3 months

Happy 3 months to this adorable little mess!  :)  he has really figured out how to hold things and move them where he wants them....in his mouth (or in that general direction)  :) 

welcome Fall, and hello 13 weeks!

Colton is 13 weeks old today and we have officially stepped into Fall....thank goodness!!  The temps have dropped drastically the past couple days, leaves are turning and falling, and the fair is in town.  It doesn't get much more Fall than that, folks!  :)  I AM LOVING IT!  This week the boys and I have enjoyed having a little more daddy time, despite the circumstances. My favorite is the mornings when we can all be laze for a little while in bed together.  Cooper loves getting up and lying in climbing all over mommy and daddy's bed in the morning, and Colton LOVES watching his every move....this kid adores his big brother.....and big brother is growing rather fond of him too!  It's so cute to see how Cooper is acting like he REALLY likes Colton now.  If Colton is within his reach he randomly goes up to him and kisses him, tickles his belly, or just gets close to his face and giggles at him.  Colton LOVES it and it sure makes this mama's heart smile!

Yesterday we went to the fair and spent ALL day there!  it was perfect weather and Cooper was SO good considering he went without a nap and we drug him all over the place!  His favorites were the petting zoo (which isn't even a petting zoo anymore!  apparently there is a new NC "no touch" law so there is an extra barrier about 5 feet away from the animals now and you feed them by putting the carrots down a makeshift shoot to the animals....how disappointing!)  Cooper loved watching them stick their heads through and catch the feed as it came down close.  And of course there's the ATV display with 4-wheelers and such that is always a hit with this kid!  :)  He enjoyed getting on the huge 4-wheeler and holding on!  :) And the tractors....another hi-light for Coop! I thought he would really enjoy the pig races but he didn't seem too interested in them....I think there was just too much going on all around him for him to focus on the pig (however, that's my favorite part, we'll work on him again next year!  :)) Colton slept on me in the wrap for most of the day, aside from a few moments of gazing at all the sights and colors.  He also had quite the poopsplosion....good thing I came prepared with extra clothing for him!  He was in the wrap on me and I heard the rumble in his tummy, then felt (and heard) the explosion!  I looked at Carrington and said "uhhh...I think we have a problem!"  I knew it was bound to be a bad situation so I scooped up the diapers and wipes and headed to the baby station certain that I was going to take him off of me and have poop all over me!  luckily it wasn't all over me.....but it WAS all over him.....just shot straight up the back of the diaper!  Good thing he was in the wrap because he got back in it completely (well, with a diaper and socks) naked and we went back to the stroller to get his clothes. lesson learned....make sure to always have weather appropriate back up clothes in the diaper bag! So glad I thought ahead on that one! (and I might add....he's already done the SAME thing today!  I won't be without extra clothes ever!  :)   Overall we had a GREAT day at the fair and Cooper was so well behaved!  unfortunately we didn't get many pictures (and none of Colton).  I really want to try to be intentional about enjoying the moment, in the moment, rather than from behind a camera lens documenting every second.  don't get me wrong, I LOVE my pictures for later, but I don't want to be obsessive about the perfect pictures of every moment and miss out on enjoying the time then and there(thank goodness for camera phones so we do have some pictures!)
ok, how about some of those pictures now....here are a few from last week that I forgot to get off my phone and share:

the Black Walnut Festival (mom and I took the boys while Carrington went to soccer one Saturday morning)

Cooper handed this ring to Colton and he held it for a long time, even putting up to his mouth the chew one, until this happened.....and he wasn't phased by the ring around his nose at all!  :)

Every Wednesday morning is toddler story time at the library.....Carrington and I took Cooper (and Colton) last week and Cooper wanted nothing to do with sitting down for a story...we spent the hour playing outside instead (the library isn't really the place for a screaming toddler melt-down....)

someone really found his hands last week and chews/sucks on them a LOT now!

Fridays are trash day....the hi-light of the morning!  :)

enjoying the "petting zoo"

He has figured out how to pull the blanket (or lovey) up to his mouth and chew on it!

All my boys in one bed!

snoozin with daddy

Daddy and his mini me at the fair (notice that slush puppy had to accompany us!)

burrr it has gotten downright cold in the mornings...had to break out a winter hat! (plus it's just so darned cute, I couldn't wait to put it on him!)

oh that happy boy!  <3

Thanks for stopping by!  "see" you again next week!

12 weeks old!

Hello friends!  I am doing a little bit better this time with posting....it's only been3 weeks since my last post, instead of 7!  I call that progress, folks!  :)

Our little fella is 12 weeks old now and is growing and changing so much!  We have also had a lot going on in our family the last few weeks.  hubby lost his job this week (a job that was stressing him out and was more trouble than it was worth, however....he(we) would have loved for him to have already had something else lined up and leave on his own terms, but such is life)  he is hoping to hear from the fire department soon as to when he might get an interview.  We also celebrated our 4th anniversary this week (4 years!  my how things have changed since that beautiful day in 2009! and we wouldn't have it any other way!)
We also found a house to purchase, fell in love with it, wrote up a contract/agreement for purchase, began the process of financing the house....and then the whole job thing happened and the house is slipping away ;(  Thank goodness for supportive family and the fact that we will never be without a home. And thank goodness this happened BEFORE we were in the house with a mortgage to figure out how to pay.  We are trusting that when the time is right, God will drop another perfect house in our laps and until then we are trying to trust in that and be ok with where things are now.....as difficult and disappointing as it is to lose the house we were already "placing furniture in."  ok enough sad, ho-hum, news....onto fun stuff....PICTURES of the cuties in our life!

Week 10:

Cooper has started taking care of his baby like I take care of Colton....he puts him in the bouncy seat, feeds him, and now diapers him!

Starting to enjoy the bouncy seat more....and gets fixated on the tv at times.....I try to tell him that it will rot his brain!

Cooper has taken a new interest in dressing himself....this particular day he insisted on putting his jammies back on over top of the clothes he was wearing!  (and apparently thought he needed a pig nose too!)

Happy boy at 10 weeks old!

Week 11:

Ready for church!

Daddy was out of town for soccer so Cooper and I went to church together (while Colton stayed with Grandma)

Poppy and Grammie came to visit and Colton loooooved having Poppy talk to him!

Grammie is a good snuggler too!

my little 11 week old rooster!  That hair just kills me....it won't lay down for anything!

Colton also started sleeping pretty much through the night this week!  he goes to sleep around 8 and will typically sleep until somewhere between 4:30 and 6:00 before he eats and goes back to sleep a little longer....I call anything more then 4 hours sleeping through the night!  :)  He is also officially a roller!  he can roll from his tummy to his back but doesn't do it consistently because he actually LIKES being on his tummy!  :)

Week 12:

I dyed some rice to make an activity for cooper this week and he enjoyed it!

We were digging for bugs in the rainbow rice!

And now you see why we did it on a sheet....this was about the 4th time spreading it out everywhere!

Colton tried out the bumbo this week for the first time....he did great, but was done with it after about 7 minutes!  As you can see, he has also discovered the he controls those little hands and that they are great for chewing/sucking on!  guess we need to get used to bibs again because his shirts are getting soaked!  :)

Cooper has been in desperate need of a haircut....but in the meantime it makes for lots of fun at bath time!

I love that you can see his sweet little face in the mirror admiring his crazy 'do!

Daddy and Cooper both got the mommy special haircut this week!  Cooper just got enough to get it out of his eyes (the better to see things with) and ears (the better to hear mommy with!)  I didn't trust myself to do too much more than that!

Colton has had some crazy upper body strength for a long time but has now discovered that propping up on his arms allows him to look all around and see the world from a new perspective, and he loves it!

Checking out that fist and trying to decide whether he can get it all in his mouth or if he should just go for the knuckles!

oh my gosh....I love this sweet little happy face!  12 weeks old!

Thanks for stopping by!  next week the fair is in town, so be sure to check back for pictures of that! (and we are supposed to get internet installed next week so I will be MUCH better about blogging on time again!)