Monkeying Around

Cohen had a great time helping me blow up the monkey's to decorate the house for his birthday party. Of course his version of helping ws to laugh hysterically the whole time and try to pull the monkey away from me before I was done.

Such an educated little man

As you can see Cohen likes to sit and enjoy his newspaper on the weekends. He finds it rather relaxing...ok maybe he doesn't enjoy it by reading, but more trashing it! Harmless fun is what I like think it is. :)

Family Farm Trip - July 09

The day before Cohen's first birthday some friends (The Oderkirk's, Schnurstein's and Slagters) and their kids met us at a local family farm.

The farm experience was so great. For a very small price we were able to bring all 4 families. We learned how to take care of the animals, fed them, played with them. They had a cool area set up for the little ones to play in a pile of corn, fresh popcord and plenty of ride on toys.

All the kids

We brought along mini cupcakes for everyone as a little celebration for Cohen's upcoming birthday
How fun to be able to play in corn!

They let the kids brush the ponies and feed them star mints

Baby Chicks! Need I say more?

Bunnies too!

Cohen loved the baby chicks...maybe even a little too much. He wanted to play with their feet and pull on their heads.

This contraption is used to get the corn off the cob so you can then crush it and feet it to the animals.

Brody feeding the baby calf

I was most excited to see pigs. They weren't as soft as I would have hoped :)

So Big!!!!

How big is Cohen? SO BIG!!!!

I love your face part 2

This first picture has to be my most favorite that I have ever taken of Cohen. He recently has been making a huffy face when he eats. Mostly because he did it once and I laughed so hard and now he knows he can do it to get a rise out of people. The other night I took the boys to Culver's for dinner and he kept doing it so I took that as my chance to finally capture it on film. I got great shots!

We Made It!!!! 1 Year

Here are a few pictures of our Birthday Dinner for Cohen. We went to Applebee's. He really enjoyed putting on a show for Brody, Daddy and Mommy. After dinner we met up with friends at a local family run farm for some fun times with the animals. I will post those pictures later.

This is Cohen's growth chart for weight starting from birth. It is obvious that he has consistently come in larger than most kids his age, but at least it was consistent. Most recently at his 12 month appt he was running about 98th - 99th percentile. We have really got a big boy on our hands!

Here is his growth chart for length. He had quite the growth spurt from 9 -12 months. He is very equal between weight and height at this point. Running around the 95th percentile for length.

Since I last updated Cohen has sprung into action with all that he can do. Here is a list of what is going on with him at 1 year:

-whenever you ask how big Cohen is he throws his arms up over his head (so big!)

-he can crawl!!! that doesn't mean he wants to or likes to, but he is able to

-he will pull himself up on just about anything (couch, table even the refrigerator) and just recently starting cruising along the furniture. a few days ago he went from the ottoman to the table. he didn't have to let go to do it but just grabbed from one to the next with a big step in between.

-when you let him hold your fingers and try to walk he will now move his legs in a forward message. before he would act like a wet noodle and fall to the floor

-he will "throw kisses" when people are leaving

-he has not had a bottle since the morning of his 1st birthday party (august 1st) and drinks all his milk cold. the funny thing about this is Brody had his last bottle the morning of his 1st birthday party as well

-action/reaction has set in. if he knows that what he is doing makes you laugh he will keep doing it. he definately knows how to be the life of the party

-he knows his signs really well. he can say please, thank you, more, all done and is getting close on milk. this definately helps with the lack of communication we have recently come across

I am sure there are a billion more things he has learned, but it is hard to keep track when they come so fast. What I can say is the last year with Cohen may have been a struggle at times, but in the end was all worth it. The way he looks at me with those big blue eyes has never failed to melt my heart and be so thankful at the gift God has given us. He always knows how to make me smile and bring joy to a bad day. Cohen has put life into perspective for me and I wouldn't change a moment of the time we have had together.

I love your face

Cohen always gives the camera what it wants...different faces. The other day we had a quick photo shoot and I swear each time the camera clicked he changed his face. This kid is on his way to working the crowd like a pro!