trick or treat

This was Cole's first year trick or treating. He was so cute!! He said trick or treat at each house and thank you when he got his candy. He was really loving it! We only went to five or six houses but we walked up and down the street to take in all the people and Cole still got a good amount of candy (that disappeared 2 days later). They were both dressed as punk rockers. It was the only thing I thought I would be able to get Cole into since it's not really a costume. In the morning we went to a Halloween party with our moms group. Cole decorated his pumpkin and ate lots of sweets. Stella just hung out. Here are some pics...



My little punk rocker.

hello pumpkin!

look at my pumpkin!

my other little punk rocker

our pumpkins

our other pumpkins. no carving this year - it was too messy and we were too lazy.

the fun make your own wreath project i thought would be a good idea with cole. it wasn't. i guess the box did say 6+ years.



two punk rockers and a rastafarian

ready for some trick or treating!

cole's first trick or treat house

I was worried about trick or treating because usually Cole just takes off running. But this night he held Vere's hand the whole time :)

some of the houses in our neighborhood went off! this house had scary music, a fog machine and ghosts that popped out in the front yard. it was too scary for cole but we took a good look from across the street.



...the next day

Here are some other pics and videos from the last week...

me and stella after we hit the polls for her first presidential election!

cole at the discovery children's museum in escondido. we built those trucks :)

me and c's first turkey day project!

 

 our little pianist

we may have a little musician on our hands. and we may also see potty training in our future... :)


October fun!

Stella had her 6 month visit at the beginning of this month. She weighed 17 lbs. 1 oz. and was 26.25 inches long. I can't believe how fast she's growing up :( She's sitting up on her own, sleeping on her stomach and eating solid foods. She's not crawling yet but somehow manages to scooch around and get her hands on things I thought were out of her reach. She watches Cole very closely and grabs his toys every chance she gets. Cole has really taken notice and because of that his favorite word is no longer truck, it's MINE!! And it's not limited to things that actually belong to Cole but includes anything Stella wants to get her hands on. We've also had the first blood drawn between siblings. Cole's weapon of choice? The toy lightsaber he got from Legoland last summer thrown at Stella's face. I'm sure it wasn't completely on purpose. I mean I'm sure he wanted to throw it at her but he probably didn't want to hit her face, draw blood and get in trouble for it. But Stella was over it 10 minutes later and happy to have something new to chew on.

Feeding Stella is a messy business. I don't know what happened. She was doing pretty good and then about 4 weeks ago she started putting her hand in her mouth after every bite and now mealtime has turned into this...

We went to Bates Nut Farm and our local pumpkin patch. Here are some pics...



Bates Nut Farm - one of about 20 pics of Cole running away from me



big pumpkins!!

Stella hamming it up!

Here's the money shot - a handful of m&m's, lots of screaming and hay throwing later. This is the best picture I got of the two of them.

 

Cole actually got on a pony and liked it!

The local pumpkin patch - picking out his pumpkins

 

a ghost at the pumpkin patch

it was just stella :)

I think we got enough pumpkins

 

c going down the big slide! i think he may have taken a tumble because the next time he went up he didn't want to go down and vere had to go down with him.



Cole and daddy going down a bigger slide!

Bobby and Chelsey's wedding - Cole the ring bearer. I forgot my camera so this is the only picture I have...luckily he has most of his outfit on :)  - Thanks Bobby for sending it to me! And thank you for asking Cole to be the ring bearer - we love you guys!!

Cole's school pics...

teachers are amazing... they can get kids to do anything! i wish i could get cole to sit and smile to take a pic.

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.