Not so much going on...

Have you ever gone through the day and at the end of the day you just feel beat up....exhausted....and then you look back over the day you really didn't do so much? Or at least, it feels like you didn't do so much. That has been my whole week. I have just felt so run down and I look over my week, and it was filled with a lot of playtime and attention for/towards Collen, running a few errands, not cooking much dinner, one day of cleaning, and lots of My So Called Life watching on Netflix (Anyone else remember that show from back in the day?!).

I go to bed every night feeling so wiped out, but it doesn't seem like I did a whole lot over the course of the day. I guess a little person sure can take a lot out of you.

Oh yeah, I guess it could be that this little person doesn't sleep well at night. I seem to forget that little tidbit. Collen has slept in our bed several times this week because he just won't get settled in his crib. He'll roll to his stomach, wake up and be mad; I'll give him his paci; he'll be appeased for about 20 minutes; then he's awake and crying again. This happens over and over and over again.....and boy is it exhausting.

My days (nights, really) are about to get even busier. I've started my online tutoring, which has been pretty good so far. I went into this thinking I was supposed to be tutoring 3rd-6th graders, which I thought, "Ok....3-6 grade math....I think I can handle that. Then, at my session yesterday, I get high schoolers....math....oh, and I freaked out. At the beginning of my session, I looked over the math work, and I see dun-dun-duhhhhh.....fractions. Not my strong point.....(well, any kind of math isn't my strong point....)

So, I run to get Jeremy (who is laying down with Collen as he's napping) and terrified, I say, "HELP ME!!!" So, he came into the other room and coached me as I tutored this student. ughh....my heart was racing the entire time.

Luckily, my next session was reading and 2nd grade math. I handled that one pretty well. :)

Jeremy is making out a quiz for me as I type this.....I've been practicing and brushing up on my math since my near heart attack.

I'll be tutoring every night now. So far, I like it, but even 2 hours of tutoring is hard to juggle with everything else going on. We'll see how long it lasts. The tutoring is seasonal, so once May rolls around, it may get slow, which I will gladly welcome.

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We've joined a new small group, which we are really enjoying. Right now we're doing the Five Love Languages. I've always wanted to go through that study with Jeremy, so once I heard this group was doing it, we made sure we joined in. It has been really interesting. I won't share our love languages here, but I will tell you that Jeremy is good at my love language, and I'm not so good at his. So, I guess I have more homework to do. I'm so glad to be back involved in a small group....a time of fellowship. My mom comes to take care of Collen so we can go, so she gets some grandson time and we get some social time with other grown ups. :) It lasts about 2 hours, which is about as long as I can stand to be away from Collen, so it works out well.

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So, see....not much going on. Just enjoying life, spending time with Collen, watching him learn new things every day, balancing Collen, housework, tutoring, and life and trying to breathe through the craziness that comes with it all. So thankful for it all!

7 months old!

Today, you're 7 months old!!

You are silly, funny, friendly, loving, smart, and happy!

You love food, but you are finicky sometimes. You aren't a fan of your bottle because it requires you to stay still for too long. You enjoy eating your baby food and practicing drinking out a cup with your sippy cup! Sometimes you even get the little bit of juice Mommy puts in there for you.

You are fascinated with animals, and you watch Tucker and Sinatra all day long. They are gentle with you, and Tucker even lets you pet him sometimes!

You are opinionated, and you can throw mini-fits at times....usually when it's time to put your clothes on. You'd much rather hang out in your diaper.

You jabber all the time. You are now saying:

-ba ba

-da da

- te te (the "t" sound)

-ch ch

-ca ca (you say this when Sinatra comes around)

-ma ma (only when you're really upset)

When we say, "Yaaay Collen!!" you clap your hands together.

And you're beginning to try to wave to people....you're starting to connect the waving movement with "hello or bye bye."

Your main mode of transportation is rolling. You haven't quite figured out crawling yet. You like to reach at toys from a sitting position and try to lurch yourself towards them. You're skipping putting your knees down and just diving for toys! I think you're getting closer, though.

Mommy knows all your tickle spots and she can get you laughing away sometimes!

You have the most adorable laugh, and we love to hear it any chance we can.

You are wearing 6-9 month clothes.

You probably weigh a little over 20 pounds, but surprisingly, you don't feel so heavy to me. My mommy muscles must be coming in.

You don't sleep so well. You're getting better at napping, but you wake up several times during the night when you wake up and realize you don't have your paci anymore. We're working on figuring this one out.....because we like our sleep around here. ;)

You're such a happy baby.

You're an absolute blessing in our lives, and we love watching you grow and change with each new day.

You're learning so quickly, and it's amazing how much you change in such a short amount of time.

We love you more than you will ever, ever be able to comprehend. And God loves you even more than that!! What a loved little guy you are!

Happy 7 months sweet boy. We love you so much thank God for you every day.

65 years

65 years is a long time!! This weekend, we celebrated my grandparents' 65th wedding anniversary!

It was a surprise; my grandparents (or, my grandma) thought it was our annual girls' weekend. She kept wondering why the men were showing up! haha! My grandpa claims he knew what was going on. Either way, we had a huge gathering of family and friends and we celebrated with good food and a big cake, which I didn't eat one piece of! What's up with that?!

It was great to see my family, especially some of my cousins I don't see very often. Collen met some of the family for the first time, and of course he was a hit. He was so friendly with everyone and was very patient with being passed around from person to person. He got a lot of quality family time in, and I'm so thankful for that.

I wish I had pictures of the weekend to post for you, but I forgot my camera. :(

It was a great weekend and a good visit with family. And Collen is quite the little traveler....he just takes it all in stride. He did great!

Hope you all had a great weekend as well.

A handful

Things stay busy around here. As Collen has gotten older, he has gotten more and more BUSY! He's a handful - always wanting to be doing something.....never just sitting still. He isn't crawling yet....and goodness, once he's mobile, I can't imagine how much he's going to get into.


It take this many toys to keep him entertained......for about 10 minutes.

But look at that happy smile! :) I'm his favorite play pal.

Hey, Mommy....I love you.

Sweet, sweet boy. I'm happy to give all my time over to him.....but thank God for naps.