Brian Stucki

Cole is having his first birthday party tomorrow. (Though his birthday isn’t until the tenth.)

Candace, in her usual party planning style, has a fun day planned for our family. The theme is a “Monkey Luau.” I’m sure we’ll have plenty of pictures and videos afterward. But in the mean time, we have been polishing up his luau dance skills. Cole will dance for 45 minutes straight as long as I keep drumming. And I love how he cocks his right elbow back and then let’s his left arm just groove.

Here’s a short video (click the image below):

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I’ve had a few requests on a Cole update so let’s get at it.

Here he is his first time swimming in Aunt Rachel’s pool.

Helping Mom with the laundry.

His first black eye.

First visit to San Francisco. (I’ve been dreaming of taking my son to SF forever!!)

And the most fun news is that at just over 9 months, my little boy is walking. Click the image below to watch a short video of Cole (with his walking at the end.)

Random things to post but that don’t deserve their own post.

1) I think that Amazon Prime Shipping is simply the best deal on the web. Nearly anything you need to buy can be found on Amazon.com but the big drawback for a lot of people is the shipping charges and time. But with Amazon Prime, you pay a yearly fee and then everything you buy from Amazon is 2 day shipping for free, or overnight shipping for $3.99 no matter how big the object it.

Keep this in mind when it comes time to go Christmas shopping.

2) Is there anything that goes from really funny to really awkward faster then someone breathing helium. For the first few seconds, the voice is great. But after 10 seconds, the helium-ed person has slid into fake high voice without knowing it, but everyone else in the room can tell.

3) I’m not a big fan on forwarded emails. By “not a big fan” I mean I usually just delete them. Here are my three rules for forwards that I’ll actually read.

• The person doing the forwarding must send more personal emails to you then they do forwards. If you don’t hear from someone for 6 months and then you get forwards, naughty.
• Please don’t send me an email warning me of something. There is a good chance that it is fake, and if it isn’t fake I’m sure I’m aware of it already. Snopes, it does a body good.
• If it really is a funny joke, or a good true story, the forward should have a personal message at the top and should have all other clutter removed from the email. (e.g., other emails, advertisements, etc.)

What’s so hard about that?

4) A few days ago Cole said “Da da” for the first time. It was awesome. When Candace and I realized what he just said, we were quite excited. All the attention embarrassed cole and he ducked behind a pillow with a smile.

He’s my buddy.

Cole is quite a fun boy to be around. Since I run my business mostly from home, I get to take Cole breaks during the day to play with my son. I consider it one of the best perks of my job.

Cole has four things that fill up most of his day:

1. Jumping Around: A few weeks ago we bought a jumper for Cole and he loves it. Prior to it arriving, Cole would sleep about 9 hours at night. But immediately since the first day of jumping, he’s now pushing about 11 hours. He definitely wears himself out in this chair.
2. Shoulder Crawling: Cole is just on the verge of crawling. He’s at the stage of getting on hands and knees and just bouncing back and forth. But, when he needs to get somewhere he finds a way. Right now, it mostly consists of balancing on his left shoulder and pushing with his right big toe. It’s strange, but it works for him.
3. Assisted Walking: His absolute favorite activity is to grab two fingers of whomever is around and just start walking. He is so proud of himself when he does it. When I’m sitting at my desk, he’ll come walking around the corner with a huge smile on his face so excited to show off for me. It’s great.
4. Beat Box: Ever since I can remember, I’ve always loved teaching little boys how to beat box. Maybe it’s my way of bonding. I’ve had a lot of good students thru the years, and Cole jumps right up there on the list. He’ll drop a beat anytime and anywhere and it makes me laugh.

Since all of these activities give me such joy, I thought I’d share them with everyone else. I’ve put together a ninety second video of Cole doing his thing. You can see it here.

Cole is fast approaching 6 months. He is playful and kind. He smiles within 15 seconds of waking up and doesn’t stop all day. (I think he gets that from Candace.) Click on the image below to watch a short clip Cole talking and laughing with his mom.

Cole turns four months old today. Everyday it gets more and more fun to be with him. Candace and I feel incredibly lucky to have such a pleasant child. I love that he is observant and patient with the world around him.

Yesterday we took him to the park. We let him roll around on a blanket and watch the birds. He especially liked watching the cars as they drove by on the road.

At the beginning of the football season, Candace surprised Cole and me with some new Oklahoma Sooners gear. We were so excited.

Next week, Oklahoma plays Texas in one of the biggest rivalries in college football. This one is especially exciting since both teams are in the top ten.

Well, my company is based down in Longhorn country in Austin, TX. This means my co-workers are Texas Longhorn fans. Just for fun, Candace decided that we should take some pictures so I can send them around the office to be sure the battle line is drawn. So here is my son the Sooner and his Sooner family:

The other day I was telling a friend that morning is my favorite time of day. I’ve always loved getting up early, but with Cole it is even more fun.

Candace still gets up with Cole once or twice a night so she is quite tired in the morning. I’ll usually get up early and when I hear Cole stirring I rush in there because it’s playtime. He always wakes up so happy. He is usually just laying there waiting for me and when he sees me he greets me with a smile. He’s all wrapped up tight in what I call his “Torture Blanket” and I love unwrapping him. He gets wiggling as soon as I start the unwrap. As soon as his arms are free, they’ll shoot above his head for the big morning stretch. He obviously loves the freedom. Once done with that, he lifts his arms up to me ready to be lifted out. (An invitation I quickly and gratefully accept.)

This morning I brought the video camera in there with me. Since the sun hadn’t come up yet, it is pretty dark. But, I was able to lighten it a bit in the new iMovie.

If you’d like to see his big stretch, the movie is below. (I’m thinking only aunts and grandmas will really be interested in this but oh well.)

I had a new iMac delivered today. It has a 24″ screen. Cole is only 22″ (not counting his hair).

So now, I’ll be able to edit life size photos of Cole. Fun.

After Cole and I get to watch the sunrise each morning, he likes to get a little breakfast from mom and then spend the morning in his swing. I love watching him swing because he has the most observant and content look on his face. I assume it’s his “thinking place.”

Well, this morning I decided to get out the SLR camera and see if I could catch him mid-swing. I put on the external flash, pumped up the shutter speed, and was able to freeze him at the top of the swing. I could look at that boy all day. Here it is:

Thanks for the swing Aunt Rachel.