Visit from Pappy and Aunt Jen

We were very lucky to have both Pappy and Aunt Jen visit us in January.  Pappy stayed with us for five days and Aunt Jen stayed with us for another week after that!  They really enjoyed getting to spend time with Colin and seeing how much he already changed from Christmas.  We spent a lot of time sightseeing and for the most part we had gorgeous weather!!

After a long drive to what Mommy thought was going to be some nature trails, to find you have to take a ferry to get to them that only runs once a week, we settled with spending the afternoon at the Palmetto County Park (Remember my post about the day I spent here with Colin when he slept the whole time?).  It really is a beautiful place...Aunt Jen and Pappy agreed.

Colin wasn't so sure about the sun in his eyes, but loved cuddling with Aunt Jen.

Three generations photo op

After our walk, we stopped by the park where Colin got to swing...

...and go down the slide.  Fun, right? Well, he was a little sleepy and not so sure about the whole situation!

Another day, we planned to go to Boone Hall Plantation (Pappy was really looking forward to seeing it). Unfortunately, they were filming a movie on the plantation grounds and closed for the week. Lots of movies have been filmed here including my favorite, The Notebook.  Remember Allie's summer house? That's Boone Hall! We went with Plan B instead, Charles Pinckney's house just across the street from the plantation. Pinckney was a former governor of South Carolina and signer of the United States Constitution. Sorry no pictures of the house, I was in the car with Colin while he slept as Pappy and Aunt Jen checked it out.

The grounds of the Pinckney House had a nature trail we walked. Colin remained sleeping for much of our hike (boy, does he love sleeping in that car seat!)

On our walk we noticed these holes....Aunt Jen was a little creeped out but trudged on anyways...

Later on the trail, we found this sign...notice the fine print on the bottom...

Venomous snakes...."AHHHHHH"

Aunt Jen was so scared she climbed up a tree.  Fortunately, she was able to calm herself and turn back to pose for a picture.

Mommy went for a climb as well....

...just in time for Colin to wake up! "Hey, where am I?"

On Pappy's last night we all went out for a special dinner at Hank's in downtown Charleston while Colin stayed home with his favorite babysitter, Miss Angela.  It was a great time to catch up as adults and we enjoyed a delicious meal.

The next morning, I woke up to this...

Pappy heard Colin awake in his crib, got him up for us, and was playing with him in the guest room when I woke up.  It gave us a few extra minutes of sleep and was such a sweet moment to walk in on!

We were sad to see Pappy go but we're happy Aunt Jen stayed for a few more days and helped take care of our little man.  He's sportin his Unv of Delaware bib for his auntie.

His auntie who just so happens to be a political news junky and in South Carolina during their Republican primary elections for president.  She was quite disappointed that we didn't get MSNBC on our cable but was glad we made up for it by taking her to The Best Rally The State Has Ever Seen, The Rock Me Like a Herman Cain South Cain-olina Primary Rally.

It took over a hour to find parking so we had to drop Aunt Jen off on her own and meet up with her afterwards.  Luckily, Colin and I were able to make it for most of the rally and snagged a picture in front of Cain's tour bus. 9-9-9 (seriously?)

The idea behind the rally was Stephen Colbert, the political comedian, using his Super Pac Money to put in a bid for president.  Since his name could not be placed on the ballot he was using Herman Cain (a drop out candidate) as himself.  Herman Cain willingly went along with the whole thing and even participated in the rally.  Confused by the whole thing?  That's ok, so was Colin...

Vote for me "Herman Cain!"

Yes, that's right, he even had a gospel choir as part of the rally...

If you want to watch the rally yourself you can watch the first part here and the second part here. 

Following the rally, we were able to find Aunt Jen in the mob and had lunch at a Greek restaurant downtown.  At lunch, Colin showed off his new move of the week - placing his pointer finger in his mouth like such:

I regret to say that on our way home from downtown we got in a car accident.  I decided to check out a children's park that was sort of on the way home.  If Colin was still awake we were going to take him out to play...well, he was asleep so we drove right past. I was in a neighborhood I wasn't familiar with and "failed to yield" at a stop sign. I made a complete stop, thought I looked both ways, and ran right into a car driving past while I turned.  Thank God, no one was hurt and my precious baby boy continued to sleep in the back unharmed.  It did some damage to my bumper and major damage to the side of the other driver's car.  I'd never been in a "real" accident before and this was very scary! It was a huge wake up call to me that I need to be more careful, especially with my constant feeling of sleep deprivation.  I've got far too important cargo tagging along with me everywhere I go now and I never ever want anything like that to happen again.

To brighten up our spirits the next morning we turned to chocolate.  A visit with Aunt Jen is not complete unless it includes baked goods.  Colin tried his hand at his first cupcakes - Aunt Tess's Blackbottoms - Yum!

We wanted to do a little more sightseeing with Aunt Jen so we headed to Cypress Gardens.

Remember my favorite movie, The Notebook, it was filmed here as well.  We got to see the spot first hand from the super romantic scene where Noah and Allie are boating with the swans and get caught in the rain.

But first, we stopped by to see the alligators that were on sight.

We went inside the butterfly garden as well.  Colin was all smiles.

We had our own tour guide on the boat who shared lots of facts about the gardens and did all the rowing for us.  It allowed us to sit back and enjoy our time on the water with Colin.

There goes that finger again:

We sure did have a great day!

Another one of Colin's new found tricks of the week, was screaming.  Aunt Jen didn't find it too funny when he was doing it "just for fun" at 3am a few mornings. I figure he's just getting her prepared for motherhood.

Here here his practicing his screaming (the hiccups were getting in the way a little!):

Colin loved spending time with Aunt Jen and can't wait to see her again soon so the silliness can continue!

Colin's 6 Months!

While Pappy and Aunt Jen were visiting Colin turned 6 months old.  This month was very exciting to watch Colin explore himself and his surroundings.  The best part about this month was that Daddy got to be home for the whole time!  The first thing Daddy did with Colin when he returned from deployment was introduce him to his feet and how to put them in his mouth.  He has been obsessed with them ever since.

One foot…

Two feet…

Feet without socks:

Colin’s favorite place to be continues to be lying on the changing table. 

When he’s not eating his feet, he's smiling, giggling, or practicing his new acquired razzing skills while getting his diaper changed.  We hang out on the changing table long after the changing part is finished!

Here is Colin working on his razzing:

 

Sleep continues to be a struggle.  Although, Colin did sleep from 7pm-7am once!!! He usually looks like this in his crib (after a 20 minute nap from which he woke up still tired but unable to fall back to sleep – poor little guy!):

 Fortunately with some sleep props, he is looking more like this when he wakes up:

 

No, that is not a torture device; it is a Safe T Wrap which Colin actually seems to enjoy.  It keeps him nice and cozy and prevents him from hitting his head on the crib railings when he’s fighting the sleep.  He’s also wearing “The Magic Sleep Suit” which although not magical it does seem to calm our little yellow marshmallow down enough to enjoy a bed time story and does seem to help him sleep for longer stretches. (Mommy doesn't care what the critics ~Aunt Jen~ say about it!)

Even with these contraptions, Colin still prefers to sleep in his car seat while strolling through the neighborhood.  I’m not sure what could look more peaceful then this:

At Colin’s 6 month doctor’s appointment he weighed in at 16 pounds 13 ounces (25^th percentile) and 26 inches (40^th percentile).  His head circumference was in the 50^th percentile.  The doctor said he was doing great! He received several vaccinations which were followed by a fever and a few rough nights.  Any sleep progress we had made took a step backwards but fortunately quickly got back on track.  

Now, on to Colin’s six month photos!

He has been doing a great job sitting up…

 …but is often distracted by his…feet!

 Which then cause him to fall over….

 …and he wonders, “Now what do I do?”

If it’s not his feet distracting him, it is something else out in front of him. 

He purposely leans forward so he can get his mouth on whatever it is. This time it was the frills on the blanket. 

 From this position, he then lays on his belly and swings his legs to the back…ready for some tummy time.

Usually he is on the floor and not about to fall off the couch!  Speaking of which, we’ve had a few close calls.  As Colin gets more and more mobile the more we have to be careful.

One last thing to add about this month…Colin has started to take a real interest in Lilly.  He loves to watch her jump around and giggles when she licks him.

We were able to capture one of their first playful interactions with each other:

Birthday Playdate

Back in Charleston, Colin attended his very first birthday party.   His sweet friend, Lily, was celebrating her first birthday at Wannamaker Park.  Lily’s momma, Becky, has been a wonderful friend to me and has given me great support with being a military wife!  She has been doing a fabulous job with her two little ones while her husband is deployed.

Despite Daddy being away, Mommy and daughter made the best of Lily’s big day:

Colin and I drove with my friend, Kayla, and her boys.  Both Colin and Henry fell asleep on the way there.  It took Colin a little while to fully wake up:

Henry, on the other hand, continued his nap for just a little longer.  *Check out those hands! When the boys were first born we noticed how Henry’s hands were about three times the size of Colin’s hands.  (Future quarterback?)

Kaela and I with our August 3^rd due date babies:

While the birthday girl enjoyed her cupcake...

...Colin enjoyed some cuddling with Miss Margie, another friend of Mommy's.

We spent a couple hours at the park and once we were finished lunch Colin was ready for a nap!  I wanted to get a picture of Colin and the birthday girl but instead I got Colin pouting in his stroller while Lily looked on and wondered what was wrong. 

Back in the car, Colin and Henry were asleep within minutes and got to squeeze in another nap on the way home.

I'm sad to say Kaela, Henry and his sweet brother Noah are moving to Washington D.C. in February.  I will miss the playdates these boys could have had together!  Luckily, we'll be able visit them when we're up north. 

Becky, Lily and her sweet brother Jack will also likely be leaving us this year but fortunately we have a little more time with them.  (Oh the life of a military family....so hard to say goodbye to your friends!)