Here Comes Trouble!

Colin started pulling himself up on his daddy's birthday this past Tuesday. Now it's all he wants to do. He had yet to figure out, until this morning at least, that he could also pull himself up in the crib. This morning, however, when I went to get him after hearing him play for a few minutes, I walked in and found this...

7 months? Already?

I cannot even begin to figure out where the last 7 months have gone.  I look at the pictures from 2 months and hardly remember when he was that small and cuddly.  I miss the days of him falling asleep on me and just wanting to cuddle (he rarely wants to just cuddle unless he's not feeling great) but I absolutely love the grins and belly laughs and the fact that I have to put him in the Exersaucer just to be able to go to the bathroom because he is moving around so much.

I couldn't have done better if I'd done it on purpose - the exact same picture 3 months apart!

Colin has finally taken to some solids.  He is quite a fan of purees but if you put any amount of texture in there, it's a no go.  Thankfully he is eating the peaches I made him;  I got all bummed because he wasn't interested in the sweet potatoes I had made after the first time or two and I thought he would never eat anything I made for him (yes, I know, dramatic all or nothing)... but when we ran out of peaches from the store, which appear to be his favorite along with pears and mango, I thawed out some of my own peaches and luckily he ate them.  He ate all the sweet potatoes from the store, too, so I'm going to try my own again to see what he thinks.  And there are studies showing that children have a taste for whatever mom ate while she was pregnant... maybe that's why Colin will eat yogurt all day every day given the chance.

I really have no idea when babies are supposed to start being mobile, but I feel like Colin is working on it a little early.  And it has seriously all started in just the last week.  He was rocking, then started scooting here and there, but he is on to full fledged combat crawling.  He can make it from one side of the living room to the opposite side of the dining room in no time flat (hmm... maybe I should time it).  I walked in to get him up from a nap last week and he was sitting up in his bed, a first for doing it without help from me (the next day he finally demonstrated his skills so I could see how he did it).  He proceeded to use the rails of the crib to start pulling himself up.  Luckily he didn't actually make it standing but I don't think it's long; he was doing pretty well.  One perk to the combat crawl - his belly does a great job of getting the dirt off the floors!

Sleep continues to be hit or miss.  I feel very thankful that Colin started putting himself to sleep in the crib from about 5 weeks old (that's not to say I always put him down when he was awake but he was capable of it at that point).  We fought with night time sleeping for quite a while and now we are fighting with naps.  Somewhere around 6 months and a week or so, after letting him fuss through his "habit times" of waking up, he started sleeping 10-12 hours at night.  He can only stay awake for 1.5-2 hours at a time during the day with maybe a little longer if we are out of the house.  I have gotten very good at his cues and put him down as soon as he seems sleepy and he will usually go right to sleep but it's the staying asleep that's a problem.  One a rare good day, he will nap 2-2.5 hours but many days it's anywhere from 45 minutes to just over an hour.

And in case you wondered - the best way to show love of something is to attempt to bite it with your toothless gums (or maybe he just can't go 5 seconds without shoving something in his mouth... even during a photo session).

I know, I know, another video...

I know that all I have done lately is post videos, but when family is so far away, I have to take video so they can see Colin grow up just like I do.  That said, here's another video.  It may be long and boring to you, but since this blog is a way to document his days and experiences, I thought I'd share it here.  I have watched it probably 5 times in the last 20 minutes and I still actually laugh out loud at how he continues to push the balls further away from himself.  At least he's practicing moving around!

Happy 7 months ~ scooting around! from Katie on Vimeo.

Could crawling be far behind?

Colin and I spend lots of time playing on the floor while we are at home.  When we were at a friend's house yesterday he was very interested in all the toys that they had out and I realized that he had really just had the same toys out for a while at home so I thought I'd bring in some of the other toys that we have.  He was really enjoying it, especially the rattles and "car keys" that make noise (as much as a teething 6 month old can enjoy anything at least).  But that's not the point of this post...

During one of our play times on the floor today, I noticed this (Colin doesn't have much to say in this video but you may notice Oliver is happily purring away right next to my phone it seems)...

It's definitely one of his new favorite things to do (well, for today at least...).  And on top of that, yesterday morning while we were playing he used my shirt to try to stand up - and he did a decent job of it at that!  I don't really know if I'm ready for him to be more mobile than he already is.  He can make it from one side of the room to the other just by scooting and rolling!  I noticed him trying to get his knees underneath him the other day but this is the first time he has done it for any length of time and multiple times in a row.  He's still working on getting back down from sitting up without falling and bonking his head, but maybe the rocking and eventual crawling will get his core the strength he needs to do that?

We are also having a long week of teething.  I can actually see the inflammation on the gums but no teeth yet.  As many friends remind me, it could take a while for the teeth to come through.  It makes me sad because my smiley, happy Colin has been replaced by one who has to be held ALL. THE. TIME.  (To clarify, I'm not sad that he needs to be held all the time, I'm sad he's so miserable.)  I got some Hylands Teething Tablets today and, whether or not it's mental, they did seem to help.  For the first time since he's been Mr. Cranky Pants he actually let me look in his mouth without fighting.  The Tylenol and Motrin that I am giving doesn't make much of a difference either and honestly he does not like the Motrin so that's no help anyways - it's quite a fight to get it down.

Eating solids has gone by the wayside as well with this whole teething thing.  He had such a great first time with his sweet potatoes when Mike was home last weekend but since then he has had no interest at all.  I try to give him one bite and he spits it out and/or turns his head away.  But he sure did look cute the one time he did eat!

Surprising us every day

Mike came home this afternoon for a last minute trip since it will be a while before he can come home again.  We were in Atlanta together just a couple weeks ago and Colin has changed so much in just a short time...

He turned 6 months old this past Sunday - amazing, I know!  He has started sitting up on his own and depending on how tired he is will stay that way for quite a few minutes at a time.  He did fall over and bump his head this morning while sitting (even with me right there) and he wasn't a fan of that, but overall he loves his new found view.

He loves to make - or attempt to make - raspberries.  I noticed it for the first time while he was playing on the floor right after we got back from Atlanta.  Then the sitter said he did it plenty the next day and continues to do it more every day.

After 6 full months, he is officially becoming a thumb sucker.  He comes by it honestly, since mom and dad were both thumb suckers... let's just hope he kicks the habit well before either of us did.  Colin has always appeared to have the tendency for thumb sucking from the first days home from the hospital (and even before, as a matter of fact) but it was always few and far between the times he would keep it in his mouth for any length of time.  Colin was hanging out with Allison and Charlotte while I got to sleep in a little bit on our excursion to Westcliffe this week and when I got out of bed he was asleep in Charlotte's arms with his thumb in his mouth.  I didn't think much of it since we'd had times here and there where he would suck his thumb but never more than once in a day.  So that afternoon after we got back to Denver, he was throwing a fit about being in the car and I clearly couldn't get back to him to give him his paci again so he decided the thumb would do it - he fell asleep twice in the car with his thumb in his mouth.  Then that night, I was curious if he would do it in bed, too.  (For the record, I haven't encouraged or discouraged thumb sucking; I figure if he's going to do it, he is going to do it.)  I put him down with his paci in this mouth but went back in to check on him and found this instead:

He tends to do it when he is sleepy but still hasn't fully figured it out.  Tonight for example, when I put him down for bed I didn't give him a paci because he had already been sucking his thumb as we were getting ready for bed.  After about 20 minutes, though, he was started having "panicked" crying (the crying he does when I know he isn't going to fall back asleep on his own) so I went him, snuggled for a few minutes, was a sucker and brought him back out of his room since daddy was home for a visit, and then daddy put him back in bed with the paci.  By the time he fell asleep, the paci was no where in sight and the thumb was in his mouth.

Our current fun with sleeping will be another post altogether but I am happy to report that Colin has figured out sleeping 10-12 hours a night!  He goes down between 6 and 7 as a rule and is up around 6 or 6:30 for the most part.  Usually once per night we'll have a wake up but I don't go in there and he puts himself back to sleep within 5 minutes or so.  So now we are working on day time naps.  Yesterday he did two separate 2 hour naps for the sitter but not so lucky for me today...

I have many more updates I'm sure, most importantly, his official stats from the doctor for 6 months.  The appointment is next week but I'm guessing he is somewhere near 26 inches and 16 pounds.  He has the cutest rolls on his legs so at least I know what he's getting from me is doing him good!  We may try some solids this weekend so Mike is here to see it!  It should be interesting!!

Lots of firsts

Colin has been having some "firsts" lately that I have captured on my phone.  You'll have to forgive the quality of the pictures but it seems to be the only thing handy most times.  I always have the camera with me but it's in the diaper bag and infants don't stay in one place long enough to run to get the camera; alas, phone pictures...

Stuck in Target in a rain storm... first time in a shopping cart (propped up by bags)

5 month birthday - first time in a restaurant high chair

His high chair at home - he seems to love it

Really intent on picking up the animals from the picture on the tray

Our First Rockie's Game

OK, so maybe our first Rockies game was a month and a half ago... but that doesn't mean I can't share pictures now!  We went to the Rockies on May 1st.  You'd think May 1st would be nice and warm, right?  Well not in Denver as you can tell below.

It was definitely a lot of fun, but definitely cold!  Colin spent a lot of the day bundled up in the Ergo sleeping as you can see, but did wake up for the 7th inning stretch.  We were excited to have a chance to use the mittens that match the Patagonia jacket.  Only in Colorado...

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.

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...

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!