Good Bye 2009!!

Sydney and Colton Christmas Morning

Colton is the best present of '09

Snow Day in Houston! Dec 6, 2009

Sydney, Katy, Wendy and Colton

Sydney and Colton Christmas Eve




Colton playing with Cheerios

I have been terrible about keeping up with the blog! With two active children, 3 dogs, 2 G. pigs and working to establish a new business, time flies by each day. 2009 has definitely been an exciting year for the Gibbs family. We were thrilled to welcome our newest member, Colton on January 31, 2009. We just wish he would have hung out INSIDE until closer to his due date of April 12, 2009. Syd has finished up the first half of 3rd grade and is staying very busy with cheer leading, volleyball and gymnastics. She is giving up gymnastics for the spring and going to try some softball. Katy Bear, our chocolate lab was hospitalized this time last year with endocarditis and we were told New Years Eve 2008 that she would not survive the night. She is lying by my feet sniffing the air occasionally and thumping her tail as there is vegetable beef soup in the crock pot.

Colton is thriving and doing much better than anticipated! He weighs in at 19 lbs 1 oz! An incredible feat considering his 3 lb 12 oz start! His pediatrician has pushed high calorie formula and weight gain all year as studies show good weight gain by preemies in the first year correlates with good brain development and growth. It takes a lot of energy just to survive outside the womb let alone finish developing and grow when you are born too early and he has managed to do both! He is able to push himself into a sitting position and gets onto all fours and rocks. He will be crawling around any day now! We got the tree put away yesterday, so I am OK with him getting mobile now. He is eating stage 2 baby food twice a day and seems to enjoy eating a little more these days. He HATED it in the beginning. He has been taking the synergis vaccines to prevent RSV this season. He will probably get a few more and then be done for next season. Colton will celebrate his first birthday in a few short weeks. Its interesting to think about what I would have been doing right now this time last year had I known my little man was going to make his appearance 10 weeks early.

Colton will start at the Early Learning Center at Salem Lutheran School (where Sydney goes to school) on January 4th. We know the director well from when Sydney was there and we have met all Colton's teachers. He even spent a half day getting acquainted while I volunteered in the library earlier this month. (Colton and I together have logged about 50 hours at the school library this year!) I can't say I am looking forward to dropping him off on Monday, January 4, 2010; but, I have to go back to work.

Speaking of work, I have decided not to return to my previous employer. I have decided NOT to be employed by someone. I have established a pediatric home health company, Jump Start Physical Therapy, PLLC. I have evaluated 3 kiddos this week to start after the New Year, and I have 2 more evals on the books for the first week in January. I have three more referrals to chase in January as well. Ten children with 2 visits per week will be a full time schedule for me. I will probably look into hiring a PTA in the late spring or early summer if business is steady. The paperwork is crazy but I think all in all it will be well worth it.

So as 2009 winds down, we look forward to 2010 and watching Syd and Colt grow.....but not too fast!

Happy New Year!

The Gibbs
Wendy, Bret, Sydney and Colton

Halloween Pictures

Colton fell asleep just before our session at JCP started for taking some Halloween pictures of the kids. The photog was a little new and had some interesting ideas on taking pictures. I am not sure why the Ninja would be shushing over the sleeping spider.

Sydney is a Ninja this year for Halloween. The guy wanted her to show of some Ninja moves for the camera. I am not really sure what Ninja moves are, but this is evidently a high kick Ninja move in front of a barn.

Colton woke up about half way through and decided to participate in the pictures. We have him dressed in a friend's spider outfit for these pictures. He seems OK with the costume....at least for now.

I have no idea what the look the photog is going for in this picture. Colton is a sleeping spider and he told Syd to do a Ninja jump. This photo seems appropriate to share with the awkward family photos website. http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/ If you have never visited this website, you are missing out on some funny pictures and commentary.

This picture of Colton is priceless! The little sleeping spider is as cute as he can be!

Colton continues to do very well. He will be 9 months old on Halloween. He is able to sit for 30 seconds to a minute by himself while holding and playing with a toy. He is very interested in toys and very interactive with all of us. He is sweet as he can be. He eats stage 1 solids twice a day and is getting ready for some stage 2s very soon.

Syd is doing great in 3rd grade and is looking forward to her 9th birthday at the end of next month. She's going to have a swimming party at FINS! She is doing cheer leading at school, playing volleyball at the Y, and taking gymnastics at K2 academy. She is a busy, busy girl! I think she might have to cut back some when I go back to work after the first of the year.

Have a safe and fun Halloween!

The Gibbs family

6 Month Photos

Colton and Sydney took some great pictures at JC Penny last week! All is well here. Syd started school on Friday and is very excited about 3rd grade. Colton continues to grow and grow!

Mac Is Here!

McKinney Alexander Curry arrived today! He weighed in at 7 lbs 10 oz and was 18.5 inches long. Sandy and Mac are doing well. They are at the Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth. The are expected to go home on Saturday.

6 Months Old Today!

Wow! My new highchair is so big!
Little Brother and Big Sister
Beautiful Baby Boy
Big Blue Eyes....Just like his Sister!

Wow, time is going by so fast! Colton is 6 months old today! He went for his 6 month appointment yesterday and weighed in at 14 lbs 4.5 ozs. He was 25.5 inches long. He is doing great and is developmentally on target for his adjusted age of 3.5 months. He is testing out at 4-5 months for most skills. He has been a traveling baby on vacation to Moody Gardens in Galveston and spent the day at Schlitterbaun in Galveston hanging out under the shade while Mom and Dad took turns playing with Sydney in the water park! He made his first trip to Lufkin over the Fourth of July to visit family and friends. He is very healthy and happy and is a joy to his family.

Sydney is doing great as well. She starts 3rd grade next month. She will be a little saints cheerleader this year at Salem Lutheran. She has been taking gymnastics this summer, working on swim stroke refinement at FINS and going bi-weekly to the library in an effort to read all 50 American Chiller books.

We are all excitedly awaiting the arrival of a new cousin due any day now!!

Best Wishes!

The Gibbs

Super Baby!

Here is a picture of Colton smiling! He smiles and flirts all the time now! Colton is 4.5 months old now, or 2 months old for his adjusted age.


Super Baby! Colton dressed in his new super baby outfit compliments of Ellen and Candy. Colton really is a super baby doing so well after such a rocky start!

Colton hanging out in his little lamb swing at his Aunt Sandy's Baby Shower in Keller, Texas this past weekend. He LOVES his swing!

Colton with Grandpa Nick at the baby shower and BBQ.

Sydney all dressed up for the baby shower for Aunt Sandy!

Colton taking a bath. Obviously, not his favorite activity! Check out those blue eyes!

Colton continues to do very well! He was seen for his 4 month check up earlier this month and weighed in at 12 lbs 4 oz. That is 10 percentile for babies born the same day has him! He is 23 inches long which is 3 percentile. His pediatrician wants to continue to fortify him with the special premature infant formula until he reaches closer to 50 percentile for babies born the same day as he was. Evidence shows preemies who gain good weight rapidly in the first year tend to do better with all areas of development which is why they are continuing to push his weight gain. His pulmonologist and GI doctor have both discharged him from their services to the care of his pediatrician Dr. Belinoski. Developmentally, he is on target for his due date and making good progress.

We all went to Keller, TX for my Sandy's baby shower and a BBQ family get together. Colton did very well on the trip and slept well in the hotel. He is not a big fan of hot, loud Mexican restaurants but he seems to enjoy hanging out with big groups in cool, quieter places. Colton met a lot of people for the first time! Sydney enjoyed playing with her cousins and visiting with everyone too.

Colton is looking forward to his first trip to Lufkin over the 4th of July weekend and then to the beach for a family vacation later in July. He is a well traveled baby thus far! He goes to Syd'

s swim meets, he attended the museum earlier this week, he attends practices and play dates for his sister and even accompanies Mom on some shopping trips. He is a very good baby and rolls with the punches quiet well.

Have a good Father's Day weekend!

Happy Memorial Day!

Colton Todd Gibbs

Hello Everyone! We are here and finally doing another update....at last! We have been working on getting things settled and organized with the little man home and we are finally getting there. Colton is an absolute joy to have at home. He is a very good baby. Colton is weighing in at around 11 and 1/2 pounds. He is over 22 inches long. He will be 4 months old on the 31st and his adjusted age is about 6 weeks. He is still eating around the clock, going 3-4 hours max at night between bottles most of the time. He has teased us once or twice with 5 hour stretches and those were wonderful! The GI doctor told us many babies get a good 6 hour stretch in once they hit 12 lbs. Hopefully that is coming soon for us! He continues to eat breast milk fortified with 22 cal supplement. I tried to talk his pediatrician into stopping the supplement but she won't let him until his weight is more on track with infants born on his birthday. He remains below the 10th percentile on weight at this time for babies born on Jan 31. His pedi gives him credit for adjusted age on everything else but is adamant he press on with weight gain. (I looked up where he would be if he was born on his due date and he would be in 90 percentile for that date!) He had an echo cardiogram done last week and all is well with his heart and his PDA closure. He is down to only wearing his apnea monitor at night and we are hoping to kick that to the curb after his next pulmonology appointment on Tuesday.

Aunt Kim and Colton Meeting

Karen, Tracey, Lora and Sandy hosted a "Sip-N- See" for Colton on May 16th. (Thank you!!!!) We were thrilled to see so many people turn out to see our little man. We are humbled that so many people traveled great distances to meet Colton and give us so much support. Here is Aunt Kim getting her first look at Colton, and Colton of her.

My Smiley Boy

Colton smiles now! He grins ear to ear for Mom, Dad and Sydney. He is smiling away in his bassinet while Sydney is talking to him and getting him to smile so Mom can snap a photo.

Colton in his Moses Basket

My beautiful baby boy resting in his Moses basket under the patio while he watches Sydney, Ryan and Nate play in the pool. Colton is very content and easy to take on outings. As long as he has fresh diapers, bottles and people to coo at he is very content and easy going.

Colton and Sydney Wishing you a Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day! Sydney made a cake and decorated it like the flag in honor of the Holiday. Sydney and Colton, with a little help from Dad, posed with the cake.

The following link should take you to a Walgreens site where you can view more pictures of our family. You can also order prints from this site if you want any for yourself--just have them developed at your local Walgreens.
http://photo2.walgreens.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=125709005/a=21604977_21604977/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=walgreens/
We will try to update more frequently with pictures. We have so many cute pictures but I can only figure out how to upload 5 at a time to the site.

Colton's middle name, Todd, is in honor of his Uncle, Sgt First Class Todd Clayton Gibbs. Todd was KIA in Iraq on December 7, 2004. "Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal." ~From a headstone in Ireland. Happy Memorial Day

The Gibbs Family

Wendy, Bret, Sydney and Colton