A Time to be Thankful

We are hosting my family for Thanksgiving, then Friday we are going to Matt’s parents for a celebration. We HAVE SO much to be Thankful for this year. I could write all day about the things we are thankful for but I will keep it brief:

- Two very beautiful, happy, and healthy children (yes I consider Colin healthy for all he has gone through, there are so many babies that have it a lot harder!)
- My wonderful husband who has been my rock this year, we have known it each for 10 years, and he still amazes me
- Our amazing family that have pitched in SO much to help out with Colin, Katherine, and our pets (can’t forget them!)
- Great friends that have been there in the dark times
- The outstanding neonatologist at The Woman’s Hospital that caught Colin’s heart condition before they sent us home. He would only have survived a couple of days
- The whole cardiology team at Texas Children’s for giving Colin the chance to smile and laugh everyday.
- Since we did not know about Colin’s condition, we are very lucky that we only live 15 minutes from the #3 hospital in the nation for children’s heart surgeries.
- An amazing three year old that is so smart and well behaved, she has been such a trooper through this.
- The love between Katherine and Colin, they are amazing together!
- Katherine’s silliness and her vivid imagination.. and even her sass!
- The support of my fellow heart moms
- The support of our companies… especially my insurance coverage!
- Katherine being fully potty trained! This time last yr, she wasn’t, it’s the simple things that can make you happy.
- A home filled with laughter, love, hope, appreciation, understanding, dress-up, toys (lots of them), bedtime stories and kisses, and hugs!
- I am thankful for everyday I wake up with my family, that I am the mother of these two amazing kids, and that I have a husband that loves me unconditionally.
- I am thankful for every second that I get to spend with the people in my life as nothing is a guarantee and we must make the most out of each day.
- That reflux IS SUPPOSE to taper off about 8-9 months... please!

As I said earlier, I could write a book on our blessings this year. Yes, life threw us for a loop, but we are stronger for that. We have a beautiful family and are lucky in everyday we get to share with each other. I believe there is a reason why we were blessed with two very special children!

We weighed Colin for the first time in two weeks, so much less stressful than doing it everyday! He has gained 10 ounces in the past two weeks, which an average baby at this age gains about 8 ounces in two weeks.. we are catching up slowly! At his pediatrician appointment the other week, they put his height and weight in the 10-15%! We were at or below 5%, so he is growing.

Pictures for the week:

Katherine climbing at the park

Happy as always, Katherine took this picture

Say Cheese

You're making me laugh so hard I spit up: This is actually a little spit up but mostly drool from teething

Katherine's new friendsShowing us what she learned in tumbling class

Attempting to tumble

Corpus Christi - OUR first family trip

Corpus Christi Bay

Matt and Katherine on the pier

We finally did it, all four of us went on our first family trip!

We went to Corpus to visit Matt’s grandparents, aunt & uncle, and cousins. I was very worried about a 3 ½ hr drive with a three year old and 7 month old, who has not spent much time in a car besides doctor visits. But they both did really well, both of them slept most the way there and Colin slept all the way back.

We got there Friday late afternoon and just hung out at the hotel. Katherine LOVED the glass elevators in the hotel. She requested to ride them a lot.

Saturday we took the kids to a real nice park on the seawall, to get some of Katherine’s energy out before going to great grandma & grandpa’s house. The park had a huge wooden castle with lots of turns and twists, it was very cool. I tried to take a lot of pictures but Katherine put her hand up to me and said “no pictures please” like the little star she is. We also took a nice walk out on the pier.

We went to Matt’s grandparents house next, they have not got to seen Colin since he was born. So it was a real blessing that they got to spend some time with the kids.

After that we went to his aunt & uncle’s house. We played a lot with matt’s cousin’s two year old. Matt’s uncle is a fireman, so Katherine got to go to the firehouse and “drive” the fire truck and rescue boat. Colin showed everyone what it is really like to have a baby with serve acid reflux.. yep, it’s was ONE of THOSE days! He would drink all 6 ozs of his bottle, but about 2 hours later, he would give a shower to whoever was holding him. Of course Sunday we had NO reflux issues :)

Sunday we got up and had breakfast at the hotel. A little boy wanted to touch Colin and Bill told him he couldn’t because he was sick. In which Katherine turned around and said “Hey.. Boy.. my brother’s not sick he just has a bo-bo, that’s all!” She is SUCH a character.

We had a very nice trip! I realized that we had not left town for a whole YEAR! We went camping last November when I was 5 months pregnant with Colin. So we were really due for some time out of town!

Katherine and Colin... She loves him so much
She thought he was talking too much during picture time!

Bath Time!

Splish Splash.. this is fun!

This week was a very busy week in the Eyring household.

Tuesday Nov. 3 – Colin turns 7 months old.
He is now 15 lbs 4 oz. So he gained over a pound this month!
Milestones:
- Sits up by himself
- Can wave
- Says dada a lot.. too much.. working on Mama right now
- On his belly, will push off with feet to scoot forward
- Will go from sitting to on belly, wants to crawl.
- Drinks about 5 ½ ounces a bottle

Wednesday Nov. 5 – Cardiology appointment.
Colin had an echo, EKG, and chest x-ray… all came back great! Colin’s cardiologist was very happy with his heart and developmental progress. He was always happy that Colin gained good weight this month, he is still on the smaller side, so we need to work on him bulking up! But we are on a good track!
We are now off quarantine, but still have to be careful due to flu season. Colin is cleared for his 6 month vaccinations, regular flu shot & H1N1 shot, and to be circumcised finally.
Colin is also cleared for travel, which we plan on doing a lot of now. It’s time to go out and see the world!

Read my shirt.. "Chicks dig scars!"

Friday Nov. 6 – I went to a lingerie shower for one of my best friends getting married in December, which I am in the wedding. It was great to see her, her family, and other bridesmaids! And to have a chance to have a girls night. They were waking up Saturday morning to go to Louisiana to go gambling, unfortunately not the time in my life where I can take a girls weekend. Katherine spent the night with Matt’s parents and Matt & Colin had a guy’s night watching action movies.

Saturday Nov. 7 – Went to Matt’s parents to pick up Katherine and watched a very heartbreaking A&M game. We lost by one point. Katherine, Colin, and Matt were decked in their A&M gear. Before we left Colin spit up on my A&M shirt, and the other two were in the laundry with spit up on them!

Daddy & Colin... Gig 'Em Aggies
Katherine pulling weeds at Grandma's, she is such a big helper. A picture of a flower Katherine took, she is a great photographer!

Sunday Nov. 8 – Gave the house a real good cleaning. Russell, Lara, and my mom came over for lunch and to play with the kids. My mom brought me lots of old photo albums, they are selling their house finally and clearing it out! Looking through old pictures, I realized growing up I had no taste in clothes or hair what so ever! Katherine said the funniest thing on Sunday. We were outside with my mom and Russell and she asked me if I remember when there was ants in the flower garden. I said “Yes”. She then told them that they were upset and daddy sprayed them and made them all feel better! Poor kid, no clue at all.

Happy Halloween!

Trick or Treat
Katherine loves to hold Colin

Happy Halloween

Sleeping Beauty
Gig'Em Aggies

Friday October 30 – Katherine had her Halloween party at school. We made cupcakes the night before, well I made cupcakes, Katherine ate a lot of batter! She wanted to wear her sleeping beauty costume to school but I didn’t want it to get messed up, so I let her wear some of her dress up fairy clothes. She came home with lots of goodies!
Friday night, Colin and I watched Matt and Katherine carve the pumpkin. Katherine is GREAT at cleaning out the pumpkin and Matt carved it.

Saturday October 31.. Halloween – The whole day was filled with anticipation of the trick or treating to come. We were going to Matt’s parents about 4:30pm, so all day Katherine was on the edge of her seat .. when are we going mommy??? Finally the time came, and we packed everything, two kids have a lot of stuff! We had a nice dinner with Matt’s family, then we got to go trick-or-treating. Colin stayed at the house with grandma, grandpa, and Brian while me, Matt, Katherine, Morgan, Tyler, and Robin went trick or treating.

Katherine had no fear walking up to houses, only one was too scary, it had smoke coming out of it. She was really good about saying “Trick-or-treat”, “Please”, and “Thank you”! Katherine loved talking to other little kids, she tried to join other groups. She was really nice and kept shouting to other people.. “I love your costume”. She was fascinated with a little girl who was a mermaid. Matt and I decided next year to get with the parents at her school and have her go with some friends. She got lots of good candy.. that needs to be thrown out before I eat anymore.
Colin update - Colin had a GREAT week of weight gain. He gained 9 oz this week, which helps since he only gained 3 oz last week. He has been eating a lot better the last few weeks. Over the weekend he only had one big spit up, so reflux seems to lessening. He is up to almost 5 ½ ounces a bottle.
He is sitting up for a good 20 -30 minutes before he falls over, sometimes it’s because he gets so excited about something and kicks his legs and loses his balance. He is TRYING to crawl, if you put your hand behind his feet, he will push off and go a little ways. We usually put a toy about a foot in front of him, and he will push off until he gets it. Still just saying Dada, we are working on MaMa. Very much a happy, happy baby! Colin's jam session with Papa