new addition

big news...we got a Dyson vacuum! i have been wanting one of these for ages. our old vacuum finally kicked it and we went for the big guy. i love it. it has amazing power and is so light...vacuuming is fun again! i hope that because the Dyson is so slick, nick will want to vacuum too. maybe we will start to argue over who gets to vacuum instead of who has to vacuum. a girl can dream, right?

Captions

Pick your favorite!

I just described how Kristin throws a ball.

"Ha, I don't have to go to work, Dad."

"Look in my diaper. I dare you."

"I know Mom wants to marry me. She's ridiculous."

Sorry Cole. I am a little gassy in the mornings. Glad to see you think it's funny too.

"Who wears parachute pants anymore? I wish I could dress myself. "

That smile is worth dancing around like a monkey...I guess.

"Yes, Summerfest starts today!"

We love making fun of Mom in the morning. 

Father's Day Weekend

We had a pretty hectic Father's Day weekend and I will spare you most of the details. I got my present from Cole (I suspect Kristin helped) on Saturday. I was pretty excited they went with the most classic Father's Day present imaginable...the tie. As if the classic present wasn't good enough, my tie has pictures of Cole all over it. Pretty sweet.

Sadly Sunday started out with cleaning out an apartment at our rental building. My first Father's Day morning was spent moving furniture and cleaning up the mess left behind by evicted tenants. The kicker was cleaning out a fully stocked refrigerator that had been shut off for two weeks. One of the worst smells ever smelt.

Luckily Father's Day did get better from there with a pontoon trip and dinner at the Horny Goat Hideaway. Really cool place with mostly outdoor seating. Warning: my brother ordered the "dead heat" wings and with one bite he lit up like a Christmas tree. I took only a little lick of the sauce and it was so bad I would have drank out of the Milwaukee River. These things are not even edible. DO NOT TRY THEM! Even if you think you like hot stuff there is no way you can eat these. Jeremy tried every remedy available and I am sure he is still in pain. Although don't mention it to him because he gets mad if we talk about it.

Three generations

Happy belated Father's Day to Cole's awesome Grandpas and Uncles. He is a lucky little man.

First Words

I don't know the rules on first words...if someone else has to be there for it to count, if it has to be repeated in front of another, etc. Either way, I am making the claim that this morning Cole said, "Hi Dad." I have been, without Kristin's knowledge, saying "Hi Dad" to Cole in the mornings, hoping that my title gets said first.  Say something enough and it seems Cole can repeat it. I guess his next word will likely be "shit" (or something worse - Kristin has a horrible mouth). To Kristin, the grandparents and all of those close to Cole, ha ha. He said "Dad" first. Suck on that, in your face, I win! Below is a pic of Cole laughing about it with me. Looks likes he loves me best.

Future Punter

I have always said that I would do Cole a huge favor and make him start practicing punts very early in life. I figure an NFL punter has to be one of the best jobs ever. It includes a very long off-season, minimum salary of $325,000 and no real pressure (unlike the stress a kicker has to endure). I also bet even punters do alright with the ladies.

I now think this is meant to be and may come true. Cole has been blessed with huge thighs. I'm not sure these things would even fit into my jeans. They are thunder thighs. I am glad it's summer and he can go pant-less more often. It takes quite the effort to shove those chunkers into clothes.

First Fight

When I get home from work, the first thing I want to do is grab Cole to say "hi." After I work all day to hopefully be able to co-sign Cole's student loan someday, fend off an overly hyper and needy black lab,
and snub my wife just to say "hi" to him right away...he refuses to look at me. This seems to be a new maneuver on his part. I will hold him up and turn him towards me and he will look away. Turn him back around and he will turn his head the other way. If he keeps this up we will definitely be in a fight...and he started it!

Busy Weekend

The Fuchs clan had a pretty busy weekend...

On Friday, we (and by “we” I mean me) put together Cole's highchair. He is not quite strong enough or big enough to go in it, but all he wants to do is be upright. We have our fingers crossed this will entertain him long enough for us to quickly eat dinner or change a load of laundry. It is on wheels so he gets a kick out of us playing "catch" by shooting him back and forth in the dining room playroom.

Saturday we loaded up our stroller and walked down to the Lake for some swimming at the Milwaukee Yacht Club. Cole had a couple laughs but overall it is very hard to tell if he is having fun. He maintains a very neutral look on his face while he swims. Maybe this means he is going to take swimming very seriously. I don’t know. Kristin disagrees with me, but I am fairly certain he started to kick a little and even paddled with his hands. I think she just doesn't want to admit that a 6 month old may be far more athletic than she.

After the Yacht Club, Kristin and I ditched Cole at Grandma Chris’s house and went to Verge Fest at the Summerfest grounds. We saw Cold War Kids, Rogue Wave, and Weezer. It poured almost the entire night and got pretty windy. We thought about not even going but after some rummaging in our closet for rain coats (from 7th Grade no less...Kristin said she would DIE if she saw anyone she knew) we sucked it up, got soaked and ended up having a lot of fun. Weezer was awesome.

Sunday we went to pick up Cole and visited with my parents for a bit. Then we headed to Stear's to visit Kristin’s Aunt Sue and Cousin Rob. Cole and I then met my parents on the pontoon. Sadly, I had to deal with more rain. Instantly after docking the boat, it stopped raining, the sun came out and it was a beautiful day. Figures.

After the boat we went to AJ Bombers to try the burgers. This restaurant  is all the buzz in Milwaukee because they have recently been featured on the Travel Channel's Food Wars against another Milwaukee favorite, Sobelman's. AJ Bombers was fine but I vote Sobelman's for the win. Kristin has eaten a Sobelman's burger and said it was delicious...enough said.

The weekend ended with Cole laying on his changing table and getting into his jammies, we were smiling and laughing. Then, out of nowhere, he projectile vomited straight in the air and into my eye. I could smell the formula puke from my eyeball. It was awful and I suspect he did it on purpose.

Stay tuned for next weekend's update. Kristin tells me we are getting Cole's 6 month pictures taken and I have to be in some...and smile. This is going to turn out horribly.

On The Move

Cole is really starting to move around now. He is working hard to perfect his crawling. He will squish up into a little ball on his tummy and then stretch out real fast and shoot himself forward...about an inch at a time. It's nice to see him a little more mobile because he gets so frustrated that he can't do more. However, we are also learning that this new skill has lead to dangerous and reckless baby behavior. When I get ready in the morning, Cole hangs out in his cradle. After the maneuver he pulled today we may have to put the cradle into retirement.  Below is a picture of Cole after flipping over in his cradle (thankfully not flipping out). He just can't sit still anymore and is always reaching for something or trying to go somewhere...slowly of course.