dishwasher

There's life ... and then there's life with a kid - two totally different things. It's been difficult trying to juggle everything ... Colson, Nick, work!, cleaning, cooking, minor home repairs (thank god my parents come out every couple of months and my dad works his magic!) ... list goes on and it never ends. I always feel like I'm playing catch up and not really staying ahead of the game. So my girlfriend Katie at work sat me down and said I needed to get more help around the house, namely a cleaning lady. So I am searching for one right now ... let me know if you know anyone good!

Anyway, in an effort to make life easier, we started using our dishwasher (gasp! I know) the beginning of this year. Before we did everything by hand. Nick and I always thought it was faster, especially when it was just the two of us. But adding Colson adds more dishes (not to mention more laundry too) ... so now I can't ever believe that we went without using it before!!! Ridiculous. The dishwasher is wonderful.

finally adjusted after daylight savings!

It took a few weeks, but we finally got back on track after the daylight savings time change! Before, Colson was going to sleep at around 6:30 pm ... then after time change it was more like 7:30 ... then we inched up to 7:00 and now he's going down between 6:30 and 7:00 again! Thank god, because since he doesn't take very long naps during the day (half an hour!) I like for him to go down early in the evening so I have a few hours to clean, do laundry, ... blog ;)

MARCH Updates

Party in Long Beach

Our March started out busy from the get-go! The first weekend, Nick went on Zach's bachelor trip to Arizona so Colson and I headed to Southern CA to visit my parents ... Colson had his first (of many) first-birthday parties! After much debate, my mom decided it would be easier to have his party at a Cambodian restaurant in Long Beach - hahahah ... so Colson had a catered 5-course dinner for his party! We have lots of family - so restaurant was the easier choice. I think we had about 40 people there. We brought a few decorations, hats, and cake, but didnt have to worry about set-up or cooking or cleaning afterwards.

Unfortunately Colson was sick during almost the entire trip :( He just started to feel better on Sunday - the day after his party. He had been running a low fever for about 4 days, plus coughing and runny nose ... needless to say, he wasn't in a great mood the day of his party. But we managed to make it through, with some crying, some whining, but a few smiles too!

Ryan Wade's Birthday

Colson is a baby jet-setter - hahaha. His party in Long Beach was on March 6 and on Sunday March 7 we hopped on a plane back to Sac, met up with dad who had also flown back in from AZ that morning and then headed to Ryan's birthday party that afternoon! Sorry Matt and Kat that we were totally late! Colson and I got bumped from our morning flight, so didn't get into Sac until much later than planned. But we made in time for presents!

As most of you remember Ryan and Colson were born only one day apart! Ryan on March 9 and Colson on March 10 :)

Officially One Year Old on March 10!

Colson's actual birthday was on Wednesday March 10 ... we had a small family gathering with a small home made cake and beef stroganoff and chicken alfredo -- courtesy of Costco! hahaah ... so convenient though - but good too! This was his second go-round with the candle. The first time he wasn't feeling well and a little out of it - this time he tried to grab the flame! Dad thought he would be funny and started a little frosting war ... and used Colson to get me!

M&M Graduation

Colson and I have been going to a mommy's group hosted by Kaiser since he was about 6 weeks old. It's called Mommy&Me so we shortened it to M&M. You are only supposed to go until you are one year old :( Sadly, we had to say goodbye to all our friends at group, but luckily we have made lots of great new friends that we now see regularly outside of group :) Here's pics from his graduation -- he got a little certificate for participating in the program and I even got one for accomplishing the task of nursing him for a whole year ;)

His friend Alexis - who btw was born on the same day as Colson at the same hospital (Kaiser South Sac) just a few hours before Colson! - also graduated that day :) Here they are with Kim M. our group leader, lactation consultant, therapist, patient listener, and advisor extraoirdinaire! Thank you Kim for all the weeks you listened to my questions and concerns and for helping us (me) through my first year ... awwww, tear!

A little bittersweet that a year has gone by already! I usually don't get all that sentimental on here, but sometimes when I finally slow down and think about how far Nick Colson and I have come, it does bring a tear to my eye! And we can't believe that our little baby boy is growing so fast and is a rambunctious, mischievous, curious little boy now ...

Birthday Bash

After our party in Long Beach and our little family party, we had an all out birthday bash at the house :) Here are a few pics from the day. Thank you to my sister who came into town 2 days early to help me and who took pictures for us during the party! Thank you everyone for coming and for the barrage of birthday presents! We haven't even opened about 75% of the presents ... I'll just let him play with a new one every week ... maybe we could make it to Christmas!

The second to last picture in this series is me & Cols with my college KAT sisters and the last pic is us with the M&M group ...

The Zoo

Grammy Lynda gifted a zoo membership to Colson for his birthday - so awesome! Thanks Lynda :) The zoo is just a few minutes from our house so it's pretty convenient, plus this way we can just pop in for an hour or two whenever we want ;)

Colson's nanny Stephanie (Nick's cousin) and her sister Cara took Colson and Presley to the zoo on Colson's birthday (I was at work - boo) ... they had a great time!

Colson and I have already been a few time too! He's a huge fan of the carousel too!

Playing with new birthday toys

A few of the moms from our group got together and gave Colson this awesome sand/water table for his birthday! Thanks Kyle, Lexi and Colt! So we thought we'd invite a few of our pals over to try it out! Note: we just filled it with water ... I don't know if I'll ever put sand in it!

Also, i just have to mention this: I was at toysRus and they have tons of outdoor toys out right now. One thing I saw was a mud play kit - that includes like plastic hamburger buns and you make a mud patty ... plastic ice cream cone and you make ices cream out of mud/dirt ... WTH?? Grr-osss!

Penny Sylvia

At last! So, since Colson has been born, we have not had any professional pictures or portraits taken of him or us! I know - shame on me! I finally found a photographer whose style I liked and she happened to be the same photographer that Zach and Crystal used for their wedding! After many re-schedules due to weather, we finally got Penny out here to our house to take some family portraits about a week ago ... my mouth is watering with anticipation! I can't wait to see the proofs!

Crystal & Zach's Wedding

Going out for the month of March with a bang! Our good friends Crystal and Zach were married on March 27 at St. Mary's followed by an amazing reception at Wilson Vineyards. Reminded me of our wedding two years earlier ... well except we didn't get married in a church, or even by a priest or pastor or judge. Actually, Zach himself presided over our ceremony! It was perfect for us :) But our reception was also at a vineyard (Scribner Bend) not too far from Wilson Vineyards. The day's weather was beautiful ... everyone looked amazing ... the food was tasty ... and the wine was good! It was nice to relax and get away for a little bit - sans Colson ;) Thanks for sharing your day with us!

Pictures coming soon b/c my camera was out of batteries so I didn't get any pics of my own, but hopefully will track some down from others' cameras :) Please send them to me if you have any!

One Year Checkup

Colson's one-year check-up was on March 30. He's basically hit a plateau since about 8 months ... he's been about the same weight (now 23.4 lbs), height (now 30.5"), and head size (18" i think?) since his past check-up (9 mos). But doc is not worried -- he's rigth at the 50th percentile for everything. I was expressing concern b/c I was feeling that he wasn't eating enough or drinking enough milk -- he was never on the bottle, drinking out of sippy cups since he was 6 mos old and he eats small meals and i really have to work hard to get him to eat! We switched to whole milk a few days shy of his first birthday, but he doesn't guzzle it at one sitting or anything ... more just has it as a drink with his meal or sips on it. I guess every other baby I've know by this age will sit down and have a whole bottle and hold it themselves too!

Oh well, Colson is not "every other baby." That's for sure! He has a personality all his own :) Even though I've weaned him during the day, I still nurse one at night and once in the early morning --I'll gradually cut those out too.

And, he still wakes once or twice during the night .... most times he'll cry for about 10 min then go back to sleep. Sometimes he screams bloody murder and I'll go in there and put him back to sleep ... sometimes I am dead tired and I whisper to Nick to go in there ... sometimes I can hear Colson cry when Nick tries to put him in his crib, then I go in there and make a second attempt ... sometimes I just give up and bring him into bed with us. But there's nothing better than that huge grin on his face when he wakes up in between us and is all hyper and climbing all over us as we pretend to sleep still ... sigh ... for all the lost sleep, I still wouldn't trade it for the world :)

So needless to say, we still have sleepless night and trouble getting him to eat and nap, but I've learned that if I take a laidback approach I am less stressed out and irritable - so, for those of you who know how regimented and schedule-based and type-A I was before Colson, since having him I think it has actually made me not sweat the small stuff! (like a couch pillow out of place, or a dirty dish in the sink, or piled-up laundry ... i could go on for days)

Catching up - FEBRUARY

Here are our Feb updates!

Gosh that seems so long ago now ... most of February was spent planning the little man's first birthday extravaganzas!!! Yes plural - as you will see in my March post.

Hanging out at the playground at the Fountains in Roseville with Monroe

Also, we have been wanting to spruce up the house a little bit (well mostly I have been wanting to redecorate). We had our kitchen/family room and dining/living room repainted ... and had some crown moulding installed in those two rooms. Also, I finally took down the 80s vertical blinds in our family room and put up floor length silk dupioni drapes :) We also changed out the fan in our family room and got a gorgeous glass link chandelier for our dining room! Also picked up a new entry way light fixture, but I need to find a ladder tall enough to get it put in! BTW, our good friend Nick Steele did the other electrical work for us - thanks Nick :)

Pictures of the house coming soon!

Colson and I also had our monthly trip to southern CA to visit my parents. This boy is really racking up some miles!

Another highlight from February - probably THE highlight was Crystal's bachelorette in Tahoe. My first night away from Colson ... my first time having a drink since July 2008! The trip was great, I eased back into the land of the drinking, but I missed my little guy so much! But I did return to a Colson that was fed, rested and clean :) thanks to my wonderful hubbie!

Also, at the end of February we took Colson on his first trip to the snow! Nick's uncle Terry has a cabin in Donner where we stayed with Nick's stepmom and his sister Anna, BIL Manny and nephew Elliott. Umm, Colson did not like the snow too much. Also, I think the altitude might have made his ears uncomfortable ... and he definitely doesnt undertsand the concept of asnoball fight yet - everytime someone got pegged with one, he would cry thinking that they were getting hurt :( Also, he doesn't like sledding or watching people sledding either ... just a little too much for him. Next year bubba!!

trying to get back into blogging ...

I think this has been my longest hiatus from blogging yet ... but, time for bloggin kind of falls at the bottom of my list of to dos. I'll try to sum up the past few months ...

JANUARY

I did blog for the first few weeks of January ... at the end of January, I went to a bridal shower for my good friend Crystal Vargas. The shower was fabulous! Crystal's bridesmaids did a wonderful job. I loved that the shower was at night and was like a glitzy cocktail party! Even though I still wasn't drinking at that time b/c Colson was still nursing, I think that was the first night that I had been away from Colson for a few hours! Hahaha -- Nick put him to sleep that night :)

Can't end my January updates without some pictures of bubba!!