Father's Day

Brian is a great Dad. Collins and I are both lucky ladies. We had a really fun day celebrating his first Father's Day. Some shots from the day...

Grandma gave Dad tailgate-inspired gifts for the little one...I have to admit the mini tailgating chair is adorable despite its color.

Don't Tell the Doctor

Collins loves TV. Shows of choice- the hockey playoffs and Barefoot Contessa. At our last doctor's appointment, the doctor asked us- "and she's not watching TV, right?" Here is one attempt to distract this baby from the tube.

Two Doctor Visits- One Good, One Bad

Collins checked out great at her four-month check-up. As suspected, she is still gaining weight and inches quite fast. Current measurements- 13 lbs 2 oz and 24 1/2" tall- right about average for her age. Her head circumfrence is a little larger than most babies her age- the doctor says it's either from a large brain or just a large head- either way she gets it from her daddy.

Two days after leaving the doctor's office with a good bill of health, we were back to confirm her first sickness- a cold. This series of sneezing/coughing/snotting freaked me out more than it did Collins, and then Brian and I got to share in the lovely symptoms. We were all sick as dogs last weekend, no fun at all.

Cool New Things

I stare at my baby constantly because 1) she is super cute 2) I'm worried there is danger around every corner and 3) in hopes that she might do something cool and new at any moment. Collins has had a couple of these aha moments recently, and it is really fun to watch these developments.

She has been smiling for awhile, but now that she recognizes us, we get huge smiles most of the time when we talk to her. Her new thing is that when she is breast feeding, she will take a break, look up at me, give me a big smile and then go back to her milk. It is so funny to watch. Here's a huge smile:

She is also talking up a storm. Forgive the shabby camera work on my part...

She is obsessed with putting things in her mouth.

She just started grabbing objects and being able to hold them.

And she can hold her head up fairly well in her "work station".

Supposedly her next developments will be rolling over and laughing- can't wait!

Welcome Emma!

My dear friend Mandy, due with her first baby girl the middle of July, had the shock of a lifetime two weeks ago when baby Emma decided to make her entrance into this world 8 weeks early! It was a scary situation, but both Mandy and Emma are now doing great. Emma Claire Overman was born on May 26 weighing 3 lbs 12 oz. I got to visit the little lady last week and what a cutie she is with her full head of dirty-blonde hair (with a curl?) and sweet little face. She is growing well and will hopefully be out of the hospital soon and in the arms of her loving mama. Mandy and I are so excited to watch our girls grow up together and perhaps be future roommates at Carolina? :)

Oh What a Night

She slept for 6 straight hours last night. Need I say more?!?

I am not kidding. This is beyond huge, it's life changing! From 10 p.m. until 4 a.m. baby girl slept and slept and slept. I was confused and momentarily horrified upon waking up at 4 and realizing she hadn't eaten in 6 hours, but then realized that's the whole goal.

Doctors define "sleeping through the night" as 6 straight hours of sleep. Based on how horribly Collins' sleep schedule started out, I am shocked that we have already hit this milestone, but my guess is that it was a fluke and won't happen again for months.

But for now, I will choose to be hopeful and excited that the wonderful continuous sleep that we once knew is coming back- sort of.

Beach Babe

Tom and Amy were so nice to invite us to their beach house last weekend to celebrate Tom's 30th birthday. They have a great place at Atlantic Beach so we packed the car (a ridiculous process that involved hours of labor and packing every baby item we own) and headed towards the beach for Memorial Day weekend. This would be Collins' farthest and longest trip from home so we were taking a bit of a gamble. She actually did surprisingly well. She got to hang out w/her friends- the Stockstill twins- and she got take her first of many naps on the beach. Some favorite pictures from the weekend...

View from their house...

First bathing suit!!!

And a series of naps...

Random Sunday

On a recent Sunday, we finally got around to working on two projects we've been wanting to try for awhile. I've wanted to create hand and foot prints of Collins' cute little digits so we can always remember how tiny she was. I know lots of people do this type of art project so I'm not sure how I managed to make the whole process so complicated and messy. Check out our attemp at art- not exactly the museum-quality I was imagining in my head.

The subject...

Not so easy step one (she likes to clinch her toes at ALL times)...

Umm, let's try again...

Best we could get...

The hands just weren't happening so we gave up and got into the bath...at least we have 3 month old feet to frame.

For Christmas, Dad and Heather got Brian a meat grinder attachment that goes with the mixer. He has been itching to make sausage ever since. He did his research on the best way to do this, bought the meat and 3 1/2 hours later had some impressive homemade sausage. Not a quick project but tasty results...

A Sad Goodbye

For the past five years, I've had the good fortune to work in the development office at Duke as an event planner. It has been a very fun job- planning all sizes of events for all kinds of donors, getting to travel around the country, and putting my obsession with details to good use. Now that Collins is here, we decided the best thing for all of us would be for me to stay home full-time with her. So I recently resigned from my job and had to tell everyone goodbye. I will miss working with such a fabulous group of women, but I am excited about having the chance to stay home with my baby. But I will always be grateful for this job and the great opportunities and friends it brought me.