The one where I win Mother of the Year

Let me start off by putting a huge disclaimer on this post: this is by far my finest moment as a mother. Maybe this is one of those times where if you have to think about whether or not you should do something, it probably means you shouldn't... However, valuable lessons were learned so I figured I'd share.

Picture yourself in my shoes come 5:07 on Wednesday evening. Normally I would just be picking up Colin from daycare & we would quickly be on our merry way home. However, yesterday Colin had the chance to spend the day with Grandma & Grandpa Holt. They took him swimming at the hotel in the afternoon so I stopped there to pick him up after work. As I buckled him in to his carseat I could already feel the anxiety creeping in. Road construction! Heavy traffic! We neared I-94 & the line of cars was already endless. My sweet little boy was still fairly oblivious to the chaos around him - he was happily noming on Sophie.

Fast-forward a mile down the interstate & 30 minutes on the clock: screams, cries & babbles of "da-da-da-ba-BAH!!". I quickly had to end a phone conversation with my mom in order to attempt calming [or better yet, distracting] my young lad. I successfully grabbed Sophie & her hoof [is that what giraffe's have?!] was acceptable entertainment for a brief minute or two. Then, more babbles & cries. How 'bout my Smart Water bottle? Again, denied.

So here's where my "Mother of the Year" award is presented. With one eye on the beat up Chrysler Lebaron in front of me, the other was scrounging for a fun "toy" in my purse. What did I find to give to my 10 month old child? A box that contains screen protectors for my phone. At first I celebrated my creativeness - I heard him happily clapping his hands on it as he does with his favorite Cheerios box at home. And alas, all was quiet in the car! (Looking back on it, I now know WHY it was so quiet...) We proceeded to work our way through the mess of traffic & arrived home at 5:54 (yes, 6 minutes before regular supper time). We pulled into the garage, I quickly hopped out & went to unbuckle Colin from his seat when I saw him chewing on something. Just as I opened his mouth to do a finger sweep, he swallowed. & then I saw this:

HURRAY! HURRAY! MOTHER OF THE YEAR!! & I had to relive it again when I warned the daycare teachers about possible paper in his poop today.

Lessons learned:

1) Clean massive laptop bag of a purse so no such large boxes can reside there for MONTHS.

2) Always have at least one toy in the front region of the car. Perhaps in the middle console?

3) 10 month olds are like small beavers. They will gnaw on anything. Thus, do not give items that are gnawable.

10 months

Our little man is 10 months old today! It's so hard to believe that we're now in the double digits.

Colin is becoming more & more independent every day. He's a crawling, furniture-cruising machine. It's amazing to see some of the things on which he can pull up (i.e. pushing a laundry basket & pulling up to walk behind it). He can also sit back down on his own when he's tired of standing.

He daily routine is still very consistent. Naps have changed slightly the past few days, with the morning nap coming around 9:30ish & the afternoon around 1:30. He is still taking 4 milk feedings (6 oz.) & 4 solid feedings (breakfast, lunch, snack, supper) a day. So far, so good in that he's not a picky eater like his momma!

We're enjoying every minute we get with our "baby". It won't be long until he's too cool to hang out & play all day on Saturday with mom & dad. :)

Spaghetti face

Is anyone starting to think that all we do around our house is eat? Dinnertime seems like the only time I think to take photos of Colin. Maybe because we're actually allowed to slow down. & sit.

He was going crazy for pasta with meat sauce the other night - absolutely loved it. The mess wasn't even too bad! (Can you believe I just said that?!) The kid continues to amaze us in that he'll at least try everything we put in front of him. He still loves his fruit & veggies. Hopefully that sticks with him for a while.

Cashed.

The weekend is coming to a close & is it sad to say that I'm slightly happy about it? I was a single mom Saturday & Sunday & it was draining. Colin was an angel & I cherish our fun weekends as mom & son. But doing everything on my own for 2 straight days is wearing.

So instead of a witty post & fun comments, I'll just leave you with some photos from the weekend. Mike, Karina & Will stopped over for a while today. Look how much Will has grown! Colin was happy to see them all & even wanted to share his toy. :)

**Have to add that yes, Colin & I stayed in jammies both days until after noon. At least Colin made it into shorts one day...

Tantrums?

At what age are the screams & whines truly a tantrum? & is there something we should be doing at this age to curb them?

Here's the scenario: I pick up Colin from daycare & he's all smiles & squeals of happiness. The minute we walk through the front door at home, he's a completely different kid. What?! You want me to sit here & play? By myself? This is when the screaming & crying begins. It's to the point where he was coughing & choking last night. While I don't want to reinforce the screaming by picking Colin up, I do want him to know that we're there to care for him. I truly think he misses us all day & just wants to have some lovin' from Momma & Papa. But on the other hand, he needs to know that he can't be carried around all the time (it makes supper prep so difficult!). See the problem here? At what point is it normal "baby" behavior vs. a needy kid?

In related issues, any tips for getting CJ to stay seated in the tub? That's a fun new problem we've run into this week...

New digs

We (err, John) installed the convertible car seat Monday night. It fits great in the backseat! So far Colin seems to like it. He has a little more room to stretch out now. Just another step closer to becoming a toddler...

Wedding Weekend

Ross & Kelly are married!!

The past weekend was spent celebrating with Ross, Kelly & lots of family. We had so much fun! Colin did great the whole weekend, especially for being off schedule two days in a row. He made it until about 8:15 Saturday night. That's pretty good considering it's a struggle some nights to last until 7:30!

THANK YOU to both sets of parents for everything. We really appreciate all you did for us!

And now...a HUGE warning...TONS of pictures ahead! Of course, I took too many & now can't choose which ones to delete. I'm a little bummed that we never got a good family picture nor did I get a decent one of Colin in his suit. & as usual, I apologize for the goofy layout. Blogger is very frustrating to me!

Lil' Hoopster

Shootin' some hoops at uncle Andy & auntie Susan's house.

4th of July Fun

Happy 4th of July (a day late)!!

While this weekend celebrates our country's independence from Great Britain, we celebrated our independence from work & household tasks. It was so great to play all day, inside & out, & relax together as a family. Colin even slept through the booming fireworks & neighborhood bottle rockets last night.

John & Colin love playing catch together & bouncy balls are quickly becoming a favorite toy.



It was SO HOT on Saturday - almost 100 degrees! So we stripped down & headed out in the shade to splash in some water. How much does that arched eyebrow resemble his dad?!

"Check out the mohawk my dad gave me!"

Testing out the camera without using a flash. It's a little blurry...

Nothing is safe anymore now that Colin can crawl around. This was only some of the mess he got into during supper prep last night. Who knew a Cheerios box could be so fun?

Colin's first hamburger. Dad says you can't eat it all at once, buddy.

Reading a story after supper. Apparently Colin was saving some broccoli for a bedtime snack.

Tickle, tickle!!

Hope you all had a great holiday weekend! Enjoy the rest of the summer!

New weight loss program

No more gym membership needed in our house! We have a crawler!

This video is from Monday (9 months, 4 days) right when we got home from daycare. Colin was so close to crawling on Sunday - we knew it'd be coming soon. Sorry for the delay in posting. This video took 2 HOURS to download to vimeo. & that's in addition to the 521 times I tried it in Blogger. Enjoy!

Little Crawler from Amanda Holt on Vimeo.

*Don't mind the snotty kid or the mom who tries to wipe said snotty kid's nose...

*If you're asked for a password to view the video, type in "colin"