We went to the pediatrician today. He weighted exactly 16 pounds. He's in the 83% for weight; 72% for height and 100% for head circumference! So needless to say, he's healthy and growing good. He wasn't worried much about his cold. It is about gone. He gave me a special cream for his diaper rash. He also told me the name of a pill I can take to increase my milk supply. I would love for him to only get breast milk. It would be so much better for him and not to mention a lot cheaper. So I'm going to GNC tomorrow to get some. I'm posting some pictures I think everyone will enjoy.

He loves his walker. His feet almost reach the ground



This was about 5 minutes later


And 5 minutes after that


We went on a walk this evening after dinner. He enjoyed it


We are trying to get some tummy time so he can build up those neck muscles.


I've always thought he looked like Jared but I can see my brother in the picture



"okay mom, that's enough"

Dr. Update

We went to the surgeon today for a follow up. It was not a fun appt! He said he looked good but he couldn't fit his finger up his little hiney which means it's too tight. He said sometimes when they sew up the colon, it grows together too tight. So he got out this case with some medal rods. I couldn't believe he was gonna use one of those. So he attempted to dilate his little hiney. My poor baby was screaming to bad. I felt to bad for him. So the Dr. said that was normal but wanted to see him in a few weeks to make sure it was loosening up. If it doesn't then we'll have to dilate his rectum at home. That is something I really don't think i can do! So please pray it will loosen up on it's own. Ya know one day he's gonna be really embarrassed that everybody knew all about his pooping problems. Hopefully we'll be able to look back on all this and laugh. I can't wait for that day!

Our First Christmas

Well, I'm a horrible mom cause I didn't take one picture on Christmas day. We also didn't record anything on our camcorder. It honestly never crossed my mind to take any pictures. Actually my sister in law took some pics so I'll have to get some from her. I did take one picture yesterday. The weather was beautiful so we decided to go to the zoo. It was the perfect day for it. We could have done without some of the wind but other than that, it was great. Christmas day we just did the family thing. Saw both families and finished the day off by seeing a movie. Colt is almost back to normal. I think he's still not eating as much as he was but he'll get there eventually. He's not sleeping through the night yet. Maybe he'll do that soon. We have a follow up appt with the surgeon on Monday and his 4 month appt on Jan. 19th. i can't believe he's gonna be 4 months old already! He's holding his head up really good and scooting around when I put him on his stomach. He's talking to us more and more everyday. He's the love of our life. We are so blessed to have him. Here's the one picture I took yesterday at the zoo. I think it's one of my new favorites.



Here's the pictures my sis-in-law emailed me.

Pictures pictures pictures

I love my cousins!


I look just like my daddy!


mommy is making me smile


I'm feeling much better!


Me and daddy

We're home!

So yesterday i went to school and Judy (my mother in law) stayed with Colt all day. By the time I was heading back up there, the Dr. had come in and said he could go home. So yeah!!!! We were on our way home last night and Jared's boss called and wanted to take us to dinner. So we met them and got home around 7:30. We were in bed by 8. It was so great to be in my own bed with my baby boy. He is so much happier than a few days ago. I can't even describe the relief we both feel. Now we just pray that his insides continue to work. I wish we could just spend the day playing with him but oh my goodness, our house is a disaster and we have like 5 bags to unpack from the hospital. So we'll spend the day cleaning. But i really don't mind because I'm just glad he's here with me. I'm sure I'll take more pictures soon and post them.

Before and After

Well, it's been a long week. Monday was very long because we had to go through almost 3 hours of waiting for colt to get out of surgery. He slept most of the day and stayed awake most of the night. Tuesday night, he did great and slept most of the night. His stomach was so distended and hard so they are still suctioning everything out of his stomach and keeping him on iv fluid instead of letting him eat. So yesterday was a little depressing. His bowels weren't waking up as fast as we thought they would. Honestly I think jared and I thought it wouldn't take this long to recover. I guess we were just being naive. The positive part of my day yesterday was seeing one of my best friends have her second child. My childhood friend, Amy, was on the floor right above me having a baby. So it was a breath of fresh air getting to see her and her baby. So last night was a long night because i his bowels finally started working. So he's passing alot of gas and since his stomach is getting softer and smaller, he is starting to feel hungry. So he wanted to eat last night so bad but I couldn't feed him. It's so sad! So this morning, I woke up to the Dr. standing by his bed (with a young college student observing him). He said his stomach looked better and was happy with his progress and maybe he could start eating soon. Well, I went back to sleep and woke up a few hours later. Colt had no iv in and he was sitting in poop that leaked from his diaper and his suction was off. So another nurse came in. She seemed annoyed because the night shift left the suction off and took the iv out and didn't replace it. So he missed a dose of his antibiotics. So she said she would be right back in to put in another iv. Well, 2 hours later, I called the nurse. Our nurse had gone home sick. And apparently there weren't clear instructions left for the nurse taking over. So I told her he needed an iv. Now it had been like 5 hours without any fluid. So she came back in and put an iv in. Well, he finally settled down and we both fell asleep. Amy called and I decided to go see her. The nurse said she'd keep an eye on Colt so i could go see Amy for a while. When I came back, there were two nurses by his crib and there was something wrong with his hand. As I got closer, this is what I saw

They infiltrated his vein (not sure how to spell that). Basically, the needle popped out of his vein and the fluid was just going into his arm. His arm swelled up so much and stretched his skin so much that he got several blisters. It looked awful. I thought the nurse was gonna cry. She kept apologizing. I felt bad for her but I really didn't realize until later that she obviously didn't check his iv after she put it in. Some other nurses told me that it wouldn't have gotten that bad unless it was like that for a couple of hours. So of course I feel like the worst mom in the world because this happened when I was gone. So now my child has not gotten any fluid since early in the morning. He hasn't gotten his antibiotics and his skin is peeling off of his arm because it's stretched to the max! So needless to say, I was not a happy mama today. But the good news is, his stomach has gone way down and he's pooping and passing gas like crazy. Also, they couldn't' get another iv in and didn't want to chance it going bad again so the Dr. said I could feed him and they're just giving him his antibiotics through mouth. So my parents came up here tonight and sent me and Jared to dinner. It was nice to get away for a little while. So, now that he's eating, hopefully we can go home soon. Please pray that Colt will digest the milk and poop it out good without spitting any of it out. Tomorrow I'm going to school since it's the last day before the holidays. Jared's mom is coming to stay with him. Thanks so much for all the thoughts and prayers on our behalf.

This was yesterday





This was today. That little stinker smiled at me today which made my day but he wouldn't smile for the camera so this is the best I could get

Still in the hospital

Well, Colt is still here. I went to work yesterday. It wasn't a great day for my poor baby. So I'm glad Jared was with him all day. I hate seeing him so uncomfortable. He kept spitting up. His bowels haven't started working yet so he's spitting up and his stomach is very hard and distended. He slept better last night and we had a great nurse last night. Jared went home last night because he had to be at work at 6:30 this morning so i stayed by myself. It wasn't so bad. The "very uncomfortable bed" is a little more comfortable when I don't have to share it. Colt slept better last night too so we both got some much needed sleep. The nurse this morning was a little worried about his stomach being so hard and she's not hearing any bowel sounds at all so she called the dr. He said it is very common and that's what he expected. It just takes some time for his bowels to work. But when they start working he'll be able to eat and be all better. Can't wait for that. He just looks at me with these pitiful eyes. I know he's just wondering why we're doing this to him. i hate not being able to help him be more comfortable. But i know that hopefully a week from now he'll be almost back to normal. Again, thanks to all of you who have been praying for us and Colt's recovery!

Out of Surgery

So Colt is out of surgery and doing okay. He's fussy but I would be too if they did to me what they did to him. He hasn't fully woken up yet. He's still very sleepy from the anesthesia. The Dr. said he would be on iv fluid for a day or two until they can make sure he's pooping good and passing gas. Then after he can eat and poop good they'll let us go home. So I think we'll probably be here the majority of the week. Thanks to everyone who has been praying for us this morning. I'll post any more news if we hear anything else.

Plans have changed

Well, I should've known that once we had everything all figured out and ready to go for his surgery, something was gonna mess it up. The surgeons office called today. They want to move his surgery up to Monday. My first reaction was .... great, the sooner the better. But then i thought about my 5 days off with no pay! So it's a little upsetting because we really can't afford to miss 5 days of work but I'm trying really hard to believe that God will take care of us. So I'm torn because I don't want anyone else taking care of my child when he just had surgery but I might have to so I can work a day or two. I guess we'll just have to figure it out. Please keep us in your prayers.

Dr. Update

We went to Dr. last Thursday. He weighed 15.4 lbs. Wow! He's getting big. I know there will be a day when I think 15 pounds is nothing but for now, I'm very excited he's gained so much weight. I went to the Dr. with a list of questions. Most of them I already knew the answer to but just wanted affirmation. One I wasn't sure about was feeding colt cereal. I asked it he was still going to be able to start getting cereal at 4 months. He said he should be fine and he should be able to eat like a normal baby after this surgery. I also asked about doing the rectal irrigation's after the surgery. Originally he told us after the surgery we would have to do that for a little while. But what he told me Thursday was we won't have to do that unless he's not pooping well. Then he said there's a small chance that he will need additional surgery in the future but he didn't see that happening. I think I've read that there's like 5-10 % of kids with Hircshcprungs that have problems after surgery. So we'll just pray that Colt doesn't fall in that 5-10%. So this time next week we'll be so incredibly excited about the surgery. I don't know if excited is a good word. I'm still very scared and nervous for my little boy to have surgery (for the 3rd time) but I know it's what has to happen for him to live a healthy normal life. Well, I'll post a few new pictures. Hope you enjoy!

I love all his expressions


Only if he could do this all the time

new pictures

Well, I don't have any news other than we have 15 days until his surgery. I'm very excited for him to get this bag off. I can't wait to give him a real bath. It's gonna be so weird to change a poopy diaper. I can't wait! We have an appt with the surgeon on Thursday just to follow up. I'm gonna be asking alot of questions abut his upcoming surgery. I'll keep everyone posted So here's some recent pictures.

The Lanford's came in town for Thanksgiving so we had to take pictures of the kiddos. They are 10 days apart. Colt has just about caught up with Anberlin.


"I love this picture. Jared is trying to keep him entertained.





He actually likes his walker even though he's a little young for it. He loves to kick.



He needs to grow about 2 more inches and he can reach the ground!