Coen's 1st Birthday!!!

Here is Coen's gift from Mommy and Daddy. He absolutely loves it!!! Now, if we can just teach him how to steer it...
Coen with Livi, the ladybuy and Will, the pirate. Getting them to share is lots of fun!!!

Coen finally dug into his cake after a few minutes! Then, he sat there and ate it in a daze for like 20 minutes. I wish I knew what he was thinking.
Coen loves chocolate cake!!!
Pumpkin Cake with Candy Corns!!
It was hard opening the presents in a timely fashion because Coen wanted each of them to be removed from the packaging. Reasoning with a 1-year old is an oxymoron.
How cute is Livi-bug?!! And, last, but not least, Coen's Ninja pose.
We decided to celebrate the end of Coen's 1st year with a costume party for the kiddos! As you can see, Coen requested to be a ninja. We had a great turn out, that resulted in a ladybug, a pirate, a bumble bee, 4 batmans (thanks to the Menard boys), and a cat. Everyone had a great time, and NONE of the kids had a meltdown!! I mean, what are the chances of that when you have 10 kids under the age of 5 all together? Coen got way too many toys, and an insane amount of clothes (thanks to Aunt Audrey). What a day!!! And, to top it all off, the Razorbacks won!!! Go HOGS!!!

Daddy's __ Birthday!

Here are some pictures of our celebration of Jonathan's birthday. I agreed not to mention his age, so he is now one of those people that celebrates his 29th birthday every year. It was a perfect day and the weather was just as beautiful! Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

Mashed Potatoes!!!!

Long time, no post! Sorry, as I'm sure everyone else is, we've been busy this summer. Coen is now 10 1/2 months and surprises us everyday. Above are some pictures we took last night of Coen enjoying his favorite food, mashed potatoes. Jonathan tried to warn me of the mess that would be created from letting Coen feed himself, but I couldn't resist! Hey, he was going to have a bath after dinner anyway. Whenever Coen even sees mashed potatoes, he starts laughing and making "mmmm" noises. Too cute!! When he first started eating solid foods, Coen would eat anything you put on the spoon. I thought, this is great, maybe I would be spared from having to repay my dues from being such a picky eater as a child. Nope. I never knew how frustrating it could be to get a child to eat a nutritious diet. If only Coen could live off a diet of mashed potatoes, ritz crackers, and Nillas!

Next, I'm going to try to post a video clip of Coen WALKING!!!!!!! Yep, he took 4 steps yesterday! I've been told our lives will never be the same, but I recognize that truth everyday with this little man.  

9 month Photo shoot!

We had so much fun at Coen's 9 month photo shoot! Aunt Audrey and Brandi were here to help out, which was much needed and appreciated! I now know, without a doubt, that I will NEVER seek a career in child photography. How exhausting!!! I have never made so many silly noises, stupid faces, or felt more like a performing monkey than I did this weekend. But, after all was said and done, I couldn't be more pleased with the results! In reference to the last picture...for all you Longhorn fans, I'm sorry, but we were compelled by our unwavering devotion to the Razorbacks to document Coen's feelings on camera.

Water baby!!

Here are a couple of pictures taken throughout the summer of Coen and his swimming excursions. As previously mentioned, this boy loves water, so swimming has become one of his favorite summer activities. The last two pictures are of Coen and his two best friends, Livi and Will. We can't wait to put these pictures in their high school yearbook in 18 years!

He is definitely keeping us busy! He started crawling at 7 months and very shortly after began pulling up and cruising on the furniture. Oh, and for all of you that were wondering...he finally got some teeth!

Where are my teeth?

Here is coco doing what we like to call saucin. This contraption has saved my sanity. I don't know what I'll do when he grows out of it. As you can see, he is putting everything in his mouth. He got ahold of my grocery list today and I had to do the rest of the shopping from memory! Also, as evident from his soaked neckline, the drool is coming out by the gallon! Where does it all come from? It is a miracle he isn't dehydrated from the loss of fluid. But still, no teeth. The babbling has also really picked up. I swear he says hi! Even the lady at Walgreens said she thought he said it to her. What's even better, he says it with the same East Texas long "i" just like his mother!

Sittin' pretty...er handsome

We've accomplished so many milestones since our last post. I know, I'm really bad at this. It seems like one day I can put him down and walk away with no worries, and then, boom, he is rolling all over the place, and doing what appears to be his version of scooting! Today, he sat in the front of the grocery buggy like a big boy and loved every  minute of it! Maybe we'll have a few grocery trips with out the worry of a meltdown....there's always hoping!

Brothers bonding

Here is a collection of photos documenting the process of Pudge and Coen growing closer. At first, Pudge was intrigued by Coen's presence, but kept his distance. I'm sure he was sensing our own tension for fear of breaking the baby. After about 6 weeks, Pudge grew more brave with his approaches and began licking Coen at every opportunity. Coen wasn't what one would call receptive at first, but his fondness of this adorable, loving pooch has blossomed!! Now, he finds Pudge to be perfectly entertaining and spends a good part of his days looking for, and watching Pudge. I'm sure it won't be long before Coen will want to saddle up and go for a ride on Pudge, we can only hope Pudge will continue with his extremely tolerant nature!!!

Dressed for SNOW!!!!

Well, we finally got some snow! So, I promptly put Coen in his warmest attire to take pictures. I didn't actually take him outside into the snow because of the lovely daycare funk that he has been dealing with for the last couple of weeks, but we watched it fall from the window. Absolutely beautiful!! And, then I had to take his cold weather attire off because he was sweating profusely. 

Coen's 4 mo. stats:

Weight  14 pounds, 2 oz

Length  25 inches

Head Circumference  16.5 inches

Rice cereal!!!!

Well, we finally made it to the 4 mo. mark and Coen got to enjoy his first bites of "real food"! I say that he enjoyed it, but these pictures seem to tell a different story. I think he was the least impressed person in the room. I'm sure he was wondering why the paparazzi were out in full force for this event. It looks like he's saying, "really you guys should try this before you get so excited." It took me a while to understand that the whole eating with a spoon is a learning process. I guess I just assumed he would be able to do it, without making a mess, right away. Needless to say, I was wrong. But now, a week later, I think we've got the hang of it. 

Coco's First Photoshoot...

Well, I finally got around to having Coen's picture made. I had such a hard time narrowing it down to 5 pictures to put in the post! Of course, every picture looks like a masterpiece to me. I don't think I've said "Awe" so many times in one day! The session did take longer than I had anticipated, but working with an 11 week-old can often prove to be a challenge. I've mentioned before how much this little guy loves bath time, now we have the pictures to prove it! When he got fussy, we just filled up the turtle time tub and he was all smiles again!! Now, at least I'll be able to pull up the blog while I'm a work and look at this adorable little man. Thank you so much Lirit, you did an amazing job and I'm so very grateful!