Colton is 1 year old!!!

Wow, time really flies. I can't believe we have a 1 year old in the house. Colton is getting so big and has come a long way in a year. The picture on the left is when he was just born and the one on the right is his one year picture. He has changed soo much!

At his 1 year appointment on December 8th, he weighed 20 pounds 4 ounces and was 32 inches long. A lot has happened over the last month and a half. I mentioned in the last post that Colton had spiked a fever and we were going back to the doctor. Well, he still had his ear infections so we got a different antibiotic and they finally went away. 

Thanksgiving was a good time with my side of the family. We were able to get together and eat some great food and place a very bad game (Cards against Humanity). Here are pictures of Colton in his 1st Thanksgiving outfit...

 

Nick and I were able to do some Black Friday shopping thanks to my parents and Kirsten, our night nurse, volunteering to work that night. We were able to get 99% of our shopping done by doing that. 

Next up was Colton's 1st birthday party!  We had a blast and he had a great time too! Here are some pictures from his party. The cakes were done by a nursing friend's daughter. She did a fantastic job!

Colton's Smash Cake

Big People's Cake

Here is a video that was taken of us singing Happy Birthday to Colton. He was doing a fantastic job sitting up in his special tomato!

Colton was blessed with a ton of gifts for his birthday! We want to thank everyone who was able to make it to share in his special day. We appreciate it so much and he had a great time seeing lots of new people! If you check out my Facebook page, we made a video of Colton's first year and it is posted for everyone to see. 

We took Colton to see Santa Claus at Jefferson Pointe this year. The Santa was wonderful with him and knew just how to hold him. Colton is so in awe of his beard!

After we saw Santa we went and watched the Christmas tree that is synchronized to music. It was a neat show. 

Colton got to have two Christmases this year. On Christmas Day we went to Nick's side of the family to do some present opening and brunch eating. Here are some pictures of Colton opening gifts. 

He loved pulling the wrapping paper off the presents. He was pretty tired after all the opening though. He got a lot of new toys and a few books to read. 

Then we had Christmas with my side of the family the next day at our house. He got a ton more presents, including a new iPad holder! This will allow him to start working on some fine motor skills with his hands and be able to choose between things and eventually talk to us through an app. He also got a lot of new clothes that he needed since he is now in 18month clothes! 

Colton and his new iPad holder

Now on to the other stuff. Colton has has a a few appointments in the last month and a half. On December 4th we got another scan of his head to see where we are with the helmet process. He has made some progress, especially in the back of his head. We have another scan on January 6th. We are secretly hoping that we are done with it soon. We went to the eye doctor again and he was able to tell us that he thinks Colton can see (which we already knew). Colton still does not track with his eyes. We got back to vent clinic on January 7th. We are thinking there may be more changes in store for us then. 

He continues to do well and make progress in PT and OT. We are now getting to go to the pool every other week, which Colton thoroughly enjoys! Here are some newer pictures at the pool. 

 

He is now pulling our feet up to our mouth and trying to stick it in. Colton has also discovered that if he pulls on his helmet, he can make his head go where he wants it to go. He trades things between hands and if he puts something somewhere, he remembers where it is and gets it later. 

Lastly, I can finally announce that there is a big change coming to our household. I am changing jobs. I have taken a position with Dr. Smith, the pediatric surgeon. I will get to assist in surgery and see patients in the office and many more things. I am excited about the opportunity and chance to learn some new things!  I won't start until April as I have to give a 90 day notice at my current job. I am sad to leave Parkview, but I need a change. 

I am not sure how posting is going to occur from now on as Colton is a year old. I am going to try to keep up with every month to 2 months as things occur. They may not be as long of posts, but I can guarantee there will be pictures!