Another week, more cuteness

Time is flying by! It's amazing how quickly a day can go by. I'm still adjusting to my new definition of "productive"; with John's frequent eating and just taking care of him and enjoying his cuteness, I'm able to squeeze in very few other things. Now I understand why new moms always commiserate about the joy of squeezing in a shower. I'm just glad parenthood starts with one little baby! I can figure out how to take care of him and get buff carrying him around little by little. Power to the women who dive into parenthood with twins or more!

Here are some pictures from the past week:

John's one month birthday party. He didn't want to wait for me to eat cake; he was all of a sudden starving!

Enjoying Redrock with our wonderful visitors, Aunt Jeri and Meredith.

Little did Meredith know that this short break from livin' the Stanford dream would entail carrying an umbrella around a state park to protect us from the sun! Thanks, Meredith. John appreciated not getting scorched by the Vegas sun.

Pure cuteness- quietly checking everything out.

And more cuteness when sleeping. I love when he puts his hand up in "The Thinker" pose!

One month already!

Happy One Month Birthday, John!

I really can't believe John's been with us for a month already! It's bizarre how foggy my memory is. I'll drive by the hospital, and although I can recite details and remember some images, the whole experience is quickly becoming less tangible. I'm loving this newborn stage, so I'm trying to document little daily details before they slip away!

Here are some parts of our daily routine:

Burping (John could hang out like this for hours!)

Pooping (he makes the funniest faces- big, crossed eyes and narrow mouth)

Skyping family (here was him successfully taking his first bottle, hallelujah!)

And possibly being content not being in my arms... napping in the swing while I try to get a few things done

My biggest struggle right now is feeling cooped up inside due to the lovely 110 degree temperature outside :) So, we drove up to the nearby Mt. Charleston with our friends Lincoln and Mimi and enjoyed a blissful, 80 degree repose from the heat.

It was beautiful!

Now we are going to celebrate John's birthday with a drive up to Redrock and making funfetti birthday cake (obviously solely for John's enjoyment)! Also here to celebrate are my aunt Jeri and cousin Meredith. What a fun day!

Week Three!

We had such a wonderful third week! John is becoming more alert and I might be biased but I think he's getting cuter and cuter every week! The whole Colton family came to Vegas, so John met his uncles and Grandpa Colton. My mom and sister have been staying at our house, providing such a tremendous help with food, cleaning, diapers, and soothing John. When the whole fam was here, they stayed at the JW Marriott near us, so we were able to enjoy the pool!

John wasn't able to swim, but he was definitely dressed for the occasion! (Thank you to the Young Women's leaders at my church!)

Grandma and Grandpa Colton.

Aunt Jane, Grandpa Colton, and Uncle Thomas enjoying the refreshing pool.

Another big outing, we all went down to the Bellagio to look at the Conservatorium (my favorite attraction on the Strip). They had a wonderful bug and garden theme (note the green shovel behind my mom).

My amazing Aunt Carolyn designed and put together this "Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile" quilt. She designs a quilt for each of her great-nieces and great-nephews! This quilt is now the main attraction in the nursery and I've already enjoyed many hours looking at it while feeding John.

John's umbilical cord fell off, so now we can give him real baths! He loves the warm water and actually enjoys baths now (whereas he would just demonstrate his healthiest, loudest cry during sponge baths!).

Now he thinks he runs this place! I love how alert and involved he is now!

On a sadder note, I did have to say goodbye to my mom on Monday. She was such an amazing help to us and I miss her company tremendously. As a thank you for all her help, Matt and I (mostly Matt) put together this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duIgBqSs7Vc

We miss you so much already!

Week two!

We had a wonderful second week with John! Here are some highlights:

Enjoying the 4th of July (I have never been annoyed at fireworks before... it's amazing how defensive parental instincts can be!)

Meeting Alleman cousins! Kaelene made sure her baby "Shimmer" felt just as loved and well attended as John.

We are SO excited Wade's family is in Kingman, AZ now- just 2 hours from us! We look forward to spending a lot of time with them while Matt, John, and I are in Vegas.

On Monday, we drove up to Redrock (our favorite place in Vegas) for some fresh air. Grandma has been amazing helping us with many more outings this past week. We will miss her terribly when she goes back to MD next Monday!