A Christmas Wish...

At the end of the evening on Christmas night, my Mom was holding Colin. She was staring at him and then turned to me and said: "Last year he was just a wish."

You helped make our wishes come true :)

Christmas Day

We had a wonderful Christmas! The highlights included Eily receiving her very own American Girl doll from Santa & Colin getting a brand new exersaucer....fully equipped with wheels that enables him to move around! They both were very happy on Christmas morning. Eily asked every Santa we saw for her Rebecca doll. Colin sat in his exersaucer content for 45 minutes while watching Eily open BOTH of their presents. It is a riot watching this little person walk :) He mainly enjoys the mobility so he can catch the dog!

We hope you guys all had a great day as well!

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Football Sundays

Recent Holiday Pictures

Cheeks...

My Two Most Favorite People...

4 month Doctor Visit & Solid Foods :)

On Thursday Mr. Colin had his 4 month check-up. He weighed in at a whopping 18.3 lbs (99th percentile) & 26 inches long (75th percentile). Our pediatrician was VERY impressed! He passed all of the tests with flying colors (grabbing, tracking lights, etc...) He is a very big, healthy guy!

He has increased his formula intake to 48 oz. per day, which is way more than he should be drinking. As a result, the poor guy has been constipated...ouch! So, our pediatrician wants us to start solid food fast.



We started with Oatmeal, thinking it would be easier on his tummy. Eily put the spoon towards his mouth, and just as I expected, Colin grabbed it from her hand and shoved it into his mouth! He immediately started to cry & spit out the food. We tried rice cereal the following day and then did not go any better. We will move on to carrots this afternoon- we are hoping for success!

Christmas Pictures

How cute are these?

Holiday Festivities

We spent the afternoon at the Lemont Hometown Holiday Festival. It was cold, but we had a great time. Colin had his first experience with Santa & did great! He didn't seem to mind being held by such a scary looking guy :) Eily was very excited to hear that Santa had been watching & thought she was a good girl. She told him she was trying to "work on her bossiness." We all got a kick out of that.


P.S. Can you even handle his "Hugh Hefner" robe?

Happy Thanksgiving!

We will be thinking of all of you on Thanksgiving. You guys are what we are thankful for this year. Colin has completed our family & brought so much joy back to our lives. Have a wonderful day & we can't wait to visit on Saturday :)

PS...Doesn't Colin look like Sheila in this pic?

Do we look alike??

LOVE

Colin as Dorothy~

This morning I needed to run downstairs for a minute and asked Eily to keep her eye on her brother. This is what I came back to!

He didn't seem to mind :)

The world according to Eily....

Every morning we have the same routine. Eily wakes up, climbs into bed with me and asks over & over again, "Mom, how many more minutes until my brudder wakes up?" This continues several times until we hear squeaking from the monitor. Eily runs into Colin's room, climbs into his crib, and kisses and hugs him & tells him how very much she loves him. Colin has a similar infactuation as his eyes light up at the sight of her & he has his famous open mouth smile.

Today, as Eily was winding down in Colin's crib she turned to me and said: "Mom, you know...Colin & I came from the same heaven. God sent me to you first & Colin was really sad. Then God sent him next & he fell in love with me all over again."

I couldn't have said it any better :)

Colin's Baptism

Here are some highlights from the day. We chose my sister Erin & my brother Pat to be Colin's Godparents. Colin was great in church & enjoyed the celebration afterwards. I prayed for great weather & my prayers were answered! Both Eily & Colin were tired tonight :)

Look who's in his exersaucer!

As always, Colin amazed us by being able to stand up & play in his exersaucer! He was a little afraid at first when he hit the cow and it started to moo...but loves it now!

Thank You :)

I wanted to show you how cute the bookends look in Colin's bedroom. We think of you each time we look at them. I am sure they are something Colin will pass down to his children someday :)

Playin' in the leaves...

Happy Halloween!

We had a great day today & was happy the sun was out :) It was a bit cold but we got lots of trick or treating in! We spent the morning with cousins, the afternoon with the neighbors, and early evening at a party at the library. The lion was fast asleep first by 5:45 pm and Dorothy was a close second by 7:00 pm (crashed soon after the sugar high wore off!).

(Colin & Bennett weathering the cold!)

A Morning at Waterfall Glen

Mr. Personality

Siblings

October Updates

Colin had his "well visit" at the pediatrician last week. He was 24.5 inches (95th percentile) & 15.5 lbs. (97th percentile). He is getting so big so fast! He is already entering 6-9 months in clothes. The visit went great and he had his first shots. We decided to follow an alternative vaccine schedule so he will be getting less shots more often. Good thing Eily was with me~ I couldn't even look! She sat on the examine table with Colin & held his hand through it all~so sweet!

Reflections

There was a time when I would be going about my day and then I would stop and reflect about the nightmare we went through. It would hit me out of nowhere-I could be making dinner, folding laundry or just lying in bed. It was a very sad time in our lives that I never could understand. The memories lingered and visited me every single day.

and then one little person changed everything...

Now when there are quiet moments, there are only happy thoughts. There are reflections about how we got here and quick confirmation of how all of this was meant to be. All of the pain has been released all because of a choice one person made. A choice that gave us our life back.

Colin's First Month Home

Our Video Birth Announcement

Our First Meeting