Lydia Marie Collins arrived Wednesday evening, at 9:06pm, June 11th (6/11), weighing 6 lbs. 11 oz. and was 18 and 3/4" long. She's absolutely wonderful and we are thoroughly enjoying her!
Check out The Collins' Kids website link on the left for pictures. Pictures are all updated, stories are not. I'm way behind!
I just looked at the website. Oh Chanelle, she is one of the prettiest newborn I have ever seen! She is just beautiful and so are you. So happy for you.
thanks alot for the 'lessons' they helped ALOT! now i wanna pay u back somehow .... i can babysit... pretty much n e thang.. just tell me! id love to help! :)
Congratulations!! We worshipped with the group at North Terrace last night and I'm so mad that we missed you. I wanted to meet your newest little one. She is just beautiful! And I love the name--not that I'm prejudice! :)
Hey Chanelle! Not sure if you remember me, but I knew Ms Carver real well, in Tampa--went to church with her. How exciting a little girl!! We have two and they are so fun!! Enjoy!
Yes, I am still alive and well! I'm just way behind on posting and updating. So, let me try to briefly summarize the last six months and let you know how things are presently going!
We had been looking to move to Northwest Georgia for the last year, year and a half (just south of Chattanooga), to be closer for Aaron's job, for me to be able to stay home, etc. Well, right after the holidays, we found a house- yay! We had to act fast, because it was a fantastic deal and it wasn't going to stay on the market long. We put our house in Jasper on the market the second week of January and continued to work on things on the house. It showed at least once a week, which was great! We closed on the Georgia house the first of February, and then had 3 different offers for our house in Jasper the 3rd week of February. We were blown away that it sold in 7 weeks, especially with the market the way it has been! Well, the closing for that house was scheduled for the end of March, so that meant we needed to get packing. Oh, yeah, and by this point, I was 6 months pregnant and still working/teaching at the elementary school! Super crazy!
With the house in Georgia being only about 45 minutes from the Jasper house, we were able to bring things over pretty regularly, which helped so much. Then, my dad and Aaron's parents brought over all of the boxes we had packed, plus any furniture that was light enough for them to move on their own, and that we didn't need for a few weeks. They did that the second week of March, and it ended up being about half our stuff, which was great. Then, the last weekend in March, we had guys from church come and help us with all the heavy furniture and boxes and everything that was left. This was a HUGE help.
So, since the end of March, we have been in the new Georgia house and loving it! The biggest challenge was driving back and forth to school each day for the last 8 weeks of school. It ended up being an hour each way, but at least it was just a few weeks and not the whole school year. With that going on, I didn't even try to work on house projects during the week- there was no way to do it! So, I saved big projects for the weekends: unpacking and setting up the kitchen one weekend, painting the dining room another weekend, etc. We weren't living out of boxes, and had our basics, so it all worked out.
We made it to the end of the school year, and I've just been trying to relax and get everything ready for this baby, who is due any day now!!!! We are all so excited. Daniel has really been talking about her since I set up her pack n' play/bassinet, and washed her clothes. He's always talking about "baby sister" now. Caleb has been talking about her all along, so I know he's ready and excited.
So, my next post will announce our new little one! And don't worry- it won't take me 5 or 6 months to post about that!
Thanks to all of you who have checked in and left comments. I appreciate all your thoughts and prayers.
I saw your update and thought that it was about a baby!! Congrats on the move, the sale of your house and finding some down time. I am so excited for you!!
Awww~I didn't know that you were expecting a new little one. And it looks like she may be here^^^.
I'll have to check with your Aunt Carol. Congratulations on new house and new baby and for getting to stay home! :)
We're having another one! Baby No. 3 is on the way, and I am actually almost halfway through this pregnancy! The baby is due mid-June and we are all very excited.
We told all of our family at Christmas and that was a lot of fun to tell them face-to-face, now that they all live closer.
So, I'm sure you all are thinking, "you must be trying for a girl, since you have 2 boys." Well, no, we weren't trying for a girl, but we did want to have another child, no matter what it turned out to be. When it's your third and you already have 2 of the same sex, there's a part of you that does sort of hope for the opposite sex, just to be different. But, I love my boys and when I think of all the boys stuff we have, I do wonder what we'd do if we had a girl. When I went at 14 weeks, my doctor was able to tell us that he was 95% sure he knew what it was. Well, I decided to wait until today's visit to see if he thought the same thing. So, you want to know what we're having?
We're going to have a GIRL this time!!!!!!!! I still have my bedroom furniture that I grew up with, so we at least have something girly. We're all excited and we got pictures of "little sister," and my doctor printed off a copy for each of the boys, too, which was so sweet. Caleb kept asking to hold it and look at it, and then asked it we could put his picture in a special book at home. Daniel just lights up whenever he sees babies, so I know the two of them will be great big brothers.
So, that's our news! Time is flying by and we have lots of other exciting things going on in our lives right now and I'll have to update on those things at a later time. Please keep us in your prayers through the next few months with all of our events and happenings.
Congratulations! This is wonderful news! Hope its been smooth sailing so far, and that you have a healthy next two trimesters! How on earth did you keep it a secret so long?!
Hi you don't know me, I'm Deb Griffin our son Gregg & wife Jenny attended in Knoxville years ago. And BTW/CONGRATS on that baby girl how wonderful is that! And how great a job of keeping it a secret till now!! I couldn't have done that!! And what cute boys!! I noticed where you lived and wondered if you attended where Brian Andrews dad is an Elder? And if you knew Ryan & Jen Sullivan when they attened in Chattanooga?
Hope everyone enjoys some special time with friends and family over the next week!
I know it's been forever since I updated, but November and December are busy months for a music teacher! :) All the programs went really well, especially the combined 1st and 2nd grade program. Have you ever lined up 132 1st and 2nd graders for a program? Thankfully, I just direct the music and all the teachers take care of lining them up! They were all really cute.
We celebrated Daniel's 2nd birthday the beginning of December. I can't believe that little thing is 2 already. He is just talking up a storm. Some things are so clear, and other things, we have to figure out what he's saying. My favorite thing to hear him say is, "arFFFFF!" which is what calls his little stuffed dog, and all other dogs that he sees. There is a definite emphasis on the "fff" sound on the end, which makes it even cuter! The other thing he's been doing a lot the last few months is pretending to lead singing. We'll be driving in the van, and he'll ask for a book. He'll open it up, hold it with one hand, and then wave his arm like he's leading, and sing, "la, la, la, la!!" When we sing at church, he does the same thing. :)
Caleb still continues to amaze us. A few weeks ago, we were just about to leave for church, and Caleb was all dressed and wearing a tie, and Aaron said something to him like, "Man, baby, you look great!" (Aaron doesn't usually call him a 'baby.') Well, Caleb thought he meant a little baby, so he said, "Daddy, I'm not a baby," and Aaron said, "oh, I didn't mean that kind of baby; sorry buddy. Sometimes people say, "baby," as an...oh, what's it called...um..." and Caleb said, "an expression?" :)
Hope you all are doing well!!! I appreciate all of you who check in and leave a little line for me. Thanks so much!!!
Wow, Caleb is very bright! I would have been floored if I heard that!
That is such a nice picture up there. I absolutely cannot believe how big your boys are getting. I hope my baby - literal, not an expression :) - can meet them before too long!
The boys are awesome! that is so cool about the "expression . . ." I keep telling my kids to be smarter than me, because they will have to take care of me when I am old and decrepit. Abbi called me decrepit the other day, so I may be changing that phrase :o) Hope you a great xmas
I don't know if I've ever experienced a busier October. Everyday was PACKED to the limit, I felt like I just needed to keep my head above water just to make it to November! Well, I made it :)
Let's see if I can sum up the month:
*October 1-18- Working on a slideshow of my grandmother's (dad's mom) life for her 85th Birthday celebration. Let me just say: she had 8 kids, and has 14 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren, so the slideshow included everything from her baby picture to the present! I had to break it up into sections, but it really turned out neat and I had a lot of fun making it. She's a BIG fan of bluegrass, so I had her favorites playing along with each slideshow.
This was not the only project, though. My aunt wrote this 10 page story of my grandmother's life and I told her I would put it together as a scrapbook, with the story and pictures relating to the story. Talk about time consuming! But, it was so fun and I loved learning about all the details of her life that I didn't know about. Somehow, everything came together!
*Fall Break- Aaron and I went up to Indianapolis for a couple days just to get away. (He could tell that I was stressing about these projects for my grandmother, so it was nice to get away and relax- I love those kind of trips and my hubby is SO great about planning them!) Boys stayed with my parents and went to a pumpkin patch.
*30th Birthday- Yes, it's still hard for me to believe that I am 30 years old now!
*Day we get ready to leave for Florida- Aaron spends the day at the doctor, because of lower abdominal pain, which we found out later that he has multiple kidney stones.
*Quick trip to Florida- Grandmother's 85th Birthday gathering. Went down Thursday night; Boys went to Lowry Park Zoo on Friday while Aaron and I slept and relaxed throughout the day; Saturday was the party; we headed back towards home Saturday night- I meant it when I said "QUICK!"
*Week after Florida weekend trip: Monday night- Open House at school and Chorus performed; Tuesday night- work on slideshow for our preacher's surprise 50th birthday party; Wed. night- church; Thursday night- Fall Festival at high school and Chorus performed again; Friday night- Preacher's surprise 50th birthday.
So needless to say, life has been EXTREMELEY crazy in the Collins' household! But, Aaron and I have said more throughout this past month that we feel so blessed and we are so happy. The boys are doing great and we have been able to have some very special family time, even though things have been so hectic.
Can you believe Thanksgiving is less than 3 weeks away? How crazy is that?!?
I can't wait for Tgiving! Jeff and Amanda are coming down and I haven't seen them in SO long! Let us now if you're ever donw our way again. I love to see you guys! Glad you survived October. Sounds like a lot of good memories though. Have a great weekend!
If you think the bird holiday is bad, don't forget Christmas is just around the corner after that. My oldest (Abbi) has put in many requests already (I am glad she has grandparents-we do a lot of forwarding). How are You!!? It is really cool to hear from you, and I can see you are busy as well. We are trying to work on the family time thing. Abbi is not doing too well with the third little addition to our fam. So, i have been trying to console her as much as possible. Sorry about the kidney stones, did they use the soundwaves, or just try to get them to pass? Also, you went to Indianapolis to relax???
Wow what a busy and fun month. Happy 30th Birthday! Do you live close to your parents? Hope this month slow down for you just a little bit :-) I'm glad we can keep in touch now. Talk to you soon
You did have a crazy month! I am just entering a crazy month so I can totally understand! We will be leaving our lovely TN sometime in the next few months. I hope that all goes well with you. I hope that Aaron is better now. The 30 thing, well, I entered the past 30 club now (31).
Wooooooooooow! You HAVE been busy!! :)
I'm glad some of it was relaxing!
Paul and I went to gatlinburg labor day weekend. Reminded me of our plans to get the family together there some time. We should talk about that again (when you have time). Call me! :)
Yes! What great times. I do remember you and Karen and Jennifer coming over to my house. It will be 21 years since I lived in New Jersey but some of my best memories are of growing up are at the Fair Lawn Church of Christ.
Hi I am iffanis Mom/ Sp great to see you and your wonderful family. We have been in Oregon 20 years now and love it. Just moved about 1 year ago to a new house. Mathew still has the galleryHi Rugbyduck,lease give my best to your Mom, Dad and Grandmoher. In Christian love Adrian Gerber
When I have crazy hectic times like you just had, I like to take every moment I can to reflect. God bless you for encouraging your grandmother with that slideshow. I bet in a million lifetimes she would never imagine she could be so blessed with what you and your aunt made!
