Christmas 2010

So Christmas 2010 is officially over, and everything went just fine.  Cole got lots of good stuff and finally started to get the hang of unwrapping presents.  He's starting his terrible twos a little early.  He doesn't like to mind at all!  I've kept him at home with me the past couple of days (I've had the week off) and oh my gosh, he just refuses to mind me.  But, he's so sweet sometimes, and he is so smart.  This little booger is too smart for his own good sometimes.  He's so funny.  He's started repeating everything you say.  He talks all the time.  He calls phone "bone."  He knows who Elmo is (Mo-Mo).  He knows who Thomas the Train is.  He got a Thomas book for Christmas that he is totally obsessed with.  He carries it around saying "Thomas" "choo-choo".
Justin hurt his back again on Christmas night.  We went to the doctor for him on Monday and he has an MRI today and starts physical therapy tomorrow.  They think he might have a bulging disk.  So yeah, hopefully they'll figure out what's going on with him.
Anywho...I guess that's about it.  Here are some more Christmas pics. 

Santa Claus Is Coming Came to Town

So since we are leaving tonight or tomorrow to head to NE Texas for "Go See Everyone We're Remotely Blood Related To" 2K10 Edition aka Christmas, we decided to strike up a deal with Santa for him to come visit Cole early.  Ya know, since Cole's so extra special and stuff.  Santa willingly obliged, especially since that meant that "Santa" would get to open his gifts early, too.  And "Santa" is notorious for not wanting to wait until Christmas to open his gifts. 

So Sunday morning we were celebrating.  Just the three of us.  Cole got a camouflage recliner and a motorized four wheeler.  Those were his big gifts.  The rest was just little stuff; a puzzle, a keyboard, books, etc.  Oh, and of course the stuffed deer mount and the deer action figure.  Those were his two favorite things.  I have some super cute pics of him opening the deer action figure.  Sadly, I have been trying to get my pics uploaded at work and it won't work, ironically enough.  These are the only three pics I have cause I had already uploaded them to facebook.  I haven't had time to check my memory card at home, so I'm praying it's just my stupid work computer, and that the pics are still safe and sound on the memory card. 

Hopefully there will be more pics to come next week on my WHOLE WEEK OFF!

I got a tripod!

Cole and Daddy watching Touchdown (aka football).

Cole enjoying (& trying to share) his biscuits, gravy & scrambled eggs.



Sadie & Cole - not much different

Justin and I have joked many times that Cole is not so much different than Sadie (our former beloved Blue Heeler that we had to re-home for various reasons, one of which being that she bared her teeth at a soon-to-be crawling Cole and Mama Bear here decided that she had to find a greener pasture). 
Anyway, not unlike Sadie, Cole throws up randomly, begs for food at your feet, makes huge messes he never cleans up, takes up way more than his portion of the bed, as well as various other things.  One thing I never thought they would have in common - I found a fake Christmas tree pine needle in his diaper yesterday.  And not in the edge like maybe it was in there by accident.  Like, in his butt crack.  Now I'm not saying he ate it and pooped it out, but who are we kidding?!  He ate it and pooped it out!!  The human intestines are not capable of digesting whatever fake Christmas trees are made of.
Oh, and he fetches, too. :)

Aw man!

Cole has been super cute here lately.  His new things are saying "aw man!" and "mine" (pronounced "mine-uh"), and he likes running around the house screaming like a banchee.  He likes to sit up at the table and eat like a big boy.  He's getting better every day at eating with utensils.  He also asks for milk when he wants some instead of us just offering it to him.  He brings you his cup and says "mi-uk."  So you say, "please?" and he signs please.  He will also throw stuff away for you.  He gets really upset if you don't let him take his diaper to the trash.  Also, yesterday I had an empty apple juice bottle sitting on the table that I was going to rinse out and put in the recycle trash.  Well, he took it upon himself to throw it in the trash for me.  He's such a sweet little helper!! 
I finally got some presents wrapped and under the tree.  Of course the first thing he did was get under the tree and start moving them around.  He only tore one, though.  He also likes to walk around the back of the tree, but then he gets trapped. 
Santa is coming to see him this Sunday because he's just so extra special.  We won't be at our house for Christmas, so Santa is making a special trip for him.  I hope Santa doesn't have to do that next year, but we'll see.  Justin is glad, though, because that means we get to open our presents early, too, and Lord knows he has been bugging me about his presents for weeks already.  I don't even have them wrapped yet!  They're still in the back of my car.  He just knows he better not be peeking!! 

Wordless Wednesday

Thanksgiving cont.

I finally got some pics uploaded from Thanksgiving.  Cole loved playing the drums and keyboard at Granny's.  Crazy boy.  :)

Thanksgiving 2010

I'll start off by saying that I didn't take many pictures, so this blog will be more of a "diary" entry for me.  Justin, Cole and I headed to NE Texas after I got off work on Wednesday.  We didn't leave the house until probably 7:00 or so.  I really can't remember to be honest.  Justin had worked all night the night before, and only had a short nap so I drove.  Traffic was practically non-existent by the time we hit the road which was a God send!  We made it to Gammy's in pretty much record time.  We woke up the next day and had Thanksgiving lunch at Gammy's with Justin's side of the family.  That night we had dinner at Granny's with my side.  Lots of yummy food was eaten. 
Of course early every morning Justin was deer hunting (and no deer was killed).
Friday Cole and I went to LK's playoff game.  That was a crazy idea.  I always have these great ideas in theory, but in practice, they turn out to be stupid.  Case in point:  Cole at a football game.  It just wasn't a great idea.  He hadn't had a great nap and he wanted to get down and run around.  There just wasn't enough room for all that.  So I ended up leaving during the 3rd quarter, but I got to visit with friends a little bit anyway. 
Besides all that, nothing much happened.  We were ready to go home by Saturday night so that's just what we did.  Before we left Cole was SO EXHAUSTED and he's cutting 4 molars at the same time, and his teeth were hurting pretty bad, so he was NOT fun to be around.  He fell asleep almost instantly when we hit the road.  We left around 6:30 Saturday night and made it home in by 9:45.  Cole was ready to PARTY!  He slept with us that night which of course means I didn't sleep worth a darn.  But, at least it was in my own bed. 
Sunday Cole took a super long nap and I took a small one.  I really needed to be cleaning, but at that point I didn't even care.  After we both woke up I started decorating.  Holy moly, Cole was such a big helper (note the sarcasm).  As I was putting ornaments on, he was taking them off.  In fact, I have a big box of shatterproof ornaments I bought new this year.  Well, Cole took it upon himself to take the empty box up to the tree and take all the balls off and put them back into the box.  Isn't he a great helper??  I hope he's that helpful when it comes time to un-decorate.  :)  I have been fighting him ever since.  I guess I'm just going to have to take all the ornaments off the bottom of the tree.  Somehow he managed to break a plastic snowflake.  I can't even imagine how he did it.
That kid. 
I had a little discussion with Santa and he has decided to come visit Cole early since we won't be at home for Christmas Eve.  I really hate it, but we gotta do what we gotta do.  He's going to come on December 19, the Sunday before Christmas.  I'm sure Justin is glad because he never can wait until Christmas anyway. 
I dont have my memory card so I will have to post pictures later...
But, we had a good Thanksgiving, even if it was stressful.  Christmas is going to be even more stressful.  But, I'm trying not to worry too much about it.  Not yet anyway.

Make me eat my words later...

I just read this post and felt inspired to make my own list.
 
Things I miss about being pregnant...
1.  Feeling him move inside me, even though eventually he got so big and low that it hurt like a mother when he wiggled around.  But, sitting at work, typing away, sometimes he would just go to town kicking and wiggling.  It was the best feeling.
2.  Anticipating what kind of little person he was going to be.  He hasn't disappointed.
3.  Justin making up funny little songs to sing to him.  "You're floating around in your mama's belly in stuff that looks like jelly."
4.  The three of us laying in bed while Justin read to him or we just laid there and relaxed. 
5.  Maternity pants. 
6.  Eating something that tastes to good you inhale the whole plate faster than your husband (and then being hungry again 30 minutes later).  I love food.
7.  Swimming.  It was such a relief (even if I looked like a whale).
8.  The miraculous-ness that is building a human being.  It's freaking amazing.

2nd Verse, Same as the First

I was looking for a picture of Cole from Thanksgiving last year, and I came upon this post.

I would like to say "ditto" for this year.

(Except for the part about Justin killing a deer, since he hasn't yet this year.  I will take this time to send a prayer up...)

Please Lord, let Justin kill a deer soon.  As much as he wants to kill one, I probably want him to kill one more, just so he'll chill out! :)  (I love you babe!)

Janitor in training?

For some reason Cole loves to carry around brooms and mops.  I don't know what the fascination is, but he screams bloody murder if you try to take it away from him.  So Sunday we went outside to let him ride his 4-wheeler, and there was a mop outside that I had put out there to dry (like 2 weeks ago (don't judge me)).  Instead of riding his 4-wheeler he carried that mop around for like 30 minutes.  He's a strange child. :)

He did finally put the mop down and let Daddy push him around on the 4-wheeler.  It's not motorized (but he's getting a motorized one for Christmas.  Shhh, don't tell him!)

 

Apparently Blogger decided that these pics needed to be rotated.  Sorry.  I can't fix it and it DRIVE ME BANANAS.

Where does he get this stuff??

So last night, Cole started doing something new...
Since yesterday was the Marine Corps birthday (& I didn't cook him the traditional lobster & steak dinner) Justin drank a beer out of a frosty mug to celebrate.
Cole reached out and touched the glass, put his hand on his chest and said "whoo!"  It's really hard to describe it, but oh my gosh, Justin and I were dying laughing.  He just kept doing it.  He'd reach out, touch the glass, grab his chest and go "whooooo" like it was the coldest thing he'd ever touched.  This went on for about 10 minutes.  So I tried to get the camera out and video it.  What do you think happened next?  He stopped doing it, of course.  That's my new goal now...to get it on video.  His other favorite thing to do with something cold is to pull up his shirt and put it on his belly.  So while I was trying to get Cole to do the "whoooo" thing on video I handed him a pint of ice cream.  All he would do is put it on his belly and laugh.  Since that child was in the womb he has been trying to teach me that he is NOT a dancing bear!!
One of these days I'll learn, but probably not.

Oh, and Happy Veterans Day to all the Veterans out there, especially to my dear hubby.  I love you!

Black & White Wednesday

I already posted this picture before, but I love it so much I wanted to include it on Black & White Wednesday on http://thelongroadtochina.blogspot.com/.

Trip to Aggieland

We ventured down to Aggieland this weekend with Cole in tow.  Traveling with him is no small feat, but we made it through with minimal damage and zero casualties (besides my patience).  Cole had a great time and we FINALLY found him a jersey.  Granted, the smallest size we could find was a 3T, but it was really not THAT big on him.  And he'll be able to wear it next year (hopefully).  The head opening was already kind of small, so I hope it will fit over his huge noggin' next year.  Oh!  And WHOOP! to the Ags beatin' the HELL outta OU!!  And we're ranked now??!!  Cheese and Rice. 
I think Cole's favorite parts of the weekend were dancing on the table at the Chicken, pointing out all the deer in the Chicken, and running amok at the tailgate before he ran amok INTO an actual tailgate.  He was fine 15 seconds later, but I had flashes of ER visits and bloody broken noses and black eyes before I realized he was okay.  That kid never watches where he's walking. 

Thanks and Gig 'Em! :)

Early Christmas Shopping

Cole is getting one of these...

and one of these.

Ssshhh.  Don't tell him! 

He loves chairs and he loves deer.  Are we redneck or what? :)

Self-feeding

Cole has decided he wants to feed himself.  You don't have a choice.  This is what happens.

Dancing Machine

This is from the Stars game.  Cole entertains people wherever he goes.

Halloween 2010

Well Halloween 2010 started out with us going to a Stars game.  We were running a little late so I fed Cole on the way.  We got about 2 miles from the house and he threw up.  It was because he got a little choked and gagged, so he wasn't sick.  But it was puke nonetheless.  So we had to go home and change clothes and clean up the car seat.  At that point we really thought about not even going.  It was already late.  But, we decided to go ahead and go, and we are so glad we did.  We had a great time!  Cole was a little scared at first because it was so loud at times and people were yelling.  But, once he got a little used to it and the music started playing he started dancing and having a great time.  So for Halloween night we just let Cole run around in the front yard and hand candy out to kids walking by.  He had a great time.  He was so sweet.  He would take candy out of his pumpkin, put it in the other kids bag and then look up smiling and clap for himself.  He was so proud.  All I had was snickers and smarties, but he would pick out all the smarties to give the kids.  He never wanted to give them snickers.  haha  He was so cute.        

 This picture is blurry, but I love his face in it.

These were my pantyhose.  Nice, huh?  I love them!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

These are out of order, but I am tired of fighting with Blogger.

1.  Something Vintage - This is a quilt my grandmother made a very long time ago.  I love it; no other blanket keeps me as warm.

2.  Tilt Shift - This was our first Stars game.  After a very rough start, we made it and had a very good time.

3.  Dressed up - Charlie Brown - and then he puked.

4.  Chocolate

5.  My town - This is the view of part of downtown Fort Worth from atop the parking garage Justin parks in everyday.

Paper Mama Photo Challenge

So one of the blogs I read is doing a photo challenge for black & white pics involving your child.  I recently took this picture of Cole (which you can see is part of my blog title).  We were at the Texas State Fair and he was enjoying his first (& mine) Fletcher's corn dog.  I love this picture.  I can't help but just want to kiss his little face off.  Enjoy! :)

One more...

Justin's Labor of Love

So when we got home for NE Texas, we (well, I) decided we would carve a pumpkin.  Cole was going to sleep early, so we let him join in on the cleaning out part.  It was best for him to not be involved in the actual carving because, well, let's face it, he's crazy.  Anyway, he was saying "pumpkin" but it sounded a lot like when he says purple, bubba, bubbles, pawpaw, and bo bo.  They all sound the same.  But he said it, I think. :)  Justin put a lot of effort into this pumpkin.  So, word to the wise, don't smash it (like what happened last year).  But, we're in a new neighborhood, so hopefully it won't. 

Here Dad, let me show you.

 



Bu-buh (translation:  pumpkin)



How aggravating...if I don't turn the picture before I upload it, blogger will turn it.  If I do turn it before I upload it, it still turns it.  But not the horizontal ones.  Ugh.

Anyway, how stinkin' cool is that pumpkin?  I'm so impressed.

Darcey's 1st Birthday

Saturday afternoon was Darcey's first birthday party.  She has come a long way since being born 6 weeks early.  She really didn't care for her cake, but she loved all the gifts she got.  She's such a funny little girl. 
I also got to see KK.  She's so grown up these days.  She's about a half inch taller than me.  I hope she'll continue to grow and not be stuck being as short as me. :)


I don't know why this thing keeps turning my pictures back horizontal.

She always stands up on her tiptoes like that.  It's adorable.

Boys Blowing Bubbles

This weekend was jam packed with fun stuff so I'm going to break the posts down so I don't have to fight Blogger with the pics as much (hopefully).  We headed to NE Texas around 5:00 pm Friday which I was a little worried about considering we were going to drive right down I-30, past the Ballpark in Arlington around the time that people were going to be going to watch Game 6 of the ALCS.  Amazingly enough, I-30 East was clear!  There were hardly any cars on our side of the road.  I-30 West was a different story.  Everyone was trying to exit Six Flags Drive to go to the game. 
Anywho, we made it to Gammy's in decent time.  She had Kaden and Mason there and all three boys were trying hard not to go to sleep.  We got Cole down around 1030, and he was back up around 1145 crying.  So we put him in bed with us (a full sized bed with Cole = no fun).  Also, Justin and Cole together = blazing hot furnace, so Justin got up and slept on the couch.  That meant that Cole and I should have had plenty of room, right?  Negative.  That meant he had plenty of room to push me off the bed.  I was about ready to just sleep on the floor.  Then, of course, he woke up at 6:15 bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.  He is so dang cute first thing in the morning it's hard to be mad at him for waking up so early.  Gammy didn't sleep well either because Mason spurred her like a horse all night. 
So while Justin was off gallavanting in the woods trying to find a deer, Gammy and I were corraling 3 boys.  They really weren't bad, but it's just a lot!  It reminds me why I don't want more than 2 kids, if that!  Cole is enough on his own!  But, they blew bubbles on the front porch and had a great time.  Well, Cole didn't really blow bubbles.  He liked them for about 5 seconds, and then he ran around trying to find stuff to tear up.  Ahh, to be 1 again.