Happy 1st Birthday, Cole Baby!

My baby boy turned one on Christmas Eve.  So hard to believe it has already been a year since we held Cole in our arms for the first time and fell in love with him.  He has brought such joy to so many lives and I am so blessed to call him mine. 

It was hard for me to figure out how to separate his birthday celebration from Christmas Eve, and then I just decided we were going to celebrate Cole on the 24th, his birthday.  I felt bad that we weren't doing a big party for him like we did for Caiden and Ellee at the park for their 1st birthdays, but maybe we will try to do something like that for him this summer when he is 1 1/2.  We still focused on Jesus and did our advent reading, but we skipped out on the Christmas Eve service this year.  In the morning, we let him open one of his presents, a birthday boy outfit, and had a yummy french toast meal that my mom made.  (And that I unfortunately had to skip out on because I was plagued with a tummy bug that everyone had already passed around and I thought I had missed out on.)  We spent the day together as a family and we gave Cole his first hair cut!!  Mom and I fixed prime rib, green bean casserole, and potatoes for a special birthday dinner with my parents.  After Phil's family went to the Christmas Eve service at their church, they joined us back at my parent's house for a cake and ice cream celebration.  Cole loved all the attention he got and loved his funfetti cake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles.  He also got the hang of opening presents and was all set for opening more the next morning with our Christmas celebration.  :-)

Some things I want to remember about my little man at this age: 

• He usually sleeps through the night, but lately has been waking up once or twice.  Not sure if it is teething, milestone, etc. related.  Just hoping we get back to NOT doing it soon.
• He loves to eat.  He eats almost everything we eat, but definitely has an opinion about foods he doesn't want or especially wants to eat (anti-green beans these days).  And he makes sure to let us know about it by squawking and pointing.  :-)
• We are still nursing.  He seems to have no interest in giving it up right now, and I am totally fine with that.  He also drinks from a cup or takes a bottle when necessary, so that is helpful.  Although, most of the time that he drinks from a cup, he takes a big drink in and half the contents come back out of his mouth.  Silly boy. 
• He has been taking 4-5 steps at a time for a month or two now, and has started taking 10-12 steps on his own, sometimes self-initiated, and is getting closer and closer to officially being a walker!!  It is obvious he has the desire to be walking on his own and I am sure it wont be long before I am chasing him all over the place (oh wait, I already am!)
• He LOVES cars.  He totally gets them as he drives them all around the floor, making car noises (both the vroom, vroom sound and the motor boat lips together vibrating type sound) and having a blast.  He got several cars and trucks for his birthday and Christmas and he loves them (and so do his brother and sister).  Caiden got a Hot Wheels track for Christmas, and Cole loves putting the cars on and watching them shoot around.  He also loves baby dolls and enjoys hugging and kissing Ellee's dolls or pushing them around in the stroller.  He also likes to rock baby dolls or stuffed animals in the doll bed and says, "rocka-rocka".  Its very sweet.
• He has mastered the stairs!!  We have been spending lots of time with family in Kalamazoo and my parents have a great staircase for learning to crawl up and down.  He crawls up them on his hands and knees and starts off crawling down the same way, but as soon as he gets to the railing with spindles, he turns around and walks down the steps holding on to the spindles.  
• He loves holding and looking at books.  He turns the pages and seems genuinely interested.  He also loves singing and rhyme games/fingerplays (Itsy Bitsy Spider, etc.) and playing them with his momma.  He dances when he hears music and sometimes enjoys singing along.
• He is to the age now where he fights me to clip his fingernails.  Unfortunately, they grow as quick as a wink and it feels I have to cut them constantly!  Always a battle.  (But I always win.  ;-))
• He is always so sweet and lovable but has started to show off a little bit of his personality.  He has started up with these nice little tantrums where he collapses flat to the floor and cries when he is upset.  Oh, that sinful little nature...
• He has the sweetest smile that shows off his 5 teeth.  He just finally cut his 5th tooth, his upper right, next to the top two middle.  The one on of the left is ready to come through too, but we are still waiting.  His hands are constantly in his mouth and his bottom is irritated from teething, too.  Poor guy.
• Though my little man is usually so sweet and good natured, he has a little streak in him that enjoys irritating his sister.  Funny that at such a young age, he knows what to do to irritate her and get her all worked up.  I have to admit though, it's kinda funny.  :-)
• He had his 1 year well check on the 28th.  He did very well and was a good sport though it seems we had a lot of wait time.  He was very cooperative and social with the nurses and doctor but was NOT happy when he got his shots.  Thankfully, he calmed down pretty quickly when I was finally able to pick him up.  (One of his shots bruised up pretty good, but is finally starting to look much better.)  His stats:  Weight- 17.11 lbs (1 %)  and Height- 31 in (84%).
• Oh yeah, Cole tells us he is one when we ask him how old he is.  He puts his finger up and grins like he is so proud of himself.  Super cute.  And has also started sticking his tongue out on command.  It's about the cutest tongue I have ever seen in my life.  Yes, I think he is pretty cute.  :-)
• He loved the Christmas tree and all the ornaments.  He would spend lots of time just looking at them all and trying to take them off and put them back on the tree.  It was so much fun having him at this age for Christmas.  He is so curious and takes everything in.  He doesn't miss a thing.
• I have so many pictures I want to post, but I don't have the time to get them uploaded right now.  I'll at least post a few though.
• I think that's it, but if something else comes to mind, I will be back with more later.  :-)

    

  

Cole really is one of the sweetest, easiest going babies I have ever met in my life.  My heart is so full of love for him.  It is so much fun to see him interact with Caiden and Ellee, who also adore him, and I can't wait to see how God uses his sweet personality as he continues to grow.