Holly Jolly Christmas

As you can see we have had a very busy Christmas this year! Our first Christmas was with Dad and Cheryl here at our house. Coleman received more trains and tracks as well as his favorite movie Polar Express. We then drove down to Sue's to celebrate with her a couple days later. Eliza and Naomi bonded while trying to play with the same toy. Poor Coleman had a fever the whole day so was in my lap watching his new Cars movie most of the day. On Christmas day we had our own celebration, and finally tomorrow we will celebrate with my parents who are here for a few days. Four Christmases!! After we opened all our gifts Christmas morning Coleman went and laid down in his bed he was so worn out and it was only 8:30 in the morning, ha, ha!

Eliza is working so hard at crawling, but she prefers to stand at a table and play instead. I think she may get her first tooth before the new year. I'm hoping there are teeth in there. She loves her brother and Daddy. Coleman makes her laugh a lot, especially while she eats. When Jared gets home from work she is all smiles for him. She discovered that she does not like banana. When I feed it to her she'll stick out her tongue so the banana will fall off. She doesn't cry, she just refuses it. She also loves to clap her hands now.

Coleman is enjoying his time off from school not having to rush anywhere. The first day after our busy school week he spent all morning in his pajamas. He spent almost an hour under my chair with a blanket over the chair like a tent, looking at books. I guess everyone needs to unwind, even a 2 year old. He is always asking me to play with him, and at the end of the day sometimes he'll tell me "But, I need more "mommy-time"'. Just like I need more Mommy-guilt. He'll also ask if we can leave Eliza home so he and I can go out together without her, ha, ha.

For the holidays I took him to see the lights at the Zoo one evening. The zoo is decorated with tons of Christmas lights and is open after dark every weekend. It is very magical. We also got to ride the zoo train with Katie and Josiah, a very special treat for Coleman. The next day Coleman and I went to see Polar Express at the IMAX theater. He was so cute to watch because he was so intent on the movie. That's a pretty amazing first movie to see in a theater.

I'm hoping for a new job in the new year. I am hoping I can work part-time and that God will provide Jared with more work. Architects are not finding much work these days. However, we are doing well in spite of it. We both have peace and faith that it will all be fine.

Thanksgiving, etc

Coleman and Eliza are starting to play together more and more as you can see in the
above picture. It can get frustrating when Coleman keeps taking her toys/paci, and she keeps taking his toys/paci. For the most part though, they really enjoy each others' company. He will crack her up by running around the dinner table and saying 'hello' to her each time he passes by. He also keeps her happy in her car seat while we're driving by laughing or singing to her.

Coleman and I helped Jared clean up our yard by raking huge leaf piles that Coleman could lay down in as his 'bed'. Notice his Indian hat that he made at school. I get such a kick out of him when he willingly wears silly things like that. He and I had a fun afternoon while Eliza slept.

I've noticed that Coleman picks up things I say and incorporates them into his vocabulary. One morning I was feeding Eliza and got out two spoons so she could hold one while I used the other one. Coleman observed this and said "That's so sweet Mama to get a spoon for Eliza." Ha, ha! I guess I say "That's so sweet" a lot. Recently he's begun saying "Mmm-hmmm" for 'yes.' He sounds so grown-up. Another thing he'll say is "Holy Moly that is huge!" because I said that when we were eating huge grapes. Now he'll say about it anything huge he sees. He will tell Jared he's a "different daddy" after Jared cuts his hair, or shaves, because he looks so different.

Sadie-boo got a bath a week ago and she looks and feels like a new dog. As you can see here, she is completely humiliated by the bath. Poor girl. I just had to take a picture though.








Thanksgiving was a whirlwind tour of family, but we managed to see the entire family! On Thursday we stayed at Dad and Cheryl's, where Grandad and Marcy came by in the afternoon to visit with everyone. Coleman's new friend is Cheryl. He followed her everywhere and wanted her to feed him, bathe him, play trains with him. It was very sweet. Then Friday we drove up to Sue's to visit with Grammie and Grandma. We were supposed to shoot some skeet but everyone was exhausted and Eliza and I got sick, so hopefully it will be postponed for a better day.







Sunday night Coleman 'sang' Jingle Bells at a church service where they decorate the church in preparation for Christmas. He really only rang his bell as did the rest of his class instead of sing. Next to him is Walton (in plaid), and CC, his favorite girl friend. For a while he was saying CC was in his heart.

The one thing I hear more out of Coleman's mouth these days is "Mama/Daddy/Grammie/______ will you play choo-choo's with me?" How can I resist? It is my goal to get down on the floor and play with him for 20-30 minutes every day and get into his world. It is lots of fun, once I do it!

We are going to get our tree on Saturday. Coleman is very excited about Christmas this year, which gets me very excited! :)

October

October has already been a busy month. Last week we celebrated
Forrest's birthday with Dad, Cheryl, Brian, Ashley and Naomi. It was a success, though I think Coleman got more presents than Forrest! He got 5 new trains and new track. He'll wake up and say "Wanna play choo-choo's with me Mama? After you get your coffee. Wanna say O.K.?" We went out to eat and Coleman got the grilled cheese. When it came out he said "Oooo!" and started wiggling in his seat with excitement.

Jared got Naomi not only to smile, but to laugh as well. Not me. She almost started to cry with me. I take care of babies 3 mornings a week, I should know how to do this! Oh well. I'm sure she and I will bond eventually. :)

Coleman thought the cake was for him, so he helped Forrest blow out the candles...sort of. He only knows how to stick out his bottom lip and blow air up, so he blows his hair up.


















Yesterday we went hiking with friends that Jared knows through work, Andrew, Tara and their twin boys, Logan and Will. The boys are 9 months old and very cute, as you can see in the pictures. It was great to get a backpack on again and tramp through the woods. It makes me miss my hiking days a lot! Eliza loves the backpack. When I lift her up onto my shoulders she just grins as being up so high. Coleman loved being on Jared's shoulders, and then later Andrew's shoulders. At one point we paused at huge rocks that you could crawl under. Coleman asked Andrew to hold his hand so he could go under to explore.




Today after naps we went to Park Place downtown, a housing development that our church is ministering to. It was a beautiful day to be outdoors. Coleman loved the big slide. He went down all by himself as long as Jared was on the other side to meet him. The kids loved playing with Coleman. One girl was having fun tickling and wrestling with him, and Coleman loved it too. On our drive home Coleman asked if I would play choo-choo's with him, and Daddy too. I said that someone had to feed Eliza. So he said Daddy should and Mommy will play with him. Then he said "Coleman loves mommy, and Eliza loves Daddy." He has some very definite ideas about the world.
















Since school has started for me days have been really busy, thus less free time to blog. I'm starting to think about next steps for me to take towards a career. I'm asking around, and praying for the right timing and opportunities to arise. School has been tough for Coleman because he and I get less time to play trains together. That leads to more behavior problems. At school he's had to be in time-out for biting, spitting and not listening.

Jared is doing a lot of great work in Woodlawn, along with the guys he works alongside of. They are trying to revitalize the area. I get really excited about for Jared when he tells me all the things he's working on. I love his new office too, AND you can watch trains going by from the window. Its meant to be!

Family Visit

We had a visit from Jared's Dad recently, known as 'Grandaddy' to Coleman. He brought some great books for Coleman one of which is a puzzle book that he loves. Who doesn't love books?

Then we had Sue, Forrest, Brian, Ashley and baby Naomi visit. Coleman loves to kiss his sister and cousin. Eliza's new talent is shown above in the video.

Coleman's vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. He cracks me up with things he'll say. This morning he said that Sadie will grow bigger and bigger and then she'll say "Excuse me" when she farts. I love hearing his perception of the world.

Happy Birthday Christen

Happy Birthday to my sister Christen. Coleman an d I decided to sing to you so you can imagine we are there with you. Now you can blow out the candles on your cake! Wish we could be there to celebrate with you.

Learning How To Be a Big Brother

Coleman is learning what it means to be a big brother and how very important that role is. He loves to pat and kiss Eliza's head, take a bath with her, show her his trains and share them with her, and of course sing to her. He also likes to boss her around "don't bite that Eliza". Or boss me around "Baby's frying (crying) Mama."

Coleman has a list of words that he chooses to say his way even though he can say them the correct way:

Frain = train
fruck = truck
canana = banana
flease = please
forn = corn
Casiah = Josiah
finkle = Twinkle
wittle = little
fry = cry
Fwatamala = Guatamala

I find myself saying them his way to him because they are so cute. Jared told me I need to stop so he doesn't keep saying them incorrectly.

Happy Eliza

I'm



Eliza is starting to really laugh these days. She loves it when I say silly things and make silly faces as I pop out from hiding. She's also discovered her feet and that they are fun to put into her mouth. She is sleeping 11-12 hours at night now! Hurray! She is also taking really good naps. I moved her into her own room recently and it is great to have our room back to ourselves. I think she really likes her big crib too. She will often be on the other end and laying in the opposite direction that I laid her down in. As you can see in these pictures she is a very happy girl.

Coleman is loving using the potty these days. I am able to take him for a walk wearing his underwear and he will stay dry the whole time. Today we had to run home for him to use the potty. We got home just in time! Coleman is learning how to interact with Eliza in a gentler, more helpful way. He's starting to say things, and state observations that crack me up. For example, "Coleman will push his ear in and then Coleman will be a handsome boy", or "Coleman is a tough guy" as he pushes the stroller up a steep hill. In church nursery I'm told he is a great helper and pat-pats all the babies.

Jared and I have been busy painting our kitchen. We still have a long way to go, but it already looks so much better.

Playing is hard work

Coleman is still very excited about trains. We went to the Train Museum on Saturday with Jared's Dad and his girlfriend Cheryl. Coleman had so much fun! He was so overwhelmed with all the trains, and a train table to play with in the gift shop. Cheryl bought him a new train, Duck, from the Thomas series. That sent him over the moon with excitement. When he plays trains he narrates all that he is doing. He usually will give me a train to play with, and Daddy and baby. He's very generous with sharing. Coleman's potty training is going so well I think we may be saying good-bye to diapers soon.

Eliza is starting to 'talk' more in her own way. She is sleeping better at night now too. Hurray!

I'm busy painting our kitchen white. It looks so much better already than the salmon pink it was before. I can get a lot done in just 2 hours without the kids around!

July Update

Facebook has dominated most of my time lately, but I'm back on blogger!

We have officially lived in Birmingham over a year now. I love it here. The summers are not that hot after all. We've been having many days with weather in the high 80's, low 90's...in other words perfect for me. I'll start "teaching" three mornings a week in September at the Parents Day Out program at the Methodist Church near us. I'll have the 0-1 year old class with Eliza in it and Coleman's class is next door to my room.

I have decided to rediscover my pre-pregnancy figure with the help of Jillian Michaels from "The Biggest Loser". I work-out 20 minutes a day and she kicks my butt, but I feel great for the rest of the day. I have so much energy in fact that I often don't need a nap, and feel up to painting the kitchen at night. Thanks Jillian, ha, ha.

Coleman has been growing up over the last few months, and it has been painful at times. He is very jealous of Eliza and when Jared gets home he'll make it very clear that he doesn't want Daddy around: 'No Daddy, just Mama and Coleman'. He'll often say very loudly to Jared "NO, Mama do it!!" Jared often has to put him in time-out for being so rude. He's learning. He is learning how to be gentle with Eliza and loves to help with her bath, loves to give her kisses, and make her laugh. Sometimes he'll just start singing a song to her with his face inches from her face. It is so funny.

Tonight I was making dinner and cleaning up and Coleman entertained himself happily for an hour. He decided that he wanted to wash dishes, one of his favorite things to do. So he pushed the chair up to the sink as I was leaving the kitchen to take care of Eliza. I was with Eliza for about 5 minutes and I came out and found Coleman amidst a ton of bubbles. He loves to clean!



Lastly, our little Eliza bug is growing up! She is no longer content to just lay on a mat and look at a picture. She wants to be grabbing things and pulling them into her mouth. She is also interested in eating. One day I was eating a sandwich and saw her looking at my mouth so longingly as if she wanted to try eating too. So we've started giving her rice cereal and she loves it! She is starting to sleep better at night with 1 or 2 feedings on a good night. Hurray! She almost always wakes up happy and starts talking and cooing. When she sees me looking in at her she'll grin so happily. I love seeing her personality starting to come out now.



Oh yeah, for those of you (Elizabeth) interested in the update on Tikka, our cat, here it is: She is growing up too. She is now an outdoor cat and no longer sits on Jared's head at night. What a good girl. :P

Grandma and Grandpa Visit

Mom and Dad visited us last week. We had a great time at the pool, eating and relaxing. I got some good naps in, and even a bike-ride. One week goes by so quickly.

Coleman is already asking to call Grandma and Grandpa. I think he misses them already. Eliza just loves to be held and talked to, so she was a happy girl all week.

Summer Fun

Summer's here at last! We had a lot of fun outside today playing in the sandbox, in the pool, and in the swing. Coleman likes to order me around, especially when I am paying attention to Eliza. He's still very jealous of the attention I give her.

Its Time To Clean Up

Coleman is such a great "cleaner-upper". He will ask for the "wipe-cloth" all the time so he can wipe the table, his face, hands and anything else that needs wiping. Yesterday I made pizza dough and he helped by pushing flour onto the floor. I told him he'd need to clean it up so he happily got the broom and started sweeping. Then I gave him a washcloth and he went to town, even wiping the flour off my feet. He laughed and said "It feels nice!' as he wiped my toes.

Coleman is very creative with his eating. He likes to have jam on his banana, peanuts with his cantaloupe, raisins with his chocolate graham cracker fish. He is also adventurous with his eating: he loves cheese like his mama. He asked for goat cheese yesterday, and loves the sheep's milk feta cheese we have. Perhaps he'll be a chef?

Eliza's Bath

I posted this video on my Facebook page, so forgot to post it here. Eliza loves her bath time so much right before we put her down for the night. She is getting more and more expressive these days as well.

Coleman is learning that we pick up after ourselves before we move onto the next thing. Today we were going to go outside and play in the pool, but Coleman had been playing with colored pencils. He ran over to the colored pencils, grabbed a bunch and put them back in the box, and continued until they were all put away. I didn't even tell him! I rewarded him with two jellybeans.

Life is beginning to have some order to it 9 weeks after Eliza arrived. She and Coleman both go to bed at 6 each night. She is getting better and better about putting herself to sleep so often I lay her down at 6 and then I'm done! Praise God for an easy going baby. :)