Happy Birthday to my Daughter

There will be lots of other pictures and updates soon, but for now...happy first birthday to my favorite girl in the whole wide world! I love you so much, Hadley Lauren!

Conversations with Collins

• Apparently, Collins has heard his friends scream "cannon ball!" when they jump. He joins in except he says, "Cannible!" 
• Has a stuffed frog he calls "Hermit." Gets Kermit and Hermit Crab confused!
• He was watching a fishing show with Jake one morning. When the guy caught a fish Collins asked, "Did he spank that fish?"
• Lately says "It took ages" and uses "horrible" not-so-appropriately. For example, "That was a horrible big truck!"
• "Told you."
• Quizzed him one day on what happened on the Fourth of July. He guessed, "God's birthday!?" I said, "Nooo..." Guessed again, "Noah's!?!"
• We talked one morning about the birds we saw and I explained that a big group of birds is called a flock of birds. He got it almost right the next day when he observed, "Look at that big chunk of birds."
• He whistles. But instead of whistling it is a high pitched squeal that resembles a great whistle. Funny.
• According to his friend Tate, there are "snake fish" in the river. Collins totally believes it because Tate said it.
• He also believes everything Finley says: "It's going to rain today." I said, "I don't think it's supposed to today." "Yes it is, Finley said it's gonna rain." 
• He told Ms. Jordan he was going to grow up tall, marry his mama, and then marry her :) And Mrs. Megan told me yesterday that Collins informed her that she was going to marry him in four weeks.

• More about marriage...he told me that he was going to give me an earring so he could marry me. I asked where we were going to live and he said, "in campus."
• Collins still likes spooky stories about witches and vampires and such. Probably freaks out his teachers. He's never even seen a movie or show about a vampire other than The Count on Sesame Street, but his good ole mama tells him about them (I never make them super scary, it's okay). Anyway, I recently worked in a little literature lesson while talking about witches and taught him the witch chant from Macbeth: "Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble." So a few days later I hear him reciting it: "Bubble, bubble children trouble"!
• One of the Bearenstein Bears books we have starts out with Brother Bear stalling at the library. Sister Bear tells him to hurry up and he says, "Hold on, I'm looking for a good mystery." In typical fashion, Collins tries to apply it to his life! He was standing in front of the pantry one day looking for a snack, so I urged him to hurry. He said, "Hold on, I'm looking for a good myffery."
• Looked in my throat one day and said, "I see your echo."
• We went to baby Liam's infant baptism recently. It was the contemporary service, so there was a praise team on stage and they had lights/smoke/a band. When I pointed out the smoke Collins asked me, "Mama, what are they cooking up there?"
• Another book we have has a picture of a kangaroo and you can push a tab to see his leg move. It has broken off, so Collins told me: "He broke his hopper."

Collins got this balloon from Jake McLaughlin's first birthday party. He LOVES balloons!

• I made him a banana split one day. He liked it. Since then he asks for "another banana swool" (swirl)
• MawMaw brings him "squashy hamburgers" pretty often (gummies). The last time she was here he knew she had one in her purse, but he had to wait till the next morning to get it because it was bed time. That night he included this in his prayers: "God, please help MawMaw give me a squashy hamburger in the morning." :)
• One night we were trying to hug each other good night and we bumped our heads together. He grabbed his head and said, "Mommy, that's your problem." ha! He gets "problem" and "fault" confused!
• Calls Hadley "Sister Woman" (from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) because I do. It's just funnier coming from him!
• Referring to cars at an intersection the other day: "Look at that toe jam."
• He was looking at a Kids Life (local magazine) the other day and saw a picture of a group of youth cheerleaders. He asked if I knew them and I said, "No, but I think they're cheerleaders." He said, "They're beautiful...very beautiful!"
• The kids and I stopped by my office last Friday while I was off (preschool was closed). Somebody asked Collins when he would be four years old and he responded, "On my birthday."
• The other night at dinner Collins said, "Mommy, we're a messy family." I guess the truth's the truth!

Work Friends

I am so blessed to work with such wonderful people. This summer an MSU grad student came to do her practicum in our office. Lindsay and I became friends and I believe we'll stay in touch for a long time!

Jo has been a graduate assistant in our office for a couple of years, but I was able to supervise him this summer, so I got to know him better. He, too, is awesome and I'm sure will be our boss one day. :)

Ellen and I have worked together the whole time I've been at UA. She brought me a bouquet of hydrangeas the other day just because.

These are only three examples of the great friends I have at work. Very, very blessed!

Lindsay and I during her tour of our new office space!

Jo and Lindsay in my current office...complete with sink...on Lindsay's last day.

Beautiful flowers from Ellen! They lasted two weeks!

11 Months!

Hadley turned 11 months old on July 25th! And her mom is waaaay behind on blogging about it. Here are some things about Hadley this past month:

• She nods her head 'yes'; sometimes right after we say "Roll Tide."
• She can say "Roll Tide." She doesn't always choose to, but she can do it. And she can also say "thank you," but she's selective about when to use it. She most always does her hand in the motion of Roll Tide.
• She squeals and jabbers a lot. It's precious. But kinda loud sometimes.
• Hates the deer on the wall in Jake's office. Shakes and turns red around it. I guess it is kinda freaky having a dead animal coming through the wall at you.
• She has lots of new teeth lately! I don't even know for sure how many because I can't go in there safely to count. I would guess about eight!
• She can do pat-a-cake. When she rolls 'em up it is adorable!
• She smiles for the camera/phone. Poses. Immediately.
• Has had two ear infections since getting tubes. And is teething. So the whole sleep training thing still has not worked out for us too well. We are on round three or four now. She slept all night last night, but earlier this week she was up for two hours one night and three or four the other. 
• I had to cut her crib bumper off her bed because of how badly she gnawed it. Well, I had to remove it. I chose to cut it because I was tired. 
• She still loves to drink formula out of a bottle, but is having to be weaned off because she moved up to a bigger classroom. We're trying to figure out what she likes to eat best. We have one more month of bottles at home in the mornings and evenings. Unless she still wants one past then in which case I'll probably let her have it because she's the baby.
• She is going to walk any minute now! We have seen her take half a step, but not a full one. She can stand all by herself, but hasn't ventured out just yet. Maybe being on the cusp of this new skill has affected her sleep (?)
• She likes to pull her bow out of her hair. I have to fix her hair again every time we get out of the car to go in somewhere.
• Loves to wrestle with her brother who is so good to be gentle with her (even though she's not gentle with him)!
• As always, she is a sweet baby girl! 

See what I mean?!

Teeny bikini!

Between a cry and a smile.

Last day in the purple room with Mrs. Sarah and Mrs. Jen!

After water day and a bottle. Livin' the life! (Then she got an ear infection.)

Jammin'

Fishin'

We spent the weekend at Grammy and Poppa's a few weeks ago, for the first time in forever. Nanny came to hang out with us one day. We were also able to go visit with Mimi and Granny and Granddaddy for a little while.

Collins loves to fish! He especially loves to touch fish in the eyeball. I don't know why.

Collins and I slept in the same bed together. I was kind of excited to get to snuggle with him, but oh my goodness...the boy does not get still for a single second until he is all the way asleep. He tosses and turns and scratches and talks...wow. Hadley slept good in the crib, but she wakes up kind of early of course. So it was not the most restful weekend, but a good one! (Well, except Poppa opened the refrigerator door on his toe and tore off his toenail, but I'm going to choose to forget about that.