Friday, September 20, 2013

Now that a new "school year" has started up, Abbi has gotten back into the swing of things that is the fall. Abbi started this fall in a new dance class that is an hour long. Its 30 minutes of ballet, and then 30 minutes of tap. She really seems to like both, she hasn't really indicated if she likes one over the other yet.

One nice aspect of the class, is that its teaching Abbi some independence. Because the class teaches two different skills over the course of the hour, the girls need to switch out their footwear independently. So its definitely taught Abbi to be much more confident on her own, and helps with learning left and right shoes.

At home she is way into crafts and coloring. There have been many times where she will sit at the dining room table and color or paint for over an hour. And honestly, sometimes she makes some really cool things. She's past the point of just randomly adding color to a page. She's actually creating something artistic and I'm really proud of her. Also, with Jenn being home with her, they have been working together to create various crafts that they think about putting together.

As her dad, something I thought a lot about this month was the fact that less than a year from now, my little girl is going to start school. I can't believe how quickly time has gone by, and with something like the start of a new school year, its easy to measure just how much time has gone by. The time really does go incredibly fast.

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Saturday, August 31, 2013

I definitely find it harder to write about Abbi on a month by month basis as she has gotten older. With Cole there are still so many little things that you see changing every day, but with Abbi the changes are so much more gradual and happen over longer periods of time than just a single month. That said, for this next year I still plan to write about Abbi each month.

This past month had us out on another family beach vacation, and I think Abbi did pretty well this year with vacation. I remember writing back after our Disney World trip that she was very bossy and showed a lot of behavior problems we hadn't been seeing at home. That wasn't the case on our OC trip. She was her normal self, and that might have been because of our friends presence (her best friend Audrey) and her familiarity with the trailer. We spent the bulk of the week vacationing with great friends of ours, and it really seemed like Abbi enjoyed all the time that she got to spend with Audrey, in what has clearly become family tradition.

In association with her birthday, or thereabouts Abbi got a new playhouse and swingset. She absolutely loves it. LOVES IT. There isn't a time that I go outside, that she doesn't ask me if I'll push her on the swing. She likes playing with her friends up in the playhouse as well, but for now, the swing portion seems to be the biggest hit.

Developmentally something we've noticed about Abbi is that she is very aware of numbers. Numbers in real life and doing simple math. She sees things and can add them up, basic math like 2+2 type things, and she seems to see the number patterns in things. Like a beach umbrella, divided into 6 color sections. She saw that recently and commented that there 6 triangles, 3 red, 3 white, and that together it made 6. We've commented often that she seems to have a "math type" of brain, which isn't to surprising given both my background and Jenns.

And finally, a good portion of the last month has also been spent learning to ride her new birthday bike. She goes through hot and cold spells with it, but overall seems to truly enjoy riding her bike. I hope its something she'll really get into over the next year.

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Friday, August 30, 2013

My little man is a year and half old, and just like every other post, its unbelievable. What makes this milestone a little harder to swallow is that it comes with a doctor visit. Cole's checkup went very well regarding all of his health milestones. He's still a little guy, but he's growing, and working his way up into the higher percentages. No more 10th percentile for Cole!

Also at his checkup, his speech was a topic of long discussion, and as such Cole is scheduled to meet with the people from the Anne Arundel County infants and toddlers program. This program will evaluate Cole's speech, and determine where he is on the spectrum of children his age, and help determine what the best course of action is, to try and get him on track and where he is supposed to be with his speech, given his age. In short - he doesn't say enough words, and we knew this going in the appointment. What he does say is mama, hot, cup, and everything else is da. Sometimes I get a dada, but mostly just a da.

I mentioned last month that Cole was pushing out more teeth, and at this point I can now say that he's rocking a full set of baby teeth. He's been a teethy monster his whole life, he's now got a full set to show off. Which of course helps him tear through some food like a little monster.

Finally, Cole had an awesome vacation. Last year vacation for Cole was spent sleeping in various places. This year he got to experience the beach, and he seemed to love it. Anyone that knows Cole, knows he loves his sandbox, so with that in mind, you can imagine how much he loved being at the beach. I think he ate about 2lbs of sand while we were there too.

I think he enjoyed the time to be independent, but also being able to play with the girls, and adults. He seemed to have a good time digging holes with Jake and I, so I have a happy feeling that I'm helping to raise another life long beach hole digger, and I'm happy to welcome him to the team. Just like with Abbi, watching Cole grow up is an amazing thing, something I try really hard each day to keep in perspective and cherish as much as possible.

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Thursday, August 15, 2013

Cole doesn't really seem to get any "bigger" with each passing month, he just seems to get a little bit older. He's still out little guy, and I think its going to be that way for a while. Now that summer is here he's finally steady into shorts and t-shirts, but he's still rocking some 12 months clothes.

Cole's speech hasn't changed to much, he's still sticking to the same basic words, most of which sound like "da". It really seems like 90% of what he says is some form of "da". At Cole's 18 month check up they will evaluate his speech progress and determine if we need to do anything about it for him.

Cole has been busy loving summer, still completely obsessed with being outside, and playing out there. He loves the hose, and any random toy that might be outside for him to discover.

And in a development that seems almost completely implausible, Cole appears to be growing even more teeth, working out his final front four teeth, his canines.

Cole is such a sweet little kid and seems to have such a sweet and calm persona. Now calm is relative of course, relative to him not being pissed off and upset about things only baby's find upsetting, but - he's still a pretty calm kid that we love a ton.

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Tuesday, August 13, 2013

I can't believe Abbi is 4 years old. It truly seems like she just turned 3, and 2. It seems like just the other day she was starting to talk in multiple word groups, and now she just talks, incredibly well I will say too.

I suppose I'll stick with Abbi's speech as the first mark of the past year. She is incredibly articulate, and has a fantastic vocabulary. Jenn and I often look at each other when Abbi uses new words and I'm always amazed at how well she's able to incorporate them into her daily life. She truly is a sponge for words, and is just soaking it all up.

Jenn says that Abbi seems to have a head for numbers. She doesn't care to much about learning to recognize the alphabet, but numbers is a different thing. She gravitates towards them. She finds patterns and math in everyday life, and we of course infer she's got a "mind for math". Which I suppose is only fitting for our kid given our backgrounds.

The past year brought quite a few new social aspects to Abbi's life with her beginning a kids program at church and joining dance. She's done fantastic in both. Of course Jenn makes sure she has perfect attendance for these things, but once she's there, she does great. Abbi is a fantastic listener, and rule follower. She's not quite a taddle tale, but she'll come home and tell us about people who broke the rules, and you can clearly see that its pissed her off. Which I like. She likes people to follow the rules, and thats a good thing.

Much like last year, there has been a lot of adjustment for Abbi with Cole. Cole keeps getting bigger and bigger, and with that comes more strength. Which means he is slowly learning to fight back against Abbi. To which Jenn and I have had to become much more vigilant in watching them to make sure they don't explode at each other. But for the most part, Abbi is a very caring, loving big sister to Cole. She wants to play with him and include him in a lot of things, and I can truly see that she loves him deeply.

As for me, as her father, its been hard sometimes. As she's continued to grow, the past year has been tough with the addition of Cole. They both want Jenn. Abbi rarely accepts me as the consolation prize to wanting Jenn, which often results in tears. Abbi and I though have a very special relationship, one that I truly treasure. There are a few things that are special to us, and I love that about her and I. I think I've finally ingrained in her the idea of "bone crusher" and "butt crusher" hugs, in such a way that one day I hope they are passed on to her children.

Abbi is extremely special and smart in ways Jenn and I could have never imagined. She has such a playful personality that is extremely infections and great to have around. Just like I could imagine life with kids four years ago, I can't imagine my life without Abbi at this point either. She's just that special.

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Saturday, July 27, 2013

Jenn's had the opportunity recently to take the kids to Six Flags America, which is close enough to call it nearby. I wasn't to sure how Cole would like it, but he's loved it both times. I'm excited to take him to the water-park in Ocean City we've decided to go to this year.

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Friday, July 26, 2013

At Abbi's party she wanted a pinata. I'm not sure why. But we had one. Grandad helped me hoist it up under one of the pop-up tents, and the kids went at it. It didn't really bust open until the last kid, Abbi's much older cousin Damien got a few good hits on it. But as soon as the smallest little item came out, the kids made a dash for whatever they could get. It was funny to watch. Abbi really seemed to like having the pinata, so I'd say it was worth having.

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Thursday, July 25, 2013

At Abbi's recent birthday party we got a watermelon out for all the kids that were there. As kids tend to do, they of course loved it and devoured it. Four of the girls were all sitting around the firepit enjoying theirs so it made a great opportunity to photograph them. Abbi had a great time at her party, and I'll be sharing a few pics over the next few days.

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Wednesday, July 17, 2013

I work 3 nights a week for a side-business, and so many of the those nights Jenn lets Abbi stay up late with her and watch TV before bed. Every once and a while Cole will get to stay up extra late as well. And in this instance they both got to share some popcorn in the process. What I love here though is how intently they are both watching TV.

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Tuesday, July 16, 2013

The other day in the car, Cole and Abbi were playing together in the car. He would look at her and then she was making funny sounds and he would crack up laughing. This shows the progression of laughter he had.

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Friday, July 12, 2013

Over the past year I've been documenting on Twitter some of the random things that Abbi says. I've used the hashtag #abbisays to keep track of them, and thought it would nice to put them all up as a post today, the day before her fourth birthday.

  • Cole is telling himself a bedtime story (while crying in his crib).
  • I get to get my face painted AND popcorn. WOW!
  • You can't be mad at ME and Cole. We're just kids.
  • Fart your engines!
  • I'm a jacket. You wanna wear me?
  • Mama. Would you turn the light on for a second? I can't see these spoons!
  • Ewwww - you have finger tips on your fingers.
  • This trick or treat is fun.
  • If I ever do anything, like break this window, I won't be I'm trouble.
  • I'm talking to the window.
  • I love going to Hershey Park!
  • I love Ocean City!
  • Hey mom and dad look at me! Keep your eyes on me!
  • I can say a lot of things (after saying refrigerator)
  • But I want to watch it. I like it. Its my favorite movie. What is this?
  • Mommy I wanna get outta here. Let me outta here!
  • I wanna go to toreo us (Toys R Us).
  • Now everyone has toothes. Mommy and daddy and Abbi and Coley!
  • I'll be old and big like mommy. Then I'll wear these clothes
  • Poop your farts in your pants.
  • "They are rainbow cheerios" - regarding her goldfish
  • "All of it was the happy part" - regarding her 3 year birthday party.
  • Me: do you want to be Cole?
    Abbi: No. Because I like being a girl.
  • I want some of that pink ice cream, like at grandpa's house.
  • Where's the other lady (referring to Christine upon the arrival of nana and Cara)
  • I like this watermelon (said while licking a lemon)
  • I take my vitamins and I grow bigger and bigger and bigger and then I'll meet the Incredibles
  • Me: "sit on the couch Abbi"
    Abbi: "but I need to drink this milk".
  • Just let me finish this part and then you can have it [the iPad]
  • She keeps calling the beach trailer the "hotel"

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Thursday, July 11, 2013

I wonder if Cole will like playing golf when he gets older? I have no idea? But I know he loves playing with golf clubs currently, as you can see in this picture. He started by playing with his toy club, and has worked his way up to an adult sized club.

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Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Jenn and I were talking last night about the fact that the kids are starting to "play together". Not necessarily always well, or nicely, but they are playing together. Often times when I try to take pictures of the two of them, Abbi is all about it, and Cole wants nothing to do with it. So then Abbi tries to get Cole interested, and in turns seems to irritate him, and then it just gets worse and worse. This picture kinda shows that. She's got a nice big smile and Cole is pushing her with an irritated look on his face. Priceless of course.

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Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Big news for Cole in the last few weeks. Cole has had numerous visits to the Ear-Nose-Throat (ENT) doctor over the past few months, all in an effort to the volume of fluid in his ears. Finally, a few weeks back, Cole had a scheduled appointment to get anesthesia so the doctor could get a good look at his ears. Once they were able to get a good look inside they determined that he was not in need of tubes in his ears to control the volume of fluid. Which was of course great news for Cole and us.

Cole has been saying a lot of new words and sounds over the past weeks as well. He's finally starting to say "Ma-Ma" with much more frequency. He still doesn't really call Jenn mama to get her attention, but he'll at least repeat it with more frequency. We're working with him constantly saying words to him, encouraging him to repeat after us before we give him the object of his desire, such as cup, fork, up, down and so on.

He's still just a "little" guy. He fits good into his 12-18 month shirts, but shorts - not so much. His short little legs make 12-18 month shorts look like "short pants". Basically, ridiculous looking. I'm personally waiting on some kind of growth spurt from him to help him fit into some of his summer clothes before it starts getting cold again.

Now that Jenn is off for the summer, Cole and the kids come in with her to wake me up each morning. Its really fun because Cole likes to roll up onto me, an grab my face and start talking to me. While I'm still half asleep sometimes, its still really cute, and its time that I enjoy with the kids each morning. Its definitely something I'll miss once Jenn goes back to work.

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Tuesday, July 2, 2013

I want to write about Abbi sooner than later, on the past few weeks because I want to try and get back on track with the writing about the kids as Abbi gets ready to turn 4 in a few weeks.

The biggest thing to happen in the last "month" - Abbi had her first recital. I wrote about it, and my thoughts on it already, but I'm still in awe of her and her ability to get up in front of such a large audience and perform so well. I'm really proud of her, and what she's been able to do. Especially her desire to stick with the activity, and her genuine interest in it.

And speaking of activities, just this morning Abbi started another one. Jenn is taking her to a local gym for swim lessons. She started out the morning not to interested in going, and by the time she was done she loved it, and I get the feeling she can't wait to go back for more. Again - I'm really proud of my little girl for doing so many things, and being open to doing new ones.

Those are probably the two largest things for Abbi over the last few weeks. She's still a great big sister, but I'm noticing more and more, the jealousy between her and Cole as they fight for our attention. Something that I'm sure isn't going to be resolved anytime soon. From my perspective its hard. Its hard to juggle both kids, especially when they both want your attention. I even struggle to give Abbi attention when she's requesting it over her mom. Its a constant struggle, and even more so to try and teach her the right way to interject, and join the conversation.

I'm really excited to see my little girl turn 4 in a few weeks, but at the same time, its so hard to imagine how quickly the time has passed. Thankfully I've got almost 4 years worth of writing about her to sit back and reflect on and remember how we got here.

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Wednesday, June 26, 2013

This is another picture from the O's game last weekend. Abbi wanted to take the sun hat she got last year on Mothers Day to the game. I think part of her reasoning was in hopes that it would help her get on the jumbotron. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to get her on the big screen. It did however make for this cute picture!

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Tuesday, June 25, 2013

For Fathers Day Jenn took us all to the O's game. We all had a good time, and it was good to spend some time with Cole. He is however, quite a task to keep contained in such a small area, for such a long time period. I intentionally picked seats in the front row so that he wouldn't be able to harass anyone else in front of us. In this picture you can see him laughing, which he does more, after of course I had tickled him to get the smile.

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Tuesday, June 18, 2013

This past Saturday Abbi had her first official dance recital. For the last year she's been going to Dancers Dreams, a local dance studio. She's been participating in a program called "Movement" which i suppose equates to super-basic ballet. They danced to a song called "Desperate for a Dog", and Abbi did fantastically. I'm biased of course as her dad, but in my opinion she was great. It was awesome to see our little girl up there on stage in front of a few hundred people performing. Jenn and I are definitely very proud of her!

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Monday, June 10, 2013

Over the past month we've seen quite a transition for Abbi. Over the past few weeks Jenn and I have taken note of the fact that Abbi has really started to grasp the manners that Jenn and I have been working to instill in her. She's still an almost 4 year old of course, so she's pushy and upset when she doesn't get her way, but she's extremely well behaved these days, and definitely listens and follows directions well.

As we gear up for her fourth birthday, which by the way I can't believe is almost upon us, Jenn and I have started working with her on her alphabet. I'm sure if I've documented it before or not, but Abbi can write "Abbi Harrah" on her own. The Harrah part is a bit rough at times, but you can get the idea. Jenn has been working with her on the rest of the alphabet, and we're coming along.

As for counting, another thing we work on together, she's got 1-13, then jumps to 19, 20. For not conceivable reason. I'd think that 14-18 would be easy since they are just a variation on 4-8, but then again, i'm not her age, so that might have a little bit to do with it too.

On the fatherhood front of things, Abbi recently wanted to get married to me. So Jenn helped put on one of her dress ups and we "got married". Jenn watched. The ceremony was pretty much Abbi walking up to me, giving me a kiss, and then we danced. It was a special moment as a dad, especially since we've got one boy and one girl. I experienced that moment, but at the same time flashed forward to a moment 2 decades from now I hope to experience. Jenn videoed us, and afterward commented that she knows I'll be glad to have that video years from now. I know shes right, and I'm glad to have it now.

Abbi is a special little girl. I'm sure every father feels that way about his daughter, and honestly - I'm not different. I love my little girl. A tremendous amount.

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Friday, June 7, 2013

There haven't been any major developmental changes in the past few weeks with Cole. He's getting better and better at walking, and I think he's spending the majority of his energy doing so. He's able to walk around really well now, and able to get up and down if he falls, or wants to sit down. We've been working with him on going up and down stairs, mostly the down part. Because he loves being outside so much, its important that he learn how to go down the deck steps.

He's been busy growing a few new teeth as well. He's now up to 14 teeth, two opposing "I" teeth have come in. He seemed to handle those teeth coming in, a lot better than he did ALL of his other teeth.

If Cole's desire to go outside is any indication of him as an adult, he's going to be some kind of outdoorsman. He absolutely LOVES to be outside. He can't get enough of it. Sometimes its cute, and other times it drives us crazy. He will go over the sliding glass door and stand and say something that sounds like "side". He'll also bang his hands against the door to indicate he wants out. And if we don't let him, he gets super pissed and cries. A lot.

Even with that, he's my little man. I love the guy a tremendous amount, and just like every other month, it awesome to see him growing up.

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Thursday, May 23, 2013

While I've been putting the playset together in the backyard, Cole has been very interested in everything going on. He's particularly interested in the tools being used. The other night while I was using the drill I had set it down for a few minutes and Cole picked it up and started to try and use it. Its of course to heavy for him to really lift it up, but the was this picture looks, it looks like he's actually doing something. I like that he was interested in what was going on. I look forward to the days ahead where we get to build things together (just hopefully not this involved).

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Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Last week we went the annual local carnival. Each year that goes by Abbi seems to get more and more excited about going. This year she was super excited, and our good friends were able to come with us and Abbi and Audrey were able to ride all the rides together. I took this picture of Abbi on one of the rides, and clearly you can see she was having a great time.

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Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Here's an image that I think gives some insight into the Abbi's imagination. A few weeks back we bought a new patio set and had all the chairs in the garage to get things setup. Abbi arranged them all into this fort setup, and then staged herself in the middle of it all. At one point I know she was using it as a storefront asking Jenn and I what we'd like to eat. And then writing the orders down in her notebook.

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Friday, May 10, 2013

Last week we went out for lunch and we brought some food for the kids. One item was a cheese stick for each kid, which at about the halfway point, Cole decided to shove the rest of into his mouth. I wanted to see if he'd show me his food, classic "boy" style, and he did me proud. As you can see!

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Monday, May 6, 2013

Cole likes to point. At everything. He points where he wants to go. He points at us. He points at himself. You can see in this picture of him, he was was pointing at me. We're not 100% sure why this developed, but my guess is, that is it is because I have been pointing at him since he was about a month or so old. And I think its a learned behavior that he's adopted.

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Thursday, May 2, 2013

Its often hard to try and identify changes distinct enough in Abbi month to month at this point. This month is one of those months. I don't feel like there is a whole lot different today, from what I wrote about a month ago.

That said - a month removed from our Disney trip, Abbi's behavior has definitely stayed on the improved side of things. She listens well, is a "good kid". Unlike what we saw at Disney World. One thing that has improved is her sleep. She much more consistently goes to bed easily and sleeps through the night. Finally after over 3.5 years, Jenn is getting some full nights of sleep. We didn't do anything different, Abbi just kinda "grew out" of the bad sleep habits.

I think I mention often when I talk about Abbi, but she loves her brother. And we see if often. Many nights she chooses to sit next to her brother at the dinner table, which means she's the one responsible for feeding him. She'll share her treats with him like ice cream, lollipops and popsicles. Its really cute and heartwarming to see.

This picture of her sums her up these days perfectly. She very often has a bright smile on her face. She loves to be photographed, and she's got a ton of personality. The fact that she's posing like this I think shows off her unique personality, which we of course love, and love her for.

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Tuesday, April 30, 2013

I can't believe how quickly the time has passed since I last wrote about Cole. I'm going to go ahead and officially adopt the same model for writing about Cole that I've adopted for Abbi. That being that the information I post will be accurate as of the day it was written (as opposed to writing about him today, but omitting events of the past 2 weeks, since he's been 1.3 Years old.)

That said, we've got big news on the Cole front. Little man is walking around like he owns the place. He spent quite a few weeks working on going from me to Jenn and back. He would hold onto things and walk 3-5 steps and then fall. Now he's walking pretty good distances (able to be measures in feet instead of inches).

Its been awesome watch another kid of ours figure out the whole walking thing. We of course realize "its all downhill from here", but its still incredible to see the little guy learning how to walk. He was at first motivated by coming to Jenn or I, but overtime we've been able to motivate him with other things, like going outside. He does well in shoes, barefoot, in socks, jammies, whatever it may be, he's doing great.

I haven't mentioned it in a long time (so far as I can remember), but Cole is an awesome sleeper. He goes down for bed between 8:15 and 8:30 each night, and sleeps through the night, with a rare wakeup, and then wakes up (often by pooping himself) around 6:30/7.

And since I mentioned him pooping, he's taken to the classic kid habit of going off alone while he poops. I can't wait until he can talk better, and I so desperately hope he repeats Abbi's habit of saying "pooooop" while he's doing it.

Cole is such an awesome good natured, happy little guy, and its a really incredible thing that Jenn and I get to raise both a boy and a girl. Especially such a happy little guy.

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Thursday, April 18, 2013

The other night Jenn took Abbi to the dance studio for their official recital pictures. Abbi had to get dressed up in her recital outfit, and head on over for her pictures. They took individual pictures as well as a group picture. Jenn said that Abbi did really well, and listened to both the photographer and teacher as they gave instructions. This is a picture of Abbi practice posing at home before she left.

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Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Cole seems to have mastered all cups. He loves to drink, and will take it in just about any form. Here he's enjoying a nice juice box. At home, when he sees Jenn and I use big cups he always wants some. He typically uses some for of sippy cup, but thats mostly to prevent the eventual spills that come from straw type cups.

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Thursday, April 11, 2013

Abbi loves the carousel. So she was of course elated to be able to ride it at Magic Kingdom. Of course because of lines and such she only rode it once, but she had a great time riding it.

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Cole got one of his first rides on a carousel at Magic Kingdom. He seemed to like it well enough, and I'm sure Abbi's love it it will rub off on him as times goes by.

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Monday, April 8, 2013

Yesterday (all weekend actually) with the nice weather the kids were outside playing together. I got this picture of them sitting together at the picnic table playing with Abbi's cash register toy.

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Friday, April 5, 2013

One day I might actually write some of these reflections kinda close to Abbi's actual day of birth. Not this month though.

I wrote last month about Abbi and her drawing. She's progressed even further in my mind, in that now she's taken to actually writing on the lines on a paper like we would. Yesterday she was walking around with a little notebook taking notes, pretending to be a doctor. She wrote/drew things all over the page, but they were all on a line of the notebook exactly as it should have been. Made me proud to see it.

Speaking of playing doctor, Abbi's imagination these days is off the hook. Last night she was playing doctor. Other times she's playing mom (where Jenn is our other kid). She's also very creative when it comes to making up songs and words. She very often sings her own songs, and sometimes they are to a recognizeable tune, and others, they are a complete Abbi originals.

Behavior wise, Abbi is about the same. Our recent trip to Disney was a bit exhausting, but we believe that to be more a product of the environment and circumstance, than an actual settled behavior. That said, she was demanding and moody while we were on our trip, but now that we're back home she's happier and a bit more easy going.

Just like always, I'm excited to be able to watch my little girl grow up. I'm so incredibly proud of her and all the things she can and does do. I tell her everyday how beautiful she is, just so she knows.

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Monday, April 1, 2013

This is picture of the kids from yesterday. Not much to say. Abbi picked out her dress, and then we picked out a sweater for Cole that would coordinate well with it!

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Thursday, March 28, 2013

Its been crazy trying to find time to write about Cole and the past month of his life, but I'm finally getting down to it. Much like the past few months, Cole has been growing and changing bit by bit.

I mentioned last month that he was teething and since then he's been rocking 12 teeth. His molars look like giant chicklets stuck in his gums. Its really funny to see him smile and laugh and see those giant molars in the back of his mouth.

Cole had his 1 year checkup a little later than his first birthday, but with it came some updated stats. He's still little guy, only in the 20th/25th percentiles for his height/weight and head size. So he's definitely small, but the doctor said based on my height and Jenn's that we should expect him to even out around 5'8" by the time he's an adult. So thats good to hear.

He's still cruising around things, and his little jello legs, as I call them aren't helping him learn to walk any better. I'm sure he'll get there, but for now he seems very content to crawl every where he wants to go. As for food, now that we've hit the year mark, we've got the green light for all foods, and that boy eats. Eats like a man. He definitely eats way more than Abbi. And for a lot longer.

Overall, month 13 has been very similar to the last 12, all pretty awesome. Its great to see another kid growing up thats mine, but at the same time so vastly different from his sister.

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Friday, March 15, 2013

This is another picture of one of the kids while we were out. We've spent a good bit of time out shopping these past few weekends gearing up for an upcoming vacation. He was playing in the cart, having a good ol time too. This face you see here, this is very often the face of Cole. Just laughing about something, and being a happy little boy.

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Thursday, March 14, 2013

I think two weeks ago when we went out shopping over the weekend Abbi was obsessed about pretending to be the "mom". I was the dad and Jenn was the kid and Cole was the baby. This scenario went on for at least and hour and half. Its a cute scenario, that she thoroughly enjoys. I personally think she likes being in charge the most, but I'm not certain. This picture came about because she was wearing the "Mom" sunglasses for full effect.

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Tuesday, March 12, 2013

One morning Cole decided to unroll the toilet paper. I wasn't around and Jenn took this picture. It cracks me up to see his face and see how proud of himself he is for making such a mess. If you don't watch him closely Cole definitely gets into things he would be better off staying away from. Such a little boy.

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Thursday, March 7, 2013

Abbi's at the age where she's curious about everything, and touches everything. While we were in Target the other day she saw these bunny ears and had to put them on. Which of course meant I had to get a quick picture of it. My little cuttie.

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Monday, March 4, 2013

The look on Cole's face here is perfect. So often these days there is look of mischievousness on Coles face. And you can see it here perfectly. If you tell him not to do something, he'll look at you, smile and then often do it anyways. He's clearly playing with us, and having fun, but its also interesting to think about it from an adult perspective with regards to what kind traits it shows for Cole to have this type of personality.

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Friday, March 1, 2013

This has been a trying month with Abbi. I think with the grand observance of Cole's first birthday, Abbi has struggled to feel as important as she wants to feel, and so we often find her acting out in a way to get the attention that she wants.

She constantly asks Jenn to hold her, something I think is directly related to the fact that Jenn holds Cole often. Abbi will get very upset if she doesn't get her way, often creating a mini-tantrum to express her displeasure. Unfortunately we've been struggling to figure out exactly how to deal with these displays. We're working, and its definitely hard. Its hard for me as a dad, because it just doesn't make sense. She could definitely get what she wanted if she acted in a more calm/rationale way, something she does understand, but clearly at 3.5 can't really turn on and use all the time.

From a development perspective her writing and drawing has taken some massive steps forward. She's moved on from drawing random lines on the page to drawing shapes and collections of shapes that represent different things to her. She often tries to replicate things that actually exist, and does a decent job. Also, she's now coloring inside the lines. This wasn't something we ever stressed, it just kinda happened naturally. One day we kinda noticed that she was basically staying inside the lines. Its probably related, at least somewhat, to the way we color with her, obviously inside the lines.

Abbi is also doing better at writing her name, and we're working with her on recognizing different letters of the alphabet. I'll say this - its definitely an uphill learning curve.

There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of my little girl and smile. She impresses me, CONSTANTLY. Every day she seems to do things that are more and more amazing. She's doing fantastically in dance and rainbows and really seems to like both of the activities. I just can't believe how quickly time is going by. For her I'm sure it seems like forever between birthdays, but for me it seems to speed by way to fast.

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Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Over the weekend we took the family to Arundel Mills to go to the Disney store. We wanted to go ahead and get some stuff for our upcoming Disney trip. We got Abbi a bunch of new shirts, and a cup. This way we won't have to overpay for it once we're in the park. While at the mall we also decided to do some Easter shopping, which turned into clearance shopping for the future, which turned into Abbi getting this hat.

All that said, she looks super cute in this hat. What's amazing to me as her father, and me knowing my wife very well, Abbi has personality traits that are ALL her own. They don't come from me, and they aren't coming from Jenn either. Its so awesome to see my little girl growing up, and becoming her own amazing little girl.

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Tuesday, February 26, 2013

This was one of those pictures that as soon as I took it, I knew it was going to be a good one. I really like how Cole looks in this picture, especially the expression on his face. He had just finished opening up round one of his presents and was on the floor headed toward one of them. He had stopped and looked up in my direction and I snapped this picture. The little guy moves quick so I'm glad I was able to get it.

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Monday, February 25, 2013

Just like I tend to do when all the cousins get together, I took a picture of Cole and Abbi and their cousins to mark the birthday event. I like being to look back at these pictures and see the kids growing up bit by bit.

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Friday, February 22, 2013

One of the gifts that Cole got was a "Cars" chair, much like Abbi's princess chair. Abbi wanted to get her chair out and sit next to Cole in his chair, so thats what you see here. She was super excited that Cole had a chair "just like her".

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Thursday, February 21, 2013

Last Saturday we got friends and family together and had a great time celebrating Cole's first birthday. Things went really well from the party planning and execution perspective. Just like I think most families do at this point, we had a cake just for Cole to eat and destroy as he saw fit. We made him a little mickey mouse cake, and let him have at it. He was quite timid at first, but then eventually dug in and devoured a good bit of it. As you can see here, he was wearing a good bit of it too.

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Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Over the weekend we took Abbi to see Disney on Ice with friends of ours and hers, and took Cole with us. Abbi had a great time and she really seemed to enjoy the production. I think she was hoping for more princesses, and this was more of a "Disney" as a whole show, not just princesses on ice. It was good, and like I said, Abbi really liked it.

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Tuesday, February 12, 2013

This past year has flown by. I can't believe our little guy is a year old today. People say "it seems like yesterday" when referring to past events. I feel that I can honestly say, it really does feel like only a month ago or so that Cole was born. I can't believe an entire year has gone by already.

Cole isn't going to the doctor until next week, so it'll be another week before we get updated yearly stats. But I don't really need him to go to the doctor to know that he's bigger and stronger than he was 3 months ago. Just last week Cole finally started to have a desire to stand up on his own. Over the past week, he's been working on standing more independently and working on pulling himself up even more. He's not walking anywhere on his own, but he is definitely starting to move in that direction.

Teeth, this boy has teeth. Its probably why he eats so furiously. He's got 4 front teeth on both the top and the bottom. And he's got 3 of his molars in, and its just a matter of time before the last one pops through. So Cole hits his first birthday sporting 11 teeth to help chew up all that cake!

Cole talks a lot, but not necessarily a lot of works. He's got dada down solid. But dada also seems to refer to A LOT of different things. He definitely looks at me and says it, but then he looks at a balloon and says it, so....his interpretation of dada still needs some work. Sometimes he'll say ba, and he hasn't really been saying pahhhh to much recently, probably because we've been trying to keep him away from the pots and pans.

Having a son is an incredibly blessing and has been a very eye opening experience. I thought having a daughter was going to a huge challenge, and I'd like to think that I've done reasonably well with Abbi. When Abbi was born she changed me. She made me much softer, much smoother around the edges. With Cole, things are different again. Because he is such a sweet little boy, and so different from Abbi I've had to rethink some of my parenting strategies (if there is a strategy). Cole has forced me to rethink how I do somethings, and how I interact with our kids. All for the better.

Cole is a blessing in our lives for so many reasons. There are so many families that hope for "one of each", and we are one of the lucky families that will get to experience the fun of raising both a boy and girl. Cole has the best big sister ever. Abbi loves him to death, and really and truly cares about him. She's like a second mother (which is ok for now). Cole brings a new dynamic to our lives, that can only come with the juggling of two children at once, and trying to live life that way. He's an amazing little guy, and I truly can't wait to see what kind of man he grows up to be. No matter what, I know Jenn and I will be proud of him.

Happy Birthday Cole. We love you!

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Thursday, February 7, 2013

A couple of weeks back when it was real warm we took the kids to Downs Park to play at the playground. They seemed to have a really good time. It was Cole's first time at the playground (at an age where he could actually play, and slide). He really seemed to love the slide, as you can see here.

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Tuesday, February 5, 2013

I'm very thankful that our best friend families both have little girls similar in age to Abbi. It has given her the awesome experience of friends just happening into her life. Because as parents we're friends with one another, we've pushed these kids together to enjoy time with one another, and it seems that they do enjoy one another company. This is from early December when we all got together to watch the Redskins beat the Ravens!

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