Thanks Grandma H!!

Collin finally opened his Valentine presents from Grandma H. She sent him a small Tigger stuffed animal, three books and an card. He REALLY liked the card....or at least the taste of it. He was more interested in chewing on the card tonight instead of eating dinner. We did take the card away but he kept looking at the card where we put in on the table and was not really interested in his bottle or the butternut squash I made for dinner. He eventually became uninterested in the card....probably because it had been 5 minutes which is the length of his attention span at night.

Here he is enjoying one of the books Grandma H gave him. Thanks Grandma!!! See you in April.

Tags Taste Good!

Lately, Collin is fascinated with tags....tags on stuffed animals, tags on toys, tags on blankets, tags on clothing....you get the picture. Whenever he sees one, he instantly focuses on it and forgets about what he was doing before he saw the tag. He then is focused on putting it in his mouth (nothing new there) so he can chew on it. When he does this, he cannot do it quietly. He "talks" and chews at the same time. He also throws in a few squeals of delight that he found the tag.

The tags are not usually laying right by him. He has figured out how to roll toward the tag until he can get it. If he is on his back, he will roll over onto his tummy and then pull the blanket until he can get to the tag on the blanket. If it's a tag on a toy (like his bear rattle), then he turns on his belly until he can get to it. Why does he need toys, when he has tags?

Collin is not still when he is awake. He is a very active baby. Even when he is eating, his hands or feet, or a combination, are always moving. One arm usually is slapping up and down until he finishes the entire bottle....he does not take a break from doing it either. If you hold his arm to stop moving, then he will start kicking his legs. Even when he is sitting after eating, he is not content to just sit there. He has to be grabbing for a pillow, toy or whatever is within his reach. If there is nothing available to play with then, he will fall forward to his toes and start to suck on them. If he is not interested in that, then he will roll over and lay there for a few seconds before he figures out what he wants to do next. I will have no problem losing my pregnancy weight once I have to start chasing after the little guy when he starts crawling. I think we are ALL in trouble!

Doggie's are Fun

So today we visited a friend that had doggies, two of them one big and one small. Man if you could see how happy he was that something that moved was paying attention to him. Oh, until they barked then Collin got spooked and started to cry. I guess those doggies make weird sounds and since Collin was not to sure he let them know he was not happy. It was funny because he got scared when they barked and they got scared when he cried. So I guess everything is even. It is fun to watch Collin explore his world when watching the dogs run all over the place he would get frustrated when they left his sight, and excited when they came back. He will try to turn around and find them but they were to fast for him.
Collin was not to interested in eating today, he was more interested in socializing. It seems he is a lot like his mom and likes to talk a lot. Collin is a lot more interactive now and you really have to watch what he is into. Although I hear as he gets more mobile it gets crazier. So much to look forward to.

Crazy Daddy!

Look what daddy did today while Collin and I walked, played at the park and at the house with Melia and her mommy, Terry. Apparently, he has wanted to do this for a few years. Our neighbor skydives all of the time and mentioned to daddy one day that why doesn't he go with him one morning on a jump. Well, this morning was "that morning". They were gone about 4 hours for a 60 second jump. Collin and I are VERY happy that daddy made it back home alive.

Hi Grandma Holmes!

Saturday night, Collin "helped" me read my fitness magazine. He apparently found an article that he thought I would want to read again so he ripped it out of the magazine so I could read it later. Wasn't that nice of him? I guess he thought that I would want it crunched into a ball too because that is what he started to do with the page. He was SO proud of himself for helping me out that he started to baby scream and slapped his hand up and down with the paper in it. He did try to put it in his mouth a few times....of course. He wanted to taste it like EVERYTHING else he has in his hands.

During this time, daddy called Grandma Holmes so she could hear him and he told her how he was helping me out. She talked to him for a few minutes and then he told her it was time for him to eat and then start getting ready for bed.

Afternoon at the Park

It was such a beautiful, sunny day today compared to the other days this week that I thought it was a good day to take Collin to the park for the first time. He sure did experienced sensory overload and confirmed that there is nothing wrong with his hearing or sight. He was fascinated with the birds and followed several of them with his eyes. The wind started to blow and he closed his eyes and felt the wind in his hair and on his skin. That was short-lived because he opened his eyes and turned toward the kids screaming and playing on the playground nearby. He was really interested in what they were doing.

There were some infant swings nearby and I thought it would be fun to put Collin in one of them and see what he thought. He loved it and we hung out for about 20 minutes before he wanted and change....I was ready for one too.











I then found something on the playground that he could sit on. There were handles and he held on really good and for a long time...at least for him. He then let me know he was bored, so we headed back home. I am sure we will do that again soon.

6 Month Stats

Collin had his 6 month check up this morning. The vet (see previous blogs) commented about how strong he was for his age. He was too funny because he was "talking" the entire time that she was trying to talk to me about him. He now weighs 17 lbs and 9 oz and is 26 inches long. That puts him in the 50% bracket with other boys his age. He did have to get 5 shots, yep 5, in his thighs. I felt terrible because the little guy was talking and flirting with the nurse and then he started screaming with the first shot. It did not last too long though. Thank goodness for pacifiers! He has been home for about 2 hours now and is talking and not missing a beat.

Collin Is 6 Months! - An Update

Now that Collin is 6 months, the following is a list about what Collin can do:

Sitting
Can sit up on his own briefly
He can pull himself back up to a seated position if he reaches out for a toy
Tummy time
Pushes up the entire length of his arms
Moves backwards
Turns 180 degrees regularly
Keeps his arms and legs off the ground like he is flying (we call it Airplane)
While on his back,
He looks over his shoulder to find at a person talking or toward a sound
He pulls his legs up
Hands
Grabs objects/toys with both hands
Recognizes and reaches for his bottle
He held it on his own until he finished his bottle last Friday
Reaches for and puts his feet in his mouth
Laughs and smiles frequently
Entertains himself
Plays really well by himself
Creates his own game – while he is sitting in his dad’s lap, he will smile and then put his face in his dad’s stomach. He pulls himself back, laughs (like he is proud of himself) and does it again.
Observant – he is aware of the following:
Family members
Cats
Toys including the toys hanging from the car seat handle
Lights
Ceiling fan
Wind/rain
Sounds
Knows his name
Eating
Regularly drinks 6 to 7 ounces of formula every three to four hours
Very controlled while eating from a spoon
Not too messy and usually keeps his hands away from his face
Chews on his thumbs
Puts pacifier in his mouth on his own and uses it as a teether
Sounds
Tries to make more sounds than just cooing
Says “dada” and “deh deh”
Sleeping
Able to put himself to sleep at night without our assistance
Regularly sleeps at least 9 hours at night
Covers face/eyes with his arm while sleeping
Wakes up calm
Takes naps – from 15 minutes to 2 hours (only when Mimi is around)

Tummy Time Update

Collin is very active these days on his tummy. He does not stay in one spot very long. He either immediately starts turning in a circle or starts to back up. In the middle of doing either one of these, he pushes up on his arms as high as he can (what I call Up Dog...from yoga). He then will rest a bit with his arms and legs up off the ground and only touching his tummy to the floor (what we call either Airplane or Skydiving...which we borrowed from Matthew's parents). The majority of the time though, he will end up off the blanket or wherever he originally started. He is currently in back up mode. Daddy read that this is because it's easier right now to back up instead of using his hands to push him forward because his legs are heavy right now.

Where he started before the video.....

Where he ended up less than 10 minutes later.....

Let Me!

Collin really likes for us to read books to him. He used to just sit there and listen. Daddy wondered why we were reading to him because he could not even tell if Collin was interested in the book or not. Over the last month, I have noticed him look at each page of the book as I read to him at night. Lately, he has been wanting to hold the book for me. At first, it was to try to eat the pages. Last night and tonight, he wanted to hold the book and fussed if I did not let him. Of course, I could not turn the page because he would not let go of the page we were on. After prying his hands off the page, I turned to the next page, read it and started the prying process all over again. This made him sleepy which was an added plus since it was bedtime. At least I know he is paying attention to what I am doing. I still don't know how much he is getting from it. Based on the amount of "talking" he does, I think he is picking up a lot.

Collin's Sleeping Position

Daddy and I have a bedtime routine that involves Collin and did not even realize it until we talked about it the other night. Besides the normal stuff we do before we go to bed (brush teeth, put on PJs, etc), we both LOVE to check on Collin to see what position he is sleeping in his crib. Before we walk in, we place bets on if he has moved in the 1 or 2 hours that he has been asleep before we go to bed. Collin HAS usually moved at least 90 degrees to the right or to the left...usually the right though. Then, during the night, I can hear him moving around. In the morning, it's fun to see where Collin ends up. If Daddy and I are up at the same time, we both peek in on Collin to see how he is laying. One morning Collin's head was the opposite from where he started the night before and in the corner of his crib. He was awake and pulling out all of the diapers I have in a small basket. I guess I need to find a new home for this soon. :) In the mornings, he is either on his back or on one side...never on his stomach. He really seems to prefer his right side....like his mommy. Of course, the majority of the mornings, Collin is awake and quietly playing in his crib and waiting for one of us to come get him. Monday mornings, he is usually asleep though because he is worn out from the weekend activities.

Tonight, he ate oatmeal for the first time. I mixed apples in it and he really seemed to love it. He cried in between spoonfuls in the beginning because I was not feeding him fast enough. Then, he figured out that it really was dinner time. At least he did not gag and cough this time like last night when he "ate" sweet potatoes. He has done this with bananas but not sweet potatoes before. I even mixed at least an ounce of milk in the potatoes to change the consistency and this seemed to help some but he still remembered the recent gagging experience and was hesitant about opening his mouth. Smart little guy.

Collin's Day

Today was all about Collin since I have been working a lot this week. We started the morning off by playing in his "office" for about 20 minutes before he got hungry. Then he ate and took a little snoozie before we went for a jog using our new jogging stoller. I wanted to get out this morning since it was supposed to rain later today and most of the weekend. Collin LOVED being in the stoller and outside. I stopped at a local park and put Collin in an infant swing. He did not think it was that big of a deal so we came back home to get ready to pick dad up and go to lunch.

We met dad for lunch and then hung out at the bike shop for awhile. Collin got hungry again and feed himself a bottle for the first time. He has been trying to do this a few times before but could not quit find his mouth or hold the bottle up enough to get any milk. He had no problem doing it this afternoon though. He was able to take 4 oz in the bottle all by himself.

Then, we went to Kristen and Saige's house to hang out. Collin never played so hard. He got on his tummy using Saige's tummy time mat that let him go around in circles. He really liked this. He then laid under Saige's gym and really liked looking at the flashing lights up above. He also showed Kristen how much and how hard he could laugh. He had both of us smiling. After Saige ate, it was picture time. I think us mommies had a better time with it than the babies. We then came home to get ready for dad to come home and hang out with him before Collin had to go to bed.

Solids Update

It's been awhile since I wrote about Collin and our adventures with solids. He still eats solids every night between 7pm and 8pm. The time depends on when he seems like he is hungry and when either daddy or I get home to feed him. We try to be home so Collin will be eating at the same spot around the same time every night because apparently babies like routine. Since this is the start of his night routine and he has been sleeping through the night like a champ, I really don't want to mess that up. Daddy and I are enjoying our sleep these days...finally.

So far, Collin's favorite food is avacado. He cannot wait until I give him the next spoonful of the stuff. His next favorite is rice cereal followed by a distant third would be sweet potatoes. He gagged when I tried to feed him bananas and I have not tried it again. He had pureed gala apples tonight for the first time and did not seem to mind these at all compared to the times he had the other foods for the first time. I continue to make all of the foods that I listed above. This has been quicker than I thought and not a lot of trouble. I like knowing what is in the food I am giving him and it's very convienent at night to select from the bright colored cubes of food in the freezer. They looks SO much better than the "food" in the baby jars in the store. It's amazing how different the colors are. I know, I'm a freak. :)

Day and Night with Daddy

So Laura left me alone for the entire day and night. It started when she left the night before and did not come home. She did not leave me for good but she has not come home yet. That being said We had a great day together. we had several honey do's and errands to run. The day went pretty fast as always everywhere we went he had a smile for the salespeople and is starting to talk to everyone. Not sure what he is saying but they always talk back and so he likes that. Collin is starting to talk alot and is very proud of himself.
This afternoon we played the tickle game and he has the greatest laugh, so he laughs and then I laugh and it begins a funny cycle that gets louder and louder. Collin played in his "office" a bunch today and did not get bored as much as usual and he enjoyed tummy time and scooted in a 360 degree circle on his tummy. He will be crawling before we know it, he tried to pull his knees under him with a little success. I guess we should start baby proofing the house.
The fun begin when I realized Mommy would not be home for dinner or bath time. SO I finally found his solid food and mixed it up, evidently not thin enough because the first bite was a little to thick and made him gag. He was fine after throwing up all of the milk he just drank(Nice) so I cleaned him up and then mixed a little more milk in his avocado and finished feeding him. He eats like a champ and then rested for a ittlebit. Then we went up for his bath. This was the first time I have bathed him and I am pretty sure he knew I was scared. The look on his face was very reassuring. So after the bath I wrapped him up read a couple of books and put him down. He is sleeping now and I like to look over him and think how the day was another successful Tuesday with Daddy. (Now I know why I have a fear of waking up with someone at the foot of the bed watching over me, Thanks Mom and Dad)

Super Bowl Sunday

Collin loved Super Bowl Sunday. He could not tell you what the party was about but he was happy to be in the middle of it. He met 5 new people tonight that were more than happy to hold him and play with him. Of course, he performed, talked and flirted with anyone that would pay attention to him. Like his dad, he has never met a stranger.

Hey Matthew, like Collin's Longhorn? He would be glad to bring you one the next time he sees you. ;)

Ahhhhhh.....

Now that you have had a good laugh, this is Collin after his dinner last night. Normally, he stays awake for at least another 20 - 30 minutes before I bathe him and put him to bed. He did not even make it upstairs before he passed out. Must have been the banana he ate for the first time.

Please save this picture to your hard drive so someone will at least have it to show his future wife. He should be VERY proud of this.

Play Date

Today, Kristin and Addison came over and spent most of the day with Collin and I. After Collin finished eating, the two kids played on the floor while the proud mommies took some pictures. We then thought it would be a good idea to go for a walk since it was such a beautiful day outside. By the time we got ready to go, the weather had changed to overcast. We then decided to walk to a local Mexican restaurant to have lunch. Collin ate again....Kristin and I shared some awesome shrimp and crab quesadillas. Addison decided she was hungry too and ate some before we left to head back hom. After lunch, we packed up and ran some errands together with the kids. We came back home and, yep, Collin was ready to eat again. Addison ate a little two and then the two of them got on the floor again to play with some toys and check each other out.

I think we all had a great time and cannot wait to do it again. Collin sure is going to sleep good tonight.

2/3: He DID sleep good last night. He went to bed at 9pm and did not wake up until 7am. Yippie!!!

Look at My Feet!!

Collin really likes to grab at his feet these days. When he first started, he favored his right foot. Lately, he does not care which foot he grabs and long as he has at least one foot in his hand. He will hold onto his feet no matter if he rolls to one side or the other.

He also does not usually do this quietly either. If no one is watching (that does not happen too often), then he will "talk" until he gets our attention and then laugh. He keeps doing this to get a reaction from us. It certainly works!