Weeks vs. Months

I've been chompin' at the bit to start Cohen on solids...not sure why, but I am.  Meanwhile Cohen's chompin' on everything...not sucking, but chewing.  His poor little thumb has two permanent red marks from his chewing.  The doctor told me to wait until he's 4-6 months to start him on solids.  He has his "4 month" check up in a few weeks, and the doctor said to wait until then and we'd go over everything...don't be in a hurry...blah blah blah.  So, I was telling Sterling I feel kinda jipped if we're switching to months now, instead of weeks.  The boy is 17 weeks, but he's not technically 4 months until February 29th (which doesn't exist this year anyway!).  On top of that he'll be 4 1/2 months at his "4 month" appointment.  Needless to say, I couldn't wait and I've started the rice cereal!  He doesn't seem to love it, but he doesn't seem to hate it, and he's doing pretty well!

His not-so-sure face

Post bath.  He has always loved his changing table for some reason, but now he really loves it when he has lots of towel to play with too.

Those are his excited legs...not his angry legs, just to clarify.  =)

Surprise!

So a few weeks ago, Sterling texted me and told me they only had a couple of patients so the doctor let him leave early.  That happens occasionally, so I didn't think anything of it.  When he got home I asked him what he wanted to do.  Usually he can think of several things, but this time he was kind-of dragging his feet ("let's start a fire".... "maybe we should play parcheesi"....etc.).  I didn't think too much about it.  Then the doorbell rang, and he told me I should answer it.  Then I started to get suspicious.  I figured he ordered something and it was just delivered.  I went to answer the door (peeking first of course) and it was a guy in a bright orange jacket just standing there.  Finally I answered the door, and it was my brother!!!  He had a business trip to Syracuse, and then came down to visit for a couple of days.  It was so nice to see him and hang out!  (A special thanks to Val for sacrificing him for a couple of extra days too)  =)

Unfortunately he was sick during his stay, but we still headed out to see some waterfalls.  Well, turns out they are closed in the winter (apparently massive amounts of ice and gigantic icecicles overhead are dangerous).  We walked along a couple of trails until we couldn't go any further.  It was pretty cool to see all of the frozen water.

Jonathan, Cohen, and me

Sterling, Cohen, and me

The view from the bridge

A view from one of the lookout points

Valentine's Day

We had a nice Valentine's trip!  A few weeks ago I saw a good deal online for Lord of The Dance tickets, but it was on a Thursday (Valentine's Day) and I didn't think Sterling could get off of rotations, etc.  So I mentioned it to him and didn't think much else of it.  Well, a couple weeks later when I asked Sterling what we wanted to do for Valentine's Day, he told me of his plans (and I thought I had beat him to the punch!).  He's been looking at a fellowship in Connecticut, and knows one of the current fellows there, so we were going to head out Wednesday and meet with her and check out the campus and the program, and then Thursday we were going to go to New Jersey to see Lord of the Dance!  (I saw Riverdance in college with my roommate and LOVED it).  He had already arranged to leave Cohen with some friends here.  I was glad he told me the plans ahead of time so I could prepare emotionally for that part.  =)

We checked out the fellowship program and campus and it was really nice.  Unfortunately, they had gotten 38 inches of snow during Nemo, but assured us that that was incredibly rare.  Hmmm...
Sterling and I were able to speak with the program director, who was very nice, and we got to meet a lot of the other staff members as well.  It's a few years away, so we'll see!

They had the Gutenberg Bible on display

This was a courtyard turned into a library, so the inside is the outside...pretty cool!

I didn't get any pictures at Lord of the Dance, because we weren't supposed to take any, but here is a link of what it's like.  It was awesome!  Their feet move so fast!  I love it!  

http://youtu.be/jjxTTjJtXDA

February

Frozen water down the hillside.  It's cold, but at least it's pretty! (This was before the winter storm too!)

Always losing socks!

Finally figuring out how to get things in his mouth.  I was working on a project and he found some of the scrap material.

Looks like a long tongue.

If You Give a Cat a Cupcake...so sweet.

First Laugh

So Cohen loves the process of taking his clothes off.  His favorite is when we try to pull his arms out of his sleeves, and he also really enjoys the over the head part as well.  Sterling was taking his shirt off and  he was all smiles so I decided to record.  Lucky for us we caught his first laugh!