Catch up...

UPDATE
It's been over 5 weeks since we last updated, our apologies to Colby's fan club. We have experienced many milestones in those 5 weeks, including Colebank's first Christmas, his first snow on January 20 (five inches of fresh powder!), and his baptism on January 24. Things are still going very well with him. He is holding is head up nicely (see pictures below), and is smiling and cooing alot (well, most of the time, he does have fussy moments, usually when overly tired or gassy, refer to his Christmas loot picture below!). He occasionally rolls over on his own and he likes to hold on to his bottle while drinking. We are not "making it through the night yet" but hope that is not too far away! He weighed in at just under 14lb's at his last Dr. visit two weeks ago, so I would guess he may be close to 14.5 lb's or more as of today's posting.

HOLIDAYS
Christmas was really nice for us, even though we were on the road with the entire family, dogs included. I am seriously considering purchasing a small trailer for our future travels (since we love to have our dogs with us when we can). We spent two nights in Monroe, NC with Jennifer's parents, and then visited my family in Fayetteville for two nights. Colby got so many presents, we could not take them all with us back to Raleigh. New Year's Eve was fun. We had our neighbors over for some drinks and socializing, we lit over sized sparklers with the neighbor's children (the sparklers from our wedding!), and we made it up to see the New Year! I then flew to Memphis on New Years Day to support my ECU Pirates in the Liberty Bowl (Jan 2). There were five in "our group" and we had a blast, catching some Blues on Beale, eating ribs, playing a little Black Jack in Tunica, and having fun at the Liberty Bowl, despite losing the game to Kentucky. Jennifer was a trooper "holding down the fort" with a five month old for 3 nights, but Colby, as his usual self, did not pose too many problems for her. Jen kept herself (& Colby) busy by attending a birthday party, a friend's cookout, visiting her half sister and her 3 children who stopped in for a one night visit on New Years Day, and then throwing a scrap book "crop" session. Maybe I should have stayed gone 4 nights! That never would have happened. She may have been ok with that (well, maybe not?), but I really missed her and Colby, and never had been so happy to get back home from a trip/vacation.

SNOW
Five inches! One of those rare occasions when the weather forecasters got it right (I wanted to send a congratulations card to WRAL). It was beautiful. We got some house projects completed, we got in some good sledding, and we watched some of the inauguration fanfare (good timing with the snow day, otherwise, Jen and I both would have been working). We got a good picture of Colby gazing toward the tv during the actual oath (well, the "unofficial oath"). He can someday tell his family he got to see it (and prove it with a picture). School was out for two days, but Jen and I went back to work on day 2 (a little late however).

BAPTISM
Colebank was baptised on Saturday, January 24 at Sacred Heart Cathedral. It was a very special time for us to say the least. Both Godparents traveled from Florida for the occasion. My brother Allen is Colby's "official" Godfather (fun to call him that now), and Jennifer's aunt Karen is the Godmother (her mom's sister). Father Sal presided over the mass and the Baptism, which made it even more special since we obviously share a deeper than normal connection to him, as he with us. The cathedral was packed, and Father Sal surprised us and made the usually ritualistic Catholic baptism very unique by mentioning the loss of Colby's identical twin brother and briefly updating the congregation of our difficult time back in August. Many tears flowed. It was a nice touch, but he quickly turned it into a beautiful and happy occasion with Colby and his baptism. Colby was a trooper, completely asleep the whole time and perfectly fitted in his hand made baptism gown that Jennifer's mom made from her wedding dress (see pictures below!). After the baptism, Father Sal proudly paraded Colby down the central aisle and repeated "Isn't he just beautiful?" Of course he is. It was a perfect service, and it was followed by a dinner and social at our house for the baptism attendees, including Father Sal, who normally would not commit to such a celebration (due to setting a precedent). He said he felt compelled to join us due to the unique circumstances surrounding our miracle baby and our challenging journey.

*The blue ribbons that Jen and I wore at the baptism were from the TTTS Foundation, and we wore them in remembrance of Gavin, in celebration of Colby, and for TTTS awareness. There are two small pearls embedded in the blue ribbon. ** One final note on the baptism and just as a reminder to some, Gavin was baptized sometime after midnight on August 13 at Wake Med.

sg