A Rough Night

Colin woke up crying just before 11pm last night. He was screaming bloody murder. I laid in bed for about 15 minutes, watching the monitor and waiting for him to put himself back to sleep. This did not happen and the crying continued at a fever pitch, so I got up and went in to him. We were then awake together until about 2am. He was exhausted, but he simply would not go back down. I tried every single trick in the book and nothing worked, including letting him cry. He would fall asleep in my arms, but as soon as I would lean over the crib, he would start screaming again. I could feel the tension in his body even as his eyes were closed...I could tell that he was keyed up and was just waiting to scream when I attempted to move him. He had no fever, nothing was wrong, he just wanted to be held. And rocked. And that was that. The problem with this whole scenario is trying to figure out when to go to him and when not to. I knew immediately after I went to get him that I had made the wrong decision. I was worried that he was ill or something was wrong, so I went in. Had I stayed out, he would have finally put himself back to sleep. It would have taken about 45 minutes since he was so worked up, but he would have. Colin is the kind of baby that sees me and then he will NOT go back down. This has been our problem all along. Once I enter the picture, the night is a loss. It always takes hours to get him back down at that point. But I am a mother! I don't want to take the chance that something is really wrong! Now that he sleeps through the night 95% of the time, when he does wake up screaming, I assume he actually needs me. This is not always the case, but I can't know! Anyway, I just had to vent. After a night like that, I am a waste the next day. I just wish that I had magical powers. ;-)

A Whole New World

Well, this is turning into quite the week! Colin has decided to do a lot more walking in the past 24 hours. He was only taking off if he was walking toward Jer or myself. These little walks were taking place on my watch, when I wanted them to. Last night Colin decided to change the rules by taking off on his own. Running. On the tile kitchen floor. DEAR LORD. The baby is fearless. He is wobbly and drunken on his feet, yet he just takes off running and screeching. It is literally the scariest thing you have ever seen. If I thought I was watching him like a hawk before, I was WRONG. This is insanity. He has already fallen several times and that is with me running with him!! I just can't catch him fast enough. We have a couple of little baby gates, but I am now on the hunt for a great big one to completely block off the kitchen. He is seriously going to do major damage if he falls on that floor. I must say that if I could go back in history and change one thing, it would be to get some nice new carpet instead of the wood floors that we put in early in my pregnancy. Don't get me wrong...I simply ADORE my floors. I begged and begged for them until I was blue in the face. But now my entire house seems like a booby trap! We left carpet in 3 bedrooms, but Colin certainly won't stay in those rooms! I am wondering what the time frame is to get from this kind of walking to the kind where they don't fall down and break their heads open. Anyone??

I am so proud of Colin for all this major progress in the past few weeks. It is like someone opened the flood gates and now everything is changing faster than I can keep up. We had kind of a lull...between 6 and 10 months, things were kind of peaceful with Colin. He learned to sit up on his own and make fun noises. We spent those months playing nicely together with his toys and watching his little cartoons. Dinners out were fairly easy since his major meals were bottles and he could just sit and play with a toy. I could do dishes and clean house while Colin sat in my field of vision playing in one little spot on his own. If I wanted to blog or check email, I could just sit him down here in the office and he would play happily with whatever book or game I handed him. Then he hit 10 months and the last month or so has been a new world. He is all over the place, crawling, pulling up, cruising, and now just taking off walking. He can't even be in the office anymore because he climbs under the desk and starts taking apart the computer wires!! He is also a champ at trying to "fax" things and attempting to turn on the shredder! He is suddenly so much like a little boy and I love it...and miss my tiny baby, too. This whole year has been about a "new baby" and little baby hands and toes and breast feeding and bottles and onesies and infant carriers and rocking chairs and Boppy pillows and rattles and tiny little things in general. All of a sudden I am looking back on that instead of being in the middle of it. I feel like I stepped into a new room, full of new things, and I am learning all over again how to get my footing. I have a feeling that I have a lot of new rooms in my future. I loved the first room so much more than I ever could have imagined.

Colin's Very First Haircut!!!

Well, today was the big day. The day that I have been both excited about and dreading for a long time. Colin got his hair cut!!! I know, I am such a mother to freak out over such a thing, but it was a big deal. This was the first time my little baby was having those little baby hairs touched, for goodness sake!! Colin was, as usual, amazing. He was SUCH a trooper!! We went to a place that specializes in little children and I am glad that I finally decided to go that direction. They had tiny chairs just for little ones and there were movies playing right in front of him. Dena cut his hair and she was wonderful!! She was incredibly sweet and Colin liked her instantly. She was very gentle and worked FAST. She did not use the clippers and only scissors for his first time and he did not mind her messing with his hair at all. She even had a big stash of Goldfish snacks on hand and Colin ate them the entire time. He loved them so much that he barely noticed his hair getting cut! I think he looks incredibly dapper now and a little too much like a boy instead of a baby. But all in all, I am glad that we went for it since his hair was getting wild! We went to the pool this afternoon and his hair did not get anywhere near his eyes, which was wonderful. It was totally out of his way. What a big day for my little baby!!!!

The first two pics above are before the cut, the middle two are during, and the last one is the after shot taken by the stylist. In the "Baby's First Haircut" package, we got the picture printed out with a little memento frame and pouches of his hair. I scanned it in, so the quality is not great, but her picture turned out cuter than the one on our camera. Also, we took video and I just posted it on youtube since I think the quality remains better that way for sharing. The links for the two videos are:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1SdQ-gXHXQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDIjwi7e1lg

If that does not work, you can search on youtube for "Colin's First Haircut". You will find take one and take two. :-)

My Husband, The Comedian

So, per our usual "It's Friday, let's eat food that I did not cook" way, we went out to our little Mexican joint for dinner. For the first time, I actually ordered Colin his own little plate of kiddie quesadillas. Our sweet waiter, who knows us well, even brought it out way ahead of the grown-up food so that Colin would not get restless. I love that place! Colin really liked it and only threw about half of it on the floor. He also ate a whole plate of guacamole. I should really start ordering his own plate of that too, as Jer and I no longer seem to get any of it. Anyhoo...after dinner I was itching for a treat and I convinced (read: whined) Jer into taking us to Marble Slab for an overpriced ice cream. A little back story...my one and only craving while pregnant was Sweet Cream with chocolate sprinkles in a waffle cup from Marble Slab. Only that one flavor with that one topping in that one cup. It was insane. I would have seriously injured someone to get one. I don't even want to know how much money I spent all total on those damn things. So back to the story...I had not been back there since Colin was born and decided that I needed one pronto tonight. We went in and ordered and attempted to sit with Colin in the store to eat, but he was not in the mood to sit in a chair and quickly tried to start walking on their really dirty floors. Since the little man was barefoot (I really need to buy some shoes that he will keep on his feet) we decided to take it to the car. Which is where the fun really begins. It is almost 100 degrees here today and the wind was blowing heat like a hair dryer in our faces. Jer had ordered a mint ice cream with chocolate chips. Their mint ice cream is neon green. Jer is holding both ice cream cups and I am holding Colin. As I am strapping Colin in his car seat, I hear Jer begin swearing loudly. By the time I get myself into the front seat beside him, he has neon green ice cream all over his hands, and better still, his lap. I grab some wipes (the best part about being a parent is always having wipes on hand!) and hand them to Jer. Now, I will admit that I was laughing. Loudly. Vigorously. I mean, face it, a grown man covered in neon green ice cream is pretty damn hilarious. So what does my sweet husband do? He leans over and pours melted neon green ice cream in my lap. Over my lap and onto the seat. Now I, too, am covered in neon green ice cream. He, of course, is rolling. And alright, I am laughing too. We are both crying with laughter and I am busy telling him that I cannot believe that he did that and that he is in big BIG trouble. What a freak. I am sure that my son was in the back seat thinking, "Are these really my parents??" Happy Friday, everyone!! ;-)

Special Moments with Colin

The question of the day on my message board today is to describe your favorite time or moment during the day with your baby. I have been pondering this question, wondering if it is possible to pick just one moment that is my "favorite". I love breakfast with Colin. He sits in his high chair, which I pull up to the bar so that I perch beside him on a bar stool. I crumble breakfast on his tray and then proceed to eat some of whatever I made for him...this morning it is strawberry eggos. We sit together, usually watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He thinks it is hysterical when I make exaggerated faces while I eat, which I do for him every morning without fail. He laughs hard and claps his hands and scatters food everywhere while Enzo paces the floor beneath to pick everything up. I sing songs to him from his shows to crack him up and we just enjoy eating together. Then again, there are those special moments before bedtime that I adore, too. I sit and rock him in the glider for about 20 minutes. I sing softly to him and stroke his hair and cheeks and kiss him. Lately I have begun using one hand to softly rub the muscles in his legs while we rock. I would imagine they are sore after a long day of learning how to walk and he really seems to love that. I massage each leg and then each little toe. These are the few moments where he is actually still and I love to feel him laying in my arms and watch his little eyes drift shut and then open again as he tries to stay awake. I am very aware that these moments in particular are fleeting and I try to memorize the way he feels in my arms each night.


Colin is such a happy baby. He laughs all the time and is very quick with a smile. He finds joy in everything he sees. He is loud, just like his Mama. He loves Enzo more than anything and squeals literally every time he sees him. The best way I can describe his personality at this point is silly and content. Not much ever seems to ruffle his feathers and he is always laughing and "talking". As we get ever closer to the big birthday, I try more than ever to etch every single one of these little traits into my mind so that I can remember what it was like to be loved by this amazing little 11 month old.

The Cutest Little Baby Butt!

I decided to bust out the baby pool that I bought at Wal-Mart a couple of weeks ago. It certainly does not hold a candle to the big pool, but on the plus side, Colin can go diaper free! He had a great time splashing around. There is no doubt that he is my little fishy! You really have to click on the first picture to see his face...he LOVES it! :-)

The Great Mashed Potato Debacle

I made homemade mashed potatoes tonight and Colin refused to let me feed him. So I put a huge dollop on his tray and the rest is video history. Let me tell you, there was a very long bath afterwards! :-)