1 Month

Today was Mason's 1 month well-check. This month has gone by so fast! Mason is doing great. He is sleeping between 4-5 hours at night and eating like a champ. He weighs 9 lbs 4oz (he gained 4 oz in less than a week!!) which is between the 25-50th percentile and is 20 1/2 inches long (10-25th percentile). He has been a pretty laid back little guy so far. He loves tummy time and is starting to control his head a lot better. His favorite things to look at right now are the Christmas lights and Landon. Big brother is still loving him. If Mason even makes one little squeak or grunt, Landon is pulling one of us over there to "get brother." He also loves to sing and talk to him. I can't wait till this semester is over so I can spend my month off with these two!

Last of the Belly Pictures

Yes I know I'm a little late with this post since Mason is now 3 weeks old, but here is the last of the belly pictures:

38 weeks

39 weeks

40 weeks

Crock Pot Meals for a Month!

One day on Pintrest I stumbled upon this site : http://www.ringaroundtherosies.net/2012/02/freezer-cooking.html. I decided this would be a fabulous idea to do before Mason got here. Well of course Mason is  due to be here in less than a month and I am just now getting it done!

I started with some of the recipes from the site above and searched and found more all over the place. I compiled my list of recipes and then sat down to make my grocery list. What a process, I think making the list was almost the hardest part. After a 2 hour grocery trip I still forgot stuff, and had to do another day. I did the shopping when Landon was at school on Wednesday (and then again Friday night and then again today. I blame baby brain). I was already exhausted and hadn't even done the actual work yet. So after 3 trips to the store and a few phones calls in which I freaked a couple people out thinking I was in labor (sorry mom, I will text with stupid questions from now on). I finally had every thing I needed

Today I started with this crazy pile of groceries:

 

After 5 hours of work I ended up with 34 meals in my freezer, that can all just be dumped into a crock pot when needed. In the end I think it was worth the time and effort because it will be great to have little cooking to do while I am still in school for the semester with a toddler and a newborn.

Mason's Room

I can not believe that in a month Mason will be here! Really crazy. I decided to wait on doing a belly picture because on Friday we are getting maternity and Landon's 3 year pics done. But here is the finished nursery pictures... ( well almost, need to frame and hang the cross stitch once he's here and frame some family pictures for his wall).

31 Weeks

Only 9 more weeks to go. We are up to every 2 week Dr appointments. Crazy how fast this is going. I am most likely going to be induced on November 8th or 9th. Everything is going great. This has been a very easy pregnancy so far. Mason is still being picky about what meats he lets me eat, and I have not had any new crazy cravings. He loves to move and kick just like big brother did. Landon, is starting to ask more questions. We have been working on getting the nursery set up, and telling Landon that it is his brother's room for when he comes. The other day he walked up to me and put his hand on my belly and said brother. Then said, "Mommy, when is mason coming?" (yes he is starting to use sentences!! Which is amazing). I don't know if he gets what we keep telling him about his new brother. Excited for Mason to be here, we can't wait to meet you little guy!!

We had a lot of craziness the last few weeks but we are officially moved into a house (with a fenced in back yard!!!).  School has started and I can tell its going to be a busy semester. Chris is still working and it looks like they plan on having work for awhile. Landon is enjoying daycare and is making new friends. I picked up a new client that is a mile from our house and am working 15-20 hours a week now. Funny how they had no work for me when I was off from school.  Hoping now that we are moved we can settle into a good routine (just in time for Mason to get here and mess it all up lol). Overall things are going great for us!

26 Weeks

Wow! 26 weeks already (almost 27 since I'm a little late posting this). Almost to the third trimester already. Crazy how fast this is going. Mason is growing great and his heartbeat is still very strong. I am pretty sure he has finally flipped around, will know for certain on the 27th when we have another ultrasound. He seems to be kicking my ribs more and more. Crazy cravings this month include cheesy broccoli soup (I could eat a gallon a day!) and Nutella by the spoonfuls. As long as Mason makes it to 39 weeks and doesn't decide to make an early appearance like his brother, Dr. Canales really wants to be the one to deliver him so I get to schedule my induction! Can't wait till November when we get to meet you Mason!!

23 Weeks

23 weeks already! Over halfway there. Mason is kicking up a storm! He moves almost all the time. Just like big brother! Landon got to feel Mason kick for the first time the other day. His eyes about popped out of his head and he won't touch my belly anymore except to kiss baby Mason (which he does very quickly). Craving fresh fruits like watermelon and blueberries right now. I am bigger than I was with Landon and actually have gained less weight than I did with him. Can't wait to meet you baby Mason! Only 17 more weeks to go!

23 Weeks!

It's a...........

Baby is growing great! Right on schedule measuring exactly 20 weeks 2 days. Due date is officially November 12th. Now the part everyone really wants to know....Is it a boy or girl. 

Introducing Mason Wayne Collins!!!!

18 Weeks

We have had a fun filled start of summer so far! We went camping with Nancy and Barry over Memorial weekend. This was our first time camping with Landon not in a pack n play. It went great. Ton of fun even though we got rained on. 

helping Barry build the fire

roasting marshmallows with daddy

Yummy!

Then this last weekend we spent some time at my grandparent's. We went yardsaleing with Aunt Mandy, Vanessa, Robby and Jaden and then to the asparagus fest. Then on Sunday we went to my cousin Tyler's graduation open house. It was nice to see the family, but I was glad to get home. Chasing Landon everywhere is getting a little more exhausting than it used to be.

This week we are busy again. I had a work in-service Tue and today I had a doctors appointment. Friday we are going to Greekfest with Auntie Anna. Can't wait for that...yummy Greek food time!

The doctor's appointment went good. We are at 18 weeks already almost halfway there. Getting excited to find out if it's a boy or girl. Landon's vote is baby guuurlll. I'm thinking girl. Chris says boy. Anybody else want to take a guess? We find out on the 27th. I can't wait!!

18 weeks

Family update

Some know and some don't that it has been a tough winter for our family. Chris has been laid off since November, going back for a few days or weeks once or twice. We are keeping our fingers crossed and praying that work comes soon. He may be going with a new company in Detroit. We hope to know by the end of the week.

As most know I posted a very happy blog right after Christmas. We were expecting our second child in August. At our first doctors appointment we got the devastating news that we had lost the baby. It was very hard to get through the first few weeks of maternity nursing at school. We would like to thank all those that prayed and supported us.

I struggled a bit with school this semester but am very happy to say that I am officially half way done with nursing school. Only one more year. We can finally see the light at the end of this very long tunnel. I am looking forward to spending the summer off with my family. I am so ready for the break.

Landon has been growing up so much this winter. He is talking more and is becoming such a big boy. We are making great progress with potty training and my goal is to have him out of diapers by the end of summer.

After this long winter we are excited to finally have some good news!It has been so hard to not spill the beans to everyone I see. We are expecting Landon's little brother or sister on November 13th. It has been a very nerve racking first trimester. We did early blood work at 4 weeks and everything looked good. We then had an ultrasound at 6 weeks and baby had a very good heartbeat. We had our first appointment with Dr. Canales at10 weeks and she did quick look and baby's heart beat still looked great. She told me at this point I could quit worrying. HA like that will ever happen. Today we had our 14 week appointment and had another quick look. Baby is a little wiggle worm already just like big brother and his/her heartbeat still looks great. We are officially  into the second trimester now! We are so grateful for those who have been praying for us and ask you to continue to do so. We get to find out if what we are having at the end of June, though Landon is convinced he is getting a baby girl.

He is excited about the baby!

10 Weeks

14 weeks

Big Boy Bed update

So after a few months of Landon being in his big boy bed I decided it was time for an update. Let me remind you this is the before picture:

Look a nice comfy bed to sleep in. Landon quickly figured out he would rather sleep in his bed than on the floor. Things went great for awhile....

Lately Landon has decided it is more comfortable to take the blankets, pillow, stuffed animals and whatever else he can find and make a pile in the corner to sleep in. I usually end up remaking his bed 3 times a day/night. Hopefully this phase ends quickly!

Chatter Box

Landon is making great progress with talking. Some days it seems like pulling teeth. Here is a video showing just how fun the process is to get him to ask for juice...

Landon's vocabulary has expanded so much in the last 2 months:
Belly, Yes, Go, Nose, Ears, Daisy, Dog, Mommy, Daddy, Cookie (his favorite word), Shoes, Ball, Car, Please, Love You, Uh Oh, Bye Bye, Potty, No, Mine, Icky, Fish, Cheese (his second favorite word), Keys, More, and Juice.

It seems he picks up a new word everyday!

Big Boy Bed

Landon is growing up so fast. He started climbing out of his crib so much to my dismay it was time to move him into a toddler bed. His crib is one of the convertible ones which seemed like such a great idea, until it was actually time to convert it. Poor little guy fell out of the thing several times a night. So we then rigged up bed rails which didn't help much because he would just get stuck between the rail and the bed. Long story short Landon is  now the proud new owner of a full sized bed. Instead of buying a twin bed and the mattresses we just used the headboard part of his crib and bought him the mattress. Here are some pictures of his room and the big boy in his bed:

Potty!

Just when I had given up hope that Landon was just not ready to potty train, he surprises me! After fighting to keep him in bed all afternoon and no nap, out of the blue Landon says POTTY! So we sit him on the potty and he pees!!! So we have a great dance around and get a cookie. He takes his cookie and sits back on the potty. A few seconds later he stands up, claps and says potty. Sure enough he tinkled a little more, so he got a m&m.  This process repeated about 5 more times. He sits tinkles and gets an m&m. I call this major progress!! He thinks its a fun game which is good because he is getting the idea down. Hopefully this continues!!
Way to go little man!!