One BIG Week!!

I think I take too many pictures. Is that possible? In the above shot, Colin is eating Thai food, which he is obsessed with (as he is all Asian cuisine). It was just SO cute to see him eating Pad Thai that I just had to take a picture. In the long LONG ago days of my own youth, there were no digital cameras. Can you believe that, Colin? NO. DIGITAL. CAMERAS. We had to buy film, take pictures without being able to immediately see if you look fat in them, and then develop them. At a STORE. Insanity. It hurts my head when I think about all the things that Colin won't believe that I experienced. I can hear it now..."You had a CD player??" Anyway, it hit me today that the invention of the digital camera may very well mean that Colin will have 950,000 pictures of his life. Before he turns 18. How on earth am I going to pick which ones to use in the slide show at his wedding? ;-)


It has been a busy week around here and I have been loving every minute of it. On Friday morning after my birthday, I packed up Colin and headed into Tyler for the weekend. I was planning on attending Mert and Cory's Kentucky Derby party and doing a little family birthday celebrating. Jer was tied up with work, so it was just the two of us. Mert's party was so much fun (and not just because she had a giant batch of the best sangria ever) and Colin was in heaven hanging out at Mimi and Duke's house. Watching him run and play all over the home that I grew up in never ceases to be wonderful for me. He played endlessly in the long driveway (which was always my favorite thing, too) and proceeded to eat every single one of Duke's blueberries (which is becoming a tradition on it's own). We headed home on Sunday because Jer was home from work, but we stopped to eat in Edom with my parents on our way out. Even though we eat there on virtually every trip, I can't help myself from taking pictures of Colin on the giant country front porches each time. It just speaks of East Texas and that speaks of my own heart and soul. I love my home! I hope that Colin grows up loving it as much as I do.

After lunch we had to get on the road and Colin went bananas. He was beside himself that we were not going back to my parents house and he began screaming crying to go back. I thought he would settle down when we drove away, but he was beside himself. He cried himself to sleep, passed out just before Canton, and then slept the whole way home. Almost two hours! I felt horrible that he was so upset, but the two silent hours in the car without listening to "All About Firetrucks" endlessly was nice. :-) On Monday night we got to have dinner and ice cream with Jer's parents and Colin was pretty excited that he got to see most of his favorite people in the span of a few days. This boy LOVES his grandparents!

On Tuesday, we met Eren, Brooke and Jack over at the Grapevine Botanical Gardens for a picnic and it was an absolutely stunning day for it. We got there first and when Jack rounded the corner, Colin began waving and yelling, "HI JACK!!" He looked at me and said, "Mommy, Jack is my best friend!"...melt my heart! He loves all his friends and I feel blessed beyond measure that he has a group of people that he feels so happy around. Colin and Jack spent a good portion of the time moving rocks from one side of the fish pond to the other, which was probably not the best idea, but they looked SO cute doing it. We played at the attached park before Eren had to head home for baby nap time. It was a great afternoon.

Whew, this post is a long one! On to yesterday...the Denton Music on the Square concert series started up!! They play music on the lawn of the courthouse every Wednesday and Thursday evening in May and June and it was one of the highlights of my year last year. It is the most idyllic setting with all the families spread out in lawn chairs and on picnic blankets, hanging out and listening to music together. Yesterday was such a treat! The boys are all so much bigger this year, so we did not have to do nearly as much chasing around this time. We were there with Kim, Barb, Tanya and all the kiddos. Colin, Greyson and Hayden were having a grand time chasing each other, sword fighting with sticks (lord help us) and Colin was happy as can be to love on his precious baby Pierce. It was just as wonderful as last year, if not more so, and I am thrilled to soak up the fun for the next two months!

Here is Colin at Beth Marie's...the ice cream shop on the square. It is the CUTEST old-fashioned place in the world and he was thrilled to be there.

Colin, Kim and Hayden...two of his favorite people in the world (as you may have noticed)

My sweet boy! It was such a beautiful day!!

Hayden and Colin running around like crazy! Greyson was right behind, but I could not get all three of them in a single shot to save my life!

Loving Pierce, of course! He is such a good "big friend" to all these sweet babies!

Finally, last but not least, we have my birthday party last night! My wonderful friends got together for a girls night out in my honor and we went to Lava 10 in Grapevine. We shared drinks, dinner and a lot of laughter! They called it my "21st" birthday, complete with candles. It was hysterical! Kim even got me an AWESOME Jacob "Twilight" shirt that utterly horrified Jer. He says I can't wear it to bed ever. HAA!! I love these girls and even though the restaurant service was horrible, I had the best night. We had some seriously fantastic french martinis that were so good, I am thinking about going out to get all the stuff to make them with!

Here we are in our now "signature" pose. Ah, I love these girls! Lindsey, Tanya, Shelly, Kimberly, Hannah and Eren. SO much fun!

Did you read ALL of that! I really need to post more often! GOOD GRIEF, that was long! :-)

33 Years Old...Seriously?

Well, it's my birthday. AGAIN. This just keeps happening. :-) I have had a lovely day...Colin and I went out to lunch and spent the afternoon at the park. I have had the most wonderful time reading all of the endless birthday wishes on Facebook and feeling like the princess of the day. To top things off, an old friend from my drill team days had her baby girl today! I think she picked the perfect day to be born. hehe!

Jer had a random day off yesterday, so we took Colin back to the botanic gardens for a walk. We love it there and Colin has such a great time exploring. He will not leave his shoes on and loves finding ways to get off the beaten path. During one such trek behind the scenes of the gardens, we stumbled onto a huge bush full of honeysuckle. The scent struck me immediately as we rounded the corner and I was taken back to my childhood. The fence in my parents backyard filled up with them every year and I would spend hours out there pulling the pods apart and tasting the sweet juice. We showed Colin how to do it and he was very impressed! Here he is taking his very first sip!

Once we got home from the gardens, Jer took over with Colin and I headed out for my birthday present...a pedicure! BLISS! I really can't think of a better gift! It is very hard to spoil yourself when you are the stay at home mother of a two year old, so that hour in the salon is just the best thing ever. I am heading to Tyler tomorrow for a weekend at my parents house. Mert and Cory are having a Kentucky Derby party at their house on Saturday, which I will get to attend. Meredith is making me wear a giant hat for the party, so there ought to be some amusing pictures to come. :-) I will sign off with this last picture of Colin...his face is cracking me up here. You can tell he is up to no good!

A Little Update

I am happy to report that the stomach flu is officially gone from our house! After several sub par days, I feel back to normal and things are happy again in our neck of the woods. The weather has been bright and sunny with highs in the 70's, so Colin and I have been spending as much time as possible soaking up the short Texas spring. I know it will be 100 degrees before you know it, so I am living it up while I can. :-) We spent the entire afternoon at the park in Southlake yesterday and finished up with a trip to Baskin Robins. As you may have guessed from the pictures below, Colin choose chocolate.

We headed over to the airport this afternoon to share a picnic lunch with our best buddies and watch some airplanes. Jer was able to come over and say hello during his lunch break, which was a treat. Colin was more subdued than normal, which is probably because I gave him a dose of Benadryl this morning. He woke up with a runny allergy nose, so I thought the Benadryl might be a good option. I suppose I should have gone with the Claritin...I forgot how sleepy the other stuff makes him! By the end of the visit, he was laying down on his blanket, which is beyond rare. However, I think the medicine has worn off because he is back to his old self now and avoiding all hopes of an afternoon nap. Of course. :-) Look at that blue sky...what a beautiful day we are having!


There is not much else to report here at the moment. The days are just ticking by. :-)

MORE Stomach Flu!

WORST. DAY. EVER. I am starting to think that this damn stomach virus going around is never going to leave. When Colin got sick almost 2 weeks ago, I managed to sneak by with only a mild stomach ache. I was ever so pleased with myself for not getting truly ill. Then at about 4am yesterday morning, I woke up and decided that I was going to die. I truly don't think there is anything worse than the stomach flu. After a solid day of hell, I feel better...although I may never eat anything besides saltine crackers ever again. ;-)

Colin was SO good yesterday and for the first time ever, he left me alone for the whole day and played with Jer. He never leaves me alone while I am sick, but he seemed to sense immediately that it was different this time and he never even set foot in my room. I was able to hear him chatting and playing and even in my writhing agony, I could not help but think how adorable he was. At one point, I walked out into the kitchen and he said, "Mommy, you still got the yucky waters?" HA!!! I sure do hope the "yucky waters" are done for a VERY LONG TIME!

Exceptional

This is a big day in our little household! We took a family trip to tour the preschool where Colin will go this fall and finally got signed up. I am just so excited!!! After much thought and looking at a lot of different options, we finally decided on a church program that is very close to home and perfect for our little man. Colin will start out attending one day a week, Mondays, with the option to increase to two or even three days as he progresses. This is a big step for Colin and I am thrilled with our choice. I love everything about the program and really loved the director and assistant that we spent time with. The assistant director is the mother of a sensitive boy who sounds much like Colin and she spoke with me about him and how she understands the process involved with helping make Colin feel at home there. That brings me a lot of peace and really makes me know that we chose the perfect place for Colin. I have confidence that he will be loved there and that is exactly what I needed. He starts this fall with the regular school calendar. The really great news is that we plan to start attending church there, which will give Colin all summer to become familiar with the facility, teachers, and being dropped off. We have not gone to church with Colin yet, but after today I feel so excited to start going and getting Colin involved in their program. By the time the school year rolls around, he should be used to being dropped off there, so the transition should be smooth. The church is a casual, open and cheerful environment and I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I truly feel like God lead me in this direction and the peace in my heart is palpable!

Last week, Kim sent me an email about a book that she stumbled upon that she thought would be helpful. That is putting it mildly. She actually gave me a huge gift in pointing me toward the book and I will be in her debt for a long time. The book is called "The Highly Sensitive Child" by Dr. Elaine Aron. She writes about a small percentage of the population (15%) who are born with a very special personality...highly sensitive. I have spent so many months quietly researching Colin and his temperament only to come to one dead end after another. Despite long hours of endless searching, nothing ever seemed to fit Colin. I always came up with information on Aspergers, which just does not fit Colin. He is sensitive and is bothered by things that other kids are not, but he meets none of the criteria to fall on the spectrum for Autism, even the most highly functioning. He clearly is not autistic, in fact he is the polar opposite of most autistic traits, but is showing signs of being gifted and hyper sensitive. Finally, finally, this book showed me the way. It is my son. It is not a disorder, as I have always known in my heart, but rather a trait he was born with that needs it's own set of parenting skills. From the first word of the book, the doctor was talking about Colin. I actually cried for the first few pages...the relief of finding information that actually fit our lives is simply invaluable. Colin is a child who notices things that others do not...from little nuances in others feelings to the smallest sounds or slightest smells. Colin experiences the world on a different level than most of us do and processes a lot more information than the average two year old. When Colin appears shy, he is really taking in his environment and seeing everything. When someone in a room is sad, Colin knows it and wonders why that is. The book also talks about these children and their innate love of babies (I really teared up when I read that...talk about Colin!) and why they like to nurture. There is so much that I can't really even discuss it all without writing for hours. He will always be easily overwhelmed by things because of how his brain works and I am now armed with information and skills to help him. I can be his champion now and help him navigate the world. The knowledge and techniques the doctor speaks about have already helped me and I am not even finished with the book yet! I feel like I have gotten to look through a window at Colin's world and everything makes more sense now. I can understand why he does not like rough housing or people in his personal space unless on his terms and I can help others understand that, too. He is a brilliant little boy and I have always always known he was special...and now I have a guide to just how special he is. There will be challenges while growing up, but heck...every parent has their own set of them!! The author calls them exceptional children and I totally agree. I am so honored that I was chosen to be his mother! There is also a good chance that it won't be long before I am not smart enough to help him with his homework, but that is another post. ;-)

So, long story long....I am having a very good day.

Just a Ton of Stuff!

The running dialogue in this journal of my life seems to be all about how fast time is flying by. For the umpteenth time in a row, I feel compelled to point out how quickly the days have run past since my last update. How is April already winding down?? There has been so much going on in our little world. We are busy and happy and overwhelmed at times, but we are having a wonderful spring, without question!

First of all, we have been attending quite a few birthday parties lately and having a blast doing it! Virtually ALL of our friends have a child born within a month time span. We have had a birthday party every weekend now since the end of March and I can say without a doubt that Colin has been having the best time. I was nervous when all the invitations started rolling in, given Colin's tendency to dislike loud, crowded events. I am so happy to report that he has been loving the parties and there has not been a single issue during any of them! When we arrive at the parties, Colin is quiet for a few minutes while he checks out the scene and takes it all in. I have learned that the key is to stay aside with him while he gets his bearings and keep the contact from others down to a minimum while he figures out what is going on. After only a couple of minutes, he is ready to explore things and immediately begins playing and having fun. I promised myself that we would try the parties, but that if he was even the least bit unhappy, I would take him out of the environment. I was fully prepared to do this, but was so excited to see him having a blast. He loves his friends and always spends the ride home telling me how much fun he had, whose house he wants to go to next, and which toys were the best. :-) Last night we attended Keegan's 3rd birthday party and it was dinosaur themed, complete with dinosaur egg hunt. Colin had the best time in the world, was so sweet and gentle (he "took care" of all the babies as usual) and behaved like a champ. Jer noted that during the egg hunt, Colin only collected three eggs instead of the whole bag full that most other kids found. He is not the child that will run into chaos and loud kids in order to find the most eggs, but he was thrilled with the ones he got and LOVED carefully finding the prizes hidden inside. What a wonderful night with great friends! Now that all the parties have come to a close, I can't wait to begin organizing Colin's. It will be here before you know it!! Here is the little man last night...hunting dinosaurs...sort of. ;-) A little over a week ago, we attended Annelie's first birthday party, only to catch a violent stomach flu along with the majority of the attendees. It was crazy!! Colin woke up throwing up at around 10pm that Saturday night and continued to do so on and off until late Sunday morning. We went through a ton of sheets and pj's and the poor baby was so upset by it. He kept asking why all the "yucky water" was coming out of him! It just broke my heart! Luckily it only knocked us out for 24 hours or so and we were back to normal on Monday. We were REALLY upset to miss Pierce's birthday party that Sunday afternoon. Colin had been looking forward to it for weeks (they had a petting zoo!) and we were all so sad to miss it. I felt especially bad for Kim because almost the whole gang got the virus, so we all missed it. I am just glad it is over!!

Jer and I decided to take Colin to the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens a few days ago and it was one of the best afternoons ever. Colin adores being outside with lots to see and this really fit the bill. I would never have expected something like the gardens to be so highly entertaining for a two year old, but then again, Colin is not the average two year old. :-) He spent hours running around from garden to garden (this place is giant...it will take us several trips to see it all) and checking out everything he could. His favorite part by far was the Japanese Gardens. He asked us "is this America?" and followed that with "No, this is China!". I almost fell down. I never expected to have a discussion on the subtle differences in Japanese and Chinese architecture at two and a half. HA! He loved the whole day and has asked to go back constantly since then. My little nature lover! Here is the whole family, thanks to a nice onlooker who offered to take our picture. That is the Rose Garden down below.

Colin basking in the sun in the Japanese Gardens. I love this one so much.

Stopping to smell the roses. ;-) He went without shoes for most of the day. He gets his love of being barefoot from me.

Daddy and Colin in "Japan". I think they are so sweet in that shot!

I have a ton more to update about Colin in general, so I will make most of that another post. These days we spend the majority of our time in the garage and front yard. Colin is obsessed with being in the garage with all of the "stuff" and he will spend hours out there looking at everything and moving stuff around, much to Dad's chagrin! I have taken to setting up one of the folding lawn chairs out there with a magazine or book in hand while the little man goes through everything, plays store, and goes in and out of the parked car pretending to drive. Here he is peeking out of Dad's sunroof...which is a sight I see a lot of these days! He LOVES sitting in the parked cars. A LOT! It should also be mentioned that those dimples are the light of my life. :-)

Our Big Easter!

It is funny how amazing the holidays are now that Colin is older! Easter was last Sunday and what a wonderful day we had with the little man! As I tucked Colin into bed on Saturday night, I told him that the Easter Bunny would be coming to leave him a present and he took things quite literally...he woke up at 7am on Sunday morning and immediately headed into the living room. He said "There is no Easter Bunny here!" HA!! He thought the big guy would just be waiting for him on the couch! I showed him the basket that was left for him and he was beside himself with excitement. He got a new pack of construction trucks and a new model airplane, as well as a stuffed bunny and some finger paints. He was glued to his new stuff until Jer told him to look in the backyard for the hidden eggs. He ran outside and began the hunt, which consisted of him stopping to open each egg and eat the candy inside before going to find the next one. :-) He thought finding candy in those eggs was the best thing that ever happened to him. It was so much fun to watch! The candy overload continued as we got dressed and headed over to Jer's parents house for our annual Easter lunch and egg hunt. Mom Mom and Pop Pop had tons of presents for him and a lot more candy! After sorting through his second batch of Easter loot, he headed outside for the egg hunt, which was absolutely hysterical. After finding candy in the eggs during the first hunt, he assumed that all eggs had a prize inside. He kept opening the eggs at Jer's parents house and tossing them to the ground with a puzzled, "There's no candy inside!!"...he was so upset about it that I was having a hard time not giggling at him. Mom Mom saved the day by sneaking some Hershey's Kisses into the last few eggs and his love of Easter was restored. The day was so wonderful; we shared a great meal and a fantastic afternoon.

Now for a couple of funny tidbits from the last few days:

*Colin is IN LOVE with Hershey's Kisses. He asks for them constantly and the very best part is that he calls them "slurpy kisses". It is so crazy adorable that I keep giving them to him even when I shouldn't. :-)

*When we got home after our big Easter outing, I had nothing planned for dinner. Since we had been eating all day, I just threw some fish sticks in the oven and corn in the microwave for Colin. He went absolutely insane over it and must have eaten 12 fish sticks. With every bite he kept informing me that "this is the BEST thing you have ever made, Mommy!" and "Mommy, this is SO GOOD, thank you so much for making me this". Yes, I make wonderful meals from scratch every day of my life and the frozen fish sticks are the best thing I have ever made him. You just gotta love a two year old. :-) He had only eaten chocolate for about 12 hours straight at that point, so I am hoping it was the starvation talking. HA!

*So back in early February, I took Colin with me to buy some earrings for my good friend Kimberly's birthday and made a big deal about letting him *help* pick them out. Today...as in April 7th...he looks at me and says, "Mommy, I have to go. I need to get Kim some earrings." Absolutely hysterical! In case there was any doubt...Colin remembers everything now....for a long time!

*I really wanted to attend Easter service at church this year, but we decided against it. The huge Easter crowd would absolutely not have worked for Colin at this point. I hope we can make it next year!

And now...let's end this long post with the pictures! :-)

The look on Colin's face when he realized that there was no candy in the eggs. SO FUNNY!

My handsome man! How cute are those plaid shoes?!? :-)

Just after waking up and already hunting eggs in the backyard!

JOY! There is CANDY IN HERE!

Happy again because Mom Mom hid some "slurpy kisses" in the last few eggs!

I just stuck the camera down and snapped this without looking...what a precious shot it turned out to be!! Probably my favorite from the day.

Me and my most precious Easter gift!

Mom Mom and Colin hunting eggs.