Collin's first Halloween

Okay, not all of these pictures are of Halloween, but I had to include this one. Collin has lately been liking his swing more...at least for a few minutes. He has had a rough couple of days so this was a nice peaceful picture of him...
Lately, Collin tries to eat his whole fist!

We took Collin to Gardner Village that has lots of fun witches and pumpkins and Ryan and I have gone there lots and lots just to walk around. This time, we accidentally went on Witches Night Out, which is MASSIVE people, especially women dressed as witches, but it was a bit chilly. We had to bundle Collin up in blankets. All we saw was his face.

One afternoon this week, we took Collin on a fall walk....the weather was PERFECT (70 degrees), the leaves were changing, and best of all, daddy got to come with us and Collin liked the Baby Bjorn for more than 1 minute. Mommy was SO excited about that!

Collin had his own little baby pumpkin that daddy carved for him last night. I got home and Ryan had it sitting out on the porch. We had to take a picture of Collin with it, although, he was NOT happy about it, as you can tell.

Ryan's pumpkin snowman. We got I think 20 pumpkins from our pumpkin patch this year. Hopefully Collin will be good tonight so I can carve mine. Yeah for Halloween!

6 inches later

Okay, for like the longest time, I have needed to do something with my hair.... and I have known it. I am terrible and get my hair trimmed like once a year, not like every 6 weeks like a good girl should. So, this last week, I broke down and cut my hair....6 inches of it. I had been wanting to grow it long enough to donate to a wigs for cancer place, but hadn't done any research, so I just cut it. Mostly I finally did it because a girl I visit teach is in hairstyling school and I trust her.... so here is the evidence. One afternoon Collin and I braved it...and the best thing is, it only cost me $3.00...and I still like my hair.

Before the cut
Before the cut from the back...yes, my hair is still totally wet from the shower that morning.

6 inches down

Collin and I after the haircut and she straightened my hair professionally. Collin was so good by the way. He was FASCINATED by Sharli (my friend, and she is cute of course), so he just stared at her the whole time. I'm actually wondering if he was disturbed seeing a lot of hair being cut off from my head.

Back

This is a TOTALLY terrible picture I tried to take of myself wearing my hair curly....and once again, I realized just how red my hair is....maybe another time I will be brave and go and get highlights from Sharli :)

Anyways, I must have lost at least 10 pounds with my hair, but it's still long enough to pull back in a ponytail and I was brave and cut some bangs. Go me!

Finally Alisa does a tag

I never do these, but both my sister and brother had ones posted so I need to do it. Here goes....



8 things I am passionate about
1. Ryan
2. Collin
3. Reading books
4. Having a nice dinner for my family when my husband gets home
5. Trying to be a good mommy for Collin
6. Traveling (though, not as much lately)
7. Being organized
8. Finding good deals (Hello, DARLING shirt I just got for Collin when he is a year old in the orange color I love him in for 60 cents!)

8 words/phrases I say often
1. Oh Collin!
2. Oh mylanta
3. Hello guy! (when I first see Collin in the mornings)
4. I love you sweetheart (to both my men)
5. Oh my goodness!
6. Good job (to Collin when he does something good)
7. I love being a mommy
8. What are we going to do today, Collin?
Can you tell I'm a first time mommy that hangs around her baby lots? :)


8 things I want to do before I die
1. Go to Africa
2. Have more cute little babies like Collin
3. Visit Jerusalem
4. Say I read my scriptures every day in a row for a year
5. Have more faith
6. Meet someone even slightly famous
7. Be a good mommy
8. Get our raspberry patch to produce more than 6 raspberries


8 things I have learned from my past
1. Never say never
2. There is always someone worse off than you
3. Being a mom truly is the BEST!
4. You never know what direction life will take you
5. Enjoy the journey, even the hard parts
6. Family is key to everything
7. Baby boys are better than baby girls in many ways
8. Even if you think you can be totally independent, you still need help


8 things I currently need/want
1. My husband to find a new job so I can stay at home with little Collin (he is getting laid off on Friday and has yet to find something else yet....even though he is working very hard at it)
2. My aunt Barbara's pumpkin bars---they are of the devil
3. Collin to stay asleep so I can finish this post
4. The front step/tile to our house finished
5. My grandma Tippets to come and visit from heaven, just for a bit
6. Collin to not freak out in the evenings
7. To be able to start running again regularly (once I figure out how to do that better with having massive breasts with breastfeeding---if any of you know how, let me know! I tried a couple of times and decided it wasn't worth it for now)
8. Cruise the 5th....and not lose a camera

Tummy time and more

It's no secret that Collin DOES NOT enjoy tummy time...probably because his mom is terrible at doing it regularly. So, Sunday night, we had at least 10 minutes...here is what ensued.

Okay, this isn't so bad so far.
Hmmm.... at least I can see my mommy and daddy if I turn my head this way.

I'm getting a little frustrated here!

Taking a break, tummy time is hard.

I am trying to lift my head, it's just so big!

I'm done. That's it. My mommy had to take this picture, because she was laughing so hard...after tummy time, she and daddy decided who needs a "booger sniffer"....I can get them all out by sniffing out hard during tummy time (how embarrassing to post this, but I found it so hilarious, he had at least 4 boogers on his face from tummy time!)

This is Collin in his mini pro-golfer outfit. The yellow shoes from the Gap from Auntie Kari TOTALLY make the outfit.

This past Sunday, I had to go and play a musical number at an assisted living center, so Ryan got to give Collin his bath and get him all ready for church. I came home and saw this perfectly handsome angel, asleep, looking darling. You can't really see, but he has a cute striped shirt on underneath his sweater.

Collin and I usually try and go at least once a week to storytime at the library. Lately, we haven't made it there on time, and today, he was asleep. However, we do have lots of storytime at home and he LOVES reading books...well, having books read to him. I guess mommy and daddy are better at storytime than the library :)

Amazing

Every once in awhile someone comes into your life that truly amazes you....Laura is one of these people. We lived for 5 months in the mission together (3 of those as companions) and we are still friends. We hadn't seen each other for over 3 years, but she was in Utah, and luckily, and blessedly, I was able to see her and her adorable and well behaved 3 little girls, including Emily, the one who is 2 months older than Collin. This girl is amazing, and I am so glad we are still friends.... I tried to find a mission picture to scan in to see if we look better, but alas, can't find the scrapbook.
Emily and Collin....they can date when they get older I told Collin, since Emily is cute!

These are just some random pictures from while we were up in Idaho.

Collin's Auntie Anita gave him this cute overall Winnie the Pooh outfit...a little big and he looks like he is getting swallowed up by the overalls, but I still had to have him wear it.

Hello everyone!

Battle wound #1.... Collin loves to scratch his face. And I'm getting better about clipping his fingernails, but this was his first "battle wound scratch". I just felt so bad for him!

Here is one of the oneises grandma bought Collin since he was out of clothes....isn't he so styling in his gray striped pants? His mommy got to pick out the onesie, can you tell :)

A closeup, not so bad view of battle wound.
Collin LOVES this bouncer...seriously, best investment of baby things so far. He can sit it in it so I can eat breakfast...and lunch...and sometimes dinner. Now he is big enough finally that though he HATES being strapped in, he doesn't kick and scoot down as much.

Just a cute stare

I LOVE this onesie....plus, it's the classic Collin face.... he does think big most of the time!

Even Grandpa Johnson was so nice to play with

Grandpa Johnson and Sadee and Ava sure LOVE Collin! Little Baby Collin is what everyone calls him.

And luckily, in going to Idaho, we also got to be there for Ava's third birthday party.... what a cutie!

Collin's a girl

I'm finally getting to the post of Collin being a girl. So, last week, Collin and I got to go to Idaho to babysit his cousins Sadee and Ava. They were SO excited to have Collin come and babysit. However, in my rush in getting everything ready, apparently, I forgot the breast pump....and Collin's backpack....with everything he needed. Luckily, I had the diaper bag with one set of clothes and my brother was coming to Idaho in a couple of days and stopped by our house to pick it up (BLESS HIM!) but, for one day, Collin was a "cute girl" with hand me down clothes from Sadee and Ava.
Here he is in his purple pjs. Ava sure loves Collin!

Here is my hair do after Sadee and Ava did it. Ava- "How do you want your hair?" Long and straight?

My beautiful long hair and dress (AKA quilt)

Silly Ava

Silly Sadee

These two girls were so fun to babysit! Thanks cuties!

Sadee and her model pose for me

Spoiled Collin

Quick post here.
Collin has been SO spoiled by coming to Idaho. We came up to babysit his two cousins Sadee and Ava who LOVE him..... and he loves them (see previous posts). It has been so nice, not that I don't LOVE taking care of him, but everyone is so willing to play with him, not let him cry for one second, hold him, change diapers, even attempt to feed him one of his few bottles I give him, and especially his auntie Kari. She has SO spoiled him in rocking and burrito-wrapping him to sleep. Note...his mommy CAN NOT do the burrito wrap very well, no matter how hard she tries (which isn't super hard, to be honest, it's true)....anyways, last night, Collin got burrito wrapped and rocked to sleep by Auntie Kari around 930pm and HONESTLY did not MOVE or wake up until 615 this morning. I kept going in and checking on him every couple of hours because I just couldn't believe it. I KNOW so many babies don't do this, and I take every night he sleeps well, as a WONDERFUL blessing and possibly just luck, but it's so great having family to spoil little Collin. I honestly have no idea what we will do tomorrow night when it is just mommy and daddy.... :) and a not good burrito wrap!
Thanks Auntie Kari! Love, Collin and his mommy

8 week update

Here are Collin's 8 week status updates (even though his doctor visit was 1 day shy of 8 weeks, which he is today)
10.3 pounds, which is in the 5-10th percentile, though he looks huge to me, apparently still small
22 3/4 inches long, which is in the 10-25th percentile


Collin's LOVES
His stroller, and going on walks

His mommy and daddy singing to him
Watching his cute cousins Sadee and Ava dance and sing to him
BYU cougar football games
The burrito wrap, when his auntie Kari does it for him, since his mom is terrible at it

Driving in the car
Sucking on his hand and thumb, when he can find it :)


HATES

Being woken up early from naps

A poopy diaper


Okay, that's pretty much it. You can honestly say Collin is SUCH a happy baby...and being on a better schedule, oh it's heaven.... for mommy, and him.


Stay tuned for the FIRST BRAIN LAPSE mommy had while traveling to Idaho that made Collin a girl for a couple of days :)