Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Going to the Pet Store

This last weekend we went to one of our local Petsmarts to pick out another fish for Cohen's tank. We walked around the store and stopped and watched the dogs getting groomed which of course was so exciting for Cohen. We also looked at the birds and looked for cats but there weren't any there. After all that we went to the fish section and Cohen was so excited. He instantly started doing fishy-lips. We looked at all of them and then decided on a couple of puppies and a frog so they would get along with his goldfish and suckerfish he already had. It was crazy seeing how small his suckerfish used to be. His two fish he already had look like a whale and a shark compared to his new TINY fish he just got. We also picked out a fun little decoration for his tank too.
He LOVES all his fish and will happily stand in front of his fish tank making the fishy-lips all day long now.








Tuesday, January 21, 2014

My 1.5 Year Old's Top 15 Books

Cohen LOVES books. He has a bunch of little board books but he has his favorites and will bring them to you to read over and over and over again. I've got almost all his favorite ones memorized. Some of them aren't my favorites but others are super cute.
By Row:
1. The Pet Shop book | 2. The Number Book | 3. Find the Duck  |  4.  Zoo Babies
1. The Very Hungry Carerpillar  |  2. My Little Words Book  | 3. If you can... we can!
1.  Baby Farm Animals |  2. Playful Kitten (I couldn't find a link for this one, but it's super cute and illustrated by Rachel Baines with tactile features)  | 3. Noisy Farm  | 4. B is my Blanket (and yes he has the pink one, we got it before we were even pregnant)
These next ones are all Sandra Boynton ones
1. Moo, Baa, La La La!  |  2. Opposites  | 3. Blue Hat, Green Hat  | 4. Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs!

Saturday, January 18, 2014

We Wrote A Book for Cohen

So pretty much since Cohen was a new little guy Dave and I came up with this little alter-ego for him, Sandman, defender of babies everywhere. Soon after we came up with a sidekick (one of his stuffed animals who he got for his first Christmas) and a super-villain to go along with our little hero and would tell Cohen these stories. Then we decided we should actually write one of these stories down, so we drafted, drew, created, and produced a little book for Cohen. We then bought one for him and one for each set of grandparents and gave them to everyone for Christmas.


  



Sunday, January 5, 2014

Our Christmas Vacation

This year we got to go up to Washington to see my family for TWO WEEKS! It was awesome.
Pretty much for the whole month before the trip I'd talk to someone in my family on the phone and get so excited I'd get to see them soon and then all of the sudden it was here. Here's how it all breaks down.
So the night before we left, Dave and I were able to go out to his work Christmas party in Sacramento thanks to our friends the Riddles coming over and watching Cohen for us. It was at a Mexican restaurant with a live mariachi band playing RIGHT next to us pretty much the entire time we were there, but we were alright with it because it was our first date in a long time. Plus it was all covered thanks to his company! After finally getting home and jumping into bed we started seeing posts about snow back home on Facebook. 
MilOSince living in California and never having real snow here (it "snowed" a few weeks ago, but it never stuck) I took Cohen with me to Target and picked up some mittens for him as well as a warm hat since he was starting to do good about wearing beanies (that weren't his but mine or Dave's). After Target we got all packed up. Dave made sure to get in a good nap and then we packed up the car. We hoped into the car at 7 that night while Cohen was drinking his bottle. He fell asleep about an hour and a half into the drive. He slept to the first gas re-fill point which he was able to fall back asleep for pretty quickly which was great since he hadn't been asleep all that long, but then he was up from the 2nd one until the 3rd one. But he eventually fell asleep again. 



Being goofy in the car
so tired while waiting for the car to fill up
When we got into WA 12 hours later he was wide awake and since Dave drove the whole way and I slept the majority of the drive we left Dave in my old room while we went into the family room to play and wait for people to start waking up. My dad was the first one down and Cohen happily snuggled with him (which considering one of my mom and dad's visits to us a little over a year ago is FANTASTIC). Then my mom came down and he played with her for a little bit and was introduced to Lilly, the dog my parent's are watching for a family who are in England for 6 months. Cohen loved to watch her and would run and get on the ottoman as fast as he could as soon as Lilly noticed her for the first hour or so. It was so cute to watch. Eventually everyone else woke up. Jessy, Cohen and I went to Target to pick up a couple of things. After Cohen's nap we Zauggs ran to Target and picked up the last couple of Christmas items we had left to get.
so happy to be out of the car




he always does this little crouch and coos for babies and dogs

Playing in what's left of the snow


he may or may not have knocked a ton of deodorant off the shelf with this wrapping paper


We went to my family's ward that Sunday and got to hear Jessy give a talk which was a fun bonus. 



The next morning Cohen couldn't wait to play with "Papa"! After getting all ready for the day my mom watched Cohen while Dave, my dad, Jessy and I went to go see the 2nd Hobbit movie in theaters that morning. The movie was awesome! Afterwards we stopped by Teddy's Burgers right next to the theater and enjoyed tasty burgers. Dave went out to dinner with an old co-worker that night.
wanting to play with Papa


my little Mozart

the group at Teddy's






  


Christmas Eve was a nice take it easy kind of day. We enjoyed all being together. That night we opened our Christmas PJs, Cohen threw up a little from spinning too many times, heard the story of Christ's birth and played a card game that night. Over all it was a great day.

  
Golfing with Grandpa





Lilly figured out that sitting by Cohen when he eats is a good place to be




















 Christmas morning started pretty much as soon as Cohen woke up. We all had to do the line up at the top of the stairs. Jessy was so relieved that she still got her closest to the bottom spot still since Cohen was with Dave and me. We then all went down stairs, opened our Santa presents, and then ate some breakfast. After breakfast we went back to the tree and opened up the rest of the presents. Towards the end of present opening Cohen was pulling on one of the re-hung stockings and it came crashing down with the heavy sleigh stocking holder. He came running crying to me and I thought he was crying just because it had scared him, but when he lifted his head off of my shoulder I saw all the blood I was covered in and the blood that was still gushing out of his poo little forehead. Overall, Cohen handled the whole thing very well, poor little guy. He got a nice big band-aid and Dave was able to get him to calm down and we finished with presents.After presents Cohen ate, we took a couple pictures in front of the tree and then he took a nap. After his nap we opened up his new v-tech sets and put them out to see how they worked. It was a fun little family project while everyone was playing with their new Christmas goodies. As far as presents go, Cohen's favorite was probably his putter, Dave's was Assassin's Creed 3, and mine was my Kindle Fire. We got to talk to Tommy on Skype that day also which was great! I can't believe he'll be back this July. That night we had a Christmas Feast, it was DELICIOUS!



  








all in our new 49ers shirts








  



  


   






    
The next morning Cohen and I went to the park by my parent's house for a little bit since it was a beautiful sunny day out. Then Dave and I went to see Catching Fire and went to Five Guys Burgers afterwards. It was a perfect date and we were so grateful my family was willing to babysit so we could go out again. Later that night we played a goofy game called Quelf.










Cohen trying out my Kindle
Helping Papa make dessert

"ET phone home" is now one of his favorite things to do

Playing Quelf










  



On the 27th we went to the park to see the different little farm animals that were there. Cohen loved the chickens and the little pig. He was not a fan of the horses though on the other hand. We took the wrong turn to get back to the car but luckily we made it back before it really started to rain. That was pretty much the most exciting part of that day (unless I forgot something).














going to the grocery store
and coming home
Saturday, we stuck at home and ran a few errands but that was it.
Sunday was church and Kiernan's farwell talk, which he did a fantastic job on. 
enjoying some of Papa's drink







found a new playing place
 Monday Dave and I went out to Fatburger for lunch.


Tuesday morning we went on a double date with my friend Michelle and her hubby Carter to see the new Disney movie Frozen which was very cute. That afternoon we went to the grocery store and Cohen got to push the grocery cart for a bit which he LOVED! That night Kiernan put on a little fireworks show, which Cohen didn't like but the rest of us enjoyed it. Then that night we played Hand and Foot.

climbing on the couch while Mama and Dada are gone

LOVES playing with Uncle Kiernan, when he's not busy playing a game

going shopping

watching Uncle Kiernan get the fireworks ready



all wearing our hoods







On the first day of 2014 we had my dad take family pictures of us. My mom, dad, Jessy, and I went to go see the movie Saving Mr. Banks as well. The Smarts came over to play a game and we played more games that night as a family. It was a great chill day.




















On the Second I got to take maternity pictures of Michelle and Carter which was a lot of fun. After I got back Dave and I ran to Ivar's for clam chowder and the last of our restaurants we wanted to hit on our vacation. We got the laundry finished, packed up, I got my haircut, we loaded the car, and ate dinner. We hung out for the last hour and then it was time to say goodbye and we were on the road again back to California.












Other things that happened while on our trip:
We watched a lot of movies at home including White Christmas, Eldorado, Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters, Red 2, R.I.P.D, Despicable Me 2, Jobs (the movie about Steve Jobs), and more.
We played Hand and Foot three times on our trip.
Enjoyed two tasty BBC dinners and lots of tasty desserts.
Cohen said his first prayer for one dinner. It pretty much went like this "Ss (Jesus), Babbage nana (banana), Ss, Aw (closest he knew to amen)" . It was very sweet and simple.
Cohen mastered going down stairs.
Cohen learned how to say Dada ( both "A"s makes the same sound as the first "A" in asparagus) for dog-dog. And every once and a while he would say y-il-yee (first "Y" like in you- ill - ye with hold on the "E"). He also got really good at baby: ba-be.
Cohen also got to show off all his animal sounds LOTS of times (anteater, snake, fish, elephant, cow, and monkey).