Danger Zone

Things are a little different around here lately. All of a sudden, Collins is a woman on a mission. Now that she can crawl and pull up, her curiosity level has skyrocketed and she manages to locate all kinds of trouble. I'm pretty sure we have entered the danger zone. Toys are really boring to her now- I'll give her one and she'll fling it to the side immediately. What she wants is the remote, my phone, every electrical cord, any heavy item on a bookcase- basically anything that poses a hazard of some sort. If you don't literally follow her around every second she will fall and hit her head on something because she is fearless! We worry that we have given her brain damage in the last week based on the number of hits her poor head has taken. We're considering getting her a helmut or possibly a padded room.

Here is playtime one night this past week. She's not wearing any clothes because we lost the wrestling match.

Deciding what type of mischief to get into...

Can I fit myself in this small hole?

Maybe I should play with my monkey...

Or completely ignore Dad...

Yep, let's definitely make a huge mess!

Instagram

Al has a phone app called Instagram that gives your photos a vintage look. Look how cool!

Road Trip to Virginia

Brian and his Dad love road games. They are fascinated by opposing teams' stadiums, fans, tailgate set-ups, and just visiting other campuses in general. So when State got Virginia on this year's schedule, our trip to Charlottesville began to take shape. And the girls got the invite this time.

When I really started to think about how Collins would handle a 4-hr road trip, a 3 1/2 hr football game, dinner out and then sleeping in a hotel- I was sure the whole thing would be a disaster. But I didn't give her enough credit, she did pretty good considering. Of course, she burst into tears when her Dad celebrated a Pack touchdown. Trust me Collins- it's much more scary when they don't score!

Charlottesville is so pretty. We ate some good food and then took the scenic route home. Oh and State got a big win- all in all a successful and fun road trip.

Here are some moments from the weekend. Trying on her new hat at lunch...

Grandma and Grandpa took their turn wrestling this wild one at lunch...

Big student party on the lawn...

Tailgating near the stadium...

We spent the first quarter hanging out in the grassy end zone. Collins thought the grass was far more interesting than the game or...

the Cavalier...

The first game of many that she and her Dad will watch together...

We moved up to the very top row of the stadium in the State section, and Collins had dinner, made new friends, and then took an hour and a half snooze. 

Donna and I both came prepared with an arsenal of toys to distract her with on the long car ride. I was impressed when Donna pulled out the big guns with the old remote control trick- genius!

Fall Favorites

Fall items I've seen recently and loved...

The color when you look up...

Dahlias from the Farmer's Market...

Three pink piggies at the State Fair...

Inspiration for Collins' Halloween costume...(I know it's not shocking that she's going as a dessert item)

And cute head gear that the baby didn't immediately pull off...

 

Carolina Girls

After a very red start to the football season, it was so fun to see my baby in blue and white at the Carolina/Miami tailgate last weekend.  Good thing her cheerleading uniform fit like a glove. :)

She couldn't enjoy the brats or the cupcakes, but she got held and hugged by a lot of Carolina girls and was impressed with her first trip (of many) to Chapel Hill.

Officially on the Move

She's a crawler! After weeks of watching Collins twist and roll and scooch her way around, it was very cool to see her "get it" all of a sudden and crawl. Last Monday, a few days before she turned 8 months old, she finally figured out how to sync up her arms with her legs and off she went! After a couple of practices, she was crawling like she had been doing it for months. She is quite cute when she spots the object of her desire, smiles, and takes off towards it. She's also getting good at pushing herself to a sitting position from all fours. Regardless of what position she's in- she's now on the move and we better watch out!

Here's footage from that first wobbly day of crawling...

And here are some still shots. The object of desire...

 Assuming the position...

Headed the other direction...

Happy!

A Child of God

We made it official on Sunday- Collins was baptized and marked as a child of God forever. It was pretty special.

Part of what made it so special was having our loved ones by us all weekend to celebrate the occasion. The fun started Friday night with Dad and Heather and dinner at The Pit. We consumed an impressive amount of Southern-fried-yumminess and then got a flavor of the arts downtown with the First Friday arts crawl.

On Saturday, we got to take Baba to her first-ever tailgate party. Collins didn't hurt for any attention with three Grandmas in tow.

This writer/photographer came by the tailgate and snapped some shots for a book he's writing.

After the tailgate, we hung out at the house and played with Collins' fun new toy.

We had a nice dinner at home- the Barefoot Contessa didn't let us down with her yummy chicken pot pie recipe. Then we got Collins all cleaned up for her big day.

I had some major anxiety going into Sunday; most of it focused on whether or not Collins would scream her lungs out at church. But the little one surprised us and did just fine. She did the trembling lip thing once and cried out, but mostly was fascinated by the Pastor and whole process.

Two extra special things about the baptism- Collins got to wear the Christening gown that Alli and I wore when we were baptized, and the pastor who performed the service is new and Collins was his first baptism EVER! Kinda neat.

Donna and Marty hosted a lovely brunch afterwards, and we had a great time hanging out with everybody. But someone was pushed to her limit. She fell asleep in Mom's arms.

Thanks to all our family and friends who made it such a wonderful weekend. Collins is a lucky little girl to be loved so much.

Becoming a Big Girl

Reasons I know my baby isn't such a baby anymore...

1) Changing her diaper is like wrestling a wild animal. I have to use serious muscle power to try to restrain her from flipping and reaching and grabbing during the process and usually end up putting on a new diaper or a new outfit on from back to front. It's exhausting.

2) Her eye-hand coordination is improving. In the last two days, we have shattered a coffee mug and flung cereal all over the floor as she lunges for any object in close range.

3) She has lots of new moves. She isn't officially crawling yet, but that doesn't stop her from getting anywhere she needs to go. Last night, she actually pulled herself to a standing position using my head as leverage. She takes steps and can even do yoga moves. Here's her down-dog...

4) New stimulation is necessary. Her normal toys are not good enough anymore. She has discovered that shoes, buttons and zippers, and closet doors are far more interesting.

5) Bottles are not our one-and-only anymore. She has tried her sippy cup and a regular drinking cup. It's a messy experience but she is getting better at it!

Park Experiment

Yesterday was beautiful so we took Collins to the park to see if she might enjoy swinging on the swings. She had a look of pure horror on her face at first and then enjoyed it- I think. She swung with us first and then we let her fly solo...