August Rush

I didn't mention in his two year old post that he loves music. All of it! Singing in Sacrament meeting, dancing, piano, guitar, primary songs. And of course he loves watching August Rush. I think it's cute how he loves to play with the guitar, but it does make me super nervous that he's going to break it or something. Two year olds don't seem to have a sense for breakable things, you know?

Playing the accordion

These pictures are old; actually they're from Cole's birthday but I thought now would be a good time to post them. It was now or never because Grandma is in town and it was her birthday yesterday! Whenever there's a birthday to be celebrated and we are there in Washington, she always pulls out the accordion and it makes singing "Happy Birthday" that much cooler ;) Seriously, Cole is so lucky to have a grandma who plays the accordion. That's bragging rights right there. And she was so sweet to help him play with it on his birthday. He loved it so much!

Yesterday was her birthday and since we are in Texas, there was no accordion involved but we did do presents, and have salmon for dinner and strawberry shortcakes for dessert! We're just lucky to have her in town! And Cole has come up with a new name for her all on his own. It is no longer "Gram Yvonne" (I guess it was just too long for him because he never called her that but did call her just "Yvonne" for a little bit there) but it is now "Mimi" which she likes and seems to be very easy for him to say, so, WIN-WIN.

Happy Late Birthday to the best mother in law a girl could ask for! And the best "Mimi" I could ever wish for my child :)

Later this week we are celebrating by going to Austin where Steve has a seminar. It will be just me, Yvonne and Cole during the days we are there and I have lots of fun things planned to go do and see. I'm SUPER excited :)

Valentine's Day

Hanging above our bed

Happy Valentine's Day! Steve and I have been really bad about holidays lately, but today we've been reminiscing about our first Valentine's Day together four years ago where I finally fell in love with him :) Flashbacks of:

+ lots of snow
+Steve wearing his grey sweater. I love that sweater on him!
+sitting across from each other eating spaghetti at Johnny Carino's
+browsing around Barnes and Noble, looking at all sorts of different books and leaning in close to each other as we scanned a globe, pointing out all the places we'd been to and where we wanted to go one day.

Four years later, I'm happy to be living in Texas, with my beautiful little family. I can't imagine where my life would be without my sweet husband and my little boy. I'm a lucky girl! Hope Valentine's Day was spent with your loved ones :)

Nicholas Stephen at two years old

I've wanted to do a two year post on Cole for quite a while now. You know, preferably at his birthday almost two months ago but I've been holding off because I wanted to have an all inclusive list of all the cute things he does. It's hard though, when you think that everything your son does is cute ;) When would the list ever be over?! I also wanted to do more of a legit 2-year-old photoshoot of him but it just hasn't happened yet so I'm not waiting anymore. These ones of him on his bed turned out pretty cute so I'm using these!

So this is my list for now, whether I've gotten it all down or not. :)

First of all, at two years old, Cole is obsessed with football. All sports actually but especially football it seems. When we were at the airport on our way from Utah to Washington over Christmas break, we were waiting at our gate and somewhere out of our sight there was a tv which Cole could hear and he suddenly yells out "football! football!!"
That's right, he recognized the sound of a football game on a tv somewhere and I just looked at him and thought where did you come from?

At the end of November we finally weaned him of his pacifier. Emma suggested that we do it the same way that they weaned Annabelle of her pacifier which is exactly what we did. We told Cole that he could pick out any toy he wanted at Target but that he would have to throw away his pacifier if he wanted us to buy it. So we walked the isles of Target and passed all the toy isles and then we got to the sports gear isles and the "toy" he picked out was this big huge jumbo professional size football which he looved and didn't want to let go of. The thing was huge!! Bigger than his head!! But that was what he wanted and so we checked out and at the end of our lane was a trash can and we told him if he wanted it, he would have to throw his paci down (which we let him suck on the entire time at the store). Steve was holding him and I was holding the football and I kept telling him if he wanted it he would have to throw his paci down. He definitely wanted that football but he wasn't sure that he wanted to throw away his pacifier which he was sucking hard on. He finally laid his head on Steve's shoulder and I asked him again and he just looked up and me and gave me this look as if to say "I know, mom. Let me suck on my paci one last time." So I didn't ask him anymore because I knew that he got it. Suddenly he lifted his head up, yanked his paci out of his mouth and threw it down into the trash can very hard and very deliberately! He reached out for his football which we gave him and he was a happy camper from then on. We had our rough moments (on the airplane) but altogether weaning him of his pacifier wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be, considering he sucked on that thing night and day from the minute we got home from the hospital after he was born until he was about 14 months old and after that he only had it when he was sleeping. I feel like Emma's trick really worked. Thank goodness that little boy is obsessed with footballs ;)

Other things this boy loves:
+trucks, buses, cars, airplanes, helicopters...it's an inherent boy thing.
+drinking his bath water. :/ And it drives me nuts.
+holding my hand when we're in the car :) (when Steve's driving of course and I'm in the passenger seat)
+wrestling with his dad
+using anything long and thin as a baseball bat. (like kitchen utensils and wrapping paper rolls)
+going "bye-bye" and playing with friends. When we ask him if he wants to go "bye-bye" first he gasps and then he says "YEAHHHHH!!!!!"
+nursery. This boy loves nursery.
+watching "shows." Not sure why we didn't let him watch tv before 18 months, because at the age of two it's the first thing he asks to do every. single. morning: "Show?"
+racing us. He'll frequently suddenly say "On your mark...get set....GO!!"

Other things that I love:
+the way he says "daddy." He has a certain way of saying it that I can't really explain but it's adorable.
+the way he says "Thank you mommy!!" very enthusiastically when I bring him something that he really wants. Like his water when he's thirsty or chips when he's asked for chips. When he says it, it makes me want to be like "I'll do anything for you!!!!!!" Polite babies are the cutest :)
+the way he says "I LUH YOU MOMMY!" What he really means is "I want you" but I'll always tell him "I love you too, sweetie."

Now that Cole is in a big boy bed (someone gave to us) we can't really keep him from getting up after putting him to bed and so we have to lie there with him until he falls asleep at every nap and at every bedtime. It kind of gets old but what makes up for it is the time I get snuggling with him and sometimes as we're lying there, he'll lift his head up, put his hands of my cheeks and give me the sweetest kiss on the lips and say "I luh you mommy" which in this case I think really means "I love you" and not "I want you." And then he'll lie his head back down. It melts my heart every time :)

And the other day, as I was lying down with him for his nap, I kept yawning and so some tears were coming out of my eyes which Cole noticed and he looked at me all concerned and said "Sad? Mommy sad?" I didn't know how to explain to him that no, they were just from yawning and so I decided to just play along with it and so I said "yeah, mommy sad." Then he leaned in and hugged me and kissed me and said "I sorry mommy! I sorry!" And he was so sincere! It was probably the cutest thing he has ever done :)

Having a two year old is definitely harder than having a baby I think, because I actually have to discipline ;) but it is also so much fun to see him learn and grow and to witness the way his two year old mind sees the world. He brings so much light to our lives and I can't imagine life without him. I love you Cole and I love that you are now two :)