Birthday Do-Over?

Poor Brian has seemed to get the short end of the birthday stick the last few years.

Three years ago on his birthday, we had just bought our house and were scrambling to get our old house ready to put on the market so he spent his birthday weekend painting (his most hated chore). I can't even remember what we did two years ago, so that tells you it wasn't super memorable. Last year, I was very pregnant and his special day got overshadowed by the impending birth.

This year, he had only been 33 for an hour and a half when the baby started throwing up. Turns out that he and I didn't have food poisoning after-all- we had a nasty stomach bug that unfortunately we passed on to Collins. It was pretty scary seeing her throw up for the first time, not knowing what was going on. After a quick call to the on-call nurse, we realized it wasn't serious and calmed down a bit. But after a 2 a.m. trip to the store for Pedialyte and a sleepless night to follow, Brian really wasn't feeling his birthday best that next morning. And after caring for a sick baby all day, I didn't have time to make him a special dinner so a pizza dinner had to suffice.

All in all- not the best birthday ever- but he was a good sport about it. The good news is that we are all completely recovered, and I have until January 25, 2013 to figure out how to make it up to him.

Beach Weekend

You would think cold, rainy weather and food poisoning would be enough to derail a weekend trip at the beach, but we still managed to get some fun in before things turned ugly. Turns out Collins is quite entertaining when she is eating lemons and picking up shells on the beach. Some pix from Wrightsville...(and by the way- dealing with food poisoning while driving down 40 at night might be the worst thing ever).

Headed over to the docks..

This girl is fearless- she kept trying to jump in the water!

Munching on lemons at the taco place kept her occupied for a good 10 minutes before she knocked an entire glass of water onto my lap... :)

We were excited to see how Collins would react to the beach, now that she is older and more aware. As you'll see in these pictures, she really liked it and plopped herself down in the sand and played with shells until we made her go inside (too cold).

  

She made us laugh during dinner as she propped her legs up on the table and stuffed crackers in her mouth as fast as she could manage. Thanks to the Forks for a fun weekend!

The Ski Report

We all survived! Maybe I was being a little overly dramatic about our first trip apart from Collins. She did beautifully in the care of her Aunt and Grandparents (she even slept better for them than she normally does for us- no fair!). We had an awesome trip and realized that it's probably a good thing if we go away every once in a while. But how excited were we for our plane to touch down at RDU and to go get our baby? Very!

So our trip report...the big story was the lack of snow in Park City this winter (and everywhere out West except Alaska). My ski instructor told me it was the worst ski conditions since 1968! This was the view from the top of the mountain at Canyons- all brown where it should have been white. It was disappointing, but we were rewarded with snow the last day we were there which made everyone happy.

Day two, we skiied at Deer Valley which is widely viewed as the best ski resort in the country. It was gorgeous there but windy! When you're 9,000 feet high, it's a little disconcerting to deal with high winds, but luckily, I had the experts (Brian, Tee and Amber are awesome skiiers) to help me get down the slopes okay.

If we weren't on the slopes, we were either stuffing our faces with insanely good food (beef strogonoff pasta, brussel sprouts, marrow and oxtail soup were oddly some of our favorites) or hogging space in the hot tub. We made good use of the free robes....and Brian and Tee didn't look creepy at all as they wandered around the Westgate Resort (with Modelos in pocket) in search of some bubbles.

Main Street in Park City is so charming. This is an Italian place where we had dinner.

It was such a fun trip. I got to see a beautiful new place, try new things (saki and hot yoga to name two) and just relax for a few days. Collins kept her captive audience quite busy, and I think they enjoyed having her all to themselves. Overall a win-win situation. Now where do we go next?

High Anxiety

This is Park City, UT, where we're headed on Friday for a ski trip.

This is the little cutie who will not be coming with us and thus the source of my anxiety...

Am I excited to be traveling somewhere new, somewhere where we can relax, ski, eat good food, sit in a hot tub, sleep in and be responsibility-free for a weekend? ABSOLUTELY!

Am I having major anxiety because I have never left my baby for more than 8 hours at a stretch and don't know how I'll handle being away from her for 3 1/2 days? Without a doubt.

Other irrational fears include:
How can our plane not drop out of the sky if we are traveling on Friday, the 13th?
If I'm not there to watch Collins every second of the day, how could she not choke on a puff?
Will she get mad at us for leaving for so long and not like us when we get back?

Collins and I have logged lots of together time in the last year so this is going to be hard. I am going to miss her very much, but I know it will be good for us to get away. Plus, us leaving gives six grandparents the chance to spend lots of good, quality time with her. I know we'll have a fabulous trip. But I have one message for our wonderful babysitters- keep your phones close- you will be hearing from me!

Progression

This used to be our pace...

Ten months go by and we've sped up quite a bit...

Isn't it fascinating to watch the developmental strides they make that first year? It really wasn't that long ago that we had to hold her head up for her and now she really just needs one of my fingers to pull herself to a standing position and off she walks across the house. Crazy!

Thoughts on 2011

No doubt 2011 will go down as one of the coolest years of our lives. Besides the wow factor of having your first child, I'll remember this year as one of extreme change, one where the learning curve was quite steep, and one that brought more happiness than you would think possible.

This video sums up 2011 for me- all kinds of baby steps and lots of smiles. Happy New Year!

Our Christmas Story

I think Mom summarized the holiday best when she said, "Just think- last year at Christmas Collins wasn't even here yet and now here she is walking and talking and looking cute in her red dress!".

It is kind of mind-boggling to think how life has changed since last Christmas and to realize how much extra joy and fun this baby brings to everything. That was certainly the case for this year's holiday.

Whether it was chasing around cute Will Brockway, or cracking up when playing the drums on Mom's iPad, or sneaking her first taste of chocolate with Baba's brownie trifle, or making silly sounds all day long with Poppy, or showing us her dance moves for the first time, or walking countless number of laps around each house holding on tight to whoever's finger was available- it was all fun and memorable. Here are some pictures from Christmas 2011...

Hanging out with cousin Taylor was a highlight of Christmas Eve at Baba's.

 Collins got some of the neatest toys including her first baby doll...

After all the festivities, this was the perfect way to relax...

Then on Christmas morning, I don't know if it was more fun watching Collins or the excitement on Dad and Heather's faces as they showed her what Santa brought...

After a particularly unpleasant road trip home (car trouble and baby screaming due to no nap), Collins got out her wiggles with a fun new toy and some dancing at the Forks.

Thanks to everyone for making it such a special first Christmas!