Crawling Frustrations!!!

Cole and I just got back from a wonderful week in Spokane! Ben had to go to a training in Maryland, so we went home for a visit. We saw a TON of people, which was really nice and even a few who had not yet met Cole, like our good friends, Trish, Scott and Chandra. We were busy, busy, busy. My good friend, Kyndra, had her bachelorette party while we were there so I even got an evening away from Cole while Grandma babysat! This was especially nice because Cole's turning into a BUSY BODY! I cannot emphasize this enough. He's such a wiggle worm and he wants to explore everything. This is where we have a problem...we just want him to crawl already!!!
I know probably 9 out of 10 of you are thinking as you read this "just wait, when he crawls, he'll get into everything and you'll be chasing after him!" That's Fine With Me! It's much better than sitting here listening him grunt and whine because he's trying to crawl and he can't. If I sit him down, 2 seconds later he's on his knees and then 2 seconds after that he's flopped onto his tummy and is stuck. So, then I have to sit him back up and the cycle continues all day long. I think when he finally figures out how to crawl, he's going to be much happier and a little more independent which will give me a much needed break while he plays for a while.

Day 234
(Bye, bye Grandpa and Grandma -
See you in Leavenworth in 3 weeks!)

Day 233
(Aunt Joelle)

Day 232
(Eating Puffs - like Cheerios, but easier to chew)

Day 231
(Cousins: Isaiah, Madison, Cole, Andrew and Abigail)

(Aunt Holly)

(Playing with cousin, Abigail)

Day 230
("Helping" Grandma Cook Dinner)

Day 229
(Wrestling with Scott)

(Trish, Chandra, Cole and me)

Day 228
(Swinging with Aunt Jill)

Day 227
(Can't find one of Cole, so you get one of
Kelly, Kyndra and me at the bachelorette party instead)

Day 226
(P.F. Chang's in Spokane)

Day 225
(Yes, Cole's wearing leg warmers, I think it's cute. Daddy does not.)

Day 224
(Before Lola destroyed the big blue ball)

Day 223

First Scolding

Cole got his first scolding yesterday. You can probably guess what it was for...biting my boob. It was probably one of the saddest things I had seen though. He did it, and I kind of jumped and gasped and then said sternly, "no" and he turned his head away from me and stuck his little lip out and started crying. He did it again today and he reacted the same way. I can totally see him being one of those kids that cries whenever he gets into trouble. I'm also hoping that this biting does not become a habit otherwise he won't be nursing anymore!

Day 222
(I see you!)

Day 221
(Playing with socks in Mama & Dada's bed)

Day 220

Day 219
(I love to swim with mommy!)

Day 218
(Getting ready for our walk)

Day 217
(He helped push the car the whole way through Costco!)

Day 216
(goodnight book with daddy)

7 months!

Holy Cow! I feel like I just wrote a 6 month post, but then again, we've had a busy month. Here's a 7 month update on the Cole-man...

Weight 18lbs Height? I'll have to measure him, but he's a little squirmy.

Clothes: 6-9 months, though, some of his sleepers are a little short. I guess I'll have to buy some longer ones this weekend. Still size 3 diapers.

Teeth: Lower left tooth is HUGE! His lower right tooth just broke through this morning and his top right is super swollen and hopefully it'll show up any day now too.

Strength milestones: Sitting up is the only acceptable position for Cole right now. There will be no laying down because that means sleep and sleep has been the enemy for the last week and a half. He is trying really, really hard to crawl and it's frustrating him. He doesn't quite understand how or why he can't reach something (usually Lola) when he wants it.

Eating: He's doing a little better with trying new foods. He still loves his bananas but he's also a fan of peaches, pears, and applesauce. We did get some squash in him last night though we had to disguise it with some bananas. Oh, and he LOVED the apple/strawberry combo but he broke out into a huge rash and hives on his back (strawberry is the most common allergy at this age) so we won't be doing that again anytime soon! *Update* we tried squash again tonight and he threw up. I guess squash is a no for now too.

Personality: Cole's becoming more of a mama's boy everyday! He loves everyone, but when he sees me, he'll reach for me every time. Except for Lola. Funny enough, he's begun reaching for her when she walks by. If she could only hold him...

Babbles: Cole's always been pretty vocal, but the mama is coming on strong. Now, once I get him to associate that with me, I'll have an extra $150 in my pocket. I'm not too far away. Stupid daddy shouldn't make bets. You thought he would have learned that after our trip to Vegas!

Finally, Sleep: Something I've been missing the past two weeks. Really, it's such a sore subject in our house right now I don't even want to discuss it. I'm hoping it's the teeth and we'll be better soon. Just say a prayer that he'll start going to bed easier because I'm about to go crazy. It's a good thing he's so cute!

Day 215
(Playing fun games with daddy)

Day 214
(Big boy tub)

Day 213 - 7 months old
(Thank goodness he sleeps in the car)

Day 212

Day 211
(Eating frozen peaches)

Day 210

Day 209
(Peaches are fun!)

Day 208

Tooth! (Now, Teeth!)

I can't remember if I posted this or not, but while we were in Maui, Cole got his first tooth! Not too much fun getting a tooth on vacation, but he wasn't too horrible. The first one that came in was the bottom left one.
Well, the past week, Cole's had a horrible time sleeping and going to go to bed. One night, he was just screaming like he was in pain. He wouldn't let me get a good look in his mouth until just a couple of days ago and what did I find? Two more teeth! The other bottom tooth and the top right tooth is starting to break through. I'm hoping that after these two, we'll have a little break.

Day 207
(Playing with my new zoo toy)

Day 206
(Park City Art Festival)

Day 205
(Cole and Lola enjoying the backyard)

Day 204
(Can you see my tooth?)

DPG aka The Dharma Initiative

We've settled into our new home at Dugway Proving Ground, which, will lovingly be referred to as the DPG, Dharma Initiative (for you LOST fans), or summer camp. Surprisingly, for being such a small place, there's a lot to tell you about the DPG.
Our house turned out to be a lot better and bigger than we expected. We have 3 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms, a dining room, living room, and family room. There's also a little backyard, but behind our yard is a huge playground and field for Lola to play fetch. We can throw the ball for her pretty much from our backyard.
Ben's "work" is going well so far. He's leaving to go to Colorado Springs tomorrow to in-process and since he's not in-processed yet, he can't really do anything at work. He thinks he's going to be seeing about 15 patients a week. One nice thing is that we're so close to the clinic he can come home for lunch and he only works Mon - Thurs. The clinic is really nice though and all of the people who work there are also very friendly.
Now, like I've mentioned before, there's not much variety here. We've got a Subway, Community Club (mom and I prefer the name Country Club though, sounds a little more classy, but they do have good food), a nice pool, a movie theatre that plays one movie a week but it's only 99 cents, a bowling alley, a hair salon (appointment only), post office, hotel (yes, there's a hotel for all of you who want to experience this for yourselves), gas station, chapel, schools, and a gym. I'm sure there's a few things I'm missing, but you get the point.
My favorite part of summer camp though is the music. Yes, people, I said the music. There are loud speakers all around the post, most likely for some sort of chemical/biological emergency, but at 6am they play Revelry, then at 5:05 they play something to lower the flag, and then at around 10:10pm we get Taps to tell us it's time for bed. It cracks me up every time I even think about our music, esp. Revelry. It's totally ridiculous.
After a description like this, I know y'all are just dying to visit!

Day 203
(I'll always look up to you, daddy!)

Day 202

Lola cooling off in her new pool

Day 201
(The great banana experiment. He's not ready for whole bananas)

Day 200

I love Grandma Kisses!

Day 199

Day 198
(Wal Mart should really use this pic in their next ad)

Day 197

Day 196

Day 195

(I love my new room!)