8 Months

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Wow! 8 MONTHS!!! I can hardly believe it. Collin sure has grown up a lot over the past 4 weeks. He is now sleeping ALL NIGHT LONG EVERY NIGHT from about 7:00 pm until 5:30 am…if he’d sleep until 6:30 I’d be the happiest mommy in the world, but beggars can’t be choosers so we’ll take it! He eats like a horse…which I’m guessing contributes to his ability to sleep all night without waking…coupled with his constant go-go-go-all-day-long nature. This kid is NON-STOP! If you looked up trouble in the dictionary, his picture would be located there. He is into EVERYTHING and is such a daredevil! Madeline doesn’t make matters any easier as she is CONSTANTLY trying to carry him around. She’s also gotten to be quite possessive with her things now that he can so easily snatch them from her. We’ve had a few altercations… As I predicted, Collin did have his first major injury injuries this past month and has the bruise bruises to show for it. He’s a tough cookie though and has yet to establish any sense of fear of anything! He is an expert crawler and cruiser and can even stand unassisted for a short time. He’s probably going to be walking soon…gasp! I’m in no hurry to meet that milestone. A month of skillful crawling and cruising has just about driven me to drink. I can only imagine the trouble he will get into when he starts walking. He really is such a joy though…he has the sweetest little personality and we just love him to the moon and back. He has a smile that will melt your heart…honest to goodness. What a joyful 8 months we have had!

7 MONTHS!!!

Can you believe it?!?!?! This little guy turns 7 months old tomorrow. He is now closer to his first birthday than his birth...and I'm a little freaked out! Where did the time go? It's seems like we just barely brought him home. He is turning into such a BIG boy. He is no longer my teeny little baby...and he's meeting milestones like crazy! This past month Collin has not only learned to scoot across the room, but how to pull himself up on furniture and to get into a sitting position from his belly. He is VERY close to crawling on all fours...probably any day now. Yeah, the fun times have begun! He sits in a big boy highchair at restaurants now and eats finger foods. He absolutely LOVES pasta and had his first yogurt this morning (loved it)! I think his absolute favorite food is mashed potatoes and carrots. He jabbers a lot, but just started this new "growl" which is absolutely hilarious. Maddie thinks he is playing dinosaurs with her :-) It reminds me of the HUMMMM my little brother (Andrew) used to do when he was a baby. As far as his "reflux" goes, I think he either outgrew it or never had it at all. We have yet to see a GI doctor (thanks to our medical group's incompetence with referrals), however, I started listening more to my motherly instincts and took him off of all of the reflux meds. I felt like the medicine was not helping and I'm not one to mediciate my children if it's unnecessary. I had a long talk with one of my dad's colleagues who happens to be a pediatric hospitalist at CHOC. She was completely supportive of my decision and recommended taking a more holistic approach. Collin now makes weekly visits to the chiropractor and even visited a holistic healer. I am happy to say that he now sleeps BETTER! On average, he is only waking once a night...however, he is teething, so we have an occasional off-night, but NOTHING like we experienced during months 4, 5 and 6. We were even able to take a camping trip last week and Collin slept wonderfully the entire time. We see his doctor tomorrow and I am interested to see what he has to say about me taking Collin off all the meds. Regardless, our baby is happier and healthier than EVER and we plan to keep him that way!

I'm guessing that my 8 month post will focus on Collin's first injury as I have had to stop typing to remove him from a box in my office 5 times now...he's trying to pull a glass bowl from the top of it...GOD HELP ME!

Pretend City

Madeline had a blast at Pretend City in Irvine.

She ran through the pretend house...

Shopped at the pretend Ralphs...


Cooked us pizza at her pretend restaurant...

Farmed some fresh veggies...

...and even checked daddy's blood pressure at the pretend doctor's office!


Her favorite thing of all was pretending to be a "baby doctor."



She's developed a recent obsession with "baby doctors" and says she wants to be one when she grows up. She has watched the last 20 minutes of Knocked Up about 20 times in the last two weeks (the TV version, of course!) and says that she wants to help mommies "get their babies out safely." How cute is that!

This little guy even woke up from his nap to winess some of the chaos.

You can tell he's a little overwhelmed =]

Bath Time Cuteness

Gotta love how much fun these two have together in the bath!

6 MONTHS

Today our little man turns 6 months old!!! I cannot believe how quickly the past 6 months have flown by…it seems like just yesterday that I was anxiously awaiting his arrival – drinking raspberry tea, walking, bouncing, squatting and doing just about everything else I could think of to get that baby out of my belly! Now, there are days when I wish I could put him back in…I kid, I kid…but a few hours of sleep would be nice! Seriously though, the past 3 months have consisted of exhausting days and sleepless nights. I chuckle when I read my three month post…you know, the one where I brag that Collin “has slept through the night since he was about a month old.” Yeah, I guess I must have jinxed myself because the kid has not slept through the night ONCE in the past 3 months. Actually, he has made a habit of waking up every 1-2 hours (more frequently before midnight…sometimes we get a whopping 3 HOUR stretch from 12-3 and he is WIDE AWAKE at 6:00 every morning) and he continues to nap for less than 45 minutes. He is genuinely happy throughout the day…he loves to play with his sister, jump is his jumperoo, roll around on the floor, and has even started sitting up with minimal assistance. He has really gained control over his hands and grabs just about everything within his reach. He loves to eat and I am proud to say that I am continuing to make all of his food from scratch. His favorites are sweet potatoes and peas...he also loves bananas fresh out of the peel. Regretfully, I had to stop nursing him last week. We made it almost 6 months, which is great but I just wish I could have nursed him a little longer. I blame this solely on his reflux and the fact that I had dwindled my diet down to practically nothing and would still blame myself every time he spit up or had a bad night. He is now on a special formula for reflux babies, which he really likes so I guess that makes it a little easier. However, we still struggle with his reflux and still have sleepless nights. Collin has been on Zantac and Prevacid for two months now. Both seemed to help for a day or two, but then stopped working after that. Last week, we decided to take him off of everything and saw absolutely no change. I gave him some Prevacid last night just to see if it might help, but it didn’t. After bugging his pediatrician for two months, we finally have a referral to see a pediatric gastroenterologist next week. I’m PRAYING that a specialist will be able to help my baby (and that there is nothing more serious going on with him than reflux). I read A LOT of message boards and other postings online and have discovered that reflux is pretty common and that it really is a pain in the ass for a lot of people. We have friends whose kids have struggled with it as well. The good news is that kids always outgrow it, but for some it can take a LONG time. I’m hoping that Collin can get some relief, whether through medication or otherwise, so that he can go back to being that happy and RESTED baby that we enjoyed for three months. I feel horrible for him when he is up all night screaming in pain…and there is NOTHING I can do to soothe him. He is NOT spoiled and is NOT just crying so I will pick him up…although if holding him ALL night would help him sleep better, I would do it. I also feel bad for Maddie and Chris because I am stretched so thin dealing with Collin, I know I am not always pleasant to be around. Thank GOD for coffee!!!

Despite his “issues” Collin is just about the CUTEST and SWEETEST little guy we have ever known. He already has such a personality and is just a joy to be around. He’s a HUGE flirt…he does this little thing with his eyebrows when he smiles and has this cute little dimple in his left cheek that just melts your heart. Here he is in all of his cuteness just being a happy little guy:

I'm going to go out on an optomistic limb here and say that by my 7 month post, our baby will be feeling better and sleeping better...keep your fingers crossed for us!!!

3!!!!

Last week, our little girl turned 3!!! We can't believe how quickly the past three years have flown by...and what a big girl our sweet little Madeline has become! Here are just a few things going on with our little girl at the age of 3: She is more than half way through her first year of preschool, knows her ABCs and 123s, sleeps through the night all night in her big girl bed, rides a bike, swims confidently with floaties, looooves to dance and sing, is crazy about playing dress up all day every day and we have the laundry to show for it, she loves to wear mommies knee high black boots, is obsessed with Katy Perry, has three blankets that she cannot sleep without, loves to brush and floss her teeth, loves to do her hair (like a princess), keeps mommy on her toes 24/7, is an amazing big sister, would prefer to play outside than watch tv, loves to read books, prefers water to juice and soda, rarely takes naps, loves camping, has tons of best friends, and is pretty much the best daughter we could ever ask for! Happy Birthday BIG girl! We love you!!!

4 Months

Our little guy is growing up so fast! Collin was 4 months old on February 26th...and let me tell you, A LOT has changed in the past month! Our perfect sleeping little angel has decided to throw a wrench in mommy's nighttime routine and has been waking up every two hours for nearly three weeks now. We've attributed this to everything from moving to a new house to teething to growing and to just being super spoiled. Mommy and daddy just can't seem to figure it out! He had his first visit to the chiropractor this week, which we thought was the miraculous cure we have been waiting for because he slept great that night, but the last two nights have been awful. We're starting to think he is just teething. He started eating solid food this month with the approval of his pediatrician who insists that he is just a hungry, growing boy. He sure does love to eat! So far, he's tried organic oatmeal with breatsmilk and mommies homemade organic carrots...yum! We're going to try homemade sweet potatoes tonight. Despite the challenges we have faced with this little guy over the past 3 weeks, we still love him dearly. He's just about the sweetest little thing in the world, even when he's up crying at all hours of the night. Let's hope that before our 5 months post our bedtime routine has returned to normal! =]