Thursday, May 31, 2007

Cole and His Sleep Over


Last night our cousin Maggie came through town on her way to Houston. We had a great time visiting and eating dessert, and I once again was assured that cooking with "light" products greatly affect the final outcome. For example, don't take the time to make homemade chocolate chip cookies with light butter. (Why do they even make light butter?) I got it on accident and thought it would be a good way to use it up. Not worth it!!! I like my cookies full of fat!

When we put Cole to bed, he had a little trouble going to sleep. He didn't want to go to sleep and miss out on being the center of attention. He did quiet down, however, and when I went to check on him before going to bed myself, I saw how he had comforted himself. He had gotten several toys to put in bed next to him. All of these toys were nicely put up before going to sleep. I guess he didn't want to be lonely in his bed.

Monday, May 28, 2007

Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day!!!
Today we went to a parade in our neighborhood. Here are some pictures of the grand event:

Here are Daddy and Cole posing for the camera.Here are Daddy's and Cole's versions of smiles when I told them to smile for the picture. (They both look like they are in pain...)
Cole sat on Daddy's shoulders for the parade. He was the most interested in the dogs, the train and the firetruck.
Here is our neighbor, Dot, doing an interview for the news (channel 33, the CW, at 9 for those of you in Dallas). Cole loves Dot because she always gives him cinnamon and sugar graham crackers when he sees her. If she comes out of here door, Cole will go running for her.
Here (for all my adoring fans, or at least for Kelly) is a picture of the family which showcases my very large belly. Cole, again, looks very happy that we are taking this picture.

We hope yall are having a great holiday weekend!

Saturday, May 26, 2007

The Long Weekend

Zach took Friday off (his first day off since the Christmas break). We have really enjoyed this weekend. Yesterday was our five year aniversary; we left Cole with friends and went to eat at Abuelo's. It was great (except for the heartburn that followed).

We are still doing yard work. A ton of yard work. I will post pictures to show our progress soon. Cole has had fun swinging and playing in the mud. We are waiting for the weather to cooperate so we can go to the splash park and public pools that are now open. On Wednesday, we tried one of the splash parks in Dallas. I forgot my camera, but luckily my friend Christy had hers so she took the picture for us. It was overcast when we first got there and with the wind Cole was not to keen on playing, but I am sure the weather will be warm enough that we can try again soon!

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Nesting

My nesting phase has definitely kicked in during this last bit of pregnancy. Whether a blessing, or a cruel trick of nature, unfortunately the male does not experience this need to get everything perfect before the baby arrives. It really puts a damper on the whole nesting thing since he is still thinking logically (No, Lauren, we can't redo the living room, Cole's room, finish the nursery, redo the landscaping and most of the guest bathroom before Logan gets here).

In a compromise, we decided to work a little on the front yard. You know, just the basics: raking out the flower beds, killing every thing except the hedges and one tree, planting a new tree, redo the metal lining, replace the bark, planting necessary flowers, sawing down and replacing the light fixture (see pictures)--you know, the real simple quick stuff. Unfortunately, everything takes a bit longer than you would think, and NOTHING is simple and quick when you are nine months pregnant. Bending down once is an accomplishment in and of itself (and I am not even talking about standing back up again!)--much less staying in that position to pull a million weeds and strawberries (WHO plants strawberries in their front flower beds?!)



So Zach is helping (or forcing) me to stay under control. I went to get my hair trimmed today (no split ends for those hospital pictures were I am swollen from IVs and pushing and have the lovely look of just giving birth I tell ya!). As I began talking to the stylist, I realized that I am quite a little (or large) ball of stress lately. (I wonder if stylists must go through a counseling course before they get their license?) I am trying to be a bit calmer and zen about things, but I think the hormones have me. Why fight the feeling? After all, I am getting an awful lot done. Yesterday I:
  • Finished organizing the nursery
  • Ironed and replaced the bedding on Cole's "big boy bed"
  • Did four loads of laundry (including washing everything that might possibly touch little Logan in Dreft)
  • Packed my suitcase for the hospital
  • Hauled out and gave away stuff we didn't want
  • Washed all of the toys for Logan
  • Organized and put away all of the hand-me-downs that will be too big for Logan for a while
  • Cleaned out drawers
  • Cleaned out my refridgerator
I might have kept going, but my back put a stop to all of it. Cole was very good while he was watching his crazy mom run around the house. He even brought his toys to the couch to play next to me when I got to the point that I was no longer able to move. No telling what I might get done if this last the rest of my pregnancy!

Monday, May 21, 2007

More Pictures

We went to the doctor again (a common occurrence since I am going once a week) today. Everything looked and sounded great. The doctor told me that Logan got a 10 out of 10 on whatever they look at from the ultrasound last week, so that is great.

Here are some additional pictures of my current "only child" (that is soon to change!).

Here is Cole helping Daddy with his hat.
Daddy, Cole, Mason, Mark and Tanner's shoulder in the covered wagon.
Cole stirring the water with a stick (right after this he accidentally hit Tanner with the stick).
Tanner, Mason and Cole. I can't believe how old Cole looks!


Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Updates

Don't you just hate it when people get behind on their blogs!!! Us loyal readers out their get all excited about the prospect of new pictures and cute anecdotes just to be let down. So to all my loyal readers, I apologize for not posting for a couple days!

Let's see. I need to bring you up to speed on the boys.

We have officially chosen a name for the soon-to-be-born one. His name is Logan Andrew. He will share my initials. I have posted a picture of him (above--see his cute little face), taken yesterday. Little Logan has been lazy lately, so we had to get an ultrasound to make sure he was okay. He was fine, just comfortable apparently. The ultrasound tech had to push on him with the little wand to make him move...then he would just settle back down and get all cozy again. He is doing great and the tech said he already has chubby little cheeks and hair.

His older brother finished his last day of Mother's Day Out today. So he is all mine for the summer...Well, all mine and Daddy's and everybody who is nice enough to come help when Logan makes his appearance.

We went to the Arboretum this weekend with our friends Mark and Patrice (from College Station) and their kids Tanner and Mason. Here are some pictures of the crew. When I looked at the pictures, I could not believe how old Cole looked!!! He is turning into one mighty cute little boy, if I do say so myself.

This is Patrice and me (getting rather large, we were worried you wouldn't be able to see much of the car once I stood in front of it...)


Tanner, Mason (his arm at least), and Cole playing in the fountain...

Cole being very sneaky...

We may not have to give him a bath tonight...


Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Are We Harvesting a Couch Potato?


This is Cole's guilty pleasure. He gets to sit in Mommy's bed and watch Curious George while I take a shower and get ready in the morning. It is his favorite program, and I get the security of know I have 20-30 minutes that he probably won't climb on something and hurt himself.
My kid is allowed to watch T.V. Sometimes I need a moment and forbidden fruit being what it is, I am not opposed to television watching by toddlers (in moderation, of course). This is something I think about quite often and bring up as a discussion at dinner.
Cole has learned to turn the television on and then climb in the recliner or my bed. We are learning when we may or may not watch television at the moment. This morning Cole turned on the Today Show (he is not good at navigating the channels). Before I turned it off (I do not like that show on the account of their segments on the war and completely biased reporting), I saw they were going to do a segment on toddlers watching television, so I decided I wanted to see what they had to say, hoping they had good research to end my eternal interal struggle of such a medium. Here is a link for the segment: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18556971/. Lauch the video clip to the right of the page.
After watching it, I had some of my own thoughts. I am not normally an emailer to big companies like that, but I disagreed with several of their comments and the way it was presented.
So here is what I wrote back to them. It is lengthy, so feel free to skip or skim, but I thought I would add my two cents in the Great Television Debate.
Dear Today Show:

I am writing in response to your report on the amount of T.V. that toddlers watch. I appreciate the topic, as it is something that I am concerned about myself as a stay-at-home mother. It is nice to see your interest in bringing up well-educated, well-rounded children. However, there were many problems with what you reported. I know in you want to be successful in your efforts to bring effective and correct information to the public.

In your report, you presented several useful facts, such as the amount of television parents allowed their children under two to watch (90% of children allowed to watch an hour and a half a day). These facts, while interesting, were simply that: interesting facts. You provided no research as to what these programs were, if they were educational or somehow helpful to the children, or what the long term effects of these programs might be.

The overall tone of the report seemed to view television as a guilty pleasure parents (specifically mothers) allowed just to have a “babysitter,” while you offered no facts to determine if this was harmful to the children. Television has long been viewed as negative in our society, and you allowed that to speak for you instead of providing research, examples or any information that could truly be of value to us as parents raising the next generation.

One of the most problematic parts of the segment included the people that spoke about their child’s television viewing habits. You interviewed a few mothers and one father. The mothers all had their children with them and were apparently on an outing with their children, either a park or a zoo. They admitted to letting their children watch television so they could take a shower, make a phone call or even have a couple minutes to themselves. The one man you interviewed spoke from an office with no kids in tow. Although you later showed a clip of him playing with his children, from your report it seems that he probably leaves the house most of the day and might possibly get to take an uninterrupted shower or go to the bathroom whenever he would like to do so.

It seems that there is so much judging of parenting going on and this was another vessel in which to do it. Although we are a highly competitive society, as parents, we should not be competing, we should be helping. We should want every parent to be the best possible caregiver, instead of feeling good because we compare ourselves to other people that we feel are doing a poor job. For example, we feel better about ourselves because we don’t let our kids what T.V., or we are better parents because we stay home with our children and others take their kids to a day care.

The future of our children greatly depends on parenting, so instead of pointing out that some parents allow their children more television time with a mental slap on the wrist, increasing the guilt we naturally feel as parents, it would be more helpful for you to run stories on effective use of time with our children. What does research say we should do instead of watching T.V.? How can we support each other as parents to raise kids in the best way possible?

I do appreciate your interest in family life and our values. I look forward to hearing ways to raise our children to happy, productive and well adjusted adults.

Thank you,
Lauren

Thursday, May 3, 2007

When the Lights Go Out in the City...


Cole is doing so much better! He has no fever and his happy disposition is back (although his little fits are getting more intense--today he went nuts when I wouldn't let him play with the broom. I wish I felt that connection with cleaning!).


We had quite the night last night! Our weather was riddled with thunderstorms and an incredible amount of rain. Our power went out around 7:15pm. It finally turned on at around 4:00am this morning, but not before our little Cole got out of bed and made a run for his parents. Now, usually there is quite a bit of light in his room, even at night, since the lamp post in our front yard can double as a second sun. Last night, however, when Cole got up and went running, he did not have the aid of light filtering in through the window. That is why I heard a loud THUNK and then a cry piercing the night. He had run into his door in his hurry to get to us. By the time I got to his room, he was hiding in the corner still crying and rubbing his now sore head. (When he hits his head he doesn't want a kiss, he wants it rubbed really fast...)


The picture I posted is yet another time that Cole hit his precious little head. We went outside for one of the first snows. Cole was in his winter jacket, which greatly reduced the use of his hands. He started to tip forward and fell straight on his head. That is the spot of dirt on the white hat. Thank goodness kids are so hardy!!!


Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Say Cheese...




Cole has always liked getting his picture taken. Somewhere around six months he would smile if you got the camera out. Here are a couple pictures of Cole hammin' it up. The first two are around 3-4 months and the third is Cole at around 10 months.

In Cole's vast experience with cameras, he also has had many, many X-rays. This comes from two hospital stays from intussusception, an emergency room visit and now a sickness that will not seem to stay away. Yesterday was his latest photo shoot of his insides. The results turned out fine, and he seems to be getting better, but it appears as though our little tike has allergies that lead to sinus infections.


Our sweet little man gets spoiled during these bouts of sickness. For example, he currently is getting to stay up way past his bedtime and is sitting on Daddy's lap watching the Maverick's game. I can hear a little sniffle every once in a while--to let us know he is sad and cannot possibly go to bed all alone in his current state. (We can't let him cry it out when he is sick.)


As for our littlest man, he is doing well. His constant movement causes contractions, so my abs and back are tired from having contractions all day long. I had a doctor's appointment today. He said everything sounded great. He could feel one of the contractions while I was there so he made sure I wasn't progressing, so at 33 weeks everything was fine, and no labor was starting. That is great! I want the baby to stay in and get ready until he is full term and healthy--then I will try to coax him out. I am not above bribing.