Weekend Activities

As usual, Collin was busy with his mommy this weekend. I had to work Friday so we did not get to do much then. Saturday morning, we went to the bike shop to work. While there, Collin found a box of new T-shirts for the guys to wear. He really enjoyed laying on them and then.......the world stopped around him because he found a tag! He screamed with excitement when he found it and then had to taste it. He was too excited though because he ended up getting stuck in the box and was not happy about it.

Next, I had to go to the office for a few hours. Daddy came home early and was able to watch Collin instead of me having to bring him to the office. Collin would have liked it but I would not have gotten much done in the time I had left in the day.

Today, daddy was off so we started the morning with a nap. Yep, all three of us were exhausted from the week and the weekend so far so a nap sounded great. We then walked to the art festival in the park and stayed until it started to sprinkle. I had to get back anyway because I had a conference call. Yes, on Sunday. It's that time of year for me.

After hanging at the house for awhile, we ran errands and ended up at Saige's parent's house for dinner. Collin was so excited to see Saige that he could not keep his hands off of her. Hmmm.....just like a boy, right? hehe

I love his hair!

That is what almost everyone says about Collin when they see him and his hair. He does have a lot more hair than I expected he would at 7 months. What I did not expect was for it to stick straight up on top like it does. I guess it's payback for me because I used to make fun of babies I saw that had hair like this. Now that Colin has it though, I love it! The only time it is not sticking up is when it's wet or after Collin has drank a bottle. Why is that you say? It's because Collin is like his daddy and Grandma H.....his sweat glands work overtime. Most of the time after he has finished a bottle, his hair is wet with sweat. I like to pat his hair down to see how long it really is.

Maria, Matthew's mom, likes Collin's hair so much that she and her husband named Matthew's new stuffed animal he got on Easter after Collin. She said it was because Collin's (1) is cute, (2) is blonde, and (3) he has spikey hair. I had to laugh when I read about it on her blog. Here is a picture of Matthew and Collin the duck.

Tuesdays with Daddy

What a Great Day. Collin is getting so interactive now. He sits up he moves around on the floor, alot and he loves his office. When we go shopping he flurts with all of the ladies and has the greatest time meeting new people. Collin is not afraid of meeting new people and he even embraces it. He gets bored if you keep him in one place to long, he even gets bored with eating because it takes to long and he has things to do and stuff to look at.

Collin, has such an optimistic attitude and Laura and I can already see a great personality developing. This might be what every parent says about their child but ours IS Special and the smartest and the cutest to. So There!! Collin now realizes that things are behined him and it is alot of fun picking on that knowledge, with Laura as his mother you can only imagine how much he gets messed with. Lisa knows what I mean.

Collin has a laugh that makes the world stop and time just disappears. We played alot today and time just flew by. We totally forgot most of the Honey Do's that Laura gave us to do because we were playing and laughing. Collin and I have this game where he sits on my stomach and chest while I am sitting down. He jumps up and down and reacts to my facial games and noises. Collin particularly likes it when I stick my tongue out at him and blow in his face. Also Collin likes when you blow his is face and hair. He just starts laughing about it. He also is very tickleish and that knowledge is very dangerous to Collin.

As you can tell we had a great day and always looking forward to another. I like being his Daddy.

Happy Easter!

Well, Collin sure did enjoy his first Easter. He was so excited that he did not want to sleep in this morning and woke us up around 7:15am. We would have LOVED to sleep in a little longer but Collin was ready to go. After he drank a bottle (he is still drinking between 6 to 8 oz of formula), we all went for a bike ride. It was a little chilly so we bundled him up in his cart. He stayed awake the entire ride looking at the houses and the trees. We stopped at the Kolache Factory to have breakfast and then rode back home. Collin and daddy took a nap. Then, we met the family for lunch at Olive Garden.

Collin did not hunt for Easter eggs this year. Who has the time? haha. He did get to enjoy his bib and Easter bunny bag from Grandma Holmes. We used it during the bike ride to carry Collin's bottle and other things.

After lunch, mommy and daddy spent the afternoon getting the house ready for Collin to crawl. He cannot crawl but it could be any day now and we want to be ready....plus, daddy was off work today. Daddy also put together Collin's high chair that we have had before he was born. He used it for the first time tonight to sit in and eat crackers while we ate dinner. Then, it was Collin's turn to eat. Tonight, he had avocados (still his favorite by far) and butternut squash. Here he looking like he is involved in a hold up. The entire time he ate tonight, he had is arms and hands in the air.

Dane' Birthday Party

Yesterday, Collin attended his first birthday party. It was for his buddy, Dane, that turned a year old. There were at least 10 kids (mainly boys) at the party that ranged in ages of 1 year to 5 years old. As you might think, the boys were full of energy and never took a break. Collin had a great time sitting in Dane's walker and watching all of the activity. He usually gets bored with a toy or being in one spot after 15 minutes or so. No this time. He stayed in the walker moving around a little and watching the other kids for almost 2 hours! He only started to make noises and whine a little when he was getting hungry.

He was the hit of the party when he started to laugh uncontrollably when he watched Dane eat his cake. Something about it tickled him because he laughed for about 5 minutes.

Before we went to the party, we ran some errands (busy weekend full of errands). One errand was to get the car washed since it has been about 4 months. It was REALLY dirty. Collin enjoyed sitting in front of the window and watching the cars get wet and washed. He, of course, got bored with that after about 10 minutes.

Errands Galore!

Since I was out of town most of this week, I had a lot of errands to take care of today. This morning, Collin and I went to Babies R Us and Lowe's to get babyproofing supplies (see prior blog) so daddy and I can start this process this Sunday afternoon. Then, I met a work college for lunch. She was in town to pack her desk because she is transferring to the New York office....sniff, sniff. Then, from there we had plans to meet Matthew and Maria at the Zoo. We never made it there because the parking and the traffic around the zoo was a mess today because of Spring Break and Good Friday. So, instead, we met at Cold Stone to have a cold treat. I did this many times when I was pregnant with Collin and had not be there since (at least that location...haha). The boys got to check each other out and talk for a bit. They were both really interested in the ceiling fans in the store. After that, it was off to PetCo and then home to feed Collin.

Here is a picture of him dressed for the zoo.













Tonight, daddy and I have a date. We are both so excited about it that daddy is taking a nap in his chair right now while I write this blog (don't know when I would have time otherwise).

Baby Proofing....Now!

We thought we had time to baby proof the house so we have not done much other than stick a few outlet plugs in the outlets on the 2nd floor. Collin had not been getting on his knees on a regular basis. He did not even get on his knees until this week. He must have thought it was fun because he has been "practicing" all day today! While we were at the bike shop, he got on his knees in his pack and play and would start rocking back and forth. I would get him out to feed him and then put him back in on his back. He would immediately turn over and get back on his knees. He wore himself out one time and rested his head.....but he was still on his knees! hahaha I noticed his knees where red when I picked him up to leave. Do they make baby knee pads?

Then, tonight when I put him in his bed, he turned over and started practicing again. Usually at this time, he would lay there on his side and watch his music "soother" and listen to the music until he fell asleep. I normally leave the room as soon as I put him in his crib, but tonight I stayed to watch him practice. He got on his knees, yep, in his potato sack, and rocked toward his soother to turn it off. Then, he turned it back on but stayed on his knees.

Guess what we are doing next weekend? Yep, installing the gates at the stairs, lowering his crib mattress and installing latches in the kitchen.

Bike Ride....Short Lived

Since it was such a beautiful day out today, I thought Collin would enjoy a ride in his trailer. Before we could use it though, daddy insisted that Collin have a helmet to keep him safe. So, after a short nap, we went to the bike shop to get Collin fitted for his first helmet.

Then we went to Aunt Lisa's to hang out and wait for the weather to cool down a little so we could go for our ride. While at Aunt Lisa's, Collin rolled over onto his tummy and then quickly pulled his knees under him. I have seen him do this only a few times before. This time though, instead of falling back off of his knees, he was able to stay on them a little while. Then, he started to rock forward and backward while still on his knees. He fell back to his tummy after just a few rocks. Any day now, and he will not be sliding. I guess I will have to install the gates at the house next weekend.

When we got home, I got the bike ready by hooking the trailer to it. Then, I put Collin's helmet on. At first, he was not sure what was going on. I strapped him in the trailer and he could not sit up straight because the back of the helmet was in the way....besides probably being heavy on his head.

I then planned to ride around our neighborhood for about 15 minutes just in case Collin decided he did not like the helmet. He did really good in the beginning and was looking at the houses and the scenery as best he could since he could not really turn his head. As I continued to ride, Collin continued to fall over to one side. He did not look comfortable so I did stop to sit him up a few times. I thought he had enough so I headed back home. Glad I did because he started to fuss a little and then it turned into full on screaming. I think we will wait a few more weeks before we try that again.

Jogging stroller anyone?

Blackmail

Here is another picture that we need to save and bring out when he goes on his first date. hehehe.....

No?

Most of you know that Collin has been shaking his head back and forth since he was 2 - 3 weeks old. We thought at first that he was swaddled too tight (hey, new parents. We did not know if the swaddle could be too tight or not. He did not turn blue at least!) After we stopped swaddling him around 4 months, he would STILL shake his head back and forth. It did not matter if he was about to go to sleep, just waking up, in his car seat or about to take a nap. We would see him do this and it would make us smile.....so, he would do it again. I read that this is a comfort mechanism for him and that might be why he does it.

Now that he is sitting up on his own he is STILL doing it while keeping his balance. He even does it while he is on "tummy time". We will now ask him questions like, "do you want to do some tummy time" and he will shake his head. Coincidence? We don't know. He will do this to the majority of questions we ask him.

Hmmmmmmm.....I wonder if this is a trend for latter when he really does mean "no"? We won't think it's so cute then.

Father and Son's experiences

Look how cute he is even when he is cryin! Let me tell you he really knows how to sell it to. He is a ball of energy no matter which way he is going it is at full speed.




Most of the day was spent in the house because Collin is a little stopped up. Collin spent most of his day playing with his feet or skootchin across the floor backwards. He is sitting up real good now and does not fall to much. We talked to each other hopefully I was telling him good stuff in his language. I am still not sure what we were talkin about all I know is there was some emphasis on certain words. And they were usually the longer words he had to say(yell).

Just the Boys

Collin and Matthew hung out this morning. Collin did not want me to call it a play date because he said that is reserved for his girlfriends. Matthew has not had a chance to play with too many babies yet so he was VERY inquisitive. When we got to Matthew's house, we put the babies on one of Matthew's blankets. Matthew immediately zoned in on Collin's shoes...it must have been the laces. We could not easily distract him from them. After awhile, we put both of the babies on their tummies to have baby races. Instead of doing what they usually do on their tummies, both of them just stared at each other. Matthew touched Collin's hair as if to say "hey, I want some of that one day". hahaha We then went for a walk to the local park. Collin showed Matthew what it was like to swing. Matthew was in a daze most of the time. Collin was chill too....just smiled and swung. We walked a little more and then the mommies got hungry.

After we ate, Collin and I said our "goodbyes" and then headed to the bike shop because mommy had to work there for a few hours. Plus, Collin wanted to see his daddy for a little while. Mimi was there too.

Sliding, Not Crawling Yet

Collin is well on his way to start crawling soon. My prediction is in about a month...or less. I don't mind if he takes his time though. Right now, he is pushing himself back and sometimes getting on all fours...but not for long. If I put him down on his play mat and that is on hardwood floors, Collin will eventually make it out the door by pushing himself back. This morning, I put him down on the mat, answered one email that was not that long, and he had already moved off the mat and back himself into a corner. He was getting frustrated because he could not figure out how to move around it. He eventually turned a little and continued backing out the door. I was laughing the whole time and saying "bye, bye Collin".

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

Collin LOVES to look in mirrors. Right now, he does not realize that he is looking at him. He thinks he is staring at another baby. He either starts up a conversation with the "other baby" or he laughs really hard. We move him away from the mirror, and he stops what he is doing. As soon as he is able to look into the mirror again, he starts his conversation where he left off or starts to laugh again. It's just as much fun for us as it is for him to do this. It's an awesome way to end a long day, that's for sure.

What's that I see?

So today was a lot of fun. We were planning to stay home all day and play but Collin would not take a nap. We played a lot on his blanket with all of his toys. We spent time walking, jumping, and swinging between daddy's legs. We rolled around on our backs with our feet in the air, and then did a Thousand push ups on our tummy. So since Collin would not sleep, I thought a truck ride was in order. We made our way up to babies r us and bought a lot of new toys as well as a sippie cup. Also we bought a sippie cup adapter that makes the current bottle into a sippie cup. So the after lunch feeding was really fun.

Collin was doing great holding the sippie cup handles and eating but then he would get curious and want to see what was in his hands so he would look at it. He would then try to put it back in his mouth, he does not fully understand that the milk comes out of the top and not the side of the bottle. But with Daddy's help he was able to finish. So on to more play time. He would roll around on the ground for awhile then I moved him to his office. That is where this picture comes from. I am not sure what he was looking for or at but he spent a great deal of time looking under this thing so I got a few pictures of him doing it. I thought it was funny. There is a mirror in the round plastic thing that spins. My thought would be to spin the thing and the mirror would come up where I could look straight at it but Collin's thought was to look under it, for awhile. Either way the job got done and Collin was on to other things.

The day was full of play time with Collin and just before mommy came home Collin crashed on my chest and shoulder. This was great because I was finally able to sit for 10 minutes.

Lots of Fun today with my son and looking forward to next Tuesday.

Potato Sack

This morning while mommy was on a 45 mile bike ride that left from the bike shop (yep, she's crazy), daddy kept Collin. They met me at the shop after I was finished and then daddy had to start work before he could tell me how their morning was. I wondered what they did while I was gone. I was looking through dad's pictures when I came across this one....



Looks like they must have gone for a walk. I asked dad about it later tonight and he said that they did go for about a 45 minute walk. I think daddy enjoyed the walk as much as Collin because he was telling me about how cool the stroller was. Too funny....


Because Collin is such an active sleeper (see prior posts) and before his potato sack, he would get lost under his loose blanket or the blanket would get kicked off so he would be cold when one of us would check on him. I found a sleep sack that is a blanket that zips the baby up and does not get twisted off or cover the baby's face. I heard that Addison's mommy really like it so I decided to get one for Collin. It works great!!! We have been using it for over two month's now but thought I would pass it along to the other mommies I know that read this blog. I don't have to worry anymore about him not being able to breathe because his covers are over his face or....the situation that happened more often.....he would be uncovered because he either kicked them off within an hour of going to sleep or would be turned 180 degrees from where he started to sleep. The poor blanket could just not keep up with him! When daddy first saw Collin in his sleep sack he said that it looks like Collin is in a bag of potatoes so we started calling it his potato sack.

Rollover, Rollover, Let Collin Come Over

Gone are the days that I could put Collin on his back and he would just lay there. He must have heard me mention to my mother the other day that I have not seen him rollover much. Not true anymore....at least the last two days. I lay him on his back and within a minute, he has rolled over onto his tummy. He is not content to stay in the place he rolled over to either. He either pushes backwards or moves to his left or right side towards something he is interested in.