Colin: One Month!

Dear Colin,

You are ONE month old!! The time has gone quickly and you are getting so big already.

You are a great eater and love to nurse. You are eating every 2.5-3 hours depending on your sleep, and we've started giving you a bottle for your last feeding of the night (4 ounces). Sometimes nursing is the only thing we can do to calm you down when you aren't happy. You will take a pacifer, but only if you aren't too upset.

We're still getting into a good sleep routine. You have had stretches of up to 5.5 hours between feedings at night but not all that consistent. When you first came home, we let you sleep wherever you were happy, including on the couch, but now you are sleeping in the rock & play in your room. Once we get some consistency, we'll move you to your crib.

You have started focusing more on us and things around you which is so neat to see.

You are not a big fan of baths.

You like your swing, and you almost always fall asleep in the car.

You had your first trip to Freeport last weekend. We went to Grandma and Grandpa Williams' for the Ag Breakfast and then a get-together at Krape Park so family and friends could meet you.
 
You are wearing newborn size diapers and mostly newborn size clothes although some 3 month clothes fit.

You still have your blue eyes. Your hair is a light brown and pretty thin right now.

Happy one month birthday, Colin!

I love you!
Momma

Colin's Room

Colin's room is finally complete!

I got the framed items for the walls from Uppercase Living and Etsy. Jason painted back in mid-March. And, the furniture got here at the end of April...just a month late!

I wanted to paint and re-upholster the glider, but ran out of time and it just wasn't worth it. ;-) The furniture is made by Pali - the Emilia Forever Crib with the Volterra dresser and nightstand.

I also ordered his name for above the bed off of Etsy. (Thank you Pinterest for helping me find it!)

My co-worker, Anita, made his crib skirt and quilt. I LOVE the bright colors!

 

I LOVE how it turned out!

Freeport: Ag Breakfast / Krape Park

We spent this past weekend in Freeport at my parent's house visiting...Colin's first road trip! We left town right after Drake got up from his nap which worked out perfect. We stopped in Rockford at Beef-a-Roo for dinner and so I could feed Colin and then headed to my parent's house. Unfortunately, I think Colin got a little overstimulated and was pretty fussy. Drake didn't sleep well that night either - he didn't go down until close to 9:30pm, I heard him about 2am, and then he was up about 6:30am.

We headed out to the Ag Breakfast on Saturday morning (The cinnamon coffee cake was awesome!). 

 

Drake loved seeing the animals, but he was too quick - I couldn't get a picture of him actually petting one!

After breakfast, we went to my sister's so the boys could play in the pool before lunch and naps.

Thankfully, Drake took a great nap and Colin slept while he went with Daddy and Grandpa to pick up Grandpa's motorcycle. A little break for momma which was awesome!

Then, we headed out to Krape Park for a cookout with family and friends. I didn't get nearly enough pictures, but here's a few.

 Cousins headed off to play (Colin was sleeping. :-))

 Aunt Kelly with Colin

My mom's friend, Sandy, with Colin

We headed back to my parents house and gave Drake a bath - he was out quickly from a long day and slept soundly until after 7am! We had breakfast and were on our way home by 10:30am.

The Great Grocery Challenge

 

Walgreens: OOP $14.51, Saved $17.90! (55%)

We were in need of paper towels and this was a great deal at only $0.50 per roll so I had to stock up. The macaroni and cheese boxes were less than $0.10 each with my B1G1 FREE coupons, the shampoos were free and will be donated, and the salt was on clearance for $0.37 and used as my filler item.

  Target: OOP $4.86, Saved $11.65 (71%)

Meijer: OOP $24.43, Saved $0.58

Jason picked up milk and dog food, and I didn't make it back to the store. :-)

Weekly Totals OOP $43.80, Saved $30.13

Don't forget to stop by Mommy Wants Freebies for daily deals and coupons!

Family of Four

Here are my favorite family pictures from our photo session with Barbie.

 

 

(Photos taken by Barbie.)

I wasn't having the best hair day, but Drake was cracking us up kissing on Colin!! 

 

Colin: Three Weeks Old

My sweet baby has been here for three weeks already! Time is going SO quickly.

I had been watching for swings at garage sales and on Craigslist. I knew I wanted to get one that went both directions and that I could plug in, but I kept putting it off because I wasn't sure Colin would like it (Drake didn't). Last Thursday, Colin wasn't very happy and had to be held a lot so I knew it was time to look for a swing. And, we found one at a garage sale that afternoon! It's in excellent condition and Colin LOVES it!!

Colin also had his first real bath on Thursday night:

Friday night...he was up until about 12:30am and ended up sleeping in a Rock 'n Play that our friend let us borrow. Once he fell asleep, he was out until 6am!

Colin spent a lot of time in the swing on Saturday. I hoping he'll start soothing himself to sleep. I started getting him a feeding schedule every 2.5 hours in hopes that he'll sleep longer stretches at night.

My friend, Jean Ann, stopped by today to bring Colin a present and officially meet him. (She came to the hospital, but he was nursing and it was crazy when she was there.)

We went to church for the first time on Sunday (Father's Day) since Colin's birth. After church, we took Jason to lunch and then had naptime for everyone! We also spent a little time with Grandpa Patterson and Aunt Karen that evening.

Monday was our first day home alone (daddy had to go back to work :-( ). We took Drake to daycare and hung out at home until I had to be at a meeting in the afternoon.

We ran errands and attended a retirement party for my co-worker on Tuesday and Colin did great on his schedule.

Our friend, Matt, also came to visit and meet Colin.

He slept well Tuesday night. I, on the other hand, woke up feeling very weak and having pain in my left breast early this morning...mastitis! UGH!

After taking Drake to daycare today, we took a nap and then I called my doctor's office...thankfully, they called in a prescription. My friend, Sarah, brought lunch over and we just hung out the rest of the day at home. (Apparently, I forgot to take a picture of her with Colin...oops!)

Colin's Newborn Pictures

We had pictures taken two weeks ago of Colin and our new family of four, and I got the CD yesterday! I'm so excited to share these pictures with you. Here are my favorites:

(Photos taken by Barbie.)

Come back tomorrow for my favorite family of 4 photos! :-)

Father's Day

Yesterday marked Jason's 3rd Father's Day...it was a beautiful day here. We made it to church in the morning (first time with Colin) and then took him out for lunch. After lunch, we napped and then went to his sister's to visit with them and his dad.

Jason's sister, Karen, his dad, and Jason

I haven't mentioned it here on the blog before, but Jason's dad was diagnosed with lung cancer back in February. He had surgery in early March to remove a tumor which also resulted in a small section of his ribs being taken out. Since then, he went through 6 weeks of radiation and is now waiting to hear if/when he will need chemo. Unfortunately, he's had some side affects to the radiation so he hasn't been feeling the best. This is a GREAT picture of him with his two children. We're hoping to do some big family pictures later this summer, if he's up for it. (This was a picture we didn't get at our wedding in 2003, and we have never done anything since then. Hopefully it will work out.)

Once we got home, it was bath and story/bedtime for Drake. Here's a picture of Jason with our boys. (Drake wanted to hold Colin, but thankfully touching his arm was enough...we'll see how long we can hold out on this!)

Happy Father's Day to all!

The Great Grocery Challenge

 

Kroger: OOP $13.36, Saved $27.50 (67%)

Target: OOP $11.67, Saved $8.12 (41%)

Meijer: OOP $26.15, Saved $25.55 (49%)

Weekly Totals: OOP $51.18, Saved $61.17! (54% savings)

Don't forget to check out Mommy Wants Freebies for freebies and deals each day!

Bath Time!

Last night was Colin's first official bath! He did pretty well once I put a warm washcloth on his belly. 

 

 

 

Love this little cutie!!

Colin: Two Weeks Old

We took Colin back to the doctor on Thursday for a weight/jaundice check and were really happy with the results! He weighed in at 7lbs 15.5oz (up 4oz) and his jaundice was down to 12.6!!!

On Wednesday and Thursday night, this is pretty much how Colin slept...on the couch on a blanket. It's the only place we could get him to sleep for any amount of time and we were going with it. This, of course, meant I was sleeping on the couch, too, but I didn't care as long as I got a little sleep.

My sister and nephew came to visit and meet Colin this weekend. We ventured out to the mall for dinner on Friday night and Colin had an awesome night sleeping! We got him to sleep in his pack & play that night. I think we're finally figuring out what he likes...laying on blankets and propped up a little bit. He also seems to want to cluster feed in the evening. After all of this, he went from 11pm - 2:45am and went back down after nursing until 5:30am! Yay for 3 straight hours of sleep!

I was so glad he slept well because we had a busy day planned for Saturday.

On Saturday night, Colin's umbilical stump fell off! Yea! Now, we're just waiting on the plasti-bell to go so we can take a bath.

After sleeping pretty much all day, I was concerned about Colin sleeping at night. He was fussy for a little while but once he fell asleep around midnight, he slept until just after 4am! woo hoo! He probably would have slept longer, but I picked him up to feed him. He went back down about 5am and then I got him up to feed about 8:15am.

 brotherly love

We just hung out at the house on Sunday. A girl that used to work with Jason and came over to attempt some pictures, but Colin wasn't being a very good subject. Of course, after she left and we were outside having popsicles, he was snoozing right away. He slept great again Sunday night - going down around 11pm, up about 2:30am and then again at 6am. I'm just hoping he'll keep this up. I can handle this schedule. lol!

Monday was spent at home again and his plasti-bell came off! Who knew that that could be so exciting? This momma's excited because it means that we can do a real bath!

Today, we had Colin's 2-week doctor's appointment. He was up to 8lbs 8oz (4 ounces over his birth weight) and 21 1/2 inches long (grew 1 1/2 inches)! Dr. Rosa was very happy with how he is doing and said we can stop supplementing...yeah! 

We also had a visit from Tori who loved snuggling with Colin: