3 Months!

Hard to believe we have a 3 month old son! He officially went completely backwards last night with sleeping through the night. I think the longest stretch he slept was 3 hours! It was not very fun. Tonight starts us not feeding him at night again. It should take about 3-5 days to get him back where he was when we left. I think we will try to get him on Daylight savings time before Sunday just so we don't have to switch it up again and then go to Ohio next Thursday and turn his world upside down again (at least we will be staying with Jonathan's parents, though).
Cole is really fun! He is a pretty smiley guy when we aren't traveling. He usually only cries when tired. He is VERY visual. I am questioning whether we should even put his mobile back in his crib. He will just cry and cry and be staring at something and can't get to sleep because he is looking at something (very hard to cut out visual stimulation in a hotel room). The awesome Soother that Kara and John got us...he loves it! But, if it is in his crib he will watch it until he can't take it anymore and freak out eventually because he is so tired. I think the soother will end up being propped on the floor for play and tummy time. He does really like it.
Anyway, that is the funniest thing about him. We won't be posting until cable is hooked up on Saturday! At least we are in a house from here on out! It was a crazy ride. My cold is better. My throat is only a touch sore. Closing is in a half hour! We can't wait!

13 Weeks!

Well, we are all glad today is the last day in a hotel and not on routine. Cole woke up at 3:48am this morning:(. Hopefully after a few days in the new house he will be back on routine. He hates his carseat right now and I can't blame him. He didn't get good naps yesterday and he is very tired today and is sleeping a lot. Look at how long his hair is getting!
He is SO much more observant than even a week ago. He smiles a lot! Tomorrow he officially turns 3 months!
Not great pictures this week. The good camera is packed and we don't have our couch where I usually take the pictures, so we improvised.

Jogging Stroller

I once had a great love for running. When Jonathan met me I ran 36-42 miles a week, I have run two 10 mile races, one 15K, several 10Ks, and many 5ks. I have no doubt I could get it back again. Now, with our angel with me 24-7 I need a good piece of equipment to use to rekindle my running love. I would like any and all suggestions for which running stroller is the best and why. Your help is needed! Ask around if you can:). We were going to get a bike trailer/running stroller, but we decided that we wouldn't bike that often as a family (it's really Jonathan's passion, and I would slow him down anyway) and it may be better to just get a good jogger. Any suggestions? How about a bike trailer? Have any of you gotten one and it been worth it?

Day 4 ... We're Here At Last!

Well, we got here not a moment too soon. Cole was quickly tiring of the carseat and he let us know today. He was pretty cranky today and only took one really good nap. He got up at 5am this morning. I hope he doesn't keep getting up earlier and earlier. I feel a little better. Thanks for the prayers! Maybe I will be better by tomorrow. Cole is sacked out and I am soon to follow. Tomorrow we have some errands to run, but only a few. We are mainly just waiting for Wednesday when we close on our house. We did do our walk-through today. It was fun. Here are a few pictures for you.

Cole scoping out his new bedroom with Daddy.
In the kitchen.

Day 3 of the Great Moving Adventure.

A little Tummy Time in the hotel room. He is getting better at it. I have found that if he is wearing no clothes, it makes all the difference in the world! Also, if we put him down on a bed and stand watch just in case he does roll. At least in the new house the rooms will be carpeted upstairs, so maybe he won't mind it so much on the floor.
We don't have any pictures of him in a diaper. This is the first. He has some chubs on him, but I wouldn't go so far to say he is a fat baby...just solid.

He traveled pretty well today. He's definitely sick of it and he let us know. It didn't help that I am definitely catching a cold. My body always responds to colds by making my throat feel like I swallowed a bunch of glass. I am all achy. At least there is only one day to go!

Here's me and my pumpkin in the Smokies.

Jonathan and Cole. He isn't spitting up there. He starts blowing spit bubbles and he absolutely froths when he is tired.

The three of us. Would have been nice if Cole was looking, but it is always weird asking a complete stranger for a picture.

Fall colors were out in full force. We are 3 hours from our new home and we are in Hickory, NC. Cole is sleeping on his bed again. It took a little whining to get down, but we have no doubt he is very exhausted. One more day of traveling!!!! YAY! Pray for Cole to not catch my cold. I am very worried about it. Especially since we are traveling again on Nov. 6th up to Ohio.

Day 2

Cole and Daddy. He was a little more fussy today in the PM. He went to bed really easy and now we are following suit. Hope he sleeps as well tonight as he did last night! We made it past Knoxville. Tomorrow we are going to Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Cole wanted to drive the truck.

She was my very best friend from college. It was so nice to see them. It was tough to leave!

We met our friend from college, Christine, and her husband, Tim, at Starbucks in Memphis this morning. The drive was really nice from Memphis to Knoxville. As you got closer to Knoxville in the mountains all of the fall colors are out and brilliant!

Cole slept again until 5:45am which was wonderful and he went down without even fussing last night. He's napping right now on his double bed. On the down side I think I am coming down with a cold. I sure hope not. If I do, though, I hope it isn't something I can give to Cole. I really don't want him to get sick yet:(. For me it is from wearing myself down with anticipation of the move and everything. Maybe it will pas because it isn't too bad right now...just a dry itchy throat. Pray for health and continued good travels!

First Night

Cole did sleep through the night. I hope we can keep the streak up. He slept on the other double bed in the room. We thought it highly unlikely that he would learn to roll both ways last night. He did great. He has stopped making all the grunting noises in his sleep, too, so we both got decent sleep. He stirred a few times and we woke up, but not many. It is funny. Being cooped up with him in the car and hotel has taught me a bunch about his sleep cycles, his fussing before falling asleep, etc. It hasn't been as bad as I though (except for last night when he totally lost it). The day the movers were at our house was the worst so far because we didn't know where we could put him down to sleep. He was exhausted by the end of it. At least in the car he is in no ones way and can go to sleep when he wants.

Day 1 of the Drive to NC

Well, we closed on the house and left OK at about 10:30am. We made it to Memphis at 7pm. We made good time considering longer stops than normal to feed the little guy and play with him a bit before taking off. He did great.. mostly sleeping. He did not do great after about 5:30 pm where he had a complete melt down. We fed him at 6 and the meltdown continued. I gave in and we went into survival mode and gave him the paci because he was very upset. But, we got to the hotel tonight and he crashed with about 10 minutes of fussing/whining without the paci:). Tomorrow morning we will meet up with my best bud from college who lives in Memphis. It will only be for an hour or so, but it will be nice to see her. Tomorrow we go to Knoxville. I hope Cole does just as well as today.

Goodbye Oklahoma!

Well, this is our last Oklahoma post. I don't have any pictures to accompany it. Our house was emptied by the movers by 12:30 this morning (it took about 4 hours). Cole was fussier than normal due to the lack of routine. I am hoping the days in the car will be better than this and that he doesn't start waking up a lot at night:(. That is my biggest worry through all of this. I know we will get back on routine once we get to NC, but then we have a wedding in Ohio the 8th of November and we leave the 6th for it. So, only a week to get things back to "normal" and then we are off again on an adventure. I am not complaining, but it will be tough. Cable gets installed on November 1st in North Carolina, so look for a post soon thereafter.
As our home was emptied this morning I kept looking at things and I had all of the memories of our home and friends here go through my head. What a great life God gave us here. I know we were meant to be here just like I know we are meant to be in North Carolina.
I hope we can keep in touch with all of our Okie friends! We will miss you!

12 Weeks - Home pictures

You want to take more pictures!!!???
Fine, but I am not smiling.
Nope, not smiling.
When will it end?
Fine, maybe I will give you a small smile.
Here, do you like this goofy smile?
Ok, this is as close as you are going to get, so I hope you are happy, Mommy.

These pictures were just after a bath. A bath? Yes, a bath in the middle of the day. I learned last night that I cannot eat dairy while nursing Cole. Leads to diaper issues. Diaper issues, which leads to his clothes being a mess, mine being a mess, etc. I wonder if he will be able to drink cow milk. We will find out in about a year, I guess.

12 Weeks!

Is his head perfectly round or what?
Cole's 3 Month Photos. I wanted to get them taken before we left for North Carolina since we won't have a chance to do it right away there since the weekend after we are heading to Ohio for Jonathan's brother's wedding (sorry about the apostrophes...I still misuse them, I am sure).
He did ok at the shoot. No smiles. In fact, if anything else could have been more weird today, I would not have been too shocked. This morning as I was dressing him in his picture outfit, he decided he would sprinkle on the gray long sleeve shirt I had him in. Fine, at least I had a backup. So, we get in the car and head down after he ate this morning. I ran errands while he napped. I got him up to eat before the photo session and he starts screaming while eating. I get him up to burp him (it's got to be an air bubble). Lo and behold, he barfs all over the nursing cover...yes, it was an air bubble, or just an upset stomach. Then, I try to get him eating and he refused to eat. Lovely. At least he was in decent spirits for the pictures. But, while we are walking in, he does a #2 (another reason he was fussing, undoubtedly). I decide to just get some pictures and change him when I get him into his Halloween outfit. So, he does OK for the pictures...no smiles, but I hadn't expected any. We get good shots and I go to change him. He completely was a mess, let me tell you. So, I use all the baby wipes to give him a baby wipe french bath (nearly head to toe). His onesie may be ruined, but the overalls are OK. I got him into his pumpkin onesie and he did pretty good in it. After that he was tired and hungry since he had refused to eat earlier so I fed him in the portrait place while picking out the two pictures I liked best. I have never done that before and I hate doing it, but you just have to go with the flow sometimes. He's almost too big to feed in the back seat of our car, anyway. So, it was a fun morning. I think I got barfed on, but I am still wearing the same shirt..oh well. Sour milk smell, no big deal. Being a mom makes you a lot less pretentious. Smiles are your paychecks for all the dirty jobs you do.

Clothing Woes

Well, I know I didn't write about this, but my feet grew a half size with pregnancy. A half size! I can't even squeeze into my old shoes...even if I wanted to, it would hurt too bad. So, I had to get rid of the majority of them and replace them with 3 pairs! That's ok. I got the staples and I like being a minimalist anyway. A pair of brown heels, black heels (I never had heels...maybe the feet growing thing was a small blessing) and a pair of brown flats.

Then, I decided enough was enough and I took a big gulp and bought a pair of jeans two sizes bigger than I normally where. This is not in an attitude of defeat,...No, sir! I just can't stand the elastic waist band anymore! I may buy one more pair just so I have more than one. I also got a few longer t-shirts to make sure when I do have to wear the old maternity jeans because my new ones are in the wash no one can see said elastic waistband.

Anyway, funny thing about all of the clothing woes...I have begun dropping some weight again...gradually. My wedding ring fits again (tight, but YAY anyway) and I am beginning to feel more normal:). Help me cheer on the weight loss. Working out hasn't been happening because of the move, but we are eating healthy still. When we get into our new home and after my brother-in-law's wedding (about a wee after we move in) in Ohio, we are going to start looking for a jogging stroller/bike trailer for Cole:).

Playtime Saturday

Playing in the activity gym. I put a quilted blanket down over the colored pad since he was on the hard floor.


He still only can take the swing for about 15 minutes. He will fall asleep in it like he did after this photo was taken, but then he wakes up not too long after. Jonathan said he slept in it for about a half hour on Thursday, but today he woke up after a short time and didn't seem tired until about 3pm. You can see how long the hair on the top of his head is getting in this picture against the lighter background. It will be brown, most likely.

Mommy and Cole

Jonathan took this shot of us last night just before I left for JSO Girls Night Out. http://www.jsogno.blogspot.com/.

Cole was pretty tired here, actually, but he still is pretty curious about the camera so he always checks it out and raises his eyebrows when it is pointed at him. I hope he does this well Tuesday when we get his 3 month photos.

Cole weighed 12 lbs. 12 ozs. today!!!

The last two days

I think he could be a belly sleeper when he can roll.
I think he's sucking his lip or something...it looks weird.
He found the back of his head with his hand and he wouldn't stop touching it. It was hilarious. Maybe he is practicing his dance moves.
We had dinner with our neighbors, the Youngs, and Lillian was making animal noises for Cole.
Entertaining Cole.

Eleven Weeks!

I love the overalls. He still will smile if I put down the camera, but the second I bring it up he takes an inquisitive look. At least we got some "almost smiles" here.

For the Grandparents

Cole's smiles and Coos.

3-6 Month Outfits

On the Phone with Dad.
I am amazed at the growth of our son, for certain. He is almost completely out of his 0-3 month clothes. It is so funny because I always think he has so many clothes for the next size up and then it turns out he doesn't have as many as I thought:). I am sad that I may have to get him a few onesies soon:).

Watching Football

Last night was by far the most calm Cole has been watching football. I think it lasted about 10 minutes or so. Usually he is very fussy at night (and he was, but he took a break to watch football with Daddy).

He kept pulling Jonathan's arm hair and raising his arm up all the way. I took it to mean that he was rooting for the Cowboys.
Then he fell asleep. I wanted to experiment whether he could sleep on his belly. He seemed very content. I clapped my hands to try to wake him (it was time to eat anyway) and he just shifted and went from his arms being extended to bringing them up under his head like above. It was so cute. It was killing me to wake him for his late evening meal!!

Dinner Date

Nate and Chellie Ison.
Lisa and Jacob Bialon. They are expecting a little boy soon.
Karli Bialon holding Cole. Karli is 3 and is about to have a little brother soon.
The Bialon's invited the Ison's and us over for dinner last night. It was great. We had a home-made spaghetti dinner, berry/peach crisp, and watched a video that our church ministry team made that mimicked "The Office" this past summer. It was hilarious.

Funnin' With Daddy

Daddy was making cow and cat noises. Cole likes them.