Graydon- 5 Year Old Survey

So once again, I am still working on Graydon's 5 Year post and pictures, but in the meantime, here is his interview! These are the same questions we asked him last year.

1. What is your name? Graydon 

2. How old are you?  Five

3. Do you know your Birth date? Uhhh I don't know. ( haha!!)

4. What is your favorite color?  Light blue. Actually I like all the colors in the world. I really like all of them. 

5. What is your favorite breakfast?  Gogurt, cereal bar and fruit  (he wants this EVERY day!!) 
     Lunch?   Mac n Cheese, broccoli and ummm a hot dog. Vegetables, and mac n cheese and a hot dog. And that's all.  ( He just kept talking..lol) 
     Dinner?  Mac N Cheese and um hot dogs
     Snack?  Uhhh..ummm...fruit snacks when I got to school 
     Drink? I really like umm blue gatorade. 
     Fruit?   purple strawberries 
     Vegetable?  peas

6. What is your favorite toy?  My captain america shield. It's so hard. 

7. What is your favorite thing to do?  Watch super hero videos on the phone

8. What is your favorite television show?  Sophia the First, especially the new ones
     Second favorite?  Curious George 
     Movie?  Super Hero movies

9. What is your favorite shirt?  my Avengers shirt
     Hoodie?  my Batman hoodie
     Shoes? my black and blue tennis shoes (carters)

10. What is your favorite book?  I really like my Underwater  creatures book.

11. What is your favorite farm animal?  Horse
      Wild animal?  Bear
      Insect/Bug? I like uhh not the ugly ones. I really like the giraffe beetle right now. It has a neck that looks like a giraffe and it can fly. 

 12. Who is your favorite/best friend?   Sammy and Camden. And Dylan. And Eli and Ezra. And Andrew and Elliot.

13. Where is your favorite place to go?  I am really excited to go to Chicago. I really like to go to Sammy's house! And Camden's. 

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside?  I really like to play baseball and play on the playground. 
       At the park?  The monkey bars! I'm good at the monkey bars now. 
  
15. What is your favorite holiday?  Christmas!

16. What is your favorite animal that you sleep with?  My angry bird 
      Are you afraid of the dark?  Noooo ( yes he totally is, LOL) 
      Favorite thing to do before bed?  Watch TV

17. What do you want to be when you grow up?  a Policeman 
      Where do you want to live?  In a house. 

18.  What does Daddy do?  He works 
19.  What does Mommy do?  You pick me up from school. 

20.  What makes you happy?   Going to Chicago.

21.  What makes you sad?   When I actually sometimes fight with people at school. And I'm trying not to. I'm concentrating not to try to not fight. 

22.  Do you want more brothers and/or sisters? More brothers (again!!) Not going to happen..lol

23. Favorite thing to do with Mommy?  Playing outside  
      Daddy?  Play baseball with him
      Nora?  We sometimes play kitchen and we play nicely. 
    Colin?  When I go woooo and then he laughs. 

24. Favorite thing to say?   YAY

25. Favorite Letter?   B - because that goes with bear, and that's my favorite animal 
     Number?  100

New Questions added this year!

What's your favorite song? ABC's
What's your favorite thing about school?  Playing on the playground
What's the most important thing you've learned this year so far?  Not fighting
What is the kindest thing you've done for one of your friends? I sometimes help them not to get from the other kids who like to fight.
What's your favorite part of your day? Playing outside
What's your favorite part of classtime? Playing during playtime and doing stations.
What's your favorite thing about your teacher? When she tests us

Colin-11 Months Old

I cannot believe we are only ONE month away (tomorrow) from Colin's FIRST birthday!!! Holy smokes, where did the past year go?!?!  Ahhh! And we are so not prepared!!!

Well this little guy has quite the personality. He LOVES attention, and seems like a little spitfire sometimes. He loves to bang his hands down on his highchair right now, and when you are holding him if you are not paying attention to him, he will hit at you with his hands. When you smile at him, he flashes a big one right back at you...he has a way of captivating your attention!!

Colin is getting so big. He weighs around 21 lbs. and fits best in 12 month clothes. My favorite outfits of his right now are his blue and gray striped pjs with the rocket on them, the red and blue striped pjs with the racoon, and his little light teal shirt with the moose on it, along with the Trail shirt, with gray sleeves, all Carters. Love that brand. He is fitting into size 4 shoes, and size 4 diapers, which are still just a tiny bit too big.

He is ALMOST walking, and can really truck along when he's pushing a walker toy. He is getting fast! Just not daring enough yet to take any steps on his own, but is also walking along furniture with no problem. He crawls super fast now too.

He is eating pretty well. He is mainly eating food and only really takes a bottle before bed, usually one in the night still, and then sometimes one in the morning, but sometimes he won't drink it.  He is still eating baby food but doing pretty good with table food. Some things he eats better than others. He loves bananas, but not too many other fruits yet.  He does well with carbs, and chicken. And we are getting there with like peas and carrots.

Colin still has two teeth on the bottom, and two that are just now breaking through on the top. That has made for some rough nights lately!

I can't really think of any favorite toys that he has. He really just crawls around everything and plays with toys that the kids already have out and about.

He LOVES his pacis still.
He does great in the van and when we are traveling.

He still takes two naps a day, although the morning one is typically short since we are busy running errands or whatever and then he will take a longer one in the afternoon. He is usually sleeping by around 7:30-8 pm and wakes up anytime between 5:30-6:30 am. Sometimes he will drink that bottle and get back to sleep, and other times he cries so I will let him play in the jumpy while I'm working out and getting the kids ready to head to Gray's school.

He is super ticklish and likes to be played with while diaper changes and getting dressed. He kicks his feet a lot though and tries to roll over which makes this a huge feat to do sometimes. He like's to throw these little fits. He's a stinker!! :)

So far he is saying mama, dada and last week I taught him to say Uh-Oh so he keeps trying to sound that out, and it is really cute!

He really loves Gray and Nora, and just lights up when they come into the room, especially if they acknowledge him! Although Nora likes to pull him down from things onto his butt, which he really dislikes.

He loves going into the bathroom, and tries to play in Nora's potty, so we keep him out of there. He loooooves his bath time though and sits up independently in the tub now, with the kids, which he's been doing for a couple months.

Colin also does amazing anytime that I drop him off at MOPS or the nursery at church, and the helpers always tell me the same thing-- that he was a super happy boy the entire time and just played contently! I am thankful for the easiness that he brings in that, because it would be hard if he cried when I dropped him off.

That is all I can think of for now! Here are some fun things we have done in the past month:

Joined Stroller Strides for the month- and Colin and Nora both do great! They love to watch the mommas workout, eat snacks and enjoy the ride when I walk or run with the stroller. Colin also takes a good nap occassionally!
Had a playdate at Jamie's house with Dexter and Isla
Gone to the dentist a couple times for Gray's and mommy's cleanings, and he does great.
MOPS started
He comes with us to Nora's dance class and gets into all sorts of mischief there.
Got to have fun with his Uncle Joe when he visited for a couple of days.  We went to Schwailler's orchard while he was here (along with two other times since then.)
Celebrated Graydon's 5th Birthday
Had a great together with at Paul and Naomi's with Jon and Shelly as well. All the kids love to play together! He also had his first pumpkin pie that day and LOVED it. Yelled for more!!
Had a playdate at Kerri's house with Ava, Maelyn and Aubrey, and tried to eat a Barbie shoe!

9 Month Comparison Pics!

 Graydon

Nora

Colin

Colin-9 Months Old!

Colin is growing so fast these days, we can barely keep up with him! He is crawling super fast and pulling himself up on everything now. He loves to get up on our entertainment center and play with the DVD player, so that has been an issue. If he can pull something out of the laundry basket or toy box, he goes for it. In the dining room he likes to pull out the computer cord, which drives Chris crazy. He likes to try to chew on the vacuum cord too. He has started standing himself up on the window ledge, and likes to try to play with the blinds and cord.  In the kitchen he is always getting right up into the refrigerator the second we open the door, and of course goes right to the stairs, so we have to keep the gate closed at all times now. The bathroom is a whole other story....he likes to try to stick his hand in Nora's little potty, loves to spin the knobs on the vanity drawers. The one days I watched him climb up onto the little step stool and start to lean over into the bath tub. Thank goodness I was there! I just keep that door closed now if I can, but sometimes the kids forget to shut it. In his bedroom he loves to pull the books down and make a big mess. He isn't in Gray and Nora's bedroom too often, but they like to get all of their kitchen food out sometimes and he will chew on whatever they offer him!  Needless to say, he is keeping us quite busy! Now that he is so mobile, he really despises being put into his jumpy, which is hard because that is my safety net for if I have to take a shower etc! He will either start to cry right away or gets frustrated after a short while and wants out. On August 10th...that day was a big day. He transitioned from crawling to sitting up all of a sudden, and that was the day that he pulled himself to standing for the first time. He also started saying Mama!! I was like YAY! It is still the only real word that he babbles! This is a first for our kids, so it makes me excited!

Colin is weighing around 20 lbs. now and wearing size 9 month clothes, but 12 month pajamas fit him the best. He rarely wears shoes, but when he does fits OK in a size 3, and is still also wearing size 3 diapers.  My favorite outfits of his are his Detroit Tigers onesie outfit, or his little navy and gray striped hooded shirt from Gymboree with baby jeans. He has the cutest little chubby thighs, chin and cheeks!  He is also quite ticklish, which is fun. :)

He loves bath time, and likes to "bear crawl" around in the water, so we do not put much in there. He is doing awesome with sitting up on his own in there now as well. He loves trying to splash the water everywhere...and not a fan of getting out and getting dried off.

Colin has two little teeth now on the bottom! We noticed his first one come in on Saturday, August 1st, that evening. I realized that was why he had been fussy lately.  He is a great eater and LOVES his baby food. He is doing cereal and fruit in the morning, around two containers of fruit/veg for lunch, and protein, veg and a bit of fruit at dinner. He also drinks around 24-30 oz. of formula (Enfamil Gentlease still.)  He still spits up sometimes, usually after breakfast when he is crawling all around. It gets all over the floor and then he smears it everywhere, typically before I notice to clean it up. He is a stinker! :) He also loves his Puffs and mum mums when we have them. So far he has tried some french fries and a dill pickle which he loved! He tried to knaw on a green bean but wasn't a fan.  

He usually goes to bed around 7:30ish and gets up between 7-8 am. He still wakes up 1-2 times a night for a diaper change and bottle. He is usually SO wet, sometimes I have to change his pjs too. He likes to snuggle one of his little blankets usually, and I always put like 3 pacis (MAMs) in his crib so when he wakes up he can find one easily. He likes to toss them out so it's a hunt everyday to figure out where he threw them around the crib.  He hasn't been pulling himself to standing YET that we know if, but he has figured out how to reach the mobile to turn it on, and somehow he also pulls down the little while polar bear (and only that one) off of it. Not sure how he is doing this!! He is such a happy little guy when I first go in his bedroom to get him when he wakes up, unless it's the night and he is crying! He gives me a big smile, and I love it! I wish he liked to be rocked and cuddled more but usually after his bottle he wants to lay right now. He also sleeps on his stomach now a lot, which I was waiting for since Gray and Nora did the same thing.

Well here are some fun things that we did in the last month!

Jazz in the Park
Park playdate with Andrew, Elliot and Sammy
Pool day at Grandma and Grandpa's house
Grand Rapids Balloon Festival
Nora started potty training
Flicks Kid Festival to see Despicable Me
Playdate for Colin and Nora at neighbor Jill's house while we did Graydon's school assessment
Naomi and Tucker came over to play for a couple hours one Sunday
BBQ at the Marsh's house
Stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's house for a couple nights when I hurt my back, and for Unity Festival
Played with Camden at Catch Air while our flooring got done in the kitchen
Went to Elliot's house for a playdate
Uccelo's for lunch, and Boulder Ridge Animal Park with Grandma Jeanne, Grandpa Bob and Aunt Barb
Splashpad playdate with Wendy and Myles and his sister.
Playdate with Jamie, Dexter and Isla
Went to the thumb to stay with Jaja and Busha, Aunt Brenda, and went to my family reunion

Colin- 7 Months Old!

Colin is 7 months old already. I have not been good at all about updating this blog since I have had him. Things are so busy all the time, so I am going to do my best from here on out and get caught up each month!

Posts will probably be out of order too. This is more of a note to myself here I guess! (this is last month's post, for JUNE.)

Colin is weighing around 18 lbs. 3 oz. and is in the 45%.  He is 28.5 inches long, 90%.  Our pediatrician said he has had a huge growth spurt since his last appointment. Long and lean babies we have...although he definitely has a bit of chub on he lets and under his chin that we loooove so much!  His head was 17.25 inches and in the 40th %.

Colin is wearing all 6 month clothing and 6-9 month pajamas fit him the best. He is still wearing size 3 diapers. As for shoes...we have rarely put him on him. Must be a 3rd kid thing! And it's summer...he doesn't need shoes. Haha!

He is moving all around now...mostly spinning in circles and pushing himself backward. 

He also just started eating baby food about 2-3 weeks ago and is loving it. The doctor actually told me that we are feeding him TOO much food and not enough formula which is why she thinks he is still waking up 2-3 times a night for big bottles but who knows!  He isn't on that great of a schedule. I feed him cereal and fruit in the morning, fruit and some veg at lunch and protein and veg at dinner, sometimes with some more cereal mixed in. He has several bottles throughout the day, ranging from 3-6 oz.  and then a few at night that are like 5-6 ounces. He hasn't really disliked anything yet except for green beans but I give them to him anyways with some fruit mixed in and he tolerates it! He has mostly eaten bananas, apples, pears, sweet potatoes, peas, carrots. Some chicken and beef. And the formula of course! 

He is going to bed around 7:30 and getting up around 6:30-7 am.  He takes 2-3 naps during the day that last anywhere from 45 min-2 hours. 

He is still fussy and spitting up A LOT. We give him zantac for it and it seems to help a bit. Anytime he gets mad he is crying right away. I guess we are sort of used to it now but he is getting a lot better!!  

Thankfully he does pretty well in the car and will go to sleep or play with toys.

He LOVES him pacis and we use the Mam brand.

Fun things we have done in the past month:
Went to Megan's house and played with the Kelly kids
Graydon's preschool program at Anchor Point
Celebrated Grandpa Bob's birthday, had dinner at Osaka and went to the White Caps game (Colin stayed at home with Grandma Jeanne and Nora)
Stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's house for Memorial Day
Went out to pizza place to have dinner with Paul, Naomi and Tucker. Colin was a champ and ate his food there great!
Church/church nursery
Did a great job going to the doctor with Mommy (mommy's doctor)
Played with Grandma Lyn at our house while Mommy and Daddy got to have a date night!
Jazz in the Park started downtown and Colin loved laying on the blanket, rolling and looking all around and playing with toys!
We traveled to the thumb and stayed with my grandparents for the weekend, and also went to my cousin Adam's open house.

Colin's Birth Story

I have been meaning to fininsh getting this down for months now...but the fact of the matter is that life is BUSY with 3 kiddos! And I am so so SO behind on my blogging. Vowing to get caught up here in the week few days!

Looking back on Colin's birth, it was interesting how everything played out.  The night before my good friend Nancy came over and watched Gray and Nora for us so Chris and I could go to his work gathering.  We ate some good food and had a beer and joked about how it could be our last time out before having the baby.  Some people commented about me being out and about and almost ready to have a baby. It was also a really pretty snowy evening!  We enjoyed ourselves.

The morning of Colin's birthday started out well.  We got up, and all got ready for the day. I took a shower and got completely ready, hair, makeup and all..."just in case."   I had an OB appointment that day at 1 PM and knew that my doc was going to try and strip my membranes, so I wanted to be prepared.  We had lunch, and got to the appointment.  Chris took a late lunch that day and met me in the parking lot, so he could sit in the van with Graydon and Nora. I was feeling big, and sore, and did not want them in the room with me while all that was happening.  Nora also ended up dozing off because that is her normal nap time anyway, so it worked out well.  I got up to my appointment and was still at the same dilation and effacement as the week before, so no progress. Which made me even more doubtful that the membrane stripping would work! I had warned my OB that I had had it down TWICE with Nora and nothing ever happened. I was leery to do it again because of the pain and cramping that followed, with no results.  Anyways, I think she took that warning as her own personal mission to put me into labor....haha! Because let me tell you, did she EVER strip them.  I was pretty much in instant labor, just did not know it yet.  When I left the appointment, I got into the van, said goodbye to Chris and told him I was already feeling really crampy. I had intentions of take the kids to Costco, getting a smoothie for a treat and picking up a few last minute items before the baby came.

I started driving there and got about halfway, when I decided that I was insane. I was in a lot of pain and knew there was NO way I was going to be walking all around Costco with the kids, pushing a cart etc. I got off on 28th Street and ended up at Arby's....for some reason a shake sounded good to me, and they had the new Creme Brulee flavor so I decided to try it. Little did I know it would be the last thing I would have until after Colin arrived!  I drank like half of it and felt a bit nauseous.  We got home and I was exhausted and in a ton of pain.  All I wanted to do was pass out, so I laid on the couch and turned on a movie for the kids. I dozed in and out of it, while they ran around, watched tv and played.

 I think it was around 4:00 when I talked to my good friend Nancy, who is like a mom and grandma to the kids, about what was going on.  She asked me if I wanted her to come over and I said no...I was still in denial and disbelief that I could actually be in labor, and didn't want to "inconvenience" anyone!  Shortly after that I realized that this was the real deal and needed to get things going. I texted Chris and found out he was on his way to Sparta to see a client and started freaking out....he said he would be quick and he couldn't turn around yet--he needed to get this person their medication. In the meantime I ended up calling Nancy back and left her a a few texts and a voice mail to come over to watch the kids if she could.  She was out walking her dog at first and didn't see my texts or phone call. I called Chris's parents to get them on their way over here for the night, since they are about 45 minutes away. I also called my good friend Lyn, who is like another Mom to me! She came over as quick and she could and picked up up to go to the hospital. Nancy wasn't to our house yet, so we got one of the twins across the street (Diana) who watch the kids for us occasionally to come over until Nancy got here.  When we got into Lyn's CRV we prayed, and then left for the hospital. My contractions were coming every 2-4 minutes or so! I couldn't believe that I was finally in labor!
Of course it was rush hour, so the traffic was awful. We decided to skip over 131 and take Division, which had construction. Just seemed like we couldn't get there fast enough...and I just could not believe how fast my contractions were coming! When we go there, Chris was waiting for us. It was a huge relief. My biggest fear was always that I would start to deliver and he would miss it for some reason!

Once we got into the triage room, the nurse checked me and I was only 4 centimeters. I was like WHAT!? I was convinced I was going to be at least 6-7.  Over the next hour things started getting way more painful, and I had decided that I wanted an epidural, and wanted to enjoy the delivery.  They moved me up to our delivery room and things continued to progress. It seemed like everything was sort of going slow motion and the anesthesiologist was taking forever. So much paperwork to sign. My contractions were getting worse, especially on my left side. It turns out that Colin was turned funny and I think he had been for a while because of the pains I had felt for a few months when I had braxton hicks. When I finally got my epidural I felt relief...accept for that spot on my left side because of the pressure he was creating. The pain actually felt magnified in that spot.  Finally they had me get on my hands and knees and doing some moving around which helped a bit.  When I flipped back onto my back they checked me again the water bag was bulging so they popped it and shortly after I started to push.  It was around 8:30 pm...I told them I wanted Colin to be born by 8:45 at the latest and they all sort of laughed. The OB said OK, well then we have some work to do! He was born at 8:39.  It's a BOY!  Chris was not surprised at all, and I wasn't really either...I was just thankful he was here and healthy! It was November 14th, 2014 at 8:39 pm.  He was 8 lbs. 10 oz. and 20.5 inches long! Big and healthy. I really believe it would have been like 8 lbs. 11 oz. but we do not know for sure. They took a really long time to weigh him...a couple hours. And by then he had a huge poop all over me and himself while we were doing skin to skin. He nursed pretty well right away and seemed bright eyed and content. I was thankful it was all over. I remember the OB telling me that we should have 10 more kinds because my body was made to do this! Haha!! Chris and I laughed about that... anyways. Happy to finally have this birth story finished. I only took almost 8 months to get it done! 

It's a BOY-Colin Christopher

We welcomed our little Thanksgiving baby,  Colin Christopher into the world on November 14th, 2014 at 8:39 pm.  He was 8 lbs. 10 oz. and 20.5 inches long!