3 year old dr. appt

We had Colin's three year old well-baby (can I even call it that anymore?) visit yesterday.  Colin was the best-behaved he's been there since birth (even the nurses remembered and commented on it).  I had told him LAST WEEK that if he got on the scale by himself (this is an issue) and was a good boy, we could get ice cream afterwards.  We were barely re-dressed and packing up when he asked, "Now I get ice cream?"  He never forgets...

Colin was less than impressed with the new development of having to wear a mini hospital gown... but how cute is this? 

Luckily Buddy was there to keep us company.  

Colin is up to a little over 36 inches tall and 28 pounds.  Dr. says he is in the "healthy" BMI range though.. he's just our tall, skinny string bean.  Better than the alternative, I guess.  Dr. said all is well and we have a happy growing kiddo on our hands.  I'll take it.

birthday weekend celebration

Colin had quite a birthday celebration extravaganza this weekend!  He is going to be spoiled into thinking birthdays are a week-long affair.  By Sunday, he was asking me, "My birthday is over?  I'm still three?" 

Fun started on Friday with his party at school, and then a pumpkin whoopie pie (mom hadn't made the cake yet.. more on that epic fail later) with a candle to blow out, with some presents to open, after dinner.  (note the excavator to the right... that has not left his sight since he got it, it even went to school with him Friday!)

Uncle Adam showed up Friday night and helped Colin play with his new toys on Saturday morning.  Adam may or may not have enjoyed some of these toys more than Colin.

Zoe and Zach also came in Saturday morning bearing presents, which Colin was more than happy to rip into immediately...

Only my siblings could turn a wholesome 3 year old birthday party into a "beer exchange" ...

Super Colin flying around in his cape from Grandma Kitty!

This garbage truck from Uncle Adam was also a huge hit, and now must go everywhere with us and "sleep" next to Colin's bed at night.

Colin blowing out the candles on my epic failure of a cake.  I was going to tell you about it, but I can't even talk about it.  Regardless - Colin certainly enjoyed it.  Big boy even blew out all three of his candles by himself!

Following a game of softball in the backyard, Aunt Zoe buried Colin in the leaves

And then mom, Colin and Aunt Zoe headed to our neighborhood halloween party in the park.  Despite wearing his fireman hat in the house for the past week, he decided he needed to wear his ballcap to the party.  Of course.  Here we are warming up with some hot chocolate and popcorn.

They did a little parade around the park with trick or treat stations, so we got in a little practice for Wednesday's trick or treating...

Many, many thanks to everyone for traveling to celebrate with us, and sending presents and love.  I think Colin had a great weekend, and so did we!

making jack 'o lanterns

Colin helped carve his first pumpkin today.. he was VERY excited about the concept of "making jack o'lanterns" but not so much on the execution.  He didn't like the feel of the guts on his hands, but he did "help" me do some scraping...

inspecting the seeds and guts...

checking out the insides...

Then we gave up on also carving the little one, and let him draw on it with a marker instead...

He LOVED his jack o'lanterns!!!

colin is THREE!

Happy THIRD birthday to Colin!  It’s hard to believe that our Stinkers is a full-blown preschooler now!

Lately 2 ½-3 has been “challenging.”  On one hand, it’s so much fun to have conversations with him and watch him turn into a silly, fun little boy.

On the other hand, with that comes tantrums, limit-pushing, and even more specific and stubborn opinions from our already-opinionated little man.  But overall, it’s a ton of fun.  Here’s what Colin is up to at 3:

•  His memory and vocabulary continue to amaze us.  He also says the funniest things.  I have to remember to start writing them down!
•  He likes to pick out his own clothes, and is very particular about what he wears (if you notice this orange gap T in all our recent photos, its because that is currently his “favorite favorite” shirt).  Every morning he informs me, “I don’t want a shirt with any buttons on it.”  (this information would have been helpful before I bought him an entire fall wardrobe of longsleeved polo shirts)
• Still not a great eater, unless its something he wants, which is usually breakfast food or dessert.
• He still loves trucks, trains, and things that go.  His friend Sophia sent him a set of construction machines for his birthday and he lost his MIND over the excavator, which he asked to sleep with last night!
• Really getting into firefighters, fire trucks, etc.  Guess what he’s going to be for halloween?
• He loves to sing and dance, which is SO cute to watch!
• HE CAN FINALLY JUMP!
• He’s a loud, wild, huge ham at home, but he’s gotten very shy/anxious around new people… and sometimes even people he knows, for example, when we run into his friends in public and he acts like he’s never met them before.  Weirdo.
• He makes every single day more challenging and more fun.  We love our little sweet pea pumpkin pie! 

pumpkin patch

Sunday afternoon we headed out to the pumpkin patch, and we had so much fun!

Colin had a blast playing in the giant pile of hay!

He gave the tunnel a valiant effort...

but quickly decided to come back out the way he went in...

Colin was terrified of the hay wagon, so we took our own wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch...

and C took off sprinting when he spotted the pumpkins!

We had to inspect many pumpkins to find the perfect ones.

look at all the pumpkins mom!

this one got a thorough inspection

and was deemed a winner.

colin later told us his "favorite part" was washing off the pumpkins with the big brush!

26 weeks!

Here we are at 26 weeks!  I feel like I am not quite as enormous as this giant sweater would have you believe, but thought I should stop slacking on belly pics, so here you go.  Baby girl is growing right on schedule (which according to the jacked up ticker above has been an eggplant for the past two weeks?) and I can tell she's bigger b/c her kicks and thumps are often simultaneous on opposite sides of my belly.  Sleep is getting a little harder since this little lady likes to sleep all day and then party all night, which should be fun once she arrives.

I feel like this pregnancy is flying by compared to Colin's.  Which is good, because I have less time for worrying and obsessing about everything.. but compared to Colin we are so behind on getting ready.  She has no clothes, no name, and the nursery is still a guest bedroom.  I know we will get there, but I'm hoping its sooner rather than later!

visit from Grandma Kitty and G

Colin had a great visit from his Grandma and G this weekend.  We got lucky with good weather and were able to hit the farmer's market and spend some time at happy hollow enjoying the fall colors...

G helped C find the perfect walking stick...

"splashers" were thrown off the bridge...

the boys all departed from the trail, despite my warnings and threats ...

a nice lady passing by snapped this family shot of us...

Grandma stayed home to bake some pies.. and was rewarded with her own cuddle time with C...

things I need to remember

I've been delinquent on Colin's baby book for almost a year now, but there are some things I don't want to forget, so I need to put them on the blog before I do.  Like this morning.  Colin woke up early, about 630.  It was still dark out and I went in his room to see if I could get him to fall back asleep.  When I got there, though, he was wide awake.  When he realized it was me coming in his room, out of the darkness his happy little voice said, "Mommy?"  I said, "yes?"  He said, "We are buddies!"  I said, "yes, we are buddy."  And then, "I love you mommy!"

That was about the best start to the day I could ask for.

my buddy

After traveling for work the past few days, I was excited to get home to my boys.  I wasn't sure how Colin would react since he tends to get mad at me when I leave for any length of time.  After a few minutes of cold shoulder though, he was back to being my buddy and asking for cuddles and "mommy colin time" last night. 

(mommy-colin time on vacation)

This little love fest was taken to a new level this morning, though, when we babysat our friends' 8-month old baby.  Within 2 minutes of my picking her up, Colin began hanging on my legs, begging me to pick him up.  When I sat down to give her a bottle he was right there begging for attention, trying to get in my lap, running around doing semi-dangerous / forbidden things while yelling "mommy! mommy! mama! mama! mommy!" non-stop.  Then he turned his outrage on the baby, refusing to say hi to her, and taking back the toys that we were offering her.  After she left, he told me how much he liked the baby, but he was "a little sad" when Mommy was holding her. 

I now have an all-new set of things to worry about for when baby girl comes home in January....

school pics

Colin had his school pics taken a few weeks ago.  They changed photographers at school, and they definitely aren't as good as past years', but in the spirit of tradition, here's a couple of pics of my little monkey face and his classmates:

http://bit.ly/RP9vyb

http://bit.ly/WQSpkV

http://bit.ly/TgoEpc

(password for all is justuskids2012). 

apple spider

colin's favorite fall drink:

happy birthday daddy!