Blogging Once More

I know it's been a few weeks since I posted anything. That is because we have been a bunch of sickies in this house. First, Cole got his first vaccinations. This threw him backward about 6 weeks in behavior. He wouldn't sleep, he was cranky all day and it continued for 5 days! Finally we took him back to the doctor when I noticed him spitting up a lot more again and then screaming after doing so. They agreed that we could increase his Prilosec another 0.5ml. He's on the maximum amount for his weight but after only 1 day his behavior returned to normal and I had a happy baby again! But then Rick got terribly sick with a bad cold which developed into a Sinus infection - he is still recovering. He has had it over 10 days! Ugh. And of course, Cole and I got the sniffles too. Then to make matters even more confusing I thought I was coming down with the flu Sunday night as I had the chills for 3 hours. I couldn't stop shaking. I finally fell asleep and when I awoke my fever was 103.5. I was pretty sure however that it wasn't the flu but an infection in my breast. The fever finally went down after a lot of medicine and ice packs. I saw the doctor the next morning and agreed that is what it was. Thank goodness for medicine!! That fever was horrendous! I'm just glad it was nothing that would affect Cole.

So now we're back to a "healthy" status and Cole is smiling more than ever. He is even trying to laugh. He thinks it's hilarious to touch mom's face while she's singing - of course I'm helping him out there. I need Rick around to get a picture or film because otherwise Cole sees the camera and stops everything. He still can't figure out why we keep pointing this thing in his face!

We didn't take too many pictures but Rick caught us last night right before putting Cole in the tub for his bedtime bath. Oh, and another event is I cut his hair - just a little! I couldn't stand it hanging over his ears and down his neck. Well, I don't know what happened on the left side - it's a little short but I'm still glad I cut it!

Hopefully we'll be back to regular postings now!

Young Ricky

For those who know Rick these may not look like him - but hey, notice he's still wearing a sports coat here! haha....

Rick with his "Uncle Cecil" Umbarger and Dad

Daddy's Angel Boy

In the middle of a conversation...

Admiring the camera...

Paparazzi

No more pictures please!

Funny thing is I think our little man may be a lefty! When he lays on his right side to eat his left hand moves ALL OVER THE PLACE grabbing at anything and everything but his right hand doesn't do that when feeding on the other side. When I told Grandma Rees that she said he might be left-handed. So now I've been watching him and I think she may be right! Even here he is reaching for the camera with his left hand. Only time will tell...

My Handsome Men

I love the men in my life! They bring me more happiness than I could have dreamed.

Bundle of Joy

This is how Cole likes to fall asleep for his naps. The blanket must be touching his face, otherwise, he finds some way to tuck it in to the entire blanket. I have it wrapped around him but move it off his face once he's asleep but he usually wakes up later and wants his face tucked in somewhere. Grandma Rees watched him yesterday for me since I had to go to work for a couple of hours and tried to give him a stern talking to about carbon monoxide and tucking his face in blankets (or against the bumper pad of the crib). I don't think it worked. Once this guy starts moving all over the crib I'm going to have to take that bumper pad off. Our Angel monitor which senses breathing and movement has gone off twice - both times he was against the pad tucking in his face. The little stinker!

12 Weeks Old and SO HAPPY!

Doesn't this face just say it all? I FINALLY caught his smile on camera. Yea! Cole is sleeping so much better and even his daytime naps are getting longer without mom having to go rock him back to sleep. With each day because he is sleeping more he gets more and more happy and more talkative. It's SO FUN!

7 Hours of Sleep!

I think Baby Cole has decided he wants to "grow up" too. I was well prepared to let him cry last night too. I fed him at 6:30 and then Jefra and Ryan came over to watch him while Rick and I went to dinner for our 4th Anniversary. Jefra said he fell asleep at 8PM and just woke up a few times until 9PM. She just gave him the pacifier and he went back to sleep. Well, he didn't wake up until 3AM! I gave him the pacifier and he settled down but I was WANTING him to eat at that point just for me. He ate, but very little and then fell asleep again. Maybe tomorrow will be even longer. But his naps today still aren't going well. He's crying as I type. He just thinks those 15 minute naps are sufficient or something!

Good Morning!

Again, trying to get his cooing and talking without success but they are cute anyway!

Hiccups Part 2

I still haven't figured out why once I load video to youtube it distorts the quality. I'm playing with different formats. Maybe I'll get it figured out here soon, but for now, here is another grainy video! I keep trying to get Cole "talking" on video but as soon as I grab the camera he A) gets shy or B) gets the hiccups which frustrate him!

Tummy Time

Irritating Hiccups

No More Newborn!

So this is probably the VERY last time I can squeeze him into this newborn white button down onesie (which I LOVE because then it doesn't come untucked). I even had to undue the wrist buttons to get it to work. These pants used to be so long and big on him too. Well, about 30 minutes into church he was soaking wet! I have no idea how he filled that diaper that fast, but needless to say I had to take the entire outfit off. I had a change of clothes with me but I hadn't restocked the diaper bag in a couple of weeks and the sleeper I had in there he barely fit into! I felt so bad for him! He feels so sturdy now and has a little potbelly. I love it!

His attitude is definitely not newborn either. We've decided it's time to be the parent and start telling him what to do instead of vice versa. My point in doing so is to get him to SLEEP regularly so we can have a much happier baby. He is so behind on sleep that he even cries and cries with us rocking him to sleep. Now what is the point in that? We might as well listen to him cry in his crib. I think once he gets rested he'll go back to going to sleep easier.

The advice we received to get him to sleep longer through the night (and hence have a happier mom) was to extend his first sleep period at least a half hour by letting him cry and then going to feed him. Do that each night and it should get longer and eventually erase all the rest of the feedings. It should take 2-3 weeks. I had 3 mothers tell me it works and some even had their 2 month olds sleeping 12 hours! So last night was the first night we were going to try it. I closed his door, closed our door and was prepped to turn the sound off on the monitor when he started to cry. His first waking is usually 4 hours after we lay him down. Well, last night he didn't wake for 5 hours, so I thought, Aw, why let him cry? He already went an hour more! So I only let him cry like 5 minutes. :-) He actually had a very good night overall!

Also, it's his naps that are a problem - he thinks a 5-15 minute nap is all he needs. Part of this comes from his habits picked up during reflux - the acid would wake him while lying down. He is just fine sleeping in the crib now so we just need to get rid of the habit. So the plan was when he falls asleep don't get him even if he's crying for 30 minutes to an hour. Well, his first nap today he woke up after 15 minutes and I let him cry for another half hour before getting him. I had to close his door, turn on the TV, do housework, etc. not to think about him crying! As soon as I picked him up he fell back asleep and slept for 45 minutes. He has been doing better this afternoon with just a little help falling back asleep. Hopefully, we can get him caught up on sleep and have our happy baby all the time!!

All I Want for Christmas...

Granda and Grandpa Solotes and Aunt Natalie, Jillian and Kaitlyn came for the Christmas holidays. Unfortunately, Rick, Skip and I were all sick with awful sinus problems. Mine even developed into an ear infection. A few weeks after Cole's birth I started losing feeling in my arms when I would lie down on my side. Then it moved to my legs and then at random points in the day I would lose feeling and it would get pretty painful or I would get pins and needles. It was the worst ever the week between Christmas and New Years. I started seeing a Chiropractor about it and finally got an MRI on New Year's Eve. We don't have the radiologist report but my neck/spine is definitely to blame as it is starting to intrude at c7 on the spinal chord. This explains the arms but not quite the legs. I've been doing some exercises all this week and I've noticed a definite lessening in frequency and pain. But sadly, I wasn't much good company while they were here. We still had a great time with them here.

Cole didn't sleep much while there were visiting either. I just don't think he was used to all the activity and people around. So we had a fussy, crying baby much of the time as well. I really don't remember him being so bad, but since I was sick it might have seemed a lot worse to me than it really was.

Cole sleeping (wow!) in the Indians sleeper from Grandma and Grandpa Poling!

Actually, from all the pictures taken of him when he was asleep you would think he slept all the time! A BIG thanks to Grandma Solotes for rocking and rocking and rocking him so I could rest and recuperate at least a little!

Unfortunately, this wish didn't come true...

More Christmas Pics at colepoling.shutterly.com

Cole for Christmas

Cole and I were able to play Mary and Jesus a couple of times this Christmas. It was fun! For the Primary activity they really went all out and put hay on the floor. The kids thought it smelled SO BAD but were excited to see the baby "Jesus". Thanks Scott for the pic!

Merry Christmas!

It's never too late to send out our love to all-
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Catching up

So with the holidays, visitors and being sick I got a little behind on posts - sorry! As I was going through our many photos of Cole I came across this little video I thought I deleted accidentally. Turns out I didn't. So here is a clip from Cole's first week of life. He is just so little here, whereas now we are almost out of newborn sizes altogether! Oh and the few videos I've put on here have very poor resolution - sorry! (Also I'm having issues linking to the shutterfly pictures instead of loading them to blogger...excuse all the white framing)

So here are a few pics from Week 9 of our little cutie.

Grandpa Rees and Cole Snoozin'

Cole was having a great time with Uncle Robert
until he decided he had enough!

Daddy has become a pro-baby bather and gives him one most evenings before bed.

Cole is quite the cuddler - even while burping

Our little man likes the camera and tends to make funny faces by opening his eyes REALLY wide. He also likes to blow bubbles, especially in the evenings.

He started improving his sleeping and became less fussy...

But even though that was short-lived as the holidays and a house full of visitors caused him a big setback, how can you lose patience with a face like this!