HISMSV...Part 2

Our first trip of the summer was to Puerto Rico! Colton got to stay at Bunny's house for Bunny Camp. It was hard to leave our sweet boy for 6 whole days, but we knew he was in great hands. We had a wonderful, relaxing trip. It was simply divine to get to sleep in every morning and I even managed to read 3 entire novels! Here's our crew. The guys all work together and earned this trip as part of a sales award! The beautiful beach just steps away from our hotel.
This slide was really for the 12 and under crew, but we couldn't resist. It was really fun.

Iguana feeding time. Every morning around 11 you could watch the iguanas feed on lettuce. It was pretty fun to be that close to them.

One day we took an excursion to see two forts in San Juan. I think this one is Fort San Felipe del Morro. It was finished in 1787 but the foundations were laid in the 1500s. Pretty impressive!

From this view you can see the 2nd fort down the coast line.
One ship captain was held prisoner and drew this sketch on the walls.
This is Fort San Cristóbal.

The children like to fly their kites in the afternoon.
Being silly.

Christopher Columbus in downtown San Juan.

Triangular (instead of spiral) staircase. The steps down were incredibly steep and deep.
Legend has it that one of these sentry posts is haunted by a ghost.
A little friendly Puerto Rican gecko taking in the view.

Another excursion took us to the rain forest. It was quite a hike but very beautiful.

I snapped this picture as we were leaving for the airport. These orange trees were everywhere. I never did catch the name.
Our last night of the trip.
Can you find Jack? Hint: the tall, not so tan guy in the middle! These people were serious about their water volleyball.

One of the waterfalls in the rainforest. I actually got in at one point -the water was freezing!

Gas at $o.99!!! Wait a minute - that's per liter!
Jack and his new buddy Ethan, Nathan and Laurie's oldest.
Can you believe I got Jack to wear a "Hawaiian shirt"???
We snapped this picture on our first day at the hotel. While I was taking the picture another iguana ran right across my bare toes. Freaked me out!
The pools at the hotel.

**HISMSV (How I Spent My Summer Vacation - in case you were wondering about the title).

How I Spent My Summer Vacation...Part 1

** Update ** We gave Colton a bath tonight with almost no screaming. Yippee! This is what worked tonight: moved locales to our bath tub and used an inflatable tub. He still didn't love getting his hair washed, but at least he sat down in the bath and splashed a little bit.**

Colton and I spent a lot of time at the neighborhood pool this summer. The kid doesn't like baths, but loves pools and splashing in any type of water. Go figure! He enjoyed being in the water, but REALLY loved crawling/walking around the edge of the pool and keeping his mom on her toes. I heard a friend say this was her first summer to "sit" by the pool in 8 years. Yikes! No more reading by the pool for me.


Here's Colton checking out the drain. This was in early June before he started walking.
Sitting by the edge of the pool.
Keeping our cool. He kept this hat on for roughly 15 sec. Just enough time to snap a pic. He'll love this picture in 15 years :) Don't love the pic. of me but I'm happy to report that was early June and I am now 10 lbs lighter :) It's called the "Colton started walking" diet. It really works! Here are the details if you want to try it for yourself.

• Lift 25 pound weight 20-50 times throughout the day.
• At least 10 times a day do deep knee bends to pick up dropped sippy cups, pacifiers, loveys, etc. all while holding 25 pound weight.
• Oh and make sure the weight is a very squirmy, active toddler with the strength of 4 babies when he wants to get down.
• Start to make my lunch, only to forget what I was doing in the middle and forget to eat again until baby is in bed.
• Go on 2-3 walks per day pushing 25 pound weight in stroller stopping at park to chase toddler around.
• Play "human trampoline" and "airplane" in the afternoons.
• Run around house to play "chase" numerous times throughout the day.
• Play "steamroll" baby because it makes him laugh so hard.
• Dance to "Toddler Tunes" because it makes him laugh even harder. Mommy never said she had rhythm.
• So that's the "Colton" diet in a nutshell. He's available for 12 hour trial periods if you want to see results fast :)

Jazmin, Jenilee and Javi were our fun swim buddies this summer! Unfortunately, these are some of the only pictures we got of our swim outings. For some reason we were a little too busy to get pictures. Our favorite outing was to a place called Surf -n- Swim. It had a wave pool with a zero entrance - perfect for toddlers. They also had a little spray park.
Swimming buddies!

Like Father, Like Son...

Here's Colton circa 2008...
Here's his daddy circa 19** :) He would kill me if I put the year! Don't they look a LOT alike???

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Any ideas for helping Colton get over his bath aversion? About a month ago, he started crying when we washed his hair but still pretty much enjoyed splashing around. However; lately, he just clings to the side of the tub, won't sit down and screams through the entire bath. I'm just giving him one every other day and we try to make it as quick as possible. We've heard of a bath visor and may try that next. Any ideas are welcome or is this just a stage??

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Just for fun.

"Splashing Around at My Water Table"

Colton's First Day of "School"

Thanks for all the prayers today. Colton did great at his first day of school! As soon as we got out of the car, he started smiling. The Toddler B class was heading out to the playground and he thought that was great. When I took him to his Toddler A class, he started smiling again. They were having a snack. This boy cannot turn down a cracker. Like father, like son :) He sat at the table with all of his classmates and didn't pay me another lick of attention. I called after lunch and they said he was doing good. When I picked him up, he was still in a good mood, plus they were having another snack. I had been so worried that he would be crying. They gave me a "Toddler Tales" report sheet and he slept for about 45 minutes. The teachers are confident that all the babies will be sleeping 2-3 hours by the end of next week. I cannot imagine how they get 7 kiddos to sleep at the same time. He also has his first homework assignment. We have to bring a teddy bear on Thursday. I'm so thankful for a good first day!

Here's our boy sporting his 3rd haircut! We decided he needed a new do before the first day of school.

And here he is relaxing after his big day! This is the musical rocker that his Papaw had when he was little. I have great memories of playing with it when I was little, too. Colton has REALLY enjoyed it. Of course, I had to actually set him in it correctly. Usually he is in it backwards on his knees rocking it as fast as it will go.

Couch Jumping After School...

So Much to Blog and So Little Time...

Colton enjoying the bubbles!
Colton and Dad watching the police puppet. Notice Colton's "big boy" shoes. He looks so grown up!
Colton's "dressy" shoes...

Last Friday, Colton and I took advantage of the Tax Free weekend and went shopping. It was really a pleasant outing and gave me hope that Mommy can resume shopping again. It was easy when he was a newborn, but for the last couple of months he's been a little bit more difficult to take in a store for any length of time. We went to Firewheel (an outdoor mall) so it might have helped that we kept going outside after being in a store. Anyways, we needed to get him some shoes for school (I'll explain that in a minute) and his Roobees weren't really working for outside jaunts. I was going to get Pedipeds, but couldn't find anywhere nearby that carried them for him to try on. Someone else recommended Stride Rite so we thought we'd give them a try. We had a great experience at the store. I really wasn't planning on buying any, let alone 2 pair, but they salesman was super nice and they had a really great sale. Colton is wearing a size 5. I got a little teary in the store watching him try on shoes. It was like a real mom moment - buying your kid shoes - not to mention his first "real" pair! I don't know why I'm going on and on about the shoes - other than it really was a fun trip. After getting Colton some shoes, we walked in a few more stores and then played on the playground! Such a great day for our last official day of summer.
Colton's tennis shoes... They even come in the cutest little shoebox!

Colton's new perch. He loves to climb up on the ottoman (he can almost do it by himself!)
Another favorite spot!
Checking out the buttons on the Direct TV box. Jack is not thrilled with Colton's outfit in this picture. I just though it was a cute little shortset that a friend had passed on to us. Little did I know that it was one of Jack's least favorite team's and player's jersey...oops! This is an expression we get a lot from Colton. Jack says I furrow my brow just like this, too. Colton does it when he's concentrating. In this case, he really wants to catch a bubble.

Well, I've been a bad blogger lately... I started back to work Monday so I guess that can be my excuse. One of these days I WILL post about our wonderful trips to Puerto Rico, Abilene & Branson.

For now though I'll just stick with current times. To catch everyone up Colton will now be attending a church day care while I work part time as an ESL teacher. Our sweet babysitter, Jenilee decided to pursue a full-time opportunity that was better for her and her family. We are sure going to miss her this year!

I was in a bit of a panic because she was such a great sitter to Colton, but God took care of us and we found an opening at a small church day care 5 minutes from my school. Colton's first day is Monday, so I'll let you know how it goes. I think he will really enjoy being around some other kiddos his age. There are between 7-9 kids in his class with 2 very experienced teachers.

The thing I'm most worried about is if Colton will actually nap there. He will have to drop from 2 naps to 1 nap in the afternoon. Thankfully, they start them out in cribs and then move them to mats/cots on the floor. A lot of the day cares we looked at had up to 13 kids in one room and they started out on mats on the floor. Colton will also need to kick the bottle habit while he's at day care. I don't think that will be too bad. I'm going to keep giving him his morning and evening bottle and gradually wean him to a sippy cup. He just loves bottles soooo much - I can't go cold turkey. Please keep us in your prayers next week as we make this big transition to day care!

Since I returned to work this week and was without childcare, Miss Karen and Pawpaw graciously offered to drive all the way to our house and watch Colton! Colton has had a super fun week. I think he's set a record for most walks in one day and is keeping Miss Karen very busy! Thank you so, so, so much for taking such good care of our little guy!

God also took care of my work schedule. We have a new principal, so I wasn't sure if I would be able to keep my same hours as last year. Thankfully, she is very ok with whatever I want to do, so for now I decided to do four days a week from 10-3! I'm so excited to have that day with Colton and it will be one less day of driving and day care!

Here are some of the things I want to remember at 13 months...

• Colton loves dogs, cats and birds! He loves to look for them on our walks or in the backyard.




• Loves to play with the mulch in our flower bed or on the playground. Could care less about the swings, slides, etc. He is fascinated with this stuff!




• Really getting vocal - it seems like he's playing around with his consonants, especially b, d, n and m - He wants to talk so bad, but so far "oh, wow, yay, mama, dada and quack-quack" are his words.




• First "real" pair of shoes. Pictures below!




• When Colton sees a dog, cat or baby he kind of does this high-pitched noise. It is way sweet!




• I gave him some pears the other day for a snack and put them on a little tupperware lid. He took them out of the kitchen to eat in the living room and I just knew they would end up all over the floor. Instead, to my surprise he ate them all very neatly and then brought back the lid to "ask" for more! So big!




• My FAVORITE new thing Colton is doing: He will come up to us and wrap his arms around our legs and squeeze! The best hug I've ever gotten!




• Starting to roll his cars and push them on the tile.




• His appetite is really growing. He is eating more and more table food. Some favorites are: broccoli, baked chicken, pasta wheels, peaches, pears, apples, green beans, peas, tuna, cheese, Saltine crackers and potatoes.




• Colton also loves to share his food and insists on feeding you!

First Trip to the Zoo

Today, we decided to take Colton to the zoo. It's been on our list all summer and we really needed to get out of the house. Jack deemed this day "Taking our Mind off of Molars Day"! Poor Colton - he's getting all 4 molars at once and a bottom tooth thrown in just for fun. He has been so miserable the past 3 days. We've tried everything - frozen teethers, washcloths, orajel, tylenol, advil, teething tablets but the only thing that seems to work is being held or distraction. Thankfully, he's still sleeping through the night.

So, it was off to the zoo. We only stayed about an hour and a half, but that was plenty. It was HOT! Colton's cheeks turned bright red the moment we got out of the car so no he is not sunburned - just doesn't process the heat like big people do.
We had a great time!

Daddy and Colton on the carousel.
Mommy and Colton at the exit.
One of Colton's favorite exhibits was the Flamingos (or at least one that held his attention longer than 5 seconds. There were a couple geese and ducks down there so I think that was a draw as well.

Daddy and Colton at the vulture exhibit.
Staying hydrated.
Mom and Colton on the carousel.

Colton's trademark gesture. Usually follows the outstretched hand with a grunt indicating he wants to touch something or have it.


Now, he did like these little lizard creatures. They kept flicking their tongue at Colton, so he licked them right back on the glass. EWWW!
Colton's ride. Notice he's sitting all the way up and ready to see some more sights.

At the children's zoo - seeing a pony with Dad.
Bunny (not to be confused with our special Bunny who we hope is feeling all better. She came over to take care of us Tuesday and ended up getting the stomach bug, too)
Patting the pig.
We thought he would love these gigantic fish, but our boy was all about the dirt near their tank. Everytime we let him out of the stroller to walk, he would head towards the most random things (never the animals) - touching the drains in all the sidewalks, feeling the texture of all surfaces nearby and picking up stray leaves and trash. Who cares about an elephant when you can pick up trash? Silly boy!
This did get his attention for about 3 seconds.

First video is of Jack and Colton having a little fun at the zoo. Second video is of Colton jumping in his exersaucer while watching Praise Baby. He can really get the exersaucer going...I'm afraid it won't contain him much longer.