SAHM Weeks 1 & 2

Things I have learned lately...

1. I do not have any time to blog lately.

2. I absolutely love being home with Collin and can't imagine doing anything else!

3. Collin is growing and changing every day! Lately he has been standing on his own, and I think his first steps will be any day now. He likes to "walk" around the house pushing his high chair. He has a little push car toy that my sister got for him, but it is still is little too fast for him to keep up with...but I know he will be running it all over the house any day now!

4. He now prefers real food and will only eat jars of baby food if he is really really hungry...it's pretty messy & I have to wash the seat cover on his high chair several times a week!



Here is a little of what we have been up to the past 2 weeks:

Play date at the park with Dallas & Maxwell




Easter egg decorating with Brookelynne & Dallas




Lots of fun play time at home - this is Collin's tunnel

We have also been catching up on things around the house ( during nap time) like organizing closets and lots if laundry!

Julie

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Career Change

Today was my first day at my new job. The position offers $0 pay, the hours are 24/7, and there are no such thing as "vacations" or "sick days".

But (this is a big but) it also offers unlimited hugs & cuddles, about a 20 foot commute, my new boss is a total cutie, and I have the ability to wear my pj's to work if I feel like it :)

If you haven't guessed yet...I'm a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM)!!!!!

This is something that Son and I have been praying for since before I was even pregnant, but we were obviously working on our time table, not the Lord's. However, on Friday the decision was taken out of our hands when I was laid-off from my position.

Don't you just love it when Jesus smacks you in the face with His plan for your life?

Today was probably one of the most exhausting and challenging days of my life (way harder than the 15k) but I will also say that it was one of the absolute best days ever...and the thought that I get to repeat it over and over is so exciting to me.

So far week #1 is super busy with things that I want together done, but we also have lots and lots of play time and cuddle time on the schedule too!

My new boss...isn't he adorable?

More details to come...

Julie


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Our first 15k & Collin’s photo shoot

We had a wonderful weekend here in The Vuong Family!  Saturday morning Collin & I got up early and went to the Gate River Run!!  We had a great time with our group of “speed walkers” – we had 6 ladies + 4 babies = TONS OF FUN!!  The babies were SO GOOD in their little jogging strollers.  (Jennifer gets the “strong arms” award for pushing Brookelynne in her regular Graco travel system!)  Fortunately we had 2 “relief pushers” in Susan and Rachel.  Also along with us were Angela & Dallas and Whitney & Max.

Here we are after finishing the 15k – Collin is celebrating with some cheerios!

I was so proud of myself for remembering the camera, but at the start of the race when I got it out to take some pictures I realized that I had left the memory card in our computer at home.  Rachel took these pics with my phone, but she & Jennifer both had their cameras & they promised to email the rest of us the pictures…remember girls, I know where you live!  They got some great pictures including all of us at the finish line & all of the babies wearing our finisher medals.

That night we had a dinner celebration for my birthday with 21 of our friends (plus 5 babies) at La Nopalera – yummy!!

Then yesterday I asked Son, “Is my birthday over?” – with a big pouty face & frown…

Son: “I think 3 birthday cakes is enough.”

Julie: “Okay, good point.”

And I will leave you with the results of Collin’s latest photo session!  Now I just have to decide which ones to order – of course I want one of each, but that really doesn’t fit in our budget these days…unfortunately!

I am in LOVE with this…

And this…

 

The toy giraffe and dog were actually mine when I was Collin’s age.  I couldn’t say giraffe, so his name is “Raff-raff”.  The little dog makes a barking noise when you pull him along the floor, and Collin loved it!!  It was so cute to watch him play with it, pulling the string around the floor to make the dog bark!  My mom pulled them out for Collin when we got to Tyler, and they were so cute that I wanted to bring them with us to the picture appointment.

I am also in love with these…

 

And this…

 

Collin is turning into quite the little celebrity around Tyler (or at least he thinks he is)…he has has his picture taken each time we have been there for a visit, and we still have 1 more session left in our package that we will take advantage of in September when we are in town for Becca’s wedding!

Thanks to Batten Photography for being so great with Collin!  If you want to see all the wonderful pictures that they took, you can click this link here!

Happy Monday!

Julie

Weekend in pictures

Needless to say, Collin and I had an amazing time in Texas!!  We were glad to get back home to hubby/daddy last night, but I am already missing my family again…

Here are some highlights (in pictures) of the trip :)

We arrived in Dallas Saturday morning around 9 and hit the ground running…we made a mad dash for my sister’s house in McKinney to drop off the bags & the baby :) and then met up with her maid of honor, Lauren, for bridesmaid dress shopping at Priscilla of Boston.  We had so much fun trying on about a billion dresses, and Becca finally decided on this one.  It is beautiful & very flattering – thanks sissy!!

Dede and Jimbo hanging out with Collin when we first arrived at Becca’s house

 

Collin playing with soon-to-be uncle Warren while we all played Wii tennis & bowling…Collin also learned how to climb the stairs – thankfully we do not have stairs in Jax :)

Becca, Collin & mommy after our slumber party…the three of us slept in Becca’s king-sized bed

Collin enjoying all the attention in Tyler – Granddaddy, Becky & Nana all playing with him

Collin helped Jimbo make coffee for mommy every morning.  His favorite part was grinding up the beans in the grinder.

Collin also enjoyed helping Tinkerbell bark at the squirrels in the backyard – he LOVED the windows at Dede & Jimbo’s house – they were the perfect height for Collin to pull up on and look out

Collin loves his Dede

Enjoying looking out the windows again – I LOVE this picture

Sitting in the high chair during mommy’s birthday party before we headed back to Dallas.

SO SO SO Glad that this week is only 2 days long.  After being with my little buggaboo for the past 5 days straight it was REALLY HARD going back to work today, but tomorrow is Friday – yay!!

Julie

My Little Prisoner

These days Collin is into EVERYTHING!!  I remember a few months ago when I was worried that he wasn’t attempting to crawl yet, so I would help him practice & encourage him to push up on his hands and knees and take a few steps…WHAT WAS I THINKING??

I ABSOULTELY LOVE it when I walk into another room and he comes crawling along right behind me with a huge smile on his face – so sweet!  But he is FAST!!  You literally cannot take your eyes off of him for a second or he will be halfway across the room…

eating dog food…

trying to unplug the nightlight from the wall…

putting the dog’s toys in his mouth…

pulling up on the oven door…

trying to escape outside through the doggie door…

Not that any of these things have actually happened, because I am a much better mom than that *wink, wink* but you know, I can just imagine what he might get into…right??

Now that he has crawling mastered he is working hard on standing on his own.  He can pull up on ANYTHING – even just next to a wall, and he tries to let go & can actually stand there for about a second before he either grabs back on or plops down.  Thank goodness for the built-in padding that comes with wearing diapers :)

Here he is showing off last night – he was right next to the previously mentioned doggie door & I think he was contemplating an escape plan…

And here is one of his 10-month pictures…he was sitting in the version 1.0 car seat cover (the one that came out too small). 

That reminds me, I really need to get going on finishing up the new & improved version.  Seriously, this morning Collin’s little sock-feet were dangling out the end of the “bucket” seat.  Do you think that may be a sign that he is outgrowing it??

LOL – why does Collin look like a little prisoner in these pictures?  I guess he really likes his stripes these days…or maybe he is still doing time for the battery charge resulting from Monday’s incident at daycare :)

Only 2 more days till our TEXAS TRIP!!!!!

Julie

Proud Daddy

So yesterday when Son picked up Collin from school he had to sign an “Incident Report”…normally when we get one of these Collin has had a minor bump or scratch – normal stuff for a little boy with no fear who is learning to crawl/stand/etc.

But yesterday was different.  Apparently Collin had plowed over two other babies while he was crawling - and he scratched them while he was running them over like little speed bumps…

Hubby’s response: “That’s my boy!”