Colton 10 Months

It has been another fun month with you, Colton Brooks. You are crawling all over the place and pulling up on everything. I can hardly take my eyes off of you as you are in to everything. That includes knocking down anything Cambry has meticulously set up or trying to take things away from Lainey. You are cute, funny, and curious.

Size: You weigh about 20 lbs and wear 9-12 month clothes.

Eat: You still nurse about every 3 hours during the day and I offer you baby food in between. You LOVE yogurt. In fact, you will pretty much only open your mouth for a puree if it is mixed with yogurt. And you don't like veggies. Welcome to the family. Or at least the kids' anti-veggie team of the family. You also love yogurt melts. See the trend? Anything involving yogurt. You will eat a few cheerios here and there too. I have tried giving you small bits of banana, strawberry, cheese, and avocado, but you are still very hesitant. 

Sleep: You sleep through the night about half the time. Ever since our July vacations you have gotten into the habit of a middle of the night feeding. But things are trending in the right direction so hopefully you will be back to sleeping through the night consistently soon. You take 2 naps a day - usually 1-2 hrs each. And you always fall asleep with your lovie in your mouth. And only a certain corner.

Likes/Dislikes: You love to stand. You also have a very strong desire to knock over anything Cambry has set up. Just recently you have been riding in grocery carts more. I usually wear you in the Ergo and let the girls ride in there, but sometimes we change it up. And I forgot to mention this last month but you have discovered a love for the Tupperware cabinet. You also like playing with balls and trying to roll/throw them back and forth.

Skills: You are crawling all over the place and pulling up on everything. You aren't cruising yet, but you sure do love to stand. It is so cute when you hold on to something and squat down slowly trying to pick up a toy without letting go. Also, you can say mama and dada. You don't know what those words mean but you can make the sounds. I'm not sure how I forgot to document this. I think you started doing it about a month ago. 'Dada' came first.

No new teeth this month (that I can see), but lots of hair! You make lots of adorable sounds, squeaks, growls, and babbling noises. I finally bought you a pair of shoes (since I never put shoes on bitty babies) and you seemed so proud and looked like a toddler. Whenever I dress you in big kid clothes (like a polo and pants) you look sooo old. I think it is the hair. I mostly put you in onesies so you look like my little baby. After all, you are only 10 months. Don't grow too fast! Love you, buddy!

Packing and Planning

The weeks are flying by and we are staying very busy with house stuff!

We are slowly but surely packing up our current house. Everything is off the walls, there are boxes everywhere, and the kids are having fun playing with bubble wrap and attempting to unpack all the items we gather up. It is sad to see the house so bare. I am also sad that we only have a few weeks left to spend time with our friends here. Of course we can see them once we move since we won't be too far away, but I know it won't be nearly as often.

We are also spending a lot of time making remodeling decisions for the new house. We have been looking at carpet, paint colors, lights, cabinet hardware, and many more items. The project scope has increased quite a bit from when we first started but I am really excited to see how it turns out. Currently our kitchen still looks like this.

Fireplaces are coming along.

And we have a new closet!

Other than house stuff we have still been doing our usually weekly things - swim lessons, therapy, indoor playgrounds, play dates, and a couple of WOW Wednesday's at a nearby church. We have also had birthday parties most weekends for the past month and a half it seems so that has been fun for the kids.

On our way to WOW Wednesday

Hanging in the waiting room at therapy

The other week Cambry went to drama bible camp. I was a little nervous she wouldn't like it because she didn't know anyone there. The first day she was hesitant to go but every day after that she really looked forward to it and had so much fun. They were supposed to do a performance that Sunday but unfortunately she had to miss it because she got sick.

Colton is now officially crawling and pulling up on everything. He is busy busy and so much fun. I love this age! He has been really liking baby food lately too and even eating a couple Cheerios, though he does gag easily.

I mean, just look at him. I couldn't love him more. And his hair. I love how it is so long and full and shaggy. He gets comments about it all the time.

Lainey is saying more and more words and it is so exciting. Most would be hard for a non-family member to understand but she is trying very hard. My favorite is when she says princess. We have plenty of those around our house so she definitely knows what that is!

She also loves to take selfies. She likes it when I turn my phone camera around so she can see herself and say cheese and I take a bunch of pictures of her. I love all her faces.

We have also enjoyed many nights watching the Olympics with the kids in the evenings.

That's what we have been up to lately. I know the next few weeks will fly by and soon Cambry will be starting preschool again and we will be in a new house in a new town trying to figure everything out. New adventures to come!

Grosse Family Beach Vacation

This year our annual Grosse family beach vacation was to Galveston. We stayed in a beach house with my parents and my sister's family. We really missed Ashley this year though! It is always fun to be back at the beach and reminds me so much of my childhood and all the summers we spent building sandcastles, collecting shells, and riding boogie boards. I love seeing the kids enjoy the beach more and more each year.

We were very excited to see the Kimmels because we hadn't met each other's babies yet. It was so fun getting the almost-twins together. Please notice Colton's hand on Wesley's shoulder and Wesley's hand on Colton's leg. Cousin love.

We really got lucky because the beach was awesome. The weather was great all week and there was NO SEAWEED. That is a huge deal. We have experienced mountains of seaweed in past years so having a clean beach was wonderful. There were also no cars on the part of the beach where we stayed which is so nice with kids running around.

Most of our days looked like this: Wake up, cook breakfast, spend a couple hours lotioning up kids and packing snacks/water/towels/sand toys, then heading down to the beach. We would set up our 2 canopies and baby pool then hang out for a couple hours. The big kids went right to work digging in the sand and running in the water. Colton and Wesley would nap some and then play in the baby pool. Lainey did not like the water but she loved to roam around and play in the sand. She would get in the baby pool some too.

Have you ever seen more perfect ringlets? Lainey's beach hair is always amazing.

My dad set up some crab lines and the guys took turns going out there and catching them in nets. We didn't end up keeping them but the kids enjoyed seeing them when they brought the net in.

The picture on the left is Lauren and I last summer, and the one on the right is from this summer. What a difference a year makes! How amazing that those 2 little cousin babes were itty bitty in our bellies last time!

After beach time we would come back to the house and put Lainey and Colton down for nap and everyone would eat and relax. The cousins played really well together.

Each night after the kids went to bed we played games. Poker, minute to win it games (with fun prizes from my mom!), Pictionary, dominos, Pente. We kinda like games. Pictionary is my favorite to play with my family. It always ends up being hilarious with everyone's drawing techniques.

The guys went out fishing early one morning and caught our dinner for that night. The fish was very tasty! My dad made his famous seafood gumbo for a different meal, which we all enjoyed. Another day we drove over to the Strand and got ice cream at the same old fashioned ice cream shop we went to as kids. We thought we might walk around and look at other shops but it was 200 degrees outside and there were fits happening so we just headed back.

One evening we went on a beach walk after dinner as the sun set. It wasn't too hot at all and the water and sky were so pretty. It didn't even seem like Galveston!

We had a wonderful week spending time with family at the beach and are thankful for Gigi and Pa!

Colton 9 Months

This past month was full of changes. You started having so much personality! And so much hair! We trimmed your wings but now your hair requires product to keep it out of your eyes. You have 2 new teeth up top for a total of 6 teeth. You make the funniest squeals and sounds and like to kick your legs and bounce with excitement. You have been so much fun and such a joy this month.

Size: You weigh 18 lbs 8 oz (29%) and you are almost 30 in tall (94%). You wear mostly 9 month clothes although you need 12 month jammies for the length.

Eat: You nurse about every 3 hours during the day. You just recently started warming up to the idea of purees by eating a little bit from pouches. We have offered you small chunks of avocado and puffs but you act disgusted and gag.

Sleep: After our double vacations your sleep got a little thrown off. You have been waking up once in the night to nurse but are good about going right back down. I am hoping this phases out. You still do great going down for the night and wake up happy in the morning and after naps. You take a morning and afternoon nap that range from 1-2 hours each. You love your lovie!

Likes/Dislikes: You have gotten a lot better at playing on your own lately. Everything in sight goes straight to your mouth. You like when we support you so you can stand and watch everything that is going on. When you see yourself in the mirror you start bouncing with excitement and making funny noises. Peekaboo cracks you up.

We call this your Dwight Shrute look.

Skills: You no longer topple while sitting. You immediately get into the crawling position but still can't get your arms going. Once you are in crawling position you love getting into downward dog. Army crawling is your preferred method of transportation for getting across the floor.

I love this age. You are sweet and cuddly and fun. You have been such a laid back, happy baby lately and I can't get enough of you!