Introducing Cyprus Virginia Collins

We met our daughter Cyprus Virginia Collins on Wednesday February 16th at 3:05 pm. Josh and I went into the hospital at 6:30 Tuesday Morning ready for the inducing process to begin. We had a busy two days with the most wonderful end result.


More pictures to follow...

15 days and counting

We have fifteen days until the due date and eleven more days until Josh gets back from Minnesota. Baby girl and I have talked numerous times and all she has to do is wait eleven days. At the moment that is not a problem considering that she has not found an opening yet.
However until we get to meet our little baby girl, here is another sweetie to look at. Ellie is cousin Sarie's daughter. Beth and I went to Black mountain to visit some family over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend.




Beth enjoyed her time with Ellie while Sarie studied and I took a nap.
Today told me I was a little mama, but I think that title really goes to Sarie

Last week I had three baby showers in a row. It was a crazy pink extravaganza! I have not gotten pictures of the first two, but St. James really out did themselves with presents. We are truly blessed!




At the moment Josh is crazy busy in the cold north accomplishing great things and I have been put on bed rest for half days to try and lower my blood pressure. I only have 10 more school days, but the ladies at work are already taking bets on when I will be out of commission. Hopefully not sooner than later.

New Beginnings

Well It's official...Abby and I have left our home in Cherryville, NC for the Upper Mid-West. We are looking forward to many adventures in this new place and to having Arden come and join us ASAP. We dont have any real news to share today...We just wanted to say Hello and that we thank you for dropping in to check on us and that we are doing fine.

The Move

After two days of traveling the gang got to Minnesota. Abby was so excited to stretch her legs, but was quite confused why her daddy had taken her to such a cold place. While Josh, Shovel and Abby arrived on the 27th our moving truck did not, and still has not. Josh was told today that our van would arrive tomorrow (Sunday Jan. 9th). We will keep you posted.

I think everyone was pretty amazed by the amount of snow, all that is except the Minnesotans.


While Josh has been waiting patiently for our van to arrive he has turned our house into a home, by painting every room. He spent last weekend attacking the house with beautiful colors. Through his adventures with paint he has made some new friends at the hardware store. Josh has never met a stranger, that's for sure.

The office

The Living Room

Cyprus' Room

Our Bedroom (you can see Josh's sleeping pallet in the front)

As for me, I started back with kids on Monday. We got renters in our house on Tuesday, and the week has been productive. I have been trying to get my feet up as much as possible since I have recently discovered kankles where my ankles used to be. I have also received more comments about "my condition" as a pregnant lady. Apparently once you start looking like a house you should not leave the house.

December 2010, What a month!

So the Collins have been quite crazy and frantic over the past couple of weeks. Honestly just the past 10 days.

On December 2nd Josh was flown out to Minnesota for a job interview as a director for summer camp. He stayed less than 24 hours with 10 of those hours being interviewed time.

On Tuesday the 14th he accepted the job and the packing began. With on sight housing and the job starting on the 28th the rush to pack up our lives took precedence over Christmas cards, friends and pregnancy.

Poor Abby did not take the news very well.

I did finally get a picture of her in the bouncy seat, even if it was filled with Josh's clothes

The moving experience was quite an adventure in North Carolina, and I bet it will continue in Minnesota. All of our items were supposed to be picked up on the 23rd, but due to some complications from the movers we did not get taken care of until the 24th. Abby stayed at Pink Street as long as she could take it before the two of us took off to Newton to start our Christmas, leaving Josh to handle the rest of the moving. Before we left, Abby made sure to tell her Ray good-bye. He will always be her favorite neighbor.

On Christmas Day we were woken up to a wonderful snowfall. Mike and Beth had already left to fly across country to see the rest of their family. Josh and I took time for ourselves to just be. Abby got to experience the beginning of a long road of snow.

When we went to bed around midnight last night it was still snowing. Thankfully when we woke up this morning at 3:30 the snow had stopped. Josh, Abby and Shovel all got in J's truck and headed out for their long day on the road.

I am going to stay in North Carolina and finish up the school year. Mike and Beth have been gracious enough to let me steal a bedroom and bathroom for the next six months. Josh will return for Cyprus' birth and a couple more times before June.

After super sad goodbyes Shelby and I went back to sleep. Church had been cancelled due to the weather so we decided to take advantage of the perfect snow and have a little fun.

I love fresh snow!

Merry Christmas!

Old Friends

Time has really gotten away from me! Not only am I amazed that it is mid December, but our adventure with the Weant family was weeks ago.

Josh and I headed to Boone with Abby for a weekend. Abby reconnected with Gracie. At first they seemed to not know each other, but I think they were shy.

We were on a mission to ask Laura and Jonathan to be the God parents of Cyprus Virginia. They said yes and we celebrated with a nice supper fixed by Josh and then played cards. Abby however was on a different mission.


The picture below seems like a calm pasture filled with nice docile horses, just wanting to eat and enjoy life. However the picture was taken before Abby and Gracie (well, not really Gracie) got the best of them. Laura took us into the pasture to get a closer look of the horses. We were still many many yards away until Abby noticed them as well. After chasing after a couple of horses and getting them all riled up the stampede started. Yes, seven stampeding horses coming our way! If you have never experienced it, watching a very pregnant woman run through a field dodging horse poop, while screaming is quite an experience. While Laura and I did not find this adventure exciting, Josh found the entire experience quite humorous.



Abby didn't stop there, the five of us decided to climb a mountain. The girls, of course being the rule breakers that they are decided to climb without leashes. Gracie took it one step further and did not even wear a collar.

We made it a third of the way up and were caught by a park ranger. Of course the girls played dumb while we apologized. I was worried that I would have to fake labor to get us out of the mess, I think Laura and Josh were more concerned that I might go into labor.

We decided to make our stopping point here before the top of the mountain. I personally was fine with the decision.

We had a wonderful time with the Weants and won't forget our adventures anytime soon. We hope the next time we visit, Jonathan will be able to play more instead of leading a funeral.

For Christmas Josh and I bought a new camera. At the moment Abby is my model. She absolutely hates it and has hidden behind Josh in almost every shot. However I cornered her in the bathroom where she finally looked at me. I think we all know from her eyes exactly what she is thinking..... We made up later.

And of course here is the 30 week picture that I know you have all been waiting for. My kids at school have finally realized that I am pregnant. Last week one of my favorites told me that I was going to have a pop star baby, "You know Mrs. Collins, like Hannah Montana" He later told me that he hopes she will be as beautiful as I am. (Can you see why he is a favorite?) I did however ignore the fact that Hannah Montana and I are in the same category in his mind.

One Step Closer

Four weeks ago Cyprus' Room looked like this...

As of today her room still needs a little more work, but we are getting closer.

We have even caught Abby curled up in the bouncy seat, but have been unable to get a picture of her cute little Jack Russel self curled up with the giraffe.

Abby has been super cuddly with me the past couple of weeks. Any opportunity that she gets Abby is curled up with her body around my stomach. Cyprus has been known to kick her in the face once in a while. We are pretty sure that Abby believes I am carrying a puppy.