Cole Crawling and such.

His lounge outfit.  He loves wearing his robe after a bath. 

We just moved into the stroller without using the car seat.  First trip.  He is still pretty small.

The Goodyear Blimp above the Long Beach Aquarium.

Hanging with mom.

Lounging on his side. 

We had an action packed weekend.  On Saturday we went to the Long Beach Aquarium to see a friend of Mary's and her kids.  After the aquarium we had lunch on the bay with some friends.  It was a long day for Cole but he was a trooper!

On Sunday we went down to the beach to play near the ocean.  We were able to get some video of Cole crawling.  As you will see all he needs is a little motivation - Dad's coffee cup.  He is also easily distracted.  There was a dog sitting near us and he finally noticed the dog at one point during the video.  

He continues to be such a sweet kid.  His smile melts us each day.  We are trying to soak in this time as we can only imagine that we will see few smiles when he is a brooding teen.  

An Iowa "Toy"

From our recent trip to Iowa.  We were joking that this is what is considered a toy in Iowa...a brown piece of paper.  Pretty sophisticated.  At least he didn't get a hand me down!  

Shown here with Grandpa.  Notice his "I Love Grandpa" bib.  Cole misses everyone!

Cole Getting Ready to Crawl

Cole actually started crawling today!!!! He finally is getting the hang of how to move his hands.  We haven't been able to capture this on video yet, but will post one as soon as we can.  This video is from two days ago when he was getting close.  He has his yoga "downward dog" pose down very well.  Cole is pretty proud of himself as you will see.  The video was shot in the evening before his bedtime so he was a little tired as you will see near the end of the video where he just lies down.  We thought he was just going to fall asleep there.  Watch for his little foot kicking.  

More soon.

Cole Playing With Paper

Many mornings Cole and I get up, grab the paper and then while he plays I try to scan the headlines.  Sundays are especially good as we sit down to read the NY Times and scan the ads.  Well, recently someone has become extremely interested in the paper that dad is reading.  So much so that dad really can't read the paper anymore because someone is getting mobile.  He loves to crinkle the paper, which is fine until he puts it in his mouth and starts tearing pieces off.  Just a quick video from this past weekend. 

Aunt Heather's Visit

Aunt Heather has been here for a few days and everyone has been having a great time.  She made the long trip cross country for a long weekend and to run in the Surf City Half Marathon.  Cole has really enjoyed his time with his Aunt, smiling and laughing all day long.  She heads home tomorrow morning and everyone will be sure to miss her. 

Three Generations of Hobson Men

Hello!  Can you believe it is almost the end of January!?!?!  Wow.  Where is the time going.  Cole has become quite active. He is better at sitting on his own now and loves playing with his toys.  He has this little activity table that plays music that is very high on his list right now.  Also, someone is getting up on all fours and rocking around.  He made his first attempt at crawling toward something the other day.  When he reached out for the toy he took a dive, but it didn't really phase him.  Soon he will be mobile.  He is also getting very good at grabbing things and moving them around.  Books, toys, cell phones, etc...

The picture below is from our trip to Iowa.  Three generations of Hobson's.  Cole is will be carrying on the Hobson name for future generations.  

Cole has a tooth!!

Well we suspected something was going on - and we were right!  Cole got his first tooth!!  And his second tooth isn't far behind.  Through it all, he's pretty much remained his usual smiley self - though there have been some "thank God for Baby Tylenol" moments.

Other than that - Cole is enjoying the chance to get outside again now that we are back in California.  He loved visiting everyone out in Iowa, but he was not a fan of having to wear all those layers and hated wearing his snowsuit - I guess he's a California baby at heart.

Happy Half Birthday!

We are having a great visit with Jim, Julie and the kids.  We went to the butterfly exhibit at ISU on Saturday afternoon and the kids went swimming at the hotel that night.  

On Sunday we went out for lunch and then headed to the Science Center of Iowa where everyone had a great time with the displays.  They really do have something for everyone.  

Today was Cole's 6 month birthday.  Time is really flying.  Enjoy the photos!

Cole on Grandma's Rocking Horse.  

Ian is fascinating. Showing Cole all sorts of toys.

Iowa Visit

We are visiting Iowa for a quick trip to see Grandma and Grandpa as well as Jim, Julie and the kids.  It was -26 this morning.  That is 100 degrees different than it was in California.  We really love our families.  

Cole has been enjoying the trip and the time he is getting to spend with Grandma and Grandpa.  He rarely touches the floor and quite enjoys seeing the house with commentary from Grandpa.

Unfortunately it looks like Cole picked up his first stomach virus.  He has been feeling pretty good and not showing many signs of being sick. At one point he turned down his solids meal, so that is when we knew he wasn't feeling 100%.  Cole doesn't miss a meal.  But this whole experience has introduced him to the wonder that is PediaLite....or PediaCrack as we like to call it.  It gets him a bit wired and he sucks down the bottle very quickly.  He actually gets a bit upset when we take the bottle away.  

He has also been introduced to snow and cold.  We have had a couple of days of snow as well as many days of bitter cold.  Because of the snow, he did get to go in the tractor with Grandpa while he was clearing the driveway and sidewalks.  

Jim, Julie and the kids are coming to Ames this weekend and we are really excited to see them.  We can only imagine how much the kids have grown since we last saw them.  

Hope everyone is doing well!  Stay warm.

Happy New Year

We have been busy relaxing around the house and enjoying time with Cole.  We hope everyone is having a great 2009 so far.  

We were able to see our friends Mike, Leigh and our God Daughter Caroline the other day.  They were visiting family for the holidays and made a trip up to Newport Beach.  Caroline is just over two and cute as can be.  She is very talkative and you would not believe she is as young as she is.  Also, she was very sweet with Cole.  She will be welcoming a baby brother to her house this year and I think she is ready.  At one point Cole grabbed her hair.  The whole room was a little worried about how she might react.  Instead of giving him the smack down, she just allowed him to hold while Leigh was able to pry open Cole's hands.  We miss them dearly and can't wait to see them again.  

Cole is beginning to get more active and it won't be long until he crawls.  Each day he is getting closer and closer and we are getting more and more scared.  

We are getting ready for our next trip.  We must be crazy, but we are heading to the Midwest in the middle of January!  Right now we are trying to find our coats and other winter gear.  Not quite sure where we packed all of those.  We are very excited to see Grandma and Grandpa as well as Mary's brother Jim and his family.  

Hope everyone is doing well.