November Lately

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from my phone of November!

cuddle bug  |  so awake  |  money for candy

waiting for brother  |  big boy bag  |  happy man

pjs  |  children's museum  |  brother love

"praying"  |  brother love  |  Clemson!

daddy night  |  snuggles  |  clean happy baby

Christmas parade  |  Holiday Hooplah  |  "glasses"

Thanksgiving  |  the boys  |  baby snuggles

Clemson gear

I got a van?!  |  Mama's boys  |  4 months old

Colton-Weeks 17&18

Colton James: Four Months

Dear Wiggly,

Yep, I said Wiggly, Because that's what we call you most of the time. That and bug, Colton-man, Bubba, and a a few more nicknames that we've come up with for you. You're the sweetest.

Well baby, this is it. This is our last month of being home together. In a few weeks, I'll be going back to work and you and your brother will be going to daycare. I can't even begin to dwell on it because I start crying - actual tears - when I do think about it. I absolutely love being home with you two and it has made our household so much more relaxed and happy. I've always wanted to be a stay-at-home-mom. I want you to know that. I want you to know that if I could, I wouldn't work until all my babies were in school. I want to pour my energy into you and your brother. I want to be the best mama out there. I try to be, but I fall short each and every day. Some days, I fall really short. I'm just writing it down so you know. I want to be the best mom out there. I'm working on it Bubba.

I'm excited for your four month appointment. I know Dr. C will tell us you're ready for food. You're drooling all over the place. I'm not as anxious to start you on food as I was your brother. Sorry! You don't eat as much and, well, been there done that! It will be fun to see what you like and what you don't like though.

Well baby boy, I'm going to love on you each and every minute of our last weeks at home. I know you'll be happy in your new daycare and that it will make our time at night and on the weekends that much sweeter. I love you baby boy. Every day with you is better than the one before. I just can't get over how sweet you are.

Love,
Mama

Four month update:

Size - Well little man, you're up to about 14 lb. 4 oz. You are gaining weight much slower than your brother. You seem like such a little peanut to us (mostly because your brother was huge)!   

Words - None, but you are cooing at us quite a bit. I love it when you make noises at us.

Activity - You are a busy boy. You love to "stand up" when we're holding you. You're starting to jump a little, so we pulled out your bouncer (upstairs) and saucer (for downstairs). You rolled from your tummy to your back at 16 weeks and a few days later, you rolled from your back to your tummy! I couldn't believe you rolled both ways within days of each other. you crazy little man. 

Food - You are only getting breast milk still. I know Dr. C will tell us at your four month check-up that we can start you on oatmeal (we don't do rice cereal). I'm not sure if I'm ready for food yet. Maybe I'm just trying to keep you little! Right now, your eating schedule is...

• 7-7:30 am - wake and nurse
• 9 am - nurse
• 10:30-12 pm - nap
• 12 pm - nurse
• 12:30-3 pm - nap
• 3 pm - nurse
• 5-6 pm - nap
• 6 pm - nurse
• 8:00ish - nurse to bedtime

Sleep - Little bubs, you are still an amazing sleeper. It must be in our genes. You go to bed around 8pm and you don't make a peep until around 7-7:30 am. Some mornings, we are waking you up! Thank you Colton-man, thank you!

You take one nap in the morning around 10-10:30 am. You are always very ready for your morning nap. You usually sleep until 11:30-12 pm. Your afternoon naps are pretty solid too. You're a pretty predictable baby and you do love your schedule.

Hair - Dark brown, but very little of it

Eyes - Dark blue with a little bit more brown than last month.

Teeth - None, but you are drooling like a maniac.

Wardrobe - I just bumped you up to 6 months.

Diapers - size 3

Likes - You like being in your car seat for the most part and you almost always fall asleep in it. You love daddy and Dayton a whole lot. They both can make you smile by just walking in the room. You light up when your daddy is around. You love your mama, but I definitely don't get the same reactions as daddy does! Little stinker. You love being upright so that you can watch what everyone is doing. I can already tell you have FOMO (fear of missing out). Oh boy. You love sitting in your high chair, bouncing in your bouncer, playing with the star and toys on your play mat, listening to your brother read to you, snuggling with your brother, being swaddled, and pulling mama's hair.

You don't like being in a room by yourself and you don't like being on your play mat when you can't see us. You don't love tummy time, but you'll play on your tummy for a good 10-15 minutes. When you're done, you're done though. 

Mama's Favorite - My favorite this month is all about being home with you. My maternity leave has been amazing and I am already dreading going back to work even more than I already knew I would. I've always wanted to be a stay at home mommy, but since I can't at this point getting 20 weeks at home with you is more than I could have asked for. I love being with you all day, every day. I love you, Colton-man.

A Buck, or Two

Hunting season is here! and the hubby is getting out into the woods as often as he can. I was able to go hunting on the season opener (here), but with a new baby and a busy toddler it was just too hard to try and go again. The hubs, however, took every chance he got to go hunting.

It paid off. The year he shot a doe and two bucks! Both of which he mounted. Well done babe!

Surprise! Happy 60th Grandpa!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Bishop! Who would have ever guessed you're 60?!

Mama Bishop was pretty sneaky when she planned a weekend away with the whole family to surprise Grandpa for his 60th birthday. All of us kids and all of the grand kids were together to help celebrate this milestone. We all met in Iowa City and surprised Grandpa!

First on the agenda was a trip to the Children's Museum in Coralville. The kiddos loved it! Watching all of the cousins play together made my heart happy. They are too stinkin' cute!

After the museum, we headed to our hotel. That was a bit of a disaster area - since they gave one of our rooms away?1 - but we got it all figured out and booked another hotel in about 15 minutes. Smart phones FTW! We checked into our rooms, got together for dinner and a ton of desserts. Food was plenty! The hotel we stayed at had a breakfast room that we were able to use. It was perfect. The kiddos ran around and all of us adults were able to sit and chat. Grandpa opened all of his birthday presents and we enjoyed a night full of laughter, sugar, and family time.

The next morning, everyone was up for breakfast and a few pictures before we said goodbye. Happy Birthday Grandpa! I'm glad we got to spend it with you!

Colton - Weeks 15&16

Halloween Candy Payday

As much as I love watching Dayton trick-or-treat, I don't love all the candy in my house. I mean, do you know me? Don't worry, we all ate some and we let Dayton pick out his favorites.

I had heard rumors that there was a dentist in town who would buy back Halloween candy, pay the kids for it, and then box it all up and send it to the troops! Um...yes please!

So I took the boys down to that dentist and we sold all of Dayton's candy. He had about 2 pounds of candy, so he earned $6! Can you tell he was excited about it? What I should of done was taken a picture about how excited I was about it.

Trick or Treat Part 2

As I said before, I love Halloween. So yes, I "signed" my kiddos up for every activity I could find. I mean, isn't this part of why I took an extended maternity leave?!

One of the things I was excite for was the downtown Trick-or-Treat event. I love our little city. The downtown is adorable and they really do have quite a bit for kids around here. All of the shops on Main Street sit outside of their doors and pass out candy as the long line of kids trick-or-treat. I've always wanted to go and it is perfect for littles (and stroller friendly!). I've never been able to go with Dayton because I work and traffic, so this year we were able to get there in plenty of time!

We started out at my school and watched all of my students and the other kids parade around the school in their costumes. Dayton loved seeing all of the kids and what they were dressed up as. Obviously, he was dressed up to! After a quick hello to my class (being run by my long-term sub), we headed downtown to start walking around to each shop. I knew this was a crowded event, so I wanted to get there early. I was able to find a pretty close parking spot, so I got the boys out, dressed, and ready to go! Daddy was only a little ways behind us. It was so much fun to see the shops, the owners dressed up, all of the kids, and our adorable downtown packed for Halloween!

After we walked the entire circle around downtown, we picked up Pablos for dinner and then headed home to eat and get ready for round 2! We left our house as soon as trick-or-treat time started so that we could also be back in time to hand out candy to the older kids. Dayton loves trick-or-treating and it was so fun to watch him enjoy it. I love our neighborhood!!

I'm not sure which Dayton had more fun doing - getting candy or passing it out!