Just Some Fun Past Christmas Pictures with the NEW!

Christopher with Uncle "Santa" David, Christmas Day 2008

Madelyn with Uncle "Santa" David, Christmas Eve 2004

Me with Santa, Christmas 1976

Jaundice & a First Bath

We had a little bit of trouble with Christopher being jaundiced as his bilirubin levels got WAY too high so we had to get re-admitted to the hospital on Thanksgiving. Poor James totally missed Thanksgiving dinner. I did too but I wasn't really too concerned about that. They made me up a nice microwave dinner when I got to the hospital, gag. I just felt terrible that I had to leave Madelyn again. She ended up being a real sport about it though. The doctors thought that we would have to stay for 48 hrs. at best but Christopher did really well under the bili-lights and we were able to go home the next day, yea! Christopher is still over 5 points higher than normal on his bili labs but he's doing ok. I just wish there was some sun we could put him in so he could get better that way.

Madelyn is such a helper girl. She really wanted to give Christopher his first bath. I told her about how all I had to do was hold her head and the rest of her body would float by itself for her first bath so she wanted to do that with Christopher. She did a great job. Madelyn would really like to help out more so James and I are really looking forward to Christopher becoming stronger and a little less fragile.

Madelyn meeting her new baby brother

11/22/2008
Madelyn's first look at her new baby brother.

Madelyn is very gentle with Christopher and extremely proud to be a big sister.

Very happy pair.

Baby Christopher

Christopher William Phinneus
was born on Friday 11/21/2008 @ 7:28 p.m.
He weighed 7 lbs 6 oz
and was 20 inches long.
This picture was taken right before his first sponge bath on his birthday.

Christopher William Phinneus Collins

HE'S HERE!!! Great labor, excellent delivery, and hopefully wonderful recovery. 3 pushes and he was out. It was so great having family there. Thank you to everyone that's helped and visited so far. Sooo much nicer than doing it alone in Texas. What a difference! We finally thought of a name Sunday right before we went home and then actually almost changed it but this one will just have to stick. It's about time! I just call him my little Tophie Cheeks. We got some precious pictures and will post them a.s.a.p. Now to get some sleep, hmmmm...

Baby Brother

Here's Madelyn giving her baby brother one of her wonderful hugs. She's looking forward to his arrival and being a helpful big sister. This same night Madelyn started explaining on how she thought he would get here, ouch!! She was very creative about what the skin on my belly was going to do.

Little Singer

Madelyn LOVES grandma Nielsen's Halloween songs.

4yr Old Pictures

We had a fun Halloween going to a parade and party at Madelyn's school and then walking in the sprinkling rain trick-or-treating. Madelyn had so much fun with the two neighbor girls we went with and was VERY good at always saying "trick-or-treat". No shyness in this little girl! We tried to visit daddy at work but he was called into the O.R. :-( Madelyn was such a good little witch.

Madelyn's Big Birthday Week

Wednesday 10/8: We went to Carino’s for dinner and had a nice big brownie sundae after singing the 1st Happy Birthday of many to Madelyn .

Thursday 10/9: I brought cupcakes to Madelyn’s school for the afternoon snack time and sang Happy Birthday to her with all of her little school friends. She was very excited about the upcoming week. So much so that she wanted her hair just right and decided to hide under a table earlier in the day with a pair of scissors and cut herself “more bangs”. The school Director warned me before I brought the cupcakes in but it isn’t so bad. I think we’ll just let those extra bangs grow out. Ugh, I thought we didn’t have to worry about her cutting her hair anymore, jinx!
Sunday 10/12: We had a fun family dinner with cake for Madelyn at grandpa and grandma’s house. Thanks for the wonderful dinner grandma! It was really nice to enjoy the company of Auntie Em, Uncle Michael, Aunt Heidi, Austin, and Jack along with the Brentwood Nielsens. Madelyn really liked the Sponge Bob ice cream cake that she specifically requested a few months ago.
Monday 10/13: Happy 4th Birthday Madelyn! I figured we had to do something on Madelyn’s birthday so we headed off to Chuck E. Cheese’s for a little bit before Madelyn’s “Well Baby” Dr’s appointment. Friends and family joined us again and I wish we could have stayed longer. Thank you everyone for making it so much fun. Madelyn is happy and healthy and doing well in weight and height and is in the upper 60th percentile for both. Turns out it was time for all her pre-Kindergarden shots but we obviously put all 6 of those off for next week; after Disneyland and definitely NOT on her birthday.

Tuesday 10/14: We slept thru the alarm but hurried and got everything packed and ready to go in time to make it to my echocardiogram in Livermore. Everything looks good so there should be no problems with a normal on-schedule delivery of our little no-name baby boy. Madelyn was VERY good for the trip down to Disneyland. Thank goodness for portable DVD players. After we checked in to our hotel, we had a fun time walking around Downtown Disney and eating at the Rainforest Café. And yes, we sang Happy Birthday to Madelyn again that night.

Wednesday 10/15: Our first day at Disneyland was funny. We thought there might be a little bit of a problem with what Madelyn was imagining and what Disneyland actually was when, on the way down, she said that she was going to put Tinker Bell in a jar so that she could see her. We tried to explain around that one but she wasn’t having it. Her first ride was the Matterhorn with James while I was waiting in the Finding Nemo line. She just thought it was ok but thought the “monster”/abominable snow man was cool. Madelyn was pretty moody the 1st few hours because she didn’t see her favorite characters running around everywhere like in the movies but she got over it and we all absolutely LOVED the princess lunch and thought it was totally worth it. Upon walking to our table we met with Ariel. When I told Madelyn Sleeping Beauty was coming out, she got so excited she jumped up, spun around, and landed about 5 feet from her chair still frantic that she might miss the princess. So funny! Aurora, Snow White, Mulan, and Cinderella all came and talked individually with Madelyn and we saw Belle later on. The food was very yummy, a big plus, and they made a big deal over her birthday. Madelyn didn’t say much to the princesses but we could tell she was very excited. The parade that night was totally awesome but not as neat as watching Madelyn watch everything. She was so much fun to see experiencing everything.

Thursday 10/16: Our last and longest day was tiring and fun. We did our favorites, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted House. Madelyn loved both and we rode Pirates 3x in a row at the end of the night. The Haunted House was all re-done to be in theme with The Nightmare Before Christmas and Madelyn had to get a little Zero stuffed animal (Jack Skellington’s ghost dog) because she liked it so much. I made a reservation at the Pirates restaurant, Blue Bayou, and that was neat but we’ll definitely skip it in the future. We’ll do the princess lunch again for sure though. The fireworks were the best I’ve ever seen and totally worth the crowd. Fun, fun.

Friday 10/17: After a 7 hour ride home, I dropped James off for work (he had to leave in 10 min.) and headed strait for grandma and grandpa’s house for their Halloween party. Even after a long day in the car it was wonderful. Yummy punch, homemade chili, pumpkin pies, decorated sugar cookies, treats for the kids, sang some Halloween songs, and sat around the fire and roasted some marshmallows. Emily and I even ended up freaking each other out with our scary talk around the fire. I don’t know what was up with “the shadow” that jumped on everyone though. He only shook pool water all over me, I’m special I guess. ☺

Well, there’s the end of our very special and especially exhausting week of Madelyn’s big 4th birthday.

Happy Birthday Song 10/12/08

At grandma and grandpa's house.

28 Week Ultrasound

September 09, 2008. Our little boy with his hand over his face during the ultrasound.

Wizard of Oz

Madelyn is very much into The Wizard of Oz movie right now. She can't get enough of it. She asked about it a few times because of the poster at Straw Hat Pizza, the musical Wicked decor at See's Candies, and the McDonald's Happy Meal toys. Sooo, I decided to go down to the garage and find my old VHS tape of it. She LOVES it. I think it's hilarious because she'll sit thru it telling me all about it and asking questions and then telling me the answers in her own way. She's so precious.


Her little brother is doing well, is big, and kicking like a real soccer player. Baby boy got some clothes in the mail from Grandma Collins (thank you) the other day and Madelyn decided that the 24mo. clothes would be perfect for her to wear. So silly.

We need a new camera, argh! Any suggestions? We need one before the baby is born of course but also before we go to Disneyland on the 14th.

About Time

All the way back to Easter: Madelyn and I went to the big Easter celebration at Liberty High School. It was awesome. Lots of hunts, games, and yummy free food!!!

It's been too long since my last post. Here goes...

Health: My ill health of last year (passing out a lot and extreme reactions to the littlest of viruses) has ended up being due to a newly acquired heart condition. I have a “reduced fraction output” which means that my heart isn’t pumping out at a normal rate so it has to pump a lot faster and harder to keep me going. It’s not hereditary; it could have been caused by a bad virus but the doctors don’t know. This reduced output causes another condition which also explains a lot of why I’ve been exhausted but enough on that. My heart condition finally got diagnosed after we found out that we’re having a baby boy due the end of November!
We’re both doing well and will have a new ultrasound picture in a couple of weeks at my 28 week/7 month check-up.
Madelyn is all Sunshine and Daisies as usual. She had a fever of 103, in the evening, last week but by 11pm on the same day it was gone. What a resilient little princess.

Work: James finally got a 24 hr permanent position at Kaiser so that means we get health care starting Sept. 1st. Yeah! He’ll still be working per-diem the other days of the week until a full-time position opens up.

School: Madelyn didn't seem to enjoy her old pre-school very much but is still absolutely loving her current pre-school and looks forward to it even on the weekends. James is still taking his prerequisites for PA school.

We took a trip down to Monterey recently and had lots of fun. After Madda turned blue from the cold ocean water, we walked back to the car and she said, "THAT SAND WAS GREAT!!!" She said it like she'd never imagined something so fun. Madelyn loved the beach so much that we went to Stinson beach the very next week.

Madelyn is really in to My Little Ponys right now. She's such a little girl. Everything must be pink, potty training treats, everything. The weather has been gorgeous this week. We went to the little park by our house today and then for a family walk after dinner. Madelyn missed all her activities this week due to the croup caused by a bad cold that we'd had for well over a week. She was a limp noodle with a fever Monday afternoon and evening but got a lot better after her blessing. She's still has a low grade fever and a yucky cough. I don't think I'm going to put her back into preschool until a year before she starts kindergarten. I think she'd enjoy gymnastics/tumbling a lot more. She just really needs to get the jigglies out.

March Birthdays:
Austin Walwyn on the 2nd
Grandpa Walwyn Green turns 95 on the 22nd
Chloe Amelia on the 28th
Matthew on the 29th
Happy Birthday Everyone!!!

New Home

Our 2007 Family Pics

Madelyn's 3yr old pics

It's been raining A TON so I don't have an actual picture yet but here's the drawing of our new home. We're really excited and VERY tired.

We still haven't moved the bulk of our things. They're still in my mom and dad's garage but it's sorta hard to move into a nice clean house when it's been pouring rain (CA pouring anyway) since we moved in. It's been a very cold CA winter.

Madelyn is loving her "favorite house" but the potty training is still something she refuses. I might have to call in an expert.

Love, Wendy