Monday Morning

Sorry....no pictures today.

And honestly nothing too much to report. Colby went to a family event this weekend. It was the first time a lot of people were able to see him. Over the winter months we had to keep him a bit sheltered in fear of the RSV virus. Now that it's beyond the cold season, we can be a little more liberal with bringing him places.

Thank you Caz for the sun glasses !!! They fit him really well. He's not a big fan but he's never had anything on his face before. I'll need to get some pictures and put them up.

Colby's first birthday will be here before we know it. Plans are in the works to celebrate his big day. I'm looking forward to it!

Anyway, sorry I don't have anything big to report, but it's been a while since I posted so I wanted to give some kind of an update. I'll try to snap some pictures this week and get them posted.

Splish splash...

The Dave Matthew concerts were....well...awesome!! I love what he sings about, his life experiences etc. I won't go all psycho-Dave on you all so I'll wrap up this discussion here.

I had a wonderful first "real" father's day. I've been a step father for years now and I consider Evan to be my son. He has a father who's in the picture and I'm not trying to replace anyone. But this year, it was different, actually having a baby......cool stuff! Thank you so much for your posting, my love. : ) I am a lucky man. Tracey and I go together like hand and glove. I said this a long time ago in a post, but she's the right foot, I'm the left and together we walk through life. It's so true. I've grown so much since I've been with her. I'm not sure what these past 10 months would have been like if it would have been with anyone else. I thank YOU Tracey for all you are and all you do!

Thank you Mary, Randy and Hannah for the awesome pool!! Colby seemed to enjoy it. It comes in very handy in the warm weather now! His eyes seem to be very sensitive to the brightness. So any time we're outside, he's either squinting or looking straight down. So you can't see his face in the above picture, but he was having fun.

You can see the dirty little pool behind him. That's Hamilton's. haha He LOVES his pool too! He was a little jealous of Colby's fancy pool, so we filled his pool up for him.

My work is slowing down a bit. Although I work with people from all walks of life, I specialize in helping school teachers. Now that summer is here and they're out of school, things get a little easier for a couple months. I'm looking forward to spending more time with Colby. It's exciting times now. He's very alert, sits up a bit on his own. Is starting to grab at things a little. By summer's end, I'm sure he'll be even farther along.

Happy Father's Day To An Amazing Man

I became the luckiest woman 11 years ago when I met this very cute Spanish tutor. He not only taught me Spanish but he has enriched my life in ways I can't even begin to explain. As many of you know Scott is a wonderful person. He gives his heart and soul to everything he does. As a husband and father he often puts his family's needs before his own. I am so happy that our children will have a role model who is not the typical male figure. The world needs more men who view the world like Scott does. Scott I love you so much. Thank you for not only being an amazing father but a wonder husband, son, friend and person. You often say that everyday you want to work towards making a difference. Well I can say that you accomplish that goal more than you probably realize. You are an inspiration to all who know you and even to those who have brief encounters with you. Thank you for choosing me for this amazing journey we are on. I can't imagine it with anyone else.

I Love you my Partner, my Friend, my Lover and my Husband.

Tracey

To the beach!!!

(There's our silly boy!)


( I was on the ground holding Colby above us, up in the air....and things got a little messy.)(Put your sunglasses on....the glaring white thing behind Colby is his daddy. haha)

(I love the way this picture came out.)

Tracey and I blasted to the lake in town today for a couple hours. I needed a break from work and it was great to spend some time with Tracey and Colby. It was Colby's first time to any body of water. He seemed to like it. He always gets very serious when he's around water. But he mellowed and a bit and did well.

Nothing too new to report with the Colbster. He's out with Tracey and Evan tonight doing a little Father's Day shopping.....hmmmmmmm.....

This weekend is a big weekend for me. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a big Dave Matthews nut. Dave is coming to Hartford, so I'm going...umm...both nights. hehe. Going with a couple friends tomorrow then a larger group on Saturday. So if you don't see any posts for a bit, I'm just recooping from some good times with friends.

Video: Mix of short clips and Colby rolling over

Here's a mix of short clips from yesterday and today. He's doing so well lifting his head and he's starting to roll over from his belly to his back on his own.
We've been watching him the last couple days because he has a cough and a runny nose. It doesn't seem to stay with him, but rather it comes and goes. So we're hoping it's not a cold. Maybe just some allergies or something.

Lil' piggies

Tracey works Saturdays, so it's Colby and I. We had to run out and do some grocery shopping and it's supposed to be in the 90's today, so I found a nice cool shirt in his drawer for him. What a cutie!!!
(Colby says "no need for a bib daddy....I'll just use my shirt!")

Before we left, Colby took a nap and it was time for his morning cereal with apples. He now has apples for breakfast, carrots for lunch and bananas for dinner, each with some rice cereal added to it. This is starting to supplement his formula. We'll be very happy when he's off the formula because it's a predigested kind to help his belly and is pretty expensive.

(Colby says "What??!! I have some on my face ??!! Where?")
(He's like a little bird when he eats his fruit or veggies. He'll open his mouth wide and make kind of a moaning sound moving his head around waiting for someone to shovel some food in.)


(Notice his shirt? Yup, we're trying to teach him from day one.)
(Funny face! He'll either put his tongue out a bit, put his bottom lip in his mouth or his hand in his mouth and blow making a "raspberry" sound.)

Some have mentioned that it would be a neat idea to take some of the pictures of Colby from when he was in the NICU and do my best to recreate them now that he's gotten much larger. So here's my first attempt. His lil' piggies have gotten quite a bit bigger!

(Above: Colby's foot in daddy's hand while in the NICU. Colby was probably a couple weeks old and weighed somewhere between 2 to 4 pounds at the time this was taken.)

(Colby's foot in daddy's hand at 9 1/2 months and weighing over 13 pounds!!!)

A couple quick pictures

(Colby is so attentive when it comes time to eat! Picture taken a couple weeks ago.)
(Happy, happy boy)

Colby's first trip to camp

(Colby says "Hello everyone....can you hear me? I'm way up in Maine at a Sebec Lake where there's enough mosquitos and black flies to suck me dry in under 2 minutes!" )
(This was taken the night we got there. Colby was awake for a while, so Tracey plopped him in his bjorn as we got settled into camp...that's what they call a cottage up there...."camp")
(This was taken just this morning before we headed back. We had to act quick before the black flies and mosquitoes found us.)

Ever since I was about 2, I have been going up to a lake in Maine called Sebec Lake. If you're not familiar with Maine, it's right smack dab in the middle of the state. Quite a ways up there but a beautiful area and well worth the drive.

I have a lot of memories from spending time up there. We'd go every summer and have become very good friends with the Cummings family. Their family owned the house next to where we used to rent. They have three children, Jodi, Jason and Jennifer, all about my age. Through the years, we'd get together every summer for a week or two, pick up right where we left off the summer before and enjoy the time at the lake. Now they too have grown, all of them married and Jodi now has two girls, 18 months and a newborn. We get together each time we're up that way. It's beyond what I can express in words to see Colby now starting to get to know Jodi's children.....just as I became friends with them.

Colby marks the 4th generation of Reeds to spend time at the lake. Now that we own a place up there I'm so looking forward to him making memories of time spent fishing, swimming, sitting at the campfire, fighting off black flies and mosquitoes and all the other things that go along with vacationing in Maine.

We had a wonderful time. Colby was a great traveler and just sat in his seat, exploring his voice and making all kinds of funny sounds for the majority of the 6 plus hours it took to get up there. He only fussed once on the way up and once on the way back and this was because he was hungry. We'd pull over, feed him and he was happy as could be.

I'll need to get more video because he's really blossoming with his interaction, motor skills, head control and overall interaction with the world and people around him.

Thank you Caz and Mari for your comments!