Top 11 baby items from 2011

I thought it would be fun to list our top 11 baby items from 2011.

ergo carrier: There probably isn't a more well loved baby item in our house. This carrier was the only way that I could get Colter to take longer naps. We have logged many MANY hours with this carrier. I'm sure my back would have given out with any other carrier. Love love LOVE this- we are still using it all the time. http://www.amazon.com/Ergo-Dark-Chocolate-Organic-Carrier/dp/B001Q4VOW2/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1325309500&sr=8-9

fisher price learning home: I scored a major deal by getting this at goodwill for $1. I definitely wouldn't spend full price on this, but Colter has loved this and doesn't seem to be growing tired of it at all. There are so many things to do- lots of lights, sounds, and thing sto push and turn. I'm looking forward to playing pretend with him when he's older. http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-C6327-Fisher-Price-Learning/dp/tags-on-product/B000284X6W

melissa and doug deluxe alphabet blocks: they may not be the most sturdy, but these have been really fun so far. Colter loves knocking down the tower, and I love talking about the different pictures on the blocks. I know many families that have toddlers that still use these. http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-10-Piece-Alphabet-Stacking/dp/B000GIL2DU/ref=sr_1_2?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1325309452&sr=1-2

tails: If you read our blog, I'm sure you're tired of hearing about the book tails, but seriously.. this book has been probably the most used "toy" in our house. Even back in the days of Colter crying all the time, he would normally settle while reading this book. We've lost pretty much all the tails to Colter ripping them off, but he still loves to read this book. As far as I'm concerned- a must in your library. http://www.amazon.com/Tails-Matthew-Van-Fleet/dp/0152167730/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1325309553&sr=1-1-catcorr

Jesus storybook Bible: I've started reading this to Colter during breakfast and he seems to enjoy the bright pictures. I love the way that all stories, even in the Old Testament, point back to Jesus. http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Storybook-Bible-Every-Whispers/dp/0310708257/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1325309585&sr=1-1-catcorr

rainforest jumperoo: This was such a hit for many many months. At first, Colter just liked sitting upright, then he moved to full bounce mode. For several months, this was by far his favorite toy.. I used to put him in it for at least 15-20 minutes every morning. http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-K6070-Rainforest-Jumperoo/dp/B000I2UJ0Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1325309655&sr=1-1

rainforest bouncer: Another saving grace for our family during the challenging times with Colter. He slept in this for the first 4 months of his life, and would sit it in during a lot of awake times because it kept him upright. He would almost always calm down when we would turn on the toy bar. http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-K2564-Rainforest-Bouncer/dp/B000I2WB6G/ref=sr_1_1?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1325309678&sr=1-1

Playskool step start walk n ride: Oh how I wish this had a handle because Colter would ride this back and forth around the house all day- but it kills my legs! I like that it turns into a walker. Right now Colter just likes opening the trunk and spinning the different buttons. http://www.amazon.com/Playskool-Step-Start-Walk-Ride/dp/B0002HZUL0/ref=sr_1_41?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1325309765&sr=1-41

Phil & Ted's explorer: This was one of the priciest things we bought, but we have used it a ton, and will continue to use it when we have baby #2. I appreciate that even though it's compatible for two kids, it isn't bulky. I really like the one hand fold up, and it fits easily in the trunk of our car. My only complaint is that the sun shade almost always falls off when we fold it up. I do like that the shade comes all the way in front to block the sun in Colter's face. http://www.amazon.com/Phil-Teds-Explorer-FREE-Doubles/dp/B004PZBJE2/ref=sr_1_1?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1325309831&sr=1-1

Plan toy pull-along snail: Colter likes the string more than the snail at this point, but this is probably the most popular toy when other older friends come over. It's super simple, super cute, and just an all over quality toy. http://www.amazon.com/Plan-Toys-5108-Pull-Along-Snail/dp/B000A42YB4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325310146&sr=8-1

Melissa and Doug jumbo knob puzzle: Colter likes putting the knobs in his mouth, more than working on this puzzle, but I'm sure he'll like this for several years to come. We have several Melissa and Doug puzzles, and really like the quality. http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Doug-First-Shapes-Jumbo/dp/B000EK59H0/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1325310191&sr=8-7

10 months

Mr. Man,

I don't know why, but now when someone asks how old you are and I say "10 months," it feels so much older than last month. Usually people think you are much older because of your hair- one guy even guessed that you were 2 haha!

This month started off as one of our more challenging months and ended as one of my favorite months. Right after you hit 9 months, you started to become really clingy, super fussy, and overall seemed to be in a bad mood. I took you to the doctor twice in one week, hoping that it was something explainable, like an ear infection, but each time the doctor said you seemed just fine- that it was probably a combination of separation anxiety and 3 teeth coming in all at once. I just kept hoping that this was only a phase, and sure enough, it was. You quickly went back to your sweet temperament and we have had a blast since.

It is amazing to watch you learn new things every day. Yesterday we were reading a book that had different flaps to lift up. On the first page was a flap with a cuckoo clock on it. Later on in the book, the same cuckoo clock is on the page, but not a flap. You remembered it from the first page and kept trying to lift up the clock. You recognize books by their cover and will immediately go to touch certain things on pages right when I open them like the circle on the wheels on the bus book, the ladybugs in the bug book, and certain tails in the tails book. You are starting to push cars back and forth, and can now give kisses on command. Dad also taught you how to "high five." You will occasionally wave when we ask you to, and you have started a little bounce dance to music. It's so cute to watch your little body go up and down and your music conductor hand waving in the air. You're starting to stand for longer periods of time without holding on to anything, and you are moving around the couch and different toys with ease. You don't really seem interested in holding our hands to walk yet, but I know that can change tomorrow.

Your second bottom tooth came through this month and we discovered this really random third tooth on your top gum that looks like it is coming out of the side of your gum. Your cousin James had the same thing and it eventually dropped into place.

You are starting to get favorite toys that make you squeal in delight when you see them. Your favorite things this month are your mini and big soccer ball, the fork lift from your train set, pretty much any stuffed animal, but particularly your big teddy bear, your frog, and your little monkey. You love to shake your jingle bell and the salt and pepper shaker from the play kitchen aunt Jessie is letting you borrow, and you absolutely love eating your animals and people from your nativity set. You really love music and will sit with me to read at least 4-5 books multiple times a day. Some of your favorite things to do are stand at the back sliding door or on the windowsill to look outside, sneak into the bathroom and stand on the toilet and pull down toilet paper before I catch you, play with the buckles on your seat after eating, chase after your soccer ball, open the window and door and press the door bell of your play house, and jump around in your bed after bath time before dad puts your pj's on.

I feel like the whole after bath routine deserves a paragraph of its own. It is seriously such a fun time of day. Your dad gets you so riled up. You get so excited it is like you are going to burst at the seams. You jump and laugh and squeal in your crib while dad sings songs, plays peek a boo, and "gets you" with stuffed animals.

You got another trim up. We didn't realize your hair was so out of control until I took this picture.

Before

After

One fun thing this month is that you are starting to get more social and interact with people. You get so excited when we go to a friend's house, or someone comes to our house to play. You normally start with a high pitched squeal and will start crawling around really fast. If someone isn't paying attention to you, you tend to start talking really loud.

Here are some videos of fun during play

With regards to sleeping- you are still pretty much all over the place. During the week or so where you were super cranky, you were up a lot in the night and were hard to get back to sleep. Since you've gone back to your normal self, you normally sleep until 4:30 or 5 and then go back until 6:30ish. You still go to bed between 6:30 and 7. You take 2 naps a day, normally around 9 and 1:30 and for the most part, they are around an hour and 20 min. Your naps are still like clock work with regards to length. You still always wake up at 35 minutes and usually go back. Your naps are either an hour and 20 minutes, an hour and 40 minutes, or 2 hours and 20 minutes.. never anything different unless you poop, then it's all over. I've never had the guts to take pictures of you sleeping, but one day I had to wake you up from a nap so I snapped a couple before waking you up.

We have turned a corner with eating this month. Apparently all the refusal to eat was due to purees, because now that we are only doing chunks of food, you could pretty much eat all day long. I'm not exaggerating when I say that you eat for an hour every meal- except for breakfast because you inhale it. You just eat and eat and eat! An average lunch is 3/4 of a string cheese, 1/2 a slice of bread, 1/2 c. veggies, 1/4 c. black beans and lots of water. For breakfast you will eat a whole waffle or toast with applesauce, or almost an adult size serving of oatmeal with yogurt and fruit mixed in. It's been a little challenging to get you to eat meat, you don't seem to love it. But you do LOVE trader joe's turkey meatballs. You usually eat 2 full ones. It has been really enjoyable to let you feed yourself and to be able to eat dinner with you.

You are a delight my sweet boy. You are just perfect for our family- we love you to pieces.

xoxo

mom

Christmas Eve & Christmas

Well the big event finally arrived! Jesus' birthday! What a celebration we had. Last year, my sister treated me to a massage at a day spa downtown. As we were looking outside at Santa and the carousel spinning around while sipping hot tea, getting our feet rubbed, and watching Colter move in my belly, we decided that we needed to make this an annual tradition. So we headed back to the same spa with the added bonus of my mom coming along with us! Instead of baby Colter movin and groovin, baby Harper was looking ever so perfect in my sister's belly. They make you ring a gong to "start your journey," so after embarrassing myself last year, we let my mom take the reins this year.

We had such a relaxing time! I had a special tub soak in addition to a massage, and my sister had a special scalp/face rub in addition to her massage, which she described as 10,000 times better than getting your hair washed at the salon.

After our morning at the spa (sounds so fancy) we headed home for a bit before going to the Heavilands for Christmas Eve dinner. We had some delicious clam chowder, bread, and broccoli. After dinner we watched a short movie, called snowman.. well Colter really didn't watch it, he was way more into trying to get a handful of popcorn. We also sang Happy Birthday to Jesus over some german chocolate cake, and sang some Christmas carols with candles.

I woke up early on Christmas morning with anticipation and excitement. It was so fun to have a baby this year.. he obviously had no clue why we were extra excited to get woken up at 6:30. We spent the morning opening gifts, watching Colter shred up wrapping paper, and getting ready for brunch. My favorite gift I gave Ben was something I saw on pinterest. I will take a picture of my finished product when I hang it up. Ben spoiled me this year. Perhaps my favorite gift was a bottle of fancy salon conditioner that I have been raving about since getting my hair cut last.

My sister's family and my mom came around 10 and we ate a delicious brunch of overnight blueberry french toast and a yummy quiche, compliments of my sister's blog- bites. I couldn't wait for our gift exchange! We do an online secret santa drawing, so no one knows who anyone has (well those of us that aren't into sleuthing like me). We all opened gifts, and perhaps the highlight for me was when James opened an electric guitar shirt I scored at Old Navy on clearance. His face was priceless when we put the batteries in and he did a strum across his shirt. I lucked out by having my sister in charge of my gifts.. man she scored some great things! I couldn't believe it when I opened Just Dance 3.. I wanted it SO bad! We spent the rest of morning working up a sweat while busting out some awesome dance moves. (I think there will be a video coming soon). So fun!

(Colter's super cute hat was hand stitched by Grandma Crowl)

The rest of the day was really low key- we went for a walk and pretty much played at home.

From our family to yours- Merry Christmas!!

A staycation with dad

Man have Colter and I been blessed this past week. Ben was off of work and we had such a fun time having tons of local adventures together. On top of dad being home, Nana also came into town on Tuesday and added lots of fun!

On Monday we started our annual tradition of a "downtown day." We ventured to the Sheraton for the gingerbread houses- the theme was train stations around the world, and then we stopped by Macy's to watch their train display. Colter was absolutely mesmerized.







On Wednesday morning, we ventured up the Space Needle for the first time since we moved to Seattle. It is pretty cool to see a 360 view of the city. Now we just need to eat up there!

We hosted the clan over for dinner Wednesday night and afterwards we hit the streets and did some good ol fashion caroling. It seemed like the people who actually opened the door really enjoyed it. James and Saisha definitely stole the show with their instruments.



On Thursday morning we all made sugar cookies together.. seriously these cookies are amazing! The only cookies that I think are better than the dough.



In the afternoon we went to the pool together. It was Ben's first time at the awesome Lynnwood pool, and it was a blast. We feel so fortunate to have this pool so close. The older Colter gets, the more he loves being in the water. I can't wait to get him in some lessons!



Colter got an early Christmas present from his Crowl grandparents- a zoo pass! We took advantage of it on Friday for Colter's first trip to the zoo awake! There were minimal crowds, lots of the animals were out, and it was a beautiful day. Perfect combination. Colter was so into the giraffes and the meerkats. It is going to be so fun to visit there over the next year.



Friday afternoon we went to Matthew's Beach Park to watch the Christmas ships broadcast some songs to the beach. Afterwards we went to a few houses to look at Christmas lights and my sister and I even got to sit with Santa. Colter could stare at the lights for hours.









Wow, I didn't realize how busy we were until I wrote everything out! Such a wonderful time with our favorite man and our Nana.

more holiday fun

Lots of fun continues to be had at the Crowl house. Last Wednesday I hosted a cookie exchange with other stay at home moms and their kiddos. We had a packed house with 11 moms and around 15 kids! I was too busy to take pictures, but luckily my friend Jill snapped a few of some little ones enjoying their treats.









On Thursday night I hosted a girls night in to celebrate Adelle's birthday. Adelle summed up the night best in her status update: "Blessed by my sweetest of girlfriends tonight for my birthday! We laughed and cried and made fun of The Notebook, and ate some de-lish food... " My other girlfriend Lindsey wrote "Is grateful to be able to go through life alongside other mamas...I can't imagine feeling alone in the ups and downs of motherhood. I know it is stating the obvious, but "The Body of Christ" was a good idea."

It is so true- I can't imagine not having these women in my life... it is such a blessing to be able to be real with each other about the struggles and joys of parenting, marriage, friendships, etc. It is so easy to watch women from a far (or through blogs) and assume that they are doing things better than you, or their kids or happier or more advanced than yours, or their marriage is just that much closer than yours, but these women keep me grounded in realizing that we all fall short, but through because of God's grace in our lives we can keep going. Anyway, i'll get off my friend soap box now :) I didn't take any pics, but here's a couple pictures taken a few weeks ago at a play date.




On Thursday during the day, Colter and I met Ben for lunch as this super tasty restaurant, potbelly. After lunch, we ventured over to the Fairmont hotel to check out the teddy bear suite. It was so cool (and an added bonus that we were the only ones in there!)





Saturday night we got together with our neighbors for the annual viewing of Christmas vacation. I seriously will never tire of that movie. "Why is the carpet wet Todd?" "I don't KNOW Margo!" hahaha

One more week to go and still lots of activities to do!