Colton's 8 Month Update!

 

Our precious Colton Allen is 8 months old!!!  He is 16 pounds and 26" long! This has been the biggest month yet, Colton learned to army crawl in and out of the braces, sit up from laying down, he is trying to pull up fully on things, and he can wave hi. We are entering the most exciting stage, I love to learn where they want to go and see them move there on their own! Plus we so close to breaking out of the brace during the day! I absolutely can't wait. The last 6 days have been full-night crib bootcamp. He had been sleeping in the crib the first half of the night but now he's in the crib all night long. Colton loves to read books with me and will feel the pages with the textures all on his own and will even turn the page! Colton doesn't have any teeth yet and Conner had 3 already by now, it's so fun to see the differences! Colton is just the sweetest and calmest baby now! Cheers to 8 months of our sweet little Colton!

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Colton's 7 Month Update!

 

Our littlest love, Colton Allen, is 7 months old today on Valentines Day! How special . Colton loves to give me hugs and reaches for me when I'm near. It is the greatest feeling. Colton is extremely clingy to me lately! Colton recognizes his name when called!!! Also, Colton loves loves his pureés so much so, that he is creating a partial nursing strike the majority of this past month which has been stressing me the heck out if I'm being honest. Colton is still 15 pounds (and has a weight check soon at the pediatrician), and just moved up to size 3 diapers. Colton is starting to scooch backwards on the ground, hurray!!! and loves to play with Conner and his toys! Colton also loves to throw his paci and his toys and can now locate and place the paci in his mouth in his crib during the middle of the night all by himself, hallelujah! Happy Valentines Day everyone, and what an amazing day to celebrate Colton being 7 months

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Colton's 6 Month Update!

What a big month, our precious Colton Allen is 6 months old!! His first half birthday today!  This month we will begin eating solids for the first time (today), we transitioned to the crib from the bassinet, and big brother potty trained.....all in the same week. We made it 6 months of exclusively breastfeeding, and I'm so so proud of us! Our next goal is making it to a year, but I'd love for us to go longer than that, like I did with Conner! Colton weighs 15 pounds and is still in size 6 month clothes and is creeping out of size 2 diapers soon. He finally has doubled his birth weight! Colton is reaching for me now, he enjoys the bouncer now, he wakes up and immediately smiles and giggles at me, and he is showing us that he is wanting to crawl. I wonder when that really will be? Colton can say dada now. Colton has major stranger danger, and he spins on his tummy while on the ground. Also this month, Colton will be starting his baby gymnastics class, just like Conner did! Huge month with our precious little guy!!

 

2024 Raborn Family Recap!

 2024 Recap!

This year about took me under with it, between giving birth at the beginning of football season, the most stressful time of our family and the time Cody spends mere minutes a day at home, and navigating an unusually difficult clubfoot journey on extremely limited sleep and high high stress with 2 under 2, and a very very bad bout with colic, weekly 4am foot doctor appointments, I didn't think I would make it. I still don't. This was one of our most stressful years of our entire lives but also one of the best because we have little Colton who has beautifully completed our family. 

Here's a little rundown of what our year consisted of:

January

January started out strong as it always does the years I'm pregnant then goes downhill quickly with the clubfoot diagnosis but this year was different. I of course knew it would probably be like 2022 and we find out quickly that our baby boy had clubbed feet but we had our ultrasound at the end of January and it showed the baby had normal feet (see picture below)! We were absolutely floored. We rode a high unlike anything else and were so so excited. I finally felt like I had a normal pregnancy and baby and actually looked forward to ultrasounds now and the now normal newborn and infancy that I would have. Everyone we came across we told them our baby didn't have clubbed feet. People didn't even know what that was but we were so excited to shout it from the rooftops, it was the greatest month we've ever had. 

February

Jump forward to February, they scheduled our next ultrasound, the 20 week ultrasound on leap day! I was thrilled, what a lucky day to have an ultrasound! We went in and I was actively feeling strong movements daily from baby, and we very clearly saw clubbed feet. And significant clubbed feet at that. We were so stunned, it was quite literally impossible. Clubfoot occurs at 9 weeks gestation, not 20. We saw that his feet were normal at 15 weeks and severely clubbed at 20 weeks. We were devastated and knew exactly what we were up against and I wanted no part of it. I made sure our OB understood clearly what our life would look like the first year (because a lot of doctors don't care to know) and I was EXTREMELY upset for a long long time. We got a 4D ultrasound to be sure and his feet were "holding hands". Yep. This was our future. Our sweet sweet baby's future. 

March

In March we went on our babymoon! I really wanted to go to the Biltmore for Christmas for our babymoon but I was 10 weeks along then and extremely sick. For our babymoon this year I was 21 weeks along and finally felt better. So over Cody's spring break we went to Anakeesta up in Gatlinburg! We had a blast spending a day babymoon there. We couldn't spend more time than that because we are the only two qualified to put the boy's braces on at night. 

April

April rolled around and we celebrated our first baby's 4th birthday, Lucy! We had a blast making the day all about her!

We then scheduled our 4D 28week ultrasound with family and had a blast seeing our gorgeous baby boy. His face was the prettiest thing I had ever seen. He even gave us a thumbs up to let us know everything would be ok. 

May

Nothing really notable happened in May.

June

In June, we had a very very busy month with my baby sprinkle, sweet family maternity pictures, our 8th anniversary, and Conner's 2nd birthday. 

 

Baby Raborn boy #2 sprinkled with love!

  

I can't  believe our baby turned 2!

July

And then of course in July at 39 weeks 2 days along (same day as Conner's birth), our precious Colton Allen was born July 14th 2024 at 4:36am 7 pounds 2oz and 19.5" long. We were so in love and completely felt like our family was complete. We were so happy to have him here! And pregnancy with a 1 year old is no joke I tell ya, I was glad for that to be over. 

August

In August at 3 weeks old (same as Conner) we started the casting correction phase for sweet little Colt Colt. I was so so bitter he would have to endure this. 

September

In September Conner started his Tuesday Thursday preschool and absolutely loves it!!!

We also dealt with a host of cast slippage issues with Colton. And we had another cousin have a baby boy this month!

October

This month we dealt with a bunch of cast issues again with Colton and had to start over many many times. It was so frustrating. He also got his tenotomy surgery on both ankles (Conner only had his left ankle done because his right foot was only skewed). 

November

In November they discovered Colton's tenotomy surgery didn't work on his left foot (just like Conner's) and they hope the bracing will help it or he will need a repeat surgery. 

Colton started the bracing process the day before Thanksgiving and endured Hell week like a champ. He handled it much better than Conner did. 

December

We celebrated Colton's first Christmas and are trucking along with the bracing segment. He has to be in it for a minimum of 3 months and if he starts to crawl and pull up when Conner did, then he will be out of it soon for a total of 4.5 months in braces opposed to Conner's 6.5 months in it (just because casting took so long for little Colt Colt). 

Our word of the year this year was Joy, and Colton brought that Joy to our family. It kept me centered as we endured so much this year and were in the throughs of depression with everything that August-November brought us. 

-2025-

We look forward to 2025 as Colton starts up his baby gymnastics soon, he gets out of the daily brace wear, he turns 1, starts walking, and in the Fall, Conner will be starting Monday Wednesday Friday preschool. It will be a fun and busy year and my focus is to be present and soak up as much as I can with my two babies. Time sure does fly. 

Cheers! Here's to the Raborns 2025!

Colton's 5 Month Update!

 

Our sweet Colton Allen is 5 months old, can you believe it?! He is 13.7 pounds and 24" long, in size 6mo clothing. This was a big month of learning to sit unassisted in and out of the braces (thanks to the strong core muscles from the casts)! Colton is a happy baby now and loves to belly laugh at Conner and loves to smile, chuckle, and laugh often. Colton can put his own paci in his mouth now when I put it in his hand. He loves to grab my hair, and our clothes. He is exploring his "voice" by "talking" to hemself often. He enjoys playing now, or watching Conner play. He is in love with watching Lucy do anything, she is very fascinating to him.  He cries when I leave the room or get out of his sight. This month, Colton transitioned out of casts and has adjusted well to the boots n bar brace. He just got back to his normal sleep schedule because of the braces, and doesn't seem to mind them much now or even notice them much. We look forward to this next month together, celebrating his first Christmas!!

Colton's 4 Month Update!

 

Our sweet Colton Allen is 4 months old! He is 12.4 pounds, and 23.5" long. He's in 3-6 month clothes and size 2 diapers. This month Colton is reaching for items, can put them in his mouth, and bats at objects. Colton also surprised us all and can roll from his stomach to his back, and his back to his stomach both in casts and out of casts amazing!! Colton makes his needs known with little shrieks, and has to be entertained/distracted constantly or else he's upset. Colton loves to cuddle and hold your hand, but still doesn't like to nap unless held. He loves to giggle and smile while interacting with you, which is so so special. It has been a fun month, and at the end of his next month, we are transitioning to the boots n bar brace!

Colton's 3 Month Update!

 

Our precious Colton Allen is 3 months old. This month has been the most exciting in terms of his interaction with us!! Colton full on chuckles and giggles now, and can be tickled and laughs back. I don't remember Conner doing that. This month we dealt with more cast struggles again but ultimately ended with a win and still got his surgery in "early". Colton is trying to sit up when partially reclined, just like Conner did, and is most likely on the same path to be sitting unassisted by the end of his 4th month hopefully! That was so much fun! The casts and braces make their legs and core so incredibly strong. Colton can also put his paci in his mouth with his arm when it falls out which is really neat, and he loves to be entertained by us and screams when he isn't engaged with or held. Colton is 11.7 pounds and 23 inches long and is now in size 0-3 month clothes and size 2 diapers (because of the bigger casts post surgery). I'm excited for what this month brings with our precious baby boy.