Scootching

Not sure if that's how you spell that made-up word or not, but it's what Cole's been doing a lot of lately. In fact, he gets up on his hands and knees and waves his bum around just about every time you put him on his stomach. It usually ends with scooting back a few inches, or flopping to one side or the other a couple inches. Time to baby-proof! He'll be pulling things off the walls in no time.

Here he is showing off his skillz: (shortly before naptime, so he's a little whiny about the out-of-reach toy)

Congratulations Tucker and Meakin

A couple weekends ago we went to Tucker and Meakin's wedding out in Glouscher, MA. It was absolutely the most fun wedding I've ever been to. It was a big ol' dance party in a beautiful setting, so what's not to love!

Tuck spilled an entire glass of wine on my dress, but it's a rule you have to forgive the groom!

We drove down Wednesday and spent a long weekend on the water with lots of good friends and fun activities. Thursday was a day for croquet and sun, and Friday the guys golfed and the ladies shopped in Rockport, an adorable little town. The weekend was topped off with the prettiest sunset I've seen in a long time! I've never seen a couple more in love, and we all couldn't be happier for our friends.

Scenic Rockport

Questions of the Day:

Who knew carrots were so delicious?


And who knew Cole could sleep in cat-like positions?

Sitting up! (Almost)

Cole's getting closer and closer to being able to sit up on his own. He does really well for a little bit, but then tends to tip over to one side or the other. Here's some footage of him last weekend at the lake house. Ignore Angie talking in the background, and you can hear him "talking" a little too. Oh, and I can't figure out how to rotate the video, so you have to turn your head sideways, sorry!

Happy Birthday, You Old U S of A!

Happy Birthday America! We had a fun fourth of July this year. I felt very posh, as we spent it at a lake house on the gorgeous Keuka Lake. Jake and I think it's the prettiest of all the Finger Lakes, so we were thrilled when friends of ours invited us up to the lake cabin they had rented for a couple of weeks. Jake and Mark work together in the "oil fields". (As they call them, it's a Texas thing. They're totally gas fields up here.) His wife, Angie, and I have become friends, and she's my workout buddy too, at least when I can drag myself out of bed in time. It was quite the crew, since a bunch of people were invited up for the weekend, and there were a total of 11 kids (Cole was the 11th) and 12 adults, plus 3 boats and a whole lot of food. We had an absolute blast! We spent the days tooling around on the lake swimming, tubing, water-skiing and hanging out. The evenings were about bonfires, and of course fireworks on the 4th.



Cole had his first swimming experience outside of a pool, and I do believe he loved it. We got him a lifejacket for the boat, and even though the first time we put it on him he screamed bloody murder, he got used to it and pretty soon was floating and kicking all over the place. He's my little Aquarius water baby!

All that swimming wore the boys out...



Tired Boat Baby



Toe-sucking baby! Cole's new favorite snack!

5 Months Old!

Yikes, it's been three whole months of me intending to update this thing. Considering I've kept it a bit of a secret, I guess it's ok that I'm way behind. I do intend to back-date some entries and try to get some happenings down for posterity. So keep your eyes on the archive bar for some new (old) entries!

So. Five months! I can't believe it's been that long already. The last five months have been the fastest of my life! Cole's doing really well, Jake's been recommended for a promotion at work, and I haven't completely lost my mind yet, so I'd call it a success! Here's a recent shot of the little Buster:



He's such a happy kid. And no, he's not sitting up all by himself yet. He still needs something to lean on, and occasionally tips over to one side, hence the protective fencing around him here. But he's getting there.

Cole can:

Roll over front to back, and back to front. Usually, if he's on his back he flips over to his belly so he can play with more stuff. He pretty much just stays on his tummy if that's where he starts.

Creep forward a little to reach toys out of his grasp.

Sit up in his highchair or Bumbo and play with toys.

He's eating cereal and a couple veggies.

Grab toys and put them directly in his mouth. Occasionally he moves toys from one hand to the other, but I'm not sure that it's intentional.

Ride on my hip like a koala bear.

Smile at anyone and everything, then blow a raspberry at them.

I'm sure there's some other things that would surprise the folks back home, but I can't think of them right now.

Cardboard Boat Regatta

On June 19th, the family headed down to the Village Marina in Watkins Glen for the annual Cardboard Boat Regatta. Jake, and his friends Kevin and Glen (also his co-workers at Chesapeake) were competing in the regatta. I had my doubts from the beginning as to the sea-worthiness of their vessel, but it promised to be a lot of fun either way. Below is the footage of their start, which Jake claims as proof that they were sabotaged by the girl at the start. While I don't dispute that she gave them a push that started the sinking, I don't think she caused anything that wasn't going to happen anyway. :) Basically, they sank right away. Being determined men that they were, they re-started, but took off before Kevin could get back in the boat only to sink for real again. (Jake was in the front and a little excited, he just started rowing without looking back) After the second sinking, they proceeded to swim themselves and their half-sunken boat the 250 yards to the finish line. Kevin jumped in after the first turn to make the swim in the cold lake!

They wound up winning their heat, only because the other boat they were racing sunk and never re-surfaced. They got passed by at least 3 of the heats that started after them. They also won a lovely trophy, the "Goody's Headache" award, given each year to the fastest sinking!

So proud, guys.

"Think it'll float?" "Not a chance!"

The guys were a big hit at the regatta, and it was a lot of fun to listen to the comments of the onlookers. My favorite was "Look at that one... and it hasn't even been in the water yet!" The guys had a good time playing cornhole, and Andria, Aubree, Cole and I had a nice time wandering around, shopping for a father's day present, and trying to avoid the heat. It was about 90, and very muggy. It even thunderstormed a bit after the guys got done with their race.

For me, however, the highlight of the event was the stall selling deep-fried Oreos and my new favorite, deep-fried Reese's Peanut Butter Cups! MMMmmmm.


Cole's already plotting his triumphant win for next year:

2 Months Old!

Cole was officially 2 months old on Sunday. We went wine tasting along the east shore of Seneca Lake that day. Cole slept the entire time, while we visited a brewery (that wasn't brewing beer yet, but had some nice ones on drought), the Atwood Vinyards and Red Newt Winery. We had a delicious lunch at Red Newt and brought home a lovely Merlot from there to enjoy with our dinner. We enjoyed a lovely steak dinner at home with Jake's parents in his honor. We toasted to Cole while he lounged in his bouncer.

Testing One, Two, Three...

So here goes... testing out this new blog thing in an attempt to keep far away family in touch and document all the fun and changes in life!