musings of Mother Hood

When You're Having Fun

Sometimes God has to block your path with something to get your attention.  And sometimes all it takes is a gentle nudge.  I got a thump in the ear yesterday on my way home from work - courtesy of Alabama.

I'm in a hurry to get things done

Oh I rush and rush until life's no fun

All I really gotta do is live and die

But I'm in a hurry and don't know why

I have been back at work for four weeks now, and we have settled into a pretty nice little routine at home.  I get up by 5 to get to work by 8(ish) - and by the time I pick up Colt from daycare I get home by 5:30 and start getting things ready for him to go back to daycare (i.e. washing bottles, etc.). He's been going to bed about 8:30 so there are only a few hours at night when we get to play together. And those hours are my favorite of the whole day.

So yesterday in the car - I really needed that song. I really needed to hear that it's ok to leave work at 5:00 with things unfinished and waiting for me the next morning.  It's ok to look forward to Saturdays and Sundays - and waffles and napping and playing with Colt's feet and watching Jeff watch football and lounging in my jammies with my two favorite boys.  And every night between 6 and 8 pm - I get a sneak preview of how I get to spend the weekend. And I love it.

Hold the Phone!

What a week! Colt is growing so fast -- and changing so much everyday. This week he weighed in at just over 14 pounds, and I've noticed that several pairs of his pants that fit fine a few weeks ago are suddenly too short!

We have been marveling at the level of energy he manages to sustain -- kicking and scooting across the floor. He almost seems to be disappointed that he can't get up and walk around like we do! We are already preparing ourselves for the day he becomes mobile - which at this rate, will be sooner rather than later. We watched him like a hawk all weekend as he teased us with rolling over. He would get onto his side and get alllllllmost over - then swing back onto his side. Torture! It'll be any day now.

Another new trick - which is both exciting and worrisome -- Colt's figured out how to put things (other than his own hands) into his mouth. We've been practicing holding things - which he's got down pretty well. He has a rattle in the shape of a telephone that has been the easiest thing for him to hang on to -- though this frog is also a favorite.

 

 

Still expecting a tooth to make an appearance any time -- we deal with a seemingly endless amount of drool these days... We found some small teething rings that he's able to hold in his hands and (sometimes) get into his mouth. But he mostly prefers chewing on our fingers.

Colt had a full weekend with Razorback football, the Ryder Cup and the Cowboys on Sunday night. This is how excited he gets about Sunday Night Football --

Happy 14 weeks, little guy!

2 years and 13 weeks

That's right - as of yesterday Jeff and I have been married for 2 years. This last year has been memorable for so many reasons and I don't think either of us knew we'd be upholding our "for better or for worse" vow so soon into things -- but such is life and I wouldn't trade it for the world. Happy Anniversary.

And this week marks 13 big ones for the little guy -- tomorrow will be 3 official months. We still don't know how we got so lucky to have such a sweet baby - we are having so much fun. Colt is moving more than ever -- and really perfecting his "scooting". More than once this week I have gone in to get him up in the morning and he is on the opposite end of the crib than when I laid him down! We decided to get an Exersaucer so he could do his exercising sitting up -- and so far he loves it. His little feet barely touch the bottom on the shortest setting - but he'll grow into it. He is still sleeping well and we think we deserve to see a tooth after all this drooling!

We had company this weekend! John came up for an Honors College fair at the University and stayed with us Sunday night. Colt enjoyed hanging out with his cousin John - and all 3 boys had fun watching Sunday Night Football.

We found him!  Here is a photo of John with his Dad's name in Senior Walk.

This week I heard a song on the radio that made me tear up a little. Ray Stevens's "The Haircut Song". I know, I know - not exactly the kind of song that makes most people misty-eyed. But it's one of those 'sights and sounds' of childhood that brings back memories for me. When you're a kid, your parents' music is your music and my Mom and Dad had great taste. Ray Stevens, George Strait, Johnny Horton, Reba McEntire, Jerry Clower, Anne Murray. And I don't think I realized until I was a full-grown adult that that music had become part of me.

And as I sat in my car on the way home from work this week, singing "You better get yourself a haircut - or a dogtag!" I started to think about what a cool thing it is that Jeff and I will be shaping Colt's childhood memories. I wonder what he'll remember? Will he remember sitting and watching football with his Dad? Or my singing to him when I rock him at night? I hope so.

12 whole weeks!

Everyone survived our first week of the new routine -- Mom going back to work, Colt going to daycare, and all the dropping-off, picking-up, bag-packing, goodbye-kiss-blowing, and tear-drying that comes with it. We are still getting used to things - especially the mornings - but we are getting there. Surely we'll be used to this routine in time to start a new one!

This weekend was a good one! We loaded up and traveled south to Arkadelphia to see Granny and Pop, and see the Razorbacks play in Little Rock. We hadn't seen Granny and Pop since Colt was just a few weeks old and it was great to visit with them. And they bravely volunteered to keep the munchkin for the day while Jeff and I met up with friends in Little Rock for some tailgating.

Colt insisted on remaining neutral for the game -- though he's a Razorback at heart. The Hogs managed to pull it out at the end - thank goodness  - and somehow we are 2-0 for the season.   

Colt had a lot of fun Saturday visiting with Granny and Pop and got to meet some of his cousins -- John, Elizabeth and Will.

 

Colt is SO close to rolling over -- in fact we couldn't keep our eyes off him last night because he was getting so close and we didn't want to miss it. Any day now! His latest trick is trying to eat his hands off (photo below), but he's also started grasping things in his hands and is a lot more active when we play. We joke about him doing his morning calisthenics -- after a breakfast bottle and a diaper change he is ready to go! -- kicking, scooting, waving his arms, and cooing! He's been "talking" a lot more the last few days. Unofficial weigh-in last night was about 13.5 pounds with clothes on -- we still like to eat!

Still no teeth -- but they're probably not far off. If only he could hold a teething ring... 

Yep, it's September already.

Wow. I can hardly believe Labor Day has come and gone and we're almost a week into September. And that Colt is 11 weeks old!

This week we ventured back into the 'real world' with my return to work and Colt's first day of daycare. I am only working part-time this week as we all try to adjust to our new schedule. I start back full-time next week.

 

 

This is how he looked when I had to wake him up to get in the car. So sweet!

And I couldn't help but take a million pictures of him before we left the house --

I couldn't decide if I'd rather he cried all day because he missed me or smiled all day because he was having a good time. That's a lot of smiles that someone else would get to enjoy! But Ms. Barbara said he had a good day-- ate well, napped well and was a sweet baby all day. Dropping him off was not so bad -- he slept through the whole thing, thank goodness! But I missed him terribly all day and couldn't wait to get there to pick him up yesterday afternoon. I will eventually get used to having to leave my smiling bundle with someone else for the day... hopefully!

This week also brought Colt's first Razorback Game Day! And as usual, Mama couldn't control herself with the camera...

Colt seemed to enjoy sitting with Dad this weekend and watching all the football. And the Hogs got a win! - which is always good. Maybe they'll go on a streak like they did after we got married -- starting the day we got married, the Razorbacks won 9 in a row!

Colt is still sleeping well -- almost every night this week was 7 hours.  Last night was another 8 hour stretch, despite the Gustav-inspired storm outside and the party next door! I think it's safe to say he is officially sleeping through the night!

I know no one was too terribly impressed with last week's videos (Nicholas...) -- but Colt has learned a new "trick"! I haven't been able to catch it on video yet, but he has taken to digging his heels into the floor (while on his back) and scooting across the floor inchworm style. If I leave the room for a few minutes while he's on his playmat -- I can come back to him being almost entirely on the carpet! We've been trying to convince him that if he could learn to do that while on his belly -- we'd really be getting somewhere! The best part is that this new trick is wearing a nice little bald spot on the back of his beautiful head of hair...

No teeth yet - but he's still having some teething pain here and there. Mostly he's been drooling everywhere and gnawing on our fingers -- still eating ok and hasn't had trouble sleeping, so it's not too bad yet. There have only been a few times when he's been fussy enough about his g ums that we've had to hold him down and get him to swallow some baby Tylenol. I'm not sure who they're kidding with that stuff - making it grape or cherry flavored -- MILK flavored medicine would be a MUCH better idea!

Happy September everyone!