Holiday plate

Another Pinterest project without directions.  It took a little googling to ensure I wouldn't have exploded plates or toxic surfaces when I was done, but the basic instructions were really simple.  Execution is another story, but I think it turned out well and the grandparents loved them!

Materials I used:
Porcelain plate
Craft enamel paint - red and green
sponge brush
disposable paint or tray
oven for baking

I found paint at Michaels, they've got several brands but just make sure it is an enamel paint, not just the regular craft paint.   I used Folk Art brand.  If you've got the right kind, it will have baking instructions on the back.   I found 2 Villeroy & Bosch plates at Marshalls that didn't have any lip, so they were perfect.

 

You can just stick your kids hand directly in the paint, but I've found other blogs that recommend using a brush for a cleaner result with handprint crafts.  One coverage is good for 2 or 3 handprints.  Now, this paint dries fast, so if you mess up wash it off immediately using a wet papertowel.  The upside to this is you can also just redo a partial handprint without worrying about smearing the completed part.   At Colton's age, I controlled the hand placement entirely and rotated the plate while I "stamped" his hand on it.   I followed the baking instructions on the paint and they turned out nicely.

 

 

Halloween

Time to resurrect this blog.  I've been slacking big time, and the holiday season probably isn't the best time to attempt to fix this, but I'm going to use this as a space to feed my pinterest addiction in addition to the usual family stuff.

So my original inspiration for Colton's costume was this.




Adorable, right?

So I brainstormed a little and decided that instead of using a onesie as the base, I needed something that could go over a long sleeved outfit.  After ruling out a black hoodie jacket, I settled on an old black t-shirt of Rich's.   While playing around with it, the hood piece became one of the sleeves.

 

I cut off both sleeves and made a Tshirt dress more or less, and sewed giant feather boas to it.  The comb was made from a red Tshirt leftover from last year's crab costume, with some cardboard inside for support.

 

 

The legs were pajama bottoms that I got lucky with finding on amazon...2 toned Dr. Seuss PJs were perfect!  And good old dish gloves for the feet.   The beak was orange felt with a little stuffing sewn to a pacifier.   For about a week before Halloween it didn't look like we were going to get it on him at all, but with a little distraction from neighborhood friends and Rich, we succeeded and he had a blast trick or treating.

 

 

 

The beach and boating.

The past 2 weekends we tried to get in a little experience with the sand and water.   Our beach trip was not as successful as we'd hoped, as the weather was cold and very windy.  We spent all of 20 minutes on the beach but Colton did seem to enjoy it.

Memorial Day weekend we finally got out on the boat and had a great day.  We timed things so Colton got his first nap in the car.   He wasn't entirely thrilled with his life jacket, but once we anchored up and got on a nice little patch of beach he spent the day swimming,

playing,

 and just hanging out.

He was not having any part of his 2nd nap in the afternoon, so as soon as we headed back in he was out!

Farm Animals!

On Wednesday we went to Coverdale Farm with some of the other moms and kids in my Mom's group.  It was really humid out, but all the kids had a blast anyway.

The whole gang.

We saw pigs....

chickens...

cows....

and sheep!

11 months

We've officially entered the independent discovery stage.   Awesome and scary all at once, but the separation anxiety has lessened greatly, so overall a good change!  And along with that, Colton is finally back to sleeping through the night on a regular basis.   I was really beginning to worry that was going to be a permanent change.

While we haven't had any big developmental milestones this month, Colton is very busy learning all kinds of smaller things.  He mastered dumping things out somewhere around 9-10 months, but now he likes to put things into cups, buckets, and bowls (including the toilet if the lid is up...oops).  He will also follow simple intructions, or at least attempt to.  If I point to a hole in the lid of his shapes box, he will attempt to put the block thsrough that hole.   If there aren't any strangers present, saying "clap, clap, clap" will usually get him to clap, and he does it on his own all the time.  We are still working on waving hello and goodbye.

10 months

Hard to believe we are only 2 months away from Colton's first birthday.  My little baby has been replaced by this fast moving, into everything, crawler-working-on-toddler.   He can go up the entire flight of stairs (with me right behind), makes bee lines for light sockets, cords, and pet bowls, and has a strange obsession with chasing the vacuum cleaner.  He is developing a love for games...shrieking and laughing if you crawl after him....or away from him and hide.  Peek-a-boo is still a sure thing for a giggle, but patty-cake could not be less interesting to him.

Seperation anxiety set in a little over a month ago and remains pretty strong, but he loves playing with other kids and is generally good in new places (with us of course).   Sleep is completely hit or miss now, which is normal according to the pediatrician but damn it is hard to go from sleeping all night to waking up at least once, if not 2-3 times.

He was quite the little ham for pictures this month.

 

Pictures

A random bunch of pictures from the past few months.

First big snow.

So sweet.

Learning to crawl and finding new toys.

Figured out how to stand in the crib

Teething biscuits...the messiest things we've encountered yet.

9 months

Another busy month!  Almost exactly a month after getting up on all fours, we have an official crawler.  He spent a few weeks scooting, rolling and dragging himself in various directions, but he is quite the little speed demon now.

At his 9 month check up he was 20.5lbs and 27.5 inches tall.  We got the go ahead to start giving him table foods so he has had pretty much whatever we've been eating and done really well with it.  Our pediatrician did tell me that I was giving him too many bottles (basically he was eating every 3 hrs, morning - 4 bottles during the day - and bedtime) so I tried dropping the bottles that followed his breakfast and dinner and I think that idea is a load of crap.  I am offering the bottle after his meals (except for lunch, he gets that one about a half hour before food) so he is eating pletty of solid food.  As long as his weight gain is normal I'm not going to restrict something that should still be his primary source of nutrition.

Since it has been nice outside lately we've been spending more time outdoors.  Colton is not a fan of grass, dirt or pretty much anything other than solid surfaces touching his feet.  If I sit him in the grass or try to stand him in it he lifts up his feet to get away from it!   We went to the park the other day and he tried out a swing for the first time.

And I think this might be the last month we will manage to get a picture sitting on the sofa.  As you can see, it was a bit of an action shot.



Happy Valentine's Day!

We all had a great day.  We started out the day with some crafts.  Colton made Daddy a very special valentine.  I bought crayola washable paint, heart shaped doilies, and cardstock.  I traced out a heart and put it on a crappy black pillowcase so Colton would focus on the white paper.  I dipped his hand in the paint and let him go to town!

All ready to paint!

The artist busy at work.

And the final masterpiece!

A little later in the day there was a fabulous lunch of heart shaped watermelon pieces...

And later in the evening Mom and Dad had a fabulous dinner of Lobster, filet mignon and shrimp.  With chocolate covered strawberries for desert.

First tooth!!

The first tooth officially cut through yesterday!  We'd had some serious teething action for about two weeks, so we were looking for it, but, like so many firsts in parenting, I still was caught off guard.  I took Colton to BJs, and now that he is in the convertible car seat, he sits in the cart.   In between one of his attempts to pull back the cart seat cover and gnaw on the handle he opted for my hand and ouch, something sharp got me.  Sure enough, that first bottom tooth had made it through.   Since then he has been pretty quick to learn "no biting".   Oddly enough, the worst part of teething seems to be coming after the fact, so I think the second tooth may be close behind. 

8 months

The first year is going by so quickly!  I know I say that every month, but it really is amazing how fast time goes when life is so happy, versus the time spent waiting to get where we are now.  I am glad I didn't know just how much I was missing out on.  I had an idea of how great being a parent would be, but every time I get a smile or a hug from Colton, or those little arms reach up for me,  I'm just blown away by how lucky we are.

So eight months!  Based on our bathroom scale, Colton is roughly 20lbs.  His favorite thing to do is stand, although he can't quite get there himself, so I spend much of my day helping him balance or closely watching him stand next to his activity table.   He can get up on fours now, but crawling just isn't as interesting as figuring out how to table surf for the remote.  Other desirable targets are my cell phone and my laptop, soda cans and pretty much anything shiny.  He is smart though, so old cell phones or remotes without batteries are only cool for about 10 minutes and then he realizes he's been tricked and wants the good stuff again.

So what else have we been up to?

Reading!  Emptying our box of books downstairs is highly entertaining.

Getting used to the big boy car seat...

Chillin with Dad

Watching the snow

and looking good!

baby steps!!

Literally!  The other day I tried standing Colton up and holding his hands to help him "walk".  It was basically me turning his body back and forth.  Then Tuesday one of the mom's in our moms group said that was how she helped her son learn to practice walking, so I tried again that day, and again yesterday.  Well, yesterday I got a few actual attempts at stepping, and today he was really getting the hang of it.  Balance is still completely off, but just look at how big he is getting!

7 months

Thanks in part to the holidays, this past month has really flown by, despite being possibly the toughest month we've had yet.  Things are getting better though.  We are now well into the introducing solids process, and while some foods (like peas) seem to cause more gas and interrupted sleep than others, he is adjusting well to his new diet and eats everything we've given so far.

We are officially "ferberized" at night now.  Colton usually goes down awake and happy at night.  Occasionally he will still be asleep before he hits the mattress, but that doesn't seem to affect night wakings, which, thankfully, are minimal once more.   Naps are still a huge challenge, but I think some of that comes down to me not having the energy or ability to confine myself to the house for week to get it done.  He sleeps in the car, so even trying to time travel to his naptimes leaves the remaining ones a complete disaster. 

Colton is getting more and more adept at manuevering around on his belly.  Not quite to the scooting point, but really close.  If I walk away, I have to make sure a good 4-5 foot radius is clear of any hard toys so he doesn't bang his head.   And...guess what?  He can finally smile a little when prompted in front of the camera!!!

sometimes....

and Rich's contribution