One Year!

 *You weigh 18 lbs and 12 oz. You mostly wear 6 month clothes, and you are still in size 3 diapers.

*You are starting to eat more and more table food. You love mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, any kind of bean or pea, noodles, mac and cheese, and saltine crackers. Your little face just lights up when you see a cracker! Mommy tried to give you scrambled eggs the other morning and you made the most AWFUL face when you tasted them. We are going to keep trying though!

Mema and Pa feeding you.

*You have officially been bottle free for 3 weeks. During the day you get sippy cups with either whole milk or water. Mommy nurses you in the mornings and at night.

*You sleep from about 7:30 p.m. until about 6 am, and take one nap a day from 12-2 (ish).

*Your favorite toys are cell phones, remote controls, and anything of Kyndalls. She is wonderful about sharing her toys with you.

*You are the definition of a “momma’s boy”. I’m not going to lie. I LOVE it! It sure does hurt daddy’s feelings though! I know it won’t last forever, there will come a day when Mom just won’t be as cool as Dad. But for now, I’m enjoying every second of this attachment.

*Mommy and Daddy haven’t seen you stand up by yourself and balance, however, your Pa and LeLe have seen you a few times! Your hands always go straight up in the air!

*You are a little charmer. You love to shrug your shoulders and smile really big when people say hello to you. It is precious.

*You have FIVE teeth. Two on the bottom, and three on top.

*You will say "Dada" all day long, but very rarely do we get a "Mama." That just makes them that much more special!

*You still absolutely LOVE taking baths! You like to sit in your bathtub and put your hand under the faucet. While you are taking a bath, Mommy will hold up your wash cloth and let the stream of water fall. You always try to grab the stream of water. You never get frustrated. You always laugh so hard when your fingers can’t grab it.

Yes, you are taking a bath on a Dora bathmat. This was at Pa and LeLe's house. You and Kyndall love taking baths together. Sweet kiddos!

*You are pulling up on EVERYTHING. You will walk down the couch, around anything. As long as you can hold on you will walk around.

*You can clap, nod yes, and shake your head no.

Mommy LOVES this picture of you and Kyndall.

*You love to laugh at Kyndall. Several times over the last month we have put your car seat in the back by Kyndall. You two will laugh the whole time we are in the car. I love it!!!

Sweet hugs for Kyndall Grace

Bear,

How are you already a year old? You are growing up so fast. You are so much fun. I cherish every second of time I have with you. I love our morning cuddle time. My favorite thing is probably when I pick you up from daycare and your face lights up when you see me walk in. I love you so much Collin. I can’t believe you are one. You are such a sweet boy!

Love,
Mommy

Seeing Santa

Last year Collin was WAY too little to have his picture taken with Santa. He was only a few weeks old. The trip to Little Rock was just too much.

This year however... He LOVED Santa!

Also, this year Collin's daycare took some Christmas pictures of him. We had the option of putting Kyndall and Collin together for some pictures. I'm so glad they go to the same daycare!! These are pictures of pictures... so the quality isn't that great. I just didn't want to wait to post these! :)

I'm looking forward to his birthday TOMORROW!! Holy Moly. How do I have a year old baby! He's so big!

Collin's First Thanksgiving!

We are so VERY Thankful.

This was Collin’s very first Thanksgiving. It sure was busy, but very fun and filled with family.

Our day started at 11:00am at my parent’s house (Pa and Lele). We had a great lunch there. It was just my parents, my sister, Kyndall, Eric, Collin, and me.

My parents had already put out Santa and "Crosty" aka Frosty in their yard. Kyndall still has a hard time with her "F's"! :) Collin and Kyndall loved to sit at the window and look at them.

We couldn’t stay long… we had to be in Hot Springs by 2 for meal #2! Eric’s grandparents always do such a wonderful job with all the food! It’s nice to get to see them.

And once again… we were off. We had meal #3 in Arkadelphia with my extended family at 4:00!

Collin was so full he had to unbutton his shirt! Ha! He was excited Kyndall was in Arkadelphia too!

Wow. We were so full, cranky, and tired.

As we were coming back through Benton, we dropped Eric off at his brother’s house. It just so happens, that Brock’s birthday was on Thanksgiving this year! Eric wanted to spend a little extra time with him so he spent the night in Benton.

Collin and I were MORE than ready to be at home and in the bed.

As crazy as it was… I wouldn’t change a thing. We visited with everyone and got to spend time as a family too. I really couldn’t be more blessed.

Too Much Turkey Mom!

Halloween 2011

So, I am playing catch-up. I can't believe I let the whole month of November pass without blogging at all. We are busy around here chasing a sweet baby boy! :)
Speaking of that baby boy...

We had a wonderful Halloween. Little man was a pumpkin! He was precious.

Collin made this at day care. That's his little foot!

Kyndall was Minnie Mouse. :)

My little pumpkin

We went trick-or-treating around my parents neighborhood before going by my Aunt Jana's house. That was pretty much all Collin could handle. He was ready for bed! Next year hopefully we will be able to stay out a bit longer.

It was a great night.

Aunt Tori

Dear Collin,

Your Aunt Tori was chosen to be on the Homecoming Court at her school Harmony Grove. Aunt Tori was the ONLY eighth grader chosen!! It was a huge deal!
They had to ceremony on Veterans Day weekend. Daddy and I were both off work that Friday so we were excited to be able to go watch her! Actually, LOTS of Daddy's side of the family was there.
Aunt Tori couldn't win Queen because she is only in the eighth grade but she was GORGEOUS! We are so very proud of her.
Love you,

Mommy

P.S.- Your Aunt Tori loves you so much! I can't wait until we live closer to her.

Mommy and Daddy waiting on it to start!

Afterwards... Collin, next time make sure to look at the camera! :)

Her escorts! One of the guys is her boyfriend. Daddy doesn't like is "baby" sister having a boyfriend!

Collin and Daddy

Gorgeous Aunt Tori!

11 Months (11-7-11)

I’m VERY late posting this. It’s been written for a while, but not posted.

*Collin Bear, you are on the move! You will crawl anywhere we will let you.

*Your sweet open mouth kisses are the greatest things I’ve ever had. I hope you never grow out of that! You are so lovey. You make Mommy SO happy!

*Pulling up on things is easy for you and you love to stand up and bounce. Mommy and Daddy call it your “dance moves”!

*You have 3 teeth now...two on the bottom, one on top. You are SO close to getting the second one on the top!

*You still sleep okay at night. Mommy has been trying to keep you awake until 7:30pm. If you stay up until then (that’s a BIG “if”) you sleep much better at night. However, if you fall asleep before then we can pretty much guarantee you are up at least once that night.

*You take 1 nap a day. Mommy wishes it was two naps. You moved up to the “Infant 2” room at daycare. They only have one time for naps (12-2) so that is when you nap! On the weekends though, you take a morning nap and an afternoon nap.

*You sleep in your crib every night (at least part of the night). When mommy comes into get you, you will be standing up just smiling at me.

*You are still eating that baby food like crazy! You are still nursing every morning and night. You aren’t taking bottles very well at daycare during the day. Mommy is considering giving you milk very soon!

*You love to play with Kyndall. You two are the sweetest kids ever!

*You are still in size 3 diapers and are wearing 6-9 month clothes!

Daddy, Collin, and Uncle Brock

*You started clapping by yourself a few weeks ago. It is precious! You also shake your head “no” when someone does it to you. I just hope you don’t start saying “no” with it!

*You can say… Ma-Ma, Da-Da, and Bye.

*You still love bath time. When we are over at Pa and Lele’s house in the evening, you will take your bath with Kyndall. She loves to be a helper and give you the toys in the bath.

Bear,
I love you so so much! You are so much fun! I can’t believe you are almost one year old. I can’t imagine life without you. You are so sweet. I love every second with you!

I love you.
Mommy



Date Night!

Last weekend Eric was a groomsman in a wedding. His friend Joe was getting married at the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Little Rock. We were so happy for Joe and Shannon. Joe has been such a great friend to Eric.

My handsome husband!

During the reception!

Eric and I decided to take advantage of this opportunity and have a date night to the wedding. My mom and dad kept Collin and we went to Little Rock to have a great night without worry. We seriously have done a HORRIBLE job at making time for dates and quality time! We are trying really hard to do better about this!

Joe and Shannon have a sweet baby girl. They had her come down the isle in a precious wagon. I was so jealous of this!! This is exactly what I had in my mind for Kyndall to do at our wedding, but never could find a wagon I loved. Oh well… I’m so glad they had a cute way to include her.

10 months

*You still sleep okay during the night, you go to bed between 7:00-7:30 each night, and wake up around 6 the next morning. Lately, you have been waking up during the night but Mommy thinks its because your teeth are bothering you. Hopefully we will get back to sleeping all night very soon!

* I picked you up from daycare the other day, and this is what you looked like! :) Your teacher gave you a mohawk! You looked precious. Your teacher (Ms. Shelby) loves you very much!

*You are still doing good with your naps. You take a nap in the mornings around 9, and then another afternoon nap around 1.

*You still love your baby food! Mommy tried to give you “chicken noodle dinner” the other night and you made an AWFUL face! We will keep trying that! We are getting closer to being able to have table food! You have always loved peas however, lately you won’t eat them! You turn your head and refuse them.

*We haven't tried a lot of table food yet. You have only had mashed potatoes and pinto beans. Snack time is your favorite time of day! You have tried puffs, Mum-mum’s, and yogurt melts. You love them all.

*You are still wearing size 3 diapers, and you are wearing 6-9 month clothes comfortably.

*You are starting to copy Mommy and Daddy when we make funny noises. You can smack your lips together after we do it to you.

*You are army crawling everywhere! You can get anywhere you want to go. You have just recently started going from a crawling position to sitting on your bottom. When Mommy comes to get you out of your crib after you wake up, it is so strange to see you just sitting there in your crib! We will be lowering it very soon!

*You aren’t brave enough to pull up on too many things yet on your own, but if Mommy or Daddy are there you will pull up on anything!

*You cords, electronics, and pretty much anything that is dangerous to you. I think all babies go through a stage like this, but you are keeping Mommy and Daddy on our toes!

*You have two precious teeth on the bottom.

*You are still nursing twice a day during the week (mornings and night), and 3-4 times on the weekends. Mommy still pumps bottles for you while I’m at work for you to have at daycare.



Collin,
You are such a precious little boy. Your Daddy and I are incredibly blessed to have you as our son. I enjoy spending time doing anything with you! I love you sweet boy.

Mommy

P.S. You sure are growing up fast. Can we slow down just a little bit?

Pumpkin Patch

Last Thursday, Eric and I took our little man to the pumpkin patch to get some pictures! We had such a great time.

Eric gets off extra early on Thursdays so I decided I’d take off work at 3:00 and we could take Collin out there and enjoy the patch without tons of people there. It worked out so nice! We were the only ones out there for the first part of our visit! A few cars came after a little bit, but it was still perfect for us.

They have lots of animals to see, and TONS of pumpkins. They have hayrides and other things on the weekends. We will be doing that when Collin gets a little older. For now, we just enjoyed posing him in front of those pumpkins.

He loved to drum on them. They made that “thumping” noise and he loved it.

We had a wonderful time. It was great to spend time as a family!!

Two years ago, my sister, my dad, and I took Kyndall to the same pumpkin patch to take some pictures of her. It is so crazy to think about Kyndall being that small. She was just a little over a month older than Collin in these pictures. She was already walking and everything! Wow.

 
Sweet babies... I guess it's a tradition now to go to Johnston's pumpkin patch in Springhill!!

No Peas Please

My sweet baby, that has always eaten everything I put in front of him, has decided he doesn't like peas. It's a very sad day. I love peas. Eric hates peas. I will continue to feed him those peas. Maybe I can convert him! :)

For documentation and for my memory...

Yep... that says "Peas @ 10:30 (Didn't like)".  

Go Hogs Go!!

Around our house these days it's all RAZORBACKS!! Woo Pig Sooie!

All of Collin's gear for the season!

Dad and Colling getting ready for the game!



9 Months

Collin Blake Jackson, You are NINE MONTHS OLD!

*You weigh 17.3 lbs (10th percentile) and are 27 inches long.

*You still wear size 3 diapers.

*Wearing mostly 6 month clothes.

*You are still nursing 2 times a day (morning and night) and having 2-3 bottles of breast milk while you are at daycare. We have filled in with the occasional formula bottle. Mommy just can’t pump enough for you some days!

*You are consistently eating baby food 3 times a day. Mommy hasn’t found any food that you don’t like. Yay!

*You started “army” crawling a couple of weeks ago! You can get anywhere you want to go! It is very strange to put you down somewhere and you not be in that exact spot when Mommy gets back!

*One day shy of your 9 month birthday, your first tooth FINALLY broke through. It is on the bottom on your right hand side. I’m sure the one next to it is coming soon!

*We are trying so hard to get you to understand a sippy cup. Three more months of bottles, and then it’s going to be ALL sippy cup. So get ready little man!

*You can say “da-da” and “ma-ma”. Thank you Collin, for finally saying “ma-ma”!

*Your favorite toy right now is a stuffed Ducky. You seem to love ducks right now. Mommy and Daddy have started planning your birthday party. We see a duck theme coming very soon!

*You sleep great at night. You let us know every night if we are just a few minutes late putting you down to sleep. You love your bedtime! We are having some trouble with naps. At home, you do wonderful! A long morning, and a long afternoon. However, at daycare there is just too much going on for you to get two good naps. Mommy is happy with one!

Before Shots:

And After:

Collin Bear,

 I am so proud to be your mommy. I have no idea what I did to be blessed with such a wonderful son. You make my day great with just one smile. I am trying my hardest to be the best Mommy I can be. I love you, my little sunshine!

-Mommy