Easter Party

mingle-ing with friends from mom/baby group

Weighing the options... hmmm...
Cole and a fellow "bunny"(Allisa)!

CALIFORN-I-A... a photo journal

my sister Sarah (left) and her good friend Jill, at a mexican place called Coyote Grill

actually taken near the end of the trip, all the convertible driving was not so kind to my forehead which ended up sunburnt... minimizing further damage with my scarf!

Wilson Creek winery in Temecula where we discover a new favourite, almond champagne!
at the San Capistrano mission

at the Tea House in San Capistrano, having a Victorian tea as well as a delicious pomagranit mimosa, oh... and they had hats to wear while you were there to complete the experience!

loving the ride...

before one of our 3 fabulous dinners at the Rusty Pelican

along La Jolla beach

our caricatures we had done by the pool one day
driving in our mustang

our gorgeous Marriot villa along Newport coast, thanks to my sister Miriam's timeshare

horseback riding in San Capistrano, horses Josh and Cassidy
the gorgeous view from our balcony, Pacific ocean

Pictures from this week

Since Jeff didn't get anything written here I'll add it in now. This past week I took off for California with my friend Alison. Jeff, not wanting Cole to travel opted to take a weeks vacation time to look after him at home. I had asked him to do a post mid-week since i really needed to see some pictures of Cole by then! It was really hard to go from not being away from him anymore than 3 hrs at a time to being away for a whole week. We both survived tho... although I should mention all of Cole's hair did not. I had ok'd a trim around the ears ONLY and so from here on in Jeff is not allowed to touch Cole's hair. Jeff's week here sounded rougher than he let on while I was away. I think he caught Cole's virus and suffered from a bad cold and earaches pretty much the whole time I was away. Cole woke up more often at night than usual which couldn't have helped things either. But from the stories and how much closer the week brought them together I would still say it was a success for everyone.

a not so happy St Patricks Day...

Yesterday was a rough day. Tuesday night Cole was up a majority of the night. By the morning he had developed a bit of a temperature and was drooling like crazy. I don't think he let me set him down for more than a couple minutes all day. Even though I initially only suspected teething we decided it probably wasn't a good idea to head out to the mom/baby group St. Patricks Day party. I'm glad we didn't because by late afternoon his fever had escalated and he had started coughing. He also didn't really eat anything after his lunch and was really out of sorts so we decided that we should try to take him to emerg. When we checked in his temp was sitting around 101 and the room was full of people some there for 8+ hrs. Thankfully we were able to go to the nurses station when he seemed to be getting worse... his temp had gone to 104 and his cough was sounding awful! He got some more advil had a bit of pedialyte and within the hour seemed to have calmed down some. Three plus hours later he seemed fairly normal, minus the bloodshot sleepy eyes that still looked sick. We got a nurse to check him out again his temp was normal. Since we were thinking maybe it would be better to leave (he won't sleep when we're out and about) the nurse got us moved to an ambulatory bed to wait for a doctor. Well, the thing about emergency rooms... you wait forever to get in then you finally get in and realize that you're gonna be waiting inside too. Almost an hour later and after being told they had no idea when a doctor might be around we decided Cole's need for sleep truimped waiting out the entire night there. The night was rough but by morning it seemed like he was a little bit more himself... blowing raspberries on my face and "talking" to the dog and cat. We took him in first thing to see his pediatrician... he has a viral infection, croup... no other complications at this point though so we're waiting it out and heading back for another appoint't tomorrow. The emergency room wait has seriously made us think that we need to find a nearby hospital in the States and pre-program it into our GPS just in case.

Swimming Parent & Tot 1

Cole's 1st level of swimming lessons completed. We received "Cole Farazen's" swim chart progress report in the mail yesterday, the first of many (I'm sure) spelling mistakes of his last name. As of right now we are the only Sarazen's in Windsor, if the phone book is a good indicator. We are so happy with how far Cole came in his 9 weeks of classes and think that since there isn't all too much to do in the wintertime that we will continue on with the next levels then.

A weekend in Grand Rapids

above: Caitlin and Mackenzie's b-day cake!

above: the girls' bday party at gymboree... here everyone had there own gymbo doll
below: Cole in a party hat

above: snacktime! Caitlin and Cole
below: Cole and Daddy watching Saturday AM cartoons at the hotel

This past weekend we went to the States to celebrate Caitlin and Mackenzie's 2nd birthday. Everytime I get to see them they look so much more grown-up and if possible, even cuter than I remembered them! It was a fun but tiring few days. Cole only had one nap friday, saturday and sunday. The birthday party went really well, they had it at gymboree so there was lots there to keep all the kids busy. I enjoyed getting to catch up some with family, my sister Sarah even flew up from California. On the other hand, I think Cole was feeling overwhelmed a majority of the time. Ecspecially since he doesn't get to see family very often and instead of him getting to be the instigator people come up to him right away. Not to be helped by his molars which I think are still causing him some pain... no sign of them yet though. I think between last night and today's naps he has caught up on his sleep again so I hope we're heading into a good week!

Happy Birthday Jeff!

Yesterday we celebrated Jeff's birthday. Pretty big smile here... must be all the sprinkles I decorated his cake with! For his birthday meal he picked lasagne, no suprise there as it is both of our favourite. He opted out of most of his usual resposibilities with Cole (a birthday right to do so! Cole also turned 10 months yesterday and had a not so pleasant morning. I was making Jeff's cake with Cole in the backpack carrier. He was watching everything and I was explaining the steps as I worked... "in case he wants to be a chef and not an engineer like his daddy thinks he will be" (actually, i probably shouldn' t have said that since I'm pretty sure no chef ever made a cake from a box before!). After, Cole was out of the carrier and the cake was in the oven, I turned the light on and since the oven didn't feel hot at all from the outside let Cole stand up and take a look at our masterpiece. I turned my back for one moment and the next he was wailing... he had gone to the floor and stuck his hand back past where you pull out the oven drawer. My poor little baby. I felt and still feel absolutely horrible. Fortunately it really wasn't that bad, I got it under cool running water fairly quickly. Thankfully my Mom was home to run everything by her and get advice. It's so great to have two nurses and a doctor in the family! The only real blister he got was on top of his one finger.
Today we went to Stars and Stollers to see Valentines Day with the mom/baby group. It was pretty good and not too hard to follow even though it had about half of my attention. Cole did well... he spent alot of the time eating and playing with toys I brought. Near the end, I gave into him being the little social butterfly that he is and let him walk down the row to meet the little guy that was there. He so much enjoys getting out and seeing people. I know he's going to do so well at the daycare we got him into.
On the weekend we went to the mall. I had forgotten Cole's stroller and decided to just go ahead and rent one of the little firetruck ones they have. He LOVED it! I wish I'd had my camera... he held on to the steering wheel and looked so proud of himself... worth the two dollars to do it again just for the fun of it!
The weather here has just been getting nicer and nicer. The snow is all but gone, only a few very small patches if any. Today driving to the mall the temperature gauge on the car said it was 15 degrees out! This weekend we're looking forward to heading down to Grand Rapids. Caitlin and Mackenzie are turning 2 and we're going down for their birthday party.