Having Fun on the Beach!

What a fun afternoon! In celebration of yet another very warm March day, we headed out for a late lunch at Life's A Beach in Lewisville. This is such a fun place...it really feels like you are on vacation, complete with Jamaican music and a huge beach. I have been dying to take Colin, so we asked Aunt Alie to meet us there for some fun in the sun. This morning we went to Big Lots and purchased several cheap little beach toys like a shovel and pail in preparation. Shockingly, Colin was scared to death of the sand. That never crossed my mind, but let me tell you...he was petrified of it! It was hysterical...every single time his toes touched the sand, they curled up and he froze. Poor thing! Luckily he thought the huge patio was awesome, so he played like crazy with his new toys and had a blast despite his sand fear. He was so nervous at first that I broke out the pacifier, as seen in the first picture below. I am glad he warmed up and had fun...it feels so good to spend time outside!!

This next one is my personal favorite. It looks like he is screaming, "I WANNA ROCK!" :-)

Colin loves his Aunt Alie!

All smiles! As you can see, it is all fun and games as long as the sand stays over there. :-)

Saturday Updates!

Today was an interesting day...Colin woke up screaming just before 5:00am this morning and was up for the day. He has been grabbing the sides of his head above his jaw line and around his ears for two days...I think this time it is for sure molars. He walks around crying and banging his hands on the sides of his head! YIKES!! Thankfully he has been to the doctor twice in the last week, so I know his ears are fine. He has not broken any new teeth in the last couple of months and I think teething is back in full swing. Poor baby!

In good news, his diarrhea is finally starting to ease up!! Thank GOODNESS!! He is not back to normal quite yet, but it is much improved. I know that everyone will be happy to stop reading about poop for a while. ;-) We took Colin to lunch at a new mexican place that opened close by and it was fantastic! I am always so happy when yummy locally owned places show up in the suburbs. The main thing I miss about living in downtown Dallas is the food. Oh, the food. Jer and I are complete and utter foodies and nothing brings us more joy than finding a great place to eat! Colin ate my entire plate of rice and beans, a flour tortilla and my guacamole. That was the most he has eaten in over a week, so I was thrilled to see his appetite back in full force. We also managed to fit in a trip to Sam's today, but other than that...totally lazy day. We caught up on our DVR shows and both took a nap when Colin went down this afternoon. Getting up before 5:00 am this morning reminded me how thankful I am that Colin sleeps through the night now. I have been worn out all day!

Shannon posted recently about the classes for toddlers that she found through her city and I have started researching that this week. I have found a couple of options that Colin can attend now that I am looking into and several that will be great when Colin is 18 months old. I can't wait for those! I am trying to line up some fun stuff for us to do together this fall that won't be expensive. Colin is getting progressively more bored being stuck in our living room, so I hope to find some fun activities soon. Oh, and I am also getting geared up to take Colin to the pumpkin patch...I can't wait for that!! :-)

The Dinner

It was inevitable. I knew the moment would have to come one of these days. Today was that day. We had to leave a restaurant because of the little man. Now, in all fairness to Colin, this was my fault. Colin took an extra long morning nap for some reason today and thus refused to nap this afternoon. That meant that by the time Jer and I took Colin out to dinner, he had been awake for 6 hours straight, which is a long time for this kiddo. He was entering the land of tiredness before we left the house, but still I persisted. We had a coupon for a local place close by and it was close to expiring, and it was for a free entree and since we are on a budget these days, I just had to take advantage of the chance to eat out. Yes, it is totally my fault, but can't you see the draw?!? :-)

Anyway, as soon as we walked in the door, I knew we had made a huge mistake. It took the hostess about 3 minutes to get us to a table and in that time Colin had already started kicking to be let loose out of Jer's arms. He has never done that before and I was worried. We sat down and Colin was okay for about 10 minutes. Then as he started to spiral down, the server brought out the salads and cornbread. "Saved!", I thought to myself. Colin ate my whole tomato (this is his new thing these days...he loves tomatoes) and some cornbread. I literally inhaled my salad just in case. That was smart because he started to cry once he ate all the tomato and tired of the cornbread. I don't know how he is my child sometimes...I could eat bread until I passed out, but Colin never wants any. I picked him up and walked him around the lobby, hoping on top of hoping that his lovely golden chicken fingers would show up soon and take him out of his funk. I walked back to the table once he started trying to kick out of my arms and tried to put him back in his high chair. He refused to bend his knees and started to turn red. Oh no. Jer tried to take him at this point and that was the wrong move...he arched his back in one of the best temper displays I have ever been privy to and literally almost catapulted himself out of Jer's hands. He was now officially screaming. Yep, you guessed it. Time to go. I took Colin to the car while Jer had the server box up our food and paid the bill. And of course, as soon as he got strapped into his comfy seat and I turned on his favorite episode of "Go, Diego, Go!", he was back to his happy self. Good grief. Is it wrong that I wish there were DVD players on the chairs in restaurants? Just kidding. Kind of.

As we were driving home with our yummy food (which was even better at home, I think!) Jer noted that he had never seen another family leave like that when their baby started to have a tantrum. I thought about it and realized that I actually haven't either. We then chatted about how in our experience, most folks just stay and let the kid freak out while other diners are forced to talk over a screaming baby. Jer and I have experienced it countless times, which is probably why I am so sensitive about disturbing others. I don't mind it when he is a little too loud while happily playing in his seat, but if he starts to cry and I can't comfort him immediately, I always jump up and take him out of the room. I just don't want to disturb others trying to enjoy their food! I am wondering if I am being irrational and too hung up on it. Should I have let him cry until we got our food? Would anyone else have packed up and left like I did? I was not upset at all that we had to leave, but I suppose we could have stayed and ridden out the storm. I practically start to have a panic attack when Colin seems ready to make a scene. I would love to hear how everyone handles that situation. Am I crazy?

My worn out little man was so tired that he cried himself to sleep tonight, which he hardly ever does. Poor baby! I put him down early, so he should feel much better in the morning. I am sorry that Jer has to go back to work tomorrow! We have had a great weekend!