The school year is in full swing

Going to school with daddy

I am ready!

The school started early this year for us. Cole and I started our first full week July 30th. I have to say it has been a smooth start. Cole started his new "school" at Kids Country Club. He is settling in and doing great! One thing that I really like about this school year is that Casey takes Cole to school in the mornings. That has been so nice and wonderful. Although school is going well, Cole has gotten his 7th ear infection, since February
 :( At out last ear infection in June the doctor said if he got another one this summer she may refer us to the ENT. We were referred to Dr. Chris Mantle and met with him last week. Cole is definitely a good candidate for tubes. So it looks like we will be setting that up for sometime in September. I just pray that this does the trick. It is so hard to see him in so much pain and so frequently. I really think they get worse and worse with each one.
Another big thing in daddy's life was ordering Cole's first Arkansas jersey! You could see the pride all over Casey's face when it came in. He instantly put it on Cole and watched as Cole pranced around the house, a happy dad moment for sure.

Here we go! Off to school

Mmm...spaghetti

Long night with ear infections

Sweet boy!

I have heard from many friends that each stage your child is in will be your favorite. I think that is true! Cole is an amazing little boy. He amazes us daily. He makes us laugh everyday. He is such a joy and so much fun! Just looking at him makes you smile. Tonight as Casey and I were talking I said "Cole is so funny", he gets that from me! (somewhat kidding, but kind of serious), Casey starts laughing and says are you trying to be funny? I said what? you don't think he has my personality? He said he has my outgoing personality, but he gets his sense of humor from him. HAHAHA....we went back and forth. It was quite funny I must say. I told Casey we needed to poll a survey. He still thinks he would win. I am not sure about that! hehehe...

Looking cool in my new Arkansas gear

What?

Making daddy proud

15 months

Riding in my wagon looking cute!

Just relaxing :)

Such a big boy and into EVERYTHING!!! Have I mentioned that before? Haha... You cannot take your eyes of this little guy for anything. He is all about climbing! He will try and climb to get to whatever it may be, just to get his hands on it. The big things in his life right now are shaking his head yes and saying "yeah" and then shaking his head no and saying "no". He doesn't always get it right, but it is really funny watching him. His words right now are dog, Bella "bell-ba",momma "mumma", this, dad "da", yeah, bye-bye, and no. We had Cole's 15 month well visit this week and all was good. Cole was 26 pounds 8 ounces- 92% ( he actually lost a few oz, finally slowing down) and he was 33 1/2 inches tall, 97%. Dr. Mishu was very pleased. She said he is the average size of a 2 year old, physically and developmentally. He is in love with me these days :) he is the sweetest thing giving me kisses and hugs. I will miss those sweet open mouth kisses as he kisses me and says "mmm...ah!" and then wraps those sweet little arms around my neck. Love it!!! We also got the confirmation of his egg allergy, "whole egg allergy" :( and got a prescription for an epi pen. Hopefully we will never have to use it. His allergy is called "whole egg". His reactions were to scrambled eggs and meringue. He is fine with egg cooked into things. She also said that egg is the #1 childhood allergy for kids to outgrow and that we would re-introduce egg to him at 3 years old. So hopefully he will out grow it. We have had a wonderful summer and visited with lots of our friends. We have managed to survive the record breaking heat (we made it to 110 and stayed above 100 for about 5 days.) It was rough.

We only have 4 days of summer break left :( we are going to make the best of our 4 days.

He loves driving these days!! Thinks he is SO big :)

Trying to run over Uncle Ben!

Swimming with Mrs. Sandy

Trying to cool off on one of the record breaking heat days

Playdate with Nicholas!! Look at how they have grown in the last year. Sweet boys!

4h of July weekend...redneck style :)

Got caught in a thunderstorm with mommy and no umbrella :(

Almost July? How did that happen?

Well, as always the summer is going very fast. It is also a little shorter this summer since we are going to an abbreviated calendar. I really do not see any benefit in it at all, but I guess we will see. That means I will be starting school Friday, July 27th-Ugh! and Cole will be starting his new daycare on Monday, the 30th. This will be something new in many ways. So it is a new school for Cole, but daddy will be taking Cole to school every morning. That will be SO nice to be able to share that duty. Last year I was the lone ranger dropping off and picking up. Cole's new school is only about 2 miles from Casey's work. I am also thinking that will be good after 8 weeks at home with mommy :) I am thinking he may have a little bit of a hard time with that, but hopefully not. So we have not had any "real" schedule this summer and it has been nice. I had to work 3 days in June and I have to work 2 days in July. So that is not bad. KK kept Cole while I was at work. We have had a standing "date" on Wednesdays to go swimming at Mrs. Sandy's. That is always fun! Cole really like the water, but he also very content just walking ALL OVER THE PLACE and checking things out. He loves his independence these days :) He is such a ham! and he LOVES people. He loves to wave. He hasn't figured out that you have to be looking at him yet though. He also likes to blow kisses. It is the sweetest thing. If you are lucky he will give you a kiss! the good open mouth kind :) It doesn't get much sweeter. He is a very charming little guy. We have been able to see a few special friends this summer and I am sure we will have a few more play-dates before the end of summer. We are relaxing and enjoying all of our time together.

Playdate with Ella, Haven, and Cove

Hanging with my buds Mason and Lincoln

Wednesday swim day at Mrs. Sandy's

Chillin with my girl Ella

First week of vacation...kind of

Cole and his cousins

Well, it is officially summer in the Coggin household. We started it off with our first "real" haircut. I had it trimmed up a little by the girl who cuts my hair, but this time it was for real at the barber shop. He looks so grown-sniff, sniff, but oh so handsome :)

Looking cool in mommy's shades going to Linden

 It has been a busy week. Lots of unexpected trips. It started out with us going to Perry, Co. (AKA "The Gateway to Fun" hahahaha) to see Cole's great grandmother, great aunt and great uncle. I thought he was going to meet his second cousins but they had gone out on the river and we didn't get to see them :( hopefully soon though. They live is St. Louis so we do not get to see them often. Cole did good on the ride there and back. He is not known for his car riding and just the thought of driving farther than Franklin gives me an anxiety attach almost, but he did well. Daddy was in AL at the river with Uncle Brad and some friends. Monday night Cole was really tugging at his ears. He was up ALL night, which meant so was mommy. So Tuesday morning we were at the doctors office, which took forever. We found out he still had the double ear infections from a month a go. They decided to go with a 3 shot antibiotic regimen. If this doesn't work then we are headed to the ENT for tubes. I really hope this works! That afternoon we got a very sad call that Casey's dad had passed away. They think it was instant and a heart attack. That is a call that you are never prepared for, but like Casey and his siblings mentioned while talking before the memorial, that is what he would have wanted, quick and sudden. He always worried about being a burden to his children. He was 77 years old. So that meant another trip, this time to Arkansas, 5 hours away. I could feel the anxiety coming on, but again Cole proved to be a champ. Going there the last hour was a little rough, but coming home he did so well. I think actually being off schedule helped because he was so tired he slept pretty good, about 2 1/2 hrs both ways. We drove back from Arkansas Friday night to get back in the car Saturday afternoon to go to AL for our annual cookout, plus we added a little shower for Emily and Tyler. We debated not going, but Casey thought it would be nice to be around his close friends. We had a really nice time. Hopefully we will be home for a while. I feel like this will actually be my first week of vacation. Ahhhh....time to relax, I hope!

Making a mess at KK's and loving it!

First swim of the summer at Mrs. Sandy's

Snoozin with cousin Seth on the way home

Snoozin with Uncle Ben on the way to Arkansas

Taking in a little lite reading for the long trip.

with a few of his cousins after the memorial for Papa Wilb

Taking a little snooze on the way to Linden

School year coming to an end! WHOO HOO!!

Well, we have two weeks left of the 2011-12 school year. It has been a big and busy year. I have to say I am VERY excited about it being over. I am trying to think about the wonderful summer we are going to have and not think about how short it is going to be :( I cannot believe we are starting July 27. Ok, not going there. It is also very sad because Cole will no longer be at CKP at Madison. This has been very tough for me. I knew that I loved CKP, but going into to daycares and being forced to find another one has been very hard. I am keeping my fingers crossed that Cole will be accepted into a daycare in Mt. Juliet called Kids Kountry Club. I know a few friends who go there and love it. It is right by Casey's work, so that will be huge! Casey can take him to school every morning and even maybe pick ups in the afternoon during his slower months. That will be so nice. Right now I have had to do it all, so it will be nice to share.
This has been a hard and stressful year for me. I am ready to put it in the books. At the beginning of the year I thought it was being a new mom and adjusting to working outside the house (which I am sure was an adjustment) but it has been a hard year in general. I was talking to one of the big wigs at central office and she said it has probably been one of the hardest years in the past 20. So I am glad to know it isn't just me, but I really hope there is light at the end of the tunnel :)

The nifty little seat I could sit in while mommy used the bathroom

The weather has been beautiful here. I would love for it stay just like this all summer (upper 70's/low 80's). I am already trying to plan things out for me and my little man, but not too much. I want to enjoy it. So far we have Tuesday, story time at the library and Wednesday, swimming at Sandy's. Then we will have to make some plans with our friends for playdates and lunches. Yay!! I am so ready!
Here are a few pics from the last week or so...

One night when I went to check on him this is what I found!

Trying out Uncle Brad's new hammock

My Friday night date when daddy was out of town

1st Birthday Party

Mom and Dad with the birthday boy!

The Cake!!

So yesterday we celebrated with friends and family. It was a great day, minus the weather not being like I wanted, but we had a wonderful time. Yesterday morning as I got up and was running errands trying to get all the last minutes things I started feeling a little emotional. I think it was finally hitting me that my baby is 1. It is still so hard to believe. It has been an AMAZING year. I started thinking about what I should say at the party and that is when I really felt the emotions coming on. At the party was friends and family, but the friends are more like family. Everyone that we invited are dear friends who had a big impact on us as we were trying to have Cole. It was there love, support, prayers, ears to listen and arms to hug that helped us to have our miracle. We missed some of our family, but understand they had other obligations. They were missed for sure. Casey and I were blessed with an amazing family. I feel so blessed to know that Cole has such great family members and role models in his life.

with my buddy Dylan

Hamming it up with KK

Nate, Janet and Nicholas

Cousin's Seth and Zane

The party was at Uncle Lincoln and Aunt Pam's house. They were the gracious host. I could not have done everything without everyone's help yesterday. I was so excited to see everything come together. We had chick-fil-a chicken nuggets, pasta salad (made my Aunt T), fruit kabobs, spinach dip (made my aunt Pam), pretzel rods dipped in white chocolate with blue sprinkles, m&m, and cake!!! The cake was made my my childhood friend, Katy Pat. She did an amazing job. We had a little photo session area where we had frames, Dr. Seuss hats and stuffed animals for everyone to take a picture. They turned out really cute! We had a fun day. Looking forward to another wonderful year!!!

Silly daddy

Lincoln and Mason

with Uncle Brad

Goofy Uncle Ben

Gracie, Luke, Jake and Sarah

Juju with Julia and Jessi

Posing with mom and dad

Ooohhh I want that!

Why are you all singing to me?

Mmmm..not bad

Uncle Craig

Aunt T

Uncle Lincoln

Let me try a little more

What? wasn't I suppose to stick my hand in it?

Mmmm...I like this stuff:)