Seriously, I can never think of catchy or interesting titles for my blog entries so I think I'm forgoing them from now on.

Things have been busy here. We made a trip to Austin for Mother's Day and for my niece's blessing. (Ally, 3 days younger than Lyla.) It's so great to be with everyone and I love getting the two girls together. I was ecstatic that Cole warmed up to his Aunt Kylene and Lyla enjoyed her Sunday Sacrament nap with her too!


Since returning I've been trying, trying, trying to get Lyla on a schedule. She was SO CLOSE before going to Austin. She was going to bed between 7 and 9 and naps were getting somewhat predictable in length. This made me so excited because then I can plan outings and get out of the house with Cole, which he loves. Guess she wasn't having any of that because now it's total randomness - even midnight wakings wanting be up 1-2 hours! Ack!! But I'm dealing with it okay because she so SO HAPPY! Seriously, this girl smiles, coos and talks nearly the entire time she is awake and is getting pretty easy to lay down for naps. For some reason it's hard to get her to sleep prior to the first night sleep period. I'm sure that will end soon too.


Lyla is VERY strong. Monday night she rolled from her tummy to her back twice! She's halfway done it since then. I don't think she does it because she enjoys doing perfect yoga cobras. See!


This has put a predicament in our sleeping plans for her. We bought a bassinet mattress for her, instead of just using a pad, so that she might be able to stay in it longer. Well she pops her head up so high that I'm sure in a matter of a couple of weeks she will try to roll OUT of the bassinet. Ugh. Time to by that 2nd crib!


Cole LOVES to play with Lyla. He continually insists on sharing food and toys with her. He really cannot wait for her to grow up. Cole also has a new fascination with watching ANYTHING on the computer. Seriously. He even watched half an episode of "House" with me. (I watch almost all TV shows on the computer from Hulu.) He doesn't even watch more than 15 minutes of anything on the TV! hahaha....

Cole continues to love to play outside and I think both he and my allergies have subsided a little. He loves to watch for airplanes in the sky (a new sign he does) and bugs on the ground. But he doesn't like the bugs. He usually freezes and watches them until they leave his vicinity or asks me to pick him up or hold his hand. I'm glad. I don't want him playing with them. Especially since we have lots of these in our yard...

Apparently they are stinging WORMS. Not caterpillars. Yuck. We also have some not-so-friendly wasps that love our house. Ew. Mom hates bugs too.

Cole is sort of finicky about cleanliness. He likes to get dirty if he's doing it on purpose. Otherwise, he wants me to clean his hands, his feet, his face, etc. Unfortunately, he has started a very gross habit that I am trying desperately to teach him out of...that is A) peeing in the bathtub. (He insists on standing up like daddy and doing it. I'm sure he did it before while sitting, but seeing him stand up, pee and chuckle like it is some victory is something totally different. Um, especially if you're in there with him. Ew.) And B) pooping, yes, POOPING in the bathtub - ON PURPOSE. It seems he did it on accident once and now thinks at some point bath time turns into poop time because it doesn't matter what time of day we give him the bath, he poops. Double Yuck. Gross. Ugh. Bleh. Barf. Obviously, getting mad at him doesn't work. Sorry to share this grossness, but someone has to share my pain, right? That's what blogging is for, yea? I'm sure this phase will pass quickly - we are just working on transferring that "okay, let's pee and poop" thought process from the TUB to the TOILET. Wish us luck. And any suggestions are welcome.

Onto better topics. . . my adorable children with their daddy. Aww...


Rick picked us up Smoothies after his workout (hence the sweaty daddy) and Cole slurped daddy's right up. It was questionable since it was made with milk but our allergy-prone baby didn't get sick! Is this a sign that his whey/milk allergy is alleviating?

And just look at our little Buddha-baby!


Cole loves, loves, LOVES his daddy. If he hears a car, he does the sign for dad or says "Daah!?" I hate saying no to that or telling him dad isn't going to be home today. This morning dad ran out after laying Cole next to me in bed with his milk. After finishing his milk, Cole SOBBED and I mean SOBBED with his hand on his forehead doing the sign for "dad". It broke my heart. Finally, he calmed down, snuggled next to me, and fell asleep for another 45 minutes. Ahh, Heaven.

Cousins!

Last Tuesday we were honored to have Jefra and Cannon come stay with us. Jefra spent Wednesday through Saturday taking a training to be a car seat technician. We spent those days playing with Cannon and teaching him lots of new things like how to go down the stairs properly,

put the rings on the stacker,

play T-ball,

mow the lawn,

play in the sprinklers

(which he didn't like so much),

chill in the pool,

and watch "Baby Signing Time".

Yep, we love our little Cannon.

He is such a happy little guy to have around!

Cole literally smothered him with hugs and kisses the entire week. By Friday, Cannon would scream and bat at him to get away. Then it seemed Cole did it on purpose just to annoy him. Oh boys!

Lyla is having fewer fussy periods and sleeping longer at night. There was even one night with an eight hour stretch! Yea for mom!


She is smiling so much that I can't stop taking pictures of her. I have a million but here are a few favorites.




Cole and Mom spend so much time outside that we usually come back in with itchy eyes and ears with lots of sneezing. Well, he must have touched something in the field across from our house and then rubbed it all over his face. He broke out in hives in a matter of minutes and his eye was almost swollen shut. He looked like he got beat up. My poor boy!


I gave him Benadryl and taught him not to scratch. He did so well after I showed him what his face was doing. His little hands would reach up to scratch and then he would remember and drop them - mostly by himself but needed some reminders too. The next day he was still a little swollen and started itching and rubbing the next night so I gave him Benadryl again before bed just because I also noticed he scratched the back of his neck so much the night prior that he bled! Needless to say, I am now restricting outdoors time. We still go outside just not all day like we used to.

So Jefra is now an official car seat technician which means we switched Cole back to rear facing. He has been okay with it for now. We'll see how he does the next time we have a long drive to Austin! Thanks Aunt Jefra for making us safe!!!