9 Months

This nine month old is on the move!   Colin is crawling everywhere, pulling himself up to his knees on the toy box and dishwasher (he's not yet pulling himself to a full stand, thank goodness), and loves scooting into Bryson's bedroom before Bryson can close the door on him. Colin's new hobbies include cutting more teeth, getting into things, finding debris on the floor to put into his mouth, and pulling up the carpet fibers.  Colin also loves splashing around int he bathtub and comes crawling whenever he hears the water running hoping we'll put him in the tub for a bath.  Colin would also rather feed himself and have table food than have us spoon pureed baby food into his mouth and he says "Daddy" "Mum" and "Ni-Ni" ["Night, Night"].  Colin is one fun little guy and we love him so much! 

At nine months, Colin weighs 17 pounds, 1 ounce and is 28 inches tall.  He's only in the 5th percentile for weight while he's in the 50th percentile for height, and he is still spitting up after every meal no matter what and how much I feed him and how long I wait in between foods even with reflux medication.  So the doctor gave us a referral to a pediatric gastroenterologist who will do some tests and a barium x-ray (Colin will have to drink a bottle of barium for this) to see if there may be an underlying intestinal or esophageal issue. I sure hope he doesn't have any digestion problems, but if he does and we can find out what is and get it treated, maybe Colin will start sleeping better.   He is waking up every 40 minutes for some reason and has a hard time going back to sleep even though we've tried all the techniques the baby books have to offer.  Colin has three teeth (two in center on the bottom and one on top right center with the left center tooth on top trying to come through as well).   Colin also started waving this week, totally unsolicited. Please enjoy the video below of our happy, waving 9 month old baby!  He's growing so fast!

Waving Baby from Melissa G on Vimeo.

Santa Claus

Bryson spent four years petrified of Santa Claus. Colin spent four minutes enamored with him.

I don't know what he's going for -- Santa's dropped pretzels or the white beard

Just for some contrast, here is a photo of Bryson with Santa at about the same age.

A Hometown Holiday

We've been busy this weekend with fun Christmas festivities.  Friday night we went to the Town Center for their "Hometown Holiday" celebration.  We listened to carolers, mailed Bryson and Colin's letter to Santa, drank hot cider, and made ornaments and crafts at the booths we perused.  After a quick ride on the Christmas train, we came home and decorated the Christmas tree. 

Then on Saturday we traveled to the Polar Express presentation at our old library, which remains my favorite public library.  We used to live behind this particular library and when Jarom was in nursing school and working, Bryson and I would go to check out books, listen to storytime, or see their many great presentations at least twice a week.  It was a great place to take Bryson to on days when we had no car and no real plans, and we got to love the programs it offered and to love the library staff as well.  The librarians still know us by name years later and can't believe how big Bryson is getting and are excited that we are now bringing in Colin, a baby who already loves books. 

The boys looked at books and Bryson made a special ornament while we waited to "board" the Polar Express.  The librarians took our tickets and seated us on the "train" and then served hot chocolate while a guest narrator read the book.  Santa made an appearance and gave everyone a bell to remember to believe in the Christmas spirit.  Then Jane took Bryson to "The Savior of the World" play that our stake put on.  It was a fun weekend!

Super Baby!

We love spending time with our Super Baby!

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with lots of great food, family, and fun!  Jarom's brother Levi and his family came to visit, and we enjoyed hanging out with them. Their little boy is a few months younger than Colin and it was fun to meet him and play with him.  Colin even elicited Baby G's first laugh which was super cute!  On Wednesday, Jane, Chelsey, our boys, and I went to St. Nick's and picked out ornaments for our trees this year while Seth, Levi, Jarom, and Randy went snowboarding.  Then the whole family relaxed at the pool before going to dinner.  Thanksgiving was spent preparing and eating LOTS of great food and enjoying the company of family and helping our little ones celebrate their first Thanksgiving.  On Friday, Jarom and I tried scuba diving with the rest of the family and took a Christmas card .   It was a lot of fun and made for a memorable Thanksgiving weekend!    

Bookworms!

Had a great time discovering this beautiful sight when I got out of the shower: Bryson was reading to Colin and Colin was so happy to be looking at books. I love my little bookworms!

 

8 Months

Jarom and I are staying warm and cozy on this two degree day with our favorite 8 month old.

At 8 months, Colin is:

• Crawling
• Getting into everything
• Teething
• Waking every 40 minutes at night (NOT so fun)
• Starting to use his thumb and forefinger to pick things up
• Feeding himself baby Puffs and Cheerios
• Aware that objects exist even when they're put out of sight (including us, who he wants to see when he's sleeping)
• As smiley and fun as ever!