Christmas Time In Colorado

We are having a great time in Colorado at Aunt Heather's house.  We have invaded and Cole is putting the house through its paces.  It definetely is a white Christmas as we have had snow each day.  Luckily Mary was able to make it in safely although the drive home that night was a little long.  Cole is enjoying his time with Grandma and Grandpa Hobson.  Christmas morning was really enjoyable as Cole eventually figured out the whole gift opening idea.  He received some great presents.  He loves his new luggage as you will see in the video below.  Also, we have been testing out the snow.  He was unsure at first, but is warming up to the idea.  The clothes were a little difficult to move in at first, but he is getting the hang of it.  He loves to pick up the snow and share with others.

Hope everyone is having a fantastic time with their loved ones.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to Everyone! 

This is Cole's special stocking.  He loves pressing the button and listening to Elmo sing to him. 

Have a fun and safe day.

Holiday Photos

Hello!

So it has been a crazy couple of weeks, but we are now looking forward to some time with family coming up.  Mary left today for a long business trip to the East Coast, so the boys are in charge for the remainder of the week.  I can make no promises what the house will look like when Mary returns.

I have attached a few photos of Cole that we have taken for the Holidays.  Thought everyone would enjoy.  The bottom one is our card from this year and the top two were from a photo session we did today.

Hope everyone is doing well.  Take care!

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

Love that face!

We went to purchase our tree this past weekend and were really excited for Cole to be part of the process. He loved the lights, looking at the trees, and walking around the nursery. They had a little train set up for kids to watch and tons of beautiful flowers.

Of course we tried to visit Santa. As the picture shows, it didn't go well. (That photo is for you Heather.) Cole liked him from a distance, but once on the lap he was having none of it. But he recovered quickly and waved goodbye to Santa as we left. Maybe next year.

Video of Cole at the Zoo

Hello, just a quick video from the zoo. Hope everyone is doing well.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Hello everyone! I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving and had some yummy food. Aunt Heather was with us for Thanksgiving and left this morning. We had so much fun. I was so excited that I was waking up at 4AM everyday. Not sure if Aunt Heather or my parents were as excited as I was.

We had fantastic weather and spent time outside enjoying the sites. On Friday we went to the San Diego Zoo as Heather had never been before. This was the first time that I was out of my stroller and able to pet the animals. It was lots of fun. What was even more fascinating was the buses that drove around. We actually took a tour on one and it was loads of fun. I even learned how to say bus.

On Saturday I had my regular swim class. This week I was in a really good mood and surprised everyone at how much I enjoyed the class. The instructor even commented on how well I did and gave me a special participation ribbon. Mom and dad were equally as shocked and told Heather she had to come back each week for class.

On Sunday we took it easy and just hung around home. We even went out to the pier for lunch and to watch the waves. I am getting so big and I like to walk everywhere now. We even flipped my car seat around so I face forward. There is so much to see in the car! I point out all of the trucks, buses and cars. One of my favorite sayings is "Oh Wow!" People say it is pretty cute. I am just really excited.

Hopefully we will post some videos later today. Take care!

Cole Helps Himself to Food

As if anyone was worried about Cole starving, he is quite capable of taking care of himself for snacks. I just foresee a future of him sitting with a bag of chips. Pretty funny how he tries to hide his snacks a bit. After I stopped filming he proceeded to dump the whole container on the ground, so we played pick up.

Hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving.

Some recent videos

Cole is becoming quite active. He watches us closely and then mimics. The other day he really wanted the house keys after our walk. He took them and went right up to the door outside and put the key in the door lock. The video shows him trying to do it again from the inside.

We have also had to proof the kitchen as much as possible. We have left a few drawers unlocked so Cole can go crazy. Cole loves to organize things. He takes items out of drawers, but will also put them back in. Yesterday he was rearranging his food cupboard. I was quite impressed....he really is my son. So proud of his organization and cleaning skills!

Updates Galore

Hi everyone. Sorry we haven't updated in a while, but things have been busy in California. We are all doing well, just have had a busy couple of weeks lately. Where to begin?

Well, we had a slight scare with Cole one night when we tried him on peanut butter. He broke out in hives, but he wasn't really bothered by them and they went away on their own. We went to Urgent Care to have him checked out, but the hives had already gone away so that wasn't much help. Still not sure if it is a peanut allergy or something else, but for now we are just avoiding peanuts. But we did learn one good lesson....don't try him on new foods at dinner time. Do that during the day so you can avoid Urgent Care late at night.

Halloween was a great success! We have an area called Balboa Island where people really get into the spirit with decorations and even the store owners encourage visitors. There is a really nice boardwalk around the island that is perfect for little ones to stroll. We went early with Cole's friend Sofia for their first Trick-or-Treat experience. By the end Cole was catching on and would hold out his plastic pumpkin. It was pretty cute.

Recently we switched nannies so we are in mid transition. Cole really enjoys Barbara, but he is also at the age where he is pretty shy around new people. We are just working through the morning transitions as he gets comfortable. He warms up quickly, but he gets a little worked up if he sees either mom or dad leave. We are fortunate to have Barbara a few days each week to allow dad to get work done.

The other big news is that Mary started a new job this week. It is a great position and she really enjoys the team she is working with. That also means that it is Daddy Daycare time. Cole and I have been having a great time and are getting use to our new schedule. Some fantastic adventures are planned.

We wanted to say congratulations to Meg, Tom and Michael as they welcome Molly to the family! Can't wait to meet her and see everyone.

Hope everyone is doing well. We will try to post more soon.

View of Big Corona Beach on Nov. 12th.

Cole loves hanging by the beach. This wall is just his size.

He is very curious about all things mechanical.

Why invest in toys when you can just give him the wipes!?!?

Cole got sooooo excited when he saw these trees. He loves the really tall palm trees, but when he saw these mini ones he squealed. They are just his size.

Still using his one finger to explore.

Checking out the fence. There are big sandstone rocks behind this that he really wants to go climb.

Halloween photo.

Halloween with the play group.

Mary and Cole attend a mom's group every week and last week was the Halloween theme. Some photos of Cole's friends.

Some of the gang.

Cole and a little pumpkin friend.

Cole the monkey. The outfit is really cute and he actually likes wearing it. It has a banana sticking out of the pocket. One things is the outfit is a bit warm....we bought it in Minneapolis.

Sofia. One of Cole's really good friends. They enjoy hanging out.

Just hanging around.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Mary and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary yesterday. Our tradition has been to go have a picnic near the ocean, but it wasn't the best weather yesterday so we just went for a walk. Cole loves hanging out in this spot and now can run around.

Dad...I don't need you to hold my hands!!! (Even though we are right next to the road.)

Some recent videos of Cole

Here is a video of Cole dancing. He loves to dance!!

This is Cole being funny... picking his nose. Yes, this is his newest skill.

He loves to turn the light on and off.

Cole Walking Around

Some video of Cole cruising around the living room.

Curious Cole

Hello everyone! We are getting settled back into our routine after being gone for a bit. Cole is back to his classes and seeing all of his friends. Since learning to walk he is finding all sorts of new things to explore. Yesterday we were downstairs and he was just playing around. All of the sudden I looked over and he was looking out the window. I was across the room, so couldn't see it from where I was, but he was standing on a box of books. There are birds outside this window and often times we will hold him so he can see out. Guess he decided to take matters into his own hands. Even when we moved the books he would bring them back over and set them up so he could stand on them. Creative kid.

The other photo is from painting pumpkins with some friends. I like his little goatee he painted on himself.

Trip to Iowa

We had such a wonderful trip to Iowa. Cole was able to spend a lot of time with Grandma and Grandpa. He even had his first overnight without his parents. He learned how to walk and even attempted running. So he is very mobile now. And he has quite the reach. He is starting to open doors. We will have to be on our toes going forward.

Hanging with Grandma.

Grandpa showing me how to work the crane. These are dads toys.

Cole was fascinated with Grandpa making it hard to get a photo.

Breakfast with the Hobson family after the wedding.

Picking apples.

Picking out our pumpkin.

Checking out the pumpkins to see which one is best.

We decided to paint a pumpkin for grandma and grandpa. It was quite an experience.

The artist at work.

We went to see Thomas The Train with Jim and Julie's family. It was a lot of fun.

Cole loved seeing his cousins and wanted to play with them. Especially when they were wrestling. He really wants to be a big kid.

Trying to figure out the gate.

Playing.

My John Deere hat that Aunt Patty gave me.