Christmas

Yes, I'm cheating and back dating posts, but we've been pretty busy with the holidays.  Christmas was great.  He had just enough interest in the paper and ribbons to sort of open a few gifts himself.  Christmas morning started (not so) bright and early at 4am, so we were downstairs by 5am,

There were some pretty cool presents...

and boxes were thoroughly enjoyed

It was a great day with our handsome little man.

Santa's little helper.

The timing of Christmas with Colton's age is really just perfect.   He loves paper, ribbons, bows...you name it.   I've been able to do all my wrapping right away because he is fascinated by it.

This first Christmas is so much more exciting for him that I thought it would be, which of course, makes it all the more exciting for us.

Sleep training

I have to be honest, these past 2 or so weeks have probably been more trying as a parent than the first few weeks he was home.  We've reached the stage where he just wants to be with us all the time, including when he sleeps.  Shortly after he hit 6 months, Colton decided that naps in his crib should rarely be longer than 20 minutes and the past 2 days he set a new record of barely 15 minutes.  I'm not sure that even counts as a nap.   I had somewhat anticipated this, so back around Thanksgiving I picked a training method and bought sleeping through the night by Jodi A. Mindell, Ph. D.   Similar to the Ferber method, she allows a little more leeway when it comes to periodic checks (as frequently as you need, but the longer apart the better) and soothing aids like a pacifier.   At the time I read this book, Colton was still sleeping through the night like a champ.  That all went to hell shortly thereafter.  Mindell advises that you begin with night time only, continuing to do whatever is necessary to soothe the child to sleep for naps.  Once self soothing at bedtime is accomplishing, you wait a week and begin with naps, but supposedly, self soothing should follow naturally once it is learned.  We'll see.   This is technically night 4 of sleep training, but the last 2 nights the poor kid was so worn out that I'd practically have to yell at him to put him down awake, so really it is night 2 of self soothing.  Saturday night he went down awake and started fussing immediately....I did a real quick check after dumping his bathwater, then did a 10 minute check and planned on a 20 minute check.  Half way through the 20 minute time block he fell asleep.  Unluckily that only lasted 3 hours and we resumed our waking every 2-3 hours for the pacifier.  Sunday night he went down asleep, but was up at 1:20 and would not go back to sleep.  I'm pretty sure it was gas pain originally, but after Rich took over an hour into it, it was clearly just wanting to be held.  So after feeding him, we let him cry it out with the same checking pattern.  He was out in 30 minutes.  He woke again an hour later and soothed himself in under 10 minutes.  Last night he slept through the night and tonight he was again asleep before the end of the 20 minute check.   I should also add that we are now swaddle free and in the sleep sack now, so all in all, progress is good, but it certainly is tough.

6 months

This past month has been so exciting....last month seemed huge developmentally but it never ceases to amaze me what changes a few weeks can bring.  The beginning of November Colton was just started to sit, take a real interest in familiar toys, and get control of his hands.   Now, he can sit well enough that I can walk away for a few minutes and he'll still be playing with his feet or a toy when I come back.  He is completely aware of his hands now and loves to feel new things, particularly if they make a crackling noise.  Seriously, the kid can destroy a magazine faster than a 6 week old puppy.   He reaches out to touch things and has definitely shown a preference for red shiney christmas ball ornaments over the other colors.  He is now ticklish under his arms and responds with smiles and giggles to peek-a-boo.  Within the past two days he has been able to roll completely from back to belly (he has been getting hung up on one arm for a week or so) and back again.

Getting closer to catching a smile!

We've also been experimenting a little with solids.  Carrots got a big hell no, but green beans were a maybe, I think?  And he seemed to like sweet potatoes.



Thanksgiving and "real" food.

We decided to give Colton his first taste of rice cereal today.  He has been chewing on everything lately and can sit on his own now so it seemed like a good time to try.   It went a lot better than I expected, so it would appear we were right!

5 months

Probably closer to 5 and a half months now...all 3 of us have been sick so blogging has not been near the top of my list lately.  Thankfully we are all recovering, because that was a special kind of hell.  Sleeping with a bad cold is hard enough, but when there are 2 other people who also can't breathe well, no one sleeps at all.  But other than that things are going great.  This month has brought so much development-wise.  

At 5 months, Colton is/was about 15lbs11oz.  He is fully aware of his hands, and though he hasn't started really reaching for things, what he does get his hands on goes right to his mouth.  If he isn't chewing on his hands, he is talking and blowing raspberries.  He can sit unassisted for a short period, and just within the past few days he can get his butt up off the ground while on his tummy.  I think he will probably crawl before he bothers to roll.  He loves playing in his exersaucer and is now big enough to "stand" in it without a box under his feet.   He has started to exhibit some signs of shyness around new people, but he is still super easy going.

I didn't have any of the sticker paper that I'd used for the other months labels on hand, so I printed it on regular paper, which worked for a little while, but....

We came....

We saw...

And we conquered.

Halloween!!

I decided about a month ago that I was going to make Colton's halloween costume and he was going to be a crab.  All in all, it turned out really well and was much cheaper than buying one (plus I couldn't find a cute crab costume anyway).  I found scrap material at the fabric store, cheap craft foam, and used a onesie I'd already bought at a re-sale for $.50.  The tights were the most expensive piece, coming in at $9 (WTF, right?).   I sewed the hat, legs and claws and used velcro and a glue gun to stick everything together.   Getting him to stay still for a picture was an entirely different problem.

I had this grand idea that I'd get to take him all around and show the neighbors how cute he was, but we only made it to a few houses before calling it quits.  Not sure I'll get so elaborate in future years, but it was fun to do this time through.

Pumpkins

We took Colton to his first pumpkin patches this month.  The first one we went to was just to take some photos, which, of course, was easier said than done.  It ended up being right in the middle of nap time, but he did pretty well.

The second place we went to we decided to pick our own.  Sadly, due to the weather this season, it was clear that all the pumpkins had been shipped in from elsewhere and placed in the patch, amid many rotting ones, so we didn't get any cute patch pictures, just a family shot.

Our neighbors joined us on this trip, along with their 4 year old daughter, who was super excited for the corn maze next door.  So all three of us got our first experience in a corn maze.  It was a pretty small maze, but actually took us longer than expected and we all had a good time (well, Colton slept through most of it).

First laugh!

Colton gave me a real laugh tonight during bathtime.  He gave me this huge smile and a little giggle, then another smile and a full out laugh.  It was the best sound in the world.

4 months

 Colton's 4 month check up was yesterday.  So far he has done much better with this round of shots than his 2 month ones.  One hour of being really fussy and refusing to nap yesterday, otherwise he has been his normal happy self.  He is 14lbs 10oz and 24 inches long, putting him above the 75 percentile in weight and dropping him down to the 50 percentile in height, so still looking good!

He is starting to move himself around when on his back, and 3 mornings this week I've found him with his head  up against the side of the crib, so we will be attempting to eliminate the swaddle this week.  He is regularly sleeping from 8pm to around 6am.

There hasn't been a true discovery of the hands yet, at least not to the point where he stares at them for more than a few seconds at a time, but he is getting there.  He'll occasionally reach for a toy, will grasp one if you place it on his chest, and loves to clasp his hands together.  He has also started reaching up to the bottle during feedings and will even hold it on his own with a little positioning help.

It is amazing how much he has grown...it is getting harder to get him to be still long enough to snap a picture.

And when I do get him to look at me, I often get the camera face as soon as the flash starts to go off!

Friends

We've been part of a mom's group for a while now, and yesterday we all met up and got this great picture. 

So many babies!  And that isn't even all of them...there are 4 missing, so quite a group we have going.   Yesterday was particularly fun because Colton is starting to take a real interest in faces.  He stared at the other babies and even "talked" to one of the other little boys.  I was very pleased to see that he was enjoying it.   He has also started noticing himself in the mirror on his activity mat.

And he talks to me almost non-stop when playing now.   I have little to no experience with putting videos online, but I got as far as getting this on youtube, so hopefully this will embed correctly.



I am that Mom.

This past spring I blogged about going to a huge resale held by the Tri State Moms of Multiples group and all the crazy people that showed up with trucks and minvans to stand in line for over an hour so they could get in before all the good stuff was gone.   Well, this time I took Rich's truck and was in line by 7:15 (doors opened at 8).   Unluckily, I did not find what I was looking for at that sale, but I did get some clothing, including an adorable winter snowsuit.  While in line I was handed a flyer for another sale that was practically across the street, so I rushed over there after the first sale and found exactly what I was looking for....an exersaucer/entertainment center that is practically brand new.   Colton loves it, particularly the star and the puppet on the one side.  He is still a little small for it, but we put him in there for short periods of time with a towel around him for extra support.

So yes, now I'm that Mom that will get a little hardcore when it comes to scoring a good deal, what can I say? 

New things!

Now that Colton is a little bigger, the things he can safely use has grown as well.  We've tried his bumpo seat a couple of times over the past month.  So far he isn't a huge fan.  He doesn't really like having his legs straight out in front of him while sitting, but he is mildly entertained for a few minutes at a time.

Today we went for a walk with a few other moms from a Mom and Baby class that we attended at our hospital.  One mom said she had put her little boy in his highchair even before he was ready to eat solids, just because it put him at a convenient height for interaction while moving around the kitchen.  So I gave it a shot tonight and it was a huge hit.  He was smiling and cheery for a full hour while I worked on dinner. 

3 months!

Looking back at his early pictures it is amazing how fast he has grown.  He is now around 13lbs, close to twice his birthweight.  His adjusted age is 8 weeks, so he is doing just great considering he should only be about 2 months old right now.  Currently he smiles and focuses on faces and certain toys, does a pretty good job at holding his head up during tummy time (and a great job if he held upright), loves to "stand", can roll from tummy to back on occasion, and is regularly sleeping from 8pm to at least 2:30am.  The next big milestone will probably discovering his hands, which we hope will happen in the next week or so.

First real smile!

The very first signs of a responsive smile came around 3am on August 25th, when I was checking to make sure he was going to sleep before heading back to bed.  He wasn't, but I got a little smile as soon as I looked into the pack n play.   I got a real smile a few hours later when he was in his swing.  I told him I loved him and got this huge toothless grin in response.   Two days later I caught it on camera.

He is definitely a morning person...unluckily Mommy is not, but those smiles do make it easier on those days he thinks the day starts around 5am.

In addition to getting smiles, he "talks" much more now as well.  He started happy shrieks several weeks ago, but now he has expanded his vocabulary to bah (usually sad) mah (angry/frustrated) and gah (happy), as well as experimenting with various decibel levels.

Slept 7 hours.

Him, not me.  I was still wide awake from 2:30am to 3am expecting him to wake up, but after a very fussy evening, Colton slept from 9 until almost 4am.  Hopefully this is the start of sleeping through the night.  We tried a new swaddle last night too, but it is undecided whether that had anything to do with it.  We put him in the miracle blanket, which had a ton of good reviews swearing their babies slept all night as soon as they used it. Normally I don't put much stock in those things and call it coincidence, but if he keeps this up I'll buy a few more.

So here's to sleep!

Smiles

Tonight I was so excited because as soon as I laid Colton on the changing pad after Daddy handed him off, he gave me this big smile while looking right at me.  No gas followed so I really thought this was it....he knew who I was and was smiling because he was happy.   Thrilled, I told him smiles were the best as I re-did his swaddle for bed.  Then it came.  The delayed sneak attack spit up....out of the mouth down the neck to pool in a small puddle that he can then smear in freshly washed hair in.   ::sigh::    At least he is still giving us warning signs.  A week or so ago it was this wide-eyed surprised look, but now apparently spit up is funny.  Oh well, just seeing the smile, for whatever reason, makes everything that much more worth it.

2 month check-up and shots...

equal a very unhappy little baby.  At this age, when he is actually crying a hurt cry...he starts tearing up (as opposed to the regular feed me/I'm bored/change me cry) which makes it all the more heartbreaking.  He did settle down and sleep on my chest for several hours, but was just plain sad again when we fed him around dinner time.  I think the Infant Acetomenaphin helped and he is asleep in his crib now.

The rest of his appointment went great, he is hitting all his milestones for an adjusted age of 5 weeks.  He weighed 11lbs, 11oz. and was about 22inches tall today.

2 months old!

We had better luck with this month's pictures...still a few months away from hamming it up for a camera, but like his one month picture, the results are pretty cute.

 

First Trip

Last week we took our first family trip together and drove all the way up to my parent's summer house in Michigan...a 12-14 hour drive with a normal number of stops, closer to 16 stopping every 3 hours to feed and change him.  We did stop overnight though, because I didn't think driving straight through was a good idea.  Colton was a champ going out and slept almost the whole way.  He was wide awake once we stopped, but luckily we stopped early and R took him into Cabela's, where he could stare at the ceiling lights while R checked out all the hunting/fishing stuff.   He did really well in a new environment too.  Our biggest concern was of course his sun exposure, but we took walks in the evening or early morning when there was still plenty of shade, and we took his bouncer and put it in his little outdoor baby play tent when we were outside or out on the dock since there was always a nice breeze and it soothed him right to sleep.  That tent was awesome.

We plan on going back up in a few weeks when my parents will also be there.   I'm hoping by that point he is starting to focus more on faces and objects, but since he falls anywhere between 3 weeks adjusted age and 8 weeks, I've got a pretty broad timeline to guess at.

Newborn photos.

I had looked around for a photographer back in May, but most were ridiculously expensive, charged a la carte for the prints, or didn't offer a high res CD with reproduction rights, or all of the above.  Rich found our photographer, a co-worker in the process of expanding his photography hobby into a full time business.  He came to our house, did about a 2 hour session, and gave a CD with all our photos.   These are a few of my favorites.

Photos taken by Matt Schreier Photography.