Friday, September 30, 2011

9 months!



Colin is 9 months old!! We celebrated with a trip to the doc for some shots ( the medical kind, not the good kind:)
The pediatrician gave Colin an A+! He's a healthy, happy boy developing in all the ways he should be. I learned that Colin already has object permanence, meaning if he sees something he is interested in and you take it away and replace it with something else, he still goes looking for the original object. I've noticed this over the last couple of weeks with him. Apparently this usually happens around 1 year, so he is ahead with that, which is a bit bad for mommy as he is not as easily distracted anymore!
Here are his stats:
Weight: 21lbs 14 oz- 73%tile
Height: 29 inches- 84%tile
Head- can't remember the numbers, but big!! 97%tile
I keep saying it every month, but he really is such a joy. I love spending my days with him. I can't believe he's now been out of my tummy as long as he was in!
When you take a step back and think about how it all starts, from conception to embryo to fetus to little newborn to a giggling happy baby boy, life really is amazing and I feel so blessed to have a him in our lives.

How to...

Soo I've had several of you readers out there ( I hope there are SOME readers:) tell me that you have tried to comment here but with no success. So I tried a test comment and had success. This is how you do it.
Click on the COMMENTS tab below the post

Select the Name/URL option
Type in your name, you can leave the URL blank, press continue
Type in your comments in the text box
Then POST COMMENT

Wish List- Kokopax City Carrier


This is on my wish list! Colin isn't walking yet, he's getting too big for his Baby Bjorn carrier, and tires easily of his stroller. I THINK this would be a perfect thing to add to our baby gear for the next few months until Colin is walking, and who knows maybe when he is walking but gets tired? Days at the zoo where I'm forced to carry him on my hip alot can be subsituted with this fun back carrier. Now if only it didn't come with the steep price tag!

Splish Splash



I FINALLY found a water table for Colin. I bought this brand new from Walmart for $20- a great deal! I set it up yesterday on the front porch and Colin had fun splashing around and crawling all over the porch floor and getting DIRTY!

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Car rides

"Put that camera away and get me outta here already!"
Colin has a pretty sweet ride when it comes to his car seat. When Colin graduated from the infant carrier, I actually went out and bought a NEW car seat, one that I thought would be just right. No matter how plush the car seat, Colin can be pretty fussy when it comes to car rides. Sometimes I'll just open the car door and he'll start complaining because he knows he's about to get strapped in. Luckily, Colin will still nap in his car seat. But when it isn't nap time and we've got places to go and peoplke to see,I have to be prepared with an arsenal of things to distract him. I will try to time leaving the house around bottle time, which will give me a good 10-15 minutes. I also have a constant supply of Baby Mum Mum crackers in my center console to hand back to him. This may give me another 5 -10 minutes. Of course he has designated car toys, which will on a good day occupy him for maybe 5-10 minutes. Today I can add a new "weapon" to my Mission to Distract Colin in the Car Seat....the cell phone car charger. Yes, this gave me a good 10 minutes today!

Oooh and I can't forget the best distraction of them all...yes, if you are a passenger in my car you are riding in the back seat with Colin :)

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Zoo day

On Sunday, I met my friend Kim and her baby Carlton at the Lowry Park Zoo. Carlton is only 5 days younger than Colin so it is always a treat to get them together. Parents magazine has rated Lowry Park Zoo the #1 zoo for kids. After our trip, I could see why. This was our second trip this month and we still did not see everything! September is free entrance to the zoo with our Aquarium membership.When it cools down, I definitely will invest in a membership. It's hard enough trying to think of things to do with Colin and the zoo is definitely a fun and entertaining option for both of us.

At the end of our day, it started to rain. This coincided to when Colin got cranky and was ready for his nap. Of course he didn't want to nap in his stroller, but I luckily was able to strap him into the Baby Bjorn and off to dream land he went. I wish I had a picture of us, I'm sure we were quite the sight...Colin passed out, me pushing the empty stroller while trying to hold the umbrella to keep both of us dry.
Colin sometimes doesn't like his stroller and I end up carrying him more often than I'd like to admit. Lately I'll hold him in front of me and he'll push the stroller with me, now that I'm sure is quite the sight!

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Yes ANOTHER birthday party recap

Daddy snapped this on our way out

The battle of who is going to get this toy

"Gimme the toy Jackson or I will drool all over you!"

"I love party favors!"
Today Colin and I went to another 1st birthday party for Zyre. It was quite the party! They had everything going on that I'd like to have at Colin's 1st birthday party...a tent, yummy catered food, music, a bouncy house for the kids, and beer for the adults. I again left exhausted, as did Colin! Fun times all around.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

The routine is there is no routine

I can safely say this is no longer true about 90% of the time in our household. Colin's schedule has been like clockwork for quite some time.
However...this baby decided to skip his morning nap today! I put him in his crib and he cried ( which is not entirely unusual as he'll occasionally cry for a few minutes before falling into his nap) BUT not today.Today, his cries lasted a while and then turned into blood curling "get me outa here" screams...so I did, and he proceeded to stay up until 2pm and then only slept for 45 minutes.
This Mom likes the morning naps, it's treadmill time, shower time, do my makeup and get ready for our day time. He's only almost 9 months old, I was just reading on one of my daily blog reads,the daily schedule of a 16 month old who had the exact schedule as Colin, so I thought to myself, yes!! Lots more time before C drops the morning nap. I hope it was just a fluke. I'm going to keep on trying the morning naps as long as possible!

Update...it must have been a fluke as he is thankfully still taking his morning naps!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Mini Me?....YOU be the judge.

Baby Lauren
Baby Colin

Baby Lauren
Baby Colin
Baby Lauren
Baby Colin
When Colin was about a month or two old, I pulled out my baby album to see who this baby looked like. I almost gasped when I started looking at my baby pictures...I thought I was looking at Colin, not me! So I'm putting these photos out there to see what YOU guys think...is Colin a mini-me? Do you see Evan in him, my brother?

PS I also think it must be pretty neat for my parents...I know I'm going to miss baby Colin so much as he gets bigger, to think 25-30 years from now when Colin has my grandchild, maybe I'll get to see my baby Colin again in my grandchildren. What a wonderful, wonderful thought.

PPS For all my family members out there that are reading this to respond to this post, please click on the Comment button and share your thoughts!

Monday, September 19, 2011

Another birthday party!

Sophie+Byrson, Kelly +Kyler, me+ Colin, Lauren+ Jackson, Molly+ Lyla, Liz+ Lucy, Lyndsey+ Gaby, Erin+ Elizabeth
\
This past Saturday, Colin and I went to baby Lyla's 1st birthday party. We met Lyla and her mom Molly at Gymboree when Colin was about 3 months old. I clicked with Molly right away and somehow a group of other gymboree moms formed soon after we met. It is nice to have a play group, there are emails that go out about once a week between this group of ladies to plan various play dates.
Molly did a beautiful job with Lyla's party. The theme was ladybugs and if you look close enough, Molly is in the center holding Lyla in her custom made lady bug dress.
Evan went fishing for the day,so I was solo at the party. I don't know if I will do that again. It was utterly exhausting! Between trying to balance Colin on my hip as I one handed my way through the buffet line or chasing him around as he crawled his way over to complete strangers to try to eat their shoes, I was pretty tired. I need to either bring Evan with me or make sure I eat before these parties!


Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Curious Colin

This baby is into everything lately. It's amazing seeing things through a babies eyes. Colin can spend several minutes entertaining himself with things like playing with the beads on the lamp shade or like this morning.... playing with the water jugs.


 I also of course think he is a genius. Yesterday, he grabbed the ipad charger that was on the floor and tried plugging it in to the outlet! What a genius! Now I only need to teach him he can't put it in his mouth and slobber all over it before he attempts this!

Monday, September 12, 2011

Improvising

I didn't pack any baby food, diapers, or formula for our trip last week. I figured we'd get some at the closest grocery store to the resort...
Well, turns out, the ONE local grocery store in Hot Springs, VA DID carry formula and diapers but DIDN'T carry baby food. We'd have to backtrack 25 miles to the closet super walmart. That meant going back over the mountain on the windy road that made both Evan and I pretty queasy. So we improvised.
Colin survived on apple sauce for his morning breakfast and I improvised at lunch and dinner. One day it was some of my corn chowder soup, other days it was asking the chef to puree some sweet potatoes since I saw them on the menu. Colin usually eats 3 solid meals a day but with no baby food he didn't eat as much as he usually does. Fortunately his main source of nutrition is still from the 4-5 bottles he has every day and we had plenty of formula.
Now that we're back home and have a pantry full of baby food, he's back on schedule.

The Hot Springs, VA grocery store didn't carry our usual LUVS brand of diapers, so we tried out the Huggies Little Movers in the Jeans pattern...pretty cute!



Sunday, September 11, 2011

Anna and Anna Maria Island

The best way to end a vacation is with another mini vacation. After a 4 hour delay leaving Virginia, as soon as we got home, I packed up and left for Anna Maria Island for a quick night at the beach for my friend Anna's baby shower. It was a fun night of catching up with old friends followed by a morning of sleeping in and a luncheon to honor the upcoming arrival of baby Clark.

Anna( the Mom to be), Me, Jennifer, Daniella, Rachel & Adriel
Evan stayed home with Colin. This was the first time Evan had Colin on his own for the night. I came home that afternoon to a baby still in his pjs, but to two happy guys. They had a great time together and Colin went easy on Evan- slept 12 hours at night,  and had 2 good naps on Saturday. We had a wonderful time at the Homestead in Virginia, but it is nice to be get back to our routine after 5 nights away.
As soon as I get some pictures from our trip, I'll post a summary of what we did!

Monday, September 5, 2011

This week...

We are enjoying some vacation time! Evan has this whole week off so we've traveled to the homestead resort in hot springs, Virginia for a getaway. Colin did great on the plane and we are awaiting grandma Lydia and uncle Kurt to join us.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Toys, toys, toys

Now that Colin is mobile, I've created a dedicated play area for him that blocks him in ( so he can't get out!). I've filled this space with some great toys that I've scored some great deals on...will I ever pay retail again?





However, Colin's favorite "toys" continue to be...

Yes, the wipes...anytime I change his diaper, I can hand this to him and he'll play with it long after I'm done. Must be the crinkly noise or something.

                                            And he still loves when I let him get his hands on these

"Yummy keys!"

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Center of Attention




Recently I took Colin to a 90th birthday party of one of our family friends. I never even think about how Colin will behave in public places or at parties such as this...he always just seems so happy and observes everything around him. I often get comments from strangers in the grocery store or restaurants about how good he is.  Aka wow your baby hasn't cried at all, he's so good. Because that's what defines a "good baby" right?!
So anyways, there were 2 other children at the party who instantly were in love with Colin and enjoyed playing with him and tickling him on his tummy and toes! He just stared at them with his big blue eyes and goofy smile. I constantly wonder what he's thinking, I know I'll find out one of these days when he starts talking...MAMA will be his first word, I'm sure!