The past couple of weekends have had us traveling around so it has been busy but so fun. First, we went to Austin to spend time with family and celebrate my little brother's birthday. While there we made a trip to Zilker park with all the grandkids and took Cole and Cannon to the Austin Children's Museum. The entire time we lived in Austin neither Rick nor I went to Zilker park so of course we visited as "tourists". And as for the museum, I had no idea it would be such a haven for Cole. I really expected most of it to be too old for him to enjoy but I was so wrong. He could have spent the entire day there had we not had little Lyla and his naps to be concerned with. Unfortunately my camera was caput the entire weekend so the pics are borrowed from Jefra.

The Zilker Zephyr Train - VERY HOT but Cole and Lyla loved it while it was going!

Cole and Cannon at the museum (more pics and video on Jefra's blog)

Last weekend Rick had a CCMA Conference (Country Club Managers Association) to attend in San Antonio at the new Marriott TPC. It was so beautiful and so nice to be surrounded by such beauty...and a big waterpark included with your stay. These are nice mini-vacations primarily paid for by Rick's employer since they cover the hotel room. (Thanks Miramont!) The conferences are always family friendly with spouses and children invited to each meal if you would like and this time they had a photographer there to take family pictures Sunday evening.

The rooms are huge so we had enough space for 2 Pack-N-Plays for the babies. Cole doesn't really do well sleeping in unfamiliar places so he slept with us the first night (ugh!) and then we put his crib in the bathroom (yes, big enough with space to spare) the second night. Still, even with that he was super overtired by the end of each day. Lyla is easier and pretty much went right to sleep except when we forced her to stay awake and go to dinner with us. :-) So here are some pics ...

The hotel room

The resort. This was taken before it was finished as they added a large kiddie park with three slides and sprinklers as well as two adult tube slides. Guess they wouldn't look so peaceful in a picture! The lazy river wraps around the adult pool. Even Lyla loved the river, she just laid back and enjoyed!

Cole going down the kiddie waterslide all by himself. He sputtered in the water afterwards but he managed!

Dad and Cole had such a good time in the water.

Unfortunately, I also injured my back while at the water park. I wasn't doing anything except bending over to pick up sunblock. I knew it was bad as soon as I did it. So instead of enjoying the water and the resort on Monday I spend the morning pushing the kids in a stroller as that was easier than picking them up in the room while Rick was in meetings. We were going to stay that afternoon when his meetings were over at noon but instead my mom drove us home while my dad and Rick golfed. I went to the doctor in Austin and found I slipped a disk. The walking in the stroller actually did a lot of good in the end and probably pushed it back into place. I still have muscle soreness and am really careful doing anything. This is the second time in five years that my back has done this which is too bad I guess. I've had little episodes before but only twice where I feel like I really can't do anything and the pain is so bad I can't help but cry. I feel for anyone who deals with chronic back injuries. I've got the knee problems too but the back is 10x's worse. But we enjoyed our stay in Austin for another day while it gave me time to recover with help around.

Now for the KIDS UPDATE:

Lyla is now rolling over both ways on her own and enjoys the exersaucer. She can barely stand up in it but if she leans over can lay one foot flat. Otherwise she just tip-toes around in it. But as you can see, she loves it.

Lyla is also teething and/or has a cold. She has a constant runny nose and is wanting to bite things constantly.

Cole is now in love with Toy Story and Rick gave in and bought him a Woody and a Buzz doll this past weekend. He loves these guys and all he wants to do is watch Buzz jump off the bed in Toy Story over and over and over and over and over and . . . (you get the picture). But he also loves to play in Lyla's crib. . .


He likes to try on mom's flip flops (though these are Aunt Jefra's) and yes, that is a dirty diaper in his hands. You know I have no idea why he was holding it or where it went after that? SCARY!

Lay next to her, on her, over her, as well as make her laugh, point to her ears, pinch her nose and give her great big bear hugs (which sometimes she doesn't like too much). They are so much fun to see together. It had been a while since I had taken some decent photos of them so we had a little photo shoot this morning. Cole was totally uncooperative but did give me some cute shots of them together.


But Lyla is VERY cooperative for the camera. As I said before, she's our little model. It makes it so fun to take her picture.

She has also discovered her feet and aren't they cute?!

She looks so much like her cousin Ally in this picture, if I cropped it before the ear you would really have to do a double take!

She is always so alert and reaches for everything. She keeps reaching for Cole's sippy cups too...hey maybe she'll drink from one early!

My happy little girl! She is so precious, I just squeeze her all the time!

Oh, and if you've never heard her, she sounds just like a cat when she squeals. Our own little kitty.

It's been so long since I posted I don't even know what has been going on other than the kids getting bigger and cuter day by day.

Let's see...I guess we'll start with Lyla's 4-Month well-check with a new doctor. The doctors here in College Station seem to all work in "hospital-like" atmospheres or huge clinics. I've been spoiled by our cute little pediatric office in Austin where we received personalized attention in a home-like atmosphere. So we switched to the only Ped doctor in the area that is in a practice all by her lonesome. The good news: The front desk staff and nurses were SO NICE and Dr. Patricia Goen was AWESOME! Cole freaked out (as usual) when she came in and even more so when she took Lyla from me (Mr. Protective). But the way she held Lyla and worked with Cole was PERFECT. The bad news: the office is the only low-income clinic in the southern College Station area so it may not always be so nice when we visit though today it was pretty empty and quiet. This is definitely the only practice where I had to sign SO MANY documents stating our income, why we don't need free vaccines, etc., etc. That had me really worried and I had made up my mind we weren't going back until I met the doctor and the professionalism of the staff changed my mind. At the first clinic we went to here the nurses wouldn't pick Lyla up after the shots when I was still wrangling with Cole and getting him settled. This nurse picked her right up and started calming her. Maybe some mothers are anxious and don't want the staff picking up their children but I find it endearing. Cole was afraid of the nurse too until she gave him some books and went out of her way to try to find something to entertain him, an A++ in my book. Oh, and Lyla's cry when she gets shots are, um, no other word I can think of, but heart-shattering. This is my baby girl who almost never cries but simply wimpers or fusses. These cries would kill Rick if he ever heard them! She can't even breath right she is trying so hard to get some grip on what the heck just happened to her.

So here are the stats: 13 lbs 8 oz (Though they weighed her clothes and diaper on - weird but I noticed them doing it with other children too. This is the only place I've gone to where they do that. I wonder why???) and 25 inches long. She's actually 4 1/2 months old which puts her at 31st percentile for weight and 61st for length. Even though these are higher percentiles than Cole was at for this age, she is basically tracking right along what measurements he was. They are almost identical in size at this age.

Oh! there's my little sweetie!

So anyway, Lyla started sleeping on her back - a change she made all by herself. She started rolling over onto her back and decided she liked that best because she would roll over as soon as I would lay her down on her belly. Well, since that time she forgot how to roll from her tummy to her back. Oops! But she has mastered rolling from her back to her tummy. (Doesn't that seem harder??!!)

Last week she and Cole were playing on the floor when I pulled out this ball that moves around. She REALLY wanted this ball. This is a picture of her pulling up her butt attempting to somehow inch forward. Little Miss! You are NOT supposed to crawl yet! But she loved that Cole was playing with it. She wanted to watch him the whole day. At one point Cole got close enough to her and she started sucking on his leg. He thought that was a trip and kept telling me there was water on his leg. haha!


She is super smiley, loves her alone time but then wants to be talked to as well. She does her fair share of chattering and cooing too. A recent development is her smacking her lips and licking them when I'm feeding Cole dinner. Soooo...I gave her some applesauce...which she loved...and then last night a teensy bit of rice cereal...which she ate right up. Oh dear. I think this one's an eater. Too bad I think feeding babies this little is messy and just a plain hassle. Sorry chik-a-dee! I don't think this will be a regular habit until later!

What?! No food?! No fair!

Cole loves his little sister. Actually, it is his fault I fed Lyla anything at all. He always insists on sharing his food with her and giving her his milk cup after he is finished. (Because he's sure she wants some too...) Cole lets us know exactly what he wants multiple times a day. If we are going to watch a video, he lets us know WHICH ONE and gets upset if it's the wrong one. Yes, he is in the tantrum throwing age and he does so only when he can't do what he wants when he wants (like watch TV, go outside, play with daddy, etc.) but we are blessed that these are rare and mild. I attribute that to sign language. He can always tell us what he wants, it's just a matter of if he can or not at the time.

Cole is doing so well going to the library for story time. He didn't act afraid at all the second time we went and romped around the kids section afterwards forever, pulling out all the books, opening them on the table, looking at me with big wide eyes, signing "book" and them jumping up to get another. I'd say he feels right at home there now. We went to Kindermusik with a friend this week and Cole loved it. I was proud that he didn't throw fits when it was time to put away the toy or musical instrument. I was really, really worried that he would. He is definitely learning new things by watching older children and enjoys it. We still go to Chick-fil-A for playtime some days and he is FASCINATED with the cow. He loves that thing - not scared of it at all. (It seems the man dressed like a cow is there every time we go!)

Today at the doctor's office a young boy left the office to sit out in the hallway. Cole had a fit pointing out the door to the boy. He was definitely concerned that this young boy should be in here, not out there by his lonesome. It took some persuading to convince him that the boy was just fine and not to worry about him. Our protector.

His new words are: Cole (As recent as yesterday...he just started saying it over and over and over again all day, except when dad came home); battery (He says "bat" and some other nonsense but I know what it is.); store; Mayer (his friend); car. Well, those are all I can think of right now but there are others I'm sure.

About three weeks ago I made Cole chicken nuggets and gave him some ketchup to dip them in (he loves dipping). Well, the chicken went to waste, the ketchup was ALL he wanted...


Cole also loves to play in the sprinklers with daddy. I think it is adorable.



And so life goes in the Poling household.