Falling into Fall

Cole has become one little mobile man & is getting into everything! He's learning to fall gracefully as he cautiously lets one hand go of the table (or whatever he's holding onto while standing) and he's quite the curious George. He is fascinated with opening and closing doors and pushing buttons on the stereo, it's quite funny b/c he's made Craig's stereo do things Craig didn't even know it could do! We recently realized he loves anything that makes noise as well as music! We took him to his (and our) very first ACL (Austin City Limits Fesitval...kinda like Edgefest only waaayyyyy better). He did great, even on Saturday when it rained all day! He was 'bubble boy' in his stroller w/the plastic covering! Here are some pics from the past couple of weeks...in a couple of the pics he was helping us change out a sink faucet and hang curtains. There's another of him standing ALL BY HIMSELF!!!! While we were at ACL, Michael (Aurea's brother) was entertaining him and let go to see what he would do and he stood all by himself!!! He hasn't done it again since, but at least we know he can :)

Don't Fall!

Cole will be 10 months this week! I can't believe it's almost time for his first Halloween! I bought a dinosaur costume and figured he could wear it while we hand out candy to the neighborhood kids. He looks hilarious in it, it's so cute! I think it's a stegosaurus, so when he crawls around with it on, it's perfect...we have our own little dino roaming the land! Cole has finally figured out how to do the right-left crawl, although he still gets around faster doing the 'inchworm.' He's got his bottom two teeth and the top ones are sticking through (I, of course, just had to sing 'all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth' and got the song stuck in my head...LOL!). I took this pic last week, we were laughing so much at his hair...it has grown a lot this past month. He was so excited to see the camera he kept climbing the side of the tub & even though he can pull himself up really well, he's not so good at keeping his balance. I think we both have been saying 'don't fall' more than anything else lately...haha!

Family pictures

So, we took Cole's 7-month pictures (supposed to be 6-months, oh well!) at the beginning of July. He was such a little ham & had us laughing the whole time! We're already talking about taking his 1-year pics...how time flies!

Waayyyy behind

I can't believe it's been since July that I have posted anything. Well, in August we traveled to Telluride, Colorado with Mimi, Papa & other family for Carlyn's wedding and had a wonderful time. We visited our friends Jason & Aurea in San Antonio (including the River Walk...yummy TexMex @ Margarita's). Cole & I made a trip up to Tulsa for a long weekend as I transitioned from working nights to days (wooohooo)! Cole had his post-UTI testing done at Dell Children's & we found out that he's one healthy little dude & no surgery is needed (thanks for all the thoughts & prayers)! And, he had his first swim lesson. Meanwhile, Cole had been growing & developing by leaps & bounds! During the months of July & August, he has perfected his army crawl, he pulls up on furniture, doors, walls, anything and is practicing standing on his own by letting go with one hand at a time, he's learning to balance on his feet and walk around holding onto things, and he's also learning to feed himself and eat table food! He talks a little, although it's more of grunts (he has such a raspy little voice!) and the repetitious "dadadadada"! At his 9-month appointment, he weighed a whopping 15 lb 14 oz...and we are officially UNDER the 5%, but he's growing along a curve that our PNP is happy with, so there's no concern. He LOVES his fruits, cheerios, saltine crackers, some of the veggies and we're working on the meats (he makes the funniest faces when he doesn't like something). For all the moms out there (and moms-to-be), Dr Brazelton's Touchpoints books are amazing for guiding you on developmental milestones & supporting you in helping your kiddo meet them (and reassuring you that each child is unique & learning is really all about playing!) Otherwise, we've been busy playing & cutting teeth & learning about life!

I took this video before our little dude got sick. He found one of the last spring-loaded door stoppers in the house (our master bath is the LAST room we have left to update...wooohooo!). Cole is a very curious little man & so much fun to entertain! His laugh makes us laugh, which in turn makes him laugh...it's a lot of fun! He's still mischievous and has pulled a lamp off the end table at least 3 times (you'd think we'd figure out how to move it so he DOESN'T do that) and thankfully has not bonked his head with it. He loves the dog food bowls & I'm constantly moving them, but Zoe does very well with him & doesn't put up a fight (although if she did, maybe it would teach him a lesson...hmmmm????). This past week has been rather crazy, we were at the pedi's office 5 out of 6 days and had multiple shots & labwork done. We're only part-way through this whole ordeal, but hope & pray surgery is NOT the answer. He's back to his smiling & energetic self & we can always rely on the dogs to bring a smile & giggle to his face :) "Man's best friend" may need to be revamped to say "Cole-man's best friend!"

Close up!

Here's Cole, going for the camera. He's already into electronics!

Little Dude

We'd like to dedicate this week's blog entry to our friends, Gabby, Amy & daughter Zoe as they welcome the newest member to their family, Ellis! We want to say a huge CONGRATULATIONS and we are incredibly excited for y'all! Y'all are an amazing family and wonderful parents and have learned a lot by watching you with Zoe :) Welcome to Austin, Ellis, we cannot wait to meet you!

So, our "little dude" this week has gotten himself into some trouble ;) He's learned to move really well in his walker and zooms everywhere! He's managed to knock over a vase of flowers (fake, thankfully), throw hangers everywhere (hence the pic of the hangers under the walker), knock over my glass of tea (I cannot turn my head for even 30 seconds!), chew on my running shoes (the pic makes my feet look HUGE, but they're really not, he's just a little dude, literally!), and pull a lamp off the end table (which thankfully landed on the walker tray and NOT his head). And yes, that is all in a week's time! I'm pretty sure we're going to have our hands full with this bundle of joy. He's soooo close to crawling now. He goes back and forth from a military crawl to a caterpillar crawl...it's really cute! He takes more and more interest in Zoe (our chihuahua) every day (although she wants NOTHING to do with him). And, he's turned into quite the chatterbox. He is a busy little bee!