9 month check up = 6 weeks of anxiety

UPDATE:  We knew that John also has a big head, which sort of lessened the worry - but it turns out that as a baby, they were concerned about the size of his head too... and tested him for hydrocephalus.  He has clearly turned out just fine.  So hopefully all this will yield the same results.  

Had Colin's 9 month check up today.  I went this one alone, thinking "oh hey, all the other ones have been crazy straight forward and not a big deal... questions, poking, prodding, a couple of shots.. and we're out".  I should have known better!  Today was the day they did the blood test for hemoglobin and lead.  That meant a finger prick and a LOT of blood.  Then two shots in his poor little leg!  Poor Colin was screaming, I felt so terrible for him.

Now, I get to freak out for the next 6 weeks while we wait to go back to get his head remeasured.  I don't know if it's been abundantly clear, but my son has a HUGE head.  It has always been huge, and our last appointment prompted a triple check to make sure it was actually measured correctly.  Today, only twice - but then a comment of, "hmmm... well, I think it's better to check his head again in 6 weeks instead of waiting for his 1 year.  If it's still growing we might need to do an ultrasound."  Absolutely NOT the time to go to an appointment by myself.

About to be the longest 6 weeks of my life.

And not to mention that he only grew 0.25" in the last 3 months.. and dropped down to the 37th percentile in height.... But hey, at least his weight is still right on his own little curve and on track to maintain his 18th-20th percentile.  

Who knew a little 17lb 12oz baby boy could instill so much anxiety....

Latest stats on this handsome devil: 28" long, 17lb 12oz

Tomorrow is 9 months - so let's catch up on 8

I realize that I begin almost every post at this point with "holy balls the time is going by so fast I can't keep up".... but honestly, holy balls the time is going by so fast I can't keep up!!!  Tomorrow is Colin's 9 month appointment.  How is it possible?  He's essentially been "out" as long as he was "in"!  

I guess quite a few things have happened in the last month.  Let's get the rundown... This will be a ridiculous photo dump.  Sorry kids.

Colin said "dada" - although he doesn't necessarily do it on a regular basis, he can do it.

He dressed up like an elf.

Decorated his very first Christmas tree... no good pictures... there's always next year?

Colin had his first Thanksgiving - and he looooved the food.  He had a particular soft spot for green beans and mashed potatoes.  

 Met Santa!  (I know him!)\

Went to his first concert (the DePaul Community Chorus - Christmas at DePaul) and slept through the entire thing --- until the woman started singing.  He really likes it when ladies sing.

Had his first snow day!

 And is slowly working on getting in his 4th tooth.  I'm looking forward to that tooth just getting in already because Colin teething is a drain on all of us.

Oh and of course - he just generally gets cuter and cuter.  Sure, you might say I'm a bit biased, but I think there is some truth there.  

Chillin' on the couch at IKEA.  What a cool looking kid.

And that's our 8 month wrap up.  We have Christmas coming up in month 9, which comes with our first airplane ride with a baby.  We are about to be "those people" on an airplane.  I'm super nervous about it, but hopefully we'll be okay.  We are flying on a Saturday and on Christmas Day, so hopefully we can avoid most of the crazy travelers and everyone will be exceptionally nice to us.  Luckily it's only about 1.25 hours gate to gate, so we at least won't have to deal with it for very long.  

Otherwise, everything is pretty status quo.  I'm on "house arrest" because I sprained my foot stepping off a curb.  Let me just send a word of warning - texting and walking is not a good idea.  I'm just happy that Colin didn't get hurt since I was carrying him - but luckily I was carrying him in his infant seat so he didn't really fall.  I would have felt so terrible.

He's still not crawling, not that I'm complaining.  It is a lot easier to watch a baby that is in the same spot you left him.  He loves to sit, he loves to stand, but he does not like to lay on his belly.  So I'm not entirely sure how to entice him to crawl quite yet.  He did finally start to understand that he can roll for things, and he stretches out for things like it's his job when he's sitting.  I think we are close, but we've been saying that for about a month now, so who really knows.  

The weather has turned and it is officially winter outside.  It's crazy cold out, and makes it really hard to leave the house.  We still have months of this, so hopefully we get acclimated quick, otherwise it's going to be a long season indeed.

Finding time is like ... stacking BB's in the wind

That second half would make my mother proud.  She always had such weird sayings - that being one of them.... and "so..so.... sew brass buttons on toilet paper" when I would use "so" as a filler it would drive her crazy and so she would kindly point out that using "so" was as useful as sewing brass buttons on toilet paper.  You're welcome.  Ha.  Fun fact, I still use "so" as a filler - apparently her tactic didn't work.

But honestly, I'm being a little neglectful these days, and unfortunately it's getting into my non-blog life.  I'm still trying to find the opportunity to take 8 month pictures of Colin!!!  I only have like 10 days left of him being 8 months, so I really need to jump on it (make sure to read that like you're singing).  

I have a million things I have wanted to write, but I have to remind myself that this is more of a glimpse into our lives and less of a diary.  So I need to start focusing.  I haven't even really visited here in a while, and started rereading some of my unpublished posts.  It's interesting to see what stayed in draft, kind of a backwards peek at what was going on and how I was feeling - and remembering why I didn't want to share.

But now I would like to get back on track ... with everything - photos, blogging, cleaning, life.  We have Drinksgiving coming up this Saturday, so we have everyone coming over with enough food to feed a small army and we'll be heating up the smoker with turkey and maybe a ham.  Should be a delicious weekend, with some excellent lunches in my future.  

Now that I've put together a complete mash-up of unrelated thoughts, I will end with a few pictures picture that our friend took of us last weekend.  It was FREEZING, the wind was whipping around, but I was excited to get a few pictures with the City behind us.

Thanks to Chris Sommers at StudioCRAFT Photography for our photo!!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/studioCRAFT-Photography/151187694999695

www.studiocraftdesign.com

7 months?

Holy smokes, I can't believe it's been 7 months.. I mean seriously, time is going by so incredibly quickly.  If you don't stop and look around once I in a while... oh wait, that's probably copyrighted somewhere.  But honestly, I have no idea where the time has gone.  We barely even got 7 month pictures in!  We managed to sneak them in before we left for NOLA which I think is mighty impressive. 

What's new on the 7 month front?  He has two teeth.  In true Colin fashion (i.e. fussy, crying, angry fashion) he took to teething like a cat taking a bath.  Not well for anyone involved.  Luckily, although he was teething for over a month (yes... MONTH... the ped was sure they would come in soon after his 6 month appointment.. but they held their ground for nearly a month), it really just kicked into high gear right as it was happening so we didn't all suffer too long. 

 

He now sits.  And he sits like a champ.  He doesn't like to be on his belly (never has really, so not surprising), and he really doesn't like being on his back much anymore either.  He wants to sit, and if he doesn't want to sit it's because he wants to stand.  So we've got that going for us.  I think sitting opened up his world because he was able to see so much more around him.  He's now working on leaning over to the point of falling over (alright, sometimes PAST the point of falling over) to reach for things, so I think crawling is in our not so distant future.  (Which is totally okay because our house is so baby proofed.... and by baby proofed I mean it's dangerous for US to be walking around)

 

He spent his first overnight away from me, promptly followed by his first multiple overnights away from both of us.  It actually seemed like it went pretty well - for him and us.  I was nervous, we bought insurance in case I couldn't handle it.  But, I knew it had to happen sometime and what better time than for a birthday surprise in New Orleans.  It was a great trip, although not nearly as relaxing as we thought it would be, and not nearly as full of sleep as we were hoping!  He enjoyed time with grandparents, aunts, and great grandma - so I think it was a good time for all.  And of course the last night he only woke up ONCE in the middle of the night!  What?!?  Of course he's reverted back (maybe reverted way back) since we've gotten home and now wakes up 1,234,684,643 times a night.  (Perhaps that's a little exaggerated?) 

 

And lastly, he's sort of starting on solids.  We are  going a little bit of the baby led weaning (BLW) route because he likes to put everything in his mouth (not an exaggeration), so we thought him feeding himself would go better than us sticking a spoon in his mouth.  It seems like he's okay with it.  We've tried avocado, toast, red bell peppers, pasta in sauce, zucchini, cucumber, carrots, sweet potatoes, French fry (eh, you can judge but I needed to keep him entertained at the restaurant somehow), egg, green beans, yellow squash, pears, banana.... but in very limited quantities and most of it ended up on him instead of in him.  He choked a bit on the pear, so we are holding off on that for the time being, and we've given him some purees on his tray to play with and dip his veggies and toast in.  We aren't really consistent, and honestly I haven't been able to figure out how on earth to become more consistent since we are late risers, late getting homers, and late dinner eaters.  We will eventually just have to suck it up and figure out how to possibly change our schedules.  Until then, we'll just keep handing him things as we can and see what happens.  The initial fear of choking is slowly subsiding, but it still makes me nervous.  I would be nervous regardless of what "style" we were using because he's gagged with a spoon too... so there isn't any winning here.  Ha.  John pretty much refuses to watch him eat because it makes him so incredibly nervous.

 

To make him smile right now - we sing Thrift Shop.... I don't know what it is, but he seems to think it's pretty funny... And we get some off-putting glares from people who apparently think it's inappropriate to sing to a baby.

 

Alright... I'm sure everyone is done with commentary... On to the pictures.  I could have the most ridiculous photo dump, but I'll try and keep it to a respectable number.  The most dangerous thing someone can ask me now is "do you have a picture??"  I have to answer with "tell me the limit of what you want to see, I could do this all day".  Ha.

 

Just wanted to add one more from the pumpkin patch

 

 

John can make Colin laugh like no one else - Love it (and jealous)

 

7 months!!! 

 

And soon we'll be heading into month 8.... Does it ever slow down?

 

Oh, and I almost forgot about Halloween!!  I'll have to post some pictures of that some other time.  He was the narrator yellow man from Oh the Places You'll Go.  I think his costume turned out pretty freaking fantastic!

Pumpkins

I really like pumpkins, and I really like going to pumpkin patches.  Now it's much more fun because I have a little person that I can make take pictures, unlike the big person that I can barely drag out to go with me (cough.. John.. cough).  But I got them both out this last weekend, on a Sunday no less!  

Just a quick peak of some pictures that Katie took.  Strangely enough, reminding John to look at the camera proved more troublesome than Colin.  Apparently all you needed to do for him was sing a little Thrift Shop and he was good to go.  (We listen to some klassy music over here)

I'll post some more pics once I download them off my camera, and we'll get around to those 7 month (holy cow) pictures soon.  

Love that face.

Did I mention "klassy music" earlier?  Because this is Colin reenacting "Wrecking Ball", because I'm an awesome parent and I instill good values.

We almost all smiled, 2 for 3 isn't too bad

Seriously, a 6 month old?

That seems CRAZY to me that I have a 6 month old.  Half a year ago I had a baby and now he's talking (ok, he's yelling), rolling, grabbing, putting everything in his mouth, wanting to stand, wanting to grow up too fast.  He's a freaking 6 month old!

Things are good though, and we are having a lot of fun.  We thought he would have teeth by now, but they seem to have ebbed after flowing pretty hard.  So we are waiting for those to finally pop through.

At our appointment they measured his head... then proceeded to measure it 2 more times because they thought for sure they had measured wrong because it's so big... but then the doctor looked at John, asked him his hat size in fitted hats... confirmed that John does in fact have a big head and decided that Colin was probably good to go.  Similar to his height/weight (skinny minny) - definitely looked John and I over realized we are tall and decided that Colin was probably right on track there too.  Phew!

So since no one really cares about what I have to say and is more interested in photos --- here we are!

We are slowly moving through all of our friends hats and onesies.  I forgot a hat this time around - so that will have to happen next time!

I just had to throw a few more in because he's so cute.. and he loves to eat EVERYTHING!

Discovered our secret of putting the stickers on the back of the chalkboard.

John was working hard on getting him to learn how to throw.

John started reading his favorite comic to Colin - Calvin and Hobbes (he's actually pretty into it, just didn't catch it on camera)

I saw lightning strike the Sears Tower

We got dressed up to go to a baby shower

We dressed Colin like a football for football season!

We saw rainbows at the Museum of Science and Industry

We got a new jogging stroller to start doing 5ks!

Colin met Grandpa Mike

Just couldn't convince him to look at the camera

But we did!

Wore his ADIDAS Sambas for his first 5k

Went for our first 5k on the O'Hare Runway!

Mission complete - Colin slept through the last 1.5 miles

Started experimenting with food - avocado and banana.  He's more interested in the napkin and the strap to the bumbo

I like this one because both John and Colin are trying to figure out the noise behind them and they had the same look on their faces

And this one just makes me happy!!

That's our last month in a nutshell!  It's going so fast, and he's growing up so much.  Looking at baby pictures the other day, it blows my mind how much he's grown and how much the same and different he looks.  I think we see crawling in our future, teeth in our future, and more food.  

Nutty -- like granola

Have you ever had that moment where you realize you're more "granola" than you thought?  (Read... hippie)  I am reaching that moment today...

My freezer stash of milk is out.of.control.  As in, we can't store food anymore because everything is being overrun by milk.... So, I have decided to do something that if you had asked me 6 months ago if it was something I would do, I would have probably said something to the effect of "you're crazy".  

But here I am.. having a meet up in 3.5 hours with a husband who is coming to pick up about 60 oz of frozen milk to bring back to his home for his wife to give to their son.  Yup, I'm donating... it's kind of weird, and makes me SUPER nervous.  I mean, if Colin won't take it one day or it smells weird - I don't feel bad about it.  He's my own kid, can't really do much to him... but the thought of another woman relying on it and then having something be weird ---- terrifying.  But, I guess that's the risk she takes, and at least I know it's not going to waste.  

So here goes nothing!

Next thing you know, I'll be wearing flowers in my ever lengthening hair, driving a VW bus, and hosting drum circles.

Sneaking it in before the wire

It's 2 days until Colin's 6 months old, so I figured I should probably get on the ball here and post 5 months, right?  (FYI, it is now actually Thursday night at 10pm, so I'm really sneaking in before the wire at this point)

Time goes by so incredibly quickly, and we are so busy I feel like it flies by even faster.  And I have to say it's so bizarre to have a human reflecting how incredibly quickly time is going by.  Colin is growing and learning like crazy, and I'm just out of my mind with how much he's changed.

We've kept busy the last month,

• Boating
• Cabining in northern Wisconsin
• Shooting guns
• Beach (repeat)
• Ohio roadtrip
• Ravinia
• Fantasy Football Draft
• Lincoln Park Zoo (awake this time!)
• Swinging at the park

Here's a quick rundown of all the fun we've had this last month.

He's been on a boat couple of times now.  While it's not his favorite to be in the life jacket (it's cute, but man it looks uncomfortable), he seems to be okay with hanging out on a boat.  We were lucky enough to be invited up to northern Wisconsin to our friends family cabin.  We boated, we hung out in the woods, we shot guns... I mean, it was a pretty fantastic weekend, and Colin handled it like a champ.  I'm looking forward to him being a little bit older (aka, can sleep with a blanket) so that we can camp up there.  I think that will be a great way to break in our tent!

We've gone back to the beach, we've done another roadtrip to Ohio for a friend's wedding and Colin's been able to hang out with Grandpa Waldo all day.

We've been to Ravinia (outdoor concert venue) twice!!!  He's seen the Chicago Symphony Orchestra playing the score to the Lord of the Rings: Twin Towers and Journey.  He did well for both, but definitely had a preference for the giant movie screen for LOTR.  

And he's made it through his first Fantasy Football Draft.  We are already corrupting the poor boy.

Honestly, the last month has been a whirlwind all leading up to my anticipation for his 6 months.  It's been pretty awesome the last few weeks.  He can sit up for a short period of time unassisted, he rolls over, he grabs for toys, he's starting to hit toys on the table and is fascinated by the bang noise they make... and he is so incredibly interested in what we are eating and drinking.  Tonight he was obsessed with my water glass and straw, which I let him play with and he managed to suck up some water through the straw.  It took him by surprise, but he couldn't stop!  

We think he's teething like crazy.  He's constantly chewing on objects and his hands.  He's drooling everywhere.  He's smiling, he's giggling, he loves to be thrown up into the air.  We really are starting to love it in a completely different way. He's starting to be so much fun!!!

Here's some pictures to show what we've been up to.  Love this kid...

Getting ready to go on his first boat

Sandwiches as big as Colin

The boat on the Chicago River

Hanging out at the zoo (bottom picture he's checking out the meerkats)

The Park - Swings and Slides

Colin's reaction to Aunt Marla?

Best Parents of the Year... "You have a baby... in a bar?!"  But he's pretty happy about it.

Second boat!  (Colin's in the middle)

The family that shoots together, stays together.  (Once those ear phones were on, he was out) 

 And finally, his five month pictures.  He's getting really annoyed with all the props.  But it's so much fun!

So ready for his six months... in 59 minutes.