Happy Birthday, Colton!

Colton is two years old today!!!

Unfortunately, his older brother has spent the morning throwing up, so it hasn't quite been the fun morning I was hoping for him.  But we've enjoyed snuggling on the couch watching TV together, and he got to eat a TON of Ritz crackers while I was mopping up the stairs (all. the. stairs).  So that's celebratory, right?  Right?

Yeah.  I'm hoping that things will get better tonight when we'll have presents and-- just to change things up a bit-- pudding!  That's fun, right?

Anyway, we did portraits of our kids a couple weeks ago, so I figured this was a perfect chance to share Colton's pictures and tell you a bit about him.  He was a little afraid of the process, though, so he's not really smiling for any of his pictures.  In fact, in most of them he's got marshmallows jammed into his cheeks because that was the only way Craig could keep him from crying.  So just remember he's normally a very smiley boy, despite whatever faces he's pulling here!

Anyway, the first thing you need to know about Colton is that he is an absolute sweetie.  I just told you how he loves to hold Camille and give her kisses.  He also likes to give each of his siblings hugs when we have our special morning prayer together before the big kids head off to school.  He also likes to fold his arms reverently during that prayer, and always looks very pleased with himself for doing so.  It's great.  And if someone-- usually Ryder-- gets hurt, Colton will come running to give him a hug.  He's a tender-hearted little thing.

He still has dreamy blue eyes, too.

That tender heart also comes into play when he doesn't get his way.  He will either cry hysterically (and not in a manipulative, whiny way, just in a "I am genuinely wounded that you don't love me enough to let this happen" sort of way) OR, what hurts me more, look straight ahead and refuse to acknowledge me.  He did this once when I made him share with Ryder and it nearly broke my heart.  Still water run deep with this one.

He's been talking up a storm these days.  It was funny, because he'd really just started talking quite a bit a couple months before Camille was born, but then the week of her birth, it was like he just stopped completely.  I think the shock of everything set him back a bit.  And then he realized that with all these strangers taking care of him (strangers who he quickly grew to love as Tici and Buba) he needed to try his hardest to communicate, and now his talking is unstoppable.  You might not be able to understand him, but he is game to try and say just about anything.  Now it's just a matter of him remembering all these new words he's saying.  It's pretty awesome to watch him growing in leaps and bounds in this department.

I love how Craig is in this picture trying to get him to smile

Just like any 2-year-old, Colton is also super active.  He loves running around trying to keep up with his older siblings (and often gets run over by them, resulting in a few tears shed).  He's still working on trying to jump, and will occasionally stomp around giving it his best effort.  One of these days he'll really get both feet off the ground at the same time!

He loves going to nursery and playing on the playground.  He loves to point out his and my facial features while he has his after-nap bottle of warm milk and we rock together.  He's especially particular about pointing out both ears and both eyes.  He likes it when I play This Little Piggy with him and I can always cheer him up by singing Old MacDonald to him.

Like any 2-year-old, he says, "No."  But he says it funny-- he draws the vowel out a bit so it sounds almost more like "now," or perhaps some weird hybrid of the two.  "Nao"?  Maybe.  I can't quite explain it.  But it's adorable.  And something I want to remember.  (And, it reminds me of how Bentley at this age used to say, "No, no, no," and he would sound like he was French or something.)

And because now seems like as good a time as any, here are some (pretty goofy) pictures from my phone:

Craig and I gave him THE WORST HAIRCUT EVER a couple months ago.  It was so bad I seriously considered telling people that Ryder had done this to him.  But it seemed mean to throw Ryder under the bus like that, so I didn't...

I need to kill whoever taught him to make this face for the camera

Oh, dear.

He looks quite fetching in my sunglasses

Recently we were driving with bales of straw tied to the top of the car.  Halfway home, Colton suddenly became hysterical.  I *think* that a bit of the twine hanging down scared him.  He proceeded to cower away from his window and cry the entire drive home.  It was that perfect combination of hilarious and sad all at he same time, probably made worse by the fact that after it was apparent that there was nothing I could do to console him, I took his picture...

And here he is copying Bentley exactly: book propped open so he can read and snack!

And this is my favorite: doesn't he look like he could be modeling for a catalog here?

Colton makes me so happy.  I'm so glad he's a part of our family!

Camille-- One Month

I know, I know, it's a total cliche to say it, but I can't help it: How is Camille a month old already???

Time flies.

My babymoon with her was wonderful, but all good things must come to an end, I suppose.  My Mom-- who was here helping out for two weeks after Tracy left-- flew home Saturday night, so Sunday was our first day with five kids and just Craig and I to manage them all.  To make matters worse, it was also my first time back at church AND it was Daylight Savings, so we had to get everyone out the door at 8:30, but really it felt like 7:30!!!!  Doesn't that seem particularly mean???

She looks like how I felt trying to get everyone ready so early!

But we made it.  On time, even!  And we survived church.  And I survived my first morning trying to get the big kids off to school all by myself.  I even managed to hit Target, so that morning was a raging success, in my book!

Anyway, so Camille, or as I sometimes call her in my head, Cami-P!  She's exactly one month old and-- since she was born in February-- exactly 4 weeks, too.  Which makes my OCD side happy.  Let me tell you about this little girl...

She likes to make noises like a horse-- I swear it's like she's huffing and whinnying.  It makes me laugh and it reminds me of how Kendra used to snort like a pig when she got mad.  My children are trying to make up for that farm I still don't have!  Now if only one of them could make goat noises for me...

She's gotten good at sleeping at night.  I'm not saying she's sleeping through the night-- let's not be silly-- but when she's done eating in the middle of the night, she'll usually go right back to sleep.  I think that's about all you can ask for at this point.

Unfortunately, she got baby acne this last week in a BIG way.  Her whole face looks like it's covered in a rash.  So that's too bad.  But on the plus side, it waited until after we did newborn portraits!  So that was huge (especially since it took me forever to get those scheduled!).  And it's already clearing up, so I'm sure her complexion will be beautiful again soon.

You can kind of see her complexion here.  Poor thing!

Like all my children, when she's awake, she has a habit of looking very concerned.  And sometimes slightly cross-eyed and duck-faced.  (Which is why I coo to her, "You look nothing like a duck!")  For all you Downton Abbey fans, the look she pulls sort of reminds me of Spratt (the Dowager Countess's disapproving butler).  It always makes me think she's questioning my parenting choices.  Which, in all fairness, might not be a bad idea..!

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

She likes to be bundled up a TON when she's sleeping.  Like, if you can literally see the sweat beading on her forehead, that's how she's the happiest.  And she proves it by sleeping really well when she's drenched in sweat.  I'd worry about this, except my parents used to have the same concern about me when I would turn the thermostat in my room up to sauna levels (lucky for them my room was very small and cheap to heat!) until the window would steam up...  So I guess Cami-P just gets that from me!

All snug in the cocoon my Aunt Jan sewed (crocheted?) for her

Her most adoring fan (after her parents, grandparents, and Aunt Tracy) is probably Colton.  He loves her soooooo much.  He is always asking to hold her.  He loves to bring me her binky.  And whenever she's eating, he'll point to her and comment, "Beebee hunny.  Eat.  Hunny.  Eat."  He also gives "kisses," which consist of leaning towards her and opening his mouth for a second.  It's completely soundless, so unless you know to watch for it, you'll miss it.  But those are Colton kisses!

She also LOVES to be held.  Like, she's been held almost constantly since she was born, and it's because she gets mad /wakes up within ten minutes of being set down.  But usually, snuggled in someone's arms, she's pretty happy.  Unfortunately, now that we're down to just two adults, she's going to have to get used to not being held quite so much.  But she has managed to train me to hold her while I sleep-- something none of my other kids ever accomplished--so we'll snuggle together on the bed and snooze together and it's pretty cozy and nice.

I love my little princess.

What a happy month this has been!

Done.

I always feel a big sense of accomplishment when I survive yet another February.  Bring it on, March and spring and everything that is not winter!  I've been waiting anxiously for you!