I'm a bit slow to post again, I know...it's been pretty busy around here.
The weekend before Thanksgiving, our little town has a Santa parade...I was really surprised at how big it was. Jack had a great time watching the floats and the animals go by and picking up all the candy. He made off with quite a haul...it seems like a lot of people threw whole handfuls just to him. He was loving it!
Cole was so good and stayed pretty much exactly like this the entire time.Over Thanksgiving, my family was able to make it to see us. It was so much fun to have everyone there, especially since we won't be getting together for Christmas this year.Since we had family in town, we took the opportunity to bless little Cole. We just did it at home since everyone was leaving on Sunday. I liked having it be so small and low key. We're grateful Sasha(a member of our bishopric) was willing to take time out of his holiday weekend so we could do it!
We spent most of the weekend just enjoying each other's company and watching our cute little boys play. We made it down to the nearby outlets to do some shopping on Black Friday (wasn't nearly as bad as I'd expected!). I came back with these little boots for Jack and was hardly able to get him out of them for the next week or so.We also discovered that both Jack and Liam quite enjoy Rock Band. No one else really got to play.We also took the boys to do "gymnastics" at the community center. They had a great time running down the tumbling track. Lindsey and I even did a few cartwheels! (i definitely don't have pictures of that.)
A few weeks ago we got our tree. Jack has now finally decided to leave the ornaments where they are. He's been wanting to redecorate, and often brings me ornaments so I can help him hang them back up
Jack is pretty good playing with Cole. He's always trying to help with him and especially likes to help me bathe him...he uses a cup to pour water on his feet and helps with lotion, too.
Last weekend we had snow on the ground, so Matt took Jack sledding at the little hill in the park across the street. He LOVED it. Unfortunately we don't have pictures of the actual sledding, but we took a few as they were leaving.,We finally got Cole's smile on camera! We've been trying for weeks, but it hasn't worked out. Now we have a picture AND a video! He's such a fun, smiley little guy!

a few more pictures...

Just a few more pictures from the last few weeks. On Halloween we stayed home and carved pumpkins. Jack wasn't so sure about the pumpkin guts at first...

...but definitely liked the finished product. He picked the design and "helped" me carve it.Cole has decided that he will sleep like a champ in the morning for several hours, if I let him do it on his side and on our bed...I'm kind of a pushover if it means a little more sleep before Jack gets up. He is such a snuggly little boy!
He likes to hold his binkie in...he has a hand or a finger on it a lot of the time.
He is a smiley baby just like his big brother was.
Lately I've been letting Jack help me cook. He LOVES it and spends much of the day trying to take a chair into the kitchen saying "I cook, Mama!". He is so proud of himself. The best part is that when he's helped to cook, he tends to eat better (he's been on a bit of a hunger strike lately). This morning after making the pancake batter (and being very concerned about some spilled baking powder), he ate three huge pancakes!

Happy Birthday Coleman!

We went to the hospital late Monday night after I started contractions. They weren't all that strong, but pretty close together. Once we got there, contractions of course stopped...so we walked the halls for a while and were admitted, although I think they'd have sent us home had they not known us. Once we were admitted, labor did start for real, just slowly. I was about to get my epidural meds (they had already placed the cath and used some more temporary drugs), but it was too late, Cole was ready to make his entrance to the world. Matt told me I could push if I needed while my doctor got gowned and gloved etc. Well, that's all it took. Matt saw the head, told me to wait...hahaha...and then delivered Cole bare handed. (It's nice to have a husband with medical training that can step in like that.) Cole is absolutely perfect...he looks just like Jack did, but with even more red hair. He makes sweet like squeaking sounds, but when he gets upset he shrieks. He's the sweetest little thing and we love having him home!
We brought Cole home to meet his big brother on Thursday (no kids under 18 at the hospital right now). Jack did great...he thinks the baby is pretty great so far. He likes to bring Cole toys (especially the little elephant grandma helped him pick out especially for "the baby". He's been loving having grandma here (and so have we)!

This is a video I took not too long ago--Jack is really into "dancing" right now and is always making requests for his favorite songs with motions. As usual, you may want to tune out the singing--I hate listening to myself!



Last weekend we went to a local pumpkin patch to get Halloween pumpkins. They also have a petting zoo and some other fun things for the kids. Jack loved the animals, especially feeding the goats. He also loved going on the big blow up slide with Daddy.
We had our ward Halloween party earlier tonight and Jack went as a cute little elephant. I'm so excited that I got to see him wear his Halloween costume as I am likely to be in the hospital or home with a brand new baby when it is actually Halloween. I'm not sure I'll make costumes in the future as this one turned out to be a much bigger project than I had anticipated...we'll see, I do like how it turned out. By the end of the night he even stopped pulling the "elephant hat" off!"Parade"

Jack started saying "I love you" this week. Talk about melting a mama or daddy's heart! If we weren't wrapped around his little finger before....

Well it's been awhile since I posted and I know there are family members (especially grandmas) waiting to get a picture fix. July turned out to be an interesting month. I had planned to take Jack to visit Utah before my big belly prevented his sitting on my lap for a flight and before my sister moved to New Mexico. Our first evening there we went to visit my Grandma Mare. Unfortunately, she suffered a stroke while we were there from which she did not recover. I'm so glad we were there in time to spend a last few minutes with her while she was still herself. What was supposed to be a fun-filled visit turned into an emotional roller coaster with my mom spending the majority of the time at the hospital. We did manage to squeeze in some fun things for these two cute little boys.

We swam in the wading pool in the yard.

We took them to the aviary and the...water feature(?) at Liberty Park. It's basically a cement mini river/canyon system with little water falls and bridges and tunnels that kids can play in.
We spent lots of ime waiting for grandma and/or grandpa to come home.We also went to the zoo one day with some of my cousins and their little ones. We mostly spent lots of time just having fun watching these little guys interact.
We got back to Michigan just in time to start swimming lessons (the hair in this pic is the result of swimming plus air drying)
We got word the day after we returned that Grandma Mare had passed on and that the funeral would be 3 days later. I wasn't going to go back, but I'm really glad we did. Matt came with us this time. We attended the funeral and the next day was our annual 24th of July party. I can't remember the last time I was able to go to this, let alone the last time ALL the cousins were there. Grandma would have loved it! She was always the life of the party and loved to have her family around. I hope we are able to keep up this tradition for many years to come!
Jack got to attempt his first pinata--he actually made contact--pretty good for 17 months!
We also got out on the boat, something I've really missed since leaving Utah. Jack wasn't so sure at first...

...but really warmed up to it once grandpa let him drive!He also liked cooling off in the lake.
We came back to finish swimming lessons and it is setting in that summer is almost over, even though I really feel like it's just getting started. I can't believe our new little one will be here so soon! So we are busy preparing for that and gearing up for another Michigan winter.

The dog is holding a tennis ball that Jack has decided he wants. She is so good and puts up with little fingers in her eyes and ears and nose and pulling on her mouth without any protest. Jack apparently had this little setup in mind yesterday as he directed me to get his pillow and his frog out of the playpen, then asked for milk. While I was getting his milk he went and got himself a book and met me back at the pillow. It's like he set up a little baby lazy boy.
He tries to "help" when I am cleaning up. He saw this little broom at Target one day and was quite taken with it. It was only $.99 so I bought it for him. It's pretty funny to see what he thinks needs sweeping.
The dishwasher is his favorite part of the kitchen. If the door is down, he is generally trying to climb inside. (and he's fast! I hope the door holds up!)My mom got Jack this little wading pool last year, but I was too chicken to use it when he was so little. We got it out last week and he had a great time. He wasn't really into sitting in it, but he liked to put things in the water and splash. We'll have to try again when it gets warm again and I can let the water heat up a bit in the sun first...I think the main issue was that the water was just too cold.
This is Jack's latest "trick". He walks around all day making this sound. He doesn't do it great for the camera (as usual, he just wants to play with the camera), but you get the general idea.