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

Happy Easter and Happy Due Date!

Colton and Dad hanging out

Sydney chillin with her baby brother

Sydney helping Dad with the mulch

Sydney dyeing Easter eggs

Colton finally reached his official due date of April 11, 2009. He weighs in over 9 lbs. now. Technically speaking, you can't say that he would have weighed 9 lbs. at birth as growth in utero and outside of the uterus happen at different rates. So while technically he was 10 weeks old on April 11, his targets will be adjusted based on his prematurity. For example, if he's not walking by 12 months, it won't be unusual as he will likely be acting more like a 9 1/2 month old on his first birthday.

Wendy and I were still talking about how February and March seemed like a blur to us. We had so much help during that time and couldn't have done it without the support of family and friends. Wendy and I both are trying to get refocused on things we neglected over the past couple of months. Our first and foremost priority remains our family (Colton and Sydney) but we are starting to whittle away at that proverbial to do list. I finally managed to get the weeds pulled in the front flowerbed and mulch put in this past weekend. Sydney was a big helper and said she enjoyed doing it. How many 8 year old girls do you know who would get out and help their old man put mulch in the flowerbeds and actually say they enjoyed it! I'm sure the neighbors are glad that we got that done as well. We didn't want to earn the label of "the rednecks next door who don't take care of their yard"!

Wendy has been working on thank you notes and getting the birth announcements out in the mail. Many of you reading this should receive your announcement this week. If you don't receive one in a week or so and would like us to send you one, send us an email! Please don't be offended or think we left you off as we've not intentionally left anybody off the list. It's difficult to proofread your list and get it right on just a few hours of sleep. Don't be shy and let us know if you would like to have one if you don't get one.

Colton continues to be fed every 3 hours around the clock. As Wendy mentioned in the last blog update, he's starting to focus more on faces when he's awake. Any concerns we had with the muted voice are all but gone. When Colton gets fired up, it sends our black lab (Shadow) to a safe refuge, complete with tail tucked under. Poor Shadow - between the crying baby, loud beeps from the oxygen machine, apnea monitor going off from loose leads, and the recent thunderstorms, she is officially in her own private hell.

Colton sees the pediatrician again this week for a follow up and some immunizations. He also visits the pulmonologist soon to determine if apnea monitor, oxygen for feeding and caffeine supplements are still needed. Otherwise, we will continue to the routine of: eat, sleep, poop, repeat. When he reaches the 12 lbs. mark, we can start looking at spreading out some of his feedings. So our immediate goals are to ditch the oxygen, apnea monitor, caffeine, keep him well, and pack in the calories. Too bad I can't transfer some of my belly fat and calorie intake to Colton - he would hit that 12 lbs. mark in no time!

The Easter Bunny was good to both Sydney and Colton. Wendy made my grandmother's famous coconut cake and a nice meal for Easter. Sydney and I made it to church this morning as well. We can't get Colton out in a big public place yet so we couldn't all go as a family today. :( We continue to be grateful for the love and support of our family and friends. And we give thanks today for our risen Savior and the blessings upon our family. All the best to you and your family.....Bret, Wendy, Sydney and Colton.

We are loving life at home with our little man, even if we are a bit sleep deprived! As you all know, Colton came home on Monday, March 23rd in the evening. Everyone is adjusting and doing well. Colton is now one week from his due date of April 11 and is starting to look and act like a full term infant.

Colton initially came home with an NG tube. He pulled it out on Wed, April 1 in the evening. The doctors have decided to leave it out at this time as he is making excellent progress with eating by mouth. He is weighing in at 8 lbs 11 oz and is 20.5 inches long!

Colton is starting to be awake more often and more alert. He looks around and attends to faces. He has definitely decided that being held is better than lying around wrapped up like a burrito in the bassinet. There is never a shortage of anyone wanting to hold him.

Colton after finishing up his first bath at home. He is doesn't cry much during his bath, but rather looks worried and concerned during his bath.

All wrapped up in his towel after his first bath at home. It is a huge mess and production to get him bathed!

Colton contemplating his crib. Notice the clean baby face! You can really see his chubby cheeks!

Sweet baby boy. He loves his pacifier. Pacifiers help with reflux, so we let him go to town. Sydney never took one, so this is new for us.

We will update and post more pictures soon!

Wendy, Bret, Sydney and Colton

April 2 - Eat, Poop, Sleep...Repeat

Just a quick note to let everyone know that Colton continues to do well at home. It's been a little crazy around getting the routine in order and catching up on things that were put on hold while we were in the "NICU mode". Colton now weighs about 8 1/2 lbs. As the title of the blog entry suggests, we have him in a normal infant routine (as normal as can be with NG tube, apnea monitor, oxygen nasal canula and 5 medicine doses per day can be). He is still being fed around the clock every 3 hours.

We'll post a more lengthy update soon with some pics. Love Bret, Wendy, Sydney and Colton

Colton's Homecoming

Sorry for the delay in getting a new blog update out to you guys. We've been busy settling in with our new family member and getting into a routine.

On Monday, March 23, 2009, Colton finally got to leave the NICU at Texas Woman's Hospital after 7 weeks and 3 days. He started out on January 31, 2009, at 3 lbs. 12 oz. and left on March 23, 2009 at about 7 1/2 lbs. He is still about 2 1/2 weeks shy of his original due date of April 12, 2009. So as challenging as it's been these past 7+ weeks, Colton has made tremendous progress.

We left the hospital after 6:00 on Monday. We had picked up Syd early from school that day as she wanted to accompany her baby brother home from the hospital. Getting out of school early wasn't all that bad either!

We all got to see many of the doctors and nurses that had been with Colton throughout his 7 week stay. Sydney got to say goodbye to the nurses who taught the Siblings Class each Wednesday. We also saw Dr. Gee, the neonatologist who was there when Colton was born. Dr. Hernandez, who was with us in the early days as we were dealing with the PDA not closing. And of course, Colton's heart and "brain" surgeon - Dr. Bloss - the pediatric surgeon who closed his PDA and did his circumcision. Wendy also mentioned that many of the nurses who had cared for Colton stopped by in the NICU as she was going over discharge procedures. I think what sets these doctors and nurses apart from many others is that their bedside manner matches their medical acumen. We thanked them for all they did for Colton but respectfully told them that we hope not to see them again for business purposes! :)

As we were walking out of the hospital, it still didn't feel real that we were finally going home with him. Wendy and I both had butterflies in our stomachs. Sydney was super excited and couldn't wait to get her little brother home. Houston traffic was surprisingly light on our trip home. That was my worst fear - getting hung up in rush hour traffic trying to get him home. Well, some schools are still on Spring Break in the Houston area so I think that definitely helped. Glad to say the ride home was uneventful.

Our neighbor Karen was nice enough to have dinner waiting on us when we got home. She had also bought balloons and decorated the house for his arrival. As we've said many times on this blog, we are truly blessed with wonderful families and outstanding friends. It's made all of this NICU and preemie experience a little more bearable having the support of everyone.

As I've said before, we look forward to the day that we can start to repay this kindness.

After getting settled in and coming down from our adrenaline rush, we went to work trying to create our new routine. Colton has to be fed at least 70 ml (a little over 2 ounces) at least 8 times a day - that's every 3 hours around the clock. Typical newborn feeds are about every 3-4 hours so it's not that unusual. However, Colton also requires the oxygen (nasal canula) during his feeds. He wears an apnea monitor 24x7 with an alarm that makes a car alarm in an enclosed parking garage sound like a whisper. I think the crystal in our china cabinet has all but shattered. Our poor dogs have been traumatized by the apnea monitor alarm as well, especially our black lab, Shadow. Shadow hates any type of electronic beep or alarm (think smoke alarm beeping when the battery is low). For the record, dogs can take Xanax and Shadow is getting good use out of her prescription. The apnea monitor is very sensitive which is a life saver in the event of a true apnea episode. We are hoping to continue only dealing with false alarms on the monitor as opposed to the real deal. Colton will continue to wear his apnea monitor until he is seen by a pediatric pulmonologist who can make the determination when it is no longer needed.

I'll have to say our learning curve for this new routine has really started to pick up. The first night, we worked out a few kinks in the routine and things are starting to go more smoothly. Colton is getting all of his required feeds and amounts which is very important. We also have a little Kangaroo pump, which is a device that helps deliver any remaining milk that he didn't take from his feed to his nasal gastric (NG) tube.

We had our first pediatric visit today as well. We went over Colton's discharge summary which is basically a huge summary report with all of Colton's history from birth to March 23, 2009. Colton and Sydney have the same pediatrician and she is conveniently located 5 minutes from the house (as opposed to Texas Woman's being 75 miles round trip). Dr. B. felt Colton looked really good today and felt he's made good progress based on his early history. Colton will be following up with a pediatric gastroenterologist and pediatric pulmonologist within the next month among other doctor visits. I think it's important to point out that while Colton is out of the NICU, he still has quite a few doctor visits in his future. He also has to overcome a few more challenges with taking all feeding amounts being one of the most important milestones.

We appreciate everyone understanding that we can't have visitors for Colton until after cold and flu season. Right now, late April/early May feels about right. In the meantime, enjoy these blog updates and celebrate with us as Colton has come home to be with his family in Tomball. All the best....Bret, Wendy, Sydney and Colton.