Thanksgiving

We kicked off our Thanksgiving celebration by having Mommy's closest friends from high school over for dinner.  This was very exciting for Colin because he got to meet Bethany, Michelle and Matt's daughter, for the first time.

Colin loved being passed around by all Mommy's friends.

The whole gang:

Colin, in true fashion, refused to go to sleep with all the people downstairs (even though you couldn't even hear a peep in his room).  Thankfully, Auntie Tess hung around after everyone left and worked her magic to help Colin unwind and get sleepy.  He loves his cuddle time with Tess.

Thanksgiving morning Colin took a nap in his swing and woke up a little sleepy when the Emerick clan arrived.  I decided to snap some cute pictures of him with the fam but he kept yawning...

With Aunt Veronica:

With Aunt Jen:

And with Uncle Connor:

Looks like Uncle Hunter (on Skype) was the only person not boring him:

I was able to capture a few more shots later in the day when he wasn't so sleepy.

 With Aunt Veronica (Take 2)

 

With Aunt Jen (Take 2) ~ she does this to Colin all the time and he loves it!

With Uncle Thomas:

 

 Mommy and her Little Turkey:

The turkey is carved:

The table is set:

The baby has taken his seat:

And dinner is served:

Just another "candid shot":

After we ate our meal we served Colin up some yummy rice cereal.

He couldn't get enough.  I'm sure he's looking forward to next Thanksgiving when he can stuff himself with more than cereal and milk.

Colin wouldn't go to sleep, surprised?  This time, it was Grandma Phyllis to the rescue. She hummed sweet lullabies in Colin's ear.  I'm not sure I've ever seen Colin so peaceful.

Once Colin finally hit the hay, Mommy, Aunt Jen, and Aunt Veronica enjoyed root beer floats and a fun game of Perpetual Commotion.

On Friday, we celebrated Thanksgiving with the Goodwillie side of the family.  We met Nana, Grandpa and the Derry cousins at Gee Gee's pool.  Colin and Joergen enjoyed relaxing together in the floating duck.

Colin spent almost a hour in the pool.  He loved it!

 Back at Nana's house Colin remembered Daddy with a special shirt.

He also enjoyed watching some tv. You have to be careful with this boy, if you'd let him he'd watch tv all day.  Mommy pretty much never turns the tv on anymore unless Colin is sleeping. 

That evening guess what Colin did?......that's right, refused to fall to sleep!  I didn't want him waking up his sweet sleeping cousin, Joergen, so I let him come downstairs and join the party....He was pretty happy to be out of his crib:

It gave him some cuddle time with Aunt Jen too:

That night Colin ended up passing out in Mommy's arms around 10 while Mommy and Aunt Jen talked in the family room.  Hey, whatever works.

The next morning Colin was ready to go again and gave Nana some lovin:

We headed back down to Mimi and Pappy's house where Uncle Connor and Mommy had some fun taking pictures....

Uncle Connor & Colin:

Practicing sitting up:

Mommy & Colin:

Mommy and her babies:

Kisses for Colin:

Mommy's way of "rough-housing":

Uncle Connor's way of "rough-housing":

After our photoshoot, Ben Liss came over to meet Colin for the first time.  Ben is currently in med school and is my "personal pediatrician".  He was pretty impressed by my knowledge of baby facts and asked, "What do you do all day sit around and read about babies?" Hey, its my first baby, I need to know everything there is to know!  Colin was pretty excited to meet Ben, can't you tell?

All that excitement tired him out and he passed out in Mommy's arm while we were chatting.  (By the way, this will only happen when other people are around and I'm preoccupied with them.  I can never get Colin to fall asleep on me when it's only me.)

We finished off the Thanksgiving holiday on Sunday by watching the JETS play. 

Colin was all dressed up for Pappy's favorite team.

During the game, Mimi and Pappy's neighbor and good friend Karina stopped by and enjoyed playing with Colin.

We had an awesome Thanksgiving and had so much to be thankful for this year.  We missed Daddy but made the best of it by spending lots of time with our family and friends.

First Solids

Wahoo!  Someone fed Colin other than Mommy!  I bit the bullet decided to start Colin on some rice cereal.  The pediatrician felt it was time and so did we.  I found the following questions on the Mayo Clinic website and it said if you could answer all three and your baby was between 4 and 6 months he was ready:

• Can your baby hold his or her head in a steady, upright position?  YEP
• Can your baby sit with support? UH HUH
• Is your baby interested in what you're eating? HECK YEA! He practically drools over it.

And so last night Mimi bought some rice cereal, mixed it with Mommy's breastmilk, and served it up in Daddy's cup from when he was a baby (given to him by GG):

Although he had just breastfed, he seemed as ready as ever to try out the cereal:

Not so sure of it at first, but pretty pleased:

 It didn't take long until he was opening his mouth up nice and wide for the next bite:

More Mimi, More!

He had no problem swallowing it and made very little mess of himself:

 Colin was all smiles for Mimi as he finished the entire cupful.

Colin only woke up twice to feed twice last night and Mimi got him in the morning so Mommy could get some extra sleep. (Thank you, thank you!!)  She gave him his breakfast cereal with water and although he did not seem to like it quite as much he devoured the whole cup and and still ate just afterwards when I woke up.  Looking forward to giving him some more cereal tonight, this time with milk and maybe even warmed up! 

Colin's 4 Months Old!

Its crazy how much a baby can intellectually grow in one month! Colin is full of smiles these days and even started to giggle towards the end of the month.  It is the most precious thing in the whole world.  I tried to catch it on video but he always stops when I whip out the camera.  He recognizes his mommy and occasionally will look at me and pout/frown when someone else is holding him.  I love wrapping him up in my arms to make him feel secure.

Colin continues to grow physically as well...one would hope so with all the eating he does!  He still likes to eat all the time and will not to take a bottle.  Sleep is a struggle (especially for naps) but we are hopeful that once he starts solids that will get better.  At his four month appointment, Colin came in at 50% for weight (14 lbs 13 oz), 50% for height (24 3/4in), and 50% for his head circumference (42cm).  He's pretty average just like his mom and dad.

One of his new favorite things to do is to pull up on his pants.  He likes to check out his feet and thoroughly enjoys kicking them up and down.  I think he may even "talk" to his feet sometimes.

 Remember those smiles I mentioned:

He is becoming quite the flirt:

Check out those chunky knees:

Colin's new best friends have become his hands.  He loves them!  I think he talks to them too.  He's still working on figuring out which digit he likes the best for sucking and most of the time the whole fist will end up in his mouth.  Occasionally both fists end up in there and he chokes himself.  Silly Colin...

 

 With teething and his hands in his mouth all the time comes...

DROOL!

Colin has become quite the drool meister!

Finally, Colin loves to look at the mirror.  Sometimes he checks himself out but most of the time he is smiling and looking at me through the mirror.  It is so much fun and brings lots of joy to my heart!