Victory!

Yes! He took a nap today. Two days of no T.V. and he slept like a little angel.

T.V. is his very favorite thing. Each day he did not take a nap there was a sign on the T.V. that said "No Nap=No T.V." For a non-reader he could tell me what that sign said quickly!

In other news, I am constantly amazed at how different my two boys are.

Cole has always hated sleep; Logan reaches for the bed when I go to put him down. Cole tries to sweep and mop and cries and yells because he can't move the broom and mop the way he wants, Logan, on the other hand, picks up the broom and patiently moves it and is just so happy to hold the broom and pretend he is helping.

Logan is way more aggressive than Cole was at this age--he will give his cousin Brady a toy just so he can take it away. And today Logan did something that I always thought Cole might do, but thankfully never did...put his toys in the toilet.

This is not good. Especially because there is also a potty trained toddler here that doesn't always flush---so Thomas the Tank Engine and his friend Percy went swimming in a nice yellow lake.

Here is Logan taking something from Brady.

Logan wants the car, but Cole wants to share.

Well...Shucks!

Because this is a family blog, I will refrain from using stronger language, but man, I'm being tried as a parent lately.

My little Cole does not want to nap anymore! He is three. I am not ready for this!

Out of the past five days, he has only napped twice. There are tears (and not by Cole), frustration and my spanking hand is tired.

I am starting to think he is done with napping. Fellow bloggers, is this possible? I feel like there should have been a warning letter from the government or church or school or sombody when he turned three.

Because I haven't blogged in a while, I will post some pictures of my little rebel and his brother.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday Brady (my nephew) spends the day with us while his mommy is dentisting...


More to come soon. I won't take a break anymore, so keep checking.

In the meantime...do your kids still take naps?

Cole's 3rd Birthday!

My firstborn is 3! I can't believe what a big boy he is!

We were out of town during his birthday weekend, so we had an impromtu party in Arkansas with family. We had a cake (made by Zach), and his cousins and PapaLee and LynnLynn got to celebrate with him.

We traveled on his actual birthday, so when we got home he got to pick out a special dessert at the store. Bri and Nick (his aunt and uncle) stopped by to give him a present...

Logan has gotten quite good at enjoying birthdays!

Logan's 1st Birthday

Logan turned one on June 12, 2008. It was a great first birthday! We had a little family party. Both sets of grandparents were able to come as well as Logan's aunts, uncles and cousins.
Logan LOVES pizza! So, his first birthday was a pizza themed party. We all had a great time!

Logan eating pizza.

Even his cake was a pizza.
The family singing to Logan.
Logan enjoying his cake.
The family: Cole, Daddy, Mommy and Logan.

Get Ready!

I have not disappeared from the blog-isphere completely!--I just took a bit of a hiatus. I thought I should catch you up on what has been going on lately.

We have been:

Celebrating!

Logan turned ONE!!!

Here is a picture of his special breakfast.

(More on this later--it deserves a special one.)

Hanging out.

We have enjoyed our friends this summer. Cole is really started to have friends that he asks for by name.

Learning to enjoying each other.

Reading together.

Visiting family.

Here are the boys with cousin Hannah.

As cute as ever!

Doing a triathlon!

Here is mom and her friend Kathleen waiting to start the swim.

Biking!
Running!
Swimming for the boys!

Here is Cole.

And Logan!

The last two pictures sum up a lot. Cole is cautious. Especially around water. Logan jumps right in--he doesn't know that he she be afraid of some things. Maybe it is the birth order thing? Logan has a great mentor (Cole) that has already taught him so much.

In other news:

• I (Lauren) had my neurology appointment today (follow up for the Bell's Palsy/temporary face paralysis). Things look pretty good--although she said my eye was still a little saggy. I have a follow up brain and neck scan scheduled on Friday.
• We got a lot of work done on our front flower beds. Our house is actually starting to look like we are doing things on purpose.
• We bought a boat. Yup. It is 20 ft. long and cost $500 (so you can imagine the condition it is in). It is Zach's project for the next year (or two, or three, or ten...)

Hope this brings you back up to speed. And I promise to try and not let it go so long between posts again!

Vacation Highlights

Among other things, one of the reasons I have been behind in blogging lately is that we took a family vacation.

We left home and stopped in Louisiana to spend the night on the way there and on the way back to break up the trip. When we got to Destin, we camped for three nights and then stayed in a hotel the last night. The kids were great (except when it was our own fault for completely wearing them out and not leaving time for a nap).

This is us gassing up and pulling out of Louisiana on Saturday. The kids are still smiling...they are not old enough to ask "are we there yet?"--but they are old enough to think it.

Here is the beautiful beach. We had so much fun! (On a side note: Beware of the spray-on sun screen--it is very easy to miss places--all of us had some funny shaped sunburn at a random spot on our body.)

This was my favorite thing we saw while we were there. The dolphin jumps up and takes the fish out of her mouth. I can't believe the height and accuracy.

This was a picture while we were on the dolphin cruise. The little girl is the daughter of the woman taking the picture!

We were all exhausted after camping and driving and just vacationing in general. I don't know that we have fully recovered yet. The week after our vacation was exciting too! (See Dr. Bri blog.)

We had a great time! It was our first family vacation (and Zach and my first vacation since our honeymoon six years ago). More pictures and details are forthcoming!

Dr. Bri

Tonight my sister-in-law and best friend graduated from dental school. We now have a dentist in the family!

The ceremony was in the symphony center. We were very high up!

Here is Dr. Bri and me.

Charlette, Dr. Bri and Nick

Fred, Dr. Bri and Vicki (Bri's parents)

We are so excited for Bri. She has worked for long years! She was recognized for being on the Dean's list. I know she is going to be a GREAT dentist. She starts in July--so I can soon recommend a great dentist if anybody needs one!

Pictures from Abilene!

We went out to Mom and Bill's land. Cole had a blast. It is such a fun place for boys (little or big, I'd imagine). Cole loved the tractor and Meemaw was brave and agile enough to climb up there with him at his request.

Bill and Cole were checking out the tires of the tractor. They were so big that Cole was scared sitting on top of it.

At Mimi and Poppa's house, Logan made himself at home. We had to baby proof quickly and hold things down so Logan didn't not them over. Cole helped us baby proof by finding all of the candy for us.

Cole and Poppa had a great time playing with the hose. Cole got the hose and tried to fill up the bird bath, then decided it was more fun to try and spray Poppa. Watching all of this was one of the funniest parts of the entire trip.

About 30 seconds from when this picture was taken, Cole tried to use the hose for more mischievous purposes...

We met my one of my best friend's from high school at the mall. Her three kids and my two had a great time playing on the indoor playgroup.

Here are more pictures of Cole in the tractor.

Logan loved being held my Mimi. She had to take her glasses off because Logan kept trying to take them off of her face (probably to put them in his mouth).
And here is Poppa out at the land, he was watching Cole and helping Meemaw get down from the tractor.

We had such a fun time and can't wait to go back again. Zach was sad when I showed him the pictures. He said it looked like we had so much fun and he wished he could have been there too!

Trip to Abilene

Zach has been working a TON lately for some project at work. Last Thursday he came home and told me he was going to have to work a long day on Friday and on Saturday. Friday morning I woke up and thought that the boys and I would have a lot more fun in Abilene with family than staying by ourselves all weekend. So Cole, Logan and Mommy took an impromptu trip to Abilene and Daddy stayed home to work (poor Daddy!).

We had so much fun! It was great to see Meemaw and Peepaw, Mimi and Poppa, and Paul, Lenda and Mendy. Cole had a great time out at Meemaw and Peepaw's land and sitting on the tractor and playing with Meemaw. I think he had the most fun, though, trying to spray Papa with the hose. I had fun eating breakfast with everybody (Mimi cooked wonderfully as always), visiting with family and friends, and shopping with my mom. I also got the all-important food from Abuelo's! Logan loved trying to catch Jesse (Mimi and Poppa's dog), trying to play with Mimi's glasses, and attempting to escape as Meemaw changed his diaper.

I have ton of pictures to post, but that feature is not working on blogger, so I will keep trying. Look for them soon!

Gross!

Two stories about my sweet little Cole:

First Story: We were at a friend's house recently eating dinner. She had gotten those big, soft cookies with icing for dessert. Cole wanted one, but hadn't eaten any of the dinner she made (this is no suprise--Logan out eats him every meal and THEN has a bottle to go with it...). We told him if he ate one black bean he could have a cookie (aren't we mean!).

Cole obliged and ate one bean. He gagged. He got that bean out as quick as possible just pawing at his tongue and then yells "Gross!" We didn't even know he knew that word. Good manners Cole!

Second story: I told you about Cole wanting to go poo outside while we are playing in the backyard. He tries every time we are out there and I always tell him no. I tell him we "need to go inside the house if we want to poopoo."

Today we were playing outside and the poo attempt happened followed by the directions to go in the house for poopoo. He said "okay" and kept playing. I was working on the computer and he was playing so well with his truck and swing set and just keeping himself busy. After a little while, he as a little too good and not yelling while playing in his playhouse. When I went to check on him, I opened the door and he was squating and pushing out a poo (isn't he going to love me posting this on the internet when he gets older). I told him he got a spanking for not listening and as I carried him away he pointed to his playhouse and said "Poopoo in the house! Poopoo in the house!" I guess I need to be more specific as to which house I mean.

Hooray! I was sick!

What a joy to be sick! I was just sick enough Sunday to need to stay in bed (but not sick enough that I couldn't enjoy it) and my sweet husband took the kids. I slept soooo hard and felt better by about one. It was so wonderful to get to relax and not have to worry about the kids. Zach did a great job!

In other news, Logan got his eye procedure done again today. The doctor said there is a 5o% chance that it will work on the second time. If it doesn't work, we will go have a procedure done at the hospital where Logan will be out and they will insert a balloon or tube to open up the duct. I am thinking there is a good chance of it working this time, however, because he got a bloody nose after the procedure. Last time it all just stayed in his eye, so maybe second time is the charm!

I decided not to be in there this time. I think that was a good decision! It felt like it went by much faster and I didn't have a near sick experience. Cole and I just hung out all of two minutes until a sad little bloody nose baby was handed back to me.

Not Funny!

Cole has learned something new. He loves to tell me when things are "not funny."

For example, this morning I was helping him get dressed and he gave me a little kick. I told him that we do not kick Mommy. He reaching out his little foot and ever so slightly touched my leg with his toe. I shot him a warning look, to which he said, "Not funny, Mommy!"

Fast forward to nap time. Cole gets a spanking when he gets out of bed. When the threat of a spanking is offered he usually says, "Mommy spankin. No Daddy spankin!" Mommy's spankings are just, well, not that bad. He has actually laughed after them before. (I keep thinking that it is just the act that will teach him--he will realize he has done something wrong, feel bad and fix his behavior. Zach informs me, however, that we have a little boy and they don't have a consciences to hurt until around middle school--sometimes high school).

So at nap, he got out of bed. I put him over my knees, gave him a spanking. He smiles at me and says...you guessed it. "Not funny!"

Here are a couple of other things that are "not funny."

Hitting Logan in the head with a brush/hotwheel/toys/anything that can be used to hit a little brother in the head

Shutting Logan's hands in the toy chest (see picture)

Peeing in his pants

Feeding Rusty Cole's breakfast, lunch or dinner

Opening the fridge when he is not supposed to

Hurting Mommy (voluntarily or involuntarily) by dropping a toy on her foot, out of control hugs from behind, jumping onto her lap from the arm of the couch, ect...