I need a nap.

I have a lot to cover in this post.  Colin's 11 month photos, family visit, and Colin's surgery.

We took Colin's 11-month photos just before I left for Chicago.  I had a great time with my college roomies (and Nick, who felt like a roomie sometimes).  We went to a Cubs game, shopped, had our nails done (Nick passed on that part), brunched, and saw a 90s hip hop cover band.  It was so much fun, and I'm always reminded of the good times we had in our 5 years of living together.

A few favorites from our photo shoot.

Maybe one of the funniest I've taken.

While I was still in Chicago, Peter's family started arriving.  Colin greeted Grandmom by crying the whole way home from the airport.  He then was incredibly clingy and whiny all day on Sunday, and most of Monday.  Monday we took the kids to the zoo, which was mostly fun except for R trying to function on approximately 3 hours of sleep and Colin refusing to ride in the stroller (although he couldn't walk on his own).  I got to sit with Colin's cousin C in the dolphin show (she's 3), and it was wonderful.  We went out to dinner that night and almost had a trifecta meltdown.  We were thankful for loud toilets, croutons, and macaroni and cheese that night.

Tuesday, we went to the state fair and saw lots of animals and the lovely people of the Hoosier state.  Colin again needed massive interventions to nap in public.  I had ice cream, which is my favorite fair food.  Even better than fried butter.  Wednesday, we stayed home so that the adults could regain their sanity.  I didn't take hardly any pictures, just humiliating future blackmail pictures of all of the kids in the tub together.  I won't post those here.

This morning, we woke up REALLY early for returning family to the airport and getting ready for Colin's surgery.  Today was his hypospadias repair, and thankfully we live 3 minutes from the hospital, so Colin was able to get almost a full night's sleep.  The surgery lasted a little over an hour, and it went well.  The surgeon made some physical changes to straighten everything out, and Colin was circumcised as well.  

Colin did not come out of the anesthesia well.  He sobbed uncontrollably, only stopping when Peter sang or when Grandma showed up (she even got a smile out of him) with her book of pictures of him.  The kid has a vanity complex.  Things were okay for about 15 minutes, but then from 9-11am, it was pretty much constant flat out sobs.  Peter rocked and rocked and sang and sang, because that baby was TIRED and seemed to be in pain every time his legs moved.  Nothing helped.  Finally, after over an hour of rocking, Peter laid Colin on our bed on his back, and he held his knees apart so that nothing was rubbing, and Colin finally fell asleep (lulled by the mesmerizing fan and Peter's singing).  He woke up in better spirits but was unwilling to move.  He seemed to be in pain anytime he peed/pooped.

So he lay like this...see the smile though?

We moved him downstairs so that we could have some lunch, and we made him a little throne of pillows for comfort.

Douglas really helped make things better.

After his first round of pain meds at home, he started falling asleep on the floor, which has pretty much never happened.  We moved him to his crib, where he slept for two hours.  He then woke, sucked down a 6 oz bottle, and resumed life like nothing had ever happened.  Walking, crawling, exploring, climbing, scarfing down food.  He went down for bed like a dream.  We'll see how the night goes.

For happier pictures, I leave you with other random escapades:

He learned to spell.  It initially said pelicano, and he took down the other letters and left this.

He cried because Peter was mowing the grass, and he wasn't invited.

He expressed his love for blackberries with a musical number.

And he climbed inside of the refrigerator.  This was indeed the same day as his surgery.