purple pie man

Ok, not pie. But last night Colin was fussing so much that I thought it had to be his teeth (of course, I've been wrong about that for, I don't know, 6 months now...) So I filled up his mesh teether with frozen blueberries. Due to the staggering genius of this idea, we immediately had to move the party to the kitchen before our carpets and furniture were all stained purple (he grabbed the teether and crawled straight for the basket of clean laundry with it.. awesome).


Looks like a crime scene... Why put it in your mouth when you can bang it on the counter?

What IS this thing? It's so good!

Cracked out eyes, afraid we're going to take it away from him, apparently...

Messy boy. The only thing missing is the sound effects.. mmmm mmmm nom nom. It was hilarious. Until we took it away from him and he shrieked for five minutes. So, I'd say blueberries are a hit.

water baby

We spent the afternoon at the West Lafayette pool yesterday. It was our second time taking Colin, and he loved it as much as the first time. I think we have a swimmer on our hands! He tries to kick and swim away from us and even tried to stick his face in the water yesterday. He also seems to like being with us in the 'big pool' more than being in the baby pool. Such a big boy!



Colin is also 9 months today! If I can wrangle him down for a picture later, I'll post his 9 mo. picture and some milestones. Happy 9 months Colin!

microbursts and tearbursts

Colin & his G

This weekend had its ups and downs. Grandma Linda and G came to visit for the weekend. Colin was thrilled - he took one look at Grandma on Saturday morning, and crawled his way across the room to her.. not afraid at all! He loved getting to play with Grandpa too... even got to do some swinging at the park!

Saturday night, things started to get crazy. A freak microburst storm hit us out of nowhere with 75 mph wind, crazy rain, and hail. According to the local news, our subdivision got the bullseye of the storm. We were lucky to not have any real damage at our house, considering all the trees, fences, and roof shingles down around the neighborhood. But we did lose power for about 4 hours. Luckily, we had planned to grill out anyway, so we just had our dinner by candlelight. I wish I had a picture of it, it was actually really nice! Unfortunately, Colin wasn't feeling well and decided to go on a sleep strike Saturday night. Luckily, G hasn't lost his magic touch and spent lots of time walking Colin around the house...

And successfully got Colin to sleep, more than once. I was more than happy to turn that role over..

G, a/k/a the baby whisperer....

filmfest

Here's some videos of our newly-mobile little man...

This one shows off Colin's entire repertoire. It's like three minutes long. If you're not a grandparent, this one is probably too long and boring for you. But it gives you an idea why our living room is a mess and we can't turn our back on him anymore.

Cliffs notes versions: Colin pulling up!

Crawling! For real!

The more popular army crawling!

TGIF!

For a short week, this one has really sucked. But we're ending it on a better note than how it began.

This morning at daycare, I was talking with another mom whose daughter is about Colin's age. She was pushing up to stand on the foam border around their playmat. I commented on it and how Colin just started to crawl this week (Oh. Right. You guys, he started to crawl this week! It's hilarious and adorable. I'll get a video this weekend!). Then the mom says, "Oh, I saw Colin push up to stand yesterday." I would also mention that everyone in the building, including this random mom, seems to know Colin's name. This kid knows more people than we do. Anyway, nothing like a random stranger knowing about your kid's milestones before you do.

So as I'm standing there feeling sorry for myself that I didn't see it, and also wondering if she's just crazy, I watch as Colin goes and pulls himself up to standing on the playmat! He was all, "Oh, you wanted to see me do this? Its no big deal mom... if this bald chick can do it, so can I." Our little guy is officially mobile. This weekend will involve lowering the crib mattress and babyproofing. And of course, trying to get his new tricks on video. TGIF!

goodbye Truman...

Today Mike and I said goodbye to our little buddy Truman. We found out on Friday that he had kidney failure and wasn't going to make it. We thought we might have a little more time with him, but he went downhill quickly and this morning we made the difficult decision to put him to sleep. It was incredibly hard on both of us. As much as we complained about our little "gato diablo," he was part of our family, constant entertainment, and my roommate for the past ten years.

What I'm saddest about is that Colin and Truman won't get to grow up together. Colin's face would just light up around Truman, and I always envisioned Colin learning to crawl and chase after Truman. And Truman, as much as he snubbed Colin in the beginning, had really come around to not just tolerating Colin, but rubbing up on him, headbutting him, and letting Colin grab at him. This picture was taken exactly two weeks ago today.




Someday we'll tell Colin about his crazy cat Truman he had when he was a little tiny baby, and how Truman would watch him play, somehow resisting the urge to attack the toys himself.




Mike and I are trying hard to just tell funny stories about Truman this week (and there are so many... there will definitely never be another Truman!) even though we are hurting. Goodbye sweet T.. you will be missed.

4th of july weekend

We survived our second trip out of town this weekend - Colin got to go to the Quad Cities and see a ton of family. He was pretty good in the car and took a few long naps..



and was such a good boy, even when surrounded by new people. He even got to meet his great-grandpa Louie - the two of them hit it off and it seemed to make Grandpa happy, so that was a nice visit.



He got lots of good playtime with Grandma.

Mom and Dad even got to get Adolph's and go see fireworks. We followed that up with swimming on Sunday at Grandpa Doug and Grandma Karen's, and then got back in the car.. Colin wasn't as thrilled with the return trip, but we all made it. Pictures of the weekend: www.tinyurl.com/july4weekend.