Big boy bed

And just like that Cole has decided that he should be sleeping in a big boy bed. We've had the toddler bed set up in his room since the day he was born. It was just easier that way. I kind of wondered when he'd make the switch since both big boys were in their toddler beds before they turned 2, not that I was in a rush to let this wild man free. None of them ever tried climbing out. In fact most of them would only try to climb IN!

Every now and then Cole would pick 'dat bed' to sleep in. He'd climb in but upon us leaving, we'd turn to find him straight by the door.

This morning I took the big boys to Sunday school and when we got home I asked Chris how Cole was like I always do. He showed me a picture from the camera of him sleeping in the tot bed. I couldn't believe it. No coaxing, no going back and forth putting him in....he just decided today was the day (which is great since I'm loaning out our crib starting sometime in February!).

Again tonight he decided it was time to sleep in the big bed, and at the rate he's growing we're going to need a queen size by mid summer!

Happy 2nd Birthday Cole!!!

Sunday January 11th Cole turned the big 2! and boy did he let everyone know! He just loves being 2 and considers himself one of the big boys now. He hasn't really had much of the terrible 2's thankfully....or maybe because Nathan's terrible 5's are masking it?

We didn't have a big party for him. Christmas was 2 weeks earlier and I had just gotten my surgery bandage off 2 days prior. I did manage to make him an Elmo cake. It snowed like CRAZY that day so I decided to hold off on taking him to Build a Bear until just this weekend to replace the monkey he gnawed the nose off of. His real present on his birthday was no nap! oy oy!

He had his 2 year check up on Friday and he weighs 29 lbs and is 35.5 inches tall. He showed Dr. Aaron where all of his body parts were, and that he wanted a red sucker! The things they remember about doctors offices! Dr. actually asked me how his appetite was! I couldn't hold back any laughter on that question! The kid eats everything! Anyway, here are some pictures (past and present) of my big man.

Here I am reminiscing about my last 2.5 hours of being pregnant, just before changing into the gown. Cut me some slack though....It's 5:30am, ON MY DUE DATE and I'm 40 lbs swollen!



And here is my BIG 9 lb 6 oz baby boy. Thank goodness for c-sections!



And of course the recent ones. He enjoyed the 8 people he had singing to him!



But we all know you can't be a Decker (or a Melcher for that matter) unless you like cake better!



For good measure I had to show off how cute he is :)



Here are the build a bear pictures. He had a hard time deciding what to pick out. A dog, a bear, an elephant....finally ended up just replacing the monkey!



And he wouldn't go near the thing that inflated it with stuffing. Here he is putting the heart in though.



and last but not least you can't leave without giving it a good wash!

Hand surgery

Well in case this is new news to you I'd thought I'd share. 3 years ago I broke my right hand/thumb (the joint that connects the base of the thumb to the wrist). A very hard spot to break and on the joint at that. I decided to make a running catch during a softball game with my right hand. Unfortunately I must have forgotten that my mitt was on my left hand. I did make the catch but not w/o consequences! I was casted and went through therapy, etc but it still hurt 2.5 years later. Turns out severe arthritis had developed causing the pain and the 'bone spikes' as I call them were 'scraping' away the cartilage in the joint. So I decided to have surgery to have the arthritis removed as a way to avoid having to have the joint fused together.

5 days later and still reliant on every one for most of my daily activities. I've got a wrapping on my hand about 6 inches thick up to my elbow that completely encompasses my thumb. I'm off pain meds and narcotics but still unable to drive, open sippy cups, make sandwiches, open child proof locks, zip coats, change diapers ( :) ), so I have 4 different people doing my weekly 'duties' next week. 1 to take Nathan to the bus stop, 1 to take Lance to school, a different one to pick him up, and one to take Nathan home from school. I'm also going to be hanging out with neighbors often! I guess I really took for granted all the things we do with our thumbs....our RIGHT thumbs!

I have to have this eye sore on my hand until Friday, and then I'm sure it will at least be in a removable splint which will be much better than this foul smelling thing.

Christmas!

What a great year! and can you believe the furthest we traveled was up to Rockford the week before!!! The boys could not wait for Santa to come and the conversations the morning of were classic. The big boys were of course up before 6 and had their stockings opened before they got us. Once Cole was up everything flew by and Christmas including breakfast was over by 7:30am. My parents came over that night and Saturday we had the whole Lenning family over. I'm so thankful for everyone making the trip and believe it or not the weather actually cooperated for once!

Christmas eve we continued the family tradition of opening only gifts from each other and the ones from mommy and daddy are usually games. I set them out Christmas eve morning and Nathan had them 'organized' within minutes. All separated according to person! and there were only 9! They had fun picking out gifts for each other and actually using their own money to buy them. The big ticket items this year were geotrax (like we need more!), a bike, a scooter, remote control everything, and a HUGE tote of crafting stuff!

Christmas eve before opening our family gifts.



The 'before' picture



Lance on his new bike



Nathan showing off a present



Cole got into it this year too!



The 'after' picture!



And after a very long day, a Christmas family picture