The Year Draws to a Close....

Colin's birthday weekend is behind us and I simply cannot believe it. His official 2nd birthday is tomorrow. This week has been filled with all sorts of insanity, which kept me busy enough to keep the nostalgia at bay. Jer and I had decided to forgo a regular birthday party this year in favor of doing something fun like a water park or night at Great Wolf Lodge. Two weeks ago, I started to second guess my decision and started looking for possible options for a backyard water slide. Colin has several little buddies and I started thinking it would be more fun to have his friends over to the house for classic cake and fun. This is when I went wrong...at that late date, I should have stuck to my original plan. Of course, once I get a wild hair, it can't be stopped. I found someone on Craigslist that was renting a giant water slide / splash park for half the price of everyone else. I contacted them and set up the slide for Saturday. I was beside myself with excitement. My family was coming anyway and now we would get to have so much fun and Colin's friends could come, too. I immediately sent out evites to the party. It was even too late for standard invitations in the mail! I should have known better...the slide turned out to be a scam and I found out late Wednesday night that we would not have it. I suppose I should be glad that I found out that early! We cancelled the party for Saturday. It was simply too hot outside to have a backyard party without water. Our HOA only allows 4 guests per resident at our pools and they are strict about it, so we decided that we would just call off the big extravaganza. It ended up working out fine and we have had a blast this weekend. Saturday was spent at the splash park, getting snow cones and swimming at the pool. On Saturday night, Ellen and Aubrey came over to bring Colin a present and hang out for a bit, which is ALWAYS a treat. This morning, we met Jer's parents at Old West Cafe in Denton, which is one of our all time favorite places. Colin was in great spirits and had a blast. After breakfast, we headed back to their house for presents and play on the new slip-n-slide! Colin absolutely adored it and the funniest part was watching Jer and Pop Pop try to use it. Pictures are coming, you can be sure! It has been a wonderful time and I am absolutely in awe that my baby boy is going to wake up tomorrow as a two year old. Below is Colin at birth, 12 months and now. Here comes the nostalgia. My baby!!

Now THAT is a BELLY - One Year Ago....

These are some of the pictures from the last photo shoot of the belly that I wrote about earlier this week. These are the last shots of me pregnant with Colin, taken the night before he was born. One year ago, I looked like THAT! :-) I wish now that I had taken more pictures and video when I was pregnant...time seemed to get away from me and I had that feeling like I would always be pregnant and there was no rush to take pics. How silly I was. I would love to have more belly pics like these to look back on...this is actually the only time I took pictures of my bare belly. I am so glad that I thought to do it that night. You can tell from my rosy cheeks that I was excited beyond words to meet Colin the next morning. And I was huge. REALLY HUGE. No wonder people stared at me like a side show at the end. These are the least scary of the pics...I have some that literally take my breath away at how big I truly was...these angles are at least okay. I did not want to scare everyone off my blog...there was almost a 9 lb baby in there, after all. ;-)

The Countdown Begins...

Colin will be one year old in 10 days. I am finding myself in a suspended state of disbelief. How can these pictures be a year old?!?! That stunningly beautiful little face has been on this earth for a whole year. I am just sitting here...staring at the folder marked "July 2007" and wondering how we got from there to here so fast. I was so scared and excited and dying to meet Colin at this time last year. We had finally scheduled the c-section for Friday, 7/20. Colin had been measuring very large since the start and Dr. White was not comfortable with me trying to deliver him. Colin's head was specifically measuring off the charts and his shoulders were wide...we were nervous about injuring Colin more than me! I had weekly ultrasounds at the end, trying to decide if I could do it. Dr. White felt we should be safer than sorry and so we scheduled the surgery. I love Dr. White...that will be another post...he is amazing. I remember that it felt so good to know the date and that Colin was finally coming! My due date had been 7/28, so the schedule was a week early. I was huge...gigantic. It was so hot and I was so big...I could hardly move at this time last year. My feet were huge and swollen and I decided to take off work that last week before he came. Looking back, it was such a special time. I was supposed to be off my feet and trying to keep my huge baby inside. Instead, I was all over town, buying new towels and sheets for the guest room since we had family coming in. I was in nesting mode to say the least. I remember being at Tuesday Morning and trying to carry all the bags of merchandise to the car. At this stage, I must have looked very close to popping because I got a LOT of worried stares. I remember the check out clerk carried all the bags to my car for me that day...his face clearly showed that he was worried I was going to pass out in the parking lot! I was so full of baby...my stomach was a huge show to watch...there were times Colin would turn over and my whole stomach would shift to one side in a huge peak. I loved trying to freak out Jer by calling him to come look. Colin was also getting the hiccups non-stop at this point. My whole belly would shake with them. Ten days. My baby will be one year old in 10 days. It simply cannot be so.