McIntire Madness

Cole was very excited about Halloween this year and picked out everyone's costumes. He started with him as Batman of course and then he decided Ethan had to be Robyn. This was all based on a little tiny picture that he saw in his comic book of two boys in a Batman and Robyn costume. He would talk about it and talk about it so of course we all joined in. This means I got to be Bat girl and Matt was Joker. We got to wear our stuff to a fun Halloween Party!

A while ago I posted a blog about Cole and TV. Truth be told he comes from a long line of TV watchers! My TV watching waxes and wanes with good health and bad, pregnancy and nursing. Last season I had lots of time on the couch with little Ethan so my TV was at a high rate. However, this year, I don't have an excuse to sit on the couch so I have slowly started to divorce myself from my shows. It all started with "Wheel of Fortune." We still have a slightly bad taste in our mouth as we were rejected at the tryouts and we just can't bring ourselves to watch it any more. Then, as my time became more restricted (I needed more time to blog) I started evaluating my priorities. So, I have now cut "Grey's Anatomy," "Private Practice," and have refused to join Matt in watching any new shows. The only ones that I am faithful about putting on my Tivo now are "Life" and "ER". It is ER's last season so I figure I have to give it one more year and if you haven't caught "Life" it is a worthy addition. I will take advantage of my current wane and enjoy being off my couch!

This year I had one birthday wish. I wanted to sit down through three meals. That didn't happen, (maybe in my next life if I am really good) however, I was spoiled by family and friends and had a great time! A few days before my birthday I got to go out to the Melting Pot and was treated like a princess with the jewelry and all. It is a fondue place that we went to for the dessert of course. What can be better than dipping food in chocolate? I can't think of anything.


I was joined by some of my girlfriends for some really good laughs!


I started my day out really early and enjoyed some time at the temple. During the day we were busy trying to get things done, but I ended the evening with a date out with Matt. We went out with our friends Dan and Shelley to Indian food and had chocolate lava cake for dessert. It was a great day and really, I don't feel a day older!

There is a little city here in Washington called Leavenworth. It truly is a fake Bavarian town. All the shops, architecture and employees pretend like they are Bavarian. However, it is quite cute and made for a fun day vacation. We went out with our friends Kami and Alex Smith and their two kids Allie and Boden. We happened to take the trip on Matt and Alex's birthday so we were able to have a little birthday celebration and we even decorated the motel room. We did a little shopping and spent most of our time in the Christmas shop and then went down to the park and let the kids play. We ate a lot of food and had a good time with our friends. The quote of the trip was this: "Allie and Cole, don't lick each others tongues." Um yeah, never thought you actually had to point that out to your kids.

Our friends Kami and Alex with baby Boden. (We didn't take any other photos!)


Cole blowing out the candles with the help of Allie and Cole

The first few months of Ethan's life seem to be a blur. I think it is owed mostly to the unfortunate fact that he spent most of his waking time crying and during the day he didn't sleep much. For his first two weeks of life he set himself up as the perfect baby so I was sorely disappointed when the crying started. Poor little guy has reflux which explains the crying, but nonetheless it made things a little difficult. At 10 months we finally decided to switch his medication and he became a new baby. We were so sad it took us that long to do it. Now he is very happy and easily entertains himself. He actually plays with toys and will do it often.

He is a typical second child and delights in teasing Cole. He gets a big smile on his face when he takes his toys or purposefully walks in front of him. He loves it when Cole reacts and they are found on the floor wrestling on a regular basis.

He loves us so much we couldn't leave him often. The few times we tried he cried the entire time. I never left him but a few hours until he was six months old. At that point for my sanity I started leaving him with Matt to work out. We came to find out he survived after all and we are working on leaving him more and more.

He has a great smile and very big brown eyes! He is tall and has lots of extra fat to love. He loves to be outside and wants to do everything brother does. We are grateful for what he brings to our family and we look forward to learning more about his personality!

Cole's 2nd year of life started with a bang and didn't quite settle down for a long time. I think some kids don't notice the birth and displacement another child creates, but Cole surely felt every minute of it! He has since adjusted quite well and now mostly enjoys his little brother Ethan.

It was a big year for learning. His language exploded. I went to having a kid who enjoyed sitting in silence to someone who is always asking why. Sometimes I am not quite sure how to answer so I have resorted to saying that is just the way it is! He likes to coordinate and plan and even picked out all of the families Halloween costumes this year. He can do most of his colors, a few numbers and recognizes a lot of letters. He loves to sit and read. Excluding the summer we hit the library about once a week and his favorites are the batman books and comics.

He went from being a big Spiderman fan to now a huge Batman fan with Spiderman coming in second and if need be Superman and Hulk coming in later. We have several pictures of him dressed in all kinds of costumes. He wears his outfits all over town and especially likes it when people talk to him about it. He will pose and even shoot a web at you if you are lucky. We are definitely going to hit the after Halloween sales.

He became potty trained, untrained, trained, untrained, trained, untrained and trained again for good we hope! We had to do quite a bit of traveling and he just didn't like to be potty trained on vacation. Who can blame him, we all like to relax a little more when we are out of town.

He still is an extremely picky eater and hasn't added many foods to his menu. We have finally resorted to taking him to the doctor to rule out any allergies or stomach problems. If we find nothing then we will look into working on the behavioral issue.

He is a very active boy and loves to explore and play. We spent hours and hours out on the swing set this year. Usually he is wearing a cape for good effect.

Cole is a very determined child and will usually do whatever it is to get what he wants. He gives hugs and kisses freely and now enjoys a good snuggle. He loves his Dad and really enjoys bedtime when they get to read together at night.

It was a good year and we look forward to what the 3's will bring!

Nice huh?

We live in a house of super heroes and it became more apparent to me how it dominates our lives when Ethan said Hulk! No joke the boy can only say, mama, dada, uh-oh and no. However, he now refers to everything super hero as hulk. He is pretty pleased with himself and I am not sure if I should be embarrassed that his fifth word is hulk versus cat, dog or ball which are the normal words a 1 year old says or if I should just look at it as progression! Progression it is!

While we were in Georgia we loaded up the mini van with four adults and four children under five to drive a few hours to Charleston, South Carolina. We stayed in a condo on the beach and soaked up the rays of the south. Next to the beach the weather was fine, but the minute we went downtown we were very hot! (I have become a heat wimp because of my time in Seattle and I was overheated.) We were also surprised at the onslaught of bugs. They were everywhere. I was constantly hitting myself and the kids so we wouldn't be covered in bug bites. After my dutiful bug swapping I learned that there are people in this world who are not affected by mosquito bites and I happen to be married to one who also passed this gene onto our kids. I can't even imagine never itching from a mosquito bite. How nice. Despite the heat and bugs we enjoyed the scenery, beach, history and company.

We went out to Fort Sumter which is were the Civil War started. Those darn South Carolinans were so rebellious!


You have to take a boat ride to get there! Ethan enjoyed the trip. Notice that I glisten? Yeah, it was hot! The fam on the boat! We got to see dolpins jumping in and out of the water. It was delightful.

Our traveling companions! Becky, Aaron, Cooper and Gavin.Matt in the drivers seat at another historic visit!
The glorious Love Bugs! I just can't get over them. In Seattle we also don't have many bugs. I guess you can't convince them to live in the rain. One of the only benefits of our climate.
The beach. I am covering my back as I happen to be fairly sensitive to the sun. However, I should have been covering my legs because after gooping up everyone else with sunscreen I forgot to apply it to my legs. They were nice and red afterwords. Can you tell Matt is a resident of Seattle? The boys LOVE to swim. Matt and Cole enjoyed the actual waves. Ethan and I stay in this little pool. We went on a carriage ride through the town. The trip was full of gossip and intrigue. Apparently South Carolina wasn't a hot spot for settling so they had to bribe people to stick around. I think they said that you had about a 66% chance of surviving there! Gratefully that statistic has changed. However, I am not quite sure that people live there without being bribed. Especially in the summer.

Just a few days after turning one Ethan decided to walk!

He even has the bruises to prove it!