Colette at 4 Months

Time goes by so much faster with the second kid. Colette turned 4 months on September 19. I took her to the doctor to celebrate. Lucky girl.

She is 12 lbs 11 oz and 24.5 inches long. She grew 3 inches in two months. If you want to compare that with Calder's 4 month stats go here.

Colette,

You are the most beautiful little girl I have ever seen. I love you more every day. You are also the happiest baby I've ever met. You smile at everyone we meet, as long as Daddy or I am holding you. If other people try to hold you, you cry. It seems you were born knowing who your parents are and having a very strong preference for us.

You love our bedtime routine. It starts with getting you and Calder into pajamas. Then we brush Calder's teeth and read three books. Even though these are Calder's choice you are totally enthralled with them. Even if they don't have pictures, you love story time. You like to lay by him and listen. Then I tell Calder a story, say prayers and then I feed you one last time while Calder goes to sleep.

You are getting better at car rides. You can usually go 15 minutes without crying if you aren't tired or hungry. For some reason the car seat just isn't that comfortable for you. I'm sorry about that.

You seem to want to eat food but I'm not ready yet.  You grab at my plate, my ice cream cone, my drinks, my fork and just about anything else in my hands. I do occasionally let you have a dribble of water. That makes you quite happy.

You're still loving bath time. Now your favorite thing to do is kick your legs and eat the rag full of water.

I am so happy to be your mom and receive happy smiles all day long.

I love you,
Mommy

Family Pictures

 My sweet friend Liz took pictures of our family last weekend and I LOVE them. Here's a few of my favorites.

Holding Colette

 Calder loves to hold Colette. He doesn't do it all that often but when he does he is very excited about it. I love this little photo series of our two sweet kids.

 In the one above Calder has lost interest and Colette is starting to get concerned.

 Calder is trying to figure out what to do with her now. Colette is still concerned.

 Calder is saying "look, no hands!" Colette is petrified.

With just cause.

30

I turned 30 last Saturday. I know a lot of people struggle with 30 but I'm thrilled to be this age. I've always thought 30 was when you became a real mature adult. I had a great time in my 20s and am ready to be a real adult. :) I'm thrilled that I have a fabulous husband and two kids to celebrate with. 

We spent the morning taking family pictures. I think this might be an annual activity. Even those who greatly dislike having pictures taking are nice on your birthday. *wink* And they turned out perfect!

Then around lunch time Jason and my dear friend Robyn organized a birthday party with a group of friends. It was so fun! I don't think I've had a birthday party since I was in high school. I loved it. 

And then we went out to dinner at our favorite sushi restaurant IKKO. It is conveniently located across the street from our house. 

We had the perfect day. Jason really went out of his way to make it special.

Calder Goes To Preschool

 Preschools are kind of a big deal here. Not only are they expensive but they are hard to get in to. We spent hours going to preschool fairs, touring preschools and agonizing over our choices. All for our son to play in a mud pit, do puzzles, play "stuck in the mud" and have a snack. He LOVES it and we are so happy with our choice. 

The Audubon Nature Preschool is an amazing place. The two teachers are fabulous and I feel like they are meant to be preschool teachers. Calder adores them and feels very comfortable with them. The preschool is located on the 40+ acres of land that is home to so many animals. We see deer, turtles and frogs all the time.

 I was nervous about the first day and hoping he would do well with the drop off process. He did fantastic. It is challenging to get him to go to class at church without me but he just says goodbye without looking back at school. In fact he always says "have a great day mommy". He has had "the most fun ever" every day since he started a week and a half ago. And every day as we leave school he tells me how much he loves it.

I can't believe how big he is getting. He is very independent and so much fun to talk to. I love hearing about his mornings at preschool.

Colette's Blessing

 When my parents were here we blessed Colette. We chose to do it at home because she was a little young to take her to church. I liked doing it at home. It felt more intimate and relaxed.

 Jason gave her a beautiful blessing. We invited my cousin's family to come. So it was our family, my parents, Arn's family and the bishop.

 Colette wore the same dress I wore when I was blessed. It was made by my Grandma Castellaw. I love that she has that connection to me and her great grandma. She also wore a bracelet from my dear friend Sharon Hulton. It came with a sweet poem about wearing the bracelet as a ring when she gets married.

Colette at 2 Months

 Colette is so incredibly happy. She laughs and smiles all the time. Unless I get out the camera of course. She seems to be so intrigued by it. She will just focus on it and wait for it to do something.

 At her two month appointment she weighted 10 lbs 3 oz and was 21.5 inches long. She is still in the 25th percentile for everything but she is growing, so that's good.

 She is a fabulous eater and prefers to eat every 2 1/2 hours during the day.

 At night she is an expert sleeper. She goes 6-9 hours at night. And she came that way. I keep thinking I might somehow break this amazing habit. Hopefully not. During the day she prefers to doze. She will take 30 to 45 minute naps in her bed a few times a day but if we're out she will doze in the sling.

Her hair is getting a little lighter and her eyes are a lighter blue. We'll see what color they end up. Jason's are green and Calder and I have grayish colored eyes.

Sibling Love

 We knew Calder would be the best big brother. He really has been fabulous in accepting and loving Colette.

 There hasn't ever been a hint of jealousy or dislike towards her.

 He is protective, gentle, helpful and very happy.

 He prefers not to leave the house without her and is always concerned with her well being.

  If she's crying he runs down the checklist of potential problems.

  It is the sweetest thing to watch him interact with her.

 And she is totally enthralled with him.

(Calder is laughing because Colette is pinching his nipple)

The Worst Week

We have had the worst week ever. We just could not catch a break. Last Friday our power went out due to a very beautiful storm. It was quite impressive to watch the storm out our 13th floor windows. It was like a strobe light. 

Saturday morning Jason and Calder were supposed to fly to Colorado for a family reunion. Calder, Jason, Colette and I all woke up around 4:00 to get the boys to the airport. Colette hates her carseat but she did pretty well on this trip. The boys got to the airport and through security before the flight was cancelled. They were told it was due to aircraft servicing. The next flight wasn't until the next day and since they were scheduled to fly home on Sunday it didn't make any sense to do that. So, they were refunded the money for their tickets and called me to come back and get them. Did I mention Colette hates her car seat? Yep, she totally does and screams most of the time she is in it. This was not a good trip for her.

Since the power was still not on we went to spend the morning with some friends. They also were without power but they did have a basement! It was so nice to hang out and chat for a bit in the cool basement. After that we headed to a hotel at National Harbor. I had only been there once and was surprised how beautiful it was. We enjoyed some family time. My mom was staying with us at this point and got to come along for our adventures. 

The next night we moved to a hotel in Arlington so Jason could commute to work on the Metro. Checking in was a total fiasco. They didn't have our room cleaned yet and it was 5:30! So we went to the restaurant at the hotel for dinner and then finally went to our room. The only room they had available was a king suite. So my poor mom had to sleep on a roll away bed. Thankfully it was only for one night. 

The next morning my mom flew back home. As I was backing out of the parking spot in hotel garage to take her to the airport (again around 4:00 AM) I turned too soon and crashed into a cement pylon. I dented the door and totally took off the driver's side rear view mirror. I was so upset and honestly, so tired. My poor mom kept trying to chat on the way to the airport but I just stewed. Ugh. Thankfully she's pretty forgiving. Thankfully Jason is pretty forgiving too. 

The next few days we got into the routine of living in a hotel. Jason would go to work. Calder, Colette and I would hang out at the hotel and then take the shuttle to the mall. We would try to kill as much time there as possible before returning to the hotel in the afternoon. The hotel did have a pool but Calder only got in once for about 10 minutes. He decided it was too cold. 

So that brings us to today (Thursday). We got word this morning that the power was back on in our apartment. Unfortunately when it did the air conditioner blew a fuse and so we had power and running water but no air conditioning. At 10:00 this morning they were very optimistic that it would be fixed in just a few hours. I made arrangements to check out of the hotel at 2:00 and drive home, expecting to have air conditioning. We didn't. In fact, we didn't have air conditioning until around 8:45 tonight. The thermostat read 90 degrees when the air conditioner finally came on. To stay cool we had a very leisurely trip to the grocery store and spent time in the car with the air on. Colette was not in her car seat. Thank goodness.

So yeah, that's our crappy week. But, there have been some really great things this week too. 

National Harbor is a beautiful place to be. Even in the worst circumstances. 

 Colette smiles all the time now.

 Calder is a fabulous kid and is happy to make a game out of anything.

 He is also very patient while I feed Colette. Again, making up his own games to play by himself.

Although Jason and Calder didn't make it to the reunion I was so thankful to have Jason around when it was time to decide what to do about our lack of power.

We get Starwood points from our credit card and therefore only had to pay for one night at the hotel.

Although Colette hates her car seat she loves the sling. She spent much of her time in it over the last week.

It was nice to have my mom here to help out.

Since the building we live in has a generator for the elevators and emergency lights some of our outlets worked. We were able to move our fridge a bit and plug it in. Thankfully all our food wasn't lost. 

When I took the car in on Wednesday to get the mirror replaced they came in under what they estimated and were faster than estimated. I think I may start driving to the dealer in Arlington instead of Rockville because of it.

And the last great thing is I found a cute shirt at the mall. Yay me.

The Last Few Weeks

 Here's a photo dump from the last few weeks. We've been having fun for sure. Calder and Colette love each other dearly. It is so fun to see her respond to him and him protect her.

 Colette's first outing.

 Calder doing a science experiment.We've been spending a lot more time at home these days, so Pinterest has been supplying lots of fun activities for us to do.

 I love these two pictures. Colette was crying and Calder wanted to sooth her with her bunny. It worked! He is such a great brother.

 He made the Washington Monument out of playdough.

Colette prefers to be held (what baby doesn't). Thankfully she will also occasionally tolerate the bouncy seat.

More Pictures