Long Week

It's been a long week on spring "break." Though I loved getting to see family it is exhausting traveling alone with a baby. Even worse, a sick, teething baby. I've been exhausted the last couple of days trying to catch up on lost sleep, but Colin has decided he can do anything and everything. He can open cabinets, so we have to lock them, an added inconvenience. He pulls up on some things like the gate and low items. Once he is up on an item he can cruise a bit. He crawls so fast you can barely keep track of him if you are doing something else. He loves to "help" unload the dishwasher, feed the dogs, get stuff out of the fridge, freezer, and pantry. It's a race to keep him out of these places and keep a step ahead of him. He is PURE BOY--into everything. He has also developed a decent pincer grasp in the last two days, so everything can be picked up. Ahhh, Calgon take me away. I love the little man, but wheww--I'm exhausted. Turns out he has an ear infection on top of being sick and teething, and the antibiotics really upset his stomach. In addition, I tried to add chicken and quinoa to his diet, and the first time it did not go well. He puked it all up! But since then in less amounts it has stayed down. Poor guy, when he's sick he always throws up.

Basketball fan

We got to see the boys basketball team from the school where I teach play in the final four yesterday. We lost at the last second. We were winning the entire game until 2 seconds before the game was over--when it counted. It was sad to see them lose, but we had a good time. It was Colin's first basketball game, and he seemed to enjoy it. He liked the stimulation of all the people and noise. He liked to clap along, and stand in front of our chairs. He did NOT like waiting to in the car to get out of the parking lot. He fussed for about 5 minutes and then passed out. He slept the whole way home (about 25 minutes after waiting some more in the parking lot), and was a happy camper the rest of the night. I think we have a sportsfan in the making. We've done football and basketball. I guess we'll have to take him to a Cards game this summer.

8 months old

In some ways not much has changed in the last month, but in other ways a lot has changed.

At 8 months:

• Has 7 teeth and is about to have 8 (they just keep coming)
• Loves all solid foods
• Likes snack time (trying to grab finger foods and manipulate them--he's got a piece to his mouth twice, but lately seems disinterested in feeding himself
• Loves to have the spoon when he's finished to play with and chew
• Crawls like a champ
• Stands and walks with mommy or daddy's assistance, but doesn't pull up on furniture--just on us.
• Continues to love bath time, playing with his toys in water, crawling in water--loves to be dunked, and splashing
• Has learned to clap
• Shakes his head "NO"
• Can use a sippy cup with some help
• Loves to giggle
• Tries to chase the dogs--he was playing tug-of-war with Kona and a dog toy today--laughed the whole time

Picture Drought

Scott asked to see the blog tonight, and he made me realize I hadn't posted any pictures in a long time. So here are a few.

To the left is from about a month ago in St. Louis with our old small group girlfriends and kids aged 7 months-2.5.

The robe pics are from tonight.

The next on the left is from two weekends ago, snuggling with Scott after we stripped him after he puked on his PJs.

The one above is 3 weeks ago, and the one on the left is from yesterday. The Cardinals hat no longer fits (it did 3 weeks ago), but man it was cute.

Colin can't pull up, but he can hold himself up on things if you help him onto them. He loves this toy and a similar Elmo toy. He can only have Elmo on the weekends because he doesn't want to stop. He gets addicted...like baby crack (that and applesauce).

A weaning we will go

The big W has finally hit us. Colin continues to have more teeth come in (5 already, and we can see 3 more on their way), he had another cold, and he seems ready for it. We've been at it for about 6 days, and I only had two nursings to get rid of. We eliminated the morning first. He could have cared less, but it was uncomfortable. Now we are getting rid of the night time nursing (started Sat. night). He still doesn't care. With his cold it's easier for him to take a bottle. He hasn't shown any attempt to get into a nursing position, not fussing, and he is having no problem getting to sleep at night. Seems the only one having trouble is me. It is sad, and it is quite painful. It makes me wonder what the heck happens to all that milk? I've only pumped a tiny bit off, but I try not to do that unless I just can't stand it. I hope it dries up quick. I'm excited to be able to do physical activity with impact.

Milestones--We have a crawler

Colin started really crawling last night. He's been doing a couple crawls together, but he did about six movements together last night, and did even more this morning. He seems to know he's got it figured out, so I'm guessing once he gets really good at it I won't be sitting down for the next year. He'll be into everything. Last night he was throwing a fit in the living room while Scott and I were cooking dinner, so I brought him into the kitchen, sat him on the floor, and gave him a plastic bowl and wooden spoon. He found it great fun...that is until he fell over after about 8 minutes and hit his shoulder/head against the floor/cabinet? He was okay, but it scared him. We will have lots of falls to come once he begins to cruise and walk, but he seems pretty tough.

Back to Normal-root of the problem

Colin didn't sleep yesterday from 11 am through 8:30 pm. Long day!!! He refused his early afternoon nap, and he refused a late afternoon nap, and then we had small group. On Thursday nights he is always up late, but this was not a good night to keep him up. He had skipped his afternoon nap all week. Carla, the sitter, and I had wondered if it was b/c he was now in a pack n' play at her house. But finally, today, he gave in, and took his nap there. I noticed he had a new tooth today--which I hadn't even noticed coming in before. I think this might have been the problem. So we're back to a 9:30 and 1:00 nap schedule (in crib or pack n play). We always cross our fingers for an evening one, but he has refused pretty much his entire life.