Ow so happy......

("hey baby.....")
(Happy boy)

Over the past week or so, Colby has just been blossoming. He's extremely content and happy....more like the Colby we used to know before his surgeries. He's found his voice a bit more and babbles quite a bit. he'll lie on the floor below his toys and bat at them for a good 1/2 hour. He'll hold his head up and look around and watch as you walk around. He'll grab onto things well.

So he a follow up visit at UCONN yesterday. I've said it before but I'll say it again....I just love the people at Uconn! The doctor has seen him a couple times and looks him over for developmental progress, general health and his lungs. As we sat there and the doctor and his assistant looked over Colby, we could hear him commenting on how well he's progressing. You could hear he was a bit surprised to see how well Colby's motor skills were, how he tracked with his eyes and how he held his head up. After he got done he told us that he's very pleased to say that Colby is right on track....as if he were a full term baby !!! Isn't that amazing!!! They were very happy with all that he's doing and how interactive he is. He really doesn't have any reflux or eating issues. Yes, he has a sensitive stomach, but that's about it. Tracey and I were just thrilled. We try to work with Colby as much as we can to help him progress and to hear that he's doing well just makes us so happy.

The doctor made mention that he would love to see a new kind of MRI on Colby to see just how is brain is functioning because for a baby who had level 3 brain bleeds, hydrocephalus and 2 surgeries on his head, Colby is doing remarkably well. These special MRI's are only done in certain places like Boston. And we don't need to subject Colby to any more sedation or stress that he's already been through. So I although it would be interesting to know how his brain is really doing, I don't think we'll go that route.

I asked the doctor about his lungs and asked on a scale of mild, moderate and severe....where was Colby. He categorized him as being moderate.

Both growth and weight wise, Colby is in the catching up. His head circumference hasn't changed since his last surgery. So that's all good news.

I have to believe that Colby's doing so well has everything to do with the attention he got while he was in the NICU, the help he's gotten since he's been home and the ongoing support, thoughts, prayers and well wishes from all of you!

Sometimes we look back at all that we've been through and think "how the hell did we do it?". But then you look at times like this and it all makes it well worth while. Life is never easy, if it's not one thing it's another it seems. But within the mess of work, finances, or whatever else goes on in your life, it's the times like these...times that you've worked so hard and long for that finally come to be that make it all worth while. Tracey and I worked hard for 4 long years to get pregnant. Then came the whole NICU experience and all that came with it. Then the Home-hospital-home-hospital and home yet again and ongoing troubles with Colby's health. We're by no means out of the woods, but at least for today we have a blossoming young boy that just seems to overcome the odds over and over again. Yup, some of the days in the past year or so we looked at each other and said "man...this sucks". But now we're enjoying our son and are just ow so happy that he's doing as well as he is!!!!