Our little hippie

(that's what the headband makes me think of)

Cole has been sick for the past few days.  I took him on a walk yesterday because that seems to help get is mind off of how he's feeling.  It was windy so I had a blanket covering him entirely (per his request).  This is what I foun when I uncovere him at home. He slept for half an hour like this and then for another 2.5 hours in his bed.

Here are some of the pictures my sister took on Maliya's blessing day. Meg, thanks again!) I thought they turned out pretty cute (Meg, you're good, seriously) and had a hard time deciding which ones to post. Enjoy!

2 Months

Maliya tid-bits at 2 months:

-Is a very good girl, as long as she's not hungry or having tummy problems.  Unfortunately, that happens more often than not.  She has issues eating and we're still trying to figure out what to do for her. Poor thing!

-Has suddenly decided that she needs to eat every 2 to 2.5 hours.  Luckily she eats faster than she used to, but still, sometimes it feels like all we do is feed her!  Every so often she'll go 3 or 4 hours - we treasure those times:)

-Is surviving living with a big brother.  He accidentally sat on her this morning while she was in the love sac.  Those kinds of things will just make her stronger, right?

-Has the cutest little 'soft cry' or whimper that we love.  I know she'll be able to use that to get whatever she wants from Nick.

-Is starting to enjoy baths - yay!  Well, I don't know if she enjoys them, but at least she doesn't scream through them anymore.

-Gets so many comments about how beautiful she is from perfect strangers.  We got about 5 comments per home at the Parade of Homes last weekend in St. George. On the way home, while in an Arby's parking lot, a man driving by pulled over next to us and rolled down his window just to tell us how little and cute she was.  She stops cars!  Watch out boys...

-Oh we already can't imagine our lives without her.  She's our sweet 'Little One'.

Cole loves to cuddle with Maliya's bear.  When he hopped up onto the couch and grabbed it, I decided to try and get pics of him and Maliya together.  He wasn't too happy about it...

He was of course happy once he got the bear and the attention all to himself :)

A few pictures from the past week...

Cole loving his little sister. So sweet. (Look closely at Maliya's face in the first one.)

He is such a good brother.  Yesterday he tried to help feed her (stuck a bottle in her mouth while she was chilling on the love sac).  He is also very good at grabbing her burp cloth or other necessary items when she needs them.

Cole can suddenly reach our counter tops. Yikes - nothing is safe anymore!

Decked out for church. This was the first time she wore a dress (besides her blessing dress). I was so excited we had one that actually fit!

Goofball.

We went to St. George last weekend for the parade of homes. It was awesome!  28 beautiful homes, wow!  While there we also enjoyed a lot of fun time with my family.  Cole has been so lucky to see so much of our family lately.  I especially love how much time he's had to play with his cousins.  Here they are having a 'naa' (snack) together.

Taking a break at the parade.

Cool booties - the best part of the parade, according to Cole.

Tummy time.  Similar to Cole, Maliya is not a fan of tummy time.

We've had a lot of fun the past couple of weeks. First, Nick's mom Kim came to visit. She stayed for almost two weeks and was so wonderful! She helped us cook and clean, played with us, shopped with us, bought us way too many surprises (not complaining though!), doted over the kids, etc. Cole became completely obsessed with her and is now going through withdrawals. (Seriously - he asked to call her for two days straight until we were finally able to.)  It really was so great to have Kim here. We already miss her, but luckily she's in the process of planning her next trip!  I am sad that almost all of the pictures of her visit ended up on her camera (not sure how that happened, darn it!)...but luckily I did end up with one.  This is what happened when we left Cole alone with Grandma.... :)

This is just a random picture I caught of Cole. He loves to read.

During the end of Kim's visit we had even more visitors!  We were so lucky to have almost all of our immediate family come out for Maliya's blessing (for the few of you who couldn't make it, please know that we love you and missed having you but totally understand). First Nick's dad Robert and my sister Meg (and her hubby Ryan and their two kiddos) came out.  Cole had such a blast being completely doted on by Grandpa G., and if Maliya knew what was going on, I'm sure she would have appreciated all of the one-on-one time she got with Grandpa as well.  Cole also had a blast playing with his auntie, uncle, and cousins.  It was so fun to watch him actually play with Reed and Asher this time, instead of just playing next to them:) Nick and I, of course, loved having all of them here as well!

Sweet Cousins

Free Valentine's craft at Home Depot. Cole got in some good boy bonding time.

Last but not least, my parents and two sisters (Mandi and Kayla) also drove up for the blessing.  They made a really quick trip - got here Saturday night and left Sunday afternoon - but it was still so great to see them.  We were just grateful that they were willing to make the drive for such a short stay! 

For her blessing, Maliya wore my blessing dress (my mom saved it and then had the great idea of having Maliya use it - so neat!), a cute white bow, and an adorable little bracelet from Mandi and my mom.  She did a great job  (slept through the entire blessing) and so did Nick. It really was a beautiful blessing, and I'm grateful he was able to have that experience with her.  Afterwards, we all enjoyed a simple lunch at our house and then spent some time relaxing and chatting. Megan was also sweet enough to do a photo shoot for sweet Maliya.  Kayla and I also had cameras going - can you say paparazzi? 

(These are two shots I took.  I'll post Meg's good ones when I get them.)

This beautiful blanket was a gift from Kim (she made it!).

It was kind of a whirlind of a weekend, but of course it was just wonderful.  We had to much fun with everyone, and we're so grateful to our family for making Maliya's blessing a beautiful and wonderful experience.

Pictures...

What do we do on sick days?  Cuddle with lion and watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  It makes everything better.

Cole is so sweet - always sharing his most prized possession with his little sis

The sun was in her eyes, so she improvised 

Awww, daddy-daughter cuddle time

Awww again.  Brother-sister time

Daddy singing to his little one, which she really seemed to enjoy. 

Precious

The remains of her battle wounds.  She scraped up her face and cut her mouth in a hungered rage and I finally realized that duh, I needed to cut her nails. I felt so bad!

Today was a big day for these two goofballs. Why?

1. It was, still is, NICK'S 30TH BIRTHDAY!!! Happy Birthday to my best-ever husband. I'm a horrible wife and didn't even remember to wish him a happy birthday until after one of his friends called to do so (thanks for the reminder Alan!), but I tried hard to make up for it by getting him Cafe Rio's 'Tuesday Tacos' for lunch and Famous Dave's super delicious ribs for dinner. In the Gandola household, birthdays are all about the food! Again, happy happy birthday to Nick, my best friend and my love.

2. Cole made it through his first night in his big-boy bed! No prep, no warning, we just put him in his new bedroom on a new bed (well, a mattress on the floor) and told him to go night-night....and he did. Nap time was a different story today, but he did a wonderful job last night. My baby is growing up!

And just for fun, a picture of our cute girl...

21 Months

Cole tid-bits at 21 Months:

-Is talking so well. He copies everything we say and is getting pretty good at counting and saying his ABC's.  So so cute.

-Has tried out his potty a couple of times when it seemed like he needed to...we'll see how that goes. I can tell he's becoming aware of needing to go potty, and that he's realized that dirty/wet diapers are not comfortable. (He's tried to pull his off a few times.)

-LOVES his baby sister Maliya. 

-Is obsessed with The Itsy Bitsy Spider and Row, Row, Row Your Boat, thanks to both of his Grandmas :)

-Is an off and on eater.  He'll eat peanut butter and honey sandwiches every day for lunch, but dinner is a little iffy.  He usually loves sweet and sour meatballs, bean and cheese or chili and cheese burritos, pizza, mashed potatoes and beef, and anything off of our plates.

-Likes to play at the mall play place and is actually starting to play with the other kids.

-Is still a shorty but is growing in other ways (he's a heavy little thing!)

-Has a super cute fake laugh

-Is still friends with all of the checkers at the grocery store - such a sweet boy!

-Refers to all kids as 'baby' and all men as 'dada'.  (No, he doesn't think all men are his dad. He just says 'dada' to me when he sees a man in order to describe him.)

-Is now sleeping in a big boy bed!

-Understands us better every day, which can be a good and a bad thing:)

-Is more and more fun every day.

-Is becoming very independnent. For example, he suddenly likes to try and put on his shoes. The other day I sat with him for 5 minutes trying to get him to let me put his shoes on.

-Is super polite. Still loves to say 'thank you' and says 'please' more often.

-Is my favorite little boy ever!