Circleville Day 4

This one wasn't on Day 4, it was Day 2 when we went to the mall. My brother met us there and he got Cole to smile while Jonathan's Mom snapped this photo.
Cole and Grandma. I have a few favorite shots of this pose, but I think I like this one best.
Picking grapes with Grandma and Pop-Pop. He LOVED eating the grapes off the vine. I would squeeze them into his mouth, so that I was holding the skin of course, and he would open up as soon as he saw that I had another one. He'd even get mad if I would eat one.

Trying to eat dirt from the garden. He never puts anything in his mouth, so why start with dirt and leaves? Now that it should be starting to cool off we will probably be outside playing in the grass more. It has been tough here in the summer without a lot of trees around.

Playing with Uncle Matthew at the storm door. I really really like this picture for a variety of reasons.

Uncle Matthew holding Cole. We learned that Matthew used to scrunch his nose like Cole does when he smiles. We looked through a few baby albums of Matthew's. It was neat to discover that.

With Grandpa in the family room. Jonathan and Matthew went frolfing (frisbee golf...thanks, Elizabeth) earlier in the day and Matthew gave Jonathan a putter. I think we may try to frolf in the next few weekends and see how it goes with Cole in tow. I miss playing. The last time I played was two April's ago when I was about 25 weeks pregnant.

13 Months!

I cannot believe our son is 13 months old! He turned it yesterday and these pictures were taken yesterday, but we didn't get home until tonight so I posted them as soon as I had time.
I love these pictures. The background is a lawn chair at Jonathan's parents' house.
At 13 months Cole talks a lot. His words are still not real, intelligible words, but he makes sounds and many grunts and gestures at things. He knows many words because if we say them he will either look for something or someone.

He gets onto his knees and sometimes doesn't even use something for balance. He is still not pulling himself up, but we are totally fine with that! We will be chasing him soon enough! He eats near anything, but it has to be when he wants it. He's very kissy oftentimes and is snuggly at certain times and it is so adorable. He kisses his stuffed animals and waits for us to say "awww". He also looks at us when he is about to do something he knows he is not supposed to...sneaky boy.

We got good smiles this shoot because his grandparents were all around keeping him smiley.

Circleville, Ohio Trip

Day 1: Picnic with Pop-Pop and Grandma
Lots of food.

Loved the swings!

Looking at fish.

Lots of fish!

Cool, Pop-Pop!

Day 2: Kneeling next to a planet at Tuttle Crossing Mall in Columbus, Ohio.

Playing with Grandma.

Slide (not a huge fan).

Planet again!

Day 3: Swinging at the park by the Forte's house. Fun time! He cries when you take him out!

In Grandma's chair from when she was a little one.

Such a sweet boy!

Aussies

We went over to some new friends' house this past Saturday. The Sandy's. They moved from Australia for a 2 year stint on the 26th of June. She is here to get some sort of recognition in veterinary pathology (aka she is very smart) and he is a Geologist/Teacher. They have a 4 year old handsome little boy and a 11 month old girl. It was so interesting chatting with them about their journey and such. We did learn a few things about Australia while visiting.

1. It is not "Shrimp on the Barbie". Shrimp is called Prawn in Australia (though the term barbie was used). I guess the term Shimp on the Barbie originated with a tourism ad in the 80s with Paul Hogan in it.
2. Burgers are good topped with fried eggs...who'da thought? I have never heard of this before, but I was up for anything new (as I usually am when it comes to culinary culture...except for eating something really gross like tripe, which thank goodness was not offered nor mentioned). Very good with eggs and also pickled beets added some nice flavor to the burgers.
3. Lounge room, is another name for living room.
4. Fos.ter's be.er is apparently not drank by real Australians (which honestly doesn't surprise me).

Now, I actually went to a consignment sale in July with Jeanine and I learned a bunch of stuff about Australia. It hasn't faded but I cannot recall everything at the moment.

It was a fun evening and we actually had some conversations in between Nicolas getting into trouble and Cole and Josie fussing:).

Cole Signs...

Cole signed "More" to me a few days ago and I wondered if it was a fluke. Well, he did it again several times tonight! It was very exciting! Here is a video...

He has also started "brushing his teeth" by chewing the toothbrush by himself at night (we also brush them for real, but he likes doing it a whole lot more). We have graduated from a sippy cup with handles to a normal sippy, too. All this week! When it rains it pours!

Cole Kisses

Cole kisses are among the sweetest thing in his little world. He recently started getting more interested in his stuff animals. If you tell him to kiss one of them he will. Here he is kissing his stuffed mon.key. So sweet! He knows which animal is which, too, which is impressive to us.
It is also just so interesting that he knows where their faces are and to kiss their faces. So adorable!

Grandma's Visit

This is just before my Mom came. Jonathan showed Cole the LGB trains for the first time. He was quite interested.
Baby Tossing.
After Grandma got here. Vvvrrrmmm goes the car. He has started rolling things with wheels back and forth.

Playing on the xylophone my parents got him for his birthday.

He is pulling up onto his knees now.

Playing with Grandma (her hand kind of resembles "Thing" in this picture:).

Playing.

In the Tub.

Pulling onto his knees in the tub.

I love it when Cole holds a toy over his head like he is "zooming" it.

Grandma holding Cole.

More to come. My Mom had some good pictures on her camera.

Random Thoughts Thursday...

Will I continue this every week like some of my more gifted friends? I do not know.

A few thoughts have occurred to me recently...but only a few that aren't related to Cole's sleeping, eating, etc habits...

If I rinse out every one of my recyclables like they want me to, am I not depleting the water supply and using energy from the water pump? I want to see some statistics on how recycling does so much more good than all that. I will still recycle, but I am just saying...

Football season is coming soon (NFL) and I am completely out of the loop since moving to NC. I have no idea who to pick for fanta.sy and if I don't watch it I will be last in the league. Further, I am completely out of the loop with new Christian music, but halleluiah I found a local K-LOVE station. Out where we were living when we first moved here there was His radio and that even came in pretty staticky.

Why are cell phones all garbage? Did you have one in the past you absolutely love and from then on it was just another 2 years wait to get another one? I loved the RAZR. I didn't even have one very long because ironically mine had problems and they ended up sending me this Samsung slider number (it wasn't bad, either). But now I have an LG Scoop which is made for texting (which I don't really do) and it shows by horrible design and other features in the phone.

My birthday gift from Jonathan was jewelry and it is SO beautiful. I really should have bragged on him for it. He got me a pendant that says "Mom" and has diamonds...it's actually "from" Cole. He also got me hoop earrings in white gold (thank you, honey, my ears not swelling thank you, too, I love them all).

I get my other birthday gift today. Anyone who gave me money, I put some in savings and will probably use a little here or there for special treats for myself...especially when dealing with a fussy teething baby. The other money I took and bought a docking station for my iPod that Jonathan got me for my birthday 2 years ago. Now we can have music in the living room without going through the DVD player and TV:). It comes today and I am very excited to sing "Redeemer" at the top of my lungs...um, but maybe I will turn Nicole C. Mullins up higher than the top of my lungs can reach so I sounds decent:).

That's it. I will have to think of some more things and jot them down. It was kind of fun writing this. I love posting pictures and stories for grandmas, too, more of those soon!

Crawling Cole...

Sorry, Chris, I couldn't figure out how to edit out you being goofy. I think it is cute, though:). This has become old hat around here. Cole crawls probably about 30% of the time and scoots the other 70%. He has started pulling onto his knees a lot in his crib when the rails are down and the top rail is a good height. He has done it a few times on the bottom step, too.

Helping Daddy and New Things

Cole just started doing this: He bows down, lifts his head up a bit and looks up at you and this means he wants a kiss. It is very cute and irresistable.
Cole also just started taking a bigger interest in stuffed animals. It is cute, too. He also started getting on his knees a little more often. Picture coming as soon as I can catch him at it.

Helping Daddy put a new water bottle holder on his bike.

Giving Daddy the screws. Yes, he did try to put one in his mouth after this picture and it was quickly confiscated following by much weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Handing Daddy another screw to complete the new assembly. I just look at these and can't believe he is this big!

Ohio Trip Day 3: My Friend of 20+ Years...

Mary...Bubba...Mighty Foot...Who would have thought that on that afternoon when you scraped me up off the kickball field and to the nurse's office in 2nd grade it would start a lifelong journey? We didn't know that even after high school we would both change so much and yet still be going through the same things at the same time.
Remember the guy in our lane making a left into us (because he thought the left turn lane was our lane and coming the opposite direction)? Remember the Abe Lincoln wave? Remember the pickles on the ceiling in the cafeteria and Mr. Nick telling you how he put an olive up his nose? Remember 4-H camp and singing "The Littlest Worm" and "Dan, Dan Lavatory Man" in the bathroom while we waited out a tornado? Remember all of the crushes? We were in each other's weddings. We went to college 30 minutes from each other. Each memory of you is a precious and good one.
How amazing that our little boy and little girl are here. Cole is kissing Ava in the above picture, by the way. I noticed it later. That is how he kisses.
You are a light, Mary. You are goofy and fun and a pleasure to be around. Perhaps that is why I still just love talking to you after all these years. I pray that God has even more special blessings to bestow upon the White family in the years to come. I hope we never lose touch.

YBF4E (haha, this was way before BFF...we invented it!),

Candice

Ohio Trip Day 2: Cole's Birthday Party

"I am 1!"
Cole tore the 1 off the block.
Choo-choo train!
Mommy and Me!

I can't believe how much more tan his legs appear in this picture compared to mine. He has SPF 60 on all the time!

Family pictures

Our favorite!

Giving Mommy a flower.

Kisses.

The birthday cakes...I stressed about these puppies, but thay came out ok all things considered! Jonathan's side of the family.

My side of the family (minus my brother...he was golfing...his passion).

Sweet sweet boy.

The chair before Cole got cake.

The hat and cake.

Loving the cake!

A very neat eater. He didn't like the frosting on his hands so Daddy helped him out with a fork.

Kissing Daddy.

After cake...playing with his workbench from Pop-pop.

Swimming with Grandpa! It was surreal seeing my Dad swimming with his grandson...

Ball Hog.

" I am having a blast!" He almost fell asleep in the pool.

Grandma loving on Cole.

In case you were wondering I cannot claim credit for any of these shots. We had my Uncle's long time girlfriend, Kim, take these. She takes beautiful still lifes and this was a good opportunity to practice portraits and candid shots. We love them.

Cole had his 1 year appointment this week:
20 lbs on the dot (10th Percentile)

30 Inches (50th Percentile)

18.5 Inches in head circumference (50th Percentile)

The doctor was impressed with Cole's verbal ability and seems to think he is "perfect". We have a very encouraging doctor here and we are thankful for that. He says the weight is not a bother since most of Cole's calories are going toward his height and he is very active. He started really crawling the day before we went to my parent's house. So he now scoots and crawls. It is very cute. He also started to get up on his knees sometimes. He is just learning new things everyday. We are putting the cabinet locks on as he figured out how to open them this last week.

He has 6 teeth and the doctor said he is working on 4 more and probably will have the bottom side 2 soon. He can wave, give 5, shake his head, dance, and will try to repeat noises you make. He is definitely gaining on toddlerhood as he has started having meltdowns if you take toys or try to correct him from doing as he pleases. He is a finicky eater. He will eat everything, but is just not in the moods for some things when they are offered. This morning I tried bananas (good), yogurt (no go), grapes (no go), pancakes (good, then no go), then grapes again (ate a bunch). So, you can see how it would be mildly aggravating. He will eat a bunch at a sitting, but it has to be the right thing.

Cole is just a wonderful blessing. He has started thinking it is funny to be chased and he chases us sometimes. I could go on and on, but I am not sure what else to add without rambling and repeating:).