theMores

On this christmas day, I got the lovely pleasure to do something I haven’t done in a long time. And let me state that I am not complaining at all. After spending a morning of watching family and the little ones open gifts, I went outside to help Howard and Ben shovel snow. That’s right y’all, Colton’s first Christmas was a white one. And I have to mention that it has been a long time since experiencing a white one myself.

It was exciting to wake up this morning hearing Kristi tell Colton, look it’s snowing and seeing the snow come down in the backdrop of the windows as presents were opened. Aside from spending time with the Arky family, it was the highlight of the day.

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas! Hope you had some wonderful experiences today as well!
-Erik, Kristi and Colton

It is about 9:00 on Christmas Eve night and according to Erik’s iPhone, Santa is somewhere over New York. We are doing our part and winding down for the night after driving through snow all day. Our bellies are full, the dishes are done, and Colton is all nestled snug in his new Christmas Eve pajamas (a tradition in the Arky family). One more glass of wine and I think Mom, Dad, Papa, and Nana will soon follow.

We are thinking of all of you and wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!!

Love to all,
Erik, Kristi, and Colton

P.S. We know we owe you an update on Colton’s 11 month birthday… expect a big one after the holidays.

Just days before he turned three months old, Colton decided to hit the first big milestone for babies… rolling over.  I remember calling Erik at work right after it happened to brag about how strong our little boy was.  Yesterday, Erik got to returned that excitement with an even bigger milestone… Colton’s first “real” steps!  Colton only started standing on his own a little shy of a week ago but has long mastered the art of pushing anything and everything around the house… the ottoman being his favorite “walking toy.”  But yesterday morning, he decided to take two steps toward Erik.  Erik, who is on child bonding leave from work, ran upstairs to my office to tell me.  I couldn’t tell who was beaming more… Colton or Erik.  We thought that would be the big news of the day until I came home from the grocery store last night just in time to see him take four steps.  After about 20 minutes of “practicing”, he was up to 6 steps!  To say the least, it was a pretty exciting moment for all of us.  Even Colton seemed to be proud.  We can’t wait to see where he goes from here!

Here are a few movies of the progression from standing… to pushing the ottoman… to those momentous first steps.  Check them out!

1. Learning to stand and proud of it…
2. Pushing the ottoman…
3. First Steps (drunk?)…
4. We Love It!

Colton’s first steps pretty much sum up his month.   For those of you keeping stats, he unofficially weighs just over 23 pounds now and is still around 30 inches tall.  Four more teeth are literally right on the verge of popping through which we are very thankful about because these four have been much more of a battle the his first two.  We absolutely love this age and are having so much fun watching him grow and learn more and more every day.  The next couple of months should be pretty exciting as we celebrate the holidays and gear up for his first birthday.

Be sure to hug a veteran today.

Love, Kristi

It was Colton’s first Halloween and it was full of more treats then tricks.  His daycare hosted a “Trunk or Treat” night where the parents decorated the trunks of their cars and the kids went trick-or-treating to them all.  In the spirit of the nearing election, we transformed our trunk into a ballot booth for the kids.  They voted for either McCain or Obama by chosing red or blue wrapped rice crispy treats from the ballot boxes.  After they voted, they each got a red star “I voted” sticker just like Mommy and Daddy on election day.  The kids really had fun with it… and many surprised us by asking how to vote for the candidates by name!  But I think the parents had even more fun with the idea as some watched their kids vote for the “other” guy.  :-) 

Our friend Cynthia told us once that Colton looked like Calvin from the comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes.”  So we spiked his hair, bought him a tiger stuffed animal, and decked him out as Calvin.  We figured it would be the only time we got to dress him as we wanted without him having any input.  We didn’t officially take Colton trick-or-treating… we had plenty of candy in the house already… but he loved greeting kids at the door to hand out candy.  His first set of trick-or-treaters was a group of six preteen girls who screamed at his cuteness when I opened the door.  It scared him but I reassured him that someday he would appreciate that reaction from the ladies.  You can check out Colton in costume by clicking here.

Grandma Shari headed up to Folsom for Halloween night and babysat Colton while Erik and I celebrated All Hallows Eve at our friends’ annual Halloween party.  This party is almost always described as the best party of the year and this year did not disappoint.  We paired up with our friends Jeff and Kerry and dressed as the gang from Gilligan’s Island.  All the other costumes were fantastic with no real “duds” in the bunch.  Kudos go to rookies Johnny and Charl for their costumes of Hellboy and Hulk Hogan respectively.  Awesome jobs guys!  You definitely set the bar high for next year.  We posted a few pictures in our gallery here from the party.  Click here for a link to the official costume contest webpage… rate the pictures to vote for your favorites!

We hope everyone had a spooky and safe Halloween night.

~Kristi

I know.  I know.  I got behind on posting again.  It seems that life just gets in the way of this little website.  But I’m here now.  And that’s what is important, right?  While we have been remiss in posted a new blog entry, we did update the gallery a couple weeks back with new pictures.  For those of you who didn’t catch the new albums, click here, and go check them out.  I’ll wait for you to get back.

Are you back now?  Good deal.  Isn’t Colton just the cutest thing?  He’s getting bigger and bigger every day as evidenced by his nine-month-old check up where he weighed in at 20 lbs. 11oz. (60th percentile), measured 29 1/2 inches tall (80th percentile), and chalked up a head circumfrence that was in the 95th percentile.  Still tall and skinny and with each passing day, his personality emerges more and more.  Aside from occassional fussiness related to not napping or not being able to see Mommy and Daddy, he is a pretty happy baby.  To let you in on a bit of that personality, here is a list of some of his favorites:

• Favorite meal: Breakfast… seriously… he LOVES breakfast!  He’s up to three meals of table food a day now with about two snacks in between and breakfast is by far his favorite.
• Favortie foods: Mandarin oranges, pancakes, gold fish crackers, meatballs, bananas (whole!) and graham crackers.
• Least favorite foods: Peas and anything that is too small for him to pick up. He likes things whole!
• Favorite mode of transportation: crawling and cruising around the furniture.
• Favorite toy: Anything he can shake that will make noise or bang on the floor to make noise (see a pattern here?).  A blue octopus in the bath that he HAS to have when he’s in the tub.
• Favorite book: “How Big is Baby Elmo?”
• Favorite noise to make: He sucks in to make this surprise type noise any time he sees Shai Dog or gets really excited. 
• Favortie words: Nothing specific or directed yet but sure is babbling a lot and thinks he is saying something.
• Favorite game: Tracking the remote from the couch to the ottoman and back again.  He throws himself at the couch in excitement when he finds it.  Climbing alll the way up the stairs by himself (with Mom and Dad just a step behind, or course.)
• Favorite “lovie”: His blankie which he curls up with at night when he goes to sleep.  Too cute!
• Favorite way to avoid a nap: Banging on the window blinds or taking the teething guards off the crib and banging them against the sides of the crib.  (Notice that theme again?)
• Least favorite thing to do: Slow down long enough to take a nap.
• Favorite way to annoy Shai Dog: Play in her food and water bowls or chase her around the living room.
• Favorite way to melt Mom and Dad’s hearts: Bear hugs.  (I know I’m partial, but this kid can give the best, and longest, full on squeeze bear hugs!)

I hope this little list gives you a little insight in the world of Colton.  If we had to describe him in one phrase, it would be “All boy!”  Life continues to be crazy but it’s a good kind of crazy and we are enjoying every minute of it.  Erik is actually on bonding leave from work right now and will have five weeks of quality one-on-one time with Colton who is also on bonding leave from daycare.  It only took two days of having Daddy all to himself to make Colton lunge out of my arms and fuss to be held by Erik. 

Since it seems that we can’t keep our promise of blog and gallery updates on a two-week cadence, we have decided to change things a bit.  We are bumping the regular updates to Colton’s gallery back to a one month inteval but we will now be posting updates as things happen in our lives.  We thought this new schedule would not only give you a regular update on Colton, but would also let you experience things as they happen in our everyday lives.  So, that’s the gameplan from here on out… we’ll try our best to uphold our part of the deal if you promise to keep visiting.

We hope everyone is enjoying the fall weather and dusting off those Halloween costumes.

~Kristi

P.S. Colton says welcome to the world Breson Brett and Matlin Patrick!  Congratulations to Aunty Kelli and soon-to-be Uncle Tom on their engagement!  Congratulations to Uncle Bret, Aunt Leslie, Amanda, David, and Brian on their new house!  And finally, Happy 40th Wedding Anniversary to Grampa and Tutu!

 I had my worst experience as a mother tonight and it wasn’t even with my kid.  I am just finishing up day three of a four day business trip to Washington D.C.   It is my second overnight trip without Colton and the longest stretch of time I have ever spent away from him.  For the most part, I have handled the separation quite well.  It helps that my good friends Kenneth and Jennifer house me when I am in DC.  Having someone to come home to sure does ease the pains of loneliness.  Plus, this trip, I received a fabulous baby fix with the beautiful Miss Olivia… Colton’s “Orignal Miss O” who turned one at the end of June.

But since my arrival, Miss O has been a bit out of sorts.  I swear I have never seen a picture of this girl without a big ole smile planted on her face.  This week however, has seen her a little bit more fussy and needy then usual.  As a mom of a normally happy child, I understood this wasn’t a good sign.  Sure enough, a nasty knot began to grow on the inside of Olivia’s little leg around what looked to be a bug bite.  After a call from daycare reported a fever, Olivia ventured off to the doctor where they diagnosed her with a staph infection stemming from an infected bug bite.  The remedy… a round of antibiotics, lots of rest, and a watchful eye. 

Tonight, as Jennifer comforted Olivia with a warm compress and an animal cookie, the golf ball sized lump under her skin came to a “head”… two little pimple-like heads to be exact.  A follow-up call to the doctor resulted in the scheduling of an appointment for the morning and the advice to give the absess a gentle squeeze if one of the heads were to break open.  Sure enough, one did.  While she held Olivia in her lap, Jennifer asked me to give it a squeeze to see what would happen.  Both of us assumed a little liquid  would trickle out, we’d slap a bandaid on her,and she’d see the doc in the morning.  Neither of us were prepared for the rush of puss and blood that came pouring out!  Olivia instantly wailed in pain.  Jennifer immediately started crying.  And I fought my own sobs as I massaged and squeezed the junk out of her little leg.  We battled that absess for at least ten minutes.  Ten minutes of a cry of pain I hope I never have to hear again… and espeically one that I hope I never have to cause again.  Even with Jennifer’s encouraging words, I kept thinking “this little girl is screaming because of me.”  Deep inside I knew I was relieving her pain in the long run.  But with each wail, my stomach twisted tighter and my heart ached even more.  I made her promise not to hold it against me.  And I don’t think she will.  The look of relief and the contentment on her face that night as she lay in her crib juggling four pacifiers and a bottle was enough to tell me that  she knew I helped make her feel better… and that she forgave me.

It was, by far, the hardest thing I have ever done since taking the title of mother.  I “bucked up” when I was needed… but let the tears flow in the solitude of the shower I took later to wash the experience away.  I am sure this is not the first time I will need to balance my emotions in difficult situations.  Afterall, I’m a mom now… that’s what we do, right? 

And Miss Olivia… you are a brave little girl with a very strong mommy of your own.  I think I had the easy job. 

I miss you, Mr. Magoo and I will see you in one more morning!

~Kristi

We assume we have lost a few readers by now… considering that it has been two months since our last post.  So for those of you who have been patient and stuck around (Ragan!) we thank you.  

In our defense, the last two months have been a whirlwind.  It is already August and it is difficult to remember where the summer has gone.  Unfortunately it hasn’t been all fun and games.  Did I mention that breastfeeding makes me susceptible to every little flu or cold that is circulating?  I didn’t?  Well, it does.   And in early June I picked up a doozy of a cold that left me pretty much balled up on the couch, wrapped in blankets, with a sore throat, and a high fever.  The fever eventually led to a heat rash of some sort that took a week of antibiotics, another week of some hard core anti-itch cream, and two doctors to diagnose.  Yeah.  Fun stuff.  Just when we thought the More household was rid of germs, we came down with the nastiest, most determined stomach bug of all time.  It took all three of us out for about a week.  Yeah.  Even more fun stuff.  We are happy to report, however, that all three of us are healthy right now (ahem, knock on wood!) and we hope it stays that way for awhile.

Despite all the germs, we have managed to have quite a bit of fun so far this summer, including a few “mini adventures.”  We traveled to watch my cousin Rebecca graduate from high school… where Colton swam in a pool for the first time.  We took Jeff and Kerry on the hometown tour of Bishop over the Fourth of July.  And we camped in Ruck-A-Chucky with a slew of friends and five potty-training two-year-olds.  As tends to be the case during the summer, our weekends have been booked solid.  We are looking forward to a quieter August with some free weekends to ourselves as a family. 

So, what’s new in the world of Colton since our last post? TONS!  The little guy is changing so quickly! To say the least, the days of him playing contently in his Bumbo are gone.  Actually, those days really only lasted about three weeks… just long enough for him to figure out how to get out of the Bumbo.  His teachers were quite impressed with the techniques he used to free himself from the constraints of that little chair.  Thank goodness for the walker!  At least he hasn’t figured out how to get out of that!  He is now “scooting” all over the place in a modified army crawl.  He pops up on his hands and knees a lot but then quickly plops back down on his belly and takes off.  He knows he will get to his destination much more quickly that way.  He is also trying to pull himself up on anything he can and is adorable when he looks up at us in pride when he does. 

Colton had his six-month check up in early July and he came out with flying colors.  He remains in the 95th percentile for height at 29 1/2 inches and the 75th for weight at 19lbs. 8 ounces.  But that was a month ago.  He is now on solid foods three times a day and is developing quite strong opinions about what he likes.  Bananas… yum!  Peas… yuck!  We estimate that he is currently weighing in at about 20 pounds… which means good-bye to the infant car seat and hello big boy car seat.  That food must be working!

And now… drum roll please… here is what you have been waiting for… the link to the updated gallery.  Be sure to check out the four new albums in Colton’s gallery as well as the four albums detailing our summer adventures.

I think that pretty much covers life for the Mores over the last two months.  Erik and I enjoy Colton more and more each day as he continues to steal our hearts.  I know seeing his smile has become the highlight of Erik’s day when he gets home from what have been very long and stressful days at work.  That same smile is also a welcomed distraction for me as I continue to balance this role of working mom.  We promise to be more diligent about posting updates.  We got so behind on this one that it became a daunting task to catch y’all up.  But now we have.  So keep coming back for more.  Get it?  More?  As in us? 

~Kristi

P.S.  The baby boom continues!  Congratulations to Steve and Ragan on the impending arrival of Baby Girl Mooney!  We would also like to welcome little Adison Grace into the world.  Stay strong!  You’ll be home soon!

Hi People!  It’s Colton!  Mommy and Daddy have been really busy lately so I thought I would log on and post my own update since it has been over a month since you last got a peak into my world. 

My four month birthday marked the end of mommy’s much treasured maternity leave.  After having sixteen work free weeks off to completey devote to me, she unfortunately had to drag herself back to work.  It’s been a month now since she returned to work and I think she is finally getting accustomed to the whole working mom thing.  I don’t know why they call mommies who have other jobs “working moms” because I think she did a ton of work just taking care of me! 

Her first day back at work also meant that I started a new adventure… daycare!  Daddy was in Israel for work so mommy had to suffer through that first drop off by herself but I think she did well… I didn’t even see her cry.  She told me later though that she got pretty choked up when Nana and Papa sent us flowers for our “first days”.  Mommy and Daddy tell me how proud they are to hear just how good I am at “school.” How could I not be?  There is so much to see and do there!  Plus everyone thinks I’m adorable!

Like I said, it was a busy month…

• I started eating rice cereal and think it is yyyyummmmmyyyyy!!! 
• Daddy spent a week in Israel for work… I missed him a bunch and he said I got so big while he was gone.  He told me about swimming (more like floating) in the Dead Sea and touring the old town of Jerusalem. 
• My four month old appointment on May 9th had me weighing in at 16lbs. 10oz. (80th percentile), 27 inches (95th percentile), and with a head circumference of 17 1/2 inches (95th percentile).  And I still don’t like those shots!
• I made Mommy a butterfly picture with my hand prints for her first Mother’s Day!
• Grampa and Tutu came to visit me for a week all the way from Nebraska.  We had a blast playing and reading books and going on walks in my big boy stroller.
• We spent a weekend in Tahoe for Mommy and Daddy’s friends’ wedding.  Mirrored casino elevators are the best things ever!
• I giggled for the first time at a lady with a funny voice in Tahoe.  Daddy told me she was from England.
• Nana came by one night while she was in town for work and I showed her how I like to splash around in the bath.
• I got my first cold from daycare… I gave it to mommy…. who gave it to daddy… and then it eventually turned into a double ear infection for me… and then mommy got a cold again.  That was not fun at all!  But my doctor put me on medicine and I feel a lot better now.
• This month I started sitting up in my Bumbo chair and scooting around the house (backwards) in my walker.  I also love to babble, blow spit raspberries, and chew on everything!  And I really try to figure out what Shai Dog is up to… which is mainly just sleeping.

See… I told you I’ve been busy.  Mommy and Daddy always tell me that I sure must love to be in the middle of all the action because I’m cranky if I’m not.  So I guess it is a good thing that they keep me so busy.  Check out the new pictures of me in my gallery by clicking here.  Mommy and Daddy posted three new sets!

~Colton

P.S.  I want to get in good with my new girlfriends.  So here is a shout out to Cassie, Kaylie, and Skylar!  Welcome to the world, ladies! 

As we mentioned in the last post, Colton learned to roll from his back to his belly earlier this month.  At the end of March, he started “rolling” from his belly to his back but we really didn’t count those officially since it seemed more like he was just falling over more then rolling over.  But then I caught him grunting on his side and trying to kick his legs over.  I grabbed the camera, caught it all on film (ahh… memory card to be exact), and squealed with delight.  I immediately called Erik at work to tell him.  It’s amazing how such a little thing can make new parents go crazy with pride!  The play-by-play can be seen in his gallery here.

Colton has now mastered this new found skill of rolling and tries to practice it every chance he gets… on the floor… on the bed… in his crib… on the changing table… in his bouncer… even in his carseat.  Erik thinks he likes the view of the world better propped up on his hands rather then laying on his back.  I agree because he just isn’t satisfied with any other position now.  We joke that his new skill has completely changed him as a baby.  He now fights his naps, gets cranky in the carseat, and no longer likes to sleep through the night.  It’s a whole new world for him… and for us I guess too. 

As you will see by the updates to the gallery (click here), Colton had a busy couple of weeks.  He hit the road for his first long trip away from home and visited Bishop for the annual branding at Papa and Nana’s ranch.  He was a perfect traveler and acted as if the 4 1/2 hour drive barely fazed him.  You can check out pictures of his adventures by clicking here.  Aunty Karna arrived from England the very night we got home from Bishop.  Aside from being a little cranky and feverish for the first few days, Colton loved getting to spend time with his Aunty.  The weather was perfect so we tried to get out as much as possible so Karna could soak up as much sun as she could before returning to dreary ole England. 

Lots of updates to the gallery this week, folks… enjoy! 

~Kristi

Colton officially graduated from newborn to infant last Friday when he turned three months old.  I’m not exactly sure what that means… just that our little boy is growing up way too quickly!  He has settled himself into a nice little nap and sleeping schedule and now officially has a set bedtime.  And with age comes fun.  He is becoming more and more animated every day and we love watching him learn new things… like how to “talk”, blow raspberries, and most recently roll over.  That’s right folks… our little guy is on the move… well, sort of.  He rolled over for the first time from his back to his belly just a few days before his three month birthday.  It hasn’t even been a week yet and we can already tell he plans to use this new found skill as a means of transportation.  We can see his little brain going, “Wait, if I roll over again, I can get to my froggy blanket.  I get it!”  The days of lying him under his activity gym are definitely gone… we’re already looking into stationary play toys.  :-) 

For those who are keeping track, Colton is now about 27 inches long and weighs about 16 1/2 pounds.  We aren’t sure where those stats fall in the percentile charts, but he continues to seem to be taller then most babies his age.  Aunty Karna and I were at a baby store recently and a dad was bragging to the salesgirl about how big his little boy was, explaining that he was already 26 inches and just five months old.  Karna and I quietly smiled at each other.  A few minutes later, the dad turned to us and asked how old Colton was.  I replied three months.  I felt a little bad, taking the wind out of his sails like that.  :-) 

It’s been a busy past few weeks, Erik has been absolutely swamped at work and I have been busy trying to get organized before I go back to work on May 1st.  That’s still not an excuse for being late with our 12 week update to the gallery though, right?  Right.  We apologize for the tardiness but hope you all check out Colton’s gallery to see how cute he is getting.  Here is the link to Week 12. 

~Kristi