2-Month and 18-Month Updates!

I pulled out the infant playmat the other day and Cole was SO excited to lay next to Lyla for some fun. She was pretty thrilled to have him there too.

But pretty soon the fun turned into a cuddle fest for Cole. He first tries to pick her up and since that doesn't work he lays next to her and pulls her in close. Then he tries to snuggle with her like he does with us - on top of us - but that's not so good with a little baby!


(NOTE: So apparently, one of the time Cole actually got ahold of my camera for a minute without my watchful care he changed the video settings and this awesome video is VERY poor quality. So you'll have to look hard to see what is going on.)

So little Lyla is now 2 Months!! Her well-check went, um, well. She is now 10lbs 13oz. Cole wasn't this big until he was almost 3 months and at that time he was 2 inches longer so he still seemed little to us. I call her my little buddha because she is so cute and chubby like one. I love it! But after saying that, she is pretty average - 50th percentile for weight and head size. She's only 20th for length but that could change in a matter of days really. Lyla still spits up and vomits quite a bit in her sleep - a sure sign that the reflux continues. The doctor says holding off on starting solids has been found not to be true so is suggesting we consider it at 4 months as it usually helps with the reflux. I don't know. We'll see how it goes. She was pretty well-behaved during her visit too but I totally forgot to give her Tylenol when we got home. Cole always handled all his immunizations so well that I didn't even think about it. Well, a few hours later her leg was so swollen and red and she was SHRIEKING. She would try to sleep through it while I was holding her but even then she would wake up and scream. I felt so bad for her. I've never heard her make that sound before. When I finally did get her to sleep, she was exhausted and well, she is still sleeping and it's been 4 1/2 hours!


Now Cole at the doctor's office is a completely different story. He is crying and kicking the minute we walk in. I brought lots of things to try and distract him and once we were in the room alone he was fine but after someone walked in, everything falls apart. Poor boy. I decided to just give him the rest of his shots today (3 left) so we won't have to have any more until he is 4 years old. Hopefully, over the next 2 1/2 years he will get over his fear now. But the nurses handled it all in stride with both of my babies screaming at the same time, Lyla wanting to go to sleep and Cole justing wanting Mama and OUT of there! Can't say I blame him though.

And finally, as promised, the video of him saying "more". I realized today that for a few weeks now he's been saying "door". It dawned on me because he says it the same way he says "more". So I tested to see if it was right. I pointed to the door and asked him what it was. He said "Doh" just as he says "Moh". Eeek! He has been going "Doh, doh, doh" for DAYS. I just thought it was gibberish but it all makes sense because he loves shutting all the doors, going to the doors and asking me to open them, etc. Hmm...I wonder what else he has been saying...???



Whoops! Almost forgot to provide the stats on Cole. He normally floats between the 5th and 10th percentile for weight. Well, for all those who wondered if he really is getting enough to eat (because he kind of picks, although since we've tried to give him more freedom to feed himself and *GULP* make a mess, he eat A LOT more) he is now 20th percentile. Doc was very pleased. He is 23lbs and 32.5 inches tall (55th percentile for height).

Signing Time

Cole and I have been watching clips of signing time videos we don't have on the internet. There aren't too many out there but this by far is his favorite and asks for it again and again so I thought I'd share for all those interested. He has the "Baby Signing Time" series but there are a lot more videos in the "Signing Time" course.

Nick Jr.'s "Signing Time" - Feelings Music Video from NickPress on Vimeo.

Video Overload

So I finally was able to grab Rick's iPhone from him to download all the pictures and video he has accumulated so I could share it with the world. Since a lot of it is old I will just move on but here are some recent videos of Dad's time with Cole.

At the park swinging: I asked Rick why he was screeching at Cole like that. His response, "Because it made him laugh!" Oh. Good answer.



At Gatti's playland on the Carousel. Cole just looks totally bewildered on this ride like "what is going on?" It just makes me laugh.



Saying Lyla. Sometimes he actually says it and other times it's "lalala" and others just the "L" sound rolling his tongue along his teeth. He knows we think the latter is funny so he I think he does that one just to make us smile.



Cole's first sign was "more" and now he is saying it but leaves off the hard "R" sound so it ends up sounding so cute. I have some video to upload from my camera and then I'll post that one along with him smothering Lyla with love.

Today he realized he could actually say "Ball" and so has been saying it quite a bit today. He also can say "Peas" (he loves them).

His new favorite past time is looking at my family picture taken when I was pregnant with him and pointing to all the people. If he can say their name, he tries. He is pretty good at me saying the name and he will point to the correct person. Oddly enough, though he hasn't really warmed up to my sister, Kylene, 99% of the time he points to her right after "Papa" and he even says "Ka". How's that Ky?!?! He is trying to say "Jade" and usually can pinpoint her right away too - no surprise there. They adore each other. But his all time favorite is "papa". When he wants to play with the picture he points to the piano it's sitting on and says "papa".

More Pics from Rick's iPhone:

Cole and Daddy at Chick-fil-A while Mommy is in the hospital with Lyla. (Post edit: this is NOT Chick-fil-A but Gattiland - I used the wrong pic. Oh well!)


Daddy and Lyla a few days old. Amazing how quickly they grow!


Cole loves to be outside. I'm glad that most days are sunny and beautiful here so we don't have to have the battle of why he can't go outside. I'm also grateful for a fenced in backyard but wouldn't you know it, he prefers the front (I'm sure because there is A LOT to explore).

Here he is pushing his mower around. This mower turns into a vacuum inside the house. He drags this thing everywhere!


Yep, he's playing the cool card here.

Picture Post

Cole at the Park - we played with Robert, Beverly and their kids on Saturday. Cole had the best time ever. He loves playing with big kids. Jade is a little mother to him. I love watch them all interact.


Lyla chilling in between naps.


Lyla was sitting in the corner of the couch propped up by the side and a blanket in front. Cole was standing in front of her so she kept trying to lean towards him...so I let her and this is where she landed.


Aunt Kylene and our Princess Lyla


Cole has decided this is his seat too...He loves to sit in the bouncy seat and turn on the vibrations.

Daddy Day

Cole and Daddy spent the entire day together. This was AWESOME for mom as I have been trying to work on an actuarial project in between naps and playtime with the kids. Dad first had to take him to the doctor, which Cole absolutely hates. We are afraid he has a UTI. We should know more by tomorrow. But after that he got to go tie shopping and then off to Gatti Land for pizza and games. Rick said he had a blast. But to end it all he got to play in the water while dad washed his car. I love watching him play with the water. He gets so giddy. By the end of it all Cole was exhausted but you could tell he didn't want the day to end so he still fought sleep. Poor baby! I actually missed him today. But here are some captured moments while washing the car. He is growing up WAY TOO FAST for my liking!



(the video quality is very poor when I upload this to youtube as I was holding the camera the wrong way...)

Happy Easter and More

Tomorrow is Easter and it seems it came too early for me. I didn't get out the baskets or the bunnies or anything at all so it doesn't seem like the normal Easter holiday for me. I blame it on the daze of new mommy-dom.

However, we had an AWESOME visit from Rick's dad and brother, Jim. Jim was a natural with Cole and Lyla. I think Lyla attached herself to him. She was so cute holding his finger and snuggling up with him.


Cole has been having so much to deal with that he hasn't been the best of spirits, but he is an amazing trooper. He is getting all four 2-yr molars at the same time, new baby sister, new home and nap transition - all at the same time. He seems to be coming out of the worst of it now. But through it all, he LOVES his sister. I expected some animosity to creep in towards her but nope, just love. Aww...


I laid her on the boppie and he laid right beside her and put his arm around her legs. I was glad to have the camera handy.

I finally got a double stroller - just an umbrella one - but it works for now. I wasn't sure how Cole would like sharing his space but he LOVES it! He doesn't even want in his previous stroller. I think he mostly loves looking over at Lyla because he does it about every 5 minutes and won't let me pull the shade over her because then he can't see her. He pushes it back up every time. Awww...what a cute big brother, right?


We usually walk to get the mail. We used to do it when Lyla was sleeping because the monitor works all the way to the mailboxes (yes, it is further away than down our driveway). On our walk yesterday, Cole wanted to stop to play with these weeds.


You can see how pleased Lyla was with this momentary stop.


Lyla is growing leaps and bounds and is basically out of anything in newborn sizes. I can't believe how fast that happened because Cole seemed to be in them forever. Seriously, does this look like a 4 week old baby?


She's our little angel and she puts up with a lot as she is often left to "work it out" as I go help Cole or put him to sleep, feed him, etc.


And she is definitely keeping those blue eyes. I can't say this is the most flattering picture but you can see how blue her eyes are so I thought I'd share. And you can see she is getting lots more hair in to fill in the empty front. Yea! If her hair grows as quickly as Cole's, it will be no time before I'm curling it and putting in hair bows. (Yea!)


I've been kept busy this week and am thoroughly exhausted, but all in all it is such a rewarding time for me. I'm so lucky to have this beautiful family!

Borrowed Pics

Jefra got some great pictures of Cole and Cannon together as well as some of Lyla. See her blog for details but here are the pics borrowed from her blog - thanks again Jefra!

Peanut Butter and Bubbles

So I went to get little sleeping beauty out of the car while Cole was in the kitchen...


Little did I know that Cole can turn a half-screwed-on lid and within one minute I came back to this...


My first instinct was to tell him "NO!" but instead I said, "Stay there!" and ran for the camera. He thought it was hilarious too...as you can tell.


Cole loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches but loves to eat peanut butter straight from the jar even more (thanks to Daddy for teaching him that).

Cole is just so much fun every day. I want to squeeze him every minute of the day and smother him with kisses. Some days he feels the same for me because he'll give me hugs and kisses all day. His new favorite way to give me hugs is from behind while I sit on the floor. I just love that he thinks he is surprising me.

Cole's new favorite toy is bubbles. "Auntie B" was kind enough to introduce him to bubbles and even bought the most amazing bubbles I've ever seen. Seriously, if you've never used Gymboree bubbles, you are missing out. They float around forever and you can catch them without popping. I think they have silicone in them or something like that. He squeals with delight trying to catch them or just running in them.


Cole is communicating more and more everyday. He saves his words for only the important things like "Mama" (which is for Mom or for Dad), "Papa" (Grandpa or sometimes Dad too), "B" (for Auntie B), and "Beebee" for baby. And he is just now starting to use "Dada" for Dad - Phew! But he nods his head yes and no with the "yes" being so pronounced and in slow motion it cracks us up every time. He signs A LOT and therefore tells us most things he wants. He understands an incredible amount. For example, if I'm feeding Lyla and he wants something that I can't get for him while feeding her, I ask him to wait until she is finished. "Can you wait?" and then he nods yes and politely waits a minute or two and then asks again nicely, unless of course, he is tired and then everything is dramatic and a crisis. I'm going to add a list to the right of the ideas or words he can communicate either through sign or words so the grandparents can keep up.

We had Jefra and Cannon and Beverly, Ally, Jade and Jeremiah visit for a bit this week. We had so much fun. Cole loves visitors and we loved getting together with the babies and visiting. Jefra had planned to stay the entire week but Cannon got a really high fever and since he was recovering from a recent bout of croup, the doctor thought it best he go get checked out. Cannon is such a calm and happy baby it was so sad to see him so sick! We are going to Austin this Sunday and Monday since Rick was asked by his boss to go to a conference in San Antonio. We are excited to see everyone again!

Growing Pleasures

So finally I have a moment to give an update on Lyla and Cole. First I need to catch up from Jefra and Cannon's visit last week. Cole really enjoyed having a playmate. We had the cutest video of Cole "talking" to Cannon on the stairs but alas, I accidentally deleted it so this one will have to suffice. It's cute just not as funny as the other.



Hopefully, they are coming again next week. Cannon had a scary bout with croup last week so if he is all better then they will be here. So hopefully I'll have more fun videos of the two playing. In this picture Cole was showing Cannon this book but I failed to capture the moment exactly. Oh well, they are still cute together!


Cole really, REALLY wants to play with Lyla. He offers her his food, he tries to run cars on her belly and head, he tries to give her his golf club, etc. Sometimes by the end of the day Lyla has been so bugged by her brother she cries when he comes close. But mostly he just loves to kiss her. He is just like his daddy and does it over and over and over again. It is the most adorable thing ever.

She actually slept a lot during the day yesterday so he hadn't seen much of her. In the evening he kept asking where she was. (He didn't know where she was because we moved her bassinet into the downstairs bathroom so we can't hear her when she lets out little yelps or is settling down at night. Is that weird? Yes. But it works.) I kept telling him she was sleeping but he wanted to see so I brought him to her. He then insisted on kissing her and touching her. So sweet!

We tried going for a walk outside with Cole in the stroller and Lyla in my Beco baby carrier. Well, Lyla didn't like that one bit. She wanted to be free. So we headed home and while Cole played in the front yard I put Lyla in the stroller just to sit, and WOW she loved that.


Cole and I often go play outside in the late afternoon while Lyla sleeps. We have about 100 yards or so before we are out of range for the baby monitor so we go everywhere in that amount of space. Cole loves to play in the backyard but really loves the front yard (aka: the street). So I am teaching him to hold mommy's hand if he wants to go further than the sidewalk. He is funny because he has no problem holding my hand UNTIL we get to the street then he struggles to break free. My little explorer.


Lyla is such a joy and seems easy compared to what Cole was like at this age. She has a little reflux which is what makes her cry out sometimes in the middle of sleep (hence the move to the bathroom). I got medicine for her yesterday. The doc says cutting out dairy might help too but I really don't want to have to have my second child on soy if I can help it so I'm drinking milk in hopes her system will adjust. We'll see. But she is a good sleeper. She goes 4-5 hours between nighttime feedings. Day feedings are anywhere between 2-4 hours. Her awake periods last anywhere from 1 hour to 2 1/2 hours. And she is WIDE awake during those times. I think I've gotten her used to the fact that mommy doesn't play at night so just go back to sleep. Yea! And I think our little girl is keeping those baby blue eyes. The odds of having blue eyed children were against us but I think we may have a winner!


You'll notice a little peeling on her arms and hands. It's actually all over her body. It doesn't make for pretty pictures so hopefully it all comes off soon. I've a horrible habit of trying to peel it off while she's nursing. Our 2 week check up was yesterday and she is a whopping 7lbs 15oz. Usually babies are barely back to birth weight by then. Like I said, she's a BIG eater. Fine by me since it induces lots of sleep. :-) She's also grown 3/4 of an inch and is now 20.75 inches. That puts her about 70th percentile for length and 50th for weight. So she is slender for her length. She definitely has her Grandma Solotes fingers and nails. They are dainty and beautiful and I think of her Grandma every time she holds onto my fingers.


Rick has been so helpful these past weeks. It is easier for him to stay home during the day on account of his work schedule and needs at the country club, so he has been getting up with Cole and feeding him so I can sleep in a little or take care of Lyla. He'll watch Cole until he goes down for his nap at 10 or 10:30. This has been so awesome. I love to watch him with Cole. He is such a fun dad. He adores Lyla and his tenderness for her just oozes out of him. I love my little growing family!

Baby Lyla and Cole

Sorry I didn't get around to updating the blog as soon as I would have liked. My mother has been here until today which meant any free time I had I was forced to take a nap. Although I have been anxious to share my little one with friends and family, I'm glad I napped. But my sisters have done a nice job of posting updates.

So for pictures of Lyla's baby shower go to Kylene's Blog HERE

For pictures of my new niece, Ally Jordan, born 3 days after Lyla, you can go to Kylene's Blog HERE or to Jefra's Blog HERE. I haven't seen Ally yet but we are planning a trip to Cedar Park this weekend to see friends and family and get the two cousins acquainted. My aunt pointed out today that the two girls have the same letters in their first name - how cute!

Well, Cole has been doing so well with Lyla. He obviously likes her and is interested in her but gets a little jealous when he sees her with mom a little too much (like during feedings). He has wanted to be swaddled like her and has often tried to move her and lay where she was lying. I'm assuming this is to get the same attention she got. Here are a couple of videos of Cole checking out this new baby.





We were switching Cole to one nap but he just isn't ready. He was cranky and waking in the middle of the night. So the past three days he has had two naps, or one nap and quiet time in the afternoon, and he is back to my happy baby and sleeping through the night.

Jefra and Cannon arrived this afternoon and we are so excited to have them here. Cannon has grown so much in just the month we have been here. Cole still isn't sure about this other baby playing with his toys. He just watches him cautiously. At least he isn't yanking them from him or hitting him or anything.

And finally here are a few pictures of our precious bundles.

Day 2 of Life:

Learning to play golf:

And already frustrated:

Relaxing

Daddy Time:

Big Brother & Baby Sis:

Lovely Sleep:

With two children I oddly feel like we have a real family, like we were just playing house or something before. Isn't that weird? I love having us all together!