New York

We finally made a trip to New York on the 4th of July weekend.  It was unfortunately shorter than we would have liked, but were so thankful to have time to spend with Sean's family!  William was almost 7 months old!!

William was quite fond of Uncle Donal!!

Lounging with the family ...

Cousin's Ethan and Jacob

Callum

Grandma & Aunt Abi with William

Uncle Donal and Aunt Abi

Lunch with Grandma

The family together infront of "The Collins Home" 

As you can see William has mastered sitting up!!  It was a great visit with family and it is safe to say William Loves NY!!! :)  We are looking forward to our next trip :)

P.S. William's bottom two teeth have come in!!!

It's been a while....

I am not sure how time goes by so quickly, but it sure does!!  Our little guys is now 7 months!  He is smiling & laughing.  He is not crawling yet, but he is starting to scoot (mostly backwards).  He has 2 bottom teeth and is working on his top two :)  Here are some pics ......

 5 months

Father's Day 6/21/14,  6 months old, mastering sitting up on his own :)

Visit with Jack Huggard (my cousin).  It was soo great to have him!  I remember him when he was William's age, it doesn't seem like that long ago... how time flies!  Jack has grown into such a responsible, respectful young man.

William eating cereal!  :)  He is loving solid food, squash, sweet potatoes, strawberries, even spinach!

Sean took William and I to the Homestead, what a great family trip!  The Homestead is a pretty fancy wonderful place to visit!

At breakfast (best hotel breakfast EVER!!)

Hanging out with dad when mom gets massage :)  

William's first swim.  He LOVED it!

We also have been BBQ!!!... Sean has participated in 3 competitions with his partners, Stephen and Brady Hypes.  They are making some amazing BBQ..

More to come soon.....

4 months

Guess who's 4 months!!  This picture is very representative of this stage, because for the last couple weeks he hasn't been able to keep his hands out of his mouth!  

He is a happy boy most of the time, especially when he has had his naps (which he fights).  He has a sweet contagious smile and loves to snuggle!  

Monk and Ella have become very fond of him and LOVE cleaning up after his spit ups, which are frequent and large!  

We have discovered the Bumbo!!!  William loves it and so do we!! (Look at that core strength)

The Collin's household has been very busy since our last posting... I have started back to work, which is bitter sweet, I love my job and love have a little me time, but I also hate been away from our little guy.  We have a nanny who is working out well, her name is Shawnice and she seems to be bonding with Mr. William. 

William got his far share of wrestling matches, and got to enjoy an ACC championship ....

 Devin Carter and Sean with ACC trophy :)

and... Wrestling Nationals!!!  We took our first plane trip with Gramps (a trip I will never forget) to OKC for wrestling national.  He not only got to watch Virginia Tech wrestling place #8th in the country, but he also got to watch Devin Carter wrestle in the finals!!  

 I love wrestling, so I was thrilled to be at the tournament with William, but an added bonus was that it was in OKC (close to my family), so we met with Aunt Shirley, Uncle Rusty, Robin and Grams of course.  We also got to meet up with my good friend from residency, Nicole Willis and her husband and adorable daughter.

 Now that wrestling season has come to a close Sean has fired up the smoker.  He and his good friend Stephen Hypes are getting ready for a BBQ competittion in May.  If you are interested check out their Facebook page "Still working on it".

 Sean, William and I have also gotten to get out and enjoy the beautiful Virginia weather.  We took William on his first hike at Cascades, he loved it!

Whitney and Benji Latham (friends from residency) stopped by for a visit with their two boys, Marty and Atticus.  Marty is only 6 weeks and bigger than William!!   We had a great time catching up :)

Well that's all til next time... 

2 months

Well, it's been awhile since my last post and Mr. William has grown leaps and bounds!!  He has become quite expressive and his smile melts my heart!  Especially when he coos and squeals :)

Auntie Liz and cousin Ollie came to visit :)  

We had a winter storm and William braved the cold with Dad :)

 Grandma Pat came and stayed with us for about a week, which allowed Sean and I to have a snow date and built a snowman, just the two of us!  It was a wonderful Valentine's Day.

Grandma Pat and I drove to Greensborro to visit some relatives.  Uncle Donnie was quite comfortable with William and William with him.

 William was always at ease with Uncle Curt's and loved kisses from Neko

Getting snuggles with Serena....

 As William has gotten older he is starting to become more observant.  He LOVES his activity gym and is focusing on the different things dangling.  He especially likes the lights!

Grams & Great Grandma Max also came to visit!  This was their first meeting....

Great Grandma and William had quite a good time getting to know each other.

William is discovering his hands more and more, he has them in his mouth frequently, but he also is starting to grasp rattles and fingers :)

The 4 generations!  What a crew!!

William and I have had a wonderful almost 3 months at home getting to know each other!  I have been so thankful for all the help my family has provided.  Sean has been on the road a lot with wrestling and I have not had to spend one weekend alone.  Thank you Pat, Mom, Grandma and Liz for all your help!  We are also very thankful to Curt and Serena (our cousins) for their hospitality during our first road trip!  I start back to work on Monday and have very mixed feelings.  I love what I do, but it will be hard to leave our little guy.  We really like our nanny Shawnice and think she will be a great fit with our family.  More posts to come :)