Collin's First Clemson Trip

 A couple of weeks ago, 

we boarded our third adventure flight with Collin.  

Collin was amazing on the flight.  

Taking his bottle and then falling asleep for the whole flight.

Rock star!!!

We stayed with our friend in Greenville which is about 45 min away from Clemson.

This was great because Collin finally got to meet their 9 month old daughter Emma.

It was so great having two babies the same age- they actually played with each other.  

Collin's sleeping was a little off but this is to be suspected as we stayed out late while we were there and slept in later.  

On the day of the Clemson/BC Game we headed to Clemson while the babies took their first naps in the car.  We then ate lunch at our favorite watering hole...

Triple T- Tiger Town Tavern. 

I will say it was a little odd walking in with two babies but

in true southern fashion people are awesome and nice

and volunteered to move tables to allow us to have a bigger table.

Seriously I miss the south!

We had probably a little too much fun.

We then headed out wander around campus, 

getting a couple of family shots.  

We then had Collin and Emma play a little...

AND THANK GOD CLEMSON WON!!!!

I think Collin had a good time 

on his first trip to Clemson.

7 Months

7 months!

This by far has been my LEAST favorite month so far!  

This month has been a month of increased fussiness and difficulty sleeping.  

However, I think we have finally figured out why that is- BASICALLY YOU ARE HUNGRY ALL THE TIME!!!!  And also you are going thru your next wonderweek- i.e crawling and pulling yourself up which you can get very frustrated with. 

You also now need to put yourself to sleep and thanks to a doctor that grampy works with we were given some good tools that have helped.   

Do not get me wrong, I have still had moments that I have loved, but I am ready for the happy all the time Collin to be back.  

Your sleeping this month has stunk..... 

Some nights sleeping 10 hours and some nights waking up every 3- seriously this is not fun!  At first we just thought you were going thru a phase, we tried the Ferber Method on night and failed miserably!  After 2 hours we gave up, that is when we decided.... maybe you are hungry.  BINGO.... 

Then you went back to sleeping well for a couple days then back to being a terror-

this is when we figured out that you need to learn to put yourself to sleep.  

No more rocking, no more singing, etc.  

So now you are drinking 35-42 ounces a day  of breastmilk and then eating 2-4 ounces twice a day of level II food with a snack of 1-2 ounces in the middle of the day.  Yes I know this is more than is recommended but as your grandmother pointed out to me... YOU ARE HUGE... and once we increased your food intake you were much happier and also sleeping better.  

Your favorite fruit are Mangos and Apples.  

Your favorite veggies are Yams.  

You have started eating more meat and grains.  

You absolutely love yougurt!

You are starting to grab for food and wanting to hold your own fork and feed yourself.

We have started working with a slippy cup but really you just play with it right now.  

You know the sign for “Milk”- you can’t sign it yet but if i make the sign and you are hungry you get fussy.  I am starting to love signing.  Right now we just do-  More, Milk, All Done, Mama, and Dada.  

You can pretty much move completely around the room in between crawling and inch worming.  You are starting to try to pull yourself up and trying to stand on your own.  You will not sit still for me to change your diaper, for me to dress you and now for me to feed you.... not fun!  I am learning distraction and giving you a toy that you can mouth seems to help.  

I no longer can get good pictures because you are too fast!

You are taking two naps each day-  they range anywhere from 1 hour to 2 hours but you are definitely down to two naps now and they are thankfully longer.  

You are huge in 9-12 month clothes.  

I actually returned some 9 months for 12 months.  

You were 19 pounds 14 ounces at your 6 month (90%) and 29 inches (98%)  - again not from the Oliveria side.  Your eyes are still blue and I think are going to stay blue.  

You said “Mama” way before “Dada” and now have to point to mama and dada at our picture when we walk in the house because that is something that I have done with you for the last couple of months and now it is our routine. 

You are doing well at school, and loving your teachers.  I know it is only time before they want to move you up to the next room.  This is something I am not happy about but know that it is what it is.  

You now love Clemson- I wish he loved you.... 
He is being a pain in the butt but hopefully will come around.  

Coming up next month....

First Halloween

Visiting Cox Farm with a Infant...

I will not lie when I say there are things that I want to do with Collin for the first time.  

One of them was going to Cox Farms.

I know he is too young to actually go in and participate in the rides, etc but I wanted to take him to see all the pumpkins and as Joe and I have done each year pick our pumpkin.  

This is especially special to me because it was around this time last year that we announced.....

We would be having a little boy with our pumpkin that we picked out at Cox Farm.

And now... that little boy is here with us!

So last weekend we headed out to Cox Farm on Sunday just to play in the pumpkin patch and get some photos.  Collin I think was a little overwhelmed by all the Orange....

But it was cool to see him looking and exploring the pumpkins.  

We got some great pictures and because it was pre-opening weekend no one was there which made it awesome and very low key. 

They had employee's going around offering to take family photos so of course we said yes. 

 Collin exploring the pumpkin and then wanting to bite it!

 Awesome family photo

We spent about 45 minutes there just playing with the pumpkins and taking pictures which proved very stimulating to Collin who proceeded to take a 2 hour nap when we got home! 

Yeah for pumpkin season and fall!

Happy 6 Months!

Happy 6 Months Collin!

This by far as being my favorite month yet.  

You are becoming a little person!  

You have starting babbling, sitting up on your own, and starting to try to crawl.

You are starting to play with objects, you are starting splash during bath time, and I think we are getting ready to enter the phase that we throw things.  

In fact, on your 6 month birthday I came home and you reached up for me for the first time.  

This pulled on my heart strings.  

You love your jumper-roo!  

Who even invented this was a genius!

We put away your baby swing, your activity mat, and your bouncer.  

You are out of the snap n go and in your big stroller- this was done because I can not lift you in the snap n go anymore and it was also time.  

We put up a swing outside on the porch which you are loving!

You are also starting to reach for Clemson and will pull on his hair which Clemson tolerated quite well. 

You are so much fun!!!

You are so big!!! 

I am putting most of your 6 month stuff away, and putting you into 9 month clothes.  

Your 6 month appointment will be next week because the nurse practitioner you see is on vacation this week and I like seeing the same provider.  You are in size 3 diapers.  

You are pretty much sleeping thru the night. Going down at 7 pm and waking up between 6-8 pm.  We occassionally have a bad night but by bad I mean you wake up once.  Naps are kind of all over the place- but you take two a day when you are home with me.  One in the morning and one in the afternoon- they last anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours but the average is 1 hour.  

Eating- You are eating mostly breast milk with about 35 ounces a day, and having 1 meal of oatmeal.  We tried a couple days of baby food, but felt  you were still learning to eat so went back to oatmeal for three weeks.  This week we have started back trying solids and it is going much better.  We are doing yams which you are showing that you like.  Next up carrots and bannans.  I actually think we are going to start doing oatmeal at your 9 am feeding and then pureed foods at your 5 pm eating in a week or two.  I am most excited about this because it means that I can decrease the amount I am pumping.  I love you- but I HATE pumping.  

You are still doing great at daycare- and you are so happy there.  You love your two teachers and they love you!  

This month, working and being a mom has hit.  Not from the stand point of “oohhh I miss my baby, and no one can take as good as care as his mom.”  I do not believe this- in fact I have learned alot from your daycare providers and love that you are getting socialized.  It is hard because I feel like I am doing two full time job with not enough time to both the way I would like.  That being said I have am learning to let go, especially with work.  When I leave work, I do not check in again until I am back at work.  The days of checking my laptop from home and answering email/labs are over!  Also on my days off, I spend time with you which means stuff around the house may not get done or to the level that I would have done previously.  It also means I am doing more chores after you go to bed- like the grocery store, laundry, etc.   

This month we went on our first family vacation to St. Augustine Florida.   

Your dad and I went in with low expectations because well you are a baby and we have heard horror stories of taking babies on vacation- i.e not sleeping, crying all the whole plane ride, not napping, not adjusting, etc.  WE HAD A BLAST and you were the best baby ever!  You had your bottle on the plane and then feel asleep for most of the flight in my arms.  

When you did wake up all you wanted to do was play with the plastic cup...

Once we got there we headed to the condo and spent the next 5 days on our schedule.  We went to the beach, the pool, out to eat, winery, watched the Clemson game, and actually got some much needed rest, etc.  It was perfect and you slept AMAZING!!! Now traveling with all the stuff- we had to take your car seat, stroller, and pack in play was not fun but it could have been worse and we got around on having to pay to check luggage- which rocked!  The condo was perfect because you had your own room which we set up the pack n play in, it also had a washer/dryer and full kitchen.  We ended going to the grocery store when we got there and purchased enough for a weeks worth of Breakfast and lunches, most nights we ate out or ate left overs.  

We did go up to Jax on day to visit with both set of Great Grandparents- and you were just awesome all around considering it was a very long day.  

We also celebrated your grandfather’s 60th Birthday and your Uncle G and Laura #2 came home so that was a special treat. 

We ended out the month with a groupon that I had been saving...

OMG so cute...

Up next month....

Your 6 month appointment with all your shots

Get together with friends on multiple weekends

Hopefully Cox Farms

Lots of Clemson football watching!