Memorial Day weekend

Ending the weekend snuggled with mommy

So Casey went out of town to Alabama with Brad for the long weekend. I decided it was too much for Cole and I since we are leaving for FL on Friday, so we just chilled in Nashville. Saturday morning I woke up and realized it was going to be a beautiful day, but it was to late to go to the zoo so I decided we would go after Cole's nap since they stayed open in the summer later. Well, they do stay open later, but I had my times off. I thought they closed at 8pm, but it was 6pm (typically 4pm). So we got there at 5:20pm and did a quick run through. We have a zoo membership thanks to KK and Papa so we will have plenty of times to go back. Uncle Ben came to the zoo with us. Then we decided since we were already out we were going to run by Aunt Tisha's house (Tisha's building as Cole calls it). She has been there since February and Cole and I had not seen it. It is a work in progress, but it has super cute potential. It is off of West End right by MBA. While we were at Aunt T's she asked us if we wanted to go to Bobbie's dairy dip. It has been in Nashville since 1951 and I heard lots of great things about it, so we went. It did not disappoint. We got corn dogs and a hot fudge cake sundae. We played outside and just enjoyed the day. Sunday we went to the park and feed the ducks. Then Monday we had a block party on our street "Come eat with the BIRDS" is what they call our block parties since we live on Birdsall St. It was nice and i met a few neighbors that I did not know, one being a young girl and her little boy Grey who is 3 weeks older than Cole. So it will be fun to hang out with them and get to know them better. Daddy and Brad came home Monday afternoon and I had one little boy who was very excited to see them. All in all we had a great weekend. Thanks to all the men and women who fought so that we could. God Bless!

Finally went to Bobbie's Dairy Dip

Feeding the ducks

Going to find those ducks

Hot fudge cake sundae with mommy

Quick Zoo trip with Uncle Ben

Block party fun for Memorial Day picnic

Night Terrors, Bedtime and Mr. Opinion :)

My sweet little boy on Mothers Day

So we have been having some issues with these 3 topics. I had mentioned before Cole having nightmares, but after reading about them we realized he was having terrors, which you treat differently. The one thing it said was that night terrors were quicker, but worse for the person watching it, than the person going through it. That is the truth! Poor mommy and daddy. I am hoping these are going to pass soon. They are already better. Bedtime is something that is almost comical. The minute Cole senses that bedtime is coming he starts saying things like "no night night mommy", "eat!", "fruit snacks? pee-kles?". Anything to get out of going to bed. Fruit snacks have become part of the nightly routine. The boy LOVES them!! He also loves "pee-kles". He is so funny wanting them all the time. Especially when ever he goes to Uncle Brad's house. They are almost a must when walking in the door at his house. For the last month I have had to lay on the floor beside Cole's crib in order for him to go to sleep, but I am crossing my fingers that is going away too! The last few nights he has done better and I have been able to slip out. The first few nights I told him I had to check on daddy :) he fell for it, so that was good. Tonight he was back to wanting the flash light and books. So hopefully he is back to going to bed without any problems, well for now. The actual bed time is something that we have been going back and forth with as well. There are things that I really miss about him going to bed at 7:00pm, well the mommy time is what I miss. It is nice to stay up a little later and hang out and not feel so rushed if we are out with friends or doing something special and thinking he is about to fall apart and be a big mess because he is so tired. Recently though it has gotten later and later. So by the time I get him down and then come down stairs and pick up a little, then take a shower, I am pooped and ready for bed as well. My house is suffering! I have NO time to get anything done. Oh well, they are only little for a small amount of time, right? That is what I tell myself when I start to stress about getting things done. I am going to work on bedtime and really work on 8:00pm bedtime, but with summer starting next week I think it might only be harder to get to bed earlier. 8:30 at the latest!!

My little man :)

Mr. Opinion! he gets it from his daddy! It was funny, the other day Casey said, "Are all 2 year old like this?" I just smiled and said what? opinionated? he said yeah, I said yeah pretty much, but this may be his personality and I have no idea where he gets it? Casey smirked and said, "what from me? then laughed and said I have no idea what you are talking about??" HAHAHAHA....
His little voice right now just melts my heart. I want to remember him like this forever! I really need to video and record more. That is a plan this summer for sure. His current sayings are "what you doing?", "NO WAY" with his arms crossed and his brow furrowed, "I try it", and "ok mommy". School will be done next week, then the beach for us!! 7 more days until we are at the beach!!! So excited! I can't wait to see what Cole thinks of it.

2 is a little like Jekyll and Hyde

Well, maybe not that much, but it sure is different. From the day he turned two he has changed things up a bit. He has always been a little dramatic (which he gets from his daddy! ) but it has bumped up a notch. He has this great pout, where he crosses his arms, furrows his brow and says "no way!" Literally woke up the days of his birthday saying this. Where does he gets this stuff from? He amazes us and blows our mind. On the flip side he can really go from the furrow brow to "momma I hold you! love you" and then start hugging my neck and kissing me like crazy!! Cole really is a sweet boy. I hope he stays this way. He gets upset about some things but I think for the most part he is pretty laid back. I was laughing just today thinking that I am not sure I am ready to do this again right now to Cole is doing things that tells me he does not need to be an only child. I had really hoped or thought that after Cole turned 2 I would be ready to have another baby. I try not to think too much about it only because I am not even sure if it is possible. Casey and I have decided that we are not going the fertility route again, but if it happens it happens! I have had so many people tell me that after you have been pregnant before your body knows what to do and you are more likely to be able to get pregnant again without going through what we did. Especially since mine and Casey's issue was never truly determined. The problems that we did have were supposedly resolved through surgery's and medicine. Casey still had an issue that came back inconclusive so who knows. The only thing we can do is put it in God's hand.
New things in the life of my 2 year old...
1. Cole has definitely had more fear and separation anxiety. He has always been the super chill and laid back baby/toddler. He was known at church for being the only baby that didn't cry in the nursery, until now. This little girl at church (on the 14th) a few weeks ago said "Cole cried today!" she had this shocked look on her face, she then said "he never cries". That was his last week in the nursery. Now he is in the children's church class. It is a class for 2-5 year olds. The idea is great and they get any help that they can to support the class, but unfortunately it is sometime older (60 yr old) couple who seem to think that they are just going to sit in these chairs and listen for like 30 mins. So needless to say Cole threw a fit when I tried to leave and no one said anything like "I got him mom, he will be fine", so I had to sit in there with him and he acted terrible with me. He would have done fine if they just would have let me leave. So I am not sure what the best thing to do is? I guess we will have to see week to week.
2. He talks all the time. His favorites are "what's that", "I try it?", "hold you mommy", "dance__?___ whoever is standing there when the music comes on", "again!". He also is the most polite child. I feel like Casey and I are polite, but I really do try hard for Cole to be polite and it seems to be working. I hope he keeps it up. He says "thank you" and "pease". Even when he is mad and will tell me "no", I will say, "Cole, that is not nice" and he will say "no thank you mommy" with such sass. He loves to sing. I will catch him trying to sing songs he knows, he says about every other word. Some favorite songs are...The itsy bitsy spider, you are my sunshine, the wheels on the bus and the ABC song.

Helping daddy blow out his candles-April 30th

3. Bed time issues and nightmares. Cole was a 12 hour sleeper, 7pm-7am (or longer, I would have to wake him up), starting around Christmas he fought it and we had some issues for about 1-2 weeks, which is when I bumped his bedtime back a little. He went to bed much easier at 7:45pm. Then came the week of his birthday. He screamed, kicked, cried and acted just crazy. I had no idea who this child was. There were some long night getting him to go to sleep. Then I figured out if I put him in his crib and laid beside the crib he would lay down and go to sleep. If he is not asleep and he realizes that I have snuck out it is a pure meltdown. Ridiculous I know, but I have no idea what to do? I know people said let him cry but that has never worked for Cole. He gets so worked up to where he will throw up and cannot even catch his breath. This is working for now, but I sure am missing my mommy time. I barely have it anymore. After he finally goes to sleep and I pick up downstairs and take a shower I am ready for bed too! I just remind myself I am going to miss these days and tell myself how blessed I am to have a happy healthy child to take care of and put to bed every night. He has also started waking up sooner :( He is more of a 8:30-ish pm-6:30-ish am sleeper. Some morning he will sleep a little longer.
So I am assuming Cole is having nightmares. I read that this is typically the age kids start having them (since they are aware of fear and danger). It has happened about 5 times now in the last 3 weeks. He wakes up screaming and crying. He seems very much awake but acts as though he is terrified and trying to get away from something/someone. He is also very aggressive. He wants me but will kick, scream and hit. It is very bizarre and does not last long, thank goodness. The other night he had slapped me then aggressively rolled over and was dead asleep. It was so strange. I really wish I knew what it was and how to prevent it. Hopefully just "a phase" that is the coin phrase you hear all the time after having a child, so maybe that is what this is.
4. Sweet tooth-He got this honest. I am a candy person and Casey is a cookies and cakes type of person. He loves "choc-it". He ask for it often which he does not get, but I think he may dream about it too! A favorite is Reese's. One morning I got out of the shower and he had chocolate on his mouth. I said "Ummm..did daddy give you chocolate? he said "uh huh" I looked at Casey with not a happy face. He said " I left it out and he wanted it, but I just gave him one". I know this may be a problem. Casey has no boundaries for eating chocolate. He is known for eating chocolate cake and candy bars for breakfast. I am in trouble!
Seriously the best is his sweet little voice, the way he wraps those sweet little arms around my neck and kisses me with those sloppy kisses everyday. He is an amazing little boy. I am looking forward to the summer with him, 16 more school days, but who is counting?!?! and our first family trip to the beach in June. As Phil the Duck Commander would say, " I am happy happy happy"