Sick baby Colin

Well, it finally happened. Colin got sick on us. For the first time in over 9 months of going to daycare, we got a call from Robin this past Thursday and said Colin had a temp of 102 and we needed to come pick him up. I took the rest of the day off work and came and got him. We just couldn't get the fever to break (gave him Motrin/Tylenol round the clock, pushed fluids, cool baths/washcloths, etc). Same thing on Friday, except Brian stayed home with Colin then. Saturday was the worst, but finally on Saturday night, we got his fever to go down, although he had the worst night sleeping since probably when he was just a colicky, newborn baby. Sunday, he woke up with this rash that covered his body pretty much from head to toe. It didn't seem to bother him much, which is good I guess. Just looked bad.
We got some pictures of his rash while we were in the tub. Slowly, between Sunday and Monday, he started to feel a bit better. Talked to a few nurses here at Children's and found out, he was probably have some sort of a reaction to his vaccinations he received the week before. When I looked up information on MMR rashes, it looked exactly like what Colin had, with the same symptoms of fever, rash, irritability, decreased appetite, etc. About 5% of children can react to the vaccinations, who knew? At least the poor kid wasn't sick for too long, it just seemed like forever.
Sent him to daycare this morning, hopefully he is able to get back into his routine, and hopefully we'll have our easy-going, mild-tempered child back. We miss that kid!!
On another note, Brian and I were able to squeeze in a movie, Blindside, on Saturday night/Sunday morning. It was a wonderful movie and we enjoyed being able to relax a bit. With it being so hot outside, literally over 100 degrees recently, staying indoors is something we look forward to!

Climber time

I really wanted to get Colin a big climber/slide playset for the backyard. He is starting to explore new things and I thought this would be a lot of fun for him. After talking with multiple moms around my work, I decided to look for a Little Tike climber. I found this one on Craigslist (which is a way for people to sell/buy used items online) and picked it up last week. After Brian power-washed it and got it all cleaned up, we let Colin see his better-late-than-never birthday gifts. Colin wasn't sure what to think of it, but did seem to like it. Too bad it's been so hot outside, we really don't have much opportunity to get outside to play on it without overheating. Here are some pics of Colin and the climber...

We're not quite sure where this face is coming from. He's been doing it a lot lately - not quite a smile, not quite a smirk...hmmmmm

Poor guy was so sweaty he couldn't really slide down the slide feet first, so I just had him slide down bottom first. What a happy little guy!!

Colin LOVES Jake!

Colin has become more and more in love with Jake lately. He will literally follow him around a room, around the house, in the backyard, etc. Jake has gotten much more lenient with him and lets him crawl all over him, generally. Every once in a while we will hear a growl or bark from Jake when Colin gets too rough. We just let the two of them work it out, and they get over it within a few seconds.
The heat let up a few nights ago and we were able to play outdoors for a while (in the shade, of course). Jake was just chewing on a rock he found in the yard, and Colin took the opportunity to spend some quality time with Jake! :)
We thought these pictures were cute, so enjoy!

Colin also likes to take big handfuls of grass from our yard and pull it out of the ground. Sometimes it goes in his mouth, but usually he just likes to watch it fall back down in the grass. Maybe he is just trying to help with some lawn mowing, one handful at a time?

A few nights ago Jake let Colin hop on his back (with Daddy's help) and ride around the living room. Ever since then, Colin tries to get a free ride whenever he can.

This is an attempt to hop on for a ride in the backyard!

bath time

Here's a few pics from Colin's bath time recently. He just loves playing in the water and we always have a great time in the tub. Future swimmer on our hands?!

Colin's 1st birthday party

Colin had his 1st birthday party on Sunday. We kept it small, only immediate family came by the house. First off, we have a house that seems to become very full with only a few people there. And, Colin seems to be a bit intimidated by big crowds, even if the crowd of people are his loved ones. So, we did a sports ball theme, and had cookies decorated like basketballs, baseballs, cue balls, golf balls, and soccer balls. My mom came down on Thursday night and we spent many days trying to pull off the appropriate decoration for each ball. I think we both had fun, just were tired of smelling the sweet icing by the end of the party!
Colin did great at the party. He was, of course, overwhelmed by the big group of people, but by the end, didn't seem to mind them much.
We got a cute family photo during the gift opening time. Colin got this cute chair from his Grammie & Granddad.

This is where I found Colin when people were first arriving. He was just sitting by himself over by the fireplace, probably trying to figure out what the fuss was all about. Luckily, Uncle Chris came over and played with him one-on-one.

Colin got a cool 3-in-1 sports toy that he just loves. Oh, and his uncles and dad like playing with it too. Apparently they decided they should "break it in" for him first. Sheesh, Colin couldn't even play with his toys on his birthday. What's the world coming to?

Colin also got some really cool Nerf sports balls from his Aunt Tiff & Uncle Chad. But, those might have to get put somewhere he can't reach them for a while, because his sharp little teeth sink right into those soft balls and I don't want him to ruin them! I can't wait until he stops putting everything in his mouth.

Colin's cousin Olivia was at the party and had a great time playing with the new toys. Here's the two of them with an awesome puzzle that Meemaw got him. The puzzle was a bit difficult for Colin to do (he only had one free hand) since he wouldn't let go of the yellow shovel that Meemaw also got him. Good thing Olivia was there, she just had her first birthday a couple of months ago, and helped Colin play with his new toys.

Colin did what every parent fears will happen on their child's first birthday...he reached right out with is quick-flinging arms and grabbed the flame on the lit candle. Luckily, he put it out with one swift pinch, but that scared him a bit, and all of the party go-ers didn't quite know what to do. We all stopped singing and just stood there, trying to figure out what just happened. He was fine, no burning or anything, and it's actually kindof funny looking back on it now. But, here's Mommy and Daddy and Colin blowing out the candle (for the second time!)

Colin wasn't quite sure what to do with the cake. He poked at it for a while, tasted the frosting, seemed a little intrigued by it, then was done. He really didn't get into it all that much. But, he had fun poking at it and licking his fingers. I'm sure it's because he knew how hard his Mommy worked on decorating the cake and he didn't want to mess it up, right? Thanks, kid!

The before...

And after...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLIN!! WE LOVE YOU!!

Bday lunch at Fritz's

Colin and Daddy came to visit me at work on Monday, Colin's actual birthday. We decided we should first, show off our cute little boy to all of my co-workers, then go to Crown Center for our first ever outing to Fritz's. It's a fun restaurant where a train travels around the top of the restaurant walls and delivers your food directly to your table, plops it down on a tray that raises/lowers, and is just kid-friendly fun! I wasn't sure how much Colin was going to notice all of the train movements, but he was watching them very intently and seemed to be enjoying himself. We got there when the rest of KC was also there, so we had to wait in line for quite a while to be seated, then had to wait, what seemed like forever, for our food. Luckily I had packed some grapes with me to tide Colin over as an appetizer. He did great, we just got a little behind on our afternoon nap schedule is all! Oh well, you only turn 1 once, right?!

This is at my work, Children's Mercy Hospital in the Exercise lab. We've got the best view around! Literally windows surround every wall in the lab, overlooking downtown KC.

Waiting, patiently, in line for Fritz's

What a cutie! The hat didn't last long, but we got some pics with it, at least!

Chowing down on some grapes, probably his favorite fruit right now.

Got me another straw! These things are the best!!

Playing bongo drums on the table. He's so much fun right now!

Phew! Finally got some food. What a fun birthday lunch!

Whale of a time

For Colin's birthday, Brian and I thought it would be fun to have a fun water toy for him to use. Brian's idea was a "slip n slide", but since the age requirement suggested 5 & up, that was vetoed. We did find this cute whale pool with a slide and Colin just loved it. Of course, he had just as much fun playing in our sprinkler, but oh well. It has been so hot out, we haven't really let Colin play outside for too long. It was nice to have a cool pool to be in and splash around. He just LOVES the water (maybe it is in his genes?!)

Oh, and if you want to pay particular attention to our nicely stained deck in the background...that took FOREVER to do! We were out there at night after work for about 3 weeks, trying to get the darn thing done by Colin's birthday party. It got finished, but since it was over 95 degrees on Sunday, we stayed inside the whole party. Go figure!

Colin has started taking his first steps. I am a little late in posting this, but this past week he has gotten very good at walking. He still does quite a bit of crawling, but is getting more brave and adventurous when wandering around the house. He is so fun to watch right now!

I will post some birthday party pictures once I get some sent from my sister. We were so busy running around with Colin that we didn't get any pictures taken with our camera. Good thing there were other people willing to share the pictures with us. We had a great time and Colin just loved all the balloons and sports balls we had scattered around the house.