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

i snapped these pictures a few weeks ago and just came across them.

it's so fun watching their relationship grow. kevin is a wonderful father and he cannot wait for colsen to be older so they can play sports (well, mainly golf together haha!)

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

1 - these two. they are the center of my world and i'm so thankful for their love in my life!
2 - a clean kitchen at night
3 - springtime! i love seeing all the pretty blossoms on the trees
4 - nursing my sweet baby to sleep and cuddling him
5 - going to church every sunday and being uplifted by the gospel messages taught there
6 - talking with my family; i'm blessed to have such wonderful parents and siblings
7 - organizing my house! nothing better than having an organized closet, pantry, drawers, you name it!
8 - going on walks in the warm spring sunshine
9 - laying in bed with the husband and talking about whatever is on our minds
10 - good old girl time with friends

+ 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.

i will cherish these photos forever! my good friend christal took some photos of colsen and i around our place while she was in town visiting family. (christal also took our maternity photos when we lived in st. louis!) i am so in love with them and she captured colsen's silly smiles perfectly ;)