2 Year Old Collin

I honestly don’t know what to say about this kid. He is my world. Every day is something new and a new adventure with him. I love it.

His two year stats are:

• 26 pounds is the 25%
• 34 3/4 inches tall puts him in the 50-75%
• This explains why is pants are always falling off his waist. They have to be long enough but are too big in the waist :)

I lost count a LONG time ago of the words that he says because he’s talking in full sentences now. First it was just things like “there’s the ball” but now I can ask him a question and get a real answer. If he’s coughing or choking on something and I ask “Are you OK, Collin” he’s response, even though watery eyes and catching his breath, is always, “I’m fine, Mama.” I remember the first time he said it, I was driving and I chuckled to myself, “I’m fine, Mama.” Not, “OK” or even “OK Mama.” It was “I’m fine Mama.”

He is such a polite little boy. He has been saying “Please” and “Thank You” for six months or so. With his complete sentences, he will now ask specifically for something, “Please, cookie, Mama” and then “Thank you, Mama” Every time he does it I smile and can’t help but tell him how much I love him. To which he replies “Love you, Mama.” Seriously, I could just squeeze him all day long.

He’s adapted really well to having a new brother and sister. It was touch and go there for a couple weeks in the beginning, but I really think he loves them. I think for having his solo world bombarded with two new little babies he’s done amazingly well. There have been several different occasions that I’ve seen/caught him “taking care of” them. The first time I saw him try to help, Justin was in the swing crying, Collin tried to give him the pacifier. Just last week I was folding clothes on the floor and had Lana in my lap at the same time. Justin was, again, in the swing, but it wasn’t swinging. Justin started to cry and before I could get up and get to him, Collin was there. He started to swing him, after a couple pushes he reached up and pulled the mobile over Justin’s head so he could see it, then he turned on the music and walked behind the swing and pushed him for about a minute and said, “It’s OK Justin.” I watched in awe as Justin fell. back. asleep. and Collin went back to doing what he had been doing. That moment I teared up and was so happy.

There is so much I could write about this kid but I don’t have the time for that, so here’s the usual bullet list

• Trying to give up afternoon naps
• Opening doors he can pull open (Pushing a door open is serving a problem at the moment)
• UNLOCKS the doors – I’m getting nervous he’ll unlock the front door to go to the park
• Climbs on the playground equipment like it’s no big deal
• LOVES animals, shapes, colors, and number
• His favorite shows are Pocoyo, Team Umizoomi, and Blue’s Clues. He’s also recently taken a liking to VeggieTales. It’s affectionately known as “Bobby” 
• Answers the questions when the shows ask a question
• Loves to be outside – I wish I could take him out more.
• Says his prayers before we eat and bedtime
• Gets excited when I tell him we are going to church
• Learned what his birthday was and gets excited about parties and presents now :) It was really cute to hear him say “OH BOY! OH BOY! OH BOY!” when he opened presents
• He’s learning to dress himself
• Loves trains, airplanes and building with his blocks

I suppose I should try to make more time to sit down and write more because there is just too much to talk about. This kid is absolutely amazing. So cute, smart, and funny. He’s got it all  

Living Life

Well, I still have twins. I also now have almost three month old twins AND a TWO YEAR OLD! I can’t believe where my time is going. I have a monumental list of things I want to blog about, including an update on Justin and Lana, Collin’s two year update and his birthday party. I’ve also got to cover our first Halloween experience too. The thought about finding the time to do all this is exhausting in itself. I have sat down to write no less than 15 times. But every time I do, someone is crying, hungry, needs a diaper change, the phone rings, a text comes though, and life just gets in the way. It wasn’t so difficult to find the time to blog when I had just Collin. But for some reason it’s slightly more difficult with added children in the mix. As I sit here typing now, I can hear Justin waking up.

“Living Life” is all I can really say to sum up what I’ve been doing lately. I’m learning all the planning in the world doesn’t mean I’ll be prepared for anything and my days will almost never go according to plan. I’m over the moon happy with the way my life is going these days though. Some days I sit and ask God WHY He thought I could handle three kids. And other days I am all day long thanking him for these kids. When Collin is having a conversation with me, or Lana giggles and Justin finally smiles at me, my heart skips a beat and I feel my cup running over with joy. I may not have time to do the things I would like to do. My house might be a mess and I might be on the verge of a meltdown, or in the middle of a meltdown, but at the end of the day, I couldn’t ask for anything better than what I’ve got right now. I know watching Justin and Lana grow is going to be just as fun as it has been with Collin and watching Collin grow into this new little person amazes me everyday.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go Life my Life. Both Justin and Lana are waking up. There are children to be fed, diapers to be changed, fun to have, joy to experience and a life to live Eventually, I’ll get around to the other stuff.

We have Twins

On one hand it’s hard to believe that I have twins, never mind that they are already more than a month old. On the other hand, I can completely believe I have twins and they are more than a month old because I’m having a time learning how to juggle two infants and a toddler plus, I think I’ve been awake pretty much nonstop for the past month.

Anyway, here’s how it all went down:

8/17/11 – Wednesday

Devin had been working from home because I just hadn’t been feeling well and he wanted to be close by in case something happened. I had two doctors’ appointments on Wednesday. The first was my regular weekly OB check and the second was at ROC for the fetal monitoring test. Neither my mom nor Devin liked the idea of me driving, or being alone at all, so my mom went with me (and Collin) to my OB appointment and Devin was going to meet me for the long appointment at ROC.

At 11:15 I got called back for my appointment. Collin had shown no interest in waiting with me and was running around the lobby being a little boy. So I thought I would be smart and not draw attention to the fact that I was leaving the room. Well, that was the wrong thing to do. As soon as the door closed I heard him run over and bang on the door yelling “Mama! Mama!” Thankfully my mom was there and he is easily distracted by her. So I’m walking back to have my BP and weight taken and Collin is just tugging at my heart strings. Once I got to the room and was waiting for my doctor I was thinking about Collin and not having much more time alone with him, I started crying. When my doctor got to the room she was empathetic but also knew how miserable I was. So she did was OB doctors do and asked if I wanted to have babies today because I was 3 centimeters dilated already and was actually in labor.

So, over here I have myself getting every excited that I’m not going to be pregnant anymore and don’t have to go to the other doctors appointment. But over there I’m panicking because I know I REALLY have no time left with Collin. My doctor sent me straight across the street to the hospital. I told Devin what was going on and luckily we already had bags packed so all he had to do was throw everything in the car van. When I walked out into the lobby area I hugged Collin as tight as I possibly could, knowing it would be the last time I would get to do so him being my only child. At this point I was only excited about not being pregnant. I wasn’t happy about anything else. I wanted Collin to sit with me forever, and at least go have lunch with him. Mom drove me across the street and I cried as I gave Collin one last hug in his car seat before I walked inside to register. He started to cry because he wanted out of his seat and to go with me. Talk about killing me.

I got checked in, admitted and was in triage waiting when Devin got to the hospital to be with me. Because I had a donut at 8:00 that morning we were going to have to wait eight hours before they could consider my surgery. Seriously? It was a donut, it was probably already completely threw me by that point. I didn’t have a four course meal for breakfast and hadn’t eaten lunch. Whatever. The nurse told us it would probably be about 5:00 before we headed back for the C-Section. It was going to be a long day, it was only about noon at this point. I was hooked up to all the monitors for heart rates and whatnot and the nurse mentioned that Lana’s heart rate was a little low, but wasn’t anything to worry about yet. Luckily for us the triage was filling quickly and they wanted the bed I was in, so they rushed all my blood and paperwork and we headed back for surgery at 3:00 instead of 5:00.

I really thought I would be more scared than what I was going back. I don’t do needles, hospitals, or blood, and I was in the epicenter for all three. The anesthesiologist was great; I never knew anything was going on. When I was numb and couldn’t feel anything my doctor said to bring Devin in. I asked if they could get him a chair because he nearly passed out when I had Collin, I didn’t need him actually passing out while I was on the table being sliced open. He got in and within minutes I felt a “huge” weight lifted off of me and I took a big breath and thought “I can breathe” simultaneously my doctor said, “Justin’s out first!” and we heard a very large-little cry. A nurse noted the time, “3:51 PM.” Within 30 seconds Lana was out, I could breathe even easier, my doctor commented that the cord was around Lana’s neck (which explained her lower heart rate earlier), we heard yet another large-little cry, another time note of “3:51 PM” and my doctor say “and here’s Lana!.” At some point in there she also asked Devin if he wanted to see something. So he stood up and looked over the curtain. Not gonna lie, I would not have done that. What he really saw is still a mystery to me, and I’m ok with that. As my doctor was doing what she needed to do the nurses were tending to these two crying babies. I couldn’t help but think, “how are we going to handle that!?” Because we knew I was going to have a C-Section and we are done having children, we decided I was going to have my tubes tied. My doctor leaned over the curtain so she could see me and says “Erin. You have beautiful ovaries. And such long tubes” I told her “Good. Double-knot them!” She and the nurses giggled as they brought Justin and Lana, all bundled up, over to see me. Devin got to walk over and take pictures and see them while they were being cleaned up.

It was at this point that I wasn’t thrilled about the whole C-Section process. I didn’t get to hold my babies right away. Collin was placed immediately on my chest after I had him, but my twins had to go to the NICU for several hours and I had to go to recovery. After I left recovery I thought they would be brought to my room. But my bed was wheeled into the NICU were we got to hold them for a grand total of about 5 minutes. They were so tiny, all I wanted to do was snuggle them on my chest and nurse them. But I couldn’t. They stayed and I was taken to my room. My mind was taken off of that a little when my mom came back and brought Collin. I was so happy to see him, but he was scared to walk into the room. He saw me, in the bed, IV in my hand, and fell to the floor saying “oh mama!” I told him I needed a hug from him, so he eventually warmed up to the idea of being in the room and that I was OK. He definitely wasn’t sold on the fact that I was “fine” but he took that Mama was “ok.” It was so good to hold him in my arms again. I say that like it had been days or weeks since I had seen him, when in reality it was only like 8 or 9 hours. Devin took my mom back to the NICU so she could see the babies, they didn’t let anyone but me or Devin hold them, but she got to hold their tiny hands for a minute, and I got some alone time with Collin. It was rough saying goodbye to Collin again, but he needed to go; it was way past his bedtime. FINALLY about 6 or 7 hours after they were born, our babies were brought to our room. We could hold them and I could nurse them.

It was a long day. I cried more about how Collin was going to feel and not getting to spend more time with him than anything else. The only thing I would change about the day is that I wouldn’t have eaten breakfast and I would have spent much more time with Collin the night before and that morning. But I was/am definitely glad to have my two new babies there with me also.

 

“Smoonie!!!”

My child is a bottomless pit. He will eat all morning and all day long if I let him. But I’ve finally found something that he LOVES, fills him up, and it actually half way decent for him. He knows EXACTLY what he’s getting when I pull the frozen yogurt and fruit from the freezer and go to the corner by the sink. He does a little happy dance and says “smoonie! smoonie! smoonie!” He MUST help make his smoothie or else he’s not completely happy. But the second I hand it to him, he says thank you and runs off doing his happy dance again.

One day I made him a smoothie he happened to be in just a diaper. When he drank it I noticed he was shivering. So I asked if he was cold and wrapped up in a blanket and cuddled with him. Ever since then, about three or four sips in he shakes, on purpose, says “colt” and wants me to wrap him in the blanket. He’s even done it when he’s not drinking a smoothie. He just tells me “colt” for no reason and I have to wrap him up. Of course because he isn’t cold he only stays for about a millisecond, but it’s still pretty stinkin’ cute.

The Big Boy Bed

 

Several weeks ago Devin converted Collin’s crib to his toddler bed. I cried, but he was very excited about it.

That afternoon he took a nap in his crib

But went to bed in his Big Boy Toy Story Bed

 

He’s done REALLY well in it. He stays in bed until we come to get him. Even if he’s not ready for a nap (or he thinks he’s not ready rather…) once we leave the room he stays there and plays under the blanket or cries. When he wakes up from his naps or in the morning he still won’t get out, even after I moved toys into his room. He will lay in bed and say “uh, mama!” or “Daaaaada!”

Part of me wanted to keep him in the crib until he discovered he could climb out, but I just couldn’t lift him at all anymore. And when he does wake up, I’m surprised he doesn’t get out of bed and go play. Again, part of me wishes he would so that I could just relax and wake up myself a little bit first, but it’s all good. I’m happy with the way things are, and I think he really is too.

 

We didn’t have a video monitor before the twins’ shower so we have been taking advantage of it. It’s quite interesting to see what he’s up to when we aren’t in the room. (Which is why I know he doesn’t get out of bed even if he’s not happy about being there for a nap) He has a Toy Story blanket and when he hides under it just right, it looks like one of the aliens are in his bed. Being under the blanket is one of his favorite things to do, rather than sleep. Since we’ve had the video monitor I’ve sent Devin several picture that crack me up or are just too sweet not to show him. So here are some cute “sleeping” pictures of the monitor I spend a lot of time looking at now…

Before actually giving up and going to sleep

And a sweet sleeping little boy

 

This one cracks me up because his legs are hanging over the edge

THIS was the day I first put toys in his room. I thought I was going to have issues keeping him in bed. He was getting out to go play. So I used the  intercom feature (IT’S GREAT! Because we can tell him to lay back down without going upstairs) to tell him to get back into bed. He wasn’t happy about it, but get right back into bed. He cried for a little bit, but fell asleep and hasn’t gotten up since. 

Crafting Nursery Wall Art

I knew I wanted Justin and Lana’s initials on the wall somehow, but didn’t want to just buy them somewhere. So I thought, I have sample paint leftover from the windows. I’m not artist, but I’m crafty enough to be able to do something simple that I’ll like. So I went to work in Photoshop and designed something that I knew I could execute. When I was telling Angela about what I wanted to do, she suggested attaching wooden letters to the canvas. So I found exactly what I was looking for… and then some.

I sketched out the Photoshop design onto the 12x12 canvas

And went to work painting…

painting…

 

twice ;)

 

The isle the letters were on were these little cliché words that I had to have… but I had to paint them because they were horrible pinks, blues, and yellows. 

 

 

And you’ve already see the final product, hung with a black chord

I don’t think I’ve ever planned out an art project/craft that actually turned out the way I envisioned and really wanted it to, so I was pleasantly surprised with myself on these.

The Long Awaited Nursery Post

I probably should have done this last week when I posted these pictures to Facebook, but I’m going to use the whole tired and pregnant with twins excuse.

 

This was my original vision for the room. Teal walls and espresso furniture with white bedding. After purchasing two cribs and 4 drawer dresser, we realized we didn’t have a whole lot of room. That extra crib sure does take up a lot of room. But I’m really happy with the way it all turned out nonetheless.

(The pictures are taken on my phone and didn’t turn out all that great. Sorry about that)

 

The view from the door looking in

I know I know, it’s crooked, Lana’s bed (where they will both be initially) and the rocking chair

Justin’s Bed

What makes it “boy” and “girl”

Corner windows between their beds. My favorite lanterns and homemade curtains

  

Justin’s View, the rocking chair, and side table with my custom wall art :)

Lana’s View, The dresser/changing table

It’s a lot easier to organize a closet for one baby. Two take up a TON of space! And Justin/Collin have way more clothes at this point :)

 

All in all, it turned out pretty much how I envisioned it would. That’s definitely a first for me!

Getting Emotional

 

As we get closer and closer to having two new babies around, I find myself crying more all the time. Not because I’m necessarily sad, mad, upset or even happy. Just, because I look and watch Collin and all the things that he does and says now, and I just wonder if I’ll really feel the same way about the twins as I do about him. Everyone says yes of course you will. And I guess I don’t really doubt that I will, but it’s just hard to sit and spend so much time with him the last two years and think that, not just one, but two, new babies are going to have space in my heart and my life like he does. As much as I’m ready for the twins to be here and not be pregnant anymore (I’m WAY beyond done being pregnant this time) I can’t help but think, these are the last days that I’m going to have just me and Collin.

He actually talks to me now and tells me what he wants and doesn't want. He interacts with Carly and the cats. He comforts me when I’m crying because I can’t believe our time is almost over. He gets excited to see me when I’ve been gone. He gets excited and recognizes things in books, on TV, and when we actually do get out. I watch him play and he’s using his imagination. He’s just one big ball of amazement to me and I just can’t seem to grasp the fact that “just us” is almost done. I’ve got two weeks at the most just us. And the worst part is, he doesn’t really understand what’s about to happen, and it is killing me.

 

 

Comforting me

 

Throwing his pall and playing catch

 

 

Enjoying some time in the sandbox

 

“Calling and talking” to Daddy