No Contest

Colllins has a wonderful and large collection of adorable and fascinating toys.

Like her books...

And the fun exersaucer that Mandy let us borrow...

And Peggy the Pig...the perfect squeeze toy for the soon-to-be-teething baby.

Is it odd that out of all these cool toys, her two absolute favorites are...

Any kind of manufacturer's tag?



And her toes?

Fall Fashion Preview

All the new fall baby clothes are starting to pop up in stores, and I am so excited to dress Collins in a new season (my favorite clothing season!) and a new size of clothes- 9/12 months here we come. So here's what the closet has to offer so far...it's going to be a cute fall people.

First, game-day inspired wear...for the good guys...

And the bad... (can you see what the t-shirt says? "I'd rather wear a a dirty diaper than wear blue and white"- nice try Grandpa Marty- you forgot that a Tar Heel picks out all of the baby's outfits)

Seasonal pajamas (as Aunt Alli says- pjs are her strongest look)...

Casual-wear (everyone needs a coral velour tracksuit in their closet)...

My Mom got Collins her first pair of jeggings and how adorable are the orange sweater and hat? Custom-made for C by Donna, Mandy's Mom. Love them!

With the furry bear hoody and Uggs, this looks says ski resort to me. But Collins won't be skiing until at least next year (top priority for her Dad) so this look will have to be used for those snowy days in Raleigh...

Thanks to all the generous contributors to Collins closet! Now it's up to Mom to fill in the gaps...time to go shopping!

A New Low

I hit my lowest moment of being a Mom on Friday. I was packing us for a weekend trip to Atlantic Beach with Tom and Amy and put Collins in the middle of the bed so I could run down the hall and get some beach towels. I open the closet door and then hear a loud thud and then screams. Collins had rolled off the bed!!! It was a terrifying moment. I scooped her up off the floor and she calmed down pretty quick, but I had no idea what kind of damage I had done. I called the doctor and they seemed to think she was fine, and then I called for some extra Mom advice from my Mom, Jen, Mandy and Kim who all assured me this happens a lot. I don't think I have ever felt as horrible as I did at that moment and unfortunately the bad feeling and image lingers with me still. She has acted completely fine since and the only visible evidence of the fall was a carpet burn on her knee. But trust me, I won't make that mistake again.

If that wasn't enough stress for the day, there was more to come. Once we finally arrived at the beach, Brian cracked open a beer and Collins lunged for it and cut her finger on the open tab of the beer. It was a pretty bad cut and it just bled and bled. It's not a good feeling to watch your baby bleed.

It's a wonder we didn't get social services called on us for our bad parenting on Friday. But lessons learned, I guess. Collins came through it all fine, but me? Still recovering!

Play Time

This is how play time quickly degenerates these days now that someone is a wild woman...

Tastes like Summer

Growing up, I liked pot-luck dinners at church- especially in the summer when we'd have ice cream socials and people would bring big batches of all flavors of homemade ice cream. I had watched my Mom make her own ice cream (her tutti fruity rocked!), and it seemed really complicated with all the salt and ice and prep time. So I had never tried to make my own until this weekend. Missy let me borrow her handy little ice cream maker and who knew how easy this could be? You mix a few simple ingredients together, pour it into the machine and 20 minutes later you have yummy-ness. I made a batch of peach ice cream for Marty's birthday and wanted to pass the recipe along.

Peach Ice Cream

3 eggs, beaten
1 1/4 cups, sugar
5 fresh peaches, pitted, chopped and pureed in a food processor or blender
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup half and half
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

In large bowl, mix together eggs and sugar until smooth (I used hand mixer). Stir 3 cups of the pureed peaches into the mixture. Stir in cream, half and half, vanilla extract and salt and mix well. Pour mixture into ice cream maker and freeze according to machine's instructions. Makes 2 quarts.

6 Months!!!

Collins turned 6 months on Saturday. To me, this was a big milestone- has our little girl really been with us half a year now?!? Time has gone by quickly (sometimes too fast), and she has changed so much since February. The first three months were really hard (not knowing what we were doing, breastfeeding challenges, zero sleep, growth issues), but around four months things magically got easier and much more fun. And it's been full steam ahead since then- rolling, talking, smiling, learning, growing- she adds so much joy to every day.

I always want to remember how she is at this very moment- ridiculously cute with peach fuzz hair, chubby legs, a big belly that hangs over her pants, curious eyes that light up in a smile when she sees you, tiny hands that grab at anything and everything and a happy personality that always makes us laugh.

We visited the doctor today for her six-month check-up, and everything checked out good. Here are the latest measurements:

Weight: 15 lbs 13 oz (47th percentile)
Height: 25 3/8" (36th percentile)
Head circumference: 17 1/4" (85th percentile- this makes me laugh)

Leading up to the 6 month celebration, she accomplished some new things. She sat up for the first time (although still pretty wobbly) and thank goodness, finally moved to her actual crib for naps and bedtime! I'm embarrased that it took me six months to get comfortable with her being there, but it was a learning process for me and she is sleeping better- finally!

Poppy and Nana came to visit this past weekend and were impressed with Collins' new acrobatic skills. We also enjoyed a French dinner, a German lunch, a trip to the farmer's market, and dressing C in her first pair of overalls.

Some photos from the weekend...

The Future Mrs. Bumm

Collins had her first playdate with cute Staley Bumm this past weekend. His Mom, Betsy and I worked together at Duke, and she is so fun to chat with on any and every topic. Betsy is full of interesting tips and helpful information- especially when we were both pregnant at the same time (she was 3 months ahead of me). I will always be grateful to her for her life-saving pantyhose tip. A few months into my pregnancy, I made the mistake of thinking I could wear non-maternity hose to work one day and quickly almost lost all feeling in the lower half of my body. In a state of extreme discomfort, I told Betsy and she was quick to advise that I simply needed to head to the bathroom with some scissors and make two small incisions on either side of the top of my hose- sweet relief!

We like the idea of a Fork/Bumm union because we want to be in-laws. Hopefully, Collins and Staley will cooperate. Here's what it looked like when the little ones finally realized they weren't the only baby in the room...

Back to the Beach

Grandpa Marty jokes that Collins has been to the beach more in her 5 1/2 months than he did in his first 35 years. It's true, she is being trained hard as a beach babe because it's her mom and dad's favorite activity. Collins was lucky enough to take her fifth trip to the beach this past week as we joined the Fork family at Wrightsville Beach for some fun. A couple of important discoveries were made during our stay at WB: a good tent on the beach makes all the difference, Brian can make some mean fried okra (yum), Will Ferrell is much skinnier (and grayer) in person (saw him at a restaurant one night- how cool?!?), Collins no longer wants to have anything to do with fine dining or eating out in general (found out the hard way), and you can never be too young to rock a bikini. Some fun shots from our trip...

She now moves around the activity mat like a wild woman- rolling over, grabbing items with her feet, making all kinds of odd noises, looking at herself in the miror- suffice it to say she really likes this toy.

She wants to practice standing up all the time now, except maybe not at this exact moment...

She is inching closer to crawling...

First steps in the Atlantic Ocean...

And general fun on the beach (with the exception being when she rolled over and landed face down in the sand)...

Grandpa and Grandma got Collins a pool which she loved...

Dad was not loving this suit, but couldn't resist...

And my favorite picture of the week- priceless!