Cole-15 Months!

Well, it is hard to believe, but time continues to fly and Cole is 15 months old! He had his 15-month appointment last week and here are the stats:

Height: 32 1/2 inches (85%)
Weight: 21 lbs, 4 oz. (10-15%)
Head 18 1/4 inches (25%)

These numbers were not a big surprise since Cole is just a long little string bean. His little pants are always drooping down. :) I have a feeling that Cole will have a lot of adjustable waist pants in his future!

Cole is a busy boy at 15 months. I don't even know that I can say he is my mellow guy anymore. He is pretty wild and crazy, running around, climbing, throwing, trying to jump and generally making me chase after him because he is getting into something he shouldn't be. :) He is such a sweet little guy who likes to lay on you and suck his thumb when he is tired or has something soft and fuzzy to cuddle. He is talking a bit more (although still not a ton of words) and is a good eater. He has already figured out how to annoy his big sister (taking her sippy cup is a big one!) and has even started throwing some fits-yikes! He is a bit of a flirt and gives shy little smiles when he sees people. :)

Here is Cole at 15 months. This is the best I could do, he is fast and my other pictures of him are blurry from chasing after him!!

2009 School Pictures

About a month ago Mia had school pictures. I always am curious as to how these will turn out since I am not there to fix her hair or make sure she smiles. :) However, given the cheesiness of school pictures, I actually thought hers turned out pretty cute (and of course she has crazy hair!). These are scanned so they really don't look so orange in real life! Thanks also to Venessa who gave Mia this outfit-it has already gotten a lot of mileage. :)

My favorite

Pose 2

Pose 3-not crazy about this one
Class pic (she has a small class and but I think some kids are missing)

Now even though Ava wasn't attending school yet at the time (since she wasn't 3 yet), the school invited her to come. When Sarah and I were filling out the information for pictures there was an area you could check off if you wanted "sibling" pictures. We decided to have Mia and Ava take a picture together in addition to their individual ones.

That day when I picked up Mia, her teacher told me what a great job Mia did when taking her individual pictures. Apparently she was smiley, happy, etc. But then as soon as it was time to take a picture with Ava, she was not having it. After much encouraging and bribery (they said she could set the table for lunch if she took a picture with Ava), she took some pictures. BUT, her teacher warned me, she probably wasn't going to look to happy in them.

I burst out laughing when I picked up the pictures. This is what we got...


I seriously don't think I have laughed so hard in a long time. Mia just looks so tortured and sad! It reminds me of pictures that are on Awkward Family Photos. Have you seen this site? It is totally hilarious! Luckily I snapped a couple before hand, although I am sad she did not smile for the school one because I totally would have bought that first one of them!

Our Bookworm

Since she was little Mia has always loved books. I love that she is at the age now that she will look at the pictures in her books and make up stories that go along with them or else retell the story if she already knows the book. It is so cute!

She is also at the stage where she can memorize some basic text and *maybe* a sight word here or there (like "the"). Here she is "reading" her first book. :) Now if I can only get Cole to sit still to read with me!! :)

Cole's Initiation into Boyhood

One of the things about being a little brother is that you rarely are the first to do something. Well, today Cole took matters into his own hands and hit a milestone before Mia-first trip to the ER and first set of stitches-yikes!!

I should start by saying that Cole is VERY physical these days. He walks, runs, climbs, falls, and tumbles off of things with a ton of energy and enthusiasm. Lately he has been all about trying to climb on the sofa, coffee tables and ottomans. Well this morning, he climbed from the sofa, to the side table and promptly fell backwards on the back of his head. He hit the vent on the floor, mainly the part that sticks out that you open and close the vent with. I didn't realize this at first, and put ice on his head and when I pulled away the icepack there was blood. After a momentary freakout, I looked at it and called for Cort. :) While the area was very small (maybe 1/2 inch or so), it looked deep and had that gross flap of skin-ick! We decided that it would probably be best for me to take him to the ER while Cort stayed back with Mia.

The best part of the whole experience was the new Plainfield ER. They were so quick it was amazing. I left the house at about 8am and was home by 8:50, with Cole and 2 stitches in his head. The stitching part itself was not pretty. They wrapped Cole up so that he was restrained and boy did he scream when they gave him the shot to numb his head and actually stitched him up. Afterwards though, he was a total champ. The rest of the day he acted like nothing ever happened and resumed trying to climb all over the furniture. I should add that the end table he tumbled off of is now officially banished to the basement (at least until he is out of this phase!). :)

Here's a quick shot of his war wounds (really not so bad!)...

Cole's 1st Haircut

On Friday we took Cole for his first haircut. This was so crazy to me considering Mia just got her first haircut a little over 6 months ago. But Cole's hair has been getting longer and longer and looking sort like a mullet in the back, and was needing some work. :) I had been waiting it out since Mia had a haircut fairly recently and I wanted to take them together. But yesterday was the day!

We headed back to Kidsnips and I was a little nervous how he would do since he is quite a mover and shaker these days. He did awesome! He sat well the whole time (with a little help from an Elmo DVD) and really only started fussing at the very end when they take their picture for their official "first haircut certificate." The best was when the stylist started to trim his hair with the clippers after the initial cut. He whipped around and was very curious about the buzzing sound. :) I was actually surprised how much hair was on the floor after his haircut. I guess he really needed it! Here are some pics...

The Before-Shot-notice the LONG hair in the back (and in the front) Hmmm....Not so sure about this

Oh wait! I get to watch Elmo!!

(look at the rack of DVDs in the background-they get to pick out whatever they want to watch)

First snip
Eyes on Elmo

Looking shorter

The After Shot (should have got a better shot of the back, but you can still tell)He looks like such a big boy now! It's like he knows he looks cute :)

And his certificate

What a Difference a Year Makes!

I have been trying to get some more snapshots of Mia and Cole together lately, because it seems like I only have pics of one or the other. It has been very difficult though since Cole is at that age where he just runs and runs and Mia is at that age where she is just stubborn sometimes. Getting the two of them to cooperate and actually sit and smile next to each other is nothing short of an amazing feat! :)

Anyhow, I was finally able to get them together on the sofa. I pulled out all the stops-singing, dancing, and jumping, and managed to get a shot where they were both happy (and actually in-focus). After pulling up this shot on the computer I was struck by two things. One, my children look way more alike than I realized and two, my children look nothing like me. :)

And, just for fun, I added a picture that was taken a little over a year ago of the two of them in the same place. They have both really grown up!

American Heart Association Heart Walk

This past weekend I participated in the American Heart Association's Start! Heart Walk, along with my family. Jen had organized a team for our family to walk in honor of my dad. About a month ago I had posted about raising money and I am so proud to say I reached my goal, plus some, as you can see by the thermometer on the side of the page! I have to say thank you to all my wonderful friends who supported me and made donations. I even had friends through facebook who I have not seen in 10+ years donate. THANK YOU all so much! It truly means the world to me that you would help me to honor my dad's memory this way.

I am also very proud of my family. Through our team (my sister, her husband Mike, Cort, my mom and aunt) we raised over $1,800 total! That is amazing and will go to such a great cause!! My dad was a very special, very remarkable man and I know that despite the fanfare (which he was not a big fan of!), he is looking down and proud of what we have done.

Also, Jen was honored with a lifestyle change award. She had written in and told how she had changed her lifestyle after having Noah and her entry was picked! She got to go up on stage and receive her award. Here are some pictures from walk.

Our Team

Waiting for Jen to be presented with her awardWalking for her Grandpa-Mia was still waking up, it was early!

Jen being presented her award

On the big screen :)

Walking

The kids hula hooping in one of the tents after the walk

My mom and aunt

Noah and Mia had the bounce house to themselves!

Our Family

The Pulins Family

Enjoying a post-walk snack

They've Come So Far....

From This.....

To This....

It is hard to believe, but Mia and Noah are already 3. I can remember like it was yesterday, when Jen and I spread out the white sheet in Mia's room, with my old little Nikon Coolpix camera in an attempt to get a pictures of the two of them (I would like to think my picture-taking abilities have come a long way as well after seeing that first picture-ha, ha!).

Now both of them are in preschool and have distinct little (BIG!!) personalities. They grow up so fast! This shot was from this Labor Day Weekend at my Aunt's house. Mia and Cole are so lucky to have cousins so close in age. It is something that Jen and I never had growing up and I am so glad they have built-in playmates. :)

Mia's First Day of School

Today was Mia's first official day of Montessori preschool. Not that she wasn't in a pre-preschool last year, but this year it just seemed different. First off, she is starting in the Fall. Last year, due to my maternity leave and Cort's paternity leave, she didn't start her center until January. And now she is officially 3-preschool age! :)

I have to say Mia was pretty excited and it seemed like school lived up to her expectations. She is going in the p.m. due to my new work schedule (I work 12-3:30), and she will now be missing a nap 3 days a week. I thought for sure she would be EXHAUSTED when I picked her up, but instead she was a total bundle of excitement, talking a mile-a-minute about her school day. She was so proud to show me some shapes she had traced and asked if we could put them on the refrigerator. Oh, and when I dropped her off the other kids were in line for the water fountain and that was about all it took for her to forget I was there. I had to ask her for a kiss goodbye. :)

Normally when she gets picked up, they will load her in the car but today I walked in to touch base with her teacher. Her teacher said she did great-ate great, went to the bathroom by herself, and played well. Her teacher even told me that when it was time to come in from playing outside Mia told her "It's not time to go in yet." Yep, that's Mia-not so shy I guess. :) On the car ride home I asked her if she liked her teacher and her response was "Yep!" Then a couple seconds later she added "A lot!"

It is so hard to accept my little girl is growing up, but I am proud of what an independent girl she is! Here are some obligatory first day photos....

Mia picked out this dress to wear for her first day (Thanks Grammy!)

Proud to have her backpack

In front of her school

And here is a picture of her in her classroom from her orientation-working with the dropper and her fine motor skills