Fast Forward... 18 months old!

Well, we have been busy. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.  Two family vacations I had planned to blog about, Anderson turned 5! We are babysitting our little cousin Easton most work days. All things I should have taken the time to write down. I can't believe I missed writing about Anderson's 5th birthday!  We've been busy!

But I did not want to miss one tradition very dear to my heart. I had so much to say about my first-born as he turned 18 months old that I just had to write it down. I was 8 months pregnant with lots of feelings. And little did I know then, my heart would swell for each of my next baby boys in the same big, overwhelming, impossible to describe way.  But now they each have a letter from their mommy, trying to put into words how much I love them every day, but specifically at 18 months old.  Here is Colby's...

My sweet Colby,

            You turned 18 months old today! And like the perfect little brother that you are, you spent most of it outside at both of your brothers’ soccer games.  I had to move your nap up by 2 hours- and then wake you up an hour in, and like the champ you are, you woke up sweet and smiling. You have been today- and every day- such a JOY.

            There are so many important things about you, Colby.  Today I will pick a few to write down so that you always know and remember how loved you have been from the very start. 

            In my 18 months of knowing you, I have noticed that you feel and express in big ways.  For the most part, that is really happy or really excited or really surprised.  You are one happy guy.  But as we near the true toddler years, I’ve seen that you will show me when you are frustrated, mad, or disappointed with plenty of expression, too. I have to stop from laughing when you poke out your bottom lip because it is one of the cutest things I have ever seen. 

            You love big, too! You have recently been giving the best, big, strong, snug hugs I’ve ever had. When you are in the Ergo (less often lately), you reach out and give me such a good, strong squeeze; it makes me think we should use it a lot more often after all. And you are known for your kisses. You will give the sweetest kisses when we ask.  Plus, you lean out and give a good pucker and “mmm” to any new friend who notices how wonderful you are. You win so many people over with your bright smile and friendly “HI!” and then you seal the deal with trying to plant a wet one on ‘em.

            You are unique in a lot of ways already, but a big part of what makes you special is being part of the “Ives boys.” You love books and balls, and you already know 6 or 8 alphabet sounds, which all reminds us of your biggest brother. You also love to play with cars-including the noises, or dinosaurs, and you hint at being left-handed, and that makes us think you are so much like Brady. You like to color a lot. I think you may just be an artist.

            You are funny! And you know it. You certainly do things just to make us laugh. You will close your eyes at us with a big smile until someone notices, and then you burst out laughing. You think it’s so funny to wear your shoes on your hands, or a shirt on your head, and you make us laugh throughout each day.

            I love to cook (or order, ha!) for you, because you are most likely to enjoy whatever it is. Most meats, fruits, vegetables, and certainly snacks or sweets are a safe bet with you. Favorites lately are chicken, bananas, corn on the cob, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, noodles, chips, and anything sweet. I am impressed with your silverware skills, and you are enjoying more independence.

            With your big brothers in preschool and our little cousin Easton still taking good naps, you and I have gotten a lot more one-on-one time lately. We like to stack blocks and knock them down, or roll balls through tubes, or read books, or ride on your Thomas train toy. Sometimes we steal a show because you love to snuggle and watch Mickey, and I love to watch you sing and dance along. Your favorite books right now are “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” or “Baby Bear…” or “Polar Bear…” You are very opinionated about which book you want to hear and shake your head Yes or No at me with great conviction. This reminds me of both of your brothers, actually.

            You love your grandparents and great-grandma, and you love spending time with them. You have lots of friends at church, but that is about the only place that I have to drop you off, so for quite a few months now you cry for a few minutes when I do. We just like to be together, and we are so lucky that we almost always get to be.

            It’s hard to fit all of the best things about you on one page, and I know I left so many good things out. But let me say one more time- you are special. Your joy is contagious. You love others so well. You are learning what it is you want and how to get it. You are smart. You are funny. This world, and especially our family, is so lucky to have you.

                                                                                                Love always, always, always,

                                                                                                            Mommy

Celebrating Colby's first birthday!

March has been a super busy month, so all of the blog posts I should have written in honor of my sweet Baby Colby turning one will be rolled into this one.  That's just his life- thrown into the mix from the start (the mostly fun, happy, full-of-love, but busy mix).  And for the most part, I think he's loving the ride.  I know we are all so happy and thankful that he's part of our family.  He's been the perfect fit from the start.

Milestones.... 

Nobody has accused the Ives boys of being in a hurry, and Colby really pushed the limits by waiting until he was 11 1/2 months old to crawl.  Mama was worried.  The pediatrician said not to worry, but he does qualify for early-intervention PT, so you might want to call and set up a consultation.  So I definitely worried, even though those closest to us told me not to.  I procrastinated setting up the PT consultation for a month, and then he finally just decided it was time.  It was clear he was really working on it for about a week, and he was frustrated that it wasn't working out.  Then, after spending much of the day away from me (only happens on Thursdays), one Thursday evening when Ryan and the boys and I were all sitting together in the family room (rare for March because Ryan spent every spare evening and weekend minute at the old house getting it ready to sell, another story...), Colby moved his little knee and then his little hand, and Ryan and I got to sit together and marvel at the sight of this big accomplishment.  It was really special, and my parents swore he hadn't done it all day.  Sweet boy waited for us all to be together. :)

Colby loves to talk, and says several words very intentionally: "Uh oh!" "Hi!" "Da!" (for "that" sometimes and "Dad" other times".  He says "Mama" some, but still not a lot.  He definitely knows how to clap along to "If you're happy and you know it", and he loves to lift his arms up for "Hooray!".  He definitely bops along to music, which is so cute. :)  In general, he's very social.  He's always getting strangers to talk to him or play peek-a-boo.  These days his very favorite person to laugh with, though, is Brady.

Even though he's usually a very happy guy, already he gets mad if he doesn't get what he wants.  He'll shake his head "no" at me when I'm feeding him something he doesn't want, and he will get frustrated to the point of tears pretty easily.  Up until the last month or two he was just always easy and happy, so this spunk is taking a little getting used to.  Now that he can move around on his own, he is happy to play alone for a while, but plenty of other times he just does not want me to put him down and get anything done.

Colby at breakfast last week showing some of his moods (and how quickly they can change, ha!)

"Mmmm, I love Cheerios!"

"Ah, refreshing!"

"Something's wrong."

"No, no, no!"

"Mom! You ruin everything!"

"Okay... that tastes pretty good..."

To be clear, I did try to address whatever was wrong.  But after offering him various things to eat, hugs and kisses, and trying everything else I could think of, I decided to just let him ride it out while I took a few pictures.  Sorry, Colby....

Stats...

At his check up we found out he lost an ounce since 9 months, so he's holding steady at 25 lbs.  Our doctor said this is totally normal for a breast-fed baby.  She said it was pretty good to not gain any weight and still be in the 90% for body mass. He was just ahead of the game!  I think he's about 80% for height now.  He had 3 more shots and took them like a champ.  The first two made him squawk, but after the third one there was some genuine crying, just for a minute.  

Birthday celebrating...

For his actual birthday (a Thursday), my parents and I took the 3 boys to the Children's Museum downtown.  The one-on-one ratio was great because all 3 boys were very happy, but they all wanted to do different things.

That night our family plus all 4 grandparents went out for dinner at Red Robin, and we ordered Colby a birthday hot fudge sundae.  He ate quite a few spoonfuls and liked it very much!

Party!

Saturday we had a pirate-themed birthday party for "Captain Colby".  It ended up being a smallish group compared to all of the family we'd invited, but it was great!

Picture highlights....

{Decorations}

Seeing this cake at Sam's Club was a big factor in choosing our theme. :)

Dress like a pirate station

Spy-glass making

X marks the spot

{The birthday pirate and his mateys}

He was a good sport! :)

{Presents and Cake}

So much help opening presents!

Beautiful train from Grandpa

{Backyard Fun}

Brady's snow-day birthday

This weekend's blizzard has been called "historic" around these parts, and here's a photo for reference (with Sadie frolicking).  Snow totals in our area were between 14"-16".  I, for one, am realllly glad there wasn't a blizzard like this three years ago.  A great day for a birthday but not a BIRTHday. ;-)

Brady was especially happy all day, so it was definitely a success!  I went to check on the boys, who were giddily playing in their room this morning around 7:30.  Brady ran back and forth through his "birthday door" quite a few times.

We headed downstairs pretty quickly to find his presents...

Not too big for Daddy to carry him

He was most excited about the inflatable dinosaurs :)

Pretty pleased with himself .

Awesome dinosaur helmet didn't make it to us before the blizzard hit, so that will be a surprise for another day...

 True to Brady, I made snowman-cinnamon rolls, but all he would eat was his cheerios and strawberries.  Anderson and I thoroughly enjoyed the treat.  He and Anderson played with his new toys for a while, and we took some pictures.

Anderson was a big fan of this pogo jumper!

These two being cute got me started on the brother pictures.

Big buddies!

Close up of the birthday boy

And one more in his Bradysaurus shirt

We let Brady pick a morning movie to watch (a new concept thanks to sick days followed immediately by snow days), and he picked Planes, a recent favorite.

Ryan and I talked with our parents and decided a birthday lunch would be best since we wanted everyone home and off the roads before dark.  I was worried about everyone driving in the snow at all, but thankfully they all stayed safe.

Grandparents arrived with more presents, in time for hot dogs and macaroni and cheese (two of Brady's favorites.... which today he wouldn't touch.....) and cake!

The cake was a big hit!

"3"

Great-Grandma brought Brady Batman and Superman, which he barely let out of his sight all day.

 After the fun, we settled down for naptime and quiet time, except nobody napped.  We had really hoped to take the boys back out in the snow, but Ryan had to run over to our old house (which tenants are moving out of and we need to sell... it's a whole mess!) to make sure there weren't any snow-related issues going on.  Anyways, I wasn't brave enough to take all 3 boys out on my own, so we played and eventually settled in for a second movie (it was a snow day AND a birthday, I suppose...) before dinner- Cars 2, for the record.  Brady played with his new toys happily throughout the day, and he definitely seemed to feel special.  Anderson suggested we all sing happy birthday to him again at dinnertime, and he just BEAMED.

It was a good day to celebrate our wonderful Brady!