Colton 18 Months

My baby boy seems so big these days!! He is only 18 months but he looks like such a big boy. I think it is because of his new haircut. He sure does look handsome though.

This age is so much fun. As much as it saddens me to see them growing up, there is so much to delight in at each new stage. His personality continues to develop and we love to know more and more of him.

Size: I will get accurate height and weight at his appointment in a couple weeks, but on our home scale he weighs 25 lbs.

Skills: He has tons of words. It seems like he will repeat just about any word you ask him to say. His favorite word by far is tractor. Although it sounds more like datchu. He says it approximately 500 times a day. He calls all vehicles tractors. He also calls birds ducks. He always says airplane when he hears one outside. I love that he says uppy when he wants up (on a couch or chair). Other common words include eyes, mouth, nose, mess, wa-wa, milk, poopoo (he often tells us right before or after!), hands, bus, ball, elmo, mouse, show, phone, banana, crackers, cheese, turkey, apple, fork, spoon, more, bath, potty, train, elephant, outside...and the list goes on. This boy is definitely a talker. He will still not say Cambry's name, but calls her sissy. He does say Lainey though. He also can say his grandparents' names and some cousins.

Colton is very sensitive. If we fuss at him in a slightly loud or stern voice he will melt into a puddle of tears.

He takes after Cambry in that he likes to have clean hands. He does not like getting messy hands when eating or when playing outside.

Likes: Trucks, cars, trains, tractors, balls, and going outside. Does that sound like a boy? Haha. It is so fun to see how different he is from the girls. I love getting to experience a little boy. He also has great sound effects to everything. He likes books a lot, especially if they have vehicles or animals. He likes baths and playing with water in the water table or going to splash pads. I am eager to see if he likes going to the pool this summer. He loves playgrounds and enjoys climbing, sliding, and swinging. He also really likes shoes. He will try to put on shoes around the house or try on mine or Greg's and walk around in them.

Colton is a major cuddle bug. As soon as I lift him out of the bed in the morning he immediately lays his head on my shoulder. He does this after nap, and also randomly throughout the day. I love it.

When he wakes up in the morning sometimes he will ask about everyone in the family. It is super sweet. He will say Dada? And I will say Dada is at work. Lainey? Lainey is alseep. Sissy? Sissy is asleep too.

Colton and Lainey play really well together. It is really funny how they love to wrestle each other. Although they often want the same toy so it requires some refereeing.

He wakes up between 6:30 and 7:00am. He takes one nap a day around noon. It lasts 1-2 hours. He goes down for bed between 7:30 and 8:00pm. He still loves his lovie but doesn't suck on it anymore.

Colton Brooks we love you so much! Happy half birthday!

Easter 2017

We had a wonderful first Easter spent in the Woodlands and at our new church, WoodsEdge.

Earlier in the week Cambry had her preschool Easter party. They had an egg hunt, craft, and snacks.

I bought new Easter baskets for the girls this year and once again added ruffles around the bottom. I had no idea how I was going to decorate a boy basket but luckily my mom found this adorable bunny basket for him.

On Good Friday we had planned to make resurrection rolls and dye Easter eggs. I knew Greg would get home from work a little early so I texted our neighbor to see if they wanted to join us in the egg decorating after naps. Later in the afternoon I found out the 2 grand kids of our other neighbors were coming over so we asked them to join too. It was sort of an impromptu party but it turned out great and everyone had so much fun.

Saturday morning our church had a huge egg hunt for all the kids along with inflatables and snow cones. They kids loved doing the egg hunt and discovering all the treats inside their eggs.

On Easter Sunday we went to early service at church. We love our pastor and he gave such a great sermon. 

We came home and the kids got their Easter baskets filled with goodies and then went on an egg hunt.

My parents came over later in the day and we had a late afternoon "linner". This was the first time we had a dining room to use for hosting a holiday meal. I had a lot of fun trying to make the table look nice. My mom is the queen of beautiful tables and I always loved how she specially decorated the table each holiday. 

We had ham, limas, twice baked potatoes, and salad. I made a coconut cream pie and mini sugar cookie sandwiches for dessert. I didn't love the pie, but I couldn't stop eating the cookies.

It was such a fun week spent with family and friends. I am thankful for the life and hope we have because of Jesus' resurrection. 

Waco Trip

A couple weekends ago we went to Waco to see family. Cambry always gets SO excited and counts down the days until we go.

The cousins have so much fun playing together. It was a wild and loud evening and the kids had lots of fun. They did an egg hunt in the backyard which has a million good hiding spots.

Saturday morning Greg and his Dad and brother headed out early to go hunting. They had a fun day of calling turkeys, fishing, and almost getting attacked by owls.

While they were gone we went to Anderson's t-ball practice. Then after lunch and naps Nana took the kids to Build-A-Bear. They had never been before and had so much fun. They have been very attached to their animals ever since.

We were looking through Greg's baby pictures and some of them look a lot like Colton. Especially these 2!

We had fun trip and Cambry is already asking when we will see them again!

Springtime is Here

Oh man it gets harder and harder to write updates here but I so badly want to remember this stage of life we are in. Here are the highlights from the last few weeks.

Cambry lost her first tooth. Literally. We think she probably swallowed it during a meal or snack. It has been loose forever. Months it seems. And the adult tooth has already been there right behind it. We left a small white rock under her pillow since we couldn't find the tooth, but the tooth fairy still left her a dollar.

Spring weather has been beautiful. The splash pads are now open in the Woodlands. The kids love playing in the water and there is nice one really close to us. We also let the kids play in the one at the Waterway Square while we had a picnic dinner with friends one evening.

We went camping for one night at Huntsville state park with 4 other families. This was the first time we all stayed in a tent together. Notice I said "stayed" not "slept". It was quite comical the 5 of us crammed into a 3 person tent and 4 of us on 1 queen air mattress with Cambry on a pile of sleeping bags at our feet. Colton wanted to sleep on top of me while giving me mouth kisses. Then he and Lainey tossed and turned all night. Air mattresses remind me of water beds. When one moves, everyone moves. Maybe we should rethink our sleeping situation next time and invest in a bigger tent.

But it was still so much fun and we will definitely do it again. There were lots of kids there running around playing together, they rode scooters, we roasted s'mores, took turns in the hammock, went on a little hike, and had fun catching up with friends.

Colton has so many words. He loves to label things he sees. He calls all vehicles tractors. He is super affectionate, and like Cambry, he hates to have dirty hands.

Lainey is talking a lot in short phrases. She loves to say "come on Colton" while grabbing his hand and likes to say "yaaaay" when she gets excited. She also does a really cute fake cry/fuss when she is pretending like a doll is crying. She loves the 5 little monkeys song and tries to sing it a lot. She likes to be a big sister to Colton by helping him and feeding him. They play together a lot. And they love to copy each other. Especially when it involves something mischievous. She is starting gymnastics this week doing private lessons with a coach. I think she is really going to like it and it will be a great supplement to physical therapy. Plus she is the cutest ever in a leotard.

I am looking forward to Easter weekend and then we have a trip to Phoenix coming up soon that I am super excited about!

Bluebonnets 2017

As we have every year, we took our annual bluebonnet pictures. We found a spot in the Woodlands to take them that was pretty close to us. Although now looking back through past pictures I realize that our Oak Forest patch was much better!

Colton's hair was going crazy in the wind!

Looking back at each year's pictures always makes me so sad because I miss how tiny they used to be.

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