on june 23rd, my baby turned ONE! we had a small birthday party to celebrate - mainly family with some friends there. we made a little cake for colsen to smash in to... which was hilarious because he didn't want to get his hands dirty! he liked the frosting and licked them off a little, but other than that, he kept trying to fling the frosting off his hands. which ended up on the kitchen floor and walls...

we drove down to oklahoma to visit kevin's family! it was so fun spending time with everyone. i hadn't been to oklahoma in the summertime yet, so it was mine and colsen's first time. we enjoyed going to the zoo, eating yummy pizza, walking around downtown and just spending lots of time with family. colsen LOVED being around all of his cousins. i think that's what made him even more mobile all of a sudden so he could keep up with the rest of the kids. once we got home, we could tell he was crawling much quicker and pulling himself up on the furniture.

 

things we learned about colsen:
+ can get himself up to a sitting position from laying down
+ knows that we crack up when he does his eye rolling thing, so he does it all the time
+ can go from laying down to sitting up by himself
+ army crawls faster
+ laughs a lot! especially does his fake laughing
+ loves to eat strawberries and blueberries

he's becoming such a great eater! i'm so glad because i don't want him to become a picky eater like his mama was :) i realized that i probably wasn't feeding him enough solid foods consistently so i'm trying my best to cook veggies, make little meals and cut up fruits for him to eat when i eat my meals. there's only a couple things i've given him so far that he has turned down. if he turns it down (like avocados) then i just mix it up with something else to disguise it and he'll eat it! ;)

oh man, i can't believe in 2 short months i'll have a ONE year old! wwhhhattt?? i'm really geeking out. this kid seriously is so fun though! i love when you can tell that something just "clicks" and he understands it. in a day he picked up clapping really quick, and every time we say "clap your hands! clap!" he claps them. it's so cute to see him learn words and actions. he's not quite crawling on all fours yet, but he's getting SO close. he army crawls around and rocks on all fours, but hasn't learned to put those together to crawl.

some things about colsen this month:

+ learned how to clap his hands
+ two more little teeth are making an appearance on the bottom
+ drinks out of his sippy cup all by himself!
+ loves to eat peas, hummus, carrots, applesauce, wheat toast, cheerios, beans, and several others. he's a pretty good eater and is willing to try new things
+ army crawls
+ gets on all fours and rocks back and forth
+ recognizes and understands the words "more", "all done," "milk" "water", "dada" "mama" and "bear" (his little stuffed animal)

week 38: he doesn't quite like crawling around on the hardwood floor (i don't blame him!) but he'll sit there and hang out while i'm cleaning or getting things done around the house.


week 39: he LOVES his little bear. sometimes when i go in to peek on him while he's sleeping, he's holding on tightly to his bear. i always ask him, "where's bear?" and he'll look around then smile when he spots it. :)

now that the sun sets later and the weather is beautiful, we love to get out and go on family walks together. we love exploring the new area where we live and it's a special time for us to spend as a family. colsen loves being in his stroller and looking around. we stopped at the nearby park that's down the street from our house. when we put colsen on the grass, he didn't want to put his arms down; until kevin gave him a pinecone... that of course went into the mouth after inspecting it.

some things about colsen this month:

+ he recognizes words now like "up" "more" "all done" etc.
+ learned how to squeeze his squeaky toy by himself!
+ close to crawling. he got on all fours and rocks but then falls back on his stomach
+ he's a pro at feeding himself now! he rarely lets me spoon feed him anymore
+ can drink from his sippy cup by himself - i keep water in it so that he gets used to having it around
+ chuckles all the time at random things! his humor is starting to show through and it's so fun!
+ he loves swinging in the baby swing at the park and going on walks in his stroller

+ now has 6 six teeth! 2 on the bottom, 4 on the top (that are coming in the same time)
+ sitting up great and rarely falls over - his posture is better
+ loves eating cheerios, especially taking a bite out of it with his front teeth
+ loves to talk! says "baba" "dada" and "mum"
+ rolls all around to get to things he wants
+ will happily sit on his play mat and stay entertained playing with his toys by himself for a while
+ doesn't seem to have a great interest in crawling, but when we put him down on his stomach, he gets on all fours then pauses, not sure what to do next, then rolls over
+ very interested in wheels - his toy cars, train, and wagon get turned around so he can spin the wheels
+ definitely takes more interest in the little things and details like tags, zippers, etc.
+ when we're talking with people in a group, he will look at the person talking as if he's part of the conversation (haha!)
+loves turning the pages himself when we read books
+ he's VERY attached to his mommy! :)

this kid just makes me such a happy mama! he's so fun to hang out with during the day. he's definitely very clingy to me right now. my favorite thing that he's doing is talking a lot more! he says "baba" "mum" and "dada" a lot and his voice is just the cutest little thing! i have a million videos on my phone of his babbles.

that grin of his! it melts my mommy heart and makes me want to just squish his chubby cheeks. he loves to sit in front of the porch door and look outside. recently he discovered the curtains and plays in them as well. now that the weather has been feeling more like springtime rather than the winter, i'm anxious for him to be crawling so we can play on the playground nearby! so instead, we go on walks together, which is just as nice. 

this kid loooves to look at books and flip the pages by himself. the book in his hand is currently his favorite to read. it was also one of my favorites when i was little. whenever i read it to him, i look down to catch him smiling. especially at the "chicka chicka boom boom" part. it's the cutest thing.

our little one has accomplished quite a bit this past month and we're so proud of him! i know i say this every month, but man, time flies by! i can't believe i now have a 7 month old!

noteworthy things this past month:

+ sits up great with no support!
+ loves to roll around every where. if we put him on his stomach though, he immediately rolls to his back. it might take him a while before he's crawling, so we'll see about that!
+ still HATES bottles (and we've tried many of them...) BUT he's getting more used to drinking out of his sippy cup and likes to hold it himself (so yay!)
+ doesn't take his binky anymore and rarely ever sucks his thumb
+ we sleep trained him a couple weeks ago so now he has learned to soothe himself to sleep (!!!) without a binky or being swaddled.
+ he's now sleeping 11-12 hrs straight through the night
+ loves bouncing - on our laps or in his high chair
+ he broke out in a big rash all over his neck and stomach due to the canned baby food i bought so now i'm strictly making all of his food homemade
+ as for his eczema, we got his blood tested to see if he has any known food allergies and find out the results in a couple days - we're hoping to have some answers soon!
+ transitioned to taking 2 naps a day (and we're still figuring out the best kind of schedule for him. it's a work in progress)

it took us by surprise. kevin flicked a cloth on colsen's face while goofing around and colsen started cracking up! so of course we'd do anything to keep the giggles coming. i made sure to grab the closest phone to record it. :) i don't think colsen has ever laughed as much as he did! it was music to my ears listening to his laughter. it's funny how the most random things can humor a baby.