Surviving a 2nd Christmas

Well, Merry Christmas!

As I was preparing to tell you about our 2nd Christmas with Cole, I went back to read last year's blog entry for perspective.

Not much has changed. Christmas is still a marathon three days of planning, packing, and Purell-ing but we were much better equipped to handle it this year. We knew what was coming. We knew how to prepare. Even if preparing really just means having a bottle of red wine (for Bill) and a fresh pepperoni pizza and a Ghirardelli chocolate bar (oh come on. . .I'm super pregnant) ready and waiting for our exhausted return home.

What was new and different was Cole's interest in the holiday. He brought me to the tree each morning, and together we would count to "3" and turn it on. Then he clapped and pointed out his favorite ornaments.

It was also fantastic to watch him open gifts on Christmas morning. The kitchen was a hit (although it took 2 hours to put it together on Christmas Eve!) and he was given so many thoughtful and wonderful things from family and friends. He's been playing non-stop with wooden trains, new cars, ride-ons, books. . .and the list goes on.

I'm a bit overwhelmed because I didn't think to swap out our old toys before new ones came home. And I'm entering a pack rat phase of not wanting to get rid of anything for fear the new baby might need/use it. . .though I'm pretty sure the new baby will also be bringing home ridiculous amounts of new Christmas toys, too.

And that's where we are about Christmas. It does still amaze me though. . .how much a schedule change can upset the little man. He was up 5 times during the night on Christmas Eve. . .and a few last night, too. I think sometimes his tiny brain has a tough time processing all of that activity. He had to have serious quiet time with Bill and I when we got home last night, just so he could calm down enough to head to bed!

In unborn baby news. . .I officially have outgrown any decent looking items of maternity clothing I own. With about 3 weeks left, it's silly to get anything new. . .so I'll be wearing the snuggie I got for Christmas for most of the remaining time. ;-) Not even Bill's old tee shirts cover this belly! Looking back on old blog entries also reminded me that I was thin at one time. . .and might get back there again someday. Cole was 2 weeks early. . .so cross your fingers. . .I'll update when there is an update to send.

Here are some pictures of Cole on Christmas morning. . .

Such a slacker!

Yes, I've been slacking. My apologies.

To be absolutely honest, I've had several drafts of updates saved for posting. . .I just don't finish.

I'm literally due in about 2 weeks and I'm tired. It's really only hit me this week. . .I've been very active and feeling great until this point. And even now I feel much better than I did the first time around, so I'm thankful.

Cole's also upped his ante and knows something is coming soon. He requires my constant attention. When he doesn't get it he gets very upset. And when I say very upset. . .I mean upset enough that it's impossible to do anything else in the entire house except watch his show or deal with it. So it's been an interesting few weeks that I know are just going to continue.

Some folks have suggested sending Cole to daycare to play with other kids and Bill and I agree that is something we will do. After discussing it though, right now just isn't the best time to start a new routine and we are legitimately worried about having a sick toddler with a newborn in the house. A sick toddler is a nasty thing in itself. . .and neither Bill nor I have the energy to deal with the stresses of two sick ones.

Once we figure out what it means to have two under two in the house. . .we'll bring up the topic again.

In the meantime though, I'm trying to give Cole any active attention I have in my days. We've been going and going like this is the Paradis Preschool over here! We color, and then have play doh time, and play with our dolls (trying to get him used to a little one) and we play outside and he helps me make lunch and dinner, do a few loads of laundry, he's great at unloading the dishwasher and then we both nap. . . heavily.

During craft time a few weeks ago, we made this Lightening McQueen gingerbread car. . .

A sad attempt, I'll admit. But he liked it. . .a lot.

We're off tonight to start a three day Christmas extravaganza. I'm sure it'll be much easier than last year, but I'm still dreading the lack of sleeping schedule and food on the fly that will be happening this weekend. And I'm sure our 2 month streak of not being sick will come to an end. . as it does every holiday season. Sigh. 'Tis the season. ;-)

I am excited (and will post pictures soon) of Cole's first Christmas with Santa. It'll be neat to see what he does with presents under the tree in the morning!

Da-da-da-daaaaa

Here is Cole singing along to Baby Einstein this morning. It was too funny to not record and show you. . .

the ball pit didn't really cut it

Before Bill and I became parents, we had this idea that our children would have all they needed in the form of stability, support and love. We were not going to be the kind of parents that get their child every new toy and gadget, every weekend a different outing, everyday a new treat. Kids like that turn out to be spoiled, ungrateful and usually. . .unhappy. Ohhhh no. . .our baby was going to have a childhood like ours. . .spent surrounded by the love of our families and learning to really appreciate what we can give.

And then we had Cole.

Somehow . . .we're deep in a lifestyle that supports exactly what we didn't want to do. He has just about every character from the Disney Cars movie. . .and gets a new one at least once a week. He has a slew of movies that he chooses from each day. . .three (or is it four now?) ride on cars and trucks. . .baskets and baskets of toys, and puzzles, and crayons, and stuffed animals, and blocks and the list goes on and on.

And new stuff enters our very small home each day.

It wasn't until a friend of mine gave me a ball pit that I realized we are out of control. Her boys are too big for it and the gigantic Fisher Price inflatable fire truck ball pit has life in it still to give. I was so excited last night watching Bill put it together. . .thinking to myself how Cole would light up when he saw it this morning. . .

I'm sure you can see where this is going. . .

Cole walked over to it. . .said something. . .threw some of the balls out of it. . .and asked to watch Horton Hears a Who. . .again. Sigh. Can a toddler be so jaded by constantly getting new things that a toy of this magnitude doesn't even register on his Richter scale? Apparently so.

So, for the rest of you. . .and to give myself some satisfaction of hearing the "oooohhhh aaahhh" effect, here are pictures of the new ball pit.

our little Picasso

Bill and I tried to nurture Cole's artistic side this evening. In actuality, we just needed something to do with him in the house while he's not feeling too well. . .

Finger painting (as long as he had a paint brush) was a hit!

free babysitting disguised as speech therapy!

We had our speech therapy evaluation this morning.

Let me just throw this out there for anyone debating speech therapy. . .the evaluation consists of three trained professionals who come to your house. . .and play with your kid for 2 hours. . .with their own toys. . .and then clean up these toys, taking them with them when they leave. So at the very least, I considered it top-quality, educational free babysitting while I sipped coffee and watched.

And all it cost me was a quick early a.m. tidying around the house, and lighting a few candles for that nice-home-smell-control. Sounds like a good deal to me!

Seriously though, Cole was not eligible for their services, which I had anticipated. But. . .like his pediatrician said, you just never know so it's best to get it checked out. It seems Cole's cognitive, fine and gross motor skills are off the charts. . .and the official diagnosis is that he just doesn't feel like saying much about it, yet. Oh. . .and his mother does way too much for him. But we didn't need professionals to point that out!

Overall, he had a great couple of hours and is currently taking a nice nap to rest from his busy morning. Score for us both.

He did try to climb into his car toy box this morning. I took a few pictures but didn't manage to capture the many times the box flipped over on him. . .dumping about 900 toy cars onto his face. For some reason, he'd pick up every car and return it to the box. . .climb in. . .and do the same thing over again. And they said his cognition was right on?

Cole's Car

On these colder fall days when Bill doesn't feel like trucking all the way to the park, Cole is content to stay in the yard and play with his car. I would truck to the park during the day. . .but we remember what happens when I do that lately.

He hasn't quite gotten the hang of making the car move while inside. . .but he sure likes to run and push it down the driveway!

Here's a short video so you can get a sense of his speed. . .he's running me in circles these days!

We both have a head and chest cold this week, but it certainly isn't slowing Cole down. In other news, I had my 6 month check up with Dr. Witt. Everything is looking great except that I gained a bit too much weight this month. It's sounding familiar. . .so I'll have to pay attention to my snacking. Three months doesn't sound like a long time. . .but it's long enough to put on more weight than I would like.

Did I say three months? I keep thinking this new baby thing isn't happening until next year. . .but as the leaves outside are reminding me. . .that's much closer than I'm allowing myself to remember. . .breathe. . .breathe.

apple picking

Cole, Aunt Colette, Pops, Cora and I trekked out for our annual apple picking adventure yesterday. Cole had a much better time than last year.

Here are some pictures of the day:

at the car wash

Happy 100th post!

Funny that there's been that much (well, to me anyway!) to post about Cole in the last year or so that we've made it to 100. Funnier still that you're reading it. . .

Not much going on this week over here. Nighttime has gotten a bit better (except for last night). Cole has settled down into a routine and Bill and I are thankful.

Some nights, when no amount of cuddling and rocking helped to settle him down for long, Bill would go back into his room and lay him down, saying "it's time for bed now." And Cole would take a deep breath and sniffle and go back to sleep. So, unfortunately, being stern and telling Cole it's time of knock it off is our last defense. . .and it seems to work.

These pictures are small because they are cell pictures. . .but here is a picture of Cole eating a peach that he somehow helped himself to in the fruit bowl on the kitchen table. Luckily neither Bill nor I saw exactly how this maneuver happened. Cole just came into the living room snacking on a peach and sat on his chair like it was no big deal.

I also took him through the car wash yesterday. Saying he loved it would be an understatement. He laughed and pointed at the water and the brushes. I tried to get a picture but it's getting tougher and tougher for me to turn at the waist. . .especially from the front seat of the car to the back. . . but you get the picture.

And speaking of being thick around the middle. . .everything with baby #2 is going just fine and uneventful. I've already received a few presents and the new tiny pink things are strange to get used to.

We also might have decided on a name. . .but don't ask. . .we're not telling.

As a test, I told some pesky coworkers a fake name to see if they'd be nice. . .and the first thing out of their mouths was. . . "oh, I don't like that" or "I knew a girl by that name and she was a . . ."

So our decision to keep it quiet has been validated. ;-) We figure by the time you're laying your eyes on that little girl. . .you'll forget how much you didn't like the name Viola in the first place.

Just kidding - it's not Viola. . .but seriously. . .don't ask.

fainting spells for labor day!

If it's from the Disney movie 'Cars'. . .it's probably made it's way into our home. . .sigh. Cole is relaxing on his new beanbag. . .

In all my excitement to tell you about the kitchen heist. . .I forgot to let you know about my fiasco at the park last week! I know, I know. . .the park and I don't seem to mix.

The quick version is that Cole and I went to the park last Friday afternoon to try and release some of this pent up energy this kid constantly has stored up. . .and I passed out! I actually fainted.

It wasn't overly warm, and yes, I had eaten (albeit a doughnut and a piece of cherry pie) and I wasn't chasing him all over because we were the only two at the park for most of our time there. Luckily for me a woman with a couple of kids showed up just in time. . .

Cole was at the top of a slide and I was waiting next to him. . . and I got dizzy, and prickly (I'm sure those of you that have fainted might understand that description) and knew I should sit quick. I hollered for the woman and asked for help watching Cole and as soon as I slumped on the ground, I woke up. Bizarre, huh?

After I sat for a few minutes and drank most of Cole's water, I felt fine. Doc says it's related to the pregnancy and blood pressure, etc. Oh. . .and that it could happen again, at any time and anywhere. Awesome.

Talk about scary, though! I knew I was going down and knew Cole was at the top of a slide and couldn't do anything about it. I might have had a panic attack on top of the fainting spell if the park was busier and I was worried about someone taking off with him, too! I was smart enough to ask for help and the woman was very willing and kind not to giggle. ;-)

I'm fine now and my dad was very helpful and rushed up to play with Cole for the rest of the day so I could keep my feet up and rest. Thank goodness for retired grandpas.

In other news. . .we met up with the Goguens on Labor Day at Kimball's Farm in Jaffrey for a lobster roll binge. Well. . .I was the only one technically "binging". . .

Cole with Uncle Jack while waiting for our food.

I managed to eat a cheeseburger, half of Cole's hot dog, a lobster roll, some of my sister's coleslaw, and polished off a pumpkin ice cream in the hour and a half I was at the farm. And yes, I made room for dinner a couple of hours later.

One of the neat things about Kimball's is that it is next to a tiny airport. Cole loved watching the planes take off directly overhead. He patiently waited for each to take off . . . here he is with Bill as they're waiting for the next plane. . .

Pretty neat picture.

a kitchen heist

So I'm browsing my usual coupon/money-saving baby sites yesterday afternoon. You know. . the babycheapskate.com, coupons.com, dealsformoms.com, etc. and I see a post to remind me that the Toys R Us Labor Day Sale is going on. So I click on the flyer. . .because I need absolutely nothing from Toys R Us. . .

And I see it. The play kitchen. The kitchen I've been scouring countless craiglists ads and yardsales for. . .for months. . .and it's 50% off! I was hoping to get one used and in good condition. . .not only to give a toy a little more life, but to save my wallet the pain of these new toy kitchen prices. Which, let me tell you aren't really an option for a one-income family and run in the hundreds of dollars for a decent, wooden kitchen. . .without the accessories.

So back to the kitchen because I know you're on the edge of your seat. . .

At 50% off, this tiny (a necessity in our living space), wooden (score!), non-pink or pastel colored kitchen (you mean they come in boy colors, too?!?) is about 50 dollars! Must be a mistake! Must jump on this immediately! I get online immediately and figure the extra cost of shipping it is worth getting one at this price. . .I find it on the website, click "order me". . .and a picture of a onesie comes on the screen and says "thank you for your order."

No! I don't need a purple polka dotted onesie! I'm panicked and getting angry at this point and decide to brave the hold time and call customer service.

A friendly young man named Jason tells me that they are in the process of removing the kitchen deal from the website because in Toys R Us online land. . .they are indeed sold out. Darn! Oh, and I cancelled my order for the onesie.

I sit back on the couch and start watching some silly PBS cooking show and think, maybe there's one at my local store, still? Just maybe. . .

And don't you know. . . 35 minutes on hold and after asking four separate associates. . .someone tells me there are 4 in Nashua. . .yesssssss. . .

Are you bored with this story yet? I promise this is where it gets good. . .

But how big is the box? I drive a Subaru Impreza. . . Is it heavy? I'm 40 minutes away from my Toys R Us. . .will there still be any left? And I have to work in 2 hours and haven't ironed my clothes. . .argh. . .what to do? Does Cole really need this kitchen? Yes. Absolutely. So I give Bill the baby monitor (luckily Cole was napping), slam a cold piece of pizza down my throat and take off. . .

The car doesn't have a lot of gas but I'll make it there, at least. I'm speeding, tailgating. . .trying to gain some ground on my drive. I have to drive down this busy commercial street with a ton of lights and I'm hitting every red. . .I switch lanes to get in front of the pokey old people. . .run a few yellow lights. . .and I realize. . .I'm getting stressed out. My heart is beating fast, my jaw is clenched and I'm actually sweating a little. And the baby starts kicking (let's not forget about her!) and I start laughing out loud in the car!

I can't remember the last time I got myself all fired up for something like this. Probably the last thing I found for Cole that I really wanted to get him. . .maybe the day we got the Britax in the mail! ;-) I tell the kicking baby that it's amazing what her mother has turned into. . .and get to Toys R Us in record time.

I grab a carriage and am almost running to the "pretend play" section. Which is not really where moms of boys hang out, I'll admit. But this is important. . .and he's going to love it. . .and I do have a girl on the way. . .so I remind myself this will be a good purchase.

I run down the play kitchen aisle and scan the shelves. . .at least ten different models of huge, plastic kitchens. . .at least $100 each. . .ugh. . .they must be gone. I turn the corner and there it is. . .on display in the middle of the aisle for everyone to grab before me. . .and I see only 2 boxes left!!

There's a man (sort of big, too) literally holding one of the 2 boxes. The box he is holding is new, unopened and in good condition. The only box left on the display is torn open, dented and dirty. Oh man. And the guy says under his breath that he'll need a carriage to carry the kitchen. . .puts the box down and leaves.

I'm not going to spell out in black and white what happened at that point. . .but here's a stock photo of Cole's new (in an unopened box) play kitchen that he'll be getting this Christmas from Santa:

And come on. . .try to tell me honestly that you wouldn't have done the same thing!?! I mean, it's blue and everything!

I got it home and with this triumphant smile I said to Bill, "So. . .so. . .what do you think?" Without missing a beat he said "Cole is going to love it just as much as those little girls on the box."

He was right. . .the boxes were covered with little girls.

on the phone

Here's a very grainy video I took tonight of Cole on the phone with my mom. . .I can't imagine what he has to say!

deep breaths. . .

I'm very disorganized lately and I apologize.

I haven't been very good about updating the blog and I know that some of you check back often to see our goings-on. So I'll try to be better about that. Quite a bit of family is now on Facebook and that's become an easy, up-to-the-minute way to connect and share little daily tid bits. So if you're not on already. . .ask Aunt Pat. . .she'll teach you how! ;-)

I thought of coming on here at 4:00 a.m. this morning when Cole was screaming in his bed to give you my full effect of emotion. . . but decided against it at the last minute. I can't figure out what the problem is with us lately, but it seems every 3-5 months we hit this patch where he won't sleep through the night. He's up super late, and will wake up crying. . .and he doesn't want anything. . .just to be held and rocked. . .for hours. It's awful.

We thought it might be his teeth (which are still bothering him!), or another growth spurt (as seen by the clothing that all of a sudden is too small, again). . .but we're not sure. Bill and I (I'm not going to lie here. . . it's mostly Bill) deal with his antics and rock him until he's sleeping again. . .tip toe to the crib and lay him down ever-so gently. . .tip toe out of the room and hold our breaths downstairs for about 15 minutes until we know he's asleep.

Anyway. . .it didn't take long for me to string this together with the impending arrival of another child to have a panic attack. How are we going to have two sleeping children, ever? Certainly not in one room. . .and then it hit us. . .we will no longer have our own room. Sigh. I pictured myself holding a screaming baby and listening to another screaming baby through the monitor and wished I could have a drink. At 4:00 a.m.

Eventually I went back to sleep and so did Cole. . .but that thought of "oh no. . what did we do?" is still in my head. Which, I then realized. . .is probably why I haven't updated in a bit. My update is basically that I'm having daily panic attacks trying to visualize in my head how I will deal with two kids. Putting them to bed. . .feeding them both. . .keeping them both entertained for hours a day. . .just transporting them from point A to B. . .it's all very daunting.

Deep breaths. . .

Anyway. . . besides his sleep habits, Cole is certainly displaying acts of independence. Sometimes it's yelling at the grocery store and laughing when I tell him to stop. Sometimes it's throwing blueberries at the window. And other times it's as simple and running away from me for 30 minutes when I say it's time to put shoes on. Everyday it's something new and usually centers around him telling me he's not going to do what I've asked him to do. So this'll last for what. . the next 12 or so years? Fantastic.

Here he is eating breakfast this week. He wouldn't eat his breakfast in his highchair. . .but it was apparently just fine if I let him sit at the table himself. And so it begins. . .

it's a . . .

girl!

If you can believe that. . .I still remember the true story of a friend of mine who's sonogram showed a girl, but everyone in the delivery room was surprised when Jack made his appearance! So we'll see. . you never can be too sure. But our technician was pretty sure Cole will be a big brother.

The good news is that she's healthy and looking good. . .here is the new mug shot:

Guess we can't call her fishstick anymore. . .

wednesday is prince spaghetti night

I don't think its Prince, but spaghetti night is serious business around our house:

And you know, with this site sitting across the table from you, it's amazing any of us stomach anything at all!

must have chocolate. . .

Here are Cole and I during a chocolate fit this evening. . .







I managed to stay a bit cleaner, but had way more chocolate.






And we tried to teach him how to dust tonight. . .pants optional.






Believe it or not, I've forgotten to tell you that we're almost half way through this pregnancy! I suppose the second child taking a backseat to the first starts immediately. We're scheduled for our ultrasound on Thursday and I'll be sure to get some pictures up quickly.

Taking bets now though. . .are we thinking pink or betting on blue? Hmmmmm. . .

bad shots and a baptism

Getting a handle of this eating thing. . .finally.

We've had a busy few weeks. . .

We had the worst experience ever at Dr. M's. He was scheduled to get one shot (the last on our scaled back vaccination schedule) and we must have gotten a nurse straight out of school. She started by telling me not to worry at the size of the needle she was going to use because the smaller size wouldn't be big enough. . .and assured me that the length of the needle wouldn't be going into Cole's arm. . .

. . .but. . .flash forward 90 seconds, and when she couldn't press the dispenser trigger because her own fingers were in the way. . .she pushed that needle so hard into Cole's arm that the needle itself disappeared.

His eyes rolled back into his head before screaming and I thought for a minute all three of us might pass out.

So our teen aged nurse is freaking out and says the needle must be defective. Okay. Let's just get this done and get out of here. I calm her down and get her to prepare another dose of the shot. And the same thing happens again. The needle goes deep into Cole's arm, I look for a second at our nurse's face which is starting to sweat. . .and finally, I see that she figures out to move her finger out of the way so the trigger can dispense. Good Christ.

Cole, meanwhile. . .is freaking out. He's screaming and holding my face in his hands saying "mama". I could barely get him dressed in the doctor's office before having to leave. We ran out of there without making a new appointment and without getting some referral papers I needed. And I'm pretty sure Cole will now hate that place for life. I know I will.

That was last Friday. And I haven't called back yet. I know I need to. . .but I'm still not calm yet. But I will. . .if nothing else, to save other unsuspecting children from the horror of having needles stuck in their bones.


And then Bill and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary and actually called a babysitter! Last week, we spent a great day at Salisbury with the Paradis clan, and a couple at York with the Goguens. Aunt Debbie has some great pictures of the day. . . but unfortunately, Bill or I didn't get any. He's just too fast lately to stop, take a picture, and still catch him before he's stepped on someones beach blanket.


We also celebrated new cousin Cora's baptism last weekend. Here he is with Uncle Marc pointing and Bill and I while we were busy with Cora.

cars and more shoes

We are definitely in the throws of another growth spurt. Cole has been up at night the past week, chewing his hand feverishly. . .and on Saturday. . .none of his shoes fit! They fit just fine on Friday, and on Saturday morning he was limping and quite angry at us for making him wear them. I will now make sure there's a size larger on reserve for the future.

The Disney corporation has also wrapped it's long arms around the Paradis household. Cole is obsessed with the movie Cars and anything that has anything to do with it. I'm not sure how we figured this out. . .I think we literally walked down a toy aisle and watched his eyes pop out of his head when he caught sight of Lightening McQueen. Since then, we've collected almost every bit of paraphernalia that's age appropriate.

How does that happen? And so soon? He's totally not into anything else but his cars. Every morning he runs right for the shoebox of cars. . .lines them all up. . .and carries them around for the day. I've even caught him sticking them in his pockets when we go out! At least I know I can get some peace, guaranteed. . .by popping in that movie. Oh, and it's the only way I can cut his fingernails. ;-)

I'm also convinced he understands every single word we use. While doing some dishes the other day. . he was getting into something he shouldn't have been in the kitchen. I turned around to tell him 'no' and he ran away from me to the living room. . .where he sat quickly in his chair and pretended to read a book!

When I came into the room to see where he was running to. . .he slowly peeped at me from behind the book and watched me leave the room. I went back to doing dishes. . .and he went right back to playing with what he shouldn't be in the kitchen. We repeated the scenario about 4 times until we both started laughing hysterically! Funny how they figure stuff out. . .

He's really turning into a little boy so quickly. Here he is this morning. . .deep in thought while watching Curious George and having his breakfast.

We had quite a night tonight so I thought I'd share a little bit of it. . .

We went out and got Cole a bubble mower after he had a blast playing with one at a family party last week.

He kept stopping his mowing to check out the bubbles. . .

Then, we thought he might enjoy running through a sprinkler since the weather has been so muggy. Were we right! As soon as he saw Bill do it, everything was okay.

Finally, while we were winding down after dinner listening to some music, Cole started "dancing". . .or, as we'll call it. . .spinning in a circle until he fell down, giggling hysterically.

The video is grainy - but you'll get the picture.