We Love You Grammy and Gma Tracy

Dear Grammy Volk and G-Ma Tracy,
Cole wanted to wish you both a very Happy Mother's Day. He loves you both very much and he even threw you a little kiss in the video. :)



Also, here is another video we took at lunch today that is just plain cute! Hope you all enjoy the giggles and winking as much as we do. Ok, he didn't really wink, but he's trying!

Come on Cole...Perform for us!

Here are some fun videos from the last couple days. He's getting pretty good with his words and well, performing for us!! :)
By the way...please don't pay attention to the totally inappropriate gesture Nick gave me while I'm reprimanding him. Sigh.....

My 1st...2nd Mother's day gift....with me?

It's funny how when you become a mother, your very first Mother's Day is such a special day and weird at the same time to be celebrating something that you've never celebrated before. It is quite special to be called a....Mother.
That being said, I received my first 2nd Mother's Day gifts today. The roses were sent to my school today from "Cole". It's so funny because 3 other women in my department had nice flowers sitting on their desks and I was sort of bumming that I didn't have any. Next thing I know, here come my flowers! Thanks Cole! :)
Cole also potted a plant for me today (haha) at Andy and Teresa's. They had all the kids give their mommies a flower and signed cards.

Here is Cole with the flowers he got me along with him holding the card he signed

Here is a better look at the inside....ha! Teresa said he didn't want to get his hands dirty with the crayons, so he just made a quick scribble.

Here is the little plant he put together for me at Andy and Teresa's. Oh, and yes I have a picture in the background that isn't really Cole....yes I'm lazy and haven't put a picture in it yet, don't judge me! :)

Here are some other random pictures from last weekend.
We met up with Nick's family at Village Burger Bar. It was so funny because their was a kid that kept going outside and was getting crazy with his dance moves! Hilarious! Cole got the biggest kick out of him and kept wanting to go over to the door to watch him.

How cute is this!?! Granddad and Cole being cool....

Ahhhhh!!! Cooool dudes!!!

Granddad likes to make Aunt Jamima hats out of the napkins whenever we go out to dinner. He put it on Cole but it made him look like a girl so we took it off. So, Cole decided to put them on Granddad and Gma Tracy.

Silly Kid!!

15 Month Appointment

Today I took Cole to his 15 month well-check. He is pretty much right on track with everything and Dr. Bain is very pleased with his accomplishments. When we were sitting in the room talking, Cole was just sitting on my lap being such a good boy and Dr. Bain says, "is he always this good and cooperative?". Ha! Well, he is pretty good most of the time but can also be a little maniac at times. He totally takes after Nick in the fact that they are both very observant people who like to just sit back and watch and take everything in. Cole...and Nick don't have to be the life of the party or the loudest ones, they just like to watch.
He did get one shot (and didn't even cry!) but shouldn't be due to get another one for a long time. Because of his reaction to eggs, we for sure will hold off on the MMR for a few more years or even till he goes to kindergarten...which I wanted to do anyway. He also won't get the flu shot because of the egg allergy. I didn't plan on giving him a flu shot anyway, but that's crazy to me that eggs and some vaccines are related! She said that in about 6 months we can try the egg again and see if he has a reaction. Usually they grow out of it but sometimes it just takes longer.

Here are his stats...and yes he's still a big dude!!!!
Weight: 27.5lbs - 82%
Height: 32.5 inches - 83%
Head: 19.5 inches - 96% - I keep asking the doctor if it's ok that his head is this big (haha) and she said absolutely since the rest of his body is so big. :)

Overall....great appointment and we couldn't be happier.

15 Months!

Cole is 15 Months...well, 3 days ago!!

I haven't really done much of an update on him lately so here are a few new things that he's been up to.

• Some words that he is now saying are: Mama, dada, hi, die :), peek-a-boo, uh oh, duck,
• He blows kisses along with giving regular kisses...AND, they are closed-mouth kisses :)
• He puts his finger to his mouth and says, "Shhhhh", usually when the puppies start barking
• He is wearing size 4 diaper, 5 night diaper
• Wearing 24 month clothes. I actually just bought him 2T shorts today...sheesh!
• I'm guessing he weighs about 28lbs, he goes for his 15 month appointment on Tuesday so I'll find out for sure then
  
• He has turned into the BEST napper and sleeper! The first year of his life I never would have guessed that but he is so good now! I have never seen a kid that loves his bed as much as him. He definitely lets us know when he wants to go to bed and will just talk and play in his bed for the longest time. If he ever wakes up crying we know there is something wrong!
  
• He is almost transitioned into 1 nap a day. He usually goes down around 12:30 and will sleep for a good 2-3 hours.
  
• He has really gotten attached to his "lovey"...you know those little stuffed animal with the blanket attached? Loves them! However, we have to wash them quite often because he likes to suck on the nose and arms of the bear and they tend to turn brown. :)
• He also likes to have about 5 stuffed animals and tons of blankets in his bed with him
• He actually had his first experience with ice cream today....wasn't too impressed. He must get that from his mommy. I had a couple bites and just couldn't do it, had to give the rest to Nick....ick! I know most of you women out there are thinking I'm CRAZY!
  
• He loves to read his books. He will go in his room, pull all the books off his shelf and read all of them.
  
• He has learned to "wink" at people...especially cute girls. Today we were out for lunch with Ryan, Casey and Lexie and all of a sudden Casey says, "Is Cole winking at me?"....haha!!! I will wink at him a lot and I guess he has picked up on that.
  
• His favorite toy is his giant school bus. He loves getting in there because it's like a tent and we play peek-a-boo in there.
  
• He has been such a cuddler lately. He loves to tackle you if you are on the floor and then gives the biggest hugs.
  
• He also loves to give Roxy hugs. He would love to give Benson hugs but Benson runs away before Cole can catch him

• He has gotten real good at saying "no-no" to us...ha!
  
• He truly is the sweetest boy and we are amazed at the new stuff he does and amazed at how blessed we are to have the best son. :) We love you Cole!

Here is a cute video of Cole getting a big kick out of falling off the couch. Silly kid! Oh, and sorry if you are blinded by my pastey white legs! :)

Please don't turn us into CPS!!

Nick was in Arkansas this past weekend doing some fishing with our friend CBell, so Cole and I got to hang out just the two of us. We really had so much fun as he's at the stage where he wants to just get down on the ground and roll around and wrestle. Saturday mid morning we went to the park and I walked around the park for almost an hour while he took a little nap, then when he woke up he played on the swings, slides, etc.
Speaking of the park, I swear I saw the most random, funny things this weekend, two of them happened at the park while we were there. First, I was walking around the park and a gentleman (who looked like a pretty serious runner) ran past me and he was not wearing any shoes. Thought that was interesting. Then, there was another mom there with her 3 boys and the youngest (probably 2) was running and then fell face first in a mud puddle. So, this poor mom is trying to get her kids in the car and in the middle of doing that and loading toys, the little boy who is covered in mud decides to strip naked right there in the middle of the park! Yep, totally stark naked! ha!! Then, yesterday when I was driving down a pretty major street, I saw an older gentleman doing pushups on the side of the road...hmmmmm

Anyway, here are a couple pictures of Cole on Saturday while eating breakfast
"Mom...you are soooo funny!"

"Look, I can stick mine out too!"

Just this weekend, Cole started saying "No No". It was pretty funny because I was telling Cole "no no, get off the fireplace" then he repeated me. It's funny now, but probably won't be in a few weeks when he's saying it all the time. Also, Cole just started giving kisses, open-mouth kisses, but they still are so sweet!!

Saturday evening Blake and Emily had their crawfish boil so Cole and I went over there for awhile. It was great seeing everyone and catching up with friends I hadn't seen in forever. Cole had a lot of fun and was so obsessed with opening and closing doors.

Thanks Granddad for helping me reach the doorknob!

The rest of the evening, Cole was entertained by the dog cage. This is why I'm hoping someone doesn't call CPS on us...haha! He thought it was so funny, mostly because he could open and close the door. He would climb in and out, about a thousand times. :)

Even though Cole and I enjoyed our mommy-son time, we sure missed dad and were glad to have him home!
Some other exciting news....I'm about 92.5% sure that I will be able to teach only part-time next year. They were having to make some changes to our business department at my school and I asked about possibly only working half the day and they seemed to really like that idea, so hopefully I will find out for sure in a week or so. I'm so excited about that, but now I'm really starting to stress about childcare. Our current sitter is THE BEST and can't imagine using someone else. They are a retired couple who do it in their home and are so good and Cole absolutely loves it there....he even fusses when I have to bring him home because he loves his friends there. They are pretty much like another set of grandparents to Cole. However, they have a loooong waiting list and they obviously want full-time kids vs. part-time. I'm trying to think of other options....Mother's Day Out programs, other in-home sitters, but I just get so sad thinking that he won't be with Any and Theresa because we are all so comfortable there. Ugh...as excited as I am to only work part time, I get sad for Cole that he won't be with them. Maybe he can go once a week to catch up, who knows. Andy and Theresa just fell in our laps perfectly when I went back to work and we couldn't ask for any better, so not knowing what's going to happen next Fall is driving me crazy!!!
Well....off to do my P90X.....I'm totally LOVING this workout program! :)

Backyard

Before we had Cole, I think it would be safe to say that our backyard officially belonged to the dogs. We....I mean Nick (hehe) wasn't to good about picking up dog poo because we weren't playing in the yard enough for it to bother us. Now that Cole is at that age where he wants to be outside ALL the time, I've been on Nick about getting our grass/lawn in better shape so I don't have to worry about him trying to eat dog poo when we are out there.
Our yard has gotten much better and I even scooped up a bunch of poo this afternoon while Cole played outside.


Cole was so funny because he played this game of....open the back door, run out to the lawn, squeal, point, stagger around like a drunk man, then run back to the door, walk inside and close the door. I think we must have done that about 20 times. It's funny what excites toddlers!

Pee-a-boo!!!

Here is a video showing you how he would go back and forth from the house to the yard, and do that over and over...and over :)
Oh, and the random music and talking in the background is our neighbor's house getting built :) I love having those workers be able to see everything I'm doing in my backyard while they are bricking that house......sigh :)



Tonight after I put Cole to bed, I looked on the video monitor and wondered how on earth he was comfortable. So, I went in there and obviously took some pictures :)
He had his monkey underneath him and his head mashed into the corner. Cole honey, you don't fit in your bed that way. :)

Sad the weekend is over!

My parents and Ross left early this morning to head back home to Colorado. I hate saying good-byes and only getting to see them every couple months! I wish we could see them more often...but we sure had a great visit while they were here. My dad came into town last Thursday and we spent the weekend shopping, doing yard work and eating lots of yummy food....oh and being entertained by the new monkey in our house :) Cole never fails to entertain and his new trick is to climb on everything. It's a good thing he didn't figure out how to do this a few months ago when we'd have the fire place going, but he LOVES to climb on the fireplace. This is usually how it happens.....

"Cole....no no"

"Cole, nooo...put your leg down, get down!"

All the while, he's looking at us, knowing he's doing something wrong :)

"Cole!!! Get down.....no no!!!"

Eh, what do you do?...boys will be boys and climb on everything, just as long as he doesn't crack his head on the brick. :)

He's also started to climb on the couches, these are a little harder though b/c they are a little slippery.

Yep...more climbing on the fireplace....ugh!

My mom had a few things on the agenda while she was in town. She needed to trim my hair, Cole's hair and also Ross' hair. I think this was about haircut #5 or 6 or Cole, but this time I really didn't want a lot trimmed off, just some of his bangs. I absolutely LOVE his curls and didn't want them to be cut off. My dad is probably horrified with how long his hair is and that it's hanging over his ears, but I just wanted to keep his curls a bit longer. So he basically got a bang trim :)

It's always a challenge to keep a 15 month old still, especially while trimming near the eyes, so my mom always jokes that we should give him a piece of licorice because when she was little, that's what she gave her poodle to chew on when she would give her haircuts, ha! We didn't have any, so we gave him a biter biscuit and I should have known that it was going to be a complete mess, but oh well.

Yummy, see the nasty biscuit on his belly, dripping down??

Looking good! :)

My mom and dad really had a fun time playing with Cole. My dad especially couldn't believe how big he had gotten. They got a big kick out of all the new things he's doing. Oh gosh, I was so excited because he did a few new tricks this week while they were there and we are so excited for them!!! I think it was Wednesday morning, Cole blew me a kiss....ahhhh, way to warm a momma's heart!!! Then, one time the dogs started barking and he put his finger up to his mouth and said "shhhhh". I have no idea where he got that from, but it is hysterical! He kept doing it the rest of the weekend. Plus, he started climbing much better, so luckily my family got to experience all these new things he's doing.

Here is my dad giving Cole his bedtime bottle

Uncle Ross:

Ross has always been so good with Cole, even when he was itty bitty, but this week for sure, Cole got super attached to Ross! It is so cute because Ross would be trying to work out to his P90X and Cole kept going up to him with his arms in the air wanting Ross to hold him. So cute! Then, whenever I wouldn't give him what he wanted, he would run to Uncle Ross and want Ross to hold him. PLUS...Cole LOVED playing with his computer.

Ross put this bandana on Cole and we all thought it was pretty funny...cool dude!

And Cole having some sweet Uncle time at the end of the night....although, Ross did refuse to do any diaper changes. What's THAT about!?! :)

We sure had a great time, and I appreciate all the help with yard work, cleaning, cooking...we will miss you guys!!!

Babysitting, family and Jovi

Friday night, Nick and I babysat Lexie while Casey went to a Women's retreat. Cole always loves playing with Lexie, even though she is 3.5. Lexie and Cole did manage to pull out ALL the toys from the toy chest. It was just so fun watching Cole follow Lexie around and giggle at everything she did. However, knowing my mom and brother were coming into town early the next morning, I didn't get a lot of cleaning done with the kiddos playing...probably b/c Lexie kept wanting me to get in the big school bus with them and they both thought that was the funniest thing. :) Sweet kids :)

Saturday morning Ross and my mom flew into town and will be here for over a week. It sure is nice having them around, and I think they are having fun watching Cole while I'm at school. Saturday night we wanted to try out a new sushi restaurant in Frisco Square. After dinner we let Cole play around the fountain and just run around to burn some energy.

He found a couple girlfriends along the way.....twins! :) ha!

Uncle Ross and Grammy walking around with Cole...it was pretty windy if you can't tell by Cole's crazy hair!

Getting ready to jump in

Starting to wonder about this gravel stuff....can I put it in my mouth???

Ahhhh...more sand and gravel! Yeah, typical boy....

Mom and Cole....he was not as excited as I was obviously :)

Sunday night was our Bon Jovi concert! We had been looking forward to this for a long time and were so excited! Tracy outdid herself with the seats she got us too! When the 4 of us got to our seats, we couldn't believe how close we were. This picture below shows about how close we were.

Picture of Jon from the screen...nice close-up!

Jon singing "Bed of Roses"....my fav!!!

Jon and Richie finishing up the concert with "Wanted Dead or Alive"

The bad at the end of the concert...sorry for the random hand at the bottom of the picture :)

Looking forward to my dad getting here on Thursday, he'll be so excited to see Cole! It really has been great having the family here, my mom goes crazy with all her cooking and cleaning. Came home to a spotless fridge yesterday and laundry done. She's probably horrified with the condition of our house..ha! My brother Ross is going to go to school with me for a little while one day, he wants to see my school and probably just get out of the house for awhile. Unfortunately (well, not for me) my classes are super good this semester and are so quiet, so Ross might be a little bit bored. Oh well, maybe he'll learn a few things in Access as that's what I'm teaching right now.