Eight Months Old Today!!

Happy 8 Month Birthday, Colin!! My little man has hit another big milestone on the way to hitting number one! The picture above was taken this morning right after our birthday breakfast! :-) We are gearing up for our big Easter weekend. I just found out today that my whole family is coming over tomorrow! Meredith may have to come on Saturday morning, but everyone will be piling into my house for good food and good times! We are planning to have a little pre-Easter shindig at my house on Saturday. Then my family has to hit the road back home on Sunday and Jer and I are heading over to his parents house for official Easter dinner. It should be a great weekend! I just finished mopping the floor during Colin's late afternoon nap and I will hopefully get everything else done when he goes to bed. My house tends to stay a wreck these days...when Colin goes down for naps, I have to pick between the 500 things I need to do. Usually showering and laundry win. House loses. ;-)

I think that we are going to break down and dye Easter eggs tomorrow. I was debating it since Colin is too young to really participate, but I have decided that the photo op alone is worth it. And now that my little nephew Jackson is coming, it seals the deal! He is two and a half now and the perfect age to have some Easter fun. I hope to take lots of good pics for posting!! :-)

Happy 8 Months, my precious baby boy!

Good Times at Wal-Mart!

Colin and I went to Wal-Mart by ourselves today to get a little grocery shopping done. This trip was interesting to say the least! Let me start by saying that Colin is no longer in his infant car seat/carrier. It is officially retired now, so gone are the days of taking Colin in and out of places in his infant carrier. If I need groceries, I obviously cannot use the stroller because I need to fill a cart with stuff. I have previously posted about how this makes me nervous because Wal-Mart puts Colin to sleep like a freaking Ambien. So cut to today...Colin is riding like a big boy in the cart with his little dinosaur cart cover all in place and his favorite toys attached. I also brought a blanket in with us (thank God!) in case he got cold. I am about half way through shopping for a weeks worth of menus when Colin begins to get upset. He is rubbing his eyes, groaning, and falling around like a drunken sailor in his attempt to go to sleep. Lord help us. I can't just abandon the cart full of groceries to take Colin home (I suppose I could have, but good grief!) and I am looking around desperate for a genius solution. I quickly push him to the baby section (which, if you know Wal-Mart, is two miles away from where we were) and pick out the most amusing looking toy I can find, open it up, and give it to him like it is Christmas morning. All the while I am thinking that I am one of those mothers now...the ones who can't control their kids in stores and resort to buying presents to shut them up. This makes me laugh, so I know people are staring at me...baby sliding all over the cart crying while his mother opens toys that are not paid for while laughing to herself. GOOD TIMES, FOLKS! :-)

So, after handing Colin the toy, he is amused for around 2 minutes and then begins to roll around drunkenly again. I realize that drastic times call for drastic measures. I park the cart and pull Colin into my arms. I arrange the blanket I brought on top of the little cart cover to create a makeshift bed. I lay Colin down lengthwise in the front of the cart and then wrap the edges of the blanket around him like a cocoon. Due to the fact that my son is rather long...his calves and feet stick straight out one side. It looks absolutely insane, but Colin is quickly asleep in his little cave. YEA! Points for Genius Mom! I am thrilled with my cunning smarts and quickly jump back into finishing the shopping before he wakes up. Now for the part I did not think of....the STARES! Literally every person that I pass at this point stares at my son's little socked feet sticking out the side of the cart and give me looks that say, "Dear God...who let her have children?!" It was hysterical!! I was fast becoming the pariah of Wal-Mart. Finally one sweet woman who had two kids in her cart pulling each others hair said, "Oh, I remember those days!" and I almost hugged her. We disheveled mothers have to stick together, if you ask me! I gave her the return knowing smile and we finished up our trip. The little man actually slept clear through checkout and I had to wake him up to get in the car. So all is well that ends well. I have quickly discovered that being a mother means that you no longer mind looking like an idiot if it makes your child happy. :-)

Tonight's picture was taken at dinner. Colin had a cookie for dessert and was busy making a huge mess with it. About 30 seconds after this was taken, he handed the cookie to Enzo. Enzo is becoming increasingly more pleased with Colin now that he can hand him delicious treats. :-)

My First Meme!

I was tagged by my wonderful friend Shannon to do my first meme! Here goes!

The rules are:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules here
3. Share 7 random or weird facts about yourself
4. Tag 7 random people at the end of the post, linking to them.
5. Leave a comment on their blog so that they know they have been tagged.

* I lived in Los Angeles, CA for about 8 months in 2001. I was working my butt off to become the next big thing in Aircraft Charter Sales and I thought moving to the mecca of the rich and famous would really pay off. The experience was invaluable, but I absolutely DETESTED Los Angeles. I hated literally everything about it and was the most miserable that I have ever been. It worked career wise, however. Afterwards, I landed my dream job based out of NYC.

* I am addicted to People Magazine and US Weekly. This is so embarrassing to admit. :-) I subscribe to both and they are delivered on Fridays. The highlight of my work week used to be coming home on Friday afternoon after a brutal week at work and curling up with some wine and my two favorite trash magazines.

* I love love love to read period novels that take place in Europe more than any other book. It does not matter if it is wonderful literature (Pride and Prejudice) or complete and utter trashy romance (insert any novel found in the grocery store), if it took place prior to 1800 in England, I am all about it. "The Other Boleyn Girl" is my current favorite that I am trying to find time to read.

* I hate almost anything considered "crafty" or fun to women. I think scrap booking is just about the most boring thing you can do in the entire world. I also hate the game "Bunko" and almost any activity connected to "women's groups" at large. I know...I am no fun. I just wish that getting together with a large group of girlfriends could involve drinks, food, and maybe a football game every now and then. Why do we have to play Bunko?!?! ;-)

* I cannot stand what I will call "mouth sounds". This is easily my biggest pet peeve. I cannot abide the sound of chewing at all. In fact, my crazy husband actually thought it was funny to buy a bag of CORN NUTS and eat them in my hospital room when I had Colin. He is very lucky to still be alive. ;-)

* I will never ever ever get on a set of water skis ever again. I had a really bad experience at the lake when I was in middle school and I will not ever try it again. Don't even attempt to convince me because it simply will not happen. The only thing I will do on the lake is the tube, and frankly that scares me, too...but it keeps me from looking like a total dork if I at least do that.

* I am really really really bad about answering my cell phone. I think this stems from having to be on the phone 100% of the time when I was at work. Once I get home, I totally ignore my cell phone and generally don't even know where it is. This results in lots of missed calls and voicemails. Even now that I am not working, I have not broken the habit and suck at answering my phone. I am lucky that I still have the friends that I do! ;-)

Now, I tag Melissa . I realize this is only one person, but I don't have many blog friends yet! I need to stop lurking! :-)

Rainy (and I mean RAINY!) Tuesday

It has been raining since last night and I swear it has not stopped once! GOOD LORD! Today was definitely a day to spend indoors. Jer was originally supposed to teach the very late sim session tonight, but it got cancelled! I was supposed to have my mom's lunch today, but that was cancelled due to the yucky weather. We literally spent the whole day in our pajamas playing with Colin. We ate leftovers and I made bananas foster for an afternoon treat. Colin was up a LOT last night, so when he went down for his first nap, I did to! During Colin's afternoon nap, Jer and I watched about half of "No Country For Old Men". It is really good so far, but the rest will have to wait until later. Movie watching is not what it used to be. ;-)

The pictures of Colin were from just a couple of hours ago when I put on his pj's. He was twisting around so much on the changing table that I could not get him dressed, so I moved to the floor of his room. That little man is almost totally done with the changing table...he is so big and it makes me so nervous when he starts spinning around! He has never really played in his room before and he seemed to like being in a new space, so of course I had to take his picture. He is such a funny and expressive baby...I just adore when he graces me with those dimples! I also think he is getting very close to crawling. Tonight he was laying on his stomach and actually pulled his knees under him for the first time. He is going to catch on any day now. I am both excited and sad about it...he is growing up so fast, but I am thrilled for the next stage, too. I also noticed that he was tugging on his left ear tonight, so hopefully that is just teething. If he is still tugging tomorrow, we might be headed to the pedi. We shall see.

The last picture was my view of Ferris Mewler and Enzo as I was watching the movie. Those two are such dorks, but they looked so cute in an animal heap on my lap that I had to take the picture. In the rare moments that I don't have Colin in my arms, they are ALL OVER ME! :-)

New Shoes and Car Seats

Okay, so Colin got new shoes today. I finally broke down and bought the poor kiddo some sandals. He wore a size three, but I think he will be out of them in 5 minutes. There is not really any room to grow at all in them, but the size four were just way too big! I could not get the size three tennis shoes over his feet, so I don't know. I really could have used half sizes, but oh well! Anyway, he is going to be a cutie pie when he wears them! Tomorrow we are attending our very first lunch in the mom's group that I joined. I am nervous for some strange reason, but excited to hopefully meet some nice folks. It will be nice to make some new friends and I have noticed that Colin really enjoys seeing other babies, so that should be fun for him!

Also, we got rid of the infant car seat today (again) and this time we replaced it with the car seat that my parents had in their car for my nephew. It is SO MUCH BETTER than the one we bought him. The Eddie Bauer one that we bought originally had this huge head rest that could not be removed. It looks really comfy when we bought it, but it caused Colin's head to rest at an odd angle. The one we are using now does not have that and Colin seemed to love it! No fussing at all! So hopefully our problem has been solved! :-)

Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda

I need to purge some mommy guilt tonight...I am feeling very sorry that I did not breast feed Colin for longer than 5 months. I wanted to so badly, but when I went back to work it became the hardest thing in the entire world. I pumped several times a day while at the office, but even with all the pumping, Colin needed at least one bottle of formula in the evenings for me to keep up with him. He would drink the expressed breast milk while at Miss Anne's house and then I would have to give him the formula bottle at night before bed. This led to Colin only physically breast feeding during the middle of the night feedings. Everything else was pumped. I was running myself literally ragged...my little man was still waking up 5 times a night at that point and I was also working full time and pumping full time to keep him fed. I did this religiously until the 5 month mark. This was when Colin stopped wanting to breast feed in the middle of the night. He would scream when I tried to put him to the breast...I am pretty sure that he had gotten so used to bottle feeding all day that he did not want to do the extra work anymore at the breast. I was devastated by this...I loved to breast feed him and was so sorry that he wanted to stop!! Soon after this, my body really started slowing production and my period started. Then I really started to dry up! At this point, Colin was at half formula and half breast milk! So I let it happen and weaned myself off pumping. Colin has always been a big guy and a big eater, so it was a huge weight off my shoulders when I finally gave in and went to full formula at 5 months.

My sadness tonight comes from the fact that I let that my job get in the way of taking care of Colin like I really wanted to. I had to go back to work, but I hate that it ruined breast feeding for me. I hate that the first 12 weeks of Colin's life were perfect and then I messed with it. He was an awesome breast feeder from the instant he was born. We never had trouble with it...he was a champ and gained tons of weight quickly! It was going back to work and putting him at Miss Anne's house that changed the dynamic and forced me to switch to bottle feeding my expressed milk. I was thinking about this tonight as I was putting Colin to bed. He is getting so big...I just put him into bed and he rolled over onto his side and went to sleep. I was standing there looking at him, all chubby and happy. I can't believe this big guy is the same little thing that used to nurse while laying on that tiny Boppy pillow. I wish I could go back sometimes and feel him so small against me, which is why I wish I could have kept solely breastfeeding for longer. It is time that you just don't get back! I loved it so much!

Okay, I feel better. :-)

Emily Card, my new favorite artist!

Emily Card is the amazing artist who painted the portrait of Mr. Colin for me, so I wanted to give you all her info! Her art website is www.emilycard.com and her blog is www.wayoftheweim.blogspot.com. She is the best!!!!!!!! I can't wait to have her paint more of Colin...I am hoping to get a picture of Colin with Enzo next so that she can paint my boy and his dog! :-) Anway, she is simply wonderful! Check her out!!