Tuesday, April 26, 2011

New Friends

As I mentioned before, Colin had lots of opportunities to meet new friends while we were out in Atlanta.  Many of my friends from there have kids so we had some play dates and dinners out.

Friday we met up with my friend Megen and her two kiddos.  Her daughter, Sarah, was one of my flower girls in the wedding and is also my goddaughter.  We met up to do pictures of her and I for her first communion.  I didn't get any pictures from the photo session - that was all Megen - but I did get some great pictures of spending time with the three of them at dinner.


Saturday, my friend Chris was able to come by and meet Colin.  We had a wonderful visit, even if it was too short.  We played with the baby, went to get some lunch, and threw in some time for toddler wrangling at the end of the afternoon.



As Chris was leaving, the big play date was just getting started.  My friends Lindsey and Bill brought their two boys, Zachary and Joshua, who are 2 and 4 respectively, and my friend Bonnie brought her daughter, Hayden, who is also 2.  The 2 year olds (including my nephew) were all in our wedding in their own special way - their moms were pregnant as bridesmaids in the wedding.  At least it was 3 pregnant and 3 non-pregnant so it was even!

The boys had a blast playing together and it gave me an idea of what I'm in for in a couple of years.  The whole time I have been here and watching my nephew with all his energy, I just can't imagine Colin being that way two years from now... but I'm sure it will be that way.  Hayden, on the other hand, was not quite as sure what to do with all the loud boys.  She plays with lots of boys at school but wasn't as comfortable with the boys around here.  She spent lots of time up with mama but did finally get to the toys when the boys went outside to play with balls. 


Colin, again, was asleep in the middle of the chaos.  And he must have been sleeping soundly because he was in his signature pose.

Trip to Grandma's

We were able to spend some time Friday afternoon with Grandma Dugie and Aunt Bernie.  Aunt Bernie wasn't feeling great so she wasn't able to hold Colin, but Grandma Dugie did get some quality time with him.  Colin wanted to eat right away so Dugie came over to talk to him and you can tell he was very interested in what she had to say.



It was a long day so he promptly fell asleep after eating
Then after a quick nap (because none of his naps are much longer than 20 minutes), he got in to practicing the thumb suck.  Thumb sucking is another post for another day though...  He's trying hard to get it but it's still in the practice stage.


Monday, April 25, 2011

Happy Easter

We had a great time at Easter with the Williams clan.  As my sister and I were driving home, we were counting up how many people were there and we think the final number was 55.  Most of them were there at the same time, but there were some that didn't necessarily overlap.  Seeing as my mom is the oldest of 12 children and there are 23 grandchildren and now 3 great-grandchildren, you can see how it may get kind of crazy.

The Easter Bunny did make a stop for the boys in Atlanta and you can see, he knows that it's best to have the same thing for each boy.  The bunnies were something my sister came across, Bunnies for BugembeHere is the original story of how they came to be.  It's kind of amazing that for the bunny that Colin got from the Easter bunny, another child is getting one, too, halfway around the world.

My nephew's on the left, Colin's on the right complete with sunglasses

I stayed home and watched the boys while my sister went to mass then Colin and I met my mom and Mike for mass.  Colin couldn't have cared less although the incense did wake him up.  But once I was holding him he was back asleep for the duration.

Soon after church we headed up to my aunt's.  Colin and I had gotten to see a couple of my family members on Friday afternoon, including my grandma, so it wasn't that no one had seen him yet, but walking up the driveway it did take a few minutes to make it inside because everyone was so excited to meet him.

He promptly fell asleep amidst all the craziness and slept in his car seat in the kitchen with everyone running in and out and being noisy for probably at least an hour or so.



Then the holding marathon started.  Everyone was clamoring for a chance to see and hold C so it was quite a fun time getting to watch him meet everyone.  Below (around the big picture of Grandma) we have a family friend, Kathy, my cousin Lindsay, Grandma Dugie, my aunt Karen, and my cousin Christy. 


There was an Easter egg hunt but Colin was too tired to partake.  I went inside to put him in the Ergo to hunt for Easter eggs and found him still being passed around and quite asleep at the same time.  So we just watched the little kids hunt from the cool, air-conditioned kitchen.

The three great-grandchildren were all there.  My nephew was the first two years ago, then my cousin Ashley had Savannah follow by Colin two months later.  We happened to have Savannah and Colin by each other and then my nephew happened by to see what was going on and it gave us a great opportunity to get the first picture of the most recent generation.


At the end of the day it was just my sister and nephew, Colin, and I hanging out at home.  My nephew was nice enough to get a card for Colin and he knew that Colin also needed a little help opening it. 


It was a great day with lots of seeing family and catching up.  We don't make it home to Atlanta often enough so the times we are able to get here it's always a party.

First Trip to Atlanta

On the Wednesday before Easter, Colin and I boarded the plane all on our own to head out to Atlanta for a week.  It would be the first time my sister and nephew, as well as the entire Williams clan, had met Colin so we were very excited to make the trip.  I was a little apprehensive about going on my own with him but it worked out fine.  We got to the gate with plenty of time, the people at Frontier were wonderful, he ate as we were taking off and landing and slept most of the time in between.  I must say, I will always be having an aisle seat with a baby from now on!  It was so much easier.

Deedee and Papa picked us up from the airport and we headed out to meet my sister and nephew for dinner.  Deedee was excited to get some Colin time and I had one more bottle I needed to get eaten before it wasn't good anymore so I was glad to share that, too.


My sister was obviously very excited to meet Baby C so needless to say, I wasn't doing much holding on my own that evening (or since I have been here, really).  I was expecting some kind of funny reaction from my nephew but alas, all he wanted was pizza and pineapple.  So, I don't have any great reaction pictures from that... but we got good pictures later in the week.


The week has been filled with lots of new friends and family, relaxing, surprisingly good sleeping habits on the baby's part, and overall good times.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Smiles

Colin is quite the smiler, just not for Mike and I.  Anytime he sees a stranger he will grin, he looks at his toys and he grins... but it takes Mike and I a lot to get him to smile.  Mike has even resorted to trying to make him smile.



Colin's first smiles were sleep smiles, which he still does.  I love holding him after he has just fallen asleep and see the cutest little grin come across his face.  Sometimes, if he fell asleep while nursing he will still be attached to me and smiling.

When we were in Indiana, he started smiling here and there in response to what we were saying to him.  We found (which is still the case) that he will smile more in the morning.  I think we all spent so much time in Indiana trying to get him to smile... but he just wasn't that interested.  Here are the first smiles we caught on camera (from my phone, so not the best in the world).



The funniest thing that he has started in the past few weeks is smiling at his toys.  In his swing, he'll look at the mirror and the bees that fly around the mirror and just grin.  Then the other day, when he was in his bouncy chair, I even got it on camera - he spent probably 5 minutes laughing at the animals on the toy bar... but once he noticed I was looking, just stared at me.



But rest assured, if someone other than Mike or I tries to get him to smile, it's no problem.  So if you're around, just look at him with some goofy look on your face and more than likely he'll smile for you.  If only he weren't so stingy with us...

Monday, April 18, 2011

Our first hike

One of the joys of living in Colorado is getting to be outdoors so much.  We took Colin out a few weeks ago to experience hiking for the first time.  We went to Mt Falcon Open Space about a mile up the road from where we got married.  We were supposed to be meeting up with friends but ended up at the wrong parking lot so we hiked on our own.  Trucker, who is not the best hiker in the world, joined us too.  I also had forgotten to get a sun hat for Colin so we had to make do with what we had.

Mike staying behind with Trucker while Colin and I went to the car for feeding

Colin did lots of sleeping during the hike

Family picture!

The makeshift sun hat - a burp cloth

Traveling to Indiana

When Colin was about 5 weeks old, we made our first trip.  We went to see Mike's family in Indiana.  We knew that it would be hard for the girls to get out here to see him and Mike was on spring break, so it seemed like the perfect time to go introduce him to Indiana life.

Colin did great on the plane both ways.  He wasn't too sure about the ride on the train from the terminal to the concourse as you can see in the first picture, but once we were on the plane, he was just hanging out with daddy or in the wrap with mommy.  After nursing in a seat that was barely wider than me (I was in the middle both ways), I decided that pumping and feeding from a bottle would be better on the way home - it was much better for both of us, I think. Colin slept in the Sleepy Wrap and rarely made a peep.


Colin made many friends while we were in Indiana.  He got to meet his cousins who were so excited to hold him and play with him.  I know as he gets older, he will enjoy it just as much.  Aunt Amy took much better pictures than I did so I took some of hers that she shared on Facebook to share here.

Taking it all in

We also made a trip to South Bend to see Ally (and Mike's friend Paul, too).  Like so many people did for me when I was in college, we took Ally to lunch.  The first place we tried to go told us "We're a pub, you can't have the baby in here."  Apparently the smoking laws in Indiana, if you have smoking all over, you are considered a pub and it's not a family friendly establishment.  We aren't used to this at all because there is no smoking anywhere inside buildings in Colorado for the most part.  So instead, we ended up at Buffalo Wild Wings where there is a completely separate smoking area with separate ventilation.  Therefore, baby was welcome.  Colin was all smiles for Ally but the closest we got to getting it on camera was this:


Our last night in Indiana, Mike and his friend Scott decided that they wanted to try to eat the Big Ugly Burger from Bub's Burgers and Ice Cream in Carmel.  The burger is one pound after cooking (it starts out at 22 oz) and you have to eat everything on the burger platter to get your picture on the wall.  That means, if you forget to ask for the server to leave off the lettuce, pickles, onion, and/or tomato, you have to eat them all.  They both went in to it not sure if they'd succeed, but they did...


Overall, we had a great time in Indiana.  It was great to get to just sit down and relax for a while - and someone always wanted to hold the baby!  This trip is where we decided that Colin does indeed have a cranky time every night - it was just two hours later there than at home.  It was so nice to be with the whole family and for Sally and Mike to get their first picture with all their grandchildren!



Saturday, April 16, 2011

Two Months Old

Amazingly, Colin is 2 months old (OK, the post is late, he's actually almost 2 and a half months old now).  I don't know where the last 2 months have gone and every time I look back at the pictures of him in his first few days, I'm amazed at how much he has grown.  He definitely is now more of an infant than a newborn.  As I promised, I started getting pictures of him next to a stuffed animal in the same chair and will continue with this as long as I remember (and he agrees).

Pooh Bear has been mine since my senior year of high school.  It's very hard to part with (and I'm still not convinced I will)...
To get good pictures without the flashing going off, I opened the blinds on the window by the glider.  Colin knows there is light there but I think that was the first time he had seen outside the window.  And as you can see below, Moose was very excited that there was a new window to look out of.

Look, there's a window over there... I didn't know there was a window there!

Mom, why is Moose walking through our photo session?!?
We had his 2 month appointment on his actual 2 month birthday.  He weighed 11 lbs 2.5 oz and was 22 inches long.  That makes him in 50% for weight and 25% for height.  (And not that anyone really cares, but his head is 40%.)  I think he looks proportional but Mike keeps wanting him to grow taller.  I say just give it time.

Colin is doing all kinds of new things every day...

  • Smiles
  • Rolls from tummy to back (apparently he was supposed to start back to tummy??)
  • Sleeps for longer stretches at night (longest so far - 7 hours, normally 5-6 hours)
  • Stays awake more during the day
  • Grasps things (like my shirt when he's eating)
  • Gets distracted when he's eating
  • Holds his head up for longer periods of time
  • Sits up with assistance
  • Coos and laughs
  • Drools

I think he looks more constipated than smiley here.  The smiles are so few and far between I'm having a hard time getting them on camera

I do think Colin will be a thumb sucker.  First of all, almost every picture we have from ultrasound shows him with his thumb in his mouth, so it wouldn't surprise me.  But now he really, really wants his thumb - he desperately works to get it in his mouth and I'll always hear sucking sounds and look over to see his entire fist, thumb side first, in his mouth.  I don't have a picture of it but it really is cute.
Are we done yet??


Rolling Over

When we got to Indiana, Colin starting doing more and more tummy time because there were big windows he loved to look out.  One day, I looked away for a second and looked back and he was off his tummy and on his back.  We blew it off as a fluke and went on with our day.  The next day we put him on his tummy again and he did it again.  By the time we left Indiana, he was rolling over from his tummy to back multiple times in a row, multiple times a day.  I was shocked.  He was approximately 6 weeks old and was rolling!  There is a video below just so you know I'm not making this up!


Colin's Signature Pose

Every time Colin falls asleep, he looks very zen.  His arms float above him like he's meditating.  I'm sure not all babies sleep like this, but apparently, he is very comfortable...


Saturday, April 9, 2011

My little tummy sleeper

I know, I have plenty to update on the blog, but I thought this one would be a good, quick post so you didn't think we had fallen off the face of the earth.  I do have posts to share about our trip to Indiana (including our first plane ride), the joys of nursing, and a two month summary, among other things... but first, our sleeping saga.

Colin has recently decided that he is going to only sleep on his tummy.  He is 2 months old so that is NOT old enough to be sleeping on his tummy.  In my mind, the only time it is okay to sleep on his tummy is when he puts himself there.  Granted, he is rolling from his tummy to his back (more on that later) but he is not going from his back to his tummy.

It started when we were in Indiana... the first time we let him sleep on his tummy it was just long enough to get him to sleep then we turned him over.  That lasted one or two attempts before he started to wise up and wake up as we turned him over.  Most of the time in Indiana he slept in the bed with me though so it wasn't a big deal. As long as he's right next to mama, he sleeps great.  Once we had been home for a few days, though, he started fighting the back sleep again.  I tried and tried to fight back and ultimately had to give up.  Nothing I could do would get him asleep on his back.  No matter how deeply he was asleep or how tired he was, he would wake up immediately upon hitting the mattress.  And it's so sad to watch - he flails his arms and legs and just keeps getting more and more upset.  So then I decided to try his tummy - against my better judgement (he has all the increased risks of SIDS - a boy between 2 and 4 months in the winter) but, lo and behold, he fell asleep and slept great.  Mommy didn't necessarily sleep great though so that was another problem to address.

I remember my friend Bonnie had used the AngelCare monitor with her daughter a couple years ago so I texted her to find out more about it.  She said it was the only way that she got to sleep when Hayden was little.  Essentially, it's a movement monitor that goes under the mattress and sets off an alarm when the baby hasn't moved for 20 seconds (the definition of apnea).  We started using the monitor tonite and I must say it does make me feel a bit better.  I still go in the room all the time when I'm still awake after Colin goes to bed, but I can just look in at the door to see that the monitor is picking up movement by the blinking light and I don't have to bug him (like I have been doing - accidentally startling him when I touch him or putting my finger near his face to make sure I feel his breathing...).

I'm not saying this is a cure-all for our fears of tummy sleeping, but it's the best I can do for all of us at this time.  I definitely feel better because he does roll over already - in fact I have gone in a couple of times for night time feedings and he has been on his back so I know he does it when he wakes up - but I still will worry... it's in my blood as a mother and as a PICU nurse.  As I have been saying for the past two months - if Colin can survive having a neurotic PICU nurse for a mother, he'll be doing great!