Dear Colin,

Happy 8 Month Birthday Mister! 8 Month sounds so incredibly old. Someone at work today asked how old my baby was and I replied "7 Months. Well actually 8 months, today" and I was struck by how old you sound. You are inching closer and closer to the 1 year mark and I'm not sure I'm ready for that quite yet.
- I forgot the 'i am 8 months old!!' which I'll add later-

You have become very animated over the past month with your expression, actions and noises. You have the goofiest faces lately. You make this surprised "O" face which is just hilarious. Or you will pout and quickly smile as if you are trying to pull one over on all of us. You have also learned how to clap in the past month. It's quite funny to watch since you haven't mastered your coordination yet and many times end up slapping yourself in the face. And lets not forget your voice. Holy cow child have you found.your.voice. You squeal when you are excited and by squeal, I mean scream. It's quite funny until we are sitting in a crowded church with a full (read: loud) band with everyone singing and you squeal so loud that half the church turns around to look at you, then it's just plain embarrassing. I love how happy you are though and that you have found a way to express it.
Although you have become Mr. Independent with your army crawling, pulling yourself up, and crawling up the stairs, you have become kinda a Momma's boy again. You like to be held constantly, you reach for me if I put you down, and will cry if I leave the room. I say 'kinda a Momma's boy' because you still totally light up when Daddy enters the room. No one brings a smile to your face or can make you laugh as hard as Daddy can. Thank you for saying "dada" this month little man and for learning how to kiss us. There are few things sweeter than feeling you "kiss" our face or hearing you say our names.
You have continued exploring new foods and continued loving them all. You already recognize the Cheerio box and the Puff containers. I love the power both have over you at this point. You started getting your third tooth and this one bothered you so much! We had a few rough nights, tons of cuddling, too many tears, and a lot of thankful prayers for the makers of Tylenol and Oral-Gel. You experienced your first cold on the 24th and here on the 4th, you still haven't been able to shake it. You hate - let me repeat - HATE having your nose wiped.
In the past few months, I have started calling you by a certain nickname which I won't say here because your father hates it. Truthfully, I don't really like it either but it seriously just slips out sometimes ... ok a lot lately. So the other day, I was changing your diaper at Aunt Janna and Uncle Jason's house and you were rolling over and I called you by this name. Micah quickly and sternly goes "Tisti. Hes name is not -nickname nickname-. Hes name is Colin." And while Micah may be correct on your real name and Daddy may be correct in that it's a silly name, you are my little boy and I'm sure this is just the first of me embarrassing you in public :)Remember its all out of love!

With all my love,
Mommy

He's so goofy. He loves to do this lately.

It was a beautiful evening tonight, so we decided to take Colin to a local park for him to play. Gosh did he love it!! He would squeal so loud (shocker, I know!) on the swings and barely tried to eat the chain. Anyone who knows Colin knows he loooves to eat everything, so the fact that he wasn't trying to eat the chain was a sure indicator that he was having a great time.

Took too many cute pictures, so a slideshow is in order... Enjoy! :)

As I'm sure everyone knows but for those who don't, my SIL Janna and I each watch each other's kid(s) one day a week. Wednesdays are my day to watch Colin, Micah (almost 2.5) and Ethan (5.5). Since Colin is still at the age where he can sleep in a pack-n-play, his toys can be brought along (and they have great little kid's toys still at their house), I don't have big boy toys at my house, and Ethan is in Kindergarten and gets dropped off from the bus, I watch the boys at their house.

I took my camera along today to snap a picture of Ethan getting off the bus today but totally forgot by the time he actually was dropped off. Ooops! But here are some pictures from today, starting from this morning at my house. Here is a typical (although I use that word very loosely when watching 3 boys!) Wednesday for me ...

Here is what happens when I leave the room for literally less than one minute. Please ignore the dust ::hanging head in shame::

Since he didn't want to sit in his exersaucer, I put him in here so I could finish putting together his diaper bag, getting his clothes and toys.

Micah and Colin playing together.

Ethan trying to get Colin to stop crawling away.

I couldn't get Micah to look forward. He didn't like that Ethan was sitting in Colin and his "car" or that we had to stop playing to take a picture.

We took little man to the zoo on Saturday. It was a beautiful day (ready to be jealous Angela - sunny and 72!) and although we knew the zoo would be a little over Colin's head, it was the perfect excuse to be outside on a rare Saturday off together. Colin seemed to have a good time being outside, seeing all the people, and hearing the animal noises. There were a few exhibitions where he'd sit up as straight as he could, grab his stroller tray to sit up straighter and just stare with wonder. It was pretty darn cute. He seemed totally uninterested in the petting zoo portion. A child after my own heart :) I totally made Mike take him in there. A then just one more picture of Colin sitting pretty enjoying the nice day.

Colin's picture gallery is available for viewing. If you are interested in seeing the rest of his professional pictures, please let me know in the comment section (along with your email if I don't have it) and I will provide everyone the link along with the password.

Considering I took almost 500 pictures in August, I have alot I want to share. I figured I'd just add them all together and make two slideshows. So, as I'm uploading these pictures, I'm sitting here reading random peoples' blogs while my pictures are uploading and I hear Colin start screaming. I run upstairs and the poor kid's chubby leg/foot is stuck above his bumper pad in between two slats in his crib. Poor thing!! So I just sat there trying to soothe him back to sleep. I sat there with him in my arms, rubbing his back, feeling his warm breath against my neck as his belly swells while his breathing grew deeper and deeper. I was struck with how blessed I am to have him. And even after I knew he was peacefully sleeping, I just held him longer knowing there would be a time he doesn't fit so perfectly in my arms.

Without further adiou, here are some of my August pictures.