Chicago

     Dad, Delaine, Colt and I went to Chicago last weekend to see Keaton's closing weekend of his play.  This was his big hurrah- he directed this play!  We picked him up from work and went in to the city for dinner at Lou Malnati's.  Then everyone else went to the play, and I went back to the hotel to put Colt to sleep.  Unfortunately, he didn't sleep.... at all!  I could have gone to the play!  He only slept 4 hours the entire night. 
    The next morning, we did some shopping while Keaton went to do a casting for his next play.  Everyone kept stopping us on the street to tell us how cute Colt was.  Apparently, people in Chicago don't have babies or ever see them.  People just kept staring at us.  We met Keaton at his apartment and went to lunch in a little Chinatown by his place.  We had to drop him off and get on the road.  It was a short trip.  It is never enough time with Keaton, but he will be home next weekend for Christmas.  We loved our family time :)

Happy Birthday Justin!

     Justin turned 29 last week!  We celebrated with his family on Tuesday because he had work plans on his actual birthday.  We went to dinner at Outback to celebrate Justin's birthday and Josh's graduation with his Master's in Education.  We were one proud family.  Then we went back to Josh and Beth's house and opened presents. 
    On Thursday, Justin went in to work and Colt and I got busy making him more presents.  Justin's favorite cookies are snickerdoodles, and I had never made them before, so I thought it would be a nice surprise.  When he came home, we gave him his cards and cookies.  He was very happy!
Happy Birthday Justin!

Life with a 1 year old

     Life with a 1 year old is much different than just a few months ago.  Whenever I am around other kids who are even 1 month younger than Colt, I realize how much changes in a month!  Here are some of our favorite things....

• Colt loves to give huge hugs.  He just wraps his arms around our necks and squeezes.  Probably the best feelings I have ever had
• He likes to march, spin and dance.  He dances ALL the time
• He loves to listen to music.  Every morning I ask him if he wants to listen to Christmas music and he gets so excited
• He runs everywhere!
• He talks/yells all the time.  I am used to it, but in the grocery store the other day, I realized that not everyone is used to it
• He loves to race me and have me chase him
• He gets super excited when Justin comes home from work
• He does not like Sunday school at church.  He has been kicked out every week for the last few months
• He loves anything with buttons
• I have a drawer with travel size things in it, and he is obsessed with the drawer.  He picks something out and takes it with him on a tour of the house
• He loves to wave to everyone
• He likes to hoard things- he puts them in his truck and then we can't find anything
• He takes things out of our closet and puts them in other rooms
• He says"mama" "dada" "bye bye" "ball" "nana" for banana and "chicken"- kinda  But he will try to say anything you say
• He loves to kick his soccer ball and throw balls everywhere
• He LOVES the outdoors.  He just stands at the door and signs "open" to try to get out
• He amazes me with his dressing skills.  He holds his arms out for me to put on his shirts and if he has a toy in his hand, he transfers it to the other hand before putting that arm out to put his shirt on.  This is huge for me because I see so many of my kids with autism that don't do this at 7 years old.  He also holds his legs up for me to take his pants off to get in the tub.
• He is in love with Cheerios and the squeezable fruit pouches
• He points to our pictures and says mama and dada
• He loves to pet Winston and hug him
• When he gets in his truck to go for rides, he always picks a stuffed animal to take with him

I posted some videos of Colt dancing.  Justin and I are making fools of ourselves, but Colt loved it!

His Mother's Son

    I was SO excited when I heard about the snow.  As soon as I saw it coming down, I ran and got Colt's jacket and boots and took him out to play, and HE LOVED IT!  He is definitely my son!  He ran as fast as he could towards it, and slipped and fell!  He was so mad when I brought him back in.  He just stood at the window and looked at it the rest of the afternoon.  We love snow!

Let me out!

So happy

Please let me go back out!

Happy Thanksgiving

      This Thanksgiving Justin and I decided instead of going from house to house, we would invite all of our families to our house and stay in all day!  Our neighbor gave us a turkey and everyone said they would bring a side, so we thought, what better time than now?!  Keaton is home from Chicago and staying with us, so we go to hang out all day (and have been staying up late at night talking). 
    My grandma Wooden couldn't come to our house, so Keaton, Colt and I went to her Thanksgiving, while Justin cleaned the house.  When we got back, we relaxed and then Justin and I went for a run!  Never in my life have I had enough time on Thanksgiving to take a half hour and run.  It was the most amazing feeling!
    We had dinner with 10 of our favorite people (but we missed Grandma Baker, Grandma Helen, Grandma Wooden and Grandpa Strange).  Justin and I felt SO blessed to be able to have OUR families at OUR house and to be able to just enjoy the day instead of run around. 
    My dad told us a story about a guy that works for him.  The man at the gas station told the guy how crappy it was that he had to work on Thanksgiving.  And the man replied, "I think it's great!  I'm not in jail like I was 2 years ago.  I'm not on a psychiatric ward like I was 1 year ago.  And I'm not living in a dumpster like I was 6 months ago."  How often we take for granted the little things, like heat, a job and freedom.  Today, I am thankful for my family, my house, my faith, my church, my friends, Justin's job and his ability to provide so I can stay home with Colt and a million other things. 
    Thanks everyone for making this such a special Thanksgiving for us.  We love you all!

whew

    Right after Colt's birthday we went through a rough phase full of yelling and screaming at dinner.  Finally, we figured out that we were in the frustrating period where he wanted to talk, but couldn't get the words out.  So I decided to teach him sign language.  Hallelujah!  He loves it and caught on so quick.  I will try to get all of them on video, but right now he says "more" "cookie" "eat" "chicken" and we are working on "chip" and "outside". 
    He is also really in to giving hugs and kisses right now, which I LOVE!  He loves to hug us and his stuffed animals.  And he takes his stuffed animals for rides in his truck- so precious.  Justin and I are growing more and more in love with him every day. 

He really liked the soup!

Taking Scout for a ride

1 Year Pictures

     We had Jamie Sangar take all of Colt's pictures this year, but these are by far my favorite.  His personality has really come out in the last few months.  I will try not to post a million, but they are so cute.

On this day last year....

     On this day last year, Colt had surgery.  We were up all night the night before, with vitals and checking his numbers.   In the morning, we were awakened by one of the PICU doctors explaining the upper GI study they were going to do on Colt to see what was going on inside.  Justin decided to run home and get a pair of clothes.  On his way out he asked, "Probably just one set of clothes?  We'll be home by tomorrow right?"  After holding Colt down for the upper GI and watching the barium go in to him, we found the blockage. 
     They wheeled Colt and I back up to the room and within minutes, I was sitting there talking about emergency surgery.  The doctor explained they would fit us in as soon as possible.  I tried to call Justin, but our phones were dead due to the unexpected visit.  A few minutes later, they told me they were ready for him and put me in a wheelchair to take him down to the OR.  Justin saw us being wheeled down the hallway and ran with us. 
     We sat in Day Surgery and every nurse in there told me how horrible I looked and asked if I needed sprite or food.  We signed our life away and met with Dr. Bilmire.  Then they took him and we went to be with our family. 
     After what was much shorter than she said it would be, they asked Justin and I to meet them in a private room.  And we waited, and waited, and waited... trying to figure out what the waiting meant.  Finally, Dr. Bilmire came and and said it all went as planned.  He was still on the ventilator and couldn't eat for at least 5 days, but he was alive and fine!
     Today, we cuddled on the chair, read books and watched movies from the past year.  We played in the front yard and kicked the soccer ball.  He signed "more" and "cookie" and chased Winston around the back yard yelling at him.  He ate ice cream and yelled at me for not getting him his food fast enough.  He fell in the bathtub trying to reach the water.  And when Justin got home, he smiled and ran to see him.
     Thank you Lord for letting us find the problem before it was too late.  For sending us to Dr. Moreland who insisted lactation see us at IU Health North and to Dr. Bilmire for saving his life with your God-given talent!  We have enjoyed every minute of our last year with Colt!

Post-surgery 5 days old

Sleeping tonight

1-year stats

     Colt had his 1-year check-up today.  She said he was right on track developmentally.  The only thing he didn't quite measure up on was following directions:  bring it to me, come here, put it away...etc.  But that didn't surprise us because he is full of attitude!  I guess we will have to work on following directions!  Here are the stats:

Height: 30.5 inches  72%tile
Weight:  19 pounds 9 ounces 8%tile
Head Circumference:  18.8  68%tile

Playing in the leaves

Happy Halloween

     Colt was only 3 days old last Halloween and not feeling too well (we ended up at the hospital the next day), so we didn't celebrate last year.  This year was a much different story.  Colt dressed up as a lion and he was SO cute.  Pictures don't do it justice.
     Last night we drove to see all the grandparents and great-grandparents.  We dropped off some apple dumplings to Grandma Baker and Greg since they couldn't make it to Colt's birthday party and then went to see Grammy and Gramps (Chuck and Sue), Great- Grandparents Ivan and Judy, Mommy Ri (Sherri), Great-Great Grandma Helen, Papaw and Nana (Keith and Delaine), Karri and Uncle Josh and Aunt Beth.
     Colt had such a great time walking up to the door and waiting for it to be opened.  He loved his teddy grahams and squeezable fruit.  He became VERY angry and vocal when they were all gone.

Trick or Treat!

Birthday Party!

     We planned Colt's party to be on his exact birthday.  It was going to be a crazy day, so we decided to go out to breakfast, just the three of us, to have some time together before it got hectic.  We are so excited to make this a tradition for our family.  So... off to Cracker Barrel we went.  Colt enjoyed a birthday pancake and we loved soaking up all the time we could with him.

     We had the party at our house and asked our family to come to the party early so they could have some alone time with him before everyone got here.  We had just a few minutes to watch him open a some presents.  Everyone started showing up right on time and before you know it, the house was packed.  We invited 79 people!  Thank goodness only 40 showed up.  I don't think our house could hold much more!  We prayed and thanked God for blessing all of us with Colt and thanked Him for giving us so man people who genuinely care about Colt.  What a blessing!

     We had special ham sandwiches, white cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole and taco salad.  We had an apple cake made for Colt and I made apple dumplings instead of having cake for everyone else.  We also had a make-your-own carmel apple bar.  I went to make an example, and dropped boiling carmel on my hand.  So I spent the rest of the night with an ice pack on my hand!

     After dinner and cake, Colt opened all of his presents.  He was pretty excited to see all of them.  At the end, Justin brought in our present for him- a Little Tikes pick-up truck.  He absolutely LOVED it.  For the rest of the night, he would open the door, get in and honk the horn. 

      We sat around and talked, thanks to my mom, dad and Josh and Beth, who cleaned up so we could socialize.  It was an amazing party and we are so appreciative of all the people who love and care about Colt.  Justin and I feel so blessed to have such an awesome family and to have so many of our grandparents left.  My Grandma Wooden and Grandma and Grandpa Wagner were able to come to the party and Justin's Grandpa Charlie and his wife Lou were able to come too! 

     Colt woke up this morning and went straight to his truck and honked the horn.  Then he went to the pile of presents and got out the farmer from his Little People and laid in his presents for several minutes.  What a great birthday!

The birthday cake

A birthday kiss from Leah

Cookie Monster

My new truck!

Chuck, Sue, Josh, Justin, Colt, Beth and me

Grandpa and Grandma Wagner, Mom, Colt and me

Grandma Wooden, Dad, Colt and me

My best friends!

Laying in his presents this morning

Our Big 1 Year-Old

      Justin and I have been talking about this day for the last 6 months.  I can't believe it has come and gone.  One year ago, we had no idea what to expect.  We were nervous and excited.  Colt came in to the world 2 weeks early, and challenged us in ways we never could have imagined.    
      Today, we have the most amazing son.  We are enjoying watching him develop.  He still looks like me, but now has Justin's eyes- shape and color.  His body proportions are exactly like Justin- short legs and a long torso, but Justin says he has my "five head" and long neck.  He has big feet- size 5.5 right now and growing by the minute. 
     His personality is a lot like Justin.  He likes to take it all in.  He is observant like me, but constantly moving- like both of us.  Fortunately, and unfortunately, he is very independent and has a mind of his own- which he gets from both of us too.  He is very rotten- like Justin!  When you tell him no- he looks at you and tries to do it again.  And he loves to throw his food off the table and feed Winston.  When he smiles... he SMILES!  And he laughs with the biggest belly laugh for someone so small.  He is content to just walk around the house and look at everything.  But he LOVES being outside. 

     Here are some of his new favorites....

• everything with buttons and music
• animals
• sticking his finger up his nose
• crinkling his nose at people
• dancing
• the lent roller
• food- chicken fingers, cheese, yogurt, animal crackers, potatoes, bread
• basketball- his little fisher price one.  He is good!
• any ball- which was his first word after dada and mama
• tickles- he loves to be tickled!
• stairs
• peek-a-boo- he likes to pull a blanket over his head and play with us
• Little People

Developmentally

• he is great with his pincer grip
• he pushes any button, even really small ones
• he gives high fives
• he waves- but only if he wants too- he has a mind of his own
• He sleeps 12 hours a night (it has been 10.5 hours since he was 12 weeks old, but started doing 12 hours this week!)  He usually goes to bed between 9-10 and wakes up about 9!!!!  And he still does a great job going to sleep on his own.  We usually sing and pray while he drinks his milk and then he goes down.  (Hopefully we can transition to the sippy cup soon) 
• He usually takes a short nap in the morning and a long nap in the afternoon- usually 1-3 pm.

Justin and I truly feel like we are the luckiest parents in the world.  We must turn to each other at least once a day and say- "we have the best kid ever!"

What a difference a year makes!

He LOVES the lent roller!

Always wants to do what Daddy is doing

tickles and belly laughs