Our little model

Cole was a little pro at his first magazine photo shoot. Please contact his agent (aka, mommy) for any modeling gigs you need him for. :)

Happy Anniversary!!

So when I was a little girl, I had this ring that my grandmother gave me. It was a James Avery "Paper Doll" ring. I LOVED that ring. I was absolutely heartbroken when I couldn't find it one day. It was discontinued so I couldn't get another one. I never forgot that ring. Imagine my surprise when Bryan slipped that ring on my finger last night. I had told him about it before. About how much I loved it and how much it meant to me. How sad I was when it was gone. And bless his heart, he found one on eBay and gave it to me for our 5 year anniversary. Oh...my...GOD!! I love my husband. Happy Anniversary, my perfect love.

It's a little small so I'm hoping I can take it to the James Avery store and get it sized for the ring finger on my right hand. Can't wait!!

Carnival Time

Topher's school carnival was last weekend. We met up with Allison, Luke and Marshall for a few hours of F-U-N!!! Topher had a blast with the petting zoo, pony rides, train rides, bounce house, his first taste of cotton candy, and all sorts of other things. He even got a tattoo. Unfortunately, I neglected to get pictures of a lot of those things, but I did get these shots...

Train ridePetting Zoo

Pony Ride (I think Topher takes after his Grandma and his Uncle Jon with his riding abilities)Cole and Marshall had a pretty good time, too.

Cole's stats

Cole had his 1 year check-up this week. He weighed in at 20lbs 14oz (25th Percentile) and his length is now 30 inches (50th Percentile). The doc expects him to have another growth spurt in the next couple of months.

He is very close to walking these days. I think he'll be walking within a couple of weeks. He gets very frustrated when he can't do it. But he loves to stand up by himself and gets so excited when he gets to walk holding onto mommy or daddy's hands. I'll try to get a video this week.

Cole's Birthday Bash

What a fun birthday party (in spite of it taking place in the middle of our construction mess)!! I think Cole had a really great time. The rest of us did, too. Thanks to everyone that was able to make it over. We sure did miss Mimi and Papa who couldn't make it because they were both sick. Here's a few videos of the fun. And a few pictures as well...

Happy birthday, Cole. We love you so much!!!

Cole is ONE!!!!

Today is our littlest angel's first birthday. I can not believe this day is already here. I look at his sweet little face and can easily remember seeing it for the very first time. My first words to him were "Oh my God, you're so beautiful!". And he is just so beautiful. You can read Cole's birth story here if you're interested (http://padghams.blogspot.com/2009/04/cole-michael-padgham.html). He's such a funny guy. He LOVES his big brother and his mommy. But when his daddy walks in the door from work, Cole goes crazy! He bounces and kicks and whines until daddy picks him up and then all is right with the world. It's just too cute.

We'll be celebrating this happy occasion on Saturday with lots of friends and family. I'll be sure to post pictures and videos from the party as soon as possible. But in the mean time, here are photos from his very first hair cut last week. He behaved perfectly. It was a little bittersweet for me, though. He no longer looks like a baby. Much more like a little man now. So handsome.

BEFORE
DURING
AFTER (he's drooling over how handsome he is)

How cute is this...?

Monkey see, monkey do...

He did it!!

Cole finally started crawling. Whew! I was beginning to think he might skip crawling all together and just start walking, but nope. He's all over the place now. Which makes me wonder why I was so anxious for him to become mobile in the first place. ;)

Topher has started having more fun with his little brother lately. He loves making Cole laugh. And I love it, too. It's so great to see them having fun together. Sure makes a mommy proud.


That's it for today. Cole turns 1 in about a week and a half. I'll be sure to make another post for his first birthday. I can't believe it's already been a year. Time is going by way too fast.

Topher's THREE!!

It doesn't seem real. How is it possible? Our little booger butt is quickly turning into a little man. He's so sweet and polite...most of the time. It's definitely obvious that he's three, though. He's constantly pushing limits and seeing how much he can get away with. He's also super smart and so funny. And he never meets a stranger. He just loves everyone he meets. I love that about him. We're so proud of him. Happy birthday, Topher. We love you so much!

The specifics: Topher checked in at 29lbs (25th percentile) and 35 1/2" tall (10th percentile). He must take after me in height, poor guy. Although, the doc said that growth spurts don't usually occur until the warmer months (who knew?) so we should expect him to get a little taller this summer.

Topher's 3rd birthday party was held at Indoor Safari Park in Southlake. That place is a ZOO!! A little overwhelming for adults, but talk about a wonderland for kids. They do a little parade for the birthday boy, a train ride, robotic animal rides, a putt-putt course and then a private tiki hut for the celebration. What fun!! Topher wants to thank all his friends for coming to his party and for all the wonderful gifts. He had such a fantastic time. We hope everyone else did, too.

And THANK YOU to Beth for sending me this video...



One last little story about the birthday boy. This is just too cute. The other day while eating his dinner, I heard him saying what I thought was "Oh man!" and he would say it twice in a row. The next time I heard him say "Oh man!" we noticed he was holding his hands like he was praying. Then we heard him singing a little song before saying "Oh, man!" Turns out, Topher learned a very sweet little "before meals prayer" at school and "Oh, man" is actually "Amen". We are so impressed and so proud. I'll try to get it on video and post it really soon. It's just so sweet.

First taste of nature

We took the boys over to the park the other day and Cole got his first taste of leaves. Very cute pics...I also took the opportunity to teach Topher how to properly roll down a hill. Boy was that a mistake. Took me a couple of hours and a nap to recover from the dizziness. I'm just not as young as I used to be. :(

Cutest thing EVER

I think Topher is finally coming around to this "brother" thing and also to caring for another. He was in his room playing today and when I went in to check on him, he was standing in the middle of the room holding his baby Elmo and saying "Shhhhh...it's ok, don't cry". Then he went to put Elmo in Cole's crib. It was so cute, so I ran with it. I asked him if Elmo was sleepy and needed to go night night and he told me yes. So I helped him set up a bed just for Elmo with his own blanket and everything. So we put Elmo down for his nap and then came into the living room with Cole. Then Topher said he heard Elmo crying so he went in and got him, brought him into the living room and told me that Elmo was hungry. So I set Topher on the couch with the boppy in his lap and gave him one of Cole's bottles so he could feed him. He fed him and I showed him how to burp him. Then he said it was time for Elmo to play. So he took the boppy and put it on the floor and sat Elmo down in front of it (I do this for Cole so he doesn't hit his head when he falls over) and then gave him one of Cole's toys. Then it was time for Elmo to go night night again 'cause he started crying again. He repeated this entire cycle 3 times in a row. After the last cycle, he thought it was time for the real deal because he kept wanting to pick Cole up and help him with his toys and help him sit up and everything. It was just so cute! Here are some pics..

A fast 9 months

Time seems to be going by faster with Cole than it did with Topher. I mean, he was just born a few weeks ago, right? Nope. Try 9 months ago. That's just crazy. He had his 9 month check-up last week and he's doing great. He weighed in at 19lbs 4.5oz and is in the 45th percentile for weight. He also measured 29 1/2" long and is in the 90th percentile for height. The doc thinks Cole is going to be bigger than his big brother. Uh oh.

I was a little concerned about the fact that he wasn't rolling over from his tummy to his back yet, but the doc said to just give it a little more time and he'd get it. And he did. Just two days later he started rolling over and over and over. He looked like he was having such a great time, too. Here's a video...

On another note, he's starting to use his walker a lot and it's so funny watching him. He seems to "waddle" along and it's just too cute. So I have to include another video for your enjoyment...

Oh, and even more exciting news. Cole finally got his first tooth. It was one of his Christmas presents. Isn't it cute?
And I can't end this post without one last video. Just look at how amazing my husband is. He's such a great dad. I'm the luckiest woman in the world...

More videos

I took the boys to the park the other day and Cole got to swing for the very first time. He loved it, of course. Sorry the video is a little shaky. It was quite windy out...



Topher sang in his first concert tonight. His class sang two songs and they did so great. Unfortunately, you can't really hear what they're singing. I don't think the microphone did a very good job. But that's ok. I thought it was beautiful anyway...

Family Portraits

We went all out and got professional portraits taken this year. I'm so happy with the results. Thank you to Sarah Dorn of Sara Bella Photography (www.sarabellaphotography.com) for doing such a beautiful job. Here are a few of my favorites...

Cole Pics

Our littlest man is just growing and growing. And his little personality is really starting to shine. He's such a sweet guy. He's sitting up now, but still not quite good enough for me to leave his side when he does. He still topples over after a bit, but he's getting better and better every day. Here are some pictures...

And a video of him sitting up...

My Wildcat Men

In my opinion, the Kansas State Wildcats had a banner year in football. With Coach Snider back at the helm, the Cats came really close to Big 12 North Championship after a really, really bad year last season. So we're pretty proud of the team in this house. Obviously...

Fun with Friends

Over the last couple of months, Topher has had loads of fun with friends. Luke came over for a super fun play date one day and they laughed and played and danced and wore each other out. It was quite entertaining to watch them. Here's a video. Sorry it's kind of shaky in some places.


We've also had the pleasure of keeping Miss Lydia a couple times and she is just so much fun. Topher loves it when she comes over (or when he gets to go to her house to play. We've kind of got a babysitting swap going on with the Lines). Here's a video of a fun game they like to play called, "Fall down"...


Allison and I loaded up the boys (all 4 of them) and headed to McKinney to the Heard Museum to see the animatronic dinosaur attraction. That was so cool. I recommend checking it out if you can. The dinosaurs are there until the end of January. Here are the pictures from that day...

Cole is Six Months Old...revised

Sorry everyone, but I had to delete and re-post this because some jerk posted a comment with spam for viagra. That's not really something I'd like to have on my blog and I couldn't find a way to just delete that comment. The original date for this post was 10/16/09.

Cole is now the big 6 months. Can't believe it. He's becoming so verbal and is such a happy little guy. He weighed in at 16lbs 9oz and is 27" tall. He's such a cute little red-headed booger. And he loves his big brother so much. He loves to watch Topher play and he always gives the biggest smiles to his brother. Unfortunately, Topher still isn't all that interested in Cole. We're hoping that'll change once Cole is big enough to play with him. :)

Houston Trip

The boys and I drove down to Houston to get out of the way of the demolition. We had a great time...

Extreme Makeover Home Edition

It has begun. Demolition is complete and we're ready to start on everything else. Bryan and Bruce worked their tails off last week to get the demo done. Bruce even worked all week while Bryan was at the office. We are so happy and thankful for Bruce. We could not have gotten so much done so fast without him. Sure am sorry his truck got stolen while he was here. Hope that doesn't deter him from coming back 'cause we sure could use his help again.

Here are some demo pictures. We're moving the kitchen into the dining room/living room to make one big great room, moving the living room into the current master bedroom, and moving the master bedroom into the current kitchen. Wish us luck. We're gonna need it.