December update

Cohen has had a huge learning spurt in the past few months, specifically with his letters. He knows what sound each letter makes, and can recognize certain words (Cohen, Mommy, Daddy and Nathan). One of his favorite activities is sitting with me at the laptop and writing words and names. I tell him how to spell something and he 'hunts and pecks' to find the correct letters. He does great! One time he saw a letter on our counter addressed to Dominic's niece whose last name is Dudley. He pointed to the word and said "Daddy!" Not bad!

He's also continuing to amaze us with his verbal progress. He comes up with some hilarious things. Like, one time Rudy was doing something naughty (big surprise there) and he patiently said "Rudy, stop that." He repeated it a few times, each time louder. Finally he gets in her face and said "Rudy Moll, you stop that right now or time out!" He also calls Dominic "Daddy Moll" when he's trying to get his point across.

He loves Christmas lights more than anything. Sometimes we drive around neighborhoods after school and he oohs and ahs at the beauty of nicely decorated homes. He scouts out the good ones and says excitedly, "Go over there Mommy!" It's funny hearing him butcher the word 'beautiful' as he conveys his excitement.

Our recent quest is to get him out of his crib. He loves sleeping in his crib and has never tried to climb out, but we're getting close to eviction time as the new tenant's arrival gets closer. He does okay in the big boy bed, except when he wakes up in the middle of the night and comes downstairs on his own. To counter that, we put a baby gate on the doorway to his room. Last night, in his attempt to escape, he plowed into it and started crying. So yes, there are a few bugs to work out as we make this part of our routine, but we'll get there.

Potty training, on the other hand, may be awhile. It's not even on his radar.

He's a great little boy, despite an occasional display of terrible two behavior. He makes me laugh 100 times or more a day. I'm so grateful his sweetness remains from infancy. His hugs and loving attitude can turn my mood around in a flash.

My pregnancy is going fine. At this writing I'm 36 weeks and we've yet to finalize the name or prepare the nursery (which sounds worse than it is - it just involves moving the crib to Kraeton's room). Dominic and I are so completely laid back this time, but it will all turn out fine. I have mixed feeling about wanting to go early vs. full term. I have so much to do in the next few weeks (finish Christmas shopping and finish a huge project at work), but I'd be lying if I said I didn't want this pregnancy to be over. I'm huge and uncomfortable. Part of me is a tad scared (terrified) of what it will be like with two kids. Our life is getting easier by the day and Cohen is such an awesome little dude. A newborn will certainly change things. I can't wait to see his little face and hold him and be his mommy! I'm definitely up for the challenge.

Anyway, here are a few photos from recent weeks...

He's standing in front of the first face he's ever drawn. You can see the circular area for the head and two scribbles for eyes. That scrunchy, squinty face is how he says "cheese" for the camera.

He spells Cohen on his own. He got a little help with Moll.

Here's our first snowfall of the winter. Nearly 20"!

Surprise baby shower at work!

My coworkers Michelle and Andrea made this awesome 3-D duck cake, and I received an adorable ceramic duck filled with bath supplies and a very generous Target gift card. I love my coworkers!

He's 2!

Cohen turned 2 a couple weeks ago. Like last year, the celebration was low key. He had a DQ bday cake for dessert when we had Gail's and Carol's over for a cookout, and he enjoyed a special shopping spree at Target. He got a tricycle, which is still a tad too big for him, a Barney DVD ("purple Barney"), letters and numbers that stick to the side of the bathtub, an awesome FP Little People airplane from Pevestorfs, and an Elmo book from the Giffords. I'd say he faired pretty well.

For the past few months we've been experiencing a language explosion. He can say hundreds of words and seems to learn several new ones every day. He uses funny little expressions like "Aw, man," "Whoa!", and "Wow."

He knows his ABCs - the song - and can identify about half the letters by sight. W is his favorite letter. He'll spot it on signs, packaging, etc. and make a big deal out of it.

He knows most of the colors, but sometimes gets hung up on red and blue. Yellow is his favorite, followed closely by purple.

He can count to the teens. Around 16, it becomes an infinite loop.

He knows shapes really well. His favorite is oval. For some reason I always crack up when the word "rectangle" comes out of his mouth. He's still a little guy and "square" would suffice just fine.

At his 2 year appt., he weighed just over 30 pounds and was 36" tall. That's in the 90+ percentile for height... pretty consistent with how it's always been.

He does countless endearing, funny, or amazing things every day. Every day I go to bed amused and proud. Just to name a few...

He's in a phase where he hates what I wear to work. "No like Mommy's shirt" is the first thing out of his mouth practically every morning.
When we play with sidewalk chalk, the more owls the better. Right now our driveway is covered with fat owls, fuzzy owls, baby owls, you get the picture.
He enjoys reading his books to himself. He usually conveys the main points pretty well, even though every page is summarized in about 3 words. The exception is 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. He knows every word, complete with animation.
He also sings along with songs. Muppin Man is my favorite.
Rudy has become his best friend. He'll play with his toys and say "See that Rudy?" and "Watch this Rudy." In the morning, he loves helping feed the kitties and will follow Rudy to every room in the house to make sure she gets her 2 pieces of Pounce. When she eats it, he'll say excitedly, "She likes it!"
He calls Dominic "Dom" sometimes. Only when he needs to yell. I crack up when he belts out from the top of the stairs "DOM, COME UP HERE!"
He continues to be a huge Mama's boy. Only I can feed him, bathe him, put him to bed, etc. This could get very interesting in 3.5 months when his little brother arrives.
He's a clean freak. Whenever we go from one activity to another, he picks up after himself without being asked. "Put it way" and "Keen up" are common phrases in his vernacular. I totally thank daycare for this habit!

It's been a great summer. He's totally fun and easy and agreeable. We had many enjoyable evening bike rides or walks to various playgrounds. Such awesome family time. I'm sad the warm weather will inevitably leave us!

I'll post pictures soon. My new camera is rocking!

Photos - summer 2009

Trip to Adventureland - Dominic and Kraeton boarding the Raging River. Not so raging for them... they came off as dry as they are here.







Dominic and Cohen on the Convoy - the only ride he was interested in. We rode it 4 times.
Kraeton's visit wasn't all fun and games. He did a great job mowing.
Cohen helped pound the tent stakes in.

Safety first!

Proud to be American...

Kraeton pushing Cohen on the swing with a little drama thrown in.

If there's any doubt what's going on in this video, let Cohen explain.

Gosh, it's been eons since I've updated this blog. Cohen is growing up and, keeping my promise to capture all those delightful little day-to-day things that I never want to forget... here goes.

He's 22.5 months and pretty much a goofball. He’s loving summer and would be outside all day if given the choice. His favorite things are pushing his red truck around the cul-de-sac, playing on the swings and slide, watching the older boys in the neighborhood run around and play (he does pretty well keeping up with them, and they’re so patient and accepting… bless their hearts), drawing with sidewalk chalk, playing in water, going for walks, running over foot bridges, climbing on playground equipment, investigating sidewalk cracks and ant hills, making huge deals out of bumps in the driveway or sidewalk, and watching animals… ducks, dogs, birds. In other words, pretty much anything that can be done outside.

He's talking up a storm, putting 2, 3 and even 4 words together. Sentences like"Daddy sit pease," Boos Coos DBD on," and "Moh cheese pease" are the norm these days. He'll repeat almost anything we ask him to, sometimes with a perfect outcome and other times, eh... His attempt at saying elephant is quite funny.

Noteworthy things he says and does…

Wawa (waffle) is the first thing out of his mouth every morning.
Mimi is movie
Imitating stuff… dancing, facial expressions, gestures. Monkey see, monkey do.
Kissing. I’m greeted every afternoon at daycare with a facefull of soft wet kisses. And he makes his stuffed animals kiss characters in books.
For a long time, everything was yellow (lello). Now, orange, red and blue have entered his repertoire.
He’s awesome at puzzles, and pretty darn good at throwing balls and magnetic darts.
He loves electronics. Can’t keep his hands off the DVD player.
He reads books in his crib before he falls asleep. I sometimes listen outside his door. It may sound something like “Down! Oh oh. Itta may do see ahbah UP! B, D, B, D, B, Double-you X! Lello… Oh, oh. Baby outside.”
He has strong opinions on pajamas, shoes and swim trunks. MUST wear footed PJs to bed, even on 95 degree days. Must wear shoes with socks (because, you know, sandals are evil). Must not wear swim diaper or swim trunks, even if all the other kids are wearing them. At daycare, no swimsuit means no playing in the water. Sadly, he doesn’t mind.
Every night before bath time we allow him to run around naked - or just a diaper - for awhile. The kid goes nuts! He especially loves it when Dominic plays chase with him. It’s adorable seeing his naked little bottom running up and down the hallway. His laugher is infectious!
His fake laugh, cough, yawn and snore. Too cute for words.
How he only eats the icing in Oreos. We’ve found the brown cookie parts in a few unexpected places.
When we squirt ketchup out of the bottle, he echos the “phhttt” sound of the squirty noise.
The silly ritual of rinsing the bubbles out of the bottom of the tub.
His love/shyness relationship with Ava, our lovely neighbor who’s 6 months older than him. When he sees her outside, his eyes light up and he repeats her name and grabs his shoes to go “side.” Once outside, he’s shy and awkward around her.
He can repeat almost the entire ABCs, and says several letters on his own. He has counted up to 9 on his own once.
How he says "ummm" and gets all serious when making a decision. Like choosing which book to read at bedtime.
He tried to cut his own hair with the "shiz-shus."

I'll post pictures soon...

School pics

These are Cohen's school pictures from earlier this month. They turned out so good!

Preggo

So... I'm pregnant! We've been trying for 9 months now. I've been mostly laid back about it and willing to accept any outcome, with a fair amount of frustration and confusion sprinkled in. This month the ovulation predictor kit was more telling than monhts past, so a part of me was wondering if this could be our time. But two weeks passed and no symptoms. With Cohen I knew immediately. Finally last week I'm like, hmm, shouldn't my monthly visitor have arrived by now? Every day I gave Dominic my "gutfelt" stats ... okay so I'm a few days late but I'm only giving us 10% odds (didn't want to set myself up for disappointment). The next day it was 12, then 18, then 21, then 27. Then yesterday my boobs starting hurting and it jumped to 51%. This morning I woke up at 5:00 to tinkle and took the test. It took about 15 seconds to come back as positive. I peaceful, happy feeling overcame me as I crawled back into bed grinning. Dominic's alarm went off after 6:00 and I snuggled up to him and said "Guess what? It's 100%!" His reaction was cool, so sincerely happy and loving and proud.

My first ob/gyn appt. is June 9. The wait is going to be torture!

God bless you little baby. I'm happy you've come to be.





May 28.

I'm almost 8 weeks pregnant now. It's killing me to keep the secret. This week the morning sickness started. It's been manageable because it usually comes when I'm brushing my teeth. I'm a little nervous what the next 6ish weeks will bring. My worst fear is getting sick at work... having to bolt out of meeting and end up throwing up before I make it to the bathroom.

My tummy is puffier than usual. Granted I had plenty of fluff before being preggo, but now I'm finding it impossible to suck it in, and even loose fitting clothes brush against my tummy area. This is about how big I was at 4 months with Cohen. This alarms me! I'll be as big as a house by fall. Oh and I gained 5 pounds already! Joy, joy.

Overall, I'm more laid back this time around. I think about baby all the time, but it doesn't consume my every waking moment like it did with Cohen. It's just more peaceful... less worrying and a feeling that it's truly in God's hands.

My doctors appointment got moved up to June 2 - that's only a few days away! I'm so excited to hear the heartbeat and hopefully see my little peanut.

July 15

My gut is expanding my the day and I'm wearing maternity clothes more often than not. I didn't expect to stay bump-free as long as I did with Cohen, but I could have lived with non-maternity clothes for a few weeks longer.

Morning sickness is still an issue. At nearly 15 weeks, it has to be almost over, right?

Lately I feel like it's a boy. The pregnancy is so similar to the first one, I just can't imagine anything else. A boy would be more than fine. How fun to have two sons! We'll find out soon enough.

I did the first trimester screening that checked for Down's and Trisomy likelihood, and the results came back fine. On the endless list of things to worry about, cross one off the list.

Everyone knows now. Telling people was fun. Hiding the secret is a drag.

Springtime fun

With the few warm days we've had, we've come out of hibernation and enjoyed some time outdoors. Or "out die?" as Cohen says. Apparently he's been working on his exploring, climbing, throwing, sliding, running, batting and sneaking away skills, because he has them mastered.


Here he is planning his escape.














And..... he's off.


















Kelly and Chris's cute little mohawked son Mitchell was baptized, and Chris's brother Drew and I were godparents.





Kraeton was here for part of spring break. The boys had some great bonding time!





Finally... when it's time to go, it's time to go. Unfortunately, this time we were too late, but I'm counting it as a success because he made the connection between "poop" and running to his potty chair. Baby steps!

Happy Groundhog day

We've been tossing the idea around for almost a year, and we finally pulled the trigger to get a different car - a Toyota Highlander Hybrid. It's pretty much a win-win. Gas mileage, space, and a great deal. We know there's always risk when you get a used car (this is an '06) but we can only hope this turns out better than our experience with the Honda - which we traded in and never looked back. We're still trying to figure out how to get the 30 ish mpg, as our sources say it should. So far the best we've had was a little over 20. We know it can do better, so we'll keep doing our homework. We love it! And the heated seats are coming in handy as this winter lingers on.

Besides that, January has been fairly non eventful. For New Year's Eve, we had Pevestorfs and Upahs over. We invited Giffords too but little Ava had a sinus infection. It actually turned out to be a little crazy (imagine that - a party going on till past midnight at OUR house!). We love our neighbors and friends.

Kraeton was here from Dec. 27 though Jan 5. I'm always amazed at how mature and responsible he's becoming (I know I say that every time he visits). There were a couple days Dominic and I had to work while he was here, and he he slept in, made himself breakfast, made his bed, locked the house and went over to Pevestorfs on his own. We love having him here - he brings so much fun, laughter and liveliness to our house.

Cohen is getting to be a big boy. Lately he's discovered "yes" which I'm really enjoying. No more guessing game when he wants something. Now I ask a series of questions until I get a "Yeah yeah yeah" or simple nod, and mystery solved. He understands practically everything. This morning I asked him if he wanted cereal for breakfast, and not only did he nod, he also went over to the cupboard, studied the boxes, pulled out the Cheerios and handed it to me. Every day there's something new. Tonight at dinner he wiped his own face with a napkin. I find it rather amazing that not only does he pay attention to our actions, but he retains it and mimicks it appropriately in perfect detail.

Funny things I don't want to forget about this age:

• He tries putting his socks on by rubbing them on his feet


• He brushes his teeth vigorously and flaps his other arm like a bird


• How he enters a room singing, stomping, or babbling, walks up to someone very non-covertly and says "BOO!"


• He's walking up and down the steps like a big boy (that's not funny but it's a milestone worth noting)


• He can hold a dialogue with us for 10 minutes and a we don't understand a word of what he's saying.


• Hand him a brownie and don't blink... it's gone that fast.


• His stuffed animals' faces are all crusty from his perpetual slimy kisses.


• How tidy he is. He always puts things back and closes the cupboard/drawer. Tonight he put a fork in the dishwasher. By himself! God I pray that quality remains!


• When we won't help him get on the couch, he pushes the coffee table over and climbs up himself.


• How he sings "La La La" when we watch the Elmo DVD.


• He counts in Cohen-speak: "Do, Bah, Tah, Datta, Doe, Bie" etc.


• When he's looking for a cat, he peeks in every doorway and says, No... No...No... Dare! (there)


• Our ritual of feeding the cats in the morning. He gives them 3 treats in a perfect row, then pats them and says bye bye.


• His desire to drink the germiest water he can find. Bath water, a melted snow puddle, the cats' dish, and yes, the toilet.


• How he eats yogurt and applesauce like it's finger food. Pinches it.

He's just a little comedian and is getting sweeter every day. Being his mommy just keeps getting better!

Turn your computer sideways to see this video of Dominic and Cohen sledding.

Finally, see a resemblence?

A few pics of Cohen