As always, we kick off the blog celebrating Blair's monthly birthday! She's officially 5 months old in June, and growing like a little weed! Blair loves to roll around and grab at anything she sees then immediately puts it in her mouth, so taking these pictures presents challenges. And the two of them - she's not as easy to hold now so Colin gets frustrated, which adds a "real life" element to the pictures.
In the back of our minds, we always planned on getting another dog. Having the kids grow up with a puppy brings back such fond memories for both of us, and we wanted that for Colin and Blair. Couple that with a code brown moment with a solicitor, and our squirrel problem, and it finally seemed like a "good" time to get a puppy. We saw this little guy, and after meeting him we decided to adopt him! His name started out as "Scout" but Colin decided to name him Carlo - no idea at all where he came up with that. Days are much crazier now with our 5th family member, but there are sweet moments with him too. He just better grow up to be a protector instead of some dummy who just wags his tail at strangers waiting to be pet!
We were lucky enough to have two visitors this month! Auntie came up in the beginning of the month to visit us and meet Carlo. Auntie brought up a pinata for Colin, and man did he love it! At first he started out hitting it gently but after some encouragement from Dad ('Swing hard Colin, hit it hard like Hulk!") he busted it open. And WOW! So much candy! We were sitting on the deck and Colin kept trying to eat candy. I told him no more, and so he started saying "Mom, you go inside, I'll sit out here with Auntie." I said, "Okay, I'll go inside and take the pinata." to which he replied "No, you go inside, I'll sit here with Auntie and the pinyana." Smart cookie!
Colin & Blair still did fun activities, though not as much since we're still crate training Carlo. That will get easier as the dog gets bigger, but for now, we get out as much as possible.
We went to a little nature playground and it was awesome (aside from the vicious bugs). There was a little creek the kids got to splash in, and all kinds of natural things for them to play in and use their imagination. Colin met his best buddy Louie (not pictured) and had a blast. Even baby sister got to splash a bit!
Chris' boss offered to take Colin on a little fishing trip and of course we said YES! He loved it - he reeled in his own "monster fish" exclaiming "got him!" when he brought him onto the boat. Chris said that Colin refused help reeling the fish in and wanted to do it himself. I'm glad he and Chris have an activity they both enjoy together.
Meanwhile, Blair and I went on our first stroller run! She just smiled the whole time, no surprise there.
It was a beautiful day, the birds were chirping, the flowers were blooming, the kids were in great moods so I thought I'd go by a park and get some pictures of the two of them. They did not disappoint, and when you have such cute kids it isn't hard to get awesome snaps!
And we did some baking - peanut butter cookies for the humans, and peanut butter treats for the dog! I was glad the superhero was willing to help me out, especially with the tasting part!
Only one science experiment this month...Mom is slacking on that. We made lava lamps with oil, water, food coloring and alka seltzer tabs! Colin enjoyed dropping the alka seltzer into the jar more than anything else.
Finally, we had plenty of outside summer fun. There was a period when it was SUPER hot outside (for Michigan) so we had no choice but to break out the water toys. I was even able to get Blair cooled off in the pool!
Thankfully these two still get on like peas and carrots. They really are the perfect complement to the other; Colin loves to entertain and Blair loves to laugh. Blair always seeks out Colin and Colin loves to play with her and make her laugh. He is also very helpful if I can't get to her right off and really enjoys feeding her too. Blair gives great open mouth kisses now, and will grab Colin's face and go in hard for the smooch. He just laughs and lets her do it. Hopefully their symbiotic relationship continues!
Colin continues to grow bigger and smarter and funnier every month. Everything he does both surprises me and doesn't surprise me at the same time. Colin is always saying funny phrases, whether he hears them or comes up with them himself, and it cracks me up. Whenever we are doing a science experiment or baking, he pulls his chair up, climbs up and says "Okay, so what do we do?" He can dictate a series of steps like "Okay, first we take this, and put it here. Then..." Colin can recite his alphabet, say his first and last name, and tell you the city/state he lives in. We are working on identifying letters and numbers next.
I went out of town the last weekend of June, and opted to take Blair only and let Chris, Colin and Carlo have a boys' weekend. Chris had said his goal was to have Colin poop on the toilet, so he got some prune juice and waterproof mattress covers and set to it! I'm sure there were tears and screams, but on Saturday afternoon I got picture of poops in the potty and Chris said Colin was SO pumped. Then as the cherry on top, Colin went two naps and two nights with no diaper and no accidents! We are so proud of Colin, and I'm really proud of Chris for sticking to his guns. We both knew once Colin pooped in the toilet he'd be good to go, but Chris gets all the credit for that milestone!
Carlo and Colin have a complicated relationship. Colin likes to play tug-of-war and throw Carlo's ring with him, but Carlo is still very much a puppy and jumps on & bites Colin - a LOT. We know it is a phase and he's just trying to play, but I cannot blame Colin for not wanting to reciprocate. Still, every now and then they can find something to play together, as long as it involves something else for Carlo to bite.
Colin got his first ice cream truck experience this month, and in addition to it being severely overpriced, the guy was also super creepy! Mom is thankful that we met him at the corner and not in front of our house!
Colin took his first selfie, and even told Chris "Say cheese Daddy!"
Colin loved helping tune up the bikes this month!
We harvested some green beans - our squash, peppers, radishes and carrots are soon to follow!
And Blair - every month I feel like I write the same thing, but nothing about her personality has changed! She is still the happiest, smiliest and cuddliest baby around. Blair has started to scrunch up her nose when she smiles (which is all the time) and making a cute little scratchy giggle which is completely heart melting. She is very close to being able to sit up on her own, and when she is on her belly she will tuck her knees underneath in anticipation of crawling. Not surprisingly given who her parents are, she also seems to have a lot of opinions because she babbles non-stop, saying blah blah, da da, ma ma, ba ba and other noises I am having a hard time spelling. She's so animated too, so when she's babbling it is almost like you know what she's saying based on her facial expressions. I am so thankful everyday for her sweet, carefree personality.
This month we went full force into solid food, and she loves it! She will even scream until you put more food into her mouth, like it is rude for you to feed yourself over her. The only food that she seems unsure of is avocado, but I think that could be a texture issue more than anything else. I have noticed that she's not eating as much during nursing sessions, which means pumping and bottles are around the corner. Since she's 6 months old she needs a source of iron and she had a strange reaction to oatmeal cereal so I was panicking I was going to have to puree meats! Thankfully she was good with barley cereal because the thought of pureeing meat is truly horrifying.
Carlo and Blair have the complete opposite relationship of Carlo and Colin. The dog absolutely loves Blair and always has to sit or lay by her and loves giving kisses. Blair will pull his lips or ears or fur and he lets her do her thing! The other day she was kicking him in the face and he just continued to sit there. Poor Blair - all the boys will now have to go through her dad, her brother and the dog!
Colin wanted to build Blair a castle!
That's it from this family of five! There are moments when this blog seems very cumbersome, but I really force myself to do it every month so I have something sweet and lighthearted to look back on in the future when the kids are trying to murder each other. The addition of Carlo has really sent everything into high gear, and when the kids are finally asleep and the dog is calmed down, we are often too exhausted to do much of anything else. But it will get easier (it already has) and it is worth it every day for every memory.
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