5 Weeks Together!

The past 5 weeks have certainly flown, this maternity leave is by far the fastest moving, mostly I think because the boys keep me busy, especially having to bring Caden to preschool, etc. Cora is growing big and strong, this week I officially started dressing her in 3/6 month clothes to give her a little more variety! She still can wear her 0/3 clothes, although she only really has 3 outfits, the rest are sleep and plays (pj type), but most of her 3/6 month are short sleeve, so once the warmer weather hits she'll be lookin' mighty fancy!

I love feet pictures!! I still need to get some hand pictures!

As long as Caden is getting his way, the boys get along great! I love when they play together!! and don't fight! It makes life SO much easier! It makes me smile every time I hear Caden say "Come on Cole-bear, over here buddy!" Caden has also taken to picking Cole up.. Cole is tolerant of it, but not super happy about it at the same time. Yesterday we had our parent teacher conference at Caden's school. I am sure they say the same thing to everyone, but they did say he is a very good boy, and as we know... LOVES to learn. He is doing very well in his writing and drawing.. and he even participates in music at school.. at home whenever kid music is on and I start singing along, he tells me that I have to stop because I am not in the song, and he virtually never sings... except apparently at school! He's also branched out of his 2 friends only regime, and talks about all his friends now, and the teachers say they are at last breaking out of parallel play and starting to play together.

In a couple of weeks we will be signing up Caden for T-Ball at the YMCA, his first sports class that won't have started as a parent-tot class.. should be interesting! But he'll have his friend Cole with him, so hopefully it'll go smoothly! On the same day we may have Cole have swim lessons, so he can have an activity as well, instead of having to watch Caden all the time.

Here the boys are looking at a worm!

Caden waiting for Cole to give him a ride on the Jeep.. but the Jeep needs some charging!

Cole admiring nature

Cole's pouty face because I wouldn't open the door to the screen porch for him!

She Smiles!

Cora smiles!! She has been for a few days now, but today is the first day she smiled a.) at me instead of the wall next to her changing table, and b.) I was able to capture it on camera! although Cole is in focus instead of Cora because I was getting her to smile instead of looking through the camera! I'm sure we'll get better ones soon!

Soooo Big!

The boys are getting SO BIG! and grownup! Look! both their Red Sox hat finally fit them this year! Last year Caden wore Cole's because his is fitted and much too big, it is a little loose this year, but very wearable!


Yesterday Cole took his nap in the bottom bunk instead of his crib, so we decided to try it out for the night too... sniff... he is all grown up in a big boy bed now! Look how little he looks!! He made it through the night fine, waking only once in total confusion, but was quickly settled and off to dreamland again. It was so sad for me to walk past his room with the door wide open knowing my baby boy was in a big boy bed! But Cora will be moving in in about a month, so it'll be back to normal then I guess.

In the past couple of weeks Cole's vocabulary has exploded! We now know that we will not be hearing the Cole caveman grunt forever! and his little voice is so cute, my favorite is when he calls Ivy, when he says please, and when he asks for Daddy... he still has yet to say Mommy...Milk, Mommy and more are the same word, just "Muh". Cole amazes us every day, the things he learns just by watching Caden are incredible! He's also a dare-devil, so he scares the pants off of us often!!

1 Month Already!

Yesterday it is hard to believe young Cora turned 4 weeks old! and because February is a short month, she technically also turned 1 month being the 20th. Last week was a pretty quiet week, as you saw in previous posts we got to take a couple of walks before the cooler weather stranded us inside again! Today we went for Cora's one month portraits combined with Caden's 4 year portraits, and we had the kids sit together for a group picture. Unfortunately Caden did not warm as well as he did for our Christmas pictures and was a bit impossible. Thankfully no one else was waiting so they were able to take extra time with us. Cole was fine as long as he was holding the egg prop! He had the bunny too, but that one didn't make the picture! You'll see Caden's personality really shining through in his portrait! All in all we were fairly pleased with the outcome. The one of all three kids could have been better, but as it was Rob had to sit right next to Caden touching him (I kid not). Of course after we were done he was all smiles and giggles flirting with the photographers... guess we'll have to go back to our old method of arriving extra early every where so he has his warm up period! Although the attitude today started at home, just getting his clothes on was a struggle.

First you'll see Cora's mad face!! and a few to show how grown up she is looking!! Then the portraits. Do you see the dress and bonnet Cora is wearing? Can you believe I once wore that dress?! My Mom saved it and dug it out of the hope chest, thankfully Cora fits in it! These are the kids Easter outfits. (If you want to see the pictures bigger you can always just click on them!)

Signs of Spring!

Today was a gorgeous day for a walk, so since the boys were at daycare today Cora and I went for a long walk looking for signs of spring! Especially since they are saying no more snow for this winter!!... granted there are only two more days of winter. Cora slept the whole walk, but I chattered away to her anyway! Of course now I feel similar to how I felt right after giving birth to Cora, similar to how I felt after our walk Sunday. And now I think I am coming down with some sort of bug since my throat is on fire, my head is about to explode and I am freezing, so while today was a beautiful day it would've been more perfect if I felt better!
So I definitely need some work on my nature shots, but here are a few of the things we saw...

puddles!

Stream beds flowing!

drain pipes working!

This is where we take the boys in the summer to throw rocks in the water. We also get to see beavers, blue herons, turtles and fish! It is slowly thawing, Caden will be so excited to see!

I guess this just looks like winter, but I liked the cat nine tails

Moss, mud, water and snow... what season are we in?

I love all the stone walls around our neighborhood, and all around town/state for that matter!

And these beauties!! Daffodils popping up in the front beds of our house!!

You Got the Look!

Last night Caden had the fabulous idea that he should wear goggles when he takes his tub so the water wouldn't get in his eyes. Let me tell you about Caden and water in his eyes.. when Caden gets any water in his eyes he FREAKS out.. he hates rinsing his hair and won't even wipe his own eyes if there is water in them... we clearly made some sort of mistake when he was a baby. Thankfully we learned our lesson early, so when Cole was born (well.. we waited until he was not a newborn anymore) when rinsing his head we just dumped it over his head, letting water run down his face... he is the best tubber ever, wipes his eyes on his own, doesn't put up a fight or a fuss. Anyway.. he looked pretty goofy (obviously Rob's son hehe!)

Cole's figuring out fishy lips!

If Cole could talk more he'd probably be telling Caden he looks like a dork!

So Cora turned 3 weeks last Friday, but with cake decorating, I never posted her update! Here we go then.. a half week late! We started tummy time! Here she is desperately trying to find some fingers to console her.. while it looks as though she is enjoying herself, she cried most of the time.. tummy time only lasted a few minutes! This week we had the fun of bringing Caden to his 4 year physical... while completely uncooperative, and that is a major understatement!! he was 42" and 42lbs but this was taken by me on their equipment after the visit not by the nurse before, that was when I was chasing him and trying to put him on the scale.. for every one's information.. unfortunately you cannot force a 4 year old to stand on a scale and get an accurate weight or stand under the measurer and get an accurate height! Other than that, nothing exciting happened.

"It's good to be your neighbor!"

It only seems appropriate to quote Mr. Rogers! Yesterday we were able to get out and enjoy the nice weather. Not only were we able to go on our first family walk of the year, but we were able to resume our neighborhood walks with the Sevins! They will be weather permitting for awhile until the warm weather joins us steadily for awhile... oh can I not wait for that day to come! Keeping two energetic boys entertained in the house day after day becomes difficult, I can't wait to be able to play outside all day, and go to the playground! Better yet use the pool! but we won't get ahead of ourselves!

Cole spots water!
Cora will live in the baby bjorn for many months to come!

Caden and Cole S. ran around like crazy people!!

Caden's 4th Birthday Party!

Today was Caden's Birthday Party! It was his first party outside the house, we decided it would me much easier after the arrival of Cora not to have to clean the house and cook (other than the cake). So to the Discovery Stop we went! The kids all had loads of fun, and I would be surprised if any of them didn't sleep on the way home, or at least have a really good nights sleep!

The older kids spent most of their time in the play structure, which is a giant obstacle course complete with a slide at the end. Otherwise there are blocks, play kitchen, magnets, cars, and a digging tool among many other fun activities! After play time we had pizza and cake.. you can see my attempt at Wall-E.. tinting the frosting is not my forte, as you can see Wall-E is looking a bit orange rather than yellow.. and the light gray, dark gray and black frosting pretty much all look the same color.. but it all turned everyone's mouth colors, so what more can you ask for?! You can see Caden demonstrating what he will look like once puberty hits and he can grow a mustache.. although I hope that is not the color of his facial hair as it will look odd with his blond hair! (not that I am promoting a. growing up too fast or b. mustaches!!)

Cora slept the entire time we were there, about 3 hours.. so anyone looking to get their baby fix, unfortunately didn't since we kept her strapped in her carrier. After the party Danielle and her fam came back to the house before venturing back to Rhode Island, so Caden had fun opening up his presents and all the kids got to play for a bit before it was time for them to head off. Every present Caden got was a BIG hit! Pretty much all have been played with already. Thank you everyone for coming to Caden's Party! We hope you all had a great time and we thank you for the great gifts too!