Cole's 15 month Checkup and Potty Training!

Last week, Mister Cole had his 15 month checkup (1 month late as he is 16 months now). He did fantastic! Here are his current stats:

Height: 32 1/2 inches (90th percentile)
Weight: 28 1/2 lbs (90th percentile)

He had been suffering with a cold the week prior to his appointment and his pediatrician said he actually had bronchiolitis. I guess this is just a more severe version of a cold that has moved into his chest. The good news is he was at the tail-end of it and seems to have made a full recovery the past few days. Poor guy also had to get two shots but only cried for a minute and then was back to his jolly self. Cole's personality is really starting to shine lately...he is so funny! He laughs all the time and will do anything to get a giggle out of his sister. They both crack me up.

Speaking of Eve, we are on the cusp of potty training and it is going awesome. To be honest with you, she is doing all the training herself and we are just going with the flow. The past few days, she has been asking me to go to the bathroom like a big girl. She has also been wearing her regular underwear for hours at a time with no accidents. If all keeps going well, I know she'll be trained in no time, but we are not going to push her. It'll happen when it happens! Also, we had Eve's opthamologist appointment a couple weeks ago. She had been complaining of eye pain more and more frequently in the past few months, and I had been growing more and more concerened. Thankfully there was nothing seriously wrong...she was diagnosed with a slight astigmatism in her right eye (not bad enough to warrant glasses, thank goodness!) and the doctor also found that her tears evaporate much faster than normal. In other words, she has dry eyes! This is what has been causing her pain, but there is not much to do for it except eye drops, which a toddler is not too keen on. We are just supposed to encourage her to blink when she has the pain, and when she is old enough she can start using drops.

Eve's 3 Year Check-up

So I'm a little late on this since her appointment was actually a few weeks ago. She is doing great as usual. Here are baby girl's current stats:

Height: 39 in (75th percentile)
Weight:33 lbs (75th percentile)

Everything checked out great and she is healthy as can be. She also has her first eye exam with the opthamologist next week and her first dental appointment shortly after that. And Mister Cole has his 15 month appointment in a few weeks. Appointment overload!!!!

Happy Birthday Eve!

It was 3 years ago today at 3:19 pm that our beautiful little girl made her entrance into the world. I swear it seems like only yesterday. These past 3 years, Eve has given us so much joy and has given such meaning to our lives that it is hard to remember life before her. We love you and your brother more than anything in this world, baby girl. Happy Birthday!

Grandpa

I love you Grandpa, forever and always.

Cole's Checkup and Christmas

Mister Cole-man had his one year check up today (one month late as he is already 13 months!) and is doing fantastic! He did not cry through the appointment as I had expected and didn't even cry when they pricked his finger to get a drop of blood to check his iron levels. I was so proud of my brave little guy! The only time he did cry was after he got his shots (3 of them!) but even that only lasted less than a minute. He is doing so good. Here are his current stats:

Length- 32 inches (95th percentile)
Weight- 26 lbs 4 oz (90th percentile)
Head- 19 1/4 inches (95th percentile)

So all is well there, and baby boy is free from the doctor for 3 more months until his next checkup.

Now onto Christmas! I am so excited for it this year! I'll admit that I am usually not an over-the-top person when it comes to the holidays. Most years, I can't wait for January to get here. I just feel that everything is so commercialized and people put way too much emphasis on gifts, instead of celebrating the real reason of the season, which is of course Jesus! But this year is just so exciting now that Eve is old enough to understand everything. We have built a gingerbread house, made cookies, drove through a Christmas lights show, decorated our Christmas tree, wrapped presents, etc...you know, Christmas-y stuff! I can't wait to see the looks on Eve and Cole's faces this Friday when they open their presents. I still want them to grow up knowing the true meaning of Christmas and celebrating Christ's birth, but I want them to have the fun of Santa and presents too.

So I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and New Year and I'll try to be back with an update sometime after the hustle and bustle of the holidays!

My Other Half

So I decided I wanted to make a post all about my wonderful husband, Chris. I rarely mention him on here since I'm always blabbering on about the kids (which I fully intend to keep doing!) so this one is for him!

Okay so first off, here is our story:

We meet through Chris' sister and become aquaintances. We become friends. We become best friends. He kisses me. We start dating. We get engaged. We get married. We start college. I get pregnant. Chris graduates college. We move to Illinois. Chris gets a job. We have our baby girl, Eve. Chris gets a different job. I get pregnant. We have our baby boy, Cole. We buy a house. Life is good.

I think that brings us up to speed! What it all comes down to is that I could not have asked for a better man to marry and to be the father of my children. This is totally cheesy, but he completes me. I believe with all my heart that we are soulmates and that God truly meant for us to be together. How else can I explain how we always seem to bust into singing the same random song at the exact same time!? Or how we always seem to know exactly what the other one is thinking? Or how he can make so darn happy on a daily basis! After nearly 7 years together, I am even more in love with him now than ever. And seeing him with Eve and Cole brings it to a whole new level. He is just the best dad, and our kids simply adore him. I adore him. Life is good.

I love you baby.

Changes

Oh I have a feeling the next few months are going to be a bit crazy with all the changes that are going to be happening. First goal is to get through the holidays with my sanity intact...no easy feat! I have yet to buy a single present and Christmas is a mere 3 1/2 weeks away...ahhhhhhh! Then, in January, Chris will be starting his new position at his company. We will be putting our house on the market at that point in time to prepare to move to Columbus, Ohio. This is something I cannot even really think about right now or I just might have a nervous breakdown! The logistics of selling our house and moving are just too much. I know it will all end up okay and we will get through it, but I'm still a bit stressed.

Anyways..........

Updates on my babies! Cole had his first birthday last week, and decided it was a great time to start walking! Crawling is now a thing of the past, and my boy is already trying to run. He is growing up so fast! He is also talking more and more..saying "Mama", "Dada", "Whoa", and "More". Cole has his next doctor's appointment at the end of this month so I'll update on his stats again then. Now onto my baby girl, Eve. I swear she is getting more and more fun by the day. We very rarely have tantrums anymore. She is finally starting to eat well...huge blessing! And we are now entering the stage where she questions every.little.thing. Today alone, she managed to ask me the following questions:

"What does "thank-you" mean?"
"Mommy, what's a rainbow?"
"Why do we clap?"

Some of her questions sound so simple, but they are not always easy to answer in a way she will understand. I love that she challenges me and I love that she is SO smart! Both of my children make me such a better person and I feel so blessed to be their Mommy! In case I don't get to update again before the holidays, I hope you all have a great Christmas...God bless!

Birthday Slideshow

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Cole

Thought I would devote this post to my little guy Cole in honor of the fact that in less than 2 weeks, he will be turning the big O-N-E year old! Man that is hard to believe! I swear that time goes into hyperdrive once you have kids. Anyways, my baby boy is growing so fast and changes every day. Right now, he is soooo close to walking. He takes about 3 or 4 steps before tumbling over, so I'd say its just a matter of weeks until he is strutting around like he has been doing it forever. He also babbles nearly all day long, but his only consistant words so far are "Mama" and "Dada". Oh and as of this week, we are offically bottle-free! He transitioned to sippy cups with no problem whatsoever. I tell ya, it is such a good feeling to know I'm never going to have to clean another bottle again! We are also just about done with baby food. Cole is eating mostly regular food now, with the exception of one or two jars of baby food a day. So as you can see, lots of changes are happening in my baby boy's life, and I'm looking forward to being there every step of the way.

A and J's Visit

So we had Ashley and Jerry here for a visit last week, and had such a good time. They got in Thursday night and stayed until Monday morning. They are both so easygoing and good with kids. Eve, in particular, was enchanted with them. She is such a people-person and was thrilled to have some new playmates! The poor girl started bawling the second they walked out the door to go home and has been drawing pictures of them on her magnadoodle since they left...LOL. Cole, however, didn't really come around until the last day they were here. He is at the age where he cries if you just look at him the wrong way...this applies to pretty much anyone that he does not see on a regular basis. But I will say that by Sunday, he was crying much less and seemed to have at least started warming up to Ashley. All in all, we had a great time and can't wait to see them again!