Santa Claus is coming to town...

Actually Santa came to Mayfair mall and Cole begged to go sit on his lap. We met up with Cole's lady friend, Lucy, and waited it out together. Cole and Lucy were both really good, not much fussing and nothing a few puffs and Cheerios couldn't fix. I also enjoyed some puffs and Cheerios, which is one of the benefits of having kids - Kristin always has snacks around.

Cole asked Santa for an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle. Of course Santa said he would shoot his eye out. Cole's initial reaction is shown below.



Despite numerous attempts and 4 adults trying to get him to settle down, relax and smile, Cole continued to cry. And wiggle and cry and scream - I do not think Cole was Santa's favorite visitor of the day.

We felt pretty terrible making him sit up there, crying and reaching for us, so we made it a pretty quick visit. We will try again next year!

I wanted to reference Charlie's visit to Santa in the Christmas episode of It's Always Sunny of Philadelphia but some of our 6 readers might find it too vulgar. If you want to check it out, go here. Thankfully Cole did not draw blood while trying to escape from the Big Guy's lap.

Surprise!

"And my wolf pack, it grew by one." The Hangover.

"Oops!...I did it again." Britney Spears

"Nobody puts Baby in a corner." Dirty Dancing

"All that she wants (is another baby)." Ace of Base

Yes, I am trying to tell you something. We are expecting child number 2. I am writing this as Cole is crawling around with a load in his pants (don't worry I will change him soon) and I am seriously wondering what we're doing. Another one. Yikes. We are just figuring this one out. Accidents, I mean, everything happens for a reason...right?

In all seriousness, we are very excited for the new addition. I'm not sure how thrilled Kristin is to be pregnant again though, but as promised she got the summer off...now it's back to work. I think it will be nice for Cole and the new addition to be close in age. Also, the sooner we have them the sooner they are out of the house and I can retire.

Due date is June 15th. We think Cole will be a pretty cool big brother.

First Haircut

Cole just finished celebrating his last first holiday (Thanksgiving), but the FIRSTS still continue. He just received his first haircut. Kristin and I both agreed a haircut was necessary, Cole's hair was so long that it would stick out over his ears like Doc Brown from Back to the Future. However this was still pretty difficult for a couple reasons:

1) Cole, of course, would not sit still 
2) Kristin looked like she was going to cry, so I was dealing with two babies

I started the cutting and with every snip I could hear a little gasp come from Kristin’s mouth. Yeah, that wasn’t annoying at ALL. I wanted to chop quite a bit off, but Kristin wouldn’t have it and only allowed me to cut the back and around the ears. Actually, I only made it around one ear and then Kristin took over. I could tell she was really nervous watching me, so I let her finish up. She took a few very, very small cuts and was done.

Before

I try in the bathtub

After much discussion, Kristin takes over on dry hair

Terrified he looks silly

Ta-da!

Overall, I think it turned out pretty nice; although anything was going to look better than a baby mullet.

Bad Parents!

St. Nick did not visit Cole this year, we decided to skip. Technically, I guess we have skipped twice on Cole as he was only a few days old last year. We didn’t think much about it but now we feel a little guilty, especially since people have been asking, "Did St. Nick visit Cole this year?" Kristin finally just started telling people, "Yes!" because she was getting such awful reactions. We can't be the only ones to skip this, can we? Cole didn’t seem to mind at all. In our defense, the stocking we ordered for Cole has not arrived, so we didn't have anything to hold his presents. Plus, Cole doesn’t eat candy and  he has plenty of toys, so what would we even have gotten for him? Okay, now I don’t feel bad anymore. I’m glad we could work that out, good talk. Did I mention we are not decorating for Christmas this year? Not even a tree...I know, the HORROR!

Cole has a Blue Face

It is hard to believe that Cole is one year old. He has grown from tiny little baby to a big, strong independent little man. We have grown and learned so much since his arrival. We can't imagine our days without him (although we do still remember sleeping in and how wonderful that is!). FYI - Kristin wrote this cheesey part!

Cole had a few birthday celebrations over the long weekend. The first celebration was on Thanksgiving at Kristin's parent's house. Uncle Ben couldn't make it home from Philly, Jeremy and Karla can't travel because their baby is due to arrive any minute, Amy and Paul and the kids were celebrating in Sheboygan this year and Jess had to work - but despite missing all his aunts, uncles and cousins Cole had quite the crowd ready to help him party. He had both sets of Grandparents, both his Great Grandmas and Kristin's cousin Rob. After rejecting his Thanksgiving meal and instead eating applesauce, Cole dove into his cake. He LOVED us all singing to him and smiled and clapped.

Robot Cake!

After eating his cake Cole had a blue face! A long long time ago, I ate a giant blue gumball. I ended up with blue all around my mouth. Jer and Amy, my loving mean, older siblings, decided to chant, "Nicky's got a blue face." I  hated this and would throw a fit and cry. They thought it was hilarious and even after the blue got washed off, if they chanted, "Nicky's got a blue face" I would react...so of course they did it all the time. So it was funny when Cole ended up with a blue face. Luckily mean Amy and Jeremy were not there to tourture him. And to my friends - I am willing to punch you if we start thinking this is funny again.

Other highlights: Cole got some awesome birthday presents. My mother made Cole and I matching winter hats, which are awesome. The first one she made was huge, so my Dad was also lucky enough to get one. I think we all look pretty good.

Tissue paper was a favorite snack

Yesterday was Cole's real birthday. Kristin and I both took the day off from work and hung out with the birthday boy. We took a walk in the cold and did a lot of playing and tried to teach Cole to say, "I'm one." We met Grandma Debbie for dinner at Balistreri's and Cole ate pizza and cake. Not a bad birthday dinner.

The night before his birthday we started to tell Cole the highlights of his arrival. At 8:30pm (Nov. 29th - Kristin's birthday) Kristin's water broke, then we went to the hospital...and waited and waited. And finally, 22 hours later, on the 30th, Cole arrived at 4:37. He had SO much hair and a bad case of baby cone head. We can't believe it has been a whole year already!

Happy Birthday Cole (we named you Henry for about 56 minutes)!

Say Cheese

Saturday we had a photographer come to our house to take some pictures for Cole's 1 year birthday. We took some family pictures with Bella and then headed to a park near our house for some nature shots. Things went pretty smoothly, Bella even semi-cooperated! And then the worst thing ever happened...Cole was sitting on a bench and toppled over, head over feet onto the top of his head on our wood floors. It happened in slow motion, I remember Nick saying, "oh shit!" and scooping him up to console him. If the photographer hadn't been there, and I wasn't trying to keep my cool, I would have screamed and cried all at once. Cole handled it like a champ and really didn't take too long to comfort and get back in the game. He now has an ugly red bump to show off to the ladies and a gory story to tell.

You can see the sneak peek of our photos here. I think they turned out pretty well, except for my crazy wind-blown hair. Enjoy.

I'm makin' a list...and it's not for Santa

Cole is AWFUL while he is being changed and dressed. Seriously, I can’t imagine a kid being a bigger pain. He squirms, yells, and thrashes all around. Usually he ends up with half his diaper in his little baby butt crack. I have learned to dress him in pretty much any position he tosses himself in, but it is still a pain and a ton of work. He must just love being naked and/or sitting in a soiled diaper.

Anyway, the other day he broke his humidifier. I was trying to put him in some jeans when he decided to throw a fit. In the midst of squirming and turning, he kicked a basket, which in turn hit the humidifier, which fell on the floor and broke. Of course, it not only broke but spilled water everywhere. Granted it is his humidifier, but I paid for it, so I thought it was a little out of line when he started crying. I’m the one out the $30.00.

After thinking about the mishap, I realized that it was completely his fault and was simply a result of misbehavior. Therefore, I decided to make a list of things broken by Cole. If he is successful when he is older, I expect to be reimbursed. Although judging by his parents, I realize this is not too likely. I am not going to count money spent on clothes, food, toys, etc., but anything he breaks because he's being a little shit...it's going on the list!

Most recently Cole broke his Air Tran toy airplane...while throwing a tantrum while being changed, of course! So that is the second item on this list, $10 please.

Cole also likes to steal my pennies and hide them deep, deep in his big cheeks. I am counting those too!

We're Back!

We are back from Savannah, GA. It was a good trip, the wedding was nice and it was fun to hang out with friends. A couple days before we left we were getting pretty nervous about leaving Cole. The morning we left, however, was not as tragic as we had imagined. Cole had a rough couple of nights before we left, up screaming and crying all night long for 2 nights in a row. So when we left on Thursday morning we were functioning on about 2 hours of sleep and all we could really think about was the solid night of sleep waiting for us in Savannah. Which was good, because the alternative scenario was Kristin crying and refusing to go to the airport or trying to stuff Cole in her suitcase...which was already way overstuffed.

Some highlights of the trip revolved around playing a punching game in a bar. I had the high score of the group, 842 (no surprise there). The Bride-to-Be beat Brett in the same game (more than once), and Joe whiffed his 1st punch. Another bar related highlight was Brett singing Karaoke Shy Ronnie style. Gregg and I drove to South Carolina and went fishing and saw how the locals live.

You should see the other one - H U G E

Riverfront

Biggest Ship Ever

Wedding

Fancy

Come Sunday, Kristin and I could not wait to get on the airplane back to Milwaukee and we are very happy to be back home with Cole. Sadly, Cole was pretty neutral about our return, which I find odd since we are BFF's (Best Friends FOREVER!). He is also known as my PIC (Partner in Crime). Kristin gets jealous she is not part of any of our associations, but Cole and I don't really care. Thanks to Grandma Chris, Grandpa John and Auntie Jess for watching our little man while we were away!

Halloween Handout

According to Great Grandma Dorothy, back in her day they did not say "Trick or Treat," but rather "Halloween Handout." I have never heard that before, but it sounds funny. I just picture a little British kid getting it wrong. Anyway...Cole had a good 1st Halloween and did get some great Halloween Handouts.

On Friday, the High family stopped by, so Cole could hang with his lady friend, Lucy. We decided he would be festive, and dressed him in his skeleton costume. Sadly, Kristin said it was not okay to paint a baby's face, otherwise his costume would have looked much better.

Cole is getting pretty mobile and is pretty opinionated about picture time. It is hard to get a good one!

Offering to take Lucy for a ride in his car

On Saturday, Cole sported the skeleton outfit one more time to GG Dorothy's house. We surprised her during trick-or-treat and hung out with her while she handed out candy. She is also known as "Candy Grandma."

Then we headed to the Stear's and put Cole in his lamb costume. I will probably have to apologize later in life to Cole for this one. Looks pretty goofy. Debbie borrowed this costume from the Holt's, their daughter Allie wore it when she was Cole's age (she is now 21)...Cole was stylin' in his vintage costume! After listening to Gregg rattle off a bunch of puns about his outfit, off we went. Our first stop was across the street to Cole's babysitter Suzy's house. She had a special snack size applesauce treat for Cole. Cole is in L O V E with this girl and seemed pretty dumbfounded to be at her house.

Then we went down the hill to the Holt's. They were pretty thrilled to see Cole in Allie's old costume. They also had a special pumpkin cookie treat for Cole. Such a spoiled boy! It was pretty cold, and trick-or-treating with a baby is pretty ridiculous, so we headed back to the Stear's for dinner. And that pumpkin cookie!

Cookie Time

What happened when the cookie got taken away

And on a non-Halloween related note we had to include this picture of Cole and Doug (what he calls Bella, his version of "Dog."). Cole is Bella's biggest fan and gets SO excited when he sees her. She is very good with him and allows him to pet hit her while chanting, "Doug-doug-doug-doug" and squealing. She is probably so patient with him because most of his mealtimes include 5 bites for Bella to every 1 bite Cole takes.

Full Bladders Welcome

As we said, the bathroom is complete. FINALLY!
A quick recap...

Yes, this is a different toilet. That is a long story.

Casualties Along the Way...

And the grand finale...

Kristin and I would just like to thank all those that made it possible...Grandpa John/ Johnny Boy.
Yep, he pretty much did all the work. Not bad for an attorney. Thanks Dad!

Pumpkin Farming Part II

This weekend was unbelievably busy. We finished the bathroom, threw a baby shower, celebrated birthdays and went to the Elegant Farmer. I’ll try to recap, without thinking about the Packer game. That was awful. I also have to try and avoid thinking about one of my fantasy football teams – awful as well. At least I still have one good fantasy team and the Badgers put a hurtin’ on Ohio State, which is awesome.

Friday night we stayed up late and got the bathroom done and house ready for Karla’s (my sister-in-law) baby shower. Well, truth be told, the bathroom is ALMOST done. There is still a little touch up left. As far as I can tell the shower was a success and everyone had fun, which is nice because from a guy’s perspective I question baby shower planning (not at a bar and playing games that don’t involve a ball or scoring...that is fun?). During the shower the boys went to Steny’s  for some beer and food. Cole passed out towards the end. Not sure if he isn't yet ready for the excitement of a bar, or if he got exhausted watching his cousin, Walt, run around in circles and befriend the afternoon bar crowd. 

After the baby shower on we went to my parent's house for dinner and to celebrate all the October birthdays (Jess, John, Jeremy and Nick). We ate lots of cake and had fun watching the kids play.

Footie PJs, who doesn't want a pair of these?

Lisa was nice enough to offer to babysit. I figure it’s okay as long as you can lift the person you are babysitting…not sure why, but it seems like a good rule of thumb.

Apparently plaid is in style

Uncle Ben is home from Philly for a few days so we squeezed in a trip to the Elegant Farmer. Lots of shopping, a hay ride and pumpkins!

Waiting for the tractor

Refusing to look at the camera

Not sure about the hayride

Off to find the perfect pumpkin (surprisingly none in sight in the pumpkin patch)

Aha! Of course we couldn't find any pumpkins, these guys hadn't been by yet to replenish the supply from a big box. Had to document it with a photo just in case Channel 6 decided to do an expose (Kristin's idea, of course). They were also bringing in apples from a nearby farm - fishy for sure

Found two!