Colton 8 Months

Size: According to our scale at home you weigh about 18.2 lbs. You still seem very tall since you are in 12 month sleepers. Most of your other clothes are around 9 months.

Eat: You nurse about every 3 hours during the day. You are very easily distracted so I try to nurse you in another room when I can, but it is not easy to sneak away from your sisters. You still have not expanded your palate beyond milk. You do not eat any baby food. We try occasionally, and you make a face that is a mixture of offense and disgust. Then you no longer open your mouth for more. So, uh, yeah. Not sure what to do about that. Update: You like sucking on watermelon in your mesh feeder. That's a start!  

Sleep: You are a great sleeper. You go down for naps and night time on your own with no crying and you almost always sleep through the night. You are completely addicted to your lovie. You lost interest in your paci but you basically use your lovie as a paci because you find the corners and suck on them. You usually take 2 naps a day (9am and 2pm approximately), but occasionally you still need that third cat nap in the evening.

Likes/Dislikes: You love to be held. You want to be around someone at all times. You love to watch Cambry dance and run around. Lainey's love is still a little overwhelming to you. Her hugs are like headlocks. You like baths, especially now that you are getting good at sitting up and can take them together with the girls. You want to grab everything in sight. You love to be tickled, and "thrown" in the air.

Skills: Your sitting has really improved. Although I still don't leave you unattended while sitting (since you will eventually topple straight back), you can sit for a long time. You push up on your arms a lot and just now you figured out how to get into plank position and all fours. You are starting to scoot a little too. Sometimes you scoot backward instead of forward, but you are trying hard.

Your two top teeth have popped through so your tooth count is up to 4! Your shaggy hair is just the cutest. Although Daddy is ready for me to cut your side "wings". But I told him you were just going for this look. Anyone else seeing the resemblance here?

Maybe we'll trim them up this week.

Love you Colton Brooks!

First Few Weeks of Summer

Lainey went in for her eye check up recently and everything looked great! I can't believe it has been 2 years since her strabismus surgery. She gets her eyes checked every 6 months and it makes me a little nervous each time. But thankfully there was no need for glasses at this time and her alignment looks good!

June 2014

Nana and Pops came to visit us recently. We enjoyed their company and the kids loved all the attention from their grandparents. We didn't do anything too exciting but we ran a few errands and ate at Ruggles for dinner.

This summer we have been spending a lot of time at indoor playgrounds. Our church and another nearby church both have nice play areas that we have been putting to good use. They are much safer than outdoor playgrounds for Lainey, they are air conditioned, free, and provide physical activity for the girls. Colton enjoys watching his sisters run around. I am reminded what a joy it is to have siblings. Cambry and Lainey love playing with eachother when we go places and I know Colton will be joining in on the fun one day too.

Greg and I had a date night a couple weeks ago when our church had PNO. We tried out a new restaurant called Provisions, then ended the night at Black Walnut for coffee and dessert. The kids were all wide awake when we picked them up from child care but they did good!

Colton still hates all baby food. Here is his reaction to applesauce. APPLESAUCE. It was as if I gave him pureed Brussel sprouts. BUT he has been a wonderful sleeper at night so I forgive him for hating all food.

I have been trying to be more active lately and get the girls more active too. Cambry would be perfectly content staying at home all day playing with her dollhouse dolls. She has a wonderful imagination and is very creative in her play. But I know it is good for her to get a little exercise and Lainey too. That's why we have been going to the indoor playground often and we have been going on a lot of family walks after dinner. Greg and I are like the stroller club bringing the single and double stroller since all the kids love to ride. Cambry does get out towards the end and jog/walk a little ways so that's something. Although the first night we tried it out Greg carried Lainey in the hiking carrier, Colton wouldn't stop crying so Greg held him too, and Cambry was grumpy because she wanted to be in the black stroller, not the green. Basically we were all miserable while pressing on in the name of family fun. But all our other walks have been great and I have been enjoying the exercise.

And finally, a big change is coming for our family. We are moving to the Woodlands! I will have to write a separate post about that later with details but it is keeping us busy with all the logistics. I think it will be a good thing for us but we are sad to leave our family, friends, church, neighbors, therapists, doctors, preschool, and everything here.

Memorial Day Weekend

We enjoyed a 3 day weekend with lots of family time. Saturday after breakfast we hung out around the house for a bit and then headed to the park with a picnic lunch. We thought Lainey would love the splash pad but she didn't even want to go in. So the girls played on the playground for a while, then we ate our lunches and headed back home.

That evening I went to see a sweet girl's high school graduation. I was her small group leader 6th-8th grade and she has also been our babysitter for the past couple of years. We are very proud of the young lady she has grown to be and are so sad she will be moving away in the fall! I should have taken a pic at the graduation. Oops.

Sunday we went to church and then mostly hung out at home. Later that evening I went to another graduation of a sweet girl I also had in my small group years ago. It was a special time to celebrate all that she has accomplished.

Monday we went with our friends to their neighborhood pool. It was overcast and the water was a little chilly but Cambry was loving it. Again, we were shocked that Lainey did not want to get in. She loved sitting on the edge and playing with some toys in the water but if I picked her up over the water she went all "high knees" on me. Maybe it was too cold for her. Hopefully she will enjoy the pool when it gets warmer. Although it's not like we will be going a ton. 3 kids + pool is definitely not something I can handle solo. But anyway, there are always weekends. Colton didn't get in the water either but we didn't really attempt to put him in because of the temp. He did rock his super cute swimsuit loaned out from his buddy, Luke, though.

Thankful for all those brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country. Happy Memorial Day!

Colton 7 Months

Hey there big 7 month old!

Well let's start with the best news -you are sleeping through the night! It happened for the first time a couple weeks ago and it was glorious. You haven't done it every night since but you have been doing it quite a bit. And the crazy thing is you don't even cry in the morning. You just chew on your lovie and hang out until I come get you around 7am. 

Size: According to our scale at home you weigh 17.8lbs. I feel like you keep getting skinnier. I assumed you would be a very chunky baby since you entered the world at 9 lbs but it seems you aren't exceptionally chunky. But you are adorable. You wear 6-12 month clothes and I think we may need to move to size 3 diaper.

Eat: I can't really figure out your day time nursing schedule. Since you started sleeping through the night a couple weeks ago you have been eating more often during the day to make up for the lost feeding(s). I also wonder if you are possibly going through a growth spurt because sometimes you eat 1 1/2 hrs. after your last feeding. You are a very distracted nurser. You only eat for a few minutes then have to see what all the noise is coming from your sisters. I try to get you to nurse longer but it doesn't work. I guess that's why you eat all the time. You still don't like solids so we really haven't been offering them much lately because you just spit everything out. Your reflux has continued to improve. You hardly spit up anymore. 

Sleep: Like I said, you have been sleeping through the night lately! And on top of that, you now put yourself to sleep for naps and night. You don't even want to be rocked. Lainey was this way too. When you are tired you just want us to put you in your crib. You have developed a major attachment to your lovie. If we put you down for bed without it you cry but as soon as we hand it to you you grab hold and happily chew on the corners and then go to sleep on your own. I think the lovie has now replaced the paci. You haven't really been taking the paci at all lately. I remember Cambry lost interest in the paci around 6 months. You still usually take 3 naps a day. The first around 9:15ish, the next around 1:00ish. It is nice that Lainey's and your afternoon nap overlap at least some. Around 5:30 you usually take a 30 minute cat nap. Bedtime is about 7:30 and then you wake up at 6 something and play in your crib for a bit.

Likes/Dislikes: You are a major mama's boy and you definitely love to be held. You don't like to be left alone for long at all. Usually if someone other than Daddy is holding you and you see me you cry to go to me. Thankfully you still usually go to your church nursery class without crying. Of course you love grabbing everything in sight and putting it in your mouth. You like Cambry playing and talking to you but I think you are a little scared of Lainey's not-so-gentle-love, ha! You love to be carried in the Ergo and if you are in there a while you usually fall asleep.

Skills: Your new thing this month is pushing up with your arms. You can't get to the all-fours position yet, but you push up on your arms constantly. You can sit up, but only for a few seconds at a time before toppling.

Your 2 bottom teeth are in and it makes for the cutest little smile. You are our precious baby boy and we love you so much!

Last Day of School

Why does she look like she grew a foot taller??

Well her first year of preschool is complete. I couldn't have asked for a better first school experience. She had a wonderful teacher who was so sweet and good with the kids. The kids in Cambry's class were great and I think she really enjoyed playing and learning with them. She learned A LOT this year. She knows all her letters and sounds, and can write most letters. She can even read quite a few 3 or 4 letter words by sounding them out. The cutest thing is that she writes her and Lainey's name on almost all of her school papers. She always wants to include her sis. They have a music class at school where they have learned a ton of adorable songs and rhymes, and they learn a Bible verse each month that they recite at their weekly chapel. She has brought so many neat crafts home throughout the year. Their school went on a field trip to see the play Goodnight Moon in the fall, and last week they were supposed to go to Noah's Ark pool but it got cancelled due to rain. So instead they got a pajama day at school and brought their pillow and blanket to watch Finding Nemo while enjoying lemonade and popcorn. Her teacher sends out pictures periodically throughout the year so we can see what the kids do during the day and how they interact with each other. I really appreciate her doing this and I love that I can get glimpses of her day through these pictures. What a great year.

May Catch Up

Cambry started up with swim lessons a couple weeks ago. She took them last year and we stopped in September when school started. We are back again and hoping to get her more comfortable in the water. I'm so proud of how brave she has been.

We recently visited family in Waco. Colton has outgrown his infant days of sleeping the whole drive there and back so there was some crying and nursing stops, but overall traveling was not too bad. The cousins were excited to see eachother. Jameson brought a dance video game that we all had fun with. And the adults got to stay up late playing poker after the kids went to bed one night.

The girls (minus Michelle, we missed you!) did a little shopping at a couple cute junk stores. Waco has so many of these type stores and I love them. I can't seem to find hardly any stores like this in Houston. I found this decorative arched box that my MIL ended up buying for me. I bought glass bottles and floral stems for it and it is a fun new addition to my table. 

I took all 3 kids to the zoo for the first time and it was a lot of fun. We met Lindsay and her boys there. Apparently every school in Houston took their field trip there that day too. So we parked far far away but thank goodness for the Ergo and the double stroller. Colton was perfect the whole time. The girls had fun, except Cambry did not like the splash pad. I think the water was too cold for her. Lainey did not want to leave the water. We all had a great time though.

We tried out a new (to us) restaurant in the Heights that we loved. The food was yummy but the biggest selling point was the kid play area in the back! The girls ate a little bit and then played with the toys for the rest of the meal. It was basically like we were on a date. Well except for the fact that we were holding a baby. But he is a cute baby with adorable thighs so it was fine. We will definitely be back to Maryam's soon!