HAPPY HOMECOMING DAY !!!

Today (well actually yesterday now that I am finally getting to this post) is Collin's 1 year anniversary of the day he came home from Guatemala. The day did not go exactly as planned...of course.

I wanted to decorate his bedroom in balloons while he was asleep so he would wake up to balloons all over. He loves balloons as I am sure most kids do and his Pops had decorated his room with balloons for his homecoming last year. BUT...I ended up getting stuck at work on overtime and Wyatt was called to Children's Hospital because Peyton broke his ankle. So, since we would both be very late Collin had to stay at Nana and Pops which means he wasn't going to wake up at home. The balloons I bought were going to serve double duty at his party. Needless to say only one bunch of balloons made it home. Oh well, maybe next year!!

I got home at 3:30am and had to finish the gift bags for the party so I went to bed at about 4:30am and had to get up bright and early at 6am to meet Amy and Em for our twice annual Kids Resale fun at the Grove City Nazarene Church. We make an event of it! We meet at Starbucks to map out our strategy and arrive an hour before the doors open to make sure we are first (or close to first) in line. Yes, there are other people as crazy as us that show up super early. This is another one of those things I NEVER would have done BC (before Collin).I wouldn't even do it for myself! But I buy his entire wardrobe for the following season for about $100-$200 dollars and that includes a few extra toys to add to the embarrassingly large pile he has already!

Then it was off to Collin's Chick-fil-a party. I was working on an hour and a half of sleep but made it through. We had a great party! Chick-fil-a was great. I'm pretty sure we ended up with more than 50 people but they just kept handing out the food. They are so nice and helpful there. So allow me to plug Chick-fil-a for all of your party needs, or lunch time needs. They even serve breakfast =*)

Collin was in a great mood and worked the room when he wasn't in the playroom. The "eat more chikn cow" even made an appearance and the kids loved it!I think this experience taught me that when Collin gets older to have all of his birthday parties at someone else's place!!!When it is over you just leave and go home to your house that is in the same condition as when you left. Sounds good to me!

We went home to have a little family time with Collin. When we were in Guatemala we bought various things to give him over the years on his homecoming day to honor his culture. Nothing big (except for the one he will get on his 21st) just little handmade items we found at markets. So we gave him his first Guatemalan gift.

We also "adopted" the Discovery Reef at the zoo in honor of Collin's adoption. He loves the aquarium at the zoo. I remember when we were in the hospital in Guatemala (the real one)that he loved watching the fish in the aquarium and it was really the only thing that would settle him for a short period of time so we thought that was appropriate. He got a backpack with some fish and sea creatures and an adoption certificate with a picture of "his" Discovery Reef.

Finally-we got to take a nap!! I HATE sleeping during the day but it was unavoidable this time. It seems to just waste the day especially on a special day like today but Collin needed a nap too so I took advantage of that.

We woke up just in time to eat dinner and then the OSU v USC game came on. Collin was going to stay up late and party with mom and dad to watch the Bucks beat USC. He went to bed at halftime...AND THAT IS ALL I'M GOING TO SAY ABOUT THAT!!!

All in all I think we had a great first homecoming day!

GO BUCKS!!

I should have posted this yesterday but better late than never! Let's just hope the Buckeyes get it together by next week!!

First Leaves of the Season

As you can see Collin was a big help!

Should I be Concerned??

Collin LOVES his "helmet"! He wears it everywhere. In case you haven't noticed, his helmet is a plastic bowl! We are hoping that he will not be THAT kid-you know-the one that wears a bowl on his head to school everyday!!

Looking Back

We are approaching the one year anniversary of Collin's homecoming from Guatemala. Looking back on where I was one year ago is not a good memory. It was the beginning of the worst nightmare. Collin was so sick and this would have been the night that we took him to the first "hospital" where my mom and I counted the minutes as we spent the night in the garage full of screaming babies. It was horrible. This day started the bad dream that lasted 10 long days while I stared non stop at that baby we had all fallen in love with, not knowing if he was ever going to come home to us. All I could do was hold him and love him and try to let him know it would be okay he just had to get better so we could go home where we have real doctors and real hospitals.


I also have to think of how many great people we met along the way. People that touched our lives forever with their kindness. People that we will never forget no matter how far away we are. Without our Guatemalan angels we never would have made it through. We are eternally grateful to all of them.


Luckily, that bad dream came to an end and our baby Collin got to come home!! And, look at him now. I can't imagine not having him in our lives. The amount of joy he brings to our lives every day is infinite. Even when he is being a bad boy he is still my little pumpkin =*)


Our life has changed a great deal in the last year.Our living room is now a playroom, our house is in a perpetual state of disarray, and our pristine backyard is filled with more plastic toys than I ever knew existed. I count the days to the next seasonal baby consignment sale. I check out potty books at the library. When people ask how old Collin is I say 19 months instead of 1 1/2. I have a working knowledge of all things Backyardigans and am quickly re-familiarizing myself with an old friend, Sesame Street. Elmo might as well be mommy-he's VERY popular. And, I wouldn't change a thing!!


This has been a fantastic year for the Wilson's and I know the future will bring more fun and good times!

I'm a Cowboy Baby!!

So he doesn't quite get the hat on straight-it is still cute!!!

Fun with Yogurt

What more can I say?

What a big boy...What a bad mommy!!

I came home from work late last night and found Collin in our bed with Wyatt. Rather than chance waking him at 3am I climbed in with them. I never sleep very well with him in the bed-anyway-This morning he must have climbed out of bed without us realizing it (so I guess I can sleep). I woke up in a foggy panic because I didn't see him in the bed. I ran downstairs and there he was sitting on the kitchen floor with a box of cereal dumped out on the floor. He was just sitting there eating his cereal off the floor and gave me this look like, "WHAT"?? What a big boy!!! Tonight-Back to the crib!!

Collin's 1 Year Homecoming Anniversary Coming Up 9/13/08

In a little less than a month it will be Collin's first homecoming anniversary. When we took him to see Elmo at Chick-fil-a a while back we entered a drawing for a party for 50 people and we actually won! So, for his anniversary we are having a party at Chick-fil-a. We get free food for 50 people-what a deal. Of course, most of our friends have at least 2 kids if not more so we may actually hit our quota. At first I thought there was no way we knew 50 people to invite, but it turns our WE DO!!

I have added a new guest book under the posts close to the bottom of the page so check it out and leave us a message. You can even add a picture-but keep it clean people this is a family-ish blog!! =*)

Vacation day 3,4&5

Vacation day 3,4&5

the joys of family vacation

More of the same to report on days 3 and 4. Just more sun, sand, beaches and swimming pools-oh did I forget free flowing alcohol to make it all bearable.

Great mom story-When we arrived the adults got free rum punch and the kids got free fruit punch. All the punch looks the same and while we were waiting to check in we ended up with about a dozen random punch cups. Collin wanted a drink so I picked up what I thought was his cup and he took a big chug then got a really funny look on his face. I tasted it and -YES- full of rum!

Day 3-We went to the Sesame Street Character breakfast which the kids loved. All the characters came in one at a time and went to each table taking pictures with the kids and dancing around. In the end all of the characters came in and had a big dance party. I was surprised that Collin wasn’t scared of them at all. He actually tried to honk their noses. He is now officially an Elmo fanatic except his Elmo is called “Melmo”. We got an Elmo balloon and it floats on the ceiling so Collin is always looking up and yelling Melmo. Every once in a while Melmo goes into the ceiling fan and gets beat up pretty good which completely cracks him up.

The kids spent some time at Kids Camp and seemed to enjoy themselves and so did the adults! The ladies went to the spa to have a massage and Dad, Wyatt, Peyton and Alexis went deep sea fishing. Later in the day, Dad, Mom and I were sitting at the bar and Brylie’s group walked by. We all tried to hide our faces so she wouldn’t see us and not want to go back to camp but it didn’t work. She almost made it all the way by and she said “hi Nana”. She said hi and then off she went with the group to play some more. Unfortunately when we picked her up they said she couldn’t come back because she had a runny nose. So much for Kid’s Camp.

We all hit the Sesame Street Stage Show and of course the kids had a blast. They love dancing around to the music!! Especially Kahlen-she’s quite the dancer!!

Peyton and Alexis agreed to hang out in my Mom and Dad’s room to sit with the kids while the adults hit the adults only restaurant and bar. Unfortunately, the adults only restaurant is closed on Thursdays so no luck there. We hit a different restaurant and had a not so great dinner with super slow service so by the time we got done with dinner the adults only bar was closed! What bar closes at 10pm!?!?! We hit the piano bar instead and had a few more drinks then back to the room. When we went into the room where the kids were they were all sleeping. It was too funny-Peyton, Alexis, Brylie and Collin were all lined up in the king size bed and Kahlen must have gotten up and laid on the pull out sofa bed. Nana and Pop insisted that all the grand kids stay over and they would sleep on the pull out couch with Kahlen. I’m sure there wasn’t much sleep going on in that room last night! Some might say they are crazy-I say you couldn’t ask for better grandparents!







Day 4-Today has been more of the same. We ate breakfast then hit the pool. All the kids are jumping into the pool and going under water and they all love the slides. Kahlen and Collin have to go down with one of us but Brylie goes down all by herself now. As soon as she comes up for air she says “DO AGAIN”!! K&C are perfectly happy putting their heads under the water that flows out of the treasure chest or even the spicket where you rinse off your feet. Who needs fancy slides, just turn on the hose!

Day5-Today Wyatt, Peyton, Alexis and I went para sailing. It was pretty cool but a little scary. The idea that a little rope is all that is connecting you to the boat is a little bit disconcerting but you are connected to a parachute so it's not like you are just going to free fall into the ocean! The view was beautiful though! I was surprised that the kids actually did it but they went first and they loved it!

Finally a moment to post

Finally I have found a moment to post. We are back from family vacation and I am now ready for my vacation from family vacation. Unfortunately, that will not happen until February...so until then I guess I'll have to suck it up.

We had a very nice time in Jamaica. Beaches was the perfect place for the kids! They loved the Sesame Street characters. They all did well on the flights and help up like champs during our 2 day trip home fiasco. As a matter of fact I would say they held up better than most of the adults-Oh! to be a child again!! NO WORRIES!!

I wanted to post on vacation but my wireless was on roam. I had no idea what that would cost so I skipped it. I actually typed Word documents the first few days so I will start with those.

Vacation Day 1 and 2

Vacation started very early, and I mean EARLY! We met at our house at 3am and started the adventure! Off tot he airport with 3 sleeping kids under 3. I’ll just say by the time we got to the airport the kids were no longer sleeping. As a matter of fact I think they were more awake than the adults!

The flights were pretty much drama free although the lap child thing isn't that great. I can't stand sitting in that little seat by myself let alone with a kid on my lap. It was so much easier flying when Collin was just a little baby, now he is a big baby with an even bigger will to go, go, go, go!

The nightmare began with customs in Jamaica. I am going to guess we and about 3000 other people stood in line for at least 2 hours. That on top of the fact that we had 3 very impatient little kids that have been stuck on a plane for the last 5 hours-NOT FUN! I was pretty much ready to turn around and go home at that point.

Finally we made it through and found the Beaches desk and much to my surprise we also found FREE BEER! Thank you baby Jesus-I needed a drink, and another and another! We still had the 2 ½ hour bus ride to the resort which I have heard is a living hell. Luckily for us, waiting in line forever must have worn out the kids because they slept for the entire ride...and so did we!!!

When we arrived we were greeted by our own private welcoming committee and given more free booze-am I in heaven?? They checked us in and showed us to our rooms. We spent the first couple hours just seeing what the place had to offer then headed to dinner. Meals are usually very stressful for me with the kids. At least here the place is full of kids so if they act crazy it’s really no big deal.

We made it through dinner and took the kids to look at the beach-YEAH RIGHT! Yes, we were the hillbilly family out in the ocean in our clothes. Really it was the little ones but someone had to keep them from drowning! They didn’t want to leave...UNTIL...Brylie started screaming bloody murder. She was screaming that a lobster bit her and it was still on her!! We took her up to the fresh water shower and rinsed her off and she was hysterical. I assumed a jellyfish stung her but she insisted it was a lobster between her legs and she wanted it OFF NOW!!! So, in our first couple of hours at the resort we had to take a trip to the nurse. The nurse fixed her up and she was ready to go back to the beach the next day. I tried not to laugh but her screaming that a lobster got her was too funny! What a nice aunt. After that drama we headed to our rooms to turn in for the night and get ready for our first full day of vacation!

Today we had a nice relaxing day playing with the kids. It was very nice because everyone was in the pool at the same time playing and having fun.The kids pool is great-they love it. We checked out the kids club and we will probably try it out tomorrow. Nana and Brylie wiped out on the slippery floor and Nana fell on poor Brylie. Luckily no trip to the nurse was necessary-YET!

After our day in the sun we went to the Sesame Street stage show. I looked at Wyatt and said “who would have ever thought we would be in Jamaica watching a Sesame Street show dancing around like fools”? And then... they came and grabbed him to go up on stage and do the Limbo with Elmo, Bert, Ernie, Zoe and Cookie Monster-he was great!! The kids loved the show. Collin zoned out just like he does when he watches TV.

We headed to dinner but had to wait for a while so we went and sat outside. The kids were crazy as usual. We tried corralling them like livestock but one would escape than another and then another. Brylie decided to be a bad girl and wander off and Kahlen followed. When I called for her she gave me that “you’re gonna have to catch me look” and took off into the landscaped garden area to hide with Kahlen hot on her heels. Guess what we heard next???? BLOODY MURDER SSCCRRREEAAAMMMMING!!!! I go grab them and they are screaming and holding their feet. I look down and they are covered in fire ants, and now so am I!!!!!! Off to the fountain to try to wash them off fast! After we get all the ants off they think it’s time to play in the water again and the fight begins to corral them once again!

After dinner we did a little more pool time and then off to bed. We have the character breakfast bright and early and who knows what other excitement in store for us tomorrow. Hopefully none of it involves stitches but at the rate we are going it wouldn’t surprise me! Wish us luck!

Finally home from vacation!

Well, we made it home from vacation. Too much unpacking to catch up at the moment but lots of pictures and updates to come very soon-check back!!

Sorry no posts for a while

Sorry we have not posted for a little while. We are very busy getting ready for our family vacation to Jamaica. We will be leaving for the airport at 3:30 am...GOOD TIMES!! Maybe I will find some time on vacation to post. If not I'll have lots to update when we get home.

Addicted to mom blogs

I don't know if you know it or not but there is a wealth of information out there in the form of other people's blogs. I must admit, I am addicted to mom blogs! Who would have ever thought? I am fascinated by the creative stuff moms do with their kids. It actually makes me feel a little inadequate. I don't know where these moms find the time. They come up with the ideas, execute them, blog about them, read other blogs and still find the time to be supermom. I'm getting lots of great ideas though.

One of the new ideas I am trying is called "Muffin Tin Monday". This is when you serve your child's meal in a muffin tin so it is a variety of little bits of different kinds of foods. It encourages kids to try different foods since they are presented in a new way. This is pretty much the way Collin eats all the time BUT not in the muffin tin. And, he eats just about anything so I have a hard time thinking of new foods to feed him.

For his first "Muffin Tin Monday" he had ham,colby jack cheese chunks, celery, turkey, raisins, peanut butter, carrots, apple slices, grapes, bananas, yogurt and mixed nuts. The kids LOVES nuts!! As you can see he dumped all of the food out of the muffin tin so it just looked like the same old lunch BUT in the end it makes me feel like a cool and creative mom!!!






We are preparing to leave for Jamaica on August 4th-just a little over 1 week away! I can't wait. I hope everyone behaves on the plane!



Last weekend I took Collin to an outdoor concert at a park close to home. Ms. Sparkles was performing. She sings kids songs and acts crazy-they love it. They had blow up jumping houses, balloon artists, face painting and a bubble machine.



We went to Chik-Fila and met Elmo. While we were there we filled out an entry form to win a party for 50 people and guess what...we won!! So get ready to eat some chicken! I'm not sure when we are going to have this party but we will let everyone know when we do.





We went to the Police Picnic at Zoombezi Bay. Collin could have cared less. I think he is just as happy at the Hilliard pool. Nana and Pop were kind enough to take him home with them when they left so Mom and Dad could enjoy a little adult time, aka, ride the slides! Good Times!


Collin is a brand new kid since he has started walking! He is everywhere and he is starting to display classic toddler behavior. It can be slightly embarrassing when your child flings his body on the ground or arches his back. stiffens his entire body and screams bloody murder while you try to put him into his stroller.If you aren't doing what Collin wants to do he lets you know he doesn't like it!! Help us Super Nanny!!



Next week we have our final post adoption update.It seems so strange that we still have to report to someone. It seems like Collin has been here forever. We will be celebrating his homecoming on September 13th-1 year!! Time really does fly and he is getting so big. It seems like he is having a learning explosion! We are so very lucky!!!

No more pacifier face!!

I recently noticed that in almost all of the recent pictures of Collin he has a pacifier in his mouth. I thought it was time to get rid of it all though it has been a great friend to Collin!! Everyone has an opinion on how to do it. We decided to go cold turkey so it required my mom to agree to get rid of all pacifiers in her house too. In other words, no pacifiers for my nieces either. My 3 year old niece still used one and you can tell it is messing up her teeth. She stopped a couple of times but the smaller kids always had one and so they eventually would reappear in her mouth.

So about a week ago we began the torture. Actually for the first few days it didn't seem too bad until bedtime. He goes to sleep but he doesn't stay asleep. He was such a good sleeper but that has all changed. I'm hoping things will get back to normal soon. Of course he is teething again so he is extra fussy.

It is nice to be able to see his smile instead of seeing the pacifier. He is also trying to talk more so hopefully not having that thing in his mouth all the time will help with that.

Peyton and Alexis have been over the last few days. Those kids are really a big help. Collin loves having them around, he has constant playmates and they love to entertain him. Alexis babysat for him all day on Friday so I could spend the day with my mom. That seemed to go well.

It has been so cute the last couple of mornings. We usually put him in our bed when he wakes up early in the morning.When he decides it's time to get up he crawls over me and slides off the bed. He will stand there and look at me until I open my eyes and then he says "bye bye" and waves. His next stop is Peyton's room. He pushes open Peyton's door and goes in his room and starts yelling until Peyton wakes up. He steals one of Peyton baseball hats and then says "bye bye", waves and heads back to our room. He has to put the hat on someone which makes him laugh and then he does the bye bye and heads back to Peyton's room. Poor Peyton gets about as much sleep as we do, which isn't much lately!

We are actually ale to decipher some of the things Collin is saying now. He says bye bye and goodbye really well!

Tomorrow we are headed to Zoombezi Bay (the old Wyandotte Lake) for the annual Police Picnic. We are taking all of the kids so it should be a fun time.Wyatt and I both have gone to this picnic since we were kids. We joke that we actually probably met eachother there when we were younger. Hopefully I will have some pictures to post.

New Pictures

We had new pictures taken of Collin. You can click the Flash link to the left and look for Heather Wilson and the password is Collin. He did not have the best session. He was in a great mood in the waiting room but as soon as we went in to the studio that all changed. I probably should have had a reshoot on a later date but I really wanted 4th of July pictures. We need to go back to Tenille King!!

Take a look.

My Favorite Holiday

There are many reasons the 4th of July is my favorite holiday. Not only does the holiday include my birthday but it lasts for 3 to 5 days minimum. This year was extra special because Collin is here. I remember this time last year I was really bummed because I had hoped that Collin would be home by my birthday-he would be my best birthday present ever-but no such luck. Instead, Wyatt and I worked for 2 days straight to save money for our next trip to Guatemala.

This year was a different story. My best present ever is here and he started walking! We had a great first Fourth of July together! Thursday we went downtown to Red, White and Boom! I thought the rain might ruin our day but it stopped just in time. We had a prime piece of fireworks watching real estate! We went to a party on top of a parking garage so we didn't have to mix with the "crowd" or fight for parking. The kids had a blast because they could run free and the party was very nice. We took our friends Amy and Em for their first RW&B experience. I think they had a great time. We also took Nana, Uncle B, Brylie,Kahlen, Alexis, Peyton, Greg(Alexis' boyfriend),Niki, Kaitlyn and Austin. Wyatt aka Daddy was able to join us for a while too. We watched the parade and then had dinner and waited for the fireworks. Collin didn't mind the fireworks at all. The kids had a few late nights so we could pay for that for a while. We also made a joint decision to eliminate all pacifiers "cold turkey" last week but all in all everyone did pretty well.

On the 4th we decided to check out the DooDah Parade in the Short North. All the kids spent the night so it was easier to get to a parade that started at 1pm instead of 10am. None of us had ever gone to this parade-it is a parade that anyone who wants to make a statement can join in. As you can imagine there were some very creative entries! It is a humorous parade spoofing current events. It inspired us to think of something to do to be IN the parade next year instead of watching it or at least to make it an annual event-a new tradition! It rained that day as well but it stopped or at lest slowed long enough for us to enjoy the parade. The kids looked so cute in their rain ponchos and Brylie loved catching candy!

The weather cleared up enough for us to enjoy the day. We cooked out with the family and a few friends and then went to the Hilliard Fireworks. We have a secret spot that we sit in every year. It is very close to where the fireworks are set off and the view is spectacular! Hilliard's fireworks rival RW&B every year, they are great! After the fireworks we went back home and had our own fireworks display-very impressive!

Saturday was my birthday. Brylie was very excited because she made me a beautiful pink cake(see above)so I went to my mom and dads and we sang Happy Birthday (at least 6 times, we had to sing to everyone) and dug in. She was very proud of her creation.

Later in the evening we went to Hooter's to watch the UFC fight. Don't laugh-that was Wyatt's idea of the perfect way to spend my birthday!?!?!? What woman wouldn't love to go to Hooter's on her birthday??? ME!!! It was fine but I would have rather just stayed home-oh well! That will teach me to have a birthday on the same day as a UFC fight. Now a trip to Vegas to see the fight might be a different story!

The party was not over yet!! Today we took the Jet Ski and all the kids to Alum Creek Beach. We had a fun day playing in the water and having a picnic! Then we went home and had a cookout and MORE BIRTHDAY CAKE!! This year I scored a total of 3 birthday cakes!! It was a nice, relaxing and fun family day.

What a weekend!! I love the Fourth of July!!!!

New Stuff

Collin has a few new tricks. Today, while I was upstairs getting ready, he went downstairs, turned on the TV to the channel he wanted,sat down in his chair and waited for me to come down. I don't know if it is a good thing that he has figured this out. He would mess with the TV turning it off and on but it didn't seem "purposeful" like it was today.

He has been making a really strange new noise for a week or so and I think I have finally figured it out. He cracks up when you gargle mouthwash. Today he made the noise and threw his head back and it dawned on me-he is gargling. I have to get it on video, it is hilarious.

He is officially a "dipper". When he was eating breakfast this morning he would take his apple slices and pretend like he was dipping them. I gave him a carton of yogurt to see what he would do. He dipped everything on his plate in it. He loved it.

He is also a climber. He tries to climb into his stroller by climbing on other toys-THAT ROLL!! We all know what that leads to.I feel an emergency room trip coming on any time now!

It is amazing when kids start saying stuff and you wander where in the world they learned that-then you catch yourself saying it! I guess I say na-na-no, no , I do say na-na-no, I just didn't realize it. So...Collin says na-na-no. It is much cuter when he says it. Why is he mocking me?!?!?

He is still crawling around like Spiderman but he stands unsupported a lot more. Part of me wants him to walk and part of me doesn't. Life will never be the same when he does!

New York Trip and other stuff

Well, we are home-thank goodness. We left on Thursday and decided to break the 10 hour drive up over 2 days so Collin wouldn't be too stressed. We drove to the PA/NJ border the first day so we only had about 3 hours left to drive on Friday. We stayed in a cheap, scary hotel but we survived. The last time we took Collin out of town and stayed in a hotel he screamed bloody murder the whole night so we were hoping we would not have a repeat of that nightmare. He was a little cranky but slept just fine. We didn't have to rush too much since we only had 3 hours left to drive so we had breakfast and tried to wear Collin out as much as possible before getting back in the car.

We arrived in Huntington, New York Friday afternoon and met with Collin's foster father, Miguel and the rest of his family. They were very excited to see him. Collin didn't seem to remember him but managed to warm up to him about the time we were leaving to go home. There is no question that he has bonded with us.

We stayed at the seminary that Gonzalo, Miguel's brother, has been studying at for 5 years. It was very nice. Of course, once again I was very concerned that Collin would be too loud and disturb everyone but the place was empty and we had a whole wing to ourselves. The room was small bedroom with a double bed. Collin refused to sleep in the pack and play so the three of us squished in the double bed. If I thought I would fit in the pack and play I may have tried-but it was good family bonding time.

We visited with everyone for the rest of the evening and took lots of pictures. Miguel had strict orders from Mama Rosa to take lots of pictures of Collin. He followed her orders very well!

Saturday was the ordination. We had to get up very early. I think for the first time in a long time we actually had to wake Collin up and let me tell you he was not happy. We met everyone for breakfast and then headed for the church. Gonzalo was kind enough to solicit one of his friends that speaks English/Spanish to come with us and translate. Collin lasted about and hour in church which was quite commendable. Wyatt finally took him out. The ceremony lasted 2 1/2 hours! We headed to lunch and Collin was in rare form. No Nap = Bad Boy!! We were both VERY stressed by the end of lunch. Lunch took much longer than we had planned so we had to go straight to the reception. Of course, everyone wanted to hold Collin and he was not having it! He just wanted to play on the stairs were all the people were trying to come in. Every time I would remove him from the stairs he would flip out and throw himself on the floor-a trick he learned from his cousin that I had hoped we could avoid. No such luck! And how thoughtful of him to decide to display a command performance in front of a room full of church people!! He knows what he's doing.

Finally we had all we could take and decided now was a good time to leave. He would have to sleep in the car-he was so tired! We went back and packed our stuff which gave Miguel some one on one time with Collin to say goodbye. We loaded up and headed home. I know Miguel was so happy to see Collin but I think it caused mixed emotions for all of us.

They provided him with a very loving family for 7 months of his life. They gave him a great start in life. I am sure it is difficult to see Collin again and not have him immediately recognize them. I am sure, some day when we go back to Guatemala that no matter how much we talk about Mama Rosa and her family that he will probably not remember them like they remember him. I am sure that will be hard. It is simply impossible to maintain the bond that they had.

On the other hand, I feel selfish. It is hard to share him. A deep selfish part of me loves it when he grabs for me and cries for me and clings to my neck for safety from all the strange people wanting to hold him. He is our baby and it is simply hard to let go of him after waiting for him for so long.

We eventually made it home. We were both a big bundle of stress but we made it home and it made me appreciate all over again the miracle of Collin coming home to us.

Here are a few more pics from the trip. We have Collin in bed refusing to get up and poor Collin's brain turning to mush by being forced to watch 10 hours of videos! The daylight picture is in the morning when we began and the nighttime picture is that night-notice it is essentially the same picture but about 8 hours late. He was a trooper!

New York Pictures

These are pictures of Collin with his foster father Miguel. He and his brother, sister and father came to the US to see Gonzalo(his brother) be ordaned as a priest.