Christmas 2009

Thursday morning Mike, Colton and I headed to my parent's house in Marshalltown. We timed it just right and headed out before it started getting bad outside.

He must have known he was going to have a busy few days....resting up in the truckUsually we go to my Aunt Caryn's house for Christmas Eve- this year it was cancelled due to the weather so we stayed at my parents house and for the first time ever, opened gifts at night instead of Christmas morning.

Colton opening his 1st gift of 2009

Got some jeans and of course, had to "try" them on.


The blocks I made for my mom (my parents house kind of has a lodge theme)

Snuggling with daddy...

Vrooom vrooom....his monster tractor

Giving out hugs....

We headed to my Grandma and Grandpa Brown's house Christmas morning for dinner.

Opening presents with daddy

Didn't mind the bow on his head...he was too busy

Due to the weather, we stayed an extra night at my parents house. Played lots of games of Uno and some Monopoly. We took off Saturday morning to head to Mike's big Schneider Christmas with his dad's extended family . Then Saturday night we had his family Christmas at his parents. Luckily, everyone was able to make that one!

Opening another gift- "trying on" the tissue paper

Woo hooo some more clothes to try on :)

With cousins Reagan and Matthew

Sunday we reorganized lots of toys and put everything away- Colton was busy dragging out all his new stuff.

Playing with one of his new toys....a tunnel! He loves crawling through it!

Despite the bad weather, we had a great Christmas! Lots of family, presents, and food! :) Hope everyone else did too!!

Our morning

The little man got his tubes put in this morning. It went great and was fast- it is amazing how fast they can put them in! Kim, Mike's mom, went with me since Mike is trucking like crazy getting ready for the storm that is on its way. The longest part of the whole morning was waiting for them to come take him back to the surgery room!

We came home and he ate some lunch--finally!! I'm sure he was thinking that since he didn't get to eat or drink anything before we went to the hospital. I felt bad this morning- he kept hitting my leg and pointing towards the kitchen like I was forgetting to give him his breakfast.

He was back to his normal self after lunch--danced to Elmo for awhile and now is taking a long nap.

We are keeping our fingers crossed the weather won't be too bad later in the week- not looking too good as of now!

Hope everyone has safe travels! :)

Our little comedian

Someone has a new "trick"

He squeezes his face up and stiffens his arms...and then laughs at himself.

Just hanging out in his Elmo slippers yesterday...
Last night I was folding clothes and Colton stole one of Mike's shirts.


Might be a little big for you...

Still trying to get it on...

Don't even think about taking this away from me! He gets very protective of clothes he takes from the basket....

Don't know if you can tell in these pictures that well, but I gave him a haircut yesterday in the bathtub. That is the best way to do it!! He is so occupied with the bath that he doesn't care I am cutting his hair. Hopefully it doesn't look too choppy!

His other "trick". He walks around with his eyes shut-no idea where he got this but he does it all the time. Most of the time he is peaking but pretends his eyes are closed- silly boy!

He is such a social little guy- we went to meet with the ear specialist the other day and he was saying 'hi' to everyone and walking around following his nurse jabbering away.

We went to Mike's basketball game on Wednesday night. I was nervous how he would be this year now that he is running around everywhere and doesn't like to be contained- a big difference compared to last year when he slept through most games.

Well- he sat on my lap and DIDN'T move. Such a good boy! He was fascinated by the game- kept clapping and pointing at stuff. At halftime I let him down to walk around some and he went out on the court and was clapping like he was our halftime entertainment. I think this is his daddy coming out in him---the outgoing, social one! :) With him staying home with just me during the days, I am so happy he is still outgoing and loves people!!

Update on the little guy

It is crazy to think how much Colton is changing these days.

He is very independent! He gets so annoyed when I try to help him with something.

He is saying more and more words everyday--drink, more, eat, tractor, truck, snow, pretty (everytime I turn the Christmas tree lights on), thank you, hi,night night night.....

He LOVES books- 2 in particular. Barnyard dance- he pretty much has it memorized right along with me. He gets so excited when I start reading it and will chirp in his parts. Peek-a-boo baby is another favorite. He always seems to find these 2 books in his pile of books. I am pretty sure I have read the peek a boo baby book 10 times in a row before! Once I am done and hand it to back to him, he says no and hands it right back....

Another thing he is doing now is dragging clothes out of his clothes basket and "puts" them on. Here is a video of him putting his shirt on the other day....

He's been sick the past week with a cough and another ear ache but I think he is starting to feel better. He wasn't sleeping too well last week waking coughing a lot but the past 2 nights he has slept great. Last night he passed out at 7:30 and woke up this morning at 7:30....I can't remember the last time he slept that long!! We go to the ear specialist tomorrow to see what we can do for all these ear aches he has been getting....hopefully they can do something to stop them!!

3rd Annual Christmas Party

For the past 3 years we have had our own version of "family Christmas." We usually go to one of our friends homes showing up in our Christmas BEST. It is always a good time and the outfits are always exciting to see :)

All of the girls....

and all of the guys- all lined up, they look like they are ready for a team photo!

The whole group! (Kind of blurry....didn't get too good of a shot)

w/Mike....we just rotated sweatshirts from last year ;)

Jd and his girlfriend, Jeni- they made their sweatshirts. Impressive!

Drew- looks like he is ready to open gifts on Christmas morning!

Mike and I had a great time getting to see everyone. We even got all of our Christmas shopping done before the party started (and the stores were a ZOO).

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Schneider for hanging out w/Colton all night so we could go!! :)

Let it snow!

Good Tuesday morning :)

The last few days Colton has been using a spoon- well at least trying!! Lately he has been grabbing the spoon from me when I try to feed him things he can't pick up on his tray. So this morning I let him go at his eggs- it was so cute to watch him try so hard- such concentration! :)

With all the snow comes snow plows, which means Colton keeps running from the living room window to his bedroom window watching the plow go up and down the street saying truck truck truck over and over again. The boy loves trucks!

Hope everyone stays warm the next few days!!

Card

Colton got a singing Elmo card from my cousin, Alicia, for his birthday. Here is a video of him enjoying it.... he likes to dance and sing with it. Thanks Alicia!!

1 year doctor visit

We went for Colton's 1 year doctor visit yesterday afternoon. Poor guy got 4 shots and had to have blood drawn. I think the whole hospital could hear him screaming when they were drawing his blood- I felt so bad for him! Makes me so glad he is a healthy guy and doesn't need to get that done all the time!!

He is in the 99th percentile for his height, 30 1/2 inches and at the 75th for his weight, 24.13 lbs. Maybe a basketball player someday???! :) (I'll keep hoping!)

We came home from the doctor and he went right to sleep for a few hours. Then woke up around 5:30 and decided he needed a snack while I was making dinner...

After dinner, we got lots of playing time in. He was being SO silly last night. Here are a few pictures....

Lots of teeth!! Working on another molar on the top- currently has 10 in.

These 2 are my favorite...he is such a goofball lately. He likes to stick his tongue out as far as he can...