Our little Man Cole

It has been a busy week or so for Cole. He figured out he can let go of things when he is standing and not tip over. The new game is he will stand for a few seconds, actually probably closer to a minute, then he will just fall over and assumes you are going to catch him. He has gone over backwards a few times and bumped his head, one of these times he will figure it out. He has stated to take a step or two but so far he would rather fall into you and then he just laughs. Once he figures out how to walk I know he will be running! He also is getting more teeth. He cut one over Christmas and now another one just came through. The first one I didn't surprise me, it is one of the teeth next to the 2 bottom ones. The second threw me a little bit - I don't know if it is a molar or the one next to it - either way it isn't the one next to the front 2. He has got some other teeth in an odd order so it really shouldn't surprise me. Besides a few long nights and early mornings at my parents house over Christmas he has still been sleeping all night and getting up around 7am. We have been very lucky how well our kids have done while getting teeth!

Not sure how the orange ended up on his head - if you look closely you can see his new tooth on the left side

Santa

It turns out Annabelle and Cole made it on Santa's nice list this year because he left some goodies in their stocking Christmas morning. Annabelle had asked for a beach ball and Santa tried his hardest but it is not a hot item in North Dakota in the middle of winter. He instead gave her some chap stick, a mirror and some candy. Cole got a little toy puppy and some candy. Santa must have some helpers because they also got a Dora necklace, bouncy balls, a scissors and more candy. Brian and I also had things in our stockings so the Paulson house must have been well behaved this year. Annabelle was excited to pull the things out of her stocking, it took her a bit to warm up to the idea but once she figured it out she was excited. Cole really enjoyed using the candy and a rattle. After she was done pulling everything out of her stocking she yells "Thank you Santa!" it was so cute!

Merry Christmas

The bear rug at Cindy and Brian's

2012 was a wonderful Christmas. The kids got a lot of presents, not that we need any more things in our house, but they had a good time. We started the holiday in Carrington the week before Christmas to spend some time with Brian's parents. Annabelle enjoyed seeing Santa and opening her presents. Cole was not extremely into opening gifts but did like the wrapping paper - which was not a surprise to us. Once we got to MN the next week we had a busy schedule. We had 3 Christmas celebrations and the kids held up well with all the "parties" and out of the routine events. Sunday was our first celebration with my mom's side of the family.

Monday, Christmas Eve, we spent the day at my parents house and planned to go to Christmas Eve church at 4:30. Cole decided that he was going to fall asleep around 3:45 - go figure. I let him sleep as long as I could and then woke him up. With a few long days under our belt Annabelle probably could have gone to bed at 4:30 and slept all night but instead off to church we went. The kids were a bit restless and I spent a portion of the service in the back of the church trying to keep them both semi-quiet so people could enjoy the service. I will say we made it through but there were moments that I was wondering if we would. We then had supper and opened gifts. Annabelle opened the first one and loved it so she wasn't to eager to open anymore. Cole enjoyed climbing on the gifts and pushing them around. Once we opened a few and Annabelle would let him see his toy he had a good time.

Christmas Day we celebrated with my dad's side. This year my parents were the host, which as nice because Cole and Annabelle were sleeping when the party started. They finally woke up after everyone had arrived and right in time to eat lunch. Annabelle and Cole had a good time playing with my cousin's kids who are 5 and 1. By the time everyone left for the night we put the kids in their pj's and turned on the tv so they could unwind. It was a long few days for them.

Getting Ready for Christmas

I should have taken a picture of all the sugar on the floor when she was done helping with the cookies.

We spent Christmas in MN this year with my family. It was a wonderful time and the dreadful drive even went well. The kids did wonderful on the way there and on the way back - we are very lucky! Annabelle had a good time helping Grandma make cookies and following Grandpa all over the house or making him go out to the garage to see the kitty. Cole has a wonderful time crawling all over and trying to open up all the cupboards.

Needless to say she needed a bath after playing with shaving cream

Santa

A few weeks ago we had told Annabelle we were going to go see Santa and she could sit on his lap. Her answer was "no" she was pretty matter of fact that she was going to have no part in it. We kept on talking about Santa and Christmas and finally one morning on the way to daycare she asked me why she had to sit on Santa's lap. I told her that she sits on Santa's lap so she can tell him what she wants for Christmas. Santa will then make it for her and bring it Christmas morning. She was quite for a minute then said, "Cole sit on Santa's lap. Santa bring Cole a present. Mommy go to the Walmart store and buy me a present." I wasn't quite sure what to say to that. She is too smart for her own good. We did have a chance to see Santa when we were in Carrington. She walked right up to him and sat on his lap. From what I could hear she had a nice conversation with him. She asked him for a beach ball. She has also been very consistent - every time you ask her what she wants she says a beach ball. Sure hope Santa can find on in the middle of December. Poor Cole I think wants snow boots for Christmas. He is wearing Annabelle's old one and they are not very manly. He missed Santa because he was napping, but I am sure Santa can hear his wishes.

Young Lady

Annabelle is turning into a young lady. She loves to walk around with her baby, purse and coffee. The only thing missing is her high heels. She has also discovered that she likes her nails painted.

Christmas

Decorating for Christmas

Catching up

Oh man has it been 2 months. I can't believe it. I think one of my New Year's Resolution should be to keep on top of the blog. Again a lot has happened since the last post. Cole is growing every day!! I can't believe how big he is getting. I am putting way his 12 month clothes and getting out the 18 month stuff. He has mastered crawling and pulling him self up on things. He is now starting to try to stand by himself, he will be walking before we know it and then look out!! He clearly says "mama" and "dada" and loves to talk to people when they talk to him. He LOVES Annabelle - they are really good at getting each other going. Annabelle has developed a love for talking. She jabbers non stop. I can't believe all the words that she knows and how well she speaks in sentences. I am not sure when she got so smart or how it happened. She has really started to engage in pretend play. She loves to imitate exactly what she sees adults doing. The other day she stood up on a stool and said, "Good morning, please sit down." I talked to the girls at daycare and that is how they start their morning every day. She also like to "help" with Cole. That poor boy gets bossed around all the time. She is very good at telling him what he can and cannot do. A quick sum up of the past 2 months: the kids and I took a trip to MN the first part of November (it was deer opener so Brian stayed in ND). We had a great time - it was 70 degrees in MN and cold and freezing rain in ND so we were pretty lucky. We also spent a night at the Holiday Inn in Fargo for Brian's Christmas party. Annabelle had a great time swimming. It was a challenge getting her out of the pool - she is a little fish! We also had a great time decorating for Christmas.