Adorable Home Videos!

Here are some videos from our little guy!

BLURG!!!!

I need a venue to let off some steam. I work in a school as the coordinator of the gifted program. Why is it that staff members constantly come to me to complain about how unfair they think the parameters of the program are? Why do I always have to hear their negative opinions of gifted learners and why do I have to go toe to toe with these "professionals" on a regular basis? I feel like they are communicating "Why do we need this program? Why are you here?" I am an advocate for the gifted learner who is a member of a specialized and unique population within our school systems. They are entitled to receive modifications in their instruction that will push them beyond mediocrity. Why is it that these "professionals" I work with are completely supportive with modifications for special needs learners but against modifying for the gifted learner. Both students need their instruction enhanced to help them learn new things on a daily basis. Is it my fault that some teachers are lacking the drive, passion, and skill set to help ignite a passion for learning in these gifted learners? This particular age is a difficult time for the students, and it is difficult for some adults to relate to kids at this stage. These middle years are tough on everyone, but that doesn't mean the gifted learner doesn't deserve anything less than an academic challenge and some compassion.
I wish that there were more open minded individuals who work towards solving problems instead of complaining about them.
Amanda

Quick Catch up!

More to come this is just a taste, it is hard to find time to do update this blog sometimes!
For this particular month:
CJ is 10 months officially. I am running a 3 mile walk/run race on Saturday. Grad Class is going good, just a lot of work. Cheerleading was good, squad blew away the expectations for their first game! Work is work. CJ goes for his flu shot booster next Tues., boo! Eric is good, his job is fine. Daycare wants CJ to move onto eating more finger foods. CJ does more walking than crawling. CJ has been going off to dreamland without a pacifier. At daycare he drinks out of sippy cups, maybe one bottle per day. It seems like the changes and growth spurts are flowing fast. I really wish I was able to experience it all, woe is me. :) Not sure if we are going to have a tree here, the G-Parents will have them for Colin to explore and inspect.
From last month:
Thanksgiving was a blast! We enjoyed seeing our families. CJ was a trooper when we flew. Thanksgiving CJ ate like a pig, two dinner meals. No pumpkin pie yet. Ever since we left for the midwest tour his night time issues have taken a break. He got to spend some great QT with his dad and his Great-Grandpa Alberti. I got to see the Harry Potter Movie-2 Thumbs Up! I have been able to read/listen to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. I really enjoyed the first, the latter was alright.

Picasa Web Album Month 9

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Adding some videos soon

We were able to video CJ walking to and fro. We should be able to get them posted soon!
Enjoy the nice weather!

Events from the weekend and this week

This past weekend Eric was patient with Crystal, Robyn, and me while we all played a round of golf. The first time ever for Robyn, and my very first round of 18 holes on a "real" course. We golfed at Hilltop in Alexandria, VA. The course had some awesome views. I will post some pics when I download them.
This evening we experienced a refrigerator malfunction and a freezer meltdown. Eric tinkered around and it seems to have "fixed" things for now.
Everyone here is still adjusting to the time change. Before the kid, it was really easy to switch. Getting old sucks!
Colin is walking all around the house! He doesn't look like a drunk person, he is a very confident stepper, he resembles an orangutan like this!

Hope your Turkey Day preperation goes well! We will try to post pics of Colin's first Turkey Day!
Amanda

Tooth and Standing Pics

If you inspect these photos closely you can see his tooth! And a picture to show you the standing/walking of this busy little guy. Our first trip to a park where CJ took a short swing. (Dad was busy fishing...not catching)

November, the beginning!

I have finally found some time to update everyone on some of the things the Meyer Family has been up to.

Two Weeks Ago:

Colin took his first steps on October 26th to both Eric and me! It was an extremely exciting moment. The whole family was hanging out in the living room and Colin decided to be brave and took a couple wobbly steps to Eric and then we turned him around and he wobbled over to me. We were so overjoyed that our cheering and praise scared Colin. After we calmed him down we tried to get him to walk some more but he would immediately go down to crawl where he felt more secure. It has been fun assisting him with perfecting this mode of transportation. Currently he enjoys crawling, cruising, and taking a couple of steps at a time. Maybe one day we can get photos or videos of it, right now it is too fast to capture.

This Past Week:

Sunday was Halloween! We spent family time lounging together in the morning and then got to work carving our pumpkins. It was a lot of fun, my pumpkin was the witch, Colin's was the ghost, and Eric's was the scary ghoul face. We got dressed in our costumes and handed out candy. There weren't as many non-dressed up kids as in the past. Everyone complimented Colin on his monkey costume. It was a fun time sharing the night with my family.

Monday I was off of work because it was a teacher grading day, and I was working from home. Colin went to Daycare and I picked him up so that Eric could go fishing. I spent the day doing laundry and cleaning the house a bit. I feel like I need another me to get all the cleaning done. It is a lot to clean, cook, care for yourself and any one else. Any suggestions on how to make everything perfect? I tend to just ignore certain responsibilities so that I don't miss any time with Colin. He is growing up so fast sometimes.

Tuesday I was able to stay at home as well because it was election day and schools were closed in PGCounty. I planned on meeting up with Nicole, Millie, and Matt in Fredericksburg, VA. We had lunch and walked over to the play area in the mall. All the kids played in the play area. The Harmon kiddos look great! Smiles the whole time. After playing we visited Crazy 8 and shopped a bit. Nicole and I love looking at the clearance, the prices are lower than Gymboree and the clothes are super cute. (Check out the fun t-shirt here!) We had a wonderful time hanging out, it seems to be more challenging to actually chat while we are together now that all the kids are a bit more demanding. Hopefully we can plan another time to meet just Nicole and me, special kid free time!

Thursday CJ had his 9 month appointment and got his flu shot, lead poisoning check, and anemia check. His blood number was 35 which is in the good range. His height, weight, and head measurements find him in the 50th%tile category, which is a positive growth trend for him. He spent the afternoon napping from the flu shot and then it was off to daycare because I had to drive to Laurel (1hour and a half due to rain) for my grad class, which is going really good. I am learning a lot from the instructor and it is a nice introduction into the demands of graduate studies.

Friday night/Last night we put the babe to bed and watched The Road and spent the evening in suspense with some good brewskies. Good Flick, and there is a happy-ish ending.

Saturday/Today we slept in a bit, ate breakfast, went to the gym. (Laundry and Tanning will come later! hehe) Colin surprised us with some more sleeping a long hour+ nap this afternoon. I am a bit worried that another tooth will surface so his body is storing up sleep to get ready for the sleepless nights. We shall see.

We hope everyone out there is doing great! We are looking forward to seeing some of our family and friends for Thanksgiving! Love! A, E, and CJ!

October Fun!

Month 8 updated with the photos from all the fantastic October fun the Meyer family has had.

8 months old

Here is the little goober showing off his newer skills! (8 months Album)
Walking, cruising, eating finger foods (not a big fan), and mugging for the camera.

If you take a look at this web album you can see some photos of Lobsterfest with the Wackerles and the visit to the Magills where we hung out with the Harmons too.

Yohe Wedding!

Erin is now married to Dan Yohe! Here are some of the photos taken with my camera. She was a stunning bride, and I cried as soon as she walked down the aisle with our father. The ceremony was beautiful and the reception was a ton of fun! We all had a great time. The cupcakes were delicious and the dinner was tasty. I am so ecstatic for them and I was so thankful that I could be a part of it all. I love her very much!

Pics to see

OBX Photos! We had a great time, hope you can tell in the pictures!

Baptism Photos can be seen here!

Pics of Month 7 include photos from the visit to the Strzyz House in Long Island!

It has been soooooo long!

Sorry to the followers out there, it has been a busy month and I am having trouble finding time to get posts updated. Where do I begin. School has been taking over my life and when Eric and CJ come home all I want to do is hang out with Colin until I tuck him in for the night, and then watch some TV with Eric.
This recounting begins with our Labor Day Weekend trip to the OBX with family and friends! It was a great time. Aunt Anna flew in Friday night and Eric packed the car as much as possible. We woke up and hit the road. Things were moving smoothly and stopped for lunch at the Outer Banks Brewing Station. Then our caravan was slowed to a crawl right before Pea Island, NC. The hurricane had washed a lot of sand onto the road and there was some flooding, but we were able to get through. (On our way back it was all gone) We arrived at the house around 4pm and had to wait for it to get cleaned. We were able to spend a lot of great time with our family and friends at the house. We swam a lot in the pool, went to the beach and played in the surf and sand, hung out in the hot tub after the kids went to bed, watched a movie in the theater room, and had some great family-style dinners with everyone. I always enjoy getting some time at the beach. Thankfully Colin loves the water. He discovered that sand is grainy and fun to put in his mouth. He loved playing in the waves. A major beach baby for sure.
I had a fabulous week after coming back from our OBX trip, I only worked Wed. the 8th and Fri. the 10th. Then the Grandparents came into town Sat. the 11th for a quick weekend visit to help celebrate Colin's Baptism. Saturday night we had dinner together and enjoyed some great time together. Sunday we went to church and witnessed the Baptism and came back to the house for a big family lunch. It was really awesome to have the Grandparents there and Bernadette brought Connor and Vivi to hang out too! It was tough to say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa Chase, but we shall see them soon. For dinner we went to Ray's the Steaks to celebrate Granpa Meyer's birthday, and boy was it delicious! We were able to hang out with Gramma and Granpa before work/daycare and said goodbye to them too. We were so grateful that both sets could make it out to celebrate with us.
I had my back to school night on Thursday the 16th so I rushed home around 8pm to put CJ to bed with his night time nursing then I realized that Eric and I had some miscommunication, so I hurried and packed for Colin and me. We buckled up and hit the road, made it to Long Island to visit Joe, Cyndi, and Gabriella! We had a lovely time hanging out. Eric, Joe, Colin, and I played 18 holes at the Robert Moses Pitch and Putt in some awesome weather. Saturday Cyndi and I took the kiddos to a Mommy and Me Yoga class, Colin had a ball! The guys went golfing...of course. Most of Saturday was spent hanging out while the guys were consumed by College Football, and then Sunday it was a repeat only focused on NFL games. Sunday we woke and Joe made us a pancake breakfast. After we got ready we headed out to Jones Beach to take a stroll in some more fantastic weather. We decided to head out around 4pm, and the traffic wasn't too bad, it took us 6 hours to get home. And since we left before CJ was comatose for the night, we had a rough time around dinner. He didn't like dining on his solids in his car seat. When we finally got home CJ was able to get comfy in his crib and slept well that night.
Lately CJ has been unhappy during dinner times, doesn't really have an appetite for his solids at dinner when he used to scarf everything down. He is eating breakfast of solids, lunch of solids, and a cracker snack at daycare. Just trying to understand what this little guy needs. We are still nursing in the am and pm. I don't want to stop because I like the ability to connect with him.
What is Colin up to, you ask...He is able to climb 5 stairs, take a couple of steps using his walker, open and close kitchen cabinets, play in the dogs dishes (full and empty), uses voice inflections, consonant sounds of da-ba-la, loves to play peek-a-boo, and isn't ready to add meats in his diet-he really hates ham right now.
I will be posting some more pictures and videos shortly, they will be on our Picasa and YouTube!
Hope this can catch you up, as you guessed, we have plenty of packed weekends coming up and I will try my hardest to share our happenings with everyone!
Love ya,
Amanda

Rufus Love

This is from today and it shows just how much they love each other!

Kitchen Talk 2

Kitchen Talk 1

Box Play

My Birthday!

I had a fantastic time hanging out with Eric this weekend! For my birthday weekend Aunt Sharon and Gramma Meyer came into town to babysit Colin while we went to the National Harbor Gaylord Hotel for Saturday evening fun! Friday the gals arrived and we all had a good evening hanging out at the house and having Pizza for dinner. Saturday morning Eric made pancakes for everyone and we spent the morning watching Colin crawl all around. In the afternoon we headed to Vivi's birthday party and we ate lunch at Apple Spice Junction. Eric and quickly packed our things and headed to the hotel. Once we arrived they told us our room was no longer available to us so they would "up grade" us to another room, which turns out to not be a suite, and a credit of $150 to spend on property. At first I was a bit disheartened, but we changed our dinner plans and ate at the hotel. With the rest of the money of the credit Eric suggested I get a spa treatment. After we finished dinner we took a dip in the pool while they played "Over the Hedge", and then at 9:30pm there was a great fireworks display in the harbor just for my birthday. After the pool closed we headed to the room and sat on our atrium balcony with some people watching and dranks. Then in the morning we got to sleep in, which was amazing! I head to the spa for my refresher massage and enjoyed the amenities of the spa, whirlpool and steam room. Eric and I then headed out to the Capitol Skyline Hotel near Nats Park and attended a swanky pool party. As we headed home it was bittersweet, we looked forward to seeing Colin but we're sad to see Gramma Meyer and Aunt Sharon head home. I had an amazing birthday! Thanks to everyone for the great wishes and the gifts!
Love you all,
Amanda

New things happening

Colin has been working on his palate and so far he has dined on carrots, butternut squash, peas (which he doesn't like), green beans, sweet potatoes, rice cereal, and oatmeal cereal. I am hoping to work in apples, bananas, and pears. He has really enjoyed it all, just not the peas! Thankfully he is a good eater. He seems to be growing so fast now that I don't get to spend the whole day with him. Right now he is working on getting around and he does that by getting up on all fours, twisting, and sitting on his butt. It is so funny to watch him move around. We have been capturing some of these moments and will post more videos soon. This past weekend we went to Nolan and Annie Walton's wedding. It was a fabulous time hanging out and celebrating. We were able to see Matt, Angie, Steve, Nana, and Poppa Drennan. Colin and Steve played well together. Nolan gifted us some hot wheels and a really sweet race track! Congrats to Annie and Nolan! Work got hectic since the students are back too. It seems that our gifted program grew so much that we are packed to capacity. I am going to have my hands full helping to manage all the classes. Eric and I are looking forward to some true alone time! I hope this week flies by at work and in the evenings it crawls so I can soak up all the CJ that I can!
Take care,
Amanda

News for now

Hello everyone! I have been trying to post some videos to the blog from my camera but it is just too much for the blog. I am now using a Flip and seeing if that will help out with the video situation. Now there is one more way for the world to get a dose of Colin, FlipShare Channel! I am also trying to share the videos on YouTube, we have a channel there too... Amandimeyer1979
Bounce Babble
Bumbo Wave
On the Move 1, and On the Move 2
Colin turns 7 months tomorrow and I go back to work. I am still sad that he goes to daycare everyday, but I think he enjoys hanging out with the other kiddos. This past weekend I hung out with Nicole at her surprise party/wine touring. Eric hung out with Colin, they were both working on getting a bit better. Those daycare germs are vicious! Sunday we spent some family time together cleaning the house and trying to get Colin to crawl. We are looking forward to hanging out at Nolan Walton's wedding this coming weekend. It should be a blast! And for my birthday, August 28th, Eric and I will be having a getaway to the Gaylord National and hopefully some other fun times without our little guy. Aunt Sharon and Gramma Meyer are coming to visit and watch our little monster! We are in the process of finalizing the details for Colin's baptism, and potentially looking at Sept. 12th!
Hope everyone else is doing great and having as much fun as they can before the summer is over.
Love,
Amanda
P.S. More pics tomorrow!

New photos to see!

I have updated the Picasa Web Album for month 6! We have had a lot of changes, Daycare has begun and Colin is working at adjusting to being away from mommy and not being able to nurse on demand. It has been a disruption to his sleep schedule at night, but it seems things are now getting back to a routine. We are fluctuating between getting up at 1am, 3am, 4am, and 5am for comfort and reassurance. I am doing my best to stay away from the night feeding, and so far it has worked. It seems that he has developed more sensitivities in the diaper area, a little bit of rash and rawness, and hopefully we can get the daycare teachers to be more attentive to his needs during diaper changes. He went through the first week coming home in the same outfit we left him in! We have learned that it is crucial that he has a pacifier available at all times and that he will allow other people to help get him to sleep which has carried over into bedtime routines with Daddy!

As you know Colin has been feeding on Rice Cereal for 2 weeks, and he is now up to 2 feedings of solids a day. We just incorporated carrots and oatmeal, next up is peas and squash! I am praying he doesn't have any allergic reactions to any foods! In his daycare class there are 3 other boys and 1 girl. Of those 3 boys, one is crawling all around. Colin has become more adventurous with his mobility, I attribute that to watching RJ crawl around the classroom. Colin has mastered rolling over both ways, sit unassisted, scooting, stand while we hold his hands. He is now working on the rocking forward in a seated position to lean supported on his hands. It also seems as though he is trying to figure out the army crawl. We have noticed a lot more movements covering distances. It is exciting to see his growth! He also loves studying things and figuring out how they work. I am struggling at times with the separation, but I am glad I have this transition time happening before I go back to work. I miss my little guy a lot! If you follow on Facebook you may have seen that I went to Marry Poppins the musical yesterday at the Kennedy Center with my friend Theresa. We had a blast, it was so wonderful! I left in such high spirits and I feel like singing everything everywhere! :P As a family we have been going, going, going still. I don't know how much longer this can continue, at least for now, since Colin seems to need a more consistent nap/sleep schedule at home in his crib. I can't really think of anything more I need to share, so until next time! Love, Amanda

Day Care Blues

Well, today is Colin's first day at daycare. The whole family got a late start so we hit the road around 8:20am which means I will sacrifice my time and pick Colin up from daycare earlier than Eric will be able to. ;) Just kidding, I don't think I could last a whole day without Colin. I didn't think that it would bother me to drop him off and say goodbye, but as soon as I got back to the car I started to tear up a bit. Colin looked totally comfortable hanging out, playing with new toys, meeting new friends and teachers. I left and he was smiling! I broke some rules on the very first trip, whodathunk. I wasn't aware that you couldn't add anything to the bottle, ex. vitamins or cereal. They said it causes problems when they warm the bottles, and I tried to explain that CJ doesn't need his bottle warmed. I hope he doesn't need all the extra outfits they asked us to bring. Hopefully I can make it till 3:45pm. Wish me luck!
Amanda

Tubing and Camping Weekend

This weekend was a scorcher but we all survived. Colin did a great job putting up with the heat and humidity, so did Rufus. Friday evening we arrived at the campsite on the Shenandoah River and go everything set up. It was a hot evening and didn't cool down until around 1 am. Colin was able to sleep through the night! Saturday morning we spent most of the day in the shade and in the river splashing around. Colin took a couple of naps since his energy was zapped by the heat. Our friends Lindsay and April worked really hard making us gourmet campfire meals (brisket and ribs that were amazing) and beverages whenever you needed a full glass! It was a great time to be in nature and share one of our favorite activities with Colin. Although I didn't get to tube, I enjoyed spending time with Colin in the water and at the campsite. As always it was sad to pack things up and leave but I was really looking forward to taking a shower! Once we got home Colin got back into the swing of things and took several naps, so did Eric and Rufus.
Can't wait to find out what our next adventure will be. For now Pizza will be our meal for tonight.
Amanda
P.S. The countdown for daycare begins. 8 days left

Colin's Passport Came

It is offical, Colin can now travel any where in the world with us now! It seems going to Germany this fall is a bit more tangable.

Isn't he too cute?!