Cole-6 Weeks

I can hardly believe it, but Cole is already 6 weeks old (plus a couple of days!). If I had to sum up his personality so far I would say he is one mellow little guy. He is sweet as can be and rarely gets too upset. The things that bother him the most are being hungry and bad gas after he eats (can't say I blame him!). He has been a good sleeper so far and has been giving us on average 6+ hour stretches of sleep at night. Any time you get him moving in the car or stroller he is pretty much out. As you saw in the last post, he has become a smiley little guy and has been very generous with them lately. He is working hard on holding his head up and does pretty well with his tummy time even though he still continues to try and fall asleep during it some times. Here are a couple pictures from today.

Cole-6 weeks (adorable coordinating outfit courtesy of Aunt Pam)

Couldn't decide if I liked the color or black and white better, so you get both! :)
And I can't leave out Mia!! Here is her hair au naturel-lots of waves and curls
And in case you were ever wondering about my sweet set-up :) The garage light is the best!

Smiles!!!!

For the last week or two it has appeared to us that Cole has been smiling at us. Not just gas smiles, but actual smiles. I wasn't totally convinced until today when he broke out A LOT of smiles as I made goofy baby sounds and just generally acted silly. Let's just say I went sprinting for the camera as fast as I could. :)

Our smiley guy

Sisterly Love

Can I just tell you that Mia really seems to have a soft spot for her brother?? Now don't get me wrong, she is not always thrilled when her brother takes away from her time with us, but she is just really fond of Cole. Whenever he is not around (like he is upstairs sleeping), she asks about him constantly. When I tell her where he is, she responds with her standard "I'll get him." :) She is all about hugging and kissing him and helping out when she can (sometimes too much!)

Today Mia asked me to hold Cole so I of course ran to get the camera. :) She was very upset when I took him away to change his diaper. :) Here are 2 shots...

Cole's looks a little scared here :)

Triathlon

This Sunday I went downtown with Kristy and met up with Melissa, Ryan, Ryan's parents, and Pam's mom to cheer on Pam and Kelly in the Chicago Triathlon. First off, they did an awesome job!!! I know they have been training hard and I cannot imagine swimming, biking, and running the distance they did and I am so proud of them! Second, I have to give credit to Ryan for being an awesome triathlon guide and knowing the best places for us to go and be able to see Pam and Kelly numerous times along the way.

We had such a good time cheering the girls on, enjoying the beautiful morning (Kristy and I were on the road by 5:15 a.m.!!!!) and having some relaxation time away from little ones. :)

Congrats Pam and Kelly-you guys rock!!!

Kelly and Pam

How crazy is this???? Ryan had told me the night before that the building said this, so I had to snap a picture when we got downtown. (Some of you might remember this is the building from Adventures in Babysitting)

Getting ready for the swim-Kelly Pam

Pam's triathlon "wave"
Pam's wave in the water with the sun rising
Michaela Phelps :)

And onto the running (I don't have any biking pics)....

And finishing strong!

The girls relaxing with their fan club after finishingMe, Kristy and Melissa--Pam and Kelly's personal cheerleaders :)

After the race group shot
ISU girls (we miss you who are not here!!!)

Mia's Swollen Eye

About 3 weeks after bringing Cole home from the hospital, I started to notice that Mia's eye looked like it had a bug bite above it and was a little red and swollen. I didn't think too much of it until she woke up the next day looking like someone hit her in the eye-it was partially swollen shut. :(

As bad as it looked though, Mia seemed pretty oblivious. Just to be cautious I took her to the doctor (one of my first outings with both kids-fun!). Apparently she is probably just more allergic to bug bites than the average kid since she tends to swell up so much from them. They suggested giving her some benadryl and after about a day or two it got back to normal. Never a dull moment around here!

The swollen eye was accompanied by a nice bruise on her forehead from hitting her head the day before. My poor baby looks beat-up!

Still smiling!

(August 5)

Relaxing Outside with the Kids

The nice part about having a baby in the summer is that you are able to get out right away and don't feel trapped in the house. Here are a couple pictures of Cole enjoying his first time relaxing outside. He enjoyed laying on his blanket while Mia ran around blowing bubbles (with her new bubble gun-thanks Anderson Family!).

All curled up It's kind of bright!!!
No more pictures mom!
A bit cross-eyed
My favorite---Cole is thinking very hard in this one :) And Mia trying to get me with her bubbles
(July 28th)

Updates, Updates, Updates!

As I have said before, I have not been the best blogger the past month due to obvious reasons. :) But I am ready to get back on the bandwagon! I promise I will try to update daily (starting today-see below) for the next week or two in an effort to get back on track. I am putting this in writing to help me keep my word and not be a slacker!

Some things may seem a bit out of order since I have a lot of pictures I haven't posted yet, but I will go back later and reorganize the out-of-order posts since this serves somewhat as my version of a baby book for my children. :) So if you see random dates at the bottom of posts, just ignore them, that is to remind me the dates when I go back later.

A Visit from Pam and Venessa

While we were at the hospital, Cole had many visitors who came out to see him as you can see here. However, I never got a chance to post pictures from Pam and Venessa visiting since they came the day we left the hospital. So here they are, meeting our little Cole...

Pam and Cole Cole in his cute little bear hat (this was part of his going home outfit)

Venessa and Cole
Venessa, Pam and Cole
Venessa, me, Pam and Cole
(July 18)

Happy 2nd Birthday Mia!!!

So this is posting a little late, but what can I say, we've been a little busy!

I cannot believe it, but my baby (my first baby!) is already 2! Where on earth did that time go? This past year was a big one for Mia-she learned to walk, talk, and became a big sister. We are so proud of the little girl she has become-she is our crazy little firecracker who is so much fun, even though she challenges us at times. :) Happy Birthday Mia!

Here are some pictures from each month leading up to 2. It is amazing how she has changed if you look at the first picture and the last. She went from a baby to a little girl. Pics from her birthday party (we decided just to do a family party this year) are coming soon....

13 Months

14 Months
15 Months
16 Months
17 Months
18 Months
19 Months
20 Months

21 Months
22 Months
23 Months
2 Years Old (folded arms and all!)