Clovers for Collins

Back in November of 2010, I met a group of ladies online.  We met on a public forum, Babycenter.com as some of thousands of women who were due with babies in May 2011. 28 of us bonded and became part of a smaller exclusive group on facebook.  A long story VERY short, we have become very very good friends! All our babies were born within a two month period in 2011, but we come from very different walks of life, shapes, sizes, parenting styles. We have become a source of support and friendship in this 24 hour schedule we keep as our babies are young and our lives are hectic.

One of the ladies in this group gave birth to her little boy, Collins, two days before I gave birth to Ruby.  Her son passed away just 37 hours after birth, due to a completely unanticipated lung defect in which he was unable to breathe air.  We all mourned for her and loved and prayed for her, even as we all cradled and held our little bundles of joy a little closer in those days following his passing.  My heart still hurts for her when I think of it.

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep is a charity that does photo sessions for families whose babies pass, at or shortly after, birth.  They provided a priceless service to my friend and she has taken on the charity as one to support in memory of Collins.  She, with friends as well, has crocheted hundreds of baby caps to donate as momentos to those families who need the services of NILMDTS.

In honor of Collins, as we near what would be his first birthday, my friends and I have founded "Clovers for Collins."  Clovers are a symbol that our friend has become to use in memory of her son as well.  We are making clovers in various forms and will be selling them for St. Patrick's Day.  A $5 donation will bring you a beautiful clover item for the holiday and ALL profits are being donated to Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep in honor of a sweet, perfect, and precious little boy named Collins, who entered and left his mother's arms all too quickly.

The donation will be made on March 18th, what would have been Collins' 10 month birthday.

Please visit our facebook page for this project and consider making a donation to this cause that provides something that most parents never have to cherish...beautiful photos of their angel children.

And go hug your babies.

Nine Months Old!

Ruby is NINE months old today!!!!!!

She's been out ALMOST as long as she was in! ha!

 She has developed such a little personality!

She makes "uh uh uh" sounds...gestures and says "da da da" about EVERYTHING.

She also makes the "ma ma ma" sound, sometimes when crawling to me. ;)

And, she often still makes the "ne ne ne" sound when she's sleepy.

And she groans/sings herself to sleep if she's tired and I rock her in her room.

 Pulling up? check.  Cruising? check.

CRAWLING super fast? check CHECK!

 She only cruises along the table, she doesn't walk behind while pushing yet, she would rather just sit down and crawl REALLY FAST!

She likes to wave and makes a sound back when you say, "hi"

And loves to clap and move/sway with ANY musical beat!

 Often when she cries from falling or hurting herself she will be sounding like she's really trying to TELL us something about it. Lots of sounds like trying to jabber.

 She is into absolutely everything.  Just today I pulled a squinkie, a kidney bean, and a COUGH DROP out of her mouth! (not all at the same time!).  She's to be watched CONSTANTLY!

 She loves the Happy Baby organic puffs, she gets shaking excited when she sees the container.  

She has come to like just about all baby food we have given her now.  She is up to two small meals a day along with nursing.

 She now sleeps in her crib consistently for the first part of the night, mostly while I'm still up, HA!

Then she nurses and sometimes ends up beside me, sometimes back in the crib just depending on her and my mood. :)

 She is spoiled by her family...NAH.

Katie and Noah are such great big siblings.  I honestly don't know how I survived without them to help me before! They are AWESOME at entertaining, loving, teaching, and just keeping an eye out for her quick and mysterious eating adventures.

9 months old!!!!!

Daddy/Daughter Date Night

 It had only been on the calendar for a couple of weeks (we found out right before they were out of reservations!) but Katie has been looking forward to it and talking about it every single day!

 READY for Daddy/Daughter Date Night at Chick-fil-a!

 LOVE Daddy/Daughter Cows!

These pictures are compliments of a photographer who was taking photos and giving out CDs for everyone! Isn't that a GREAT idea?!?!

 Good conversation and memory making.
They had conversation starters at the table...one was "Favorite Childhood Memory."
Corey shared his.
Katie's answer: "This moment right now"

What could be better?

Well......

perhaps.....

a ride in a limousine?!

YES!

Chick-fil-a had limo rides for everyone after dinner! They rode around downtown Calhoun.

Can you even imagine?

I think someone*one day in the far future* will have a hard time topping these first dates with daddy! :)

Happy New Year!

At least it's still January!  It has been quite a busy post holiday month around here.  Well...busy and not.

Here are Katie and Noah showing off their finger-staches.

And Noah and Ruby playing at the new coffee table on the new rug! (Christmas gifts!)

 Ruby has a love/hate relationship with food right now.  She got in the habit of eating a LOT of it! So much that she cut down on nursing and had terrible tummy problems for a while! We finally realized that the baby food she was loving actually had CREAM in it! UGH.  Why would they even do that?! So...we are starting over.

 We went to the park on one of the many unusually WARM days we've had lately. Ruby absolutely loved the swing!

 She is pulling up on EVERYTHING now and has stood by herself a couple of times for a few seconds at a time.  Her 8 month birthday passed on Friday.  We missed the 7 month one with pictures so we decided to just do the 9 and 12 month now.  She is babbling CONSTANTLY.  Crawling everywhere like a pro. She is the sweetest thing! Even when she is sick!

 Katie brought her in their room to play.  I think Katie enjoys having a real baby to play house with. :)

 We celebrated my parents' birthdays last weekend.  

Noah has been playing basketball.  But I have no other pictures of either of those things. :(

The biggest event around here has been the sicknesses.  Noah started out with a cold, then it got better, then it got worse, then he ended up with pink eye as well.  So he has finally been on medication for that since Thursday.  Ruby also had a cold.  She was sleeping miserably.  So, after we had tried ALL our home remedies, and after Noah ended up on an antibiotic, we decided it was time to take her in. She also got an antibiotic but the night after the doctor (a Friday night of course) she ALSO came down with pink eye.  We made it through the weekend, then she finally got drops for that yesterday.

Last night we had our best night's sleep yet.  She slept two really long periods with only one tiny coughing fit.

ALSO, she has not had her reflux medication the entire time she has been sick.  AND I have added dairy back to my diet! So, all seems to be looking up now!

Here's a picture of her from this morning.  She was sleeping so sweetly and soundly.

And in all of this, Katie has not been sick at all! She has developed a cough the past two days, but it is really nothing.  I am so thankful that she didn't get sick.  Because, oh yeah...I forgot to mention..in the midst of everyone being sick and not sleeping?  I was ALSO sick with a cough/cold. And Corey was feeling worse with it this morning.  But the saying is true...I would much rather the two of us be sick than the kids!

We have signed back up for e-mealz because I got a really good groupon ($29 for a full year!) and we are loving the ease of having a meal plan again!

Corey is doing fantastic with his school work, even though it is much harder this semester.

We are slowly but surely making our way through the school year.  I am predicting we will NOT be finished in April like last year, HA.

But, really...life is good.  We are blessed.

Christmas 2011: The Year of the Tornado

 Thanks to a couple of tornadoes in the area, we had our traditional Birthday Party for Jesus...sans electricity!

We had to put off the meal we had planned (hot dogs and french fries) and grab dinner out.  We debated what to do when we got home to the power still being out.  The estimated time it would be back on was 11am the next day.  So, we went out to the dollar store and stocked up on batteries and candles and went through with our plans.  The weather was mild...not too hot or cold.

 First we had a cupcake and sang  ♫Happy Birthday ♫

 Ruby enjoyed the candlelight as well.

We switched the camera over to using the flash to get better pics, so just imagine the rest with the same look as those first few. ha ha.

 Then we finished our "What God Wants For Christmas" Nativity Set.

 Ruby checking herself out in box #7 (a mirror! ooops spoiler alert!)

 Our advent wreath...isn't it beautiful?  We did a mix n match wreath last year but this year we got a real one! :)

 Then they opened one gift.  New school clothes...er...I mean pajamas! ha ha. We let them each pick a pair to wear to bed and this is what they picked.  They each had more Christmas-y ones, but oh well.

I also opened a gift, a new knife block set, and Corey opened a gift, two tees from 80stees.com.

 Ruby's first gift ever.  She was SO excited when we put it in front of her.  Finally, all that being pulled away from the gifts was over! And.....she just wanted to bite it.

 Opening gifts by candlelight.  You have to imagine this like the first few pictures.  They really couldn't see anywhere except where the flashlights were shining.

 Christmas 2011! Ruby picked the right pjs!

 The power came back on earlier than expected at 6am, so when I got up with Ruby we came to rearrange the gifts for the next morning.  She got a little sneak peak/taste of the family gift.

 YAY! Katie finally got up so Noah could come open gifts!

 Noah's "want" gift: a remote control motorcycle.

 Katie's "want" gift: a new doll and canopy bed for the doll.

 breakfast! bacon, eggs, pancakes.

 A little gift from Katie to keep Ruby busy at the table.  It was a math mitten.

 Opening the family gift together...a Clearplay DVD player.

 "Santa" brought a stocking full of many yummy things for Ruby.

 Ruby's "want" gift: a ball popper.  

 Santa found many a great value on Amazon this year!

Doll accessories and furniture, video games, and LEGOS!

We had a very memorable start to the Christmas season this year.  Now to find somewhere to put it all! :)