Collin at 12 Weeks

I can’t believe that my little boy is 12 weeks old already! I took him to his two month appointment December 29th. Look at this little man! Yes, the scale says 14.13 and he was 24 inches! The doctor said that puts Collin in the 90th percentile for height and 97th percentile for weight :) He was very happy that he was a breast milk baby too. I felt so bad when he got his shots. He cried through all three of them and wasn’t all about the oral medicine he had to take either. When it was all over and he got to snuggle in my arms he was OK. I think I was upset longer than Collin was.

 

At the appointment the doctor asked how often he was eating and how well he slept at night. When I told him that he ate every two hours and didn’t sleep longer than that either, the suggestion was to try to push him a little at a time to stretch that time, for my own sanity. Collin fell asleep in the car on the way home and slept for three hours. I thought it was because I had given him Tylenol for his shots and that it was just a fluke thing. Well, that night, and ever since then, he’s been sleeping for three, or sometimes more,  hours at a time. He doesn’t get fussy when the two hour mark hits when he’s awake either. It’s like he heard the doctor say two hours was too frequent and was like “OK, I can help keep my mommy sane.” There have even been a few times that he’s slept for four and five hours at a time. I haven’t gotten that much sleep at once in a very long time. I’ve figured out that when he wiggles out of his swaddler that I can wrap him back up and he will sleep for at least one, if not several more hours.  I call him my little Houdini, because he always gets his arms out of his wrap, but doesn’t sleep well unless he’s swaddled. (He has since out-grown his swaddler and has a new one. That he still gets out of.)

 

Some of my favorite onesies I liked to put him in, he’s already outgrown! I had to go out and get him SIX MONTH clothes. I absolutely LOVE dressing him up and taking him out. Little collared onesies and jeans, khakis, or shorts are my favorite things to put him in.

   

This Christmas was his first, so we had to get him a special ornament to put on the tree. (The heart on the his blue ornament says “Baby’s 1st Christmas” in white)

 

Over the last three or four weeks Collin has become much more aware of what is going on around his and is so alert. He loves bright colors and music. I like to dance with him in my arms around the living room and in his room. He got some toys for Christmas that light up and play music and his eyes get so big and he concentrates on the them when I turn them on. He gets so excited and happy. I love when I go to get him out of his crib and he is fussy until he sees me and then gets a HUGE smile on his face. He LOVES his changing table! He will smile and talk to me the whole time I change his diaper and/or clothes. He also LOVES splashing in the tub and (thankfully) likes bath time.

 

I LOVE LOVE LOVE all the smiles and when he talks to me. He’s come SO CLOSE to a real giggle several times, I can’t wait until the day I really hear him giggle for the first time. Devin was with him a lot this weekend and said he got Collin to laugh. I was jealous, but I guess I can let him have that first considering I get to spend all day with him.

He used to hate his swing. Every time we would put him in it, after a max of five minutes, he would be hot, sweaty and screaming. But again, within the last three or four weeks, he’s really learned to like it (and he doesn’t get hot and sweaty). He’ll sleep his morning nap for several hours, I can take a shower and he’ll just be so content. He also really likes the gym mat I got him recently. He lays on his back and kicks his arms and legs and hits the bright colors toys hanging from the top and just smiles and talks. Between the sing and the gym mat, I’ve been able to get some more things done around the house.

Everyone says that you love your children more than anything, but it’s really not a concept I could grasp until Collin arrived. I love spending time with him during the days. I do enjoy getting out of the house and having some “mommy time” but I miss him when I’m gone and just want to cuddle with him when I get home. It’s such a good feeling to see him smile at me when I get home. I love watching Devin play with him. It’s SO CUTE to see them smile and talk to each other. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this little boy SO MUCH. I really don’t think there is anyone better in the whole wide world. I know everyone thinks that their child is the best and cutest, but I’m sorry to inform them/you, they/you are mistaken, Collin Landen is the best and cutest little boy in the whole wide world!

 

 

Oh Yeah, I Have a Blog…

Well, it’s been almost a year since I started sharing my Epiphanies with the world. There is lots that I haven’t shared in the last month too. Since we spent a week in Orlando/Altamonte Springs I’ve been busy busy busy and blogging hasn’t exactly been on the top of my list of things to do.

 

• Alahambra
• Christmas
• New Year’s/My Birthday
• My dad’s visit
• A Collin Update

 

The day after my last post my grandparents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. A few days later that same grandmother had her 80th birthday. To celebrate these monumental milestones my family (grandparents, mom, uncles, aunt, cousins, and brother) took them to see A Christmas Carol at the Alahambra Dinner Theater. When my mom pulled into the parking lot, at 11:00 AM for the matinee, we (my mom, brother and myself) wondered if we were going to be the only group with people under 60 years old. When we walked inside, it seriously didn’t look like there was going to be anyone other than us under 60. The food was OK, I was expecting something different. I’m not sure what that was, but just different. Overall it was a good time and I enjoyed the experience.

Christmas was fun. Christmas morning Devin, Collin, and I loaded the car and headed over to Bradley’s for Collin’s first Christmas and Bradley’s fist Christmas in his new house. My mom made breakfast and we all exchanged gifts. Bradley has this little kitten, Oreo, that reeked havoc on his tree. He only had ornaments on the top half and there was a big hole in the tree level with the chair sitting next to it.  His tree topper was priceless also…yeah, that’s Yoda. Only my brother. Devin and I went home just long enough for me to make brownies and play the New Super Mario Bros. game my mom got us for the Wii. SO MUCH FUN! Then we headed to my aunts for dinner and family time. It was a long, but great day.

A week after Christmas is New Year’s and my birthday! I recently talked about the last three New Year celebrations and how this year was going to be different because Collin and Dallas were here. Dustin and Angela brought over Dallas, and Sam and Meg came over. We made tacos and played Wii all night, rang in the new year, then called it a year/night and went to bed shortly after watching the ball drop in New York City. On my birthday Devin and I lunged around the house all day being lazy and doing nothing but playing the Wii. That night we went to dinner with some of my family at Applebee’s and Devin and I went to get ice cream afterwards (yes, it was FREEZING while we stood outside and ordered the ice cream!)

Last Monday my dad and my aunt came down from New Jersey for a visit, primarily to meet Collin. I had such a good time seeing them and hanging out with just them and Collin. They went just as picture happy around him as I do! We ate out all week long (something we haven’t done in a pretty long time)! We even had AYCE Crab Legs one night, YUMMY!

I’m going to call this a post and write a separate blog about Collin, because there is just so much to talk about, he’s changed so much and I have so much fun with him!

Happy 2010!

A Bad Idea

Since I’m at home with Collin everyday, Devin suggested that we go with him to Orlando this week while he teaches a class. Why not? I can feed Collin, watch TLC and HGTV and be on the internet the same as I can at home, just with a different view. So, that’s what we did. Devin and I packed up a plethora of stuff (taking a baby on a road trip required a lot of stuff!) and came to Orlando.

I actually do more than surf the internet and watch TV when I’m at home, but here in the Orlando hotel room (which is really nice, we have a full kitchen, two rooms, two bathrooms, and a living room with a rollout couch) there isn’t much more to do when Collin is sleeping.

So I got tired of watching TLC (I can only watch so many wedding dresses 4 years after my wedding, and I’ve never been one for the baby shows) and switched to HGTV. I can watch decorating shows all day long! Unfortunately for me, the decorating shows weren’t on, it was the house hunting and house selling shows. This is where the bad idea happened. This week as I’m sitting with the TV and computer on, I have been visiting web sites that aren’t normally on my list of sites I go to. (Meaning, more than Facebook and Woot). Since the computer was on and these house selling shows were on I though, “hmm, I wonder what our house is worth.” Considering we bought our house at the worst possible time right before the housing market crashed, we paid top dollar for our little house, and needless to say with the market as crappy as it is right now, it’s not worth near what we paid for it. 

That’s not the end of the bad idea. So not only did I depress myself with what our house is not worth, I decided since I was already on Zillow.com that I would look for houses that we would want to buy. Devin and I knew when we bought our house that it wasn’t going to be permanent and that within five or six years we would want to move. Preferably before our kids we didn’t have yet started school because I wanted to be in Clay County by that time. We also knew that we liked the area we are in, and if we cross Argyle Forest, we are in Clay County. So like a dummy I started looking for bigger houses in Oakleaf.

It really stinks that we could get a 4 bedroom 2 bathroom house that’s 500-600 square feet bigger than our 1,180 for the same price, or less in some cases, that what we paid for ours.

Here are three that I found:

	3570 Waterford Oaks Drive, Orange Park Price: $137,750 Bed/Bath: 4/2 Sq Ft: 1,768
	3412 Crane Hill Ct, Orange Park Price: $140,000 Bed/Bath: 4/2 Sq Ft: 1,768
	760 Bellshire Dr, Orange Park Price: $133,000 Bed/Bath: 4/2 Sq Ft: 1,762

Remember what our house looked like when we bought it and what it looks like now?

Then: $139,000 and now $124,000

It just makes me sad :(

Conversation Evolution

Angela sent me a text message this morning, and it got me thinking about how our conversations have changed over the last five years.  Lets take a look, shall we?

2005- Devin and I got married in July and started hanging out with Dustin and Angela a lot. Since they got married in December, our conversations consisted of wedding dresses, rehearsal dinners, decorations, bridal showers, and the wedding night.

After we got married conversations went from weddings to, well, wedding night activities. Then Angela started working at my rival bank so we had a plethora of stupid customer stories to share all-the-time. (Both of our husbands were glad when she started working for the city and we didn’t talk bank anymore) We also bought our houses this year so we did a lot of discussing different aspects of the home buying process. Every month we would talk about who would be hosting “The last Saturday of the moth Game Night.” The New Year’s Eve tradition also started this year.

When Angela started working for the city it seemed she became obsessed with People.com, and my work would have on HLN which would have celebrity gossip. Since I would only catch bits and pieces of what was being said, I would have to text Angela to find out what was really going on. New Year’s Eve tradition take 2. (Chris and Ashley were unable to attend because Anekah was just a month old, foreshadowing of things to come maybe?) 

The baby talk begins. We both knew we wanted to have kids and we had been married for several years (which is something we still couldn’t believe) and our friends were having babies. Since we knew our turns were going to be coming soon, we did some traveling. For a while it seemed like I only talked to Angela because her and Dustin were gone most weekends doing something and visiting someone out of town, and Devin and I took our last cruise. Little did we know that our last Hoo-Rahs would be the trip we took to Sea World and of course New Year’s Eve!

2009- I’m pretty sure that we didn’t talk about anything but preparing for babies this year. Since we were both pregnant it was a lot of “I pee all the time!” and “my clothes don’t fit” and “I have a doctors appointment today.” We talked about what to register for and how much stuff a baby needs. We had to find furniture, enter Angela’s obsession with Craig’s List, which Angela found for both of us :) Then Dallas and Collin came and conversations shifted to labor and delivery and lack of sleep. Which leads me to the text that started this whole epiphany. Without being too descriptive, we are both breastfeeding and essentially feel like cows. At which point I said to Angela, “Wow…Our conversations have gone from crappy work stories and People magazine, to milk and breast pumps… Does this mean we are old?”

 

Our Wedding

Dustin and Angela’s Wedding

Working on Our House

Working on Dustin and Angela’s House

Game Nights

New Year’s Eve ‘06, ‘07, and ‘08

Pregnancies

and finally… Dallas and Collin

 

A Family Photo Shoot

Yesterday our little family had our first official family pictures done. We went to Portrait Innovations at the Town Center. Collin did so good, I was so proud of him! He didn’t fuss or cry at all. We spent more than we originally intended (of course) but I’m SO HAPPY  with what we got, that I almost don’t even care.

Collin with his Daddy

Collin with his Mommy

     

Collin bein’ Cute Little Collin

 

One Whole Month

I can’t believe that Halloween and Thanksgiving have come and gone and Collin was here for both of them, and he’s a month old already! I’ve posted just about ever picture we’ve taken to my Facebook account but what good is a blog about my little boy’s one month birthday without pictures? I’m going to make that one easy for you, the answer is none. :)

I’m curious, I’m the one that is up, what seems like, all night long, with him, so why does he look happier when Daddy is holding him? I don’t really care, I love both of these guys more than anyone could ever know.

So, what has happened this past month? Well, we’ve been to the doctor four times. One for his first check-up, the day after we brought him home. One to have him circumcised (that was a ROUGH day, thank goodness my mommy loves me and went with me!), and one for his two week check-up. Yes, I am well aware that this is only three trips to the doctor. The forth was just four days after his two week check-up, because we were all in a car accident. The first day we took him out (to a early lunch on Sunday to Moe’s) we were heading to Lake Asbury. Collin and I were going to hang out with my mom while Devin watched the football game with his brother. However, as we are sitting at the stoplight on Argyle Forest at Rampart (yes, the intersection where we live) some moron in a ginormous Avalanche decided he just wasn’t going to pay attention and slammed into the back of us. Under normal car accident circumstances I probably wouldn’t have been too hysterical, but he screwed with a really emotional woman and her two week old! (Devin is currently without the Civic and driving a rental until  at least December 10th.)   In addition to car accidents and doctors appointments, Collin made it though his first Thanksgiving, twice. Once with Devin’s family and once with mine. This in itself is a big deal. Especially if you know our families. Unfortunately, I’m an idiot and left the camera in the car the entire day, so I have to rely on other people to get me pictures of Collin’s first Thanksgiving. He’s been to church, well, Sunday school too. It’s going to be a few more weeks, most likely until after the new year when we make it back. I’m that paranoid first time mom that is afraid to take him around a lot of people in close quarters  before he gets his shots on the 29th. Maybe if it were the summer I wouldn’t be as bad, but seriously I don’t want my baby around a bunch of snot-nosed people who won’t stay home when they are sick. It’s flu season and all the hype about the swine flu, excuse me, H1N1, has freaked me out a little.

   

So what have I learned this last month?

I will never sleep through the night again.

No matter how much little sleep I get, I can look at Collin and smile, even if I am crying because I’m so tired.

I will get peed on frequently, and I will use my hand, without hesitation, to block it.

I will struggle to get anywhere on time (this is REALLY rough for me!).

Just because Collin was awake for three hours in the evening after Devin got home from work, does NOT mean that he will sleep for more than two hours. Two hours is the max. Always.

NB, 0-3, 3-6. All mean CRAP.

I have to eat more to lose weight. (A paradox!)

I used to layer my clothes and wear form fitting things. I now look at an article of clothing and think, “how easy will it be for me to feed Collin in this?”

I no longer have control. Collin does. For now.

 

I LOVE this Chunky Monkey!!!! He’s ALL MINE!!! (and Devin’s) :)