Hi there and welcome back to another episode of the “I used to blog every day and now I can’t seem to find time to post even a single entry once a week” show.

Things here have been quite busy and we’ve been putting as much time into being together as a family, cleaning, baby proofing, and doing the normal day-to-day things recently that we haven’t had much time for blogging. For those who know us you may have even seen a slowdown in the amount of Facebook updates that we’ve been making. It really is overwhelming the number of things that a set of working parents can find themselves needing to do on a daily basis. That being said, we have help this week (Grandma and Opa are visiting) so we have some time for other things… like an anniversary dinner, separate date night, and blogging!

So what’s been going on in the last few weeks… babbling, crawling, and playing (pretty much). Photos, videos, and audio paint a much better picture than words. Enjoy!

Cole and I surprised Mel with flowers, cards, and dinner on Mother’s Day this year.

Cole is getting big and is playing so hard during the day that he’s sleeping well in the night. These are iPhone photos so please excuse the quality, but there just isn’t a better camera than the one you have on you all the time.

Cole started saying dada (he’s not putting it together that I am dada, but I don’t care… I LOVE hearing it)

Cole has been fighting a cold for the past 2 weeks and breathes a little heavier when he’s sleeping (not sure how much of this you’ll be able to hear)

I’m having technical difficulties with the videos (they are being rotated by the video hosting site) so you’ll have to check back later

Sometime it feels like there is just too much going on to really focus on anything. Case in point, Melanie and I would love to begin the process of teaching Cole to fall asleep on his own (meaning no nursing to sleep, no holding, no rocking, no swinging, no riding, etc.), but the weekends sneak up on us so quickly we’re not prepared. So this weekend has come and gone and he’s no closer to being able to fall asleep on his own… poo. The good news is that we gave him some rice cereal with just water (instead of breast milk or formula) and he seemed to like that better so there’s hope for him learning to eat solids. He’s also getting really chatty. Check out this audio clip:

Yesterday we celebrated AJ’s birthday with her friends and family and we had a really good time. Cole did really well and was his normal, charming, smiley self. He fell asleep almost as soon as we got in the car

(please forgive me if this post seems a bit disjointed… I’m trying to type up some thoughts quickly so I can finish up a video project for work, VPN into work to do a bit of paperwork, shave, and buzz my head all before going to bed)

Photos:

(a few photos from the party)

Look for a movie of Cole rolling over tomorrow (he’s getting really good at it)

This past week was pretty normal… both Mel and I had busy days at work, Cole did great at school, and we hung out with him in the evening before he conked out for the night. This weekend, however, was a different story. Let’s see if I can recall these events in the order they happened..

Yesterday morning Melanie was entertaining Cole in bed with her normally silly antics and he was squealing with delight when all of the sudden he started to giggle. Not screech, nor scream, but actually giggle. It is so adorable. We captured it using the iPhone (seriously, where would we be without our iPhones? funny note about the poker game you will read about in a few seconds… there were probably 20 iPhones there… crazy). Check out the audio:

Last night we went over to a friend’s place to play some poker (they try to have a monthly tournament, but this was the first month since July that they were able to get everyone together) and after 6 hours of playing I won the whole thing! My prize was $240… not bad for a $20 buy-in. Melanie didn’t play since we brought Cole along, but they hung out and cheered me on. He did great for being out so long and he fell asleep on Mommy somewhere around 10:30.

Over the past couple of weeks we have been increasing the size of Cole’s bottles to see if he’s ready to begin trying solid food. This past week he was eating 6 ounce bottles consistently at school so we decided to introduce him to rice cereal. We’re pretty sure his response was typical of infants making the transition… kind of a mix between fascination with the spoon and disgust of the new taste. We’re letting him dictate the pace at which we make the transition, but if tonight is any indication it’s not going to be too hard for him to get the hang of eating from a spoon. After about 15 minutes of laughing at him spitting out the cereal he started to keep more in his mouth and actually was accepting the food from the spoon. It was fun to watch him learn… blowing bubbles on the spoon, spitting out the food immediately, grabbing the spoon and guiding it to his mouth, breaking into smiles, and eating his bib. It’s fun being a parent

Video:

Cole’s first taste of solid food from Troy Schneider on Vimeo.

Photos:

(after eating we gave Cole a bath where he made a mess kicking the water around and his feet got all wrinkled up)

Forgive me, friends and family, for slacking in my blogging and photo posting duties. This past week was quite busy and I found it near impossible to get some time at the computer let alone get some photos posted. The good news is that tomorrow is a holiday so I have the day off… which means you get some of my time tonight writing up a blog post and posting some Cole goodness. You’ll get photos, a video, and two audio clips below. Joy!

Melanie and I have fallen into a good rhythm with school. We wake up around 6:30, Mel feeds Cole while I get dressed and grab some food, we dress Cole, and I take him to school around 7:30. Mel tries to finish up work around 4 so she can pick Cole up between 4 and 5. It’s been working pretty well. Weekends are another story. When we don’t have to get up for work it’s hard for us to get up at all so Cole gets to wake up, get fed, and then sleep with us in our bed. Please don’t yell at us about co-sleeping and safety and all that… we know… we read… a lot.

So this week was going smoothly for Cole until Thursday when we got a call from his teacher that he had a fever and we needed to pick him up. Of course both Melanie and I, being the stellar first time parents we are, rushed over to pick him up and take him to the doctors. The school had indicated that he wasn’t acting like himself and that he had an under-the-arm temperature of 99.3 (adjusted up a degree for an oral temperature). Well he was certainly acting like himself when we picked him up and he was a happy little cherub at the doctor’s office and had no fever (odd). We kept an eye on him overnight and took his temperature a few times, but he was fine and went back to school on Friday (with a note from the doctor). Both Melanie and I believe it was an escape plan and he knew what he was doing all along.

Photos:
Is that face not the best face ever? Mommy was “attacking” him with a pillow.

Video:

Cole smiles at Daddy from Troy Schneider on Vimeo.

Audio:
Cole doing some happy squealing in the morning

Cole splashing in his bath tonight

This post is very multimedia intensive… photos, videos, and for the first time an audio clip. Leave me feedback on how you like the audio (I know it’s a bit quiet so you’ll likely have to turn your volume up… I’ll see if I can get a better recording another day).

Odd day, today was. Felt like a Sunday, but it wasn’t (thankfully). We relaxed today, did a little shopping at Babies-R-Us, and watched Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (cute movie).

Audio… Cole vocalizing over Mommy’s shoulder.

Today’s photos

Recent videos

Cole… beginning to sit up from Troy Schneider on Vimeo.

Cole struggles with tummy time from Troy Schneider on Vimeo.