Colby's Big Day !!!

(If you're holding Colby while you're eating, he'll watch your fork go from your plate, right up to your mouth. Sometimes he'll open his mouth like he's thinking you're going to feed him.)
(And sometimes we do give him a lick of whatever we're eating. We haven't really found anything he doesn't like yet.)

(Whenever Tracey and I travel, even for a day trip, we love to find coffee shops and just have a coffee an pastry or something. This shop was more of a typical breakfast dinner kinda place on the way home from the Cape. Colby seemed to have loved it because he was giggling and smiling almost the entire time. He loves to get out and about. Usually when we bring him somewhere he'll get all excited, kick and wave his arms and start babbling. Such a cutie!!!)
(Colby's also entering the phase where everything....EVERYTHING goes into his mouth. We sat him in his own little chair which put the edge of the table within reach. And no...we didn't let him chew on it. )

(Our little gummy boy. Hopefully some day soon he'll start breaking some teeth!)

Well, today is Colby's big day. We're having his birthday party today. Mother nature seems like she's on our side today as it's going to be an absolutely beautiful day. Colby's actual birthday was on Wednesday, but we were away and it was the middle of the week. So we've got big plans for our boy today. I think he must know it's his special day because he's been very happy and vocal this morning.

I'll post pics from his party either tonight or tomorrow morning.

Heading home

(Colby in his cool shades. Thanks again for sending them, Caz!)



(Mom, Brige and I)

(We brought our bikes and then rented one of those trailers to plop Colby into. He really seemed to enjoy it. He just babbled a little bit during the ride, but apart from that, just sat there and looked around.)(I love all the life in the ocean. Evan and I throughout the years have always searched through tide pools, waded into marshes and looked for fish in the ocean. We bought a couple of basic ocean poles for the trip and tried fishing a couple times. However, we had no luck what so every. I had a very large chunk of sea week on my line here...but hey, it looks like I'm pulling in a lunker!)

Thank all of you for your comments on the blog and e-mails! It's amazing to see so many people from so many different places following Colby's journey.

Well, we're wrapping out our trip to the Cape and heading home today. What a wonderful vacation. Our little boy turned 1 and had a couple of firsts....first time to the ocean, first bike ride, first time in a pool. I hope to get home at a good hour today as we have Colby's B-day party on Sunday and we still have quite a bit to do. I'll have a ton of pictures come Sunday night or Monday!

Happy Birthday Colby

(Colby at just a couple days old)

(Colby's first month was a long one for him. His intestine ruptured which made him have a colostomy bag for a bit. But he fought strongly and did very well. He also get aquainted with the CPAP)
(Colby's second month saw more challenges. They put his belly back together which put him back on the resperator for a bit.)
(Maybe at month three he knew he was #1. Colby got off the CPAP and we started to have discussions with the doctors about bringing him home.)
(Month 4 brought a couple of ups and downs. We were told we would probably be bringing him home around Christmas. Then just a couple days before he was to come home we were told he would need to be transported to a new hospital to have stest done regarding his hydrocephalus. Colby spent his first Christmas in the hospital while mommy, daddy and grandpa visited him.)
(Colbys fifth month brought him back into the hospital to have a third ventricalostomy to treat his hydrocephalus.)
(At 6 months he got his shunt)
(After his shunt was placed, he really seemed to blossom. At seven months, he was sitting up in his bumbo)

(At eight months, he was a happy little boy and really starting to giggle)

(Nine months brought summer and warmer weathe to get him outside more.)(Colby's 10th month showed a lot of progress with his motor skills, babbling and interaction.)(At eleven months, Colby really figured out he had a tounge and started sticking it out a lot, sitting up and babbling ma ma ma, da da da and ba ba ba)

(And here's our big boy just a couple days ago, sitting up big and tall taking in the world around him.)

To my son,

Mom and I waited many years to meet you. You came into this world in an extraordinary way, fighting and working so hard to overcome challenges that life brought you. This must have been a sign of what an extraordinary boy you would become. Mom, myself and so many others supported you throughout it all knowing that with some help, you could overcome just about anything. And look at you now, one year old, a happy, strong little boy. Growing, babbling, laughing away, you melt the hearts of so many. You've bought such joy to our lives and completed me in ways you can never imagine. That's all because of the wonderful little boy you are.

Thank you Colby for coming into our lives.

I love you,

Daddy

Colby's Birthday Eve

(I still love the black and whites.)
(Colby on the living room floor in his blow up thing for the pool. It's great now that he can sit up. It's fun to put him in things or allow him to sit up and look around.)
(There was a time when he swam inside of his bumbo. Now it fits him snugly.)
(Sitting up like a big boy on a bench with mommy.)
(Tracey, Mom and Ron.)(The family.)

Here are some pictures from the Cape. We had a great summer with a couple trips to Maine and now even a week at the Cape. Colby took his first trip to the ocean beach yesterday. Tracey kept him in the bjorn and he was fine.

Every so often I look back in my e-mail to the e-mails I was sending out before I created the blog. I read the e-mail from one year ago today. We were obviously still pregnant, still on bedrest and ow so very tired. Tracey's contractions had strengthened and we were continuing to count the days of staying pregnant.

It's neat sometimes to look back at times that were difficult and see how you made it through. It puts things in perspective a bit. We would never had thought that the pregnancy would have taken this turn, or that Avery would have passed away, or that Colby would have so many issues......or that Colby would be doing so well now just one day shy of turning one! He's an absolute joy and it's wonderful to watch him grow and blossom.

Everyone that follows his story is part of his journey. Thank you all again for your interest, caring and support.

Two more days until Colby's Birthday!

Wow, how time flies!!! I can't believe there's only two more days until Colby's Birthday! I guess because he didn't come home until he was 4 months old, then things have been so busy with doctors and all, and lastly, I guess because developmentally he's around 7 months, it just doesn't seem like he's going to be one!!!

We're out at the Cape this week. Colby is doing so well. I don't know if it's just me or not but I think he's doing his eye thing a little less. He's starting to reach for things, bending over and stretching his arms out in front of him to try to get at things. Especially if you have him on your lap and are doing something, he's starting to become a handful. Or if you have him in his bumbo, in months past you could just tend to your things and know that he'd be sitting there peacefully. Now you need to make sure he can't get into anything. It doesn't bother us one bit though, this is the kind of think that we want him to do!

He's really starting to respond vocally too. Sometimes he'll repeat "ma ma ma" or "ba ba ba". It's so cute because it seems like he takes a big breath and works hard to coordinate himself enough to make the sound.

I'll try to take some pictures and post them in the next day or so.

Pictures, pictures, pictures

(Colby's first boat ride....light seems to trigger his eye thing, so we had a hard time with him being out on the lake.)

(It's funny because Colby seems to really watch us when we're on our laptops. He'll try to reach for the keys or the screen too. Here Evan was on Tracey's laptop and Colby had one of his toys. It seemed like Colby was hard at work on his make believe laptop.)

(Evan showing off one of his catches)
(Colby's first look at a lobster....or should I say...lobstah)


(Maine wildlife)

(The boys talking on the back of the boat during one of our fishing trips....guess the fish weren't biting given the fact that both their poles are laying in the boat.)
(Colby after a bath)
(Colby will watch us as we eat things. Sometime he'll even get his mouth going or open it wide as we put food in our mouths. We figured we'd let him try some different things....one being a lemon)
(Surprisingly, he didn't seem to mind the lemon at all and kept opening his mouth for more!)

(The "Reed boys" at camp)