8 Month Update

Colton turned 8 months on May 2nd. That's two-thirds of a year! Crazy. 

• Weight: 19.6 lbs
• Hair: Still mostly bald ;) 
• Wearing: Mostly 12-month clothes, though some 9-month onesies still fit. 
• Foods: Colton has now tried a lot of new foods! And he has liked them all: apples, bananas, pears, green beans, peas, avocado, carrots, chicken, ground turkey, ground beef, cottage cheese, cheese, and puffs. 
• Sleep: Colton sleeps about 10-11 hours at night. He still wakes up occasionally in need of a pacifier. He also normally wakes up about 5am to eat, then goes back to sleep for a couple of hours. 
• Naps: He takes short 45-minute naps 3 or 4 times per day. (I would prefer that he takes only 2 or 3 longer naps, but so far I am losing that battle.)
• Teeth: He is still teething and drooling like crazy. One tooth is starting to come in on the top, but none have actually poked through yet. 
• Other developments: He is starting to go through separation anxiety. 

Colton is crawling like crazy! He is now a very fast crawler and enjoys speeding around the house and getting into things he shouldn't be. He likes to play in the curtains, pull things off of shelves, and knock the baby gates down on top of himself. 

He is also JUST starting to cruise while standing and holding onto things. Occasionally, he can start to move while holding onto the couch. He is getting more and more confident with standing. 

He loves pulling himself up on anything and everything: baskets, doors, his crib, people, chairs, etc. He has a harder time getting back down though, so he'll often get stuck standing up. Then he just whines until you help him down. 

When he goes down for naps and bedtime, he often will pull himself up on the crib railings. We go through several cycles of having to help him get down so he'll go to sleep. 

Colton is so excited each time Brian comes home from work! He immediately wants his dad to pick him up and play with him. 

My days are definitely a lot crazier now that Colton is on the move! I spend a lot of my time chasing him around the house and helping him get down once he is stuck standing. I love staying home with this little boy! 

8 Month Pictures

It gets harder and harder to get him to sit still for photos. 

"Haha, chair- you're so funny."

"Are we done yet?" 

"Aaaaand I'm over this." 

Finally some more smiles. 

"Look what I can do!"

April Happenings & Crawling

We have a crawler!

April has been a big month for our little guy. He can now go from laying on his belly to all fours to sitting, and back again. He is crawling like crazy. And he is pulling himself up anything he can find including stairs, baskets, and us! 

Here are some pictures and videos from April. 

"Cheeeeeeeeeese" 

Pulling himself up on the stairs. 

Look at me! I'm standing! 

Looking so dapper. 

Aaaaand he's done with pictures. 

Sometimes Colton just likes to gaze out the window. 

Baby tantrum. 

 

We have been going for a lot of walks lately due to the beautiful weather. 

A visit from Aunt Megan! 

Nice expressions, Colton. 

We got to see Aunt Laura and Uncle Ken for dinner. Colton helped Laura celebrate her last grad class! 

I've realized that we have very few pictures of me with Colton. 

Another new favorite past-time is wrestling with Dad. 

 

Grabbing Dad's ear is also fun. 

Calming down by looking out the door. This kid loves to look outside. 

Post-bath cuteness. 

Learning to play hide-and-seek. 

Some snuggles with Rachel

.....Do I have something on my face? 

Videos

Showing how he can go from sitting up to all fours and vice versa. (4/17/15)

Squeals and talking (4/23/15)

Crawling! (4/27/15)

More Crawling! (4/27/15) 

Even More Crawling! (4/27/15)

Hitting himself in the head with a toy then crying/laughing. 

Easter Weekend

Brian, Colton, and I spent Easter weekend with some of my family in Illinois- we got to see my mom, dad, and sister. (We missed you, Dyson and Hannah!)

When we travelled for Thanksgiving and Christmas a few months ago, Colton did a great job! And by that I mean he slept about 99% of the car ride. This time, however, was a different story.  He still slept for some of the trip, but he also made it clear when he was ready to be done in the car. He did this by yelling and by trying to escape from his car seat. (I'm pretty sure Colton thinks that if he can push himself up, he'll break through the car seat restraints. So far the car seat is winning.)

Off to Grandma's! 

Colton got to spend a lot of quality time with his Aunt Emily

Colton logic: why look at the book when I can grab your face? 

Colton had met our family's dog, Bailey before. But this time he was more interested in her. Bailey didn't seem too interested in him yet. :)  Surprisingly, they didn't get into each other's toys to much. (Except for one incident involving Bailey and a stuffed monkey)

Photo credit: These are both from Emily.

Emily and Colton also enjoyed sitting together and looking out the front door. Colton loved watching Bailey and spending time with his aunt. 

Is this not the cutest photo you've ever seen? Look at his little hand on her leg. He loves her.

On Saturday afternoon we enjoyed some time at the park. 

Colton and his grandpa

Colton is REALLY GOOD at not looking at the camera 

Colton's first time on the swing! Isn't this the cutest thing you've ever seen? Adorable. ...He didn't really know what was going on. 

He was a little too small for the swing and kept falling forward, so we propped him up with a blanket. 

Later we found an infant swing. He still had no idea what was happening. 

On the tire swing with Auntie Em

What?! A picture that DOESN'T have Colton in it?! Emily and I had to get a picture at this park- we played here a lot growing up and had a lot of fun memories. Yes, we did play while we were there. On a side note, I learned that I am no longer very good at monkey bars. However, we DID dominate that balance beam.

Colton as a tiger

One last photo with Grandpa

Once we got back to Des Moines, I wanted to take an actual Easter picture of Colton. We sat him outside on a blanket- he was too busy looking at everything to smile for us. 

Look what I can do! 

Thank you, Mom and Emily for sending me your pictures and letting me put them on here!