Friday, May 31, 2013

6 months

Last month, I suspected that Colin was thinning out a bit.  What an understatement!  From his 3 month appointment to his 6 month appointment my little guy actually lost weight!  The doctor isn't concerned as apparently this is quite normal when babies become mobile, which he pointed out Colin has decided to achieve a bit early.  I'm not surprised.  Colin is a very physical boy and likes to experience the world by touching, chewing, and smashing.



The past month has been pretty exciting!  Colin started solid foods (Avocado, Strawberry, Egg yolks, bananas & sweet potatoes so far).  Sweet Potatoes were by far his favorite (mine too, actually, they were delicious!).  He was also recently introduced to pear juice although he is NOT a fan.


His first party, first strides in mobility, first swim, first foods, meeting his great grand parents... Colin had quite an exciting month!  We have an exciting, albeit incredibly hectic summer and we should have all kinds of fun adventures.


Monday, May 27, 2013

Happy Half Birthday, little man!

Hap Birt Da t yo!











Thursday, May 23, 2013

New Wheels!

It took us almost 10 months to choose a stroller.  After a million charts, graphs, lists, discussions, debates and throwing our hands up, we now have two!

Gavin and I have a pretty good system and usually we are able to make decisions very well.  Something broke down with the stroller process.  I suspect price was a factor.  I didn't know at the start that purchasing a stroller is more akin to buying a car than a baby toy.

The second problem was how much our family loves carriers!  From the B'jorn to the moby to our new Beco, Colin loves being carried.  I love that the carrier is a giant cuddle all day long.  Plus, a carrier is super easy; you can navigate around without the hassle of wheels.  But with summer approaching, and Colin ever growing, we've realized we won't always be able to carry him.  Better to get a stroller now since we will eventually need one.

Still, around and around and around we went.  Then we went to the Ladera Garage Sale and randomly found a BOB jogger stroller and bought it. :)  It's a nice stroller, but it made me realize I wanted our 'real' stroller.  So the next day we purchased our stroller!

Ta da!


I really REALLY really wanted a stroller with a reversible seat.  Lots of people told me it wasn't worth it, he's only going to want to face me for a short time before he's ready to watch the world instead.  I don't care if it's just another day, I don't want to miss a single second of that lovely face.  Plus, one of my main reasons for NOT carrying Colin all of the time is that, ironically, sometimes you get less interaction.  A forward facing stroller wasn't going to remedy that!

My Favorite View!
I'm very happy with our purchase.  It took some getting use to, especially because our snap and go was SO easy and light.  I'm hoping we get years and years of use out of our City Select!

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

What I learned yesterday

Yesterday was a tough day at our house.  We had a long (although generally quite positive) weekend.  But busy work schedules meant limited family time and a truncated version of our family meeting.  Sleep has been severely short lately and I knew the coming week would be a challenge.

When I stepped out of my front door, I took a deep breath, willing myself to stay positive.  And then I saw it: the small waterfall rising out of my water meter box.  Uh oh.  We've had our share of plumbing problems.  They are awful.  I called the water department (Hey, maybe it's on THEIR side of the meter... wouldn't that be aweso..) I couldn't even finish the thought they were so quick to tell me it wasn't them.  The inspector was actually quite nice and told me what he thought the problem was.  Next, we called plumbers.  Only plumbers are sleazy scum balls.  Not only did they not show up or call, the quote was indefensibly astronomical.  With a little help, Gavin dug up the pipe, we found the problem, and he fixed it.  We had water late (late late) that night.

Not that I doubted Gavin (we don't have a great track record with plumbing...), but I decided I was going to have to wash the baby's bottles either way.  I gathered a bunch of water from the cups and bottles I tend to leave laying around our house and the water pitchers I keep stashed (a side effect of growing up in the desert, I suppose) and I washed our bottles. Through out the day, my mood varied from a 2-5 on a 10 scale, I'd say.  But as I washed, even completely sure we were going to bed covered in dirt, my perspective shifted.  "Wow, I'm really lucky that I normally have running water." The thought sprung to my mind as if read by some crazy cliche mother in a sitcom.  "Seriously, without leaving my kitchen, I was STILL able to get several gallons of fresh clean water to wash my healthy happy baby's bottles with."  As I calculated the most efficient way to clean all of bottles using the least amount of water, my mind reminded me how lucky I really really truly am. Clearly I'm a much softer person as a mother than I was before.  And I don't just mean around my mid section, although that's certainly true as well.

I learned another lesson about myself.  During a particularly poorly timed banking meeting, I realized how valuable my time is.  I understood this in theory before.  I budget my time much like I do my money, but until I sat in that bank, I never fully understood just how sacred my time is to me now.  I rushed the man along, I don't care if Vodafone bought duel monitors for their employees even a little bit.  I can't stand hearing about market trends and even the facts that I should care about.  I don't want to spend another second of my time here.  Where do I want to spend it?  Watching a 5 month old pick up various color blocks one at a time to examine them individually before trying to shove them in his mouth.  Amazingly, I didn't just realize this, I told him as much.  

And finally, I was reminded how invaluable my 'tribe' is.  I know it's cliche sounding, but it's the term that's been floating around in my head lately.   We have some really good people in our lives.  I value this more now than I ever thought possible.  There were very very very few people I opened up to over the last few difficult years.  While I still think that might have been what I needed at the time, I want to connect to the people I care about more and in more meaningful ways.


Monday, May 20, 2013

GGMa &GGPa Visit!

Colin got to meet some of his great grandparents!  My mom's parents made the long trip from Oklahoma to meet their great-grandson!



It was such a fun trip.
Four Generations!

A different Four Generations!
The second four generations picture is me with my great-grandma! (Nanny).  I'm not the baby, that's my sister! :)

Saturday, May 18, 2013

A Birthday Party!


Colin attended his first party; A first birthday party for twin girls who live near us.  So close, in fact, that we were able to stroll over in our new stroller!

SWAK.  This picture melts my heart!

The only picture I managed to get with Colin and the birthday girls
R


M

"Seriously dad, I get a cake on my birthday, too??"


Hanging out with Amie.

We all had a great time!  Colin decided to give the girls one of his favorite things: Casper Babypants!!

Friday, May 17, 2013

Swimming with Jax!

On Mother's Day, Jax's family invited us over for a (first!) swimming adventure!  The W family has a lovely (and recently remodeled!) yard and we had a great BBQ.


Hydration is important, son!


The boys aren't so sure about this idea...




Colin was a bit more of a fan of the water than Jax.  He immediately began kicking his feet and trying to commandeer the other ships in the pool. :)  Apparently Captain Colin is a pirate!

Good thing mommy brought his pirate outfit...
We can't wait for more summertime adventures with Jax and family!

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

What's for dinner: First Family Dinner!

We had our first family dinner!

Last weekend I decided to make Potato and Leak Soup(without a recipe. :) ).  As I was cooking it, I thought, this is going to look a lot like baby food when I'm done.  So I decided to see what Gavin thought about letting baby try a bit of the soup.  After some discussion, we decided to try it!

Colin's didn't have the accessories

This was a bit of a magical moment for me.  As I lit our family candle for our first 'family meal,' my eyes filled with tears and realized it was one of those moments that drew my mind back over the last few difficult years.


Our family candle sits on our table and whenever we are all home for dinner together, I light it.  I first bought it in November of 2010 when I made our advent wreath.  At the time I was pregnant with Taylor.  As we ate our soup, I was overwhelmed with how easily I can be overcome with both joy and sadness, fulfillment and longing. It was a beautiful meal.  The first of many...
 

Monday, May 13, 2013

Mother's Day.



This mother's day was magic.  Having this little boy in my life has changed me in so many ways and I am so proud to be his mother.






I love you, always.  

Monday, May 6, 2013

The Park

The weather has been so gorgeous that we couldn't resist a short trip down to the pocket park in our neighborhood.  Nothing can beat sunshine on your face, grass under your feet, and cuddles from family!








Friday, May 3, 2013

Let him eat avocados!

I have known for a while that Colin has been ready for solid foods, even before I looked up the "official" 'signs of readiness'.  I was considering starting around four months, but his doctor recommended waiting until 6 months in an exclusively breastfeed baby.  I'm sure he would have been fine at four, or six, but we decided to start him a few days ago at 5 months.  True to our current parenting philosophy of staying right in the middle!

It was a great success!!

I really want food prep, cooking, and eating to be a pleasurable experience for Colin.  My pie in the sky goal is to have him be a part of every step, hence why he's got a hold of the unpeeled (but washed) avocado.

"How else can I show you I'm ready, lady?"
I didn't get any pictures of my prep.  It was basic.  I cut up the avocado and put it in a mini Cuisinart   I wasn't incredibly happy with the ease of use, but the end product was fine.  I ended up mixing in a bit of breast milk to make it a bit smoother and I thought it might help him enjoy the food.

"Want."



Colin loved it.  He gobbled up every single bit and only fussed when I took the spoon away to get more food.  (He doesn't seem to understand I need to refill the spoon yet, he thinks if he just sucks harder, more food will arrive.)

I only gave him a little bit, and he wasn't not too happy with that decision.  I had so much fun.  It was a little hard for me that he didn't struggle even a little tiny bit.  I can't believe that a year ago my little guy was not quite the size of an avocado and now he's sitting in his high chair eating them!