One Long Week!

This has been quite a week in our little household! Wednesday was Colin's actual birthday and we had a very busy day. We met our friends to play at The Ark and Colin had a great time, for the most part. He got hit and shoved HARD and on purpose for the first time in his life, which did not go over well. There was a bigger kid there who was a pretty big bully. I happened to look up and catch him beating up on Colin and I felt fire wash over me. It is so strange to experience such a visceral response...my first instinct was to snatch that kid up and hit him back. Of course, I refrained. ;-) Being Colin's mom has taught me not to judge a book by it's cover and he could have been a nice kiddo who has his own set of problems, but man was that hard to watch and deal with calmly! The moment passed quickly when I told Colin that we were heading to his next surprise, Chuck E. Cheese. It is amazing how much he loves that silly place. We had lunch together and spent a good deal of time playing. Then, we just happened to run into Colin's best friend Keaton from school last year! Colin was beside himself with excitement to see him and we plan to have a playdate soon. It was such a blessing to run into them. Colin has been asking about Keaton all summer and I had stupidly forgotten to get his contact info before the school year finished. Now they are reunited!

Here is a pile of Ryan, Jack and Colin at The Ark. They are such wonderful boys!

Colin is all smiles at his birthday lunch!

Showing off some considerable dance moves at Chuck E. Cheese. He clearly takes after me. ;-)
Among all the other loot that he raked in for his 4th birthday, he got his first bike from us as his big present. He was a little nervous at first when he saw it, but he warmed up quick and took it right outside. We didn't stay out there long since it is roughly 300 degrees outside at the moment, but he LOVED IT! We just took it to the pool tonight and I got a little choked up over it. There is Colin, on a bike and wearing a helmet, riding down the sidewalk in front of me. It made him seem so old!

Colin woke up with a horrible cough on Thursday morning at 2:00am...and proceeded to stay awake all night. It was brutal! I was like a walking zombie all day on Thursday and then Friday morning he was up at 4:30 with the same cough, but this time he threw up. Gracious! Oddly enough, he seemed much better after that and has been doing fine ever since...even the cough is gone for the most part. Very strange. Needless to say, I am worn out!

In one last update, we had a very bad experience at the pool tonight. A teenage girl had a major seizure right in front of us. Literally right beside us. She dropped to the pavement and went into the full deal and it seemed to go on forever. I have never seen anything so scary in real life. Her eyes were rolled back and she was seizing so hard and I felt completely powerless. I wished I could help her so much. Now, Colin was right there with us and I didn't know what to do. I tried to get him away, but he was not having it. And here is yet another example of how Colin surprises me constantly. My first thought was, "Oh, no...he is going to lose it over this". Honestly, it scared the fire out of me and I am 34 years old. All the other children at the pool started screaming and crying...each one feeding off the others and everyone getting upset. Colin, however, went calm and stoic. He watched the girl intently and asked me what she was doing. I told him that she was having a seizure and he asked me without taking his eyes off her what that was and how it happens. I didn't have a lot of answers for him, but briefly explained that some illnesses cause seizures. He asked me if she would be okay and I told him she would. People were running around calling 911 and Colin didn't move. He sat on the pool steps and watched everything, asking quiet questions about the police, fire truck and ambulance. He fired off lots of questions about the causes of seizures and wanted to know what the paramedics could do to help her. He informed me that they probably had a shot of something that would help her. :-) I made him get out of the pool in order to avoid being gawkers at the scene of an accident, but Colin was adamant that he stay until the ambulance arrived. He asked me to wrap his towel around him and he perched silently on a chair watching everything happen. I have never seen him so calm. He did ask me if he could ever get a seizure, but once I assured him that he wouldn't have one, he let it go with no fuss. He was all business. It's hard to describe...I expected something like that to scare him, but he wasn't upset in the least. He watched everything the way a scientist would...as though he was absorbing what the process was for this and making mental notes about it. His whole being focused calmly on the situation and again, I pictured him making an excellent doctor. Maybe the ER is his calling. :-)

Obviously, it was an interesting night and I am glad to report that Colin is now sleeping and I am about to be, too! I will be saying an extra prayer for that family tonight.

What a Difference 4 Years Makes!

The times, they are a changing! :-)

The first shot was right we before we walked out the door on the morning of Halloween 2007. This was during the brief 3 months when I was back at work. The latter is from last night before bed, and although it was taken with Jer's blackberry and it is not the best angle, I still love it. Mainly because my newly minted four year old is absolutely adorable! I love my little family and I am so blessed to have my boys. We have come a long way! :-)

To My Four Year Old

Dear Colin,

Today, you are four years old. It has been four breathtaking years since I welcomed you into this crazy world and it feels like moments ago...and forever ago, too. It is hard to remember a me without you. You have always amazed me, but this year...you have blown me away. You know how I am and it will come as no shock to you that I am a sappy mess over this whole business of being 4. Maybe you are 16 while reading this and laughing at the fact that I have said something to that effect on every single one of your birthdays. Maybe you are 35 and shaking your head in disbelief that you were once so small and your mama was so overwhelmed by love for you. Let me assure you that no matter how old you are at this moment, I am still amazed by the fact that God gave you to me. I am still certain that you hung the moon and stars by yourself. I am convinced that you are the most handsome, brilliant, wonderful man that ever existed. I still want to wrap you up in my arms and absorb every pain and heartache that you ever experience. It doesn't matter what year it is or where we are...you will always be my miracle.

As for right now, you are the cutest little boy of all time. :-) You are such an interesting cross between a baby and a big kid. You frequently say things like, "Your baby needs you to hold him" and then "I am a big boy, I can do it myself!" in the next breath. You are so funny! You love to tell jokes that make absolutely no sense and you make up words all the time. You still have deep dimples that melt everyone that meets you, but you have grown taller and very lanky. You are so skinny that I have trouble buying pants for you...if they fit in the waist, they are way too short! You were such a rolly polly baby that I never expected you to turn into such a lean boy, but lean you are! I think you get it from my grandfather, Mimi's daddy. Your face is so expressive and when you talk, you always shoot your eyebrows to the top of your head and cock your head to the side to make sure I know you are serious. You wave your hands around when you speak and you talk far FAR beyond your years. We forget how advanced you are in your speech and I love it when your therapists report to me about how you surprised them in one way or another. Sheri in particular...she always comes out of the room with you, her eyes wide in amazement, telling me something you said that was brilliant. Yesterday, we took you to lunch at Tang's, which is one of our favorite Asian places. As we were eating, Daddy asked you if you wanted some rice, to which you replied "No thanks, Dad...I'm not really much of a rice guy". I laughed so hard that I almost choked.

You are so brilliant. I know that I say it all the time, but I am amazed by it sometimes. You accept NOTHING as fact without asking a million questions about it. You need to know the whole story...why things are the way they are. You asked me completely out of the blue the other day why some animals are born without eyes. I don't know where you even got the idea to ask that, but before I could answer, you said "I think that some animals must be born with birth defects, like Duke's ear drum. It just happens sometimes". (And yes, my dad was born without an ear drum. Colin knows that because he is Colin.) As I am typing this, literally right this second, you walked in from the living room and asked me where people washed their hands before sinks were invented. I told you that people used rivers and streams to wash up before indoor plumbing. You looked at me for a moment and then said, "How about before rivers were invented?" and I told you that God made rivers when he made the earth, so they were always around. He finally nodded his agreement and went back to watch Backyardigans. Right now, that happened. While I am writing about how smart you are. You are on a kick about when things were invented and what people did before. I love that. I am actually a little nervous that I will somehow fail you because I am not smart enough. I wonder how I will keep up with you and if I can avoid you finding out that I am just an average girl who cared far more about dance class than algebra. I already google at least one thing a day because I don't even begin to know the answer. That can only go downhill from here!

We still follow the exact same bedtime routine with me laying beside you while you fall asleep. We are thinking about getting you twin bunk beds this year in order to give you more space in your room. I am wondering if that switch is how you will make the transition to falling asleep alone. We shall see. You take off your own clothes, but still need help getting them on. You love to play all kinds of things and you are amazing at pretend play. You love vehicles of any kind, but almost all of your play involves helping someone. When you ask to play race cars, you always stage a huge wreck that requires a fire truck and ambulance to save the cars. You even make up a hospital and assign cars to be the doctor and nurse. You convinced me to buy a dollhouse a couple of months ago and you very carefully picked out every bit of furniture for it, which is so you. You like to arrange the furniture and pretend that it is where your firemen go after work. That is so very you...you like to play "real life" things and reenact daily life. You love to play chef and store and lifeguard. You like army men, rescue teams, firemen and space. You have a doll named Lucy, who you treat like a daughter...you feed her, put her to bed and frequently make her your "kiddo" while we play. Like you make me hold her when I go through the "drive through" so that I can order her a kids meal. It makes me laugh every time. You are a caregiver at heart and your play always reflects that.

You love school, you love your teachers and you love your friends. You ask about people all the time and wonder how they are doing. Today, you said, "We haven't seen Scarlett in a while...we should play with her!", totally out of the blue. You will see a toy at the store and say, "Mom! I have a good idea! Let's get that for Ruthie!" If we pass by someone holding a baby, you will say without fail, "Mama, look at that cute baby! Did you see him? Wasn't he so cute?!" You are a good sweet boy and I am literally bursting at the seams with pride that I am your mama. I honestly feel like you are an extra special creation of God and that for some reason, He decided that I got to have you. You will always be the greatest thing that I have ever done. ALWAYS. I love you, peanut.

Here you are at your school birthday celebration...Miss Gina made your crown for you!

Holding Miss Evi...who has clearly become your cat. :-)

I mean, she let's you do things like this. That is real love.

Happy 4th Birthday to you, Colin!

The Birthday Boys!

Have you ever seen a cuter birthday invitation?! My wonderful friend Kimberly made this for the boys and now I am officially excited for the beach! We are going to have so much fun! I am so thankful for my creative and talented friends!

Family Birthday Extravaganza!

Colin's birthday weekend was absolutely wonderful! We had the best time celebrating with our family! The party was Sunday afternoon and everything went perfectly. My parents, Jer's parents, my sisters, Uncle Cory, Jackson and Pryce were all here. I made spicy pasta salad with smoked Gouda, watermelon salad, white queso and we grilled burgers, hot dogs and chicken. Colin's cake turned out adorable and he LOVED IT, which is pretty impressive considering it only cost me $20. I am known for blowing my budget on over the top cakes, so I was pretty proud of myself over this one. His stack of presents was enormous and he has more to come tomorrow from us. We might be spoiling him a bit for this 4th birthday. :-)

The cake! It was exactly what Colin wanted!

Lots of birthday presents!

Eating lunch with YaYa (otherwise known as my sister, Alieson)

How precious is this boy?!

Jackson and Colin were so cute together...they really have turned into best friends. They always have the best time and it gives me so much peace to know that no matter what happens, Colin will have his cousins. I know that Jackson will be just like a big brother to him for the rest of his life!

My sisters and the most beautiful Miss Pryce Lucille. She is literally too much to handle. She is all squishy goodness and I want to eat her up every time I lay eyes on her.

Cake time!

All the girls...Meredith, me, my mama and Alieson. Mert, do I get points for writing "Meredith"? It felt strange. ;-)

After lunch, we headed over to the Trophy Club pool for a little swimming fun. The boys were so cute!

Later that night, Colin opened his puppet theater and puppets courtesy of Mimi and Duke. He has been asking for this for ages and he was over the moon about it. He loves putting on shows!

Have you ever seen a happier face?! I love that he wanted puppets...that is just so Colin. :-)

I also must note that Colin got under the table again this year when we sang Happy Birthday to him. Some things never change. :-) Right now, he is at school. This is his last week of summer program, so I used to opportunity today to go pick up his big present for tomorrow...a BIKE! I got all the accessories to go with it and I can't wait to see his face!