From E's Birthday Party

Wow!  Didn’t we just post about Cole being 7 mths old?  Well, guess that just further supports that post’s plea for time to slow down a bit.  But since that’s not really happening, let’s recap the latest and greatest Cole news now that he is, in fact, 8 months old.

Cole has now eaten and liked the following Gerber foods: rice cereal, oatmeal, mixed grain cereal, sweet potatoes, squash, peas, green beans, bananas, apples, pears, peaches, prunes, and a few combinations of the aforementioned (e.g., apple sweet potato, bananas, apples & pears, prunes with apples, etc).  He has tried the biter biscuits and just yesterday he tried a couple of the puffs snacks, but he’s still not quite sure about these finger foods.  He seems up to the challenge though.  ;-)  He drinks minimal amounts of water from his sippy cups, still finding their “drumming properties” to be of more interest at this point.  :-)

Troy has given Cole a new nickname — Nonstop — because that describes our little man well.  He is crawling everywhere…real crawling now, not scooting on his stomach.  He pulls himself up with ease all over the place and is a brave little soul, holding on with one hand to reach for things or walking a few side steps while holding onto the ottoman, couch, etc.  He seems to be trying to figure out how to stand up from a sitting position without pulling himself up too…I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.

He sleeps more hours now…has probably done about nine consecutive hours at the longest at this point…but that’s nothin’ to sneeze about, at least from where we’re standing (or crawling into bed).  *Grin*

He has discovered his ability to squeal…loudly.  He also babbles up a storm when he’s of a mood – some of the best mornings are when he wakes up and just starts babbling to his seahorse.  He hasn’t really said true words, though we think we may count “hi” and “hey” as his first words…he certainly makes those exclamations a lot.

He is interested in EVERYTHING and seems to discover something new everyday.  For instance, this week he has discovered the DVDs and Bella’s water and food dishes.  He loves his Around We Go activity table/walker — and we love that!  He loves books.  He loves all manner of “noise makers.”  He loves baths (and has just discovered his boy bits – fun, fun).  He loves his nana Bella – he finds her to be extremely funny and fascinating.  He loves it when we do the chicken dance for him…no, you won’t see that on video.  :-p

Anyway, he is a joy.  An utter joy.  I’m a proud, if tired, mommy and I look forward to seeing what else we get to report at 9 mths, 10 mths, and so on.

Bella turned 5 over the weekend and I can’t believe how fast the time has gone by. Soon we’ll be bringing home a new baby, but we’ll always have room in our hearts for our first fur-baby.

Then:
Probably my favorite photo of her as a pup… this was only a few days after we brought her home.

I don’t care if this one is out of focus, I love it!

She still loves her tennis balls

She’s still a bit unsure about bath time.

Now:
We got her a new toy for her birthday… Al-the-gator. Little did she know he could climb trees…

But she managed to get him down…

And show him who’s boss

Happy birthday b-girl! You’ll always be our ball of golden sunshine.

In the world of blogging I’m known as a late blogger. The kind who, rather than writing a post at the beginning of the day, writes at the end of the day. My intentions are usually get the post up earlier rather than later, but time flies and I find myself writing before I go to bed. Such is the situation with today’s post. I just wanted to post a big thank you to all of the mom’s out there (2 in particular) and to share a few photos of my baby mom-to-be with our fur baby (Bella). Enjoy!

This is the necklace that I got Mel for Mother’s Day… the left side of the heart is a mother and she’s holding up her baby, which makes the right side of the heart.

(continue reading to see 4 more photos)