Blast from the past Friday: Colin's early baths at Grandma 'Nette's

Hi everyone, and welcome! You have arrived at my Friday blog carnival called "Blast from the past Fridays"--which gives me (and you!) a chance to remember what on earth life looked like before the blogosphere. Hope you've come over to join the fun!

Please remember the rules: just add your comment at the bottom to let us know you are joining in (I'm still trying to figure out Mr. Linky, so please bear with me on that), post your Blast from the Past story (click for guidelines if you're new), pictures, or video on your own blog, and then link your blog back here so others can join in the fun as well. This has been so much fun so far--I can't wait to read all of your posts today!

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This week, as I've been looking over some of my old pictures and crying about where my babies have gone enjoying all the memories, I kept coming back to these pictures of Colin and Shane's mom, "Grandma 'Nette".



When Colin was really little, Grandma 'Nette used to give him baths in the sink at her house.



Now, I realize this is not something that is out of the ordinary--many people start out giving their babies baths in the sink. Then, when they get to be a few months old and they are too big to fit in the sink anymore, you move them to the big bathtub.



Not Colin.



For the longest time, he insisted that, whenever we went to Grandma 'Nette's house, he would get a bath in her sink.



Even though he was more than two years old. Even though he had been taking 'big boy showers' since he was just a few months old at our house. Even though Grandma 'Nette had a shower and a bathtub of her own that he could easily use. Even though he was much, much too big and could barely squeeze in that crazy sink.

When Colin makes up his mind about something, he is pretty insistent about it.

He would bathe in about four inches of water, and then stand up to get washed and rinsed.

He would also be half frozen by the time he was done with his bath, but he didn't really seem to mind that little tidbit too much. The kid had the time of his life in that little sink.

The blue fingers and lips were, apparently, very worth it.

Lynette did better than I ever could. She covered the kitchen TV and the counters with towels, and she kept most of the water inside the sink--but it still somehow always made quite the mess, which she would dutifully clean up afterwards.

I can't imagine the reason why she continued to go to all that effort, can you?

Ok.

Well, maybe I can imagine why.

It'd be hard to turn that face down as a Grandma, huh?

Blast from the past Friday: 2005 trip to Hawaii

Glad you're back again this week! Hope you've come over to join the fun!

Please remember the rules: just add your comment at the bottom to let us know you are joining in (I'm trying something new with Mr. Linky, so he will hopefully be back next week), post your own Blast from the Past story (click for guidelines if you're new), pictures, or video on your blog, and then link your blog back here so others can join in the fun as well. Can't wait to read all of your stories!!

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In the summer of 2001, I was newly married and worked full-time as a legal secretary at the State's Attorney's office of our county. Then one July night, I went to a PartyLite party--and, by the end of the evening, I had decided to start selling candles as a way of earning some great "extra money" on the side.


One of the things that drew me to the opportunity to become a consultant was the fact that PartyLite offered "free vacations". In fact, the consultant that was doing that night's party had just returned from the Moon Palace in Cancun--a place that I had gone to on my honeymoon just a few short months before.


The thing was: she went for free. I had not.


I was intrigued.


Then, she mentioned that there were these incentive vacations offered by PartyLite every year. That year's destination?


Hawaii.


I'd always wanted to go there, and from that night on, I was determined to go on PartyLite's dime. I had no idea what that entailed....I just knew I wanted to go!


Well, I ended up earning {you earned these trips, by the way--they were not won} not only my trip, but also a trip for a guest. After sacrificing, ahem, a bit so that I could be out doing lots of shows and earning said trip, I felt that Shane certainly deserved that guest spot! *grin*


Shane and I actually went on four wonderful vacations during my years with PartyLite. We went that first year to Hawaii--Oahu to be specific; the next year on a seven-day Caribbean cruise, then to the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas, and finally back to Hawaii again--the Big Island this time, to a resort called the Hilton Waikaloa Village. The trip was five days, with an opportunity to earn an extra two days....so we were at this amazing destination for an entire week.


These are the pictures from that trip. Well, some of them anyway....I only took like 400. Ah, the days of digital cameras.

Right off the plane--they really do "lei" everyone!

Parylite had gone to quite a bit of effort in welcoming all of us--they used crushed white limestone and formed our welcome in the lava!

"Aloha PartyLite"
Everything with PL was always first class. Our room was wonderful!
The Hilton Waikaloa Village....a beautiful resort with even more gorgeous scenery
There was a river that ran the length of the resort...instead of taking a tram, you took a boat ride to get where ever you wanted to go!

The first day, Shane and I took off by ourselves and actually went to another resort with an incredible beach. We had a great lunch with the Pacific Ocean right behind us!
Then we did some swimming. I don't know that I have ever, ever seen more beautiful water.
The sunset from our balcony that evening
The next night we had a fancy dinner provided by PartyLite. It was always so fun getting a chance to dress up on those trips.
After dinner, we headed back to our room, and caught this sunset. Yes, this is real....yes, this is straight out of the camera with no editing.....and yes, it was this beautiful.

Picture perfect, no?

My new camera had a pretty wicked zoom.

This is the same sailboat as in the picture before.

It was so pretty that we decided to snap one of ourselves. Ever take a good look at my profile picture? This is it. And now you know the story behind it. *grin*

The next night was known as "Dine Around" night. That just meant that PL gave each person $100 to go out and eat at a place of our choosing on the island. {Most of the other nights dinner was provided for us by PL at the resort.}
We chose Roy's, a very popular place with everyone we asked.
It. Was. Delish.

Our resort had several waterfalls, and you could walk behind some of them.

Shane snapped this shot of me after dinner that night. And, if you're wondering....no, I am not actually (for once) carrying any 'holiday weight';

rather, that's Cameron Douglas there--along on the trip with us!

We enjoyed most breakfasts with some great friends of ours, Tom and Gloria

The resort had its own lagoon. We definitely took advantage of that for swimming and snorkeling! We saw some interesting things.....
....like eels....
....and sea turtles. There were tons and tons of these guys.

Everywhere you looked there were beautiful and unique flowers.

The next morning, Shane went on an all-day adventure.

He and the guys headed out for a deep-sea fishing excursion on the Pacific.
They did NOT catch one of these. *grin*

I, however, stayed back at the pool and caught a few rays. Oh, the days where I hadn't yet realized just how bad the sun actually was for me.

Another night out

The next day was another lounge-by-the-pool day. Shane turned into a five-year-old when he got around Tom and Greg. It was very entertaining, let me tell you.
Case in point:

Another dinner out with our friends....this restaurant's name escapes me, but it was good

I added this picture just to be able to show the enormity and grandeur of the resort.

This was the front outdoor lobby, right as you came in.

*sniff, sniff* Our last morning on the Island. Someone was kind enough to snap this for us. It's under the same waterfall as the last picture was.

It was so beautiful there....it was hard to leave!

But we got to come home to sweet little Colin, and that made things much, much better.

{He had stayed the entire week with Grandma 'Nette and Grandpa,

making the entire trip possible for me and Shane!}

Daddy and Colin, out to eat at Chili's the afternoon we got home Such a precious kid. Love that picture.

So, that was our trip in a nutshell. Though I am now glad to be a full-time Mommy to my littles, I will forever be grateful for the fun and the friends I had when I was with PartyLite--and the once-in-a-lifetime trips!

Blast from the past Friday: 1st picture as a family of four

Glad you're back this week, and I hope you came to join in the fun! Remember the rules: just add your link at the bottom in Mr. Linky (please keep the links short, as longer names/URLs will not work properly), post your own Blast from the Past story (click for guidelines if you're new), pictures, or video on your blog, and then link your blog back here so others can join in the fun as well. Can't wait to read all of your stories!!

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Cameron's birth experience was, in one word, a whirlwind.

The hospital where I had him was in the middle of a renovation--a "Birthing Suite" addition. YAY!! for all the later babies who would be coming after 2006, but, for me, this meant the horror of all horrors: a roommate in my makeshift 'postpartum' room.

*shudder*

As if the whole labor and delivery thing was not exhausting enough--I had to spend the next 16 hours (the rest of the evening, the whole felt like an eternity that was never going to end night, and 1/2 of the next morning) with a noisy roommate and--and you know I love babies, and all, but geesh, I was beyond exhausted--an even noisier baby.

Now, I was doing my best to try to be considerate. I was, or course, up at 2 a.m. to nurse Cameron, and I tried to be super quiet. I didn't even turn my light on, just used the little lamp next to my bed.

{There most certainly was fumbling involved.}

About 1/2 hour later, we finished, and I sent Cameron back to the nursery so I could get (hopefully) a couple hours of sleep until he was ready to eat again.

Oh....but no.

My lovely roommate was soon ready to feed her baby--and it was an all-the-lights-in-the-room-blaring, nurse-standing-over-the-top-trying-to-direct-the-activity, two-hours-worth-of-screaming ordeal--and, you guessed it: about 30 minutes after the room was finally quiet and dark again....here they came with Cameron.

*sigh*

{Repeat scenario above here for the 5 a.m. feeding.}

Oh, and did I mention that no visitors were allowed to stay in the room, either, since we were sharing and all? Apparently, that included fathers. So, that meant no Shane.

Needless to say, by 9 a.m. the next morning, I was ready to go. There had been no complications with the delivery for either of us, and so my doctor agreed to let me out of prison of the hospital that day.

Exactly 25 hours after Cameron was born, we were walking in our back door.

Whirlwind.

Shane's mom and my sister-in-law Aimee came down to visit us and meet Cameron, and a little while later, Aimee snapped this shot on the stair leading into my family room:

I love everything about this picture. The hospital bracelet still on both of our arms. Cameron being not only awake, but almost appearing to be studying his Daddy! Shane, just looking soooooo handsome, and so proud. The half-exhausted but joy-filled look on my face. The true, all-out-laughing grin on little Colin's.

Perfect or not. I love it.

Our first picture as a family of four.

Blast from the past Friday: Colin eating tomato soup

I've been blogging for a while now.

Well.....at least it feels like that. When I actually went back and looked, it seems that I started this blog only a little over two years ago with this post. Just looking at that first post and seeing the size of my littles almost made me tear up. *sniff sniff*

I said almost.

However, going back and actually wading through some old pictures and videos did it. It sent me right over the edge. It wasn't quite the ugly cry....but it could have easily gotten to that point, had I not stopped viewing for the night.

Ahem.

Anyway, as I was thinking about it today, I realized that there is so much that happened in our family before my entry into the blog world. {I've blogged a thing or two, but not many of those things.} Events that I love to think back on. Things I love to remember. Things I don't ever want to forget.

So, in that spirit, I am going to start my own little blog carnival here on Fridays--Blast from the Past Friday--where I will be posting either pictures, a story, or a video of something that happened long before I even knew what in the world a blog was.

I'd love it if you would jump on the wagon! If you'd like, feel free to leave a comment below and let me and other readers know that you are joining in the fun (so we can come and see yours too!). Then, post your blast from the past moment on your blog, and kindly link back here to let your readers know where they can find more of the same!

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So, today, you will be transported back to October of 2005, and treated to the likes of sweet little Colin. This video was shot as I was about to pop with Cameron--I was very pregnant, and enjoying the last few days of having 'only one' child. Colin was 23 months at the time.

Things I remember about that day:

• It was a Sunday afternoon
• We were having grilled cheeses and tomato soup for lunch
• Colin, we found out that day, apparently loved tomato soup
• More than that, he loved slurping said soup off of the spoon--as you will witness
• He started making that 'aaaaaaaaaah' sound after bites, and realized that it made us laugh too--so he did it after every bite for the rest of the meal

Things I don't ever want to forget:

• How cute Colin was
• How well he talked so early
• His depth of understanding at that age--"all done Mommy, down"
• His laugh, and how his smile just lit up his whole teeny face
• How he loved to make us laugh
• His little lisp when he said "yes" {yeth!}
• How careful he was--like putting his hands under the spoon when it went to his mouth

Oh, and slurping soup causes babies to take in lots of air. It has to come out at some point, right?

So, after a bit of slurping and 'aaaaaaaahing', Daddy turned on the camera.....and we caught this. Turn up your volume, and enjoy.

{And, no, I am no longer cryi--waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!}