Finally a Post with Pictures

Here is how we started our first photo shoot: Collin clobbering Dad. This is one of his favorite past times. He thinks it is hilarious if you are laying on the floor (or bed) that he should climb on you. You will than either become his horse or he will roll over you, again and again. It makes us laugh so hard!!! He also loves to "pat" Dad's head when he is on his shoulders, and today was even pulling his ears. Not so funny when pregnant Mom is on the floor. His baby brother does not appreciate it as much. :) Skip also is a great target, and he is pretty patient with him about it. We may or may not bribe him.

Another favorite of Collin's past times is going for rides. When we tell him we are going for a ride, he grabs his shoes and heads to the door. If we are too slow, he lets us know!!! He loves to drive, and is getting to where he points to things he recognizes. He loves dogs, horses, kitties, and cows. Although when he sees a horse, he usually growls, but seems to be able to get the "moo" for cow down. Kittie he just tells us, and dog is probably his favorite word.

Another proud achievement of Collin is being able to climb into the rocking chair and onto certain couches. He even climbed into an empty bath tub tonight. He thinks he is such a big boy, and laughs and claps when he does it. I just think he is growing up too fast.

Don't let that cute smile fool you. He was being very mischievous here. You see, Mike had mistakenly left a bag of Lays chips down, and not only was Collin sneaking into the bag, but he was also trying to surf the web (which meant he was pounding on the keyboard.) But how can you resist this face???

You seriously can not even stay mad at him for a moment. Those dimples are just too dang cute and those beautiful eyelashes just scream sweet innocence. Too cute!!!

Being pregnant, and now all of a sudden summer has hit, I am dying in the heat. And our house does not have central air, so for now, I am loving my window unit and fan. But another great way to stay cool is the pool. I love to swim, and Collin seems to also. So I have a feeling that will be our home away from home this summer. So Saturday we went with my sister and her cute little family. I did not get very many pictures, because the boys are not the best photography subjects, but I just love our cute nephew Tatum (and so does Collin, except some times a little too much!)

But they get so happy when they see each other. It is pretty cute. Collin loves the water. He will just jump right in, without a care that he may not know how to swim. I think he will have to wear a vest till he learns how. We love having the pool about a mile away. I know it will be even more appreciated when we hit the 100's this summer. Collin is in that stage where he cannot fully communicate, and he gets frustrated when we do not understand what he wants or when he does not understand what we are doing and why. But he really is such a sweetheart. He loves to smile and wave at people, and is not even timid about going up to strangers. He still sleep in till around 8 and loves food. He loves his Granparents, and finally says Papa (he does have a sift spot for the Grandpas) but he just adores his family and hates to leave when it is time. It will be interesting to see the change when this baby comes and he has to share the limelight. He is spoiled, but I think most first-borns are. But he loves babies and I look forward to him meeting his little brother!!!

 

I am feeling pretty good. I still throw up here and there, but at least I feel good 98% of the time. It is nice to enjoy the pregnancy for now. We have our fetal echo the first week of July and once that is over and everything is cleared, I will truly breathe a sigh of relief. It is HUGE to have this baby not have major problems. I still am in shock I think. But it is fun to be able to plan for a pretty much healthy child. I bought a few newborn outfits and kept the receipts. But I may just have to have a burning ceremony or something once we graduate from Perinatology hopefully the second week of July. I remember starting the little ticker for this baby, and having I think like 270 days till the baby came, and soon enough (in 61 days) I will have less than a 100 days left. It is going by slowly and quickly all at once!!! Anyways, better get to bed!!!

One Year Ago Today

Can you believe it has been a year since this little guy became part of our family??? It feels like he has been ours forever. These wonderful gals are two of the caseworkers that made sure Collin came to our home (and oh am I missing the warmer temps I was enjoying last year at this time, but not missing Mike's pneumonia nor my bronchitis!!!) 

We were so happy to bring him home. He was finally going to be ours. We also were excited to get him into some of our little-man clothes, which we did pretty much did quite quickly after!

We signed all the paperwork, took some pictures, and loaded everything up. We also stopped quite quickly after to get him changed and brush his crazy hair!!!

Our families were so excited to finally meet the newest member of our family. I just really miss how tiny and cute he was!!! He was an angel on the way home. He slept nearly the whole way!!! We stopped once to feed him and to eat and rest. It was so fun to do these simple little things as a new little family. I think we may have even fought over who got to change him first (man do I miss those days!) 

The rest of the story is history, with all of our family coming to meet Collin and see our sweet little miracle!

They all just could feel how sweet he truly was and were so happy to have him home. 

I love how Collin is looking at my little brother in this picture. Jake will make a great Dad someday!

And Mike, home after missing his little boy and glad to be holding him close.

I miss those newborn snuggles too!!!

Collin was truly meant for our little family and we so grateful to have him as our son.

We love Collin so much and look forward to many more celebrations of this placement day.

He is our little sunshine and I know that come-what-may, he is going to make a wonderful bog brother!!!

 I miss the newborn Collin but am looking forward to sharing cute experiences with this adorable little one year old. We will always remember Collin as our little baby, but truly, he is becoming more and more our little toddler. He walks, is practically running, and loves to talk (whether it makes sense or not!) His favorite words are ball, dog, Momma, Dadda, ball, dog (well you get the picture, although he does say other words, these are his favorites!) Collin is going to be one heck of big brother!!!

Baby Collin

As most of you know, Collin was adopted. After losing Lilly in 2006 and than losing Ryker in 2007, we decided that we would put in our adoption papers, and hope for a better 2008. We started the application process and were online in 5 weeks, which apparently is just about record time if not actually record time. We received many calls over the next few months asking if LDS family services could show our profile to moms that had taken drugs during pregnancy. 

 The first time we received a call like this I told the caseworker I would call her back. After discussing the pros and cons and doing our research, we agreed they could. I think this step truly prepared us to open our hearts and minds to having a child later that sadly was exposed to drugs. So after 6 short months (although long to us in the scheme of waiting for adoption, that is a short wait time!) we got the call that basically, we had been chosen, but we were going to have to fight to be able to bring our son home. 

 Someday I will go into the specifics, but basically after many long drives to Southern Utah and after killing lots of trees, we were able to bring Collin home. We sadly missed the first five weeks of Collin's life. But thanks to some pretty amazing first parents, Collin was not only loved and cared for, he was photographed and video-graphed really well. 

 

K and D were amazing parents to Collin. They loved him,

much as they would there very own child.

 

They became foster parents so that they could give back, so that they could make a positive difference in another child's life. They are such amazing people with big hearts.

I wish that it could have been Mike and I that took care of Collin during his first month of life, 

but since it could not be than,  I am glad that K and D were there to love him.

This picture was taken after they had brought Collin to meet us for the first time. We had bought a little sleeper in honor of St. Patrick's day, which was the first time we had ever met Collin.

They were the first to see his cute little smiles, they were the first to sing to him, give him loves, stay up with him at night. They were Collin's first parents. If we had not fought for Collin and if Collin had stayed with his first parents, he would have had another brother or sister just months younger than him. About 6 months to be exact.

They were such good parents. When we picked Collin up, it was hard, They were essentially saying goodbye the their baby, even if legally he was not their's, they were still the only parents he had known up till than. There were tears of sadness and heartache, and tears at joy, all at once. I cried for them. I was happy yet I remembered how hard it was to say good-bye to Lilly at a mere 5 weeks of age. It hurts. There is physical anguish when you say goodbye to child. But there is peace in knowing that the sweet child will be loved and cared for, and that truly, they will be happy.

They had only been foster care approved for a few days when they got the call about Collin. They happily agreed and went through the crazy preparations to get ready for him. When we picked up Collin, they has sweetly organized all of his things, from the outfit he came home from the hospital in to the clothes he no longer fit. They wrote pages of Collin's routine and what he liked or disliked. They also included a CD of video and pictures of almost every day they had Collin there home. We shed tears of gratitude for them.

I wish I could have had Collin from the start, but we know there are reasons for everything. I know Collin was meant to be part of their little family, no matter how short it was. He probably will not remember them, but we will, and that's what important. I want to get a picture of them framed, so that Collin will always know that he was loved, long before he ever came home. I do not think you can have too many people that love you, and in that way, Collin will always be blessed.

And not matter how old Collin gets\, he will always be our baby. He was our baby 

that gave us hope of first birthdays, of being able to plan for a future. Thank-you K and D.

We will always be grateful to you.

Our One Year Old

It is crazy that we have a little boy that is more a toddler than a baby. Every day I see him (especially after working for 12 hours) I just see that he has grown and is becoming less and less our baby. Collin is really a sweet and happy guy. He does not get sad when other babies, kids, and dogs take his toy or food, He even shared his birthday cupcake with his Grandma Gourley. He loves to play. He loves to play 100% of the time, even while eating. He is just a playful happy guy. He is walking little bits here and there. 

 

It is so cute when he takes steps and walks towards us (or his dog Skip) whom he loves a bit too much at times! He loves to snuggle and be held, especially when he is tired or drinking his milk. He loves to talk (especially on the phone, or anything he pretends is a phone.) He loves to babble on and on, and will even pretend babble/yell when he is upset. He has a small vocabulary, but he is learning new words every week. His vocabulary right now is "Mama" (which he say a lot) "Dada"," papa" (which are his Grandpa's but this one he is still working on,) "bite" (which means you had better give him some of what you are eating!) "tickle", "nana" (banana) "dog (and sometimes he manages to say "sip" for Skip) His little vocabulary continues to grow, ( he actually said "pease" the other night  so I am glad the "pleases" and "thank-yous" are finally starting to make a difference!) and I am sure he is trying to say more words but we just do not always understand. We are teaching him a little bit of sign language. He signed Mama yesterday, but most the time he just laughs when we are trying to sign to him. He is also adding, subtracting, dividing, and took Mike's last take-home test for him :)

 I just had to get a picture with bruises on Collin, because he usually is sporting a bruise. He many not be genetically mine, but boy he and I share the klutzy gene. I seriously am glad we have him fully adopted because with DCFS you are supposed to report accidents (bruises and such) so I would be filling out papers and calling DCFS on a daily occurrence with how klutzy Collin is!!!

He still loves to crawl (something he started at 6 months since his cousin was cruising and he felt left out!) He has a belly laugh that seriously cracks you up. He will fake laugh when others are laughing, which gets us laughing harder. He LOVES yogurt and fruit, and loves cheese. He will eat pretty much anything, although with him teething he has been not as good as he usually is at eating or drinking anything. 

He loves dry cereal, and loves "bites" of the food you are eating. Collin will never say no to spaghetti or potatoes (pretty much does not say no to anything!) He is getting to where he is taking milk less and less, pretty much only drinks his milk around naps and bedtimes. He likes to shake his head "no" and has just started to shake his head (well more like his whole body) "yes". He will dance whenever he hears music and loves to bob up and down to anything (I like to listen to Pandora and he will bop to Broadway, Frank Sinatra, Disney, and some classica) and one of his favorite songs (that he tries to sing along to) is the ABC song. I am not trying to make a super-baby by any means, I just know that exposing Collin to all kinds of music will not only help with development, but I know from my brothers that even if they balk at certain types of music they are still listening and will learn to appreciate it one day!) He loves to growl whenever he sees a stuffed animal (he even thinks that his puppet Lilly the Pig growls:) Collin puts everything in his mouth (remember the story of the dog poop people???)  but usually with a few pleases and thank-yous, he will hand it over. Another cute little delight is having Collin give hugs and kisses. He still gives open-mouth kisses (and you have to be pretty special to get one) but gives out hugs. If you are sad or pretend to cry he will go "awww" and lay his head on your shoulder. It is too cute.

I am not one to post weights and heights, etc. so there is none of that here. But I will say Collin is healthy and perfect (as his doctor is always telling us) and developmentally just is doing really great. We love and adore him, and although he can be a little stinker sometimes, he is just such a joy to Mike and I. We are grateful is part of our little family. 

He brings sunshine into our gray days of winter.

*These gorgeous pictures are taken by the very talented Emily and you can access her amazing photography skills by visiting her photography blog!!!*

Happy 1st Birthday Collin!

 Don't judge: I am still in my jammies and my hair is not brushed.

Our thoughts today have been all over the place. What a day to celebrate Collin's first birthday. So many of our thoughts have been with Collin's birth mom (her name is Nikki.) Nikki is our angel. She is the one reason of why we have Collin. Don't get me wrong, there are many others that made it possible, but Nikki will always be in our hearts and thoughts. Nikki loved Collin so much, and she wanted Collin to have a home with two parents. She was selfless, and chose the best path for our little boy. We started the morning by going and getting Collin up together. We took him out to the kitchen, where the birthday fairy decorated with a banner, and balloons, and with hanging Chinese lanterns. 

We made him breakfast and it was nice to sit and eat together, and would make a nice tradition for years to come. Collin was really cute today. He was so happy and excited (although by the time the party started, he was getting worn out but somehow still managed to greet all his loved ones and stay up till 8:35 pm, which is way past his bedtime!) Our family came in shifts. 

 Grandma and Grandpa Vallen came first. Than our family came bit by bit, some not being able to stay for long, but coming still to show their love and support for our little family, support we love and appreciate. 

 

Once most of our peeps were there, we dressed Collin down and put him in his highchair. He was spoiled with a lot of obnoxious noisy toys and received lots of presents and lots of love. *A note to family who gave us "obnoxious toys"~yours will be coming!!! The kids all together were so cute, although taking any of their pictures together was impossible! It made me laugh. 

Collin was funny with the cupcake. He did not make too much of a mess, and kept nose-diving into it.  Collin kept giving Grandma Gourley bites and icing kisses, which was really cute.

kljll

It was a wonderful day, and I am exhausted. There are some more pictures, but they were taken on some of our family's cameras.

Here are some of the decorations I made (which I am pretty pleased with) and will be selling in my Etsy shop.

I made the banners that say "Happy Birthday Collin" and the small matching banner

that goes around the highchair. They were perfect and I plan to make some for 

each niece/nephew whose Mom or Dad want one.

It was a great day, and again, there will be more pictures (I have friends for some very good reasons, such as remembering to take pictures of important moments i.e. having children, your child's first birthday cake, etc.) and I will show the cake I made, which was not perfect, 

but hey, neither am  I !!!! Thank-you to all our friends and family for the Happy Birthday wishes!!!

And thank-you Collin's birth-family for giving us this day.

Collin: 11 months

Bringing Collin home.

I cannot believe how quickly these last 11 months have flown by. I just look at Collin each day and am amazed at how much I love and adore him. This is what we brought home. He was such a cute-little hairy monkey! I see new babies at the hospital I work at and cannot even begin to remember Collin ever being that little!

Collin in the rear facing car seat one last time.

Collin graduated (and I know, it was a little early) from the rear facing car seat to a front facing. I know his age was a bit off (excuse the 4 weeks and don't judge) but it just works this way. He loves being able to see us. He loves to play games. His favorite game right now is Peek-a-Boo. He will sit in the back seat and we will look back, and he will pull the blanket up and than down, over and over, giggling every time we say boo! He also loves to go into a room and open and close the door. I will say "open" and he will open the door and than when I say "close", he closes the door. Collin loves bath time. I took some pictures (the non-child pornography, mind you) because he loves to take baths. He even sometimes throws fits when we get him out!

A lot of the time, we are the ones getting the bath from all the splashing from Collin!


Collin loves to cheese for the camera. It is so funny to see him get so excited when you pull the camera out. I have a funny picture of my nephew Tatum with Collin, and Collin is grinning ear-to-ear with Tatum just looking like, "what are you doing?" They are pretty cute playing together.
Collin also has taken up walking and standing all alone. This is a recent achievement. For the last two weeks, Collin has adored being able to walk with us. He just started standing all alone, not hanging on to anything. He acts like it is nothing big, like he has been doing it for the last 11 months. I was teary eyed just seeing him stand there. He has thinned out a ton. Here's picture to see how the cheeks were before he started crawling and getting around.

I miss those chubby cheeks, but love seeing this little cute and active boy get around and get into mischief. And mischief is something that Collin is so good at.

Collin loves our dog (or better his) dog Skip. Skip is not always such a big fan. But he is obliging in hit attentions and dealing with the pulling of hair, and kissing. Skip just usually moves away or licks Collin, which pretty much is gross and funny all at once!

Collin giving Skip the "back-kiss" which equals even more hair on the kid.

Collin loves to give kisses to his Mom and sometimes Dad. H e is becoming more and more independent and just loves people. I serve in our church's primary, teaching 4-5 year olds. He loves the kids, and lets other teachers hold him and care for him. He is always happy and smiling, and just in turn makes us so happy. I think we will be doing two birthday parties. It just overall works better that way with our smaller house and huge families. So happy 11 months Collin!!! We love you so much!