Collin's Christmas Wishlist

I have learned a lot of lessons in the past year, but one of the most important is that there is plenty of time to go berserk when it comes to parties or presents for Collin Henry.  He is too little to care, and his grandparents are all so ga-ga over him that it doesn't matter what presents I buy, they will do it bigger and better.
 
So this year, we are subscribing to the less is more school of thought!  Here is what Santa Clause is bringing Collin... 

A Rody Horse!

Handcarved soapstone animals from Kenya !
(Courtesy of Come Together Trading in Tyler, Texas)

These are more of a stocking stuffer, but are sure to make bathtime even MORE fun than it already is!

And because I am Collin's mommy, Santa, who actually used to leave me "book money" under the tree, is also bringing books.

This book makes ME giggle so much!



For my boy who is rapidly learning to love all things big and motorized!

And this, just because it's sweet :)

I'm sure Collin will be thrilled to receive all of this.  Now, if we can just get him to actually like Santa!  He likes all things Christmas, so far.  He has his own Christmas tree in his room, decorated with "puppy" ornaments, per his request.  He loves the Christmas lights on our street.  He likes it when I use my "No-Man" coffee mug.  He likes his "baby dee-dus" books, but he does NOT like the fat man in a red suit!!  Maybe next year...


CHEESE!



Another form of "cheese".  This kid!



12-14-12

Friday was a day with mixed emotions.  It's funny how I still wake up on my birthday with a sense of excitement, even though the older I get the more birthdays become just another day.  I worked as usual, some sweet friends took me to lunch, and I worked some more that afternoon before picking Collin up from daycare.  And all the while, sweet babies were being taken away from their families.  Loved ones were suffering gut-wrenching loss.

Friday afternoon, I worked in my office setting up new files and talking to potential new clients on the phone while CNN was on in my living room, carrying news down the hall to me.  The media kept repeating the same things over and over, but I couldn't turn it off.  When it was time to stop working and go get Collin, I was incredibly grateful.  Grateful I could hold his sweet, tiny hand in mine on the way to the car and grateful I could hug him tightly before loading him in his carseat.  I actually made him look me in the eyes so I could tell him I loved him.  Grateful I could play freely with him in our driveway while talking on the phone to my mom that evening.  Grateful he is too young to know about the events in Newtown and too young to worry about going to school.

Jarrod took me to dinner Friday night, and we had a great time.  We visited with Collin's babysitter for a while once we got home, and then my birthday was over. 

Saturday was filled with busyness.  Jarrod working.  Collin and me prepping for a baby shower.  Saturday evening, when our day was nearing an end, I made myself sit down and look over the names and ages of the people who were killed.  Because while they are just a face and a name to me, they were someone else's entire world, and I owed them a few moments of respect. 

I mentioned in my last post my efforts to try and teach Collin about the Nativity...  I keep thinking about Mary and Joseph as we near Christmas; their story is so symbolic.  This world is scary and painful and messy.  I think about how scared Mary and Joseph must have been that night.  How painful it must have been for young Mary to endure labor and childbirth.  How messy it all must have been within that stable, bringing their child into the world.

And yet the juxtaposition of it all makes it so beautiful.  Frightening, messy, pain and Emmanuel.  Our God is with us.

Teaching Collin About the Nativity

Collin is constantly surprising us with the things that he seems to understand.  After I pick him up from school in the evenings, he knows that when we pull on to our street he is about to see Christmas lights.  He has started saying, "Ready....ready...ready...GO!" as we're about to turn the corner and then he yells, "Kick-Kick Lights - YAYYY!"

I asked him the other day who Tinsley's daddy was (Tinsley is his cousin) and he said, "Aww-Hen" (aka, my brother Austin).

If we pull into Sonic, or any fastfood restaurant with neon lights, he yells, "Yay, burger!"

So when I pulled out his Little People Nativity set a few weeks ago and he easily started referring to the baby as Baby Jesus, I melted.  We took it with us on a road trip, and now I can't find Baby Jesus!  I'm really hoping he is in the car somewhere...

Here are a few other ways we're teaching Collin about the Story of Christmas...


Who Is Coming to Our House?

This Is The Stable

Christmas in the Manger



I would really like to find a video for him to watch also.  Maybe a Veggie Tales one?  Ideas are welcome!

Tis the Season!

Every year I say I'm going to make Christmas cookies and Christmas candy and do cutesy Christmas crafts, and then it doesn't really happen.  I'm hopefull I will still make a few yummy things to eat before Christmas comes and goes.  But I already feel better about my Christmas To-Do list this year, because we crossed something off Saturday night!

We stopped at Starbucks, got a couple of Peppermint Mochas and took Collin over to Harding's campus to take in all the beautiful Christmas lights.  We meant to do it last year and somehow didn't, but we made it this year!

Collin loved it!  He ran around like a wild child and walked holding both of our hands, jumping randomly and telling us all about the "kick-kick lights". 

Daddy carrying Collin onto campus

I don't think either of them was ready for this picture!

Swinging with my sugar-plum!


And yes, Collin insisted on wearing that hat on his head.  Even though he's not wearing a jacket...  Boys! 

I can't get this photo to turn right side up, but if you turn your head, you might be able to get an inkling of how beautiful these lights were!

Need a Redo

There was crying this morning.  Crying and stomping and throwing things.  Collin wanted a snack right as it was time to leave the house.  And he wanted to pick out another sippy cup from the cabinet.  I found myself rushing over to the cabinet, about to tell him to quickly pick out a cup (even though there is no such thing as quick picking with him), and then I realized that this was not ok.  No, he could not pick out a cup just because he wanted to stall leaving for daycare.  So I told him no and headed for the door.  When I looked back, he was standing - staring up at me with his adorable, brown eyes and his jacket on the floor.  He had ripped it off, thrown it on the floor and was waiting for my reaction. 

I put it back on him, picked him up and headed for the door, again.  This time he reached for the pantry and asked for a "bar".  I told him he couldn't have a cereal bar because he makes too much of a mess with them in the car, and he started howling.

I made it out the door, locking it behind me and had started for the car when guilt flooded me.  What if he really is hungry?  What if you're sending your child off to daycare hungry?  He is SO skinny, it won't hurt him to eat something more this morning.  Turn around, boy on hip, unlock door, enter house and open pantry.

He wasn't satisfied with the cereal bar, he also wanted a fruit pouch.  Now I'm thinking he will make a huge mess in the car, not to mention that the ride from our house to daycare isn't long enough to eat each of these.  I say no.  Choose one or the other.  He starts howling.

Now I'm thinking I am failing.  If another mother were witnessing this she would certainly think I'm an idiot.  I'm ruining him.  I am failing my baby.

I grab a cereal bar and a fruit pouch, carry them and him to the car again.  Buckle him in his carseat and open the cereal bar.  He starts to eat it.  I get into my seat, start the car and begin backing down the driveway.  He asks me for the fruit pouch.  I tell him to eat his cereal bar first, and he can have the fruit next.  He starts crying and tells me, "NO!"  I put the fruit pouch in my purse and tell him he's not getting it at all.  He starts howling with a mouthful of cereal bar.  I am such a failure right now.

On the way out of our neighborhood, he's crying, "Daddy!  Daddy, hold you!  Daddy, hold you!!!"  I tell him Daddy is at work.

And I'm thinking, Father!  Hold me.  What do I do?

A few minutes pass, the crying stops and suddenly Collin says, "Airpane, Mommy!"

I make a turn, and he says, "Where it go?  Where airpane, Mommy?"

I say, "Did you see an airplane?"

He says, "Shhyeah!!"

Thank you, Lord.  Thank you for grace and for provision.  Thank you for airplanes, and thank you for tomorrow, when we can both try it all over again.

December

It's December!!  I can't believe it.  But I love it!

December means my birthday, and while I am really starting to dislike the getting older part, I do love me some presents :)

It also means Christmas parties, Christmas cards, Christmas cookies, Christmas decorations, and Christmas vacation!  This year my boss has chosen to be extremely gracious and allow us extra time off from work.  We still don't know what days Jarrod is going to get off yet, but just knowing that I won't have to worry about my office, and can focus on taking care of Collin for a week, is such a relief.  For a few days, while his daycare and my office are closed, I will get to experience being a stay-at-home mom.  I'm already trying to plan cute activities for us, so we'll see how that goes!

We received our first Christmas card last week.  I love this time of year and checking the mailbox daily!  However, I hate how stressed out choosing/creating a Christmas card can make me!  I definitely texted Jarrod while he was at work last week and sent him 7 different versions of our card so he could help me narrow it down.  Surprisingly, we agreed on one and I'm hoping to get them all out this week.  Please don't judge me when you receive it because the photo is from April!  Sadly, that was the last time we had a family photo taken.

Collin is obsessed with Christmas lights right now.  He rides in the car and exclaims, "Yaaaaayyy!  Kick-kick Lights!" every time he sees them.  Even if it's from one house to the next going down our street, he will yell out the same thing each time.  It's so precious! 

We took him for a wagon ride last night after dark to see all the lights in our neighborhood, and I was thinking how wonderful it would be to be that age again.  He was just chilling in his wagon, being pulled along by his daddy and having his mommy point out each house to him.  How blessed we are to give him memories like that.

Another thing Collin is obsessed with - cupcakes!  We went to Little Rock on Saturday to run a plethora of errands, but I made sure that between Ozark Outdoor Supply (for Daddy) and Babies R Us (for Mommy) we stopped at Cupcakes on Kavanaugh (for Collin!).  We ate our cupcakes and when it was time to leave, Collin ran to the display case and starting banging on the glass front, yelling "This cuhcake" and then he'd move down the display and yell, "This cuhcake".  He wanted ALL the CUPCAKES!  I have no idea what the poor girls working in there thought.


Look how happy he is to eat that icing!



CHEESE!



Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has come and gone.  Whew! 

Last Wednesday started out a little hairy, but everything worked out.  Plus, how could I not relax once I saw the cutest little Indian ever?!

Jarrod's parents joined us this year in Arkansas since Jarrod worked over the holiday, so that meant I hosted my first Thanksgiving meal!  I was a little ambitious when it came to the turkey, but it was worth every bit of it.  My dad makes the most amazing cornbread dressing, and it has been my favorite Thanksgiving food since I was a little girl.  I remember being all dressed up for the day, sitting at my grandma's house with my dad and helping to tear up biscuits and cornbread to make the dressing.  It is my favorite, so I made it and we also had sweet potatoes, rolls, green-bean bundles (Jarrod's fave) and of course PIE!

SUCCESS!

After dinner, we had a dance party.  Ok, so Collin danced and we all giggled.  He has taken to making this silly face.  Depending on who you are, you might think he looks like Popeye or a pirate.  He scrunches his face up, closes one eye and acts silly.  Well, Thanksgiving night he was dancing while making this face and it was high-larious!

Cheese!

On Friday, Collin and I went to the Little Rock Zoo with Nonne and Papa.  A lot of animals weren't outside, but the ones who were seemed to be really frisky because of the colder weather.  A couple of monkeys were especially wound up and Collin LOVED watching and imitating them!

I couldn't get this picture right side up, but here is Collin Henry short of breaking his ankle in this thing while I ooh'd and aww'd over a gorilla and her baby!

Saturday we did the required Christmas decorating.  I was a little sad to put away my fall/Thanksgiving decor.  Like Collin, I've grown fond of turkeys.  In fact, I asked him if he wanted to get matching turkey tattoos and his response was an emphatic, "Shh-yeahhhh!"


Happy Fall, y'all!



My Dad, the Blue Hat

You may have noticed in my last post that my dad was absent.  That is because he has been on the East Coast for the last couple of weeks helping with disaster relief, post-Hurricane Sandy. 

Here is where my dad and his group have been "bunking"!

Back when I was in college, my dad got involved with Texas Baptist Men Disaster Relief, and he began volunteering with their feeding unit.  If you know my dad, you know he is the BEST cook.  And he loves to cook.  So this gig is pretty much perfect for him.

Every year, during hurricane season, he watches radar and weather patterns religiously.  When a storm hits, it's very likely that my dad and his unit will get a phone call telling them to drop everything, load up and head to where the storm caused damage.  The Texas Baptist Men have a chainsaw crew and a mud-out crew, in addition to the feeding unit.

Over the years, my dad has moved up and is now a "blue hat".  All the volunteers wear bright, yellow hats, except for those in authority.  The ones with some authority get a blue hat.  I just wish my dad didn't wear his so high on his head like some character from King of the Hill.

(I'll probably get in trouble for that one.)

Regardless, I'm very proud of him, and I'm thrilled he has something he is so passionate about.  He spends much of his time throughout the year working on recipe ideas and portion sizes.  He desires to serve people in their time of need, but he wants to do more than provide them with a bowl of beanie-weenies.  (Not that beanie-weenies aren't on the menu occasionally!)  He works very hard to make sure that a decent meal is served, while still respecting the budget and resources allocated to him.  It's a lot more effort than most people would exert in his position, and I so admire that.

CBS 11 News in Dallas, TX interviewed him before he left for New York.  You should be able to access the article and video clip here:  Texas Baptist Men Responding to Hurricane Sandy

My mom showed us the clip when we were home last weekend, and the one thing I can't stop thinking about is how my dad could have used those few minutes of air-time for anything.  He could have made it about his self, or been overly dramatic about the stress of the situation.  He could have said any number of things, but he didn't.  Every second of what you hear from him is about the Lord.  I can't quit reflecting on that.

My brothers and I, and now even Jarrod, tend to call my dad when we get ourselves in a pinch.  He is a wise man.  He gives good advice.  He also knows how the world operates.  He doesn't always know the right thing to say, and he'll be the first to admit that.  But he does know how to comfort us by providing scripture and prayer.  In fact, sometimes it can be infuriating when I call him in a tizzy and just want him to agree with me that a certain situation sucks, but he won't do it.  Instead, he'll make it into a lesson on how to walk with the Lord.  I don't always want one of those lessons when it feels like my world is crashing down around me.  I'm even guilty of thinking he wears rose-colored glasses and doesn't realize how hard it is to practice what you preach.  And then I see him on TV in the midst of travelling to a disaster.  He's packed up, leaving my mom and their home behind, leaving his business for who knows how many days/weeks and going to love on strangers.  He could say anything to this reporter, but he chooses to use the time to give glory to God and to testify about how none of it could work without "supernatural" appointment from God.

In order to practice what you preach, you have to mean it.  You have to 100%, in your heart, live and breathe what you're saying.  That's the thing about my dad.  Someone else may stick to a script of facts and figures with a reporter's microphone in their face, but my dad plugs God.  I can't quit thinking about that.



So. Much. Driving.

We are back from our whirlwind trip to Texas.  We left last Friday after work, got to my parents' house around midnight and spent all day Saturday hanging out with my mom, my youngest brother and his little girl.  Then on Sunday, we got up and headed to Abilene.  We made a quick stop to visit with our dear friends, the Wiley family, and then it was off to spend the rest of our time with Jarrod's family.

Grandmama's viewing was Sunday evening, and she looked beautiful.  She was buried in the dress she wore to our wedding.  She searched high and low for that dress and was so proud when she stumbled upon it.  She had to show it to me and get my approval before the wedding.  I told her over and over that she could wear whatever she wanted and not to worry about me.  I was not going to be that bride, but she was such a sweet woman...  She knew it was "my day", and she wanted me to love everything about it, including her dress.

Collin said she was "ah-seeping".  You can imagine that almost brought on the waterworks for everyone.

Monday afternoon was her funeral.  Afterward, we spent a little more time with Jarrod's family and then we packed up and got ready to leave town.  We made a few stops on our way out and I found myself incredibly crabby along the way.  I finally slowed down long enough to realize I was upset that we had to leave so soon.  Jarrod and I both love Abilene.  We went to college there.  We met life-long friends there.  We fell in love there.  And for Jarrod, most of his memories of Grandmama are there.  So we drove by her house on the way out of town, and we stopped for gas at the gas station down the street where she used to buy scratch-off lotto tickets.  Jarrod bought one for his self and one for his sister, Kristen.  (Ours was not a winner, and we've been tempted to scratch Kristen's!)  Jarrod even complained as we were getting onto I-20 to head back toward Dallas, "I don't even want to speed!"  I know, it's pretty sad, huh?!

We spent that night at Jarrod's mom and dad's house and had breakfast with them the next morning before getting back on the road to come back to Arkansas.  It's a 6 hour drive.  It was not fun.  Collin is facing forward now, and he spent most of the trip saying, "Mommy...mommy...........mommy....mommy!"  Here's an idea for you of what it was like:

I will gladly take any ideas from people who have suggestions for road-trip activities!  I was constantly handing Collin another snack or toy to play with, and after several hours he got tired of what was available and just whined.  He hasn't figured out how to just sit in his seat and be.  He also struggles with how to comfort his self and asked several times for his "bite", aka the paci.  I kept reminding him we didn't have one because it broke, and he would just get upset up all over again.

We arrived back in town just in time to unload Collin for the babysitter, who literally pulled up to the house right after us, so we could head over to our small group that night.  I have never done anything like that before.  I usually cannot operate without a good buffer of time to let ourselves unload the car and detox, but I think we just really wanted to milk our time in Texas!

Here are some pictures from our visit - enjoy!

Mommy/Aunt Nicki taking a picture with the babies in PawPaw's barn

Collin Henry looking at some donkeys

Mimi and Collin

Tinsley and Collin trying to skip rocks.  I love this picture.  I'm sure if we dug enough, we could find similar ones with my brothers and myself near this same spot.

Austin showing them which rocks to pick up.

Two silly gooses laughing at Jarrod.

And probably my favorite picture from the trip.  Don't they look like they're telling secrets?!



Collin throwing pennies into the hotel fountain with his Papa in Abilene.  Collin had so much fun doing this!
**Full Disclosure: Cave cannot tell Collin NO, so when he ran out of his own pennies to throw, Cave dug some more out of the fountain.  This repeated until we had to leave.  I couldn't decide, does that bring bad luck or does it cancel out some poor person's wish?!?





Thanksgiving and Losing Grandmama

In this season of Thanksgiving, today I am thankful for the opportunity to have known Grandmama and to have had her in my life for the past 7 years.  Grandmama passed away last night, and while I know that she is with her husband and her family members who have gone before her, it doesn't make it any easier.  It is going to be so hard for Jarrod not to just pick up the phone, call her and say, "What're you doing ol' bird?!"  And it's going to be so hard for me not to be there yelling things to her in the background or reminding Jarrod of stuff to tell her about Collin.

As we went to bed last night, all I could think of was how much she truly loved us.  I don't think I could ask for anything better to fall asleep to.  She was so proud of us, and she always made sure we knew it.  And she adored Collin.  She thought he was the prettiest, sweetest little boy.  She would say that we couldn't have made a better baby.  She would make us feel like we had achieved some great feat and produced the most wonderful child ever, when we know just as well that Collin is a complete blessing from the Lord.

I was reminded last night that it was almost 7 years ago to the day when I met her for the first time.  I was stranded in Abilene one Thanksgiving while in college, so Jarrod took me to meet his parents who were in town for the holiday at his Grandmama's house.  We played a game and ate on bread that Jarrod's dad is famous for in our family, and I quickly realized that Grandmama was a feisty woman who appreciated some feist in return.  It was safe to be my haughty-self around her!

We have such good memories of her, and we are surrounded by evidence of her love for us.  Last night, Jarrod was able to wrap up in a quilt she made specifically for him, knowing he could do no wrong in her eyes.  Grieving because we'll never laugh with her again, but thankful because it will be impossible not to carry her with us.

Grandmama

I have a million and one things I could be doing right now, but I can't stop thinking about one thing.  Jarrod is on his way to San Antonio right now.  He left early this morning to make the 10 hour drive.  He is on his way to say goodbye to his Grandmama.  Just typing that made me start to cry.

She has been in the hospital for over a week now, and we've known for the last few months that this was probably going to come sooner rather than later.  But.  I think it's just human nature to hope and pray for a loved one to be with us as long as possible, and if that means not coming to grips with reality, then we do what we have to do.

Grandmama lived in Abilene while we were in college, so my memories of dating Jarrod are also filled with memories of her.  He would take me to visit her, and I fell in love with her immediately.  A lot of grandparents just aren't "with it".  Meaning, they don't really get current things, so you don't even attempt to talk to them about certain stuff, but Grandmama was never like that. 

She always wanted to know exactly what was happening in our lives, and she always remembered from one visit to the next.  She always made a point to treat me like I was my own person, and not just some girl connected to Jarrod.  I don't think I've ever visited with her when she hasn't asked me about my family...in detail!  She wants to know how each of my brothers are doing, how my niece is, how my mom and dad are, how many baby donkeys my mom has each year, etc.  She also talks to me about my work.  When we moved to Arkansas and I started working from home, she would call me during the day because she knew I was suffering from cabin fever.  She would make me promise her that I would get out on my lunch break and run some errands or something, just so I didn't go stir-crazy!

One of my favorite memories from my wedding day involves Grandmama.  The ceremony was over and the bridal party was standing around with our families, waiting to get pictures over with so we could go to the reception.  A bunch of us were standing in the foyer of the chapel, and Grandmama took my face in her hands and said, "Now you really ARE my granddaughter!"  When she backed away, I saw my youngest brother, Austin, standing right behind her and he had an ear-to-ear grin on his face.  I'm sure he was thinking, "That old lady is silly!"

I am so thankful that Grandmama got to meet Collin.  As he grows up I will be able to tell him that all she ever said about him was how "pretty" he is.  She tells me this religiously!  She says, "Ohhhh, Nicki.  He. is. just. SO. PRETTY!" 

Collin with his great-grandmother and his Papa



Grandmama loves to quilt.  She made Collin several quilts and blankets before he was born, but my favorite is the one she made for him last year.  Collin really seems to like giraffes, and it all started with a stuffed giraffe he received as a gift when he was a baby.  It was also a sound machine, so that thing travelled everywhere with us.  Then for Collin's first birthday, he had a cake with a giraffe and his birthday shirt had a giraffe on it.  Shortly after that, we received a quilt from Grandmama.  I think Jarrod thought it was obviously a sweet thing for her to do, but I immediately recognized that she had chosen the material based on our conversations with her about Collin's fondness for giraffes.  Again, it's her attention to detail when it either wouldn't register or matter to someone else that has made me love her so much.

So today she is all I can think of.  Jarrod is her grandson, and he should be there to tell her goodbye.  But this morning as he hugged me before leaving, I told him to tell her that I love her and after he told me he would, I said, "No.  Really."  Because for the past several years she has been my Grandmama too.


Grandmama and me at my Abilene bridal shower - 2007





Why We Don't Celebrate Halloween

I've really been struggling with whether or not to write this post.  Every time I decide to do it, my mind races to all of my friends and acquaintances who will immediately label me a crazy, fundamentalist.  So this is my attempt to show that I'm a very normal person who just happens to have some very real convictions regarding Halloween.

Growing up, my family did not celebrate Halloween.  I have never in my life gone trick-or-treating, nor had I ever even really witnessed trick-or-treating until a few years ago.  My family lived in the country about 10 minutes outside of town, and we did not have a "next door neighbor".  Each year, all I knew about Halloween was that for a couple of days out of the school year, my classmates would talk about what they were going to dress up as, and then in the days following Halloween their lunch boxes were filled with fun-size Snickers and Skittles.

Of course I thought I was missing out on something.  I'm sure I told my parents they were the worst parents ever for not allowing my brothers and me to experience the joy of dressing up and receiving free candy!  It all started when I was really little and my dad, who is such a Godly leader of our family, did a study on Halloween.  He read up on the origins and what still goes on today, and he decided that as far as his family was concerned, he felt it was best if we didn't celebrate it.  Whenever my brothers and I would whine and ask why we didn't get to have fun, he would simply say that it was a holiday that didn't serve any purpose in glorifying God and that's why we didn't celebrate it.

When I became an adult and Jarrod and I started our own family, I realized I have the same convictions.  I believe very strongly in a spirit world and in the existence of evil, and I believe there are things we are called to resist. 

I know people will say they participate in Halloween just for the fun of it.  They will say they don't dress up like anything scary, and they don't do anything evil on Halloween.  But for me, it's the gray area involved.  How do I say to my kids, "You can dress up, but not like anything scary.  And oh by the way, don't pay any attention to those creepy looking people walking down the street with you"?  How do I say to my kids, "It's ok to celebrate Halloween and laugh about curses and seances, but we don't play with Ouija boards"?  How do I say to my kids, "Ghosts and spirits are fun on Halloween" and then still teach them about the evil nature of Satan and his demons?  So for me, it's the in-between stuff that I don't feel comfortable with and I feel the Lord laying it upon my heart to resist the entire notion.

Some of you will tell me that you have incredible childhood memories from Halloween, and you want to impart those onto your children.  To that I say, I do too!  Since we didn't trick-or-treat or do anything else involved with Halloween, every year around the same time, my parents would have a party at our house.  They would invite friends over from church, and we would have a hayride around a "country" block.  We would have a huge bonfire in our pasture from all the brush my dad had collected over the past year.  We would have yummy food and us kids would run around like crazy. 

I remember playing hide-and-seek in the dark in our pasture in front of our house.  I remember how we would climb on top of my dad's hay bales and run down the rows of them like a robber on top of a moving train, and then we would slide down the sides of them.  I remember cold night air that would make your chest hurt to breathe, but never wanting to go inside because it would mean leaving the fun.

So no, I've never trick-or-treated and I've never seen the movie Hocus Pocus, but as an adult I can honestly say I don't feel like I missed anything.  I love Fall.  I love anything pumpkin related.  I love apple cider.  I will decorate for Fall, but you won't see any bats, ghosts or witches around, and you won't see us trick-or-treating.  No biggie.

Hello, my name is...

Captain Nostalgia.

Nostalgia is such a tricky thing.  You start out thinking you are just paying tribute to sweet times and places and before you know it, you are sucked into memories and listening to Texas country music while looking at newborn pictures of your son.

It started last week when Collin was weaned from his paci.  I noticed immediately that he's sleeping better.  He falls asleep faster and seems to sleep more restfully.  He used to lay in his crib for 30 minutes to an hour talking, rolling around and playing with his puppy dog (that he has to sleep with).  Now, I lay him down and he is almost immediately asleep, and when I sneak back in sometimes to stare at him before I go to bed, he's usually still in the same position.

Without the paci, I rock him at bedtime and he closes his eyes quickly and is almost asleep in minutes.  When I hold him and he has his little eyes closed, I swear he looks just like his infant-self.  When I see him looking like that, I cannot believe how much he has grown! 

And then my mind starts thinking to how I cannot believe how far Jarrod and I have come in the last two years of Collin's life...

From the time I got pregnant to now, we have lived in 3 different places.  We went from seeing our family on a semi-regular basis to not very often at all.  We went from one group of friends to starting all over again.  And now it's sinking in that I've transitioned from having a baby to having a little boy.

So it started with the paci and compounded when my husband came home Friday singing a song about Texas he learned secondhand from a coworker.

It's a dangerous mix to listen to this song while searching for baby pictures of Collin.  Especially when Josh Abbott gets to the part about "an Abilene sunset".  Oh man.

In Other News

Here's some more of what's been going on around here -

Collin loved seeing all the farm animals at the pumpkin patch last weekend, but the one he will not stop talking about is the TURKEY.  On our way home, Jarrod was talking to his parents on the phone, and Collin was yelling from the backseat, "Nonne, MY TURTEE!"  When we got home, Jarrod dug out his hunting stuff and showed Collin how to call a turkey.  We also had to watch YouTube videos of turkeys.  And of course, I couldn't resist myself, so now this little guy is in the mail on his way to our house :)

Also, we decided to get brave last weekend and take away Collin's pacifier (paci).  I have always said I don't want to be that parent whose 4 year old is walking through the mall sucking on a paci.  And then I had a kid.  My niece has been paci-free since she turned one.  She will even take a paci out of her doll's mouth and tell the doll, "No!"  I could have really used her to help me wean Collin!!

When Collin turned one, his daycare stopped giving him a paci while he was there, but we couldn't deny him once back home and going to bed.  The rule has been that he can only have it when he's sleeping at home.   And the occasional road trip when he's struggling to get comfortable in his seat.  He calls it a "bite" now, and we've noticed that he really isn't using it to suck/soothe his self but more so to bite and roll it around in his mouth.  (Jarrod says, "He's just making out with it!") 

When Collin turned two a few weeks ago, I told my mom that I would take it away.  A month later and Jarrod finally took the bull by the horns!

We have several pacis, but Collin's favorite has been the most obscene thing you've ever seen.  It was given to us as a gift, and he has had it since being an infant.

The other night, before bedtime, Jarrod cut the nipple off.  I have read that if you cut a bit off the nipple, your child won't find it soothing to suck on anymore.  They will slowly decide they don't want it and presto, they're weaned!  Well, Jables and I didn't communicate much before he took the scissors to the paci and this is what we ended up with -

There's no way you can get your mouth around that much of the nipple left.  Poor Collin!  After getting dressed for bed, he grabbed his paci up and popped it in his mouth and it fell right out!  He looked at it and then held it up to us and said, "My biiiite!"  We both acted surprised and told him it was broken.  "Oh, no!"  (I know, we're awful!)  However, he has been sleeping paci-free for the past several nights.  It's like he doesn't even remember that he has others to fall back on.  We just remind him each night when he asks for his "bite" that it's broken. 

And lastly, Collin can almost-almost count to 10!  I know!  It's amazing.

He loves to jump and he always wants to say, "1...2...3!" before jumping.  However, it mostly comes out, "Twooo...twooooo..." while he's bobbing up and down about to launch from wherever he stands.  Last week, I noticed while we were driving home from somewhere that he was in the back saying to his self, "Two...eight...nine..."  I asked him if he was counting and he said, "Uh-huh", so I started counting to 10 and he repeated after me each time.  On some numbers he knows what is coming next, so he'll skip ahead.  For instance, when I say "seven" he won't repeat me, he'll say "eight!".  I have to stop him and get him to go back and repeat me. 

Well, for the rest of the night I kept going on and on about how smart Collin was and how he could almost count to 10.  Bubble burster that he is, Jarrod spoke up and said, "I think he has a while before he's there."  As a parent, it's easy to spend a lot of time worrying about whether your child is developing normally, whether your child is smart, whether your child picks things up in a timely manner, so it's nice to have validation sometimes that he "gets it"!  

Jarrod and I compromised, and now I'm saying Collin can almost-almost count to 10 :)

Pumpkin Patch Fun!

Well, hello!  I know it's been a while since I last updated...not really sure what that's all about.

Probably the most notable thing to happen since my last post was our visit to the pumpkin patch this weekend.  Collin's daycare has their porches all decorated for Fall and every day when I pick him up, he has to show me the "puntins" and tell me that they are "oyange", and then he points to the mums and tells me they are "yeddow" and "geen". 

So on Saturday we woke him up and told him we were going to see a lot of pumpkins, and he could pick out his very own.  We had lunch and then drove a little bit to Augusta, AR to Peebles Farm Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze.  We did not try to brave the corn maze this year, but instead, we pretty much let Collin run all over and direct us to where he wanted to be at any given second.  I kept telling Jarrod how shocked I was that it was actually easier to get cute pictures of Collin last year when he was still a baby.  The kid just has too much energy now and will NOT sit for a good picture.

Here are some of the pictures we were able to get...Enjoy!


This makes my heart happy - Collin petting a piglet!



Really trying to get in there and pet him "good"!

 

Daddy & Collin being silly

 

Someone once told my husband he missed his calling as a wildlife photographer, so now he thinks he's brilliant with a camera.  Collin & I were watching people shoot the corn cannon!

 

Collin -1 year old - Oct. 2011



Collin - 2 years old - Oct. 2012
I can't believe how big he is getting!



Cute boy sitting with a bunch of "puntins"!

I think he was in the middle of saying, "cheese!"

Collin 2012

 

He was saying, "PIG!"