The Countdown Has Begun!!

I am so TOTALLY EXCITED about my trip to Texas on Friday that I can hardly stand it!!!! I have 4 more days until I get to see my family!!! I CAN'T WAIT to see them!!!!! (Am I over using the exclaimation point & CAPITAL LETTERS in this posting? I think so, but that is just how excited I am - SO GET USED TO IT!!!!) While I would never be able to list them all, here are some of the things that I am looking forward to most on this trip:

1. Seeing my sister on Friday when she picks us up at the airport!! We have never been that mushy with each other, but I think I might cry when I see her. When she came out to take care of Collin after his surgery and to take care of me when I was so sick, it meant SO MUCH to me! I don't think that I will ever be able to repay her for what she did for me - something that makes me realize what an amazing person she is and how BLESSED I am to have her as my sister. Okay - I am starting to tear up just thinking about it so let's move on...having a baby sure makes you more emotional (can I use that excuse here?)!!

2. Seeing my mom & dad when we get to Tyler!!! I already know exactly what is going to happen. Becca, Collin & I are going to pull into the driveway & my mom will be watching out the window for us when we arrive. Mom & Dad will run out the back door the minute we pull into the driveway & I can just see my mom walking out doing this excited half-jumping up & down and waving her arms thing she does (I LOVE IT), and my dad will be right behind her with the BIGGEST SMILE ever on his face. Before I can even get Collin out of the car seat my mom will be all over him!! My dad will greet me first before he says hi to Collin (THIS MAKES ME FEEL SO SPECIAL) and he will give me a BIG hug while my mom continues to make over Collin. Dad will unload all the bags for us and then we will all go inside together! Yea!! Sorry Becca, I know that they will be extremely excited to see you too, but I think that we may just have to wait a minute at least for mom to recognize us until she gets her hands on Collin!!

3. Seeing Collin meet the rest of his family for the first time!!! Collin has several family members that he will be meeting for the very first time this weekend - his great-grandparents (Nana & Granddaddy), my Aunt (Aunt Becky), and my cousins (Brenton & Landon). It is very sad for me to think that he doesn't even know them yet. Growing up we were all so close (and still are). Becky is more like a 2nd mother and Brenton & Landon are more like brothers! I know that for a lot of people it's normal only to see great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins a few time a year, if that, but that is not my family! I really want them all to be a big part of Collin's life & I just need to figure out how to make that happen while we are in Florida.

4. Going to Luby's!! Okay, I know, I know - if you know what Luby's is you are probably wondering why I want ot go to the old folks hang-out spot, but I absolutely LOVE IT!! (This is not the same as the Luby's in Jacksonville - when I first moved to Florida I was VERY DISAPPOINTED to find out that the Luby's here is a ghetto sandwich chop). If you're not from Texas then think of a Picadilly, but about a billion times better!!! I already know what I am going to order - the Lu-ann plate with fried fish, man-n-cheese, fried okra & cornbread - okay, that was a lie, I am probably going to get the full-size fish instead of the smaller Lu-ann portion, and I will probably get mashed potatoes too! Hey - if you only get to eat there a few times a year, you might as well take full advantage of it & load that cafeteria tray up, right?? Yum!!!

5. Getting Collin's pictures taken! We previously tried to get Collin's pictures taken here in Jacksonville, but that didn't exactly work out how we planned (see Family Pictures - Almost!) I really hope that he goes along with it this time!

6. Collin's Sip-N-See party on Sunday afternoon!!! Two of my mom's best friends - Midge & Jane - are hosting a party for Collin on Sunday afternoon. It should be so much fun & my mom has already picked out several different outfits for Collin to choose from. I am looking forward to getting him all dressed up for the event!

7. Going to my parent's Sunday School class! The people in my parent's SS class have been true prayer warriors for our family! Every time that Collin has been sick or had to have his surgery my mom would contact the class & they were all praying for us. They even prayed for me when I was so sick a few months ago. They are so sweet & most of the people in the class have been there since I was little, so we really have grown up knowing them. Sorry GABC (Green Acres Baptist Church) Nursery, but Collin will be coming to SS and "big church" with his mommy! He has too many people who want to meet him to be stuck in the nursery - plus I think my mom would have a heart attack if he was out of her sight for more than a few seconds this weekend!!!

8. Lots of rest!!! Okay, this is probably not going to get me nominated for mother-of-the-year, but I think we threw that out the window a long time ago. I am just looking forward to lots & lots of rest - I know that Collin has soooo many people who want to get their hands on him that I am planning on taking full advantage of it! I know that I won't be able to stay away for long, but if Dede & Jimbo want to hang out with him at 6am when he wakes up then they can BE MY GUEST (mommy needs a little catch-up sleep)!!!

YEA!!!!! Now, the question is how am I going to concentrate on ANYTHING ELSE for the next 4 days???

Visit from Family!

This past weekend we had Son's mom, his brother & sister-in-law & their daughter Lilo visit us from Pensacola. It was so nice to have them in town & I absolutely loved seeing how much Lilo has grown! She is sitting up, crawling, eating baby food & has such a sweet personality - it's hard to imagine that Collin will be doing all of that soon also. Lilo is 4 months older than Collin, so she is 8 months old now!



Here we are with Son's mom before church on Sunday morning - they made a whirlwind trip (arriving Saturday afternoon & leaving less than 24 hours later on Sunday) but we made the most of the time we had together!







We went to a Sunday School party at Matt & Annie's house on Saturday night - it was a Luau theme & they went all out! They even had a surfer cut-out that you could pose and take your picture - here are Lilo & Collin surfing the waves!







Here are the babies, moms & grandmom in our Hawaiian outfits!






I was so glad that they were able to visit, but every time we spend time with Son's family it just makes me miss my family that much more - thankfully Collin & I will be making the trip to Texas in just 10 days!!!

4 Month Check-up & A Mouse in our House!

We had a crazy start to the week this morning! Collin was fussing this morning at 4:30 – he sometimes drops his paci & then decides he wants it in the middle of the night. I got up (still about 75% asleep) and stumbled into the hallway and there was a little creature right outside Collin’s room just staring at me! It looked like a little mouse…I just froze for a minute and we locked eyes while I was trying to decide if I was still asleep or awake. When I finally decided that I wasn’t imagining things, I started calling for Son to come help. When I said “it’s a mouse” he jumped out of bed…I guess when he saw it he was convinced that it was a mouse too because he had to walk right by it to get down the hall. He came back with the broom & dust pan (I guess he was planning on holding it down in the dustpan with the broom??). I probably would have preferred a box or something to trap it in??

Meanwhile, Collin is still fussing & I am trying to decide if I should be a very brave mommy and jump over the mouse to get to my baby, or if I should be not-so-brave & just wait for Son to get back. I wish I could say that I choose option A, but I tried to compromise by talking to Collin from outside his room saying “it’s okay honey” “I’ll be there it just a second”. Guess I am not going to be nominated for mother of the year any time soon…

Well, Son walks up behind the little creature & goes to put the broom down when it jumps about a foot down the hall (not very mouse-like). I think we both jumped too – or at least I did! I was expecting it to run, but not jump! I am still trying to figure out what just happened when Son states the obvious – It’s a frog! **Insert BIG sigh of relief** I guess the frog must have had one of his back legs stretched out behind him, because I swear I saw a tail! I was able to get to Collin & give him his paci while Son guided the frog out the back door with the broom.

Crisis averted! Somehow having a little tree frog in our house is much less scary & disgusting than having a mouse!

Then, 3 ½ hours later we headed to Collin’s 4-Month check-up.

He is now 14 lbs even & 24.5 inches long!! What a big boy! He seems so big to Son & I but he is actually on the medium to small side – he was in the 25th percentile for both height & weight. I guess that’s not surprising since his mommy wasn’t even on the growth charts when she was little – seriously, my mom told me this morning that I was like in the 0 percentile each time we went to the doctor. He had to get 4 shots – yuk! But we gave him some Tylenol ahead of time, and I was able to nurse him in the doctor’s office after the appointment, so he was pretty happy by the time we left.

We LOVE our pediatrician! She is so sweet & always writes little bible verses on the top of Collin’s paperwork that we take home. She said that he looks great & even said that we could start feeding him a little rice cereal any time now, and then try other baby food. I am not sure that I’m ready for that yet! She said that it was up to us that we could start anytime from now until 6 months, but at 6 months he will need the nutrition from the baby food. He is just growing up so fast!!

In other VERY EXCITING NEWS – some of our best friends, Brad & Whitney, had their little boy Maxwell today! Yeah – a new friend for Collin! I am probably going to try to go visit them in the hospital tomorrow & I can’t wait to see how tiny he is compared to Collin! I just love tiny new babies!!

"I Just Had A Baby" - a great excuse

Collin will be 4 months old this coming Sunday, and I am just starting to wonder how long is the “I just had a baby” excuse good for? Times this excuse comes in handy:

1. The house is a total mess
2. Belated birthday presents to your family & friends (sorry Becca!)
3. When you want to go to bed at 9:00pm
4. Not working out – ever (unless you count lifting the car seat in and out of the car)
5. Jump out of your chair at work right at 5:00 to get home as soon as possible
6. Late on getting thank you notes out
7. Wasting $5 on a redbox movie that was supposed to only cost $1 because you never have time to watch it
8. Not updating the blog regularly

I think I am going to use it as long as possible - I want to enjoy every minute I have with him & at the end of the day I think that is more important than almost anything else...

Just another Tuesday

Really nothing too eventful has happened over the past week, but I hate to go more than a week without posting, so here goes...

Ever since the big day last Monday Collin is refusing to roll-over again or laugh...oh well, I guess now that he knows he can do it maybe it's not as fun anymore?

Collin & I are getting really excited about our upcoming trip to Texas! The only thing that could be better is if Son was able to go with us...unfortunately he has to stay here. He will be taking his mom back to Pensacola that weekend & then he has a meeting a commissioning ceremony at church on Sunday for a men's group that he is in, and then he is going to the FSU v. Miami game in Tallahassee on Monday - at least he will be busy while we are gone.

Here is Collin & daddy playing the mirror game - they look in the mirror above our couch & make funny faces and laugh, then Collin will hide his face in Son's shoulder, then he peeks over & the game starts over again...so cute!!

Here we are after our marathon day weekend before last - two baby showers and a going away party for some of our friends (Tama/Stuart moving to KY & Josh/Rebecca moving to AL). Collin was about to get in his bath - he is such a cute little naked baby!

Two big firsts

Last night when I got home from work Son told me the exciting news that Collin had rolled over on his own! They were having “tummy time” in Collin’s room after Son picked him up from school & Collin was holding himself up on his forearms and just sort of pushed himself over onto his back. (I thought that he would roll over from his back to his tummy first, but I guess he had his own way in mind!) After I finished jumping up & down for joy (okay, not literally) and telling Collin how proud I was of him & what a big boy he was, I immediately called my mom to share the good news. Son told me that he only did it once, and that he tried to get him to do it again but he wouldn’t. I was so so excited that he had rolled over, but honestly a little upset that I wasn’t there to see it. I was talking to my mom and relaying what Son had told me about the great event, thinking to myself that it would probably be a while before I would get to see it, when I put him down on the blanket & he immediately rolled over!!! I think I probably made my mom deaf screaming so loud “Oh my gosh, He did it again!”! It was amazing, he was so adorable. Definitely the highlight of the week.

Then, if that wasn’t enough excitement in one day, after I was yelling “He did it again!” Son came in Collin’s room to check it out. Son was talking to Collin and Collin let out the biggest laugh ever! He has been “giggling” or making smiles and “cooing” type noises for a while now, but that was the first true laugh that we had heard. It was so cute! He did it over & over again, so we got out the camera and took a video of it. Of course while we were videoing him it wasn’t quite as much as before, but he still made an obvious big-boy laugh. I will try to add the video to the blog later – so precious!

Well, that was our big excitement last night – that’s what I call an awesome day!