Updates

Sorry I've been a slacker at putting up new posts for a while now. So here's a few little updates on what we've been up to lately.

Cole has had the nasty runny nose on and off for a couple weeks and I don't know whether to blame his tooth that is coming in, or his 1 yr shots he had a couple weeks ago...or both. For those of you that don't know, Cole is on a medical study for his vaccinations and he just had his last dose - and we go in for some blood work in a week or so to see if they have been effective. Basically, if they work, he will be protected from more diseases than other kids. I can tell you more about it later if you want. But anyway, we get paid like $150 for doing it, plus they've paid for all of his immunizations and blood work, etc. He hasn't had a single reaction or anything from any of them so far (he started when he was 2 mo's old) so it's been nice.

Cole has figured out how to open garbage cans and his new favorite thing to do is to throw EVERYTHING into them. We are still missing the VCR remote and I'm pretty sure it was taken out in the trash last week...and the garbage man has already come. So I don't think we'll be finding it. I have found ryan's alarm clock and his wallet in the diaper pail a couple times - luckily - before we took it out.

He is finally a year old so we were hoping to save all that money that we were spending on formula and that he could just drink regular whole milk like Malia...but Cole is lactose intolerant...and the special Lactaid milk we have to get him is almost $4 for a half gallon. Yeah, still a little less than formula...but freak! We're hoping he will adjust to this and not have to go to Soy milk - although they do have that at Costco. Actually, even better, we're hoping he grows out of all of it and just gets used to it - that's what the doctor is hoping for too.

Malia is doing so good at Preschool - except for the 3 times the teacher has had to come out and talk to me because Malia wasn't listening at school. Yeah...she doesn't listen at home most the time either! How the heck do you teach your kids that they just have to listen to you? That's just the way it is...get over it! But of course a 3 yr old doesn't understand that...and it's always "why?". I can't even say how frustrated I get with that same question every day - over and over!! But anyway, Malia is making lots of friends at preschool too, and talks about them all the time and how nice they are to her. I just hope she is nice to them too! I do get some really nice compliments about her a lot of the time though too. She really is a sweet girl...its just that sometimes....

Malia is getting really good at writing her name too. Of course the 2nd letter is like 3 times as big as the first, and sometimes the letters are switched in order...but she's starting to get the concept! it's so cute. I love watching her learning to do things and how proud she is of herself.

As for me and Ryan, we've been starting the whole house hunting process. We've been kind of just looking on line for several months now just to kind of get an idea of what's out there and the price range...then we had to figure out some credit issues - not that we had bad credit...we didn't have ANY. Neither of us have ever had a credit card or ever been in debt for anything...both cars have been paid off for over 5 years...so we just didn't have a credit score. It doesn't make sense to me that we had to get a credit card and accrew some debt in order to get a stupid credit score to qualify for any type of home loan. We've tried so hard for a long time to not ever have to have a credit card and we are both totally against having it...but because of those stupid real estate laws that require a credit score...we had to get one. Anyway, long story, sorry. So now we are ready and have gone out a couple times looking. It's a lot more frustrating that I thought it would be. It seems like we should have our pick at pretty much anything with the way the market is...but it seems like everything we've looked at so far is crap. So we'll see. We aren't in any hurry and I'm sure something will come up. It is very exciting time for us, but also stressful and frustrating and scary. So yeah...

That's about it. I feel like my life is pretty boring...but I seem busy all the time too. Between naps and preschool and soccer games and meal times...how do you guys all seem to be keepin' it together and I feel like my life is falling to crap half of the time?? I can't keep up with anything that needs to be done.

What is everyone dressing up their kids for Halloween? I am having a hard time deciding what to do for Cole...Malia is all over the princess thing, although it changes daily on WHICH princess she wants to be. I love Halloween though and I can't wait! I love taking Malia tick-or-treating and seeing all the kids dressed up. It's so much fun!