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.  

Let me save you the trouble

When I was a little girl on an airplane for my umpteenth time there is a story about my.... abruptness.  It goes something like this:

The flight attendant is going around and talking with the kids on the plane, asking their names, how old they are, how they're doing and if they've flown before.  Apparently, by the time she got to me I had heard her spiel a few times and before she even got past "Hi!" I said, "I'm Megan, I'm 2, I'm fine, and I've flown before" and continued about my business.  My understanding is that the flight attendant was a bit taken aback.

Apparently 20 some odd years later (okay, okay, 28 years later, but who's counting?) I feel the need to essentially be that same snotty 2 year old.  I would like to wear a sign that says the following:

"6 months; no he's not; thanks, we think so too."  Because I think I am a bit of a record on repeat as the same things are almost always the start of a conversation.

• "How old is he?"
• "Is he sleeping through the night?"
• "He's so cute!"

I don't think you can run into any stranger friendly parent/person that doesn't strike up conversation in almost that exact same rhythm.  Mind you, I don't have a problem discussing the lack of sleep I'm still suffering, I love strangers telling me my little boy is cute (who doesn't?) but I feel like if I were to wear the sign at least, it would get us past those intro questions and on to more important discussions like the color of your baby's poo, milestones, and whether you think going dairy free really helps.  Maybe I'm just bitter and irritable because I'm not sleeping through the night or because I'm not able to comfort myself with cheese.

Here's some fun news...

...I responded to a plea for blog posts from a facebook group I'm a part of - Breastfeed, Chicago!.  I submitted, and either through lack of entries or being truly interested what I had to say - they published my blog post!  Woohoo.  So if you're interested, you can check it out here.

http://breastfeedchicago.wordpress.com/2013/08/26/it-gets-better-no-really-it-does/

How fun is that?

Going out of my mind

DISCLAIMER - I have been sitting on this post for a while, hoping some of the crazy would pass... it has not.  So, I figure why not do a brain-dump to see if I'm not alone.

All day I think of things that I want to write about ... all day I build up topics and words and sentences to share what I'm thinking ... and as soon as I sit down to actually put those ideas down, POOF!  They are out of my head and all my grand ideas are faint memories that I can't pull up.  I know that most of the things I'm thinking about these days are (in no particular order):

• Why does my baby hate me?  (This stems from the belief that he doesn't smile at me ... EVER... John assures me that I'm crazy and that he does in fact smile at me just as much)
• When will Colin start sleeping more at night?
• How long will I have to wear these damn pads in my bra?
• How can I throw out 90% of everything in my house?
• Do I do enough to advance Colin?  Do we play enough, do we read enough, do we do enough tummy time... do we <> enough (see a trend?)?
• What else can I google to see if Colin is on track or falling behind?
• Does he smile enough and engage socially enough for his age?
• When will we have enough money to make improvements to our condo?

It's just a never ending stream of consciousnesses that kind of makes me feel like a crazy person.

This is what I've learned about motherhood so far... it has made me certifiably a CRAZY person.  I was on the cusp for most of my life - a delicate balancing act of being out of my mind and a calm/laid back kind of person.  I'm now dangerously close to losing that sense of calm and living only in crazy.  

I think what's really been on my mind lately was a topic that I heard on the radio the other day - "what are you like in your secret life?"  Essentially, what kind of person do you portray to the world, compared to the person that you really are inside, and in my case, how I really am with John and Colin when I get home.

Unfortunately, I think I live a secret life.  Maybe it's not so secret, I'm probably not nearly as good about hiding it as I think I am.  In my outward life, I'm a pretty laid back person and mom.  I don't stress with knowing he'll get sick (his first cold wasn't nearly as terrible as I thought it was going to be in all honesty) or picking toys up off the floor and handing them back to him... and I definitely find myself talking so casually about things and not seeming like I'm overreacting.  I make jokes about his crying (first timers be warned, I will usually pull out the "oh my goodness, what did you do to Colin?  He NEVER cries.... I can't believe you made him cry".  It keeps me from crying).  I've had other people tell me how "calm" I am, and are surprised since he's my first.  

In reality --- I freak about nearly everything.  I freak about if we are doing enough with Colin, if we are not good parents because we aren't with him 100% of everyday all the time.  I get in and freak out about how much stuff we have and how much room we don't.  I freak about having an old kitchen, I freak about having broken floors that need to be redone, I freak about laundry, I . freak . about.... everything.  I think I'm driving John out of his mind since I come home and just lose my sh*t.  

Does this happen to everyone?  Does everyone take the crazy train when they become parents?  Everything that was on your mind before, just becomes that much more intense?  Then with the addition of worrying about another human.... oof.  I'm going to blame a little bit on sleep deprivation - the rest is just me I think.  

What kind of 'secret' life do you lead?