Fat Lip

Collin has continued to cough and so his doctor had him get an Upper GI done on Tuesday. It ended up being a much easier test on him (and us) than we originally thought. We are so thankful for that and that they only confirmed he has reflux and nothing else going on. So he's on a new medicine for that to see if we control the reflux if it will allow the cough a chance to go away. Even though the test was easier than expected, Collin and I were still exhausted that evening (he has another ear infection on top of everything else). This is how Dave found us when he got back from playing basketball....

Even though he's not feeling the greatest, he continues to bless us with his sweet smiles!

Can you believe those eyes? :) Benjamin is telling me a story here.....

He is turning out to be an incredible four year old!!!!

Anna is 50% sweet and 50% spunk. The spunky side has turned into the form of fits as she approaches her second birthday. On Wednesday, she threw a fit in her bed. I went back there when she started crying and she had so much blood in her mouth that she was gagging. She had two huge teeth marks in her bottom lip where I believe she jumped up and down in her bed and hit her lip on the crib rail. It bruised under her chin and on both sides of her lip. She had such a desperate cry that it broke my heart. Even though the lip bled for almost an hour, she recovered rather quickly and thankfully, didn't seem bothered by it much after that. Here's the sweet.....

and some spunk.....

I was pleasantly surprised that she didn't keep crying even though the lip continued to bleed some....

After her nap, it swelled up....

Anna and Collin were really sweet interacting with one another that afternoon. He kept arching his back to look behind him and see her. She would kiss and talk to him and alternate playing with his hair and her own. She's been really into him lately and wants to hold him and love on him! (You can click to enlarge this if you want to see it better)

Remote control cars are a big hit in this house these days!

Little more spunk in case you missed it in the first example.....

Collin was sitting in his bouncy seat and so I put Anna across my lap and we bounced and pretended that she was in a bouncy seat too. I looked down and saw her posing with her hand like this and of course had to reach for the camera again!

FYI, we were having a pajama day and all four of us stayed in our jammies all day. While Anna was sitting here like this, she kept saying/whinig "Wanna get dressed." How can the girl not appreciate a jammy day????

Collin (and me) are having a rough time with his new medicine. He's taking Reglan which helps him empty his stomach faster. It has helped the reflux, but not the cough so far. The medicine makes him fussy and fill his diaper really fast, which in turn makes it harder for him to get a good nap in during the day and is hungry more often. This is my attempt at trying to wake him up to eat one evening after he finally was able to get a good nap.....

He smiles as he falls back into a deep sleep. You can see here, my unswaddling job didn't work as he's smiling/falling back to a deep sleep....

Anna's lip day two got all white and yucky looking, but looks much better today. She continued to act fine with it and never seemed to be in pain.

Here's my solution to Collin filling his diaper and getting his clothes dirty all day long....a white onesie and Baby Legs. Benjamin and Dave both informed me that boys shouldn't wear this, but since they don't change Collin's diapers or struggle to get the stains out during laundry duty, I don't think they deserve a vote!

The Baby Legs just go to the top of his legs and don't connect at all, which means he doesn't poop on them and I can easily check his diaper and his legs stay nice and warm in this cold weather!

By the way, Collin weighed 16 lb 8 oz on Monday at his appointment and is now wearing 6-9 month clothes! He is such a tall guy!

The Baby In The Mirror

Last weekend Collin couldn't make it through the whole Colt's game. He dressed for it though!


Collin spends a lot of time laying on a blanket on the floor, taking the world in.


Before I knew what they were up to, Benjamin and Anna went and grabbed their blankets and joined their baby brother (all three of them are watching a cartoon)....

Collin enjoying his toys over his bouncy seat for the first time. Don't you love his expression?

"These are pretty cool!"

I often try to take pictures in enough light that I can avoid my flash, but sometimes must use it. Apparently, Collin has gotten used to not having it flash in his face! Here he is surprised by it....

and squinting because of it.....

See how he's holding his monkey? He's been grabbing toys (and my hands) more and more. He also does the sweetest little laugh and likes to 'talk' to us! The combination of his big sweet smile and big blue eyes are enough to make your heart melt!

After Collin woke up from a nap, Anna ran over and grabbed a book and started reading to him!

She's saying, "I read book to Cowen!"

Benjamin had just woken from his nap and had to read to his brother too. Like the bed head?

I recently moved Collin's changing pad to our dresser and tried to do a little photo shoot with him on it.

Checking himself out.....

Look at that happy baby in the mirror!

What were Benjamin and Anna doing during this time? Having a tickle fight on my bed, of course!

They are starting to wrestle and play a little more rough these days and actually stay happy with one another. It's really fun to watch them, but I'm always nervous waiting for someone to get hurt or mad (or both).

They were getting restless right before Daddy came home, so I asked if they wanted to get their picture taken with Collin. Collin isn't positioned very well for pictures, but it was the best I could do by myself. Aren't they sweet?

We closed on our new house yesterday and get to move in on the 8th! It will be double the space we have now.........we're pretty excited!

Future Flower Girl

Do you see the love?!?!


Benjamin and Anna love to color and write so much! Benjamin is even starting to write some of the letters in his name on his own and tonight he was sitting on Dave's lap and all of a sudden said what each letter was in the word C-H-A-M-P-S on Dave's shirt.


You can just see her personality all over her face!


Fun Black and Whites

Collin is working on a pretty good bald spot on the back of his head. Yesterday I found the lost hairs on the burp cloth in his bed. I remember having this happen with Anna, so I wasn't surprised. I was however surprised by the length of his hairs! (BTW, this is a close-up so that you can make out the hair strands.....there was a lot more hair than this)

Collin meeting his future girlfriend, Avery. Collin is exactly 2 months older than Avery, shows how long he really is seeing him next to her. I love his little smirk here!

It warmed up here the last several days, so the kids and I went out and played with the last few bits of snow. Even though there wasn't hardly any left, they still managed to have some fun! Benjamin found them each a stick and they poked the snow around for a bit....

This boy LOVES sticks!

Grandpa was driving home from a trip and stopped through to see us. Benjamin had a ton of fun throwing snow at Grandpa! We also had fun making snowballs and mini snowmen and then stomping them.

Collin is starting to grab things just a bit. Here he is playing with his monkey blanket.....

Anna is going to be the flower girl in her Uncle Mike's wedding in August to Anna's future aunt, Kathy. Her flower girl dress came in the mail today and we couldn't resist trying it on. She got so excited and loved having it on. She looked so stinkin' cute, if I do say so myself! (FYI, I left the shirt she was wearing that day on underneath)

She was so funny and kept posing like this.....

I went shopping that day and got the kids a ton of clothes for next year on sale. Benjamin and Anna were trying all those on and having a lot of fun when we opened the flower girl dress. Benjamin picked up on the excitement and wanted to have his picture taken with one of his new shirts too.....

Pretty dress for a pretty girl!

Look at this picture Benjamin drew of himself........

I was really impressed!