Everyday Something New...

I Can Do...

Walk all around the family room (with the help of my toy).

Sit by myself in the bathtub-no more baby seat in the tub! I WON'T SIT IN IT!! I REFUSE!!

Sincerely-"baby" Collin

In the few seconds it took me to type what is above, Collin was here and then I heard the smacking of little hands on the hardwood floor upstairs and dog food rattling. He set a speed record for going up the stairs-and I didn't even see it-BAD MOM!!

Now after the time it took to type the above paragraph he has opened my recipe drawer and thrown all of my recipes that I had cut from magazines all over the floor.

I think we are in trouble!

GOTTA RUN before the next adventure begins!!

Merry Christmas Eve!!

LOOK WHAT I CAN DO!!

The days of putting Collin in the family room and thinking he will stay there are officially over! A couple of days ago Wyatt was taking a nap and I was cleaning up the kitchen (how ironic). Collin was down with Wyatt in the family room playing-or so I thought. I heard a noise and went to check on him and he was half way up the stairs!!! My heart about stopped!

It is so amazing how fast he is growing. It seems like everyday he does something new. He is crawling at lightning speed, he pulls himself up to standing, he claps, he tries to snap his fingers and now he CLIMBS STAIRS!!! He laughs all the time, sometimes even when he's asleep. He loves yelling and now he has started a new squeaking noise which I like better than the yelling because it is not as loud! And he loves "BIG HUGS" and to give "BIG KISSES". They are big because his mouth is wide open!!

I have some other cute pictures to post of our random family outings for Christmas. The Collins Family doesn't know what has hit them! These kids have Rocked our World!! What FUN!! We are having a blast and these kids are going to be best of friends!!

We all went to Wildlights at the zoo. It was really cold and the kids were so bundled up they could hardly move but Collin seemed to enjoy looking at the lights. He stayed awake the whole time. This is monumental because I took him to the zoo about a dozen times while I was off work and he would sleep through the entire outing and then wake up as soon as I put him in the car to go home!!

This is Collin showing his cousin Kahlen a thing or two about how to eat out of a bowl. You have to get your entire face in there!

And last but not least-THE ELUSIVE TRIO-at it again! Still no picture of the cousins together. I'm not giving up yet! I can't figure out how to get the pictures right side up so you will have to see them sideways-SORRY!

Christmas Lesson #2

DON'T LET THE LITTLE ONES DECORATE UNSUPERVISED

Because they don't decorate cookies...they decorate their faces and eat all the cookies!!

COLLIN MEETS SANTA

Today Collin got to sit on Santa's lap for the first time. He was not very excited at first but eventually he warmed up. What a fun experience watching all the parents make fools of themselves to get their kids to smile-then it's YOUR TURN!! HAHAHA Merry Christmas!!!

More Christmas thoughts

Since I have pretty much done everything I said I would never do I might as well keep up the trend. We were not going to buy much for Collin this Christmas because we still have gifts in boxes that we were going to wrap and put under the tree and maybe even wrap some of his current toys. He's a baby, he wouldn't know we were re-gifting. He really doesn't NEED anything. And, more importantly, we are running out of space!

But...sometimes I go shopping and I see something that I know he would just LOVE! So I've picked up a few things here and there. Today I started organizing the gifts and found that I have gone slightly overboard. Is this how kids get spoiled? Is it wrong to want to give your child everything? I mean, he could have one toy and he would be perfectly happy. I don't mean to be sappy but I remember being in Guatemala and seeing poverty like we can't even imagine here. I remember coming home and the excess and importance we place on "meaningless stuff" kind of disgusted me. But here I am, doing it, and doing it well. I don't know what to say...Merry Christmas?

Christmas Lesson #1

BUY PLASTIC ORNAMENTS!!!

Need I say more?

Celebrating Adoption Photos

Collin had a session with Tennille King, a photographer that donates a free session and photos to newly adopted children to document this special time. The program is called "Celebrating Adoption". She came to our house and took the pictures. Some are in his bedroom and others are in and around his playroom aka the old livingroom. Since he is crawling at the speed of light it is tough to keep him in one place for too long. She was very patient and the pictures came out great. Bye bye FLASH! It is worth the extra money for the quality of the pictures and you pick the location for the session. She is a natural light photographer so she doesn't have a ton of equipment-only a camera!

I am adding the link to the bottom of the blog titled "View Collin's Photos" to view the online gallery. It will only be up for about 10 more days so look fast! They are SO cute!! The password is "WILSON".

I have added her web page also. I highly recommend her!!!!

1st SNOW!!

I couldn't resist bundling Collin up like the kid from "A Christmas Story" and taking him out in his new sled. I think the trauma of putting all those clothes on far outweighed any excitement over snow or the sled. Actually, I don't think he cared for the cold stuff. It may take a while to adjust to the new weather!