Planes, NO Trains, and Automobiles

We are back from what felt like a lot of travel, even without the trains. We flew to Florida for the week and then immediately upon our return, drove to Schaumburg to spend all of our money at Ikea (see future post for details).

Florida was nice - we stayed at my parent's house with 10 other people so it was WILD. The weather was amazing and Cole had a great time with all his cousins. Kristin and I are exhausted from the trip, Cole NEVER sat still. He was constantly moving and exploring. He raised the stakes a bit and refused to nap or sleep without one of us next to him. So along with sleeping with a sweating, diaper-clad baby he also stayed up WAY past his bedtime - instead of in bed at 7 sharp he went to bed between 9 and 10 every night..and of course, did not sleep in at all. We were happy to see that once home, he got back on his normal schedule pretty quickly.

Cole loved swimming in the pool and never wanted to get out. He didn't mind grass or sand on his bare feet and had fun at the beach. He did look hungover most of the trip because he rubbed sunscreen in his eyes so they were constantly bloodshot. Also - the Florida sun brought out the red in his hair and he looked super gingery.

Super Ginger

Fun at the Beach

Dapper Dan surveying his next move in mess-making

Swimming with Dad

Baby for Sale

In anticipation of our trip to Florida next week, we hit up Target on Saturday so we could stock up on necessities and hopefully find a magic toy that would keep Cole occupied on the airplane. Not sure we were completely successful in either venture...but while browsing the toy aisle we spotted this guy:

Seemed like a pretty great deal so we snapped him up.

In other news, we were pretty sure Cole was speaking Spanish and that Grandma was secretly letting him watch Dora the Explorer and the Telemundo. All weekend, but especially when we were drinking coffee, we were pretty sure Cole was saying "aqui, aqui" and getting really excited about it. Despite Nick taking Spanish throughout High School and my limited knowledge (admittedly, mostly learned from watching Dora), we thought he was saying either "open," or "go." Turns out "aqui" actually means "here." However, none of this matters because after consulting with Grandma Chris we found out Cole is actually saying, "hot tea," something Grandma drinks everyday. So much for thinking we had a bilingual genius baby!

Croup. AGAIN!

Croup can suck it. Yes, Cole's got it yet again. I guess I got croup a lot as a baby so Kristin is blaming this on me. I'm obviously getting pretty annoyed with this sick-baby business. Not only does Cole not feel well, but it significantly affects my sleeping. He's constantly waking up throughout the night coughing and whining; we aren't supposed to let him get too worked up as it makes his symptoms worse so we have to fly out of bed to console him. I get awfully moody if I don't get my ten hours of sleep.

I also discovered the worst thing about croup. I went to give Cole a kiss, he turned and I got a booger on my lip. It was disgusting! It wasn't just a bunch of snot either. This was a full blown, green, stretchy kind of booger. Ugh! I gag just thinking about it. As I've said before, I am planning to cut back on kisses and general signs of affection when Cole starts speaking more, but needless to say, kisses are now being phased out early. I'm not risking boogies on my lip ever again.

Baby Proofing

Cole is much more mobile now and Kristin and I are finding it might be nice to let him out of his playroom "cage" so we can get things done in other areas of the house. Sadly, this involves further baby-proofing of the home.

We recently installed a baby gate at the top of the stairs, a goofy door knob lock on the upstairs bathroom door and cabinet locks in the kitchen.  The kitchen was our priority as Cole loves to empty out cabinets and collect items in a pile on the floor. He also likes to help load/unload the dishwasher and take my beer out of the fridge. He has some serious opinions when you try to clean up after him too.

Puffs in the dishwasher!

Gathering for the collection

Lucky Kristin caught this maneuver before he popped the top on the syrup

He found these coffee stirrers...

licked each one...

and neatly put them back in the container

It is obvious that baby proofing is necessary but I am already finding these new additions to be quite annoying, especially the bathroom door lock.  I think Bella is somewhat upset as well. I am pretty sure she used to spend much of the day on our bed upstairs, but is now locked downstairs. I have a bad feeling she is going to claw and destroy our nice couch as payback. I guess it serves us right for being dumb enough to buy something nice with a dog and kids in our future.

Of course, baby-proofing comes with a cost I would have never guessed. $20 for two magnetic cabinet locks. Seriously? We were also lucky enough to purchase cabinet locks that were apparently an open item without the discount. The dirty exposed adhesive was a dead giveaway. So that was an extra trip back to stupid Buy Buy Baby! Baby gates aren’t cheap either…ok, I’m done complaining. I suppose I should say, "It is all worth it in the name of safety," right?