Homestead Hit and Run

Living on the Eastside, close to UWM, we are used to a certain level of street noise - mostly coming from college kids around bar time. We actually don't notice it too much and have never experienced a real issue with the kids or their drunken shenanigans. Sure, Bella has eaten her fair share of puke and discarded pizza crusts thanks to their binge drinking and late night snack time, but really nothing that we find to be a big deal. If you feel daring, ask about other things Bella has gobbled down on our walks that are too gross to mention on the blog.

At about 5:15 on Saturday morning we experienced our first "big deal."  Kristin and I heard a loud crash right outside the front of our house. We both got up and looked out the window but all we could see was a bunch of kids standing outside talking. We expected to see a couple of cars in the street dealing with the accident, but all we noticed was a kid limping around. I was about to open the window and tell the kids to shut it when Kristin (a.k.a. Columbo) noticed a clue. Being an excellent detective she noticed a tire track leading right up to the front of our house. We quickly realized that there wasn’t a car accident, but rather one single car crashing into our house. We quickly ran outside to see what happened. Luckily, we saw that the car was stopped by the front retaining wall that surrounds our (dead) landscaping. I’ll give kudos to our neighbor Cosmo, who constructed the wall, and Mother Earth for being able to stop a car dead in its tracks.

We talked to the college kids milling about who explained the story. Apparently, they busted someone "robbing" their house. They caught him with someone's girlfriend’s cell phone in his pocket. They excitedly told us how they put him in a headlock but ended up letting him go.The guy ran to his car which happened to be parked in front of our house.  The robber then decided to try his hand at murder and gunned the car straight at the kids, who had chased him down the street and were now standing next to our stone wall. He actually hit one of the kid’s legs, the "Limper" we had spotted from our bedroom window. He somehow seemed okay and insisted he didn’t need medical attention (probably because he was hammered).

At first we were really grateful that the stone wall protected our house and stopped the car. But after some thought we decided if we still only had a little grassy hill, the car would have hit our super ugly porch and we would be getting some insurance money to build a nice, new porch...

Our poor wall

 Surprisingly no broken stones; but broken parts of the car

I think it may have shifted a little

 But doesn't seem to be leaning though...or does it?

Gross!

We all know that kids comes with a bit of a gross factor (e.g. changing diapers, getting peed on and, due to teething, Cole’s current and constant running nose – he is getting snot everywhere). Our most recent episode occurred the other day. Kristin came storming into the bathroom while I was giving Cole a bath and held, in her bare hand, a petrified turd ball about six inches from my face, which I find to be WAAAY too close.  She first thought it was Cookie Crisp cereal, but luckily thought it through and realized we have never purchased that type of cereal. Thankfully she didn’t pop it in her mouth right away. I would have had the divorce papers drawn up immediately. I just wonder how long we have been living with a little poo nugget on the loose in Cole’s room. Gross. I hope I never touched it.

On a non-gross note we hung out with Lucy and her family this weekend. Ordered Ian's pizza, which was delicious. Kristin made me post this picture. I don't think much of it, but she thought it was cute. 

This one's for you Uncle Ben

Living in Philly, Ben doesn't get to see Cole as often as he would like...an obvious downfall to living on the East Coast and so far away from us.  Ben has requested that we post more video of Cole so he can see him walking, demanding his favorite snacks like pancakes, beans and peas, and pretending to bite Bella and then saying, "no" in his best serious voice. All really important stuff if Cole is the center of your universe and you find most of his antics either adorable or hilarious. It is actually a great request because it will force Nick and I to pull out the video camera more often, something we don't do enough.

We realize not everyone is interested in these little clips so we added a spot for "Weekly Video" at the end of the page. If you want to see Cole's latest trick, it is up to you to scroll down and check it out - no reminders Ben!

Namespiration

I think it is safe to say that naming babies is one of the worst tasks EVER. With the exception of actual labor, I would say it is the most difficult part of preparing for baby. We waited until the last possible second to name Cole, and that decision was fueled by our desire to get out of the hospital and to go home. As we start the agonizing process of naming Boy #2 I have been thinking about other names/faces that we really like; would it be weird to name our baby...

Dylan McKay Fuchs: Would the name guarantee our baby is the epitome of cool?

Seth Cohen Fuchs: Would he be hilarious in a geeky way and such a sweet boyfriend?

Dexter Morgan Fuchs: I think Dex sounds like a really cute name for a little boy - but that doesn't mean he would end up as the friendly neighborhood serial killer, does it?

Aaron Rodgers Fuchs: I don't know...this one is for Nick

Tim Riggins Fuchs: Can't go wrong here - well, except for all the underage drinking and teenage promiscuity...

Anyone I am forgetting?

Thick Feet?

While Kristin and I were at Target this weekend, we decided to look at some hard sole shoes for Cole, now that he is such a big walker. Right away we found a cute plaid pair that looked perfect. We tried them and just couldn't wedge Cole's feet in them. Okay. Fine. No big deal. We moved onto a different shoe of a totally different style. Not even close. Cole's foot was so far from fitting in that shoe we didn't even bother trying on any others. He really does have some super thick feet. Hopefully that will be good for something in his future...professional punter? For now though, I guess Cole is destined to wear sandals. Or his Jack Johnson's, which he does love.

Edit from Kristin: Cole has been featured here wearing a lot of Packer outfits lately, it is important to note that he does have cute clothes and actually doesn't wear "Packer-gear" all that often. But of course, on game days, Nick insists it is a must. We must only take pictures of him on Sundays.

Snow Day Awesomeness

Well, maybe not awesome as snow days of yore when Nick and I would walk down to North Avenue, meet friends for lunch and end up drinking the day away...but still pretty great.

We did some early morning shoveling followed by pancakes and coffee; then we bundled up for some sledding. Cole seemed to enjoy it, although as predicted, the "bundling" took longer than the time actually spent outside, mostly because I could not get my snow pants buttoned. I tried out a variety of closure options before I just sucked in as much as I could and Nick quick snapped me in. There was no bending after that so I just toddled along behind, taking pictures.

Later Nick did MORE shoveling and Cole participated in his new favorite pastime; emptying clean baskets of laundry.

He loved looking outside and saying "Dada?"

In the afternoon the sidewalks seemed clear so we headed out for a walk to Whole Foods - there was so much snow piled on the sides it was like walking down snowy hallways. Then home for some baking and more playing.  Pretty nice bonus day off from work and daycare with my two favorite guys.

**UPDATE**
Nick would like me to add that he did build a sled for Cole, a mis-mash of a toddler swing, a piece of wood and some rope. It DID work, but the neighbors let us borrow theirs - Cole was not loving the reclined position the homemade version had to offer.

Partner in Crime

Our ultrasound yesterday went smoothly, baby is in the 55th percentile and everything looks on track. At Cole's 20 week scan we were told that he had a 2 vessel umbilical cord and we had to have numerous ultrasounds to monitor his growth. We were spared that drama with this baby, but it is crazy that we won't see him again until his birthday - we saw Cole 6-7 times before he was born.

The big news of the day is that Cole is getting a little brother - a willing participant in his naughty antics and a best friend for life. Just like his big brother, he flashed us his jewels within the first 5 minutes of the ultrasound. Nick and I had our fingers crossed for a girl, nothing against Cole (or boys) but just because we wanted "one of each." At the same time, the idea of brothers is pretty cool and we are smitten with Cole - so another little guy like him sounds pretty great to us. I am mourning the loss of the perfect, super cute girl nursery I had planned in my head and brainstorming boy ideas. Last night we pulled out our baby name book and found a list of names we had made when I was pregnant with Cole. Of the 10 names on the list, not including Cole, we still kinda like 2...so we have some work ahead of us. Naming babies is torture!!

Nick is happy that he has a backup now, just in case Cole does inherit my genes...there will still be hope for athletics in the family.