Catching Up

I know, I know. It's been way too long since I stopped by and said hello.

The little guy sat me down for a serious talk the other day and said, "Mom, you need to blog more. Even if you don't write any words, you at least need to post photos of me. I know that's why people come to your blog now anyway."

He's so like his father sometimes that it's scary.

I suppose it's fitting that I include some photos of him in this post anyway, since realistically a large part of what I've been "trying" for the past month or so involves him.

Here's a bit of a rundown on what we've been up to:

• Working part-time (for me) and going to the babysitter part-time (for Collin). Work has been incredibly crazy (I have a new office in the lovely new building above, and a whole lot of work came along with the big move). Collin seems to love going to the babysitter. He's happy when we drop him off and when we pick him up and in between times he gets lots of cuddle time and to play with some of his new pals. (He already loves other little kids.)
• Going to basketball games. Sadly, the high school season is over now. But while it was going on, we took the little guy to every basketball game we could attend. He loved every single one of them--the lights, the sounds, getting to spend the entire time sitting (or, often, standing) on Grandmom or Granddad's lap. It made for a late bedtime for the little man, but he didn't seem to mind.
• Going to visit Mimi and Papa in Georgia. Collin and I took another trip down south for a long weekend to visit My Parents. How could we resist more time by the lake before I started back to work full-time? Collin did well flying there and back yet again. In fact, on the way down he smiled at and charmed everyone we met--TSA, flight attendants, the ladies across the aisle on the plane, you name it.
• House to-dos. It's a lot harder to find the time to clean and do other daily household chores when you have a little one around. So it seems like a good portion of every evening and weekend involves trying to squeeze in vacuuming or wiping down counters or washing bottles or what-have-you. Plus this week we've had some bigger house to-dos--like getting our air ducts cleaned and replacing our gutters--to keep us busy. Oh the joys of owning a home!
• Playtime with Collin. He's getting so big! And expressive! He talks all the time now, discovering new sounds (and increasingly louder sounds) almost every day. He loves to hang out under his activity gym and wiggle, wiggle, wiggle. Tummy time doesn't make him quite as angry anymore, in part because he's learned how to roll over to get out of it. He loves grabbing toys and fingers and hair and anything he can find, holding onto these things as tightly as he can. He smiles and smiles and smiles and even laughs at all the things in this big, wonderful world he thinks are funny (there are many). And he finally--finally!--starting sleeping in his crib this week for naps and at bedtime, rather than sleeping sitting up in his bouncy chair. He'll sit quietly on my lap and read books with me, and he's still a serious cuddle-bug at times, but what he really wants to do all the time is wiggle, wiggle, wiggle and move, move, move.

In other words, things are busy (and about to get a whole lot busier because I start back to work full-time on Monday). But they're good--very good.