My Little Photographer

I kept Colin home with me today.  It was quite a feat trying to balance getting work done, some homework and entertaining a toddler!  As I was composing an email I would have to react to a football being launched at me from across the room.  At least he gives fair warning by yelling "Catch it" or "I throw".  I found it a little funny that when I set my laptop aside and asked him to play catch he lost interest - hmmm.  It was a nice day.  I got in late last night from hanging out in DC, so my sweetie of a husband let me sleep in a bit.  I woke up to Colin flying his rocket on the side of the bed.  I made Colin a big breakfast and then he played while I worked a bit.  Then we went outside to make exquisite art with our sidewalk chalk.  Of course, I took some pictures!  Then Colin took his turn behind the lens! I usually try to buy him a little toy for when they drop me off at the airport for a trip and then another one for Will to give him halfway through the trip.  My last trip I bought him a little Fisher-Price Elmo camera.  He LOVES it!  As you can see from the pictures if it had film he would have a lot of pictures of himself!  At first he was taking it correctly but now he turns it around.  The camera is cute.  Each time he takes a picture, Elmo says something like "Work it, Baby, Work it" or "The Camera loves you baby".  All in all a fun day!  I was even able to get some of my homework done, only two more things to do for the week before I fly out for my next trip.

Parents Day Out!!!

I am married to such a sweet man!  A man who takes care of me, spoils me, and is just a wonderful person who is so much fun to be around. Yesterday, Will had a surprise day planned for an early anniversary (we are celebrating 3 years at the end of August) celebration.  I am so proud of him for keeping such a big secret for so long; he planned it while I was in Bahrain.  We had plans to go to a 311 concert but he decided it would be nice to change it up and surprise me with a trip to Hershey Park!!  A place that I have been wanting to go for quite some time.  Such a great idea!

After dropping Colin off at daycare he took me to get some breakfast (and caffeine!), then we headed on our way.  At first, I thought that he was taking me to the Inner Harbor or the Baltimore Aquarium, but he had me continuously guessing since we drove through 3 states! He would not let me look at the GPS, since he had entered the location himself (which is a big deal since the GPS is not his friend).  That made it even worse when the GPS gave our destination away towards the end! 

This was our first time going to a theme park together.  It was so much fun!  We enjoyed a day with just the two of us getting to act like kids!  The park has some pretty good roller coasters.  I was a little nervous at first because it had been so long since I had been on any rides.  I was secretly praying that my body would handle it the same way it did when I was 20!  I did fine.  However, I think Will had a little surprise the first ride, The Comet.  He thought the ride was going to be a little calmer than it was.  There may have been a little screaming coming from the seat next to me!  Just teasing...well maybe one "oh, $#*@! 

Next we went on the Super Duper Looper - so not as scary as it looked.  I was a little disappointed, but was still tempted to buy a t-shirt that said "I survived the Super Duper Looper"!  As we were figuring out our next move, I saw the Tilt-a-Whirl!  One of my favorites from the county fair when I was younger.  Of course, I made Will go with me.   We looked like dorks, because we were the only adults going without kids.  Not to brag, but I am practically a pro at making the Tilt-a-Whirl spin, which may not be an attribute that Will is fond of!  We were spinning FAST!  Will was screaming and I was laughing (so much that I was crying) and I was trying to stop it from spinning but couldn't.  Poor Will.  Not his favorite ride.  I really enjoyed it, even though I did feel a little queasy afterwards (so worth it though) Man, it sucks getting older! 

I have never driven my own bumper car.  I have always been the passenger.  So, Will told me I had to drive one.  I had so much fun!  Even when I managed to get totally turned around and going the wrong way.  For some reason all the kids were bumping me! I must have been an easy target.  I tried to get Will but never succeeded.  Next time!

For some reason we decided to go on a water ride.  We were one of the rare few not dressed in bathing suits, but it was hot enough that we didn't care.  We got soaked!  I may have freaked out a bit when the water just kept coming down on us.  I am not the biggest fan of water, so when it affected my ability to breathe, I panicked a little. My panicking just involves me having a death grip on Will's poor arm- sorry honey!  Our favorite ride was a race one (something about thunder and lightning) that had a lot of drops and went really fast!  Our least favorite was the Crazy Mouse.  Not cool.  It jerks you around, practically giving you whiplash AND you cannot see the track, so it looks like you are going to run off the tracks each turn and fall to your death.  Definitely not our favorite.  The last one we went on was a little too much.  Usually rides give you a break between crazy twist and falls but not the Wild Cat.  It never ended.  We never got the chance to recover from each crazy drop.  I was a little sick after that one and had to get something to drink.  Luckily any queasiness never lasted long, but it is definitely a new experience to riding roller coasters.  Sucky deal. 

The rest of our time there we played some games (Will and I both won a little penguin stuffed animal that we gave to Colin), took a chocolate factory tour, and did a little shopping.  All in all a great day together!

On our way home we stopped at this very cute Irish restaurant.  It had such a nice ambiance and they had Guinness on tap, cannot top that! 

Will also gave me my traditional anniversary gift early.  The 3rd anniversary is leather.  He always gets me the perfect gift and this year he proved that once again! He orded me a custom handmade book/journal to keep little momentos, pictures and notes from my trips.  The cover has a etching of Greece on it.  It is so perfect...I love it!  He chose Greece since I love Greek history, art, literature, mythology...EVERYTHING!  I am really excited to start keeping little tidbits about each place I go, starting with Bahrain.  Thank you, Honey!!

Looking Back: Moving Across the U.S

I thought I would fill in some of the gaps from when Will and I first met until I started this blog, kind of like a  pre-blog catch up.  I want to do this while my memory of the events are still pretty sharp.  Again, the goal of this blog is to be a record for Colin.  The big event that I would say is the beginning of "Colin's story" is when Will and I made our trip across the U.S. to start out on a new life for both of us.  It is the best decision I have ever made.  This one decision has changed so much in my life! It has led me to so many great oppurtunities and put me on a path that I never would have thought my feet would walk.  I miss the west coast, it is definitely a part of my soul and a big part of my upbringing.  I think some of the major differences between Will and I come from growing up on two very different coasts.  I also miss my family. I hate that this life changing choice of mine had to involve taking me to a place so far from home. I wish they would have all moved with me, but as my dad said to me before leaving, "You need to live your own life" and so do they.

OREGON and CALIFORNIA

From Portland we headed down to my hometown to say a quick goodbye to my family. It was nice having a few days to spend with them, so they could get to know Will a little better. Then on Super Bowl Sunday we started our journey; heading towards California.  We decided to go the southern route since it was the middle of winter and we were hoping to avoid any snow. I am not a fan of driving in snow.  Living in VA has forced me to embrace that situation more.  Plus, there were some states in that direction that I was excited to see.  Of course ,we did not drive as long on our first day...you know since we had a Super Bowl game to watch!  We stayed in Sacremento for the night so we could enjoy the game.  That is probably one of the most memorable Super Bowls for me.  Colts vs Bears.  We enjoyed the game while drinking beer and eating Taco Bell.  We made the mistake of walking to the store first and then going into Taco Bell with a 6 pack of beer.  Very classy!  This was Will's first time to Cali.  I wish we could have spent more time there so he could see some of the amazing cities. I would have loved to show him some of my favorites, like San Fran and Fresno.  I also was hoping we could stop by Crater Lake on the way down, but we were in a time crunch so no go...some day. I love that place and really want Will to see it.  Since we waited, Colin can see it too!  The little munchkin would be impressed.

Arizona and New Mexico

What stands out in these two states is how sunny it was for being the middle of winter. I found both states to be very pretty, in a way that involved not too many trees, but the change was nice. I really liked New Mexico.There was snow around but it was so bright and happy feeling, not gloomy at all.  At certain times of the day it was warm enough that  I was wearing just a t-shirt.  We made it through these two states pretty quickly.  I believe the whole trip took us five days. Will transfered to a location in Virginia and had to start a week or so after we got there.  So, he wanted to get there with some time to adjust and visit with his family.  It had been a while since he had seen any of them.

Texas and Oklahoma

The tip of Texas is a bit BORING!  I was literally waiting for a tumbleweed to roll by me.  I was a little let down that it never actually happened.  I also wanted to see an armadillo but you can not have everything!    There were also tons of cops on a highway that barely had any drivers. They still managed to find people to pull over.  Cops make me nervous anywhere I am but I will admit I really did not want to get pulled over in Texas.  I was still pretty excited to see all of these areas because my mom grew up all around AZ, NM and TX when she was younger.

Going through Oklahoma meant a lot to me.  My mother is half Cherokee and a lot of that heritage can be traced back to Oklahoma (because of the Trail of Tears) and other states that we were not going through at the time. We decided to spend a little more time there.  We went to some local shops and just explored the area.  This is a state that I have always wanted to go to for that reason.  My two great-grandmothers, who were full-blooded Cherokee, from my understanding did not talk a lot about their heritage and time spent with their tribes, so not a lot is passed down to the younger generations. It meant a lot to me to go there and to be able to see the area that some of my ancestors could have lived.  

Arkansas and Tennessee

I love some peoples' accents in Arkansas!  There is just something about it that is so friendly.  I kept talking to this girl at a place we stopped for lunch.  We was just so sweet and wholesome sounding.  That is sad but that is what stands out to me about Arkansas.  Will and I both thought that Tennessee was by far the prettiest.  We liked that there was so much open space. We were tempted to stay there!  We stopped in Memphis to visit a  few of the music museums. I think that was one of Will's favorite stops.   

Virginia

I was getting very nervous the day we made it into Virginia.  We were tired and I felt unprepared to meet Will's family after however many days of sleeping in hotels and driving all day long.  Before getting to his mom's house Will took me to see a beautiful view of Virginia (the picture of me below).  We had made it and were ready to start our new life.   

This was such a great experience.  I do wish we could of had more time to explore each state we drove through, but we were on a schedule so maybe another time... 


Below is a little map I created.  Hopefully you can see the little line going through some of the states.  That is our trip...a very loose idea of where we went!  Not exact.

Master Suite: Before, After, Now

We have completed our first room! Well, for the most part.  We may do a few things here and there and eventually we will work on the master bathroom, but our bedroom is pretty much complete!  I love it!!!  We have been doing little projects throughout the house, but had decided to do our master suite as our first major project.  Here are some before pictures:

Will and I decided to paint it a blue color (Thundering Clouds to be exact) with all of the accents to be either very dark brown (frames, etc) or white (bedding, curtains, fan, etc).  We bought new blinds, curtains, a new king-size bed, comforter, doorknobs, light switch covers, outlets, and a new ceiling fan.  There is such a difference from when we bought the house.  I love this room; it has a very peaceful, very zen feel to it and the white makes it look so clean.

Here are some after pictures, pre-furniture:

We had the carpet removed and had wood floors installed. I love it! The floors changed the feel of the room drastically. 

Our bedroom furniture FINALLY arrived!  We are still waiting for the vanity dresser. It seems to be taking forever.  We orded the bedroom set in April and just got what we have a few weeks ago.  Even though it feels we have waited the longest time, I am so happy with it!  I wanted something simple, nothing to extravagent

Here are some final pictures:

It is so nice to have finished such a big undertaking.  Today, Will's dad came up to help us re-grout the kitchen floors but the next big project will be the guest room. 

Our Little Munchkin!

Colin was extra cute today, so here are a few photo moments I would like to share with everyone.  He just makes me so happy!

He is obsessed with my sunglasses and keys. 

The picture below may not look like a spectacular picture, but it makes me laugh because Colin is holding his mouth laughing while he is telling daddy "I tooted"!

Will was trying to get him to wave the keys at me but he just kept waving "hi" at me.  He is such a cutie!

My little munchkin was such a sweetheart today.  Very playful.  We played catch for quite some time.  Colin has had a really good arm since he started throwing, but catching has not been his thing.  So, while daddy was out during his "daddy time" (on Saturday's he gets to enjoy one of his hobbies for a few hours). Colin and I were working on catching.  He was getting so excited whenever he would catch a ball.  His biggest issues with it is that he just gets distracted so easy.  We would count to three but at two he would look away at something he saw out of the corner of his eye.

My little guy also tried to help me with my homework today.  Very sweet but made concentrating on SQL a little difficult.

To top it all off, my little gentleman told me that I looked pretty today.  Awwww...

Helpful articles for Parents...or anyone.

Thought I would share this article about drowning and how to be aware of when it is happening.

Also, here is one about dogs and avoiding being bitten.

Getting to Know Colin

Colin is getting closer to 3 - I cannot believe it!  He does not look like a little baby anymore; he is definitely a toddler.  It was really sad when I started realizing that he was leaning out and looking like a big boy, but this age is so much fun.  All ages have been, but now he communicates so much with us and is so fun to watch his personality blossom. 

He is about 29.5 lbs now.  I need to measure him to see how tall he is.  He loves cars, superheroes, trains, animals, and books.  He LOVES to look at books.  It is so cute to see him grab a book on his own and just sit in his room and look at it.  He can look at it for the longest time too.  His daycare provider says that she is amazed by his ability to concentrate for so long and just be still.  He usually is very active but he will sit with the older kids and try to do the art projects with them.  She says that she has not seen another 2 year old do that at that level before.  So, proud of my baby!  Yes, a little bit of mommy bragging time - what can I say it happens.

He is really into the Berenstain Bears cartoon right now.  That and Einsteins.  Will and Colin listen to "Einstein music" on the way to daycare.  That is what Colin calls classical music. He conducts from his car seat!  I think it is great that he likes so many different types of music.

Colin still has buddy, who he is now calling Bunny.  He also has a new friend, Big Bird, who he calls Baby Big Bird.  He has been watching Follow that Bird, he loves that movie!  He has memorized quite a few of the songs and sings them all the time.  He woke up this morning singing, "Easy going....easy going day".  The words he doesn't know end up being a "la la" or something close to that.  He almost has the Berenstain Bear theme song down too!  He loves to sing and he only has to listen to a song a couple of times before he has it down.

He loves sports too!  He still is obsessed with different balls and is always trying to throw them to one of us.  We are working on making sure someone is looking at him before he throws it.  He has a pretty good arm and aim so if you are not looking it can hurt.  He is still working on catching a ball, but he is trying.  I want to get him this little tee-ball set.  I think it would be a fun summer game. 

We have been working on his colors.  He has a little trouble with green, but has got most of the primary colors down.  He is also counting really well.  He can count to 10 and is pretty consistent with counting items when asked.  We are also teaching him his shapes.  He loves circles!   Rectangles and ovals are ones we usually have to remind him about.  Will is teaching him instruments!  He actually can point out and name drums, piano, guitar, trumpet and a harmonica.  Such a smarty!!  More bragging moments.

Our little guy LOVES to eat!  He is still more of a veggie and fruit lover but we have little tricks to get him to eat his protein.  Like daddy pretending to be a jet.  Who knew that the airplane tricked really worked?? Well as long as Colin gets to run in a circle first! 

Cannot believe he is almost 3!

Independence Day Celebrations!

We started the long weekend by hanging out with some of Will's family from Florida (his dad's brother and family) at Aunt WenWen and Uncle E's.  It was a lot of fun!  Margaret and JB have 4 kids that range from the ages 13-21.  Colin ADORED them!  Will was not able to make it for most of it because he had a band rehearsal, but they were so friendly that I really enjoyed myself (and I was not as quiet as usual...must be all the talking I am having to do on travel!).

Saturday was a productive day, we cleaned the whole house!  It is so nice to have a husband that helps so much with cleaning - thank you honey (mushy, mushy, mush, mush)! I also worked on homework.  I am glad to report that unlike last quarter I have been a very good student so far this quarter, which is good because I have two classes that will be harder then the ones I have taken so far.  I am taking SQL programming (Structured Query Language) and International Affairs (I think I am really going to like this one), which is mostly about the current situation in the Middle East. Perfect timing to take this class since I just got back from the Middle East.

Colin has been sleeping in this weekend since he has had some late nights,  which is not the norm.  Such a strange feeling to be typing at 10 and he is still sleeping.  For the fourth, we went in the late morning to go buy a few fireworks (trying to avoid loud ones for Colin) and then had a late breakfast.  Will's band had a gig to play at a block party, so we had a small lunch cookout ourselves before he had to head over to set up.  It was delicious!  I love picnic food; beans, mac&cheese, corn-on-the-cobb, chips and 'mama's special dip-dip' (what Colin calls it), hot dogs, and strawberries!  Colin was in heaven!  Colin and I hung out at home before going to the party.  We rented A Princess and the Frog, very cute!  I loved the music. 

The party was great!  The band sounded amazing and I was finally able to hear more of their songs.  Usually, Colin has me running around everywhere.  He still did but we were closer to the band area.  Colin skipped his nap and was a little bit of a cranky-pants.  Plus, it was really hot and his cheeks were pretty red (thankfully not burnt, he was lathered in sunblock) so we left halfway through it.  We had fun at home, so it was all good.  Will looked so good!  This was the first time I got to see him as the drummer (not the bassist), very cool!  I am so glad that he has a hobby that he enjoys so much! 

When Will got home (another late night for Colin) we did fireworks.  Colin was a huge fan until one was really loud and it scared him.  Poor guy.  After that he had to be sitting in one of our laps and held on pretty tightly.  He loved the sparklers though!  It took a bit before he would hold it on his own again (that one must of really scared him).  Then we enjoyed some s'mores.  Colin's first!  He didn't really eat a lot of it; he was so fascinated with the sticky marshmallow.  Fun times!

Here are a few more pictures from our day:

                                                 Colin helping mommy water the plants...so helpful!

My rockstar!

                       Colin after the firework scared him.  He was holding on to me very tight!  Poor guy.

Before he was scared.  Relaxed.

My boys!

Colin and the marshmallow!

Photo Diary of Mommy and Colin's Special Day

I kept Colin home today so that we could have a day together before I went back to work.  The little sweetheart let me sleep in until 8 and he didn't even wake up until 9.  I do not remember the last time that has happened, if it has ever happened.  We had some breakfast and then we watched an Einstein episode together while I enjoyed my morning tea. 

Here is a picture of Colin eating breakfast.  He is vastly improving on his utensil skills.  Still quite messy at times.

After breakfast we ventured out to the mall to play in the kiddie area.  First we took a ride on the choo-choo train that goes around the mall.  Colin LOVED it!  It was his first time and he was in awe! After playtime we went to a toy store to look around.  I got Colin a kiddie pool to help cool off this summer.  I think we will definitely need it this year.  We also got some play swords (a mommy one, a daddy one and a Colin sword) for all of us to play with.  His favorite by far was the stuffed animal of Big Bird he got!  He is calling it Baby Big Bird.  He has not let it go since the store.  He keeps having me hug Big Bird too!  Now we are watching Follow that Bird with Big Bird. 

During Will's lunch hour we got to play with the new swords.  Colin did not get the concept of holding the handle but he had a great time anyways.  The two ganged up on pour mommy!

After Colin's nap and a walk around the neighborhood, we did an art project, which of course turned out to be very messy but fun!  We made some cards to send home to Oregon.  It was such a fun day! I am so glad that I took the day off to spend with him. 

Now daddy is home, so time to make dinner with my little helper!  Taco night!

Back with My Favorite Muse

Yesterday was a pretty lazy day.  My flight left around 8:50 pm on Friday and then we had a bit of a wait for our connecting flight, then we were finally on our way home.  All together flying time was close to 14 hours.  I had a harder time sleeping on the way back for some reason; I probably only got 2 hours of sleep.  Since there is a 7 hour difference in the time zones I did not want to take a nap when I got home (it was 6 am here but to me it was about 1 pm).  I was able to play with Colin and look at all of the house projects Will got done (thank you honey!!! It looks great!) without falling asleep, but once Colin wanted to show me his new movie (Follow that Bird - Sesame Street) I was a goner!  Little guy did not let me sleep too long before he was driving cars over me!  So, I managed to stay awake (catching little naps here and there) until Colin went to bed, then mommy went to bed!  Since I went to bed so early I woke up refreshed at 6 am, which was nice because I was able to run, drink some coffee and read the paper before waking the guys up.  Then we took Colin to the park and had a big breakfast, all before 9 am!  I took some time to write a few blogs, but now it is time to get things done.  More house projects to work on!  Oh, we finally got our bedroom furniture! Well, all except the vanity.  I will take pictures soon. 

Here are some pictures from this morning of my favorite little guy, my muse!