1 Year old!

I wrote this a while ago, but never posted!!  So here it is:

My baby is 1!!!  Where on earth does time go??  It's amazing what a difference turning that magic number 1 makes!  No more bottles(he actually gave them up a week before his birthday), he's on cows milk, he won't even touch babyfood anymore, and wants to feed himself without help!  He loves to point out airplanes in the sky and try to grab them!  It is the cutest!!  He also says, "no no", "uh oh"(ALL THE TIME), "cracker", he tries to say "Collin", "more", "bubbles", "ball", &"Aspen".  He has 8 teeth now!  He's just about as obsessed with lights and fans as his big brother and is constantly pointing at them yelling, "uh uh".  He also loves pointing out the pictures in books.  He's great at mimicking anything you do, be it clapping, waving, making silly faces, or shaking your head!  He's learned pretty quick too how to grab whatever toy he is currently playing with and run when big brother comes near, granted, Luke is getting better about not taking toys from him!  He's also a climber!!!  He gets sooo excited and squeals with delight when he climbs up Luke's step stool to see himself in the mirror!  He's at least figured out how to go feet first off of things instead of head first now!!

More Luke-isms

So lately Luke has picked up a few funny habits that I thought I would share!  The first one is his insistence on using the word "man" or "bud" at the end of every sentence he speaks!  We often say "hey buddy", or "hey bud", and sometimes, "oh man" which he has keyed in on and decided to take in as a part of his own everyday speech!  We also started using the phrase, "happy plate", or "happy bowl" for when he eats everything on his plate or bowl.  We actually picked it up from a waitress at a restaurant who told us how excited she would get to finish her meals as a kid when her mom told her that.  So today after his lunch, Luke excitedly exclaimed that he had made a happy bowl and therefore wanted candy.  Well I asked him if he wanted applesauce and he said, "No, I want candy Mommy!  Don't mess around!"! Ha ha!!  Another favorite word of his lately is, "favorite".  Everything is his favorite now!!  Hopefully that put a smile on someone's face!  I will take whatever humor I can get at this point from raising my little "tryer of patience"! =)

11 Months Old!! What?!!!

So Collin is now 11 months old! What?!! I'm really not sure how that happened! I don't think I wrote about his 10th month, but he is now walking, well running, ALL OVER THE PLACE!! For the longest time he was OBSESSED with walking around the house while holding onto one of our fingers. Daddy was always a sucker for this and Collin caught on fast! Anytime Daddy came home from work, Collin would rush over to him! Eric was pretty excited about this until he realized that Collin now had his finger and was pulling on him to walk around! Collin finally made the realization around Easter that fingers were not necessary and made walking his primary form of transportation! He had been taking multiple steps since about 9.5 months old, but it wasn't until then that he pretty much ditched crawling all together. Now one of his, and my, favorite things he does is run around the house picking up whatever toy or tupperware may be along his path while laughing hysterically! He will then walk with the item outstretched in his hand towards anyone around, and give it to them. It's pretty stinkin cute! He will also try to imitate them saying, "thank you", but his version is basically whatever babble noise he can make, but in a high pitched voice. Apparently we say thank you in a high pitched voice?? Other words I'm pretty sure he's trying to say are, "Ma ma", "Da da", "Doggie", "Buh buh"(brother), "bye bye", "hi" or "hey", "get it" (ok, well he says something all the time that sounds just like it anyways!), and his version of "thank you". He is actually pretty good at trying to mimic different sounds! He also loves to shake his head. When we tell him not to do something, he shakes his head. . . he's already learning "no" before he can even say it! And can I just say that I LOVE LOVE LOVE when he throws a fit! Is that just wrong?? It's THE CUTEST thing! I just can't take him seriously when he does it. He just sits down on his bottom and hunches his back over and gives the pouty/cry face. It just makes me want to squish him!! Other new things from this and last month are that he is eating table food(a feat that seemed to take Luke FOREVER!), has 6 teeth now, waves, claps, and makes a fun clicking sound with his tongue. Oh and his last weight was 19.2 lbs (only 5 lbs smaller that Luke now!!).

Onto big brother . . . He is getting a LOT better with the whole jealousy thing and actually tries to play with Collin now! He likes to follow him around and do whatever he does. He also is more liberal with giving hugs, kisses, gentle pats, and "i love yous" to his little bro. Luke has been such a good helper at closing doors to keep Collin out of trouble and loves to help us feed him. Speaking of Doors, Luke has also recently learned how to open them! Eeek! That is one thing I've been dreading, but knock on wood, it hasn't been the nightmare I imagined it to be just yet! Luke loves to be the center of attention especially at dinner time where he makes up songs and makes crazy faces!! Luke loves to leave us surprises in the car, but the best so far were the 20 or so chuck e cheese coins in the steering wheel column. We have, on occasion, gotten in the habit of letting Luke play in the car or jeep while we work outside. The vehicle is always off with no keys in sight, mind you, and we always try to keep a close eye on him. Aside from a cute little plastic lion staring at me from perched on top of the dash as well as wipers, blinkers, and lights left on, we've escaped any major mishaps. Well, his most recent escapade with the coins left us with a steering wheel that would honk everytime the wheel was turned. Can you imagine driving down the road incessantly honking at every turn? Apparently Luke thought the coins would make the car go just like at Chuck e cheese! I found it quite humorous although it took Eric a while to see it! Eric was able to fix it and all was right again! Luke might've lost his car privileges though! He has also discovered the joys of video chatting. He loves to video chat with his Luna, and Aunts and Uncles, but mostly he likes to look at "Luke"! He often refers to himself in the third person. It's actually pretty cute! Another huge step for him has been using the potty at school! He finally got over that hurdle, but we are still pretty far from being totally potty trained! Oh, and he recently refused to let me walk him to class! Is he really that grown up already? I was still able to get a kiss in, and it hasn't happened again, but it just gave me a horrible taste of what is to come! =( My patience is often worn pretty thin with this one, and I sooo wish I could say I loved when he threw fits too, but it's not quite the same! I love him to death, but am also just waiting for his good days to outweigh the bad! He is the BIGGEST ball of energy I have ever seen and has always been that way! Luke's level of understanding is slowly getting better and better and we often forget that we REALLY have to watch what we say around him because he might actually understand it! We're still working on the alphabet and counting, but he just doesn't seem to have much interest yet.

Luke-isms

I wanted to write a few funny things down that Luke did today in an attempt to have them on record for when he's older so he can see what a nut he was!! First off, earlier today, I was telling him what the humidifier was called, and his response was, "fire, hot, don't touch! No no no!". I had a hard time explaining that the "fier" in humidifier was not the same as fire! Another incident that happened was when Eric, in expressing how tired he was, told Luke he was pooped. Luke's response: "No Daddy! Poo poo in the potty!" While driving to the store earlier, he kept repeating, "Happy Birthday Nana" because we had recently celebrated Nana's birthday and he had made a special phone call letting her know. What triggered it was him seeing Eric on the phone. He wanted to talk on the phone and remembered how he had left that message for Nana. This got me remembering that my Dad wanted to record Luke saying, "Your phone is ringing Papa" to use as his new ringer, so I taught him how to say it! Well, shortly after Luke was put to bed tonight, I heard him talking over the monitor and when I got closer to hear what he was saying I could make him out saying, " Papa, I'm ringing!" Too cute!! Oh and Luke actually told us he had to use the potty tonight without any prompting! No lure of candy or anything! So proud!!

9 months!!

Where has the time gone??? How on earth is it possible that I already have 2 very mobile kids?? I always thought life would be easier once Collin became mobile. That's how it was with Luke! No more screaming out of frustration at not being able to stand or go anywhere. Not to mention the fact that it would be a lot easier for them to play together if Collin could finally keep up, right? Well, I guess you have to be careful what you wish for! Not only is it impossible for me to split myself into 2 halves so that I can chase each kid simultaneously, but jealous has finally reared it's ugly head! Let the sibling rivalry begin!! Eeek!

This month, Collin has learned to pull up on everything, can get into the sitting position on his own, is now crawling everywhere, took his first step, stood on his own, walks with a push toy, can walk using only one of our hands as support, and got 2 teeth! What a month!! He's still not on table food yet, but is slowly mastering the skill of eating puffs. We've also discovered that he, just like his brother, is much better with a straw sippy cup than the normal ones! Whatever works! He's still the happiest kid ever and I LOVE LOVE LOVE kissing his squishy cheeks and squishing his chunky thunder thighs, as I affectionately call them! He is still my little chunky monkey although to most standards, is still small! He weighed in at 18lbs 8 oz at his last doc visit. Once we go in for his 9 month apt, I will have more stats, but as comparison, Luke was 18lbs, 4 oz at 9 months. It appears as though Collin has slowed down a little so that he is just about on par with where Luke was at the same age! We might just have some twinkies on our hands! Collin looks more and more like Luke the older he gets! It's a little freaky!

As for our first born, things have definitely been challenging!! It's been difficult balancing the needs of a potty training 2-year old and a baby with increasing needs as well! Potty training has really been touch and go! It's extremely frustrating, but I know it will happen eventually! It's definitely teaching me a whole new level of patience though! He's also just now started showing signs of jealousy. I figured that whatever jealousy he was going to have would have appeared when Collin was first born and since he didn't really have any, I thought we were in the clear! Wrong!! If we are holding Collin, Luke wants to be held, feeding Collin, he wants to be fed, he wants in whatever highchair we use for Collin, he wants whatever toy Collin has, and we can't leave them in the same room alone for longer than a second! He is more likely to push, kick, or hit Collin now and wants us to do everything for him. If he drops something, he wants us to get it instead of getting it himself and things like that! I don't want him to feel neglected in any way or that Collin is favored over him, but it's just really hard doing the whole balancing act! I've been trying to devote more "Luke" time just to him when I can, but I also know it is just a stage and we will more than likely just have to weather the storm! On another note, a funny story that happened the other day was me catching Luke cleaning while he was SUPPOSED to be napping! I saw the light on in his room and when I opened the door, saw that he had gotten his wipes out and was wiping down every inch of his room! I've decided that letting him forgo naps might not be such a bad idea if he will clean the whole house!! His speech and level of understanding has been growing by leaps and bounds lately! After having a conversation with him about how he is the big brother and Collin is the little brother, he pointed to me and informed me that I was the "big Mommy" and Daddy was the "big Daddy"!! Too cute! He is DEF our little entertainer and always has us staring at each other in wonder/amazement/confusion as well as laughing! I wish I had caught him on video last night as he ran back and forth in the kitchen only to stop in the doorway now and then to hunch over and swing his arms back and forth in the craziest little dance motion! It was hilarious!!

Week of Firsts

This past week has been an extremely eventful week for my littlest Mister!! It started with him pulling up to the standing position completely on his own on Saturday and has snowballed from there! The next day he started crawling, well, his silly army crawl/scoot/inch worm version anyways! The next Day he celebrated his first Valentine's Day, followed his first tooth!! Then he decided he would get into the sitting position from his belly all on his own!! Now Eric is giving him just a few weeks before he thinks he will start walking! I wouldn't doubt it either seeing as he can already walk(very wobbly, mind you) while holding onto only one of our hands!!! It may be 2 months later than Eric did as a baby, but we're still looking good!! He is soooo eager to walk! You can see how his eyes just light up when he's on his feet! He isn't as sure-footed as Luke was, but has started sooner and is certainly VERY eager! I guess having an older rambunctious brother is pretty good motivation! Most people dread this moment, but I am eager for it! The sooner he can get around and play with his big bro, the better! Not to mention the less frustrated he will be since he can finally get where he wants! Of course it will create some extra challenges too, but I think the advantages far outweigh the costs!! Stay tuned . . .

8 months old!

Happy 8 month old birthday to my little Collin! He is getting so big!! At his last Dr. visit, he was 17lbs 12oz and 27in long! He can now stand while holding onto something with only 1 hand, pull up from an elevated sitting position, puts one foot in front of the other as if to walk when held upright, has been trying to pull his legs up under him to a crawling position and can hold the position and rock, picks up and eats puffs on his own, stood for a few seconds all on his own, and in addition to rolling all over the place, now scoots backwards like a reverse army crawl! He's unfortunately gotten more cranky lately too! I'm hoping a new tooth with pop through and all will be right with the world again, but he's also been battling one very persistent ear infection and possibly has had some sort of bug that's got him upset! We have been trying to work on getting him to sleep through the night again, which has been difficult considering he was doing SO well until he got sick! Another reason for some of his crankiness could be the fact that all he wants to do is stand like Luke did at the same age. He can't pull up to the position on his own and sometimes falls, so unless we hang out with him while he's standing all day, he gets frustrated!

As for Luke, we have taken these last few snow days as a potty training opportunity. He has been doing fairly well! It hasn't been a nightmare, but also not cake either! We've been taking him to the potty every 30 min and he has started recognizing when he's going and sometimes lets us know. It does make for a very sugar hyped up kid when he does what he's supposed to, but I'm ok with it if it means he's using the potty! His speech has also slowly been getting better. He talks more and more in sentences and isn't making up words as much, but his speech still isn't totally clear. We're working on it! He still doesn't have much interest in the alphabet or counting, although he can recognize some letters and can count to 5 on a good day. He does know his colors though and seems to have taken a liking to the color yellow! He can also recognize circles and squares and can draw a circle. He's not one who is much for sitting still long enough to actually learn these things! He's definitely our active one who loves to be an entertainer as well! He loves singing and dancing, go figure! He also loves looking at the "handsome boy" in the mirror! It's pretty cute!

6 months old!!

Holy cow! My baby is 6 months old! He can now hold his own bottle, sit by himself, stand while holding onto something for support and he's finally rolled from back to belly! He LOVES to watch his big brother play and thinks it's the funniest thing to see us tickle big brother. He's still pretty easy going although he's definitely been waking up much more at night than he used to! We might be getting close to a binky purge! I also think he might be teething since his drooling has started increasing lately and he loves to chomp on his hands! Luke was 10 1/2 months before he got teeth though, so who knows! He's growing like crazy although, still an inch shorter than Luke at his age. He makes up for it with his chub! =)

Luke is still as obsessed with lights as ever! He makes it a point to find every light/light switch and let you know if it's on or off. There is generally a stool pushed up to about every light switch in the house so that he can turn them on and off to his hearts desire. You can imagine how this holiday season is for him! It's like Christmas! Oh, wait. . . Luke is starting to learn about Christmas and the holiday season. He can point out baby Jesus in his book and has become very familiar with "see sauce" aka Santa Clause even though he wouldn't go near him for the life of us to get a picture! Collin cooperated quite nicely though! He has also become more and more interested in baby brother. He was pretty upset the other night because baby brother wasn't in the bath tub with him, so Collin got an impromptu bath that night! Luke also loves to help with dinner. Anytime we cook, a distinct scraping sound of the high chair scooting across the floor can be heard as Luke moves it to the kitchen so he can climb up for a better view! He's also recently decided that he MUST pick out his own jammies because, heaven forbid, if we pick out the wrong ones, he has a kiniption fit! He's just trying to find a way to get control of something. It must be pretty frustrating at that age!

We had pictures taken recently for Collin's 6 month, and Luke's 2 year pictures. Luke refused to smile, but made some cute serious faces anyways! Here's a link to the sneak peek: Sneak Peek