My Little Talker

For about the last week or so Colin has started cooing all the time.  He says ooo and ah all the time.  It is so cute!  He smiles more and really responds to people.  He really does look like he is talking to people.  He is a ticklish little guy and bounces his legs up when I tickle his belly.  He doesn't laugh much yet, but every so often he will let one out.   I love it!

I love mornings now.  He sleeps through the night (goes to bed between 9 and 10) and wakes up around 6 or 7.  When I go to his crib, he looks up at me, pauses, and then smiles.  It is so sweet!  It is like he is thinking, "Hey, it's Mommy!"  I love it.  I feel so special when he does it.  Then, he starts to cry if I don't get him out of the crib and feed him right away.  As soon as the bottle is in his mouth, though, he is once again a happy baby.

He is also getting into a bit of a routine.  He sleeps through the night, eats, plays for a bit, takes a half hour nap, wakes, eats again, plays for a couple hours, takes another short nap, wakes, and eats again.  The rest of the day varies a bit, but we are working our way into a schedule.  I love how much he is adapting and changing with each day.

I love being a mommy!

Time to Let Go

I've been struggling letting go of breastfeeding for a while.  I can't really feed him much, but I like the bonding and also knowing that I am giving a little bit of the "good stuff."  The pumping was getting to me.  I was also frustrated feeding him and knowing it frustrated him because he didn't get much.  I want him to be happy and healthy.  So, I think today was the final day for me.  I am done pumping and trying to squeeze milk out of my empty breasts.  There just isn't much in there.  I would rather spend my time with my baby than ignoring him while I pump.

So, today I am letting go.  I cried a bit the other day when I realized it was time, but I am moving on.  He is healthy and doing just fine on formula.  He isn't going to be stunted because of my inability to produce milk.  I did the best I could for him and he will continue to get the best from me...just using exclusively formula.

2 month Appointment

Vitals
Height	2' .5"(0.622 m)
Weight	13 lb 7.5 oz(6.109 kg)
Head Circumference	39.8cm

Immunization History as of 8/11/2011

	DTAP/HIB/IPV	8/11/2011
	Hep B	8/11/2011, 6/10/2011
	PNEUMOCOCCAL PREVNAR13 (PCV13)	8/11/2011
	Rotavirus	8/11/2011

Colin has grown so much in the last 6 weeks!  It is amazing to see how much he has grown.  I look at pictures from when he first came home and realize how little a guy he was back then.  He is still a little guy, but growing fast!

While we were gone on our RV trip last week and the week before, he started so many new things.  He now coos a lot and talks to you.  He makes little laughing like noises that are so cute!  Lots of Ooos, Ahs, and Ohs.  He smiles lots more and is awake a lot more in the day.  Matt loves to just sit and make noises with him.  It seems like it just started overnight.

He has now outgrown his 0-3 month sleepers because he is too long for them.  His poor little legs get scrunched up in them.  So, when we arrived home on Tuesday, I had to wash up a bunch of the 3-6 month ones for him to wear to bed.  He has lots more room for his legs to stretch out!

I was nervous about his appointment today because I knew that today was the day for his first vaccinations.  I was not looking forward to him getting his shots.  Matt wasn't sure he would be able to make it, so that would leave it all up to me.  Thank goodness that Matt was able to go with us and he held Colin during the shots while I turned away and cried.  Yes, my eyes teared up.  I cannot stand for my baby to cry out in pain.  I know it is good for him to have the shots, but I wish there were some way to make it painless.  If they all could be oral vaccinations...he ate that one up like it was candy. 

Colin was a trooper and made it through the shots without too much crying.  He calmed down after Matt and I soothed him a little and gave him his pacifier.  The rest of the day he did lots of sleeping, which is unusual for him.  He took about 3 naps longer than an hour each.  I even got a nice long nap during one of them.  I had to wake him to eat in the afternoon because I knew that he would be screaming to eat at some point if I didn't.  He ate almost his full big bottle (full is 6 oz and he got about 5.5 oz), so I knew he was doing fine, just a little sleepy.

So, we both made it through his first set of shots.  Now we get a 2 month break and then we go back to do it all over again.  My sweet little boy...I'm doing this for his own good and wouldn't if I didn't think it was best for him.

2 Month Photos

Colin did great for his 2-Month photo shoot.  He isn't a big smiler yet, but he did give some cute looks.  He still does one that looks like he is scared, but it is still cute.

Happy Anniversary!

Today Matt & I have been married for 8 years!  It also marks the first day we officially started "trying" to start a family.  Those first few months don't really count as there was no way I was going to get pregnant when I wasn't cycling one bit.  I started taking metformin 6 months later in hopes of it helping me ovulate.  No such luck with it, either.  Six months later we added clomid.  We spent 6 months trying to make clomid work, but all it did was make me sick.  Then it was on to the fertility specialist.  It was another year and a half of trying injectible medications with IUIs.  I ovulated and even got pregnant 3 times, but all of them failed quickly.

IVF came next.  It was a success until we lost the twins at 5 months along.  That was only a month before our 4th anniversary.  We spent the next 3 anniversaries just the two of us with little hope of adding to our family.

Last year I had given up hope on ever getting pregnant again.  Around our anniversary I decided that I was up for one more shot.  I had spent months working on myself...I lost weight, I decided to start working out with a trainer, I started to see a counselor.  I was feeling so much better.  So, we would give it one more go...

This year we went to our annual anniversary dinner at La Fondue as a threesome.  Colin was wonderful.  Even though we went during the "witching hour" where he has been horribly fussy, he stayed rather calm and even napped on and off.  He barely made a peep through our whole 2 hour dinner.  Compared to the little 2-year-old boy sitting next to us, Colin was an angel.

Next year we might not be so lucky with Colin's temperament, but we are still the luckiest people in the world to be his parents.

Today's revelation:  Propping up Colin's bottle so the he "feeds" himself makes it easy for me to make my own lunch and eat while he does. :)

What Makes a Mommy

I carried Colin for 9 months.  I felt him kick and move.  I pushed him out of my body.  I contributed my DNA to create him.  All these make me biologically connected to him, but none of them make me his mommy. 

I have gotten baby poo all over my pants.  I have cleaned baby poo from Colin's bouncer.  I have rinsed and washed numerous poopy cloth diapers.  I have been spit up on too many times to count.  I have cleaned spit up from the couch and my pants and of course, my shirt.  I have gone to the store with spit up on my shirt.  I walk around with a crazy hairdo because I don't have time to fix it.  I don't eat lunch because I am too busy feeding my Little Man.  And I don't mind that I have done all these things.  That is what makes me Colin's Mommy.

I would do anything for my Little Man.  My needs come second after his.  Biology has nothing to do with it.  It is all about love.

Smiles

Colin is just starting to show his smile.  He doesn't do it too often, but when he does, it is so cute!  I was able to catch it on camera after I arrived home from dropping Nana at the airport.  I put him on my bed while I did a couple of things and he was so happy.  He gave me a couple of really good smiles and poses.  I think he is going to be a happy and fun little guy as he gets older.

I can't wait until I can interact with him and get more smiles from him.  I'm not sure what makes him smile just yet, so I keep doing all kinds of different things like making faces, singing, laughing, tickling, and kissing.  We have found that he is ticklish.  When we tickle his sides he reacts and when Matt touches his neck (I don't like it done to me, so I don't do it to him), he "turtles" just like I do.  It is pretty cute, but I am thinking he isn't a fan of it just like his Mommy.

This is the part of being a parent that is so fun!  I love watching him grow and change and do new things!  I want him to stay little, but I also am excited for him to experience all that life has in store for him!