Fun in the Fall

Cole and I started celebrating Fall in Missouri. We visited Purina Farms. I enjoyed the lesson on milking a cow, watching the dog show (especially the dock diving part), and going on the hay ride (even though Cole didn't exactly want to sit still). I think Cole's favorite part was playing in the corn. Then, when we got back home, we went with Jackie, Kyle, and Hailey to Corn Dawg's. I didn't realize we had such a fun place to go so close to home. Hailey braved a mini zip line, I went down a scary long slide, we all ate really unhealthy carnival-type food, and Cole had a blast in a huge corn pit.

This year's Pumpkin Party was probably my favorite. It was so cool to watch Cole interact with the other kids. Plus, I had lots of help with getting ready (sorry about your fingers, JP) and running the party itself. Thank you, everybody! Megan, you were the perfect mini-hostess.
Cole went trick-or-treating for the first time this Halloween. Last year, he was a super-cute scarecrow, but he was barely old enough to hold his head upright in the stroller as we followed the other kids. Our little Harley dude didn't make it very far, but he had a great time.

Play Time

Cole's favorite thing to say right now is "Happy, happy, happy!" while he's running around playing. It's hard to keep up. He is so full of energy. I'm loving his big smiles and free spirit.

Sick, Sick, Sick

Poor Cole-Man has had an on-again/off-again fever for the past three weeks. Welcome back to daycare and back to school! I feel so helpless. His doctor sees no cause for the fevers, so she assumes it's a virus. Poor baby! He's been so cranky lately. I miss his sweet giggles.

Happy Birthday, Happy Summer

I'm so excited about Cole's upcoming birthday party. It'll be fun to celebrate his first year of life, but today, on his real birthday, I'm giving myself permission to be weepy. Okay, so that's an understatement. I've been spouting out tears all morning. How in the world did my precious baby grow so fast? He's almost a real walker (he only takes 8-10 steps tops before he drops back down to crawl), he prefers to feed himself, and he's speaking (mostly dada, mama, dog, ball, quack-quack, mmmmm, papa, and book).

I kind of feel like his birthday is also a time to say good-bye to and reflect over our summer. We've had a fantastic summer. I like pretending I'm a stay-at-home mom (who travels a lot and has time to actually read fun books). It's been great bonding time for Cole and me. Here are some highlights:

MO trip: Cole still loves going outside with his Grammy.

MO trip: The drum is an early birthday present from Mamaw.



NY trip: Ummm, I do believe JP caught the bouquet. When's it gonna be Kyle?

NY trip: Dancing at Josh's wedding

FL trip: Cousins having fun in the sand

FL trip: Our first night out

Mother's Day Weekend

My first Mother's Day weekend was jam-packed. Cole got his first real haircut, he got his nine month pictures taken with Bug, and we spent this afternoon at the zoo. I've always loved going to the zoo, and I can remember thinking on many previous trips that I couldn't wait until I had the chance to bring my own child see all the animals. Today was a day I'll never forget and a long-had dream come true.

First Flight

Cole and I had a great time visiting Grammy and Gramps in Missouri. Much to my surprise, Cole is a good traveler. I figured he'd throw fits on the plane because he hates sitting still, but he enjoyed watching all the people and playing peek-a-boo with the flight attendants. I think we're all left with some pretty memorable moments, several of which we photographed. I'm posting my favorite pics with captions in the Lance Family Web Album.

The Tubes

Cole was such a good baby for the ENT and all the nurses on the day of his surgery (Monday, March 14th). He was in a great mood during what I imagined would be a horrendous waiting period. Joey said he was flirting with all the nurses.

In the days that followed his surgery, I noticed a big change in how he reacted to everyday sounds. It seemed that his bouts of pain and sickness were finally over, but we were wrong. Poor baby... now he has some nasty virus. He's had a fever since Friday. It got so high that we took him to the ER Sunday night. The ER doc said there really wasn't anything he could do about it, so the saying's true. Viruses really do have to run their course. Through it all, I'm amazed at his happy-go-lucky spirit. The fever hasn't seemed to slow him down too much.

This video clip shows just how resilient babies can be. You'll notice he's playing with a tambourine. That was the toy he picked out right before he went in for surgery. It sounds like static on this video, but, believe me, it sounds like a real tambourine at home!

Into Everything!

I would be lying if I said adjusting to motherhood has been easy. Cole spent the majority of his waking hours crying during the first three months of his life. I did a good bit of crying myself. I remember feeling so helpless at times. I thought I was doing something wrong because I couldn't soothe my baby. So many people told me he was "colicky" and to just hang in there. Still, it was hard to accept that he wasn't a happy baby.

Now that he's mobile, he's a different little man. My Mr. Independent loves cruising around the house and picking up anything and everything his little heart desires. As long as he's on the floor, he's all smiles. It's amazing to me that he learned to sit up, crawl (in his creeping, armyman fashion), and pull up in such a short amount of time. Wasn't he just beginning to roll over?

He has also discovered a plethora of finger foods now that he has mastered the pincer grasp. He enjoys snacking on cheerios, bananas, crackers (thanks to Papa), and rice cakes. Going out to eat is so much more enjoyable now too. He is usually pretty content sitting in a high chair munching on bits of everyone else's dinner.

Six months has been a fun age for both of us, even if he is into everything!

Happy New Year!

Cole babbled his first word on New Year's day. I am amazed at how quickly he's growing. We have noticed so many firsts in the past three weeks: he is babbling with consonants, a tooth is beginning to show, he can sit in the tripod pose, he's actually eating his baby food instead of tasting, and he is getting on his knees daily in preparation for crawling.