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Over The Moon

To My smart, handsome, curious, funny and growing little boy:

I wanted to list some of the things that have my heart bursting for you at this moment. There are so many times each day that I find my mind wandering toward just how much I love you. It really is true what they say: the love you have for your child is insurmountable and it pulls at your heart like no other.

I love the way you say mama. Hearing it is like music to my ears.

I love when you do "ahh Mommy" or "ahh Daddy" and pet our cheeks while looking intently in our eyes. It's amazing.To me this is your way of saying "I love you too".

I love the way you love your "brother" Dutch. You ask about him often now, which is adorable.

Your curiosity. You need to know what is in/on/under anything and everything and you do whatever it takes to explore and learn about a new object.

Your sense of humor. You are so funny at such a young age! You think it's hilarious to put anything on your head and say "hat!". You also love to touch things you're not supposed to and give us the side eye with a smirk.

I love when we play "chase". You think its hysterical to be chased by Mommy. I say "I'm coming to get cha!" and you run away laughing.

I love the way you crash at the end of the day. When it's time for bed, you show it. You let us know that you've had a full day and are ready to sleep. You and Daddy are just alike.

I love how interested you are in reading books. It is by far your favorite thing to do. You love to turn the pages and point out things on the book that you find interesting.

Your words. They are adorable. You learn new ones all the time and hearing you talk to us is amazing.

I love your sense of wonder. When you learn something new (a word, what an object is, when we show you something) you think it is amazing.

The way you love to "clean up". It's in your genes.

I love the way you look to us for reassurance that whatever you are doing is ok.

I love your giggle. You crack yourself up sometimes out of nowhere.

There are so many more things I love about you (EVERYTHING!), but for now, I wanted to document these that have me over the moon for you. I love you to the moon and back!

Love,
Mama

Colin Bennett: Fourteen Months!

Mr. Colin Man,

It's hard to believe yet another month has come and gone! You hit some major milestones this month and we are loving every minute of watching you grow and learn. You have such a funny and constantly growing personality. You make us laugh all the time. Just last week you took your cheerio bowl and put it on your head and said "hat?". Comedian I tell ya!  At fourteen months you are...

Weighing in at 22.5 pounds and are 30+ inches long. You are a walkin' (running) and talking fool!  You eat like a champ and do not discriminate when it comes to food.
You are wearing a few twelve but mostly eighteen month onesies and eighteen month bottoms.  You are still in size 4 diapers.

Health: You can't seem to catch a break. You started the month with a ranging ear infection that landed you in the urgent care on the fourth of July. You had a 102.7 fever and could not get comfortable. We were away on vacation so we rushed right over to the urgent care as soon as they opened. You had a healthy(ish) two weeks with only a few days of sniffles until you ended up with yet another ear infection and pink eye last weekend. You are finishing up both oral antibiotics for the ear infection and eye drops for the pink eye.

Eating: You start each day with a sippy cup of organic milk and some cheerios around 6:15/6:30. You get breakfast around 8 and another sippy cup of juice or water. You typically eat lunch around 11:30 and go down for nap by 12:30. When you wake up you typically get a snack and a sippy of milk and eat dinner around 5:30, when you get your last sippy for the day. You eat anything and everything and have a healthy diet. You eat a ton of fruits and veggies, lean protein (eggs, chicken, turkey, yogurt, cheese) and will get a treat of french toast on the weekends. 

Loves: BOOKS! You learned how to say "book" this month and will follow us around the house with a book in the air saying "book!" until we read them. You love books with "interactive parts" (ie: flaps to open, things to feel and touch) and know exactly when to open them. We have read "Where's Spot" and "That's Not My Dinosaur" 1007 times this month.

You also love to play in your water table and explore outside.

One of your favorite things to do is also go to the park and swing on the swings. You giggle and laugh and get the biggest smile on your face! I wish we had somewhere we could put one at our house!

Sleeping: Through the night, all night until you had your ear infections. We let you sleep in our bed when you couldn't get comfortable. On July 23rd, you needed us. You were getting two molars and starting to show signs of an ear infection. You just could not get comfortable. When I went in to check on you, you woke up and wanted nothing more than to be held. We caved and let you sleep in between us, which is always much more comfortable for you than us. Just before your eyes closed and you settled in for bed, you rolled towards me, patted my check and looked me in the eyes as to say "thank you, Mommy! I love you" then put your little arm around my neck. You fell asleep like that. I think this is a moment I will remember for the rest of my life. Colin you changed my life forever. I am your Mommy, the best job in the world. I will do everything in my power to make sure you are safe and comfortable.

Talking: your current vocabulary includes: hat, bye bye, beep beep (for your beep beep jeep), Uch (Dutch), Book, Mama, Dada, Bear bee (Barenstein Bears), Uh oh. You try your darndest to repeat just about everything we say. We have to start really watching our words! ;)

You also will repeat animal sounds! We say "Colin, what does a ____ say?" and you say:
Rah (lion)
Moo (cow)
Baah *your fav* (sheep)
roof foof (dog or uch)
Quack (duck)

This month's milestones:
Give me a kiss! (You will kiss me or Daddy)
TALKING! You picked up and have started talking with flying colors this month.
Repeating animal sounds

doing "ahhh Dutch" which is our version of petting nicely

Nicknames: Collywoods, C, Beebs, Beep, Beepadee, sneep, bee bee and Colin Man

We love you so much sweet baby boy. You make our lives whole and we can't possibly imagine loving you any more, yet each day we do! We love reading you stories this month and will drop whatever we are doing to read you the book you pick out. It's been so fun watching your walking skills develop each week as you take on new areas to explore. This month, you went from taking a few steps, to walking everywhere (no more crawling) to being able to stand without pulling up.  Can't wait to see what the next month has in store for you. We love you to the moon and back, Colin!
Love,
Mama and Daddy

Colin Bennett: 13 months

Sweetest Mr. Colin Man...

At thirteen months old you are...

13 month "birthday" at the beach!

Weighing in at 22 pounds and are 30+ inches long and boy are you growing. You eat like a champ and are ALWAYS hungry. I honestly think you get taller by the day.  
You are wearing twelve to eighteen month onesies and twelve or eighteen month bottoms (mostly eighteen). You are a string bean so the eighteen month bottoms are a bit big in the waste but the perfect length. You are still wearing size 4 diapers.

Health: You had a rough start to the month with a  bout of hand, foot and mouth disease. It wiped you out for a week straight, which was so hard to see. We got a note from school that it was going around with the toddler and infant classes and sure enough- you caught it. You were battling a fever, the sniffles and an itchy rash. With that said, the rest of the month was great! You were back to your happy and healthy little self. The only other bump in the road came when a "friend" from school decided to bite you- not once, but twice! We quickly spoke with the teachers and got that issue resolved. You took it like a champ with some TLC but Mama was less than pleased.

Eating: You eat like a champ. You have finally gotten he hang of the sippy cup and take a cup with every meal of either water, milk or once in a while juice (all organic milk and juice). You eat all types of veggies and you LOVE fruit (especially blueberries and banana). You also eat some lean protein like chicken or eggs. I will say that you take after Daddy and do NOT like sweets. You hated your birthday cake(s), showed no interest in a cookie and turned away from ice cream. I wish I didn't like those things! ;)

Loves: You love to pull up to stand and practice taking a few steps, you love to cruise on all the furniture and explore (aka get into EVERYTHING).  You also love to sit right under me when I get ready in the mornings and spill all my makeup tools onto the floor/play with my hair stuff.

 My favorite love this month: you love to dance! You have learned to groove with the best of them. We say "show us your dance moves!" and you go to town. It's quite entertaining.

Sleeping: Through the night, all night! You go to bed between 6:30 and 7:30 and wake up around 5:45 or 6 most days. Once in a while we'll get luck and you'll sleep until 7 but its rare. Daddy and I are adjusting to the earlier mornings.

This month's milestones:
Wave "bye bye"- 6/6
Show us "dance moves"- 6/7. This is precious. We say "show us your dance moves" when your musical drum plays steel drum music and you do the sprinkler to a T.
Took 4-5 steps between Mommy and Daddy- 6/10
Say "bye bye" 6/13
Full blown walking- 6/28
Playing in the sand- 6/29

Nicknames: Collywoods, C, Beebs, Beep, Beepadee, sneep, bee bee and Colin Man

 You are such a fun little guy. You are so interactive now and have the best little personality. You laugh, make "jokes" with your gestures (so big oh wait peak a boo oh wait bye bye), dance, babble and play. It's been so fun to watch you truly transition from an infant to a toddler this month.  You also certainly know how to get what you want and have picked up the temper tantrum skill a bit early (you did not get this from me). Every day you learn something new and we enjoy watching each and every little milestone. We love you so much little man! Can't wait to see what the next month has in store for you sweet boy. We love you to the moon and back.

12 months old: Colin Bennett!

Colin  Bennett,

You are officially TWELVE months old. Certainly you have grown so much in the past 12 months, however, this month there was lots of change! You are standing on your own unassisted, you are cruising with your walker and while holding onto furniture,  you've discovered drawers and cabinets, you climb the stairs, you say "utch" (Dutch), you crawl through tunnels and obstacle courses at school. You have become quite the big boy!

At twelve months old you are...

Weighing in at 21.5 pounds and are 30 inches long. You are 75th percentile for height and 49th for weight. Your head circumference is in the 50th percentile- right on track.
You are wearing twelve month onesies and twelve month pants for length. You also have a few 18 month jammies and pants that you fit into for length (little big for your waist).  You have transitioned into size 4 diapers.
Eating: We started really pushing the sippy cup this month and have officially dropped the night time bottle. You still got a bottle when you woke up, one at 11, a sippy at lunch, a bottle at 3 and a sippy with dinner. You eat all kinds of fruits and veggies and plenty of lean protein. You love eggs, cheese, blueberries,  banana, waffles and puffs.

Loves: You love to pull up to stand, cruise and explore. You get into absolutely everything now. So inquisitive, which I love.

Sleeping: Through the night, all night! With that said, you have been waking up much earlier lately. You go to bed between 6:30 and 7:30 and wake up around 5:45 or 6 most days. Once in a while we'll get luck and you'll sleep until 7.

Milestones:
5th and 6th teeth appeared (top next to two front teeth)
Cruising
Standing on your own and letting go
Dropping the night time bottle

I cannot believe you are a year old already. Time flies when you are having fun- which is exactly what you've been. You are such a joy and make us smile every day! We love you to the moon and back, little man.

June Goals

I thought it would be a nice idea to start writing goals at the beginning of each month and check them off at the end of the month. This month I'd like to:

1. Walk the recommended 10,000 steps per day 5 days out of each week
2. Run 15 miles per week (4 weeks)
3. Lift weights 3x/ week
4. Lose 5 pounds
5. Finish one summer reading book
6. Try 3 new recipes


Here we go!

Colin Bennett: 51 Weeks

On May 21st, our not so little man turned 51 weeks. We are just ONE WEEK away from the big first birthday. What a fun week it was!

Weight: Officially 19.2 pounds. I was SHOCKED when we weighed him at home. I'm hoping this is off just a little bit and that he reached the 20 pound mark.

Social: Mommy got home from her trip which was just awesome! C and I spent the afternoon together on Friday and we soaked up the snuggles. Gram and Granddad came over on Sunday to help Mommy and Daddy get ready for the big first birthday party (aka- power wash our deck and house!). We did a lot of cleaning, organizing and buying! We also squeezed in some park time of course!

Sleep: Our good little sleeper sleeps through the night, every night.

Diet: Colin really does love everything we give him. Lots of fresh fruit, veggies and lean protein. We are really pushing the sippy cup and he is doing great! We did get rid of the night time bottle this week, which was much easier than we thought. C doesn't fuss at all. He really was pushing it away after an ounce or two which gave us the indicator that he is ready.

Clothes: 12-18 month pants and the final batch of size 3 diapers.

Baby Gear Love: sippy cups! We also have needed our baby gate pretty frequently. C is a stair climber for sure.

Crying: When he's sleepy and ready for bed he gets fussy

Likes: playing with Dutch, signing and dancing and walking with some help!

Dislikes: being tired

Postpartum: I can't wait until I don't have to answer this on a weekly basis (honest!)

Milestones:

C took his first step between Mommy and Daddy and realized he could stand up unassisted! (5/20). It will be any day now that we have a walker

We also did away with the night time bottle this week

Another big milestone is that C doesn't get rocked to sleep any more. We still have our routine (bath, book, "magic words" and rocking) however, he no longer falls asleep in our arms (sad mama).

 

I am soaking up this baby of mine for the next week. I love him so and can't wait to celebrate his big first birthday but I am feeling a little sentimental!