June 28, 2010: EARTHQUAKE!

San Francisco had a 3.4 earthquake this morning! This was Cohen’s first earthquake in San Fran…but Carter’s second. When Carter was 2 weeks old we flew to SF to escape the poor air quality in San Diego (due to the wildfires of ’07). While we were here, SF had a 5.0 earthquake! Needless to say, this one was rather minor and both boys slept right through it.

June 27, 2010: San Francisco Zoo

We took the boys to the Zoo today. It was the perfect zoo day…not too hot, but not too cold either. We walked around and saw all the animals. It is so much fun seeing the boys’ face when they see an animal from one of their books in real life. Carter was talking up a storm (see captions below) and Cohen was “yelling” at every animal he saw. The choo-choo train was a huge hit, but also the source of a mini meltdown. A full blown melt down was avoided by taking them to the petting zoo area of the park and letting them run wild with the goats. Carter was more interested in the tractors but Cohen had his heart set on the goat…and picking up the goat!

(Cute matching outfits...not so cute matching facial expressions!)

(Rough life, kid. Rough life!)

("I'm a spider mommy! I have big legs, and uh uh big arms, and big neck and uh uh big tail toooo...and my my body its on its body cus I'm a spider mommy. SEE mommy")

("I can't make it go mommy. I think its broken. Move baby doe, its broken, you can't use it. Just carter, cus cus I'm big, and only big boys can use it, and you're little Tohen.")

("Ah ha..hehe...that's better. I'm going fast. I'm going fast cus daddy is puuushing me, mommy. Watch Tohen, I'm going fast, but you still can't ride it cus cus your little and I'm big. I'm a big boy.")

(I didn't get a picture of Cohen trying to pick this goat up because I was too busy preventing said act from happening!)

June 25, 2010: Backyard Shenanigans, Part I

As was mentioned in a previous post, John has always had lofty plans for my mom’s backyard. So, being that he would be in San Francisco all summer it was his goal to, at the very least, convince my mom to make her yard "functional." While John could spend thousands upon thousands of dollars designing that yard, he knew that would never be in my mom’s “plan” for this summer.

So, to get the ball rolling John came up with an over all master plan design for the yard (his dream) as well as a phased in design that begins with something simple (like clearing it out) and subsequent phases of work that could be done throughout the years to reach the end result. After doing some of the grunt work (pricing and specs), John supplied my mom with the design and a cost estimate for both a little bit of work and the entire overhaul. (There might have been some added comments like “it would be a great place for the boys to run around it” etc…) And guess what? She went with the entire overhaul!

John is in design heaven…and it’s a good thing too. My mom’s yard needed it…BADLY.
Here are some BEFORE pictures:
(View from sun porch. Looking down into backyard. No Joke!)

("Before" pictures of the back yard)

Pictures after the CLEARING.....
(Old deck stairs. Health hazard, to say the least!)
(The new view from sun porch)
(A great view of the complete "before renovation, after clearing" Small deck, no fence on one side...see, there actually is a fountain in there.)

Any one in need of a NEW FENCE??

(New 10' privacy fences..it is beautiful and totally makes the entire yard, you guessed it, private!)
(TALL fence)

(uh oh, what happened to the deck??)

And some INTERMEDIATE pictures....
(New Deck! This is John's 'baby'..it is easily three times its original size!)
(New concrete slab underneath the deck)

Stay tuned for FINAL pictures!!

June 20, 2010: Happy Father’s Day DADDY

Carter and Cohen have an amazing daddy. We were happy to help celebrate how wonderful John is at John’s favorite place: Disney! This morning was all about the Dads. Jenn and I arranged for us to have a Character breakfast in honor of John and Tony. All five boys had a blast! Carter was a little shy around the characters, and Jameson was a seasoned pro, but it was Cohen who was the most comical. He LOVED the characters…especially Daisy and Minnie Mouse. He and Daisy had a special connection because Cohen would yell for her and she’d come running over. Cohen even got to dance with Mickey!

Here are some fun videos of Cohen and the Characters:

(Cohen and Daisy)

(Cohen and Minnie)

(Cohen and Mickey)

June 18-19, 2010: Disneyland!

For Father’s Day weekend we took the boys to Disneyland! Our friends from San Diego have a boy Carter’s age and they drove up to spend the weekend with us. We all stayed at the Disneyland Resort and had a fabulous time! Carter is very into Captain Hook and Peter Pan stuff, so the pool’s theme of “Neverland” was beyond perfect. Tinkerbell flying around our room (on the wallpaper border) was an added bonus!

It was hot but not too bad, and the crowd was not as horrible as were anticipating. We rode on most of the rides that we wanted to and were even able to watch the new California Adventure color light and water show. Talk about feeling like herds of cow…they jam packed everyone into a very small area. Regardless, it was amazing, and the trip was a lot of fun.

On our first night we ate dinner at the BBQ restaurant in the Disneyland Park. Carter and Jameson were climbing rocks while Jenn and I watched (and took pictures!). Then Carter reached for something that was a little further than he had initially gauged it to be and he slid down the rock on his face…it all happened very fast and in slow motion. No joke. Jenn and I both “watched” but couldn’t move fast enough to save him from the inevitable double bloody nose. He was a little shaken up, and had quite the battle wound, but once the bleeding subsided he was back to his normal self. It’s funny, the only person from the park who offered to see if Carter was okay was the security guard who brought us 1, yes ONE, wet nap. It wasn’t until we were getting off a ride, two hours later, that a cast member offered to take us to the nurse.
(Yes, he is that excited!)
(Who doesn't feed a two year old and 1 year old Jamba Juice and suckers for breakfast??)
(Cohen and Jameson in Toon Town)

(Before and After pictures of "The Fall")

Like I said, the Neverland Pool was a HUGE hit. All three baby boys enjoyed sliding down the kiddie water slide, and Carter was in heaven swimming by Captain Hook's boat. Even the boys' matching pirate swim gear turned out to be perfect!

June 10, 2010: 16 Months Old!

Our baby boy is 16 months old today! Cohen has had quite the summer so far, and has made some huge strides in his development. First and foremost, Cohen has finally picked up the skill of sign language. John and I began signing with Cohen when he turned 6 months old. We were fully aware that he was developmentally only 3 months old, but we decided to do with him what we did with Carter…and that included starting sign language at 6 months. Carter did not catch on very quickly, and actually didn’t fully sign until he was 11 months old. However, when he hit 11 months old he knew all the signs and was using them correctly and appropriately. It was pure bliss, and everything the studies say about babies who sign are 100% true. With our experience with Carter we were not at all surprised that Cohen did not pick up on signing at 6 months…or 9 months…or even 11 months, because he was still 8 months adjusted. We got frustrated when Cohen was still not signing or even attempting to sign at 14 months old. From his developmental assessment in May, we learned that his communication skills were in the 4th percentile for 15 month old babies born at his gestation. It was a little relieving to hear that we weren’t the only ones who could sense something was awry. The therapist told us to keep with it, and gave us some other tips and tricks to help him catch on. Wouldn’t you know…it worked! It is unclear if it was the tips and tricks, or just passage of time, but Cohen is now using sign language to convey very basic communication. He can sign “more”, “all done”, “please”, and “milk”. I will note that he isn’t initiating the sign language on his own yet, but this is a great start. Speech wise, Cohen has started saying Mama, Dada, that, and dog. Very basic and hard to understand anything other than mama and dada, but it’s a start!

Motor skills wise, Cohen is becoming more and more confident in his walking with each passing day. He still has the occasional face plant, but he no longer looks like a drunken sailor when he walks. We have kept him shoeless for most of the last 2 months on the advice of the developmental therapist who noticed his walking was more unbalanced and uncoordinated than a typical beginning walker. Cohen’s feet turn in and he walks only on the balls of his feet…so in addition to having him go shoeless we also do physical therapy exercises to help correct this. It seems to be working, and we absolutely love seeing progress!! Cohen is also our little climber. He loves to climb stairs and will be to the top before you even realize he has opened the non-latched gate (thanks to aunt Libby usually!). He climbs on coffee tables and anything his little heart desires, however when he falls he is still landing on his head. Another big accomplishment is that he can now bend over and pick an object up without toppling on to his head. That is at least one method of acquiring a bruise that can be crossed off the list!!

As far as stat’s go, I don’t think Cohen has gained any weight since his 15 month appointment…but he certainly seems much taller. His 12 month pants are high waters, but the waist of 18 month pants are huge and the length is still too long for him to walk around safely in. So for now, he’ll be sporting capris =) Teeth wise, Cohen has his upper 2 front teeth (which are HUGE!) and his two lower front teeth (that are normal sized).

Food wise, Cohen is still dependent on a bottle for the majority of his nutritional intake. That will soon change as we are taking him off his special diet. We did 2 months of absolutely no corn, wheat, gluten, or dairy and there was simply no change in his bowel issues. While we wait for Cohen to grow a little bit more before we start the next chapter of that journey, for now we are returning him to a regular diet. Finger foods here we come!!

Baby Cohen we are so proud of your accomplishments!! We love you!

June 5, 2010: The Official Announcement

…Nope, not THAT kind! This is an announcement to let all our friends and family know that both John and I passed our Spring classes with flying colors. I had 19 credits and John had 15 credits, and while the boys spent a fair amount of time with babysitters during the last few weeks of the semester, we can officially say the worst is behind us and we are, thankfully, still intact!

June 3: Getting Settled In

We are getting settled into our summer home here in San Francisco. My mom has graciously given us her bedroom to use because she has a sun porch attached and the double room is perfect for us and the boys. The sun porch has been my mom’s “secret” room for the last 8 years. No one has really ever gone out there, probably because it was filled with sewing machines and patterns…and half finished projects J As soon as my mom offered the use of her room, John went to work. (Side note, My mom’s house is an early 1900’s SF row house that my great-great grandpa built. Ever since John first laid eyes on the place he has had visions of renovations dancing in his head.) The sun porch got a new coat of paint to match my mom’s actual room. The old carpet was ripped up and a beautiful new floor was put in. The tile ceiling was reduced to its original glory, and fresh coat of paint makes it look stunning. The sewing supplies were boxed up and marked and sent to the basement. Then John moved the bed on to the sun porch and kept a chest and a simple desk in there as well. New window treatments and the room looks like something out of restoration hardware. Nice work babe!

The actual room part was next. John ripped up the carpet (and found beautiful hardwood floors in great shape!) and added new outlet covers to match the new door hardware…which matches the new dresser hardware. We brought up the toy bin from Libby’s old room and filled it with the boys’ toys. An additional book case from Ikea and two “road map” carpets and it looks like a bonafide “boys” room. Cohen is sleeping in a pack n play, but for Carter we had to get a little creative. He no longer fits in a pack n play, but he had just started sleeping in his big boy bed at home. We didn’t want to purchase a toddler bed or a twin bed because after we leave my mom has no use for it. We were not sure what we were going to do…until I was looking in one of the many children’s catalogs that I get and I found a perfect solution: a kids air mattress! It is a blow up air mattress that comes with a pump and carrying bag. It’s the size of a twin mattress and the way it is designed the sheet and blankets can tuck into the sides. But the best feature by far is the “bumpers.” As the mattress blows up so do two bumpers along each side so as to keep our Mr. Roller on his bed all night long! It is perfect and Carter actually loves it. So far the boys have done great sleeping in the same room….we will see how long that actually lasts!

Other things on John’s agenda this summer include: Clearing out the kitchen and organizing it, organizing the dining room to make it more functional, and last but not least: Backyard Overhaul! (More on that later).

Have I mentioned how eager John has been to get his hands on this house??!!