A visit from Aunt Beth and Grandmother

Cole and Grandmother

That would be Cole's Great Grandmother and Great Aunt Beth. This is Casey's mom, Karen, sister and mother. They came to see Cole this past weekend from Georgia. It had been way to long since we had seen them. It was so nice to just hang out and visit all weekend. We met them Friday night for dinner at Longhorn and then on Saturday morning we met over at Lincoln and Pam's to hang out for the day. Of course the guys had to watch a little football in there as well. Arkansas had a big game vs. Texas A&M, which they pulled through to win, coming back from being down by 18 points at half time. Needless to say it got a little loud in the TV room at times :)

Cole and Uncle Lincoln watching the game

Grandmother and Beth thought Cole was just the best little thing, which we agreed. We also talked about how much his Grams would of loved him. It was a little bitter sweet. Aunt Beth and Karen resembled each other a lot, but more than resembling each other they sound so much a like. I feel like if I close my eyes I would think she was talking to me. It is hard to believe that this month it will be 6 years that we lost her. It just so happens that Cole will turn 6 months on the 6 year anniversary of her death, October 13th. We miss her dearly, but know that she is watching over us and so happy that Cole is in our lives.

Casey, Cole and Grandmother

The Coggin men with grandmother

Showing off on the carpet

5 months and Meeting Great Grandmother

Yep, Cole is 5 months old. Tuesday was the big day. Being back at work it just makes everything seem so much faster. He is such a mess, but such a sweetie. He is making SO much noise these days. He definitely wants to be heard. I am not sure where he gets all his facial expressions and need to be loud?!?! hahahaha. I feel like I say this every time, but Cole is just SO much fun. Everyday seems to be something new. Like his hands... If you would have asked me when he noticed his hand I would say...not sure? he has been sucking on them since the day he was born, but this last week I think he has truly discovered them. It is so funny. You will just see him with his hand in front of his face, moving it around, like "where did you come from?", "what can I do with you?" His little face and the looks he makes are priceless. We really do just try and enjoy everyday with him. He is such a blessing. Now that he rolls and flips, he seems to be a tummy sleeper. Pretty much every morning I go to get him he is on his tummy. He usually flips immediately to his side the minute I put him in bed. Here are his 5 months pictures from the crib with his sticker...and pictures from this past weekend when we went to Perry Co. Linden, TN for Cole to meet his great-grandmother, who is 91 years old. We had a good afternoon. Here are a few pictures from that day...

I am a big boy!

Oh guys....you are so funny!

Cole with his great-grandmother, Lorene.

4 generations

Cole and Papa P

Looking so sweet and innocent :)

Adjusting well and falling into a routine

Hey! What is this thing always doing in my face?

So going back to work and Cole starting daycare has been an adventure, an exhausting adventure, but I see light at the end of the tunnel :) I love that I am able to take Cole to our churches daycare (Creator's Kids they call it). It just feels like taking him to a friends house. I know that has been a huge thing for me, dropping him off in the hands of familiar faces and taking him to a building I have gone to for 25 years. He loves his teachers, especially Mrs. Darlene. He just smiles every time he sees her. We did have adjustments of not eating well (to many distractions I guess and someone new feeding him), then he was not napping well (to many noises). Which meant I came home to a whiny, hungry and sleepy baby. My 3 or 4 hours at home with him, he was in my arms. I thought where is my sweet, happy go lucky baby? Each week has gotten better. I feel like now we are doing 90%. Yesterday he ate WAY better and even took a 2 hour nap at daycare! We had our happy little boy last night :) He has also gone back to his 11-12 hour stretches at night, which is WONDERFUL!
Here are a few pics from the last two weeks and some at daycare...

Woke up with a rash one morning-went away with a little Aquaphor

Holding my bottle!

So serious before school

Had bad diaper rash. It made me act like this

Hanging out with the ladies from class :)

Harold and I in deep conversation on our wagon ride

I am a big boy in my blue jeans.

4 months already!

I am finally getting to the update. Sorry, it has been a crazy two weeks with getting back in the swing of things. On Monday we went for Cole's 4 month check up. He had to get his shots, which are no fun for anyone. I hate having to hold him and watch him go from happy go lucky to total red faced and screaming. Thank goodness it didn't last long. Of course they checked his height and weight, which he was off the charts for both! He was 19 lbs and 27 inches long. Dr. Mishu said "proportionate and perfect!" She said he should slow down, I guess we will see :) Then on Tuesday Cole started daycare at Madison Church of Christ, Creator's kids program. He has 4 other little kids in his class (Annabelle, Macy, Micah and Harold) and 3 teachers (Mrs. Darlene, Mrs. Kristin and Ms. Tiffany). They all loved him and said how sweet and good he was-apparently he didn't show his true colors! ha! No, I know that Cole is a very good baby. We are blessed in many ways with him.

1st day at daycare watching my friends come in.

Another first for Cole was rice cereal and prunes! he has also had bananas now too! When we went to the doctor she said that if Cole was drinking a full bottle and still hungry or hungry before 3 hours, then we could try some rice cereal and fruits and/or vegetables with him. I didn't think we would be trying it as soon as we did because he had not been eating as much lately, but apparently daycare wore him out. His first day at daycare, well that night, it was like I could not feel him up. He loved it! He had that tongue out and laughing and talking to me the whole time. He was such a little Goober. So funny!

Cole and Hooper

We also had some visits with some friends before school started back. I guess I should back up a minute...The last week in July, Cole got to meet his new buddy, Grady. Grady's mom Bethany and I use to work together and the boys were born 5 days apart, Cole on the 13th and Grady on the 18th. It was so fun to watch them together. I also have a friend from college, Heather who had a little boy, Hooper. Hooper is 11 weeks older than Cole. How fun to have all the little boys together!

Cole and Grady

Cole is ready for football season! Well, Casey is, so we had to see if the gear was going to fit. Then he looked adorable so we had to take some pictures! A friend of Casey's who is an Alabama fan commented on the picture and said that "Cole made Arkansas gear look good." Casey also sent in the picture on some Arkansas website and they added it to the page and sent something back to Casey saying thanks for sending us a picture of a future Razorback!

helping mommy cook in my bumbo :)

This is his bumbo chair. It makes him look so big to me, but he loves it. It is a great little chair to use all the time. It even has a tray on it that we have used a few times. What a great invention. I can just take it anywhere and Cole can hang out with me in his chair. As you can see from the picture I just put him on the kitchen counter while I was cooking. He was such a good helper.

Uh, I can explain mom...

Trying rice cereal again, but with bananas this time

These bananas are not so bad :)

Mommy stealing my sugar

These next few pictures just make me smile :) Cole is getting so big. We really are just enjoying every moment with him. He is SO funny. He is all about his tongue and his feet right now. These next few pictures capture that completely. I cannot wait to see the fun and joy that we will experience next month with him.

               Here is a small clip of Cole having cereal and prunes for the first time!

Rough week

This week was my first week back at work/school. Where did the summer go? I know we say that every year, but seriously? It was a rough week though. My sweet little baby who has been sleeping 12+ hours at night, woke up at 3:30 am on Monday night/morning. So needless to say I was a little tired my first day. After I got Cole I noticed that before I put him down he sounded a little congested. I put him to bed as his usual time (7:30 pm) He was up 5x that night. Yes, 5x!!! I could not believe it. Each time he woke up he sounded a little more congested :( I could not figure out what was going on? He did not go to daycare this week, they were on vacation. He was with his Aunt Pam everyday but Tuesday. On Tuesday he went to school with my mom. I really thought that my mom and Pam watching him would be a good transition, but I think it was a little more stressful. Don't get me wrong, we were so lucky and blessed that they could watch him, but it was a lot of moving around. Not to mention my job had me everywhere and things were changing daily from what I had originally been told. The rest of the week only seemed to get worse. Cole was not sleeping at all. It was like having a newborn again or worse, because he was waking every hour. My mom said that she had about three people tell her that Cole was teething. Teething?!?! but now that I have said that to a few other people, they all agree that is what it seems like. He is congested, drooling everywhere, and chewing on his hands and/or burp cloths like crazy. We have his 4 month "well" visit on Monday so I guess we will see. He is so snotty and congested so I have been using saline and the bulb suction thing, Cole is NOT a fan. You would think I was sucking the life right out of him. He gets his feeling so hurt when I do that to him. He makes me feel terrible. I keep telling him he will feel so much better and will be able to breathe better, but I do not think he is listening :)
Hopefully he is starting to feel a little better. He slept better last night, only waking up once to eat. I think he is getting hungry because he is so congested during the day he is not eating as much as he had been so I think at night it is catching up with him. Just like everyone said, "once you get his routine down, he will go and change it on you". Well, I REALLY hope he comes back to the 12 hours at night sleeping.
Being away from him all week for the first time...I think I did OK. I did get frustrated and overwhelmed, but I think it was more of the constant moving around with other watching him and the fact that I was sleep deprived. I know he was in good hands. I guess we will see how next week goes when I drop him off at daycare! Oh yeah, we went to his daycare open house on Thursday night. We met his teachers and a few kids that will be in his class. He has three teachers (Ms. Darlene, Mrs. Kristin and Ms. Tiffany) and 4 classmates (2 boys (Harold & Micah) and 2 girls (Macy & Annabelle). He will start daycare Tuesday. That will be a new adventure.
Today he is 4 months! I will have to post pictures as soon as I get them loaded (hopefully tomorrow). Right now I am just to tired. This week was very overwhelming and exhausting to me. I know it is just another bump in the road and it will get smoother :)
On another note, A year ago today was the day Casey and I found out we were going to be parents!!! Look at the wonderful things that have happened to us in the last year, Thank you Lord!

Time flies

So sweet

I cannot believe that this is my last week at home with Cole. The summers always go SO fast and I even missed the last 7 weeks of school. Cole is getting so big and has SO much personality. He talks and laughs all the time! It is the sweetest thing to hear that little voice and laugh. I am not sure how I will feel a week from now, but right now I am doing ok with going back to work. I have a good little transition though. The first week I go back to work my sister-in-law Pam is going to watch Cole everyday but Tuesday. On Tuesday Cole is going to work with KK. Our daycare is going on vacation the week I start back to work. So we will see how this goes. I think I have more anxiety becasue I just do not know how he will do or how he will nap. The last 10 days or so Cole has not been napping well. He sleeps great at night (12 hours, 7p-7am) so I am not complaining, but I can tell he is so tired. He yawns, rubs his eyes, and his little eyes are red. Then about 5pm he gets so fussy. I figured I really can not do much or should try to really do anything because it will be so different at daycare.

Cole has been doing lots of swimming this month and he loves the water. He will just kick like crazy in the water. He also started getting really good with his balance and holding his head up. He also rolled over for the first time this past week. He hasn't been consistent with it, but he has done it a few more times since then. It is crazy how fast he is changing and growing. We just love our little boy!

Trying out my new float

Swimming at Sandy's

watching TV with dad

watching Mickey Mouse in my bumbo

You guys are so funny :)

Caroline and Greg's wedding weekend-July 16th

So this past weekend was Cole's longest car ride, 4 1/2 hours. I have to say he did pretty good. Everyone at the wedding kept saying what a good baby he was, which he is, but let's put it this way...he was good when he needed to be good. Which we are glad for that too! but the poor little guy was so exhausted. His schedule was completely rocked and there was so much going on that he did not sleep well. His little eyes were so red and he just fought it so hard. On Saturday about 3 hour before the wedding he just wailed. I looked at Casey and said this can't be good. We just felt so sorry for him :( his pitiful little face, blood red and screaming at the top of his lungs. It took me about 10 long minutes to calm him down. I layed down in the bed with him and he slept for an hour and a half. When he woke up you could tell he was tired still, but at least he wasn't crying. You can tell from the pictures that we couldn't get him to smile. He was kind of in a daze, but he looked really cute! Cole also went swimming with daddy and his cousins on Saturday. This was his first time swimming with daddy. The wedding went off smoothly, it was an outdoors wedding, and started pouring about 10 mins after the wedding was over, but we were indoors for the reception. Saturday was also my parents 44th wedding anniversary! July 16th must be a good day to get married :)

swimming with Seth and Zane

Mommy and me

A little love from daddy

Daddy and I at the wedding

The Coggin men

Cole and his cousins

Uncle Lincoln and Aunt Pam

Aunt Tisha

Paw Paw Wilb

3 generations

Paw Paw Wilb

Uncle Ben