Amber's 30th Birthday

This is the year we all turn 30 . . . well except for Cas! I'm hanging on to my twenty-something status for the last few months while happily celebrating with my friends who hit this milestone before me. On Saturday we threw a surprise party for my best friend Amber.

Here she is with her first-born:
And the whole family - kudos to Cas for getting a photo where everyone is looking at the camera. I'd consider this a 30th birthday miracle!

Here's the gang - friends since junior high days -

Our parties together used to start at 10pm, but at 30 with quite a few infants in our ranks, by 10pm we were all yawning and calling it a night!

Amber with her daughter, Esmae Sue -

Her boys cracking each other up -

Collin is wearing an outfit my mom gave to Amber's son Holden that then was passed down to Collin. My poor son, while everyone at the party was eating fajitas and birthday cake, he was stuck with green beans! By my 30th (which is 6 days before his first birthday), maybe we'll let him try some cake.

Here's Esmae with me for a pillow. Since Collin learned to crawl, the only time he's cuddly is when he's nursing, so I enjoyed sweet Esmae snuggling on my chest -

How did we go from girl scouts and junior high athletes and scary new drivers and prom group picture posers to professionals and wives and mothers and adults entering our third decade in such a short period of time?

"Work" trip to Hershey

I texted Cas this picture to show him how hard I was working last week at a customer trip to Hershey, PA.

He was not impressed. We did have formal meetings, but much of the trip was spent on relaxed networking . . . on the tennis courts, at the spa or golf course, and of course conversations over plenty of chocolate. It was my second time to the Hotel Hershey, and I look forward to having Cas and Collin join me there for the weekend in a few years. There is plenty for children to enjoy - touring the chocolate factory, the zoo, lots of athletic options, playgrounds and even some easy hiking.

On Thursday afternoon, I was able to grab my ipod and take a 4-mile hike in the woods of the hotel property. I was listening to a Matt Chandler talk about prayer and was delighted with the experience -some solo time listening to a great message, seeing the beauty of God's creation, and enjoying the cooler weather. I was so into the message and lost in my own thoughts that I was startled to see a deer 10 feet in front of me on the trail. We both had a "deer in the headlight" moment. Though the deer could have done some damage if it charged directly at me, I luckily encourage her to scamper off. Seconds later I was kicking myself for not snapping a picture.

I did get a few from my hike - A rest stop in such a peaceful setting.

While it was nice to get away, especially to a town so focused on chocolate, it was even better to come home. Collin is crawling everywhere and starting to pull up on objects. Having him crawl to me, sit, and raise his hands up for me to grab him is better to me than a chocolate massage - which basically means that I am crazy in love with my son.

Collin's Baby Dedication (part 2)

After the ceremony at our church, we went for a not-so-fancy dinner at our favorite pizza spot. This picture of Collin with Great Grandma Betty is just joy to me. Joy that Collin is blessed to have three GREAT grandmothers in his life, and joy that they are delighted to be his great grandma!
Collin had fun playing with Uncle Libero -
Grandpa Brownie got some ticklish squeals -
I'm not sure who was having a better time - Collin or his grandpa
My dad is notorious for stealing Collin from whoever is holding him, but on Sunday it was really fun to sit back and watch the subtle battle for Collin-time. He was passed around to everyone, but I'm pretty sure everyone thought their Collin-time was too short. I enjoyed eating an entirely hot meal, which because I'm a slow eater and Collin's needs interrupt my meals, is super rare for me.

Collin was showing off for Grammy, blowing raspberries. Unfortunately the laughing encouraged the action . . . later the next day he blew me some raspberries with a mouth full of ground fish - lovely!
The grandmas -
I found it ironic that though there were hundreds of pretty backgrounds at our church and we took multiple pictures on 3 different cameras, one of my favorite photos did not include Cas or me, but was taken in one attempt, standing in the pizza parking lot, before everyone piled into cars. Here's Collin and Uncle Libero at dusk-
Stubbornly continuing in my pursuit, we tried one last time before driving away for a family shot. Collin was grinning away at Grandma Libia, but unfortunately she wasn't the one with the camera -

Fortunately, I have some great mental memories of the evening. I will remember Collin trying to grab our pastor's microphone. I will remember Cas kneeling in prayer for our family. I will remember our wonderful family that was able to join us on a Sunday evening, and who loves Collin so much that no one wanted to share him.

Finally I will remember the verse read over Collin as part of our dedication - Col 1:9-10, "For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God."

I feel like God is trying to get it through my hard head not to waste my life focused on filling walls with "perfect" family pictures, but instead to spend my life worshipping my perfect Savior and living in such a way that makes Jesus attractive to Collin and my family and friends. And the challenge of that will make taking a great family photo seem like a piece of cake in comparison!

Collin's Baby Dedication (part 1)

The quest for a great family shot continues to elude us. Cas has humored me several times with coordinated outfits, but no photo was taken worthy of a spot on our wall. Every time we are all dressed up with family around us patient enough to take multiple pictures, Collin wants nothing of it.

And Sunday afternoon for his baby dedication, the trend continued. Our church gives parents the opportunity to participate in a ceremony where we publicly dedicate our child to the Lord and promise to pray for him and teach him about Jesus, hoping that Collin will one day decide to trust in God for salvation. We had the grandparents, Uncle Libero, and GGB in attendance:
Collin was sporting a cute outfit, but was in no mood to look at the camera and smile.
This is the closest we got, and really it's only decent of Cas -
Here's an outtake more typical of the pictures that were snapped. I think Collin had just yanked on my hair. Poor Cas, that's what you get for being so tall -
Of course before we got to the church, Collin was willing to pose with Grammy -
My mom called to see what I was wearing. I told her it wasn't too dressy, just what you'd wear to church. Then she had to check - you're not wearing the pink dress, right? We have the same pink dress. No, I'm wearing the blue dress, so don't wear that one. We have almost the same blue dress. Cas thinks we're pathetic.

Ode to the Exersaucer

Dear Exersaucer,

Over the last 4 months you have been a close friend. We captured your first introduction, and as Collin grew in his ability to control his upper body, the two of you became great buddies. You frequented every room in our home, entertaining our son so we could grab a bite to eat or fix our hair or send an email or prepare a meal. Even though your instructions explicitly forbid leaving a baby unattended in your presence, you allowed us to do just that.

We had heard rumors that our days with you were numbered. We received advice to treasure Collin's immobility stage. And now, dear friend, the day has come that you are no longer loved. A visit with you entails tears and whines of protest. We will pass you on to babies who can appreciate you and hope to return you to your former glory in our living room if God graces us with another child in the future.

Until then, you'll have to watch your former friend pass you by like this:
He probably won't even give you a second glance now that he can move himself to toys beyond your 10-inch radius.

Exersaucer, you will not be forgotten. We will speak of you fondly with statements like, "remember when we could just put Collin in the exersaucer and get ready rather than tag-teaming our morning routine" or "remember when Collin was content in the exersaucer instead of crawling around in search of germ-filled items or choking hazards to put in his mouth." You will be sorely missed!

You thought Dinosaurs were Extinct . . .

Though Collin has a lot of his dad's features, we know he has my blood . . . unfortunately for him that blood is attractive to mosquitoes. Here's what I returned home to see - Do you see all the mosquitoes bites on my poor baby's forehead? There were 7 bites. Cas had him outside in the stroller one night when our electricity was out, and because the mosquitoes weren't biting Cas, he didn't realize his son was being eaten alive inside the cocoon of his stroller.

Collin doesn't seem to be too upset by the bites. Here he is laughing away with Grandma Libia -
After his bath, Collin got to wear his dinosaur robe.

And to further his dinosaur interpretation, he had to move around on his hands and knees.

He's finally started to put crawling together and can now get any toy that catches his eye. Unfortunately, it's rarely a toy that he's after - normally it's my cell phone or an open glass of water or a shoe. He's surrounded by toys but always wants the one thing he's not supposed to put in his mouth.

My brother Alex was very interested in dinosaurs when he was young. I remember him telling adults he wanted to be a paleontologist and some of them didn't know what he was talking about! His girlfriend Coady gifted Collin with this wonderful children's book called Dinosaurs Roar. Between the dinosaur robe and rhyming book of dinosaur opposites, we'll see if paleontologist will be on Collin's future occupations list as well.

Uninterrupted sleep and other highlights from my weekend in Chicago

I have a work conference in Chicago and went up the weekend before to spend time with family and explore the city. Here are some of my highlights:

1. Second City comedy show. It was one of those experiences where my cheeks hurt from smiling & laughing for 3 hours. I haven't even left Chicago and I'm already looking forward to a new show at my next visit.

2. On Saturday and Sunday morning, I slept past 9am. Even though I've occasionally been able to nurse Collin and hand him off, it was the first time since he was born that I've had uninterrupted sleep past 7:30am!!

3. Touring the city - On Saturday we walked to the aquarium. Coady was her typical joyful self, even in the overcast, drizzly morning weather -

We enjoyed Shedd aquarium - the penguins, seahorses, and other sea creatures


4. The great weather - Saturday afternoon and Sunday were GORGEOUS - 50s to mid-70s. Perfect weather to take pictures in the parks. Here are Coady & Alex in Grant Park -

And posing like America's Next Top Model contestants -

We had to continue the pose created by Alex and Coady. I really hope it's the posing or camera angle because otherwise my rear is HUGE and I've been ignorant of this fact. Oh well, at least you can see we were having a lot of fun!

At the Silver Bean structure in Millennium Park - so cool! As Coady is posing, you can see me snapping the photo in the mirror above her. I was delighted by the bean, a fairly new and clearly popular landmark in Chicago.

5. Watching Alex and Coady so happy and in love -

6. Getting to listen to my cousin Bryce's band practice in their studio (Bryce is on the drums.)

Bryce, his friend Danny and I had a wonderful afternoon in Lincoln Park, walking through the zoo and throwing Frisbees in the botanical gardens -

I miss my boys but I've had a wonderful time in the Windy City!

While I was busy exploring Chicago, I have a feeling Collin and Cas were watching way too much football. And I'm one of those crazy anti-tv for babies moms, so I think anything more than 1 minute is way too much football. We took pictures of Collin checking out his first NFL game before I left. At first I was worried that he was too interested in tv.

But the game held his interest for just a minute. Then he moved on to posing for the camera, followed by crawling practice.

Breakfast for dinner

Normally we give Collin Cheerios to keep him occupied while we eat dinner, but he much prefers leftover blueberry pancakes.
Unfortunately they're a bit messier than Cheerios. The super-fruit qualities of blueberries brought out the silly side of Collin -

My brother and I grew up quite spoiled when it comes to breakfast. My dad is such a morning person and was always offering to whip up pancakes, waffles or omelets in the morning. Alex and I normally chose cereal as we'd sit in zombie fashion, using the breakfast time to help us wake up rather than feast.

Once we moved away, we realized how good we had it with a short-order breakfast chef as a dad. We'll see if Cas or I get the breakfast-cooking desire once Collin is able to eat regular food. It's not looking good for Collin though, because neither Cas or I remotely fall in the "morning person" category.

And just so the grandmas get their credit, both Grandma Libia and Grammy Lesa are incredible chefs. Grandma Libia will often cook us dinner when she comes to watch Collin. She puts together delicious meals based on what is in our pantry. I cannot cook without a recipe, so I'm always amazed. And my mom will tell you that we had to ask her what a tv dinner was because as kids, we always had homemade meals at the dinner table. They've given us quite big shoes to fill when it comes to feeding our son!