Past me

I love to send emails to future me.  It's one of the various methods of journaling I employ.  Usually on big events, or anniversaries of big events, or when I'm feeling sentimental about one of those, I'll send an email off to the future with my well wishes.

I received one today from Past Me.  Past me, one year ago today, was very pregnant and couldn't sleep.  I was concerned about the changes coming.  I was worried, I was excited, and I was scared.  So I begged future me to please go and kiss the baby.  Past me didn't know you don't wake a sleeping baby.... but luckily for past Amy, and slightly unluckily for current me, Colin woke up on his own.  I took it as a sign and instead of giving him a few minutes to calm himself back to sleep, as he sometimes will, I went and gave him the kiss.   I will always love and cherish the late night snuggles...

The email made me wish I could go back in time and comfort my younger self, as these emails often do.  To shout back in time "Hey! It's not going to go exactly as you planned, but everything's going to be alright!"  I started thinking about it.  What else would I tell my past self?

Don't be so hard on yourself!  You are doing your best and everything will work out as it is supposed to.  Try to get a little more rest.  Most importantly, enjoy the moment you are living in, because even when the days to come are better, the one you have are beautiful and when they are gone, they're gone forever.  And thank you, thank you for working hard and doing what you needed to to get me to where I am today.  

Without time travel, I think that's the closest I'm going to get to a message from the future.

Happy First Birthday to Jax!

I can't believe it's been a year since I met this special little man for the first time.  I met Jax for the first time on Halloween night.  I remember holding him and Colin got in his first (but not last!) kick!

Kate is one of the best people I know about celebrating.  Despite her very busy schedule and lack of free time, she does an amazing job making every holiday and occasion special.  And she really outdid her self for Jackson's Birthday!

Everything was beautiful and coordinated.  She had themed dishes, fun party games, and adorable treats for the kids.

Not to neglect dad's role!  I'm sure he did his fair share of assembly, cleaning, arranging, cooking and helping!  Kate and Rich really did a beautiful job that made me slightly wish the boy's birthdays were reversed! ;)

 Colin had a great time!  Jax graciously shared his new toys including a water table and a ball pit with his friensd and Colin played duck grab with his friend Leslie and won a new Dr Suess Board book!

 Jackson seemed to get a kick out of mom and dad singing to him, but he wasn't too impressed with the cake.  (Which was an anomaly because everyone else thought it was amazing!)

Happy Birthday, Jax!

Chicago Pumpkin Patch

Colin was a lucky little guy and got to visit two pumpkin patches this year!

So many to chose from, but I know which one I'd pick! 

Mommy wasn't feeling well during our outing, so there are limited pictures, but they were too cute not to share.  

Children's Museum Visit in Naperville

I've been wanting to take Colin to a children's museum but we just haven't gotten around to it.  We found out there was one not far from Gavin's parent's house so we headed down to the Dupage Children's Museum to meet the cousins.

"These guys?  I LOVE these guys!"

Colin had the chance to roll around in a vintage (circa 1990) Peg Perrego Stroller! :)  The unintended consequence is he now really hates the shoulder straps in his City Select.  Opps!

I had so much fun watching Colin explore.  He's at an age where he is really into buttons and reactions so he had exploring all of the different areas of the museum.

My favorite area was bubble area for sure.  Especially the people sized bubble!

 Colin loved checking out all of the exhibits and did really well the entire visit.

Cousin Faces! (Colin's hand because mommy didn't want him to not close his eyes!)

Colin found one of his favorite books at the museum! Brown Bear, Brown Bear.

I'm so excited to explore more places with Colin as he gets older.  I'm hoping to check out Pretend City in Irvine soon, too.

Pumpkin Patch!

I'm still not fully caught up on my blogs, but I wanted to take a break to post about our trip to Tanaka Farms yesterday.  It seems like it had been forever since we saw Jax!  These babies grow so fast.

Colin loved the pumpkins.  He wanted to pat, touch, climb and kiss them.  It was very sweet and made it very easy (too easy) to get fun pictures of him climbing around with them.

"I called this one!"

 Jax is getting so big! He's almost a full head taller than Colin!

Jax's mom kept commenting about how the weather was all wrong for a pumpkin patch day (in the 80's).  It's a Californian Pumpkin day, that's for sure!

I'm loving celebrating each new season with Colin and it's becoming even more exciting as he starts to interact more and more with his environment.

Happy Fall!

Visiting Chicago

The hardest part about where we live is the distance to our family.  Most of Gavin's family is much further than mine.  This distance seems so much greater since Colin was born.

We just took our first trip back to Chicago to visit family.

The trip there went alright.  I imagined that twice the number of parents would equal half as much work while traveling with a child.  Defying mathmatics, this isn't the case.  Still, we arrived safe and sound!

And Colin got to spend time with all of his cousins!  This is the first time he met two of them and the first time all of Gavin's parents grandchildren have been together.

It was remarkably nice weather.  And we had a nice time relaxing and playing.

Swinging with Buma

His Cousins taught him to play video games.

Colin met his Uncle Byron, who stole his dinner!

Bupa tried to convert him to Apple.  Resist, Colin!

We had a great trip and I'll post about some of our Chicago adventures soon.

Taking to the High Seas!

The blog has been quiet because our world has not!!

We have just returned from a serious of exciting adventures.  The first was a 4 day Carnival Cruise to Catalina and Mexico.

Setting Sail! ( Queen Mary in the Background)

I am not sure we'll ever sail again, especially with Carnival, but it was certainly an adventure!  Lots of eating, family time and eating.  :)

Our Cabin after I decided the provided crib wasn't going to work!

Dancing with Grandma

Dining Room Ceiling

In Catalina

Getting Colin to nap was a challenge, so we took what we could get!

Family Adventure 2013

As usual, mom forgot sunblock so we got to buy it.  It's our most purchased souvenir so far!

Formal Night! 

Cuddles

 

Ensanada (As far as we got before going back!) 

 While I'm not sure cruising will ever be our go to family vacation, we had a great vacation.  It was so nice to have Grandma and Grandpa around to help out and we are so lucky to have such an easy going, willing to eat anything (and everything!) baby.