all of God's grace in one tiny face~

you guys~ he's here

our grandson is here!!!

 one month ago today, little colton james was born.

:  ))))))))))))))))))))))))

my daughter is a momma!

our son-in-law is a daddy,

 lars and i are grandparents

&

cole and eric are uncles -aka "funcles"!

*pretty much our favorite names ever.

i read a quote that said

"one day, right in the middle of an ordinary life, we were given

a miracle" and that's pretty much how this precious little boy feels to us.

our little bubbie was due on oct. 16th so we were all pretty dang surprised

by his early appearance on sept. 27th.

                                                    one month before the birth.

                                     

the evening of sept. 25th  Ad text me and said " mom, my water broke at home

and we're at the hospital"...

eeeeeeek! it was happening!

i went to bed all nervous, anxious, excited, happy, 

full of anticipation and it was hard to sleep (but i did). haha

the next day we got a couple texts from the kids saying that 

things were "progressing as expected".

: )

at about 7 p.m., one last text came that said she was

about half way there and that maybe baby would be born

around midnight.

so i stayed up till midnight, 

praying, reading, scrolling thru pinterest and instagram

and waiting for "the call".

i know it's not all about me, but hey this is my version of the birth story. ; )

i woke up a couple times during the night and checked my phone

and finally at about 4:30 a.m. i saw a text

that said that the baby had been born and was in the NICU.

well~ i sat up and just started sobbing. tears of joy and also fear because

we didn't know what was going on but I heard NICU and I was scared.

turns out baby's beginning was rough and he needed extra care

for the first several days of his life.

a. ended up having a C-section and she and chris were both worn out and worried,

but you know what else they were?

freaking amazing!

can i just repeat that?

they were freaking amazing.

the grace, gratitude and strength they showed in the week they were

in the hospital, is something

i'll never forget.

(grampa tim and i may have cried more tears than c. and a. did).
hey we can't help it, we're extra emotional!

i'm not going to completely sugar coat things.

it obviously wasn't the sweet beginning they were expecting.
the kids didn't get to hold their little love or really see his whole precious face
until the 4th day when he got off a cooling pad and a bunch of the tubes came out.
one by one though they came out and our little bubbie showed us how
remarkable and resilient babies can be.

colton had an amazing team of compassionate nurses and doctors that

cared for him and got him over the hump and ready to go home and 

we can't thank them enough. let's fast forward to day 6 when they were finally given the good
news that they were being discharged.
Woo Hoooooo~
colton had met all criteria to go home!

a. did tell me that she said to the nurses,
"you'll be by every 3 hours to check on us though right?"

things are going great now and mr. big has gained enough weight
that momma says his little legs are getting some "chub" on them. : ))
we're all pretty much in complete love and mom and dad
text photos of him to the one who's not holding him (but wants to be)
from the opposite ends of the couch.
hahaha

so here we go- with no apologies whatsoever this time-

 here's a million photos of the beginning of our little colton's life!

**************

                                      me seeing my girl for the first time after her delivery.

*i was getting over a cold so i wasn't able to go in the NICU
and see baby C. for a few days.
thank God they all took photos for me and chris even went in the
nursery and face timed with us so i could see him.

i was worried about the baby, but i was also worried about my girl.

she'd just had a major surgery, but man she was a trooper.

i never heard a single complaint from her about her recovery.

grampa meeting colton for the first time. 

he looks big here, but he really wasn't.

6lb. 8 oz. of pure love.

i love this photo. on the left are grampa tim (in front) and lars.

 on the right are uncle jake (in front) and the proud new daddy.

these 4 men are going to be a huge part of colton's life and i just love

the 4 of them surrounding him with love (and emotion). 

this is day 4 when i was finally able to go in the NICU.

all i wanted in the whole world was to see my daughter holding her sweet baby,

*someone bring us a box of kleenex already!

the two grandmas took care of kenzie, their fur baby while the kids were in the hospital

and we brought a. down to see her for a few minutes

and get the only whiff of fresh air she had in a week.

smiles all around!!!

colton already had a job chart from day 1~
: )  

a little jaundiced, and a whole lot precious.

we were moving mom from her own room to colton's room on the NICU floor here.

luckily she got to stay the extra days baby was hospitalized.

when i got this photo via text, i cried again.

homeward bound.

****************

99% of those photos were from cell phones, but of course when you are a

photographer and the brand new gram you swoop in to take newborn photos.
the rest of these are from our newborn session and there's not a lot

that needs to be said other than,
maybe this is a peak at what heaven's going to look like.

day 16

so it is with the utmost joy that i'm sharing adria, chris and colton's story.

every day is better now with this little boy in our lives.

he is our wonder boy and we feel completely blessed.

*i also want to say thank you for the outpouring of love and support

for our family and especially for

 all the prayers sent up for this little love. it comforted us

greatly and we love you.

xo,

grama b.