Family Reunion Adventures!

Wow - it has been way too long since the last post! A lot has been going on in our little Beutler family. Cole cut his first tooth the beginning of August, and now has almost 5 all the way through the gums. We visited the Blacker family in NM the middle of August, and we moved from Gilbert to Ahwahtukee (Phoenix) over labor day weekend. We contractually had to be closer to the hospital for Dave's cardiology fellowship starting next June, so we figured we might as well move sooner rather than later. Anyway, we have lots of pictures to post, but here's a start. Cole is now 8 months old and wearing size 24 month clothes!

 This is on the airplane to Albuquerque for the Blacker family reunion. We had to get up early for the flight. Cole was mesmerized by all the excitement on the plane, and then crashed.

He's not very good at chewing the puffs yet, but he loves to chew on the container. ;-)

 We had a fun afternoon picking raspberries and touring my dad's garden/jungle.

 Cole was content chilling with Uncle Bryan in the stroller watching us pick.

Grandpa Blacker definitely had his hands full with both grandsons. Zac was not so happy to be sharing his grandpa with cousin Cole.

They did have fun together though. They're wrestling/hugging here. :)

Our little rock star.

Family picture time!

This is the whole Blacker clan together. There are three new members since our family picture from last summer, so we decided to take another one (Aubri, Cole and Katie).

Mom and Dad Blacker.

Dave and Aubrey cliff jumping at lake Heron. It was pretty high!



Hungry Cole

Here are some more cute pictures of Cole - I can't help myself! ;-)

He loves to chew on anything and everything he can get near his mouth, literally. I don't see any teeth coming in yet, but they have to be on their way.

Here he's chowing down on some honey dew melon - the plastic bib is a bit big on him still, but saves him from getting slobbers all over himself.

I recently made my first attempt at homemade baby food. I tried carrots first, but they were a bit chunky. The peas turned out great though and Cole downed them (of course). Homemade food is definitely brighter than the store-bought stuff...doesn't this bright green remind you of Gak?!

Cole not only rolls over, but all the way across the room until he gets stuck under the furniture. Usually at that point he yells until we come get him and put him back in the middle of the room, but this time he found the corner of our leather couch to chew on. He stayed there for several minutes just gnawing on the furniture!

Aside from chewing on the furniture, his other favorite thing to do is chew on the blanket we put down for him to play on. I think he finds it more entertaining than his toys, go figure.



As far as everything else that's going on with our family, we're still waiting to hear back about the offer we made on the townhouse in Ahwahtukee. Hopefully we'll be closing on it in another couple weeks, but we're just waiting for the bank to approve things right now. I'm just getting anxious to move! I've packed up most of the things we don't use everyday and am just waiting to get moving on everything else. This is definitely an exercise in patience for me! Dave has survived the last 4 months working crazy hours at the V.A. hospital and we're all looking forward to this month when he'll be home more.

More cute pictures of Coley Poley!

Cole's all worn out after playing with his toys.

Cole likes to chew on straps of things more than he likes to actually play with the toy. Here he's trying to do a back bend in order to get the strap into his mouth. Unfortunately he's not quite that flexible...

When we first got the Johnny-Jump-Up Cole wasn't too sure about it, but now it's his favorite thing. This picture captures the moment perfectly. :)

Our Big Boy!

Cole has been trying to sit up for several weeks now, and he has finally mastered it this past week. Yay Cole! I think his Bumbo seat really helped him figure it out fast. He loves sitting in it and helping me in the kitchen. Don't worry - I only let him play with the tissue box, not the knives.

This is the crazy, "I might eat your face while I'm trying to kiss you", Cole that I get to play with all day long. He never stops wiggling or talking!

And this is the adorable smile that he flashes at me and almost every stranger he sees. It's hard to capture in pictures because he's fascinated by the camera, but occasionally we can get it.

One of the best ways to calm down crazy Cole is to pop in his Baby Einstein Animals DVD. He's mesmerized by it!

Dave and Cole playing together

Here's a cute video of Dave and Cole playing together. In case it's hard to tell, Cole is squealing with delight, not fear. ;-)

P.S. - if you're getting this post via e-mail, you'll probably have to log onto the blog itself to view the video.

The Beutler Boys

This was taken at Dave's Grandpa Beutler's graveside. Isn't it scary how much they all look alike?!

June has been a busy month for us! Dave is working crazy hours at the V.A. hospital and Cole is keeping me plenty busy. We did find out some great news though - Dave was accepted into the Cardiology fellowship program at Good Samaritan Hospital (where he is now)! We are thrilled he gets to pursue his dream, but it does mean we have to move. We're in the process of trying to buy a home in Ahwahtukee (an area of Phoenix) closer to the hospital, but it's a short sale and might take a while. We're crossing our fingers that it will go through. My dad stopped by on his way to a conference in Sedona and said hi to Cole and I for a bit - Cole wasn't too sure about him until he let him drink his water. Then they were good friends. My mom also came and watched Cole while I went to girls camp for a couple days, and we took a brief road trip up to St. George for Dave's Grandpa's funeral. It was good to be there and to see everyone, although I think Cole made the biggest hit. :) More pictures to come from that...

 This is Cole's sexy look. He is mesmerized by the camera and it's really hard to get him to smile in front of it, but he's good at doing this look.

 One of Cole's favorite new things to do is play with his toes - he's finally flexible enough to reach them! 

One of his other favorite things is his new sippee cup.