Making Sounds

Wig Man: the news forecast

What are children for if not for our amusement?
Jonathan and I were cleaning out an old closet recently and found this old wig.
It was the perfect start to our Monday morning with Taylor this week.
Take a look!

Rolly Polly

Hey all 2 new videos of Taylor to watch

The first one he is showing how he is almost rolling over! Click on the picture to view the video.


The 2nd video he is hanging on to a ball :)
You will hear my friend Lisa in the background talking to Taylor.
Click on the picture to view the video.






:)

Lots of fun!!!

Happy Baby: the Yoga Pose

I can remember going to yoga classes and doing the pose "Happy Baby" and thinking... really?
How did they come up with the name for this pose? Kinda weird.... but today I have seen the proof! Taylor has just found his toes in the past 2 days and he looks just like the yoga pic. It is so hilarious watching him grab his toes like a little contortionist! Amazing!!!

change is the name of the game

Each day Taylor changes.... everyone always says that is what happens but when it is happening before your eyes it just has a different effect on you. He is more alert and engaging.
Smiling at us and starting to giggle. He loves to stand on your legs and wiggle while he tries to catch his balance. It is truly and amazing adventure.

Activity Mat: Who is it really for?

The activity mat is a great entertainer for Taylor, he loves to stare at the lighted singing sun, grab for the toys that hang around him and get his arms and legs moving! It is also a great place for Lulu to hang out. In the past 2 days we have found her "hanging out" on Taylor's activity mat just chillin. It is like she REALLY wants to be the baby again!

Big boy

Here is some of the latest baby video.... he is just too cute!

Houston we have head control

Just this week Taylor has been starting to hold his head up while he is on his belly.
It has been amazing to watch the changes in him and they happen day to day.
He really smiling now and talking up a storm.
We think he is speaking Farsi, so we will have to wait to try to understand him. :)

Children of the Corn

An evening at the local corn maze will bring anyone back to their childhood or their fear of corn!
Tonight we spent an hour getting lost and trying to find our way out of the Denver Botanical Corn Maze. Taylor took the lead telling us which way to go.
We had a great time and we even got a little bit spooky!

The Sound of Music

So I have been feeling a little like Julie Andrews lately because I find myself singing to Taylor ALL THE TIME about random things! It is funny how anything can become a song.... some of my latest diddies have been

"Good morning Monkey" something I found myself singing the other day as I brought Taylor upstairs in the morning

" Calling all the wood gnomes of America" a song that I have been singing when Taylor is wailing about a diaper change or that he is hungry

" Are you mad are you glad are you sad?" a diaper changing song

It appears that this is not just a "Jill" thing as I have been polling my friends who have had babies as well and asking them.... did you find yourself singing to the baby about mundane chores? diaper changes? crying? and other random things? They all have replied YES!

Chief Kicking Chicken

Don't all new babies get a nickname in the first 3 weeks?

Well Taylor is no exception.... we have dubbed him Chief Kicking Chicken for the way he winds up and kicks his legs during almost every diaper change, and another addition to the kicking is the wailing .... it is really a sight to see!

Taylor Frazer Coln

Wow! A lot can happen in one year!
Move back from Spain, get married, adopt a puppy, turn 40 and then.... have a baby!

I was just telling Jonathan the other day that I have had enough "BIG" things happen this year so let's slow things down.

Our newest arrival announced himself in the middle of the night on 7.24.09 a little more than 2 weeks early. I woke up to some back pain and then figured out soon after my water had broken. 22 1/2 hours later we got the best present in the whole world a healthy baby boy.

Taylor Frazer Coln arrived on 7.25.09 at 1:36 am, weighing in at 7.1 lbs and 20 inches long. The hilarity has already begun and it is only Day 3. We will post lots of fun pictures and stories over the coming months.
Hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Coming out of the closet

Ok, so we are finally coming out of the closet and letting folks know we are 3 months pregnant! Although many of you already know cause I can't keep a secret for all it's worth.

and dont' think I don't know you are doing the math right now.... 3 months... they got married in October..... 1, 2, 3....

Let me kill the suspense...we got pregnant about 6 weeks after the wedding. :)

Yeah us Coln's we like to make things happen FAST!
So their calling the due date at Aug. 10th.
We have some 192 days to go. Boy that sounds like a long time..... Anyway we are excited and looking forward to another member of our family.

This post officially starts the baby blog!!!!!

Place to visit....

If Prague is not on your list of places to go in your life... change your list. After a great week in Athens it was amazing to see a city that was so different, with such a different history.

I got to spend some time doing more touristy stuff, which made me quite happy. I traveled up to the Old Prague Castle, and got to walk on the Charles Bridge (a 650 yr old stone bridge that connects the two halves of the city). It was an amazing week. Take a look at the pictures located on Flickr... the link is in the right hand column. Cheers! Jill

An international dinner party....

I had my first dinner party last night with 4 women I met in my Spanish class. We had 3 generations sitting around the table from 3 different countries. It was a pretty amazing experience. Attending were: Lucy, 22 years old from Ireland. She is in Girona teaching English and has been here since last fall. Anna who is also 22 years old, is and o'pair living just outside Girona I am not sure how long she has been here. Elizabeth, 72 from Chicago, Illinois. Her daughter lives here and so Elizabeth moved here as well. She has been here since last fall as well. The menu was fresh salmon, cous cous, and fresh sauteed veges... for dessert we sat around the table and devoured a pint of Haagen Daaz.

We spoke mostly in English with a few Spanish words thrown in for good measure. It was really neat to hear about everyones experiences in life. We talked about the time the 3 have spent living in other countries; Lucy has lived in South Africa, Anna spent a year in Australia, and Elizabeth told a great story about being an o'pair in Jamaica. We also talked about our Spanish class, traveling around in Spain and lots of other stuff. I realized how much I miss my friends and family and how grateful I am to have met some people here. It has been a while since I have entertained and I forgot how much I love it. It was a wonderful night.
Thanks Ladies for helping me make yet anothe great memory in Girona!!!

Are you a Traveler or Vacationer?

Over a glass of wine last night my friend Elizabeth and I had a discussion about this topic. She told me she thought there were 2 types of people in the world.... vacationers and travelers. She said travelers were people that go places to see the people and the culture, they study guide books, and immerse themselves in the experience. Vacationers go somewhere to relax to get away from their life.
Now I would have to say I have been a vacationer most of my life. Most of my vacations have been based around relaxation, not getting into the culture, people, or the experience of the country or place. I think that is now changing after living in Europe for a little while. I am now more likely to pick up a guide book or study a destination prior to going. It is an interesting topic to discuss.... so what are you? Traveler? Vacationer? Both? Would love to hear what you all think on the topic.....

Archaeological Garbage

Can you find me in this picture? I am that small dot on the far left, in the corner ...... yeah, look a little harder ... yeah over there, left side.


What? You can't find me? Really?


Look again ...


Still can't find me? Are you blind? Nah, you're not ..... cause I am not there.

While in Athens this week I tried desperately to see the Acropolis. The first time I went I got a little lost and ended up being about 3 blocks away from it and not knowing it. So I tried a second time. That didn't go so well either. On the way home from teaching my wallet got stolen on the subway and instead of going up to the Acropolis I spent a few hours canceling my credit cards. (do you think someone was trying to tell me to clean out my wallet?:) Well, I didn't let that get me down and planned for one more shot yesterday.

I convinced my colleague Oliver to come with me even though he had seen the monument several times. I was happy he agreed to come as I was still a little gun-shy from my last wonderful experience on the subway. So the rush was on .... we got out of class, got a taxi, changed, got on the subway, and practically ran to the front gate of monument ....... it's 6:40 by now and just as we come up to the gate we see the sign. CLOSED! It closed at 6:00. I was crushed.




After I stomped around like a 2 year old for a few minutes .... I made the best of it. Oliver took a shot of me in front of the gate to the Acropolis to show just how close I was and although these pictures are not closeups, I think they are pretty great, even from behind the fence. And look there, I am even smiling.....










Since we got denied seeing the Acropolis and such... we walked around the big hill that it sits on. Almost everywhere on the hill there are fragments of old buildings, statues, columns and more. I started clicking pictures of all this stuff and Oliver just kinda laughed at me. He asked why I was taking pictures of all the Archaeological Garbage. Garbage? What? This was great stuff! I have to admit I was as happy as a clam. I didn't really know the difference and plus I was close enough to be able to touch it. Oooh, really old stuff, and I can touch it! COOOL!
Take a peek.....




I have to admit it did kinda seem like this stuff was discarded, just littered on the hill. It was weird. I kept thinking... shouldn't this stuff be in a museum? Could I take it home with me? What is stopping someone from selling this on Ebay? Maybe it is just laying around cause they have so much of it.... who knows but I'm telling ya... the next time you are in Athens do 2 things.... find out what time the Acropolis closes and get there before that time and check out the garbage.... it's definitely worth your time!

It's Greek to me!

I went out on a hike yesterday in Girona with a friend and we were talking about Greece. She told me she had visited once here for about 6 weeks when she was about 18 (which was only like 6 years ago for her...) anyway she said she didn't learn a bit of Greek cause she spent the 6 weeks trying to figure out the letters. I have to admit I was a little skeptic, really how hard could it be? She was right.... It really doesn't make any sense. I did some research to find out who was the first person to say "It's Greek to Me!" .....turns out it is derived from a Medieval Latin proverb "Graecum est; non potest legi" (It is Greek; it cannot be read). Anyway, they were right. Greek letters don't really seem to have a rhyme or reason.

I got to Athens late this afternoon and went exploring to find the Acropolis. I found a few other places and was within spitting distance to the monument but missed it altogether. I was on a time clock so I busted back to the hotel to meet my colleague and will have to try later this week to get there. ARGH! Anyway, I found a ton of cool things along the way .... lots of old stuff! Stay tuned for more news from Greece!

Nothing is ever what it seems.....

My Spanish Teacher Elena is wonderful, I really enjoy her and when I first started going to school the one thing I told Jonathan after my first couple of classes was that I wanted to buy Elena a new pair of glasses. Why? well it seemed like she was always getting really close to words on a page or on the computer screen, like she needed bi-focals or something like that... and I thought that maybe because she was a teacher maybe she couldn't afford new glasses.

Today during an exercise we did in class, which was to have the class interview Elena, I learned that she has some type of "eye sickness". That is how Elena put it. That she will loose her sight at some point in the near future. I am sure there is something more descriptive she would have told us but with a classroom only speaking at level one in Spanish I think she was telling us what we could understand. I was devastated. It really hit me hard. You could tell she is devastated about it too. It was sad, enlightening and frustrating all at the same time. It explained her squinting and I felt ashamed that I thought she couldn't afford new glasses. I also felt confined that I wasn't able to offer any empathy about the situation due to my lack of Spanish skills. All I could do was listen.

Now that I think about it, maybe only being able to listen was a blessing, it may have pained her more to talk about it if we had been able to express our surprise and sadness. What gets me is how I fall into this trap regularly, I swear this is like the easiest "life rule" to remember..... and yet every time I think I understand a situation something shows up to tell me something different. It is humbling and a wonderful reminder that the stories we make up in our heads about the world around us are just that.... stories.

Temps de Flors

Welcome to one of the most beautiful weeks in Girona: The Temps de Flors
This is when artists decorate the city in flowers as a competition. Check out the website here: The Temps de Flors
I spent part of my Saturday wandering around and re-discovering Girona in all its' glory. I was a tourist again and it was wonderful! Guiding myself around by a map, clicking pictures and seeing the city in a whole different light. I had to stop myself a few times and just soak it all in because I found myself so focused on taking pictures that i wasn't standing around long enough to just enjoy the art of it, the beauty. This reminds me to take time out of each day to stop, breathe and take something or someone in.... it's that whole being present thing again. I noticed myself being so focused on getting the good picture, the artistic picture that I know I missed the entire meaning on a couple of the exhibits. I am planning to spend a little time each day the rest of the week just trying to soak it in rather than rushing through it. I am thinking I shouldn't even take my camera next time. I think there is a song about this concept.... by John Mayer.... it is called 3x5.

Here are the lyrics:
I'm writing you to catch you up on places I've been
And you have this letter you probably got excited, but there's nothing else inside it
didn't have a camera by my side this time
hoping I would see the world through both my eyes
maybe I will tell you all about it when I'm in the mood to lose my way with words
TODAY skies are painted colors of a cowboy cliche'
And its strange how clouds that look like mountains in the sky
are next to mountains anyway
Didn't have a camera by my side this time
Hoping I would see the world through both my eyes
Maybe I will tell you all about it when I'm
in the mood to lose my way
but let me say
You should have seen that sunrise with your own eyes
it brought me back to life
You'll be with me next time I go outside
NO more 3x5's
I Guess you had to be there
I Guess you had to be with me
Today I finally overcame
tryin' to fit the world inside a picture frame
Maybe I will tell you all about it when I'm in the mood to
lose my way but let me say
You should have seen that sunrise with your own eyes
it brought me back to life
You'll be with me next time I go outside
no more 3x5's
just no more 3x5's

So here I go... I will continue to write about our experiences over here in beautiful Spain so maybe you can imagine yourself along side of us taking it all in......

Check out more pictures of the day in the link on the right hand column titled Temps de Flors.