Tooth Sighting.....Finally!

I forgot to mention that this past Saturday I spotted Collin's first tooth cutting through. This is his first. It's on his bottom lower right side. There has not been that much change. How long does it take for a tooth to come all the way out? I guess I will have to wait and see.

Dallas Trip

Saturday morning, we drove to Dallas to see the family. We spent the day with Grandma H. before meeting daddy's Aunt, cousin and her kids and husband (the Teeds) for dinner. While at Grandma H.'s, he played outside in the grass while Grandma H. hung her clothes to dry. He really was not sure about the grass. He was more interested in touching and pulling on her flowers. The neighbor came by for a quick visit to meet Collin.

We then met the rest of the family for dinner and went back to their house (the Teed house) for a nice visit. They have 2 boys, Ben (5) and Will (3) and a 3 week old newborn, Hollis. I thought that the boys would not be too interested in Collin but, other that that, I did not really know what to expect. I was SOOO wrong. The boys LOVED playing with Collin and showing him their toys. Collin did his best to keep up with them too. He crawled from Will to Ben to see what they were doing. Along the way, he had to stop at the coffee table, pull up to chew on it or see what was on it. Then......their dog came in the house and Collin yelled with excitement and crawled to the dog to slap on him (that is how Collin pets the animals right now....right after he pulls their hair out a little). I think Collin liked Will the best because he was blond like Collin and he was closer to Collin's height. That night, Collin was not interested in going to bed anytime soon because he was so wound up from the day's activities. He did not eat his last meal for the night so I knew he would get up in the middle of the night like he did. Grandma gave him about 4 oz around 1:30am and that is all it took for him to sleep until his usual 7am.

The next morning, Collin had his first sink bath at Grandma H's house. He really liked it...especially playing with the faucet. Maybe he remembered the water coming out of something that looked like that in his tub at home. We went back to the Teed house to cook out but it was raining so we cooked in. Collin had the best time....again. That night, mommy and daddy went on a date to see Baby Mama while Grandma H. watched Collin.

He did learn to be more aggressive with his crawling and to not be as reserved about trying something new. He is all over the place now from crawling, to pulling up or bouncing while you hold him. Forget sitting still unless he is really hungry or tired....no, even when he is tired he fights to stay awake so he will not miss out on anything. So.....in just a matter of days, Collin can crawl, pull up to standing, regularly take at least 4-5 steps forward while someone is holding his hands, go back to a sitting position from standing (not gracefully and not as often as he falls and lands on the head down) and turn in one spot to crawl in another direction. He still gets stuck in a corner and cannot back up. He just does not know what to do when he gets there.

Must Sleep Mommy....

Collin had a full day today and I knew it. He has several visitors. Angy came over to watch him while mommy got a hair chop (4 inches off is considered a chop for me), Terry came over to pick up her race packet for tomorrow (we are going to run in the Rise and Shine race with the babies), Ashely "kidnapped" him and took him to her house for a little while and then daddy came home from his trip to Georgia. Before daddy got home, I was feeding Collin so we could go out to eat when daddy got home. Collin was chowing down on avocados and apples. I noticed his eyes getting heavy so I started to give him a bottle so he would finish some of it before he fell asleep. Well.....I was not successful. This is what he looked like with about 2 oz left to go.....

8 Month Update

From Mimi.....because mommy is working too much right now:

Collin seems to prefer household items or electronic devices as cell phone, phone, calculator, clicker, etc. to toys. He zeroes in on the door stop behind my door on his way to my closet mirror. He crawled under the exercise bike in front of my shuttered patio door in master bedroom and saw a pedal like the one he plays with on the other side. Collin could not figure out how to come back as he was blocked in by the window and a box. Collin also likes anything with a cord - most of my phones have either straight or curled cord, cell phone charger, computer, etc. Collin is so proud of himself when he pulls up and when he crawled into the breakfast room. Collin is 'exploring'.

Balloon, Balloon!!

The other night when I was getting Collin's dinner ready, I put him in his high chair and rolled him into the kitchen so he could watch me make his dinner. I put his food and bottle on his tray and rolled him back to the spot where we usually feed him. I commented to Chris that I felt like I was at Luby's and rolling Collin in one of the high chairs there. So.....tonight we thought it would be fun to go to Luby's and do just that....I know, I know....don't say it.



Here we are in line about to order. Collin was checking everyone out. Rolling him in line WAS just like rolling him in the high chair at home. Thank goodness there were not that many people in line because it was picture time. Of course, I did have to order the LuAnn platter with the fried fish, mac n' cheese and green beans (trying to encourage Collin to like them. I have a feeling I will be eating A LOT of green beans in the next few years).



Our waitress offered Collin a balloon. He had never seen or played with a balloon before so we thought it would be fun to see what he did. I think we ended up entertaining everyone around us. Collin smiled REALLY big and laughed at the balloon going up and down. I took the balloon and tapped his head and he thought that was hilarious. Then, I talked through the balloon to make my voice sound different. He did not know what to think of that at first but then quickly smiled. He wanted to try it too. He held onto the string and pulled the balloon up and down which made it hit Collin's head on the way down. He did not know that it was him doing that. The balloon was a great idea and provided entertainment for at least 15 minutes. Hey, that's great these days.

Good Morning Mommy!

This picture should say it all.....

1) What Collin was thinking when I first saw him this morning

2) That we did not lower the bed enough the last time we lowered it, and

3) Guess us thinking that it would be a least another month until Collin could get on his knees was wrong

He was so proud of himself when I first came into the room. He was chewing on his bed rail (no teeth so no damage to the rail...whew!) and stopped to smile at me when he saw me. Then, he continued to chew. I watched him for awhile and then figured out that he knew how to get on his knees and up on the rail but he did not know how to get down from there....he was stuck.

He got stuck again later today when he was in our master bathroom. We have a mirrored, sliding closet door in our bathroom. He got on his knees using the mirror to crawl up it. He laughed at the other "baby" in the mirror for a little while. Then, he started to whine. He took one had off, looked down and then cried again. That's when I knew that he was stuck again. All part of learning....he has much more to learn and I will enjoy watching every minute of it. :)

First Picnic

Instead of waiting for Collin to eat and then go to the park, I packed his bottle, blanket and other baby stuff and we headed to the park. Collin was not hungry when we got there so he swung for a little while. There was a little breeze out and he laughed every time the wind blew his hair. He quickly got bored of the swing so I got the blanket out. I put Collin on it to see what he would do. He crawled toward the stroller and stopped as soon as he got to the grass. He has seen grass before when Grandma H was in town and we went to the park with her. This time, instead of pulling it and putting into his mouth, he just studied it. Collin does that a lot these days....studying things. Anyway, I sat him up and he got back on his tummy so he could see the ground closer I guess. He got fussy so I gave him a bottle. He was really distracted by watching all of the people run by. I then got his ball out and we played "roll the ball to Collin". He laughs when the ball is rolled to him and lands between his legs when he is sitting up. He grabs it, picks it up and it eventually drops out of his hands and rolls back to me. He does not get bored of this quickly. We were playing this for a few minutes when the ball rolled past Collin. A little boy, later we found out his name was Kip, got the ball and threw it back to Collin. He came over to the blanket with his mom and was curious what Collin and I were doing. Collin immediately grabbed at Kip's curly blond locks and Kip did not know what to do. Then Collin touched Kip's arm and smiled. Kip was not amused and quickly lost interest. He mom said that is what I get to look forward to when Collin is 18 months old like Kip. Great....

He Crawls!

I received this email yesterday from Mimi:

Official - Collin can crawl. He has been going forward by grabbing onto something as a blanket or toy in front of him and dragging his body forward or throwing his body forward on his tummy. He goes backwards by shoving off from his arms.

We were playing on the bed .... when Collin looked at the laptop and went for it in about 4 crawls. I picked him up and put him back where he started just to make sure I saw what I thought I saw. He went gung ho again! I tried it again but he let me know he did not like this game! I put other toys to entice him to crawl but he only crawled later when [aunt] Lisa came in the room. She saw him do vigorous rocking on all 4s. He had awaken from about a 2 1/2 hour nap that I had to get him back to sleep about 3 times. He even slept through the Comcast guy testing my bedroom phone.

Of course, we daddy and I got him home last night, he was not interested in crawling for us. When I got home last night, remember that it's tax season, the boys where sitting on the 3rd floor watching TV. They were sitting exactly the same.....too cute. My camera was all the way back on the first floor or I would have taken a picture.

Other comments from Mimi today:

Collin is so adorable. Little things like right after he coughed today, he turned to me to get my reaction as if he waited for me to cough which I did. I fed him cereal and bottle for lunch and a small jar of carrots and bottle for supper as he was hungry from all his activity after his long nap. During the day several times, I gave him water in a regular glass as he has been interested in my glass when I drink water. I gave him a sippie cup of water but he did better with a regular glass.

Bluebonnets!

When I was young, I remember my mother being all excited about the bluebonnets in bloom. We would all have to pile in the car, find a spot that had a ton of bluebonnets, get out of the car and take too many pictures. We never understood what the big deal was. We took pictures of these flowers that we could not pull and take home with us.

So....I am not stopping the insanity. hehehe On the way to work at the bike shop Sunday, I did see a bluebonnet patch. Being the prepared mom that I am, I had the camera with me. I pulled over and was smiling that evil little smile that I have thinking Collin is going to love this.....Well, it did not mind it really. He wanted to know what those things were next to him. I thought for sure he was going to pull one and a passing motorist would see him do it, call the cops and we would be arrested......oh, sorry. Sleep deprivation makes me think crazy things like that. Actually, I think both Collin and I enjoyed being outside for a little bit before we had to get back in the car and then hang at the bike shop for several hours.

Grandma H is coming, Grandma H is coming!!!

We told Collin that Grandma H was coming to visit this weekend. He thought we must have meant yesterday and today because, while I was making him lunch, he got himself dressed in an outfit Grandma H gave him to be ready for her visit. He was disappointed to find out that he has to wait another week.

No Mommy!

Collin used to not mind when I would put a hat on him. I thought to myself, wow, I might have a child that does not mind having something on his head. I guess Collin did not realize those times that something was on his head. He sure does now! As soon as I put a baseball cap on his head, his arms and hands go up immediately to his had and he takes the hat off. I put the hat back on his head and it comes right off. I am sure he thought it was a game. I guess I will have to try again another time because he looks like a handsome little boy in his hat...not that I don't think he does without the hat on. ;) You decide.

He did not mind it in this picture just a few weeks before.

What's That?

To continue blogging about Collin's curiosity these days, the other night, daddy was bathing Collin. To give some background, the water is already in the tub before we get Collin out of his crib and put him in the tub to give him a bath. He probably thinks the water is just in there and had no idea where it comes from. Well, that's not a probably....he really did not know (and how would he). So...the other night when daddy was giving him a bath, daddy decided to turn the water on and see what Collin did. Collin was wide-eyed and just STARRING at the water wondering what it was and why is it doing that. We slowly put his hand in the water so he might be able to associate the water coming out of the faucet with the water in the tub. We showed him both at least. Now, the funny part, is that since then when we give him a bath, he is constantly looking for the water to come out of the faucet. He could care less about the toys in the tub which he is usually fond of playing with. I guess we will have to turn the water on periodically when he is in there and/or show him how we fill the bath tub. Daddy and I both enjoy watching Collin learn. He is such a joy and puts a huge smile on our face everyday no matter what kind of day either of us have had.

First Night away from Mommy & Daddy

Last night Collin asked if he could stay over at his Mimi's house cause she was having a sleep over. Laura and I are in the final two weeks of our busy season and decided it was better to let him stick to his regular schedule and be asleep and stay asleep by 9pm. So when Linda offered to keep him over night we did it. She has asked many times before and neither of us were ready for him to be away from home. Well, about 15minutes after both of us were home and there was no baby sounds or smells we were regretting our decision and having thoughts of driving down to pick him up.
As you can imagine we have grown to be very close to the little bugger. I originally thought I would be the strong one and Laura would cave but it seems that I love him more than her, cause I sure was having Collin withdrawals. I know Laura missed him just as much, you would have thought we have had him a lifetime, heck we have only had him for a little over 7 months. How can we be this attached to him already?
So before going to bed we went up to check on him and think about where he would be in the bed by now as he moves a lot. I could not take it I missed him so much I ended up sleeping with his blanket. I know I know I am a big baby. But it had his smell on it and I could not stop thinking about how much fun he is.

P.S. I got to read a couple of books tonight to him before putting him to sleep and he told me that he missed us to. Although he had a lot of fun with his Mimi and he gets to see his other Grandmother next weekend. He is really looking forward to that.

Chris Holmes

What's that noise down there, Daddy?

This Blog may seem a little cras for some of you but the story has to be told. So you have been warned.

Today was a busy day and Collin has been nonstop all day long stopping only for 2- 45 minute naps. He Hates being in the car seat and wanted out as soon as I put him in. So when we went to Office Depot today I had to take him out and let him ride in the seat that is part of the shopping basket. Yes I used the seat belt for him. I taught him to hold on to the bar and everything it was kinda cute. He liked it because he could look around and he got a lot of attention from everyone, he likes that. So here is where it gets funny and "Cras" if you will. I really had to go to the bathroom #1 and I was hoping the bathroom was big enough for the basket so I would not have to take him out but alas it was not. So there I was holding my son in my left hand while holding my shirt up and going to the bathroom when our CURIOS son wanted to know AND see what was causing the sounds. So as I am peeing and holding him in one arm he decides to bend way over towards the ground/urinal. I saw this happening in my mind before the episode but it was much funnier when it actually happen.

NO, He did not fall in the urinal and I am proud to say that I was able to catch him and not get a drop on the ground. This is a great time of Collins life and he is learning about everything, Truly Everything.

HEY KITTY COME PLAY WITH ME!!!!!

Collin REALLY Likes the Kitties and any aminal that moves in front of him. Although he does not like it when they do not play with him. I feel sorry for Chloe and Penelope when he learns to crawl and walk they will be in trouble.