Christmastime

This post was really meant to be put up way before now, but it just hasn’t been done…so better late then never!!  ……..

It’s that time of year again! And Owen is SO excited! Although he makes it pretty clear that Santa is NOT coming to his house (he’s scared of the idea of the actual Santa but LOVES to see pictures of Santa)  He did say it was ok if Mrs. Claus came because she was a ‘nice lady’!)

Papa is reading his catalog for ideas for his Christmas list and Owen is making a ‘Santa note’

SOOO proud of his note for Santa 

We put up the tree the weekend after Thanksgiving – we set it up downstairs again (this is our second year doing that now and it works out well since our front living room is now a play room!) Owen loved helping put ornaments on and he refers to it as the Christmas-Claus tree.   Every time we go down stairs he insists on me plugging in the lights! 

He is so excited about all things Christmas! He loves to sing Christmas songs – away in a manger, jingle bells, deck the halls, and frosty the snowman are his faves – and he loves to do the little motions to away in a manger – like he’s rocking baby Jesus – so cute.  We have a little people nativity set and and he is soooo excited to point out baby Jesus, Mary, and Jo-fus in Bluff-um-hum (Bethlehem). He was so excited when he noticed baby Jesus’ diaper, “look mama, baby Jesus has a diaper on, just like I do!”

We took the kiddos to see the Parade of Lights downtown in and it was pretty much a torture-fest for poor little Owen – he was literally shaking like a leaf and wanted to go home almost immediately.  Papa took him to stand back by some of the stores and he seemed to calm down a little better, but he was just NOT happy – so we stayed about 10 minutes and headed home …..

Here we are before we left – notice his poor little face trying to assess the situation out of the corner of his eye?!  

Syd enjoyed herself – she seemed to love the parade and then zonked out on the way home!

The funny thing is that on the way out of the parking ramp, the parade was still lined up to go down eighth street and we had to pass right by the cars who were lined up and Owen just thought it was great (because he was in the safety of the car!)

We took Owen to see the lights in that neighborhood Spring Lake – Holiday Road or whatever they are calling it…..he had such  a blast!! we picked up food on the way up there and ate in the car – and I took Syd’s seat out (she stayed home with Gran) so Owen thought that was just great having mama sit next to him – and then we had to wait about 30-45 min to get in to the neighborhood.  Owen was such a trooper and we even unbuckled him and let him sit up in the front with us while we watched the actual show! 

We went to visit Santa – and were worried Owen would be super  scared, so we went along with Kenz and Dylan too!  Owen was not to keen on the idea, but because his cousins were sitting so happily with Santa he didn’t freak out, just kept his distance with Papa.

Syd didn’t like Santa at first because she knew I wasn’t holding her any more….

But once I sat down with her and Santa, she didn’t mind him too much and even took some time to study his beard!

The Santa at Home and Company was awesome, he knew Owen was scared so he took some time to talk to him and gave him some candycanes and even got Owen to give him two ‘high-fives!"’ – this is just after one of the high fives…All in all it wasn’t too traumatic for Owen, and I think it was good for him to see that Santa was a good guy!! :)  Since we were downtown that night we all headed to 8th St Grille for dinner The kiddos were super good, and we had a great time and the food was yummy!! :) 

So what else comes to mind with the season? SNOW! and we got plenty of it early in December….here are some pics of a couple of different times Owen got to go sledding at Grandma and Grandpa’s house!! He absolutely loved it!!

Sledding with Grappy!

Racing Grappy while riding on Papa’s back! 

This was another night when the whole clan got together

Even Syd got to sled!!!  

Cousins pile-up (check out Owen’s rosy cheekers!)!

The whole fam got to go for a run down the hill!  

And last but not least here is our little ‘Santa Baby’ wearing the famous ‘first Christmas’ hat! 

And that’s all for now!  More pics of Christmas festivities to come!! :) 

Nine Months

Where, oh where have the past 9 months gone?  To think that our littles will be 1 in just a few short months is AMAZING!!!

She is growing up way too fast – but we’re having so much fun watching her change and learn!

So what has she been up to lately?

Still wearing the same size clothes – 9 mo-ish / 12 mo for sleepers; just switched to size 3 diapers

We weighed her tonight and she is 18 lbs

Taking 2-3 naps a day from 1/2 hr – 3 hrs in length each

goes to bed around 730 – usually gets up somewhere between 5:30-7. 

Eats at about the same sched as last month and has tried pretty much every ‘baby food’ there is – even a few meats. 

She has now spent the night away from mama for the first time…During a weekend in mid-November, Gran stayed with the kiddos while Scott and I enjoyed a weekend away together! Kiddos and Gran both escaped alive, so I’d say it was a success!  :)

We finally got a couple of full nights of sleep – as Syd finally slept through night two nights during the week after we were back from our weekend away, but she’s up to her antics of getting up at night again – for the most part only 1-2 times – but she’s now wanting to eat when she gets up one of the times.  We are struggling with her bottles at night before she goes to sleep and sometimes during the day too – so she just pitches a fit and wont eat and then wakes up in the middle of the night starving!! It all sure beats getting up many more times a night as she was doing though!

She got her first tooth in November (we first noticed it on the 19th) and shortly thereafter, her second one!

She started feeding herself puffs – on November 16 (and I even got it on video; can’t find the time to upload videos lately, but at least you’ll get a pic)
 

she hasn’t quite figured out that she has to remove her paci before she tries to eat, so in this pic on the right side (her left) of the paci – you’ll see a little puff wedged in between her cheek and the paci and she’s got another one ready to try to ‘eat’

On Nov 28 – Syd had her first bath sitting up in the tub; we borrowed a bath seat/chair from Al.  Syd had a blast!! Her lay down chair was getting too small  - or rather she was getting big! She kept wanting to sit up in it all the time in it so we had to figure something out – and this seemed to make her QUITE happy! :)

At the beginning of December, she started saying the ‘ma’ sound and when she is happy or gets upset she says ‘ma ma ma ma’ I know she probably doesn’t realize she’s saying my name but it’s still so sweet!!

She just idolizes her bro and he just adores (for the most part) her!  He is SUCH a good big bro to her and she usually is QUITE entertained when he’s around!! :)

She started ‘dancing’ on Dec 5, whenever she hears some ‘tunes’ she bops right to the music!! I love baby dancing!!!

She’s also beginning to put weight on her feet / legs more and more and she will even stand for a brief moment by the couch or in front of something else to support her. 

She’s super curious and inquisitive – just like her big bro…if you put her little musical drum in front of her, she totally has to flip it over to check out the on/off switch instead of playing music with it!

Near the beginning of this month we  also noticed that she shakes her head no when she is finished eating or when she doesn’t want something

she can be pretty tolerant of things (at times)….

but still VERY strong-willed and when she wants something (or doesn’t) EVERYONE knows!

She is one tough cookie! …and she has her big bro to thank for that one!  He, being a two years old, is quite energetic and doesn’t understand his strength…so he has tried climbing on her back, pushing or pulling her over, feeding her things she shouldn’t be eating, screaming in her ear...you get the picture

Still LOVES to play dress up!

and loves bouncing in her Johnny jump up and her jumparoo – she goes crazy in them! :) 

Look at those sweet little feet! :)

And now for the bear/froggy pics!

She kept wanting to jam everything in her mouth last night when we took these pics

But we got some cute ones because she was just in SUCH a crazy mood!!

SOOO excited that papa gave her the frog!!

And then in the mouth it went!

The best we could get with mr frog…I think papa was dancing or something, trying to get her attention! :)

That’s all for now, before we know it I’ll be posting her 1 yr update! Until then we’ll be loving on our sweet, sweet Sydney!!! :) 

RAndoMneSs

So, go ahead and say it….I already know….I’m a blog SLACKER!!!

So much has gone on since my last post!!! And I know I'm bound to forget a few key moments – but nonetheless….here we go….

This picture cracks me up – a family photo – Scott looks SO excited, I look rather interesting, Syd is getting tickled by my hair and Owen is worshiping his Halloween candy….just some fun family time at the Koles! :) 

Owen and his cousins had a fun time jumping in the leaves one afternoon a few weeks back (before all that white stuff invaded our lives)

Owen and Syd have gotten to have lots of cousin time lately – here they are again hanging out together! :)

Owen looks like such a little chunker in this pic!   

Mama and Owen having a truck race

Story time!

Thanksgiving has also come and gone!!! We started our long holiday weekend out by taking owen to crazy bounce on Wed  - Syd slept practically  the whole time which was perfect because we wanted to do dinner afterwards and she was well rested.  So we went to Panera for dinner afterward and had a totally awesome family night…I think that I possibly had the most fun @ crazy bounce – I loved the slides! :)  Then for Thanksgiving we spent the whole day with family – we went to Scott’s parents house for a nice big dinner then headed back home and had dessert with my fam!

Oh, and you know how I love to do comparison pictures – so here’s a pic of the each of the little babes in the same little ‘baby’s first thanksgiving’ outfit.  Syd at 8 1/2 mos and Owen at 4 1/2 – notice how Owen fills the shirt out better than Syd does?! LOL! what a roly poly little man he was :)

Here’s Syd in her little turkey hat that she ‘made’ at school (the feathers in the back are cutouts of her hand) She liked to eat the legs!

So what else is new???

Scott got a new toy; a chainsaw – with birthday money – and is excited to start using it at our property to clear some trees for a driveway!

I started a new hobby – a couple of months ago I started crocheting again (I had crocheted years ago – my grandma taught me when  I was probably about 8 or 9?) – I only knew the basics – and have taught myself a lot since I’ve stared – I’ve made mittens, a head wrap for syd, a couple of hats, and lots of different kinds of flowers and I’m experimenting with lots of different stitches – its so much fun and I can’t wait to learn more!

I know that doesn’t really do the last month or so any justice, but I had to get some of these pics up!  Stay tuned for a nine month post on Syd and a post about the beginning of the Christmas season! :)