Lovie

With turning 6 mos old, we introduced the kids to a bed time lovie. They were given as gifts from uncle Burnie, aunt Kim, Kaelyn and Conner. Colman seems to enjoy the lion lovie. He will cuddle with it and put his arm out for it. Chelsea has not shown as much affection for her bear lovie. She has her thumb and that seems enough for now. It is so sweet to see CnC cuddled with their lovie, if only by accident for now.

Luv the bumbo

Everyone loves the bumbo. It allows the kids to sit and watch Baby Einstein DVDs or play with toys. We started putting the kids in the bumbo when they were 3 mos old. Chelsea always liked it least because she likes to see everything going on around her and does not like feeling confined. (Potential control freak) If Colman is to her left, she watches him and tries to grab his bib or blanket or touch his face. He will sit, watch the video and suck on his fingers for quite some time. It is fun watching him react to the DVD. He smiles when the animal faces show up on the screen. There is a green dino puppet that suddenly sticks out his tongue and says "Blah". It startles Colman every time and he jerks his head back slightly. He startles quite easily. Getting Colman out of the bumbo is funny. He has got such chunky thighs, the middle piece gets stick between his legs.

Good times in the bumbo.

But now the kids are sitting on their own so well. Chelsea will only stay in it for a short amount of time. But it is still a way to contain her since she is starting to army crawl. (more on that later) Colman is sitting up on his own like a champ. Still, on occassion, when he is tired, we will stick him in it. But he also rebels against the confinement of the bumbo. They will make their body straight and lift their bum up. Neither one has yet to escape.

So long good times in the bumbo.

Cutie Pies

Milestones for Chelsea

Chelsea is once again onto new challenges. She has started sitting up. She can sit for a long time, almost 20 minutes, but still falls over occasionally. She has the best posture in the family. She likes to pivot around in circles on her tummy as well, so she can check out all the toys and see what is going on in the room. She still enjoys standing. We have started to put her in the packnplay when left in the room alone. She moves around so we can't leave her alone. She doesn't crawl but manages to push forward or backward with her feet and arms.

Chelsea's first tooth has broken through on her bottom gums. She does not fuss but has been drooling a lot for the past couple of months. It is good timing as they are about to start on solids soon for the big 6 month celebration.

Colman's milestones

Colman is sitting up for a few seconds, but does not have a lot of stamina yet. We hope he becomes stronger in the next couple of weeks. He has outgrown the baby tub and we are looking forward to bathing them in a regular bathtub. He likes to be on his belly and kick his legs and swing his arms. So he has a strong back, but does not seem to have the balance to keep himself up for long.
Colman is very vocal. He babbles a lot. He finds a sound or skill that he learns and practices a lot. His latest sound is da-da-da. Sometimes, he even says daddy. He also likes to stick his tongue out and curl it over his lip. The best is when he puts it all together - kicking, saying da-da, then sticking the tongue out. Quite a bag of tricks.

Big month for Doug

October has turned out to be a big month for Doug. In summary:

• Doug turned 40 - woohoo
• Doug's computer hard drive died - boohoo
• Doug got a foosball table - yahoo
• Doug was on a panel of reviewers for grant proposals submitted to a national funding group - big to-do

Turning 40 was a bit uneventful. We went to Atl to see one of Carol's cousins passing through.

As for the computer hard drive, nothing could be salvaged and all was lost. Did he have a backup... that's a good question. He does now! But God's grace was sufficient and Doug walked through it with strength and a sense of humor.

The foosball table is very nice and farely brand new. It was a big 40th birthday present. It was played once by the owner when he played with Doug. In college, when Doug was not studying, he was playing foosball with his friend Burnie, kind of like a PE class. They did not get credit, but they did get pretty good at "the sport."

Doug was also in Washington DC for 3 days the last week in October. It was an intense 3 days. He met with several other people to critique grant proposals. It was helpful information to be on the other side of the process and should prove handy for hisown future submissions.