Troy and Melanie (dot com) bio picture

Welcome to our life!

We are a growing family located in Austin, TX.  Not too long ago it was just the two of us.  Then we added our fur-baby, Bella.  And most recently we added our son, Cole.  This blog was created to keep our friends and families updated on the goings on at the Schneider household.  Given the new arrival, many of the posts will be geared towards our struggle to learn how to be good parents.  

We enjoy watching movies, traveling, photography, reading, and hanging out with friends (preferably while doing anything in this list).  You are bound to read some funny stories here as we try to keep it light hearted and you'll definitely see a pile of photos.

So if you like a post, want to share your opinion, or just want to say hi feel free to leave us a comment.  We *love* comments.

Category Archives: Cole

Mini Hulk

Halloween is an interesting time when you have a very young child. They aren’t old enough to really enjoy the fun of Halloween, but you still feel some obligation to participate and get them dressed up. Officially this is Cole’s second Halloween (remember last year he was a puppy dog) and we chose a costume that was appropriate for his stage… always moving, picking things up, throwing things, and banging on everything… he was the Incredible Hulk (minus the green face paint and wig/headpiece). He doesn’t pull off the big, mean, scary Hulk very well, but he did enjoy helping us hand out candy to the trick-or-treaters on the 31st :)

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Cole likes to party

It’s true. He only just turned one (well, almost a month ago now… please don’t hate me) and he’s already gotten caught up in the party circuit. For his first year celebrations he chose Lancaster, PA and Austin, TX. Who knows where he’ll chose next year :)

Photos from Lancaster
First a small get together for family and then a larger one with extended family and friends.

Click to continue reading “Cole likes to party”

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Happy Birthday Cole!

Dear Cole–
There are so many things that Mommy and Daddy could say here. Like how we couldn’t wait for you to arrive, how we feel so blessed to have you in our lives, how your smiles and giggles brighten up even the gloomiest day, how complete strangers smile when they see you, how you amaze us with your growth and progress, how your grandparents love you with everything they have, how we love watching you play with your schoolmates, and how we love watching you sleep.

This first year has gone by in a dizzying progression of one achievement after another. Smiling, laughing, rolling over, sitting up, teething, eating solid food, standing up, walking, climbing… each step you took we were right there with you, encouraging you. No matter how many things change over the years one thing will always remain the same: you’ll be our little boy and we love you so much!

Happy Birthday Cole!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Over the past year we’ve posted many photos, but here is a chronology from birth to 1 year month-by-month. Enjoy.

Mere minutes old
0 days old

1 day old
1 day old

1 month old
1 month old

2 months old
2 months old

3 months old
3 months old

4 months old
4 months old

5 months old
5 months old

6 months old
6 months old

7 months old
7 months old

8 months old
8 months old

9 months old
9 months old

10 months old
10 months old

11 months old
11 months old

1 year old!

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We’re nearing 1!

We’re living in our own house, enjoying life… blink…
Melanie’s pregnant, we’re ecstatic… blink…
Our little bundle of joy, Cole, is born… blink…
He’s sitting up on his own… blink…
He’s crawling… blink…
He’s eating solid foods… blink…
He’s walking… blink…
I don’t want to blink any more… I’m afraid I’ll miss something.

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Current Stats: 11 Months, 19 Pounds, 4 Teeth

Here we are…another month has passed. :-) Well, Cole walks all over the place now. He power walks. He’s working toward his run. He also climbs…stairs, ottomans, couches, highchairs… He wears big boy pajamas. He eats table foods — potatoes, peas, green beans, diced fruits, bread, crackers, etc. He loves throwing and bouncing balls. In fact, he loves throwing anything. He jabbers, he squeals, he giggles. There’s the nutshell description of Cole at this point. He keeps us busy. He continues to give us joy. :-)

Look for some new photos from Troy soon!

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Birthday on the Way!

Several of you have asked us for ideas for birthday presents for the little man. So, Cole has kindly set up an Amazon.com wish list to give us all a variety of ideas. Just go to www.amazon.com and click on “Gifts & Wish Lists.” Then, enter “Cole Schneider” under “Find Wish Lists and Registries” and click “Go.” Click on the first Cole Schneider listing (the one that uses appropriate upper and lowercase lettering). On the left-hand side, you should see the birthday of August 28 and a “ship to” showing Austin, TX. And, you should also know it’s his list because all of the stuff should seem appropriate for a one-year old (Cole is not currently reading any Stephen King…lol). :-)

Alternatively, use the following link and we think (fingers crossed) it will work:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/359VR3JO5OX27

And, here’s some general info that might help too:

Clothing size: Currently in 12 mths, but if you want him to get more wear out of something, probably better to go with 18mths+

Temperature Guide: In Texas, it will likely be 90s in Sept, 80s in Oct, 70s to 60s in Nov and then will go down to 50s/40s by Dec…maybe to 30s by Jan, then back up to 40s/50s for Feb and up to 60 by March and 70s by April, then 80s – 100s from May through next Aug.

Shoe size: Currently size 3, but again, probably better to think of the future and bigger sizes.

Likes: motion, noise, music, dancing, balls and throwing, reading, baths, time at the pool, Elmo, Cookie Monster, finger foods

Hope this helps — if you have any questions we didn’t cover, just give us a holler and, as Cole’s personal assistants (heh), we’ll be glad to help you. ;-)

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Cole is two steps ahead of us…

Literally…he just keeps getting faster and faster with his walking. But, aside from that, here are just a few of the things he has done that we’ve found amusing (as well as challenging!):

> He removes corner guards from the furniture (a babyproofing thing).
> If we try to get him to eat something like his broccoli cheese meal by dipping a cracker into it and handing it to him, he takes a moment to wipe the broccoli cheese off of the cracker onto the highchair tray before eating the cracker.
> We have up play yard fencing to keep him in the living room. We have to put an old shelf on the outside of the end of it, as he will just push it open otherwise.
> He pulls the car mirror down into his lap.
> He pulls the throw pillows down off the couch to use them as stepping stools for climbing up onto the ottoman or couch. (Scratch that: He can get up onto the ottoman without pillow assistance now.)

What will be next??

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10 months old… really?

It’s hard for us to look at our baby boy and think that he’s already 10 months old. The time has passed by so quickly and little mister I-want-to-reach-the-next-milestone-as-soon-as-I-reach-this-one is already starting to walk. Yup, walking at 10 months. I’m sure you’ve already picked up on that fact from Melanie’s post, but it’s truly amazing how quickly he’s picking things up and mastering them.

So here’s a selection of photos and videos to entertain you… all taken over the past few days… just after his official 10 month birthday.

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20100704_cole10mnths02

Video (hosted on YouTube)

Here are some photos and a video from our 4th of July at Steph and Dave’s.
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20100704_cole10mnths04

Video (hosted on Vimeo)

Cole and AJ playing in the water from Troy Schneider on Vimeo.

20100704_sparklers

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10 Months and Walking!

Well, technically, he took his first step(s) on June 23, 2010…9 mths and 26 days.  :-)  But, now, 11 days later, he is getting really good at it.  He’s a bit less wobbly and can walk across half the room.  He can also catch himself getting ready to fall and stop it and steady himself and keep walking.  His learning curve (babies’ learning curves, in general) is amazing to us — it’s SO much fun to see.

Well, aside from the walking, Cole cut his third tooth on June 21st.  He seems to be on his way to cutting another too…a lot of drooling and gnawing on stuff…we’ll see.  He has also learned how to climb, making us both proud and nervous.  He can climb the steps lickety split (note: we do use a gate but we let him climb the steps when we are right behind him).  He has also figured out how to pull a pillow off the couch and use it as a stepstool to climb up onto the couch or ottoman.

He’s still such a peanut by size standards (about 18+ lbs), but he is still growing out of those clothes pretty quickly.  He’s pretty much in 12 mth clothing now, though some 9 mths stuff still fits.  He eats like a Hoover though, so it’s really just the way he’s burning calories like a madman.  He is eating more 3rd foods and also some real foods (Cheerios, peas, which are gross at the other end, potatoes, and mashed bananas, which he’s still not sure about).  Puffs remain his favorite thing…that and juice.

As to playing, he loves walking around his activity table and playing the piano on it.  He loves his ball (the cheap plastic type you buy at the supermarket) and he’s good at bouncing it and throwing it to you.  He can give you five and wave bye-bye too.  He also loves the toys that light up and play music and his talking cookie monster.

For the most part, he sleeps well and through the night.  There are just some nights that go wonky.  He laughs, giggles, and squeals with delight.  He also likes to sit and read/play with his tongue pressed between his lips, like he’s really contemplating something.  Oh, he has also been enjoying our weekend trips down to the pool.  He has a floating ring/canopy thing and some water toys.

Anyway, that’s all I can think of right now.  It’s a fun age (aside from the fighting him to change his diaper and put on clothes) and we’re all enjoying it.  We’re contemplating his birthday now…crazy that it’s less than two months away.

P.S. Troy will likely post photos/videos later.

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Laugh out loud

This will seriously put a smile on your face :)

Cole LOL from Troy Schneider on Vimeo.

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