So much to play with

Alex has so many toys, and his favorites are:

1. the remotes
2. the box his toys came in!

Blankets in bed

I guess I understand why they don't recommend letting your infant sleep with a blanket:

The great outdoors

We were able to enjoy beautiful North Carolina with the Fuqua Outdoors Club a couple of weeks ago. What do you think -- does Alex like hiking?

Double Dukie family

Most of you know that I'm a student at Duke, but did you know Alex is too? He went to his first day of day care at the Duke's Children Campus on August 17th. I didn't think it would be a big deal, Alex is super adaptable. And for me? I knew it would be a piece of cake.

Um, not so much. I cried as we left him, which surprised me. There is just something about walking away from your baby that is so heartbreaking. I turned around and looked at Alex, who was laughing and smiling at the teacher. He didn't seem to mind at all. That's good, right? I know that, but for some reason it made me feel even worse.

One of the women up in the front noticed that I was crying. "First day, huh?" she asked. "Yep," I sniffed.

"Well, it could be worse." I just looked at her. "He could be going off to college like mine is."

Okay, I'll give her that. That is worse. But the part that really troubled me -- this feeling won't subside in the next 17 years?

Generation Y

You have probably all heard complaints about Generation Y and its sense of entitlement. These are the kids coming out of college demanding six-figure salaries (even in a recession) and generally just thinking they deserve more than anyone else.

Some speculate this generation behaves like this because of the never-ending praise their doting parents bestowed upon them as they were growing up.

Hmmm. A sample of the things I say to Alex on a daily (hourly? minutely?) basis:

"You are the cutest baby ever!"
"How was I lucky enough to get such a perfect baby?"
"You are Mommy's special boy!"
"You are the most beautiful boy I have ever seen!"
"You are so smart!"
"Mommy loves you so much, and you are perfect!"

I can only imagine what Alex's future bosses will think. Wait, what am I talking about? Alex is never going to have a boss! I mean, have you met him? He's so smart, he won't have to work for anyone else! And if his intelligence didn't get him where he needs to go, his good looks will!

Tough love

I was having a conversation with one of my professors about a team member that wasn't pulling his weight on the team (I didn't tattle -- she approached me!). Anyway, she said that at some point, the team was going to have to talk to him and give him a kick in the butt.

"Tough love," she said. "You understand what that is, you're a parent."

I raised my eyebrows. "Tough love? My baby is ten months old. I have NO idea what tough love is!"

I mean, would you be able to say no to this face?

Cousins, Cousins, the next generation

About twenty years or so ago, you could find my cousins and me hanging out on my parents' hammock, making up cousin chants. They were really creative -- you know, "Cousins, cousins! Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap!" Now that some of us have kids, well, here's hoping they don't turn out to be as dorky as we were.

Here are some pictures of Alex and his second (third? second once removed?) cousins from our trip to Chicago in July:

from l to r: Alex, Cindy's boys Brian and Griffin, Sandy's kids McKayla and Kevin

Charlie's kids CJ, Casey and Bailey and Alex

Hanging with the boys (Uh oh, it looks like Alex is looking admiringly at Kevin. Alex, stop it! There's a reason we didn't name you Kevin!)

Maggie's daughter Allison (this was actually in North Carolina when they came to town for a few days)

Bedtime at the Cohen House

Our nighttime routine is pretty much the same every night. Not Alex's routine, but mine and Kevin's. It goes something like this:

Whoever goes to bed first peeks his/her head into Alex's room. We see something like the following:




And just in case you don't understand what I mean, here are a few more:


So, as you can imagine, we have to call the other one over. "Isn't he the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?" we coo. And we both agree that he is.

After several minutes of some variation of that conversation over and over again (conducted in stage whispers, of course, so that maybe, just maybe, he'll wake up and we'll get to hold him again), I say, "Did you ever believe we would have such a perfect baby?"

And Kevin, who has never been lacking in the self-esteem department, guffaws and says, "Yep."

No matter how bad our days were, our bedtime routine puts everything in perspective.

Football Sunday

Alex loves wearing the Giants jersey Aunt Kris sent him. But he hates when the Giants play after his bedtime!

My boys in their Sunday best:

Alex Crawling

Alex has been crawling for a few weeks now. We used to put him on the floor in the living room, and he would go straight to the DVD player and try to press the buttons. But just this week he discovered that there's a world outside our living room, and, as you'll see in the following video, that he can crawl to other rooms in the house. So now we always have to be watchful for a baby under our feet.

Two things about this video: 1. Is it surprising to anyone that Kevin's son would stop at the fridge? 2. I have to start cleaning those floors on a regular basis!

Alex's first girlfriend

Since my friend Nikki is so much better at updating her baby blog than me, see the latest Alex news here.

Introducing Kyla Kathleen!

This post is long overdue and I apologize to my loyal blog followers (both of you). July and August were crazy months for us, so there is a lot to catch you up on. But the most exciting thing....

Alex has a cousin! A certified, first cousin! Kyla Kathleen was born to Kevin's sister Kristin and her husband Tom on July 20, 2009! She was just a little peanut at 5 lbs, 14 oz. Here's a picture of her when she was first born:


Isn't she the cutest? So alert right from the start. Alex, Kevin and I were lucky enough to get to go to New York and visit the new bundle of joy. Alex was so excited to meet Kyla -- he thought she was a new toy!


Bet you can't guess which one's which here:



Kyla is now six weeks old and doing great. She's even already rolled over! Of course, I think the milestone of which Kristin is most proud is Kyla's gaining enough weight to fit into all of the cute baby girl clothes she has! Kris and Tom are adjusting nicely to parenthood -- which doesn't surprise any of us that know them! Congratulations to the new family!



P.S. To my beautiful niece Kyla -- I know I have stiff competition in the "Kyla's favorite aunt" category. Please don't hold it against me that it took me so long to update my blog about your birth! I am a first-time aunt, you know, and I'm just trying to find my way...and hey, I think I'm your only aunt that even has a blog, so that's gotta count for something, right? ;)

More Eli

I can't get enough of the little guy! What a beautiful picture this is.

Welcome to the world, Eli!

The East Coast Cohens would like to say congratulations to our friends Lindsay and Brian, who welcomed little Eli Benjamin into the world today! (Lindsay was my freshman year roommate and a bridesmaid in our wedding.) Look at this cute little face:

And the happy family:

Eli tipped the scales at 7 lbs., 9 oz. ("7 lbs., 9 oz. of wonderfulness," Brian said -- isn't he the sweetest?) and was born at 9:25 this morning.

Eli's birth has gotten me thinking back to when Alex was born. Such an overload of emotions, I am sure Brian and Lindsay don't even know what has hit them! I have to admit I am a little jealous of them and what's in store for them. It's such an amazing thing to watch your baby discover the world. (Yes, I know my baby is still discovering the world, but still...)

(Of course, now that I think about it, Lindsay and Brian are probably a little jealous of what we have too -- you know, a baby that smiles and sleeps through the night and doesn't need to eat every two hours...)

Brian and Lindsay, enjoy every moment! You are going to look back in six months and wonder where the time went!

One last game

Auntie Em, Alex and I went to watch Daddy and Uncle Ryan play in a soccer game on Randall's Island a couple weekends ago. It was Kevin's last game as a member of the NY Fury team. I can't say that the refs are upset he is leaving the state!

Lunchtime tango

My two favorite boys walked down to my office one day last week, and we had lunch outside. So I got a noontime dance in with my baby.

Nap time?

Kevin and I put Alex down for a nap on Sunday. It was about that time, and he was showing all of the signs of being tired. So we laid him in the crib, turned on his white noise machine and shut the door.

A few minutes later, we heard him making noise. Not distressed noise per se, but we still decided to go check on him. Here is what we saw:


Needless to say, Alex didn't nap at that time. We picked him up and took him to the park! Does Alex have us wrapped around his little finger? Yes. Do we care? Not one bit!

Now THAT'S love!

"This kid is awesome. I wouldn't trade him for all the Super Bowls in the world!"

This was Kevin's declaration to us this weekend. Ryan, Emily and I really weren't sure what that meant, and I don't know if Kevin has been approached by Roger Goodell or some other NFL hotshot about an exchange of some sorts. But for those of you that remember how Kevin reacted when the Giants won the Super Bowl last year, we can only assume it's a good thing he feels this way! I'm getting teary-eyed just thinking about it!

Stanley Cups, though, that's another story!

Business in the front, party in the back...

Back when he was a baby (oh, it was so long ago, wasn't it?), Kevin always teased Alex about his mullet. I, of course, denied he had a mullet! But looking back...um yeah, he did have a mullet! But he rocked it!




Now, as most of you know, we are preparing for our move to North Carolina -- but Alex doesn't have a mullet anymore! I hope the other babies don't make fun of him! As you can see, Alex is really excited to be a future Dukie (or maybe he looks scared?):



Seriously, though, we are very excited about the move. We had a great time in Durham when we went in April to the admitted students weekend. It was a whole new world for Alex. We taught him all about the color green (he hadn't really ever seen grass or trees at that point -- Daddy's been trying to fix that by taking him to the park every day now), and he learned that cars come in colors other than yellow!

The Hangover

I can't wait to see this movie. It has been a while since I've been this excited about a new movie. (Not like I am going to see it anytime soon.)

The baby in it cracks me up. But I totally think Alex could have starred in it:



What do you think?