8 Months and Growing!

We have been very busy this summer enjoying our time together as a family and with our families. We finally got Colston to Raleigh. (He had been once two weeks prior to our 'real' visit, but we were there for a quick overnight.) We had a nice weekend with Bruce and Anne and Beverly and Robert. Beverly had friends and family over Saturday so they got to meet Colston. Robert's daughter Jenny's boys loved him and were so excited to meet him. (Shown in pictures.)
Soon after we went to NJ to visit my family. We stayed for nearly a week so my parents got plenty of Libby and Colston time-- I think they were in heaven! They did lots of swimming and meeting with friends and family. We had a wonderful visit with Georgeanne, Sharon, and Lisa and their adorable children. (Picture shown) We are childhood friends and we all have babies now so to have them all together was truly special. Saturday we had a Sip N See and had a great turnout. Two of my friends brought their baby boys that are Colston's age and they made quite a hit all playing on the floor. (Picture shown) Sunday my aunts and cousins came to meet the babies-- it was long awaited for them. It was a wonderful visit.
We started swim lessons on Monday. (Pictures shown) In NJ Colston was amazing in the pool and doesn't seem to have a fearful bone in his body so I thought it was a good idea to get him used to other aspects of swimming (floating, water over head, kicking, etc.) He is a star student already is I do say so myself. There are 3 other babies in the class with us and he just laughs and talks the whole time. The teacher used him as the demonstrator for all the activities. He just went right to her and did everything she showed him. It is precious to watch and great memories in the making!

School's Out For Summer!

Well if I were still teaching tomorrow would be my last day with the kids. Sometimes I look back to my teaching days and miss it a small bit. I miss how easily I could amaze my students and I miss how much they loved me. Don't get me wrong, I much more love how I can amaze my own baby and I LOVE how much he loves me. Life is good.... no, life is Grand!
Summer is almost here. We celebrated my 32nd birthday last weekend. YUP! That's right! I'm 32!! I told my MIL the other day that I feel like June 5th is always here. I guess you start to feel that way as you get older. Birthdays are still wonderful though. Kyle cooked a wonderful birthday for me and put candles in a cheesecake and sang Happy Birthday to me. So sweet! We spent the day on the boat with my sweet angel baby and Erin's little Lib.
This weekend we're celebrating Josh's 30th in style! Erin rented us a limo for the day and it's taking us to some NC vineyards. Beverly and Robert and babysitting BOTH babies. Beverly said, "They will nap, right?" I thought that was funny. I'm sure they will enjoy their time with them.
The Beach is planned for the following week. I cannot wait to have a family vacation! Erin, Josh, and Lib are coming for part of it, too as well as our dear friends Mollie and Tony with their sweet baby girls. We can't wait!

Busy Times

Now that Spring is in full effect and the summer plans are underway, it seems like every weekend we are busy... but a good busy. My mom and dad get in tonight and are babysitting all day tomorrow and tomorrow night so we can go to the Wachovia Cup and then to Hannah and Chris' wedding party. We have been looking forward to this weekend for a while. On Sunday, we're going to celebrate an early Mother's Day with a brunch at Erin's and then dinner at my house. Our hope is to go out on the boat if the weather cooperates. (Oh! I haven't mentioned that we bought a boat! It's a beauty and was previously owned by Robert, Kyle's step dad. It basically was too good of a deal to pass up and from here on out any nice day that we have we plan to be "boating." On the actual day of Mother's Day (my first one as a mommy) we are having brunch out with Beverly.
Kyle and Josh's good friends Kevin and Haskell are coming into town next weekend and Kevin will be meeting Colston for the first time. They will be having a 'guys weekend', but will involve Erin and I in as much as we want to be involved in (boat, dinner, etc.) :-) How nice of them to include us! Afterall, I like hanging with the guys!
The following weekend Kyle is out of town and I plan to have a restful weekend with my baby. Maybe go to the park, out to lunch with some friends, etc. We will miss Daddy though.
The weekend after that we are going to Charleston for Morgan and Brent's wedding. We are looking forward to that although I hate leaving my baby over night. Bruce and Anne are coming Friday night and will be staying with him so he'll have a good time... it's just still hard for me to leave him being so little. I'm in the process of sleep training him and we're making some headway. (We're now skipping the night bottle and only feeding him around 5:30am or whenever he wakes up and then he goes back down until 7:30 or so. He's been trying to get that feeding in a few times before then so I'm hoping to have him weaned from that soon.)
The next weekends are filled with a beach trip to Emerald Isle, (looking forward to a few days on the beach with the Phillips family), a trip home to NJ in July, and a beach trip to Wild Dunes in August. Fun times lie ahead!

After a long winter........

Spring has sprung in a major way here in Charlotte! I LOVE this time of year! The birds are singing and the trees are blossoming! We sure do have lots of pollen though, but I'd rather pollen than snow! Colston and I are walking everyday and now we have Erin and Libby to walk with. My neice, Libby was born on March 24th and is a beautiful little baby. She is so sweet and is already sleeping remarkably well. Erin and Josh are really blessed.
And who else is blessed??? Kyle and I! We are so unbelievably blessed to have our baby boy in our lives. He is almost 5 months old (in 9 days) and is such a joy! His personality is really emerging and he's such a hoot! He makes us laugh so many times throughout the day. I'm finally updating some pictures of him, so enjoy! They are Easter pictures. Erin and Josh had us to their house for Easter brunch. Beverly and Robert were in town and joined us as well. Colston and Libby missed their other grandparents, but were happy to spend this time with G and Big Rob. We had beautiful weather and a lovely time.

Colston's 3.5 months!

Wow! Where does the time go??? A very cliche saying, but it's VERY true... he's getting so big! Last night we tried rice cereal for the first time. He did very well and seemed to enjoy it. After talking to the pediatrician today (I guess I should have waited for the visit to start solid food) I've decided to discontinue for a few weeks. He said that Colston has his whole life to eat REAL cereal and that breastmilk is all the nutrition he needs until 6 months. (He mentioned something about childhood obesity and diabetes too.) I'm not going to wait that long, but I will wait until about 4.5 months to begin it on a daily basis. At least we got to see how he'll handle it and he'll be even more ready then. Why rush things?? I enjoy nursing him and being his lifeline. It's special... do I really want to mess with that so soon? NO!!

So let's see... we left him for the very first time for two nights so we could go to Florida for Harlan and Julie's wedding. Beverly and Smith came to watch him and he had a wonderful time. I wasn't worried one bit about how he would feel..... I was worried about how I would feel. I missed him sooooo much, but of course I realize it's important to get away with my husband and get refreshed. We had a great time, but it was like Christmas day to get home to our baby. I think he got bigger in two days!

On the horizon....... Erin's baby girl is on her way! We are so excited! She is measuring big, so although she isn't due for two weeks it's a possibility that she is induced early. We shall see. Colston and I went to see Lib's nursery today and Colston broke in her changing table. We needed to borrow a few things... diaper, wipes, burp cloth AND a onesie b/c he dominated his! Ha!! Hope Libby doesn't mind. ;-)

10 Weeks Old

Colston is getting so big and so alert! He's been particularly alert ever since he was born, but he notices new things each day. He is almost 12 lbs. and 23 1/2 inches long. He is loving life and how could he not?! He has his mommy and daddy completely bending over backward for his every need... the way we should! We are loving life with our sweet little boy. He loves the book, Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do You See? He laughs, kicks and swings his arms back and forth when I read it to him. He loves the colorful pictures of the animals on each page. He is enjoying bath time more and more each time. He used to scream when we took him out of the warm water, but now he knows we bundle him up right away so he doesn't get chilly. He loves when you hold him straight up so he can bend his strong legs up and down. He will walk up your body putting one leg in front of the other. He has the concept already! He is eating ALL the time and definitely lets us know when he's hungry or tired. He is now on a schedule and takes a nap in his crib around 1:00 every day. I try to be home so we don't skip this valuable time. He sleeps so much better at night when he's not over tired. Last night he slept almost 8 hours straight and then 4 hours after that! Great sleep for us too!
He had his first cold this past week. He still has remnants of it and hates the 'snot stick.' (It's the aspirator used to unclog his nose.) Poor thing.
Kyle is the best daddy! He really has been a natural since day one. He knows what Colston needs and wants and is so patient with him. It's wonderful to watch.
He's a complete blessing to us! We couldn't be happier with our bundle of joy!

Time Flies!

I can't believe Colston is 6 1.2 weeks already! Time really does fly! We have been enjoying him so much and watching him meet all of his milestones is wonderful. He is smiling and cooing. He makes the sweetest ahhhs in his sleep. It's breathtaking. He is now sleeping in his nursery and is doing pretty well. It's an adjustment. I'm sleeping across the hall from him because he wakes up so frequently. During the work week Kyle sleeps downstairs so that's hard being away from him. He's been a big help though and loves his boy!