Birthday Party

The four-year old birthday party was a huge success. I get so nervous about hosting, especially big events (especially when all her friends don't really know each other). The kids painted pots and planted a flower in them. They jumped all over the new trampoline and the bounce house we barrowed. They also had a blast with the water balloons and hose. We had great weather, good attendence, good gifts and Cole slept through most of it. Only one pot broke and I did kind of forget to serve the ice cream with the cake, but oh well. Chocolate or Vanilla anyone?

Crawls, teeth, hi

Cole totally crawls. He has crawled about 2 feet several times today and once yesterday. He just loves to be down and moving. He is now better at rolling himself out of tight spots until he gets over to his tummy to try to crawl or sit.

He also broke tooth number 6 today. That may not be so impressive to those outside the Swank home, but he just broke #4 and #5 this week! He also is working on his jabbering and trying to make things sound like words. His 2 favorite sounds or almost words are Dada and hi. All three of us swear that Cole has said, "hi" to us in response to our talking to him. Does this get a sticker on the calendar?

Teeth and crawling

Cole broke through tooth #5 today. He just got #4 in yesterday.

He's just on the verge of really crawling. He has had forward motion several times, but not very far. But he travels all over the floor with rolling, pivoting, rocking, comando crawling backwards, pivot and roll again, etc. He manages to wedge himself under the furniture pretty good sometimes since he's so good at going backwards. He really enjoys being down on the floor moving around. He also really likes the jumper and still the exersaucer (but he jumps in that too).

Cole really wants me when I come home at night and it is usually time for him to nurse and go to bed. I came home Monday night from work and everyone was in the family room. I really needed to go to the bathroom so when Makaila distracted Cole I ran past to the bathroom. Cole did not like that at all. His happy to see Mom expression turned to "Mom, where are you and why aren't you picking me up?" real quick. It is nice to be needed sometimes.

Upcoming Birthday

Makaila has been counting down the days until her birthday. She is very excited for both the day and the party so we made a paper chain counting down to both. Today we had service on our bathroom and Makail even had to tell the service man that her birthday is tomorrow. It changes all the time as she is more aware of what's going on and time.

She has been a little challenging on her attitude and talking back to her mother. She has pulled out the pattened Makaila foot stomp when she is really frustrated or not getting her way. If you can imagine a big, "I don't WANT to do it" with a foot stomp timed with want. We've also been very busy the last several days and she hasn't had any nap (she's down to 1-2 a week) when she has probably needed one. So combine the over-tired with her being more opinionated and we get a really bad 5:00p.m. hour. Needless to say we've had some time outs again. Makaila even said to me on the first one "I don't usually get a time out." I think that was Monday and there's been at least three since then.

This is not a drill

Friday night we actually heard the sirens! There were tornados touching down in the Dallas/Ft Worth area. We knew it was supposed to come, we just didn't expect to have to take cover ourselves. We were cleaning up from dinner and we heard the sirens. We packed up a few candles, toys, books and water bottles and took cover in Chad's closet. Luckily, it was good timing for our kids. We were in the closet from about 6:45 to 7:30. Makaila loved it! She had the full, undevided attention of BOTH parents. She didn't care too much about the confined space, it was like hiding! Cole played with his basket of toys and then did some non-stop rolling until I put on his pjs and nursed him. We heard a some loud stuff passing overhead, but nothing hit right here. We just got small hail, but on the news later we saw egg-baseball hail and a grocery store lost 1/3 of it's roof.

And this just after having a few snow flakes the day before Easter and Easter being too cold for Makaila to wear a dress last Sunday. This Sunday it got up to 70 and I took the kids for a walk in the stroller. Crazy Dallas weather.

sleep, roll, crawl

Finally! Cole is back to sleeping through the night and NOT waking up at strange times crying for 1-2 hours. Why do they do it? I don't know. I can guess. First learning to roll (occassionally rolling into corners), then cutting his top right tooth (he has 3 now) and then possibly learning to crawl. . . who knows. All I know is that I was so excited last Friday when the first time I woke up was when the alarm went off for Chad. Then shocked to realize when I woke up to Cole it was actually 7:24 a.m.

So keeping this in mind, Sunday was ALMOST commical. Since Cole typically wakes up between 7 and 7:30 I try to wake up a little early to shower and dry my hair before the kids wake up. At 6:40 I hear this faint beeping in the distance. I'm lying in bed thinking that isn't as loud as my alarm, what could it be? Then it hits me - it must be the alarm clock in Cole's room! I haven't heard him yet so I'm up in 2 seconds and crawling in Cole's room faster than an army ranger trying to make it to the clock before he wakes up. I get in unseen, reach up and hit the snooze and just as I think I'm safe I hear him kick his legs up and down in his bed and make a little coo. BUMMER! Later I ask Makaila if she's played with Cole's clock lately. She smiles and said, "yeah, I was pretending it was my video game!".

But why did he wake up at 6 a.m. and then his a.m. nap was only 45 min instead of the usual 1hr 15 min-2 hr nap? I don't know. I just know the kid has the best smile ever when I go get him out of his bed that it almost makes me forget I'm totally exhausted some days.

And did I mention he is trying to crawl? So close. He had motion, just not foward. He rolls all over. He goes into hands and knees and rocks all the time. He either does one or two crawl steps backwards or he tries to go fowards and kind of face plants himself. But he doesn't care. He pivots

Layton Grandparents visit

After Chad's parents visited my parents and Grandma came out too. We kept them busy. One of our main outings was to the Science Place to see Body Worlds the Natural History Museum. Makaila liked the dinosaur that looked like an armodillo and Cole took a nap in his stroller. Makaila also got to enjoy some of her favorite places like Toys R Us, Barnes and Noble and the kids' library. We also went to dinner, hit the mall (grand kids always need a new outfit, right?) and Makaila dyed Easter Eggs with Grammy and Grandma Maxine. Cole showed off his rolling, got to be fed by his Grammy and Great Grandma and got extra cuddles from extra hands. Grandpa T got to come to the Easter Egg Hunt before leaving town.

Swank Grandparents visit

We had a nice visit with Nana and Grandpa Rev. We took them to the Aboritum. The weather wasn't too spectacular, but the flowers were nice. Cole behaved like a champ. He slept when he was supposed to, was happy at the Arboritum, was good at a birthday party and didn't do too bad when they watched him during my working on Monday. He showed off his smiles and his rolling.

Makaila quite enjoyed having many books read to her, getting Sonic ice cream treats and chocolate milk, going to the library with Nana, getting chocolate milk at Starbucks, singing songs with Nana, getting a few new spring/summer clothing items, and all around being spoiled as Grandparents like to do. Even though this was a short trip, the non-stop activity has worn her out and I'm glad we get some days of normal routine before the other Grandparents come next week.

Eating machine

Cole is just an eating machine lately. I know he hasn't been on solids (baby food) for that long, but we're ready for him to move to food. This baby food is expensive. I wish I had stock in Gerber right now! Nana and Grandpa Rev were amazed on their recent visit how long some meals can take because he just keeps on eating. And some times I think Chad cuts him off before he is really done eating.

God Questions

Makaila has just been asking some great questions lately. She has been asking Chad about baptism. She has asked why we can't take anything to heaven. She will ask when is God's birthday. We tell her that he doesn't have one, he's always been around. Then she tells me he can't have been here before everything. I told her yes he was. She wants to know how he can create everything and we tell her she'll have to ask him when she gets to heaven. Then asked me what I think Jesus' voice sounds like. She constantly goes back to the issue of the trinity. She will say something about someone knowing everything. We will tell her no person, only God can know everything. She will say but Jesus was a person and he's God (she says this to us a lot). And then she doesn't like it when we answer that a lot of adults don't understand that either.

Roley Poley Coley

Cole is now rolling lots. He doesn't use rolling to move across the floor, but he will be in a different place in his bed when we go get him now. He has begun rolling tummy to back when he's put in tummy time. Now when on his back he will roll to the side to reach for something. In his bed he always has his cuddle toy, but now he will half roll to reach for his frog and that has usally been moved whenever I get him from sleeping.

2 hours

Don't know what was going on with Cole last night, but he cried for 2 hours. I turned on his aquarium to look at. Chad changed his diaper. I rocked him. I went back to check to make sure he didn't roll over (he rolled twice from back to tummy recently. Only Makaila has seen this new skill). I turned on the lullaby CD. The entire time my body thinks it is time to feed him and it is MORE than ready. He finally slept some. But he still woke up early this morning.

Cole is such a smiley baby. He smiles back at strangers who smile at him. I think Makaila was more reserved with strangers. He definately wants me when I walk into the room, but he will smile back at people. We were out to lunch after church today and Makaila was kissing Cole's hand and just getting him to giggle. So fun.

No naps

Well, I am very sad to say, but it looks like Makaila's nap-taking days are getting few and far between. We began skipping one here and there, which then went to every other day. Lately it has been every third day she gets a nap, but on those days she has one 45 min-1 hour after she goes down she finds an excuse to get back up. On the days she doesn't have a nap she yawns around 5 or 6 and goes down without a peep anywhere between 7:30 and 8. So sad to see it go because she is NOT very good at "room time" or "quiet time". If I let her "rest" too long alone she will lay down and take a nap and then we are right back to a full nap and not staying in bed. So, it is either a DVD on the portable DVD player or just counting on getting only about 35 minutes of her playing in her room. Bummer.

Tub Time

Now we're getting big enough for baths in the big tub. Cole sits so well we went for a bath in the tub the other night. He did fine. He wasn't scared at all. He played with the water and with a few toys. Makaila was very excited to have Cole in the bath with her. Now sometimes she asks if he can have a bath with her. She is even willing to have her bath earlier in the night so he can be in with her.

Park

We've been having beautiful weather lately. We made it for a short trip to the park the other afternoon. I decided Cole was big enough to try out a few things. He played on the grass, took a ride down the slide with sister holding him and did some swinging. His least favorite of it all was the swinging! But we've got to start somewhere.

Cole sits and plays really well. He also likes playing in his high chair with toys after eating, jumping in the jumper and still some in the exersaucer. He likes to be held in standing. He likes to grab for everything. It is quite a challenge to hold him while you are eating because he is grabbing for the placemat, plate, napkin and even the food. He's eating lots of babyfood now and we may begin to make it a little thicker soon (second kid, let's progress this a little sooner - this baby food is expensive!).

He is still not a fan of his tummy time. Or having his nose wiped (it's been running this week). He is getting close to rolling from back to tummy. If there is something interesting to him above his head he will turn to reach for it so much he almost rolls over. Now he's adding the leg too, so it won't be long. We had his 6 month check up and the doctor says he's doing fine. We've about tripled weight since birth.

Cole continues to like to be tickled and just laugh in general. Makaila is getting better at getting him to laugh too. She still really likes him. Only once in a while does she get jealous when he gets attention.

waking up

I don't know what is going on with Cole. He has been waking up in the middle of the night this whole week! A few weeks ago I was worried about my milk supply decreasing so I drank a lot and pumped extra. So whenever he wakes up I'm afraid he truly is hungry. Plus sometimes on the days the babysitter is here he gets a little off his schedule. So the first night I feed him. The second night I feed him, but he really wasn't that hungry. Then I know he's eaten enough and he shouldn't be hungry. So I make Chad go change his diaper and let him cry. Now we're on the third night of crying for about an hour each night. It gets later each night, but it's still happening. And when he wakes up at his normal time later he is just fine (not extra hungry). So I don't know what the deal is, but I sure hope this doesn't continue much longer because I AM TIRED!

writing

Makaila has learned how to write her name. We were impress when she first learned how to spell it, but now she writes it all the time. She also can write Mom and Hi and knows how to spell Dad (but has trouble writing d's). Friday at MOPs she made a picture and she wrote on the bottom of it "Hi Mom". It is amazing how the little things make you feel really good as a parent!

watching and learning

Sometimes Makaila likes to be too much help with Cole. Like when you are trying to figure out if he is done eating or just looking around the room and you are trying to ask him, "Cole! Cole, all done or more?" (with sign language of course) and there is another little person standing a foot away spouting, "Cole! Cole! All done?" The poor kid doesn't know which way to turn.

Today was a little better than that. Our dinner was cooking and I was feeding Cole his solids while we waited for Chad to come home. Makaila pulls up a chair and was sitting there (no concept of personal space) resting her head on Cole's tray and trying to use the corners of it for her carrots she's munching. I tried suggesting more interesting things than sitting there watching me feed Cole every bite, but she didn't go for it. At one point I straight out asked her if she could go do something else and not sit right there. She got all sad (very, very sad look on her face) and said, "But Mommy, when I have a baby someday I need to know what to do. I don't know what to do so I need to watch you to learn." What can you say to that. I'll tell you, nothing.

She also asked me today why can't we bring anything with us up to heaven. She just got a new teddy bear from Grammy and Grandpa T yesterday and she told me she wants to have it a long time so she might want to have it in heaven.

Dentist

Makaila has taken many trips to the dentist lately. She was very excited to go. In fact she was bugging me for weeks to make her an appointment. We have read about every "go to the dentist" books around. Dora visits to the Dentist. Bearenstein Bears go to the Dentist. Little Critter goes to the Dentist. Aurthur goes to the dentist. And I'm sure there are a few more I'm forgetting, but you get the point.

They call Makaila back and I'm in the middle of nursing Cole. I had told Makaila that she might be old enough to go back by herself. So she was all ready. The hygentist seemed surprised Makaila would go with her. They took her around and met everyone in the office. They showed her the chair. They took some x-rays and showed and then came back to tell me about it. Then they went back to do some cleaning. We met them back there and it was hallarious to see. They had these oh-so-cool wrap around sunglasses on her. The seat was totally reclined, but since she is so little she has to scoot up it to have her head on the head rest. She was all kicking back with her sunglasses like this was something we did everyday.

The dentist inspected her teeth and all 4 lower molars had cavities (we knew about 1, but not 4). She has really deep grooves in her molars which make her more prone to cavities. So they suggested they all be filled and the top molars be sealed. They also knew she sucked her thumb from her mouth and talked to me about trying to get her to stop that (and she would receive a metal). That afternoon she told me she tried not to suck her thumb a lot when she took a nap. Of course she didn't understand at first that sucking her thumb for 1 day wasn't enough to get it. Or why her cousin Kate who doesn't suck her thumb couldn't have one.

So, we came back the following 2 weeks. They did one side each time. She did great. They use the gas and that keep her calm. She got to pick the piece that goes on your nose and they call it a piggy nose (it's scented). She thought that was great for some reason. She didn't want her sunglasses for these visits, but she was a great patient. She didn't squirm too much. Now all her cavities are repaired and hopefully the sealant will help the upper ones. I guess we'll need to take Cole when he is 2 not 3!

Jesus coming

Today we were driving in the car and Makaila suddenly asks me, "Mommy when is Jesus coming back to take all the people who know him up to heaven? Is it today or tomorrow?" I don't know if a 3-year old can understand what having a relationship with Christ means, but I was really impressed she understood this much. We talked about how we believe this because it is what the Bible says and since we don't know when he is coming we need to tell people about Jesus so they can know him too. She said, "you can tell them and I can tell them. But not Coley, he can't talk yet." It was pretty cool.