Cole is Two!

Cole is Two years old!!! We celebrated at Grandma and Grandpa's house this year. Cole also got to attend the Perkin's House ice cream social. The Band played happy Birthday for him and he tried to blow out candles. He had a better try at grandma and grandpa's where he got one on one training. Although in the pictures below he blew out the candle using his nose. At the end of the day Daddy's favorite Cole memory is Cole dancing around holding an icing topped cupcake singing birthday birthday birthday, Cake. We all had a great time and look forward to more birthdays to come.

nose blow

nose blow 2

laughing at daddy

Cake is good!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all you deserving Papa's. You do so much for so little praise. This is Da Da Chad mowing the lawn and keeping our little one occupied. What will he do when we have two? Cole has gone for lawn mower rides and walks around the block when he gets restless. He also takes time to smell the roses with Daddy.

Rose Smelling

Lawn Mower Rides

A Day in the Sun

Yesterday Cole and Mommy spent the day with Grandma, Grandpa, and Cousin Meryl who was visiting from Santa Fe . Grandpa lead the hike and Cole almost made the whole mile journey, about 75 percent of it was uphill. He loved looking at the gravel and rocks on the path. He even sampled some of the rocks on the path. Oh how yummy! That is why his face is so dirty. I got some fun pictures and as you can tell I was lagging behind. I have a really good zoom on my camera. Cole was so tired that on the ride home he passed out and was placed on Grandma's couch and took a nap. I was a little worried that he would wake and be scared because he did not know where he was but no, not Cole he just came and found us on the back porch. We then began to relax in the Hot Tub and Cole enjoyed playing with a treasure chest of floaty things. We completed the day with a barbecue and changed Cole into his sleeper and during the 1 1/2 hour drive home Cole fell fast asleep. He slept till 8:30 this morning. We look forward to another fun day with Grandma and Grandpa.

Cole loving that Scout will wear his hat

Hiking with Gramps and Gran

mmm Rocks

So Sleepy

Hot Tub Fun

Crazy Days

Daddy and Cole really enjoy bedtime storytime. Cole loves to be read to. During the average daytime we read about 6 books about 6 times each and at night after the third book is read you will hear Cole demand "more, more, more" as he puts two fingers together in the sign for more. Some nights we have to call it quits after 4 books and he shouts and cries a little but once we close his door he goes right to bed. I love that he has our love of literature, to bad he is not into classical English literature like me but I think he might enjoy Sci-Fi like his daddy.
Cole now knows to "Smile" when the camera is on him. We have some super cheesy smiles on our hard drive.
Today was a trying day for Cole. He just woke up being in a bad mood. After a 3 hour nap around noon he was back to his usual happy self.
Cole now exclaims "Bloom" for balloon and is happy to shout "CAR" with a Boston accent. He is going through his "Look at me" phase, I know this will last till he is about 80 or so, mostly likely not a phase. He will stand there and scream for your full attention in order to show you his newest trick. For today it is doing a semi chin up using the treadmill.
Well all is quite for now in the Leonard household. All we have to do is be sneaky commando and steal back Cole's favorite Truck book in an hour or so. He would not let Daddy take it away, grasping tightly whining "mine,mine, mine" He loves to page though and make up his own story using his limited vocabulary. Lots of OH NO's and Uh Ohs , CAR , Truck, Beebee, and of course Bo, Bo. (bus) He loves his books so much he has already loved one to pieces.

Muggin' for the camera

Storytime

Sideways

Well little Cole has been able to experiment with new things. We now have a little one who is interested in washing dishes. Actually he is more interested in turning the water off and on in the kitchen sink, filling cups and tea pots, and making a lovely mess. He also likes to empty whole drawers of office supplies out of our desk. Staples have earned the name "ouch". They picked his fingers when he was sorting them after dumping two whole boxes out on the floor. Mommy was none to happy but he let me pick up these offending items with out a fight.This past Monday Cole decide that 4:30 A.M. was the right time to awake for the day. Since Mommy closed at work daddy got to sleep in. We read books and had a early breakfast. Daddy went to work and Cole went down for a nap at 9 A.M. Unfortunatly it lasted only 45 mins. So while Mommy got ready for work and Cole's Sitter Bag together Cole had a grand ole time with his blocks.When Daddy brought Cole home from the sitters Cole only had an additional 1 hour nap. Rolinda kept him awake so he would sleep though the transfer of Car and bed. There was no problem there. He fell asleep in the car after 2 blocks and stayed sleeping like the dead through diaper change, pajamas and continued to sleep though the super bright flash on our camera. Daddy was so amused that Cole slept in our bed till Mommy came home at 10 P.M. We then carried him to his bed and he did not even budge. Did not even turn over to his tummy, Nothing. Like I first said this was entirely novel to us. Tuesday and Wednesday mornings he slept to 9 A.M. , Thank Goodness!!!

Sleeping like the Dead

Bubble Kisses

3-d Ultrasound

Today's ultrasound went fantastic. Our little girl cooperated with the Technician so well that she used the 3-D machine on her. This is a shot from the 3-D machine. The picture does not do justice to what you can see on the Screen. We did obtain Video from this visit so Daddy Chad and Big Brother Cole could see. Cole is just not liking being shut in a room that he can not explore freely. ie. Opening drawers, playing with medical instruments and all that jazz.
Her heart looks good, she has both kidneys and is growing right on schedule. Here's hoping all goes well from now on. The U/S Tech did notice that I have or rather baby Girl has a 2 Vessel umbilical cord. This could pose a problem to normal Childbirth. So looks like another C-section is definitely in my future. Well I guess it will be nice to skip contractions and have a planned birthdate. Unfortunately the healing part is no fun! Well I will have Chad for a week like last time but I know this time will be more difficult due to my little rose smelling toddler. I have invested in a baby sling and have plans to redecorate our bedroom to a wonderful playroom for Cole while I try to heal. I have included pictures of our arch that Chad and I planted Antique Roses when we bought this house almost 4 years ago. This is the first year they have bloomed so well. This is the arch Chad and I were married under 4 years as well this July. Cole loves to smell the roses. We also made a trip to the park tonight after dinner so Cole could use some of his pent up energy. We got a typical shot of his backside. We will have more shots of him soon, the weather is perking up and the swimming pool is all put together. Meanwhile Cole bangs on the back door shouting "OUTSIDE! OUTSIDE!"

Roses a Bloom

Stop and Smell the Roses

Through the Tunnel

All done!

This is the typical Cole photo we have been taking lately. He is seated in his high chair so he can not move in order to be able to get a good shot. He enjoyed his pasta and marinara sauce as you can see.
Cole now knows who the Doctor is and is slightly afraid of being in the Doctor's exam room. We went for my 23rd week prenatal and Cole about went stir crazy being shut in the room. We tried to explain that all was well that the doctor was checking on mom and his soon to be baby sister and all he was interested was working on getting the door open. By the way who ever invented long door handles must have been childless because Cole can open those doors with ease.
Mommy and Baby girl are doing great. I got the okay to use Zantac for my CRAZY heartburn and all I have to do is remember to take it. We heard Her heartbeat on the Doppler which is a new experience for us because Cole did not cooperate at all. (He gave us quite the fright. We had to schedule Ultrasounds for that day to make sure He was alright in there. )
And talk about fetal movement. She must be rehearsing the Tango with flailing arms and kicking legs. We do have her Anatamony Ultrasound scheduled for this Friday so we will update with pictures then.