double peak park, san marcos

This was a a month or two ago but we decided to check out the view at double peak park in san marcos. here are the pics...



Cole at the top of Double Peak Park



On the way down.



Happy Stella



checking out the amphitheater




exploring the adventure playground




s at the adventure playground



yelling all the way down the stairs...



.....



Cole's first day of school!

Cole's started school last week on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 am - 12pm. I am so proud of this little man! He didn't even cry the first day, only I did. I don't even know why, I guess I didn't want him to be scared and think I wasn't coming back. But he was totally fine and he loves his teachers, Miss Jennifer and Miss Jodi. When I picked him up last Thursday, Cole was sitting nicely at the table with the other kids eating his lunch. I almost didn't recognize him since he never sits and eats at home. I think school it going to be very good for him :)

Here are pics they took from his first day...

playing with cars

drumming

 

looks like he found a fire truck



stella 5+ months

Oh Stella. The sweetest, happiest, most chill baby of all time. We really lucked out with the perfect baby. I've read about them in parenting books and really thought they were just a myth until Stella came along. 

She had her 4 months well check a few weeks ago. She weighed 15 lbs 4 oz and was 25.75 inches long. Which meant 88% in weight and 74% in length. Her head on the other hand was 96%. So along with being good natured, she will also be very smart with that big brain of hers. 

Top 5 things I ❤ about Stella

1. The big smile on her face when I get her out of her crib.
2. Her giggles when she's being kissed, tickled, loved...

3. Watching her play with her feet. 

4. She's a sleeper. She's tired and she just goes to sleep - totally new concept to me...

5. She loves her big brother Cole - whenever he's around, she just watches him wide eyed. Sometimes when she's watching him be crazy and she'll just burst out laughing. I can tell she already loves him and looks up to him.

some recent pics...



tummy time. we've come a long way!





hanging out!



in the bumbo



rice cereal!

Stella is already growing up too fast. She started solid foods a few weeks ago with rice cereal. I forgot that babies have to learn to eat and use a spoon. I guess since she's been such an easy baby I was just expecting her to eat no problem. But it's been a few weeks now and I think she's getting the hang of it. She's also rolling from back to front and sleeping on her side. Cole better watch out, before we know it this girl will be crawling around trying to steal all of his toys.

Stella kicking

She really just gets so excited when Cole is near. This morning we were all sitting on the couch together. I had Stella facing Cole so she could watch him. She was so happy she was kicking her little legs and squealing.

Cole is also being a good big brother. He'll pick up her toys for her when she drops them. Yesterday she was crying so he went over and tried to put the pacifier in her mouth. I'm sure it was because he didn't want her to be sad and not because he couldn't hear the TV.

This morning when Cole was eating breakfast, Stella woke up so I brought her downstairs:

Cole: "Hi Mom"
Me: "Hi Cole. Are you going to say hi to Stella?"
Cole: "I don't want to say hi to Stella"
Me: "You don't?"
Stella: (BIG SMILE when she sees Cole)
Cole: (BIG SMILE at Stella)

I can't wait until Stella is old enough to play with Cole.



she is already following in his footsteps...



talking cole

Well Cole is still being very challenging. He's just so high energy - I would even say WILD. He doesn't listen. And he doesn't want to do anything I want him to do. Even if it's something he chooses, once I agree then he doesn't want to do it anymore. We could go back and forth all day. 

Me: "Do you want shorts on? Yes or no?" 

C: "yes"

Me: "ok shorts"

C: "no shorts!!!!!"

Me: "ok no shorts"

C: "SHORTS!!!!"

Me: "ok come here so I can't put your shorts on"

C: "NO SHORTS!!!!"

 

It would be funny if it wasn't so darn frustrating. 

Cole starting to really talk is one of the craziest things to me. It's so cool and not what I expected. I've been waiting for Cole be able to communicate better so I could reason with the boy - explain to him what's really going on. Unfortunately that's not what's happening. It turns out that Cole has some pretty strong opinions, and now he can tell me all about them... About a month ago, Cole figured out how to say "I don't want dinner" and pretty much hasn't eaten it since :)

He has also been saying some pretty funny/cute stuff lately:

Last week he had 2 cars and handed one to me...

 

Cole: "race!" 

Me: "race?" 

Cole: "get set...go!"

Then we were lining up the cars and Cole was rearranging the cars and saying - "goes here, goes here, goes here" every time he made a swap. 

Whenever we're looking for lost toys I hear Cole say, "not here" then look somewhere else and say, "not here either!"

The other day I was showing Cole a video I took of Stella sitting in the bumbo and Cole said, "chair!" then I said, "Stella?" cuz I wasn't sure what he said. Then he replied, "no, blue chair." Guess he was happy to see the blue bumbo chair in the video, not his baby sister. 

Last week I had to go to the bank, which is on the same corner as the car wash and target. As soon as I turned down the street with still about a mile to go Cole said, "car wash!" It was crazy! I didn't even realize he was paying attention to where we're going. I told him no car wash today, we're going to the bank. Then the next day we had to go to Target and as soon as we turned on the street cole said, "car wash" again. I said no car wash today. Then he said, "Target." He truly amazes me :)

Yesterday morning when Vere was leaving for work he said bye to Cole. Then Cole said, "Bye! I'll see u later!" Cutest thing ever - I was beaming with pride. He is just learning so much :)

Later Kristen came to watch Stella so Cole and I could meet some friends for donuts and run some errands. When we left he said, "Bye Kristen. I'll see you later! " Then when we got in the car, he said, "Kristen go?" I told him she was staying at home to watch Stella. Then Cole looked at Stella's car seat and said, "uh oh! Stella - gone!" I told him she was sleeping upstairs and she was going to stay home and Kristen would watch her. Then he said, "oh." It was officially my first conversation with Cole. It was so weird and cool at the same time.

Tonight when I was reading Cole stories before bed I had another conversation with him:

 

Me: "Cole, I love you. Can you say I love you?"

C: (silence)

Me: "Cole, can you say I love you?"

C: (silence)

Me: "Cole, I'm talking to you. Can you say I love you?"

C: "no"

Me: "why not?"

C: "I don't want to say I love you."

Me: (sniffle sniffle...)

 

So I've learned a lot the last few weeks. Most importantly that I really have to watch what I say now that I've got someone repeating everything that's coming out of my mouth. And I'll be the first to admit that I don't really like everything that's coming out of my mouth. But I can't wait to hear what Cole has to say next :)

 

Some recent pics...

 

we've been taking out the old toys for stella and cole has been having a field day!

 

throwing rocks at the beach.



fun at the outlets!



legoland. we got wet on a ride and cole doesn't like to be in wet clothes.



cole and edward at legoland!



reading harry potter.



at the san diego botanical gardens


 

don't take a picture of me! (at the donut shop)



cole is just a little dancing machine! this is his favorite part in gnomeo and juliet.

london - part one

so vere had a last minute business trip to london this month and for some reason we thought it would be a good idea to take advantage and fly to london for a week with a two year old and a three month old. i knew cole would be tough on the plane and that it would be difficult sleeping with both of them in the same room, but i did not anticipate cole being so jet lagged. they were both totally out of whack for a few days. cole more than stella since stella will sleep pretty much whenever and wherever.

stella was a rock star on the plane. she slept 7 hours on the way there and 8 on the way back. she only woke up because i woke up her up to feed her, otherwise she probably would've slept the entire way. i think people around us didn't even know we had a little baby, they just thought we had a crazy toddler with us. for some reason it is so hard for cole to fall asleep. we had a red eye on the way out there so i knew we were in trouble. and cole did not disappoint. he basically slept 2-3 hours that night. we landed at 2 p.m. the next day. cole fell asleep around 7:30-8 p.m. and woke up at midnight thinking he had just had a very long nap and then didn't go back to sleep until 5 a.m.! and when cole is awake, everyone has to be awake to entertain him :) the following night he went back to sleep around 4 and the 3rd night he went to bed at 3 a.m. Finally on the night four we had cole going to sleep at 10 and waking up around 7-8 a.m. which was the best it ever got. but we did manage to have fun and do some cool things with the kids that we haven't done before.



arrival day: a walk through hyde park



day two: my kids in a london cab on our way to kensington gardens. stella in the carseat on the stroller just sitting in the cab and cole no seatbelt on vere's lap. so ridicuously dumb that i had to take a picture. 

so happy to find these big sticks!

   

princess diana memorial playground, kensington gardens



swing! it never gets old.



cole and stella at the princess diana playground

day three: london zoo - locusts

 

up close



totally into the cockroaches. he was obsessed with the bug exhibit.

upside down jellyfish - who knew they existed?



aardvarks - who knew THEY existed?

 

where's cole?

 

driving a red double decker bus



us on the carasol



not giving me a sip of MY milkshake



day four: london eye - our souvenir pic



view of westminster palace from the london eye

 

stella on the london eye

 

view from our room at the marriot county hall



more from our room

cole and stella

it's been so amazing watching cole and stella change the last few months. cole has been doing some seriously cool and funny things and stella has been doing some seriously cute things so i wanted to share:

COLE:
he has a british airways set that consists of an airplane, a van, a bus, some trucks and luggage. the other day i had the blue suitcase and i asked him where the yellow one was. he looked right at me and said "black truck!" i just figured he didn't care about the yellow suitcase and wanted to play with his black truck. then he dug though his entire truck box until he found the black truck, held it up and said "here it is." then he opened the truck's door and the yellow suitcase fell out. for some reason it seriously amazes me that he's got a little brain in there and it's working!

later that day i had lined up all his british airway vehicles - there's about 10 of them. and cole kept saying white man, white man. i didn't know what he was talking about until i realized he was saying white van - the only one missing from the group. he really knows his toys. we searched the entire house and finally found it in my car.

everytime he's coloring with markers he has to have the cap on the back of the marker. and if i'm coloring with him and i don't have the cap on, he will put it on for me.

he is talking so much now. i'm really starting to understand him. but for some reason every word that starts with an "f" or an "s" cole pronounces it with a "p". even though he can definitely make the "s" sound when he says truckS. so fruit is poot. fire truck is pire truck. star fish is par pish. spoon is poon and fork is pork. socks are pocks. 

he is also so efficient with the ipad that it's ridiculous. he can totally maneuver his way through it and play all his games, watch videos and switch from movies to tv shows. growing up with all this technology is crazy.

STELLA:
this girl can smile. and now she's starting to laugh so much. i'll give her kisses on her cheeks or her belly and she will burst out laughing! it's the cutest thing ever.

she is a total self soother. she is already sucking her thumb like crazy. and sometimes she will just put herself to sleep. i'll lay her on a blanket or put her in a swing and she'll be awake sucking on her hand or thumb. then fuss for a little bit and by the time i finish what i'm doing to pick her up, she'll be asleep. it crazy! crazy good :)

she can also roll all the way to one side and just hangs out there sucking her thumb.

here are some current pics...

watching tv on their cool matching chairs - thanks haraguchis!

after kalia and maya left, cole wanted to hold stella just like they did.

smiles

 

stella :)


 

playing on the ipad

 

with his trucks and cars (i did the organizing although now i'm wishing i hadn't shown him that)



just hanging out on her side sucking her thumb

being nice to his buddy, the gorilla and setting him up in the chair in front of the tv.

not being nice to his buddy.

 

me and the kids :)