So wait, I'm not a dog?

Colin has had a little identity crisis lately...

...am I a dog too?

It all began one day when Colin discovered Lilly's basket of toys (much to Lilly's dismay).

Jackpot!!

In the days following his discovery this was a frequent site.  Thank goodness Lilly has rarely ever used that bone...gross!!

Soon after that he found Lilly's bell.

Silly Colin, no need to ring the bell, you don't need to go outside to potty, you have a diaper!

Next up was Lilly's cage.  Colin had been playing with Lilly's cage for some time but hadn't ever actually tried to get in it.  I was in the kitchen doing some dishes when I heard him playing with the cage.  I checked to see what he was doing and this is what I found:

It seems that no matter how many Colin toys are around, he still chooses Lilly toys to play with.

Colin's favorite toys of all: Lilly's tennis balls!

He knows very well that they are Lilly's and he likes to taunt her with them.  As you can see above and here as well:

 Sometimes he will stop to play with Lilly for a bit...

...but then revert back to doing this and causing Mommy a heart-attack--disgusting!!

Ok, so I know I'm not a dog, but it is oh so fun to make Lilly jealous when I steal her stuff!

 Dog/human....whatever you are - we love you both!

It's a Gymboree Day!

Mommy and Colin were getting pretty bored at home everyday so we decided to join Gymboree.  It is the perfect place for Colin's age.  He's crawling up a storm and is practicing standing and cruising which can be pretty difficult to do at a park (not to mention all of the rocks, mulch, and sand Colin puts in his mouth while outside).  At Gymboree, he has free reign in a safe environment and loves it!  One Saturday, Daddy joined us at Gymboree so Mommy could snap some shots...

If you know Colin, you can probably guess what his favorite thing to do during free time is...people watch:

And flirt with his teachers too:

Occasionally, he'll stop and examine the details of things:

Colin LOVES Gymbo the clown!

Each class during circle time we do bubbles and sing "Bubbles for Colin...."

Colin was so happy to have Daddy join us at Gymboree for the day.  We continued our fun day at the Sweetgrass Festival.

Colin is so intent:

Since this was one of our last Saturdays with Daddy we packed in as much as possible.  After the festival, we headed over to the beach.

We finished off our jammed packed weekend on Sunday at a birthday party for Colin's friend, Jake.  We celebrated at The Little Gym. 

Colin did some people watching again...

tried to walk like the big kids...

swung on the bar....

Well...not quite yet...

and played with his sweet friend, Lily.

This weekend gave us a little glimpse into what things would be like if Daddy had more weekends off and didn't have to leave us so often!

Colin is 10 Months Old!

Colin was full of spunk this month as evidenced by the bow-tie on sideways.  He was not having it any other way.

Everything has become interesting these days.  It's gotten a little hard to take pictures as many of them turn out like this....(must...hold...camera...in hands...now.)

Still as happy as ever with two more teeth on top!

And...drum-roll please.....Colin is finally crawling!.

Alright so it may only be an army crawl, but its his crawl, and he gets around quite well.  He gets faster and faster each day.  All that dragging on the ground makes his poor little skin red (I usually try to keep pants on him and of course he doesn't usually roam around the house in only a diaper and bow-tie.)

 

Colin's favorite place to crawl?  Right up onto Mommy's lap:

Monthly sleep update: Our trip to Europe completely threw off Colin's "sleeping through the night" we had going for a little while before we left.  We've been able to get it mostly under control since getting home.  We have a feeling we are going to get him sleeping through the night again just in time for us to leave for Myrtle Beach in a few weeks.  It makes me feel bad that it's going to mess him up again.  One area we have never really been able to improve is Colin's crying to sleep.  He still continued to do this every single night when we put him down, often 30 minutes to 45 minutes long.  I feel sick to my stomach every time but it's really the only way Colin will stay asleep so it's the best thing for him.  This is from a while back but most evenings I look like this, grinning and baring it. 

 

What I really want to do is just go in and wrap him up in my arms but that will only do one of two things: cause him to wake up even more and try to start playing with me or cause him to fall asleep and wake up a half hour later crying again!

(Speaking of sleeping through the night, its 10:42pm and Colin just woke up...whats that I was saying about it getting better?)

Beach Bum

Daddy spent most of Mother's Day weekend performing at the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst Airshow where he spent time with Nana, Grandpa and the Derry Family (Check out Aunt Jen's awesome post about it here).  Thankfully, Daddy was able to get home for dinner on Mother's Day and since he was away all weekend he was able to stay home with us on Monday.  We wanted to make the day special so after making Mommy french toast in bed, we decided to head to the beach.

We were a little unsure about whether or not we should have even made the trip with the ominous sky.  Luckily, we got to do everything we wanted to do and the skies didn't open on us!  It's best to take your chances in Charleston because you never know what's going to happen with the weather.

 

It had been awhile since the last time Colin was at the beach and he was more excited than ever. Can we say beach bum? 

Checking out the water...

Who do you think he is looking at?  Those eyes are for Daddy only!

Loving the sand!  It turns out it is a lot easier to take Colin out to the beach as opposed to the backyard.  He finds way too many things to put in his mouth in the backyard...one mouth full of sand and he learned his lesson.

Daddy decided to go test out the water for us which Colin thought was a total riot.  Even though we were pretty far back from the ocean, Colin's eyes were locked on Daddy the whole time he was in the water.  It made for some pretty funny faces.

Once Daddy got out of the water he was back on the move...

and of course, he found the only sticks around us.

Although, Colin could have played for hours, we took a break from the sand and got in the water.  This was Colin's first time going into the ocean and words can not even describe the excitement exuding from his face as he felt the first waves splash against him.  Colin was in heaven and quite fearless.  It is a moment we will never forget.  Those sweet giggles and smiles are priceless.  We certainly have a water baby!

Cuddling with Mommy after a tiring dip in the ocean:

Barely able to keep his eyes open but still smiling while loving up on his bottle:

What a FUN day!!  Since then, Mommy and Colin have spent many afternoons at the beach.  Colin likes to sit at the edge of the water and play in the sand.  He especially likes when other kids at the beach come play with him.  We are looking forward to all the time we will spend with family at the beach this summer.

One more note about Mother's Day:  Daddy and Colin each gave Mommy a beautiful bouquet of flowers.  In the rose bouquet, all of the roses died but one.  I always find this fascinating when it happens.  It makes me smile thinking of what a little fighter the flower must be.