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!

11 lbs 15.5 oz

I've tried very hard to get a perfect picture of Coy smiling....but as soon as he sees the camera, he gets the serious face! Tasha, I need you! =)

this and that

This past weekend, my brother & sis-in-law and their two kiddos, Macey & Thomas, came to town. We all had an awesome time playing and catching up with each other. Sara (my SIL) had two appointments at MD Anderson here in Houston to discuss her pituitary tumor. She said the Neurosurgeon sounded very optimistic about removing the tumor successfully and in one piece. He said it's "nice & round" and should not be difficult removing. (Yeah, easy for him to say!) Anyway--they are still doing labs and other testing for her Endocrinologist and then they will hopefully schedule the surgery soon. Please continue to keep my sweet SIL in your thoughts and prayers. Other good news is, they (my bro & SIL) are moving to Houston! They are now living in Austin, but recently bought a house near us! It is literally walking distance away. I am so excited they will be so close.

Some things Coy is loving now: eating his hands, smiling and squealing, his bouncy chair, talking to him, sleeping at night!, and George the Girafee (his teething toy). Everyday he is doing new things. It is so much fun to watch him grow up.

Coy had two appointments this week. On Monday, he was seen by the Pulmonolgist. She thought he looked fantastic. Unfortunately, I was not feeling well, so Chris & my sister took him. They are too good to me. (Since Coy's birth, I have not been ill. I woke up Sunday with a sore throat and some congestion...of course I panicked because I had been kissing on Coy all weekend. Thankfully, he seems to be doing fine and I am already feelin better.) The pulmonologist basically said she did not feel he needed oxygen anymore, however, before she can officially say this, he needs to have a Sleep Study. This is where we will go stay overnight in the Sleep Lab and Coy will be monitored all night for his breathing, heart rate, saturations, etc. I hear it's lots of fun (insert sarcasm!). Hopefully, this will be scheduled soon.

Today, Coy was seen by the GI doctor. He thought he looked great and said his weight gain is terrific. He was 11 lbs 11 oz naked and was 22.5 inches long! I can't believe he's grown 10 inches since his birth! He is now fitting into 3 month clothes. I absolutely LOVE buying outfits for him and dressing him everyday. Coy still consisently has 3 nights per week where is he really fussy. It usually starts while feeding him is last bottle of the day. He then continues to cry if you aren't walking around with him or standing up while holding him. The GI doc increased the dose of Zantac, and if this persists, then we will go to something stronger.

Over the weekend, we made several trips out with Coy. He went to two more restaurants and on a shopping trip with me, Aunt Steph, and Grams Cook. I love being able to take him out more. It feels so nice to have him with me all the time. Chris and I just grinned so huge when we had him at a restaurant on Friday night. Chris carried in him in the car seat and said "Wow, this is amazing, we are the parents with the baby." It feels surreal to us. We are so thankful.

Since he is out and about more often, I have run into a question from strangers that I don't really know how to answer. I mean, I should know how to answer it, but how much detail do I go into? The question being, "Oh, how cute, how old is he?" Hmmm....I sigh, smile and say, "Well, he's about 6.5 months old, but he was born 17 weeks early..." They usually look at him again and while doing the math. One lady got so excited, she even called her friend over and said..."Look, this baby was born at 23 weeks...isn't that amazing?" I am so happy for others to see God's miracle out and about, in the flesh, with their own eyes. I want nothing more than to give God all the glory for Coy. He is a true miracle. And if he can lead one person to Him, then it's all worth explaining everything over and over. So, I guess I just answered my own question!

Today after taking Coy to the doctor, I was pulling out of a parking garage (the worst designed garage in America!) and accidentally hit a car. I didn't hit it hard, though. I was turning a corner too sharply and my back tire pulled off their license plate holder thing (they were backed in and their front bumper was sticking out into the lane) and left a little scratch. I am an honest person, so I left a note for the person to call me, so I could explain and tell them I would pay for the damage. The woman called me, and left a message on my voicemail. She seemed very nice and said it was a rental car and she was on her way to returning it. Chris called her back and her husband answered the phone. He tried to tell Chris that there was "great damage" to the car. There wasn't, it was really minor, no dents or anything, no one would call it "great damage." I snapped a picture of it just for proof. When Chris told the guy, "Sir, I have seen a picture of the damage, it is very minor," he said, "oh, okay...." It's sad that when trying to do the "right" thing, you have to protect yourself against people who try to take advantage of the situation. Anyway---don't know what we'll owe for it yet, but it shouldn't be much. And now Chris will be making fun of me for ages....I always complain about his driving. And now, I've hit a car it a parking garage. Oh well, it was a honest mistake!

(To answer a question from last week...we have 2 Maltese dogs, Dixie and Sugar Pie; they love Coy and always want to be near him. They were our "first babies" and love affection/attention...)

2 Corinthians 1:8-11

"....We were under great pressure, far beyond
our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many."