These are the some of the many faces of Cole. He has become quite expressive lately. He rolls his eyes, he twists his lips and looks to the side, he squeezes his eyes closed and opens his mouth like he is silently laughing, etc. He most often makes these faces near the end of eating, but in the instances above he was climbing up a step ladder we have and looking at himself in the living room mirror. He LOVES to make faces in the mirror. He still sits in our bathroom sink when we get ready and gets real cheeky with the mirror. I love it. Rick laughs hysterically. We love his little personality. Now if we can only get him to be more social...we went to Chik-fil-A today to meet some women from church and their kiddos. The idea was to the kids would play in the play area and us moms could chat. We are all new to the area so it was ideal. There were two other kids there just a month apart from Cole. The bad news: Cole cried for about 10 minutes as soon as we got there. If anyone knows Chik-fil-A's in TX, they know they are ALWAYS crowded. The good news: after about 30 minutes of sitting with mom he actually wanted to go play! I stayed with him for a bit and then he even played without me until some big kids came and pushed him aside. I wanted to punch them. This was a play area for 3 and under! Not 7 and over! But I didn't say anything. I just held him until he calmed down again. I think it was successful in the end. He wanted to play with the other kids too - when there was 3 or less around. He just got overwhelmed when there were more and cried.

But this kid makes me smile everyday. I love being his mother. See this ugly overgrown bush of flowers (we don't know what kind but I really should do something to it...)


There's a secret in there....


Surprise! He loves to hide. You can barely see it in the picture but look at those pinky cheeks just brimming with excitement for me to find him. His smile is HUGE. I wished I actually caught it on film.


We've been taking Cole swimming at least once a week. We got him this floater suit and after one use he is getting really good. He can balance in it now and lays his head back in the water and floats. We are still very close to him though because he doesn't hold the float long but he's getting better every time. He thinks the jacket is cool and loves to put it on.

Oh, and here is Miss Lyla. She's a little doll. Smiley and happy nearly 95% of the time. Such a delight. I love to get her from her naps. She pops her fingers out of her mouth and gives me the biggest smile with her eyes wide open. Somewhat similar to this but not quite.


And as you can see, she is becoming quite expressive too...


She loves to pull her dresses up and suck on them. I actually find it adorable so I've been putting her in more dresses. (Thanks Grandma Poling for this one!)


But her favorite thing to play with is still her fingers. She's content to lie anywhere and play with them. They must taste good!


Second to that would have to be Mr. Blue Giraffe. She coos at him, yells at him, yanks him off her bouncy seat, etc. If you remember, Blue Giraffe was the first thing that got Cole to laugh on camera. Blue Giraffe has a way with babies. If you need a refresher on him, here's the video of Cole.

Sleeping Beauty

I went to wake Lyla from her evening nap because it had been going on nearly 2 1/2 hours (WAY too long...) and this is what I found.


Let's hear a collective "Awww"! And yes, she sucks her fingers. It looks odd but mommy loves it because she puts herself to sleep most of the time. In fact, she slept 9pm - 7am last night. Here's to hoping this baby stays sleeping!

We then proceeded to enjoy some setting sun light pouring into the room for a photo session. She loved it. (She loves the attention.)







Cole nearly always can't wait to kiss his baby sister when she wakes up.


And again, "awww...".

These are the moments I want to remember forever. Oh, except of course, during this little photo session, Lyla had her first official "blow out". Out the diaper, out the clothes, and yes, out onto this nice WHITE duvet cover. Thank heavens it's washable!

Cole and I like to take short little walks while Lyla takes a morning nap. I usually listen to music via earbuds. Cole never asked me to listen, but I brought one to his ear and his eyes opened wide. He was hooked since then. He now wants to hold one bud while I listen to the other (which makes walking in a stroller quite difficult). I also learned that his "dancing" is squatting as this video shows.

My little boy is growing up so quickly. He likes to get the mail with mom too which he says as "Meh, Meh"! It's his new term to want to get in the stroller too. He loves to hold the mail key and holds it tight until we get back home and hands it back to mommy.

Cole also loves the camera which makes it difficult to get video or pictures anymore. He wants to snap them. He knows what smile means, but these are the looks when you ask him to smile for the camera. Oh Cole! All posterity is going to think you are a sullen little boy when in fact you are a big ball of kicks and giggles!


Cole was playing with Lyla's rattles and toys. She doesn't kick her legs as much as Cole did so feet rattles don't really excite her too much. Cole asked me to put them on his ankles though. He spent the rest of the day with them on, as seen in the video... along with his new fascination with the bumbo seat. He sits in it and tries to slide it around the kitchen floor. He wishes it had wheels so badly!

So our little angel Lyla is in the process of learning to sleep in the crib instead of the bassinet. She just got too big and too strong for it. Turns out she has the same problem Cole had with the crib - he wants to cuddle into a corner. The first two nights she woke up about every 2 hours with her head jammed against the railings. Ugh! So I went ahead and ordered a bumper, but in the mean time I made a makeshift bumper from rolled up blankets. She slept like a rock as soon as I put them in. My little snuggle bug!


Lyla discovered her hands this past weekend and this is usually what she is doing now - staring at them.


She is also very good at pulling and batting at toys above her. Guess that hand-eye coordination is kicking in! Unlike Cole, Lyla LOVES the camera. However, this is her expression when she spots it - wide eyed, deer in headlights.


She is such a delight. I just can't get enough of her smiles and laughs - yes, LAUGHS. This girl seems to be ticklish already too! Sometimes her laugh is a short chuckle and other times a screeching girlie laugh. She is getting so easy to put to sleep, which is about the only time besides being in the car or the stroller that makes her fussy. Yep. What baby doesn't like the car or the stroller!!??!! My Lyla, that's who! I'm making her get used to them though. We take a trip daily. We will see who is more stubborn now!

But look at this darling? Who can stand to see her cry?


Daddy is so cute with Lyla. They matched today! (Again, notice the wide eyed look.)


And I don't know why, but I love this picture.