Baby Stats - 12 months

Well, what would YOU do while waiting for the doctor to come in?!!

Colton's 1 year check-up

Appointment on: 6/7/2011

Age: 12 months and 22 days old (on date of blog entry)

Weight: 25 lbs. 14 oz. (75th – 90th percentile)

Length: 29 ½ inches (25th – 50th percentile)

Head Circumference: 47 ½ cm {18 ½ inches} (75th – 90th percentile)

Diaper: Size 4 –Pampers brand – Cruisers (during the day) and Pampers Extra Protection Size 4 (at bedtime)

Clothing: Wearing sizes 12-months and 18-months depending on the brand/type of outfit

Formula: NO MORE FORMULA - Whole milk it is! But, he WILL NOT drink it cold…it has to be warmed up. Same with juice…he loves it, but only if it’s warm, go figure?!

Amount: Introducing sippy cup, but he still thinks it’s a play toy…LOL! He's takes approx. four 8 oz. bottles a day with one of those being diluted juice (apple or white grape or pear)

Solid Food: He’s still not real big on texture so while we are introducing more solids, he is still eating Second Foods (#2). So far though, we do know he loves pancakes, biscuits, lima beans, English peas, graham crackers, fruit puffs, yogurt melts, and arrowroot cookies.

Sleeping Habits: Not much change here…He’s been sleeping through the night with an occasional wake up for a bit of bottle, but not very often. He is usually down for the night between 7:30 – 8:30 p.m. He gets anywhere from 10 to 12 hours at a stretch at night. He still takes an early morning nap (lasts anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour), a much longer afternoon nap (2 ½ to 3 hours), an early evening cat nap (about 30 minutes), and then he goes to bed for the night. As far as the tummy sleeping…nope, not his favorite anymore. Now he likes to be on his side or flat on his back.

What He's Doing/How He’s Progressing: We are FINALLY crawling and I mean it! He’s like a little race car once those “fours” get going!! He does not like for you to be out of his sight for a minute and you can hear him tearing up the floor making a bee line toward you, especially if it’s mommy he’s after. He is starting to experience just a twinge of stranger fear. He is reaching to pull himself up, but has not figured out the leg placement yet to make him actually get upright. We are totally convinced he is a little ham! He loves to entertain himself and those around him. He has the cutest laugh too. It sounds like a dolphin…eh, eh, eh, eh, eh! He LOVES music (from a toy, on the radio, on the television, if you sing to him, etc…). Whenever he hears a tune, he thumps his feet on the ground and lifts his hands in the air or grasps them in front of himself and rocks back and forth to the beat/sound! He is absolutely thrilled to sit on the ground and look out the front door (which is completely see-through safety glass). He points to the trees and birds and bugs and just blabs away. He is also a tongue roller! Seriously, this kid can fold his tongue completely in half and twirl it around. Talent I tell you, pure talent! (*see below) He says, “da-da” and “buh, bye” and has just started to say "ma-ma" and a whole plethora of other words that only he knows, but we don’t…LOL! He is still quite the babble baby for sure! He also has an opening of drawers and cabinets fixation so safety latches are now in full force! He does not like the word “no” and if you say it to him, he will look at you with astonishment and give a little grunt and then sometimes he’ll even start to cry…I mean after all, how dare we hurt his feelings?! You can forget about handing him off to someone he doesn't know if you are not within his eyesight. He has discovered how to do the flaps in the lift-a-flap books and squeals with delight when you read those to him and do the flaps. His hair grows out of one cowlick swirling circle in the back of his head which is so cute…hard to tame, but cute nonetheless. He has a total of 8 teeth with two more breaking through on the bottom on each side (the cuspids). The pacifier is still something he gravitates to. It is hysterical to see him grab it and pop it in his mouth. He also likes to let it dangle out of the side of his mouth like Groucho Marx. He still gets giddy with excitement every time he sees his loved ones (especially his big brother). If you are holding him when he sees another special somebody, he pumps his legs up and down and up and down. We call those his “happy feet”. People ask us if he is as cheerful and as pleasant as everyone witnesses of him? The answer that question (and if I can be totally honest) is “YES!” He is absolutely one of the happiest babes in the world and he fills our days and nights with more joy than imaginable!

* Note, the tongue roll (click on picture for a closer view)...

Vaccines He’s Received To Date: Hepatitis B, DTaP (Diptheria, Tetanus, Pertussis), Hib (Haemophilus Influenzae Type b), IPV (Polio), Prevnar/PCV 13 (Pneumococcal Conjugate), RotaTeq (Rotavirus), Flu, Varivax (chicken pox), and MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella)

If you want to read about, contrast/compare Colton's 9 month stats, click here.

Good News and Bad News

I had some surprisingly good news on Thursday.


One of the gals I have come to “know” (although we’d never met in real life) from a trying to conceive site I joined over 4 years ago, texted me and said that she and her family were driving through Montgomery on their way to their new house in Florida.


I texted back and asked if they had time to stop by my workplace on their way and she said, “Yes, we’ll be there in about 20 minutes.”


I was so excited because she is part of a group (there’s about 9 of us gals in total including myself) that I have grown so very close to online and the thought of being able to finally see her was almost too good to be true.


I couldn’t wait to give her a hug...IN PERSON!


What’s ironic is that she also has two boys and her oldest is my oldest son’s age and her youngest son is named, yep, you guessed it...Colton (just like my youngest) and his birthday is only one day before my Colton’s, but a year earlier.

Add more irony…her husband is in the Air Force and mine is too, but reserves, while her husband is full-time.


So here you have it…Kristen and me…up close and personal!

And here’s us with her oldest son, Dakota (her sweet Colton was a bit shy and opted to stay in the car).

We enjoyed standing there in the street next to their car and their moving truck, just chatting up a storm, when my cell phone (which had been vibrating in my pocket), did so again for the third time in a row and I finally decided to answer it.

It was my hubby who had been trying to contact me because the daycare called and said that Colton was running a fever and a rash had sprung up on his chest and groin area.

Well, needless to say, my child emergency ended our long-awaited chat and I had to hug Kristen once again and say good-bye as they headed on their way to their new home and I headed on my way to the daycare to pick up my babe.

Thankfully, the pediatrician’s office was able to squeeze me in.

Fever, check.

Rash, check.

Red throat, check.

Cough, check.

Strep test...positive, check!

So, there you have it…the bad news…Colton has strep throat, poor little guy.

He crashed when we got home from the doctor's office that afternoon.

Ever since then we’ve been treating him with antibiotic, fever reducer and Pedialyte (because he’d been throwing up) and today (Saturday) he’s starting to act a bit more like himself although he had a very rough, non-sleeping night last night.

The rash although, has spread to his arms and legs and it looks and feels like pink chicken skin. Hopefully, this will clear up in the upcoming week especially since we have is one year photo shoot on Saturday.

Thankfully, it doesn’t seem as if it’s itching him at all so that’s a blessing.

Speaking of blessings…my friend Ali, the mommy of baby Fitz, who I told you about here.

Well, she texted me yesterday and said that Fitz was being released from the hospital and they were headed home!

Please continue to keep them in your prayers as they get adjusted to being home as a family and having Fitz in their care.

Thanks!

And a great big HAPPY FATHER’S DAY to all the daddy’s, granddaddy's, stepdaddy's, and those who are like daddy's out there too!

Easter...In June!

Okay, so I'm just a little late posting these [insert embarrassment here], but as promised here are Easter pics...

Easter Goodies For The Boys!

Colton Seems Very Happy With His Basket!

R.J. Does Too!

A Bunny And A Duckie? WOW!

And A Book And A Hammer? No Way!

Oh, Wait, My Brother Got A Book As Well!

And A Whole Bunch Of Other Stuff Too!

But, Hey, I Got ANOTHER Book!

And I'm Just A Bit "Hungry" For BIBLE Knowledge!

What? No More Stuff? Hrumph!

That's Okay, I'll Just Play With My Basket Then!

My Family At Church...Celebrating What Easter Is REALLY All About!

Feels Like A Year, Oh, Wait, It has Been!

Well, like the title says...it feels like a year since I've been here and I sincerely apologize. I have really missed being able to post to my blog regularly, but I was kidding myself thinking I could do so once the legislative session got under way.

Honestly, there were weeks that I saw my office only once, maybe twice if I was lucky.

Although I love my job, thankfully, the 2011 Regular Session adjourned for good VERY late last Thursday night and I am hoping (and looking forward to) getting back into the swing of things here on my blog.

Back to that year thing...my sweet Colton turned the big O-N-E on the 5th of June! I absolutely cannot believe it!

Seriously, where in the world has the time gone?

I've always heard other moms say that when you have your second child things become more chaotic and the days seem to fly by even quicker than normal and boy, oh, boy is that ever true!

We had a HUGE birthday blow-out for my little man on his actual birthday and although the preparations wore this mommy out, it was well worth it! It was a great time and Colton was wonderful!

I hired someone to take pictures at the birthday party for me and I should have those back soon. I can't wait to see them and share them with you all.

And yes, yes, yes, I know I owe you all some Easter pics and I also have Colton's 12 month stats to do as well.

And I will deliver...promptly...tomorrow...LOL!

In the meantime, I want you to hop on over to my friend Ali's blog and check out her latest post.

She was due with her first child (a sweet baby boy named Fitz) at the end of this month, but she had him early (June 3rd).

Funny, her due date was a day before Colton's was last year (June 29th) and I had him early too (June 5th), which wound up being two days later than Fitz's birthday this year. Who woulda' thunk it?!

Anyway, Fitz is here (PRAISE GOD!), but he's been dealing with some issues due to a bilateral cleft lip an palate. He's not home yet, but he's been blowing the doctor's outta' the water with how well he's been doing with his feedings and overall health in general.

Just wait until you see him...he's just the most beautiful and precious babe! And my friend Ali, well, she's had the most positive and upbeat outlook about the whole birth, delivery and everything she and her hubby, John, have dealt with since sweet little Fitz got here. I always knew she'd be an awesome Mom (she's an awesome friend and person too) and by golly, she's proving it for sure. Fitz is a luckly little fellow...he's definitely surronded by a whole lotta' love!

If you could, please keep Fitz, Ali, John and the rest of the family in your prayers. I know it would mean alot to me and I definitely know it would mean even more to them.

And while we're on the subject of prayers, my other awesome friend, Lorrie, is in need of them too. You can read her story here.

After years and years of trying, which has included volumes of medications, several IUI's and IVF's, and a devastating miscarriage 2 years ago...she is ready to embark upon what we hope is her journey to motherhood with donor embryos.

She's ever so close to her FET (frozen embryo transfer) scheduled for June 23rd.

I am asking for some extra special prayers for Lorrie and her husband Tom as they prepare for the big day. If ever there was someone in this world who deserves to be a mommy, it is her.

Thanks my bloggy friends! You are the best and I know you will hold these ladies close to your heart in thought and prayer.

In the meantime, please drop in and say hello...I've missed you all!

Much Love!!!

~Tracey

Just Wanted You All To Know

Hello...do ya' miss me?!

Well, let me just say that I TOTALLY miss you all and blogging too.

Just wanted to drop in real quick to let you all know that I have NOT given up on my blog.

My work right now has me beyond busy!!

In my 17 years of doing Governmental Relations work, I cannot remember a legislative session that has been so chaotic, so mind-testing, and so unbelievably heavy with workload.

Don't get me wrong...I am a hard worker and I thrive on being challenged, but combine all of what I've mentioned above with workdays that sometimes turn into nights way past midnight, a long drive home, and two kids that I sometimes only get to see when they awake in the morning or when I check on them asleep in their beds at night, and you can only imagine how stressful it has been/can be.

And my husband?

He's totally great and definitely helps me by picking up my slack. I couldn't do this job without him.

Having said all that, please bear with me and the lack of posting.

I'll get my groove back soon.

Next week the Legislature takes a 2-week break...YIPPEEE!!

Promise to share some Easter pics for sure.

In the meantime, thanks for understanding and thanks for sticking with me.

Much Love to you all!

NOT Where You Want To Spend Your Saturday Night

In the Emergency Room that is.

In fact, if possible, avoid it at all costs.

But if you can’t, I hope you get in and out quicker than we did with Colton this past Saturday.

BACKGROUND INFO:

Colton was uncharacteristically fussy and did not sleep well on Thursday night, but he wasn’t exhibiting any signs of fever or illness so I just chalked it off to perhaps another tooth getting ready to break through.

As usual, I dropped him off at daycare Friday morning without incident.

Shortly after lunch, I got a call from the daycare letting me know that Colton felt hot and he was running a bit of a fever (a little over 99 degrees).

They faxed me the permission slip to give him Motrin and I signed it and faxed it back. I asked them if I needed to come and get him, but they said that other than feeling a bit hot he was acting fine.

Nevertheless, being a mommy, I decided to slip out early and go get my babe.

When I got there he was warm, but not hot, and in fact he smiled a great big smile when he saw me.

At home I gave him a tepid bath and some more fever medicine.

From experience with R.J., I knew how to administer the alternating Tylenol/Motrin, Tylenol/Motrin routine to get his fever under control (or so I thought).

Friday night was a nightmare…NO SLEEP for Colton and NO SLEEP for mommy.

Once again, the fussiness kicked in and there was no consoling him…not the pacifier, not the bottle, not holding him, not rocking him…NOTHING.

After hours of trying to get him to calm down (and at my wits end) I put him in the bed with me (I know, I know…bad mommy) and I watched him as he FINALLY fell asleep.

By this time it was after 6 a.m. and I never did fall asleep…I just watched him for 2 ½ hours until he woke up.

After waking, he took a tiny bit (and I mean a tiny bit) of bottle and I checked his temp.

It was up, meds were once again administered like I had been doing around the clock since the early evening the night before and so it went for most of the day until about 4:30 p.m. when I checked his temperature and the thermo scan read 102.9 and was glowing red (seriously, it was).

What was happening is that the Tylenol/Motrin would get his fever to come down some, but once it wore off, his temp would shoot right back up again.

Given the fact that he just had ear tubes put in a week ago, I started to worry that maybe there was some sort of secondary infection going on and that’s why his temperature was so high. Then, the coughing kicked in…big time.

Yep, something was definitely going on and it was past time for us to get him to a doctor.

Since the pediatrician’s office was closed (being that it was a weekend), our next option was a local Prime Med (a.k.a. doc in a box).

Guess what?

Doc in the box closes early on the weekends…go figure?!

So off to the local Emergency Room we went.

Thankfully, R.J. was already off spending the night with my Mom & Dad so we didn’t have to worry about entertaining an 8 year old AND an infant as we waited in an E.R.

Good thing.

I looked, it was 7:24 p.m. when we pulled into the hospital parking lot.

When we got inside I noticed that the lobby didn’t look too bad. There were about three people/families ahead of us and so I thought, “Hmmmm, we may be able to get in and out relatively quick?!”

Silly Tracey, those thoughts are for kids!

What we couldn’t see was how packed the place was in the back…where the actual examination rooms were.

And so, we waited…

and waited…

and waited some more.

We waited while a family of five (smelling like old, musty cigarette smoke) walked in.

The daddy, looked like Vanilla Ice back in his

“Ice, Ice, Baby”days.

There he was - - droopy pants, baseball cap on sideways, tattooed arms you know, the whole nine yards and I watch as he proceeded to lead his clan over to the seats that were caddy corner to us.

Of course he headed our way, I mean why would he want to choose the row of chairs across the room from us when he was able to be within inches of our noses so we could breathe in that lovely smell of (I had three cigarettes in the car with the windows closed on my way over here) smoke?!

Once he sat down, we noticed that he was holding the right side of his face and kept mumbling something to his blonde headed, similarly tattooed, toe ringed, flip-flopped wife.

Honestly, he sounded like Marlon Brando in The Godfather.

But hey, obviously she was able to understand him clearly because this is what we heard her say to him.

“HELL, no, they ain’t gonna give you a pain pill perscription…you know you cain’t have none of that. They’re probly gonna give you a coupla needles in your face to numb it up and then we’ll haveta find a DAMN dentist to carry you to on Monday.”

So here we are sitting next to a pain pill popper man with lockjaw!

On a positive note though. The three young children that were with this couple were precious, very well-behaved and seemed genuinely concerned about the well-being of their daddy.

I did however, seriously worry about the future of their lungs being that they were surrounded by all that second hand smoke.

Okay, next in, a lady sporting half fuzzy, half where-fuzz-used-to-be leopard slippers, wearing denim jeggings (with ABSOLUTELY NO RIGHT to be wearing such) who shuffled on up to the computer check-in screen (which by the way, we had clear view of…so much for HIPPA and privacy, huh?) and proceeded to type in as REASON FOR VISIT: “I brokeyed my toes.”

Evidently lady, your toes aren’t that brokeyed because you were able to pour yourself into those jeggings, slip on your funky slippers and drive yourself over here to the E.R.

Could this night get any more interesting????!!!!

And, just as I am thinking this, the E.R. rent-a-cop swoops past us and gets a nurse to bring a wheelchair to the entrance of the lobby.

We hear a lot of commotion and the next thing we know, they are wheeling this guy in with a neck brace on and his legs all crumply looking.

They push him straight on through to the back and as he is whizzed by, the alcohol smell is so strong that if you lit a match near him he’d go up in flames.

Not following too far behind him are two women, one perhaps is this guy’s mother, the other his girlfriend/wife, and a guy who was without a doubt his drinking buddy.

Once they hit the double doors to the back, the rent-a-cop informs them they are not allowed to go back there yet, only drunken wheelchair man can.

As we are sitting there, we find out that drunken wheelchair man drove into a ditch.

At this point, we can only assume that the car was left in the ditch and drunken wheelchair man’s posse’ drove him to the E.R. to get checked out.

After about 20 minutes, we see wheelchair man WITHOUT the wheelchair and neck brace, come through the double doors and wobble through the lobby headed towards the front entrance.

All the while, his posse’ is looking at him totally dumbfounded not really knowing what to do until drunken wheelchair man snaps, “C’mon, we ain’t staying here…they’re gittin’ ready to call the po-lice on me. F*%# that! Y’all coming with me or not?”

With that, the posse' and drunken wheelchair man exit through the sliding glass entrance doors into the dark of night.

After which, we are told that drunken wheelchair man got BEHIND THE WHEEL of the car and drove off.

Upon learning that, I said a silent prayer and asked the Lord to especially protect others on the road hoping that no one came in contact with drunken wheelchair man who was now commandeering yet another vehicle.

When I asked the staff why he was allowed to leave, they said they didn't have the right to keep him there.

WHAT?!!!

[INSERT HERE: I could go on and on and on about what I think of this, but it would take up another whole blog post!]

Anyway, then, in comes Mrs. Veda Sheppard (again, so much for privacy) who is suffering from severe abdominal pain.

Because she is unable to stand upright, they place her in a wheelchair that is stopped right next to my husband who is holding Colton on his lap.

For the next few minutes, we get to hear various sounds of grunting pain as I ease Colton off of Michael’s lap and put him on mine further away from the Veda Sheppard Stomach Symphony in D Minor.

Mind you now, all the while, Colton is as sweet and calm as could be, just looking around and taking it all in.

Thankfully, due to his age he was oblivious to the absurdity of it all.

WHAT?

Was that my child’s name you just called??

Yes!

Thank the Lord!

We explain to the nurse what has been transpiring with Colton for the past 24 to 48 hours and we are told that we did right by bringing him in and they would do a few tests to see what was causing the persistent high fever and by now, a very croupy sounding cough.

Remember now, we have a 9 month old (soon-to-be 10 month old) infant who was running fever and not feeling well.

We had already been sitting in the lobby waiting area for over 3 ½ hours.

Surely, they could speed the process up.

W-R-O-N-G!

After Colton's ears are checked, his finger pricked for a CBC (complete blood count), a nasal swipe and throat swab to check for flu and strep, we waited...

and waited...

and waited some more.

For what seemed like an eternity, there Michael and I were peering out the small window on the examination room door looking for signs of a doctor or nurse headed our way with some information.

I told my husband that I felt like we were prisoners in a jail cell glancing through steel bars as everyone else walked past.

Just as Colton fell asleep on the table (at this point from pure exhaustion), in strolled an x-ray tech with a portable machine to get a chest x-ray.

After another 3 ½ hours (yes, you read that right), the doctor comes in and tells us that Colton’s ears look fine, the strep and flu test came back negative, but his white blood cell count was a little elevated and looking at the x-ray, it is determined that he has some slight pneumonia in his right lung.

He orders an injection of Rocephin and Zithromax oral antibiotic for us to give at home for 6 days.

Back to the Rocephin injection…have you ever seen or had a Rocephin injection???

Speaking of which, in walks the nurse with the longest needle I have ever seen and I ask him, “Is that the shot you are going to give my baby?”

He apologizes and says, “Yes, M’am and I won’t lie to you, it’s got to go into his leg muscle and it’s going to hurt, but I did add some lidocaine to help ease the burn of the

medicine a bit.”

Gee, thanks for explaining that nurse, but excuse me while I leave my baby with my husband for the shot administration.

I’m going to ease out the door temporarily because just the thought of that needle being injected into my son makes me gag and I feel like I’m going to throw up.

S-C-R-E-A-M!!!! (Colton's, not mine)

That’s when I dash back into the room and scoop my baby up to calm him down…which I might add did not happen quickly.

We are told we have to wait at least 20 minutes to see if the baby has a reaction to the shot.

Twenty-minutes?

Heck, what’s another 20 minutes when we’ve already been here long enough to welcome in Sunday.

Guess who had a reaction to the shot?

Poor little man…his thigh turned red, raised and hot within a matter of minutes.

A 5 mL dose of Benadryl and 20 more minutes and we are F-I-N-A-L-L-Y discharged with prescription in hand.

We pull out of the parking lot and onto the main drag headed to the only 24-hour pharmacy that conveniently is located right around the corner from the hospital.

Guess what?

The entire side of the street that the pharmacy is located on is blacked out and there are 4 police cars with flashing lights in the intersection.

We head home knowing we’ll just have to get the prescription filled later that day.

As we pull the car into our driveway, the clock reads 2:24 a.m.

We have been at the Emergency Room for 7 hours!!!

Colton is asleep and by the grace of God does not wake up when we place him in the crib.

My poor hubby (who at this point wishes he too could crawl up asleep in that crib) had to report to his reserve unit for military drill by 7:00 a.m.

Needless to say, neither he, nor I got much sleep.

Michael tells me he will drop off the prescription at the drug store on his way to the military base that morning.

When I call Walgreen's later that morning to find out if Colton’s prescription is ready to be picked up, the pharmacist tells me to hold on while she checks.

She goes onto say that the computers were running slow because there was a three-car accident that happened at about midnight the night before that took out a power pole.

O-M-G!

My mind flashes back to drunken wheelchair man from the emergency room and I just swallow hard and questioningly say to her, “I hope that no one was seriously injured or killed?”

She says she doesn’t know, but she hopes the same too.

“Yes, Colton’s prescription is ready.”

“Thank-you,” I reply.

As I hung up the phone, I concluded that long waits in emergency rooms we can deal with, painful needles we can deal with, fevers we can deal with, occasional sickness we can deal with…not being alive and together as a family because of some tragic event…THAT I don’t ever want to have to deal with.

By the way, after a full day at home on Sunday, a day off from daycare spent with Mimi and Boppa (my mom and dad) taking care of and cuddling him, and 3 days of oral antibiotics...Colton is feeling much, much better!

And he should...after all, he turns 10 months old today!!

And Then There Were Tubes...

Well, we finally gave in...Colton's last or should I say Colton's NEVER ENDING ear infection(s) finally pushed us to the edge and we jumped off - - right into the office of an ENT (Ear Nose & Throat) doctor.

And I'm so glad we took the leap.

Since Thanksgiving we have had doctor's visit after doctor's visit dealing with and trying to combat ear infections and the nasty cold symptoms that come with them.

And, if I had to take a non-doctor's educated guess, we've been dealing with the SAME recurrent ear infection(s) since that time and NO ANTIBIOTIC ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH has been bully enough to knock it out.

Now, let me just say that we are no stranger to ear infections. My oldest got them and in fact, what child in daycare doesn't get one (or more)?

BUT...

Just get out your wet noodles and slap me silly...eight ear infections in less than 5 months?!

That ain't normal my friends!!!

And I must add that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE our pediatrician, but somehow this time around with baby #2, I just did not feel comfortable with the conservative, "It happens all the time in children under age 2 and as he gets older and builds up more immunity these ear infections should no longer be a problem. Let's try a different antibiotic this time."

Ah, no.

How many more antibiotics were we gonna try? We did Amoxicillin, we did Suprax, we did Septra, we did _______________________ (fill in the blank).

Seriously, fill it in, I am sure we tried that too...lol!

So, after convincing my hubby that we really needed to get another opinion - - as in..."Michael, we need to get our baby to an ear, nose and throat guy A-SAP!" - - there we were in our local ENT's office about 2 weeks ago.

Guess what?

It did not take long (about a milli-second really) to determine that Colton was INDEED a prime candidate for ear tubes...just like Mommy thought :-)

And yes, yes, yes, I know that ear tubes are not always the answer, but seriously folks, we had to give this babe some relief.

Hopefully, the tubes will do the trick, but just like most things, I guess only time will tell.

Anyway, we left the ENT's office with a surgery date of April 8 (which was 3 weeks from the date of our initial visit) along with a proviso that if it looked like Colton would not be able to hold out that long, I could call and see if the surgery nurse could slip us in earlier.

We did Colton's surgery yesterday, March 25th, so you can figure out what wound up happening (wink).

And the day went like this...

Mommy and Colton Heading into the Surgery Center at

O'dark Thirty in the Morning!

Yep, we're both still sleepy...can't you tell?!

Fox News Must've Been Showing Something Really Captivating on the Waiting Area Television

Talk About Mirror Image?!

Nurse Mattie Checking Vitals and Colton Helping Her Out

(see him holding onto the stethoscope?! LOL!)

It's Official...He's a Patient

Colton Investigating His New Jammie Accessory

Vitals, check. I.D. Bracelet, check. Pacifier, check.

So What's Next?

You Gotta' Sweet Smile Nurse Lady, but Let Me Double Check

Your Badge Before You Take Me Away To Some Cold Surgery Room

Sure Recovery Nurse Dude, You're Smiling...

After All, It Wasn't Your Ears They Fiddled With!

Need to tell you all...Brandon (the recovery nurse dude) told Michael and I that he had never seen a baby as young as Colton come out of anesthesia without crying or screaming or flailing. He said that Colton did not shed a tear or make a sound...just woke up with a little grin and grabbed his finger. [Insert Here - proud parents and a heart melt too!]

Safely Back in the Arms of Mommy!

After 10 Hours With No Food - - This Bottle Tastes GREAT!

Let's Go Home...I'm Done With All This Surgery Stuff!

After A Few Hours Nap, Food, a Diaper and Clothing Change...

Look Who's Feeling So Much Better!

So my blogger friends, there you have it. Never would I have thought that the word "tubes" would hold so much significance for me and for my son...for two TOTALLY different reasons of course (LOL!)