A Few Random Pictures that Illustrate Our Week

It has been a rough few days around the Collins household. Austin, my MIL Becky who was visiting, and myself all got sick with a stomach bug Saturday night. Austin and I have gotten a little better every day and thankfully Becky felt better on Monday when she had to fly home but then Zach got sick in the middle of Monday night. He stayed home yesterday but was able to go back to work today. I am feeling mostly better and spent today trying to bring some semblance of order back to my home, although I am now exhausted from the effort.

Austin has been in a remarkably good mood the past few days, despite his illness. He enjoyed his time with Gran a lot.

I made these cookies Saturday night. They are delicious. I haven't eaten a single one since then! If that's not proof that I'm not feeling well, I don't know what is.

This is what happens to your laundry when your whole family gets sick. No joke, I bet I have changed Austin's clothes a dozen times in the last two days. I think I did about half of these loads today. More laundry fun tomorrow!

This is for all you SoCal folks who keep taunting me with your "I'm really enjoying the 80 degree weather" Facebook status updates. (I love you all!) Do YOU have icicles like that? Didn't think so. Anyway, as you can see, we've had a wee bit of snow around here. Too bad I didn't aim the camera a bit more to the left...you'd see the thermometer on our back porch reading about 10 degrees when I stepped outside to take the picture.

Thoughts from Joshua

Search the Scriptures is taking me through Joshua right now. This morning I read chapter 7, which tells how Israel was defeated at Ai because a man called Achan had, against God's instructions, taken plunder from Jericho. One man's sin affected the entire nation. Because of his actions, Achan and his household were stoned to death and their bodies burned.

Now this is one of those Old Testament stories that often makes me think, "wow, pretty harsh punishment for a few little mistakes." But the study questions asked me to read these two passages

But he was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)

...and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. (1 Peter 2:24)

The combination of all these passages of Scripture really brought home the meaning of Romans 6:23--"For the wages of sin is death." Someone always dies for sin. Our holy God can't overlook sin. Achan died for his own sin. But we don't have to because Christ died instead. Wow.

Zach pointed out that people often accuse God of being inconsistent, a harsh punisher in the Old Testament and a God of love in the New Testament. But instead these passages show that God's standards have not changed: sin deserves death. And just like Achan, there are many today who will die for their own sin because they would not come to God on His terms.

Using Time Wisely

Zach went back to school today, so I am trying to get back to our regular routine around here. I have let household work slide a bit while he was off, and of course it was nice to have another parent around to share in playing with Austin, changing diapers, feeding him, etc. But now it's back to full-time mommy responsibility.


Ironically, this transition is coming on the heels of two things that tempt me to waste significant amounts of time: I joined Facebook about a week ago and we bought a Wii on Friday. So to help ensure that I use at least part of my time wisely, I joined the 5 AM club today as advocated by the Girltalkers. The idea is that you get up early so you first have time to spend with God and second have time to serve your husband and children. 5:15 is actually the rising time I settled on that would work for our family.

So how did it go? Pretty well, I'd say. I don't really have trouble getting up early as long as I go to bed at a reasonable hour (meaning resisting the temptation to play Wii until 11 PM). I got up at 5:15, started making coffee, made Zach's lunch while the coffee was brewing...and then I heard Austin's little voice at 5:30. He has been waking up early most mornings and I think the blame is squarely on me and Zach. During Zach's vacation I started feeding Austin if he woke up early and putting him back to bed (or letting him doze in our bed) so we could all get more sleep. Now I am trying to break Austin of that and get him to sleep until at least 6:30. But this morning he cried on and off until 6:20 (10 minutes before I was going to rescue him from his misery), at which time he fell asleep until 7:30! So although my quiet time was not so quiet, I was able to have it and also shower, eat breakfast, and get a few little things done before Austin woke up. Hopefully Austin will get the idea and sleep a little longer as the week goes on, but not bad for a start.

Latest videos and pictures

Austin loves to be pushed around on his bulldozer. He will actually push off with his feet if given the chance, but his balance isn't good enough to ride around on his own.

Austin has gotten quite vocal of late. "Ba-ba-ba" is definitely his favorite word, but he occasionally makes some "pa," "ma," or "da" sounds. He is also very helpful with the laundry.

Our happy little guy...

For all the P and P fans out there

I know a decent chunk of my readership are fans of Pride and Prejudice; a decent chunk are also members of Facebook. And since I joined Facebook only yesterday, it seems a most wonderful coincidence that I found this link today, and I just can't resist sharing. So here you go: Pride and Prejudice, the Facebook news feed version. It had me laughing out loud.

New Year, and Reflections on the Old

Wow, is 2008 over already? It seems like such a short time since I was welcoming 2008 and marveling that it was finally the year in which I would become a parent. To say that life changed this year would be an understatement. I understand now how caring for a newborn can take every minute of your day, even though on the surface feeding, diapering, and napping doesn't sound like so much. I understand now that "sleeping through the night" is a relative term. I understand now that burp cloths are a girl's best friend...and cheap shirts that can afford to get spit up on. I understand how selfish I really am, but how God gives grace to overcome that. I understand the joy of seeing your child smile for the first time. I am starting to understand the awesomeness of the responsibility of introducing Austin to God.


Here at the end of Austin's first calendar year, I want to say a special thank you to all my mommy friends, especially all you girls out west that I haven't seen in so long. The phone calls, emails, and blog comments encouraged me so much and have helped me through some really tough times. I am so blessed by your friendship and wisdom.


I thought it would be fun to do a little photo retrospective to see just how much Austin has changed in the 267 days since he joined our family. Amazing, is all I can say after looking at these pics myself.

Austin's First Christmas

Life is good when you're eight month old Austin Collins and it's Christmas. So many new toys! So much wrapping paper! So many ribbons! Such cute pajamas! And of course, so many pictures.

Gran and Pops watched Austin open their gift via Skype. He loves to spin the football, and has already figured out how to put the basketball in the hoop.

Unwrapping presents Austin-style actually took so long that we had to take a nap break. As Grandpa pointed out, this will be the last year Austin will let anything interrupt the gift-giving!

Our little elf playing with some of his new toys

Austin loves his ride-on bulldozer from Grandma and Grandpa. He started pushing himself backward and forward with his feet right away. I better watch out when he has the balance to ride around by himself! Check out the little Converse shoes...too cute, huh?

Getting to open so many gifts can really take it out of a guy. Austin fell asleep in Daddy's lap for awhile before lunch. It's been a while since that happened!

Traditions, New and Old

My parents (aka Grandma Susan and Grandpa Russ) have been visiting us since Saturday. We have had a wonderful time enjoying each other's company and, of course, playing with Austin. He just eats up the attention...he is one loved little boy.

Mom and I made cinnamon rolls yesterday, in keeping with longstanding family tradition. One little twist, though--we ate them for breakfast this morning while un-stuffing our stockings instead of as part of a Christmas brunch. Who wants to wait until 11AM? They were delicious as always and I'm looking forward to leftover cinnamon rolls tomorrow...or maybe tonight.

Zach and I decided to start a new family tradition, too. We made nativity scene cookies and decorated them, then used them to tell the Christmas story. Austin was not really an active participant this year but we hope in the future it will be a way to keep the true reason for Christmas at the forefront of his mind. I know, we're not going to win any awards for our decorating skills but they tasted good and we enjoyed sharing the Christmas story together.

Austin's Secret

Saturday morning I was trying to get a few things done and Austin was tired of playing by himself in his room, so I brought him into my room. I put him in the laundry basket and started looking around for things that might keep him occupied. Things that he hasn't seen before, maybe something colorful, something with some interesting textures, all that stuff that's good for babies. I found what I was looking for.

Yep, Austin is playing with some bras from the back of my drawer. The fun ones I used to wear before the ability to nurse while wearing became a fashion priority. I'm sure he'll just love pictures like this when he's older.

Christmas Tree

Zach, Austin, and I got our first Christmas tree this weekend! Zach and I have never bothered to put one up before because we have always traveled for the holidays. But now that we have a child, it seemed like a much higher priority. And as I sit here in the living room and gaze at the pretty tree across the room, I can't imagine why we didn't do this sooner.

Indiana County is the "Christmas Tree Capital of the World" (at least according to Indiana County residents) so there are tons of places to get trees. Saturday afternoon, on one of the coldest days of the year so far, we headed to a farm outside of town to get our tree. Austin was a real trooper--as the only true Pennsylvanian in the family, he doesn't seem to mind the cold. We looked at dozens of trees--they always look perfect from across the field--and finally found one that was just right.

It was fun to finally put up all the ornaments that we've been collecting for six years. I have already bought several more to give as gifts. (Don't tell Austin about the adorable Very Hungry Caterpillar one I found for him today.) Ahhh. A beautiful tree inside, snow on the ground outside...it definitely is feeling like the holidays around here.

Some before and after pictures. Sorry the second one is blurry; our camera doesn't like to focus on the tree and I couldn't be bothered to try and fix it.

How "Walkable" is Your Neighborhood?

I discovered a nifty site called Walkscore yesterday. It calculates the distance from your home to restaurants, schools, grocery stores, etc. and assigns your address a score from 1 to 100, with 1 meaning you're completely car-dependent and 100 meaning you live in a "walker's paradise." The site is very candid about the strengths and weaknesses of its algorithm. For example, it doesn't take into consideration whether or not there are any sidewalks around your neighborhood, or whether the businesses that seem to be close by are actually on the other side of a freeway. Still, it's kind of fun to see what score your home gets.

My current home gets a 71, which makes it "Very Walkable." I would agree, or perhaps even give it a higher score. After all, we lived without a car for nearly a month and found that we could get by walking almost everywhere we needed to go. Our duplex in Burbank was apparently even better--it scored an 83. Again, pretty accurate. We walked a lot of places on a regular basis in Burbank. The weaknesses of the system became apparent when I put in my parents' address, though. It got a 60, "Somewhat Walkable." But there are no sidewalks in that neighborhood, and nearly all of the businesses mentioned are located on a major street that also has no sidewalks. Growing up I hardly walked anywhere--it just wasn't safe or practical.

So here's a little discussion starter for my blog readers. What's your home's walkscore? Do you agree or disagree with it? Leave a comment--I'd love to hear what other people think of the site.

Pictures from our Trip to Texas

We are home now after spending a week in Texas. It was such a fun trip. Austin was predictably the center of attention, to everyone's delight. Our time there produced a plethora of cute pictures, mostly from my mother-in-law's camera. There's something about her flash that keeps a smile on Austin's face, whereas our camera tends to catch him with his eyes half-closed. Anyway, I had a hard time choosing which pics to include so this post might get kind of long!

During this trip we met Great-Aunt Debbie's fiance, Paddy. He will make a great Great-Uncle to Austin!

Austin quite appropriately tasted turkey for the first time on Thanksgiving Day. It was mixed with another seasonal classic, sweet potatoes, and he seemed to like it.


Chillin' with Uncle Heath

"Look, Mom, Pops did my hair!"

Gran quickly became one of Austin's favorite people.

Four generations of the Collins family

Cute clothes from Gran and Pops

Gran is trying to turn Austin into a fellow Mavericks fan!

I'll Admit it...I'm Hooked

For years I have said that I would never want a video game system in my home. I grew up without one and sure, I liked playing video games when I went to friends' houses, but I have always felt that they are pretty unnecessary. I would rather my kids spend hours reading or listening to music or playing outside or any number of other activities besides pushing buttons and staring at a screen.

But oh my. I think my feelings may have changed. Bill and Becky (my in-laws; we're in Texas right now) recently bought a Wii. And it is so fun! I am especially hooked on Wii fit. I spent about an hour this morning exploring all the activities and watching the balance in my Fit Bank go up. Man, that little thing is motivational! "Oh boy, I just unlocked 10 reps!" "Great, a new yoga pose!" I would think. And I would just want to keep going.

Now Zach and I certainly have better things to spend $250 on right now than a Wii, but for the first time in my life I am tempted. I never thought I would see this day.

Baby Foosball

Zach, Austin, and I were playing with his ball before bed tonight. He likes to watch Mommy or Daddy roll the ball to him but he doesn't know how to roll it back yet. We also tried getting him to kick the ball but without much success. Then we tried this and the real fun began.

Who else thinks this would be a fun playdate idea? Can you just picture a whole roomful of babies kicking the ball back and forth?

My Fame Continues

So my loyal blog readers already know how I got my picture in the paper for getting a flu shot. The days following were full of friends and neighbors commenting on my appearance in print. But things like getting a flu shot don't keep you in the spotlight for long.

But apparently this exciting moment in my life was not quite over. Yesterday I got a laminated copy of the picture with a handwritten note from Don White, the Pennsylvania state senator representing the Indiana area. He is glad I got my flu shot and hopes others will do the same to stay healthy this winter. Wow! Perhaps this is just a little technique to butter up his constituents but if so it worked! I immediately felt warm fuzzies for my state senator. I wonder if he does that for everyone whose picture makes it in the paper? That could keep a guy busy, you know?