There has been no time for blogging in March! We have been trying to pack as much fun as possible into the weeks before Baby Brother comes...and Baby Brother does not let us forget that he will be here soon!
Cohen sharing his stuffed animals with Baby Brother at week 27
Bubbles for Baby Brother at week 28
HaHaHa!
Of course he's eating the bubbles!
After all of the organizing and re-organizing last month, it even felt like fun to get to finally put together Cohen's much anticipated Monster Truck room during the first part of the month. And I think poor Cohen was walking a fine line between anticipation and pure torture while he waited on his big boy room to be finished! We did not correctly calculate the amount of time it would take to get him excited to move into a big boy room versus the amount of time it would take for the Monster Truck decorations we ordered to arrive. He basically spent two weeks at the window waiting for the mailman since we told him that is who would be bringing the things for his room! At least I can say that it was the fastest paint selection I have ever made and we bought ourselves a little bit of time once the walls of his new room were painted. While Cohen was mostly just excited to have his PawPaw and MawMaw at his house on a Saturday for the painting day, Jeff and I count our blessings for the professional painter that we have in our lives!
Learning from the expert!
Paw-Paw supervising while Daddy puts the bed back together!
I think it's kinda sweet that Cohen's first big boy bed is the bed the Jeff grew up sleeping in too!
Maw-Maw helped distract Cohen until the painting was finished!
A big thank you hug for Paw-Paw and Maw-Maw
Getting ready for a new baby makes me think about all the "firsts" that we'll get to experience again like the first tooth, first steps and first words. I'm so happy that even at (almost) three years old, there are still lots of "firsts" that we get to experience with Cohen. After several boring weekends for him at home, stuck inside while mommy and daddy cleaned out drawers and closets, I was so happy when my mom asked if she could take Cohen to his first real concert. She and my aunt had tickets for a Little Big Town concert at a smaller venue in Huntington and they were able to get an extra one for Cohen to join them. We all had dinner before the concert at Red Lobster and then the two ladies shared one very handsome date! It was almost midnight by the time Cohen got home and he was so tired that he didn't even tell us anything about the show! And when Cohen doesn't talk - you know he must be tired! But he is still talking about the concert one month later and tells me that he saw Little Big Town on a "stable" (I'm sure he means stage, but I'm not really sure how this confusion occurred)!
Cohen and his concert dates (MiMi and Aunt Susie)!
A picture my aunt took at the concert - I love the look on his face!!
In additon to his first concert in March, Cohen also got to go to his first college basketball game which involved his first trip to Morgantown as well. As a graduate of WVU, this was a huge deal for me! During my years at WVU someone bought me a snowglobe that has tiny replicas of important WVU sites like the football stadium, the colliseum and Woodburn Circle. Cohen loves for me to get the snowglobe out and tell him about all of the buildings. He always seems pretty impressed when I tell him that mommy used to live behind the football field...but they just forgot to put my old trailer in there!! This trip was actually planned as a visit to our friends Anthony and Jenn who moved to Morgantown last year...and to meet their new baby, Luna! Our trip just happened to coordinate with the last basketball game of the season. We stayed with my parents the night before our trip, and Paw-Paw Dave got Cohen pumped up for the game which included teaching him to say "slam dunk" and "shoot the free (three)!" Cohen told us he was done with the game before the end of the first half, but he stayed sweet until the end which may have had something to do with Anthony sharing his snowcone with him! While he may not have seemed so interested in the game at the time, Cohen has spent the last few weeks telling us that he is going to play basketball - he is counting on the Romeos being his biggest fan, since he always asks if "Anfanee," Jenn and Baby "Wuna" will come to watch him.
A serious WVU fan!
Checking out the colliseum
Cohen and Baby Luna
Although it was only the second time that Cohen got to hang out with Jenn, it didn't take long for her to become one of his favorite people! After spending some time at Anthony and Jenn's house, we went out to eat at a very family friendly restaurant. The restaurant has live music on the weekends and since we had a front row table, Cohen apparently assumed it was his own private concert! He did some dancing on the stage and also managed to pick up some older ladies! After dinner we went to Cold Stone Creamery where Cohen had his first blue ice cream! I have a feeling that Baby Luna was not the best example for Cohen of what life with his baby brother is going to be like, since she barely made a sound the whole time we were there. She slept through the basketball game, the loud music at the restaurant and at the pretty crowded ice cream shop!
Cohen and his new friends Jenn and Baby "Wuna"
Cohen's concert!
Jenn, Cohen and Anthony with ice cream!
Saying goodbye to Baby Luna
When we got home from the game, we decided that we should make Baby Brother (at 29 weeks) a WVU fan too! (And nothing looks classier than a big pregnant belly covered in tattoos!)
My two WVU fans...and hopefully two future WVU students!!
The excitement of the weekend may have been forgotten when the UPS truck delivered some of the decorations for Cohen's room early the next week! And even though those giant monster trucks weren't delivered until 7 or 7:30 on a Monday evening, Jeff insisted on putting them up that night - I'm not sure if Cohen or his daddy was more excited about his Monster Truck room! The comforter arrived shortly thereafter and I made a quick trip to buy sheets and curtains to make sure Cohen didn't have to wait one more night to sleep in his big boy bed!
Cohen looking super tiny in his big boy bed! To help make sure that he wasn't scared, I told him that we had a camera in his room watching him like we did in his baby room, so we could hear him if he needed us. He apparently wanted to test this out, since he spent the first five minutes after we closed the door just laying in his bed saying "MaMa...DaDa" over and over! After some extra reassurance, though, he went right to sleep and stayed in his bed all night. After a month in his new room, he seems to be sleeping better in his big boy bed than he ever did in his crib. Jeff and I are thankful that we finally have a child who sleeps through the night...six weeks before starting all over with a newborn!!
After all the work getting Cohen's new room ready, I never stopped to think that it might be sad to move him out of his crib and the nursery...until the crib was empty :(
After his first trip to Morgantown, Cohen also got to go on his first trip to Virginia to visit his Aunt Man, Uncle Just and cousin Jackson. It was a long 5-6 hour trip, but definately worth every minute of it for Cohen since he got to go to a playground, a St. Patrick's Day parade, and inflatables! Oh, and he had MiMi on the trip with him and he got to eat a big cupcake! I loved everything about the trip - my sister's house, the neighborhood they live in and the fact that their town/city has every restaurant and shop you could ever want - and lots that you didn't know you wanted! I can see lots of trips to VA in our future - especially when Cohen gets older and finds out what a cool place it is!
Cohen and Jax at the playground
St. Patrick's Day parade - tiny leprechauns!
St. Patrick's Day - one of the only days you can get away with dressing like this!
Looking for the parade
A St. Patrick's Day parade could not be complete without bagpipes....and kilts!
Mesmerized!
Although I was confused about the reason for the Delorian in a St. Patrick's Day parade, I still had to take a picture of it! Apparently it was legit since the Delorian was made in Ireland!
Fredricksburg, VA - where the Easter Bunny is a main attraction in the St. Patrick's Day parade...Justin, Cohen and Jax were going over to meet the bunny!
To explain Cohen's face - he is eating SourPatch Kids that he got from the Easter Bunny!
We looked so good, we got our picture in the local newspaper!
The parade had been over for at least five minutes...they were in denial!
Thanks for bringing me to inflatables Aunt Man!
Getting our money's worth out of the shamrock shades!
Jackson fell asleep for a little while after the trip to the inflatables, but Cohen wanted to enjoy every second of his trip to VA! Since Jackson was asleep, he got to try out his fourwheeler - I think he looks pretty tough!
Family photo op during an orange picnic on the couch...Aunt Man , Jackson and Cohen probably shared at least four Cuties! It looks like Boomer might be eating some too!
No better ending to a perfect day than a giant cupcake!
Cupcake cheers!
Cuddle time with Mimi before bed
The next weekend was basically a dream come true for the Prouse family...Jeff and I finally had all of our very close friends at our house for the weekend - and Cohen finally had his BFFs with him in his trampoline (this is all he's asked for since he got it for Christmas)!! We were so thankful to our friends for making such a long trip for us...especially Laura and Zach who endured a road detour that added at least another hour to their trip and traveling with two kids under the age of 3 (one who was just five months old). I think our three toddlers managed to pull out every toy we own in this house and then had lots of trouble sharing them! And even though they sometimes have so much trouble sharing with each other, not one of them can stand it if another one is not in the room (i.e. someone taking a nap or in time out)!
Ben was happy to be in Cohen's trampoline too!
Huddy was born to be a performer!
Cohen and Hudson doing some serious art
You will only see Cohen at the table for lunch if his friends are involved!
Drinkin buddies!
I think it's obvious from those faces that some cupcakes are about to happen!
Cupcake aftermath!
And even though it was still a little cool out, we had some beautiful weather to get the boys out in. Even though they had trouble sharing toys inside, they did find a way to share Cohen's jeep!
It took us awhile to explain to them how to do this, but it was obviously worth it!!
Huddy had no trouble finding the "mow-mow"...after several falls, he finally figured out how to crank the mower like a big man!!
We also got to do some impromptu Easter egg dying while everyone was here. And by impromptu, I mostly mean that I don't think any of us were ready for dying Easter eggs with 3 boys under the age of 4!! I'm sure they will all hate us for the bunny ear pictures in 10-15 years, but they are the cutest bunnies around!
An attempt at a "family" picture!
Me and my little bunny
They were very proud of their eggs!
And of course one of the most important parts of the visit was everyone getting lots of Baby Luke time! Since we don't get to see each other nearly enough, it was only our second chance to get to squeeze him as much as possible (the first time he was only about a month old). And there is much more of him to squeeze now!!
Aunt Sarah and Baby Luke
Ben holding Baby Luke
My child needs more food...this five month old looks bigger than him!
Obviously, "some" of us got more Baby "Uke" time than others....
A rare picture of Laura with both of her babies!
This is apparently her other baby! Cohen loved to hear Laura sing Baby Luke's favorite song called In the Pines and in the two weeks since they were here, frequently asks me to sing it or sings it himself!
He demanded that she "feed him milk"...I guess he did want to be her baby!
We have always attempted to get a picture of all of our boys when they are together...it gets harder every time we add another one - and soon there will be five!!
Baby Uke with the big boys!
We're missing two important people in this picture, but we have to take what we can get!
A hug for the road...Cohen asked so many times if he could go home with Laura and Zach and kept asking me to pack his suitcase!!
We spent the next few days getting ready for Easter...
Another masterpiece by Daddy for baby brother - an Easter Bunny at week 31
My two best bunnies!
Cohen got to dye eggs a second time in his Wednesday night church class. Since the other girl in his class was not there that night, he got to do a whole dozen eggs himself! He even made a special egg for baby brother. His teachers spoil him any chance they get and so they had an Easter basket for him with candy and a monster truck! The church also gave out baskets of candy, so he was already off to a good start in that department!
Just when I think he can't get any cuter, someone puts an apron on him!
Working on eggs with his teachers Miss Taylor and Miss Kelly
Patiently waiting!
We started our Easter weekend the right way...with an Easter egg hunt hosted by Jeff's cousin's family. And what Easter egg hunt could be complete without a "monster truck?!" (The last time we went to a party at this house, Cohen wanted to drive this truck more than anything but it was always being used or out of batteries and he had to settle for a pink Barbie bug.)
Cohen the ladies man!!
This was a real Easter egg hunt, complete with sack races, egg tosses and tug of war. Unfortunately, Cohen wasn't too interested in games yet, since he was too distracted by swings and Power Wheels.
Cohen did participate in the pinata because he knew it had something to do with candy. He has some work to do on his pinata form...I don't think he fully understood what was at stake!!
Kids diving for candy from a pinata is scary!
Approximately 30 seconds after the pinata was open, Cohen already had a sucker and blue lips!
The hosts of the Easter egg hunt hid 450 plastic eggs! All of them with candy inside and 4 big eggs with money inside. Cohen still didn't really understand what was going on last Easter and got distracted by things like riding lawn mowers. This year he was in full egg hunting mode!
The face of a serious egg hunter!
That basket looks heavy!
Showing Maw-Maw how it's done!
We also took Cohen for his first visit to the Easter Bunny. Apparently a lot of people had the same idea since we had to wait in line about an hour! Cohen kept asking what the Easter Bunny would say to him...I tried to explain that the Easter Bunny probably wouldn't talk since he is a bunny, but I don't think this made it any less disappointing for him once he was on his lap!
Easter Bunny high five from the kid with the mohawk!!
Even though the Easter Bunny didn't talk much, he made one boy very happy on Easter morning!!
