Monday, November 12, 2012

staying home

Dale and I have an inner battle constantly fighting itself. We love to be on the go all the time but then we complain that we never get to spend time as our little family of 4 (including Rio). We told ourselves that this past weekend we would stay in Raleigh and have a fun filled family day.

On Friday by wonderful sister said that some random person at work gave her NC State basketball tickets because she "helped him so much." Ana knew that her secret ticket giver was married and worked in IT and that was about it. I was pretty touched that there is still good in this world and random acts of kindness. Pass it on. Cole went to his first NC State basketball game and did not hate it. Cole sometimes is a ticking time bomb and cries at things he used to love just when we think we had him figured out. Cole enjoyed sitting on our laps and his eyes were fixed on the basketball players. Dale and I were so proud of our little man for staying awake for a 7:00pm game.







On Saturday we got stuck driving around for about an hour exploring Raleigh because Cole fell asleep in the car and we do not mess with a sleeping baby. We ended up in Durham because I wanted to check out the new West Elm at Southpoint Mall. I absolutely love Durham. I feel like I am back home in NoDa when I am in Durham because it is a perfect atmosphere mix of hipster and a little shady. I like the fun shops and being able to walk to restaurants People just seem happy in Durham. We walked around the mall for a couple hours and Cole enjoyed people watching. There was a guy playing his guitar at the outdoor part of the mall and Cole strained his neck for as long as possible to see him. Our little guy just loves music; he gets it from his Uncle Jonathan obviously. Saturday night we went over to Cole's cousins' house for a little sleepover. We watched Erin and Anna while Gina and Bob went out on a hot hot date. I was in heaven playing dress up with the girls while Dale corralled Cole away from sharp edges and toys with little pieces.






On Sunday we met some of my family in Greensboro for a little birthday celebration. The weather was AMA-zing and we sat outside and went on a walk. Ana made the best brownies ever with oreos in the middle and I am still savoring the leftovers. Cole was kind of a hot mess while we were in Greensboro because he had only had about a 10 minute snooze in the car from Raleigh to Greensboro. Dale and I had to build a wall with our bodies and let Cole flop around and cry on the bed until he finally fell asleep when he landed on Mommy after one good fall. Cole had his first official nap without any kind of baby protective device; we put him on the dog's old (clean) bed on the floor. Our options were very limited but Cole did great and we all rolled with the punches.


Friday, November 2, 2012

chick magnet

Cole was a chicken for Halloween. I know it is kind of an unmanly costume and I have to say that I am just a little embarrassed for our child. I saw the idea in Parents magazine and I absolutely was hooked and I really can't resist baby hats. Cole was a good sport and wore his costume for about 30 minutes. We didn't actually take Cole outside because we felt like a 10 month old can't eat candy so really Dale and I would be asking for the candy for our own personal benefit.








Side story: Dale had a couple hooligans come to our door while I was giving Cole a bath. We have noticed that some tweens/teens in our neighborhood are really all about some cigarettes. We see them walking around when they should be in school smoking. Some of the smokers came to our door for trick or treating and they did not even bother to put out their stick. Dale asked them if it was kind of counter intuitive to smoke and trick or treat? Giggles! Dale still gave them candy which I was kind of mad about...oh well.

cutie mccuterson

I've been slack. I really had big dreams of posting all the time and being super awesome at keeping up with our life on the internet. Oh well. We have been busy with work, school, and figuring out how to manage all of our time with family and friends. We love having a hectic schedule and being on the go but sometimes we just want to hide in our house and do nothing. We shouldn't complain because we are so lucky to have such fun family and friends to hang out with who love us (or really love Cole).

We are still in to going to the park at least twice a week. It is so nice and convenient to our house that sometimes we walk if everyone has had their nap.





Cole was running fevers for about 4 days last week and it was so sad because he did not even want to play or eat. Cole wanted to be held constantly and actually cuddled on the couch with me and Dale.
We went on a downtown Raleigh trolley "ride" Saturday night for a friend's birthday party. You basically peddled this trolley with 14 people and enjoyed a few beverages while you peddled to different bars. It was way more fun than one might imagine. Dale dressed up as Mr. Clean and I was a pirate. I wish we had taken some pictures to share the joy. On Sunday we entertained by having a group of Dale's college friends over for a reunion and poor Cole was sick the whole time. We had fun hanging out with all our friends and reminiscing about the good ol' days.  Cole had fun sharing his toys with his new baby friend, Lucas.





Monday, October 15, 2012

boy power

This past weekend we had some of our friends from Charlotte come in town to visit us and let us live and breathe and reminisce about our old neighborhood, where our friends still live, for 24 hours. We had to catch up on all the neighborhood hooligans that we have names for; shirtless, baby, frizz head, malcom, right here.  Our friends have a little boy that is 6 weeks older than Cole and they have been friends since before they were born. My friend and I used to let the boys "talk" to each other when we were still pregnant and we really hyped up their friendship before they actually met. Luckily, Cole and Charlie are very much alike. They share a love for food, toys with wheels, sleep sheep and saying uh-oh.
We took the boys to the fair on Saturday and it was insane. It is pretty difficult to navigate the fair with 2 strollers and 2 babies when the crowd was shoulder to shoulder. We, as in the 4 adults, ate fried oreos, twinkies, reese cups and koolaid. The reese cup was definitely the winner without a doubt and we were all in fair fried food heaven. We got a babysitter Saturday night and headed out to a part of Durham called Brightleaf which I am definitely obsessed with. I love that part of Durham because it is hipster and it reminds me of our old neighborhood. We went to a brewery called Fullsteam and played darts and generally just enjoyed getting away from our munchkins for a bit even though we talked about them 65% of the time. 
We also had a very special visitor over the weekend: Bella the basset hound. She was so easy to take care of and it made us consider trading in our crazy dog, Rio for a dog that just lays on the couch all day. Cole loved having Bella over because he can pull on her ears relentlessly and she does nothing.
I couldn't help but have a little mini photo session with Coleman in his red corduroy pants. I am such a sucker for red pants and Cole was rocking them until my camera battery died after 5 pictures. Total Mommy fail. 

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

snoozies

Since I washed our charger for the video monitor, we actually have to go in and check on our child periodically instead of just flipping on the monitor to see what Cole is up to in his crib. I actually like sneaking in and catching a peak at little man while he is sleeping...creepy I know. I found him snuggling this little blanket today and my heart was officially melted. He has to sleep with his head pressed against the side of the crib, legs crossed and butt up. He likes his routine, just like his Daddy.



Monday, October 8, 2012

football, banjo, and cousins

This past weekend we were pretty busy. I worked Friday and Saturday nights so Dale and Cole mostly hung out and had some man time. Cole did have a special friend, Aunt Heather, watch him on Saturday night while Dale and Grey went to the NSCU football game.


We had Aunt Gina, Uncle Bob, Erin, and Anna over along with Aunt Ana and Uncle Jonathan for a pasta bar on Sunday night. Jonathan brought his banjo and all the kids were instantly enthralled. Erin got her foot tapping and her hands clapping, Anna watched and smiled, and Cole wanted to help play the banjo.






Thursday, October 4, 2012

pumpkin man

Fall is here! We have been waiting to get Cole around some pumpkins since the beginning of September. We finally went to the Farmer's Market today and although it wasn't a true pumpkin patch, we had fun. It is kind of strange that Cole was wearing shorts and taking fall pumpkin pictures...oh well.








end of summer

We only made it to Hyco lake with Grey and Heather twice this past summer which is absolutely crazy. I guess we are grown ups now with a baby and real jobs and dogs to take care of. We had so much fun hanging out in Roxboro with our friends and we did all the usual activities: playing settlers, making fettucini hamfredo, trying to get Rio and Rylie to play with each other and go to Pizza Inn! It felt like we basically ate all weekend and it was wonderful.
What is fettucini hamfredo you ask? We were in the mountains last winter when we went out to eat and someone had country ham and someone had fettucini alfredo. Dale, or maybe Grey, had the idea to combine the two and fettucini hamfredo was born. It is the most delicious dish but I'm sure it is the worst thing you could ever eat.
Cole rode on the boat while his Uncle Grey skied and he thought it was amazing. Heather and I held Cole VERY tightly because I was paranoid he would fly out of the boat which is not even possible. I'm crazy, I know. Cole was sitting in the back and clapping his hands on the seat and just loving all the wind that was smacking him in the face. We have an adventure seeker for sure. Rio enjoyed the weekend away as well and is a little less depressed now about having a brother...for now. 
Oh, Cole got pushed around in a basket too! We neglected to take any pictures of all the awesome things we did. We will try and do better next time. 


Wednesday, September 26, 2012

the essential baby pictures

I feel like every baby needs a picture playing with toilet paper. I heard Cole in our bathroom being way too quiet and this is what i found...



He was so proud that I just let him play with it for another couple minutes and ran to get the camera.

Monday, September 24, 2012

story time

So today we ventured out into the uncharted territory of baby story time at the Cameron Village library. We were running late (of course) and we arrived at story time in the middle of a song complete with hand motions and throwing your baby in the air. I think Cole and I were equally in shock at how much those parents love story time. I have to say, we got kind of into it by the end. Cole was smiling and grabbing other babies pacifiers out of their mouth...he made one little girl cry. Needless to say, Cole loved story time and we will definitely go back. There were about 20 babies present and a lot of babies with their daddies, which I don't know why I was surprised, I just was. Cole gravitated to a 5 month old red headed baby instantly and she thought it was pretty funny as well. We hung out after story time ended to "read" books/jump all over other babies and ask every mommy how old their baby was. Cole took the cake for being one of the biggest babies there for his age and when I told other parents how old Cole was, they were like "Oh, my...what a big guy."

Sunday, September 23, 2012

the attention seeker

We are sometimes terrible parents. We tend to be really busy with Dale going to school and me working nights so our lives are a little crazy. We don't mean to, but we do not take Cole out in public very often besides the weekly trip to the grocery and Target. I noticed this week when we were at Trader Joe's that Cole is really all about people looking at him. He wants all eyes on him all the time. I had Cole in the shopping cart and he started screaming and talking when he saw someone he liked until they looked at him. I felt like I should try and distract him or just tell the person that he was screaming at "Sorry about that, can't you tell he is so deprived." Honestly, I think his willingness to be the center of attention is absolutely hilarious and a little awkward for me when we are shopping. He does get all the little old ladies to swoon over him, especially when we go to a craft store.
We haven't really been up to anything else new. We happened upon a biker festival (bikes as in motorcycles, not bicycles like I thought). We were meeting some friends for dinner downtown and we felt awful for bringing our 9 month baby to a bikefest. Cole absolutely loved it! He had so much fun looking at all the people and he didn't even mind the noise. We went to an Irish pub and luckily for us there was a folk band which just so happens to be Cole's favorite kind of band. Cole's Uncle Jonathan (UJ) played the banjo for him over the summer and he was mesmerized. We were sitting right by the stage and we turned Cole's highchair around to see the band better and he was in love. He was banging his hands on the table and jumping up and down in the highchair. We have a music lover and attention seeker on our hands...good thing he has a couple musical relatives. Cole also got a little feisty at the pub. A nice woman with an irish accent that was helping the band was leaning over close to Cole and helping the band set up their equipment. Cole reached out and gave the lady's booty a little rub...we are so proud. Dale, being the great Daddy that he is, took all the blame for Cole's promiscuity. The lady just laughed it off and Cole's mishap provided endless jokes at his dispense.

Monday, September 10, 2012

we will give it a whirl..

Who doesn't blog? I am pretty terrible at doing anything regularly but we will try, for the sake of the grandparents, to post lots of fun things going on in Raleigh. We laugh at ourselves and Cole everyday and we will try and remember some funny things to add to the blog world.

The name of the blog comes from Cole's absolute favorite song. My mom learned this song called "Happy Llama" at Vacation Bible School and it is the silliest most addicting song. Cole can be screaming and once you start singing the Llama song he is instantly a different child. It is MAGICAL.

Straight from the original Llama singer's mouth...sorry mom but you sing it best.