1 Year Old

"I'm ONE!"

~ I FINALLY figured out that if Colin has this green blankie with him in the car, he will suck his thumb and not cry.

It's amazing.

It's equally amazing that it took me 11+ months to figure this out.

~He is still not walking, but will run around with the walker. 

~He slept through the night for 3 weeks and then thought that was enough and has been getting up once at night or at 5:30am.

~Another tooth as popped through on the bottom and he's starting to mimic more words.

This morning he reached for my coffee (he loves to dumb it over) and I said "hot, hot!" and he looked at me with that super cute smile and said 'hot' back to me.

~He hates cold bottles and whole milk, so we've continued warm, high calorie formula.

~I'm torn between feeling sad and excited that this baby stage is coming to an end.  It's getting easier to take all the kids places and I'm looking forward to Colin being able to participate in our adventures.  However, I'm sad the snuggles during a bottle feeding will soon be gone.

Father's Day 2013

This is the moment Ben became a dad; 

the first time he held his beautiful baby girl.

Almost 6 years later, this is the card that baby girl brought home from school:

"Well, he does like hunting"

was her retort.

I can only imagine what her teacher must have thought.

This one is much better:

'You are strong like a super hero'    'I will give you money'

Happy Father's Day Ben!

I'm so thankful our kids have you as their superhero!

Pool time!

This might be our last time in this little pool.

Makes me sad.

So many wonderful summer days have been spent on this deck.

 I love it.  

I love that it's right next to the house if I need anything.  

I love that it's only a few inches deep for my little chillin's and I love that I can soak up the sun, while they play in the shade.

I love that Alison can go down the slide, while the boys play cars in the fountain.

But most of all, I love that they're right there...contained.

I don't have to worry how about 3 kids going in 3 different directions in a dangerous setting.

To that, Colin just laughs.

'Oh, mom.  Don't you know we're growing up and this little pool is not big enough for us.  Don't you know it's time for us all to learn to swim and fall in love with diving for rings.'

Yes, I think he's right.  It's time to move on.

Eagle Harbor pool, here we come!

Colin's 1st Haircut

The mullet is gone and he's as handsome as ever!

 

Don't those pictures make it look like it was easy-peasy cutting his hair?

Just 'cause I like to keep it real, here's what it really looked like:

Colin's trying with all his might to escape that chair and Eliot's running around with a towel over his head, pretending to be a dinosaur.

Colin's 1st Birthday!

We got some donuts, we headed to the zoo.

traditional picture on the turtle

 

 

 

 

The kids were so calm as we strolled through the zoo and just quietly looked at the animals.

While Colin napped, Alison and Eli helped me clean up the house and decorate for our party.

We made funfetti cupcakes and they helped me decorate the top.  It's hard to see, but there's little letters on some of them spelling Colin.  They looked prettier in my head than in actual execution, but that's just the story of my decorating life.

Ben came home early from work, just as Colin got up from his nap and we were ready to party!

 

Ben and Alison picked up a pizza for us...

And then it was time for presents

His first bag consisted of: a snack trap, a new KU outfit and Nana and Granddaddy's card

Look!  He can stand for a second by himself!

Like a typical 1yr old, Colin didn't care too much about his presents.  

He was most excited about this blower that he could chew on.

 Alison and Eli, on the other hand, were thrilled with his presents. 

We really hit the present jackpot this year.  Elizabeth and Kent sent Colin the car with a bonus trailer and Ben and I bought a gas tank to go with it.  It was marvelous; no wrapping and all 3 kids had something to play with.  They would take turns pulling each other or being the "gas attendant".

The only downfall to the gift:

Ben, the night before...some assembly required=complete understatement

 We finally tore the kids away from the gifts to dig into the cupcakes.

I forgot how hard it is to do candles and 1 year olds...especially with Colin.  

He was quick to grab/eat the fire, so no cute pictures of him trying to blow it out.

I think he loved it, although I can't say it was his first bite of sugar.

Sorry 3rd baby.

 

Happy Birthday Colin!

Ironically Right

May, 2012

I'm 8 months pregnant with Colin and Ben is about to leave for ODS.

I make a solo trip to Target to get all remaining baby things that we need.

I had several gift cards and a list of baby items, as well as some hospital bag items for myself.  I'm waddling along, heading to the food section when I stop in my tracks by a display of trash bags.  

Buy 2 boxes (that are on sale) and get a $5 gift card.

Score!

I'm going to need that $5, to take some of the pain away from buying crazy expensive newborn diapers.

I load up my cart with trash bags and head home.

When I walk in the door, Ben says,

"Jennifer Shear!  What have you done!  You just bought a years worth of trash bags!"

(If you know Ben, nothing phases him. ever.  so for him to be startled, you know it was excessive!)

"I just don't want to have to worry about buying trashbags while you're gone"

was my retort.

Oh, the pregnant brain.

Well, I certainly didn't have to worry about it. 

I used those trash bags for the kitchen can, the diaper pail, playroom cleanup and DAV runs. 

And just hours before Colin turned 1 year, we put the very last trash bag in.

Looks like Ben was right.

But hey, I got a $5 gift card out of it!