The little man shows the little lady a little love...

Getting back to nature

I promised everyone that has been asking for some pictures from Portland and the surrounding areas. We have adjusted to life in Portland quite nicely, although the weather has been much more warm than the norm for this time of year. In fact, it got up to 90 degrees yesterday- not used to that for the last few days of September.

We will be keeping up with the blog a bit better now that baby girl is due next week, many pictures to come, we promise! I think we are getting close- many contractions over the past couple days. : )

Until her arrival, here are pictures from our recent drives to Canon Beach (1 hour to the west), Multnomah Falls (30 minutes to the east) and the Columbia River Gorge ( a beautiful drive starting in Portland, headind eastbound along the river. The views are just amazing!

Westward bound

I looked at the blog this morning and saw that we haven't posted since February!

First, our apologies for slacking on Cole updates... much has happened in the past few months.

Just a quick recap:

Cole is now walking and running around the house (and the neighborhood for that matter). He's really fast and I have a hard time keeping up with him.

He also now has a mouth full of teeth... from molars to canines to incisors... he's
fully loaded and eating all sorts of food like a champ. New favorites include pasta with pesto sauce, soft shell tacos, strawberries, blueberries, grapes and for some unknown reason that I won't question... raw cauliflower.

Dinner has become much more of an extravaganza!

Also, the past few months have been busy for our family and we have BIG news to report on many fronts...

First- As of October 9th, Cole will be a big brother to a new little sister! We are so excited and we can't wait to meet her. We are at week 27, and just entered the third trimester. Cole is excited as well and has even gotten in the habbit of hugging and kissing my belly every morning after saying... "hi baby".

It just cracks me up. : )

Second- As of August 1st, we will be heading westward to Portland, Oregon! Mark got a great teaching position at Reed College and I will be finishing the last year of my post-doctoral fellowship at Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU) in Portland.

We are really excited for our move to the northwest and we extend an open invitation to all of you to come for a visit!

Pictures of Cole will come as soon as I find some extra time... between trying to finish up at work, all the packing, watching Cole sprint around the neighborhood and trying to take care of the new little one inside... life has been hectic!

Much love to all of you...

Rough and Tumble

Lately, Cole has developed some sort of brut baby strength. He is pulling him self up onto all sorts of things and has taken to climbing each of our 20 stairs everyday.

Unfortunately, his brut strength has been causing a few accidents and when we picked him up from daycare yesterday we had to sign yet another incident report (a report saying that Cole has somehow hurt himself). Usually, the injuries are minor, tiny scrapes or bumps from playing too rough. However, yesterday, he managed to pull a metal desk chair onto himself.... he cut his gums and has a swollen lip.

He's not much worse for the ware, though, and is still crawling and climbing around like a little monkey.

I'm thinking he's in for a career in the circus...

Bathtime bonanza

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Apple induced euphoria

Lately, we've been trying to give Cole more, er, freedom when it comes to mealtime to encourage him to feed himself. He has really taken to apples and so we let him gnaw on ours once we've eaten them down to a more manageable size. In the picture below, Cole is really showing his appreciation for the apple he was able to munch on at lunch... and he's also showing off his 7 chompers! The second photo is the extremely messy result of letting Cole try to feed himself prunes with a spoon... yowza!

Double Trouble

This afternoon I was watching our friends' son Jack for a few hours while they enjoyed a movie and, wow, was it tiring to try to monitor TWO little boys at once. I don't know how Mark's parents managed with 3 wiley little boys... bravo!

Jack is 2 months younger than Cole and is already crawling all about-

they play really well together (and also attend the same daycare) and it was a treat to watch them interact with one another all afternoon. Cole is starting to become possessive (of time in his mama's lap, of his own toys, etc) and so it was a good opportunity to teach him about sharing- I can tell you right now he's not to happy with the concept!

Mark was supposed to be home from work by 4:00 to help out but was stuck on 80 for 3 hours due to bad weather and an over-turned semi and so I had to brave it alone...

Here are a few pics of them playing with Cole's new Leap Frog music table...

Note that Cole is looking stunned in most of these pictures (what, I have to share my new Christmas toy?!) :)

Winter break re-cap

Wow... it has been forever since we've posted and so much has happened over the past several weeks!

First... a Christmas re-cap:

We enjoyed a pre-Christmas celebration in Iowa City with Mark's parents, George and Billie and enjoyed a relaxing dinner at the house. Cole was so happy to spend time with his Kansan grandparents.

Then, we celebrated Christmas eve and Christmas morning in Chicago (Libertyville) with my mom and step-dad and Cole sure was the center of attention! As with most 8 month olds, Cole opted to play with the ribbon and tissue paper over his fancy new talking globe and singing puppy (gifts from grandma and grandpa). We had a wonderful time!

Next, we were off to Boyne City to visit with my Dad, step-mom and brother in northern michigan- and once again Cole was spoiled to the nth degree. We enjoyed the winter wonderland and took every oportunity to sit back, eat great food, drink plenty of wine and relax.

Once back in Iowa City, we spent a low key New Years Eve at home with our friends Annie, Rogge, Katie and Doxie... Cole was in bed by 8:00, but I snuck into his room at mindight and gave him a big new year's smooch!

So, let me fill you in on all of Cole's new milestones:

He is now crawling and creeping (walking holding onto the furniture) at a fevered pace- he is really hard to keep up with and he has already acquired several bumps and bruises as he tries to manuver himself about the house.

Several more teeth have come in and now he has 7... starting to look like a little boy!

Also- Cole has begun to breakdance which brings Mark and I endless hours of enjoyment. I'm thinking of getting him his very own piece of cardboard... I will try to post a video of his new moves soon!

Cole has somehow learned to say good-bye when we are leaving or he is going down for a nap... he just smiles a big toothy grin, waves his hand and says (bye-bye)- it kinda melts your heart!

Last, but not least, Cole has become quite the little fish. I have been taking him to the Iowa City recreational center for a little swimming and he has really taken to it. This afternoon, we splashed around, swam a few laps and he had a great time... bobbing in and out of the water, floating on his back and squealing with delight! I think I will get him some floaties so we can play in the deep end next time...

On the move...

It's been a while and so we have some major milestones on which to report-

Last week Cole started to show signs of crawling... slow and steady.
Now, he's faster than lightening and 100% of our waking time is spent chasing him around the house making sure he doesn't kill himself... or Darwin dog.

As he is getting stronger, mornings have become even more fun... as I enter his room he is already standing in his crib, usually dancing and 'singing' to himself with a big grin on his face (see the picture below)... it makes me smile every time.

Last, but definitely not least, and just in time for the holidays, Cole's two front top teeth have made their debut. I've been singing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" over and over to Cole and each time he giggles (good audience)!

Who laid an egg?

Of all the toys this little guy now has, including Exersaucers, numerous touch and feel books, talking stuffed animals, toys that speak 3 different languages, and the list goes on and on...
his favorite source of entertainment, by far, seems to be a tiny plastic egg with colored beads inside that I bought at our local music store... go figure!

Shake it, baby!

Pumkins, lions, ninjas and cows... oh my!

Halloween brought us many laughs this year as we dressed Cole up for The Sprout House (his new daycare)...

All of his pals donned costumes as well and we, at least the adults, got a big kick out of it... enjoy!

Baby legend (from left to right):
Mikhala and Aaditya were both pumpkins, Isabelle was a fierce lion, Patton was a stealth ninja, Cole was a content cow and Jack was a "Jack O' Lantern"... too funny!

Boyne City

We headed home last weekend to Dad and Anna's in Boyne City, Michigan for a much desired fall break! Cole fared extremely well on his first plane trip(s) and was so excited to see all the amazing fall colors at Grandma and Grandpa's house...

Thanks to their generosity, we were off through the woods of northern michigan with Cole in his brand new hiking backpack. We all hiked up Avalanche Mountain and Cole enjoyed himself thoroughly! The pictures I've put in the slideshow are only a small portion of the ones I took- there were so many photo opportunities- I just couldn't resist. If you want to see the rest, feel free to leave a comment or send me an email!

We also watched the salmon swim upstream to spawn and made an incredible bonfire by which we enjoyed copious amounts of both wine and smores! Cole joined in on the fun for a while and then eased into a cozy snooze in his outdoor bed while the grown-ups talked and reminisced for many more hours!

On our last night, we cleaned ourselves up a bit and headed into Charlevoix for a beautiful dinner at the Weathervane... Dad and Anna's favorite restaurant perched high atop a hill along the channel that links Lake Michigan to Lake Charlevoix.

Our long weekend was, simply put... perfect!

Fall is here!

Last weekend we went to a Pumpkin Patch and Cole really seemed to enjoy himself!
He saw all the animals in the petting zoo and especially liked the peacock... then off to find pumpkins and eat ears of sweet corn. Halloween is around the corner and Iowa City is getting chilly!

Ouch!

Cole's first two teeth have popped through his bottom gums...
They are razor sharp and I now refer to him as the little piranha!

When in Rome

Cole tried on his costume the other day for his upcoming Halloween debut... I sure hope he likes Halloween as much as his mama!

Seeing as we ARE in Iowa, we thought it only fitting for Cole to dress as a cow and Darwin to dress as a chicken...

should be interesting!

Grandma and Grandpa come for a visit!

Grandma Kathy and Grandpa John came for a visit from Libertyville last weekend. Cole was so excited to see both of them and gave them plenty of hugs and big smiles!

We had a great weekend filled with lots of activities... we had lunch on the Sutliff bridge just north of Iowa City and then stopped by Wilson's Apple Orchard on the way home for some freshly picked apples and a piping hot apple turnover... yum!

We headed downtown to the Ped Mall for a lovely dinner outside at Atlas and then back to the homestead for a bonfire and some smores.

The next day, we headed up to the Brown Deer golf course for lunch outdoors right on the 9th hole and then Grandpa John took Cole out onto the putting green to teach him how to swing! What a lovely afternoon!

Bye-bye Birdie... I mean baby

Cole started his first day at Apple Tree Daycare yesterday (tear drop splash).

After preparing 5 bottles, getting his diaper bag packed, gathering a month's worth of diapers and wipes, extra blankies, extra outfits, bibs, pacifiers, favorite toys, etc... we all scrunched into the car and headed downtown.

Darwin had a peculiar look on his face and we couldn't tell if it read "oh no, everyone is leaving me" or "praise jesus that screaming baby is going somewhere else for the day"!

Cole did well for his first day without mom and dad (although we did come check in on him once to make sure all was going well). When we picked him up after his first long day... the staff told us that his favorite activity was looking at himself in the mirror for long stretches of time.

Go figure!

Our new weekend activity

We're on a never-ending quest to find interesting, 'baby-friendly' things to do on the weekend...

A few weeks ago, we stumbled upon a drive-in movie theater about 45 minutes south of Iowa City... one of only three drive-ins left in the entire state! A lost piece of Americana, they are not only super fun... but they allow us see movies while taking Cole along with us! This particular drive-in is in the middle of a corn field (it is Iowa, after all) and when the stars come out it is actually quite beautiful. Cole loves going and usually falls asleep about half way through... letting us lay back, dive into some popcorn and soda, and finally enjoy the big screen once again.

The past two times we've gone it's been pretty toasty outside, though, still around 85 degrees at 9:00 at night (gotta love the summer). I joked with Mark about how much our lives have changed since Cole's arrived... gives a whole new meaning to "going to the drive-in on Friday night with a hot babe"!

Cole eats his first solid food!

Mark was a good sport and let me put this on regardless of his, ummm, 'outbust'...