Six Months Later...

For the five of you who still check this lazy excuse for a blog, I'm embarrassed. It's been six months almost since I was last on here. My excuse is...we've been very busy. We really have. Between me trying to catch up on work with PAPA Missions and all of our travels, I feel like we are barely keeping our heads above water. And, to be honest, I enjoy Colton so much that I don't want to spend time at my computer posting pictures of him when I could be playing with him or taking a walk or just getting things done so I can play with him later! But seriously, we have traveled a lot: Colton has already had many adventures since he was born. He has been on twenty-two commercial airline flights, and one flight in Papa's small airplane. And that's not including the road-trips! So, that proves that we have been busy! Ok, so I guess I will try to give a quick rundown of what we've been up to these last six months. Soon after my last post, Nate went to Africa and Colton and I spent a few weeks in Texas with my mom and other family. It was a blast for me and Colton even though we missed Nate, and it was good for Colton to get to know my family a little. We were home for a couple of weeks and then decided to go camping north of Payson here in AZ...just the three of us. Colton didn't much like the tent sleeping, and cried a little (read: screamed at the top of his lungs for an hour, or what felt like an hour anyway...it was probably 5 minutes) before going to sleep. Poor little guy acted like he was scared of sleeping outside or something. So...since that worked out so well, I decided to take him camping for several days. But this time we decided to fly all the way to Alamosa, Colorado and camp with my family, just like old times. It was fun and we ate lots of food (in typical Sheets fashion) and Colton was happy and played with his cousins (although I should probably say that they played with him since he just sat there for the most part). Our trip home was an absolute nightmare because of flight delays and such, but Colton didn't cry once in the overnight journey home. Thanks to Landon's in-laws for picking us up when we got stuck in the Pueblo, CO airport, feeding me, and letting me spend the night! The rest of August was pretty uneventful aside from Colton's accomplishments, including really getting the hang of rolling over, and starting to giggle often. Then the real travel began. Labor Day brought a trip to San Diego with my sis Gini and Nate's brother Mark. They both wanted to visit, and we figured they would never visit again if we stayed in Phoenix that time of year, so we got out of town and had a FUN weekend in cooler weather, enjoying a trip to the zoo (AMAZING) and time relaxing on the beach. The following weekend, my parents came for a visit...always a good time...and watched Colton while Nate and I went to the Air Force Ball. Two weeks later (first weekend in Oct), we were on our way to Texas for a PAPA board meeting. Of course, we got to see lots of family and some dear friends along the way. We stayed with the Burtons in Dallas and then got to meet my friend Kim's new triplets before heading to Abilene for the meeting. What a fun time to enjoy some cooler weather (again). By the way, I just have to say that Colton is the best traveler ever! He makes this so easy by being a little sweetie and trying to talk to every person we see in the airport. He makes everyone feel so special, and is just a good boy! One weekend at home (just enough time to get sick, make a wreck of the house, enjoy a visit from Heather and her new fiance Chris, whom we LOVE, and get well)*, and then off to Boston for the AAFP conference with my sister Shelley and parents. It was COLD, and we ALL loved it! I think Colton enjoyed being bundled up and just liked the cold weather in general. Comes by that honestly...Nate and I both like it too. What a great city! I enjoyed our trips to Quincy Market and our walk on the Freedom Trail...and SO MUCH good food! *I started getting sick while we were in Texas and felt pretty crummy for several days, followed by Nate, and then Colton feeling crummy. First ear infection - check. Colton's fever broke the morning we left for Boston. Let me just say that I don't know how moms get anything done when the whole family is sick! I have never been so frazzled in my life than I was that morning we left for Boston when I was trying to pack. I mean, it seriously looked like a textile bomb exploded in my living room, with suitcases from various trips and clothes both clean and dirty all over the place. There were even dirty diapers on the floor (rolled up of course, but still!!!) And then...one hour before I needed to leave the house, there was a knock on the door. I opened it and this lady flashed a U.S. Government badge of some sort. I just knew something bad was happening...this could not be good! So I was actually relieved to find out that this was just the lady who is investigating Nate for his security clearance. She was here to interview me, which meant that she had to actually try to come inside if she could get through the piles of suitcases in my entryway! So embarrassing! The following weekend found us in South Bend, Indiana, where Nate was supposed to do a fly over at the Notre Dame/ Boston College game. Unfortunately, that was cancelled last minute which was sad for Nate. But it meant we could travel together (instead of Nate flying his jet to the game), and Nate and his brothers still got sideline passes for the whole game! Such a fun (and VERY cold) weekend with his sweet family. We've been home for a couple of weeks now, and skipped a trip to Louisville (thanks to my parents and Gini for covering that one for me) so we could stay home and rest. Nate leaves for a conference tomorrow, and will be gone all week, but Colton and I are sitting this one out. We'll miss him, but we have some major catching up to do! I have LOTS more pictures that go with this post, but Colton needs me (he just bumped his head...the hazards of crawling and rolling over on tile flooring). So I'll be back later to post more pictures.

5 Weeks Old

4 Weeks Old

Here are some pictures of Colton at 4 weeks old. As you can see, he's started smiling at us, and that just melts our hearts! He loves being outside and taking walks with mom and dad. Colton doesn't really sleep much during the day, but he's a great sleeper at night. Last night he only woke up once, so we're all getting lots of good rest. So far, he hasn't slowed us down too much, and Colton has already had lots of adventures, including a big trip to Texas, where he got to ride in Papa's airplane with Nate as copilot. (pics in last post) He did great on all of the flights...guess flying is in his genes!

Texas