Collin's Visit to Unadilla

Collin just got back from his second trip to Unadilla. Unadilla is a small town south of Macon where his Nana and Papa (Brooke's parents) grew up. We made the three hour drive down so Collin could visit with his Great, Great Aunt Gloria and Great, Great Uncle Ford (Brooke's mom's aunt and uncle), his Great Aunt Donna (Brooke's dad's sister), and all of Mommy's cousins and one of his cousins Mary Katherine. Everyone had not seen Collin since he was three months old and were amazed at everything he could do. He showed off his crawling and pulling up skills and talked nonstop. He especially loved the meal Great, Great Aunt Gloria made and devoured the sweet potatoes. We also got to stop by Nana's grave and see the new headstone which looks wonderful. She would be very proud. We tell Collin that Nana is in heaven and read him books we have made about her with pictures of her in it all the time. Even though she is not here with us anymore, we want Collin to grow up knowing how much she loved him and knowing her family.

Bad Boy, Bad Boy, What We Gonna Do?

Collin has been quite a busy and feisty little boy today. It all started at around 1:00 am. Collin decided he did not need anymore sleep and wanted to get up and play. We let him cry a little while and then got him up and fed him a bottle. Luckily he went back to sleep until 6:00 am and then was really ready to play.

This morning when I was trying to get breakfast made, Collin decided he would leave his playroom three times and come try to eat some of Sweetie's food. He was not at all bothered by being told "no" and moved to another room. He just kept on coming back hoping to get a little bite. When I detoured him from the food, he decided her water would also be fun and decided to splash all in it.

Then at naptime, Mr. Collin decided he was going to try to stand up in his crib. Today was the first day he has done this. Once he got to the top of the crib, he decided he would throw his pacifier out and bite the rail. When I went in to stop him, he just smiled as if he had accomplished something big.

Although it is a bit frustrating to constantly have to redirect his attention, I am so proud of the big strides he is making. He definitely keeps Mommy's day entertaining to say the least.

Oh The Places Collin Will Go

Now that Collin has started crawling all the time, Mommy and Daddy have found him in some pretty interesting places. He loves to leave his playroom and play in the dining room, living room and kitchen. This past week he found Sweetie's food bowl and thought he had won the lottery. Luckily Mommy was right with him and quickly pulled him away before he could have a taste.

Playgroup Pals

Collin and I are so blessed to have found a wonderful group of friends we have playgroup with once a week. The babies have been together since June. They were all around three months old then are were doing nothing but laying around playing with the toys the moms handed them. Now that the babies are now 10 months or older, things have changed. Almost all of them are crawling and a few are starting to make efforts towards taking their first steps. Let's just say the days of the moms sitting down and relaxing are over as we are now chasing babies around everywhere. We cannot even sit a plate or drink down now without a heard of kiddos trying to demolish it. How quickly things change!

Collin's Baby Dedication

Today was a very special day in the lives of the Hardy family. Today Patrick and I dedicated Collin to the Lord. The celebration took place at our church, Northpoint. It was an awesome ceremony. They had a church staff member give a speech about the importance of raising children in a Christian home. Patrick and I then got to share the 5 traits we hope to instill within Collin with our family. The 5 traits are:

1. To love others
2. To know God and follow his word
3. Respect authority and others
4. To have a generous heart
5. Display self-control

Patrick and I plan to instill this traits in Collin through modeling and daily activities. We also vowed to start two habits in our family to assist in the teaching of these values. They are to read stories and say our prayers together each night and to eat dinner together and share our day or anything on our hearts. We were lucky enough to have our family vow to hold us accountable for teaching Collin these traits and promise to pray for us in our journey.

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it
~Proverbs 22:6

Collin and the Pink Pig

Today we took a family trip down to Lenox Mall to ride the Pink Pig. I was very excited about this since my mom and dad took my brother and I every year to ride it at the Rich's building in Atlanta. I was excited to share this Christmas tradition with Patrick and Collin. We were a little hesitant to take him since the ride requires all passengers to sit in their own seat and not in anyone's lap. However, Collin did great sitting all by himself like a big boy. Collin absolutely LOVED riding the Pig. He looked at everything as we creeped along the tracks. It was so much fun and will definitely become a Hardy family tradition.

Collin is Ten Months Old

Collin is now ten months old. Wow, how much things have changed since last month. To begin with, Collin is finally army crawling. After Christmas he decided he no longer wanted to sit still and play with what Mommy brought him and decided to take off and go get his own toys. Now every time we put him down, he immediately takes off to get as many balls as he can find and then brings them to the small area of tiles in his playroom so he can bounce them. He also chases Sweetie, our cat, anytime she comes near the playroom. He has not figured out that she runs away from him every single time and wants nothing to do with him.

With crawling, Collin is also able to make his own choices about what to play with. It is always balls or his toy car from Papa that he gets to ride in. Patrick and I are so happy that Collin has finally reached this milestone and is now becoming more independent and able to play on his own.

Along with crawling, Collin is also starting to pull up on his toys. He is not able to completely get himself up but can sometimes get to his knees. He is a hard worker and should make progress soon!

Collin is also LOVING his finger foods. His favorites are sweet potato cubes, pancakes, Wagon Wheels, bananas and puffs. He will still eat the jarred baby food but likes when we give him food on his tray to play with. Collin is also obsessed with drinking water. He will demolish his entire sippy cup if we let him. We have gotten to the point where we hide the sippy cup then get it out periodically to give him sips. He has also mastered the art of throwing any food he doesn't want or his cup across the kitchen. Mommy is not a fan of this!

It is hard to believe in 2 months we will be planning his first birthday party! Time goes by so fast!