Summer Update

Two days ago I peeked on Collier, as he played on the back porch. I found him sitting in the chair like a big boy. He learns new skills almost every day, as he continues to prefer walking to crawling. He's housing seven teeth now, and he's still drooling enough to warrant a bib.

No, I haven't cut his hair yet. How can I cut those few curls in the back--I mean, my kid has some curls! (It's so unbelievable as to be untrue, so I keep them for cuteness and for proof.)

Collier is even cuddlier than Hamilton, which I'm loving as he's still so little compared to his big brother. He often lays his head on my shoulder even if he's not tired. It's just for a few seconds, just like a hug. He loves food, and he'll still eat anything you feed him--you just better have a lot ready to give him.

Despite the heat, the boys have LOVED playing in the dirt area I cleared for them. We hope to fill it with sand soon, but both sure love the dirt. Several times this past week we bathed them/hosed them off on the patio before they stepped one foot inside.

I so enjoy this view out our double window: I can keep an eye on the boys while they play in the dirt and heat, while I'm cooking dinner or cleaning up the kitchen. I can also intervene as Hamilton steals Collier's toys, flicks dirt in his face, or whacks him with a plastic shovel. All of those things happened this week. Hamilton now understands that I can see him, so he often takes a quick peek toward the window if he's just done something questionable.

Claire and I went to earthArt on Thursday for some much-needed away-time from the boys. We painted our clay pottery from our last girls' trip, so in a week or so we can pick up our creations. I'll be sure to snap some pictures of our handmade treasures to share. We ate lunch out before our pottery time, and we finished the afternoon with frozen yogurt before heading home.

The boys love to play in the little pool, so unless I want wet boys when they're done playing outside, we have to empty the pool before venturing into the backyard. Hamilton likes to jump in onto his knees splashing water everywhere.

Hamilton's so much bigger this year in the pool than last year; I can hardly believe it.

Collier tries to climb everything, so he wasn't detered by the lounge chair.

Isn't this a determined face?

This past week Mr. Morgan and I ate breakfast one morning with just Hamilton, since neither Claire nor Collier were awake yet. As we dined on fresh blackberries from Mimi and Pops's garden, Hamilton said sweetly, "I love you."

He does volunteer this phrase occasionally, so I replied as usual, "I love you, too."

He corrected me in a serious tone, "I was talking to the blackberry."

Some New Things

Here's a list (I'm a fan of them) explaining some new advances, new realizations, and new occurrences in the last few days and weeks.

1. Collier is "walking" now. He's been standing up from a sitting position for a few weeks, but this week he started taking steps on his own with no encouragement. Sometimes his little expression when he's walking on his own says, "Yes, I can do this...that's it...steady." I think the most steps he's taken in a row is probably five, but it's still a surprise when he comes walking in from the next room.
2. Hamilton started putting an "s" at the beginning of some words. Instead of "why you 'pank me?" this week, a few times he said "don't spank me" as he shook his head. Yes, we've had lots of spankings this week. Most times Hamilton still calls it a "'panking 'tick"--an old paint stirrer. Part of me is happy he seems to be outgrowing the no-"s" way of speaking, but it's also really cute and fun to hear.
3. I survived my first week of summer with all three kids at home all day every day. We planned several playdates, visited the library, and hung out at the pool yesterday. It's been a long week, so I'm rewarding myself with a date night on Saturday with Mr. Morgan. I'm planning for us to see Snow White and the Huntsman. He's been talking about seeing the other Charlize Theron movie.
4. Claire has embraced her "teenage summer" by sleeping in late, losing herself in a book series, and seeing her neighborhood friends. She has still managed to be helpful to me most days, and Mr. Morgan has her cutting the grass as part of her chores.
5. I've been sent almost a dozen hacked/spammer emails from three different friends whose Yahoo accounts have been compromised. Two things: I'm thankful I use Gmail, and Yahoo email sucks.
6. I've also decided that voicemails stress me out. To have a voicemail waiting on me makes me feel like a failure--I've failed to answer the ringing phone in time, I've failed to click over fast enough from my previous call, I've failed to hear my phone ring or turn the ringer on, I've failed to give the caller enough information previously such that an interrupting phone call is necessary, etc. Emails sitting in my Inbox and text messages waiting to be read do not have the same effect. Why is that?

Already February

Part of me feels like January was so long, but then I remember it's February already--several days in and no blog post yet. I documented our past week with a mix of Instagram pictures and shots with my big camera.

1. Last Saturday my "real" friend and blog friend came to town for a wedding, so we got to keep their darling boy for the afternoon. Hamilton was super excited for a new friend to play with boss around. (I wonder whom he gets that from?) Though the boys napped for the majority of the time that Judah was here at our house, I did get a few shots of the boys' playing in the backyard.

Hamilton explains how the digger works and carefully makes sure Judah "does it right."

 

2. Monday Mr. Morgan had AAA come to the house to tow our car to the mechanic. Hamilton was in awe of the sweet driver, big truck with a tilting bed, and strong winch that dragged our car from the street onto the truck's bed. For the remainder of the day Hamilton keep repeating, "Man take car to mechanic."

3. Yesterday I took Collier for his nine-month checkup, and he's progressing nicely according to the doctor. Collier did his quick flip from back to belly for her, his pulling up, and his crawling around. He's 18 pounds and 7 ounces, and he's a long boy at 30 inches. He charmed all the nurses with his big smile, and they all remarked how similar he looked to Hamilton (though Hamilton was not with us).

Our sweet boy still wakes up happy, and with only two teeth showing so far, there's lots of drool accompanying his other incoming teeth. Mr. Morgan teases him about having a mullet now, so we'll probably be trimming his hair soon.

I put him in his Exersaucer a lot because, otherwise, I have to keep such a close eye on him--what he's climbing on, putting in his mouth, bumping into, etc. He still enjoys the Exersaucer and for long periods of time usually, so I'm thankful.

Collier opens his mouth all the time, but I love this expression because he seems to be shocked and appalled at what he sees. He's just looking at Hamilton though, and Collier's used to all of Hamilton's antics by now.

Though Collier's been pulling up for several weeks now, he's been trying out the stairs recently but not getting higher than the second step. Well, yesterday I turned my back for just a minute, and he was halfway up. I took out my phone and followed close behind as he went almost all the way up!

And I'm glad I was close behind because once he got three steps from the top, he changed his mind: He turned sideways and started to come back down, i.e., topple down the stairs. Hamilton always had a certain amount of fear and "good sense," but Collier shows no grasp of either at this point.

4. Since Hamilton's now sleeping in a toddler bed that he can crawl out of, I've been getting up several times each morning (in the wee morning hours) to put him back in bed, explaining that it's not time to wake up yet. I kept thinking there had to be some kind of toddler alarm clock with colors instead of numbers to let him know that it's not time to wake up. I hadn't searched yet, but I was reading Brantley's blog post about her similar experience with her two-year-old Roper. I was so excited to discover such a thing exists! I ordered this colored clock for Hamilton, and here's to hoping my own early-morning alarm (though cute and sweet!) can stay quiet in the bed for longer.

5. I'm hoping to potty-train Hamilton soon, so I've ordered this ebook that friends have had good success with. I'll keep you posted on our progress.

Wonder Boy

I've been sadly negligent in posting about Collier's monthly progress. I haven't updated since he was six months old, and that's such a long time in baby months! He's now one week shy of nine months. Yesterday he pulled himself up in his crib all by himself! I went in to get him from his nap, and this smiling face greeted me.

He's been crawling quickly and everywhere for a few months, and he's even gotten better and more accustomed to sitting. He also can stand for several minutes at a time by himself, and it seems like he's itching to start cruising around the furniture.

Collier conquer skills so quickly: Just a few days ago he pulled up to his knees, then two days later he's onto his feet. He's even started climbing the stairs. In my memory Hamilton didn't progress this quickly, though Hamilton also didn't have a big brother to keep up with. I think Collier will be the kid that will force us to install a gate at the top of our stairs. He would have gone down head first yesterday if I hadn't been there to pull him back from the brink.

Collier's the happiest little thing, but he's still spitting up some (much to Mr. Morgan's chagrin). He's got two teeth coming in nicely on the bottom, which you can see in this picture. We still call him "Baby" many times, though he's quickly moving from baby to toddler.

Six Months Old

Collier turned six months old on Friday. He's growing like a weed, and he continues to move around so much. He squirms and scoots across the floor while he's playing. He rolls over both ways and spins around so much that he hardly stays on his playmats, especially if he's going after a toy. He enjoys standing, and he can balance himself in a standing position at the coffee table. He does not usually like sitting.

He's still happy and all smiles for everyone who looks his way, and he's still spitting up like it's his job. I know Mr. Morgan is ready for him to outgrow that yucky trait. We're feeding him lots of new foods including sweet potatoes, bananas, green beans, carrots, green peas, and apples. He seeems to like everything as long as it's pureed enough--and shoved into his mouth fed to him as quickly as possible.

Collier has a sweet, cuddly nature; however, holding him can be a struggle if he wants to be on the floor rolling around and playing. He does enjoy his exersaucer which I use when I need him to stay put. He loves watching Hamilton play, and Collier still takes Hamilton's running him over with the umbrella stroller rough playing well.

He spends most of his playtime on his belly gnawing on different toys. Lying on his belly is his favorite position, though it was Hamilton's least favorite.

We love our littlest boy who's growing so fast!

Five Months Old

Last Wednesday Collier was five months old, and I'm not getting any quicker at posting his monthly updates. He continues to be a happy baby--except when he's not, and he lets you know it by an ear-piercing squeal. Lately we've had mostly happy days with less squealing.

After a week of sleeping sometimes swaddled and other times not, I think we've given up the swaddle for good. He's younger than Hamilton was when I stopped swaddling him but about the same size. Collier's continuing to grow, so his little arm's breaking free of the swaddle was beginning to be a nightly occurence. At his last appointment, he was over 14 pounds. He's nicely fitting into six-month clothes, and I'm starting him in some nine-month outfits as well.

He still loves to play on his belly, holding his head up like a champ. He rolls over to the left and right, from belly and back, and back to belly. He swivels, too, and he's starting to draw his legs in like he wants to scoot or crawl. He is not, however, showing any signs of wanting to be in a sitting position.

His dark, full hair from birth is gone. I think he may turn out to be blonder than Hamilton, though right now he has far less hair than Hamilton had at this age. Collier loves to smile, and he does so with his whole body whenever anyone talks to him. Claire thinks it's just her talking to him that makes him smile, so don't tell her that anyone's attention produces the same result.

Collier's eating cereal three times each day to supplement his three bottles. Moving from four bottles to three last week has opened up my schedule, so with Collier's two longer naps (instead of three) I'm able to have a little more time to call my own. I've been spending my extra time cleaning the house, since those chores are the first things I neglect when I have too little time.

I haven't seen or felt any teeth yet, but he loves to chew on his pacifier, hands, and toys. He's just discovered his feet this week, so now he chews on them, too.

I tried to get a sweet picture of Hamilton and Collier. Hamilton fussed at first, then promptly dumped Collier over and out of his lap. Fortunately, the grass was plush and soft under the quilt.

Despite what the picture shows, Hamilton is still usually sweet and mostly gentle with his little brother. He always wants to give kisses and hugs to the baby. Collier laughs mostly at Hamilton, which I think is sweet, since Collier's laughs can be few and far between.

Four Months Old

Sunday was Collier's four-month birthday. He's still growing like a weed, though he's been in a fussy stage for the last month or so. He's also been spitting up WAY more than he was when he was first born. However, the last three days have been great! Since Mr. Morgan's been preparing for his cleanse and we've been eating lighter and better, I think my milk has been a better nourishment for Collier. He's much less fussy, and his spitting up has subsided immensely. In this past month Collier had still been really happy and smiley at times, and then he'd erupt into ear-piercing screams and squeals without any warning. I will continue with this new diet--little dairy, sugar, meat, and grains--definitely until he's no longer breastfeeding.

Hamilton loves to hold Collier; he'll say, "I hold baby" over and over again until I put Collier into his lap. Collier takes Hamilton's holding well especially the death grip around his neck; however, I have to be ready for when Hamilton says "all done baby" and pushes Collier away from his lap--usually at the same time.

Collier's rolling over all the time now onto his belly, and sometimes he can roll back. He's still sleeping so well and going to sleep easily, which took Hamilton much longer to accomplish. I've started him on rice cereal; and after the first try when he gagged and wretched, he's eating heartily and loving it now.

Many times during dinner we also feed Collier his bottle, so we're all sitting at the table together. On Sunday night Mr. Morgan and I fed the boys together first, and we ate later in peace (hence no plates for us). Collier got so tickled at Hamilton's eating and talking that Mr. Morgan got the camera out to record Collier's unprovoked, adorable laugh. Hamilton also does lots of talking in this video which I usually interpret, if you can hear my voice.

Three Months Old

Collier has been three months old for about two weeks now, so it's high time I post an update on our precious boy. In this last month he's had several firsts. He has rolled over from his back to his belly--only once though. He has not done it again, though he didn't seem to like it the first time. He cried, which is how we discovered he'd rolled over. He has also laughed once in this last month, though I haven't heard a second time what I deemed a laugh before. Perhaps it was just a fluke, but Hamilton was laughing at this age.

He still smiles a lot, and he smiles for anyone who speaks sweetly to him. Claire and Hamilton both are really good at getting him to smile.

Collier still spends most of his playtime lying on his back on his playmat with toys dangling above his head. I've recently introduced him to his exersaucer which he seems to like at least for a little while.

He loves playing with his pacifier, though he sometimes gets irritated when he pulls it out of his mouth but can't get it back in. This action also irritates Claire who can't seem to understand why he keeps pulling it out when he clearly wants the pacifier in.