"Let's play ball Colby"

The other day, Brody decided to try and roll the ball with Colby, and to our surprise, he loved it! It was so cute watching them roll the ball back and forth to each other. Brody was so excited to actually play with Colby. Now, I hear Brody saying, "let's play ball Colby," all the time. I love watching them have fun playing together!

Whole Milk...So Far So Good

After discussing it with our pediatrician, we decided to go ahead and start Colby on whole milk. With all of the trouble he had with formulas, we were worried that milk was not going to work, and we wanted to have plenty of time to get him adjusted to something before his surgery on August 28th. So far, he seems to be doing well with the milk...we are keeping our fingers crossed! He is still taking bottles of breast milk a few times a day, but at meals, he is drinking whole milk from a cup (with a straw, of course!). It is so crazy to me that he is big enough to be drinking milk!!!

Like other second children, Colby is being exposed to the "good stuff" before he probably should. Brody gave him a sip of chocolate milk one day, and he loved it! So, we also give him a little chocolate milk at times too. I justify it to myself by saying that it just increases the calories a little more...ha!

Surgery Date Scheduled

I spoke with scheduling earlier today, and we have scheduled Colby's Glenn Operation for Friday, August 28th. Having a date is great, but it also makes me very nervous...it became much more real today! We will go on Thursday, the 27th for his Pre-op appointment with Dr. Christian and Dr. Doyle. I hope to find out more information about what the surgery will actually involve. I have had a very hard time making myself even think about it until now. I will share more information about the surgery after we meet with them on that Thursday.

Colby seems to be doing much better now after his cath last week. He had a couple days where he wasn't feeling so great, but he is slowly but surely getting back to his old self. His sleep schedule has changed, but I'm hoping that is because he is getting in a couple of teeth...finally! These first 2 teeth have been kind of lonely! I think 2 more teeth are popping through on the bottom. I guess those top teeth will come eventually.

Both the boys love being outside, so we go out as much as we possibly can. We recently bought a trailer for our bikes, so they have had a lot of fun going for rides in that. Colby also likes to "drive" his little car when Brody is out driving his truck. I can already see that he wants to be just like his big brother...so sweet!

Primrose School Of Hendersonville's Spring Fling Donation

After Colby's Pre-Cath Appointment at Vanderbilt last Tuesday, Mrs. Ashley O'nuki, the Assistant Director of Primrose, met us to make the donation from Spring Fling. In addition to the $2,500 that was raised for Vanderbilt during Spring Fling, the parents of Primrose also came together to collect over 300 children's books. It was so exciting to make this donation to the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (PCICU) at Vanderbilt. They took such great care of Colby after his first surgery, and I know they will continue to take great care of him after his next surgeries. This monetary donation will be used to help so many heart babies recovering in the PCICU, and the books will bring smiles to their faces.

Thanks again to Jason and Deanna McGee, Primrose School of Hendersonville, and the families who participated to make this Spring Fling such a huge success. We are so honored that you all chose to donate this money in honor of our little Colby. We would also like to say a special thank you to Mrs. O'nuki for taking the time to come to Vanderbilt and make this donation memorable. We truly appreciate it!

A Sad Goodbye to Dr. Liske

We found out a few weeks ago that Colby's cardiologist, Dr. Liske, is moving to Knoxville. I cannot tell you how sad this makes our family. Dr. Liske has been such a huge part of our lives over the last year and a half. Dr. Liske was the first cardiologist that we went to after Colby's diagnosis at 20 weeks of pregnancy. After that first meeting with him, Jason and I knew he was the BEST cardiologist for us. Dr. Liske has provided us with so much support, encouragement, and hope, and he has been amazing with Colby! He is an outstanding doctor and man, and we are just heart broken that he is leaving us. We wish him the best of luck at his practice in Knoxville and hope that we can one day see him again!

Here are some pictures of Colby and Dr. Liske before Colby's catheterization on Wednesday. As you can see, Colby loves Dr. Liske! We are all going to miss him!

Colby was giving Dr. Liske his best sad face, but unfortunately, it didn't work.

Colby showing off his "Bye-Bye" wave.

We are home!

We checked in at 9 am yesterday, and we checked out today at 10 am...the longest 25 hours ever! After Colby finally got somewhat comfortable last night, his fever went down and his sats came back up some. He was back on room air by 2:30 this morning. The nurse told us she took the nasal cannula off, because he apparently had ripped it off of his face while he was taking one of his very short naps. I guess he was showing us he was done with that! He is not a big fan of being on oxygen.

Before being discharged, Dr. Doyle and Dr. Liske stopped by to let us know that everyone was in agreement in their conference that it is time for Colby's Glenn operation, which is what we had expected. Scheduling should call us some time in the next few days to finalize a date. I have been hoping that we would be able to get through Colby and Brody's birthdays before the surgery, and I think we might just be able to make that happen!

Colby seems to be doing well today. He is just extremely exhausted, which is no surprise after the day and night that he had yesterday. Once we got him home, we gave him a quick bath and put him into his own bed. He is apparently very happy, because he has been asleep for the last 4 hours. He definitely needed that rest! I am glad he is sleeping now, because Brody will be home soon! Once Brody is home, there will be no more peace and quiet for napping. As always, it will be nice to get back to our normal craziness!

Here are some pictures from yesterday...

Colby waiting patiently to be called back yesterday morning.

Hanging out in the holding area being so patient. He was smiling and talking to everyone that walked by.

After 2 hours in the holding area, Colby was starting to lose his patience (as were we!), so Jason decided to roll him around the halls in his stroller. This made him very happy!! I guess he just needed more people to flirt with!

Here is Colby after getting into recovery. When I walked in, I was overwhelmed by how big he looked. I felt like I hadn't seen him in days, rather than 3 hours. I was also surprised by how much he looked like Brody.

Everyone that walked by made a comment about his cute little feet being crossed. It looks like he was very comfy, but believe me, he was NOT!

Colby finally decided to drink some apple juice. The nurses thought it was so funny that he would only take it from a straw. He is such a big boy!

After 10 hours in recovery, they finally got us a bed in a regular room. As you can see, Colby enjoyed the ride up and the change of scenery. This was the first smile we had seen all afternoon, and it made us so happy!!

This is one tired baby! He was more than ready to go home.

Thank you for all of your prayers and support! We are blessed to have all of you in our lives, and we appreciate each and every one of you! We will let you know once the Glenn Operation has been scheduled.

the morning after cath

Sorry there was a void in updates last night.... we had some technical issues and Colby decided he needed a lot of attention. thankfully he seems to be doing much better this morning. We thought everything was cruising along yesterday and then the "heart baby hiccups began". Colby woke up in recovery cranky... no really cranky. O2 Sats began to drop.. his color began to ash and his Sats weren't getting above 65..... time to start the O2..... oh yeah lets get a fever too, 101.9 low grade fever was expected after surgery 101.9 not expected. Colby decided eating probably wouldn't make him feel better so he went on an eating strike for the night too.....

Despite these couple of small issues everything went really well. Colby got moved to a room around midnight. He thought spending 9+ hrs in recovery was cool. In fact he was the only child in recovery for the last 2-3 hrs of his stay so he got a lot of attention... Move to the 6th floor was smooth got him checked in with his new nurses and then he decided to stay awake.... sleep finally found our room around 3:30 and fled when the doctors arrived at 5:00.....

Great news is that he looks really good this AM despite being a drama king for the past 24 hrs. we are waiting for the cardiologist to get out of conference this morning so we can discuss the surgery schedule..... Still hoping to go home today.... we might even take Colby with us.....

the precious angel is sleeping now and Becca is finally getting some rest so I hope everyone wakes up refreshed and ready to roll.

we have some really cute pictures from along the journey but posting them this AM exceeds my current skill set so you will have to wait for Becca to add them. Thank you so much for all of the kind words and prayers over the past couple of days..... We will update again when we know more.....

Heart Cath Updates

Update 2:20
Cath is complete! We just met with Dr. Doyle and looked at all of the pics they took of Colby's heart...truly amazing! There were no surprises and his pressures and saturations look great. Dr. Doyle said he did very well!! They will discuss him during their conference tomorrow with the surgeons and decide when we will proceed with the Glenn. My fingers are crossed for September, but we will see. Now we are just waiting to go back and see him in recovery. We will post additional updates and pictures later.

Update 1:45
Just got a call from the nurse in the OR. She said everything is going good. They were able to get a cath line in each leg with no complications. So far they have been able to check pressures on both sides of his heart as well as his saturations.
They are about to begin taking pictures to use in the planning of his next surgery. So far so good. We will update when we know more....



We checked in this morning at 9 am. We thought that Colby would be taken back around 10:30, but unfortunately, he was postponed for a couple of hours. We ended up in the holding area for about 3 hours. This is the first time that Jason and I have been happy about Colby not having an appetite, since the last time he ate was 11 last night. Colby never ceases to amaze us. He was smiling and talking to everyone that walked by and looked at him...such a flirt! If I were hungry and tired, I would not be so pleasant. He is such a trooper.

Anesthesiology took him back around noon, and they will call us with updates every 30 minutes or so. The procedure should take about 2 hours total. Once he is awake, they will allow me and Jason to be with him in recovery. We will post updates as we get them. I also have some pics from this morning that I will post later today. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support!!!

Doctor Appointment and Blanket Delivery

Colby had his pre-catheterization appointment today at Vanderbilt. This was a quick and uneventful appointment, which is just the way we like it! They took Colby's vitals...weight, height, blood pressure, and sats. All of these look good. He hasn't gained much weight over the last month, but he hasn't lost any either!! He weighs 15 lb 6 oz now, and his sats are still at 80. I just cannot get over how well Colby has done over the last year! He is so amazing!

During the appointment, we also had to hear all of the risks and complications that can occur during a heart cath and sign that dreaded consent form. It is so awful to listen to all of the scary possibilities, but fortunately, Dr. Doyle is a great doctor with a great bedside manner. He definitely helped to put us both at ease.

The last part of the visit was definitely the worst. Poor Colby had to have some blood drawn. This was bad for Colby and for us! It is so hard to watch him hurting, and I don't think it will ever get easier! I just wish we could go through all of this for him.

Colby letting us know he was not happy!

We are supposed to arrive at Vanderbilt tomorrow by 9 am. Dr. Doyle has one cath before us, so he thinks Colby's cath should start around 10:30 or so. This is an exploratory cath where they measure some pressures and take pictures of his heart. Basically, this cath is done to make sure there are no surprises for the surgeon during his Glenn Operation. Colby will be under anesthesia, so he should not feel anything...thankfully! Based on the findings during this cath, his Glenn will be scheduled at the doctors' conference on Thursday.

After our appointment, we were able to deliver some more blankets to the PCICU. My mom finished up this set a couple of weeks ago. They were all so cute! I hope that they make lots of moms and dads smile during their difficult stay in the hospital. Thank you mom for working so hard on these blankets. I know they are appreciated by many!

Cookie Monsters

Every night after playing outside, the boys have a cookie on the couch together before going to bed. This started when Brody shared his Oreo with Colby for the first time. Jason and I have never seen Colby get so excited about food! Once we realized he liked them and would actually eat them, we gave him his own cookies. His favorites appear to be Oreos and Chocolate Chip Cookies...just like Brody! We have definitely created a couple of Cookie Monsters!

4th of July Fun

Colby's first 4th of July was a great one! We had friends over on July 3rd to cookout and watch the Drakes Creek Fireworks, which we can see from our front yard. We have done this for the last few years, and every year we have so much fun! I love that we can enjoy the fireworks without having to get mixed up in the crazy crowds, especially now that we have Colby! Brody and Colby were very sleepy by the time the fireworks actually started at 9, but they both seemed to enjoy watching them. Brody sat by Colby, and he kept asking, "you see those Colby...you like those?" I think he was excited to teach Colby all about the fireworks...again, such a sweet big brother!

Since we had a late night on Friday, we spent our 4th of July just relaxing at home. It was so wonderful! I love it when the four of us can hang out at home with nothing to do but play. It doesn't get much better than that!

Here are some pictures from the 3rd of July cookout and fireworks. As you can see, we had several kids here, and I think they all had a great time! I love watching them all play together and act silly. Brody and Colby are very lucky to already have so many great friends.

The kids posing for a quick picture before the fireworks started. Unfortunately, Colby missed this picture. He was inside relaxing for a few minutes and getting his PJ's on for bedtime.

Brody and Tucker loving their creamsicles!

My little monkey...always so happy!

Brody showing off his golf hat..."like daddy wears."

I love this picture! Colby was so tired he fell asleep sitting straight up in Jason's lap. He was just "resting his eyes" before the fireworks started!

We are ready for the fireworks!

Finally...the fireworks begin!