So much to say

OK ...so here's a week's worth of pics for ya. Actually, we took many more, but these are some of the best ones. That's the great thing about a digital camera, you can take 1,000 pictures, post the 5 that came out good and you look like a photo genius! I know I'm biased but I just love looking at his pictures!!! I melt inside when I look at some of them.

It's been a great week. Colby is off his diuretics. We stopped them on the 10th and he's been doing fine. It's nice to have two less meds to give morning and night. Now he's just on a multivitamin and an anti-reflux med. He takes both of them each morning and each night with his formula. We've started giving him spoon fed rice cereal in the morning and home made apple puree in the evening along with his formula and he's doing very well with that. The solid foods and an increased appetite has helped him pack on some more pounds. He hasn't been weighted since his last check up but we can see his arms, legs and face filling out more and more. He's also finally growing a little more hair. It's a slow process but you can clearly see some dark hair on his head now.

He had an appointment with the developmentalist this week. Generally a good meeting, however we question how much effort was put in to really checking his progress. It was the first time the specialist saw Colby and the whole appointment was done in 15 minutes. She quickly waved a toy in front of him to check his perception and to see if he'd grab at things. Then she held him up to see how his neck movement was and then onto his stomach to see if he'd lift his head up and lastly checked him muscle tone. The head control, muscle tone and eye movement were good. But she said that his gross motor skills were lagging (i.e. grabbing onto things, being able to lift his head when on his belly, etc). We do agree with the lifting his head while on his belly as he doesn't do that well. But it's amazing how the medical field rushes through things sometimes. You have to wonder how accurate some of their statements are if they look at a patient so quickly. But all and all a good meeting. He as another one scheduled in 6 months.

Colby has been VERY vocal lately. When we're in the car, he'll sit in his seat and just babble away. His sounds are mover vowels at this point with the exception of the "g" sound. But it's too funny to hear him testing out this new voice thing. He'll also test the volume of his voice which at time can be .....well....loud! But we love it and it's great to hear him progressing with this. It's funny though because when he's in a new place or around someone he doesn't know, he'll be really quite and reserved. Then get him home and he'll screech, babble and "goooooooooo" for 15 or 20 minutes sometimes.

It's starting to get warmer here in Connecticut so it's easier to bring him out and about. We did some yard work the other day and we had him in his stroller in the shade. He seemed to like it, just looked around, didn't fuss at all. And we bring him grocery shopping or to run errands. It's neat because we'll bump into people who have been following his journey and they're always excited to see him. It's crazy to think that he's over 7 months old and many people haven't seen him yet because of his long hospitalization and then lately the fear of the RSV Virus. In another month or so we'll be just about in the clear and will be about to continue to visit with friends and family.

And the pics

Here are a couple pics. He woke up and wasn't that expressive but I wanted to snap a couple while I could. The pictures with him in the red stripped outfit was from a good week or so ago. He's sitting in the rocker in his room.

Eyes searching wildly

Just a quick update on the little .....though growing.....Colby. He's been doing very well. He's packing on the pounds and eating well. He has a doctors appt coming up when they'll weigh him. When last we checked, he had plateaued a bit and the doctor said he needed to start putting on more weight. Since then, we changed the nippled on his bottles and he's been chugging down his formula pretty good. We can see the weight coming onto his face, arms and legs. I'll bet he's close to 11 and 1/2 pounds now.
I'm really enjoying watching him grow and progress. He's loosing his preemie look and is looking more like a chunky little baby now. I know...I know....so where are the pictures to show it? I've been bad with taking pictures as of late and need to get back on it. I'll post some soon. I promise.
He's a very perceptive little guy. He loves to look around him and see what's going on. Either when we're home or if we take him out and about, his eyes will be open wide and he'll be looking around, just taking everything in. I love bringing him with me when I have to run errands. I think his favorite store is Whole Foods.....ummm...wait....that's MY favorite store! Well, I think he likes to it. : ) He doesn't really fuss at all when we take him out and about. He'll just stuff his hand in his mouth, start sucking away and then watch the world around him. Even when we're in the car, I can look in the mirrors and see him searching from left, then to the right, just watching everything he can. If he's laying down or if one of us is holding him and the other person calls his name, his eyebrows will go up, he'll stop sucking or doing whatever he's doing and he'll search around as best he can to see where we are. I noticed just tonight when Tracey was changing him on his changing table and I came up behind her that he noticed me there right away and looked at me. It may seem trivial but for a baby that's been through all he's been through, it's these little things that just make my heart melt and give me hope that there may be little evidence of what he's had to overcome.
It's been neat too to see how he's progressing with holding his head up, grabbing onto things or reacting to our voices. Today I think Tracey even got a true laugh out of him. He smiles more easily now than he did even a couple week ago and his mouth and face will look like he wants to laugh....but nothing comes out. I can't wait until he starts truly laughing.
After what seems like years, Colby is finally starting to sleep for good chunks of time at night. He'll usually go down sometime between 9 and 11pm. Some nights he'll get up once or other nights he'll sleep right on through until 5 or 6 in the morning. What a difference that makes!!!!
So that's the latest and greatest with our little Colby. I'll see if I can get some pictures of him when he wakes up tonight as long as it's not too late.
I know I've thanked all of you before, but I'm still amazed at how many people still either follow Colby's story regularly, or check in from time to time. I've really enjoyed sharing his journey with others and it makes me feel good to see and hear that Colby has a number of people continuing to cheer him on. He's overcome some incredible hurdles and I know that the support and caring that he's gotten from so many people has made a difference in his life and ours.

Another video

Here's another video of the Colbster cooing away. He's been doing wonderful the last couple days. He's really finding his voice. This morning I heard him awake around 7am, but he wasn't crying, just lying in his bed making all kinds of noises. I let him stay there until it sounded like he had had enough and that wasn't until after 9am. So two whole hours of playing by himself, cooing and making his "goooo" sounds.

Birth to Three came yesterday morning. For the past couple weeks, whenever they came Colby wasn't cooperative. He was cranky or had belly issues of some kind. So they hadn't been able to get him on a good day for a while. He did great. He held his head up, grabbed onto things, tracked well with his eyes and responded to our voices well. The therapist said she's amazed at where he is and that at the rates he's going and that in the years to come, he may do just fine. She said his legs were a little tight, but that could be resolved from simply stretching. I asked about CP and she said that most babies who were going to have real problems would show strong signs and Colby shows none. His legs are barely stiff and it's only when you bring his knees up towards him and try to straighten his legs. Thank you Lorna for your suggestion with the chart. She knew what I was talking about and is going to bring it next time she comes.

Colby and I are off on the road again today. We're headed to Babies R Us....Colby's favorite store to get him yet another size nipple. The ones we had were too small.....then I bought ones that are too big. So we'll shoot for the middle sized one today and hope that works.

So that's the scoop. I turned off the music on the blog so you can get the full affect.

Just some pics

(Colby and his little bear on Easter day.)
(B&W of Colby and his little bear)
(Ev, the best big brother around and Colby. Tracey used the fog filter I got for my B-day. cool affect, huh?)
(I worked from home today as Tracey had to work. So I packed Colby and Hamilton up and we headed to the office so I could grab some material. Hamilton loves to come along and Colby was wonderful. He slept most of the time and I had to wake him in the office so he could see everyone.)
(Maybe one of my favorite pictures yet. Again, we used the fog filter with this one. Took it just today)

Colby is doing AWESOME! He's talking up a storm. He's eating like a champ. For a couple days, he wasn't eating much , but we think it was because the nipples on his bottles were flowing too slowly for him now that he's older. So we poked a little bigger hole in them and he's chowing down.

Birth to three is coming tomorrow morning. I'm anxious to see what they have to say. It's a bit hard because they're only here for 1/2 an hour or so. So their impression of Colby's progress depends a lot simply on Colby's mood during that time. We'll just see how it goes.

A video of our boy

He's progressing so well these days! You can see in the video that he's playing with his toys, grabbing at things and he's found is voice!!! Sometimes he'll sit or lay there and boarderline scream and screach. It's adorable!!!

He's doing very well eating rice cereal. We were a bit worried that it might mess with his belly, but knock on wood, he's been doing very well with it.

Colby's first Easter

Happy Easter everyone!
Colby has been doing wonderfully as of late. He's started to eat rice cereal. Thus far it's been two days since we've introduced it to him and knock on wood, he seems to be tolerating it pretty well. He's only having about a teaspoon or so of it a day, but it's a start. I was nervous given his issues with his belly that introducing something new would just create havoc. We'll continue to increase it every couple days or so.
He's also FINALLY starting to consistently sleep more at night. Last night I stuffed him full of formula and some cereal and he feel asleep on me around 10:30 or so. I carried him into his crib around 11 and he didn't wake up until almost 6:30 this morning!!! YIPPIEEEEE!!!!!! Boy does that make a difference for Tracey and I being able to get some good sleep!
Today was my birthday and I must say it I did enjoy being a true daddy this birthday. I can't really describe it, but being a parent really does enrich your life. : ) I'm sure all you parents out there understand this.
The weather in CT is gradually getting warmer so we're looking forward to venturing out with Colby more. He went grocery shopping with me yesterday and was wonderful. I plopped his car seat in the main part of the carriage so that the carriage acted like a cage keeping excited people from reaching in to touch him. We're still very cautious about exposing him to RSV.
And on that note just today he's started to act a bit stuffy and is coughing a bit. It could be nothing or it could be something to be alarmed about. We're going to keep an eye on him and watch him closely over the next couple days.
His weight has plateaued a bit. He's still just shy of 11 pounds. He's been a picky eater this past week, not really eating as much as he usually does. Though it's not consistent.....one day he'll eat like a pig, the next we can't get him to finish his bottles. Again, just something we're going to keep our eye on.
I got some great new filters for the camera as gifts today so I'm excited to start messing around with them. I'll post some pictures in the next day or so. Ow...and I'm working on getting some video of the Colbster as well.