decided to plant the green sweet potato vines around it this past spring. I was pulling up the vines when I came across a big sweet potato. I was shocked. Then I found another one. Marg and I called our neighbors to come help us "harvest the potatoes". We were going to let Parker and

Kinley each dig up one of the potatoes. Needless to say, we found many more. We now have a five gallon bucket full of sweet potatoes. It was blast watching the kids get all excited!

It's A Miracle!

We could not believe it. Colby is finally starting to sleep through the night! Yeah! Last night Colby went to bed at 9:30 p.m. and slept until 6:30 a.m. Granted last night was the first time, he normally wakes up at 4 a.m, but we are hoping that this will become a routine. If so, I think I just might be able to survive motherhood! Maybe!
We really had a rough start with Colby, because he had so many different little issues, but thanks to all of you who have been faithfully praying for him, I think he is finally starting to improve. We still have a few little issues and have to go see the GI doctor next week but I feel like he is really starting to feel better and is a lot happier. I think that we are starting to develop somewhat of a schedule and he seems to do better with that.
He is starting to smile a lot more and even laugh a little. I honestly think he has the sweetest smile I've ever seen. He is having his 3 month old pictures made on Fri. and I am hoping that they can catch some of him smiling so you all can see.

Colby's First Baseball Game

Tonight Colby went to watch his cousin Gage's baseball game. He had fun visiting with friends and family and cheering on Gage. This was Colby's first baseball game to go to and he did great. He loved looking at all the lights.

GAGE

COLBY & MIMI

Maggie's 1st Birthday!

This weekend we went to Atlanta to celebrate my niece Maggie's 1st birthday. We had a great time and Colby made some new friends. We cannot believe that Maggie is one already. Time sure does fly by.
We also were able to meet my new niece Riley Elizabeth Walsh. She is so precious and small. She was born on Oct. 3 and weighed about 8.5lbs. We were unable to get pictures of her on this trip but we will get some next time.
This was Colby's first trip so we were anxious to see how he would do in the car. Well, we left out early Sat. morning to beat the lovely Talladega traffic and he slept the whole way there. We partied all day on Sat. and then that night he got to spend time with his aunts, uncles and cousins while his mommy and daddy went on a much needed date. On Sun. we had lunch with the Kellers and the Dykes, had several good laughs, and then headed home. Colby was a little fussy the first half of the trip but then he and his daddy slept the rest of the way home. All in all it was a great trip and we were glad to get to see everyone.

MAGGIE

KELLER KIDS, MAGGIE, COLBY

BENJAMIN & MAGGIE

COLBY HANGIN WITH THE BOYS