12 months!

One year.  365 days and nights of life-changing little boy love!  This last month of Colby's first year was crazy and great!  Can you handle these little clapping hands?

 And these walking feet?

 The boy that will climb on anything.

 What a difference a year makes... especially when it is your first.

Quick synopsis of the twelfth month:
Colby is a full time walker now after learning to stand up without the need for assistance.  He loves it.  He is a dancing fool!  He loves to get his groove on which usually involves pointing his pointer finger while he bobs up and down.  Sometimes he shakes it up and shakes his fist like a president giving a speech while he dances.  He talks and talks and it is almost always started or ended with "dada."  He loves to stack things and put small things inside of bigger things.  We are in the process of weaning and are down to nursing 3 times a day and plan to be done in a month.  He doesn't like cow's milk and just let's it fall out of his mouth.  Sleep went through a rough patch at the beginning of the month but seems to be back to a great place.  There was also a lot of wanting to be held this month and fits when he got put down, but that also seems to be improving.  We started a class at My Gym and I fear that it will just encourage his need to climb without fear up anything.  We love it though.

There is so much no one tells you about being a parent.  It's best that way.  They might tell you about the sleep deprivation.  They mention the overwhelming amount of stuff that takes over your home and the way the money disappears from your bank account.  And there are things no one tells you because there aren't words enough.  There is no way to explain little arms wrapping around your neck, rocking a sick baby through the night, watching those wobbly legs take their first steps, or that watching him laugh makes me so happy it hurts.  God has given us the purest joy in sweet Colby and we are so grateful!

Every child born into the world is a new thought of God, an ever-fresh and radiant possibility.
-Kate Douglas Wiggin

We are Baylor.

There is nothing better in the fall than Baylor homecoming!  Except maybe your 10th homecoming!  Clearly I love love love Baylor and I couldn't be happier to take my sweet boy there and share that love with him.  Truly the best part of the weekend is just seeing amazing friends... and now to see their children and for them to meet mine.  We had a great weekend!  On the road trip up C took a nap.  When he woke up he was ready to be out of his car seat.  Sadly we were still 45 minutes away.  Enter Sesame Street on the iPad and cheerios.  Such a big boy.

When we arrived in town we hit up Common Grounds and hit the bookstore.  Then we wandered around campus.  When we walked into the student union, we found the Heisman and the women's national championship trophy on display.  So cool!

Then it was time for a little stretching of the legs. 

We didn't get to stay up for the bonfire this year.  But they did have so many fun things to do beforehand and great food!  So this boy went on his first ferris wheel!  He was excited.  About a quarter of the way up the power went out on it and we started sort of falling back the other way.  I suddenly felt like a moron for taking my baby on a carnival ride!  I proceeded to hug him so tight while also having a death grip on his thigh until we got off.  The view was beautiful though!

After that we headed to check into our hotel and get some sleep.  I emphasize some.  Sleep in one room with a baby who can stand up is just not as restful.  But we survived and were up and ready for the parade!  This is the best place to see friends and we loved it. 

Then it was back to the hotel so Colby could get a nap in.  Except he wasn't quite ready to lay down.  So he just kept standing up and talking.  Of course he would never go to sleep if he saw Rick and I.  So we took our lunch into the bathroom and ate it standing looking at ourselves in the mirror.  Parenting is hilarious!  Then we got to nap too so we were all ready for game time!

I only have this picture from the game because after half time we had to leave due to bad weather!  We had fun though and the Bears won!

We went to dinner with our friends the Foleys and then headed back to the hotel to crash.  Literally.  Colby was so tired that when I tried to put him in the bath tub he completely lost it.  No need to hide from him that night... he was passed out. 

Something about homecoming is just good for the soul!  Baylor truly changed who I am and I will forever be grateful for the blessing of going there.  And grateful for any chance I have to go back! 

Our Little Blockhead

Disclaimer... the title was Rick's idea :)  We had such a fun first Halloween with our little Charlie Brown!  Our sweet little bumblebee Lexy came over too.  We had dinner and then handed out candy to all of our sweet little neighbors.  We even watched It's a Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.  I realized as I was putting Colby to bed that this was his last first holiday!  It sure was a fun one :)

First Haircut

I had planned to wait until the week of Colby's birthday to get his first haircut... but I couldn't wait!  The back fringe combined with the need to tuck behind the ears was too much!

So this afternoon we visited a kid's hair place in our area.  I think Colby knew something was up the second we put him in the little car.  And really it went downhill from there :)

Once it started to go wrong we tried bubbles.  They sort of worked but then it got really ugly.  Luckily she was almost done!

All done!

Much better!  Hopefully he won't need another one for a while!

11 months!

What a month!  I feel like we had been lulled the last couple of months as things had kind of plateaued a little.  Well things are changing again!  Colby's personality is blooming and it is hard to tell who he is more like.  He is so silly!  He still laughs so much and is so loving.  He loves to be held especially if the person holding him is on the move.  He still gives kisses and wraps his little arms around your neck for a hug.  He is a happy happy funny boy.

New this month:

FIRST STEPS!!!  One Sunday afternoon Rick was on the floor playing with him.  Colby pulled up on Rick, turned toward me sitting on the couch, and walked right over!  He is trying it more and more when he spots the chance to grab onto something.  He is SO proud of himself!

SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!  I think I said he was doing this a couple of other times.  And he did indeed sleep through the night for a few nights when he was around 6 months old.  And then a few nights around 8 months old.  But after about 3 minutes of crying for a couple of nights, he has been sleeping through the night all of this month.  So he goes to bed at 7:45 and gets up between 6:30 and 7.  While I certainly wish this could have happened sooner... I feel a lot of peace about it and it was easy!

TEETH #4, #5, and #6  His fourth bottom tooth is almost all the way in.  First top tooth is about half-way in, and second top tooth has just broken the surface.  These have been much less dramatic than the first 3 were!

FIRST FIT  Hey, I didn't say they were all glamorous firsts.  Of course he has put up lots of protests before this but this was full on attempt to keep from getting put in the stroller when it was time to leave the playground.  Thankfully we have been back many times since and there have been no further fits. 

Funnies this month:
- learned to crawl out the doggie door which surprised mama!
- crawls away so fast and pretends you are chasing him
- screaming a funny shrill scream and then making the funniest smile face with his eyes closed
- intense games of peek a boo with family and strangers.  He is the quickest player ever... you can hardly get out the words "where's Colby?" before he pops out!

I feel like Colby's meals are really a show these days.  It seems like we do a little of everything.  He still nurses 4 times each day.  Then when he eats solids there are finger foods, purees, samples of what we're eating, puffs, cheerios... on and on!

We just love that we are able to more and more fun things with our sweet boy.  He is such a fun boy to take places and be around.  We are so blessed an looking forward to a fun birthday party for our sweet love.  How can it be a year???  So much to be thankful for :)

Tiny Tots

Today was our last day of music class for the fall.  We loved it so much!  It was so fun to watch all of the babies go from a little unsure to completely confident in their little group.  I know Colby loved meeting the other babies and I loved meeting new mamas.  And we got to see our friend Chloe (and her mom Cathleen) every week!

Here's Colby on pj day.  He loves playing the jingle bells... or eating them :)

The class is obviously a "mommy and me" kind of thing.  Colby didn't get the memo.  He often prefers to particpate from the center of the circle, sitting next to another mom, or standing next to me.  Not so much in my lap :)

Colby loves his teacher, Ms. Emily.  She is so fun!  Chloe doesn't look so sure.

 This last day we got to wear costumes.  He REALLY loves Ms. Emily!

Music class is also a great place to practice your walking!

The end of every class is the best... bubbles!  LOVE all of the costumes!  Such sweet memories with Colby and we can't wait to do this class again!

House Divided

I know so many families have a fun rivalry in their family... it makes football season even more fun!  On my side of the family, I am the only person that went to Baylor.  My parents, sister, and cousin all went to TCU.  We are so happy to be together in the Big 12 now so this game will be a regular occurrence.  Sadly, Baylor had a pretty horrible game this year.  But that didn't make it any less fun for us.

Before the game we stopped by campus to stretch our legs.

Then it was time for this sweet boy's first football game!  We started off sitting in some great front row seats that my cousin gave us.  That ended up being the front row of the student section which was rowdy!  So we made a move to our other tickets more in the Baylor alumni area.  It turned out being a good move for me as I got to see lots of friends!

Here's Gran being a bad influence!

It almost worked too... look at that hand.

We stayed through the third quarter!  That was longer than I had hoped and we had so much fun!  We sat next to people who were so sweet to Colby and indulged his love of a good game of stranger peek a boo.  Then we went and visited friends and it was about time to be done.

We went ahead and changed C into pj's since we were driving home after the game.  He needed a little Daddy time before bed so he did a little practice driving.

We certainly look forward to a better game next year Bears!