John Cole-6 Months

 Happy 1/2 Birthday my sweet baby John Cole!  I just took you for your 6 month check-up today so I apologize for being tardy getting your stats posted.  And here they are:

Weight:  18 lbs 3 ounces  (75%)
Height:   27"  (75%)
Head Circuference 43.2 cm  (FINALLY up to 50%!)

John Cole, you are such a JOY!  I absolutely adore your ready smile, your gasping laugh and your sweet pinches :)  You have started eating baby food--I kinda drug my feet on that one we are gonna make up for lost time.  I mix rice with a fruit for breakfast and rice with a veggie for supper.  You have liked most everything so far, but I don't quite know how to explain to you that spitting at the table is NOT appropriate! 

You have started scooting backwards and I am happy and sad about that all at the same time.  Your brother is really going to have to watch where he puts his tiny Legos!  And how could I ever have been worried about your rolling ability?  You are such a little roly poly and can get what you want.

I wish I could boast you are on a perfect nap schedule...but you still kinda get them when you can.  Of course, your afternoon nap is usually at home in your crib, but sometimes you get a morning nap and sometimes you do not.  Sometimes you take a late afternoon catnap and sometimes when you are pooped I put you to bed for the night at 6:30.  You just roll with the punches......

Your brother and I made 1/2 birthday cupcakes for you on the 22nd...too bad you could not enjoy...but so very soon you'll be celebrating with your very own cake!  We all love you SO MUCH!

Spontaneous Beach Trip

Jeff and I are pretty much the polar opposite of spontaneous.  We do not make rash decisions.  We plan out our every move well in advance.  (ESPECIALLY ME!)  So, when Jeff came home last Tuesday night with a condo pulled up on his iPad that was available for the Memorial Day weekend--at a decent price--and said he wanted to get away I was super excited and said leave the details to me :)

The boys and I, and our sweet babysitter Miss Kelli, left Friday morning.  We have never taken a sitter to the beach before and I can say it was a success.  We all arrived in time to grocery shop, unload AND put in some pool time before the boys went to bed and we had dinner.  Jeff left after a loan closing he had Friday and unfortunately ran into some traffic so it was later when he got there but not too bad.

Saturday, Sunday and Monday we did--BEACH!  Kelli was a HUGE help with the kids just to have an extra hand and extra set of eyes with kids in the water.   Saturday night we had a date night, Sunday night we all had my favorite Southern Living Beach Shrimp on the patio (well, P had pizza--see above :), and Monday night we had family night out as Miss Kelli met up with a friend and they went to dinner.  We left at a pretty good hour this morning and had a great trip home.

Some highlights:

-John Cole was a PRINCE in the car.  No really, sometimes I don't konw how I got so lucky!  Now, he was a little fussier today than he was Friday but still all in all I can NOT complain
-The boys took their first bath together this trip.  They were both sunscreeny and sandy and I just wanted to knock out bathtime.  Can't WAIT til John Cole can sit up better and we can do double bath all the time!
-Preston is literally going to be a polician, lobbyist or something like that one day.  You can see he made friends with some big kids and talked them in to taking him on their paddleboard.  He LOVED it--made me a little nervous--but I was proud that he was willing to give it a go!  He also had a little girlfiend named Ella that was constantly by his side....precious!


Hope you all had a great weekend!  Happy (late) Memorial Day!

Season Complete

Well, tonight was Preston's last t-ball game.  John Cole and I sat this one out, but I hate I missed it because Jeff told me he hit the ball almost to the outfield!  I am so proud of him and his precious little team :)  Until next year....

First Pool Trip 2012

I have admitted on this blog previously that NO ONE is more excited when the pool opens than I.  I may or may not even have called yesterday to make SURE they did not have it open and were not advertising it....they do that sometimes!

So, completely in character I opened up the pool this morning with Theo's water aerobics workout.  Let me tell you, it was just that!  It was just me and Debbie VanDeVelde, and we rocked it.  I left refreshed and ready for my day. 

Preston was excited to attend two birthday parties today, and all the while Jeff was at Tech graduation giving away the tower medallion, so I was tired when we GOT to the pool.  But, I was so glad we went.  John Cole was a natural.  He was kicking his feet in the water and enjoyed his time with Mommy.  Preston, of course, was WAY to busy to have his picture made.  I was so proud of him because on the way there I asked him if he needed his little life vest floatie and he said he did.  Good decision making!  I will admit it was partly for me as this year is a whole new ballgame and I could not keep my eye on him the whole time because I was watching John Cole.  I am confident, though, that we will learn a new normal and have a great pool season :)

It sure was easy putting two tired boys to bed tonight!  Yay for summer!!

SciPort Playdate

I posted early in the Spring that Cullen was supposed to join Preston for his Slip-n-Slide playdate, but since he was under the weather he did not make it.  Preston has talked about a playdate with Cullen nearly everyday since :)  Today was our playdate!

Gran-Gran was gracious enough to keep John Cole so I could go full out at SciPort with these big boys. They were absolute GEMS!  I can only hope they had as much fun as I did :)  It was a little crowded today before lunch, but a sweet man told us we could go to the kiddie area which they had completely blocked off from the big kids so we had the place to ourselves....perfect!  And, we ALL enjoyed our Counter Culture lunch.  We also saw the IMAX film "Born to be Wild" which was super cute.  I recommend it if you are in the area. 

Hope you have a great weekend!  More later :)

Tuesday Night at Carter Field

Tonight was just another Tuesday night at the ballfield, except that Preston had quite the audience!  Thanks family for making the effort to make him feel special.  Even though he is silly out there, it REALLY does mean a lot to him :)  The team did pretty well tonight--and Preston was only on the ground making "snow angels" once......

Love, love the pic of Pop and John Cole.  What a TROOPER of a baby!  He barely whimpered during the game and our LONG wait at the Sundown. 

So glad our family is close so we can enjoy these Tuesday nights!  Hope you are enjoying this perfect weather....

Rumble in the Jungle

Even though it is two hours later I am still a little teary from the end of the year program at Trinity Preschool.  I am emotional for a lot of reasons today,but when I was watching my little man be such a grown-up boy AND when I watched all the sweet pictures of all of the precious children during the slideshow I was crying like a little baby.  (I did glance over my shoulder and most of the moms I saw were in the same boat :)

We STILL have not decided where Preston is going to school next year, but we have decided he is graduating from Trinity today.  WE LOVE TRINITY PRESCHOOL!  We are moving him because he won't sit in the sanctuary with us because he wants to go play....and that is the ONLY reason.  So, he has spent a LOT of time with these MDO/Preschool teachers over his three years and it is just sad to me that is coming to an end.  I tried to get a pic with his teacher this year, Mrs. Tory, but all I got was the top of her head.  I think you can tell though, from his smile, how P feels about her :)

Of course John Cole came to the show.  He loved hanging out with his Gran-Gran and P was so glad she came.  He did not see us in the audience at first but when he did his face sure did light up!!

Hard to believe another school year is coming to an end.  Happy Summer everyone!

Tennis Anyone?

I was super impressed with Ally and Preston's tennis skills this afternoon--and VERY impressed with Mrs. Katherine's being able to teach them :)  Preston was hitting the ball over the net!  This may just be his sport...more later....

Two big announcements.....

You might have gathered that we are pretty big Louisiana Tech fans.  Yep, we sure are!  And we would not have missed today's press conference to announce Tech being invited to join Conference USA.  YAY!  Now, Jeff can tell you numbers and specifics, but from what I gather this is good news because:

1.  The WAC will be no more.
2.  CUSA pays A LOT more in TV royalties.
3.  CUSA is a regional conference meaning we will get better recruits because they will be enticed by their families and friends being able to see more of their games.
4.  Tech will save a SLEW of money because we won't have to fly to Utah, Nevada, Hawaii, etc. all of the time for football, baseball, basketball...you get the picture.
5.  And most exciting to me--we can go to away games!

So proud of all of the work that was done behing the scenes to make this happen!

And, drumroll please, the other big news is that JOHN COLE FINALLY ROLLED OVER THIS MORNING!  Look, we would not be human if we did not compare ourselves to others.  And I will admit I am especially bad at comparing my children.  Not to the point that I change the way I do something or get upset but I do compare.  Guilty.  Anywhoo, I was getting really worried because he just would NOT roll over and he gets tons of tummy time because he SLEEPS on his stomach.  So, this morning when I went to retrieve him from his crib after his morning nap, and he proceeded to roll on his back, I was relieved.  (He even did it a second time...so it's no fluke!)  So grateful he is where he needs to be :)

Happy Weekend.!