Happy Valentines!

Once again, I have no pictures to post. It's lame, I know. I just wanted to write down what a fabulous Valentines day we had (since I no longer am up to par with my regular journal keeping...) :)

Our Valentines started early - Tyler brought me beautiful red roses on Thursday. (He claims he was in trouble last Mother's Day when he got me flowers the night before we left for Lake Powell I took them to my mom to enjoy while we were gone and he kept them 'till they were dead and gave them back to me when we got home. :) I guess he was in trouble). This time we've thuroughly enjoyed them. They smell soooo good!

Friday night we went to dinner as a family and had the most fabulous hamburgers at Red Robin. We got a bleu cheese burger and a jamaican chicken sandwich and switched half way. Cole loved the fries and the balloon and the crayons - we had to feed him for real when we got home - he was too excited at the restaurant to eat for real. Did I mention how much I LOVE not having to do dishes? After dinner we looked around at the bike shop - Coleman was, once again, thrilled! He LOVES bikes, but refuses to ride a trike.

On Saturday we went to the climbing gym with friends and spent the whole day. We went out to lunch and climbed and climbed. Cole loved the gym too and made friends with eveyone there. He especially loved the brush they have to clean the holds. I wish I had a picture of him climbing the wall - he's going to be a good climber like his dad! :)

Sunday we went to church and made it through the day. After church, Joe and Janell and a new friend, Levi, came over for dinner and games. Cole was once again in heaven having friends around!

We partied a lot for one holiday - we even watched movies at night and had ice cream (I think I might have to call it "ice keamy" for the rest of my life because it's so cute when Cole says it. We do have a movie of that, but it unfortunateley won't upload to Blogger :(.

It was a great holiday. Poor Tyler will be getting his present (a book) late because it got deleted from the Amazon order - here I thought I was being all sneaky and adding it to an order of school books... Anyway, Valentines was great!

Thanks Grandmas and Grandpas for the loveley Valentines. Cole has enjoyed the cards, cookies and candy. Tyler and I have enjoyed them too, but there's just something about kids and the excitement of it all! :) I think Cole's favorite words are kokat (chocolate) and ice keamy. :)

Fun Fun Fun and Funny Stories!

So, we've been busy lateley. Cole has been playing hard and learning lots! He knows what he wants and he knows how to tell us about it. :) Here are some pictures of some of the fun things we've done lateley and some of the funny things that have happened.

I'm cute, loud, hillarious, and learning LOTS!
17 months old today!

So, I've been feeling a lack of creative outlet in my life. Consequently my family has eaten all sorts of strange made-up recipes - some work and some don't. I figured I should channel my creative energies into something I knew I was a little better at...

Cole has been learning colors and shapes and is really excited about it. He loves to watch Baby Einstein to see the animals and the different colors and shapes in the puzzles and toys. I'm trying to help us watch less TV and do more activities, so I came up with making a flannel board of shapes for him to play with and learn from. (I also had in mind something we could take to church that would keep him busy for a few minutes;)). I worked really hard making the shapes all the same general size. I even broke out a compass my dad gave me and my rusty geometry memories and made most of the shapes circumscribed in the same size circle. (I know, I'm weird.) It was fun and a lot of work. I couldn't stop with just shapes, so I made a car and a truck, a train, an airplane and a helicopter (Cole's favirite things to point out as we drive). Then I made some fruit shapes because he's so crazy about fruit (and there are pictures of fruit on the Baby Einstein video...) Anyway, long story short, I had a lot of fun and was really excited to make something for Cole. I gave the shapes to him yesterday to keep him busy while I worked on dinner and it worked for about 5 minutes... I was a little discouraged, but 'ya know. He's 17 months old - I should have expected that. This morning though when he woke up he ran into the living room yelling "shapes, shapes, shapes!" I know this sounds dumb, but it made me feel special that I'd made something he liked enough to scream about it. :) He played with them off and on throughout the day and this afternoon after play group he named every one of the shapes without help. He knows some of the colors too and can name all the fruit and the things that go. :) What a smart little guy!

We went to play group at our friend Ryan's house today. It was so fun! Ryan shared all his toys and we had fun snacks! There were a lot of new friends to meet too! Thanks Lisa for having us all over! We're looking forward to seeing everyone again next week.

Cole is learning to wash himself. Every time he takes a bath or a shower he washes his own tummy and neck (the theory is to wash his hands really well). Now he's learning to wash his hair. We think he never did it before because for a long time he couldn't reach the top of his head.

This morning before we went to our play group, Cole and I had to go outside. We've been cooped up in the house for such a long time that it felt good just to play. He loves our playground (ghetto though it may be). He loves the slide and to climb through the tube to the other side. Unfortuanteley this time we found a new hole in our tube - right next to the grafitti. I guess we'll have to find a new playground, but for today, he was happy as could be! :)

We got an early Valentines package in the mail from my mom and dad. Cole opened each part a piece at a time and was in heaven! He was most distracted by the peanut butter cookies (even after eating Hershey's kisses and M&Ms). Here he is eating the most important part, the chocolate on top.

We also got an early Valentines package from Tyler's mom and dad. (We're so lucky our parents keep us in cookies and candy and all the fun stuff!) I wish we had pictures. Cole's favorite part was the packing peanuts which we spent a lot of time tonight and probably will again tomorrow loading into his dump truck then dumping them out.

THANKS GRANDMAS AND GRANDPAS! WE LOVE YOU TOO!

HAPPY VALENTINES!

Cole and Tyler LOVE to wrestle! After dinner they decided to go at it in the living room. We think Cole drank too much milk and Tyler turned it into a milk shake. Poor Cole was caught in the act of sharing his milkshake with Dad's face... It was soooooo gross, but so funny. Poor little guy! He got over it fast because he got to take a bath with Dad (one on his most favorite things)! They both cleaned up pretty well. :)

Indoor Activities :)

Its' been chilly here (for California) and really rainy! We, along with the rest of the state of CA have been pasing a cold around for a couple weeks. Our apartment complex turns into a big puddle when it rains, which makes it hard to play, even though Cole loves it! Too bad he was sick for most of it and his mean mom wouldn't let him play outside in the freezing puddles. We've had to find fun inside stuff to do. Here are a few pictures of Cole's new favorite indoor passtimes. :)

we love to play with our friends!
Mackenna and Brittney came over the other day to play. It was fun to hang out with them. Cole and Mackenna get along great! I'm glad they like playing together! Did I mention BUBBLES are a new favorite buzz word around here too? Don't watch, Mom. We sometimes do them in the house...

these blocks are a hit!!
My mom made Coleman these yarn blocks for christmas. They're made from that plastic weavy stuff (i'm sure that's the technical term for it) and yarn and they have awesome bells inside. He absoluteley loves them! Lateley he's been playing with them more and more. He's building taller towers and learning to say the colors of the blocks (most of the time he thinks they're green or purple) :). His other favorite thing to do with his blocks is to pretend they're a train. He lines them up on the floor and pushes them along saying "choo choo!" It's about the cutest thing I've ever seen!

cole found the pots and pans under the oven!
I ran in the other room for a second to grab something while making dinner the other night. When I came back Cole was sitting in the drawer and the pans were flying. :) I ran back into our bedroom to get the camera, but missed the best shot. He'd made his way out of the drawer, but was still enjoying himself with the pots (they make a great sound when you bang them on our linoleum).

playing with his tube of zoo animals
This was a great 40% off buy at Michael's the other day. Cole can say all the animal names and make a lot of the sounds. He LOVES to dump them out and them put them back into the tube. My favorites are the elephant sound (you can see him spitting to make it in the picture above) and the gorilla sound.

Cole, Cole, Cole

It’s becoming obvious to me that I need to take more pictures. Ty and I figured out a cool way to add pictures as a background (sortof) to our blog, but now I’m realizing that I don’t have anything to post. Yesterday I did have the camera out, but I was too slow to catch Cole sitting in the drawer under the oven playing with the pots and pans. :) I’ll have to be quick to the draw to catch this guy. He’s a fast mover and he’s on to something else in seconds.

I guess I can tell about the pictures we posted anyway. :) - sorry, another post without pictures...

The olive thing is old – ovov is a new favorite word and a new favorite food.

Ty and Cole both got haircuts! I think they’re both pretty handsome! (I got a haircut too, but you don’t want to see – I don’t recommend our local Fantastic Sams…)

Cole LOVES Oreos! He will do just about anything for an Oreo. This picture of him is him saying AND signing more please!

We’ve started a playgroup. Cole LOVES to play with Clara, Mackenna and our new friend, Ryan! He also loves to push anything with wheels! This day worked out great!

Blueberries are another new favorite food. They’re even better than Oreos. Our grocery store had them on sale last week for a great price so we got some. Tyler loves them, but guess who ate most of them? COLE! Dad got a few for lunch one day and I made muffins for breakfast once, but the other 2 cups were devoured by the little guy. He calls them b’berries. We finally had to start giving him the frozen ones from Costco because he kept wanting more. He picks through the raspberries and loganberries and eats all the blueberries first. Messy, but oh so fun! We’re glad he likes some healthy food. :)

Cole LOVES to ride his airplane and mow the “lawn.” He especially loves to play with them right before bed. So much for stories, he’s got toys! We have to read during the day, because when Dad’s home, Cole wants to show him all the neat things he knows how to do. :)

Oh the CAM! Cole surprised us the other day at Joshua Tree when he knew the names of many of the items on Tyler’s climbing rack. Ty pulled it out and Cole immediately and emphatically yelled CAM! Since we’ve been home from our mini trip, the climbing gear has been living in the living room (does that shock anyone?). I finally decided to put it away a few days ago, but Cole was quick to protest. He had to keep out one of Dad’s cams. He carried it around for a long time. I think it makes Tyler’s heart happy to know that one day he’ll have a permanent climbing buddy. Cole still has to gain another 10 lbs before the first child sized harness will fit him. (We’re safe probably ‘till next year, then I can start worrying about both our boys.)

Cole is in love with his bath time again. After a few short sabbaticals from bathing (yuck) he is once again loving the water – sometimes more than once a day. He likes to make big splashes and pour water from his stacking cups. He calls them sips. He likes to wash my feet (in or out of the tub). He also really likes soap. Thanks Grandmas for introcuding us to fluffy bath soap! He can wash his own hands, tummy and neck. He tries for hair sometimes too.

The hair picture is a pre-haircut, after sticky dinner do. Who needs hair gel – hot dogs, cheese, yogurt, they all work just fine – and they’re scented. :)

It's A...

We finally had an appointment to have an ultrasound! I'm almost 24 weeks pregnant and the suspense has been killing me!! I've been thinking we would have another boy, but have been stumped on exactly what names to choose. I could only think of girl names - kinda like when we had Coleman I only liked boy names. We did finally come up with a few of each. :)

We've really been looking forward to seeing our baby, so we were both really excited today! When we had our first ultrasound with Coleman Tyler and I both went and we watched for 45 min - 1 hr while the tech measured him and took many many pictures! We both got to watch and she explained everything she was looking at. By the end we were able to recognize all of him and I felt like I knew what he looked like. It was a really neat experience! I was able to show people afterwards his arms and legs, hands, head, etc. in the funny pictures they gave us. Today, however, we had a less than fabulous experience at Pomona Valley Hospital here. They made Tyler wait outside in the hall while they measured the baby and took pictures of everything. The tech kept the monitor just out of my sight - explaining the whole annoying scenario with some weird policy stating that ultrasound is a "highly sophisticated, technically demanding procedure." I'm not sure what that has to do with the parents not seeing the baby... Looking doesn't mess anything up. We were both really disappointed!

Anyway, the U gets a 10+ and PVH gets a 2 in my book. Finally, at the end, Tyler was allowed to come in and the tech tilted the monitor so I could see. He showed us the baby's cute arms and legs, heart and head. We got to see for just a minute or two and it's kindof all a blurr - something I'd been anticipating for months took only a couple minutes and it was over! After he finished we asked a few questions and asked to find out the gender. He obliged. And now for the part you've all been waiting for... It's a...

GIRL!

Tyler and I are both a little shocked, but really excited. This is one active little girl! She is very busy, and nocturnal (just like Cole was). She plays all night! It was fun to see her and laugh at her space-man like little face. She is chubbier than Coleman was, but she's also 4 weeks older than he was in his ultrasound pictures. The estimated her weight at 1.9 lbs. and her due date is still May 22.

Coleman is excited for a baby. He loves to see pictures of babies and he loves to watch other little kids and play with his friends. He constantly asks to watch the Baby Einstein movie we have because there is a baby in it. He's going to be a great big brother! It will be neat for them to grow up together. :) We're all excited to become a family of 4!

This is a picture of her face - it really is a cute face - this picture doesn't do her justice. :)

We don't know what this is a picture of... Sad, but true. The tech gave it to us and didn't tell us what it is... Any ideas? - we'd love some imput from anyone who can tell. :)

Joshua Tree Again

After a long fun day at Joshua Tree I have bumps and bruises and cactus spines in my hand, but I got to play in the dirt and hang out with my mom and dad!

Coleman absoluteley LOVES Joshua Tree and anything like it. All week he's been asking to play in the dirt. He carries his little bucket and shovel around everywhere. I finally broke down and dumped a bag of black beans out on the floor so he could dig without getting so dirty all the time (the problem with the diut by our apartment is that it's dirty -occasional cigarette butts, water bottles, wrappers, etc.) Plus, there are puddles around the diut and Cole LOVES puddles (almost as much as the dirt)!

Anyway - - -

Tyler had the day off today and after studying hard all weekend, we thought he needed a break. We took off this morning with our friend, Joe, looking forward to another great day of diut and playing with the shovel. Tyler was looking forward to the climbing too, but that was secondary to the excitement about diut!!!

Tyler and Joe climed a couple 5.7 and a 5.6 cracks. They looked bruital! I decided to just enjoy the outside rather than scrape myself along an 80 ft cheese grater. :) The guys did great. It was fun for Cole and me to watch them climb. Cole narrated the adventures:"Dad, Joe, up up up!" He enjoyed pointing out Dad and Joe on the rocks. The climbs were pretty tough and it took a long time, but we had the day. The last climb they did was right next to a 20 ft cliff. Cole was soooo curious that I finally took him down the trail to play where it was "safe."

I guess the great outdoors is anything but safe and we all learned lessons about that today. Thanks Cole for reminding us! Cole learned these important words, among others: cactus, no touch. I guess it's a phrase really. I stopped the wrong hand and he successfully grabbed a fist full of cactus spines with the other. Thankfully they were little and didn't hurt too much. He was very patient as I pulled them out. The best part was hearing him tell Tyler about it afterward. I was telling the story and Cole busted in with CACTUS CACTUS CACTUS! NO TOUCH! OUCH! I don't remember the exact order or number of times he repeated the words, but he got his point across. :) We have a very smart little guy!

Tyler's favorite part of the day (other than the climbing) was a proud dad moment. Cole was getting tired during the last route and Dad finally broke down and let Cole play with his (Dad's) "toys." Cole loves the rope and the rack. Tyler put his rack down on the rock in front of Cole to entertain him for the last few minutes. In response to my asking what it was, Cole responded in no uncertain terms - cam! (We don't do plurals yet.) He also learned het (hex) and nut to complete the rack. He can even tell the difference between the types of trad gear. He's so interested in everything, especially things he sees us do. It's a little intimidating sometimes to realize that we've been entrusted with such a special little guy. I hope we don't mess him up. We're doing our best to teach him what is right and he's learning so fast! We're so thankful to have him in our lives. We love you Cole!
...

More Words

I didn't want this to be another post without a picture, so here are a couple that illustrate a few of Cole's new favorite words. :) He's learning faster and faster and it's hard to remember everything he says and to write it down. These are the ones we can remember. The more he talks, the more it cracks me up. He's learning new words all the time and applying old ones in new ways. What a funny little guy!! We love your personality, Cole! Thanks to all the family for teaching him new stuff over Christmas! I guess we need to get out more so he can keep learning more words. Here are some of his latest:

(This picture was taken last weekend at Joshua Tree. By the end of the day Cole could actually get sand from the ground to the shovel to the bucket.)

shovel

bucket

(Coleman is such a good helper! He loves to help me cook in the kitchen - especially when he can taste what we're making. We had friends over for dinner and made Hawaiian haystacks. Cole loved the olives, pineapple and chinese noodles!)

olive

sock

teeth

fish

soft

house

stop

plug

rain

stick (refering to anything long - pencils, pens, mops/brooms, mallets, straws - you name it)

orange

mana (banana)

heavy

sit

out

sad

snow

bubble

tank you

back

'side (outside)

oops

broccoli

copter (helicopter)

Tigger

truck

bus

circle

snack

juice

Hannah

Tevo (Trevor)

Tent (Trent)

Ozzie

Santa

toot toot (train)

sticky (Thanks Uncle Trevor and Dad for letting me play with the extra pieces while you set up your skis, skins and treckers!)

broom

cracker

chick/chicken (the food and the animal)

coat

boots

present (he learned this one AFTER Christmas... go figure!)

blanket

sound (mostly with reference to the sound a cricket makes)

boon (balloon)

blocks

shoes

saur (dinosaur)

brush (meaning tooth brush and hair brush)

horse

couch

hello (while talking on the phone)

buckle (booster seat and car seat buckles)

kick

shirt

pants

ick (music)

Chex

Cheerio

Cole has also suprised us over the last few days by finally deciding to make some animal sounds. Before he has just laughed at us when we make the sounds (I can't blame him) :)

So far he makes the sounds for elephant, duck, monkey, cow, sheep & owl.