Puntin Patch!

We no longer call them pumpkins...in our house they are puntins. The excitement that puntins bring Cole is amazing!

So...because of his love, we packed up and headed down to the Pumpkin Patch on Friday afternoon. Schnepf Farms is about 30 minutes from our house and very close to Shawn's current jobsite, so a perfect place for us to meet for some family fun.

This was our first experience of letting Cole run free in public. To those of you who know Cole, you know that letting him be free is a risk, always a risk. We packed the Bjorn for Kenleigh and planned to put Cole in the single stroller that was in the back of the Tahoe. But...when we arrived at the patch we realized it was too warm and too sunny for a 6 week old baby, so Kenleigh got the shaded stroller and Cole ran free. He did surprisingly well and only had to be chased a few times.

Cole got the chance to climb on hay, ride the carousel, go to the petting zoo and ride the train. He and mommy rode on a carnival ride as well...I was more scared than he was by how high up the ride went!

I promise that Kenleigh really was with us at the Puntin Patch...she just stayed cozied up in her stroller the whole time. This is when Cole started to say, "Hole push, Hole push..."

We are celebrating Cole's 2nd birthday this Sunday with some friends and family. Grandpa Fromhold and Nana are even coming to town. We are having a Sesame Street party. Really, let's face it Elmo is his favorite, but I decided to try and mix it up and invite Big Bird and Cookie Monster as well.

I also wanted to include that Kenleigh and I went to have lunch with my girlfriend Karla last week. Karla and her husband Gary just moved into a new house that we hadn't seen. It is gorgeous, love it Karla!! Here is how Kenleigh enjoyed our visit to the Renne's house while Karla and I caught up.

Sick day...

Cole woke up this morning not feeling well...so we had to call in sick to daycare. I wish that when I called in sick to work that I had this much fun in a day. Sick little ones are funny...going from exhausted and clingy to energetic and playful.

Here is how Cole spent his sick day:

In the morning he got out early and mowed the lawn (in his jammies), gotta beat the heat you know.

In the afternoon Grammy came over and we decorated the house for Halloween. Cole was a big helper and loved the plastic spiders that go with the spider webs. He kept saying, "Spider...Ouch!" I guess he thought the plastic spiders were going to bite him?

We ended the afternoon with a trip to the park to enjoy the slide. Here is Cole sliding down!

Oh, and here is how Kenleigh enjoyed the park...from inside the Chariot! :)

2 years and 1 month!

Last week we did the simultaneous pediatrician appointments. This is good idea in theory, but actually trying to manage 2 children, in a small space, while shots are being given was NOT easy. I think next time I will take them each on their own.

The best part about the 2 year and 1 month check up is that Cole's 2 year was a month early and Kenleigh's 1 month was a week late. Oh well...we are reporting the stats as though there were taken on the right dates:

COLE

Weight: 27lbs -- 25th percentile

Height: 34" -- 50th percentile

KENLEIGH

Weight: 10lb 12oz -- 90th percentile

Height: 22" -- 75th percentile

Head: 15" -- 75th percentile

We couldn't believe when Kenleigh got on the scale that she weighed that much. Just 1 week prior she weighed 9lb 15oz. Wow, guess the feedings are going well. I think it's all the candy corn I was eating...passing through the milk. HA! Funny that Cole was never in much more than the 50th percentile on height or weight...looks like Kenleigh is going to be a "plus size" baby! The other funny is that Cole has gained less than 2lb since his 18month check up. Seriously, the kid eats non-stop. Wish he could pass his metabolism onto Shawn and I!

Here is a picture to demonstrate how big she is getting...she's got mommy's cheeks! :)

Just for fun here is a picture to demonstrate Cole's craziness. He has decided that he really loves the baby swing. I think he trys to get in it more NOW than he did when he was a baby and actually fit the weight requirements. He gets himself in and then starts shouting, "stuck...stuck!"
Here are the kiddos together tonight. Funny, Cole seems like he's having so much more fun than Kenleigh. Hmm...

Family Weekend

This weekend was our first as a family of 4, on our own. We have had visitors since Kenleigh's birth and then spent last weekend in the hospital. We discovered that in fact it is even harder to leave the house or get anything done with 2 kids and also were reminded that sometimes it's not so bad to just be house bound and enjoy family time.

Since Cole is turning 2 in less than a month and we have yet to potty train him, we decided it was time to start. He is very much into sitting on the toilet and telling us he is going potty. This is really just a ploy to be able to flush the toilet, his favorite part. He got an Elmo Potty Time DVD from his Grammy so we are working it and I am sure sometime before 2011 he'll be potty trained. :)

I had to post this picture of Kenleigh because it just makes me laugh. What a "mug shot" picture this is! She's doing really well...trying to get herself back into the routine of being home, etc. She's started smiling which is just adorable. She giggled in her sleep the other day...but I figure that one was probably just gas.

Here are the kids this morning all strapped in and ready for our morning workout. This is the new mode of transportation to get Cole to school. It's also mommy's "lose the baby weight" plan. The most awesome part was when I got to his school and realized that the big double jogger didn't fit through the door of his school! They are really going to love me around there...

Wow, that was scary!

Well, I always said I thought having a teenage girl would give me gray hairs...little did I know it would start when my girl was only 3 weeks old!


We returned home tonight after a 4 night stay in the hospital. I put a healthy, happy baby to bed on Friday night and when she woke up at 2am to eat, she was very warm with a fever of nearly 102 degrees. After a quick phone call to the pediatrician we packed up and reported to the ER by 3am. I won't go into detail about all the tests our little one had to endure, but you can imagine they do not take any chances with a high fever in a baby so young.


By 7am Kenleigh was hooked up to an IV, on antibiotics and we were admitted into the very same hospital we brought her home from just 20 days earlier. The tests and cultures took a few days to grow and give results and in the meantime she was still spiking very high temps. By yesterday morning we knew that she was fighting a staph infection but waiting to hear on the strain of the virus to know what specific antibiotics she would need to be changed to.


She had a small spot under her right arm that we will never know how she got, a scratch, a bug bite, etc...but either way, a staph infection developed there and made our little one pretty sick.


We were discharged from the hospital tonight around 7pm and are back home as a family of 4 again. Cole was pretty happy to see us walk in the door with his baby sister and he poked at her right away trying to get her to open her eyes. Typical Cole!!


Kenleigh is responding well to the antibiotics and will stay on them for the next 4 days. We are so thankful for everyone's calls, prayers and well wishes. It was a scary couple of days, but she appears to be on the mend and we are so happy to have her home again.


Here is a picture of her in her bouncer in the hospital...you can see her IV, so sad!!

On a side note, she was weighed everyday and our little piggy is up to 10lb! So much for the newborn sized clothes. We moved onto size 1 diapers...she's growin!