Pictures

Kaitlyn doing current favorite activity - reading. She could do this all day long. She reads to herself out loud - pretty cute. Also, notice the sandals she's wearing - another favorite. :-)

She enjoyed watching the neighbors through the screen when the weather was nice.

Austen's first bath (well, sponge bath) - obviously loves it! :-)

Kaitlyn and Riley enoying some Daddy time:

Heading home. I wish I would have realized how slumped over Austen was so it was a better picture - oh well!

Austen enjoying some papasan time (5 days old):

Kaitlyn enjoying some papasan time (about 7 days old):

Jeff with Kaitlyn and Riley:

Hmm...do we see a pattern with Riley? Jeff with Austen and Riley:

Not the most flattering, but our first family pic :-)

"Birth Story" and Austen is 6 days old!

I'll try to make this story short. :) I had a doctor's appointment on Monday the 22nd and was 2cm dilated/70% effaced (38 weeks, two days pregnant). That night after going to bed, I started having contractions around 10:30 that were what I would consider "Braxton Hicks" contractions ("fake" contractions). Those were coming regularly and let up after about 30 minutes, then I started having what I thought might be real contractions. They actually started out being a bit painful (nothing compared to what I knew was coming ;-)) so I couldn't sleep. Jeff was asleep so I went downstairs to watch TV for a bit and see if they continued. I was timing them and they were coming 3-4 minutes apart so I called the on-call doctor. She said to go ahead and come in, so I went and woke up Jeff. We called Grandma Bonnie to come up and stay with Kaitlyn for the night, finished packing our bags, and took off for the hospital. Okay, now I'll make it quick: checked in around 1:00 a.m., got checked around 2:00 and was 4 cm, laid in bed for a while and played Sudoku on my iPod for about 5 hours to keep myself distracted through contractions (it worked really well!), got checked again around 9:00 and was 5cm. Doctor suggested breaking my water to speed things up, but I wanted to wait a while longer to see what happened. Next time I got checked I was 7cm, went to labor in the jacuzzi tub (ahhh...), about an hour or so later was almost 10 cm and getting ready to push. Went back to the room, started pushing, and Austen was here after four contractions! This labor was about 13 hours as opposed to 21 with Kaitlyn, and only about 15 minutes of pushing instead of 3 hours. Such a different experience! Overall, I am so happy with how my labor went. Austen was born at 12:54 on Tuesday afternoon, and we came home at about 2:00 on Wednesday afternoon. We couldn't wait to get home to our own bed and couches.
Things are going really well for the most part. Kaitlyn is in her new room and doing great, and she is a great big sister so far. She is showing interest in her little sister at different times throughout the day, and ignoring her the rest. :-) We are trying to be sure that she is included in things, like inviting her to diaper changes, bath time, etc. We had a really rough night on Saturday with Austen - didn't get to sleep until about 4:00 a.m. after a few hours of inconsolable screaming (Jeff is a saint and took her downstairs so I could try to sleep - I didn't, but it was still appreciated :-)). Last night was MUCH better with sleep from about 1:00-7:00, then from about 7:15-9:30. Kaitlyn also decided to sleep in until about 9. :-) Tonight could be another bad one for all we know, but at least my fears of Saturday being a nightly occurance are calmed for now!
Jeff is off at least through Wednesday, and possibly the rest of the week. We are enjoying our time together as a family of four. We keep saying how we can't believe that we have "kids." Crazy!
My pictures aren't uploading for some reason, so I'll try posting this and doing another one.

Welcome, Austen!

Well, apparently Collins girls are impatient and don't like to wait until their due dates. :) Austen Jean Collins arrived on March 23rd, 2010, weighing 8 lbs., 6 oz., and measuring 20 inches long. We don't make small babies around here! Everyone is doing well and we are excited to be home as our new family of four. :-) Still in disbelief, but loving it!
More to come!

Our beautiful, sweet girl:

I would just like to direct your attention...

...to the "ticker" to the right. NineTEEN days left?! How did that happen?!?
It doesn't all have to be done, it doesn't all have to be done...

Everett Children's Museum

After having so much fun at the Seattle CM last weekend, someone told us there was another one in Everett, so we had to try it out. :) We went up there this morning, and once again Kaitlyn had a ball. She didn't stop going from one thing to the next the entire time we were there. Good exercise for Mom and Dad, too!
Off and running as soon as we got there. :) Not much focus on one thing at a time; just from one thing to the next the whole time!

Kaitlyn loves to share right now. Give it about a month and she'll get more wise to that...it's pretty cute for now though. :)

I think I had more fun with this room than the kids. I couldn't resist doing a "belly shot" in here.

Don't trust this girl in a game of chess. She'll walk off with the pieces...

Digging up fossils:

She looks really impressed, huh?

Another slide that she could go down by herself:

Well, kind of. This picture cracks me up. :) I caught her!

Someone had some fun. :)

Here are some randoms. Kaitlyn got a hold of a skein of my yarn. If you look closely, you can see that it is wrapped around the whole room. What you can't see is that it's actually wrapped around the kitchen, too. No more yarn for you, missy! Mama spent TWO hours unraveling and rewinding it.

Yet another example of why expensive toys are unecessary. This plastic container provided plenty of entertainment:

Blurry, but worth including :)