Merry Christmas!

I am far too lazy to upload all the Christmas pictures here. To see pictures from Christmas Eve at Grandma Laurie's, Christmas morning at home, Christmas morning at Grammy's, Christmas afternoon at GiGi's, Christmas evening at Grandma Doyle's, and the 2 day after Christmas gathering at the Christesen's in VA (yes, we were quite busy)...CLICK HERE!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas!

Carsick...ick!

*WARNING: This post is not for those with weak stomachs!*

Have you ever tried googling "how to clean vomit off an Evenflo Triumph DLX"? If not, consider yourself lucky.

On the way to Aunt Karen and Uncle Rich's house in Northern VA, Cole got carsick. He was so quiet and well behaved on the way there, through the horrible traffic (stupid mixing bowl) and the long drive. About a mile away from our destination Brien and I started discussing the weird smell in the car. At first we thought it could be a dirty diaper, but then decided probably not. I had it pegged as an old napkin covered in milk that was sitting my cup holder. (It wasn't actually covered in milk, just an old napkin) While we were having this discussion, Cole was making his classic 'sniff, sniff' noise and we were giggling about his listening to our conversation.

As soon as we arrived, I went to get him from his car seat and discovered that he was covered, and I mean strip down naked, covered in vomit. His car seat was also covered (and so was his hat????). Also did I mention that I wore a cashmere sweater (dumb mommy move). Anyway, Cole was pretty easy to clean up. His car seat, which is an Evenflo Triumph DLX (if you were wondering), is another story entirely. The cover is micro suede and leather. The instruction booklet, says not to put it in the washer because of the leather...great. So we wiped it off with soapy water and left it outside for about 5 or so hours. It still smells HORRIBLE! I'm really at a loss for what to do. I've been googling for a few hours and have found pretty much nothing. This helpful blogger suggests that I throw away the car seat and buy a new one. Many others claim that the cover cleans so easily, but never actually tell me how they cleaned it. If you have any fantastic ideas please leave me a comment. Otherwise we will be disregarding the instructions, putting it in the washer, and buying a new cover if it gets ruined.

He did not get sick on the way home. I am crossing my fingers that it was a one time thing.

Sorry if you were hoping for a Merry Christmas post and got this lovely vomit filled post instead. Christmas pictures will be up in a few days.

Not a fan of Santa

Well, that's not 100% true. If Santa is on TV or in a book, Cole loves him. He yells out "HO" and get very excited. Real life Santa is a whole different story.

I had my first inkling that Cole may not be a Santa fan at Stroller Strides. We had just arrived and we getting ready to start exercising when the mall Santa walked through the doors. He came over and was chatting with the kids. He put his hand out to shake Cole's hand. Cole turned a full 180 degrees and buried his face in my legs. Uh Oh!

A few days later the same Santa arrived as we were warming up. The Santa was exercising with us and all the kids were getting a kick out of it. Except Cole. He refused to even look at Santa. When Santa moved into his line of sight, he flung his head around, so he didn't have to see him. Poor Santa!

On Wednesday, we went to sit on Santa's lap. I tried to hype up the event and get him excited. It seemed to be working, and Cole walked right up to Santa when it was his turn. I lifted him onto Santa's lap and he lost it. We got a quick picture and got down right away.


Brien told Cole last night if he wasn't a good boy during dinner (we were at the mall) he would have to go see Santa again! :)

Just to show that he wasn't permanently traumatized, this picture was taken a few minutes later.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a very nice Thanksgiving with Brien's family in VA. Cole refused to try any of the food, but enjoyed a roll and a 2 glasses of milk for his Thanksgiving dinner. Here are some Thanksgiving pictures:

"Cheese!"

18 months old!

Today we had Cole's 18 month appointment. He is 30.4 pounds (90%), 34.5 inches tall (95%) and his head is 49.75 cm (95%). He's such a proportionate boy!

Cole was a bit afraid of the dr's. office today. He did just fine in the waiting area, but as soon as we went back to the exam room, he got very upset. He wouldn't let me put him down to undress him or let the nurse measure him. Our pediatrician is fantastic and got him feeling comfortable enough so she could examine him. She let him play with her stethoscope and gave him a special magic wand to hold. She said he looked great and was very impressed when we were discussing a flu shot and Cole said "I no want it!"

He did get a flu shot(despite his protests) and a hepatitis A vaccine. He cried from the moment the nurse walked in with the shot until she left the room and then he was fine.

So Polite!

Cole's vocabulary seems to be growing every day. His new favorite word is "please" which sounds like "peas". Today he mastered combining please with another word like, "up please".

He has also gotten in the habit of greeting Brien and me by name. When we walk into the room he will yell out "Daddy" or "Mama". So cute!

My new personal favorite is "Melmo" (Elmo). Tonight during prayers he kept repeating "Melmo, Melmo", so along with blessing our family and friends tonight we asked for Elmo to be blessed too.



I promise to catch some new words on video and post them soon.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I will update with turkey day pictures soon too!

"Butts, Butts!"

I posted last weekend that Cole was saying a ton of new words. It seems that he will only say each word once and when asked to repeat it he says "no". However, he is quite obsessed with buttons and zippers, so this morning Brien taught him to say "button". He has been running around the house all day today yelling out "butts, butts!" and pointing to the buttons on his shirt. You would think that I am 10 year old boy, because all day I've been giggling about "butts."

Happy Halloween!

This year Cole dressed up as a monkey. Our playgroup did a costume exchange, so the monkey costume was FREE! He got a ton of use out of it too. On Thursday, we went to a Halloween playdate. All the kids were so cute in their costumes.


On Friday morning, we went to Stroller Strides in costume. I didn't take my camera, but there as a professional photographer there, so as soon as she puts up the pictures on her site, I'll add some.

Before we went Trick or Treating, we carved a jack'o lantern. Cole helped draw the face! (notice the hair brush that he refused to put down)


Friday evening Cole went Trick or Treating for the first time. He had so much fun! He LOVED ringing the doorbells and putting candy in his little bag. He even got to eat some SweetTarts when we got home.

Happy Halloween!

Word Explosion!

Since he turned one, Cole's vocabulary consisted of mama, dada, diaper, up, this, and that. The past few days he has absolutely amazed us with the words he is suddenly saying.

This weekend he said:

water
vegetable
shoe
doodle (for magna doodle)
zipper
tooth brush
candy
bath
book
woof woof (for dog)
and his all time favorite, I want!

This morning we went to a birthday party for one of our playgroup friends at a farm (pics to come shortly). The guide was showing the kids the cow and asking what a cow says. Cole went barrelling towards her yelling out "MOOOOOOOO". I am so impressed by my little smarty!!

Cole the bully

Well not really, but we had our first incident where Cole injured another child today. He was playing in the play area at Chick-fil-a and knocked over a little guy named Adam. Adam was probably about 1 and had just started walking. I didn't see exactly what happened, but Cole was laying on top of Adam and he was screaming. Cole has never pushed or hit another kid, so I'm guessing that he just wasn't watching where he was going and ran into him. Plus Cole was on the ground too! Poor baby Adam had a bloody lip that wouldn't quit. I felt terrible, so I apologized a zillion times and went and got some ice! Thank God, Adam's mom was very nice and understanding.


**If you were waiting for a dentist update...it was STUPID! Pretty much Cole went in and cried and they wrote down which teeth were in and told me his eye teeth were coming soon. Then we left. What a waste of time!

More Teeth

Cole's teeth have been coming in like crazy lately. He has almost a full mouthful now. Teething doesn't really seem to bother him too much. All his shirts are covered in drool, which does bother me slightly. He has his very first dentist appointment on Thursday, so stay tuned for an update!

"See my teeth and my drooly shirt!"

Clark Eliok's Farm

Last week we took a trip with our playgroup to Clark Eliok's Farm. We went on a hay ride, got a pumpkin, and fed the goats. Cole was not really impressed by the pumpkin patch, but he did enjoy feeding the goats.

While I was loading the car, Cole climbed in the drivers seat
(Don't worry, I had the keys)

"Come on Mom, get in car already!"

It was surprisingly warm, so we had to take off the adorable puffy vest and roll up his sleeves.

Cole picks his pumpkin

"Mom you are embarrassing me in front of my friends!"

Cole with his playgroup friends

Feeding the goats

Sitting with the big pumpkins

"Hey, look over there!"

Naked Baby

Cole has figured out how to take off his own clothing. It is one of his new favorite activities. I am waiting for him to do it at the mall or in the grocery store. He is quite proud of himself when he gets an article off.

The pants made their way off shortly after this. He hasn't tried to remove the diaper yet, but I'm sure it's coming!

Outdoor Fun!

A few weeks ago I took Cole apple and blackberry picking. He was interested for about 10 seconds and then played with his friend's Magna Doodle for the rest of the trip. He did enjoy eating the apples though!





The following week I took a trip to Kinder Park Farm. Pretty much it's a playground with a few animals to see. Cole's favorite part of the trip was his nectarine, which he dropped in the mulch several times while eating. Yum, Yum!

The Cole Show

Today Brien taught Cole to "do the robot" when he turned to a page in one of his books with a robot on it. While attempting to catch it on video, we caught a few more of his new talents including saying diaper (although it's not his best performance), doing his version of the robot (listen carefully for the robot noises), playing "the drum", walking backward, giving kisses, and waving byebye.

*Please ignore my annoying voice, my sweats, the fact that I don't have on make-up...ok, just ignore me all together.

ENJOY!

What a difference!

Sorry for being MIA for a few weeks. I promise to be better!!

Cole was having a great time playing in his infant carrier today. We stopped using it around 9 months and have it out now for Brady. We snapped a few pictures. I am totally amazed at how much he has grown in the past 15 months!

June 4, 2007
5 days old












Today
15 months old

















WOW!

And another one, because it's cute!

I knew I had a kid for a reason

Cole's new favorite toys: the broom and dustpan. He knows how to use them too!

Body parts!

Just want to brag a bit about my genius of a son. He can now identify all of the following body parts:

• nose
• eyes
• mouth
• teeth
• tongue
  
• cheek
  
• hair
• feet
• toes
• hand
• belly
• belly button

We are currently working on chin and shoulders. He is still a little shaky about whose body part he's pointing to. For example if I ask "where's your ear?" and he'll grab my ear. I say close enough!

He can also follow two part directions. Like "pick up the shoe and bring it to Mommy" or "go get the paper and put it in the trash." What a smart boy!

Tips for Traveling With a Toddler

Cole has been on a airplane 6 times in his short 14 months of life. The first time to Columbus, Ohio, the second to Dublin, Ireland, and the third to Kansas City, Missouri. The first flight was fairly easy. He was only 3 months old and the flight was nice and short. He slept for most of it.

Flying to Columbus

A month later we hopped on a plane to Ireland. That flight ended up not being too horrible either. Air Lingus has bassinets built into the aircraft, which was a God send on our 7 hour red eye flight.

Traveling with a 14 month old is MUCH different than a 4 month old. Here are a few suggestions that I found made the trip much more bearable:

BUY A SEAT!!
We made the mistake of not purchasing Cole a seat on our flight. You can legally have a "lap child" until the age of 2. Southwest allowed us to take the carseat on on the way out because the flight was not full. We had to hold him on the way back. In the carseat your child understands that they cannot get out (just like in the car). On your lap your child thinks they can get down at play (just like at home). Cole falls asleep in his carseat easily, but had a much harder time falling asleep in my lap. When he did, I couldn't move and ended up with a very sore butt!

Fly during naptime
I've read tips before that say not to let your child sleep on the way to airport. This is terrible advice in my opinion. The last thing you want to do is fly with an overtired child, who is way off his/her normal schedule. Try to schedule a flight at a time while naptime is in the air and let your child sleep in the carseat.

Gate check your stroller
On most airlines baby items either don't count as checked luggage or two items count as one. If you choose to gate check something, it doesn't count at all. Keep your baby in the stroller through the airport and leave it at the gate. The flight attendants will have it waiting there for you when you arrive at your destination.

Pre-board
Different airlines have different policies on this, but most allow parents with kids under 4 to pre-board. Do it! Or if you don't want your child to have to sit for any longer than necessary, have your husband (or anyone else you are traveling with) pre-board and save two seats. This way you can get the seats that are most convenient for you and your baby (whether it be an aisle seat, so they can stretch or a seat near the restroom for older toddlers).

Take toys
Preferable ones that don't make a ton of noise. The people around you may not appreciate hearing your toddler's animal train play the same songs over and over quite as much as you do!

Take snacks
Fill your carry-on diaper bag with tons of snacks. When Cole got antsy, he got a snack. He was thrilled!

Take sippy cups and buy drinks after security
You can take food through security, but you can't take drinks. So pack some sippys in your bag and buy the drinks once you get through security. If you run out you can always ask the flight attendants for something (provided it's not one of those "passengers get nothing airlines")

See if your hotel has cribs
Most do. In my experience, most will give you a pack n' play free of charge. This will prevent you from having to check and haul around another piece of luggage. Remember to bring your own pnp sheets!!

Use an overnight diaper
With all the extra liquid Cole was consuming, he peed through his diaper in no time flat. If your flight is a few hours, use an overnight diaper and then you won't have to worry about changing your baby during the flight (unless there is a poop, of course).

Relax!

Try not to stress out. Traveling can be stressful, but try not to let your child see you freak. They will feed off of you, so stay positive and relaxed.Flying to Kansas City!

Happy Traveling!