2nd Tooth

Colin's 2nd tooth cut through today! It's on the bottom, to the right (his) of the first one.

First Weekend Away

This coming weekend will be our first weekend away from Colin. We are heading to Arlington this afternoon to help prepare for the Shindig...a social event that our church (YG) is throwing. Miguel's going to be practicing with the praise band, and I'm going to be preparing food. Then Miguel has to practice again on Friday evening while I'm at bible study. After church on Sabbath we all have to get to the location so Miguel can practice with the praise band one last time, and I can help set up.

Colin is staying with his Tio Joel and Titi Valerie tonight, which I am so thankful for their willingness to help us out. Then he is going to stay with his Nanny until Sunday.

I'm a little sad b/c we've never been away for this long, and I won't even get to see him on Sunday b/c we are driving straight from Arlington at 5:00 am and I'm going directly to work. :(

Nanny is Home!

Nanny went home from the hospital on Monday afternoon! Praise God for his greatness!

I talked to her on the phone, and she sounds great! Just like her old self. She says that she feels better, and is ready for some fun when I get out there!

Thank you everyone for your prayers. I know they are the reason she recovered so quickly!

Happy Birthday Casey!

Happy birthday Casey! thanks for being such a great friend. I hope that your day is wonderful and relaxing!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Busy Day

What a busy day we had...2 playdates in one day! I had one set up and on my calendar for a while. Early in the morning, one of my co-workers called me to say that she was meeting up with another co-worker for a playdate and wanted to invite me.

So we had a great morning here at my house with the Clarks, Rodenburghs, and Pachecos. The big kids played nicely and the babies had a good time crawling around (and Christian looking at everyone!).

After an afternoon nap, we went on over to Abbie's house (in McKinney, so we didn't have to drive far!). Colin played with Taylor (18 months) for a little bit until Martina got there with Hannah (2 years). Then we went to her community park where the kids had a great time swinging and sliding down the slides!

13 Months

Where would my blog be without a monthly "birthday" post for Colin?

Today he is 13 months old! He's doing so many new things...just about something new every day! It's amazing how fast they learn. He's becoming more independent, but still loves loving on his mommy and papi.

He's so smart, and I just love watching him grow into this little mini man!

Halo 3 Release

Miguel went to GameStop last night at midnight to pick up his copy of Halo 3 that he pre-ordered. I didn't get to see him play it when he got home b/c I was sleeping, but we had the family over tonight for a Halo 3 release party. We had dinner and played! The game is awesome, so worth waiting for. The graphics are great! I am even thinking about getting my XBOX Live account back so I can play again!

Frustrated

So, my post last night about me not feeling well and wanting to call in to work was what I should have done...

I finally fell asleep last night after midnight, probably closer to 1:00 am. I woke up at 6:00 for work, got dressed, and went in. At 7:30 my manager saw me and said "I tried to call you yesterday to cancel you. We are overstaffed today, so I need you to go home."

I was a little relieved b/c I didn't feel well, but then I was mad b/c I'm not supposed to get canceled anymore. Anyway, they weren't overstaffed, in fact, they were like they normally are...1 nurse short. I helped out for a few hours and when things started to get really busy, it was time for me to go. The charge nurse wanted me to stay, and so did all of the other nurses (who ended up taking more patients than normal, b/c I had to give them mine).

Sick :(

Last week Miguel was sick. He's still not feeling back to himself, but he's better than he was. Well, yesterday at work it hit me...all of a sudden. I got extremely tired, and congested. I felt bad. Then, last night I felt even worse. Today was the worst...now I have body aches, and am running a low-grade fever. Poor Colin has been a trooper putting up with his lazy mother who only wanted to sleep today. I did get up to take him to his Kindermusik class...which he had a blast at. This evening Miguel said that Colin felt warm, so we took his temperature, and he is running a low-grade fever as well.

I have to work tomorrow, and should probably call in...but I don't want to. So, now I'm going to bed so that way I can wake up at 6:00 to head out to work!

My Colin is the Cutest!

Colin is definitely blossoming lately. He's doing and saying new things every day!

For the past few weeks he has been saying something close to nuh-ny. We couldn't figure out what it was until today when it was past dinner time and he crawled over to his highchair, stood up, and said nuh-ny. We finally figured out that it means hungry!

When Colin woke up from his nap today, Miguel was playing guitar. Colin started crying while I was changing his diaper, so I stopped, and started dancing. Colin sat up and repeated exactly what I was doing. Kind of scary, to know that I looked as doofy as him!

He knows tone of voice. When Miguel or I say "no" or something similar, he looks at us with this face. This face of disgust. We call it "The Face."

Colin strummed a guitar for the first time today! Miguel was playing and Colin crawled into his office and watched him play (while doing his new doofy dance). Then he crawled over to Miguel and Miguel showed him the guitar and how to strum. He took his little hand and strummed for it! It was the cutest thing that I've ever seen!

He's also turned into a little jabber mouth! He has these "conversations" with us, and with his toys that have faces on them. They are just sounds and noises. He knows exactly what they mean, and he really thinks that he's saying words to us.

Update on Nanny

First off, I want to thank everyone for their prayers, words of encouragement, phone calls, & e-mails. It has really helped me!

Nanny is still in the hospital, and we aren't sure just yet when she is going home. She says that she is feeling great! Praise God!

The repeated the CT scan of her brain, and they won't have to drill holes in her head! Praise God again! The bleed hasn't gotten any bigger from the last scan, and, it's starting to decrease as well.

The stroke was not devastating, but Nanny didn't get away without any deficits like she has done in the past. Some of the effects that she is having to deal with this time is that her left side...arm, leg and mouth, are all weaker than they were prior to the stroke. She drags her left leg just a little, but she is pretty confident that she can manage with some physical therapy.

She is suffering from pretty bad migraines since the stroke, but that is due to the bleed that she has. I'm guessing that once the bleeding has stopped, the headaches will subside as well.

Nanny is optimistic about her recovery, and is still planning on having fun when I arrive!


Thank you everyone for all of your support and prayers. I know your prayers are why she is doing so well today. Please continue to pray for her and her recovery.

Happy Birthday Whitney!

Happy 21st birthday Whitney!

You are such a blessing in our lives, and we are so lucky to have you around! We love you!

Prayers Please

My grandmother (mother's mother) hasn't been feeling to well lately. Bad enough that she isn't coming to Texas for the winter like she has done for the past 3 years. She's battled breast cancer twice now, has had a few strokes, a heart attack, pneumonia multiple times, along with a list as long as my arm...all in the past 7 or so years

I finally booked a flight to NY to go visit her at the end of October. I talked to her on Friday and she told me that she really wasn't feeling well. She sounded terrible on the phone. Then I got the dreaded call in the middle of the night Saturday night. My aunt called me to tell me that my grandmother is in the hospital. She had another stroke.

It's amazing how great God is for in all of the strokes that she has had, none of them have been devastating. She's still fully functional, alert & oriented. I talked to her on the phone on Sunday, and she says she feels better, but she sounded very tired. There is still bleeding in her brain, which is causing the horrible headaches that she's been having (and what caused the stroke). If the bleeding doesn't stop soon, they are going to have to drill holes into her head to release the pressure that is building up.

This is the grandmother that I was raised with, the one that I am closest too, the one that I spent weekends with as a child, the one who has been there for me through everything. I ask for your prayers. I know her time is short, and I've come to accept that, b/c I know that I will see her in the kingdom of heaven some day soon. My prayer is that she make it until the end of October when I can get there with Colin to see her...probably for the last time. She hasn't met Colin yet since she's not been feeling well, and all she wants...is to meet him, to hold him and to tell him that his great-nanny loves him.

Please keep her in your daily prayers, and the rest of my family too, as we are having a hard time with this. Thank you so much. Have a blessed week.

Learning Explosion!

Colin had a learning explosion this weekend!

It started on Saturday morning. We were getting ready for church at our Pastor's house. Colin was playing with their dog (Charlie, a mini Yorkie). I picked him up and as we started walking away, Colin said his first sentence: "okay, bye doggy." It's crazy how they pick up on what you say. Every time I get off of the phone, I say "okay, bye." Colin had been saying okay & bye & doggy separately for a while now, but this was his first time to string them together like that.

The second thing was this evening at dinner. Miguel and I have been doing very basic baby sign language to Colin since late last week. At dinner tonight Colin did the sign for "more please" multiple times. He caught on so quickly!

Lastly, Colin has been saying "pa-pa" for a while now, but never actually said papi. Well, tonight, I told Miguel to say goodnight to Colin. Miguel said goodnight, and Colin looked around and said...clear as day..."papi, papi." Miguel's face lit up and he got so happy!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday! We took her out to dinner to a Greek restaurant that she likes.

Happy birthday mom!

Colin's First Kindermusik Class

Colin had his first Kindermusik class today! He had a blast. Miss Sheila is his teacher. She's also our Pastor's wife. We sang song, played with instruments, massaged baby, danced, and lots of other interaction. All of the kids seemed to have a great time. Valerie and Christian are in the class also, and Colin loved seeing his cousin! The rest of the pictures are on my smugmug.

Colin Cut Hist First Tooth!

Finally! My child is NOT going to be the first toothless child like I thought he was going to be.

Colin cut his first tooth today. It's the bottom front left tooth, and it's barely poking through the skin. It's very hard to see, and the only reason I know is b/c I was fishing something out of his mouth and sliced my finger on the razor sharp tooth!

Colin was definitely at his crankiest this past weekend. If he wasn't being held, he was screaming. Even then, he still screamed sometimes. Nothing I tried seemed to soothe him. Tylenol, teething tablets, teething gel, teething rings...nothing. He was so fussy...he refused to eat, and didn't really sleep that well either. I'm not used to a picky eater...and I don't like it!

I'll take some pictures when you ca actually see the tooth. My Colin is so adorable!

Colin's 1st birhday Photos...Finally

I got Colin's 1 year pictures back last week, and I finally got them onto my computer. The rest can be seen on my smugmug.

My little boy is 1?!?

As If My Day Wasn't bad Enough...

As if my day wasn't bad enough, I finally got home from work, to find this...

This WAS our mailbox...until...

Our neighbor demolished it with his car.

Kristen and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

I went to work today, and it started out great. It went pretty well until about lunch time. Then things starting picking up...but not in a bad way yet. I was going to get off at 3:00, but at 2:45 was when my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day began.

I'm not going to go into details on the blog...so if you are interested in details, you'll have to talk to me about it. Anyway, I didn't get home until 6:00. My eyes were red from crying, and I had to vent to Miguel. I cried some more, and he just held me. What a great husband.

I don't want another day like I had today. I try to be strong at work. I have to be strong at work...but today I wasn't, and then more I told myself not to get emotional, the more emotional I got. I had to excuse myself a couple times to go to the restroom to cry.

Thanks for listening. I could use some prayers, and my patient could definitely use some prayers. God is good, and He can get her through.

September Already?

Where has the past few months gone? I can't believe that it is September already. It's almost fall, it's going to start getting chilly soon, the days are shortening, and it's almost time for my favorite time of year!

Colin will be starting Kindermusik classes this coming Monday, and they will last into January. I'm so excited! Colin just loves music, and I'm so glad that we are able to foster his liking! Sheila, our Pastor's wife is a maestro teacher for Kindermusik, and will be Colin's teacher. I think that Valerie and Christian will be joining us in the class as well!