FYI

Numerous people have wrote already and asked about the contents of our fridge...that is our SECOND refrigerator out in the garage...for overstock...pop, dairy, meat, etc...we don't actually live on pop, yogurt and cottage cheese =) That would probably make me somewhat of a bad mom...and we all know I'm pretty awesome =) The kids however, might not agree today. There's been lots of yelling on my part and lots of whining/crying on their part. Asher kept squirting water (not just a tiny squirtgun amount of water...like large streams of water) on me while we were outside...WHILE I was holding Adler and while my pricey camera and cell phone were on the table...after about the 4th time of telling him to knock it off, I finally took my glass of water and threw it at him (the water...not the glass)...he was NOT happy...but neither was I with him not listening. Not 20 minutes later, after coming inside...Ayris told me that Asher was peeing in the trashcan and on the wall...this is now the third time in the past three days that he has peed somewhere other than the toilet...the first time was on the linoleum and our down comforter that was laying on the floor...the second time was in the catbox room...all in their food and water bowls...(the water bowl that I then proceeded to drop all over the floor...making an even bigger mess to clean up!) and then today in the trash can in our room. So...that is super cool dealing with that right now. Combine Asher's need to spray our entire house...with Ayris' attitude that flares upon waking and only fizzles once she closes her eyes at night and now Adler's refusal to go to sleep once he's awake (it's not a problem that he's awake now...the problem is the fact that he's starting to fight going to sleep even when he's overly tired) and the end result is my trying to recall that blog post I wrote about how perfect my life is =) Actually, it's still pretty perfect...I just have children that would like to remind me constantly today...that they are, in fact, children who I really shouldn't have set expectations for. None the less, I'm am looking forward to this weekend, now that Chris is back from traveling this week...the extra help will be nice and much appreciated! And yes, I AM one of THOSE moms who puts off consoling her child for an extra 20 seconds so I can snap a few pictures of this wonderful thing called life.


This only took about 37 shots of holding the camera above my head while trying to get a picture...

Ayris took this picture of Adler as I wasn't having much luck (the lens I have is for close ups...there's no zoom in and out)...in addition to his very long finger like toes, check out the boats that are his feet! They kind of look like they are trying to consume my entire leg =)



This actually felt REALLY good since it was so hot out today...the kids were dumping their buckets of water into the air condition fan thing and then it was shooting all out...

More pictures...

Looks like this is just becoming a picture blog! I don't have too many thoughts these days I guess aside from doing things with the kids and keeping the house picked up. Adler is still pretty perfect with longer waking moments now...he usually is awake for about three hours in the late morning/early afternoon and then another 2-3 hours before bedtime. Taking him outdoors seems to put him right to sleep because he doesn't want to open his eyes in that bright of light (even in the shade...I'm currently looking into some baby sunglasses!)...but as I type, the kids are begging to go outside to play with their new water table...so on to the pictures...which, I think, is what you come here for anyway, right?






Man, look at that ginormous hand and the very last picture in this sequence!

Adler practicing his pacifier dedication...

Super chill...

See, this picture was taken outside on an overcast day and he's still scrunching his eyes up...

This cool little baby's first block was sent to us from our friends Erik and Tami...what a great little gift...I'm thinking of ordering them for the other two kids to have as keepsakes now..thanks Erik and Tami!





And this...well this is just proof of that Rainbow-Memorial-Day-5-packs-of-pop-for-7.50-sale that I was making Chris wait on...I managed to make 2 trips...snagging 10 packs...for a total of 14.40...cuz I had a 60 cent off Dr. Pepper coupon too...

New Huggies Jeans Diapers

Okay, so the handful of times that I've passed these diapers in Target, I couldn't help but roll my eyes...seriously...diapers that look like jeans?  But seeing the commericial just did me in...they're actually pretty neat and they picked the perfect boy to strut his stuff in the video...plus, I kind of like the tagline at the end (The coolest you'll look pooping your pants.)  Once, Adler is walking, I might just have to trade in the cloth diapers for a week or two so I can have him rockin' these for a bit:

Too Good To Be True...

Lately I've been feeling like my life is too good to be true...like I'm just waiting for the bottom to fall out...for whatever reason, family life just feels more complete than it used to now that Adler has joined the ranks. That sounds weird because my life felt complete before him but now that he's here...it's even more complete...better. Maybe it's seeing Ayris and Asher with him and how good they are. I'm so used to Ayris and Asher just fighting with one another (which seems like nonstop sometimes) but on their own, they are so gentle and loving to Adler...perhaps it's just that I'm seeing their "loving nature" more often since there's another sibling in the picture now...whatever it is, I'm loving it...and I'm loving life...but there's this constant thought in the back of my head...the what if...what if something happens to one of the kids...or to Chris, or even myself? Thinking like that absolutely makes me sick...but then I question what makes me more derserving of having such a full and wonderful life when others don't/can't. I just want a guarantee from God himself that all of us are going to live long happy lives and that I have nothing to worry about. Some idiot ran a red light yesterday and I was about 3 inches from hitting him...and I had Ayris and Asher in the car with me...that was just a huge reminder of the fact that I don't even want my kids to drive...EVER. Or even leave the house for that matter. Quite frankly, I don't even want them to grow up...as exhausting as it can be...I'd just rather take care of them forever. I heard this song below on another blog tonight...it super sucks and made me cry...why does life go on and move so fast? Why can't it just circle around forever?




This is the Woombie...it's supposed to mimic the womb while keeping them contained but allowing more movement than regular swaddling.  It's still a little big for him...plus, he's not big on swaddling =)


Okay, so I think this is a darling picture and all...but doesn't he kind of remind you of Benjamin Button in this pic?

I'm Dating Betty White...

Let me just set up the scene...I drive up to some fancy New York skyscraper and let Betty White out...I tell her I'll wait right there while she gets her hair done...then Sarah Jessica Parker climbs into my car...(because you know...we're tight like that!)

Me: So, you wanna know something? I'm dating Betty White...that's weird right?
Sarah Jessica Parker: No...actually, I think it's kind of cool.

Say what?? Yeah, that was my dream as of about 3:01 this morning...one of the FEW times I've been happy to hear my alarm go off...Betty White is cool and all, but the girl needs to get out of my dreams.

In other news, Adler is actually turning into a not so perfect child...he's still like 95% perfect right now but he had just finished a bottle when I got down here (and usually I feed him his 3 a.m. bottle because I like to see all my hard pumped milk flowing from the bottle I'm feeding him) so I was like whatever, I'll just pump...post this craziness that is Betty White on the blog and then head back to bed...Yeah...the little man started fussing so I picked him up and started multi-tasking...picture editing/blogging/pumping and rocking him while stroking his head with one hand and doing the editing with another...but he kept making his little grunts...needless to say, he just finished off ANOTHER 2 ounces that I just pumped in addition to the 3 ounces 10 minutes ago...all I have to say about that is that he is going to be in T.R.O.U.B.L.E if any of that milk comes up! Throwing up formula is one thing...throwing up MY milk is another since I endure the pain and slave over making it 24/7! Needless to say, this might be the beginning of a new chapter...I might actually have THREE kids at this point instead of like 2.2 kids...which is what it's seemed like since he sleeps 24/7 (and don't get me wrong...the kid has been work...he may sleep...but he is now eating every 2-3 hours and I am pumping every 2-3 hours (even at night!) and I'm averaging about 2-3 loads of laundry a day partly in thanks to him and I'm now changing 2-3 poopy diapers a day (and more pee), and cleaning out bottles and pump parts multiple times a day and of course wanting to hold him the rest of the time...so if you do the math...he's still a little time stealer...BUT in addition to sucking up my time...he might just start to have a little fussiness/attitude thrown on top of it =) Which is fine...because I was beginning to wonder what was wrong with him...no one can be perfect 100% of the time right? =) Time to go rock my boy =) But not without a few pictures...

Finally...Some Pictures!

Alright, I hope you enjoy these pictures since I've only been working on getting them edited and up for the past 4 mornings at around 3 a.m. while I'm pumping...it seems there's been no other time to do them during the day! And later this morning, I'll be busy "having fun" with Ayris as she informed me last night that "one of these days, I'm going to get you to play with me instead of doing boring laundry and boring dishes and boring computer stuff so you can have some FUN!"...She started by asking me why I never play with her like Chris does (Lucky...which I always had an excuse not to do while I was pregnant...not sure how crazy I am about the idea of being a horse carrying two kids while I walk around the floor...but we'll see! I'm more into superman and bird rides myself!)...then she goes on to tell me that we can play "walking games"...and I asked her what that meant, and she goes "You know...we'll walk instead of run and chase because I don't want you to get hurt..." and I was like "Why would I get hurt?" and she was like "Because of your big 'ole tummy...I don't want you to fall down and hurt yourself" and I was like "You still think my tummy is big???" and she was like "Well, not like big big, but it's still a little big mom"...UMMMM thanks AYRIS for telling me how it is! I'll have you know, I'm only 6 pounds away from my starting weight people...but I'm with Ayris...I need to drop about 16 more to be happy myself...and apparently to lose this big tummy =) Anyway, on to the pictures...and seriously...thank me later...I've already lost an extra hour of sleep just this morning! =)

Man! Don't you just want to crawl in there with him? He looks so comfy and warm and lovey...









Doesn't this look like he could be twins? A lighter and tanner version? I'm just posting these 1) so you can see that he has opened his eyes at least once...and 2) because these don't have any editing done so, it's amazing how the same camera can take such different pictures...of course, maybe I had the flash on in one and not the other? Who knows at this point.

















For whatever reason, Ayris was holding Adler's hand and had to let go...she went to get a barbie so he'd still have someone to hold his hand...







Adler in his "My Uncle Is #1!" onesie that I made him:



When we went out to celebrate RJ's graduation, Asher was INSISTENT on getting a piece of cake with just RJ's head...he waited for a good while before he got it but he was crazy happy once he did. On the right is a picture of one of the many Collins household talents...I have been waiting to do just this myself since about 7 months of pregnancy...I'm still holding off since I don't want to tear any stitches but...it'll be happening soon! I keep telling Chris our next Christmas card needs to be all 4 of us on the couch doing this...but no such luck yet!



My boys! It's crazy to say that since Chris always joked we'd always have more females in the house (all of our rats, rabbits, lizards and cats were female and then obviously Ayris came along...now who is winning the gender competition? I'm going with the men because animals don't count anymore!)



This needs no title...just the many faces of RJ...









This is the only clear picture I got from RJ's wedding...I only managed to take like 4 total...



AND...we're done!...for now...