Happy Hopefuls

Coen, 8 months

2012-02-10T13:44:00.000-05:00

Dear Coen,

I cannot believe we’re only 4 months from you becoming 1 year old and about 6 months before you become a big brother! It’s crazy how quickly our time is flying by, but it’s so exciting, I cannot get over it!

This month we learned a few things:

· That you aunt and uncle are going to be moving out of state, but to a location that we can visit and enjoy!

· That you’re going to be a big brother.

· That our cat cannot respect anything and cannot control his bladder.

(Reading with Aunt J. Every time I went to snap a picture, you looked up.)

Your firsts this month, were sort of limited because last month was such a big month!

· You had your first incisor come in on the top right.

· Then you had your second incisor come in on the top left. (Totaling 6 teeth)

· You had your first big trip to the mall with lots of mall shopping, mall napping and mall eating. We will not be doing this much, so it’s why I’m listing it. Just a day out with the ladies while the boys (husbands) were out of town.

· In a few days you’ll be experiencing your first Valentine’s day, which I enjoy but we don’t really do much for. I did make a few little items for your sitter friends and I’m very excited about giving them those things.

· You had your first cereal puff for babies. It’s pretty cute to a) watch you eat it, but b) watch you try and grab them and hold onto them. It’s just one step to you working on feeding yourself!

· You also had the last of your first swim lessons (this time with your dad) and it was great. You did great in the water and really enjoyed it!

· You met our friends the Coburn family. The kids love you, you willingly shared your toys, rolled around and showed them all your moves. You also ate a whole jar of food and threw a little bit of it! You really know how to show off! Ha!

· And lastly, you had your first tax appointment with the family and Charlene. You were great and very friendly with your new friend.

(Swim lessons with your dad... See you can swim!)

This was from the morning that I thought you were never going to take your morning nap. Then, just like that... after about 3 hours of play, crying and eating, you were down for the count and I was so thankful. Luckily, you slept long enough for me to squeeze a few zzzz in there too. What a cute face, even when you're zonked.

This was another weekend picture of you sitting in your swing watching your favorite show "Word World". It's about 15 minutes to 30 minutes that we can have you sit, potentially learn and we can run around to get something done. It's a great show all about letters and words. The sing cute little songs and you love it. As soon as the school bell chimes, you are hooked.

This is from when you had just gotten up from a nap, I was in the middle of folding clothes, so I put you in the laundry basket to hang out for a minute while I finished up. You had a great time. You thought it was hilarious and then you started chewing on the side of the basket, so we wrapped up and hopped out.

This is your friend Clayton from the sitter's house. We didn't plan this but seriously, how cute are you two and your matching, but opposite outfits? I loved it! You are about 5 months younger than him, but in this picture you look pretty close in age. He just started walking which is really cute to watch!

This piano your Nana got for you. You have a big one at the sitters house that you love to play but this one does the trick when we are at home. You know how to play it with your hands, but I have to say that you're much better with your feet because you just kick away and make all the noise in the world. It's hilarious how much it sounds like you're playing a song, sometimes. You're just that good!

And bath time... still your favorite. Seriously, this picture makes me laugh every time that I see it. It's just pure joy and it makes me so happy!

Sleeping in your car seat after we arrived home from the sitters house. You were out for a while this night too! Sometimes you crash on the way home and other times you don't. Most of the time it's just a cat nap, but sometimes it's so long we just put you in bed until you wake up. Usually you wake up about 30 minutes after we arrive home because you want dinner. A little cuddly, sleepy baby is just so darn precious.

We were at Pottery Barn Kids and we found a jingle bell rattle in the clearance bin. After giving it to you and having you fall in love with it, I realize that this jingle bell rattle was $11.99 on sale. It wasn't worth $11.99, but you loved it so much, I let you have a little fun with it before we scooted out of the store. Now, I'm on a hunt for a jingle bell rattle that makes a lot of noise for you to shake around like you did with this one. It was perfect. You need some new instruments!

Oh and notice you're sitting in your stroller without your car carrier and you love it! Gives you more freedom to look around and see new things! Makes it easier on me too!

Anyway, it's been a great month! You're continuing to grow in change in ways that we're still amazed by. We're still learning about your new eating habits and knowing what you like and what you don't like. You're favorite vegetable are sweet potatoes and you love almost every fruit that we've tried, including pineapple, raspberries and blueberries. We're still working on green vegetables. For some reason, those just don't go down for you like the other orange vegetables do. We'll give it a few more weeks and try them again. Cereal you eat with no problems too and the BM to formula combo works for you too.

You're still teetering on 3-6 month clothes, 6 month clothes, 9 month clothes and 6-12 month clothes. You can wear a combination of all of these, depending on the brand. It's sort of crazy because right now, it looks like you have tons of clothes, but as soon as we send the rest of your 3-6 month clothes out the door, we will have only a few things left. Still, it's fun to discover new things that fit you that look great for this season!

You're still wearing size 3, Luvs diapers and you still are small enough for everything that you've used since you were a baby, except your bouncy chair. I forgot to note this in my blog when this happened, because I'm pretty sure I was in denial that it even happened. But, we'd use your bouncy chair to have you sit it while we would take a quick shower. It worked for a while because you were not mobile or that strong. Then one day, when I was in the shower, you pulled yourself right out of it and onto the floor. Now, that's only about 6 or something inches, but still... you weren't happy about it and it freaked me out. So away the bouncy chair went and instead, we use the highchair that is one wheels for just about anything. Keeps you occupied longer and strapped in good too!

Alright, so that just about wraps everything up for this month. It's going to be wild to see what the next few months bring us. Every month, we're impressed with what you can do, what you learn and how you work yourself in and out of different situations. I cannot wait!

Happy 8 months, little boy! We love you so much!

Mama & Dada

William

2012-02-09T12:17:00.001-05:00

I'd like to start off by saying, we made this decision because of our family, our health, our sanity and we did not to harm an animal in anyway.

William was our cat. William was rescued by me one night, 2 months after we lost our first cat Oscar.

Oscar was our cat that I willingly adopted from the human society in town. We wanted a cat and he fit the bill to a T. He was like a dog, not a cat. He would run to the door when someone would come over, he rarely hid, he would play fetch, he would let you cuddle him and cradle him like a baby and he was loved by everyone that ever met him. He just wasn't like every cat...

Oscar died tragically and we were seriously heartbroken. We found him alive and really beat up... it was the most awful day of our lives.

So, 2 months later, I'm out with some friends, we're at a bar in our hometown and someone from our group leaves. Before I know it, she's running back inside with this kitten that she has just "rescued" from running into the 6 lane high way. She says over and over again that someone has to take this cat home. So, with much hesitation, I take the cat and start to think about taking him home. And then, before I knew it, I was driving him home. That night I kept him in the basement in a dog crate with a small litter box and some food/water.

My husband was out of town and didn't know about this new kitty until the next day. Needless to say, it wasn't a happy conversation. We wanted Oscar back, we didn't want a replacement. But he was cute, so we gave him a try. But (believe me) that wasn't before I called every shelter in the area to see if someone would take him. I got a big fat, NO from everyone, so we kept him.

When we rescued William, he was about 6-7 months old. We immediately took him to be declawed and neutered.... only to find out that he was already neutered. Maybe he was someone's cat? Who knows... I just know that living right by a freeway, almost dying and having the potential to die again wasn't a good place to be, so... with us he stayed.

Using the litter box, from the get go, was a little foreign for William. Maybe because he was an outside cat before and didn't know any different, who knows. Either way, we spent the first few months, just cleaning up stuff that we had never experienced with our first cat and boy did it send us through the ringer. We thought... new location, new process... give him time.

We had thought things were working out, but they weren't. So we took him to the vet. We increased him to 2 litter boxes and for a while, that worked.

Then, we found him again... so we added another box... 3 litter boxes and it was all good. He was using them all but not using our house and we were shocked.

Then it went down hill. We were installing a new TV and changing out TV cabinets, when my husband flipped a bag that we had placed in one of his "spots" and it was just FULL of urine. We were not happy campers.

So we took him to the vet, again, to check for a UTI. Never did he have medical problems.... so, we ended up putting him on anxiety medicine. This worked wonders, almost immediately. And worked for many years (mind you this is over a about 6 year timeframe, in total).

Then we had Coen and he had a personality change... for the better. He wanted to be around, he wanted to see Coen, he wanted to be close... but something was a little off, still. We didn't change his routine, we didn't stop doing the meds, we didn't change his litter, we just added Coen (which we thought he was okay with). Until about 6 months. He was still acting the same, but he started hunting around for spots again. One day when I was home, I saw him try and go to his TV cabinet spot. So I took a paper towel and stepped in that spot. It was wet.

So, we sent him to the basement. Our basement is large, so it wasn't a punishment... it was just his new living quarters. We couldn't have him ruining our house and risking the health of our lives and our children.

Risking how... Peeing in places that we will never know about and putting our mouths or hands in it and then putting them in our mouths or on our bodies. It's just pain nasty. I don't think I need to go into it all... you get it. Animal pee is not a good thing for anyone to be around. Espeically pregnant mamas and babies, let alone anyone else.

He was doing fine in our basement. I was calling every shelter to find him a location, asking co-workers, posting on facebook... doing everything in my power and was getting nothing by NOs. We had no where to turn, so he just lived in our basement for about 3 weeks.

Then S said he wasn't using the litter box. So the next day, I went searching for the location that he was peeing. Now keep in mind that our basement is full of our holiday/childhood items, kid items that we haven't used yet and all of our in-laws items. So there are a number of places that his new "spot" could be. Within two minutes of being down there, I went right for where I thought and hit the jackpot. It was bad. It was gross and because I was pregnant I couldn't really get into it. So I just went up and told S and said that I would take care of it.

He ruined our house upstairs, he ruined what was a really great life for him and now he was ruining his temporary home in the basement and specifically items that weren't ours.

It was bad.

So, that morning, I packed William up and I drove him to our local humane society to surrender him.

It was bittersweet because while I didn't have a single emotion about taking him there, he was our cat and I did everything in my power to help him. And all he did was pee on it.

So, with that... we are without a cat in our home and William has a new home.

It wasn't a tough decision and believe me, when he was okay and using his boxes, I still fought tooth and nail to keep him. I wanted nothing but the best for him and he just didn't get that.

Sad yes, but we will all be healthier without him.

Goodbye William.

questions and answers

2012-02-08T09:41:00.001-05:00

1. "Wow, what did you do?" This is sort of a silly question. Obviously, I had a baby, then about 5 1/2 months later, we got pregnant again. I don't think I need to go into the "how it happened" part. But this is literally what someone at the dentist said to me!

2. "How did you find out?" I had thought about my cycle arriving some time between Christmas and New Years. We traveled out of state for about 4 days and then we loaded right back into the car to go out of town again and so, I just didn't think about it. The morning after we returned home, I just took a test to see if it was positive or negative. I took it, hopped in the shower and didn't think about it. I had Coen in bed with S and when I got out of the shower, I picked it up, confirmed with the paper that it was positive, then I flipped open the bathroom door in tears, and said... "Babe, I think you need to look at this..." And that was it. I think we both said "Holy Crap!" about a thousand times... because holy crap, we're pregnant again!

3. "Was it planned?" Well, no. But our family plan was as such. It took us almost 5 years to get pregnant with Coen, in having this be such a challange, we said that we wouldn't try, but we weren't going to protect, either. We want a big family and we didn't want to run any risk of having more trouble with getting pregnant again. So, we just didn't even think about it. Obviously.

4. "How many children are you wanting to have?" We had always talked about 3, because I'm a product of 3 and I love having a brother and sister. But, recently we were talking about 4. Who knows. We just have to wait and see how it all pans out, but 2 will be a blast and I cannot wait!

5. "You're still nursing?" Yes, and because I'm pregnant, it's effecting my milk supply. However, I plan to pump and nurse for as long as I'm needed and as long as I can.

6. "How did you tell S?" See question 2.

7. "Do your parents know?" We waited to tell most everyone until about 9 weeks. My family, it was right before my sister's husband departed for Chicago. And S.'s family the night before that... They are all in shock, but excited.

8. "What do they call that? Irish twins?" I think the "Irish Twins" term comes from 2 babies born with in a year of one another, so we are outside of that by 2 months, cut me a break!

9. "How are you feeling?" Feeling great. Every once in a while, I feel ill but I think it's mainly because I need more water or just need to eat. Being a nursing/pregnant mother kills my calories, instantly and makes me eat about every 1.5 hours. It's nuts. But all in all, I don't feel sick at all or yucky.
10. "Are you excited?" We are over the moon with excitement. Never thought it would be that easy, but here we are. It's going to be a joy to have them close in age and be instant friends. They won't know any different so it will be great!

12. "What are you parents going to think?" See question 7.

11. "Will you be finding out the gender?" Yes, because if it's a girl, I want to know.

pregnant & nursing, part 1

2012-02-03T09:25:00.001-05:00

So, before we even knew we were pregnant, I had gone to the dentist for my check up. I had to update my medical form and since I was pregnant the last time I was there and now I'm nursing, it looked as though I was both. Pregnant and nursing. But I joked that while it looked like it, I wasn't. (ha ha ha, I thought.)

While there for my checkup and bi annual cleaning, they found two spots on my teeth (thank you chocolate/peanut butter/reece cup ~~craving~~ need while pregnant) and they told me that I'd have to come back to get them filled in.

Okay, no big deal.

Well, from the time that I had been there for the cleaning to the time I had to get my spots filled, I found out I actually was pregnant. So, when I went back in, I had to say... "Remember last time, when I joked that I wasn't pregnant and nursing and only nursing? Well, I'm going to have to change that to both pregnant and nursing, because this time, I am and I'm not joking."

From that moment on, it was just hilarious.

Questions went like this...

"Wow, what did you do?"
"How did you find out?"
"Was it planned?"
"How many children are you wanting to have?"
"You're still nursing?"
"How did you tell S?"
"Do your parents know?"
"What do they call that? Irish twins?"
"How are you feeling?"
"Are you excited?"
"Will you be finding out the gender?"
"What are you parents going to think?"

And every crazy question, aside from these that you can think of. We were all laughing, not only because I was still in shock, but they were all in shock as well.

I plan to answer all questions, however the majority of you know what our family plan was after we had Coen and the things that I was worried about happening, after our pregnancies in 2010.

It's been tough being both a pregnant and nursing mother, but I'm doing it, for as long as I can and I'm trying to take every measure I can to get through it and hopefully not have to take a break from nursing/pumping.

Call me crazy, but it's just the best for all of us.

29 weeks and 5 weeks

2012-02-01T08:47:00.000-05:00

So, Coen was 29 weeks old (just over 6 months) when we found out that we were 5 weeks pregnant with our third pregnancy (pregnancies: miscarriage - 2010, Coen - 2011, current - due 2012).

Yep. You read that right.

We're expecting, AGAIN!

EDD: September 1, 2012

More details will be revealed very soon.

my scalp hurts

2012-01-30T09:33:00.002-05:00

Remember when I mentioned that my son is a thumb sucker?

Well, not only is that his biggest soother, when he's hungry or tired, but he also wants to twirl my hair or just pull it. The worst is in the middle of the night when I'm laying on my side and he's on his and he's grabbing the littlest hairs on the back of my neck and just pulling the heck out of them. Not to mention the top of my head! That's the absolute worst.

It's so bad that I'm sitting at my desk, right now, wondering if I have a scab on my head from the chunk that he attempted to pull last night.

Boy does it hurt, really bad.

We've got to work on stopping this, but it's what works for him, just wish that it was more like petting instead of pulling. Ouchie-wa-wa.

Before I was losing hair because of hormones and post-pregnancy but now I'm losing it because I have a hair puller. Gah.

i'd like to respond, please

2012-01-27T09:43:00.000-05:00

To my Readers,

I wanted to stop and thank you for a minute.

I love hearing from you and seeing that your reading my blog. It warms my heart that you're continuing to read even though my pregnancy is over and I have a little baby at home. I know the excitement of a pregnancy can be (a little) more enjoyable to read about verses day-to-day mommy blogging, so for those that don't come around as much, you are missed.

With that said, I'd still like to be able to respond to those that leave comments, by email. Do you know that the majority of you leave comments (wrestling kitties, Stephanie, etc....) that I'd love to respond to and I cannot, because your settings on blogger don't allow me?

You can change those settings by following these steps:

When on blogger, in the upper right hand corner, there is your picture and your name of your google account.
Click on this drop down menu.
Choose "Blogger Profile".
Once in your "Blogger Profile", choose the "Edit Profile" button, which will bring up another screen for editing.
The second option down, is "Show email address" and you'll need to check this box.
Down further, there is a box that says "Email Address" and next to it says, "Changing this does not change the e-mail address you use to sign-in." Here you may pick a different email address to have your comment responses sent to, if you don't want it to be your personal email and maybe your blog specific email address.
Once you have this all set, save your settings.

From here on, when you leave a comment, you'll also be able to receive a response... especially when you leave a question in the comments.

Hope this helps!
I hope that in the future, when these setting have been changed, we will be able to communicate more efficiently.

Happy Friday!

I've written about this here and here, if you'd like to reference these posts too. These are for blogger users that are still using the old interface.

Shrimp Swim Lessons

2012-01-26T08:38:00.000-05:00

Swim lessons were a hit! Not only did Coen kick and flail around like he does in the bath tub, he also didn't mind being dunked as well.

Our class was a little unstructured, in my opinion. The age range of the students could be anywhere from 6 months to 36 months, and there was quite a mix. The instructor didn't really instruct unless the children were older and the parents could ask them to do more. And that was cute to watch, but Coen basically just swam around with me and that was it. The instructor said that she really doesn't do much in the class because it's basically to get them comfortable with the water and see if they love it or hate it.

Coen was good for about 20 minutes, kicking and splashing and moving around. Then he got ahold of a measuring cup and chewed on it for about the last 20 minutes. It was what was making him happy and at that point I didn't care because the water was warm and he was happy.

Afterward, we got out of the pool and we went into the family locker room to change him out of everything. When he was laying down, I noticed that one area on his gums was bleeding. He was getting another tooth in! That will make 3 on top and 2 on the bottom.

So that's why he was so obsessed with the measuring cup in him mouth for him to chew on! I thought something was up, but thank goodness we were in the pool and he just drooled in there instead of all over himself.

Can't wait to see how this weekend goes! I hope he continues to love it!

believe in who?

2012-01-25T10:56:00.002-05:00

I claim to be a spiritual person.

I say that I believe in God.

I have gone to church, but not like I used to.

I believe in something.

I can feel something.

But what is it?

This, emptiness, is something that I've struggled to communicate for years.

I know that I believe in something. When I walk into our home church, there is almost always "that feeling" that comes over me and I cannot explain it. When I sing in church and a song really hits me, I can't help but get misty eyed about it. Just because I can feel something real...

But what is it?

Growing up, we went to church almost every weekend, for most of my childhood. We were involved in youth group, Sunday school, mission trips, and a variation of other church-like activities. In my opinion, we were fairly active.

After I started college, I wasn't a very good Sunday-church-goer, but I went when I could. When I started dating S., we went on and off at first, but then he was asked to sing in a band at a contemporary worship service at a church MILES from our house. He did that for about 6 years and it was nice. We loved the church for a little while but we weren't part of their community. We didn't participate in anything but the Sunday service when he was paid to be there and when we didn't go, we didn't go anywhere else, either. Going to church, started to take well over 3 hours and sometimes more. It became a chore, not something we enjoyed doing.

After our 6 years attending the Lutheran Church as a couple and then we moved further from the church, we decided that it just wasn't doing it for us anymore and we needed to part ways.

I was brought up in a Presbyterian church, my husband in a Methodist church and when we went to the Lutheran church, it was only a little different than what we were used to. It was still church.

My husband didn't really go to church much when he was a toddler, as I remember him telling me. But as his older brother got into Young Life, his family started to attend church a lot more. They became very active in their (rather large) Methodist church. S. was in the choir and would go on traveling choir tours, his brother later became a Pastor himself and they all became and appeared to be very spiritual people.

After we split from the Lutheran church, we (unfortunately) took a very long break from church.

When we had our house guests living with us (my in laws), we started going to the local Methodist church with them. They preferred the traditional service, we like the contemporary service, so we would flip flop week to week and we'd enjoy going. But then the contemporary service got weird, the choir was creepy, it became too predictable and we no longer enjoyed going. People were really fake (choir members), it wasn't too welcoming and just didn't feel like it was a good fit for us. After our house guests left, we pretty much decided that it wasn't working for us and we stopped going. Shortly after that, my in laws stopped going to the traditional service, for other reasons.

Since then, we haven't been to a church for a regular service that isn't holiday or funeral related in over 2 years.

Sad to admit, yes, but the truth.

Our philosophy was and is that God doesn't live in a building, so, why stress about going to a church?

It's always been important to me. When I take the time and reconnect and really feel the connection. It's good and it's there. I want my relationship with God to be present in our day to day lives, enough so that it influences our family and our children.

Right now, S. and I both are sort of in this same boat. We haven't felt the draw to attend a church, not only because we are unsure about what we need or want from a church, but also because we haven't looked for a church. We haven't made it a priority, and we realize that this needs to change in order for us to build the relationship again. At the rate we're going, it's going to take some time to get back in the groove and feel what we used to from a church.

But, the other question that we both have... is it God that we really believe in? And how do you feel fulfillment from a church when you aren't really sure that the people around you really believe or just lift their hands in praise, because that's what people do.

We know that bringing Christ into our family is important and we are making plans to do this. We don't have any specific church that we need to attend based on denomination, so it should be easy to figure out... right?

So far, our plan is to start attending this church that they are building just a mile from our house, when it's done. It's non-denominational, close and new. It might hold what we're looking for or it might not. Either way, we plan to give it a try and at this rate, that will be better than what we're not doing.

Yes, God doesn't live in a building, but sometimes it feels really good to walk into a building where lots of people are welcoming him. Hopefully we find a place that we can call ours, soon.

mama failed

2012-01-23T11:28:00.000-05:00

Had a huge "mama failed" moment last night and I literally cried through the whole thing.

My milk supply is really not keeping up with Coen's demand. I usually can pump what he'll eat for the next day and I'm just not able to do that anymore.

When he was eating like mad just a few days or weeks ago (when I posted last), we were not only nursing him on demand, but giving him a bottle when I just couldn't nurse him anymore (which I know isn't nursing on demand, but sometimes my body was just too sore and I couldn't). In doing this for almost 2 weeks, we have really cleared out my milk stock, that I once bragged about. We've dipped into it (my stock) time and time again to get through growth spurts and things, but these last two weeks really just blew threw the majority of it and I wasn't able to come to grips with it, until last night.

So, in complete desperation, I had to give Coen a bottle of formula.

Big Mama Fail. Lots and lots of tears.

I didn't want this moment to happen and I really thought that it wouldn't, but we're here.

So, last night, I nursed him through the morning hours, and today at the sitter's house, he's going to take 2oz formula to 2oz breast milk to see how it works. Because for now, I'm just going to keep pumping whatever I get and substitute when I need to. Last week I made 32oz of milk through the whole week. That would feed him in 2 days. With splitting the formula/breast milk combo, we'll make that last 4 days.

It's very sad for me to think that I'm just not able to provide for Coen, but I'm not going to give up. I'm taking a handful of supplements, as I normally would and I'm also going to start drinking Mother's Milk Tea to see what sort of increase I can induce. I'm also doing the power-hour of pumping for 3 days to see if that will help me at all. I talked about that here, when I did that after Coen was about 3 weeks old, but not in very good detail. Basically, for an hour a day, for three days, I would pump for 10 minutes, then I would break for 10 minutes, until I hit 1 hour. It helped then, so I'm going to give it a try to see if it will help now.

Any body have experience with this? Have any other suggestions?

I absolutely hate that my body is failing me. I hate that I'm having to do this to Coen, but it's my reality and it just stinks right now. I'm probably work to get over it, but it just really upsets me right now that it has come to this.

We'll see how the next couple weeks go and we'll see what his eating habits do, but I can't imagine that they'll decrease that much. He's a growing boy that's going to keep needing more. I just hope I can continue and whatever rate is possible.

eating us out of the house

2012-01-19T14:48:00.001-05:00

I've heard this phrase used with teenagers who are growing like mad and are literally eating everything in the house before someone else can even discover it was purchased. However, I never thought I'd use this phrase with my 7 month old.

I'm not kidding folks. Yesterday, for instance, he ate 6 4 oz bottles, about 2 tablespoons of rice cereal for breakfast, 2.5 ounces of rice cereal for dinner and still acted like he was hungry.

Today, he's had green beans for breakfast, sweet potatoes for a morning snack, 3 bottles and pears at lunch time.

I'm not sure I could've ever been prepared for how quickly solids were going to be increased in his diet, but as of today, we're going into three times a day and sometimes 2 at each sitting just to keep him full.

Is this normal?

I cannot believe it.

Over the last 3 weeks, he's had the flu and wasn't able to really eat. Then he was feeling better and eating more often, then it was like he just wasn't getting enough and started eating like a newborn (every 2 hours on the button). Now, with the extra feedings, I'm hoping he'll level back out. But holy moly.

My mind is going a mile a minute trying to keep up with the idea of feeding him solids three times a day and nursing him and potentially adding more because it's just not enough. My boobs hurt, but I have to keep doing what he needs on demand because it's what he needs.

It was like he went from... "okay mom, this isn't really my thing," too panting the moment he sees his spoon and bowl together until the food hits his mouth. It's unreal.

Any advise? Please.

they're on the move

2012-01-18T09:23:00.002-05:00

My sister and her husband have made the plunge. He's an arcitect and she's a dance education teacher, so they are Chicago bound to make these dreams come true in bigger ways. Her husband moves in a few weeks and she'll move a week or so later. It's wild.

Bittersweet, yes. My immediate family all lives fairly close to one another, within 20 minutes or so. But, for them, this is going to be a great move for the both of them!

Best part for our family is now we'll have an excuse to go and visit that lovely city and potentially have a space to stay... ha ha ha! I doubt it, but it's still fun to say.

Good luck on the move! Very exciting times ahead, for you two!!

Coen, 7 Months

2012-01-16T09:33:00.000-05:00

Dear Coen,

You're 7 months, bubba and would couldn't be more happy about this. In this month, you've continued to grow and change so much, it's just blowing us away.

You sure had a lot of firsts in this month!

First Christmas.
First time in at a church service and first Christmas Eve service. (more on this another day)
First time in the car for 8 hours to Virginia.
First time to Washington DC.
First time eating pears, squash, and apples.
First time out to the state.
First time driving through a tunnel (our 5 year old nephew was getting a kick out this one, so I documented it).
First time to the National Zoo.
First time being watched by someone who isn't family or a good friend of ours...
First time seeing snow, even though it was pathetic.
First New Years.
First time sitting up, unsupported for about 3 minutes.
First time getting the flu. Barf.
First time sitting in an auditorium and listening to the local symphony.

There are probably a few that I'm forgetting, but those are the major ones from this month.

This is from one of the first times you army crawled and got to your destination, successfully. See the determination?

Other stats:

Teeth: The bottom two are fully in and top two are coming in. I feel bad that they are coming in at the same time, but at least it's faster for you and doesn't spread the pain out over a longer period of time.
You're in 3-6 month clothes, 6 month clothes, some 9 month clothes and some 6-12 month clothes. Most things that are 6-12 or 9 months, are just a little too long for you, especially the pants. Just have to give it a little more time to get you into those sizes, but I have to say baby clothes are just so annoying with how different certain sizes fit! Very annoying.
You're still wearing size 3, Luvs diapers and they seem to still be doing the job.
You're eating BM (my milk) and have only had that your entire life. About 5.5 months, we started with solid food and have been slowly introducing you to more as you show interest. Messy, but exciting.
You last weighed in at 16.2 lbs and 27 inches long, so you're still growing like a weed.
You love anything that play music, you love listening to people talk, you like to pull hair and earrings, you love to be on the floor and be free, you love rolling around and army crawling, and you are still just an all around happy baby. You don't cry unless you're pissed about your teeth, frustrated with a toy, hungry, tired or dirty. The first two are new, but still just part of being a baby.
You're still doing great at the sitter's too. She loves and you and you get along great with the other kids which continues to be such a relief.
You're sleeping schedule just sucks, to be honest. You're sleeping like a newborn, but you have several variables in your way. I'm hoping to get you back to the 8 to 9 hour window of sleeping over the next few months. We both need that.
You're still working on your army crawl but it doesn't hinder you from not getting where you want or to whatever you want. Between rolling and army crawling you get everywhere and sometimes really fast!
Sitting is a work in progress, but you're starting to do it and it's really cute!

This is right after you woke up. I just love this face!

Your first Christmas, was just the biggest joy for everyone. Everyone wanted to be with you or around you all the time. It was great too, because you had a ball.

First off, Christmas Eve was at Nana and Grandpa George's house. We hung out most of the afternoon, had snacks, watched Christmas Vacation and football, ate dinner really fast, ran to church for your first church service that you actually did pretty well through and then back to their house for gifts! Opening gifts with you was just hilarious. You would grunt with excitement, scream with joy and just hold onto whatever was given to you... wrapped boxes, bags, tissue paper, wrapping paper.... whatever. It was so funny and you didn't stop. You'd go on and on and on and on with everything, the whole night! It had us all in tears because we were laughing so hard!

Reading your Christmas card before you put it in your mouth.

Christmas morning, we opened gifts at home in the morning together as our family of 3, plus William and Toby. It was great. We had time together to just be our family. It was quiet, we played carols and just loved on you. It was your first Christmas and we were both so excited to enjoy it with you.

At about 2pm on Christmas day, we had Nana, Grandpa George, Uncle Geoff, Grandma C and Grandpa C over to hang out, watch some football ~~or basketball I cannot remember~~, eat Christmas dinner and spend time as a family. Normally, we just do the other side of the family on this day, but because you're around, everyone wants to be around you whenever they can. So, we let them.

You received lots of books, jammies, a few toys, ornaments, a new-to-us jogging stroller (that is awesome!) and money for your savings account. It was a great Christmas for you and I felt like you received the right amount of things for your age and what you actually needed. I was fearing that I was going to feel overwhelmed, but I didn't. Thank goodness.

Santa's little helper.

The day after Christmas, we did brave the shopping rush and went to a few stores to buy for other family that we were going to visit and then on the 27th, we were off to Virginia. This was a little rough. Who would want to be in their car seat for almost 8.5 hours with just a few breaks in between? I wouldn't and I know that after about 5 hours, you didn't either. We made it though, with just a few stops on the way there and on the way back. There were a few moments where I thought you were just losing it and that you weren't going to bring it back together, but you did. Now we can say that we can travel with you, but I would advise doing 8 to 9 hours in one day. That was just too hard.

Our visit with your cousins (all 4 of them) was great! They love being around you and entertaining you. AC was all about putting on the show and making you giggle and boy did he ever. He had the whole table in stitches one night and it was so good we video taped it! He was improving like a pro! It was great!

After we returned home, we unpacked and repacked before heading south to Charlotte's first birthday party and New Years Eve evening, we were with N&J for a crazy good dinner..

Any toy that makes noise, is your friend, however those toys don't leave that house and go to public places. Not only because they are your favorite and I don't want them hitting the floor but also because they make noise. Your baby einstein mp3 player is your absolute favorite right now, as you can tell below.

Sitting up has been something we've worked on but not something we've really sweated about. You'll do these things when you're ready and we're ready whenever you are. But we practice sitting up and pulling you up to build those muscles. Then the other day, we propped you up, pulled your legs apart to help balance you and then you were on your own. It was like a switch went off and you were doing it. Don't get me wrong, you do swing to the ground when we least expect it and it's so fast, so we can't sit you on your own alone, but you're sitting and it's fantastic! So cute, strong and independent.

Oh and then the last thing of last month to hit you was the dreaded flu. Seriously, the most awful and discusting thing to ever enter our house. To spare you a lot of detail, you basically threw up for 24 hours, then on and off for about a week. You were in the ER and pediatrican's office to both confirm there was nothing we could do and also to know what was going on.

Here you are drinking pedialyte, which you've had three jugs of over the last week and a half, to help your system get back to normal. As of right now, we're 48 hours without vomit and I'm very happy.

In the ER.

I have to say though... I was so tired of smelling vomit, hearing vomit, catching vomit, being hit with vomit, cleaning vomit, washing vomit, fearing vomit and just being around vomit. It was awful. And I hope we're in the clear. Please send us good, well, thoughts.

You are the biggest joy to be around, even when you're sick, you light us up with your smile or scream. You make us happy to be your parents and so proud of everything that you do and learn, day to day. It's amazing how fast this time with you is going by... I just cannot believe you're 7 months old. I remember my friends writing about their 7 month olds and thinking how much older that was to you... Now we're here. Wild.

It's been so great watching you and being around you. I really hope this month is a good month for you. I hope those two top teeth come in and I hope that you don't have to battle anything else, like the flu. I hope you get a break because since you were 4 months old, you haven't really caught a break and it's hard on all of us. We're managing though, because it's just part of growing up.

Happy 7 Months, baby Coen!

We love you so much,

Mama and Dada

Follow Up | Sophie the Giraffe

2012-01-15T21:21:00.001-05:00

I just wanted to follow up to my worry about Sophie the Giraffe and Toby.

Sophie is like baby crack. It's a great toy, however, if we're going into public, she stays home. She's very entertaining for as loud and annoying she might be to some adult ears.

Toby, while has interest in every thing that hits the floor, has little to no interest in Sophie. So, it's great and we all win.

I have a friend who witnessed Coen's love for Sophie. She's 4 or 5 months pregnant and she went to the store and bought her immediately for her baby. It's a $22 squeaky dog toy for a baby (as someone once told me) but it's completely worth every penny (thank you Mego!).

So, if you're on the fence. Buy it.

BTW, Sophie's review was completely from my heart and I was by no means paid for this jibber jabber.

Happy Sunday (evening)!

last year

2012-01-11T09:09:00.000-05:00

This time last year I was 18 weeks pregnant. It's fun to remember all the things I was experiencing through that time.

I was about 18 weeks during this time, last year and Coen is 31 weeks, post gestational.

So crazy how it's going so fast!

major randomness

2012-01-09T09:29:00.000-05:00

throwing up

Coen's been throwing up since Wednesday night. At first it was just projectile then off and on from about 7pm until the next morning (Thursday) at 11am. At about 4am on Thursday morning, I called the dr and they said to feed him 1 ounce of milk every hour and just pump everything and feed him through a bottle. That if it got worse or turned green or wasn't wetting a diaper, I needed to bring him in. Then about 5pm on Thursday, it was like he threw up everything from 11am on and it turned green toward the end. I called the dr. again and they said to go to the ER. They pumped him full of pedialyte (6oz in about 2 hours) and we were sent home. Since then he was on pedialyte all day Friday and returned to nursing on Friday night. He did great except in the night time. I don't know if it's how he's laying or what but the last three days have been great and the nights have been miserable.

lack of sleep

Speaking of miserable nights. My 6 month old is sleeping like a newborn and it's beginning to kill me. We go through the same routine at night, he goes to bed (in his bed) great, but anywhere from 10pm to 1am, he gets up and is starving. I'll feed him, put him back down and then about 2 to 3 hours later he's up again. It's drying me insane, but I'm trying to just roll with it. I dream of an 8 hour night of sleep, but I honestly cannot remember what that feels like.
Because of this, I'd love to have a day where I could be off work, but still send Coen to the sitter. I haven't done that but I'm thinking about it. I say that and then I think about the fact that I'd still have to pump while I'd be off. Ugh, would make it almost not worth it.

purging

I'm having this increasing need to purge. I don't purge. In fact, my husband (in a joking manner) would call me a pack rat or a hoarder. I'm not, but I suppose I could be. I like to collect, I like to keep little things because of the memory they have and what not. But lately, I'd had a need to purge, I just don't know where to start.
How do you do it at your house? Do you keep things with memorable value? Concert tickets, programs, photos?
Do you have a system for going through and donating things in your house? Do you say, " if i haven't looked for you, touched you or needed you in a year, then goodbye"? What do you do?
I need motivation. I need suggestions. Help?

william

We're finding William a new home. We have come to an agreement and I believe that I'd found him a better home than we could ever give to him and I'm grateful. More on this after we have confirmation.

dentist

I'm almost 30 years old, I spent the last year of my life pregnant and eating a lot of sweets. Now I have 1.5 cavities. Gross. My dentist said that I could blame it on my pregnancy and, believe me, I am. I go today to get them both worked on. I'm not looking forward to it, but I'm doing it because that's what you're supposed to do. I couldn't imagine if I didn't go to the dentist every 6 months! I would've been in bigger trouble than I am in these last 6 months. Oh well. :(

Seriously, tell me how your purge (see above)!

Introducing Solids

2012-01-06T10:05:00.000-05:00

I was really hesitant about solids. I think it was mainly because I was nervous that it would interupt our nursing relationship. But after his 6 month visit that was at about 5.5 months (because of timing) we made the leap. I bought organic oatmeal cereal (that until about 2 weeks ago I was calling rice cereal - *raising hand* NEW MOM!) and we tried it at 5.5 months. It didn't work out very well. He accepted it (a few bites), but wasn't swallowing it. He'd take it into his mouth, but because this was his first thing outside of breastmilk, it was werid to him. We did a few bites and then after having the entire high chair tray covered in oatmeal that had been spit all over it, we called it quits.

I just wanted him to get the taste, I didn't want him to love it immediately.

We waited a day and then we tried it again. Almost immediately, I got that same reaction. Spitting it back at me like, "lady you're crazy, I'm no eating that crap." So we waited a day. And we tried bananas that I had made myself from really ripe bananas and breastmilk.

Then, we didn't have an BMs for 4 days. So I stopped solids all together, just to get him back on track.

After 4 days, he had two blows outs and we thought we were on track again, so I tried carrots that I had made. Had them one day, skipped a day and then had them another day and he was backed up again. So we stopped. This time it took just over 5 days to start the bowels moving again and when it happened, it was just everywhere.

Poor baby.

After that, we started back at it with sweet potatoes (2 to 3 oz a serving) and immediately, he was taking them in and actually swallowing every bite and we had no problems. We were even getting regular BMs which is what we want to see. So we'd do a day with solids and a day without for about a week alternating sweet potatoes.

Then we were in VA for the holidays and we had a really ripe pear, so I gave that a whirl and it was a hit! It's really strange how much their bodies can do and how much they change. But to introduce solids was a whole new ball game because it was really something foreign to them. But he's doing great and really accepting of every bite too. He's still eating every bottle that he would normally eat at the sitters and nursing as he normally would, we just introduce the solids around "dinner time" so that it's a constant hour for his body to have them.

So far, so good. And while I was nervous at first, I'm not now. It's actually been an okay transition.

If I would've known more about the BRAT diet at the beginning (just something I wasn't aware of) I would've gone for something different right out of the gate. We haven't been back to the oatmeal or the carrots, but we plan to soon.

I cannot believe it's already over...

2012-01-01T14:19:00.001-05:00

We had a great Christmas and I cannot wait to tell you all about it, but for now I'm going to cry while I think about packing up everything from Coen's first Christmas.

It's much more emotional than I thought and don't think that I haven't tried to convince my husband to keep it up until Valentine's just to make me happy, because I have. It didn't work.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Card 2011

2011-12-22T08:37:00.001-05:00

This might be our best Christmas card yet.

Merry Christmas to your family (Happy Holidays to those that don't do Christmas) and Happy New Year!

All pictures taken by Britt Lakin Photography. Love her.

From us...

2011-12-21T09:30:00.000-05:00

To follow up from my post about Coen's 1st Christmas, I wanted to post about what we will get him for Christmas.

Growing up in my family, aside from our stockings and a handful of toys ~~or things we wanted that year maybe some clothes~~ my parents would always get us an ornament, a calendar and a book or some sort. Three gifts, in a sense. And I like this tradition. However, Coen isn't old enough to know what a calendar is, so instead, we'll subsititute with something he needs. This year we are sticking to just that.

We bought him this ornament.

Obviously with Coen's name.

We're giving him these books (because I could resist them both).

Winter by Roger Priddy

Merry Christmas, Little One! by Sandra Magsamen

And we're giving him a "My 1st Christmas" one-piece sleeper (that I don't have a picture of, but I will once it's Christmas Eve) because we felt that he needed another winter sleeper.

It doesn't seem like a lot, but honestly, we have a ton of things that he still hasn't used from our showers and things that we feel this is plenty for him on his first Christmas. The idea is to celebrate with him and to have him open a few gifts, but to not be blown away. We already have problems with putting things away, if we have more things, we're going to have to move (for real this time).

Plus, my family and other friends will spoil him with gifts that will be plenty and gracious. We will struggle with keeping those things tucked away that I wouldn't want to get him much more.

What do you do for your child's Christmas? Do you buy whatever you want for them? Or do you limit it?

1st Birthday Planning

2011-12-20T10:25:00.000-05:00

I know Coen is only 6 months, but I think about this from time to time and I wanted to share our thoughts.

We've (my husband and I have) talked about this a few times and every time, we come to the same conclusion.

Coen's first birthday will be a big deal. A huge deal! Our family will all be together to celebrate, but it will (mainly) be a family affair.

We'd love to include everyone, we really would. We have tons of friends with babies and children that would love to celebrate with him, I know this. However, it's just not practical. I don't want to host everyone in my house, because it's just not big enough and I don't want to rent a place. I want it to be about Coen and to invite everyone would just take the focus away and we just can't afford to invite everyone. Our plan is to invite all of our immediate family, a few of our closest friends and that's pretty much it. At least for the first one.

In my family, every birthday that comes around, we either have dinner at my parent's house or out somewhere. (Sean's family is adopting this method too.) It's the way we've always done it and while we don't have to go out for Coen's birthday dinner, I'd still like to have everyone together, just as though he's joining in on the birthday fun.

Some of our friends will probably feel left out. Some of them might be offended that we aren't including them, but I just don't want to start a trend and I don't want to feel like they would have to reciprocate the same sort of invite. It's just a lot of work and a lot of money. It won't always be this way, but I want his first birthday to be small and special for Coen.

I stressed about this when I was pregnant, too. Who to include and who not to include. I went round and round about it. I wanted to include everyone because it just seemed right and I know that they were excited for this moment in our lives. But after it was all said and done, I felt bad because there were several people that came to my shower that I couldn't even talk to because it was just a lot of people. (thank you W.) I don't want to feel that same way with birthday parties and since Coen is so little, I'd want him to have fun at his party and being held and in a chair isn't really his forte. I want him to be able to be on the floor if he wants or in his pack n' play... whatever and if I have a house full, that won't be able to happen. It's just what we think will work and we hope that everyone can appreciate this. We just want Coen to have a good time!

A friend of mine said that for her son's birthday they let him invite the number of friends as the year he is turning. So if he's going to be 5, he gets 5 friends. I think this is a great idea.

What do you do for your baby's/children's birthdays?

c-section, revisited

2011-12-19T09:26:00.000-05:00

After posting about Coen's 6 month post and looking back through all of the posts prior, I couldn't help but read word for word about his arrival. I've been reading several birth stories lately and you wouldn't believe how "easily" or naturally some babies arrive and how others just haven't been given a break and end up in c-section. I think I've said this before, but I really hate that I had to end up in a c-section. The emotions of pushing my baby through my body with my physical effort was just my dream labor. I get really emotional about not being able to have experienced that.

Yes, my dr. let me go as long as possible to have that natural delivery. Yes, my body was just failing me and yes, it was getting scary for Coen too. Yes, we both were much safer as a result of the c-section, but I still get sad about it. Maybe it's selfish, but it's just how I feel.

Yes, my lady parts are still in tact. Yes, my recovery was hard, but it could've been worse. Yes, I might always have to have a c-section in the future and yes, I could have a VBAC, but do I really want a VBAC? I don't know. There are a lot of risks. I could die. Our next baby could die. My insurance may not cover it. There's just a lot to go along with that decision. A lot.

I've been struggling with this a lot lately. Not because I'm going to be faced with the decision soon, but just because it's something I think about. Yes, having a c-section will be nice the next time around because I could say that I'd want to have my baby at 8:00am on whatever date and I'd have him in my arms at 8:40am... but what will the next time be like? Will I be full term or will it happen sooner? Will I have a scheduled c-section and not even experience labor again?

It's just a weight that ~~I let bother me constantly~~ I worry about from time to time... And sometimes it really does bothers me.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see how it all works out.

Has anyone had a successful VBAC?

holla.......

2011-12-15T09:36:00.002-05:00

Coen: "Say what?"

"Mama's in her pre-pre-pregnancy jeans? NO........."

Mama: "Oh yes. Yes, I am!"

Today is a great day!

Coen, 6 Months

2011-12-14T09:33:00.000-05:00

Dear Coen,

6 months ago, we were here…

And now you’re here…

I cannot believe that it’s already the end of 2011 and you have already been with our family for 6 months! That just doesn’t seem right, but I know that it is. You’ve been the best gift ever and we couldn’t trade our time with you for the world. Can you believe you’re 6^th months old? Neither can I.

I used to be so sad to watch you change and grow with every passing day. While it is bittersweet, I’m enjoying it more and more every day that we get so spend time together and learn together about the things you can do.

You’re seriously one of the best babies! We tell people all the time that you literally only cry when you’re hungry or tired (or when you get shots), and you literally only cry during those times. Honestly, it’s the best cue ever because then we know right from that moment what’s going on. We haven’t really have many moments when we haven’t been able to quickly comfort you unless we’re in the car and those moments are really tough on me. The best part about you being a thumb sucker, is when those moments come up, that is when your thumb helps you out big time. It also helps when you are really hungry because you’ll pop your thumb in and out of your mouth and whine through the whole thing until I feed you.

You’re still teething like crazy, so if you don’t have your thumb in your mouth to self soothe while you’re tired or hungry, you do have your hands in your mouth a lot to help comfort your teeth/gum pain. And you do it more and more if you don’t have a toy near you to chew on. You have your two bottom front teeth (completely in) right now and from what I understand, you’ll be working on your top two very soon. You haven’t hindered our nursing relationship with this new grow and again, I’m very happy about this.

(Two bottom teeth, can you see them? This was about 2 weeks ago when they were first coming in. I planned to post this on FB, but decided not to. Thought it was better suited here. And yes, it did take me about 17 times to finally get this without your tongue in the way...)

Here are your stats from your 6^th Month Appointment:

16.4 pounds (7.78 pounds at birth)

26.75 length (21 inches long)

So basically, you’re still in the tall and lean stats, which means your falling right in line with your family genes! We have nothing but hopes of you taking after your dad, grandpas or uncles because they are all very tall and skinny. Even though I see tall to you now, I’m actually the runt of my family and your daddy is the same way. So you have some great height advantages.

Other things you’ve learned or are doing this month…

· You had rice cereal at the end of the month last month. It wasn’t your favorite and you basically spit it back in my face because it was just not that great tasting. That’s what I understand will happen with new things, though, so we’ll try it again, soon. We had three times to try it and then I made carrots for you to try. Those you liked a lot better and we’ve tried those two times now. Unfortunately your bm’s have really been effected by this new addition to your diet, so we’re just trying to keep track of those while we continue to introduce these new items.

· You’re really getting around. You haven’t tried to crawl or to get up on all fours or anything, but you’re really good and rolling and scooting around. We refer to your rolling style as “barrel rolling” all the time because no matter where you are, if you want to go somewhere you will roll like crazy to get there. It’s seriously so cute. We always put you down on a blanket to have you play but you almost always roll right off of it within minutes because of how quickly you like to get places. Carol says you do the same thing at her house, too. We get more of a workout by trying to keep you on the blanket and less time to play with you because we’re constantly trying to bring you back to the blanket. It’s hilarious and you are really quick.

· You’re propping yourself up a lot and I’ve tried to get you on your knees, but you aren’t interested.

· You’re really grabby and grab for everything that is in front of you. You especially like my hair (that I am actually trying to grow out…). It hurts a lot, but I’m getting used it. You also grab and pull on your own hair, especially when you are tired or hungry. You twirl your hair while you eat and that’s really sweet. Along the same lines of grabbing though, you grab for your toys on your car seat and if they slip away you just grab them right back. And your dad said that they slipped away off your car seat the other day and you didn’t really mind. It’s good that we have those rings close while you’re in the car because you just chew away on them.

· You eat really well with me, but you also eat really with Carol or whoever will feed you your bottle. I don’t ever feed you a bottle so I had no idea that you were actually holding your own bottle until recently. Your aunt Julia said that you’ll get a good grip on it and pull it in until you’re done and if you try to pull the bottle away, you pull it right back to your mouth. I think this is hilarious. I’m also pumping still and that’s still going well for me too. I couldn’t be happier about the fact that that we’re still nursing and you’re still diggin’ it with no problems. Every baby is different, but this has been a complete blessing. Not only for the bond that we have, but also for you and your health. Not to mention how it’s helped us financially. Such a blessing.

· You’re talking up a storm. You babble about just about everything and have lots and lots to share. You have a lot of the dadadadada & bababababa babble down, I’m just waiting for the dada to be in context. That will just make your dad so happy!

· You also smile at everyone. We tell everyone that you haven’t met a stranger yet and it’s so true. You’re just a happy baby and find something worth smiling about with every face that you encounter. It’s pretty cute. We understand that a “stranger-anxiety” moment or milestone might be in your future (dr. said 7-9 months) but I’ll be surprised if that happens. We socialize you so much that we’d like to think you’ll just pass over this stage, but what do I know. We’ll just have to wait and see.

· You don’t mind the car rides if you aren’t hungry or tired. You actually are really calm in the car, especially in the day light when you can just look around and see what we are passing by. It’s interesting to watch you look out the windows when we are driving to see how mesmerized you are by everything.

· You still love your sitter and have no problem being with her all day. You love your friends that you get to visit with, even if the older kids do more than you. It’s fun to watch you play with them when I have time to sit with you there. You don’t mind all of the commotion and just because you aren’t crawling doesn’t mean that you won’t crawl across the room and chew on their shoe while they are sleeping. She’s really just a blessing to our family and I couldn’t be more happy with our decision. It took a lot of research, but I’m so glad we made the decision we did. She and her family are just amazing.

· You are quiet the wiggle worm and hard to hold onto. You’re always looking around and moving around, but your dad and I have the hang of keeping a hold of you, it’s the others I worry about.

· You’re wearing some 3-6 month clothes, but your starting to wear more and more 6-9 and 6-12 month clothes. It’s fun to dress you every day in something cute and remember where we got it, who it came from (used or borrowed) or who gave it to you (gifts). You’re so stinking cute in this big boy outfit (below) from CR. Such great clothes come from H&M Kids.

You’re doing so much and changing every day. We love every minute that we spend with you and we cannot wait to see how the next 6 months will go for you. It’s going to be amazing!

We’ve had a lot of firsts in these last few months and that’s going to keep going as time goes on. You’re going to experience your first Christmas Eve, your first holiday church service, your first Christmas morning and day with our family, your first visit from Santa and your first New Years Eve in the next month! It’s going to be great to watch you through all of the bright lights, gifts and sparkly things that are around this time of year. So far, I think you’re really loving it!

We experimented with a quick craft for Christmas and while it didn’t turn out the way that I had hoped, but it’s still really cute. I have to refine my process, but you get the idea.

Happy 6 month, Coen. We love you with every ounce of our beings, we are so blessed to have you in our lives and we cannot wait to spend the rest of our lives watching you grow. You’re absolutely amazing and we love you so much.

Merry Christmas, big boy.

We Love You,

Mama & Dad

Re-cap of the last 6 months:

our stockings

2011-12-09T09:45:00.001-05:00

And the stockings were hung, by the chimney with care...

With just a love and thread, they came together in just a few short days...

And before we they were done, we just had one more step to complete.

So, this all began last year when my sister arrived to my house with a stocking that she had made for us at a sewing class. It was just so cute that I thought I needed to have 4 more for my mantel for Christmas. Within the following month, we had the fabric, a few other items and we were sewing away. Then we stopped.

It wasn't until just after Thanksgiving this year that we picked it back up. We went to my mom's house and spread out over her entire dining room table and got to work. We cranked out two final products fairly quickly and we were just on the cusp of finishing the others when we hit a speed-bump and I had to head home. Plus, it was getting close to Coen's bedtime so we just put it on hold.

Then, a few weeks later a friend came over to make buckeyes and a stocking for her house. Once we were done with her project, she headed home, I put Coen in bed and got to work on my stockings. Since I had watched my sister help me finish two, I thought I could not only teach someone to make one on my own but also finish mine up. I only broke one needle in the process and had to re-thread my bobbin twice, but it was all good. I'm a pro at those things now!

It was so much fun. I've thought of ways to make mini ones to act as door hangers or to give as gifts with little treats in them. Now I know, so I'm more prone to try them again!

Do you want to learn how? I can teach you!