Football and fun with Abby

We went over to our friends Katie and Aaron’s house to watch the Pats game on Sunday.  Cole and Abby had lots of fun playing.  It took a little while for them to warm up to each other but by the end of the evening they were great friends!

Cole reluctantly let me share his snacks with Abby.  After a few minutes he actually handed a Cheerio to her.

“Let’s go over there!”

Cole and Abby check out the car.

Beer!

It's been a while...

I’ve been a little lax in my blogging lately.  Cole and Brian have both been sick this past week and I had a little stomach bug myself.  We’re all feeling better now and hopefully can stay that way for a little while.  Brian had to take Cole to the pediatricians last week. He’s been struggling with bowel movements for weeks now and we’re not sure what is going on.  We’ve feared that he may have a sensitivity to milk.  He had a fever on Sunday and I took Monday off and stayed home with him.  He cried in pain almost every 15-20 minutes and each time would only have a tiny bm.  The pedi examined his stomach and found a hard spot.  She thinks that it is an impacted bm. He also had a horrible diaper rash that despite our best efforts wasn’t clearing up. Cole has started taking miralax (a laxitive/stool softener) to help move things along.  We’ve also switched to a new diaper cream that seems to have helped a lot.  The result of these two things is a much happier baby!

Cole has been lucky to have visits from both sets of grandparents over the past few weeks.  Here he is enjoying his Halloween Puffs and card from Grammy and Grampy. Grammy said he’ll get candy next year!

Cole knew that if he brought the Puffs container over to Grampy he would let him have some :)

Grandma and Grandpa came up last weekend to celebrate Daddy’s birthday and Grandpa’s birthday.  We wanted to go out for lunch but had to order take out since Cole had a fever and wasn’t feeling so great.

Grandpa is sharing his potato chips with Cole.

Daddy is trying to play…

But Cole just wants to sit and cuddle.

Greta’s even trying to help cheer him up.

Almost 14 months

Cole is growing and learning new things everyday.  I had some time today and didn’t want to wait until his official 14 month birthday to list them all.  At (almost) 14 months Cole can:

-Give a real kiss on the cheek (not just a sloppy, wet one)

-Give hugs (he’s been doing that for a while now)

-Says “duck”, “bath”, “Greta”, “ma ma”-it sounds more like “mum, mum” and “da da” discriminately now.  The words are slowly coming along and hopefully now that he’s mastered walking and other gross motor tasks he can now focus more on learning/saying real words.  He babbles constantly and sounds like he’s really talking, just not in a language we can understand!

Cole continues to love daycare. The teachers say that he can identify the other kids in the class, loves to play with the soft blocks (build towers and knock them down), and play with big trucks.  I witnessed him go over and hug one of his friends the other day, it was so cute!

He knows what it means when I say “bath time”.  He gets very excited and runs to the bathroom.  He loves taking a bath and is now taking one in the big tub.  Don’t worry, there will be a bath post with photos coming soon!

Cole eats anything and everything (still kinda picky with veggies).  His new favorite snacks are veggie sticks, cheddar bunnies, animal crackers and graham crackers.  He also likes pasta with butter, turkey and cheese sandwiches, scrambled eggs, broccoli and sweet potatoe fries.

We enjoyed the warm weather we’ve been having with a trip to the park Sunday afternoon.  The park is just a short walk down the street and has some great swings and slides for Cole to play on.  Here is a video that I took with my new iphone.

Cole attends a conference

In the fall, Brian’s company holds a conference in Boston.  Cole went to it last year when he was only a month old.  Last weekend Cole and I were able to visit Brian and his coworkers.  On Sunday, my sister Erin came up and took care of Cole for the night while Brian and I attended a dinner at the hotel.  It was the first time we had left him overnight and I was a little nervous.  He did fine and didn’t even cry when I left.  He was very happy to see me the next morning!

Monday afternoon, Cole and I went to the hotel so he could hang out with Brian and his co-workers and then attend the evening reception.  He had so much fun exploring the hotel. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera and had to take some pics with Brian’s iPhone.

Visiting with Adam and Donna.

Enjoying the view of South Boston.

Happy Halloween!

Cole started celebrating Halloween a day early.  He was able to leave daycare a little early to attend my school’s Halloween parade.  He got dressed up in his baseball player costume and watched all of the kids in their costumes.  After, he spent some time exploring the main office.  Our secretary, Julie, let him play with an old keyboard, he was in heaven!  Of course, I forgot my camera.  I did manage to get 1 photo with my phone of Cole with his friends Beckett and Noah (our music teacher Lindsey’s boys).

I’m hoping to add a picture my friend took of Cole and me at the parade once she emails it.

On Halloween, Cole explored the backyard.  He wore a pair of boots (hand-me downs) for the first time.  He didn’t like them at first since he’s never worn real shoes.

My little baseball player!

After dressing up and posing for pictures, Cole and I watched “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” and waited for trick or treaters.  Since Cole hasn’t been feeling well and he can’t eat candy anyway, we decided to stay home.

Cole wore his Halloween jammies and had some milk while he watched the show.

Rocking and texting

Cole has been enjoying his little rocking chair recently.  He wasn’t being very safe so we decided to put it in another room.  Last weekend he discovered it again and Brian taught him how to sit in it correctly.  I came home from brunch on Sunday and saw him rocking away while watching the Pats with Daddy.  We now keep it in the living room and Cole climbs in and out of it regularly and with some reminders can sit safely.  I tried to get a few pictures the other day while he was rocking at playing with my cell phone.  It was not easy with him hoping in and out of the chair!

Getting into trouble!

Now that Cole can confidently walk, he loves to explore all aspects of the house.  One of his favorite areas to find trouble in is the recycling.  He takes out containers and paper and plays with them.  We find yogurt containers and plastic tops in his toy box all the time.

Here he is trying to sit in a pizza box.

He showed off his daredevil skills last weekend when we visited the grandparents in CT.

He loves to climb on things.  Here he is standing on a little rocking chair.  It’s a good thing Grammy is there!

“Look, no hands!”

Cole and Grampy bang on the door while waiting for Greta to come back in.

It’s so much more fun to throw all of the toys out of the box and climb in it!

Daddy, Cole, and Greta wrestle at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.

Oh, and I completely forgot to document that Cole is now 13 months old. Hopefully I’ll remember better next month.

Apple Picking

Brian, Cole, and I went apple picking today.  It was a beautiful fall day, just perfect to be outside.  Unfortunately since it is late in the season, most of the apples were on the ground.  We still managed to pick a peck and I plan on making some apple sauce and possibly an apple pie this week.

In his overalls, ready for the farm!

His first time eating an actual apple.  He liked it, but had a hard time getting anything, but a little juice.

Brian did most of the picking.

Cole was not content to stay in the sling, he need to get down and stumble around!

“Hmmm, this one looks good.”

Cole and Brian checking out the “cheese pumpkins”.  Cole liked their bumpy skin.

Cole eats with a fork

Cole mostly uses his hands when eating, but lately he’s been interested in the fork.  I usually use the fork to cut up whatever is for dinner and occasionally will feed him when he starts to slow down.  The other night though, he took the fork himself and with help ate with the fork.  I put the food on it and would then guide it towards his mouth.

I was able to get some video of Cole walking Monday night before he went to bed.  He’s been walking well for a few weeks now.  He still does some crawling, but is choosing to walk more and more.  He sticks his arms straight out and we call it the “zombie walk” which is very appropriate considering Halloween is right around the corner.  Enjoy!