Nature Walk and Nice Weekend

Colin fighting a nap, eating the monkey is too fun!

Going off roading in the stroller! Looking for turtles!

Katherine did not want her picture taken!

Our friend, the Caterpillar

How sweet!

Colin playing with his fish.. that's nature.. right!!!

Finally got her to sit still

Katherine's play d'oh castle.. with help from my mom

Colin seems to like to eat when he is actually hungry and not when he is being forced.. imagine that! He is now taking 5 - 5 ½ ounces every 4 hours, he still needs a middle of the night bottle just for a little while longer. Once he gets up to 5 ½ -6 ounces a bottle, we can get rid of it.
Colin’s weight gain is on track with a regular 6 month old, it’s just that he needs to gain more so he can catch up a little at a time.

Saturday Matt and I had a day date. My mom came over to watch the kids while we went out just the two of us. It is nice to get out of the house and reconnect on a husband and wife level, not as mommy and daddy for a little while. It was a great stress relief. We went out to lunch in downtown, then to the classic art museum, then out for drinks on a patio, it was such nice weather.
That night we watched football, and followed the A&M vs. Tech game on the computer. We weren’t televised, but we should have been, we actually won!

Katherine did the funniest thing.. we were playing hide and seek, and she was doing a really great job of hiding. She was doing such a great job, she didn’t want to leave her hiding spot, even though she needed to go potty… needless to say, she had her 1st accident in a long time. Man she is competitive!

Sunday we took both kids on an outing. We went to the nature preserve over by our house. Matt and Katherine found lots of interesting insects and we had a nice walk, the four of us together. Katherine though was disappointed when she figured out there was no playground at the nature preserve. So when we got back home, I took Katherine to the playground for awhile and let her run off all her energy.

This week marks a very big week for Colin, Thursday will be 6 weeks from his surgery and his restrictions are LIFTED OFF!
He will now be able to:
- Go out in public places, just for us to use our best judgment due to the flu season
- Be picked up again under his arms!!! Yeah, he is TOO big to be cradled like a baby!
- Have tummy time again. Which we were doing this weekend, working on crawling. He wants to real bad, he can go from sitting up to on his belly, he moves his arms and legs, but nothing happens yet.
- Be a 6 month old baby with no restrictions, he has always had restrictions since he was born, so this is nice.

BIG NEWS……. Colin said his first words on Thursday night! Of course it was dada, Katherine’s first word as well. So all Friday through now, he says it once then 1,000 times in a row. Katherine loves that he is now talking, she worked hard on getting him to say that, but I attribute it to the grandpas who are home with him everyday, I know they have been working hard on his first words and everything else at that!




Friday: I stayed home from work. Felt pretty bad, afraid it was the flu, but it is a viral infection in my chest, been fighting it all weekend and still fighting some today. Friday night Katherine stayed with my parents while I got to rest up and Matt watched Colin. Man one kid is easy! Forgot how quite and easy a baby is compared to a baby AND a three yr old!

Saturday: I spent most the weekend indoors, did take Katherine and Colin for a walk on Saturday just to stretch my legs. It was a beautiful day! Colin rode face first in the stroller for the first time and loved it. Katherine led the way for us.

Colin gained weight this week, but just a little below what they would like for it to be. His feeding is still a daily struggle for all who have to watch him. We are waiting an appointment with a GI doctor, but they are backlogged so it will still be a couple of weeks. I talked to the nurse practioner today and we are taking Colin off a feeding schedule and are going to try to feed him when he is hungry and not try to force him to eat at certain intervals. We will see if this mixed in with solids doesn’t pick up his appetite and weight. Colin and our cat Seager weight the same (a little over 14 pounds), Colin is a little small for his age but Seager is just FAT!

Last night Katherine had Colin laughing hysterical.
If you didn’t believe in miracles, you should now. Remember all that this baby has been through in 6 months… 2 open heart surgeries (a total of 16 hrs long), another surgery to go back in and drain fluids in his chest, 51 days in a hospital (26 of those in NICU or CVICU), severe reflux (4 different kinds of formula), countless x-rays, EKG’s, ECHO’s , and round the clock medicines.
And yet, he is so happy in life! He loves his big sister with all his heart! If he can laugh this much everyday, we all should be able to! He is our miracle and will continue to be!

Colin's Post Opt follow up and Face Painting

What.. I want to watch MY show!
Maybe I'll just eat it instead

Better get a towel!!!! Daddy you can have it back now!

I'll trade you, the remote for the beer

Katherine as a tiger??

She wanted to put in on herself.. "I'm a big girl, I do it myself"

Painting Lara's Face

Look at the artist at work

To catch up some here:

Tuesday October 6th: Colin had a follow up post op appointment at the single ventricle clinic, this was his last visit with the team, and from now on he will have his own cardiologist. We picked the doctor that was on rounds with us after Colin’s first surgery. He has been very helpful through this whole process.
Colin had a chest x-ray and EKG.. everything looked good. He has put on good weight since surgery, but still is pretty below average (5th percentile). They want him to bulk up more, so they added more calories to his formula. Tough thing is that Colin drinks the right amount but due to his reflux, he spits up a good amount each time. He was also given a new medicine for his digestive system, but after doing research on it and finding out it is a controversial medicine, I decided not to give it to him anymore. He was on it about a week. It has been linked to neurological disorders when taken for extended period of time; I just wasn’t comfortable with it really.
Colin got his stitches out and is being referred to a GI specialist about his reflux and feeding issues.
Feeding is a crap shoot in all honesty. Sometimes he takes the full bottle no problem, other times he fusses a little, and then spits up, and sometimes it’s a screaming fit. It’s hard to feed a baby that never seems hungry but HAS to gain weight, and has to gain more weight to catch up.
Other than feeding, Colin is the perfect baby really. He is always happy, smiling laughing. Last night he sat up for 5 minutes on his own. He LOVES Katherine so much! They are a great pair.

Saturday October 10th: Katherine spent the night with Matt’s parents Friday night. It was really quite in the house! Saturday we did house work and watched the A&M game, so close, yet not enough to win! When Matt’s mom brought Katherine home, she brought over Matt’s grandmother, it was the first time she got to see and hold Colin. At the retirement community where she lives, they have all gave Colin so many toys and have prayed lots for him.

Sunday October 11th: Matt and I went to the Art Fest downtown. It was very breezy and about 60 degrees. We had fun just the two of us looking at the nice art, we bought a piece for our guest bathroom. It started to rain just as we were leaving. One fun raining day activity is FACE PAINITNG. Katherine had so much fun painting everyone’s face and her own! Katherine can be so sensitive sometimes. Russell was laughing because Katherine brought him two fists full of shredded cheese, And she started crying because she thought Russell was laughing at her. Friday she pulled her friends hair at school and got in trouble, all weekend long she kept apologizing that she pulled Riley’s hair and that she was sorry. A think we have a DRAMA QUEEN!

6 months old, an Aggie Family,and the BEST Katherine video!

Saturday Colin turned 6 months old! He can sit for himself about a minute or two now. We started BABY FOOD! He is doing well with it, this morning he got cereal with bananas, for lunch some more bananas, and tonight is carrots with his evening bottle. He now weights about 14 pounds... still behind but catching up. Chatting up a storm, we thought one night he was close to saying dada, but maybe it was just our imaginations. He is somewhat waving at people.

Saturday we the first time this season the Aggies were televised.. we were ALL marooned out.. but it didn't help the Ags! But Katherine all day and night was very excited about our AGGIE PARTY! Matt's parents and my mom came over for ribs, smoked stuffed jalapenos, and cupcakes! At least we had fun!
Sunday it rained non stop most the day, so we played a lot in the play room! Once it stopped raining, Katherine, Mocha, and I went for a walk (well really a run, Katherine ran most the way). She didn't nap, like most weekends she skips naps, but she started falling asleep eating. In the video you will see how funny it was. Sad thing is, the food on her plate in the video was all gone in the end!

MOVIE TIME - CARS

AFTER DINNER BOTH WERE OUT!