Birthday Boy

Yesterday, Colin turned..... 3 months and some 3 weeks old. BUT, his daddy turned 31 years old. Gulp! It was a great day as we went out to dinner at Olive Garden. Probablly my best birthday present was when Colin was giggling during the day. He is just beginning to giggle, but he let out a few big ones yesterday.

At Olive Garden, we "attempted" to enjoy dinner together while Colin sat in the car seat next to us. As usual, he wasn't very happy watching mommy & daddy but had to be in the middle of the action. So Abigail picked him up and held him while we continued to eat. He was due for a nap, and we were not quite sure how it would all work out. We have been getting him to settle down and fall asleep in about 5-10 minutes now, so we figured, "hey, why not try in the middle of the restaurant!" Abigail got up and stood next to our booth holding him and rocking back and forth. Great news! He fell asleep in about 5 minutes, so we put him back in the car seat and enjoyed another 45 minutes of dinner. Life was good!


Here is a picture of my delicious chocolate/oreo ice "soy" cream cake! I absolutely loved it. Don't worry, us milk allergic people eat good too.

In other news, CRU is going great. We had over 310 at our first weekly meeting last Thursday, and are praying for a lot more this week. Its been so great connecting with freshman and getting a chance to go in the dorms and share our faith with students who are wrestling with what they believe.

Thanks to everyone who made my birthday so special. Many people also gave me "shout-outs' and I appreciate it!

Football season!

Football season is upon us and Colin is ready for his first football game! He is a hokie fan (of course!) and has told his mom he wants to go to Virginia Tech when he gets older. Well not in so many words but he does love his hokie book his grandpa got him and likes looking at the pictures. I told him the campus is much better in real life and he's anticipating our trip down to Blacksburg. Unfortunately he can't wear his hokie onesie around Morgantown if he wants to leave the house....but he is excited about going to the VT/Duke game in a few weeks.

GO HOKIES!

He is also a Redskins fan and will proudly wear his Redskins clothing while watching the games with his daddy on the couch. Today he was glued to ESPN watching football highlights. His dad is so proud!

Our happy boy

Colin is such a happy baby and loves to smile and babble all the time. He loves to tell us stories and get really animated when telling them. We wish we spoke "baby" because we're sure he's a very funny guy!

Sleep Deprivation

The past few nights/early mornings have been amusing as Brent has finally started to be affected by lack of sleep. Colin has been getting up at least twice in the night. Ever since he was born we've had this routine where Brent will go change his diaper while I get a drink of water and then I'll feed him and Brent goes back to bed. Well this week that has not been the case. The other night it was nearing 2am and like clockwork Colin woke up so I started nudging Brent to wake him up. Usually he is pretty good at waking up but this morning he mumbled something several times and all I could make out was "the squirrels are outside!" (we have NEVER seen a squirrel in our yard since we've moved to WV) He did not get up to change Colin that time. The next day Colin woke up super early and was wide awake so I took him downstairs to play to give Brent some more sleep. Colin played and I was putting him down for an early morning nap and walked into our bedroom to see Brent's knees straight in the air and his hands outstretched. I thought he was awake and started talking to him only to find out he was deep asleep! When he woke up he told me he had been having a dream about rock climbing. We can't wait for Colin to sleep through the night again!


On another note.. school has started and this past week has been extremly busy getting ready for the students to come. Classes start monday and we helped moved freshmen in yesterday and last night went to an organization fair. Today we have a rootbeer float social followed by a party at the Dallas house (one of our students homes near campus)there is something planned every day for the next week for us to get to know freshmen and get students connected. Colin loves getting all the attention from the students but is going through some Daddy withdraw as Brent has been home to see Colin an hour (maybe 2 at the most) between meetings and socials for the students. Colin has been very clingy and wont let me out of his sight when we're home. Hopefully that'll pass and in about two weeks life will settle down and Brent will be home more. I'll be on campus a few afternoons so please pray Colin will adjust to that as well.


Here is a picture of Colin and Sarah Blake at a leadership retreat last weekend

Colin's ready for a modeling career! He posed for pictures the other day as his mom thought he looked so cute in the outfit he was wearing. Of course we think he looks cute in everything we put him in. He really does get cuter every day.

Grandparents make a visit!

It was a very eventful few days, as Colin got to spend some time with his grandparents and Aunt Mary! We had a little "excursion" planned for each day, as we saw Pittsburgh, "Coopers Rock", and "Sky Rock." The weather was just about perfect for a few days as it got into the lower 60's at night and only mid-80's during the day.



Pittsburgh was fun riding the incline. Of course it made for a perfect "screaming box" for Colin as he didn't much like the elevation change. It didn't stop us from taking pictures though, or enjoying our time!



I guess Colin's biggest development lately has been his ability to drool. Abigail and I always wondered why people were giving us so many bibs! We've got enough to last years, but only 1 kid! Well, after watching him begin to drool a ton today, we are realizing we will go through a lot of them... that is, if we want to keep his clothes dry!

Spitting Image!

So Colin's latest "thing to do" is to look at himself in the mirror. Now given, we are the ones who actually place him in front of the mirror, but he loves it! Abigail says to him, "say hi to your friend" as he laughs and giggles and then stares at the mirror. We are pretty sure he doesn't fully know it is himself, but he sure is learning quickly. And if nothing else it keeps him entertained for a while, while also entertaining his parents.

On a ministry note, we had one of our last Bible studies last night. It was quite amusing as we watched Veggie Tales "Lord of the Bean!" Yes, maybe having a child now is getting to our heads, but it was suggested by our director. They have a two year old daughter. The Veggie Tales dvd was about using the gifts God has given you. I then led them through I Corinithians 12 on spiritual gifts and we had a great discussion for a while afterwards.

Nothing like learning a little lesson from Veggie Tales, getting in the scriptures, and then applying it....... oh, and singing a few kids songs!

The Day is Finally Here!!

Well, for at least one night anyways. I know I know.... two posts in three days is pretty untypical for us so far! But last night and yesterday were monumental for us as parents and of course for Colin.

He SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!! We put him down at 8:45 and he didn't wake up until 5:15. Eight and a half hours baby!!!! Of course Abigail and I couldn't fully enjoy it, as it was blistering hot last night and we both woke up numerous times at like 2am & 3am amazed that he hadn't woken up yet.

We think he slept through the night because he FINALLY is taking longer day naps. Thank you so much for your prayers! He had been sleeping for only 30 minutes at a time during the day, and then his "internal" clock would wake him up. Two days ago he took a 2 hour nap in his crib which amazed us, but yesterday his naps were 45 minutes, 2 hours, 1 hour, and 1 hour!!! They say for babies, good sleep = better sleep. Oh, and the final part of that equation = HAPPY PARENTS!!!!! haha

He will be 12 weeks old tomorrow, and we are so excited that he is making such good progress. Of course on Saturday we are taking him to Northern VA where his schedule will get all messed up. Oh well.... little victories!


Here is a pic of what Colin "used" to think of naps!!! haha

Here are some family pictures of Colin after church on Sunday. As you can see he LOVES chewing on his fist...and also blowing bubbles with his spit but thats hard to capture on camera!

"The Vaccuum Theory"

So if you have a baby that just won't stop crying, I've got a solution for you. Well, at least it works for us and other parents i've heard. THE VACCUUM CLEANER!

Abigail and I read in a book one day that the vaccuum cleaner is a great way to soothe a child. It sounds like a silly idea, but don't knock it till ya try! We even have a movie of Colin when he has been crying for 5 minutes straight; we turn on the vaccuum cleaner, he sniffles a bit, then falls right asleep!!! Its a hilarious video.


So now, every once in a while, Abigail will come down the stairs with a big grin on her face. "yes, he's asleep... the vaccuum cleaner works again!!!" It really sounds odd, but it supposevly reminds them of when they were in the womb. So when all else fails... turn on that noisy soothe machine called the vaccuum cleaner!!!

Things that make you smile!

So as you can tell, this blog, at least for the summer, will be all about Colin and what he's up to. He turned 7 weeks old this past Friday and continues to amaze us with how amazing he is (don't doubt it, its true!)

About a week ago he started smiling once in a while, although i'm not sure he knew exactly what he was doing! Then about 3 days ago, he will smile back at us when we smile at him. And he's been "cooing" for a few weeks now and its great to know he's on track with all the signs of a healthy baby.

Maybe his most amazing feat is that at about 4.5 weeks old he began flipping from his stomach onto his back!!!! I am pretty sure that is much earlier than he's supposed to, so we expect him to be walking in a week or two! hah just kidding... He does it once in a while, but one day did it like 6 times in a row.



We just got him a little "play mobile" that sits on the ground, and he has been enjoying that. Not really grabing things too much, but he loves to look at it. We have a digital camera that takes sound movies, and every time we try to take movie's of him, we think he knows it! He will go from laughing one minute, see the camera come out, and then have this serious look on his face and turn dissinterested! It just proves the fact that kids know much more than they let on! haha

Hopefully our next post will be sooner than 3 weeks!!! God has been gracious to us with such a beautiful and healthy baby, and we thank Him every day! :-)

Colin is a month old!

Thats right.....

We have been parents for a month now. Pretty crazy...