Changes

We have recently reached a major milestone in our home--we don't have to have "the bag" with us at all times when we're away from home. We obviously started out with the diaper bag when Anna was a baby that had everything in it but the kitchen sink. This eventually emerged into a feeding station with solid foods plus bottles. After Anna started eating more adult foods, I found a smaller bag to hold diapers, wipes, a bib and utensils, and some miscellaneous toys. This bag has been with us for a while. Just recently, Anna has mastered the art of adult utensils, can easily drink from a cup with a straw, and likes most things on any kids menu. Plus, she is needing her diaper changed less times a day. Add all that together and you reach the stage when you can actually walk into a restaurant or the mall or wherever and not take "the bag" with you. How liberating? I only have to keep up with my child now. What's strange is that this seems both wonderful and sad at the same time. Our little girl is growing up.

Our daughter, Marilyn

A couple of Sundays ago, we were standing around after church chatting with some friends and we looked over and saw this sight: Anna had found the air vent and thought it was hysterical! Of course, the adults were fairly amused as well. Will captured the moment with his cell phone, hence the quality.

10 Years Later...

Ten years ago right now, I was finishing up pre-reqs at Carolina to start nursing school in May. There I would meet some fantastic women, six of whom I would join to form a study group. We called ourselves "The A Team", shared the workload, and studied for every exam together. I am convinced we wouldn't have been nearly as successful in nursing school without each other. It also made things way more fun! When we graduated in 2002 and went our separate ways, we always stayed in touch. We have been at each other's weddings and there to see new babies. And every year, usually in August, we get together for a reunion weekend at the beach. I am so proud of us for not missing a single year so far!

Susan and Julie are now in Wilmington with their families, so I try to get together with them whenever we go home. Susan is due in May with her second baby, a little boy already named Spencer. On Saturday, several of us convened at The Wilmington Tea Room for a very sweet surprise shower for her. It was perfect! Amy came down from the Raleigh area to be there, too.

Mimi (Susan's MIL), Amy, me, Susan, Julie, and Susan's friend Erin

After the shower, the four of us headed back to Julie's house to meet up with the hubbies and kids. The ironic thing about it is that all four of us had little girls first! We were able to take an awesome picture of the girls with our girls. How special! Then we got to sit around and catch up and watch the girls play together.

Julie and Emily, Me and Anna, Amy and Ella, Susan and Caroline

Emily sharing her car with Anna

Emily and Caroline sharing a hug

Caroline pushing Anna around in the car

I feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends and to have been able to share ten years worth of memories with them! Can't wait for all the ones we have to look forward to!

A Trip to Mimi and Pawpaw's

This past weekend, we had several reasons to head to Wilmington: 1) Mimi and Pawpaw had not seen Anna since right after Christmas and won't see her again until Easter--they get kind of panicky if they go more than a month or so without seeing her:), 2) my brother Jeff and his girlfriend, Johnna, are pregnant and I wanted to hug their necks and congratulate them in person, 3) we had Nia's 7th birthday to celebrate (Johnna's daughter), and 4) one of my close friends from nursing school was having a surprise baby shower and I didn't want to miss it or catching up with some of my favorite girls (see next post). So, we headed east on Friday.

Sitting with Mimi in front of Gramps' house (a garage apartment in our backyard that we built for my grandfather, and that every child except for me has called home at some point or other)

Friday night, we got to go to Krazy's Pizza with my parents. This was a staple on Friday nights when I was in high school and we try to go back every chance we get. I was a little wigged out because they moved into a new space in the strip mall where they have been forever. I still am not sure how I feel about that...

Afterwards, we went to Port City Java to get milkshakes. Their mocha shake is one of my all-time weaknesses.

A family portrait at PCJ

Anna was lovin' her some milkshake

I'm 2!

Anna's photography skills

On Saturday morning, Anna and Mimi had a big cupcake project. I had to leave because I couldn't watch the incredible mess of letting Anna pour the batter into the cupcake papers herself (how awfully Type-A am I?). She actually did a pretty decent job when all was said and done. Oh, the joys of being a grandmother and letting everything go...
Saturday afternoon, I left Will with Anna to take her nap and headed to the baby shower (see next post). When all of us got back that night, including Greg and Michelle, mom and I fixed a big Low Country Boil and we pigged out with Jeff and Johnna and Nia. It was a big celebration of a lot of things. Happy 7th Birthday Nia!

On Sunday before we left, we all went to Flaming Amy's Burrito Barn for lunch (gotta love it) and then over to Greg and Michelle's new apartment. It was so cute and all fixed up with their wedding gifts. They've done an awesome job! It looks like they've lived there forever!

Overall it was a pretty relaxing weekend. Mom let us sleep in both mornings and, other than the shower, we didn't have anywhere we had to be. I love those kind of weekends.

In Love with The Wonder Pets

Anna loves The Wonder Pets. 5 pm every day is carved out to be in front of the TV for that short, yet important, 20 minutes. After running and finding me to announce who they are saving in this particular episode, Anna usually stands in front of the TV the entire time, usually leaning against the ottoman in our den. The other day I walked in and found her like this. She was so worried because they couldn't get the "mingo" (aka flamingo) out of the mud. Such concern! One of Daddy's first questions when he gets home from work is, "Who did the Wonder Pets save today?". Oh, the joys of being 2!

UNC vs NC State

We took Anna to her second Carolina basketball game versus NC State on Saturday. We still can't believe they actually won (sorry Pawpaw--we did tell her that Carolina was playing Pawpaw's team)! It was pretty neat because Wayne and Ty got honored before the game and then over 200 past UNC players were there at halftime to be honored following the Carolina basketball 100th anniversary celebration Friday night. Seeing all those players (some over 80!) made us so proud to be part of the Carolina family.

Hanging out before the game...Anna kept saying,

"When are we going to the basketball game?"

Anna with Pops and Nannie

Taking in the sights of the Dean Dome with Daddy

UNC is #1!

Anna and Mommy

Blue and white hair looks good on her...

...still #1!

The Battle of the Nap

Anna has been resisting naptime for the past several days. I don't know whether it's because she has gotten so good at getting in and out of her bed by herself or because she has just discovered all the toys and books that have surrounded her bed for months or because she is reaching a point where she is not exhausted when 1 pm rolls around. Whatever the reason, I'm not a fan.

Now don't get me wrong. I realize a time will come when she will not need a nap anymore and that may come sooner than I think. However, I also STRONGLY believe that people in this country are severely sleep deprived, especially our children. I think it has become easier for parents to just do what the child wants rather than do what the child needs, and make sleep a priority. I can tell that when one o'clock comes around, she is tired. Many days, we can barely make it through lunchtime without some sort of tired-induced meltdown. And the days when she might not get her nap, for whatever reason, turn into you-know-where come about 5 or 6 pm. She still NEEDS a nap!

So today, after walking in multiple times after hearing her singing or talking and finding her not in her bed, I had had enough. I told her that she had to stay in her bed during nap time and that if I found her out of her bed again, she would get a spanking. She looked at me and said, "OK, Mommy, it's nap time now." Umm, it was nap time an hour and a half ago!

Well, after another ten minutes or so it finally got quiet. When I peeked in at her, this is what I found...

Notice that her pants are no longer on and she is nowhere near where I had left her on her pillow. But at least she is on her bed and...finally...asleep. The battle of the nap was won today. We'll just have to see what tomorrow brings.

She's Getting It

I walked into our foyer last night and found this sight.

Me: "What are you guys doing?"

Anna: "The little girl is not being nice, so I had to put her in time out."

Me: (stifling a laugh) "Oh! She needs to be nice, doesn't she?"

Anna: nods

Then Will watched her bend over and shake her pointer finger in the doll's face. (I didn't know I did that!) At least we do know that she's starting to understand why she goes to time-out sometimes!

"I Love Boys!"

What a day Saturday was! Will and I had nothing planned and so we decided to let Anna sleep as late as she wanted. We rolled over at 8:45 and had not heard a peep out of her! It was wonderful...until my mom-brain took over and started thinking bad thoughts. Why do we do that? I went upstairs and found her in her bed, still peacefully sleeping (and breathing). I scooped her up and carried her downstairs and put her in bed with us. She never goes back to sleep when we do this, but it's so much fun on lazy mornings.

She was showering us with hugs and kisses (the best thing ever!). Then she leaned over and put her little head on Will's chest and proclaimed, "I LOVE BOYS!". We both looked at each other with that Oh-no!-please-don't-tell-me-we-have-to-deal-with-this-already look.

Well, if this wasn't enough, my sister called and she was keeping her friend, Sherry's, little boy William. Sherry is due Thursday and Sarah offered to help her and her husband, Tim, get some much-needed couple time before the introduction to two kids happened. Sarah wanted to know if she could bring William over to play. But of course!

Anna and William were so cute playing together. The funny part was that Anna couldn't keep her hands off of William. Normally Anna is the hands-off, don't touch me type of child when she's with other kids. Not anymore! Here are some pics from their big play date.

William loved Anna's tea set...sorry Tim:)!

Sharing the love...

I just had to get this pic of their matching Nalgene bottles.

Having a dance party to the Leap Frog Fridge Alphabet music...

A big hug for William before he went home.

Thanks for coming to play, Sarah and William!! It was so fun!

The Collins Zoo Grows

My brother, Jeff, called me Friday night. Now this, in and of itself, was special. I usually get a phone call around my birthday and maybe once or twice more a year (yes, in a year). Jeffro just doesn't much care for communicating through the phone--he'd rather see you in person. Which is why my first thought was that maybe he and his girlfriend, Johnna, were in town (her family lives here, too) and wanted to stop by. So, we chatted about Anna's awesome toy box that he made for Christmas. Then he asked me if I still loved being a parent. Uhh, yea! Of course, I do. Then he asked if I thought I would like being an aunt. Huh?

Dead silence...............................................................WHAT?! YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME??

Johnna is pregnant and Jeffro is going to be a daddy!!! He was so precious--he could barely control his excitement. So, the Collins Zoo will get a little bigger come October! How exciting is that? I can't wait!

So Funny

The other night, Will and I were watching Wake play Georgia Tech (we've all but given up on our Heels). Anna was watching with us and kept yelling things like, "Get the ball!", "Come on, guys!", and "Good shot!", totally mimicking the comments we were making. If that wasn't funny enough, they replayed one of the plays in slow motion. Anna looks at us and says, "Those guys are playing so slow." She had her little nose scrunched up, as if to say, "What is wrong with those guys?". Will and I cackled!

Why is it so hard?

Anyone who knows me will confirm that I am a complete Type A personality--a perfectionist that likes being in control at all times and is willing to plan everything to the "T". Well, I'm pretty sure God laughs at us Type A's on a regular basis. Why is it so hard for me to let go and understand that it isn't all up to me? Why is it so hard to trust in His plan and stand back out of His way so it can happen? I'm having a really hard time with this right now...pray for me, please.

The Second Big Snow of Winter 09-10

While I was away at the conference, Anna had a fantastic time with her Daddy all to herself. They had a blast playin' and playin' and playin'. Although it snowed, Daddy reported that Anna liked it for about 20 minutes and then was done. Here are some pics from their grand time...

Anna SO excited about being in her snow gear;).

Anna standing beside her first snow angel!

You gotta go swinging, even in the snow!

Women of the Word Conference

My mom asked Sarah and me back in October if we were interested in going to this Women of the Word Conference in Myrtle Beach in January. Myrtle Beach in January?? Spending time with my two favorite women?? Yes, please. Plus, the keynote speaker was Joanna Weaver, who wrote Being Mary in a Martha World, which is a fantastic bible study (for those who haven't done it). So, we registered and forgot about it. Then, Halloween, Thanksgiving, wedding, and Christmas happened. I had totally forgotten about the conference until a couple of weeks ago. It was the end of January already!!

The funny thing is that as Sarah and I were preparing for the trip to Myrtle Beach, everyone in the Triad was preparing for snow...again. The last time we headed to the coast was for Greg's wedding...and it snowed while we were there. This is not funny anymore...

Anyway, the conference was really good. Although Joanna Weaver is a precious person, we decided she was a better author than speaker. The praise music was phenomenal and we got to see some dear friends from Wilmington while we were there. The small sessions were our favorite part. We went to one on unity in difficult relationships, which was very much needed.

After the conference ended Saturday, we headed to the outlets in the rain and had a great time shopping. Then my dad drove down from Wilmington to meet us for dinner in Calabash (he had been pouting because my mom was getting to see us sans husbands and he was jealous).

Sarah and I were a little nervous about driving back with all the snow that had fallen, but luckily I-40 was pristine all the way home. And Will was quite happy to see us since he had been stuck in the house with a 2 and 1/2 year old and a dog for almost 3 days! Gotta love girls weekends!