pimp

cole had a play date today with miss. aoife. aoife and chrissy had been away for the whole month, so it was great to finally see them again. having aoife over really encouraged the two of them to hang out on their belly. they were so excited to see each other. they did lots of cooing and smiling.

wedding wknd

this weekend was quite busy! uncle jeff and auntie kim got married!! on friday we had lots of running around to do and the rehearsal dinner. although cole went without his naps he held up great! he was surrounded by new faces and just kept a smile on his for the majority of the day. the wedding day was even crazier. he was able to get in a couple short naps but he was too excited to sleep, for fear that he might miss something. it was a great day and we tried to stay for most of it, but cole finally pooped out on us around 9pm. i was so proud at how well he did without his naps and with all of the new people he was able to meet. the photographers took a ton of pictures of cole and i can't wait to see them. i'm sure i will end up buying some! here are some pics from the big day: (the one of kim is a sneak peek from the photographers)

auntie amy

aunt amy was home for two weeks from ireland while on her spring break. it was her first time being able to meet cole. here are some pictures from one of the days they got to spend time together!

fun filled day

cole was in a great mood today. he was full of smiles and laughs. i got some pictures, but was using the older camera because the new one's battery was charging. i might need to buy a second battery! brad has been swamped with homework, but luckily today is the last day of his semester! i had to use the bathroom so i sat cole down on his play mat in the room brad was working in. however, when i came back in two minutes he had managed to roll of his mat and under the furniture! he thought it was hysterical. now that he can roll from back to belly and belly to back on his own he is rolling all of the time. he now doesn't mine tummy time because he gets to decide when hes on his belly and for how long. i also finally was able to get a better picture of his teeth because he just couldn't stop smiling! tonight was also his first swim class. unfortunately i do not have any picture of it but he had a blast. he did a great job with floating, kicking, and even going under water!

big news!

last week we received a new family member! nick and liz had their baby and its a beautiful baby girl, named clare. you can see more of clare here: http://littleclarebear.blogspot.com/

more food

we introduced avocados this week. it didn't go well!

1st easter!

happy easter!

more easter

here are a few more pictures from easter. i know that i sent some of these to some of you already, but not everyone got to see them yet.

turtle-turtle

cole has a face he makes that i just LOVE. he makes it when he's looking around and really taking the world in around him. he sticks his neck out a little bit and his upper lip sticks out just a bit further. it's his turtle face, so we sometimes call him turtle now. the best part about it is several other people have said he looks just like a turtle when they see him do it. i keep trying to get a picture of him doing it, but of course the camera distracts him too much. here are two pics of him playing with his turtle toy. the top one is almost the turtle face.

basket baby

i bought this basket at ikea to use for cole's toys. i have convinced brad to find time in between his work and school schedule to build a shelf unit for the front room, which is going to be turned into a play room, eventually. in the mean time, the basket is keeping the toys cleaned up in the living room. cole loves the way the basket feels on his fingers and lunges for it when he sees it. so it only made sense to plop him in the basket. he played in it for a good 15 minutes!

photo shoot

it's been awhile since i deliberately set up a mini baby photo shoot to torture my son. i decided since i have the new camera the time couldn't be more perfect! i discovered though that my black table cloth will no longer cut it as a backdrop. it worked ok with my old camera, but with the new camera you can totally see all of the detail in it. now i have decided i need to look into a backdrop of some sorts. if i can get better with the camera maybe i won't need to take cole to have his pictures done. plus if i got a better backdrop cole couldn't tear it down!

"momma, stop snapping those pictures i am trying to talk to you!"

"ooh i can see out the window. it's snowing AGAIN!!"

"ok momma, i am done now."

pears, green beans, and bananas

this week in baby cuisine we introduced pears, green beans, and bananas. two of the three went well! here is a hint which one was not a hit with cole!

tripod

cole has been working very hard at learning how to sit up. every once in awhile he realizes if he puts his arms out in front of him he can help support himself in a sitting position, like a little tripod! he can sit up just long enough for me to snap a picture before he falls over to the side. i'm sure that he will be able to sit up in no time!

momma brain!

these pictures document what has happened to my brain! i have the momma brain now! i can no longer get things done the way i used to. i am no longer as organized as i used to. and i can no longer remember things like i used to.

the other night i was working on making some veggies and fruit for cole, since i decided i should be the betty crocker of baby food and make all of his food for him. while making his food i also cooked my dinner, ate it, did the dishes, and fed cole. cole started to get a bit antsy since we had spent too much time in the kitchen, so i took him into the living room to play. i left the carrots steaming and knew they only had about 6 minutes left. we had fun playing in the bouncer, on the floor with the kicking gym, and dancing around.

then this extremely weird noise started. i had no clue what it was, it was like a buzzer. i assumed it was my neighbor who often has strange noises coming from the garage. i finally got up to investigate and as i rounded the corner it all came back to me! the carrots were still cooking it had been at least 45 minutes! i put cole down and went to turn off the flame and smoke detector. brad came flying down the stairs woken from a dead sleep. and i had to explain to him what i had done. all he could do was laugh that i had burned water and a pot and how forgetful i have become.

i have the momma brain and i don't like it!

ST. PATTYS

HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY!

jumperoo

cole has always loved the jumperoo, but has only recently really been able to use it fully. he is now able to manipulate all of the toys. he understands the cause and effect of each of them too. he also is able to jump in it now that he can reach the floor fully without a box underneath him. he keeps himself quite entertained with it and squeals lots as he jumps up and down. (i love how great my new camera takes pictures!)

play time

cole is one popular little man! he seems to have more friends than i do already. he must get his social skills from his daddy. when we were in jersey cole went to visit his friend kayla and had a blast. he didn't even mind that she man handled him and stole his toys.

jersey

cole and i spent the whole week last week in new jersey. he had a great time! he was so happy and kept to his routine for the most part, even though we weren't home and even though he had a tooth come in! he loves his jersey family so much. but he really loves gram and poopy's puppies! he had so many giggles and smiles for them. it was a great time!

first fruit

today cole had his first fruit. all natural apple sauce! he wasn't too sure about it though. he would take a mouthful and then after a couple of seconds would make horrid faces, like it was too tart for him. we were able to get some video of the faces to share!

teeth!!

last week i discovered cole's first tooth. today, one week later, his gram discovered his second tooth! we now have teeth!! i tried hard to get a picture but mr. squirmy didn't like that idea. here is the best i could do. the little white specks on the bottom. ok i know you are thinking yea right but i swear they are there and i sure can feel them when he chomps on my finger. i will try to get a better one though!!

best b-day gift

as corny as it is, he is the best gift ever...

wino

cole wants to hold everything that i put my hands on. he also wants to eat or drink anything i eat or drink now. this means he now lunges at anything i have in my hands and tried to eat it! i treated myself to a glass of wine tonight but had to fight to keep him away from it. he's a little wino!

5 months

this first year is flying by! my little man is growing so fast. he has changed so much. he's trying to sit up on his own but falls over, which is evident in the one picture below. he has a tooth! he can roll over both ways! he laughs and smiles so much now. he sleeps though the night! he's eating rice cereal and oatmeal. he also eats acorn squash, squash, carrots, and sweet potatoes! cole loves to hold on to peoples' faces now and he can give wide open sloppy kisses. he loves bath time and his jumperoo!