Eleven Months old!

Wow, time really flies when you are busy and have a lot going on!  Colton is 11 months old. Yes, that means that in 3 weeks (from today) we will have a 1 year old. I can't believe it. More on that later, but here are his 11 month pictures.

In the last one he is holding one of his new favorite toys. It lights up and has many different colors. 

There have been lots of things going on this past month. We haven't been back to vent clinic, but we have been able to wean Colton's vent settings down quite a bit. So much so that if he weren't sick, I was thinking about trying him on CPAP where he would do all the breathing, but he would get support with each breath. That may come in the next couple of months or so.

One of the biggest focuses this month has been on Colton's head. The first helmet that was fashioned did not work out. Something happened to the scan when they were doing it. When we put it on it didn't fit right. We spent close to a day trying to make it fit. The final decision was to re-scan Colton's head and wait for another helmet. That took a week and a half. When we got the new one it fit pretty good. After a few tweaks, we left the office. Throughout the next week we worked up to Colton wearing the helmet 23 hours a day. He doesn't seem to mind it. The worst part is putting it on and taking it off. He gets it off when we wash his hair every night. He is a sweaty boy when his helmet comes off. Hopefully it will be only a couple of months of wearing the helmet and it will be all done. He goes the Monday before Thanksgiving to have his head re-scanned and we will see how far we've come. We are already seeing a change when we take his helmet off to wash his head. Here's what his helmet looks like. Right now its all white, we are working on getting it some bling.

The other thing that happened this month was that Colton had surgery. We've been waiting for this surgery for a while and had hoped that we could get it done this year. Colton's testes were not in the sac when he was born and they need to be down in the sac before he is two years old for hormone production. We were hoping that it would be the last surgery he would need to have. Unfortunately, Dr. Smith was only able to get them down part way. He had to position his testes in his pelvis and then in 6 months he will go in and pull them the rest of the way down so that they rest where they are supposed to. Colton came through surgery really well and we came home about 3 hours after the surgery. By that night he was acting like nothing had happened. We had our post-op visit last friday and everything looks great. The stitches and steri-strips that were over his incision were removed. His incisions look great! The plan is to get an ultrasound in 3 months to make sure the boys are happy and then surgery again in 6 months.

At this same time we had wanted a bigger feeding tube placed to make it easier to give Colton his blends. Colton's stomach was not big enough to hold a bigger feeding tube. So we got a replacement tube. It will have to work for now!

Halloween was so much fun! Colton was dressed as a Doggie and we dressed Marley, the doggie, as a pumpkin. I went as a witch. We had a good time trick or treating around the addition. It was a little chilly but I'm glad it stopped raining.

As I mentioned earlier, Colton is sick. About a week and a half ago we noticed that he had blood coming from his right ear. We took him in to the pediatrician's office and lo and behold he has a double ear infection. So we were hoping after 10 days of antibiotics that it would all be cleared up, but he spiked a fever Friday night when I was at work and has been pretty sleepy all weekend. So back to the doctor we go tomorrow.

We've been working with physical therapy and occupational therapy as well. Things are going good on that front and we are stepping up how often we get physical therapy. Carrie, his pt, is going to be coming once a week. Every other week we will be going to the pool and the opposite weeks will be at home. Speech is going good as well. We are going to be switching things up to better coordinate with our schedules. Instead of us going to speech twice a month, speech is coming to us twice a month. We will still go to feeding clinic once a month, but this way we don't have to drag big C out during the winter.

We are hoping this winter goes by without Colton getting sick. Next up Thanksgiving!

Happy October!

A lot has happened in the last month. Colton is now 10 months old!

We finally had his 9 month appointment. He is 17 pounds 13 ounces ( 17th percentile), 30 inches long (95th percentile), and his head is 17.75 inches (48th percentile). He got his first flu shot and will get the second one of the series next week. 

We had ventilator clinic at Riley on the 1st and finally switched to Colton's new vent, the Astral. We went to the clinic on the a 1/2 a liter of oxygen and came home on none! Colton loves his new vent. We have had to wean his settings twice since coming home and we are still off of oxygen. He has also been a different baby; more alert and more playful. We are loving it! And the best thing... we don't have to go back to Vent clinic for three months!

He got his new chair; the special tomato. He fits so go in it and it gives him the ability to sit up. Here is sitting in it at the table with his TLSO on (you can't see it in the first picture). Oh yeah we got that too :).  That's the second picture. 

The last picture is the TLSO. It squeezes his middle together and supports him so he can sit up. He wasn't digging it at the time, but he's only in it for one hour a day for now. 

We got his CT done and it showed that Colton's head plates aren't fused yet so the helmet that we looked into will still work. So, when we picked up his TLSO we got his second scan for his helmet.  His helmet should be here next Wednesday. He will start with wearing it one hour the first day and then we will work up to it being worn for 23 hours a day. I'll post pictures when we get it. He continues to have physical therapy and occupational therapy every month. We are getting to increase the physical therapy to once a week so that we can go to the pool more! He absolutely loves the water.   Speaking of water, we got his bath chair and tried it for the first time the other day. It's still a work in progress but we'll get it. When I have decent pictures I will post them. 

Colton had a big first this week as well. He got his first hair cut!  

We also had our dermatologist appointment the end of last month. Colton was diagnosed with eczema, which is what we thought he had. We were given a special lotion to help control the areas of greatest concern. It has helped soooo much. He isn't as itchy and scratchy anymore. 

Nick and I got to attend the March of Dimes Signature Chef's Auction this week and we had a good time, but missed our bubby. I have also been asked to be on a special committee for the March of Dimes to help with family teams and fund raising for next year's walk. Save the date!  The walk will be on April 30, 2016. We are always looking for walkers for Colton's Crew. We love the company on the walk and would always welcome more fundraisers for the mission! 

We can't wait for Halloween to come around. Colton is going to be a doggie! We are also planning his 1st birthday party. Yeah, me too.... 1 year old already?!  Time is gong too fast and he is growing and making so much progress. More updates later this month!