Colton's First Birthday!!

 

Happy 1st birthday Colton! 🥳 Colton's first year down!!!🏈 We officially have a toddler! Colton beautifully completed our family, I had never been so sure that our little family needed two kids, your precious little soul, and a perfect brother for Conner. This past year has been anything but easy and you have overcome so much. The first 4-9 months of your life were excruciatingly difficult as we very much expected, but it didn't make it any easier. It was so difficult to watch you in pain and discomfort and it seemingly being "our fault" with the casts and braces. It's amazing you're a sweet and kind person through this all, and through the severe reflux we never could get straightened out. You are so strong through your struggles and can overcome anything life throws your way now. God gave us you to love and adore and raise. What an honor.

I'm looking forward to this next year of life, anxiously waiting for you to fully walk and start weekly gymnastics class in the Fall, and to get to know you even better as your vocabulary starts to grow. I can't wait to see where God takes you and the adventures ahead. I'm excited to discover your likes, dislikes, and interests, and what makes your heart happy. Thank you for joining our family and helping us all grow in every single way. We love you Colton Allen😍.

I always said, if I had a second boy, his first birthday theme would be football to honor Cody and our family's legacy!

Charcuterie/tailgating theme!!

 

Smash cake on the left and football pull apart cupcakes on the right!!

How cute are these cookies!?!

Of course pool time on this hot July day!

And before party day festivities, Colton had his monthly gymnastics class!

The boy who made me a mama X2!

Let's remanence and take a trip down memory lane shall we?

My precious baby!

 

 

With so much love,

Mama

7-14-2025

Colton's 12 Month Update!

 

Our precious little Colton is 1🥳🥳 celebrate!!! I can't believe Colton has been with us a whole year already and we loved celebrating him on Saturday. My dream was to have a birthday twin, but his party was on my birthday this year so it felt like we got to share a birthday after all 💗. Colton is walking while only holding one of our hands and he has taken a few independent steps!!! He has said a few new words and loves to clap along to songs. Colton might actually be starting to sleep through the night just like Conner did, just in time for his first birthday 🎂. We also have made it to a year of breastfeeding, I am so proud of us!! We are now starting the "weaning" process to just twice a day which takes about a month for my oversupplying self. I was able to manage my oversupply much better this time around, but it always is a challenge for me. We are so blessed to have little Colton beautifully complete our family. He has been such a joy to us. 💕

With so much love,

Mama

7-14-2025

Colton's 11 Month Update!

And as of Saturday, our sweet Colton Allen is 11 months old🥳🥳🩵. This past month, Colton learned to sign more, he dances to music, he is cruising everywhere, and he pushes his walker all around😍💕. He's the happiest little boy and has to explore his surroundings everywhere. Colton is almost 19 pounds and is finally in 9 month clothes! Colton loves to wrestle Conner and now says mama on purpose 😍😍🩷. He calls for me in the morning 🥰. I can't believe we almost have a 1 year old! Every milestone is so bittersweet because his first is my last🥲. #lastbaby 

We also have a month to get Colton to figure out how to drink from something other than from me so when I wean him to just morning and night nursing in a month, he will have a way to drink water and whole milk. We had this same issue with Conner and he eventually figured it out at 13.5 months and it was fine so I assume Colton will be the same🤷🏼‍♀️. 

Colton's 10 Month Update!

 

Our precious Colton Allen is 10 months old today!🥳 We are rounding the corner to his first birthday! This month Colton learned how to clap, he started crawling on all fours 2 weeks ago officially, he went from the 3rd to 8th percentile in length and weight👏🏻, and he officially has his bottom two teeth, and his top two teeth all of a sudden appeared as well! It's official to say both of my babies don't have teething pains/issues, we did our time with months of severe casting pain, so it's nice to have a break somewhere else🙏🏻. Colton likes to share his paci with me now, and he can officially say mama (I heard it twice so it counts🤣). Colton can also say ball and hi! Colton gets a lot more bumps and bruises than Conner did, the perks of being the younger brother 😬, and Colton always has to be in the action and has to do exactly what Conner is doing, and play with whatever Conner has. He adores Conner and Conner adores him! This has been a sweet month. My favorite stage is the 9-18 month age range and it has proven to still be so fun! 🩵🩵 We love you Colton! The sass in that second photo😂

Kayla Raborn

5/14/25

Colton's 9 Month Update!!

Happy 9 months to our precious precious Colton Allen💕🥰. A few weeks ago, Colton started pulling up on everything, in and out of his braces, we are so proud of him! He also has started to step and is trying to cruise around on furniture! If you hold his hands, he will take a few steps to walk!! Also, a few days ago Colton climbed 2 steps!! Colton is almost 17 pounds and is just starting to get his bottom right tooth (I think 🤔). He's eating a ton of actual food food and is loving that, but he still loves nursing thankfully 🤱🏼. Colton now takes all of his naps in his crib which is amazing!! And Colton is also exploring newfound object permanence which means Lucy's water dish in the pantry is now being taken up again😭. This has been a very exciting month and we look forward to his first Easter and this next month of development! Big things are coming, stay tuned!😁  P.S. look at the picture closely and notice if something is different 🤔😁

Also, surprise! Colton has graduated from his day brace wear! We are so incredibly proud of him and his determination and grit to get here. I don't know if you caught the "Easter Egg" from the 9 month picture, but it was his first monthly update post without his braces signifying we're done!! The end of last week was when we moved to just night wear. Colton finished his braces 1 week after Conner did but was in the 23hr daily wear over 2 months less than Conner because he had so many casting issues for so long. What was holding us back from getting to this point was he wasn't crawling the way they wanted him to (full on hands and knees) but what overrode that was his determination and will to cruise and take steps while pulled up on objects. It bought him the fast-track ticket out. And that's all we needed. 👏🏻 

This little guy right here has overcome so much over these last 9 months, this journey was extremely painful for him in the beginning, and we went round and round through casting issues, removing and putting back on which is extremely uncomfortable for him. The worst feeling was not being able to do anything to help him while he screamed to us and we watched his foot relapse over and over from their lack of due diligence of cast issues. Props to us for multiple weekly 4am casting doctor visits (which took 5 hours each visit) for 4 months and many many sleepless nights for us all. And to the person who said this is all no big deal while watching us suffer, well I notice a huge difference already in our lives, same as I did for Conner. This is day 5 of being out of brace wear during the day and I can't tell you how much easier life is. There is a difference. I wish his whole life up until now could've been like this. The world has opened up to us now, we have so much freedom, I'm so excited and I couldn't wait. Colton is quite happy himself, and now won't have to take the braces off himself throughout the day (yes, he was telling us he was done😆). Cheers to the new ease of life and a battle we never will ever again have to overcome. We did it. GO COLTON🥳🥳🥳🥳 🥂

9 months in vs 9 months out! It's hard to believe he's been on the outside as long as I grew him on the inside. It's not lost on me the incredible miracle of the female body to grow, give birth, and nurture life. God's design is so beautiful 💕. I loved pregnancy even though it's not always easy, and it's bittersweet to think I'll never experience it again, but it's even more fun having the baby here on this side.

4/14/25

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!

3-14-25

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

2-14-25