Bubbles in the park with G-Ma and G-Pa!

My parents came out for a fun filled weekend in May and Cohen loved every minute of it! Mom and Dad flew into JFK, so Cohen and I met them in the city for some fun in Central Park. Mom/Grandma brought some bubbles for Cohen to play with. It was a lovely afternoon and Cohen loved all the attention.

Summer is a go! Bring on the Water!

Now that Cohen has his cast off we can spend quality time in the water! We've already took a trip over to the Woodward's pool and had a blast! I discovered a couple of months ago that there is a splash pad (or sprayground) near our house and we have taken Cohen several times since getting his cast off. He loves it! I think he was unsure of it at first, but he has really gotten into it. He loves filling up his little bucket and dumping it on himself. I think we have some fantastic summer Dorbrook Sprayground trips ahead of us!

A Cast for Cohen

I can't believe it's July and I have only posted once this year! Sad, sad, sad.  I know I always promise to be better, but I never am so I will just stop promising to post more. I have a lot of things to catch up on, so there might be a bunch of posts coming over the next week. We've been busy! I'm so glad it's summer!

I think the biggest news for this summer is that Cohen broke his elbow in June. Nineteen months old and already broke his arm! This totally makes me nervous. I hear Jeff frequented the hospital while growing up, and something tells me Cohen will be the exact same.

We were visiting Ben and Sharon in WI for Atticus's baby blessing and Cohen fell down the stairs on the last day and broke his arm. I just felt so bad for him! I just had a feeling that something was wrong, while others kept saying..."he's going to be fine." Cohen kept using his arm (although movement was limited), so we didn't know that he broke it. We gave him some medicine and put him to bed. He woke up at 2am screaming (meds wore off), so we gave him more and decided to just head to the airport early (we had a 6am flight so were planning on leaving at 3am anyways). How did I know something was REALLY wrong? Well, Cohen slept on me for almost the whole flight and let's just say he NEVER sleeps in my arms.

We landed in NYC at 10am. I dropped Jeff off at the train so he could go into the city for work and I drove Cohen home. After discovering that Brie had eaten part of a foam ball while we were away, I threw both her and Cohen in the car and drove to the vet to make sure she was ok. Well, she was ok, but Cohen's arm had started to swell. I decided to call he pediatrician and he saw us at 4pm and told us to go to the hospital for an x-ray. The hospital doc that reviews x-rays had gone home for the day, so I was told they would call me in an hour and tell me the results. So, after a lovely trip to the hospital (which Cohen HATED) I realized we had no food for dinner which meant I needed to go food shopping. I then fed Cohen dinner and tucked him into bed after a very very long day! At around 9:30pm I got a call from Cohen's doc who reached out to the hospital for the results and told me that Cohen had broke his elbow and that we needed to go back to the hospital for them to put a splint on it. Since the pediatric part of the ER closes at 10:30pm, we were in and out and had Cohen back in bed by 11pm! Jeff and I got to bed at around midnight. Remember we have been up since 2am! It may have been one of the longest days of my life!

Jeff had the honor of taking Cohen to a pediatric orthopedic the next day to get a fancy, blue cast put on! I hear it was not a fun experience for either Cohen or Jeff. While Cohen struggled initially to figure out how to get up with only one arm, he quickly got used to his new "hard" arm. He loved banging it on things and making noise. He actually got quite good at it and ended up being a good sport about the whole thing.

Luckily, Cohen only had the cast on for three weeks. The doctor told us that he could still see the fracture on the x-ray, but needed to keep the cast off. He told us to be "gentle" with it. I was like,  "yeah, right." He's a 20 month old and we have hard wood floors and tile in our house. Fingers crossed he doesn't break it again!

Another Year....Another Trip to Atlantic City

It's been so long. I'm so sorry! I really wish I had some amazing stories to share with you, but I don't really have any. I've just been really lazy about the whole blogging thing. Sorry.

Jeff, Cohen and I made the annual trip to Atlantic City for the New Jersey State Bar Annual Convention. Cohen and I missed it last year since Cohen was so little and I would have ended up stuck in the room the whole time, but decided to join Jeff this year so we could spend some quality time together. Cohen did great this trip (started losing it a little on the last day due to over stimulation, but not too bad), so I'm hoping we can go on another family trip real soon!

I've been to Atlantic City several times since moving to New Jersey, but this is the first time I've visited the boardwalk. After Jeff was done with the conference we drove over so I could get some pictures of Cohen walking on the beach/boardwalk. We had a really good time and I think we should make this a tradition!

Cohen is 18 months old! Ahhhhh! I can't believe he's getting so old. He's really not a baby anymore.

Cohen at 18 Months

Cohen loves running around the house talking

Loves Peas, Tomatoes, BEANS! BEANS! AND MORE BEANS!, Chicken, Cheese Sticks, Carrots, Toast with Honey, Ground Turkey

He loves walking up and down ramps at the playground

He currently likes to growl

He sometimes thinks he's a dog like Brie. He crawls on his knees and pants. He also makes a noise that sounds a lot like Bries bark.

Words he says: Brie (yes, he can say the dogs name and calls all dogs "Brie") Dada, Momma, All Done, Hi, NO!, Yes

He loves to jump up and down in his crib

He loves to be tickled

He has to be the most kissy baby I have ever met!

He loves to push his stroller around and will do it for a long long time.

He has figured out how to go up and down stairs all by himself

Gingerbread train and village with Mom and Angela

Whenever I visit my family in Washington we always get together with my moms friend Angela. Usually we go to see the Zoo Christmas lights, but this year we got together to make gingerbread houses and a train. It was so much fun watching Angela work! She's just so creative.

The Oregon Zoo....Dibble Me!

A trip to the Northwest wouldn't be complete without a visit to the Oregon Zoo. It seems like every time I visit, we end up at the Zoo! Usually we go to the Zoo Christmas lights, but decided not to this year since Cohen goes to bed so early. Instead, just Kari, Cohen and I went on Monday afternoon.

Three lion cubs were born a little while ago and they were out so Kari and I got a chance to see them! Totally cute! Cohen really enjoyed looking at all the big cats, until I started handing him some Gerber Lil' Crunchies and then that's all he really cared about. He would look at the animals and then immediately put out his hand for a puff. It reminded me of the Penguins of Madagascar movie...Dibble Me! It was so funny.

He was also more entertained by the construction going on for the elephant enclosure than the actual elephants. What a funny kid.

I love going to Zoo!

The Tree Wisemans....picking out our Christmas tree

So, Jeff and I have been buying our Christmas trees at Home Depot for the past few years, and I just have to say it's totally lame! At least the Christmas tree lots in NYC are charming! I'm sure there are tree farms in NJ, but Jeff and I have never taken advantaged of them.

I'm so grateful that Cohen and I joined my parents and sister in picking out a Christmas tree this year.  It's one of my favorite family traditions. We went to the Tree Wisemans. Isn't that just the best name ever!

I think Cohen's two favorite moments were watching Grandpa cut down the tree (he was totally intrigued) and watching the men that work wrap the tree so we could put it on top of dads Jeep.

Cohen totally got into watching Grandpa work, but when Kari handed him a piece of the tree to touch quickly learned it was prickly and didn't like it. It was so funny.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Christmas time is my most favorite time of the year! I'm totally sad that I won't get a chance to get into the city to see the Christmas decorations (December in NYC is awesome). Luckily, I had the chance to see the Christmas lights at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. They were absolutely beautiful!

Jeff and I decided to take a quick trip to Utah to visit family. It was so much fun catching up with family and friends, but I wish we could have stayed a little longer since I missed seeing some people. Hopefully next time!

Christmas Book Countdown!

I've been wanting to do a Christmas Book Countdown for a long time! I finally got my act together and started collecting Christmas Books this year. I have 25 right now (thanks to my mom for buying a whole bunch for me), but let me know if you have any favorites that should be part of my collection!

Cohen is kind of young for this (he likes to suck on books rather than read), but I figure I can enjoy the books until Cohen is old enough to join in on the tradition.

I thought it would be fun to display the Christmas books in our house because a) we would remember to read them (ha!), and b) I thought it would be a fun Christmas decoration! So, I recruited my dad to build me a Christmas tree bookshelf. I designed it (kind of) and my dad did his best to interpret my plans (I'm not a designer or wood worker so my plans were not the best), but my dad did an amazing job! I think it turned out great!

The tree bookshelf is not 100% done. I need to put some yellow stars under our name and I think I might speckle some white on it to help it stand out from the wall a little better. All in all, I love it!

Thanks DAD!

First book to kick off the countdown...The Christmas Train by Thomas S. Monson!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all have had an amazing Thanksgiving! We sure did!

Jeff, Cohen, and I went up to NYC to have dinner with Eric, Ashley, and Ashley's family. True to form, Ashley had a lovely table set and the food was amazing! Cohen really enjoyed his first Thanksgiving Dinner (since he was too young to enjoy it last year). He downed the stuffing like he had never eaten food before in his life!

I'm so thankful for the wonderful family and friends in my life. I'm truly blessed.

Cohen's First Birthday!

Yesterday we celebrated Cohen's first birthday. We celebrated four days late because we were waiting for Kari to arrive. We didn't do a party. Basically we just did a cake smash and opened presents. It took only one present to realize that Cohen HATES the sound of paper ripping. He LOST IT! So, we had to quietly unwrap his presents for him. He loved all his new toys. Thanks Grandpa, Grandma, and Kari!

Cohen didn't really get into the cake smash. Aunt Kari had to help him out a bit. :) He didn't mind the taste of it, but he just wasn't into getting messy. I'm not really surprised since he's a bit of a diva.

Grandma and Grandpa helped me with the the one year photo-shoot on Friday. I have to say it was the best one yet! I think it was because Cohen loved smiling at Grandpa. Oh, and the fact that we were sneaking him treats. :)

I can't believe he is one years old! This year has just gone by so fast! It's been fun watching him grow and learn new things.

Cohen at 1!

Cruising!
Cohen can now get around on his feet! He loves pulling himself up and walking around the coffee table.

Sitting (Down)
Cohen learned to pull himself up to a standing position last month, but couldn't figure out how to get down. It was really annoying for the first week or so because he would pull himself up and then begin to whine or cry because he could 't figure out how to get down. Jeff and I would have to come to his rescue and try to help/teach him how to sit down. Luckily this didn't last long and Cohen figured out how to sit down!

Top Firsts/Memories of Cohen's first year

1. Traveling: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Washington, California "Disneyland", Washington DC, and Alaska
2. First road trip and first plane ride
3. First restaurant/bar - The Pour House
4. First Christmas and first Thanksgiving
5. Baby Blessing with Family and Friends.
6. First face plant off the couch
7. Three Haircuts!
8. Sleeping through the night and then not sleeping through the night and then sleeping through the night again
9. Rolling - His preferred mode of transportation for several months. He would roll and push off the walls
10. Figuring out how to crawl 
11. Flirting with all the ladies at the grocery store
12. First cold
13. Laughing whenever he starts crawling into a place he knows he's not suppose to go and mom and dad start chasing him
14. First baby sitter (Kimmy)
15. First pinched fingers in the door
16. First sporting event - Rutger Football game!
17. First trip to NYC!
18. First train ride (Disneyland and in Alaska)
19. First ride - Jungle cruise at Disneyland
20. Met two Great Grandparents - Great Grandma O and Great Grandpa A
21. His first sweat treat - Wendy's Frosty (Daddy got in trouble for that one)
22. Participated in the Apple Cider Donut Crusades of 2014