Cohen Jacob~ 8 months

Sweet Cohen,

Cohen Jacob.  My sunshine.  My precious baby.  You are such a light and I just know that you will be a little world changer.  You bring such joy into our lives.  You melt us with a flash of your smile.  You are so very loved.

About a week ago I was watching you and just like that you went dude on me.  In the blink of an eye you went from baby to dude.  It was such a noticeable change it took my breath away.  You now work the entire room and are a magnet for electrical cords and Mardi Gras beads.  You intently watch your hands.  You now wave, clap, and make sweet eyes.  You also babble up a storm.  If I didn't know any better I could have sworn that you said da-da-da-da yesterday.  You are a pro at going from belly to a sit.  You swing around one leg and keep the other straight.  You remind me of Spiderman.    

You now go to Ms. Holly 3 days a week while I work.  It should be of no surprise that you have also gotten sick for the first time.  The day that I took your pictures you went down hill quick.  I knew that you were not feeling well because you were not smiling. The next morning I brought you in for a well baby check up.  Let's just say that you were not exactly well.  You have a double ear infection, congestion, breathing treatments for 5 days, daily allergy meds, eczema, and had a hives flare up.  Other than that you were perfect!  You were pretty down yesterday, but perked up a little today.  Once you smiled at me I knew that you were on the mend.  I so hate so see you sick.  Believe me it hurts me too.  

Monthly Stats: 

6/13/12 birth weight- 9.2

7/12/12 1 month- 12.2

8/11/12 2 months- 14.8

9/14/12 3 months- 17

10/14/12 4 months- 18. 4

11/13/12 5 months- 19.4

12/14/12 6 months 21 

1/14/13 7 months 21.4

2/15/13 8 months 22

You are still nursing, but the frequency has decreased due to starting solids.  You bit me 2 nights in a row.  Hard.  Be gentle sweet boy.  I will blame it on you not feeling well.  I can't believe that we only have 4 months to go to reach my nursing goal.  Such a bittersweet thought...  You enjoy most foods that you try.  Avocado and banana are your favorites.  I am making all of your food.  Easy-peasy fruit or veggie in the steamer, puree it, dinner is served!  You had squash for the first time last week.  That night you broke out in hives on your back.  I will hold off on the squash just in case it was the cause.

Keep smiling.  The world is yours!  You are a good boy and will do great things in this world!

All my love,

Mommy

Smiling even though you felt yucky.

Daddy long legs

Comparison shot with giraffe

PHOTO BOMBERS!

Hummmm...... wonder where they get it from?
The daddy of all photo bombers!

My beautiful baby boy.

Roman adores Cohen.
He calls him "Baby."
Doesn't get any sweeter than that...

These boys make me smile...

Boys 8 month side-by-side shot

Love {Valentine's Day} 2013

This year Valentine's Day sort of snuck up on me.

It hid behind Mardi Gras day and jumped out 2 days later.

I like for the kids to make a hand made card for their Daddy.

As I was brain storming ideas in my head 

I thought it would be fun to ask the kids what they loved most about Daddy 

and make a photo card.

From there I threw together a few outfits, 

snapped a few pics, 

and created a lot of cuteness for Daddy-O! 

Seriously, 

anyone with a child (or 2 or 3) 

knows that getting kids to cooperate for pics can rival wrestling snakes.

A full body cardio workout.

However, it is SO VERY WORTH IT!

EEK, these pics are adorable! 

I asked the boys what they loved most about their Daddy.

Here are their responses.

The cuteness from this baby in this pic overwhelms me.

I then asked the boys what they loved most about MiMI and Pop.

8 months old today!

I then set the table to greet my boys in the morning.

Daddy card

Roman's class treats.

Cutie cards for some of our nearest and dearest.

Riding home from the party at Miss Deb's.
I love that she makes postman hats for the kids every year.
At the party they play postman and deliver Valentine's to their friends.

The postmen with a very special delivery.

Mardi Gras 2013

Our family tradition for Mardi Gras day is to head uptown,

catch Rex, enjoy the sights, eat Popeyes chicken (a once a year treat), and head home.

The year the weather forecast for Mardi Gras day was not pretty.

We decided to play the odds and headed out to the parade.

Some of our friends who are fairly new to NOLA joined us.

This was their first time experience St Charles avenue on Mardi Gras day.

Be afraid.

Be very afraid.

Doesn't this look like an intimidating bunch?

I so love this boy.

He marches to the beat of his own drum.

He is the grand Marshall of his own parade.

I love his spirit.

Our beautiful, witty, smart, and timid Baby Bear.

Cute and cuter...

Baby Bear did great during the parades.

I mean he did have VIP seating as I carried him in the baby carrier.

Life is grand...

You were probably expecting a little more action out of

(1) 5 year old

(3) 4 year olds and

(1) 2 year old.

Not so much...

Just siting and waiting on Rex.

Our annual Mardi Gras pic on the avenue.

Buddies.

After about an hour and a half our friends were cutting out.

Griff looked down and said,

"Mommy we have enough stuff. We can go."

Mardi Gras 2013 is a wrap.

We had a grand time and enjoyed the greatest free show on earth....

family style!

Side-by-side shot of boys enjoying their 1st Mardi Gras.

Life Lately... {2}

The big boys went with Kenton and my brother, Tio John, to the NFL experience.

The boys loved it.

Kenton came home and said that we could totally do Disney world with our kids.

My thoughts were simmer down big guy.

Disney still does not sound like much of a vacation to this Momma.

1st round draft picks!

We have gotten lots of rain.  I am talking LOTS.  After a few weeks in the boys had cabin fever and were itching to get outside and play.  Yes it is January and yes they were outside wet and having a ball.  Worth it for the smiles!

Doesn't get any cuter than this guy!

The other morning I heard a lot of chatter about cooking 'getti.  A few minutes into it  I asked Kenton to give it a look.  It wasn't so much the cooking part taking place with a 2 and 4 year old that got me.  It was the potential mess that comes with 'getti.  Upon further investigation the boys were hard at work setting the table for a "fa-ma-lee dinner."  How awesome is this?  Totally on their own the boys set everyone a place at the fancy table and fixed us each a plate of 'getti.  They were so proud of their hard work and I was too.  Good job boys! 

This baby and that tooth= awesome!

Coming through, coming through!
Make some room for those gigantic teeth!
Ai-yi-yie!

The other day after Griff was loaded into the car we were pulling away from school when Griff noticed a sign.  Here was our conversation:
Griff: "what dat sign says Mommy?"
Me; "thou shall not kill."
Griff: "I don't know what dat means?"
I pray that my boys hold onto that innocence for as long as possible...

I was loading Co-Co on one side of the magic van while Griff got into the other side.  Griff said, "Look Mommy, somebody dropped their fire stick."  I had no idea what he was talking about until I walked over and saw this.  His innocence makes me smile...

Even this guy has bad days.
He was being attacked by a mouth full of teeth and couldn't find his smile.
Happy to say this quickly passed.

As we were watching the SuperBowl this guy decided to go from a crawling position to a sitting position.  Way to go Cohen!  As you can see he was quite proud of his accomplishments!

The official bowl licker.

I love to watch Roman and Cohen together.  Roman is very mindful and always wants to love on and help out with baby brother.  Good thing Cohen can hold his own.  Here is Roman laying on Cohen and pulling his ears. 

The other day Roman said, "Mommy we don't pee in the oben."  (oven)  Lordy... life with 3 boys!