Rolling Coy!

Check out our little man....

cereal and rolls

Coy's cousins Macey and Thomas successfully moved to Houston over the weekend along with their mommy & daddy of course. My sister & I bravely dared to watch the twins while they got settled into their new house. Macey went to sleep quickly after they arrived, but Thomas was a different story! He was a handful and loves to be entertained. They are both so adorable and I'm so thrilled Coy has all his cousins close by!

Here is a video of the boys having a little fun...watch to see who wins the battle!

Coy also spent time with his cousin Ryder over the weekend. Ryder has so much energy and has recently perfected his crawling skills, so he is EVERYWHERE! I am sure that Coy will quickly be chasing his cousin around!

Where's Grandpa looking?

Playing with Great Grandma Kolkhorst
Coy with Great Grandpa Kolkhorst...Do they look alike??
We've had two BIG firsts this week: 1) I attempted (key word here is ATTEMPTED) to feed Coy rice cereal 2) Coy has become a rolly-poly and now is rolling from his back to belly constantly!

The rice cereal didn't go over too well on the first attempt. I know the point of it is to get him use to the spoon and swallowing and such, but I think he spit it all out. I can't say I blame him though, it didn't seem too appetizing. His daddy asked, "how can he eat cereal if he doesn't have any teeth?" Haha. I will keep trying to get Coy use to the cereal, any good suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

Doesn't he look excited?

Coy first rolled over on Saturday. It was more like a slow motion to the side roll, then a tug, tug, tug, on to his belly. On Sunday, he did this 3 or 4 times, still perfecting his technique. Yesterday (Monday), I put him on a blanket on the floor walked into the kitchen and when I came back, he was on his belly! So, I turned him back over, and back to his belly he went! He is still trying to figure out what to do with his arms after he gets to his belly, so he gets a little frustrated, but it's so much fun to see him roll! (I have a video of it that I will upload soon...)

Please pray for the sleep study to go well. It's scheduled for Thursday night. Coy & I will be spending the night at Hermann in the sleep lab.

And, please keep baby Rhys and his sweet parents, Candice & Cody, in your thoughts and prayers. Rhys has had a rough couple of days, but is fighting through the storm. Please pray that Rhys's brain bleed has resolved completely, pray for his lungs to be free of fluid and there be no damage left from the oscillator/ventilator, pray for his blood gases to be wonderful, and for him to stay free of infection, pray for God to heal him to absolute perfection!

Prayers Needed for Baby Rhys

"Answer me when I call to you, O my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; be merciful to me and hear my prayer." Psalm 4:1

"I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry." Psalm 40:1

Baby Rhys & Baby Bentley were born 16 weeks too soon on July 16th, 2008. Tragically, Baby Bentley passed away just 13 hours later. Baby Rhys continues his fight for life in the NICU. Please keep Bentley, Rhys & their parents, Candice & Cody, in your thoughts and prayers. You can check on Rhys here or click the link to his blog on the right side of the page.

Love

"Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care." Psalm 95: 6-7

By the grace of God, Coy continues to thrive and grow day after day. His strength and courage amaze me. His smile overjoys my heart and fills my eyes with tears. He is the love of my life (along with his daddy). I could not imagine life without him.

He is now laughing! And I mean, giggling! It really is the sweetest thing I've ever seen. He's my whole heart. (If I forgot to mention that before...=))



He's rolled from his belly to his back twice, but has yet to go from back to belly. He's getting closer though! He is now reaching for toys and bringing his feet together in the air. He is also sitting assisted with "good" head control.



He loves bearing weight on his legs!

He loves putting EVERYTHING in his mouth!



ECI came today with a nutritionist. She measured and weighed him; he is 13 lbs 4 oz and 23 inches long. She advised we start him on rice cereal; I am looking forward to seeing how he takes to that! She said he looks great and was so encouraging!

Yesterday, Coy and Ryder seemed to discover each other. Coy smiled at Ryder and Ryder wanted to touch Coy. They are too cute.

Look how big he is! He loves to "hang out" like this sometimes!

We don't have much going on until the sleep study next week. Thanks for all your advice on how to make it more bearable! Hopefully, it goes smoothly and Coy will "pass"! Please continue to pray for us! We are so appreciative!

Bouncy chair fun

Check out our little man in action....

Long Overdue Update

Sorry for my absence lately. We have been SO busy! And, on top of that, I took a 3 day hiatus from the World Wide Web. I know it sounds silly, but trust me, it was much needed. Recently, I found myself always searching the Internet for info, looking at other blogs, and checking my email way too much! In church this past Sunday, our Pastor asked everyone to fast for 3 days, eating only beans and rice. Instead of fasting from food, I decided to fast from the Internet. Trust me, over the past few days, I was eager and anxious to get online, but I discovered all the things I can get accomplished (when Coy's napping, of course) when I keep my computer closed!

Coy is growing and changing by the day. He's now 12 lbs 8 oz and is the cutest thing I've ever seen. There are many times when I look at him and still get overwhelmed with emotion. I wake up some days and see this beautiful baby sucking on 4 fingers at once with this huge smile on his face when he looks at me and think, "Wow, he's really perfect." There were many times throughout his NICU stay where I remember begging, "Okay God, I don't care if he has any developmental delays, I don't care if there's anything wrong with him, but please just let him live and come home with us." Not only did God give him life, but He healed him through and through. Coy is beyond perfect.

Coy had another Physical Therapy evaluation (with a private PT) on Monday. She continues to be amazed at his development. He played and played for almost an hour. She said she's never had a baby be so content and play for almost an entire hour without becoming fussy. He's right on track developmentally for his corrected age. Sara, the therapist, thinks Coy is very close to rolling over! We are working on it at home! Needless to say, he is WAY more active these days and keeps our hands full!

Today we had another visit to see the great, Dr. Hittner. She said Coy's eyes are looking good and he can go another month before the next follow up. That was music to my ears....that visit always makes me VERY nervous.

Coy's sleep study is scheduled for the 31st of July. Until then, we don't have any more appointments (that I can think of right now.) He is now continually off oxygen. We stopped using the Apnea monitor about 1.5 months ago because it is basically useless. He does sleep with the Pulse Ox on his foot however. This is so we can still be awoken if something was happening, but usually, the three of us sleep peacefully through the night. Two night ago, Coy slept from 830pm to 8am! That was nice!

We are still so overwhelmed and grateful for all of your love and support. We are so blessed. We love you all.

(I finally got my smile!)

Look at that belly!

Happy 4th of July!