9 Months Old!

Such a happy boy!

The next fabulous new toy- measuring cups!

This is what Colin looks like while he's "dancing". He'll look up and shake his head and body around a little bit.

We love how his hair has grown! And those big brown eyes! :)

Well this is backwards. Start at the last picture and this is a good look at his rolling technique right now.

Nothing new to report really, just some pictures taken 2/23 when Colin turned 9 months old. We went to the doctor today for his check up and he weighs 23 lbs. 14 oz. and is 31 inches long. He's a big boy, but perfectly healthy- praise God! He also seems to continue to work on getting 4 new teeth- the two top front ones and two more on the bottom. He's also entered the phase where he cries when you leave him- even if he's rested, fed, and happy, if you leave he'll cry. Not all the time, but it's a sad thing to see! But, you get him involved in a toy and he's better. So, another milestone passes and we march on toward that 1 year mark!

Just a few pictures...

Colin in his new carseat. Not in the car yet, but will be soon I'm sure!

You would have thought it was Christmas when I gave Colin plastic cups to play with. Yes, he's in shorts. I wanted him to get to wear this 12 month outfit before he grew out of it. Don't worry, it was about 75 and sunny this day.

Grandma Angie gave Colin this hat. Finally he has one of his own after envying those of Grandpa Crowder, Uncle Ryan and Uncle Tommy!

...mostly for Grandma Crowder! (Hi, Mom!) These are a few pictures of Colin from this week. He's working on getting his top teeth in and I think maybe more on the bottom too. Church tomorrow and bunco for me tomorrow night! Yay!

Las Vegas

Back home and doing laundry. Colin wanted to be near me so this was the best solution.

Uncle Mike and Colin.

Colin and Addison at Cami's watching the Super Bowl. I think we may have to invest in a bean bag!

With cousin Bella

Playing Friday morning watching Addy. They did eventually share these toys!

Poor Addy- she had a couple "explosions" and got a few sink baths at Grandma's!

Uncle Tommy has Colin's favorite- a hat

TJ and Grandma

A few new things for Colin- the blinds...

holding his bottle....

pulling down the basket and taking out all his toys...

waking up sideways and using the bumper as a footrest/chew toy.

Look what we picked up at Wal-Mart- he was a "super buy"! (Sticker off of loaf of bread)

We had a wonderful time in Las Vegas! We love our trips to visit the family and friends up there. This was our longest trip so far, and we look forward to many more! Colin did great on the car ride and adjusted very quickly like usual to the less familiar faces and places. We mostly spent time with the family and went to local places, but we also went to the strip for the first time since we moved. It was fun to go there and it has changed! City Center is the newest development and it has put huge towers right at the strip. Most of the hotel/casinos have something like a lake or feature in front with their hotel towers farther away. City Center made it feel like New York- up close and personal! The best times were with family and friends. We got to meet our new nephew, TJ. He's another big boy for the family! We watched Addison for Andrea on Friday morning and it was so fun to see her and Colin playing together on the floor! She's all girl- little noises and petiete movements! Such a sweetie! We hope to go up again soon, and then of course for the big family get-together in July!

8 months old!

Hard to believe, but he's another month old already! Besides the shaking his head no and clapping like I mentioned before, he finally ate some chunks of banana this morning without gagging! Wohoo! So far he hasn't liked anything we've given him to eat himself- cooked apple and mashed sweet potato. So, I guess the slimy banana is a much more agreeable texture or moisture level! He also loves to blow out and use his tongue to make all kinds of fun spitting noises. I took this picture this morning while he was playing. Enjoy!

January

Colin "dances" sometimes with Tad!

Nice face, Colin! Rodney's Aunt Linda was in town for business and we spent a great eveing with her! (Despite Colin's face!)

Crawling attempts usually end up more like swimming...

Trying so hard to get that body up to crawl!

He loves the stacking cups- he really does try to "drink" out of them!

Time with Grandma and Grandpa before bed.

Bathtime!

The oh so popular hat. Colin stared and stared at Grandpa Crowder's hat. Of course this ended up in his mouth shortly after.

Chillin with Grandpa

After all the gifts were gone this was Dee Dee's favorite spot. She even tried to fluff it with her paws to make it more comfy!

Well, it's back to normal around here- Christmas decorations are down, cookies are gone, and so is our company. Mom and Dad sure were great to have here! They had a safe trip back home to the cold as well. Rodney's store is back to normal as well- steady business and getting a lot of things done. We're back to the same routines at home and things are going smoothly. Colin continues to grow- only longer it seems! He's trying to get up the gumption to crawl but at about 23 lbs that's a lot of weight for those little arms to lift! He'll get it eventually. He can also clap and shake his head no. The "no" is often done when I tell him no and he also laughs at me while he's doing it. Hopefully not a sign of things to come! We continue to go to playgroup at church, and we are excited to be starting our small group bible studies again on Tuesday nights and I'll start a Wednesday morning one in March. We also have "Summit Sisters" ladies night out once a month that I went to last week. A lot of fun, and I've been told next month we're playing bunco! Wohoo! :) In a couple of weeks we're going to Vegas to visit with Rodney's family. We can't wait! We'll be meeting our new nephew, TJ, for the first time. The 2009 cousin trifecta is complete! He's a chunker too so we'll see how him, Addy, and Colin look next to each other. We hope everyone is well and please, feel free to visit if you're near us!!

Merry Christmas!

7 months old! 12/23- working on tooth #2!

12/24- Thanks for the outfit, Grandma Angie!

Grandma and Grandpa Crowder

Christmas Breakfast!

Good Morning!

The ever so hard to find Baby's First Christmas outfit! Especially in 12 month size! Thanks, Aunt Sarah for finding it!!

This is pretty much how Colin's present opening went- try to rescue the wrapping paper from being eaten!

Poor child- he didn't get anything for Christmas, did he? ;)

Just some of Colin's gifts- thanks everyone for your generosity for Colin's first Christmas!

A stuffed donkey from my Uncle Farel and Aunt Judy

My Uncle Farel and Aunt Judy- from Oregon but now live where the road takes them in their RV! Thankfully that takes them to Arizona for most of the winter and they can spend the day with us!

Merry Christmas from the Verners! Rodney, Lizzy, Colin, Samson and Delilah!!

Well, I just wrote this whole big thing and went to add pictures and the text all went away! We have had a wonderful week- Christmas shopping season over for Rodney, all preparation done on time for Lizzy, Colin turned 7 months old and is working on a second tooth, and my parents had a safe drive out from Missouri. We had a great Christmas and Colin really has been enjoying his time with visitors! We had a great Christmas Eve service last night at Summit all together as a family and some yummy Orchard Farm sausage after church. Today we were all up early, had breakfast and did our gifts while Colin took his morning nap. He did his gifts when he woke up and wanted to eat the wrapping and boxes of course! It would help if he could actually play with anything instead of them all being tied up so tight in boxes! He had fun with them later. Uncle Farel and Aunt Judy could join us again this year and we had a great visit and dinner together. We're all tired and will look forward to resting tomorrow. We hope you had a wonderful CHRISTmas!!

December already?

Aww...winter pj's! (I couldn't get him to turn around!)

His favorite mode of transportation- rolling.

Um, Colin, you hit the pole!

How can it be December already!? Didn't I just have a baby??? Oh wait, that was 6 months ago! My, how time flies! Things are fine in the Verner household. Rodney's working very hard to have a great Christmas at the store. We're having fun at the house just doing normal things- I'm cleaning and Colin's teething. Yes, that first tooth is popping through! So far he hasn't been too cranky or anything. Colin is doing well. Still so big, but that's ok with us! He did have a stomach virus last week that really shocked us. I had a bag ready because I thought for sure we were going to end up in the hospital again because his temperature was 105! But, it went down pretty quickly and we just had to work on fluids and keeping that temp down. A few days later and he was back to normal. We spend a lot of time playng on the floor these days and Colin sits up for a long time and rolls around all over. Colin is copying noises a lot, including the animal sounds he hears when we play "Farmville" on facebook. As I'm writing this he is in his crib saying "mama". I don't know if he really is asking for me or if he's just babbling, but he says that a lot. If we tell him to say "Da-da" he will get the "a" part! Oh well, we'll keep working on that! We're getting in the Christmas spirit here. House decorations are up inside and we're looking foraward to Christmas so much! Mom and Dad will be here in less than two weeks as well. We can't wait!