I am pretty sure the last pair of jeans I purchased was shortly after Ellee was born and I needed something comfortable to wear.  Those jeans have been my pretty-much-wear-every-day pair of jeans and it shows.  So last weekend, I went shopping, and finally got myself some new jeans (2 pair).  I was happy with the jeans- they were on sale at Kohls for about $17.  But I put them on that evening and after wearing them for a while, I decided the "stretch" in them was too much for me since I had to keep tugging them up and I decided to return at least one pair to look for something else.  I wore the pair I planned on keeping the next day, and towards the end of the day, I noticed the seam coming loose on the side by my knee.  What a pain- but I figured if the jeans were going to fall apart, I might as well return both pair anyway.  So we went out on Monday to return the jeans and do some other shopping.  Cole and Ellee are pretty much prepared for the cooler weather (as long as we can keep her long-enough-pants up around her waist* and stretch Cole out enough to fit Caiden's 12-18 month winter wardrobe), but Caiden needed some stuff. (*Side note story- Monday morning, Phil let me sleep in a little and got up with the kids.  When I walked out, I saw that they were dressed, Ellee in Cole's 6-9 month jeans.  I asked Phil if Ellee got herself dressed, and he said no, he figured those were capris.  That is a perfect example of life in our house- my tall, skinny kids can wear 6-9 month clothes around their waist when they are over 2 years old, unfortunately, they are much too short.  ) Anyway, I found a pair of shoes I liked at Kohls for Caiden, but we decided to check out Payless first.  They had nothing, but we got the kids feet measured at least.  I tried on a couple pair of jeans, but we ended up leaving with nothing (except overly tired and cranky kids). Yesterday, the kids and I got up and ready and needed an outing.  We headed down to Plainwell to look at Goodwill and Walmart, mainly for shoes and a belt.  We ended up leaving Goodwill with 3 pair of pants, 2 skirts, and a chicken costume, all for around $17- what I had originally paid for 1 pair of jeans at Kohls.  I was very excited!  One pair of pants is a nice khaki pair still with tags on them, that are too big for Caiden now, but he will grow into.  Caiden was also excited to pick out his Halloween costume- and I was just thrilled it only cost $3.99!    Then at Walmart, I found a belt and clearanced skirt for Ellee, my nephew's Christmas present, and the best part- brown shoes for Caid, black shoes for Ellee, and slippers for each of them- for just a few dollars more than I would have spent on just the brown shoes from Kohls for Caiden!  (Really, Ellee's slippers were more expensive than I would have liked to spend, but since I never ended up buying her a pair last year since I was looking for a better deal, I decided to just suck it up and get them for her this time.  No more fights about slippers in this house, right?!?!  )     This morning I met up with a lady from craigslist, where I got an 18 piece "lot" of long sleeved shirts, a light weight coat, and a winter coat for Caiden.  It was a little more than I would have liked to spend, but I still think it was a really good deal for what I got.  It also makes me feel good knowing that Cole will wear all these items someday, too.  Sometimes my attitude about spending money (or not spending money!) drives me crazy because I can't just go to the store and buy something that I know I can find a better deal on, but yesterday and today, I was very proud of the deals I was able to get!  Even last night when I ran to the store to buy food to make baby food, I was annoyed that I was not taking advantage of sales and coupons to get food at a better price.  But even when I figured out the calculations of what I put together last night (broccoli, carrots, peaches, pears, and bananas) I was happy to see that the 43 servings would have cost me around $21.50 with store bought baby food.  I spent under $18 and still have green beans, peas, and corn to make!!  (Regarding the photo below: the bananas aren't pictured- I just cut them into thirds and freeze the chunks to pull out and use when the fresh, ripe bananas are gone.  Also, I had coupons for free and inexpensive jarred baby food, so I picked some up when they were also on sale.  The 2 jars pictured have homemade baby food in them in the photo.) Don't worry, this weekend I will try not to think about money.  Tomorrow is my birthday, so Phil and I are leaving the kids with his parents and spending Saturday and Sunday in Chicago together.  I am so excited to get away with him, though I am a little sad about leaving Cole overnight for the first time!  I'm sure he will do great, and I will love the break (from all 3 of the kids!) but I am sure I will be happy to see them when we get back, too.  I know they won't miss us at all as they will be having so much fun with Memaw, Papa, and Uncle Timmy!

8 months!

Cole is 8 months today!  He weighs 17.4 lbs and is as sweet as ever.  He started crawling (for real crawling- using his hands and knees) on Sunday.  He has been army crawling for a while and so close to really figuring it out, so it was fun to see him actually do it.  I even had to put up the gate for the first time for his sake.  For some reason, the other day he was just very interested in crawling through the kitchen to get back in the mud room.  Not sure what the draw was, but I had to retrieve him from back there twice!  After he gets up on his hands and knees sometimes, he then gets up on his hands and feet.  He also pulls himself up to a standing.  Such a silly boy- though growing much too quickly!

     

Cole still only has the two bottom teeth, but from the constant fingers playing with his gums, I imagine more will be popping through soon.

As I am typing this, Cole is sitting on the floor near me talking and responding to Phil (they are both making silly noises) and he is grinning from ear to ear.  He is so cute!

We are now up to three meals a day and he has liked everything I've fed him except plain avocado.  I tried mixing that with banana the next time I gave it to him and he ate it just fine.  Otherwise, he is a good eater and seems to like eating.  He also really enjoys trying to drink out of a cup and feeding himself puffs or other soft bite sized foods.

A couple days ago, we couldn't find Cole's paci, so I grabbed some Nuks from downstairs that I got when Caid was born that were never used.  Of course, I found his paci a few minutes later, but now Cole prefers the Nuk to his Tommee Tippee brand paci!  How funny after all the hassle he gave me not wanting to take any pacis or bottles at the beginning.

Cole sleeps pretty well, through the night mostly, unless one of his siblings happens to wake up and he wakes up.  Then he wants to eat in order to fall back to sleep, which is not really a big deal to me.  He eats and goes back down super easy.  It has become a little more difficult to actually get Cole to sleep now because he squirms out of his burrito-style-wrapped blanket and pulls himself to a standing to play and talk with his brother and sister or play with the blinds.  He still hasn't quite figured out how to get back down from a standing position and then Caiden and Ellee end up calling for me to tell me Cole is standing up or that Cole has fallen backwards and bonked his head on the crib.  I do miss the convenience of those days of just being able to lay him in his bed to go to sleep, but I will try and enjoy the time I have, nursing and cuddling him to sleep in my arms. 

I brought out a bunch of 12 month summer outfits that Caiden wore to try on Cole, and many of them fit him really well!  I love the one piece outfits, so I'm really glad I tried them on him!

He still fits in size 2 diapers, but since I ran out of those this week and have a surplus of size 3 (thankfully Ellee is only wearing a diaper at nap and bedtime these days!!!) I have been putting those on him.

Cole is not very interested in many baby toys, but loves playing with the big kid toys his brother and sister enjoy playing with.  (Or else normal things like camera cases, remotes, phones, laptops, guitars, etc.- all those things you don't want your baby playing with...  )  He also loves music and has started rocking his head to the sound when he hears music.  He really loves it when his daddy plays guitar.  He climbs right over by him and tries to play along.  Pretty adorable!

Today I had a big scare with my baby boy.  Along with his increased mobility and curiosity, he has been getting into everything!!  I try my best to keep things picked up and to make the kids pick up their things so Cole won't get them.  He has tried to eat paper, stickers, and leaves, but thankfully I have been able to retrieve them before they have become a problem.  But today he got ahold of one of Ellee's hair rubber bands and choked on it!  I heard him gagging so I turned him over and thumped his back and he puked up his dinner and a pink hair band.  It scared me pretty bad, especially since those are so hard to see on the ground!!  Thankfully, I got him calmed down and cleaned up, and then got to work on scrubbing the green beans out of the carpet...

Cole has started showing a little bit of sensitivity.  The other day he pinched one of his aunts and she gently told him she didn't like to be pinched.  Immediately he started frowning and within 30 seconds, it looked like she broke his heart, and he started crying.  It was the saddest little face you could imagine!  Then yesterday, he bit me while nursing, and I gently told him not to bite mommy, and he did the same thing again.  He was so sad and just snuggled right up on my shoulder for comfort.  I felt bad for him but it was also so cute to see.

  

I can't imagine my life without our little Cole William Lee.  He is the most good natured baby and one of the sweetest and happiest babies I have ever known.  He is very friendly with other people, but it makes my heart happy when he looks to me for security and calls out, "Mama!"  We are so blessed to have him in our lives- I love him with all my heart.

Baby Food

I made my first batch of baby food for Cole last night.  Harding's had frozen veggies on sale for $0.77 a bag, so I got some for the family and some for making baby food.  He will have a selection of peas, carrots, green beans, broccoli, squash, and spinach when I finish getting them all made up.  The squash and spinach were a little more expensive, but still much cheaper than buying jarred baby food.  I have never purchased frozen squash before, I normally make it up myself, but I figured I would give this a try.  Hope he likes it!  Is it strange that I enjoy making his food??? 

(This week, the Meijer ad had Beechnut 4 oz jars on sale 10 for $4.  I made about 40 oz last night for half that.  ) 

As I was making the peas last night, the big kids were in bed but Cole was up and kinda fussy.  I'm pretty sure his tummy was upset since he hadn't had a dirty diaper in a couple of days (thankfully he's back to normal this morning!) or else maybe he was feeling crummy from his shots the day before, who knows.  Anyway, he did not want to fall asleep, so he sat in the high chair in the kitchen with me.  When I finished scooping the peas into the ice cube trays, I let him lick the spoon off and he went crazy!!  He started whining for more and more, so I ended up giving him a small bowl full.  He has had peas before (when I've popped them out of their skin) but he just couldn't seem to get enough!

I'm still trying to decide if I should make up some fruits or not.  He has done pretty well with me just mashing and spoon feeding those to him, but the veggies are a little more difficult to do that with.