Poor baby, he got sick for the very first time last night. Right as we were going in to check on him before bed, he started crying for me, and then clung to me. A couple hours later, I went in and he had thrown up. I think it scared him (as I suppose it would for the first time). I called for Troy, we cleaned him up and put him back to bed. Then another couple of hours later, he was sick again.

This morning he was fine. No appetite, but acting normally at least. All he seems to want is his milk. I feel so badly for him.

Then, my hand sanitizer blew up all over my phone, so I ended up getting a new Droid. I have had fun playing with it so far. Cole won't let me take a picture of him while he is watching his Thomas movie. Too distracting!

Oh wow...

I can't believe I have neglected this for so long. Life just gets in the way of writing about it, which is a shame... things get forgotten so easily.

Cole is now a crazy, happy, wonderful 2 year old. He looks just like me in the face, and in the body is all daddy. He is obsessed with Thomas and Cars. He would play with trains every second of every day if he could.

Since we are going to St. Thomas in April, I have been trying to shed the last few stubborn pounds, and I have instituted a nightly dance hour with Cole. His idea of dance is for me to pick him up and swing him around on my shoulders.

Cole officially started preschool last week. He goes to the same preschool I went to, the director is the same woman, and the teacher who had me is his teacher. Strange, right? He is having a blast. They do little art projects, and have song and story time. He has 6 or 7 little ones to play with. The best part? When I go to pick him up in the evening! He sees me, shouts "MOMMY!" and runs straight into my arms. What a wonderful gift!

Oh! And we are officially potty training! He only does #1 right now, but I am keeping my fingers crossed for a complete transition soon. I am really freakin tired of diapers.

Cole, Happy 2 Month Birthday!

So Cole is two months old today! It is SO hard to believe that it has been so long already.

He got his first shots last Wednesday. The pediatrician staff are all completely enamored of him. The nurse hated to leave on a bad note, so she was talking to him. He looked at her and smiled like "I know you didn't want to hurt me".

He loves looking at lights, especially Christmas tree lights. He spends a lot of time every evening with Troy hanging out on the floor in front of the Christmas tree.

He is laughing and cooing all the time these days. A lot of times it sounds like he is saying words (I would not be surprised given how fantastic and amazing he is... clearly the greatest child to ever exist).

Troy REALLY wanted to give Cole some turkey on Thanksgiving. He wore his little turkey outfit, and looked as cute as he possibly could.

Cole spends Monday through Thursday with my friend Hayden who has an in home daycare and he spends Fridays with Nana. Hayden cares for two other children and then her own little girl, Allie. None of the children have siblings, so no school germs are brought into the house. Yay!

We went to Colonial Williamsburg weekend before this past one to see the Christmas decorations. Cole spent most of the day in his baby carrier with a blanket thrown over him. It was really pretty... unfortunately it was also very cold.

This past weekend we went to Northern Virginia. My mother and I went out for our annual December ladies day out. Troy, Cole and G-Daddy hung out at the house.

We are so excited to show Cole Christmas. On Christmas Eve, we are going to go see Santa at the Children's Museum. This is the REAL Santa that used to be at Miller and Rhodes for so many years until they shut down. After we go see the real Santa, we are headed to the Jefferson and will have Christmas Eve dinner in the same room where we had our wedding reception. Unfortunately, that restaurant will be closing at the end of this year and will reopen as something else. I am sad about that...

Cole enjoyed going to see his Daddy every week. I am sorry to have to end that, but here is Cole in Troy's office, wearing his baby Uggs.

Almost 6 weeks old!

Well, Cole is almost 6 weeks old now. I can't believe how time is flying! And he is ALREADY out of most of his 0-3 month clothes. Here is one of my favorite shirts on him early last week:

We went and voted together. He slept through the experience, but I thought it was so cool that he was present at such a historical election. Here is Cole with the ballot... you can see his complete disinterest.

We went to this local park a couple of weeks ago. It's called Maymont. There is a mansion on the grounds, and a child's petting zoo, lots of paths and walkways. It's really pretty! I didn't remember how hilly it was. We certainly got a workout. At some points, we had to take Cole out of his stroller and I carried him while Troy had to practically carry the stroller up steps. It was a pain, but it was SO MUCH fun to get out. Troy decided that Cole REALLY wanted to pose with a statue of three ladies outside of the mansion. Some people walked by and asked where we found our puppy (he is wearing his dalmation hat).

Cole is up to over 11 pounds now. I couldn't believe it when we were at the doc on Monday and he was exactly 11 pounds. He is growing so quickly. He has started sleeping for longer stretches, he even slept through the night last Thursday night. I woke up at 4AM, and checked on him. It was nerve wracking! He woke up to feed around 5 or 6, and then went back to sleep till around 9. He is staying awake for most of the day now, and sleeping most of the night (YAY!!!!). Hopefully tonight will go as well, he has been sleeping for most of the day so far!

And now, cute pictures of Cole:

Oh yes, and he is capable of holding his own bottle now!

Cole's first bath

We gave our baby his first bath today! We were both pretty nervous about it, but he needed it. Wipe downs really only work for so long. It was definitely a two "man" job though... he is so slippery! The child never cried once... he actually only got upset when we put him in his towel.

He has been sleeping for 5-6 hour sessions at night. He is finally enjoying his cradle, but still tends to sleep in his swing for an hour towards morning.

We tried bottle feeding him tonight, and he took to it like a champ. My little man takes about 7-8 ounces at a time, and that was only within 15-20 minutes. Considering I typically feed him for about 45 minutes, no wonder he is so strong!

My babies (both fur and biological) are getting along so well. Hercules sniffs Cole all the time, and will go into a bit of a panic when I am feeding him with my cover on. (I use a cover while breastfeeding when anyone is here.) When he is in his pack 'n' play, Herc tends to stay close by. I am so excited that it is working to date, but I have found it is extremely hard to give Hercules the attention he needs. We are working on getting a balance. It's a big adjustment for us all.

We took Cole on his first public outing today. Sharon, Steve, Troy and I went to lunch at a local BBQ joint, and brought little man along. He slept the whole time.

Troy enjoys photographing Cole's feet, and has begun baby calisthenics...

Our amazing son

I swear this kid must be a month overdue! He is so advanced. We went to the doctor yesterday, who was my childhood pediatrician. I made him feel old. Anyway, they were impressed that Cole is already raising his head and sleeping through the night. In fact, we are participating in a program called Healthy Development, and the lady used the two week infant checklist while speaking with us. Every single item on the two week checklist was checked. We were told that we are doing a really good job in picking up on his signals, and are shaping up to be great parents. Since we have no idea what we are doing, this was great to hear!

The pediatrician told me I was looking really well and couldn't believe I had had a c-section just a week ago. It really made me feel great to hear that!

Sharon and Steve are here, they arrived last Saturday and will be here till Sunday. We are having a very nice visit, and they are loving the time with Cole. Mom and Dad will be stopping by this evening on the way down to Myrtle Beach. I am looking forward to seeing them again. They came and spent Tuesday-Saturday here while I was in the hospital, and just generally took a load off my mind with the dog, and helping us by doing all sorts of things. Mainly just having them here made us feel so much better about the situation. Sometimes a girl just needs her parents!

Mom intends to come stay with me from Sunday until Tuesday, and Lindy will be staying with me on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon.

Oh, and I didn't share the blanket Mom made for Cole! It is the most beautiful quilt I have ever seen. The flowers at the bottom are blue hydrangea and tangerine calla lilies (our wedding flowers). The dragon fly is made of ribbon from our wedding. The border is the cream eyelit lace from Cole's curtains. The whole thing is just beautiful and fits perfectly in the nursery. I will add pictures of the nursery in general as soon as I get some good shots. Troy won't let me climb steps more than twice a day until I am healed, so I am stuck in the living room unless absolutely necessary.

The quilt:

Cole Emmett Parker

Our baby was due on October 7th, but he decided that he wanted to take his time. I went to my doctor on the 13th, and she scheduled me for induction. We went to the hospital the following day, and they started the Cervadil. The next morning, nothing had happened from that, so they administered the Pitocin. The on call doctor broke my water, which was a really cool experience. I got up because I needed to use the restroom, and all of the sudden I had a bit of a gush all over the bathroom floor. I was so happy I got to experience that as the induction did not work for me. By evening, not only was I starving (no one told me I couldn't eat till after labor. I was so pissed... it is just so messed up to deny the preggo food!!), but I still was only dilated to a 4 when I should have been at a 6 or 7. The on call doc came in and informed me that we would need to do a c-section if things hadn't improved within an hour and a half.

An hour and a half later they prepared me for surgery. I was extremely scared and was uncontrollably shaking. In fact, a c-section was my greatest fear about childbirth in general. In the end though, we were given a healthy baby boy, I am fine, and that is all that really matters.

At birth, he was 21 inches long and weighed 8 pounds, 15 ounces... a big boy!!

We brought Cole home from the hospital last Saturday. I am amazed with every tiny thing he does. I feel that he must be extremely advanced for his age as he is able to easily focus on faces and can lift his head. He did a baby ab crunch earlier as well while Nana was holding him. He adores his swing.... so do Troy and I! Otherwise we would spend hours at night walking up and down the halls. We are considering buying a second swing just to keep in our bedroom... yes, that is how good it is!

Troy and I both feel so blessed to have this incredible little addition to our lives. It is absolutely bizarre how much this child resembles me as an infant. THANK GOD kiddo got his daddy's build! He will be tall and thin! If we have a daughter, I hope she will inherit Troy's build as well. I am sad the baby didn't inherit Troy's eyes, but we hold out hope for those long black eyelashes. Here is a comparative picture: