A little about me...

I know this blog is mainly about Colby, but there's something I'd like to share about myself. Something I'm excited about, and something most of you don't know about me. (well, actually, many of you do know this....but I'm trying to be dramatic) I have always had big dreams in life.....aspired to accomplish great things. Some of those dreams were a bit odd or unrealistic, but hey, there's nothing wrong with that. It may surprise you, but one of my greatest dreams in life was to be in the circus. Not just anyone in the circus.....I didn't want to ride a tiger, shoot out from a cannon, or dress up in feathers. And I definitely didn't want to be anywhere near the elephants. No,no... I had bigger aspirations. I wanted to be an acrobat. I had visions of myself....all 5'10 of me....swinging from the ceiling with the other little people. Crowds would travel far and wide to see the Amazon acrobat. Well, truth be told, when I was having these visions I wasn't quite 5'10....maybe 5'6 or something. Anyway, thankfully, God blessed me with a friend who shared my unique passion. Her name was Mindy (AKA Aunt Mindy) and we are still very close friends. When we were in 8th grade, we went to the circus together...and that's where it all began. We spent many a Friday and Saturday night practicing for our big debut....I guess we thought maybe the circus would come to town and hold try-outs? We did a lot of 2 person partner stunts, and they often didn't turn out well. I dug up this old photo as proof....I'm not sure what's happening here.

That's me on the bottom, and Mindy on her way to slamming into the wall. I have no idea who took the picture.....maybe my mom? Did we invite her in for a show? Did we ask her to take photos for some reason? Were we planning on doing something with these pictures? Was Mindy hurt? I don't have any answers....just this picture as proof of our passion and talents.

Anyway, this brings me to the very exciting news. Lee and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary last week....and guess what Lee bought me? Ladies and Gentleman.....uuhh, I mean, Ladies....I and all 5'10 of myself am officially enrolled in trapeze school. Yes, I will be going to the official New York Trapeze School in just 2 short weeks for my first class (they have a branch in Baltimore, MD). I could not have been more shocked and surprised by this gift, and by the fact that Lee has been listening to me all this time....not just nodding his head to get me to stop talking. I imagine I will be amongst other confused and lost souls either going through a mid-life crisis, newly divorced, or having too much time on their hands. But as for me....I have a purpose. I'm going to be someone....in the circus. I just know it. Dream big, people. Dream big.

Update: Mindy read this entry and sent me an e-mail. She remembers the stunt, and apparently it was set to music. Oh, I SO wish we had camcorders back then, but the Kodak Disc was as good as it got. Here's something else she said....."Another fun game at the time was sticking a finger in the other person's mouth, and then trying to remove it before teeth came chomping down." Yes, God really did bless me with an equally weird friend...although we've both turned out pretty normal. You can't make this stuff up.

Colby's new friend

Move over, Georgia. Colby has a new friend in town. The great thing about Colby's new friend is that he actually plays back.....he doesn't just lay there and take the abuse. Colby thinks his new friend is awfully cute, and the great thing is that they have so much in common. I have nicknamed Colby's new friend Hizz-self. Hizz-self was discovered a few days ago when we had a new mirror installed. Don't worry, Colby isn't so deprived that he hasn't seen his own reflection in a mirror. However, he's never seen it so up close, in full length, and with complete freedom to explore....and he's quite taken with his new handsome friend.

Colby and Hizz-self like to give each other high five's


They like to touch pointer fingers


They like to kiss....


And kiss some more!

Colby's favorite sport

Colby is a jumping FOOL. He lives for jumping. He will jump on anything and anyone he can find. Here's a vintage video taken when Colby was 8 months old.



Now, flash forward to today. I put Colby in a blow-up swimming pool for the very first time. Can you guess how that turned out?

I was that mom

In case I've given anyone the impression that I'm the perfect mom...*snort*....I need to confess. Today, I was that mom. The mom that other mothers look at and think to themselves "Please control your child, and wipe his face while you're at it!!". It all started at the allergists office. We were sitting in the waiting room, and Colby was a little restless. It was an hour past nap time, and they were an hour late calling us back, so it wasn't his fault that he was a little restless. I tried my hardest to entertain him- he played with my necklace, tugged my hair, sucked on my watch, and managed to toss every toy I handed him onto the floor. Unable to entertain him on my lap any longer, I gave up and put him on the floor. I was watching him closely, but before I could blink, he crawled at lightening speed over to a nearby lady and pulled her keys out of her purse. He preceded to wreak havoc on everything in the waiting room, leaving a drool trail behind him. Feeling like we needed a change of scenery (and I needed a little relief) I decided to take him out to the lobby bathroom. Now, it's a very tricky thing to use the bathroom with a large baby who cannot stand up. It takes great strength, amazing balance, coordination and agility. Elastic pants are always a bonus, but thankfully I gave those up about 10 months ago. Anyway, sorry if this is tmi, but the pants today were a bit trickier. Not just one button, but some other complicated contraption. I could not for the life of me do this one handed, with Colby in my right arm, bicep quivering. I stood there puzzled, not knowing what to do. I surveyed the bathroom floor. Let me just clarify.....NEVER have I put him on the bathroom floor, but today was no ordinary day. I was tired, short on patience, and I had to pee. So, after dusting it off quickly with a wad of toilet paper, I sat him on the floor. Phew! I must have sneezed or closed my eyes or something, because the next thing I knew, Colby was gone. THE HORROR!!! He had crawled under the stall faster than you can say gonorrhea. I could hear delightful squeals on the other side of the stall... and there I was....in mid-stream....unable to do anything about it. (I know, I know- TMI!!) That minute felt like an hour and I was mortified at the thought of someone walking in the bathroom, seeing my drooling baby frolicking in the communicable diseases. Thankfully, no one came in....the child abuse hotline was not called.

The next hour or so was a lot like the first....but the skin test went very well. They pricked his skin with 9 different allergens to see how his body and skin would react. They warned me that he would be upset and that it would hurt, so I was tightly holding him when she came with the first test. And what happened? He actually laughed each time he was pricked. Yes, I was that mom with the baby who laughed during skin testing- something they said has NEVER happened. Now at least that's something I can be proud of! (Oh, and most importantly- he tested negative to everything! Hooray!)

We're Safe....

You know, it's really smart thing, in this day and age, to have a guard dog. We are so lucky to have Georgia around....defending the turf and warding off intruders. Here area just a couple of snapshots of Georgia doing her thing.

View through the window


And she didn't even flinch when I came in for the closeup.....yes, nothing beats a good guard dog.

Momma's Little Secret

I need to confess....I have a baby jail in my house. Deep down in the basement, there's a secret place I lock Colby up. The beauty of it is that he does not know this is prison....and please don't call the child abuse hotline- he thinks it's fun! I set it up right outside the exercise room so that I can see him out of the corner of my eye when I'm on the treadmill. I only put him in here a few days a week, so this makes it a very special treat. While in prison, he throws his toys around, plays with plastic spongey mat pieces, and loves the giant bear. Here are a couple pictures of Colby in prison.

See.....it's really not child abuse!


So excited! (click if you'd like to see tonsils)

The mountains

We took our first trip to the mountain house on Memorial Day weekend, and the whole family was there! It was so much fun, and we're looking forward to many more weekends. Here are just a few pictures.....

Looking in....


Looking out...


Fun with bubbles...


Colby's first official Cuss game


Colby lovin' the dog....


First family hike


We took Colby to "tea time" at the hotel and he went nuts on this carpet. He probably crawled a mile total....and yes, we did bathe him that night. I think.