25% of a year complete - Time FLIES!

Ladies and gentleman (I'm pretty sure John is the only gentleman that reads this, and that's only occasionally if twitter or ESPN are running low) we have reached the quarter of a year mark.... three months.... 25%....phew.  Time has flown by which I realized it would, but still wasn't quite ready for it.

What has three months brought us?  Let's see -

Things we have done:

• Our first Cub's game
• Ridden on the L
• Gone to the zoo
• Attended Rib Fest
• Started making friends with Wylie and Julia
• Stayed at hotel
• Met the Hoyt family
• Went to the Shedd and saw jellies, sharks, and penguins!

Things Colin has accomplished:

• Rolled over tummy to back
• Accidentally rolled over from back to tummy
• Grabbing at toys --- and trying to put them in his mouth (theme of his life)

Things that Colin loves:

• Putting his hands in his mouth
• Pulling mommy's hands to his mouth
• Eating and cuddling with swaddle blankets
• Row Row Row Your Boat
• Play mat with dangling toys
• Standing - loooooves to stand
• Watching the Blackhawks - all that red on the screen is fascinating

I know there are more things, but I feel like that's probably enough for the folks out there --- since I'm sure I'm a little bit more obsessed with the adorable/awesome that is Colin.  

Three months also brought me back to work, which I think we are both handling pretty well.  I think we are both getting better at understanding it.  I think it's helped that we have had a lot of people around so he's not quite freaked out about John or me not being there during the day.  It's not quite as traumatic.  He gets to do fun things like go to the park, go for walks, and play with a big kid (i.e. a baby 4 months older).  But I sure do love coming home and picking him up and hanging out with him in the evening.  The TV isn't nearly as exciting, when all I want to do is have him look at me and giggle at me.

He's gotten much better with not crying (still have bouts, but it's definitely improving).  We've managed to get him to restaurants and gatherings and he does remarkably well.  For Jennifer's wedding we went to the rehearsal and the dinner following and he met a ton of family - Uncle Bob, Uncle Russ, Glenna, Aunt Linda... Great Grandma Anne... And he handled it like a champ.  I can't wait for him to just be a smiley happy baby, but I think I'm starting to realize that he really is just a bit of a serious kid.  He does laugh, he does smile, but he also just stares really intently at things and people like he's trying to figure it out.  Of course, it's because he's brilliant, right?  Haha.... 

Well, I think the more important part of this post is the pictures, not the running commentary.  

Crazy to see the different three months can make

Sure, most of these are kind of the same thing, but I couldn't choose just one, so I decided to make a collage so that I didn't overstep any one's patience

I just can't believe how much he has changed in three months.  I knew it would be a crazy change, but wow.  He looks so much more like a person than he did, and he is so much more alert.  I just love it!  We bought the big bear because he's already outgrown all of his other stuffed animals to do any sort of comparison... so we thought this one might last a little bit longer.  

Here's the net three more, and the three after that.  Can't wait to see what he learns and discovers next!!

And just for fun, Colin meeting his Great Grandma, and then the two of us at Jennifer's wedding.  Hard to believe she's 92 -- she looks pretty spry.  Even got out on the dance floor, crazy old lady (possible emphasis on crazy?).

He wasn't wearing pants -- that's what's awesome about being a baby

Such a handsome boy in his suit

Grandma Anne and me at Jennifer's Wedding

The first of many....

....firsts that I will not privy to.  I knew it was going to happen.  I was prepared for being sad about it, but working really hard on not being "jealous" when the time came.  I think I'm handling it as well as I thought I would - knowing that when we go as a family it is "our first" instead of just "the first".  

But I'm not going to lie ... I'm still bummed out about it. 

Firsts!

I figure I should probably get some posts in that are not just confined to his monthly updates (although 3 months is tomorrow.... how on EARTH did that happen?).  I wanted to share our latest and greatest.

With Colin being at Julia's now during the day, me being back at work - I feel like I have to pack everything into the weekends.  It's probably really silly, and I"ll probably slow down once we get into a better rhythm, but this last weekend we went a little nutty on Saturday.  We had a lot of firsts (some for me and John too).  

We tried to make it down to the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning, but I forgot that with summer they move it further south so we weren't going to make it in time since we decided to walk.  Alas, we were stuck going to the zoo instead.  Shucks.  Hahaha.  I have been wanting to take him to the zoo for a while and it just hasn't really worked out or I've been too chicken to do it on my own.  With John in tow we made it!  He slept through essentially the entire thing - the zebras, the lions, the sea lions, the alpacas... But I did my best to tell him what we were doing anyway, hoping some of it would sink in through his dreams.  

Thanks goodness the Lincoln Park Zoo is free since he isn't really old enough to care..

Snoozin' away the zoo  (this was one of the few times he was accidentally exposed to sun - I actually worked really hard to make sure he was covered.... don't judge me.. hahaha)

Sleeping in front of the zebras

Then that led us to another first while we made our way up to North Center for Rib Fest (a first for me and John)....... the CTA.  Up until this moment I hadn't taken him on any form of public transportation.  Not because I didn't want to, but because there was no need.  With the car and the not drinking while nursing, I never had a reason to not drive.  But, we were meeting up with friends and we didn't have time to get home since we were already running late... so that meant taking the train.  He woke up just in time to get on, and John got to hold on to him.  I had much better judgement and realized that I would probably fall over since I can't ride a train without holding on.  This is his progression:

"I just woke up and have no idea where I am --- I'm not sure about this"

"Soo - this moves really fast and there is a lot of stuff going by outside"

"Ummm - why haven't you taken me on this before, it's awesome!"

Needless to say, he seemed to enjoy his first L ride.  I realized this is the fastest he's ever seen the world move around him, so it was probably pretty intense, but he handled it like a champ.  He then proceeded to sleep through all of Rib Fest...

And when we made it to Chris and Emily's to play poker that night, he did excellent and eventually slept on the footstool next to me. All in all, a jam packed day, but it wore him out and he slept it's his job (which I guess in a way it kind of is).

Smiling Mom onto poker victory!

I think we had a pretty successful weekend.  I had a lot of fun hanging out with Colin, we had a lot of firsts - and it was so needed after a short week of back to work and back to "real life". 

Everyone keeps asking about my back to work and how it's going.  Well, it sucks.. haha.  But not in the all consuming way like it was last week.  I've been back for a week now, and it has gotten a little less depressing to drop him off in the morning - and a little less frantic to pick him up at night.  I commend families that are able to make the SAHM thing work.  If we could afford it, I would consider it -- or at least part time.  But, I do know that this is good for all of us.  I am back in working life, he's socializing with other people -- and in the end I hope we all appreciate each other that much more with the time that we do have together.  Long weekends sound better than they ever have, and holidays and vacations are even more so calling my name.  

Another fun fact that I could wait and share with his three month post, but I'll probably forget AND I'm impatient.... I woke up the other night to feed him and looked in on the bassinet to find a baby on his stomach.  I don't want to name names, but he rolled over and I think shocked himself that he was on his belly because he was none too pleased.  So we have that to look forward to.....

Oh and although it's made its rounds through instagram and facebook, we went to our first Cubs game last night!!  We got cheap tickets so we figured it was as good a time as any to get him over there since the weather was also really warm.  He was definitely taken in with all the sounds, lights, probably smells.  We handed him his blanket and he chewed himself to a near sleep while we watched the Cubs get killed by the Reds.  He eventually napped through the 7th inning stretch and we made our way home in time to hang out before it was his bed time.  Can't wait until he knows more of what's going on and gets excited about baseball!!

Great night for a game

Oh you know, just chilling and eating my blanket

The three of us - Colin is the only one apparently looking at the game

His 'first visit' certificate

Happy Wednesday everyone!!