Yum - rice cereal

Collin ate his first semi-solid meal of rice cereal on Friday. He made some interesting faces but kept opening up his mouth for more.

Before-

I was demonstrating how to "open wide" Not so sure about this -

After -

For round two on Saturday, things were looking up, and Collin gave us a few small grins.
He let us know he was ready to hold the spoon himself

And then spit out the spoonful with his tongue.

What a mess he made with about 3 tablespoons of food! I'm sad that I'm losing my trump card with Cas when we're debating topics such as who should wash the dishes. For the past 5 1/2 months I reminded him that I was his son's sole source of nutrition, but that is no longer the case. I'll still be Collin's main source of nutrition for the near term, so I better milk it while it lasts (no pun intended)!

Meeting more cousins

We were delighted to visit our cousins from Iowa and meet their incredibly adorable son, William, who is almost 2 years old. Collin was busy taking in all the new people and activity.

Here's the cutie pie, William, pointing to the baby toys:
Some of the crowd - Great Grandma Betty, cousin Pam and Great Uncle Dick -

Grandpa Brownie found a captive audience in William -

Stella and Leo were wonderful with William, giving high fives, playing with blocks and cars, and reading books to him -

Here's William with his big sister, Sage. I met Sage on our Ireland trip, and she was great fun. William clearly adores her.

Our cousin Jim

Great Grandma Betty gave William a "horsey" ride. My Grandpa Mort used to play the same game with my brother and me when we were growing up, so it was sweet to see the "Riding that horsey, riding to town, riding that horsey, don't fall down" poem recited again to a grinning William -

Cas eventually shared his toy, and Leo caught some big fish on the iPhone -

Vizslas are such a great breed with children, and Bruno loved the attention. He can't wait until Collin will chase him around the house.

Mary & William

And Stella once again getting some huge smiles from Collin -

Father and son

Male bonding time -

And Collin by himself - he was lying on the couch eating his foot and playing with my grandma, but heard my voice and looked behind him.
Checking out the world -
It's got to be frustrating to see so many things worth inspecting, but be unable to reach anything. Not to worry, as Collin has us well trained -using his "Mah-mah" whine - and we try to read his baby mind until we find the correct combination of location, position and toy.

Adulthood

Last week I was watching a news interview with an author and was horrified to discover that this grown-up-looking lady being interviewed was my age. She seemed so old and mature, yet I still think of myself as young and fresh out of college. And then last night I had a huge milestone towards adulthood.

Cas was at a basketball game, and I had just put Collin down for the evening. I headed to the bathroom to take a shower and there it was - my lifetime nemesis - the dreaded tree roach. It was a huge one and I am extremely (irrationally) afraid. But as my heart rate escalated, I thought of my son and knew I had to kill it before it escaped the confined bathroom.

I sprinted off for the Raid, entered the bathroom, aimed and unleashed about a quarter of the can on the disgusting creature until its movement ceased and I was gagging for fresh air. But I was so proud that some protective mom instinct kicked in. I did not need to call anyone to buoy myself up for the attack. I thought back to a standoff I had a year ago with a roach in our living room where I threw one of the dogs' balls at it for 40 minutes (I clearly need better aim) before having the courage to get close enough for the Raid to hit it. Last night, within 2 minutes of its siting, it lay lifeless in a pond of Raid.

I told my mom afterwards that I look forward to the day when I can ask Collin to kill the roach for me. But until then, I'll make sure we always have cans of Raid ready on either side of the house. (We need more than one in case the closest can of Raid is in the cabinet within the roach's path, which would be paralyzing to me). And of course that we have plastic bowls to cover the carcass until Cas gets home to dispose of it!

If you care enough to have read about my roach saga, you will now be rewarded with pictures of Collin :) Here's Collin with Great Grandma Betty:


And Great Grandma Jewell Rae:

Uncle Larry came in to visit this weekend:

And Collin played with Jackson at Great Uncle David's birthday lunch. They played peak-a-boo:

Collin was looking so intently at his cousin:

Of course a visit to Great Aunt Debbie's would not be complete without a dip in the pool. Grammy held onto Collin as we got him geared up for some fun in the sun. Doesn't he look excited?

When Mom's Away . . .

The boys will play! Here's the photo I received as my plane landed in Houston Friday afternoon:
What's pathetic is that I was more upset that he was in the high chair, and I was worried that Cas had tried to feed him for the first time without me - the beer didn't phase me.

Collin's favorite teething toy seems to be Sofia la Giraffe. She ends up in many contorted positions in Collin's mouth. She also squeaks exactly like our dogs' favorite ball, so they sometimes snack on her too.

Grandma Libia came to the rescue of our teething boy, spending the night Thurs night since I was out of town and then playing with Collin all day on Friday.

Collin misses the coziness of his bassinet that Great Grandma Maria made him. Thankfully Great Grandma Betty made bumpers in his crib, because Collin tries to recreate the bassinet feel as he turns himself 90 degrees in his crib, cramped along the short side of the crib.

On the snuggly front, he's at that stage where he'll cuddle up against you when you hold him on your hip. I really don't know a better feeling in the world. Someday he'll be wiping off my kisses, so I've got to get my snuggle time in before he becomes too cool for Mom.

Rad like Dad

It is fun to see Collin light up, a huge grin forming on his face when he sees Cas. On Father's Day morning, Collin sat in his bumbo on the bathroom counter top and "talked" with Cas while he shaved and got ready for church. Collin has a lot of clothes that proclaim his love for mom, so I bought him a onesie to even things out. (It says "rad like dad.")

Cas does his best to ensure Collin knows that Dad is his favorite. Quite often when I'm in the room, I overhear Cas telling Collin something to the effect of "I love Daddy, Mommy is just okay."

Spoiled by grandparents

I was at a dinner with a work colleague during my conference in Boston 2 weeks ago, and he mentioned that he sometimes watched his grandkids, but that he had already raised his own children and wasn't thrilled about having his grandchildren over. His attitude was shocking to me, as Grandma Libia, Grammy Lesa, and Grandpa Brownie love spending time with Collin. If it's been more than a week, they miss him. And even when they see him every week, they still gush at how much he's grown and are amazed by the tiniest developments. How lucky we are - and Collin is - to have grandparents that love him so much!

Grandma Libia came over on Friday to play with Collin. He rolled all over the floor for her, and they danced to music. Cas and I were able to go out to dinner, and the two of them hung out that evening. Unfortunately, we were messing with settings on our camera, so we didn't get any good pictures, but trust us, Collin and Grandma Libia both were doing a lot of smiling!

On Saturday, my parents watched Collin while I grabbed lunch with some girlfriends. When he took his nap in his crib, Grandpa Brownie rested on the floor nearby!

When he woke up, he swung on the front porch swing with Grammy Lesa.

Then he had their full attention as he cooed and squealed on the bed.

The whole family had a great Saturday - Cas got the day to himself, Bruno and Fergie had a blast in Rudy's backyard, I loved catching up with friends, and Collin was spoiled rotten by all the attention from his grandparents.