Coming Up Collins: I Forgot to Title This!

I have decided that the key to getting Adler to sleep soundly is for me to stay awake the entire time he sleeps =) I went to bed at 8:20 last night and woke up at 3:01 a.m. for the start of my shift. Since I was so rested, having had 6.5 hours of sleep, I decided to order some pictures online and then edit photos so I could upload them here to the blog...I figured it would take me an hour or so but it's now 4 hours later and I'm just finishing up...and guess whose been a pretty decent sleeper this whole time??? The REASON I went to bed so early was because Adler was being crazy the night before last. Crazy = normal baby in this scenario because really, what was keeping him up was needing to eat multiple times, then spitting up, then pooping twice, etc...but, I'd get him to sleep and then no sooner than I would go to lay him down, it's like he would remember how cool it is to be awake so he'd perk right up. I personally think he's a bit of a traitor. I mean, I did carry the kid for a good 9 months...then I waited around for a good day (missing two whole meals mind you!) until he decided he'd make his entrance...then I pushed him out...and have since been lovingly caring for him...and yet, he's the perfect child on Chris' watch! I'm not bitter...I just want to have this all in print for him to read once he gets older =) I digress.

So yesterday, my mom and I were sitting outside ~~sweating like pigs~~ enjoying the nice weather while the kids played on the slip and slide when Ayris noticed a baby bird in the grass. This thing was like days old. It didn't have it's eyes opened and just a few little downy feathers on it's head. It was burning up in the heat panting (I read online that if they are panting, they are overheated). First I just want to ask why this kind of crap happens to me? Why did that little bug get onto my windshield and have to let me witness his little suction footprints holding on for dear life as I was driving home? (I stopped and let him get off the windshield)...why did that stupid butterfly smash itself onto my windshield while I was driving on the freeway...(What kind of butterfly flies around on the freeway anyway??)...why did Asher have to kill two baby frogs from suffocating them (or squeezing them too hard??) in his hand...and now why in the world did some mama bird have to put her nest in my tree?? The next hour or so was spent giving this baby bird water from a dropper and trying to convince him/her to eat some mushed up catfood (that's what the internet recommend) as he seemed to be starving...he kept opening up his little beak rooting around for food...it actually reminded me of Adler when he's super hungry, he opens his mouth real big and starts moving his head all around waiting for that bottle to magically appear. I finally went to the neighbor's house to ask if he had a ladder and he offered to put the bird back for me...when he got up there, he said there were a couple other baby birds in there...what a relief! About an hour later, we were still sitting out in that craptastic weather when I heard the mama bird come back. She spent all of 2 minutes and then flew off again. Seriously?? What kind of mom is she? I started envisioning little bird bars where the loser bird moms who don't want to take care of their bird babies go...shakin their tail feathers...trying to find the next birdies daddy so she can get knocked up again...all to leave the next batch of bird babies helpless and alone too. Wouldn't we all like to build a nest from time to time and abandon our kids in it?? But I guess that luxury is only allowed to lazy mama birds. I decided to give her some credit though and told myself that she probably spends her ENTIRE day searching for food for those babies instead of hanging out at the bird bar. AND if she really is a good bird mama then I'm glad Ayris found that baby bird and we got it back in the nest before she came back...I can't imagine coming back to the nest to find that one of my babies was missing! Anyway, enough about the birds...I wish they'd relocate now though because I'm finding that I'm continuing to worry about them now knowing they are sitting in my tree...like with the storms this morning...how do they stay safe and dry? This nature stuff sucks...I'd like an invisible perimeter put around my house so that no creatures/bugs/animals, etc are allowed to enter...that way I don't have to deal with things dying around me!

On to the pictures...

These first three pictures were all taken by Ayris! I was laying on the floor with the boys when she got my camera...and hey, I've actually started letting her use my expensive camera because I'm actually getting a few shots of myself in some pictures that way...and she's turning into quite the photographer...