14 Months

Our little boy is 14 months old! I can recall this time of year last year, just a few days before Christmas when we had a 2 month old... my how things will be different this Christmas!  I can't wait to see both boys on Christmas morning when they see all of their new toys.  Collier is quite the little character, still the happiest kid with such a friendly personality.  He smiles and talks to every stranger that passes our way.  He has learned a few new "tricks" in the past month, one being that when we say "touchdown!" he'll raise both arms in the air.  Another trick, is we'll say, "Collier, shhhh..." and he'll repeat "shhhh..." then we'll go "Ahhhh!" and scream outloud and he'll do the same and then laugh.  It's so cute! :)  He's become a really good walker and goes so fast that he's almost running at times.  He likes to be chased and will walk/run as fast as he can, giggling uncontrollably.  He has so much energy that he literally walks in circles around the den, back and forth across the room. He LOVES blankets.  He'll lay on them, grab one end and roll around, wrapping himself in the blanket like a little burrito.  We took him to Chuck E. Cheese this weekend for a birthday party and he wasn't the least bit interested in riding the rides, he wanted to walk all over the place! I literally followed him around as he circled the building, just giggling.

As I mentioned, he's right under 20lbs and seems kind of small to me (although his stats put him in the 50%).  He's in size 3 diapers and can still wear some 6 - 12 month clothes.  His 12 month clothes that we bought him for his birthday are kind of big on him.  He doesn't say a whole lot of real words but jabbers like crazy.  He has conversations with people where it's like he's telling this intense story, all the while he'll shake his hand while he's talking.  It's hysterical and people always comment on how funny it is to hear/see him do this.  The only real words that he currently says: are 'hey', 'bye', 'mama', "ooice" (for juice) and 'dada' has now evolved to 'daddeee'.  He has begun saying "ho, ho, ho" but it sounds more like "ha, ha, ha." He has started shaking his head up and down and from side to side and will sign "more" and say "moh."  One of his favorite toys is a old, empty medicine container (the kind with the childproof top from the pharmacy) that he found in one of our cabinets. He carries it everywhere.  He also is a little shoe thief and carries our shoes all over the house.  For the most part, he has left our Christmas tree alone but will test me at times, by trying to touch the ornaments.  I'll respond with "no, no Collier" and he'll look back at me and smile and try again.  The more stern (sterner?) my voice gets, the more he takes me seriously and when I say, "Collier, Mama said NO" he knows I mean business.  Sometimes, when we get on to him, it hurts his feeling and he'll cry (just from us telling him "No.")  He does have a bit of temper at times and doesn't like things to not go his way.  He especially gets upset when we try to take something away from him (like our shoes or other items he doesn't need to play with).  He's just a mess and keeps us on our toes but so much fun to be around!

Collier is such a fun child to raise.  I just love his little personality and know that it's only going to get more and more fun the older he gets.  I love this little guy with all of my heart and am so thankful that God chose us as his parents!

"Touchdown!" 

Pictureless

I really haven't had much to blog about lately... well, I take that back, I have, but have failed to take any pictures therefore, didn't feel like any posts would be too interesting.  The first weekend in December, the entire family (minus the kids and Chris b/c he was having some pain from a recent surgery) took the Annual Brink Christmas Shopping Trip to Birmingham.  Debbie and Tony always give us our Christmas money, as well as money for our kids, treat us to a trip out of town for a weekend, and let us do all the buying for ours and our kids' Christmas gifts (although they do still buy us some surprises for Christmas morning).  It's much easier on Debbie to do this because she doesn't have to try and buy for all 10 of us, plus we all love it because we are guaranteed to get the things we want and need for Christmas!  Not only that, but we also do breakfast, lunch and dinner together so we have a really good time being together as a family.  It ended up being us girls shopping together on Saturday, while the guys finished their shopping early in the day so they could watch the SEC Championship game that afternoon.  By late afternoon, Haley and I still had a large portion of our money left over after having visited The Summit and Brookwood Mall, so Haley, Stacey and I headed to the Galleria for a marathon shopping excursion.  We split up in order to get more accomplished and literally didn't leave the mall until after 9pm.  More than 12 full hours of shopping.  My back was hurting me so bad, I wanted to cry! I've never thought of shopping as a sport, but that day, it sure felt like it! However, I got a lot of great things that I wanted, including a new handbag and some leather boots that I LOVE. 
The next weekend was our Sunday School Christmas Party.  It was a Tacky Christmas Sweater Karaoke party.  Lots o' fun!  We definitely saw the "wild side" of some of our class members as they sang and danced to some of the latest hits.  However I failed to take a single picture!  The very next night was a Phi Mu Alumni Christmas dinner at Dale's where we played Dirty Santa and I met several older Phi Mu alums that I've never met before, as well as reconnected with some that were there during my 4 years at UNA.  We have 2 more Christmas parties coming up this weekend and then the BIG week of Christmas.  I'm looking forward to it this year with both of the boys.  Last year, Collier was around 2 months old but it will be much more fun this year now that he's older.

On top of all the holiday craziness, our boys have been sick.  During the past 3 weeks, both of the boys have had terrible colds. I finally took them to the doctor early last week but was told to give them a decongestant (which I had already been doing) and if they weren't better by the end of the week, call them back for an antibiotic, which I ended up having to do.  Now that we are about 6 days into taking the antibiotics they are doing better.  Since I took them to the doctor's office, I know what each one weighs... Collier at 13 1/2 months is 19lbs 14oz. I was surprised that he's still not reached 20lbs! I guess it's all the walking he's doing now but he's only gained 2 oz in the last 6 weeks.   Noah at 4 years 7 months old is 43lbs and 42 1/2" tall.  He's our tall, lean boy!

AND to add to the fun (no sarcasm, right?), Noah came home from school yesterday vomiting.  I kept him home from school today, but thankfully, he hasn't gotten sick since last night.  He seems better, but is still weak and tired, but he's at least able to eat a little without getting sick.   Hopefully, we are on the downhill slope of this stomach virus and so far it appears that the rest of us have managed to avoid catching it.  Thank the good Lord for that!

Thanksgiving 2011

We began Thanksgiving by having lunch at Deer Step, my sister-in-law's hunting lodge. 

As you can all see, the views are GORGEOUS.   



MawMaw Smith with 3 of her great-grandchildren (Eastlon was napping)



Friday evening we had our Thanksgiving Dinner with my family. 

Instead of the traditional turket and dressing, we had grilled pork tenderloin.  Delicious!



We had a great Thanksgiving week and have so much to be thankful for! 

We ended our weekend by watching the Iron Bowl with Kenny, Shana and several of their friends in Athens.  We had a blast and a victory over Auburn made the evening even better! 

Looks like AL is New Orleans bound to play in the National Championship against LSU.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We have a walker!

That's right... my little man started walking last week.  He literally went from taking a couple of steps every once in a while to literally walking 10+ steps at one time the first day! I was shocked because I thought it would be a much more gradual process.  I guess I'm used to things progressing slowly because that's how it's been for Noah.  It's so cute and I love watching him toddle around the house.  Although it's a bit bittersweet that he's walking before his big brother, I won't let that take away from the excitement that Collier is now doing it.  It does seem to have encouraged Noah to walk more too, which I had hoped for.  Along with the walking, Collier has developed a bit of an attitude.  He no longer wants to sit still (not that he ever really did) but he gets MAD when I try to change his diaper and his clothes.  And don't you dare try to take a toy or something he's not supposed to have, away from him!  That's just unthinkable.  He throws these little tandrums... arches his back, cries outloud and throws his head back!  Of course, a few minutes later and he's fine.  Although, he's still his happy little smiley self majority of the time. 

He loves talking on his cell phone and will hold it up to his ear, walking around talking.  It literally sounds like he is having a one-sided conversation.  He will be in the middle of talking and giggle outloud, then start talking again.  If only I knew what all he was saying!  He has started trying to say "juice" when I ask him if he wants some juice.  Although it sounds more like "ooice" with a long 'o'.  He now has 3 little teeth: 2 on top and one on bottom with another one that has just popped through on the bottom.  He is 100% on table food and the transition was pretty easy.  He eats much more a variety of foods than Noah did at this age.  I had a hard time getting Noah to eat meats but Collier really enjoys chicken and fish.  I thought he would have a hard time chewing with only his 3 little front teeth, but he has it figured out prety well.

Collier is such a flirt! He will stare people down until he gets their attention, then he will smile really big, and look away as if he's being bashful.  He will do that over and over: look at them, smile really big, then look away really quick.  Its so funny, like he's playing a little game because he definitely isn't a bashful kid!  He loves attention.  The other night, we were at a UNA basketball game and the man sitting next to us wasn't paying any attention to Collier, so Collier was doing everything he could to get the man's attention!  Staring at him, trying to talk to him, trying to get down and walk over to him... finally the guy smiles and says "hi" and Collier was satisfied.  I love his funny, friendly, outgoing, sometimes headstrong, slightly stubborn personality.  He definitely keeps us on our toes and we love him dearly.

Happy 13 months, Collier! 

This video is kind of long, skip through the first 1:30.  I forgot to edit it before I uploaded it.

Jolly 'ol St. Nicholas

Last Saturday, we took the boys to see Santa at the Land of Lolly.  It was no surprise that Collier LOVED him.  He went to him immediately and sat in his lap in amazement at the jolly ol' guy.  Noah on the other hand, was a bit nervous.  It took him a little bit to warm up to him from a few feet away and he did not want to sit in his lap.  However, he was fine standing beside him so we were able to get some cute pictures of the boys.  Of course, Collier jabbered his little head off and gave Santa his "list" of Christmas wants.  Let's hope Santa speaks "baby talk!"

And here's a picture of the boys with Santa last year (when Collier was just 3 weeks old.) 

What a differance a year makes!