Monthly Update – 8 mos old

Colton is 8 months old!

{{Check and respect those eyes. And eyelashes. All thanks to Daddy!}}

Soooo, there are 4 months left until my baby is a 1 year old?! I need to start planning his first birthday party, stat. Pinterest, here I come!

Colton is a good boy, plain and simple. He’s a happy, sweet, and cuddly little man who enjoys snuggling as much as he enjoys “wrassling” with Daddy and sister. He’s the most easy-going baby I know. We are so lucky!

At 8 months old, Colton:

• Usually takes just 2 naps a day, morning and afternoon. Sometimes I even manage to get the kids to sleep at the same time during the afternoon naps! Goes to bed around 7pm. Wakes +3 times a night. (Can’t wait until he pulls off a solid night of sleep. I think it’s been about a year since I’ve had a solid 8 hrs of uninterrupted shut-eye…) Super cute habit of his? Colton only gets his pacis at naptime or bedtime, and as soon as the paci is in his mouth, one (or both) of his hands go straight up to his head to feel his hair. Without fail, paci in, hands go up. Presh.

• (Also sleep related) wakes up happy in his crib. He’s content to play and talk to himself in there. He likes to roll around the crib too. I often find him perpendicular to the length of the crib (I don’t know how he fits… he’s longer than the width of it).

• Is content to sit and watch the world (or mostly watch his sister… because she sure is entertaining. He just loves sissy). He’s not crawling yet, but he doesn’t mind being on his tummy now and stretches reaaaallly far to reach toys.

• Is an eating machine. So far Colton has tried carrots, peas, squash, sweet potato, avocado, pears, apples and bananas. Not a huge fan of the avocado or peas, but we’ll keep trying. Next up – meat!

• Is a goofball. He likes to lean all the way back in his highchair, tipping his head over the back edge. We went out to lunch the other day and Colton leaned back, tipped his head back and stared at the table behind him, upside down, for about a solid minute and a half. The people at that table thought it was hilarious.

• Loves the jenny jump up and doesn’t stop bouncing when he’s in it. He’s even started to bounce towards the door frame and hold on tight

• Is getting to be pretty vocal. He squeals, shrieks or screams (sometimes happily, sometimes angrily… he tells us when he’s frustrated. If you take something away from him when he’s still playing with it, he can get angry.) Says “Ba ba ba”, “Ma ma ma” “Da da da”.

• Enjoys “reading” (code for either patting or chewing on the book)

{{Side note: Addy’s bedhead is a force to be reckoned with.}}

• Drives a car like a boss.

• Nicknames this month include: Bear, Bear Bear

Adelyn is 2 years, 8.75 months old and Colton is 8 months, 2 days old.

Monthly Update – 4 mos old

Colton is 4 months old!

We had our 4 month checkup at the Dr. yesterday. Ready for some stats?? Colton weighs 14 lbs 13 oz (51st percentile) and is 27 inches long (97th percentile)!!!!!!!!!!! He fits nicely into 6 month sleepers now, which is crazy to me. Last month I went to a giant children’s consignment sale in Tyler, TX and bought basically all of Addy and Colton’s fall/winter clothing… but now I’m worried that Colton will have outgrown some of the pants and long-sleeved tops before he even gets to wear it. {Haven’t you heard? It was 89 degrees here two days ago. In the middle of October. Yeahhh… too hot for pants and long sleeves. But a cold front is on it’s way!}

Colton is holding his head up very well and is coming around to the idea of tummy time. He likes to roll onto his side, but hasn’t managed to roll over his arm to get onto his tummy yet. He likes to be held facing outwards so he can see the world… especially if the person holding him is not his Momma or Daddy. He gets a bit sad when he realizes he isn’t being held by one of his parents. And he has three teeth that are almost poking through his gums. Talk about a chomping, drooling machine, this one.

At 4 months old, Colton:

• Takes 2-3 naps a day. Morning naps are usually pretty long (2+ hrs), and afternoon naps are shorter. Goes to bed between 7-8pm, depending on his last nap. Wakes up 2-3 times a night. He’s very easy to put back down though – he just eats, then goes back to sleep.

• Still eats every 3 hours or so during the day, goes longer in between feedings at night.

• Enjoyed his first trip to the zoo with Auntie Mikaela.

• Helps Momma get her craft on.

• Showed us why he should be a male model.

• And has already been at the mercy of a big sissy. {{Oh Colton, this is only the beginning…}}

{Hey look, a sneak peak at Colton’s crab costume!}

Nicknames this month include: Bear, Bub, Bubba, Buster, Buster Brown, Bubba bear, Baby, Handsome, Co-ton

Adelyn is 2 years, 4.5 months old and Colton is 4 months, 1 day old.

Okay, another recap.

Erg.

I just can’t seem to keep the blog all caught up. Probably because by evening time (which is when I do my blogging), I’m tired. Exhuastion has set in. Lack of sleep has finally caught up.

In short, I’m worn out by bedtime.

So, as a solution, here is a broad overview post that I am {FINALLY} publishing!

Adelyn’s big girl room:
Way back in July, Adelyn moved into her big girl bedroom (our old guestroom)! There is still a bit of decorating to be done, but overall we’re happy with it. And Addy loves it, especially the glo-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling (although we had nothing to do with those… they were there when we moved in. Ha!) We had several butterflies leftover from Adelyn’s first birthday party just sitting in our closet, so I decided I’d like to use them for her room. Those, combined with some of the blue tulle leftover from her underwater birthday party, made for a fun ceiling display. Addy picked out her own curtains, and as it turns out, all the colors tied together pretty well!

We picked up this sparkly butterfly on our trip to the Canton trade days.

My dear friend Rachel painted these letters for Addy last year. In her old room, they were hanging above her closet, but for her big girl room, I glued them onto a hanging rack that I painted white.

I made Adelyn’s curtain tie-backs using white satin ribbon and buttons. Had everything on hand at home!

Auntie Lindsay comes to visit:

At the end of July, Auntie Yiyis (Addy’s way of saying Lindsay) came to meet 1-month-old Colton, and accompany Derek and Addy to the Dollins family reunion (Gram Z’s side of the fam) while Colton and I stayed home.

{{I know it’s blurry, but I just love this pic.}}

{{Addy’s cheese face!}}

{{more cheese face!}}

During the reunion weekend, Addy played tug-of-war with cousin Meagan’s dog Romeo…

{{I’m not sure who won…}}

Addy and cousin Meagan fed the deer in Meagan’s backyard…

Addy and Auntie spent lots of quality time together…

and because Adelyn was the youngest girl at the reunion, she received a fun present – Clifford!

{{Her expression just cracks.me.up.}}

While they were gone, Colton and I did a lot of this…

Well, Colton did a lot of that. I relaxed though, so close enough.

The rest of July was spent:

Enjoying sibling time…

{{Inspecting Colton’s belly button, now that the umbilical cord is gone.}}

Cooking…

And climbing slides.

BAM! And just like that, we’re done with July. Finally.

Moving on!

Adelyn is 2 years, 4 months old and Colton is 3 months, 3 weeks old.

Monthly Update – 3 mos old

Colton is 3 months old!

{This is a couple days late, but better late than never!}

I weighed our sweet boy yesterday and found that he weighed 14.4 lbs!! Gained 2 whole pounds in a month. He’s wearing 3-6 month clothing now, particularly sleepers… I put him in a 6 month sleeper last night (all the 3-6 month sleepers were in the wash… oopps) and surprisingly, the length fit perfectly. Everyone comments on how big he looks for a 3 month old. I tell ya, it’s quite the change from when Addy was his age. Addy, at 4 months, weighed 12.4 lbs. She just was/is so petite. Colton is our big man!

At 3 months old, Colton:

• Was back to waking up every 3 hrs a night again… I think he has been going through a growth spurt (as evidenced by the 2 lbs he gained this month), but it may be subsiding. Two nights ago he only woke up ONCE (between 7:30pm and 8am) and it was glorious.

• Still eats every 3 hours or so during the day, goes longer in between feedings at night.

• Enjoys a good bath and a warm towel.

• Laughs and laughs when you tickle/nibble him on the cheeks and neck. It’s a fun belly laugh, too.

• Gnaws on his hand like he’s a starving man. He doesn’t suck a thumb or anything, he just prefers to chew on his fist. Enjoys his paci, too.

{Red knuckles from all the chewing}

• Enjoys quality time with Daddy.

{Looking through Daddy’s old photoalbums.}

• Still not too fond of tummy time, but it’s getting better.

{Adelyn provides encouragement for her brother.}

• Likes to sit in his bumbo seat, so he’s getting a good neck work out that way.

• Enjoys our evening walks. Now that the temperatures are starting to cool off slightly, they are much more pleasant!

• And of course, still loves his sissy!

• And just for fun, some of this nicknames include: Bub, Bubba, Buster, Buster Brown, Bubba bear, Baby, Handsome, Sweet boy, Co-ton, Toltec (from Addy)

Adelyn is 2 years, 3.5 months old and Colton is 3 months, 2 days old.

Monthly Update – 2 mos old

Colton is 2 months old!

I took him in for his 2 month check-up today while Derek stayed home with Addy. I could have brought Addy along, but a) she already hates the dr. and b) Colton was getting his shots, which means ear.piercing.screams were in order. And he delivered. So how did he measure up? {tee hee, get it? measure up?} He’s 24 inches long (86th percentile) and weighs 12 lbs (60th percentile). What a growing boy!

At 2 months old, Colton:

Sleeps 5-7 hrs at a stretch during the first leg of the night. This? Is simply wonderful. I don’t think Adelyn slept that long until she was… a year. Ha, I jest. But not really. {Just checked back, she started sleeping through the night around 7 mos, and was getting up 3-4x a night before that… }

Eats every 3 hours or so during the day, goes longer in between feedings at night.

Smiles and coos when we talk to him. He has the brightest smile, it just lights the room.

• Will hold onto his toy keys when placed in his hands. Flings them around and seems to like the noise they make when they clack together.
• Hates tummy time. Hates it. Addy used to enjoy it, but Colton lays there with his head to one side and cries.
• That being said, he loves to be up on your shoulder, working on his neck strength. His favorite position to be held in is high up on someone’s shoulder so he can look around.

• Loves Adelyn. When she talks to him and plays with him, he fixates on her and smiles. Or in this case, sticks his tongue out!



• Enjoys being outside even though it’s so hot we usually come in all sweaty.

Adelyn is 2 years, 2 months old and Colton is 2 months old.

So, when does she start driving?

I took a week-long hiatus from blogging, and look how far behind I am! I need to give yall updates about some very important matters, including:

A. Big girl beds
B. Belly updates
C. Potting training. Oh ya. It’s happening. So if you’re squeamish about ::ahem:: #1 and #2, you may want to stop reading before I address “C”.

Here we go!

A. Addy is loving her big girl bed. She’s been sleeping through the night consistently, waking up between 6:45am – 7:45am (a bit earlier than in her crib, usually 7:30-8:30) and taking her usual 1.5-3 hrs naps. We close her door at night but it doesn’t latch all the way shut, so when she gets up in the mornings, she can pull her door open and come find me. I love hearing her bedroom door open and seeing her little curly bedhead come walking through our doorway. She likes to have us come back to her bed and lay down and snuggle for a few mins in the mornings, or sometimes she’ll climb into bed with us. And she loves to have us read to her. Those first few days when she moved into her big girl bed, we spent a lot of time reading in there. She is just a big fan of her bed!

B. P-squared and the belly. I realize that I forgot to do a “29 weeks” post, but since I’ll be 30 weeks tomorrow (GAH! WHAT?! That means I only have 10 weeks to go??????? YOU MEAN I’M IN MY THIRD TRIMESTER?!!!!!!!!), I’ll just smush the two together and do a bigger recap with a 30 week picture. P-squared has been so active lately that it is seriously painful. Two days ago I swear P-squared was doing flips and got stuck in one position with arms and/or knees protruding at odd angles. 30 week belly pic to come this weekend!

C. We bought Addy a potty on Tuesday.

Warning: TMI forthcoming! Stop here if you are squeamish about… you know…

We opened the potty on Wendesday to see if she would be interested in it. She was. She opened all the compartments, sat on it, played with the toilet paper holder (ya, it has one. Pretty snazzy, eh?) We tried to get her to use it, and she did try!, but she had no success. She would just shake her head and say “Uh oh, no”. That’s okay, we thought, we’re in no hurry.

{Pretending to use her new potty! First thing she did after we took the potty out of the box was sit down on it.}

Enter Thursday. She wakes up from her nap. We do our usual snacktime routine then get ready to go outside. Addy sees her potty and decides that she wants to try using it! So we remove her shorts and diaper and she sits there, jumps up, sits there, jumps up. I ask her if she wants me to leave and she said “yes”. So I leave the bathroom and she closes the door behind me. I kill some time… you know, pace the hallway, tap my feet, etc. I go back in about a minute later and she’s standing over the potty, smiling and pointing down, saying “Peepee!” So I go look and sure enough, there it is! She went peepee in the potty all by herself!!

::Faints::

All in all, between naptime and bedtime, she went peepee a total of 5 times. She even pulled Derek in from outside because she had to go. And then after dinner, she went #2. I’m not kidding. She went a bit in her diaper but really wanted to be on the potty, so I sat her down and sure enough, she did her business.

Hold me closer, Tony Danza. Our girl is getting so big. Now, I’m under no illusions that this is it. I know potty training is going to be a process. I just can’t believe that Addy has started said process already. And like I mentioned before, we are in no rush to potty train her.

It will happen when it happens, and quite frankly, it’s happening now. So. I guess this means I’m going to the store tomorrow to buy training pants and big girl underwear!

For Addy, not for me.

Adelyn is 22 months, 3 weeks old and I am 29 weeks, 6 days pregnant.

So how did Adelyn do?

I’d say she rocked her big girl bed!

Starting from bedtime last night…

Addy was super excited about her big girl bed. During the whole nighttime routine, she kept pointing and saying “Bee Beh” (big bed). When the lights were finally off and the door was closed however, she seemed a bit nervous. So Momma read to her and rocked her in the rocking chair as usual. We snuggled for a bit and then I lay her down on her bed. She wasn’t quite ready for me to leave yet, so I lay down next to her and rubbed her back for a bit. When I tried to leave, she started to sit up but I told her it was bed time. Then I asked if she wanted one more book and she nodded, so we read through it. Then she said “One mo’” in a wobbly voice that made me squeeze her tight because I knew she was feeling a bit scared, so we read it again. After we finished, we cuddled a bit longer and then I put her down one more time. I asked if she wanted me to lay down with her again and she nodded so I put my head down on the bed. She grabbed her pacis and Mr. Bear and hid her face for a while. I finally said goodnight and managed to get out the door. That was at 8:45pm.

We didn’t hear from her again until 2:45am!

I think she just woke up and didn’t realize where she was, because she started to cry quietly and she just sounded so sad. It broke my heart. So I went in there and rocked with her for a while and then put her back on the bed, where she grabbed Mr. Bear and her handful of pacis again. I was able to say goodnight and sneak back out after a few extra kisses and back rubs. Time in room: ~10 mins.

She woke back up at 3:45am and then again when Derek left for work at 6:30am, but each time we did the same thing…. rocked for a bit, and then back to the bed we went. And I got to go back to our bed after about 10 minutes. What time did she officially wake up this morning? 9:15am!! She managed to sleep through the majority of a thunderstorm (I have no idea how), but one particularly loud crack of lightning jolted her awake. She’s been running in and out of her room ever since, wanting to be on her big girl bed.

So as I said, overall, she rocked the big girl bed. I mean, it would have been even more amazing if she hadn’t woken up at all, but we anticipated a few late night calls. Plus, neither Derek nor I were sleeping very well last night… I guess I was keeping my ears open for her. We are so proud of our big girl!!!!!!

Now we’ll see how naptime goes…

Adelyn is 22 months, 1 week old and I am 28 weeks, 2 days pregnant.

Wish us luck.

Guess what we are doing tonight? (Be sure to check out that face in the last 10 seconds of the video.)

We think it’s time. And Adelyn seems okay with it! Check out that morning bedhead.

Let’s get started!

A “before” picture. Addy and her crib!

Taking apart her seahorses.

Daddy working so hard.

Addy helps, of course.

But she soon lost interest and decided to play DJ on my ipod instead.

And then she decided to do some calculations to make sure that we were on schedule.

Bringing in the big girl bed!

She likes it.

Shh, she’s “sleepin’”.

Ta-Da! Big girl bed is ready for the big girl to sleep in. Pillows between the walls and mattress, extra sheets rolled to form a lip under the fitted sheet… More pillows likely to come for the floor!

Fingers crossed that we all get a good nights sleep!!

Adelyn is 22 months, 1 week old and I am 28 weeks, 1 day pregnant.

5 things…

I have a bunch of little anecdotes floating around in my brain, so I thought I’d combine them into one semi-large post!

1.  We had a lovely Father’s Day!  However, what I said about Daddy waking up at 5:30am on Father’s Day was true…  We couldn’t get Addy to go back to bed, so Derek took her for a walk at 6:30am.  So much for sleeping in!  The rest of the day was nice and low-key.  Church, lunch, family nap (Cranky Addy really fought her nap but finally fell asleep on my lap after lunch, so we decided to all have a rest).  Derek’s Grandparents invited us to a fish fry at their church for dinner, and we all had a great time.  An a cappella group performed during dinner and Addy loved listening to them.  She clapped and bounced in her high chair along with the beat.  She sure likes music!

She found her baby tub and decided to play in it. With socks. Thankfully, the socks are clean.

2.  For the past couple nights, Addy has been bathing herself.  That’s right!  After watching us for months, she knows that her body wash goes on her arms, legs and tummy and not in her mouth (for the most part).  Of course we make sure she actually gets clean, but her imitation skills astound me.  She’s so smart.

Getting some soap!

3.  Over the past 3 weeks, I’ve been weaning Addy. We’ve gone from 3-4 feedings down to a single feeding before bedtime.  And last night, we dropped that bedtime feeding!  So I am officially done breastfeeding Adelyn.  I’m sad.  I’m happy.  It’s a mixed bag… Overall, my nursing experience was a very good one and I’ve loved that bonding time with Addy, so I’m bummed that it’s over.  But it sure will be freeing, not having to nurse anymore! We’ve been giving Addy whole milk and, man, she sucks that stuff down.  She loves it, but we think it may be making her tummy cramp.  I’m hoping she’s not sensitive to lactose so we’ll keep an eye on that.

4.  I spotted Addy’s 5th tooth a few days ago and get this:  it’s a molar!  She’s got her 4 front teeth, and now her first molar.  And then this morning, I felt the 2nd first molar coming up on the other side.  She’s got a mouth full of chompers.  I guess it’s a good thing I’ve stopped nursing…  yeeeeouch.  She definitely has her cranky moments too, so I know those big suckers must hurt. I mean, look at the size of the molars compared to the incisors!:

Addy has her 1st first molar (bottom left)!

5.  My iBook is 6 years old. During my laptop’s existence, we’ve had to replace 1 hard drive (yikes… thanks for doing that, Dad!), 1 power adapter, and 2 batteries. The “a”, “s”, “c” and “e” keys are almost completely worn off. And now, the computer is shocking me. As in, electrical current runs through my body when I put it on my lap. When I touch Derek’s arm, he can feel the buzz… although maybe that’s the electricity between the two of us… ::wink wink:: Haha, just kidding. Derek is worried that I’m cooking my eggs, though.  My eggs.  And because we plan to have more children, it may be time to update my laptop soon.  Although as my uncle, the M.D., suggested, maybe we would end up having children with superpowers. 

Adelyn is 12 months and 4 weeks old.

Rested.

Ahh, sleep.

Yesterday morning, I woke up to hear Adelyn complaining in the other room and thought “What time is it? Maybe she’s hungry?”. I look at the clock – 6:30am!! She’d slept straight through from 10:30pm to 6:30am.

Today, Derek and I woke up feeling even more rested. Why? Because Adelyn slept from 7:15pm-ish until 6:30am. I fed her and then surprisingly, she (and, not-so-surprisingly, we!) went back to sleep until 8:30am. That’s my girl!

It seems as though Ferber’s “progressive waiting” method worked well and she is now capable of soothing herself back to sleep! ::knocks on wood:: I guess she just needed a couple of weeks to get settled into the routine. She barely fusses when we put her to bed now! Up until two nights ago, she was still waking up twice after we’d gone to sleep, but now… All I can say is please let this continue, please, please, pretty please with a cherry on top! We like feeling awake during the day! We like getting more than 3 or 4 consecutive hours of sleep! Yaaaayyyy Addy!

Note: As many of you know, Addy loves loves looooves her pacifiers. Loves them. We’ve discovered that a great way to keep her calm when putting her to bed is for her to have one in her mouth (of course), and one in her hand. She just lays there in her crib, holding the second paci. It’s so funny. I guess she considers it a backup in case she loses the one in her mouth? She eventually drops it, and the one in her mouth falls out, but I guess having two pacies in the crib doubles her chances of finding one in the dark and putting it back in her mouth. Ha! I’d really like to replace the pacifier with a different type of lovey, like a blanket or a stuffed animal, but we’ll cross that bridge a little later.