Not Much Longer

This photo says so much. You can tell I took it quickly because it's such a horrible photo. Every mom has had moments like this. Something happens and you wonder if you have time to grab your camera to document it. I look at this picture now and think, poor Cohen! Why did your crazy mommy not get your down immediately? Why did she have to go get the camera? I will say that he wasn't crying and he has tried to climb into his crib like this at least three more times.

So, here's the story. Cohen was playing in his room and Kent and I were in the kitchen. I was just thinking that I hadn't heard from Cohen in a few minutes. There's a certain time period that you will allow to go by before your start to seek out your child because it has been too quiet for too long and nothing good can come of that. It was just about that time. Kent and I heard a noise. It wasn't a yell or a whine or even a cry, but we could tell that Cohen was not happy. We both ran back to see what Cohen could be so frustrated about and the picture shows what we found. Cohen was trying to get a stuffed animal out of his crib that was just beyond his reach. Now, you need to know that Cohen is pretty fearless. He is not scared of heights like Kent or myself and he definitely likes to do things all by himself. If his feet had not slipped through the slats of his crib and gotten stuck, I have no doubt that he would have made it into his crib. Kent and I busted out laughing when we saw Cohen stuck like this; it was just so unexpected. Cohen laughed too, which is why I ran for my camera. By the time I got back there was no more laughing. Cohen was not too pleased that I left or that I was now trying to make him smile for a picture. Definitely a crazy mommy moment. After one blurry photo, I came to my senses and rescued Cohen. He apparently was not too traumatized as he did this several other times that week. His poor feet got stuck like this every time.

We had already planned to put the boys together in the same room this year. This just gives us a good reason to get that plan rolling!

Black Friday Shopping with Cohen

Mom and I went out for just a little while after Thanksgiving. We'll just say that Cohen was feeling very relaxed while I visited HomeGoods for the first time. This was probably a good thing as I don't think I would ever want to accompany an awake and mobile toddler in that store!

More than one man expressed their desire to trade places with Cohen.

Cohen these days.

I wanted to post a little update on our youngest little guy. Cohen has really gotten big since he turned two; he is three feet tall and almost thirty pounds! With personality to spare, Cohen always keeps us laughing. My mom says he has quite the temper, (which he does), but he's just so cute- how can I get mad?
 
One of Cohen's favorite things to do is drag out ALL of our shoes out of the closet as he tries each pair on and walks in them around the house...for hours. He loves shoes, but hates socks. I cannot keep socks on the kid- he really doesn't even like footy pajamas. He says that he wants to see his toes. Maybe he thinks they will disapear? Here he is in his many jaunts around the house in our shoes.

Cohen had a great time at his little birthday party. I say little because I was so stressed that we had a family only party and it was quite little, which was just fine. Cohen loves whatever his brother loves, so this year it is all Toy Story. Cohen carries Kent's Woody doll around everywhere. I think Kent realized how much his brother likes Toy Story so he wrote Cohen's name on the bottom of one of Woody's boots and put his name on the bottom of the other boot. Woody is VERY well loved.

Cohen blew out his candles so quickly and efficiently, we all missed it and had to re-light them and have him do it again! Of course neither of my boys had any birthday cake, no matter how much I tried to convince them sugary things taste good!

Cohen is also pretty sneaky. He is always up to something. Last weekend we were cleaning out the boys closets and put all the bubbles and chalk next to the basement door to take downstairs. I should have known that leaving these things there would be a bad idea as Cohen is known for taking things and moving them around the house. You can't find your keys? Check Cohen's pelican toy in his room, it could be in there. Or, maybe in Cohen's shoe in his closet, or under his booster seat in the kitchen. He is a master hider. I was actually thinking about Cohen and his sneaky ways when I realized he had been kinda quiet for a while. Any mom knows that silence is a recipe for disaster if you have kids. Just as I was going back to his room to see what he could have gotten into, I heard the hall bathroom door close. When I tried the doorknob, it was locked. Good thing I put that little key they give you when you replace your doorknobs in a safe place. I had that door opened in no time and this is what I found...

Sneaky Cohen had taken ALL the bubbles and chalk and set it up in the bathroom and shut and LOCKED the door. I can only imagine the mess I might have found if I hadn't known exactly where that little key was!

Cohen's all time favorite accessory is his paci. He loves his paci and ONLY his paci. Of course the pacifier he likes is discontinued and cannot be found anywhere anymore. His little friend Annie gave him her pink one in this brand since she never liked it and has her own favorite brand (which is also discontinued, by the way). Of course, the pink one is his favorite. Here you can see just how much he loves his nu-nu. (He came up with that himself. It was one of his first words and when we corrected him saying paci, he replied "no, my nu-nu!"

Cohen is also growing a head full of curly hair. Well maybe not a head full, but some curls in the back. He does have much lighter hair than Kent as well. Hopefully all those curls will come back after his first haircut.

Can you resist those eyes and cheeks!?! I can't!

Life of the Party

Cohen saw a different use for the cones that were marking the race track at a friend's birthday party.

Swinging Fun

Before it got UNBEARABLY hot!!!

Avacados

We eat a lot of avacados at our house. Kent used to eat the all the time-like 1 or 2 a day. He's slowed down some since then, but Cohen has taken over. He would eat them all day long if I didn't limit him. Thank goodness kids are washable!

He may not sparkle in the sun, but...

About three things I am absolutely positive. First, Cohen has ca-razy teeth! Second, there is a part of him--and I don't know how strong that part might be--that still wants to drink his milk out of a bottle. And third, I am unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him!

Snow Fun

Here are some of my favorite pictures from our snowy weekend. They say it will snow again tonight. I can not remember this much snow since the "blizzard of 93" when I was in seventh grade. I mean, we are talking 15 years ago!

Here is Cohen patting a tree. Grandpa has taught him well.

My attempt at a picture of the boys together. Cohen was not cooperating.

More Snow!

Pete did a great job with his first ever post, don't you think?!? The boys really had a great time and the snow was just beautiful. I tried so hard to get photos of Cohen; most of the time he ignored me and kept walking away, fast! It is so hard keeping up with him! The whole time I just kept thinking of those Family Circus comics from the Sunday paper, when they illustrated the path that the baby took all over the yard with the dashed lines. I should've just shot video the whole time so you could hear me screaming, "Cohen, Cohen!" just to try to get him to turn and look at me. He avoided looking at me the entire time.

Cohen took off right out of our yard once we got outside. You'd think we were holding him against his will!

There were several times when I was taking a picture of Kent and would look and see Cohen was nowhere in sight. I would ask, "Where's Cohen?" and Kent would say, "Oh he just rolled down that hill" or "he's going into the neighbor's backyard!" My nerves could take no more, so we moved to the backyard, which is fenced.

This morning I took Cohen straight to the backyard. Everything was SO PRETTY!

Here is Cohen ignoring me as he walked past me. He doesn't even look up! I am screaming his name the whole time! He must think he can get away with it with the hat covering his ears! This is one of the few photos of him moving that I was able to get in focus. He's a quick one.

The pretty view from our side yard as Cohen finds his way out of the backyard.

Snow in Georgia?

Finally it has snowed in GA! I have seen a few occasions of snow flurries and unfortunately black ice, but this is the first time we had the opportunity to play in snow that sticks.

On this special occasion Laura was able to get off work an hour early and I rescheduled all my appointments to be with my family and to play in the snow.

Cohen just has no fear! From the sand to the ocean and now the snow. As soon as we put him down he was off and running through the snow towards our steep hill. I started to chase him, but the fear of slipping on ice took over and I stopped to watch. I knew Cohen would recover that night, but God only knows how long it would take for me to recover from a fall. Well, Cohen took a tumble down the hill; he tuck himself in and rolled all the way into the neighbors yard. All I could see was his little head pop up and down over the hill as he took off running again. It was really hard to contain this kid in the vast openness of our cul-de-sac, so we decided to move into the fenced in back yard. We have a pretty large back yard and Cohen loved the freedom of having no one chasing after him. He went off to be one with the land and every now and then he would return to Mommy. His love for the outdoors is so evident.

Kent and I decided to celebrate this moment with a larger than life snow man! This task seem pretty easy until Kent could not roll the bottom of the snowman anymore. So I took over. I rolled and rolled until it wouldn't roll anymore more. Kent and I tried one more roll and it simply would not move, so we decided that spot was a perfect home. The difficulty of moving that first ball did not cross my mind when making the second ball. I guess I didn't think about having to lift it! The second ball was extremely, extremely heavy. I huffed and puffed and using all my might I lifted that 60lb ball ice. Note to self: it does not matter how fluffy the snow is, it is still water weight. I decided that the head would be a decent size and once we put the head on, he was not tall enough. So we constructed a top hat to make him really big! Kent and I took our time on some of his details. Kent took one of his Valentine candy hearts, which was purple, and we placed it inside his chest so he could live. He had a carrot nose, grapes for his teeth and pine cone eyes. We even put leaves on the side of his hat and gave him a bottom lip and eye brows. It was a great moment to spend with Kent. Unfortunately, we lost our snowman the next day. We found him face down in the snow, but there was no sign of foul play. The coroner said his tiny little purple heart with the quote "Hug Me" on it could not pump enough blood through his large obese body. Sadly, it was a massive heart attack. I should have seen the signs with a 60lb mid section.

Laura had a blast hitting me with snow balls and of course the kids started hitting me. I was about to throw one at her and she looked at me and said "it's going to hurt." I turned away only to give her my back as she nailed me with another one. Thanks for the two days of fun, wished snow could be here often. I know others disliked it, but the kids enjoyed it so much. The only thing I can tell you as I close this post is to make sure you have some kids involved in your life. They are such a blessing!

The Beach- September

We decided on the spur of the moment to go to the beach for Labor Day weekend in September. Like, we left 4 hours after we decided to go. One of my friends at school has a beach house in Amelia Island and let us have the weekend super cheap after she had a cancellation. We jumped on the opportunity and took some friends with us.

We had a great time and if you've been to the beach in September, then you know it is the absolute best time to go! No crowds and just hot enough. The highlight of the trip for me was seeing Cohen's reaction to it all. He was absolutely hilarious! Cohen has apparently been waiting his whole life (the whole year) for the beach. They were made for each other!

Our first morning at the beach I was sitting with Cohen taking pictures of Annie (who is a whole 40 minutes older than Cohen). I was snapping away when Josh, Annie's daddy, said something about Cohen really taking off...

I turned and looked, expecting to see him just a few feet away and this is what I saw!

I know!!! I panicked and ran over to him. I remembered to take a photo before I got too close when I realized he wasn't in any danger. I am still shocked. Kent hated the sand the first time he went to the beach. He hated it so much he stood in a bucket so the sand wouldn't touch him! I'll post that picture later to prove it. Cohen just took off. Not that this should surprise me, he never was much for being still.

Exploring...

I caught Cohen right before a wave splashed right up in his face. Yes, he crawled straight out to the ocean and continued right into the water. He was not surprised or afraid one bit. The sand was very shelly in some areas and crawling through it all never seemed to phase him. He didn't ask to be picked up once.

Cohen was so comfortable with the sand and surf, he took naps out there each day! I even got to read a little, imagine that!

Kent had a great time too! He was all about making sand castles and caking sand all over Cohen who didn't mind one bit.

We had a great time. Now, I am a Gulf gal, but out of all of the Atlantic beach places I have been, I like Amelia Island the best!

Brotherly Love

Cohen absolutely loves his brother. Here is what happens when Cohen finds Kent asleep...

TEETH!!!

For the first time ever, I am pleased to announce that Cohen has two teeth coming in! We have been waiting for this day for months. Honestly, I was beginning to wonder if there were teeth in there at all! Cohen is a little over 1 year and 1 month old, but has been eating strictly solid food for about two months. Apparently no teeth was no big worry to him! You can't really see them well right now, so I'll put up a picture a little later, but he has one top front tooth and one bottom front tooth making their way in!

Summer Flashbacks

Well, I've not been very good at keeping up with our blog the past couple of months. I've heard from a lot of you and all I can say is that I'm sorry and I will do better!

July was such a fun and crazy month for us; I was instantly overwhelmed with how to report all the day to day happenings.

We spent the first part of the month in Illinois with my family. It was so great seeing everyone and spending the fourth with them. Kent absolutely loves to go vist Great-Grandma, Great-Grandpa, Aunt Susan and Aunt Peggy. He asks every few days if we can go back- that 11 hour drive fades from his memory pretty fast! Kent is quick to remind everyone how easy it is to get to Aunt Susan's house. His directions-- "Make the turn, go up the hill, go on the straight-a-way, around the bend and that's it!" We didn't really know what he was talking about, until we were driving down the driveway/road to Susan's house. Pete and I heard Kent repeating the directions as we were driving and we both realized he had it right! He was describing the driveway!

Cohen went on his first swim! It was a little cold for me, but Cohen didn't seem to mind at all. I had a bunch of pictures of other family members from this day, but everyone was in their swimsuits, so I didn't post them. I have a no swimsuit policy for those over 20. ;)

Here are the boys on the fourth of July. Everyone came to Aunt Susan's for fireworks. Kent HELPED set off some of the fireworks--(I was told it was a guy thing...). We'll just say that part of the evening was extremely stressfull for me...

Cohen loves to watch fireworks; the sound doesn't bother him a bit. Kent fell ASLEEP before the firework show was finished. He can fall asleep under any circumstances if he is tired enough.

Kent and his cousin Beckett had fun running through the sprinkler.

We had a picnic at the park. Cohen loved swinging. Kent had a very eventful evening. First, he pulled his pants down and tried to pee right in front of the slide. I caught him just in time and drug him to the edge of the park, but I'm pretty sure the woman across the street was looking out her window watching the whole thing. Later he got hauled off the playground for continuing to climb up the slide the wrong way. He then spent a good 20 minutes in the car in time out for calling me "stupid mommy"!!!!! Thanks again Toy Story! There were consequences, tears, and a long discussion, but I'm glad to report that the episode has yet to be repeated.

Happier times of Cohen swinging before the drama.

Here is Cohen with his Great-Grandma Jean.

Kent and Pete had a great time playing baseball with our cousins.

This is part of the peaceful ride home. Note the flat, wide openness seen out of the window. No claustrophobia inducing trees or space choking kudzu here!!!

11 Months Old!

Cohen is 11 months old today and I just cannot believe it! It has been almost a year! Hands down the fastest year of my life.

I could just eat up my baby boy! He is such a lover, always giving kisses. Despite his early months, he is super happy most of the time, except when we are at church. What can I say, he just misses me those three hours! Besides church, smiles all day long.

Right now Cohen likes:

• Any solid food I will give him- having ZERO teeth doesn't stop him one bit!
• Drinking out of a glass
• Laughing at his big brother
• Moving any way he can- he took his first steps yesterday! Yep! Walked about three steps from the couch to daddy!
• Bath time with his brother
• His crib- part of the problem with church...his bed is not there.
• Any electronic device- put away your computers! Whenever he goes near mine keys go flying. I don't know how he does it, but he touches the keyboard in such a way that breaks the keys right off.

Cohen does not like:

• Red lights
• Holding still
• Letting go of things
• Helping you when you hold him- he prefers to hang limp as you struggle to keep him on your hip

I love my tough guy!

Unbelievable!!

If I hadn't been there, I wouldn't have believed it myself! I promise this is 100% true, not exaggerated, and I really really wish that I had videotaped it so we could've won $25,000 from America's Funniest Home Videos....

We were all in the living room last night, just hanging out. Kent, Cohen and I were playing on the floor and Pete was laughing at us on the couch. I was laying on the floor exhausted from being climbed all over, with Kent still on top of me. Cohen was all wound up and doing his little hopping thing- he will either get on his knees and hop up and down, throwing his arms up in the air or get his feet up underneath him like he's squatting and hop like a frog. He was doing the first version and laughing pretty hard so we were watching him, entertained by all his cuteness. All the sudden, mid hop, Cohen got his feet underneath him and jumped up to a STANDING position. He stood up, completely unassisted from a sitting position, in the middle of the room. We were all in a state of shock, expecially Cohen. He stood there for about 4 full seconds with his arms flung out and his knees wobbling, laughing hysterically. He looked like he was surfing! A little 10 month old surfer. We all had our mouths wide open- Kent included. Then, Cohen tried to take a step forward and fell to his knees.

Who is this crazy kid!?

Summer Photos

Here are the photos we had taken of the boys by our good friend and photographer Elizabeth. Check her out at elizabethduvallphotography.com