The Rainbow Connection

Cole has a soft spot for the song Rainbow Connection.  We were in a store the other day and someone was a bit fussy.  Mary walked by one of those end cap displays with music and this song was playing.  He instantly calmed down and zoned out.  So we tested this a bit by walking away and coming back.  Yep, this song is like an off button for him.  Needless to say we purchased the cd and have it loaded on all iPods and keep a copy in the car.  Pretty cool.  

Hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and are taking it slow this next week as we all ease into 2009. 

Merry Christmas!

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!

Cole had a great morning playing with the paper. He loves his presents as well, but was taken by the crinkle of the paper grabbing it and putting it in his mouth.

He is currently taking a nap and mom and dad will follow shortly.

It will be a quiet day around the house and staying inside most of the day. It has been raining off and on, so we have the fire going and are just lounging around. What a perfect day. Later today we have a good friend coming over for dinner.

Check out the photo from last nights gathering. We had friends over for goodies. He was able to see little Sofia as it was her first trip out of the house to see friends and her 0 birthday. She was born early and has been growing like a weed. We were so happy to see her out and about.

Cole was rocking a tie last night looking very dapper.

Sleeping Champ

We are now sleeping from 9pm to 6am on his own.  We keep moving his bedtime up a little and he keeps sleeping longer.  Yeah!

Many Updates - Sleeping, Eating Baby Boy!

Lots of exciting happenings in the Hobson House as of late.  We are in full Holiday mode and Cole is loving it.  We put the tree up early this week and he enjoys looking at the lights and the decorations.  He opened one present early this week and as is typical with kids...the paper was fascinating!  

This weekend we were trying to get our Holiday Cards ready and needed to get a photo of Cole.  Let's just say the photo shoot was pretty funny and he wasn't really enjoying what mom and dad had as our artistic vision for the picture.  We were able to get a couple of great shots that will work for the card.  

Cole has recently started eating solids.  He has been a very good eater and for the most part has enjoyed the experience.  Water is not his favorite, but the food is great.  He loves his sweet potatoes and is not very fond of carrots.  The carrots have grown on him, but it was a tough start.  We have to be careful as he is like a goldfish...he will just keep eating and eating and eating.  As with any food change there comes changes with the output.  Wow.  

And the biggest news of all is Cole is sleeping in his own bed all evening long!!!  We finally hit the wall and all of us were ready for the move to his room.  The first night was really tough.  He maybe slept an hour and a half.  But the second night he was a champ!  Went to bed and basically didn't wake up until the morning.  We knew we shouldn't get too excited so we waited for the third night and again success!  Very little waking in the night, but he is doing one thing just to freak us out.  He has decided that he would rather sleep on his stomach learning how to roll from his back to his belly.  At first we thought it was a fluke and just flipped him over.  Nope.  Almost instantaneously he flips back over and goes to sleep.  Oh well.  He is strong enough to lift his head and to roll over from his belly.

Each week is packed with activity.  I hope everyone is finding some time to enjoy a little down time during this hectic period. 

A candid of the talent from the photo shoot.

Hanging in his chair in one of his dads childhood outfits.

The family out to get the Christmas Tree.

What!?  I like food!

Let me help you. Faster mom, faster.

Happy Holidays!

Hi everyone!  We just got back from getting some photos of Cole and he was a champ.  Haming it up and enjoying himself.  Grandma has been in town for a long weekend and Cole has been really enjoying spending time with someone other than mom and dad.  I think Grandma has really enjoyed spending time with Cole as well.  It was a quick trip, but a very good one.  

Things continue to be busy around our household, so apologies for not posting more often.  Things with Joppel continue to go well and we are getting great feedback from users and from the press.  Please keep sending along all of your good information and thank you for your support.   

Take care!

Hanging in My Office

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend everyone.  I hope you all had a great meal and spent some time with family and friends.  

Thought we would post another video of Cole hanging out.  He has finally moved into his exersaucer and is loving it.   He will sit in it for quite a long time and is starting to really get the hang of moving around to each of the objects.  As you will see, he is still a little small for it as his feet dangle a bit, but that doesn't deter him.  

Just a warning, the video is long.  Thought we would include as much as we could for the grandparents as I know they love watching.  

Have a great weekend!

Welcome to Droolsville...

....Population Cole.

I think it is safe to say we have hit the drooling stage.  We were out at a check up for OC Kids yesterday and soaked two outfits.  I don't mean just a little wet around his neck - he somehow soaked his whole shirt.  Nothing quite like kissing a totally wet face or going to pick him up and you have a hard time because he is slippery.  

But he loves blowing bubbles and playing with his hands in his mouth.  And he is so cute doing it.  

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

"Captain Adorable"

Happy 4 Month Birthday!

Cole is 4 months today. We had our doctor check up and everything is great. He is 25 inches and weighs 12lbs 9oz.  Tall and skinny.  She was once again impressed with his strength and alertness.  

Take care.

Stylin'

Where's Cole?

Good looking kid.

Walking With Cole

This was shot on one of our evening walks in the neighborhood.  He loves to look at the trees and gets a bit annoyed when there aren't any around.  Anyway, thought I would share.  Added the music for special effect.  

Updated Lobster Photos - Rock Lobster

Someone was in a very good mood the day these were taken.  They turned out great.  Thought we would share. 

Our Little Man

Busy week in our household as we are trying to launch our website by Saturday.  Sleep training continues.  Cole is a pretty stubborn kid.  Really, it is a coin toss as to which one of us he takes after there.  

He continues to be cute as can be.  He is growing like a weed though and we keep retiring clothes.  Soon he will no longer be able to wear his "Snugglesorus" shirt that he has on in the top picture.  

The temperature has dropped a bit so our nightly walks have cooled off.  (OK, I know...we have nothing to complain about, etc, etc, etc...) But since it has cooled off, it is a great chance for us to use his Ducky Cover on the infant seat.  He looks pretty cool strolling around with his little head poking out.  He is fascinated by trees right now and he is very upset when there are not trees to see.  I have some video from a recent walk that I will try to post this weekend.  

As he continues to prove to be very, very strong, we have started putting him in his Bumbo seat and he likes it.  But he doesn't always sit up in the seat.  Recently he discovered his toes and wants to always fold over to touch them.  This makes bath time very interesting.  I think he is just showing off how flexible he is.  

Hope everyone is doing well.  

Another Cousin

Cole has a new cousin in Texas.  Congratulations to Andrew and Chloe on the birth of their daughter Leah Beth Grein.  And to Jonah for becoming a big brother.  

Exciting Friday Night

As many of you know we had a family of skunks living under our house last year.  So ever since we have been on the look out for wildlife.  Last night we heard some rustling outside around 11:30.  Figuring it was just people walking down the alley we didn't pay too much attention until our motion light went on.  Just to make sure John got up to take a look outside.  As he did he noticed something in the tree right outside the bedroom window...a raccoon was sitting in the tree.  Upon closer look there were three or four raccoons.  So the family watched the raccoons hanging out and climbing in the tree for about half an hour.  It was cool to see them so close.  Hopefully they won't cause too many problems.  We just have to be sure to close the trash cans and make sure doors are shut at night.  

A New Friend

We want to congratulate our friends Ryan and Julia on the birth of their beautiful baby girl - Sophia Annalise Malone!  She surprised everyone by coming 7 weeks early, but she is doing great.  We are so happy for Cole to have a new friend.  He went a courting today.  

Congrats Ryan and Julia!

Sleep Training

Sleep training has begun in full force in the house. Lot's of crying by all parties involved.  Cole can belt out the cries for an impressively long time.  What is really mystifying is that he doesn't like to sleep in his crib, yet he can sleep just fine on the couch sprawled out on top of his feeding pillow.  That can't be comfortable!  Also, because he is such an alert kid you have to cover his head with a blanket when he is going to sleep.  Otherwise he will just be looking around and never settle down.  (I think he also has his moms sensitivity to light when sleeping.)

The training is getting better and we just have to stick with it, but for now I would say Cole is winning the battles....we hope to win the war.  

Hope everyone is doing well.  

Happy Voting

Cole went with Mary to the voting polls this morning.  Over the weekend we attended a Mama's for Obama rally in San Diego with Karin, Scott and their son Jake.  Was hoping a few more people would have been there, but it was a beautiful day to be outside and Scott and John were able to go kayaking.  

Hopefully everyone got out at voted today!

Happy Halloween!

Our little lobster.  

First Trip To Disney!

We were brave parents and ventured out to the Happiest Place on Earth yesterday.  We have season passes that were about to expire so we wanted to get in one last visit and to take Cole on his first trip.  He loved all of the action and people.  It was a long day for him and he/we were exhausted by the end, but I think he had a fun time.  He went on two rides and watched a couple of shows.  

Pumpkin butt!

His cute Halloween outfit. 

First ride ever!  He went on the merry go round. 

 

Have to have the ears.

 

And he met some very fun characters.   All in all it was a great day.  

Celebrating His Musical Taste

Happy Anniversary!

We celebrated our 2nd anniversary today with a picnic near the beach at sunset.  The whole family walked down to the beach to enjoy the nice weather and the view.  With a busy work schedule we decided to celebrate a little early.  Cole enjoyed the trees and all of the dogs that were around.  What a great 2nd year this has been!

Just Hanging Around

Hello.  Sorry for not posting for awhile.  We have been playing catch up since our trip our East.  I have to say that Cole was a great traveler.  Didn't phase him at all.  Minimal crying and no major incidents.  Mom and dad are free to travel on NWA again.  :)

Not too much is going on around here.  Cole is enjoying the cooler weather.  He still hasn't figured out how to sleep in his own bed though.  Working on that.  Cole and mom have a special bond right now.  One might say they are attached at the hip.  Dad only gets some play time and then it is back to mommy.  

He has also started the drooling phase and fingers in the mouth phase.  He is attempting to put his whole fist in his mouth.  Many hours of fun doing that.  

Hope everyone is doing well. 

Big boy sitting in the chair on his 3 month birthday.

He has some pretty funny expressions. 

"Yo, what's up?"  Hanging with Lisa at Mike and Deb's pool.  Mary's college roommate Lisa and her family came up from New York City to visit.  Had a great time catching up.  Their daughter Jillian loved the pool.  Especially the salty taste.  

One of his favorite positions.  Sitting on dad's legs, sucking his fingers and contemplating life. 

Busy Fall Day

We are having a wonderful trip to Connecticut and Cole is loving every minute.  He has met so many new people and been a champ with all of the attention.  But since his favorite thing is to be held at all times, this is like a dream come true for him.  Yesterday he met his cousins Connor and Aidan for the first time and they all had  a blast playing together. 

In the afternoon we went apple picking and had an absolutely gorgeous Fall day.  These are the days that we really miss in California.

Deb, Connor, Aidan and Cole hanging out. 

Aidan, Connor and Cousin "Giggy"

I think we found some new babysitters.

Connor and Aidan in the hay bale maze. They easily conquered the maze.

Picking Apples

The crew returning from a long day of picking apples.