7 Months

I'm stealing borrowing an idea from my friend Natalie, and in honor of Cole's 7th month, I'm posting 7 little tidbits about him.

1. Cole loves pulling himself up into a standing position while holding onto my hands.  He gets the biggest open mouth grin when he's fully upright, and has  been clapping (usually after some prompting) once up.

2. He's still going through a rough sleep patch. ever since those teeth came in.  Over the last few weeks we've been putting him to bed with a pacifier, and he's finally able to get it back in on his own more.  But we still have to go in at least 1-2 times to assist each night. And then some days (like this morning) he's decides that wake-up time should be at 5:30 a.m.

3. Cole continues to enjoy trying new solids, and Mum Mums, puffs and Cheerios seem to be his favorites (surprise, surprise).

4. He may be learning the sign for "more".  We showed him a few times, and then within a few days, he'd have food on tray that he either couldn't get to, or wasn't enough of the item that he wanted, and he'd do something that looked like a clap.  After giving him more, he stopped clapping...so we're thinking that's what he may be saying!

5. Has the absolute best laugh ever - it's kind of a breath-y cackle.  A guaranteed way to hear it is to do lots of kisses and raspberries on his neck, just below his ears.

6. Cole's (finally) been spitting up less and less - thank GOODNESS!

7. Coley's been babbling more and is often saying what sounds like "da-da-da-da".

We all just love this kiddo more every day - he brings so much happiness, and so many smiles to our family.

Happy

Here are a few things that make me extra happy lately:

This happy, bouncey baby.



The Reeders recently loaned us Hadley's jumper and Cole absolutely loves it.  He has such a blast for long periods of time bouncing around and babbling.  We only ever had the Exersaucer with J, but now I'm wishing we'd invested in one of these bad boys earlier so both boys could have enjoyed it.

Games.

J has been pretty into board games and puzzles lately, and continues to like apps like Moose Juice and Moose Math.  It's so fun to see him learning, and he's doing much better about not getting upset if he doesn't win a game. Corey recently ordered Robot Turtles, which is a fun game that helps teach kids the fundamentals of programming.

Coffee.
After several months of amazing sleep, Cole is going through a rough patch ever since he started teething a few weeks back.  He's been waking up several times throughout the night, though settles down quickly if we quickly pop in his pacifier (something he didn't need overnight much before these chompers appeared).  But, we're still waking up to do this, and it's exhausting.  The good news is that he's able to put his pacifier in by himself every once in awhile in the car, so I'm hoping that he starts to do this with more accuracy soon, which will mean more sleep for us, if he continues to need it at night.

Summer.
We've had an amazing summer and I've loved every second of the sun and warmth it's brought.  It's allowed for lots of outdoor time...from trips to the park and farm, to sun bathing while the boys nap, to cool morning runs, to eating dinner outside (both at home and Agave), and the list goes on.

Yakima.

We headed east over the weekend to spend time in Yakima with my parents and grandma. It'd been a year since I'd been, and two years since Corey had been, so we were looking forward to it.  Not only does it give my parents and grandma lots of time to spend with boys, it's usually even warmer there than here, and it's always so clam and relaxing - no traffic or crowds.  We were even able to sneak away to see a movie, and we all enjoyed a meal at El Porton (our favorite Mexican restaurant there). And J got to "help" grandpa in the yard (i.e. run around with the hose, spraying plants, trees and grandpa).

Our Frozen-loving toddler.

 



Forget Dora.  It's safe to say that Jackson is a Frozen addict.  He watches his favorite parts of the movie nearly every day (on the bright side, it takes just enough time for me to make dinner), and when he's not watching it, we're likely listening and singing along to the soundtrack.  I've also caught him leaping and bounding around the house and when asked, he said he was "running like Elsa". (Oh my...)

Surprises.
Corey came home with a surprise for me one day last week - a new style of one of my favorite pairs of jeans!  I don't buy myself jeans frequently partially due to cost, but also due to not liking to try them on (it always takes so many tries to find the right pair).  But, he knew that I liked a pair of Paige jeans I bought a few months ago, and decided to surprise me a new style that came out.  He's always so resourceful - sneakily checking my sizes so that he's prepared when the right item comes along. And he knows me better than I know myself sometime - always picking out things that I like, and that fit properly. These jeans are dark and perfect for work, but are stretchy and oh so comfy.  A win win!



Life Lately

Lots going on around here lately, and here's a quick update of it all, as seen through photos from my phone.

Even constipation didn't keep Cole from loving play time.  (The last two weeks started with Cole experiencing some major constipation, requiring an early pick-up from school one day and a doctor's appointment another day.  But the poop issues didn't end there.  Roxy pooped in the house several times out of the blue (ugh!), and then the weekend ended with Jackson having diarrhea. Poor kiddos and bad doggie!)

I took last Friday off, for another Jackson/Mommy day.  It started with a trip to Starbucks, where he thoroughly enjoyed his bagel and cream cheese, with raisins from my oatmeal on top.

Then we hit up a park in Klahanie that we hadn't been to, where Jackson showed up his swinging skills. Thanks to the swings outside his current class at school, he's learned to get and keep himself going on the swings.

For our main event, he'd decided he wanted to visit a farm again, so we headed to Fox Hollow Farm and my goodness, what a difference a year makes. Last summer, the train scared him, he wasn't super interested in petting the animals and he didn't want anything to do with the inflatable toys.  This year though, he almost started crying when, after petting the bunnies, goats and pigs, the ducks kept running away, not wanting him to pet them.  He enjoyed the train, and loved the inflatable toys and went down the slide many many times after asking me to go with him the first time.  (When you're sitting at the top, it's even higher than it looks - I was impressed with out brave he was.)

We wrapped up our farm visit with a pony ride on April the pony, and headed to Red Robin for some mac & cheese, oranges and milk (his go to meal there).

Cole had a few rough nights in a row last week, requiring frequent trips into his room. (Luckily for all of us, he would go right back to sleep after we gave him his pacifier.) We finally realized on Saturday morning that it was likely because he had his first tooth (bottom front right)!  He's been drooling for months, and has always loved chewing on his hands, toys or anything that ends up near his mouth, so we hadn't put two and two together prior, especially since at his 6 month check-up the week before, the doctor felt around and said he didn't think his teeth were coming anytime soon.  (Jackson didn't get his first tooth until nearly 8 months, so we also still figured we had some time.)  To top it off, his bottom front left tooth is coming in as well.  Poor kiddo!

We love seeing Cole sitting up and playing, and I know he enjoys this newer vantage point as well.

Cole's tried more and more solids in the past few weeks, and seems to really enjoy feeding himself and so far (knock on wood) has seemed to like everything he's tried, including vegetables (green beans, peas, carrots, lentils), tofu, pancakes, mashed potatoes, prunes (thank goodness, since they're helpig with the constipation!), and the list goes on.  After he's (un)successfully managed to eat (or drop on the floor) everything in front of him he'll fuss until we give him more food.  I had forgotten what a big mess a baby can make when they're learning to eat though!  I swear more ends up on the ground than in his mouth, but Roxy doesn't seem to mind.  

Jackson and Romi, his friend from school, had a play date at one of his favorite parks in Issaquah last weekend. They had a blast playing on all the toys and then running around the grass together, and hugging trees (literally).  Even though we were there close to an hour and a half, they were not ready to go home when us moms decided it was time to get them out of the sun/heat.  It was so cute to see them enjoying each other's company so much.

Cole loves reading/books. He gets such a cute smile when I read to him before bed (his favorite seem to be a few $1 Sesame Street books I bought at Target a few years ago) - he looks at each page quietly and patiently in awe. He also enjoyed some new books (to him) with Daddy last weekend.  This is Cole's look of irritation for interrupting them.

That's it for now. We're headed to Yakima this weekend for the first time in almost a year, so I'm sure I'll have lots more pictures and stories to post soon.

Seafair 2014

With the Blue Angels expected back at Seafair this year, I thought it would be fun to take Jackson somewhere where he could enjoy their show for the first time.  Plus, I hadn't ever really see their show up close (just from a distance in places I've lived or from my office), and really wanted to check them out.  I did some research and decided that the Park on the Lid on Mercer Island would allow us a good view, while keeping us fairly close to home, and would provide Jackson a place to play before/during/after the show.

So, figuring it would be crowded, we decided to get there around 12 p.m., which was almost two hours before the show started, allowing time for a picnic lunch and for the playground.  While we made it with enough time for both of these activities, we actually sat on I-90 trying to get off the freeway for almost an hour - apparently everyone else on the Eastside had the same idea as us or they were trying to get over the bridge before it closed around 12.  Once we finally made it off the freeway, I started looking for parking and nearly took my friend Jennifer up on an offer to park at her parents house nearby.  But, a nice elderly lady happened to be in her driveway just a few blocks from the park when we were driving by and told us to park in her driveway.  So off we headed to the park.  Surprisingly it wasn't nearly as crowded there as I was expecting, considering the traffic and parking situation...but I think everyone was walking out to the I-90 bridge to watch instead.

There were some planes performing while we ate and Jackson played, and while he attempted to (unsuccessfully) use an outhouse for the first time, which made for great entertainment while we waited for the big show.  Once the Blue Angels started, Jackson was very impressed with them - he'd never seen anything like them.  We'd tried to describe them to him before the show, but without having any frame of reference, all he did was ask if he could ride in one (sorry, not that kind of plane, bud).  He wasn't scared like I thought he might be, but did jump once when they flew up from behind us (very loudly, and out of nowhere) at one point.

By the time they were about done, I think the heat and missing his nap was starting to get to him, as when we were playing on the playground one last time before we headed out, he started to get pretty fussy, literally bawling while at the top of the slide because he wasn't happy with where I was standing to catch him (even though he'd told me to stand right there).  Once his tantrums were over, we headed back to the car where he promptly fell asleep, though he says that's not true.

Meltdowns aside, I think he enjoyed the experience and I'm looking forward to future Seafairs that we can enjoy as a family.

No big deal - just documenting this momentous occasion, where he asked to have some broccoli (what?!)

Seafair selfie!

J being silly and asking me to take his pic

My cutie Seafair date

"Mommy, it's too loud!"

"I didn't fall asleep..."