Bird Dogs

We took the dogs down to North Carolina this past weekend for a Weimaraner Rescue Fun Day.  We had a blast!  Drew came along, and Wade stayed with Mema and PopPop for the weekend.  They had a great day planned out at Ross & Rosi's farm and taught the dogs how to hunt!  They had live quail for the dogs to learn with and both Daisy and Beamer got to get a taste of bird hunting.  Beamer was incredible - he took to it so easily and was a real natural bird dog!!  Daisy seemed to be a little more scattered and lost interest.  She wanted to go for the kill and didn't have the patience to track them down as well.  But she did find a couple of them.  I need to download the pictures from our camera, so stay tuned, pictures to come later today or tomorrow!  We got a few really good ones of Beamer on point.  I think we're hooked and will try to keep at this for Beamer at least!  Who knows, maybe we'll be inspired to enter him into some hunting trials and see if we can earn a Jr. Hunter award :-)

Other than that, we are nursing 2 sick babies right now.  Drew has croup and it's pretty awful.  I'm guessing he caught Wade's cold and cough, and that's how he ended up this way since his little system can't handle it the same, but I'm not sure.  We have been doing some steamy bathroom sessions to help him breathe easier and are running humidifiers all the time.  I've been sleeping with him, at first out on the couch, and then last night we had him in our bed with us since I don't want to be too far from him just in case.  I know that will be a habit to break, but it's worth it.  It comforts him to be close and he falls asleep against me listening to my heartbeat.

Here are some pictures!

Beamer on point:

Daisy in the field, heading out to find birds:

Us :-)

Hands Full...getting ready to head out

Our teachers all in orange

Breakfast. Biscuitville. Yum.

Tired baby...waiting for the master hunter demo after lunch

Tired Weims...watching the others in the field

Drew's Hat

So I have finally gotten started for real on my knitting.  Meghan got me an awesome baby hat book and all the supplies umm....like 2 years ago....and I finally got started a couple of months ago making a hat for Drew.  I just finished it and am (ahem) so proud of myself :)  I had a few trial runs, dealt with some dropped stitches, started over a few times, but it was so worth the time it took to teach myself when I see sweet little Drew in his cute blue hat that I made all by myself!  Next up (I think) is a yellow cotton beanie for Wade.  I want to try some new things, do some decorations on the hats, try new patterns and styles, I'm so inspired right now, I will need to jump right on my next project to keep my momentum and inspiration!  I'd like to teach myself to crochet next since there are some cute little decorations that you can crochet and then apply to a basic hat for lots more fun.  Am I brave enough to try a striped hat?  I have all summer to work on some of those for the boys - my goal is to knit them both a candy cane striped stocking hat for Christmastime.  That was the hat that I fell in love with that made me want to learn to knit in the first place :)

So without further ado, here is Drew modeling his hat this morning!! (excuse the spit up on the shirt!)

Going Green

Well, I made the leap.  I've been thinking about venturing into the world of cloth diapering for quite some time now, but finally decided that I would really give it a try.  After some research, I decided to go with the hybrid diapers - meaning I can use either a cloth (reusable) insert or a biodegradable/flushable/disposable insert.  I picked the gDiapers.  It's a bit of an investment up front, but a little less than the all in one diapers since there's a cover, snap in liner, and then the insert.  Usually if it's a messy one, it gets on the waterproof liner but spares the cloth cover, so we don't need as many of those.  So far, we have 4, but I'm planning to get 2 more.  I think I'm going to get some for Wade as well and start cloth diapering him as well in hopes that it will be a good step towards potty training...(fingers crossed).  Drew can always move up into the size L after Wade's done with them!!

So, what do I think?  I really like them!  I thought for sure I'd prefer the flushable inserts, but the cloth is actually not as messy or scary as I had thought it could be.  I'm thankful that Sarah, our nanny, was game to try it out with me on both of the boys.  And I really do think that they look so cute with their cloth diapered butts :)

Look how cute these are:

Rachel's Pictures

I know I posted the link, but I wanted to share some of my favorite pictures Rachel (www.rsutherlandphotography.com) captured of the boys last month!  I was so excited to see the picture of me with the boys - I didn't realize she'd gotten one of me with them since I was trying very hard to coax Wade to sit on my lap with Drew so she could get the boys together.  We thought my legs would be in the picture as background, but it was such a nice surprise when I saw us all together.  Love. 

Even with his terrible twos attitude that day, Wade still talks about "Rachel" and the pictures.  Hopefully our next session will go well now that he knows her!!

New Job

So I started back after maternity leave only to get laid off - so during December I started job searching.  I was lucky and found a great new job pretty quickly and easily.  I started last Monday and will be working both full time jobs through February 11th.  (phew).  So, needless to say, it's been a little hectic here the past month with the holidays, and then traveling up to Winchester for a wedding, job searching, and starting the 2nd job!

Here's a couple of pictures of Drew at his first wedding.  Wade stayed with Mema and PopPop, so Drew had a special little trip with just Mom and Dad :)

Photos

We had some professional photos taken a couple of weeks ago...Rachel was incredible with the boys!  Wade was not really into having his picture taken, but we coaxed a few smiles out of him.  But Drew was a little star - she got some amazing pictures of him!  Check out the gallery (password is BROTHERS):  http://rsutherland.zenfolio.com/collins 

We are going to have a Collins family session in March...can't wait for that!  We are going to go to the Botanical Gardens and I am so excited :)

We're back!

Well, we never really went anywhere, just got busy with Drew's arrival and the holidays.  BUT, we are back online now and I'll be updating lots more frequently in 2011 hopefully!!

So, to catch up with us...

Andrew James was born September 21, 8 days early.  He was 7lbs, 8oz and 19 1/2 inches long, born just before 10am.  He was easy from the get go and is our little happy sunshine.  He is always smiling and has started laughing.  It's the cutest!  Wade is a great big brother and loves Drew.  I think as Drew grows more and is more interactive, he and Wade will have such a great time together.  Wade already likes to give him his paci and make him smile, although he will tell me when it's time to put "Drew down" so that I can play with him instead!

My sweet boys!

Wade turned 2 on November 14th and we had a really fun party for him complete with all his playgroup friends and a monkey bounce house in the back yard!  Check him out wanting to eat his pizza like a big boy with his pal Owen...

Jumping with Daddy! 

Helping himself to the fridge

Our little cowboy on Halloween in the neighborhood parade

First smile on camera!!

Helping Dad in the yard

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving - I cooked a meal for us here this year and we enjoyed having our dinner at home! My first turkey turned out well and Wade even ate with us and did great with trying a little of most everything ;)

Chillin with Santa

Not so happy about Santa

Christmas was SO much fun this year.  Wade loves presents and wanted to open all of them, Daddy's included.  Wade got a lot of really great toys this year - a play kitchen from Mema and Pop Pop and a cozy coupe car from Mimi and Granddad ("Din Din").  Aunt Meg gave him a special lunch with Elmo that we're looking forward to in January and his aunties and uncle gave him such great toys to play with and some super cute new clothes.  Drew was also spoiled this year with lots of cute clothes and fun toys.  He surprised us by rolling over for the first time (from front to back) on Christmas morning and has since started getting really good at it.  How fast all of this is happening!  I truly can't believe how fast they are growing up (sniff)!

Looking forward to a happy, healthy, FUN 2011!!  Happy New Year :)