Christmas has come and gone

Well Christmas has come and gone for another year. It was great and whirlwind. Starting Christmas Eve, they let us off early for a change--which was good so that we could eat and make it to church on time. The service started at 6. There was not going to be any nursery for the service so at first I was just going to leave Colton with Steve, but then we saw Father Don at Publix and he said it was a short service meant for families and that his granddaughter was going to be there. She is 11 months old so I figured it would be all right for Colton to go. Well he was the only little kid there!!! He did all right. I kept feeding him Cheerios when he would get antsy. I didn't lose him down the aisle and he did a little "singing" of his own. Got home and changed him into his Christmas jammies and went right to sleep. We got up about 7:30 and I got dressed and we went over to Mom and Dad's house to open gifts. I kept him in his PJs so I could get pictures. He saw what "Santa" brought him and the look was priceless. He wasn't used to seeing anything under the tree. He really liked his slide and he named his rocking horse "Bud". He also liked his cellphone and set of keys. He got some books from my sister and a set of wooden puzzles that have a case as well. By about 9:15 or so, he had about enough excitement so Steve actually went and put him down to take his nap. Never has he done that before!!! He slept until about 11:30 and then I got him up to eat lunch. My aunt Julie, Chris and Chris' daughter were coming over from Fort Walton Beach and they got there about 1:30. He played with them for a while and then went back down for afternoon nap. When he got up we opened gifts from them. They got him a big CAT ride on dump truck that he really liked as well as a VTech helicopter.
There is always so much build-up and preparation for Christmas and then it just flies by. Hard to believe that at Christmas last year he was only 2 1/2 weeks old. I can't wait until next year when he will even enjoy it even more!! I really wish I could stay at home with him as I feel as though his life is flying by and I am missing it all. I hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday and I am looking forward to see what 2010 holds for all of us!!!

Two days to go!!!

Only two days until Christmas. It still doesn't seem like enough time has gone by for an entire year. All the presents are wrapped and waiting to go under the tree. So far, so good with the tree. He goes over to it and looks at it, but when he tries to touch it, we say "no" and he goes on to something else. We figured why risk it by adding gifts under there to tempt him. He is still too little to understand the concept of Christmas and to really get what it going on. I have to say I am not really in the "Christmas spirit" this year. I am not sure why. I just don't feel all happy and cheery.

Tis the season

Colton went to his first Christmas party last night. Our church had their get-together at the rectory last night. He was the only little kid there. To be honest though, he is one of maybe 5 kids in the entire church. Most of the people who attend are in their 50s and 60s I would say so all their kids have grown up!! He did all right. All he wanted to do was walk around and "show-off". He is always such a big hit at church. He goes into the nursery during church, but comes back in for communion and to be blessed. We didn't stay long, just about 30-45 minutes. It was from 6-8 and his bedtime is generally 7:15-7:30 so we left about 7:15. He went right to sleep when we got home though. For the Christmas Eve service there is no nursery so he will be in church the entire time. Hopefully he will make through. I lost him down the pew last Sunday and yesterday he kept saying "my mama" during the service. Maybe with all the singing he will do all right. It will be a busy end to the week. I can't wait for Christmas to get here. I want to see how he will react to the presents under the tree. Right now he leaves the tree alone, but there aren't any gifts under it yet.

Christmas card pictures

So I finally got Colton to be still long enough to get his picture taken for our Christmas cards. They turned out all right I guess. I chose the last one to go on the card.

Howdy

With my Mom gone last Thursday afternoon through Sunday, Colton and I got to spend more "quality" time together!! She went to NY to see my sister and her family. They usually come down for Christmas every year, but my youngest niece got chosen to be in the NYC Ballet's Nutcracker so they can't come this year. Mom went up there to see Ella perform. Unfortunately the weather pretty much sucked here the entire time. It was cold and rainy on Friday and Saturday it poured all day and was 40 degrees. By Sunday afternoon it had cleared up. He is not the kind of kid who does well cooped up for 4 days!!

This jersey was Colton's Birthday present from my sister. He will be ready for the big national championship game on the 7th. He has his jersey, a Bama hat and his "Big Al" elephant that plays "We are the Champions". I love in this picture how he has his feet crossed and his hand on Big Al. He is loosing that baby look and looks more like a little boy everyday. My dad said that his face was getting chunky. I think he is finally just filling out. He started out so small and skinny that now he is putting on some weight.

Birthday party and update

Whew what a week so far. We went to Christams on the Square on Saturday. It was nice. Not as big as last year I don't think. Sunday was the BIG EVENT. The party went well. My friend, Brenda, and her daughter, Addison, came. Addion is two months older than Colton. My SIL and her kids came too. Kara is 8 and Landen is 13 months old. The "babies" had a good time playing. He got a lot of great gifts. Colton LOVED his cake. He never gets that kind of thing so he didn't know what to do at first, but then he dug right in!!!

The three on the couch.

Enjoying his cake.

In his party hat.

He liked opening his gifts. Christmas will be fun!!

Colton and Addison played nicely.

His little smash cake.

Maddie got into the celebration too!!

The Winnie the Pooh cake.

I took him in for his 12 month check up. He weighed 21.6 pounds and was 30 inches tall. Little man is getting there. Now he is in the 50% for height and weight.

Final countdown!!!

We are in the final countdown for Colton's birthday!!!! Officially it is on Monday, but his party is on Sunday. No one has a party during the week anyway. He will just to celebrate a day early. I am sure he won't care :O)
The weather here is so miserable right now--cold, rainy, and just plain dreary. I hope it clears up tonight so we can go to Christmas on the Square tomorrow. I have been looking forward to it for a long time now. It is the only good thing this town puts on throughout the year. I love looking at the homemade crafts and last year I wandered around for about three hours while in labor. I think it helped ease the "pain" somewhat. Granted I didn't have him until the next night, but in the early stages, it was good to be and walking around.
The Alabama/Florida game is tomorrow afternoon as well. I am definitely looking forward to that. I think we have a better team this year than we did last year so it should be a really good game. ROLL TIDE!!!!

Back to Monday

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I remember Thanksgiving last year and waiting on the little man to get here. I was convinced he was going to come early--well he did come three days early I guess I was right!! This year was fun. We went to out to Steve's boss's house (also my SIL's family) where they were having a big celebration. We were eating dinner at Mom and Dad's so I ate lunch and fed Colton before we got there. They had a HUGE amount of food though. You know me though, I don't eat Thanksgiving food anyway. Colton had fun playing and wandering all over the place. They had a big porch swing and he would have stayed on there for hours. We watched them press sugar cane and make some cane syrup. Colton got to show off his "mad walking skills". He is so funny. When he wants to get up from a sit or from being down on the ground, he spreads his legs so far apart sometimes he can't get up. We then went to Mom and Dad's and ate dinner. Colton really liked the sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce. He ate some green beans and a roll too. He wasn't too into the turkey. It was smoked and think it was too salty for him.
Being off on Friday was great. I can't really remember what we did though!! I know Colton was thrown off his naps those couple days. He usually gets up at 6:30 during the week and we get ready to go to Grammy's. Well since I wasn't working, we could sleep in. He slept until 7:30 both mornings. His morning nap is usually at 8 or 8:30, but not when he doesn't even get up until 7:30. So that morning nap was screwy which of course messed up the afternoon nap as well. He did alright, but was definitely crabby by 5:00 or so.
Saturday night the town was having a celebration downtown and said Santa would be there so we ate early and went downtown. Well I should have known it was not going to be anything spectacular. Santa did arrive--late of course---and instead of sitting the gazebo, he just stood on the side of the road and there were cars coming. Colton toddled over and held onto a pole and saw Santa. He wasn't scared or him, but didn't really know what to make of him either. On Sunday after church, we went to the mall. There of course was a Santa there and I had his picture made there. It didn't so as well as I thought. He went right over to him and we got one good smile out of him before he started crying and wanted to get down.

All in all it was a great holiday. Next week we are SUPER busy. It all starts off with Christmas on the Square on Saturday, Colton's party on Sunday, his birthday Monday, Steve's doctor's appointment Tuesday, Colton's dr. appointment Wednesday and then Mom leaves Thursday for NY so I am off Thursday afternoon and all day Friday. I am going down to get Colton's passport on Friday and Saturday we are taking Maddie to have her picture made with Santa at the vet's office.

Never still

The boy is never still anymore. How am I supossed to get his picture taken when he always wants to run away?!?! Our Christmas card picture is becoming very hard to get since he is a moving target now. I usually end up getting the back of him nowdays.

The latest

We went to Tallahassee this past weekend to "run some errands." I wanted to go to Sam's to get some food for Colton's party and I wanted to go to Party City to get his decorations. I could have ordered them online, but I thought I would get them while we there to save on shipping. Well the Party City was temporarily closed--I am not sure why. The sign said to make your purchases online--great! We did make it to Sam's and got the food. It wasn't even as crazy as I thought it was going to be.
Sunday we went to church and usually Colton falls asleep on the way home. He didn't because we were "talking" the entire way home. We played and then at noon I was feeding him his lunch. Well he didn't want what I was giving him and he was all fussy. I finally gave him some cheese toast and he was half falling asleep eating it. I needed to go to the barn, so I loaded him up and figured he would fall asleep on the way to Mom's house--he didn't. Once we got there I put him down in his crib and he fussed for about 10 minutes--which he usually never does, he usually goes right to sleep. He finally went to sleep so we left and Dad was there for when he woke up. His usual afternoon nap is about 2 hours so we figured we would be good for awhile out at the barn. 15 minutes after we got there, Dad called and said "He's up. What am I supposed to do with him?" I told him to take him out and let him swing since he LOVES swinging. When we got back, they were inside playing happily. I took him for a walk and then we went and got ice cream. It was his first time of really eating ice cream and he dove right in!!! I didn't let him have too much. He wasn't too fussy the rest of the day and he went right to sleep last night. I know he his getting more teeth, so he might be a little "off" from that.
I am glad this is a short work week--only three days. Although that just makes his party and his birthday get here faster. He is getting to be such a big boy. He walks a lot now, but is mode of getting there is still crawling. He can get there faster crawling still so that is what he does mainly. He can walk from one end of the house to the other and he does that a lot too. It is getting increasingly harder to get his picture because I usually ended up with the back of him or he is out of the frame completely. His favorite word is still "bird." Not too sure where that came from. He knows mama, dada and milk, but his favorite is still bird. When he sees the dogs--"bird", the cat is "bird", the trees are "bird", squirrels are "bird." We will all be so happy when he sees the dog and says"dog" instead of "bird"!!!

Tuesday already

Saturday we went to my nephew's 1st birthday party. Colton had a good time (I guess!!LOL). He played nicely with the other babies there. They all converged on the same toy--an airplane ride-on toy with Elmo on it. There were no tears shed though. Steve's mom and step-dad were there. That was interesting. Steve had gone out of town for the day with my dad, so he wasn't there. That was probably a good thing!! There is a lot of history there and it was better for everyone there that he missed the party. Colton's party is in a little less than three weeks--YIKES!!! We are going to Tallahassee this weekend so I will pick up some party supplies there. It is not going to be a large party--some family members and some friends. We don't know that many people and I wanted to keep it small and somewhat under control. We are having it late in the afternoon so he can get his full nap in and be a hospitable host. Steve's mom said something about coming up again in a couple weeks. I hadn't planned on inviting to his party. Honestly I don't want my son's first birthday party ruined by family drama.

Crazy week

Since I had Wednesday off, it has screwed up my whole week. It was odd having a day in the middle off and now I think it is Tuesday instead of Friday!! Tomorrow is my nephew's 1st birthday party and in three weeks is Colton's 1st birthday party. I can't believe it has gone so fast!! I need to get my "party" supplies. It will be a small party--maybe 12 people or so. I want to keep it small and short so as not to overwhelm him. Next year we will do a little more, but this year he won't remember it anyway. With his birthday so close to Christmas, I want to make it special for him though. Never will we say this is for your birthday AND Christmas. I want to keep them separate so both will have special meaning.
I am still in the throws of Christmas shopping. The kids are easy, it is the adults that I am having a hard time with. If we need something, we usually go out and buy it ourselves. At this point, we really don't need anything, it is more of maybe something we want or might like to have. Colton will be crazy with the Christmas tree and the presents. I don't know how we are going to keep him from either pulling all the ornaments off the tree or pulling the tree over on himself. There is really no way to fence it off. He will want to rip all the paper off the presents under it as well. We have baby gates, but it will not be in a place where they will work. Oh the joys of having an active one-year-old at Christmas time!!!

Good weekend

We had a good weekend. On Saturday we went to my SIL church for "Old Timey Day". They serve all kinds of homemade food like sausage, lima beans, sugar cane taffy, funnel cakes, hoecakes and biscuits. Colton got to see his cousin Landen--who will be a year old tomorrow. They are a little less than a month apart and eventaully will be good friends. Right now Colton still intimates him I think because Colton is still so physical. He got to practice his walking while we were there. He is getting better and better everyday--and more brave. He has taken several trips across the living room and kitchen. I was getting his clothes ready for today and I see his little head go by the spare bed in his room. It was so cute. On Saturday afternoon, we watched the Bama game--ROLL TIDE--thankfully they won so now we play Florida for the SEC title and chance to go to the National Championship game. I am working with Colton to teach him to say "Roll Tide" and throw his hands up for a touchdown. Maybe by next season LOL.
Sunday the weather was so nice that after church and lunch, we went on a nice long "hike" along the Suwannee. On good thing about living in FL is the weather this time of year. Obviously it was too stumpy and rough to take his stroller so I put him in my front carrier. He looks so silly in there now because his little legs are dangling and come down almost to my knees already. He still likes to "ride" in it though. He is quick to point and say "bird" at any movement and the trees. Then we sat on the porch swing overlooking the river and swung for awhile. He really liked that. He started crying when I got him off and then when I put him down, he went back over to it and started pushing it himself. It was a nice day.
With this hurricane approaching us, I am not too sure of how much weather we will get. Hopefully just some much needed rain and not too much wind. I have Wednesday off since it is Veterans Day (and Steve and Taylor's birthdays!) so it will nice to be off in the middle of the week.

Definitely a walker

Now that Colton has figured out this walking thing, he is getting better at it. Last night he walked clear across the room--then went down and crawled. I was trying to get a video of him, but when I got my camera ready, he tripped and bit his lip so I had to wipe the blood and give him his frozen Eeoyre boo-boo toy. He cried for just a couple seconds until I handed him the toy and then he put it on his lip and forgot all about it. Between the new teeth and the walking, it was bound to happen sooner than later--and I am sure it won't be the last time I am wiping blood and giving him his boo-boo toy!! LOL

First haircut

Little man goes in tomorrow for his first "haircut". It is more like a trim. He never really lost his baby hair and his "bangs" are almost down to his eyes. In the back, it is growing over his collar and on top it gets curly when there is a lot of humidity out. It should be interesting!! I doubt he will sit still long enough to get a good trim, but we will see. I will post before and after pictures.

This weekend

Seeing as we live out, I took Colton over to Mom's for Halloween. We had been warned that in her neighborhood, there would be masses of kids. We spent the day putting up stakes and "CAUTION" tape to keep people from driving and/or parking on her grass and to keep people from traipsing all through the yard. We sat down to eat at 6:00 (which was when the trick-or-treating was supposed to officially begin) and by 6:15 I could see droves of kids coming down the road. We had just finished eating so I got Colton in his costume and as we were walking out the door, there was probably 100 kids outside. Dad was at a race, so that left no one at home to pass out candy. We took Colton around in his costume and his car to mainly people in the neighborhood that we know well. He didn't take much candy--he isn't going to be eating it anyway and it seemed stupid to take a baby begging for candy!! LOL. He mainly just went up and said "hi" and waved at people. He was a big hit in his costume. We got back home about 7:00 and I changed him into his PJs and took him home. Thankfully once we got home, he went right to sleep.
With the time change on Sunday morning, what usually was 7:30 was now 6:30. He didn't know that it was really earlier, so his little system thought it was 7:30 and he was ready to get up. The entire day, his schedule was screwed up. His late morning nap after church went all right, but for some reason his nap in the afternoon went bad. Normally he goes down at 1:00 and sleeps until 3:00. Yesterday I put him down about 1:15 and he cried and fussed, which he hardly ever does. He quit fussing and I could hear him playing and then fuss again. Finally about 1:50 he quieted down and then at 2:20 he was up crying again. I went in and got him up and of course he was a "fussypottomas" the rest of the day. I took him to the park and that helped. At dinner he was rubbing his eyes and acting sleepy. He made it until his normal bedtime at 7:30 and went right to sleep. I think his bottom teeth are also bothering him. The top ones didn't seem to be much of a problem, but the bottom ones feel sharper to me for some reason--more pointy on the tops.

More teeth!!

So now in addition to his top two teeth, now he is getting his bottom ones. I can feel and see one and I think the other is right behind. He went so long with none and now in a little over a week he has 4. So far, he hasn't really been bad about it. No waking up at night, no real fussiness, no fever to speak of. His chin shows a little rash, but he has had that off and on for months. His stools haven't really been loose and no runny nose either. Yeah for us!!!
I weighed him this morning and he is 20 pounds even!!! He is getting to heavy for me to hold comfortably for long periods of time--not that he wants you hold him anyway. He wants to get down and get into things!!

I created a "monster"

Colton will not eat store bought baby food. Ever since he has been eating solid foods, I have made all of his baby food. I make all of his veggies and fruits and meat. At dinner, he usually has what I am having, plus Yobaby and cereal. I have tried to give him ground beef and he didn't like it. He loves chicken and pork chops. Maybe if I mixed the beef with something he might like it better. We tried to give him Spaghetti Os and he didn't like them. We tried one of those ready-made meals, I think it was chicken with stars, and he wouldn't eat it. I really think he doesn't like the way processed food tastes because he is used to fresh food. What kid doesn't like Spaghetti Os? I think he might be teething again because his appetite seems diminished again. He can throw down some fruit though!!!

Such a big boy

I took some pictures this morning before heading to Grammy's for the day. He has MOPS this morning as well. He looks like such a little man and not like a baby anymore!!

Another development

On a completely unrelated subject--I officially stopped pumping on Saturday. Normally I would pump first thing in the morning and then a couple more times throughout the day and mix his milk with what I pumped. On Saturday, I didn't pump at all and boy did I feel it!! He still is nursing before bed though so they got "emptied" then and on Sunday was the same. A couple weeks ago he wanted nothing to do with nursing before bed, now he is back to his usual. Especially these last two nights, there has been an abundant supply!! By about 3:00, I can feel the pain. I didn't even bring my pump to work with me today for the first time since I came back from leave. I guess I will endure the "pain" until I wean him completely. My shirts are fitting better now though there is more to fill them up!!

Shopping all weekend

I think our entire weekend was a shopping trip!! On Saturday morning Colton, Mom and I went to Tallahassee. Mom needed to go to a store there in Tallahassee to get my neices Christmas presents (they only sell them at this one store in Tally) and then we were going to go to Toys-R-Us and to the mall. We got to the first store and did some shopping. I bought Colton some books and Mom got the girl's gifts. Then we were off to Toys-R-Us. Well when we got there it said they were closed due to storm damage. I don't recall any major storms lately, but whatever. I was disappointed because I really wanted to get Colton some birthday/Christmas presents and get my nephew's birthday present as well. So we went on to the mall. I had to resist buying Colton more clothes. I LOVE to buy him clothesm but he REALLY doesn't need any!! I think I ended put only getting him a pair of pants and a rashgard shirt for next summer. On a side note--I had trouble getting his shoes on for a little over a week now. They were size 3s and I knew that his size 2s were too small. I had gotten him a new pair of Nikes and a pair from the Children's Place as well. He had only worn the Nikes last week and it was the first time for the others. Well when we were at Sears buying toys (they have a pretty good toy selection there) I went over to the show dept and had the lady measure his feet. Come to find out, he measured a 3.5!!! No wonder I was having trouble. I was trying to squeeze his feet into shoes that were to small!! Colton was good all day. He slept on the way there and the way back. When we got home, we watched the Alabama game and picked up pecans.
On Sunday, Steve wanted to go to the mall in Gainesville. We left here about 9:30 so when we got to Gainesville, of course the mall wasn't open yet (I told him that but he insisted that the mall opened at 11:00, when I knew it wouldn't be open until noon). Toys-R-Us was right next door and it opened at 10:00. It is a big store with a Babies-R-Us attached too. I got Colton another birthday/Christmas gift and I also found him some shoes in the right size!! I already had another pair of Nike's that were a size 4, but he needed some new "church" shoes. I also found him some cute little Christmas jammies with a Santa hat he can wear on Christmas morning. I still have some more shopping to do, but I guess I still have time.

He walked--I think LOL

I was making dinner last night and Colton was playing in the dining room. He was rearranging the chairs--as he does frequently-- and then he let go, stood there and took what looked to me like a step or two. Then is pants tripped him and he went down and crawled the rest of the way to me. He has trouble holding his pants sometimes!! LOL I know that he can do it--it is just that he is in too much of a hurry and crawling is much faster!! He will do it when he ready I guess.

New word

Colton favorite new word is "bird". He says mama, dada, bye, hi, milk and he points to the dog and when you ask "where's Mommy?" he will pat me. My Mom has two birds so that must be where he got it from. When he sees a tree now, he looks up and says "bird".

Busy weekend

We had a busy weekend. On Saturday we went to the Fall Festival. Colton got his face painted (with a small pumpkin on one cheek and he actually sat there and let her do it!!), then he had his picture taken--they had a little set with hay bales and pumpkins and I just couldn't resist, then he rode on the kiddy train. The man must have thought I was crazy for letting my 10 month old on a train without me there to hold him. He has a little car that he takes his walks in so I knew that he was used to sitting in something while it was moving. He just sat up there like a boy boy and looked so cute. Then we walked over to the horse show and watched for a little while. Normally we would have taken one of my horses but it was too cold and Mom was out of town--so no one to watch Colton while I would be in the arena. Colton kept whining and pointing at the horses because he wanted to ride. The annual dog talent show was at the same place too. So we went to take a look there too. It was nice because it was inside and warm!! On Sunday after church, we got him a pumpkin to carve. I bought one of those stencil kits. They are not as easy as it says they are. The little wheel that you trace the pattern is tiny and my drill broke after about 5 minutes. It turned out good though. I took his picture in his Eeyore costume with his pumpkin.

He made it

Well Colton made it through his first MOPS meeting. Mom said he didn't even cry when she handed him off. She asked the lady how he was when she went to get him and the lady said he was good. She asked how old he was again and Mom said "10 months" and the lady's response was "he sure is energetic!!". I am not quite sure what that was supposed to mean, but at least he didn't get kicked out!!! I guess they will be going back in two weeks.
I called my peditrican yesterday and asked if they would recommend the H1N1 shot for Colton and they said no, so I guess he won't be getting it--I didn't really want him to anyway. :o)

Teeth--Finally!!

Ok so now I can actually see the teeth coming!!! He is getting his top two teeth before his bottom ones. He doesn't like for me to look at them anymore though. I "brush" his gums with the washcloth when he is getting his bath. This morning when he was eating his grits, he was being coy and leaning over to the side and I kept imitating him and he would smile and I could see the little white tips coming out of his gums. I am not sure this is such a good thing though--cranky, nonsleeping, feverish--OH JOY!! LOL
Right now he and Grammy are at their first MOPS meeting. I sure hope it goes well. I am not quite sure what it is all about, but I thought it might be a good way for him to interact with other babies. If Mom doesn't like it, she doesn't have to go back I guess. I just hope Colton doesn't get kicked out for being mean or too rough!! :O)

Back to the "grind"

We had a nice weekend I guess. It is still REALLY hot here. On Saturday my Dad came back from NY so Colton and I spent the day over at Mom and Dad's house--Steve was at work all day. Colton wasn't quite sure who he was since he hadn't seen him since mid-August. We watched the football games and went on some walks--he LOVES going on walks and driving his car. Alabama won so that was GREAT!! On Sunday we went to church and then we went out to Applebee's for my birthday. Steve didn't want them to come over and sing, so we didn't tell them it was my birthday. I missed out on my free dessert! :o(
His transition to milk is going well. He doesn't seem to notice at all. On Saturday night and then again last night, he only nursed for like 3 minutes on one side and then was ready to go to sleep. On Sunday morning, I didn't even try and nurse him. I just got him up and gave him his cup of BM/cow's milk and he was happy. I still worry about the right-before-bed feeding, but if the last two night are any indication, he will do just fine.
Both my friend's little girl and my nephew are sick. They both have a snotty nose and can't sleep at night. Neither one got the H1N1 shot, so it isn't that. Hopefully they don't have the flu itself. I was reading how 19 babies have died since Oct 3rd from H1N1 flu. That is very scary. I am still going back and forth on getting vaccinated. I have never gotten a flu shot and I have never gotten the flu. Maybe if Colton was in day care or had siblings I would be more apt to get the shot. I just don't know!!!

Vaccines

So I have decided that Colton will be on an altered schedule for his vaccines. I know at his 12 month appointment, he is to get vaccines. Not sure which ones that they have "scheduled." He most certainly will not be getting the MMRV shot. I did some research on it because I knew that the MMR shot was one that was controversial to begin with. When you add the varicella vaccine (chicken pox shot) to it, it can cause high fever and febrile sezuires. The MMR by itself also is known to cause fevers and possibly sezuires, but when you add the "V" to the MMR, the child has a much greater chance of having problems. I read many studies and searched the CDC website for all my information. I also plan on waiting on the MMR by itself until he is 18 months old. They only need two boosters by the time they start school, which for him will be a year later than most due to his birthday being after the Sept. 1st cut-off. IF I decide to get the chicken pox vaccine, he can get it when he is older--like 2 or three. He isn't in day care, has no older (or younger) siblings and is very healthy. They certainly didn't have the chicken pox shot for us when we were growing up. I had chicken pox when I was 7 and had no problems. I know that vaccines are required to start school, but I think the timing of them should be a little more spread out. It is a personal choice and no one should feel bad for doing what they think is best for their kids.

Cow's milk

I gave Colton a little cow's milk in his BM cup at lunch today. He seemed to not even notice really. My supply has decreased tremendously since he isn't nursing as much. My body is adjusting but not supplying as much. Also I don't think I have enough fat in my BM for him. I don't eat hardly any fat and what I do eat is most likely used my my own body first. Half the time at dinner, I hardly eat anything at all since I am trying to make dinner for Steve and I and trying to get him fed and cleaned up so we can go outside before it gets dark. I know you are supposed to wait until 12 months to wean them onto cow's milk, but it is only a month off since I would have started the mixing part at 11 months anyway. We will see how the week progresses.

October in Florida

Last week was so nice we had the windows open and it got down into the 50s at night. Today at 7:00am it was 80 degrees and 100% humidity. It is like a pressure cooker out there. Hopefully it will cool back off soon. For Halloween, Colton is "going" as Eeyore and I am sure he will not want to be in that costume if it is still 90 degrees outside!! I can't wait to carve his pumpkin and to take his picture in his costume. He looks soooo adorable.
Still waiting to see if what I see in his mouth is actually his teeth coming in. It really doesn't make a difference to me if he has teeth or not at this time. I know he will get them eventually and when he does---OH BOY--watch out for those chompers!! That is how he gives kisses-with his whole moth and kinda sucks on your face and/or chin. Right now it is just gums, but with teeth it will be a whole different experience.

Maybe getting some teeth??

I think he might be getting some teeth--maybe?? At this point he has NONE. I have been thinking since he was 4 months old that he has been teething. He had all the classic symptoms--fussing, drooling, low grade fever, rubbing everything on his gums--and then nothing. Well then about a month ago I thought maybe again. Nope he just had a cold. Last night during his bath, I was wiping his gums with the washcloth and I thought his top gums looked different. I can't really remember what they looked like before though. We fought about it for a while--I wanted to exmaine better and he wanted to play with is whale. There seems to be two swollen, whitish looking bumps where his top teeth would be, but they are definitely not at the bottom gum level. Obviously they have to move down at some point so maybe he is just at the beginning stage of his little chompers dropping. He also has been sucking his top lip a lot lately. Who knows?!?!?

My first blog

So this my first "official" blog. I used to blog on myspace, but now I use Facebook and haven't really done any blogging on there. I have noticed a lot of people use blogspot so I thought I would give it a try (and I can do it at work!! LOL).
I guess the purpose of this blog is to write down random, or not so random, thoughts about raising my little man. I can't believe that he will be 10 months old in two days. That Darius Rucker song is so true--"It won't be like this for long". I actually have that as one of my ringtones for one of my friends. She has a little girl that is only 2 months older than Colton.
Mom and I went shopping yesterday. Colton needed pajamas for when it gets colder and some long pants and long sleeve onesies and shirts. I had bought him a butt load of long sleeve shirts, but they were mainly oxford types and not "play clothes", more like church shirts. Well almost two hundred dollars later, the boy has PLENTY of clothes!! I think in the last year and half I have not bought myself any clothes. All I buy these days is Colton clothes. I have even bought myself any shoes--which for me is HUGE!!
I feel like I have sooo much to say that this blog would be a book by the time I get done, so I will cut it short for now. Maybe when I get back from lunch I will write more.