Baby Steps!

Collin is starting to take steps!

First time swinging in the park!

We went camping last weekend and there was a park right next to our campsite. We tried the baby swing out and it was a huge success! Collin LOVED it! He laughed and giggled so much!

walking

Collin discovered that he can walk in circles in his activity center. It is so cute to watch him go round and round.

Collin and his BFF

Dubya is Collin's BFF. He follows her around all the time and she is sweet as can be....to him. She sometimes hisses at Jason and is quite moody. But with Collin....she loves him. Today I turned my head for a second and found her tail way in his mouth and it was sopping wet. GROSS! Of course, I quickly rescued her from her 'best friend'.

Pi Phi Friends Come to Visit!

We had a great day last Saturday! We had a mini-reunion of my Pi Phi friends and their kids. It was so much fun and went way too fast! I loved seeing everyone and their kids and meeting Mason (my freshman roommate Becky's son)for the first time.

Dancing Machine!

Collin loves to dance. Whenever he hears music, he'll start bopping around. At church last Sunday he started dancing when the choir sang their song. It was so cute!

Grizzly Bear Kisses

Funny Valentine

Collin likes to giggle! We are celebrating his half-birthday today! 6 months old already!!!

Collin shaking his head "no no"!

Smiley Sick Boy

Collin has a bad cold. You probably can't tell from this video because he is happy as a clam. But he's not able to breathe through his nose and is less interested in eating (probably due to a sore throat or not being able to breathe through his nose). I actually spoon-fed him his formula this morning b/c he wouldn't take it in the bottle. That took forever, but I don't want him to become dehydrated on top of the cold. Poor little fella! Took him to the dr. and she said it's probably just a virus, but gave him antibiotics just in case it turns into pneumonia since he was having some weezing. We did a nebulizer treatment at the doctor, but that didn't really improve his breathing, so she didn't send us home with a machine. Just good ole Amoxicilin (sp?) Hopefully he will be feeling much better soon!

What a BIG boy!

Collin loves playing at his activity center! His feet still don't quite touch the ground, so I put a round flat basket under him so he can reach with his toes. :)

We are looking forward to this weekend. As usual, Collin has a busy calendar! :) We are going up to Ames on Saturday evening to have dinner and then to Glenwood on Sunday for the Super Bowl. GO STEELERS!

We hope Grandma Detlie feels better REALLY soon! Darn flu! :(

Rollie Pollie

Our little guy is rolling from back to tummy! We are so proud of him! :)

January

Can you believe Collin is 5 months old? Here is his 5 month birthday picture!

Collin continues to amaze us every day. He is rolling over now (from stomach to back), has found his feet (he loves to grab them and pull his socks off), has started to eat baby food (what an adventure for Mommy!), and when he laughs it makes our hearts melt. We love him more every day. He weighs about 19 1/2 pounds now. What a BIG boy!

This is a video of Collin screaming or singing. Not really sure what. He has discovered that he can make all kinds of funny noises now!


Collin snoring:

October

I admit, I have been a major slacker on the blog, but what can you expect from a mother of a newborn! October has already been a really busy month for little Collin! He's been on a roadtrip to meet Baby Elle up in Cherokee, been to Grandma and Grandpa Detlie's house, had ANOTHER baby shower (the 4th one!) and had his 2 month check-up, shots and all!

Baby Collin arrived!

Collin Neal Darrah was born on August 14th at 9:27pm and weighed in at a whopping 8 pounds, 1 ounce and 20 3/4 inches long! Big boy!

12 weeks!

Well, here we are at 12 weeks! It seems like just yesterday it was 5 weeks! We had an ultrasound on Thursday and all was well. It was really neat to see the features that are becoming more distinct (ie, hands, legs, face). It is such a miracle what technology has come about in the last 30 years. I was thinking that our mother's generation didn't have ultrasounds and just had to wait and see what the sex of the baby was going to be. How difficult! I truly admire those that have the will power to wait to find out. :)

Not much else to report. The morning sickness comes and goes. But I think it continues to get better over the weeks. I still have my moments, of course. At least it is getting a little better! :)

New Due Date and 11 weeks

So after going to the dr. I found out I have a new due date. A whole whopping day later....August 23rd! I'm almost 11 weeks and the baby is the size of a lime! I have an ultrasound (1st Trimester Screening) next Thursday and I am looking forward to that. I think it will give me a little peace of mind that things are still going well. After that we have our next OB appt. on Feb. 15th the following week, which will be the "12 week" appt. Which really will be 13 weeks. But since I was just there last week, I figured it would be okay if that appt. was a week later, plus I don't have school that day and I won't have to use up part of a sick day to go to the dr. My sick days are quickly dwindling down and I'm sure I will use them all up by the end of the year for all of the dr. appts. After my "12 week" appt. I don't think I will have to go back until 16 weeks, and then it will be monthly until the last trimester.

The morning sickness has gotten a lot better, but I am SOOO exhausted. I come home from work dragging my feet and just have to lie on the couch and do nothing for awhile. I have taken a leave of absence from my bowling team on Friday nights b/c I just don't have the energy to stay up past 10pm right now. I'm kind of a wuss, I know. The last few nights I have been going to bed at 7:30 and sleeping all through the night. I have never been one to go to bed before 9:30/10:00, so that is really unusual for me to go to bed that early.

Tomorrow is our 2nd Anniversary! I can't believe that time has flown by so quickly. It is hard to believe that it's been 2 years since we were standing in the warm sands of Belize with the ocean waves at our feet and listening to Jerry Jeff Walker serenading us. It has been a great 2 years and I am lucky to have the best husband in the whole world! Jason is planning something for our Anniversary and we will have a little get away in Omaha/Council Bluffs. It will be our wonderful day and I love my husband so much!

10 weeks!

So we are at 10 weeks today! The baby is about the size of a prune! I have been sick off and on the last few days. It will go away and then it hits me hard. I'm hoping that we're almost at the end of this stage!

I had an urge to tell everyone earlier this week, but I'm going to hold out until 12 weeks. 2 more weeks! That's not long in the scheme of life, but right now I'm thinking it sounds like a long time! I am excited it is Friday so I can be lazy this weekend! My plan is to have some serious couch time this weekend. Next weekend is our 2nd anniversary and we will be going to Omaha/Council Bluffs to celebrate, so I won't get to be lazy next weekend! Shoot! :)

9 weeks!

Yesterday we had our ultrasound and it went well! The baby was measuring right on track and the heartbeat was 190! The baby is about the size of an olive and looked much bigger on ultrasound than the past ones. The morning sickness is much better and it only comes in waves now instead of being constant. I have also found that if I eat throughout the day, it is much better.

This weekend is the big Jimmy Buffett party at Summerset and I volunteered to watch our nephews so Angie and Matt could go. I didn't really want to go this time around anyway since it is hard for me to stay up past 10:00. My routine has basically been, go to work, come home, lay on couch until bedtime (now 9pm), then go to bed. I have just been so exhausted!

I think I decided that I will start telling people at around 12 weeks (Feb. 8th). I figure that is close enough and I don't think we can't wait a whole month to tell everyone. 3 weeks just sounds so much better for some reason. :) Well, I will update next week! At this point we have told a few close friends and family and a few co-workers, but I would really like to hold off until the 12 week mark before telling anyone else. Hopefully we will be able to keep our mouths shut!