All Because Two People Fell In Love

I Need More Eggs ...

2012-03-02T18:00:00.001-05:00

This kid is meant to play basketball!!!

2012-01-16T16:22:00.000-05:00

Booty Buster

2011-10-17T14:21:00.000-04:00

This is what you find when your child is being too quiet

2011-09-13T09:55:00.000-04:00

I know I know ... I have a lot of catching up to do but it's just been sooooo busy lately (both at home and work) that I just haven't had time. I'll try soon to get us current!

First Family Vacation

2011-08-25T12:43:00.000-04:00

We travelled to Gulf Shores, Alabama for our first family vacation. We drove down there and Colton did really well in the car. We were quite surprised when we opened the door to our condo. It was really beautiful and overlooked the ocean. Absolutely perfect! We spent alot of time at the pool, visited the Alabama Culf Coast Zoo, and went to Alligator Alley. We spent some time at the outlet mall and visited every restaurant ... well not really but it sure felt that way! I loved it!

First look at the ocean!

First time in the ocean!

Look at those cutlery skills!

Enjoying some time by the pool

Wearing his sunglasses like daddy

Imitating all the kids

Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo

Petting goats, sheep, bunnies and ducks at the zoo

Holding a baby kangaroo

What a great experience!

Lunch at the Oyster House

Dinner at Gulf Island Grill

Stroll at night along the beach

Colton LOVED the pool!

Petting a 2-year old alligator

Showing us his BIG alligator bite

Alligator Alley

Waiting for a table at LuLu's

Playing in the sand

Waiting for a table at Lambert's

Enjoying his favorites - corn and cottage cheese

Such a good time at Lambert's!

Playing in the ocean

The waves got bigger and bigger each day we were there

Foley Alabama Railroad Museum

Black Steam Engine

The jets in the tub made for some BIG bubbles!

Colton got more comfortable with the ocean each day

Colton & Daddy's footprint

Working on a sand castle

What a cutie!

Look at the sunglasses he picked out!

Our last night in the condo :(

My favorite boys!

Last time pushing the elevator buttons - Colton loved pushing the buttons!

Slumber Party ... Well An Attempt At One!

2011-07-14T10:29:00.003-04:00

So the adults were trying to get the boys to lay down, have some popcorn, watch Toy Story and hopefully quietly drift to sleep ...

Trying to get them to lay down

So far so good ...

Such sweet little things!

It's been about 10 minutes now and we are out in the living room sitting on the couch, talking about life, and reminiscing about our early years. We hear a thud ... then some giggles ... wo we sneak in to see this:

Needless to say, they never went to sleep!

It's Been Hot Lately!!!

2011-07-13T14:28:00.002-04:00

Fourth of July Weekend

2011-07-13T14:26:00.000-04:00

We started our weekend off with a playdate with Mason. I went to junior high and high school with his mommy and I'm really excited we have found each other as friends again!

Then Sunday, Colton and I went to the zoo! We visited the new tiger exhibit, rode on the train (probably his favorite part of the day), played in the Splash Park, and visited the gift shop where Colton picked out an Animal Train set. We had a good time together!

On Monday, we ventured out in the rain to see the Brownsburg Parade. We got a great spot under a big tree which kept us out of the rain. We had a little breakfast picnic and then enjoyed the parade along with Neemaw and Papaw.

We came home for a little while and decided that we needed to have Neemaw and Papaw over for a cookout. We played in the pool and had a nice afternoon!

Clever little booger!

2011-07-13T13:50:00.000-04:00

Who's Drink Is That?

2011-07-13T13:47:00.000-04:00

I got skills!

2011-07-05T15:15:00.000-04:00

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-05T15:09:00.000-04:00

23 Months ... He's almost 2... Can you believe it?!?

2011-07-05T15:06:00.000-04:00

This month went by super fast! Colton has become an amazing little talker. We always get comments about how well he talks for only being 2. Here are some funny things he says now:

Toy Stoy-dee-dee-dee (Toy Story)
Mee-mo (Nemo)
Evil Pook-choo (Evil Dr. Porkchop from Toy Story) - This is usually followed by Colton saying "That's Ham"
Drag-it (Dragons) - He likes to watch "How to Train A Dragon"
Tap-it-er (Caterpillar)
"I sharted" - for those of you who aren't familiar with this term it's when you fart and leave a little behind ... yeah Chad taught him that.
Will tell you "I dry" or "I squishy" or "I wet" when you ask him about the status of his diaper

Our first attempt at potty training - FAILED

Colton was tapping his spoon against Bumpaw's and saying "Cheers"

Lock up your daughters!!

Look how tall this kid is!

Trying to put on his own undies

So proud of himself!

Loves the water!

Father's Day

Testing out mommy's cupcakes

Colton's First Luau

Poor Colton - so sick!

Checking out the new tiger exhibit at the zoo

Playing in the water at the zoo

Colton Sings the Blues

2011-06-09T09:31:00.000-04:00

I haven't caught him on video yet singing Ring Around the Rosey but here is Colton singing his other songs.

22 Month Update

2011-06-08T15:28:00.000-04:00

I think every time I blog I talk about how amazing Colton is ... so I'll just jump right into what he's been doing the past month ...

Can sing Twinkle Twinkle, Wheels on the Bus, Bringing Home My Baby Bumblebee, the alphabet, Itsy Bitsy Spider and Ring Around the Rosey
Knows his name (says Tolton)
Really enjoys riding his tricycle - It broke my heart a little the other day when Colton turned to me, said "bye" and blew me a kiss and then rode his bike down the sidewalk!
Told Mommy to “drive” which means put both hands on the steering wheel
Really began using “mine”, "Tolton do it", "me hold it", etc.
Really into Toy Story 3 - told us he was scared of Lotso Huggin bear when he saw a picture of him
Really into trains, tractors, dump trucks (junk truck), semi trucks, school bus, fire trucks – he’ll say “thatsa biiig truck”
Will come up and say “I wannit … yeah … okay” and take whatever he was talking about - I guess because I'll say "Colton do you want fruit snacks" and he'll respond with "yeah" and I'll say "okay"
I’ve been calling Colton a monkey because he likes to climb things and he’s always clinging onto me like a monkey (I’ll say “Colton you are such a monkey”) – but now whenever Colton sees something climbing or if he is climbing he’ll say “me so monkey”
Colton kept telling me there were spiders in her ears. He'd say “Mommy spider”. I said “Where?” Colton replied with “In my ear … blow it” so I blew air in his ear. Then Colton said “Mommy too hard”. It took me 3 days to figure out that he meant whispers instead of spiders.
Colton got a new swingset this month and he absolutely loves it. It has a curly slide, a straight slide, swings, a fort with a steering wheel and telescope, and custom stairs (because daddy didn't think the rockwall method was safe enough for Colton - I agreed). He loves to swing high and will tell you to push "high in the sky". We just need to finish up the sandbox and it'll be complete!
We are slowly working with Colton on potty training. He likes to talk about pee and poop and he's aware of wet, dry and poopy. But he doesn't understand to go on the potty just yet. We're not pushing it too much but at least he's talking about it.

Riding his tricycle

Playing in the sprinkler

Watching Toy Story

Feeding the fish

"Driving" Dakota

Checking out Colton's wingspan at the zoo

Lunch with daddy

Playing in the water at the White River Gardens

Check this out Bumpaw

Waiting for the parade to start

Snuggling with Nana - it was cold at the parade

Mommy and Colton

Bubble Gum

2011-06-08T14:45:00.000-04:00

Easter

2011-05-17T16:23:00.000-04:00

I want that color

Let's write our names on them!

Oooh ... blue!

You're doing great mommy!

Check out that basket!

Eggs are dry! Time for stickers!

Thanks daddy!

Love that smile!

Look at the pretty eggs!

Working on putting on his shoes ... the trick is to bring your foot to the shoe ... not the other way around!

It's so lonely at the kid's table :(

Finding easter eggs with Aunt Kelly

Tired little bug!

Look what the Easter Bunny brought!

You go this way and I'll go that way!

Help me out dad!

Do you think we found enough?

Let's see what we got daddy

In love with these two!

And I think these two are in love!

21 Months

2011-05-17T15:57:00.003-04:00

What has Colton done this past month?

Began saying "Where is she? ... It's all gone ... It went bye bye ... I found it!"
Discovered the humor in picking his nose
Got both his bottom 2 year molars in
Started saying “it's so funny”
Can do the motions to the "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" song
Started saying “I’m tumming” (I’m coming)
Said "you’re welcome" (just not when he’s supposed to - he'll say it when he should be saying thank you)
Began requesting juice from Chad. Colton was laying with mommy on the bed and he turned his head and yelled “Chad … juicy”. Love it!
Sang "Twinkle Twinkle" to us at dinner (almost all the words!)
Began drinking from a big boy cup the whole dinner

Playdate with Miss LeiLa & Miss Nevaeh

Sitting in the window at Nana & Bumpaw's

(This is where Kelly and I used to play drive thru)

Checking out all the windchimes with Bumpaw

Playing Bubbles with Miss Mara at her birthday party

The things we do to our kids!

Colton and Miss Mara

Colton playing on the rigging structure at my work

Woaw! Big Tractor!

Colton snuggling with Mickey

Colton's Monkey Rainboots

Mutt Strut 2011

2011-05-13T16:17:00.000-04:00

Nice picture of Dakota's butt

We participated in the 8th Annual Mutt Strut at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 1st. Despite the rainy weather, we had a great time. The rain even quit right before we started!

Colton's Ready!

Lori, Izzy, Colton, Chad & Dakota

Kelly, Izzy & Lori

Colton helping the girls walk Izzy

The sun was trying to come out!

Colton & Mommy

It's not safe on the roads anymore ...

2011-04-21T14:58:00.000-04:00

One thing that I've learned about myself since I've become a parent is that I marvel in Colton learning new things. I know he's supposed to but I guess it just makes me proud to see him discover new things and to learn new things. Like I created this brilliant little being! It's amazing! And yesterday I couldn't have been a prouder parent (trust me you'll hear it!).

Colton got a Schwinn Roadster tricycle from Santa and he wasn't quite tall enough at Christmas to ride it. He's always had interest in it and has slowly progressed from being pushed, to moving his little legs to make it move, to trying to put his feet on the pedals, to doing a couple revolutions but not quite having the strength to get it to go anywhere ... but last night ... everything changed!

Easter Egg Hunt

2011-04-18T11:51:00.000-04:00

We attended an Easter Egg Hunt at my work this past weekend. Despite the gloomy weather, we had a good time!

Coloring with Bumpaw

"When does the Easter Bunny get here?"

In line waiting to see the Easter Bunny!

"What is going on?!?!?"

"I'm outta here!"

"Did you all see that Bunny? Crazy!"

Taking off before the start!

"Green ... blue ... pink ... purple ..."

"Here mom ... hold my basket ... I can collect more this way!"

Checking out all the goodies we got in our eggs!

20 Months

2011-04-04T14:01:00.000-04:00

I cannot believe that Colton will be 2 in 4 months! It is an absolutely amazing thing to see him grow up ... to watch him learn ... to see his personality evolve. I am in love with being a mommy for sure!

Colton changes too much anymore to try and keep track of all the new things he does ... some of the big ones this month have been:

We became mommy and daddy (instead of mama and dada). I love it! I don't know why all of a sudden it changed but I'll take it!
His bottom right 2 year molar came in!
He knows and uses the word "sorry". We use the put your nose to the wall punishment and he'll walk over, put his nose on the wall for 2 seconds, and then turn around and tell us he's sorry. Little stinker! He'll also tell you he's sorry if he knows he did something that hurt you (accidentally scratch you etc).
He points out all of his boo boos and tells you to kiss them! If you ask him where he got his boo boo from, he always says "Doh-wa" which is our dog. And believe me, they aren't all from her.

Breakfast at IHOP with Great Grandpa Larry

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Mickey Shades!

The worst thing for a kid ... to go from beautiful spring weather to chilly weather! He hated to wear those gloves!

So Mommy let him take his gloves off :)

This kid is hilarious!

Obsessed with washing his hands!

T-R-O-U-B-L-E!

He loves unrolling the toilet paper!

You're a mean one ... Mr. Grinch!

Cool dude!

What's up dog?

*Aunt Kelly picked this shirt out*

Watching Butler advance to the championship game!

Family Pictures!

2011-04-04T13:33:00.000-04:00

We did family pictures and Easter pictures this past weekend. The family pictures turned out great but Colton wouldn't really cooperate by himself for his Easter pictures. Oh well right!

19 Months

2011-03-07T10:55:00.000-05:00

Colton is becoming such a big boy. He moved to the "2's & Waiting" room on Monday, February 28th and had a really great week in the new room. His reports came back well and he did a great job minding Miss Missie and Miss Megan. He's back with some of his old friends and is learning new things everyday!

We've had a few weeks of sickness in our house but we are all healthy now (so far!) Colton's been a little fussy lately and we are wondering if he isn't already working on his 2 year molars! We can't feel anything but we have the drooling, runny nose, grumpiness that normally goes along with teething.

What Colton is up to now:

He's discovered "poot" and "burp" He uses the term "poot" for poop or passing gas and he'll say "I burp" whenever he burps.
He's permanently in his big boy bed now and he was rewarded with a nice little 22" flatscreen TV for his bedroom to watch Mickey before he goes to bed.
If you ask him to say the magic word (which is please) he says "Meeska" as in Meeska Mooska Mickey Mouse. The magic word to make the clubhouse appear!
He's learned that an octagon means stop
He is now using the word "woah" and in the right context
He's learned what a "boo boo" is
He's learned how to properly use the word "yucky" ... sometimes he even says "icky yucky"
He prefers showers over baths
He's really good at pointing out animals and telling you what sound they make

It's been an exciting month though. We had a princess themed birthday party for Miss LeiLa at our house. We booked our first family vacation to Gulf Shores for the end of July. We attended a Super Bowl party with our neighbors. We took Colton skating for the first time. We've successully moved Colton to a big boy bed and he's now in a big boy class at daycare ... I'm curious to see what this month brings!

Taste testing the cake for LeiLa's party

Getting in trouble with LeiLa

Hanging out with Mara

Our little prince

Snuggling with Cubby

MMM popcorn

Getting in trouble

Colton picked the Packers

Like father like son

Let's roll

Daddy and Colton

Mommy and Colton

Skating Party

2011-02-22T10:29:00.000-05:00

Miss Mara and Mr. Colton

Colton attended his first skating party with one of his best buds, Miss Mara. He did really well and lasted a lot longer than we thought he would.

Do you have your good shoes on?

2011-02-22T09:30:00.000-05:00

So we just recently had a little thaw out and we took advantage of the nicer weather. This is how Colton chose to enjoy the weather!

Apparently the apple doesn't fall too far form the tree. When I was a toddler and it would be raining, I had a habit of sitting in the downspout ... one time I was in my nice Easter outfit!

18 Months! Can you believe it!

2011-02-08T11:20:00.000-05:00

Colton's appointment went really well. He is now 29 pounds 7 ounces (90th percentile) and 34 1/4 inches tall (95th percentile). He still has both tubes (we thought he might have lost one since he had an ear infection a couple weeks ago) and got 2 vaccines but did soooo well with them. He's such a good boy.

What's Colton Up To Now:

Shapes - knows octagon, diamond, circle, heart, star, oval, flower and triangle
Counting - yes our little genius can count to 10
Alphabet - can say "A B C"
Colors - knows blue and yellow really well but will repeat colors after you say them
Talks talks talks - and repeats repeats repeats! The other day his favorite word was "suck" thanks to his daddy saying "this game sucks"
He's wearing 2T clothing and size 7 shoes!
Can go up and down the stairs all by himself!
Still loves books, balls and cars!
Knows his animals and what sounds they make - cow, cat, dog, bunny, lion/tiger, bear, mouse, cow, duck, rooster, horse, fish, bird
He can catch a ball now and has a serious arm on him when throwing
Is starting to tell us when he's peed or pooped

Sometimes he'll just look at you and say "pee" or sometimes he'll point to his diaper and say Elmo or Mickey which we think means he's just peed
The other day he looked at me and said "I poop" and sure enough he had!

Some of mommy's favorite words right now:

Wort (work - he says this when daddy isn't around)
Boo-ee (balloon)
Ka-wee (color)
Sam-oo (Samuel)
Ee-mee-nut (In a minute)

This was taken at daycare as a present for the parents

He wears this hat all the time!

First haircut!

He loves to help clean!

First time in the snow!

Bananas!

I love this picture!

This is our little stinker!

He wouldn't share with any of us!

Eating breakfast like a big boy!

He wanted a diaper on but didn't want to take his pants off!

Helping daddy with laundry

First time sitting in his booster seat!

Our little animal

He loves his "bees"

Dakota chasing Colton and the lawnmower

One Smart Cookie

2011-01-31T15:17:00.000-05:00

He just amazes us every day with the things he is learning! He's going to be one smart cookie!

Colton vs The Stairs - Part 2

2011-01-31T14:54:00.001-05:00

He must have had another growth spurt because Colton can reach our handrail now! He's getting really good (and really quiet) at going up and down the stairs.

What Does a "Colton" Say?

2011-01-31T14:40:00.000-05:00

Rargh! Rargh! Roooaaarrr!

Scouting Video

2011-01-26T14:58:00.000-05:00

I know it's probably a little too early to be thinking NBA ... but with skills like this, it's hard not to think about it!

Colton's Latest Toy - XBox Kinect

2011-01-26T14:25:00.001-05:00

Colton vs The Stairs - Part 1

2011-01-26T13:57:00.000-05:00

Colton is getting braver on the stairs. This is him at Nana and Bumpaw's house. Their hand rail is a little lower than ours and he has no problem using it to go up and down. And since they have a tri-level he doesn't have as many stairs to worry about. We're still waiting on him to discover the "slide" part of their stairs!

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

2011-01-05T11:43:00.000-05:00

Nana was playing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" on the keyboard the other day and Colton was sitting with her watching ... well I thought I heard him singing along but it just didn't seem possible. So later that night we started singing it and this is what we got ...

We've heard him sing some more parts as well but haven't been able to capture it.

Christmas Catch Up

2011-01-05T10:59:00.000-05:00

Our Christmas began with Great Grandma Paula the weekend before Christmas. We had a nice dinner (thank you Chadlee) and then exchanged gifts. Colton got a 5 pack of cars and a very cool log cabin bank.

Our next Christmas was from Karrie (a co-worker of mine). She got Colton some clothes, books and made him an "I-Spy" quilt. It was perfect. It had little squares of fabric of different things that Colton likes ... like I said ... perfect!

On Christmas Eve morning, we went to Grandma and Papaw Brown's. Cathy made a wonderful egg quiche dish and a very tasty apple cinnamon twist dish. Colton wasn't too interested in the food and was ready for his presents. One of our big presents was a Little Tikes table and chairs. Colton also got lots of new clothes and toys and a GeoTrax train set that we haven't opened up yet but Chad is pretty anxious to do so!

After a short nap, we headed to Great Grandma Brown's for dinner. Colton made out really well there too with lots of new clothes, cars, books and a drum/instrument set that all the kids enjoyed playing. Miss Mara continued to love all over Colton and it was great to see Miss LeiLa walk!

On Christmas day, I woke up and prepared the downstairs for the festivities. I plugged in all the Christmas lights, turned on the "fireplace", started up the Christmas music, and put some chocolate chip cookies into the oven! We had to wait for Colton to wake up, but it was well worth the wait!

We had to quit a little early (Colton was losing interest anyways) and get ready for Great Grandma Wiley's. Just like last year, I didn't take a single picture there. He did get some really neat stuff there though. He got a Colts hoodie, a set of Nerf balls, a puzzle block that has different things to learn on each side, and some books.

From there we headed to Nana and Bumpa's house. Again, Colton had lost interest so we did a few of his presents but spent the majority of the time on our presents.

The Radio Flyer pony at the end really perked Colton up though!

We were supposed to head back to Nana and Bumpa's the day after Christmas to finish up Colton's presents and for left over lunch but Colton came down with a stomach bug so we had to wait until Monday to head back over. But he was ready to open more presents! Nana and Bumpa got him some clothes, puzzles, books, toys and a basketball hoop for their house!

Our last Chrismtas event was on New Year's Day. We headed to Colleen's to see Great Grandpa Larry. Colton got a Purdue hoodie, a Magnadoodle, some more clothes, a puzzle book, and a book called Gallop that as you open the book it makes the animal on the page appear to move. Very neat!

We had a wonderful Christmas and hope that everyone else did as well!

Oh ... Colton got a Schwinn Roadster Tricycle from Santa this year and I wanted to show off him "riding" it. His legs are just a little too short still for the pedals!

Treats

2010-12-15T13:48:00.000-05:00

Colton has been introduced to treats because of our advent calendar. Unfortunately he can't stop at one! Here's a video of him asking for treats and then celebrating with a little Mickey. Watch what he does when you ask him if it's all gone :)

Figures ...

2010-12-15T11:38:00.000-05:00

The first 3 syllable word he masters is BASKETBALL.

Happy Holidays

2010-12-13T10:31:00.000-05:00

Hoping you and your family have a

wonderful Christmas and a very happy New Year!

16 Months!

2010-12-13T10:06:00.000-05:00

This is super late but it's just so busy right now ... exciting time of year but so busy! So far the tree has stayed up and Colton has only broke one ornament! Don't worry Matt and Kelly ... it was a Purdue ornament ... silly Hoosiers!

Weight: 28.4 pounds
Height: ?? He won't sit still long enough for us to measure him

What's Colton Been Up To:

So Colton's talking up a storm now. I am officially "Mommy" ... I absolutely love walking into the room and hearing him say "Mommy" and run to me! He's also mastered the word "basketball" ... hmmm wonder why? And he's just recently started to say "oh tood" ... which is short for "oh toodles" from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
He's figuring out when he's going potty in his diaper. He'll grab the front of his diaper, scrunch up his face, and say "poo". Last night he actually said this, and then pooped ... oh if I could have only ran faster! He likes to flush the potty and tell the yucky bye bye.
He loves to dance! We spend at least a half an hour each day dancing!

I'm sure there's a lot more but that's the problem ... he's learning too quickly!

First Pacer Game - He loved it!

He's so good with his shapes!

Helping daddy with his bed

So tired!

Sitting like a big boy at the table!

Oh ok ... I see the resemblance now!

Colton hanging the first ornament!

Giving Colton his daily Christmas treat

This kid loves juice!

2010-11-18T08:49:00.001-05:00

I wish I would have had my camera to catch the first part of this where he went into the pantry ... pointed out the juice ... actually lifted the juice container up ... and then made it to the point I started recording ...

15 Month Update

2010-11-04T15:11:00.000-04:00

Weight: 27 pounds 13 ounces (75th-90th percentile)
Height: 35 3/4 inches (97th percentile)

Observations from his appointment:

He is experiencing an an allergic reaction to Luvs diapers on his back
He has chapped cheeks (on his face people ... geez!)
He has 7 teeth on top and 7 teeth on bottom and the possibility of one more on the bottom coming in really soon
He has a slight ear infection in right ear but nothing too serious

He received his MMR and Varivax vaccines along with the first round of the flu shot. He didn't like the shots at all and proceeded to push mommy out of the room and close the door on her. He's so dramatic! Mommy bribed him with a sucker and then they were friends again.

What's Colton up to now?

Repeats words you say all the time. They are not always right or even comprehendible but it's still neat to see him try. His latest words are:

Elmo
Kelly (Telly)
All done (he says this whenever his sippy is empty or when he's done eating)
Outside
Shoes
Pumpkin (bumpin)
Grandpa (Bompa - this is what he calls Linz's dad)
Oval
Baby
Sister (sista - no there's no 2nd baby on the way ... just something he read in a book)
Bath (bat) - he still loves bath time and will run into the bathroom when you ask him if he wants to take a bath
Football (boo-ball)
Cooper (Coop Coop - which is what we nicknamed our cat Cooper)
Mickey (he says mama ... yeah I know ... kind of a stretch but that's what he calls Mickey right now)

He can walk up the stairs like a big boy by holding onto the wall
He can go down the stairs like a big boy at Bompa & Nana's because their handrail is lower than ours
Sat up (from laying on his back)
Covers his eyes when you ask him "Where's Colton"
Can point to and say eyes, nose (said "no"), and mouth (said "m-ow)
Can point to his ears, belly, and feet/toes
Will show you his hands when you ask him where his hands are
Will fluff his hair is you ask him to
Knows (and does) sounds for tiger/lion (he growls), elephant (woooo), monkey (woo woo woo), horse (sounds a lot like elephant) and duck (quack quack)
Loves to tell people "Hi" and "Bye"
When Chad buckles him into the car seat in the morning he leans forward with puckered lips for kisses and then tells daddy "bye"
He gets really excited for Mickey Mouse and loves to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He's got a Mickey Mouse beach ball and he likes to give Mickey a kiss.
He can climb into his high chair now.
Still loves books, balls and cars.

Some of the great-grandchildren at Grandma Brown's 80th Birthday Party

Look at the big boy brushing his teeth

Watch out ladies!

There's that big cheesy smile!

" Mom, I thought we were on the Do Not Call list?"

Out for a Sunday drive

Almost big enough

Dunking his oreos

Mmmm ... oreos!

Did someone say bath time?

Enjoying Fall

Raking with daddy

Trying to whistle like daddy

Eating cherry tomatoes over at Grandma & Papaw's

Don't tell ... we're stealing from the neighbors garden ... shhh!

Totally in love with this kid!

We're having some disciplinary issues right now that we are trying to work on (like hitting mommy - and only mommy - in the face). We made him a special Time Out chair that works pretty well and we're also trying to work on saying "No" very firmly. It'll take time and it's all about staying consistent.

Colton's Time Out Chair

Halloween - Star Wars Style

2010-11-01T11:55:00.000-04:00

When I found this Chewbacca costume I just had to buy it. Chad does this sound when he yawns that makes him sound just like Chewbacca and I've heard Colton do it a couple of times too. I know there are probably much cuter outfits I could have put him in but this one definitely had a meaning to us.

Colton loves M&Ms!

Our cute little Chewy!

Colton's Bag from Mommy & Daddy

Trick or Treat

What?

Colton with Aunt Kelly

Whatcha got there Mom?

His backup costume!

Izzy is such a good dog!

Colton gave the doll a kiss and said "baby"

Poor Izzy!

Mmmm ... Happy Halloween!

14 Month Update

2010-10-11T10:46:00.002-04:00

Weight: 28 pounds 10 ounces
Length: 33 1/4 in

He is such a blessing and we enjoy every day with him. He learns so quickly and changes so much each day. Here's some of his latest "tricks":

Blows kisses (I have a video posted of that) and he also gives kisses! His two favorite gals right now are Aunt K and Miss Mara!
He can use a fork all by himself
Knows / signs:

More (touches pointer fingers together)
Please (rubs belly)
Drink (puts his finger into his mouth and pulls it out making a popping noise)

Talks talks talks ... he babbles on and on and has quite a list of words he can say and recognize. His list of words he can say are (and I'm sure I'm forgetting some):

Mama
Daddy ... said dadeee
Nana
Cat ... said daaaat
Clock ... said clooooock
Dog
Car ... said caaaar
Fish ... said tish
Eyes
Nose ... said noooo
Mouth
No ... said nah
Up (with the emphasis on the "p")
Down
Done
Book ... said boook
On / Off (usually when there's a light switch involved)
Boat
Bye Bye (usually accompanied with a wave or blowing kisses)
More ... said moooore
Ball ... said ba or sometimes baaaall
Pretty (he's said this a couple of times)
I've heard him say his name a couple of times but I think that's a fluke
Touchdown ... said tada
Booms (knuckle knocks blowing up ... he'll say boom)

Other words he knows but doesn't say yet:

Ears (he'll flip his ears)
Feet (touches his feet)
Belly (points at his belly)
Fluff your hair (he'll rub his hand on top of his head)
Outside (he'll run to one of the doors)
Sippy (he'll run to the refrigerator)
Eat (he'll run to his high chair)
Snack (he'll run to the pantry)
Turtle (he can find all the turtles in the bath)
Duck
Bird
Slide (he'll walk over to his play set to slide)
Diaper (he'll get a diaper out for us now)
Baskets (we use this to have him help pick up his toys since he likes to make baskets all the time)

He's getting really good at walking fast / running
He knows "Ring around the rosey" ... he'll spin around in a circle while you sing and sometimes he'll fall down when he's supposed to
He'll bring his shoes to you and lift his foot to put them on
He loves to read! His favorite books right now are "Five Little Pumpkins", "That's Not My Dinosaur", and "Wiggle Your Toes"

In the book "Five Little Pumpkins" it says "oooh went the wind and out went the lights ..." well I'll say "ooh went the wind and [pause]" Colton will say "out" when we get to that part ... it's so cute!

He is really into climbing right now ... it's a little unnerving to see Colton standing on top of toys or trying to climb up onto speakers!

We've added brushing our teeth to our bedtime routine ... he steps up onto his step stool and we brush our teeth after our bath. It's pretty cute!

Sitting in a booster seat at Noble Roman's

His favorite thing to do ... play with cords!

Playing horn with a toilet paper roll!

Helping mommy do some yard work

Climbing on top of the hot tub

Bubble goatee

Love his smile!

Playing trucks

Little stinker

Teaching Colton he can touch the pumpkin

Check out these skills!

That's right people ... I can use a fork now!

Dressing up like George Washington

Mommy and Colton

Picking out a book

Helping Daddy mow

His favorites ... Doug Dog, Lucy Bug, and his blankie

Playing ball with Aunt K

Getting so good at taking steps down

Colton goes November 5th for his 15 month check up. We've been warned it's a rough round of vaccines so we're not real excited ... but I'm sure he'll do just fine. Whenever they warn us to except something, Colton always does the opposite!

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-07T10:34:00.000-04:00

We took Colton to Beasley's Apple Orchard on Sunday for a Fall festival. It was pretty chilly and windy but we all had a good time! We shopped around inside and bought apple cider for Chad, a small pumpkin (or ball as Colton keeps calling them) for Colton, some gourds for me to put in my halloween decorations and candy sticks (a tradition that my family does every time we go to Beasley's).

Wow Mom ... there's more than 5 little pumkins here!

Don't worry I'll get it ...

So many to choose from ...

Ahhh ... I need a break!

Then we took a hayride out to the actual pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkin. We just got a small pumpkin from the patch but we let Colton pick it out. How did he decide which one he wanted ... well you'll see below.

He was saying hello to the people in the cart in front of us

Are we there yet?

Which one do I want?

This one looks good!

Yup ... this is the one I want!

Attempting to walk through the pumpkin patch (he kept tripping on the vines)

That's not my dinosaur ... it's skin is too foamy!

(We read a book called "That's Not My Dinosaur" everyday!)

We'll definitely be going back next year and enjoying some more of the festivities that Colton was too young to do this year.

I'm working on his 14 month update so I hope to have that up in the next few days or so. Hope everyone is enjoying Fall!

Blowing Kisses

2010-09-17T14:14:00.000-04:00

This is Colton's newest "trick" and it is by far my favorite!

Sliding ...

2010-09-08T14:09:00.001-04:00

Colton has figured it out!

Yes Colton, that slide does have a purpose

other than ramping cars down it ... or throwing balls at it!

While he prefers the traditional "sit down" slide,

he has also mastered the "backward" slide,
the "face first" slide,
our favorite by far is the "splits" slide.

1 Year and 1 Month ...

2010-09-07T14:36:00.000-04:00

It's been a quick month! Colton is now 28 pounds (he was officially weighed at his trip to Immediate Care on Sunday - no biggie - just a stomach virus that's going around) and he is 33 1/4 inches tall.

He is solidly wearing 2T clothing (although the necks are sometimes a little too wide for him) and is pushing the limits on his size 6 shoes.

It's been a rough month but a month of new developments as well ... all of Colton's molars have broke through the skin so between that, his ear tube surgery, and his 2 rounds of diarrhea ... I'm pooped! ha ha! We have a follow up appointment on Friday, September 17th for his ears but the doctor at the Immediate Care said his ears looked fantastic!

Colton is talking up a storm and really relating the words to objects. He can identify fish (said "tish"), dog, and cat (said "dat"). He can say clock and point out all the clocks in the house. He is getting better with saying ball instead of "ba". He can say car and uh oh and he can say nose (said "no" and point to your nose ... and then pick it!) He is now saying bubbles and if you yell touchdown he'll put his arms up in the air and sometimes say "ta da".

One of the funniest things though is when you take off his shoes or if someone "toots" and you say "shew-y stinky", he will start fanning his face like it stinks! It's hilarious. We had been making a big deal about his feet stinking when we take his shoes off and he would just laugh at us ... nothing too exciting. Then a few days later, Kelly and Chad were playing with Colton on the couch and Chad let out a nasty that was so bad Kelly and him had to move. We all started joking about how bad it stunk and then realized we had left Colton on the couch in the funk ... well when we looked over Colton was laughing and fanning his face and shaking his head no! Priceless!

Some other big changes with Colton is that Colton can shake his head no ... he doesn't tell us no (yet) but will shake his head if he doesn't want his drink or more to eat. He has also signed "more" when we've asked him if he wants more to eat.

He has figured out how to climb up the rock wall, sit down, and scooch forward enough to go down the slide all by himself.

He is also getting really good at his shape sorter and matching the shapes up with the right hole.

He will pick up an item he thinks is the phone and hold it behind his ear and say "uh-lo" ... we can't tell if he is saying hello or hola!

He has also started to make a noise when he touches something that feels funny or that is "icky". It's hard to explain the noise but it's pretty funny.

Feeding the goats at the State Fair

Cool dude

Getting his picture drawn

Building stuff

Learning our numbers

Going for a ride

Future MVP

The Brown's

One of the few times Dakota stood still long enough for him to do this

Love it!

Snuggling with mommy

Using daddy as a jungle gym

He loves to read!

Getting ready for surgery

Oooh ... it's breezy!

Future MVP

Such a boy!

C'mon mom ... another picture?!?

He loves mommy's old rocking chair!

Loves to rock!

I promise I was stopped when I took this

Slumber party

At the park

He did not want to get out of this swing!

Such a big boy!

First sucker!

He liked the meerkats!

First train ride

Kind of an ironic picture ...

Blue 52 ... blue 52 ... hut hut!

Making friends at the water park

Helping mommy water the plants

Picking up the water and putting it into the bucket???

It's ok mom ... I'll get it.

Check out my sprout!

Mmmm ... pudding!

Our One Year Wonder!

2010-08-05T09:34:00.000-04:00

Colton had his 1 year checkup yesterday. He is 26 pounds 10 ounces (95th percentile) and 32 1/2 inches tall (above 95th percentile). He had 2 shots (the last of his meningitis vaccine and a Hep A vaccine) and got 2 cool Charlie Brown band-aids that he ripped off himself once we got home. He's doing great and we are working on cutting out the bottle and pacifier now.

Things he can do now:

Point with his pointer fingers
Say "fish" and point to the fish tank
Use a fork/spoon to feed himself (we're still working on scooping though)
Say "uh oh" which is sometimes followed by "dude" ... too cute!

We're having a big birthday bash for Colton on Saturday, August 14th so we hope to see all of our friends and family there!

Reading with mommy

Petting sharks with daddy

Checking out the bear

Can you believe that other kid is 17 motnhs?

Petting goats

Playing cornhole with Aunt K

Baby wedgie

Colton vs spaghetti

At an outdoor craft fair with Grand-Dude

I'm always a happy camper when there's food!

Birthday Dude

Taking a cheese puff break before presents

Opening presents

Playing cars

Legos with daddy

Face plant followed by slurping of icing

Good job buddy!

Getting cleaned up!

Congratulations Aunt K and Uncle Matt

2010-08-05T09:17:00.000-04:00

Kelly and Matt were married Saturday, July 31st!

Picture by Amy Phipps Photography

The wedding was beautiful and we are so happy to officially have Matt as Colton's uncle!

We love you both very much!

Happy Birthday Colton Parker!

2010-08-03T08:23:00.000-04:00

Colton has his 1 year checkup tomorrow so I'll post more then!

11 Months

2010-07-07T08:54:00.001-04:00

Can you believe that next month Colton will be one! These last few months have really flown by! We've sent out evites to email addresses we could find for Colton's birthday party on August 14th so be sure to check your email! We're working on sending out paper invitations to anyone who hasn't viewed the evites as well. We'd love to get all our family and friends together to celebrate Colton!

OK - so what's new ... well he's been pretty fussy lately so it's kind of hard to write about how great he is right now ... just kidding. We think he might be working on his molars already because he is really cramming his fingers into his mouth and well ... to be honest we just need a reason for his fussiness. It doesn't help either that his schedule is completely different at daycare and we're weaning him from his bottle.

Current Weight: 26.0 pounds (he's really slimming out now that he's walking a lot!)
Current Height: 30.5 inches

What's he doing now?

Moved to the 1-year room (at 10 1/2 months!)
Babbles all the time
Lifts his hand/arm up to point to things
Only has a bottle in the evening now (we just weaned him off his morning bottle over the 4th of July weekend)
Has switched to milk during the day and once this last tub of formula runs out he'll get milk in the evening as well
Can point out all the "ba's" in the room ... it's so cute when he picks up a ball and says "ba"
Walks everywhere ... and he is good at it. He can pivot and change directions, swoop to pick up toys stand up from a sitting position ... the kid is everywhere now!
Can climb up the rock wall on his play set all by himself
Can climb stairs all by himself (but doesn't understand the stepping down concept at all!)
Still really clingy to mommy
Sleeping through the night ... goes to bed about 8:30 and sleeps until 6:00
Fascinated by how things work ... he'll study objects forever to see how they work ... or look under toys like a mechanic ... too cute!
Great eater ... only thing he will not eat so far are peas! He loves cheese right now and will devour a slice of cheese in seconds! He understands that if we take the tray off of the high chair that he needs to come over so we can load him in.

TROUBLE!!

His favorite toys = mommy's expensive cameras

"When was the last time you organized mommy?"

What? He thought it was fun!

Sleeping with his butt up in the air!

"These packets go right here ... right daddy?"

Riding the tractor

He loves the water!

Check out his size 5.5 shoes!

Can climb all by himself

First Father's Day

2010-06-21T14:43:00.000-04:00

I think Chad had a pretty good Father's Day. We started our morning with Colton sleeping in until 6:45! It was great! Then we opened up presents! Colton got his daddy a Mr. Dad t-shirt, a fishing rod organizer, and a Mickey Mouse fishing pole!

Then we headed out to the Children's Museum. I think we had more fun than Colton did! He did really well though. He walked most of it, played really well, and even rode the carousel!

Look at this little stinker!

2010-06-21T14:01:00.002-04:00

Colton & Dakota

2010-06-17T10:09:00.004-04:00

I get asked alot if Dakota does well with Colton ... well ... I'd say she tolerates the exploring little guy pretty well!

Colton likes to grab her tail and instead of snipping at him, she just licks his hand and distracts him.

Oh ... and check out Colton's headbutt ... that's something he's picked up at daycare but it's his way of showing affection. He's too cool for kisses ... so he headbutts.

Playing "Ba"

2010-06-17T10:05:00.002-04:00

Colton's Lump and Some Pictures

2010-06-15T16:00:00.000-04:00

I took Colton to the ENT specialist today. It's not a cyst like the pediatrician thought ... it's just a lymph node. I guess what was throwing them off is the location of the lymph node. It's a little higher than usual but nothing to worry about.

Here are some pictures of Colton over the past month:

*Working on standing*

*He loves to play ball*

*Checking his email*

*Dancing with mommy*

*The funny part is that he doesn't use a paci at all*

*What?*

*Koolaid good!*

*Playing in the rocks*

*Standing outside*

*Playing with mommy*

*Check out my shirt*

*Planting flowers for mommy*

*Mmmm ... good*

*Playing in the jumpy house*

*Mmmm ... cheetos!*

*Snuggling with mommy*

*Swinging with daddy*

10 Month Update ... a little late

2010-06-14T13:58:00.000-04:00

This is going to be quick because we're halfway through his 10th month so I'll do a big update when he turns 11 months.

We forgot to measure Colton's length but at one of our doctor visits we've had lately for his ears, Colton was up to 26.3 pounds!! He's set to go to an Ear Nose Throat Specialist tomorrow to have a bump behind his ear looked at. It was swollen the size of a marble but has gone down. It was probably due to his ear infections but we still want to have it looked at.

Colton's just amazing right now! He switches to the 1 year room on Monday, June 21st. He's so smart and such a goofball. It's the best.

WHAT COLTON HAS BEEN UP TO LATELY:

Colton is allergic to Amoxicillin. We found this out after he was given the medicine for a double ear infection over Memorial Day. He broke out in a bad rash all over his back, stomach, neck and face which is odd because he's had Amoxicillin before.
He loves to eat! He's really good with finger foods and eats everything. He likes to pretend to give you a puff and then quickly put it in his mouth and start to laugh.
He loves to flip his fingers across his bottom lip to make noises.
He can look at a ball and say "ba". He loves to throw!
He drinks from a straw ... it's so cute!
Oh yeah ... he can WALK!! And just last night he actually stood up without any support and then took off walking. He can also change direction and stop without falling over. He also flips his ear when he walks for some reason.
His 7th tooth just broke through this weekend.
He will point to things that he wants now.

There's probably lots more but these are some of the main things going on right now. I'll post some pictures soon too.

Who says you have to learn to walk before you can run ...

2010-06-08T15:55:00.002-04:00

9 Month Professional Pictures

2010-06-08T10:43:00.001-04:00

9 Months Old

Standing on his own

Rub a dub dub!

Can you see all my teeth?

I dropped the soap!

Baby boobies!

Such a big boy!

Cutie!

Lock up your daughters!

Officially 9 Months

2010-05-04T08:34:00.000-04:00

Colton is still such a happy baby and we are so blessed to have him in our lives!

Weight: 24 lbs 10 ounces
Height: 30 1/2 inches

Things Colton has been doing:

Pulls up on everything
Starting to stand on his own
Walks around the furniture and behind his push walker
Will walk around if you hold his hands but his belly gets going quicker than his feet!
Sticks out his tongue and blows spit bubbles
Can say "dada", "mama", "nana", "good" (we often think we hear "good girl" and "good dog"), "dog", "ba ba" which often sounds like "bye bye" and I think I've heard him say what could be translated as "shit" but I'm hoping it was a fluke and he's trying to tell the dog to sit. He has just started to make words starting with the "t" sound.
Biting ... he doesn't realize it because he's actually biting on our clothes but man it hurts. We're working on breaking that and it's slowly getting better.
Eats any and everything (including paper ... yeah I know ... bad mommy!) He's getting better at feeding himself with his hands but he definitely prefers for you to feed him.
Sippy cup pro ... loves his juices!
Puts his arms straight up in the air when he wants to be picked up.
Swims (well attends swim classes but it's just 30 minutes of playing in the water) ... HE LOVES IT!
Takes off his own diapers if he's not wearing pants.
He loves to roll over and take off speed crawling when you're trying to change his diaper.
Plays ball with Dakota
Likes to roll a ball back and forth with mommy and daddy
Goes to the 1 year room for an hour or so each day ... so he has to wear shoes all the time now which I don't think he cares too much for.
He's still in 18 month clothing and wears a size 4 shoe.
He has been sleeping from 8:00PM to 6:00AM lately which is really nice for us!
He naps twice a day ... each nap can be as short as 20 minutes to up to an hour and a half long. You can definitely tell the days he has shorter naps!
Still only 4 teeth but we have another tooth causing some discomfort right now.

*What?*

*Catch me if you can*

*Tired little guy!*

*Such a big boy!*

*First Fort*

*Finally holding his own bottle*

*Beep Beep*

*Playing in the hot tub*

*Sippy Pro*

*Sticking out his tongue*

*Testing the water*

*He loved it*

*Jumping into the pool*

*He loves spaghetti*

Follow Up & 9 Month Wellness Check

2010-04-26T08:35:00.000-04:00

Colton's lungs sounded good at his follow up appointment so it looks like what put him in the hospital has cleared up completely! YAY!

Dr. Duck also did his 9 month wellness check while we were there (since there were no shots) and Colton now weighs 24 lbs 6 ozs (95th percentile) and is 30 1/2 inches long (above 95th percentile). Big baby! And he won't even be 9 months until the 3rd. I think I'll remeasure him then to see if he's grown anymore! I'll also update on what he's been doing at that time too.

Happy Birthday Mara!

2010-04-14T14:48:00.000-04:00

We attended our first birthday party this past weekend and had a great time.

*Mara the birthday girl*

Colton ate cheese, goldfish crackers, broccoli and cupcakes with ice cream.

*Can you see my 4 teeth?*

He showed off his amazing sippy skills as well as his new moves.

*Real men drink from pink sippies*

*Going hulk on us*

It was great weather and we had a lot of fun!

Colton's Doing Great

2010-04-14T14:40:00.000-04:00

We take Colton back for a follow up on Friday, April 23rd. He is doing really well now and sounds great. He's also getting back on a schedule which is great for Mommy and Daddy!

*Colton's Boo Boo Bear*

~Thanks Val and Gayle~

Basically, Colton developed an infection in his lungs that was causing respiratory failure when he was sleeping. So our stay at the hospital was longer than expected because he wasn't allowed to be discharged until he could sleep through the night without oxygen. But we made it through and Colton is doing great. His cough is gone and he no longer wheezes when he breathes. He's got his energy back and is on the go all the time. Our biggest problem now is that he became really spoiled those few days with being held so he has been whining a lot and likes to be held. So we're slowly backing off of that. Last night he did amazing though so we are definitely on the right track!

Colton's 1st Easter and ER Visit

2010-04-14T14:30:00.001-04:00

Our Easter celebration started Wednesday, March 31st.

Grandma and Grandpa Brown brought over some goodies for Colton.

*Trying to pull out the goodies*

*Building Blocks*

*Tearing off the paper*

Then we spent Saturday with Nana, Dude, Aunt K and Great Grandma Paula.

*Drumming with Grand-Dude*

*Always the center of attention*

*Such a sweet boy*

*This is how I roll*

This is what the Easter Bunny left for Colton on Easter morning.

*Basket and other goodies*

*Where do I start*

*Our little snot nose bunny*

But we had to skip the Easter Egg Hunt at Great Grandma Brown's and make our way to the Emergency Room. You can see from the picture above that Colton was a mess!

8 Month Update

2010-04-14T13:28:00.000-04:00

Weight: 23.2 lbs
Height: 30 1/4 inches

Can crawl really fast
Pulls up on anything now
Claps hands when you say "yay"
Understands patty cake
Clicks tongue
Working on waving good bye
Eats anything you put in front of him (but prefers for you to feed him)
Still loves bath time
Prefers mommy right now

We're Home!!

2010-04-08T07:41:00.000-04:00

We made it home last night! I'll update about his condition, his 8 month stats, and his 1st Easter when I get a chance!

Little Man Is Hospitalized

2010-04-06T10:29:00.000-04:00

*Colton Easter morning before he began his shallow breathing*

We have been in Pediatrics at Clarian West since Sunday. We originally brought Colton in because we were concerned he was getting dehydrated from being ill. He wasn't eating or drinking anything and hadn't had any wet diapers for 6 hours. Of course it was Easter Sunday so the Immediate Care was closed. We got here Sunday at 2:00 PM, waited until 6:00 PM to see a doctor, and then was admitted to Peds at 9:30 PM.

Our initial concern of dehydration was cleared but they had concern about his breathing. He was breathing way too fast. So the gave him a breathing treatments of albuterol and steroids but his fever spiked to 102 and he was still taking real short breaths.

Dr. Duck saw us Monday morning. Colton does have an ear infection in his right ear so they began some antiobiotic treatments to clear up any infections he might have. Dr. Duck also prescribed prednisone and double doses of breathing treatments every 2 hours. We continued this through last night and have been bumped up to treatments every 3 hours now.

The main concern is that when Colton sleeps, his oxygen saturation drops really low. Babies are naturally designed to wake up when it gets too low but we just aren't sure why this is happening. The breathing treatments have definitely cleared him up but hasn't taken care of the oxygen issue yet. There could be some secretions or imflammation still in his chest causing the drop in oxygen and they keep telling us to give the steroids time to work but nothing yet. We aren't allowed to be discharged until he is at treatments every 4 hours and not needing oxygen when he sleeps. So we'll be here atleast another night but they are hoping that we can switch to every 4 hours by this evening. I'll update when I can but keep us in your prayers!

*Just checked in ... not feeling very well*

*We put the ER in East-ER*

*Sweet baby boy*

*In pretty good spirits on Monday*

*Let me out of here*

Visiting the Easter Bunny

2010-03-29T09:35:00.003-04:00

Colton did really well sitting with the Easter Bunny!!

On the Move

2010-03-25T09:11:00.002-04:00

Colton crawled for the first time last night! It was absolutely amazing to see!

Peek A Boo

2010-03-16T18:58:00.002-04:00

I noticed Colton pulling the blanket up over his head so we started saying peek-a-boo ... I think he actually gets it (a little)!

Jumping on the bed ...

2010-03-16T18:51:00.003-04:00

Whenever you sing "5 little monkeys jumping on the bed" Colton will start to bounce. Could he be any cuter?

Sippy Cup

2010-03-16T18:46:00.003-04:00

Oh so close ...

2010-03-05T15:04:00.002-05:00

7 Months

2010-03-04T11:09:00.000-05:00

Colton now weighs 23 pounds and is 29 1/2 inches long. He's solidly in 12 month clothing now and wears a size 4 shoe!

This month has had its ups and downs. It seems like the whole Brown family has been sick at some point and Colton's ear infection from a few weeks ago never cleared up which resulted in a trip to the Immediate Care on Monday. He's got some antibiotics in his system now though so he's back to normal! We got his 6 month/Easter pictures done about a week ago and they turned out great (I mean come on ... the kid doesn't take a bad picture ever!)

Preview of Colton's 6 Month Pictures

What Colton is up to:

He is still eating 6 ounces every 2 1/2 to 3 hours and will usually have 8 ounces before he goes to bed. He is also eating solids 3 times a day. He has rice cereal in the morning, a fruit and veggie for lunch and then a fuit or veggie for dinner. He's also discovered the Graduate Puffs and enjoys those quite a bit. We have to break them in half though because he likes to swallow them instead of gumming them.
He's sleeping through the night (for the most part) and is really good with his bedtime routine of a bath and a bottle with daddy. The past couple of nights we've laid him down while he was awake and he talked for a little while and then went to bed. If he does wake up at night he normally talks for a little bit and then falls back to sleep. If he starts to cry then we'll feed him and he goes right back to bed.
He's a babbler! We definitely have dada and what sounds like dog and I swear he can say good girl. He has started to babble more with the "g" sounds and occasionally you'll hear a "b" sound. We're still working on mama but he sure watches your mouth when you say it. He always smiles when you say mama too and that makes me happy.
He has 3 teeth ... 2 on the bottom and his right front tooth. I often catch him grinding his teeth now when he's tired.
He loves to dance with mommy and daddy! He really enjoys music and loves to bounce around.
He's getting much better at clapping.
He can click his tongue.
He can pull himself up to standing with a little assistance and the other day he grabbed onto my shirt and just stood right up!
He's oh so close to getting into the crawling position. He tries many different ways to get there but just can't quite make it. He will either lean over to one side, get one leg behind him, and then rock back and forth or lean forward and try to bounce up over his crossed legs. Last night was the closest we've come but those big size 4 feet kept him from getting the 2nd leg behind him.
He does get around though. He'll hop on his butt in the sitting position to get where he wants to go, he'll roll over and over to get a toy, and he'll army crawl backwards on his belly or kind of scoot/bounce backwards on his belly as well.
He now leans towards people he wants to hold him. So cute!
He's definitely going through the favoring mommy phase (and I love it!)
He's getting much more independent with wanting to hold his own spoons, bottles, cups, etc. He was holding the nebulizer treatment wand the other day and he even held the medicine dispenser when we were giving him Amoxicillin.
He's still growling but now he growls when he can't quite reach something or when he's having trouble doing something.
He's getting better with his sippy cup but prefers a real cup. If you give him a big boy cup he'll bite down and smack his lips before you've even tilted it back for the water.

We're really looking forward to the Easter Bunny in a month and we've just enrolled Colton in swim classes beginning May 1st. We are really excited about the swim classes because we think he'll love them! Here's some pictures from this past month:

Check out my dinosaur feet socks

Future basketball star

Drinking from a big boy cup

Little man was SICK!

Mom ... don't put my baby boobs on the internet!

Big Dude feeding Little Dude turkey

Dude ... that's not how Mom does it!

Check out how dark my hair is getting

Really likes to open and close things

He's not quite sure about his Laugh & Learn Puppy

Colton was leaning in and growling at the puppy

Bulldog

I do it!

Awww

He loves to stand but doesn't want to hold your hands

What? No emails from Grandma?

On your mark ... get set ... go!

I think he likes his walker!

Snuggling with dada

You should see the other guy!

(check out his first bruise on his right cheek)

Catch me if you can!

Colton Update

2010-02-17T12:56:00.001-05:00

Colton had his appointment with the pediatric opthalmologist yesterday and he checked out just fine. They dilated his eyes which wasn't bad but not really fun either but they were able to get a good baseline for him. He's not nearsided or farsided at all and no lazy or deviant eyes. They said he probably have what's called pseudoesotropia which is when the eyes appear to be crossed but are actually straight. It affects 20% of infants and is due to their facial structures. Colton's wide nose bridge and small folds of eyelid skin on the nasal side of his eye contribute to this appearance by covering the "white" of his eyes. It's more apparent when he looks to the right or the left because nearly all of the "white" is covered and the eyes appear crossed. As he gets older and his facial structure matures, the illusion of crossing his eyes will improve and probably disappear completely.

When Colton woke up yesterday it looked like he had pink eye (good timing huh?) but after we talked to Dr. Roberts he explained that his tear duct was probably blocked due to his drainange and congestion. We told him that he had a blocked tear duct when he was born and he said that it probably still hadn't developed fully yet. He said we'll notice this "pink eye" when he get really congested and that if it hasn't cleared up by the time he is one, then we can choose to put a tube in his tear duct to open it up. Yeah ... I think we'll pass! We go back August 17th for a followup and if everything still looks the same we won't have to see him again! (Although he was a very good doctor to Colton and the staff was very accomodating to children!)

Another little update for Colton. He went to the doctor Saturday because of a fever of 101.5 for over a day. He did have an ear infection in his right ear and didn't break his fever until early Sunday morning. He was put on Amoxicilin and we began the Albuterol treatments again to help with the congestion. He's getting much better but still not quite well yet. It was a rough weekend for us because he just kept crying and wouldn't go to sleep and he had dark circles under his eyes and was grumpy and that's just not like Colton at all! But our happy little guy is slowly coming back to us as he gets feeling better. It doesn't help either that his top tooth keeps rising and lowering!

He's getting really good at hopping around on his butt to get places and actually rolled left from his back to his belly and left again from his belly to his back to get to a toy the other day. He's doing really well on pushups and can get everything lifted off the ground to his knees. He'll rock for a little while in this position but then falls back down. We're going to start babyproofing the house this weekend so we'll be ready for him once he does get to crawling! I'll post some picutres soon!

Happy Half Birthday Colton Parker!

2010-02-04T12:45:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Colton's half birthday! His mommy and daddy love him past the stars and back again!!

Quick update on his crazy eye. He has an eye appointment on Tuesday, February 16th at 10:00 AM at the Midwest Eye Institute. I'll update everyone on what they say after his appointment!