Bright Beginnings Birthday Party 6/10/08

Collin helped celebrate Bright Beginnings' (Collin's daycare and mom's work) 8th Birthday last week. We had an ice cream social and the theme was wacky dress. Grandma Linda brought Collin to the party. He had his first taste of Blue Moon Ice Cream- I wish we could have captured his reaction on film, it was classic!

FOOD!! 6/20/08

Collin has experimented with food here and there but Friday, June 20th was the first time that a whole meal was offered to him. He ate sloppy joe, baked beans and applesauce for lunch at day care. He got a couple handfuls in his mouth by himself, but he couldn't get it in fast enough so I, grandma Linda and his teachers all took turns feeding him. He loved every bite! We haven't found a food so far that he doesn't like... And he enjoys sucking on lemons and limes :)

Collin's Baptism- May 17th, 08

Collin was baptised at St. Willabrord's Parish in downtown Green Bay. He was one of 4 children to be baptised that day. His godmother is my good friend, Denise and his godfather is Maurice's brother, John. We shopped forever to try and find something reasonably priced for him to wear and we ended up hitting the clearance rack at Kohl's and just getting him a litte white polo shirt. I didn't feel the need to spend 50 bucks on something he would wear for an hour and more than likely puke on. He did really good through most of church until the end when he started screaming until it was over. We realized at that time that his first tooth had popped through! After church we had everyone over at our house for a cookout. We had lots of good food, a yummy cake and everyone had a good time. Now if only we could ever make it to church...

The NEW Zoo- May 08

We took Collin to the Zoo one nice weekend in May. It was crazy how much the zoo has changed even just since last summer! They have added a lot of new stuff, even a train that takes you around the zoo!

Collin was pretty excited tosee all the animals (the ones that were up close anyways). We bumped into some of Maurice's friends that we haven't seen in a long time, so Collin relaxed and had some lunch while we caught up.

The highlight of the day was the giraffe snatching a cracker out of Collin's hands.

Heritage Hill- Spring Celebration 5/4/08

Maurice and I have always wanted to go to Heritage Hill together, but never made. So, now that we have a kid we have no excuse not to go. We decided to go for the Spring Celebration- there was sheep shearing, goat milking, yarn making and a yummy breakfast on the farm. This was the first time that we wore Collin in the carrier facing out. It took us quite a while to realize that we didn't have it on right- dorks! Collin had a lot of fun, he really enjoys animals!

Happy Easter!

Collin's first Easter was quite a busy day. The Easter Bunny brought Collin a basket with a bunny we call Peter Rabbit and a Brett Favre Sport's Illustrated. He also got a few things from his grandma and grandpas.

We started the day by going to Great Grandma Peach's house. We made it just in time for the cousins' picture. All of great grandma's great grandchildren were there at the same time so the paparazzi went to town.

Next we headed to Great Grandma and Orv's house. By that time we started pooping out, but we had one more stop to Grandma Rita's house. Collin was a good boy all day and he looked so handsome in his Easter outfit.

Collin's Friends

Collin already has lots of friends. His best friends is Alissa who was born one month after Collin. Alissa lives way out in the country and she has lots of really fun toys. We have lots of fun playing together! Collin also has a friend named Ava who is 2 months younger than him. And his newest friend is Fischer, who is exactly 6 months younger than Collin.

The First Few Months...

A lack of sleep combined with the anxiety a new baby brought for us has made his first few months kind of a blur. We looked forward to visitors, especially in the evening when Maurice was at work. During the day Collin and I watched lots of judge shows (no cable for us) which made for a looooong winter. Collin got to celebrate Favre's last season with the Packers, he had enough Packer outfits to wear something different for every game.

Collin was only 3 weeks old when he celebrated his first Christmas. We were very busy visiting lots of family and everyone just adored Collin. It was a little overwhelming to suddenly have our own family, but it was very exciting!

We tried to get out of the house when we could, but it was a pretty wicked winter so we spent most of our time just staying warm in the house. As Collin settled in we were all able to relax a little more and really enjoy ourselves. Every new thing Collin did was a cause for celebration!

Collin's Arrival

Collin was so cozy in the womb that he didn't want to come out. The doctor decided that 6 days past his due date was long enough since there wasn't a whole lot of amniotic fluid left for him to swim around in. So on the evening of Sunday, December 2nd Maurice and I went to Bellin Hospital to be induced. Labor came on quick and hard, but it was short! At 1:51 am (December 3rd) Collin Michael was born! We were so happy to have our little boy! (And thank goodness for the boy- we didn't have a girl's name picked out until I was in labor and looking back I'm not too fond of the name... Nora Belle) We had lots of visitors in the hospital and in the firsts few days at home. Now that I'm an experienced mother of 6 whole months I realize what a wreck I was those first couple of weeks... Is he eating enough? is his belly button okay? is he eating enough? why didn't he poop? is he eating enough? why won't he stop crying????

Collin's 7th Month of Life

Collin has had many firsts in the past week or so... he can now sit all on his own without even tipping over, he now cries when mom walks out of the room (at least at daycare), he was diagnosed with his first ear infection today, he ate and enjoyed some nasty tasting organic yogurt, watched his first fireworks, helped daddy celebrate his first Father's Day, and the list goes on. Collin loves to be outside so we go for lots of walks. We try to keep him as busy as possible; he seems to get pretty bored sitting in the house with us. He especially loves to be by water- he hasn't done any swimming other than the bathtub yet, though.