Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from our little lion!

Fixing my mane -
Selecting the appropriate pumpkin . . .

. . . to devour!

Sizing up his next prey -

Choosing mercy - maybe next year I'll be up for eating this one -

What fun we had taking pictures in Collin's first Halloween costume!

Playing at the park

Our Thursday afternoon started out great - we were both home early and having fun playing with Collin.
But our teething monster got a little cranky and things went downhill fast.

So we threw him into the stroller and headed to the park. When I got home and downloaded the pictures, we had taken 212 shots! Here's Collin's play-by-play of our hour at the park.

First down the slide with Dad -

Next it was Mom's turn. By the way, we're sparing you the 40 shots that were taken of us climbing to the slide, posing on the bridge, posing at the top of the slide, etc. My parents are so obnoxious with their camera.

Working out that upper body with some chin-ups -

Two handed chin-ups are for weaklings -

Next to a favorite pastime, swinging -

Whoa, quite a push there, Mom. I'm just 9 months old, remember?

My hair has some body -

Yum, this sure looks clean and good to eat -

Oh Dad, don't take away my teething toy! (I love Cas' pout too!)

Sliding with Mom is a gleeful experience -

I practiced walking down my first hill. I'm feeling a little inferior because my classmate Brooke, who is only 6 days older than me, started walking already - before she was even 9 months old. My parents tell me there's no hurry, but I'm tired of Brooke staring down at me with pity as I crawl on the floor.

My favorite part of the day was playing in the rocks. My parents debated on it since I normally want to eat them, but I was so amazed at the feel of the pebbles in my hands that I kept them out of my mouth . . . at least for the first minute or so.

This nice lady offered to take our family picture. I pulled on her nose as a thank-you gesture.

My parents don't know what happened to the family photo. We thought we heard the camera click and I'm sure it would have been the one time all 3 of us were smiling and looking at the camera, but it must not have taken . . . or maybe our camera had run out of memory at that point.

How embarrassing, Mom and Dad!

Though we're sure it's the first of many times, on Oct 22nd, Cas and I were the cause of embarrassment for our son. There was a fall festival at the church where he attends daycare, and we volunteered to man a booth. As we pulled up we glanced at the children and saw NONE of them in a Halloween costume. And our poor son is sweating in his lion costume and is now red with embarrassment.

Cas and I didn't know what to do. We debated having one of us work the booth and the other one take him home to change. Then we remembered he had some spare outfits inside his classroom . . . but the door was locked. Since we were already running late for our shift, we started out in search of the booth. Thankfully we passed a few children in costumes, maybe 10% of the kids. But at least our child wasn't the only one.

Fortunately for him, he was the cutest and most ferocious lion at the event!

Speaking of embarrassing, the clock reads 8:44 on a FRIDAY night and guess who is under the covers. I told Cas I was going to ruin all his street cred.

He Shoots, He Scores

Collin has 5 teeth coming in right now, which means we have been spending a lot of time in his happy places - the piano, the tree swing, the bathtub, and outside in general. Collin used to be content sitting in the stroller watching Cas shoot basketballs, but now he wants in on the action.

Guiding the ball to the hoop -

Hanging on the rim, post dunk -

As you can see from his grin, he's quite proud of his b-ball abilities. Something tells me that as soon as he's mastered walking, Cas will be starting him on dribbling!

Great Pairing

Like red wine and s'mores, a great pair was united 7 years ago today. Cas and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary a few days early with our first get-away together since Collin was born. We went to Hyatt Lost Pines in Bastrop and had a wonderful time. We played tennis, rode bikes, walked the grounds, and best of all, slept late together two days in a row!

Cas' highlight was either smashing me in tennis or getting a massage. Mine was definitely the s'mores. I was worried I'd be elbowing young children out of the way, but luckily there was plenty of room around the campfire for everyone. I had three s'mores before dinner on Friday night, and probably would have been satisfied with a few more s'mores and red wine as my meal. We talked about how much we've enjoyed being Collin's parents and how we couldn't wait to take him to Lost Pines with us in a few years, when he could enjoy all the family-friendly activities. We knew he was having a great time at Grammy Lesa & Grandpa Brownie's home, and our daily check-up calls confirmed that they were thoroughly enjoying one another.

When we got back home with Collin Saturday evening, I started to feed him his dinner. He kept trying to yank off his bib and threw a baby temper tantrum when I kept velcro-ing back on his neck. Apparently the grandparents let him eat without a bib if that was what he preferred. Poor Collin, stuck with his mean parents and all their unyielding rules.

Speaking of strict parents, we clearly should have been more strict with our dogs. When we pulled up to Grammy & Brownie's backyard, we saw evidence of Bruno & Fergie's presence. Their dog Rudy's chair cushion suffered injury, its stuffing scattered throughout the backyard.Fergie, the assumed perpetrator, looking sweet and innocent - Typical Bruno, his nose in everything, even the camera lens -With the exception of our destructive dogs, we considered the weekend a great success. Everyone but Rudy agreed we'd have to do it again soon!

House Guests

Collin was taken with our house guests during Uncle Libero & Aunt Elida's wedding - Great Aunt Anisja & cousins Espi & Lina. Pictures of Collin with Lina are in the wedding folder which we've yet to tackle.

But I captured some of the fun Collin was having with Anisja & Espi on Saturday and Sunday. Great Aunt Anisja, who has four incredible grandkids, is a pro at keeping babies happy.
It was Collin's first time to meet cousin Espi, and she had him giggling with only a touch to the nose.

Espi shared a room with Collin and I was a little worried that we'd find out that he's not as sound a sleeper as we believed him to be, but fortunately Collin slept through the night without a peep.

Collin loved unwrapping . . . and then eating . . . presents from family -

We traded the tissue paper for the bath toy and he happily chomped away -

We had such a great visit with family and can't wait to see everyone again. I'm sure at some point we'll travel with Collin, but right now just thinking through the logistics of traveling with a 9-month-old stresses me out, so we're delighted when friends and family come to us!

Uncle Libero & Aunt Elida's Rehearsal Dinner

Collin had a great time with the family at Uncle Libero's . . . and now officially AUNT Elida's wedding rehearsal. Our cousin Gabriel had him entertained with peekaboo while the wedding party was practicing the moves.

Collin & Uncle Libero, looking cool -
Collin and Grandma Libia were cracking each other up -
Collin is paying close attention to his dad's athletics lesson.
Our coordinated family in black, white & red -
We dropped Collin off at Grammy and Brownie's to sleep, and we were able to enjoy a relaxing rehearsal dinner.

The groom & bride looking gorgeous and ready for the big day!

Mother of the groom with the best man -

Cas, Aunt Elida & Uncle Libero -

Cas with GGM aka Lita

I made Cas take a full-length photo with me because my shoes made the outfit. At the end of my pregnancy I quit high heels and many of my old heels are collecting dust still in my closet. I felt like the reappearance of these 3.5" beasts deserved photo documentation -

Next up . . . the wedding . . . once I narrow down pictures from the hundreds we took . . .