Long Week

This is the face of a very sick boy...  Cole has had a crazy bug for a little over a week now and I think he is about as fed up with being sick as I am with washing throw-up laundry.  

But he is never too sick to stare at himself in the mirror... This is an easy way for me to get ready for the day... I let him play with water and sit on the counter next to me... it works every time:)

Please ignore the mess in the background, but I wanted to show how Cole has been tromping around the house in these rain boots... I think they are the cutest shoes ever.

On a Particularly Fussy Day...

... I love to unload all of these balls in the guest room and let Cole go crazy...

It is amazing how quickly something so simple can turn his day around...

...and even now, an hour later, I can hear his laughter spilling out of that room.

First Date

Friday night I got to go out on a date with my favorite person... it was the first "baby-sitter" date we have ever been on.  It was weird, but relaxing to be out and about with just the two of us... I am so in love with him...

Children's Museum

Last Saturday, we went to the Seattle Children's Museum... It was so much fun.  I am pretty sure that Sean and I enjoyed ourselves just about as much as Cole did.  This is Cole right outside of the museum looking around at Seattle Center... I think he loved seeing all the open space.  

While inside the museum, Cole acted like he owned the place... I love the confidence he has.  He just strolled from display to display like he had been there a million times before.

The Goldilocks room was my favorite, but maybe that is because I am a sucker for fairy tales... I kept trying to get Cole to sit in these chairs, but he apparently wasn't as impressed with them as I was:)

The jungle was Cole's favorite display... we walked through these "vines" over and over again... there is nothing better than watching him have a good time.  We have been meaning to take him to that museum forever, so I am glad we finally got around to it and we will definitely return many times in the years to come:)

Cookies

Cole's bedroom door stayed shut until almost 10 this morning... and that is after he went to bed at just after 7 last night... he must be growing again!  It was nice to be able to get a lot done this morning before he even woke up.

This afternoon I made these iced pumpkin cookies... they are SO delicious...

... they even inspired Cole to say a new word... "Cookie."  Hearing his sweet little voice utter  words just warms my heart.

A Little Late...

...but here is Cole in his Halloween costume.  He was smiling just a few moments before this picture was taken, but he was mad that we weren't giving him the camera.  He can be so fragile at times:)

Here he is today, looking pretty pleased with himself for being so good for me while we were in Target... I wonder sometimes if he thinks that store is his second home... we spend way too much time there.

Isn't it cute?  I love that it looks like a barn... I miss having a Super Target, but at least this one is fun to look at.

While we were there, I bought Cole a few Hot Wheels.  (Thanks for the suggestion Dana.)  He loves them!  The look of concentration on his face while he watches it go down the "ramp," is the best part.

A Good Start

I love daylight savings!  I have always considered myself to be a morning person, but lately I have just not been with it... But thanks to the change in time, I was able to go to sleep early last night and I have been up since 3 a.m. and I am loving it.  It's crazy how much easier it is to get things done without an almost-two-year-old pulling me all over the place.  Hopefully, getting up insanely early this morning will help me to get to sleep early tonight and I will get back to my old schedule and have a few hours to myself in the morning, every morning.

The Everyday

I have been having the best day... and that has a lot to do with this cute little guy.  Hanging out with him really is one of my favorite things.  It is hard to express all of the ways that he has changed my life, but I think one of the biggest things he has changed, is my attitude towards the "everyday-have-to-do-over-and-over-again" type of things.  I can remember before he was born, being constantly bored and complaining about the lack of excitement I had in my life. I cannot say that I have a lot of thrills in my life now, but there is something about getting to take care of Cole, all of the repetition that is involved with helping him, that has helped me to see that happiness, for me at least, is found in the "everyday." Today I got to...

... watch him build the biggest lego tower he has ever built...

...help him "splash," as he calls it, around in the bark...

...watch him go down the slide over and over again...

...and I got to go for a walk with him and look at all the leaves on the ground.  I think fall is my new favorite season.  Being surrounded by trees makes for an amazing experience when the leaves start changing colors.  I love it here!

Favor

Sean asked me if I would paste a link to his blog since it has been so long since he has posted and therefore people have probably given up looking. Here it is:

http://radicaltherapy.blogspot.com/

I Don't Know Why...

...I haven't blogged in forever.  I haven't been that great about taking my camera with me when we go out and about these days.  Maybe that is because Cole weighs more than 30 lbs and I still have to carry him around when we go somewhere, so the extra half a pound from my camera might just put me over my limit:)  Even though Cole can walk just fine on his own, he likes to run off any time he sees open space and so that can be pretty dangerous in a parking lot.  We joined the YMCA recently, so other than taking him there so he can learn to play with other kids, Cole spends his days...

Coloring (very intensely) ...

and dragging this car all over the house...  One of his other favorite things to do lately, 

 is to have me draw shapes and then he tells me what they are... it is quite fun... I love this little guy~

It's Hard to Believe...

... That Cole is sleeping in a real bed!  It went a lot better than I thought it would too... he needed a little bit of reassurance, but for his first night sleeping in a big-boy-bed I think he did pretty good...

Growing Up

Cole has been pretty easy to entertain lately... He loves using my firm box as a slide.  He climbs up the back and then says "wee..." as he slides down...

I love that he will actually pose for pictures every once in awhile...

He loves to play in the fridge... I was making dinner and I found him stacking my yogurt.

This is the face Cole reserves for when he is very pleased with himself for destroying something... like the yogurt tower he had just knocked over.

What Cole has been up to lately...

The usual... hanging out in his room and sucking his thumb...

Feeding himself all the time... He has known how to for quite awhile, but until recently, he would always refuse to eat on his own...

Helping me reorganize my dresser...

Feeding and quacking at the ducks... He does a very impressive duck impersonation...

Running away from me and keeping me very busy...Whenever he sees open space he just takes off running as if he knows exactly where he is going.  It is very cute to watch but a little nerve-racking when there are bike riders all around...

Weekend-O-Fun

I saw this with my mom on Friday... amazing!  I didn't want it to end.  The cast was flawless...

Before the show started, my mom and I spent several hours walking around downtown and shopping. It was so much fun... My mom really is the best... I love spending time with her and I cannot remember the last time we had a day like this with just the two of us.

Here we are posing with "Christine and Raoul" outside of the theatre before the show started... 

On Saturday, my mom and I drove to Auburn to hang out with some of our life-long friends, the Phelans.  This is my mom with Sam... I love Sam for how good of a friend she has always been to my mom. They always seem to do a lot of laughing when they get together.  And thanks to them...

...We are friends.  I have known this girl since I was 7 years old and I am so happy to live close to her again.  We all spent the day walking around cute little shops in Sumner and then we had lunch at a bakery there which was delicious. It really was a great weekend...

Sister in Seattle

I am sad because I just dropped this girl off at the airport... she really is one of my favorite people and it has been a lot of fun having her here.  There are a million things to love about Brittany and I just feel lucky because she is my sister. We miss you already Brit...

Vintage Find

I am in love with this vintage toddler desk that I found at a yard sale last weekend... It is stamped underneath with the date June 1953... crazy!  I love old things and I love the design of it... it really is perfect for keeping a toddler with a short attention span in one place for a little while.

Cole is going to get a lot of use out of it.... he seems to be quite happy to just sit there and color, with...

Or without paper... I think he got tired of trying to hold the paper in place, but no worries... the crayons are completely washable.

Random Happiness

A few weeks ago it seemed like fall had moved on in but it looks like summer is making a brief comeback.  I am trying to get out and enjoy as much of the sunshine as I can, while I can... These pictures really aren't connected in any way other than the fact that they all represent things that bring me happiness.  Like this cute, old schoolhouse and bell that are at my favorite park...

Pushing Cole in the swing and listening to him say, "Wee..." every time he comes toward me for another push...

Watching Sean play with Cole...

Cole making faces at me while he tries to get out of eating his lunch...

The view I have on the jogging trail.  Really... it is a lot easier to motivate myself to get out and get moving when I know that I get to come here.  There is just something about being surrounded by trees that makes me feel so peaceful.

Cole sucking his thumb... I know it may not be good for his teeth or whatever but it really melts my heart every time I catch a glimpse of this little guy with his thumb in his mouth.