Teething Mania...

Right after posting about how well Cole was handling teething, we hit a week of crying and sobbing. Poor guy. I didn't realize until this week how very little tolerance I seem to have for crying when there is nothing you can do to soothe the child or stop it. Sometimes Motrin and Orajel just don't cut it either. He's just unhappy. He seems to be getting his right bicuspid in as well and it is causing a noticeable swelling in his face too. Anyway, I'm definitely learning patience. It started last Friday but he gave me a breather last Sunday. This was him during breakfast. . . soooo cute.


He isn't sleeping well so on top of hurting teeth, he is cranky. Every diaper change is an ordeal this week. I practically have to hold him upside down to get it on. He won't even stand up for me to put it on and he screams when I start undressing him to change it. He started the same reaction when I go to put him in the carseat when he just wants to be held. That being said, let me also state how AMAZING he is at playing by himself so mommy can get a little work done now. This has developed while he is hurting and wanting mom all day. Incredible how they mature in phases in the blink of an eye. His new favorite hobby is pulling out his pajamas from his changing table. I don't mind. They are just pj's! The bottom drawer is filled with odds and ends like bottles, pacifiers, changing pads, etc. He pulls those out too but his favorite is the pj's. He will turn around and look at you and seems to say, "See how great I am!?" Goodness, I love that boy!

My little man is really too smart for his own good. I was talking on the cell phone the other day and he wanted to talk as well. After I was finished I gave him the phone slid shut (you have to open it to unlock the phone). He was NOT having that. He grunted a little and handed it back, and then squealed. So I opened it and he was very happy pushing all the buttons. My word! Yesterday he was playing with the dvd cases in the TV stand where the dvd player is also. Again, I don't mind him pulling them out because they are so easy to just put back. I was then able to do other things...like check email on my ipod on the couch. When he crawls over to me and hands me a dvd. My first thought was shock since all the dvds are in the cases, where did he get it? Then I looked at it and realized it was "Baby Signing Time" which was IN the dvd player. He had opened it and pulled it out and brought it to me right away. (I know because I had looked up at him just a few seconds earlier and he didn't have a dvd in his hands or mouth or anything.) I laughed and went and put it back in and we watched it. He loves that video, well, at least the first 10 minutes or so of it.

Cole also loves the swing. He usually squeals with delight. I decided to bring the camera with me this morning but it was a little chilly out which I think hampered his excitement but here is a short video and a few pics anyway. This is not a look of terror but pure of pure ecstasy!

Happy 29th Birthday!

9 Month Photos and More

So pics from this post are those we ordered from Cole's 9 Month Session. It seems we just had them done but here it is almost time to get the One Year! Just remember these are scans of the actual photos. Which technically I guess I'm not supposed to do that but since I did let me say something about the photographer. She's awesome. She's really good at what she does if you like the studio type shot. For the young babies, I do. We did some with natural lighting (see 4 months) and in the end with all the skin fixes for babies blotchiness, etc. the pictures we got just weren't his coloring really. They were beautiful but I think I prefer studio shots for babies and outdoors or natural lighting for older kiddos. Just my opinion I know. She is great at being patient, having a million different classic poses and backgrounds with new toys for babies to enjoy. She used to do it out of her house but just moved to Round Rock. Yuck. Anyway, the BEST thing about Lesley is the prints you get. I cannot adequately describe how beautiful they are. I've never seen a print like it - ever. They are basically like thin pieces of wood almost with gold around the sides if you looked at it from the side. There is not a print paper name or anything because it isn't paper. It isn't canvas either. But it's sturdy and the clearest picture I've ever seen. I will end this with a disclaimer: She's expensive. Had we not gotten 4 free session we would NEVER have gone with her. The prints, though beautiful, are paid for in the price.

In other news, last Monday I decided to try and give Cole baby Whole Wheat Cereal. He had some around 6 months but didn't handle it too well. I remember he spit it up. Well, I only gave him 3 bites and almost instantly he started acting sick. He got really pale and just wanted to cuddle and he whined while we rocked. I was so sad for him! About a half-hour later he seemed to be feeling a little better so we went and sat on the bed and talked to Rick. Suddenly, from out of nowhere he vomits (over me and the bed I might add...ew...) I threw him in the tub and started to wash him down while Rick cleaned up the bedroom. (Thanks Honey! So glad you had the day off work!) Cole didn't like the bath at all and jumped into my arms soaking wet to get out. I wiped him down quickly and got him out. He cuddled in his towel with Dad for a long time, then seemed to be doing a little better. I gave him some Benedryl and we started to get him dressed. When I stood him up he vomited again. This time a little over me but Rick caught most of it with the towel. (Thanks again!) Tears filled my eyes. How could I do this to my little boy!?! How was I to know such a violent reaction was going to happen?! It took a few hours before our little man started smiling and laughing and willing to get down from our arms. I was so baffled by this reaction because Cole eats wheat bread all the time as well as regular cereals with wheat in them, pastas, etc.

Well, we ran out of soy milk on Tuesday but when we went to the store I thought, "Well, he's had cheese and a little milk and hasn't had hives like usual so maybe he's ready for milk. It's cheaper and has more fat which is better for him." I bought whole milk. So onto Wednesday. He had eaten some lunch but was still a little hungry so I mixed up some oatmeal with whole milk. Again he had three bites when he shivered and grimaced his face like he had with the wheat cereal. I instantly stopped and waited for the sick reaction. I didn't really get one but I quit feeding him. I had a piano student come by for her lesson about 20 minutes later and about 20 minutes into her lesson Cole started throwing up. I was faster to recognize his signs and got him to the sink ASAP before everything I was wearing was ruined as well as the carpet. The poor guy emptied his stomach for sure. But this time he felt better very quickly afterward. What kind of mother am I?!? I was so distraught. I pulled the wheat cereal out from the trash and read the ingredients..."whole wheat, whey protein"...wait, WHEY PROTEIN! That's a milk protein. Oh my goodness my son is allergic to whey. That has to be it because why else can he eat cheeses and other milk products and not get so sick? Now granted, he never eats a lot of them but he doesn't grimace nor does he get sick at all. Well, now we know. By the way, unlike other instances with milk when he was younger, no hives, no rashes, nothing. Just vomit. Such a weird reaction for an allergy. Maybe it's not an allergy? He's definitely not sick though (besides the bad 3 days of teething we've had this week...ugh...just when I wrote how good he was doing too...)

In pregnancy news, I already feel as big as a house and every night I am so bloated and gas-y from all the day's food I'm guessing (just what you wanted to know, right?) that I feel monstrous before bed. I'm glad that each morning I'm back to somewhat normal. Still, I know I wasn't this big at this point with Cole. I feel so much larger in my hips and butt than I did with Cole too. Guess the second just feels different. Oh well!

And finally, stolen from Jefra's blog (Thanks!) a pic of Cannon and Cole. Cole kept trying to put his finger in Cannon's mouth but we failed to get a pic of that and we were heading out at this point because it was Cole's naptime so he wasn't too excited about a picture session. This is the best we could do. :-) Cutie Cousins!

And We're Back!

It seems I've become a slacker blogger. My apologies to everyone! So much has been going on and to be truthful the time I could update the blog has been spent napping. Even my house and chores are in need of an "update" from my lack of attention. But all in good time...

Pregnancy Update: Things were going swimmingly when all of the sudden I started getting a little cramping. Not anything that caused pain but enough that I knew something was off. I started to pay attention to when it started each day and it was when I was nursing Cole. So I called the doctor and they said I was probably dehydrated (not good) and that I was to STOP nursing him ASAP. That's always a risk when you get close to 20 weeks and still nursing that it causes actual contractions. More on that later. I'm having Braxton-Hicks contractions two or three times a day. I don't mind them at all. They just remind me, "oh yea! I'm pregnant!" And, yes, my belly popped. I'm definitely showing. I'll have to see if I can get a picture. Last night I was particularly bloated too and even Rick said "WHOA! Look at that belly!" Besides that things are great. And for those of you who think it's a girl, I might add that this baby is particularly low - often sitting on the ligament above my leg, preventing me from standing up straight sometimes after sitting down for a while. Still think it's a girl? Guess we'll see soon enough!

So back to Cole...I immediately decided to stop nursing Cole during the day and move him to just a morning and night feeding. I prepped myself for the worst possible reactions from Cole. When I had tried this earlier he would scream and claw at me to nurse and no matter what I did he wouldn't move on and be happy until he nursed, even if it was just for a little. He normally nursed after each nap and then would eat. So after his first nap he was fussing and did so until I got food in him. And then he was great! The same thing happened after the second nap. It's been six days since stopping those feedings and if anything, it has matured him. He goes down easier for naps (aka. not begging to nurse to go to sleep) and often falls asleep quickly while singing to him. He would NEVER fall asleep in your arms previously. Maybe the timing was just all right but I'm grateful. He nurses very little for the morning and evening feedings as well so I'm sure those will be easy to get rid of too. At this point, the morning feeding is more just Mom being lazy and wanting to lay down longer!

No smiles but still my cutie-pie!

Obviously, without the nursings in the day, he is taking a sippy cup and doing very well. He really only likes water though which I guess is okay. He likes to feed himself and hold the cup by himself too but in both cases when he is done he throws the cup or the food. So I'm not a big fan of letting him do it all by himself. I hate messes and broken cups.

He has figured out that when we are in the kitchen we are most likely preparing food. If he is eating baby food he will instantly stop and beg for "real" food. For example, last night Cole and I went to a mexican restaurant with my parents. He was eating his baby food just fine until he saw dad eating chips and salsa. My parents thought I was insane for telling them to give him a chip (He'll choke! It's too hard! He'll scratch his throat!) But Cole started fussing and begged to get out of the highchair. As soon as they gave him a chip of course he was just fine and ate it just fine too. I've learned that if he starts choking, you just get it out and he won't ask for that item again. If he doesn't like the taste or texture, he'll just spit it out, but you HAVE to let him try it or there's no end to his complaining. He just wants to be a big boy. So he enjoyed tortillas, rice and a little guacamole for dinner instead of baby food.

Cole got this little puppy from Grandma and Grandpa Solotes when he was born.

It's always been out in his play things but he just barely developed a fascination with it and particularly his nose. He will grab him, hug him and then eat his nose and laugh. It's adorable. I have yet to get a good picture of him playing with the puppy (which also makes barking noises which he also thinks is cute). He's just so quick to stop once he sees the camera.


Cole loves to play the "jumping" game (where he turns around and jumps - or rather falls sometimes - into your arms). He also loves to try to get away from you so you don't "get" him. He particularly likes this when dad holds him and can move him away really fast from mom, the getter. Here's a video of one instance. (Warning: I cannot watch this from all the moving of the camera - it makes me sick. So if you are sensitive to that, just listen to that little boy laugh. It's good for the heart!)

In other news, this week marks the official start of traditional crawling. He has lifted that belly off the floor and stays on his hands and knees. Now, he is faster scooting or army crawling, as some call it, so if he's in a rush he resorts back to that. He is acting more and more like a little boy. Cole now has two bottom teeth and is getting his top two. He has some bad teething days but for the most part he's a trooper. I also noticed a bump in the back of the left side of his mouth - a molar! Yikes! That should take awhile to break through. No such bump on the right side though. Also, he has "found his voice" and "talks" so much of the day. I love to hear his babbling. I try to figure out most of it. Sometimes it's easy because he'll point outside and start talking. I'll look outside and see a bird or know that he wants to go outside and we'll go. Now this past Sunday I wasn't so happy he was so vocal. At church, due to Rick's position in the church, he has to sit up front. Now, normally there are adults sitting in front of us so Cole has a hard time seeing his dad up front. Well, last Sunday there was just a family with a bunch of little girls sitting in front so he had a clear shot to see dad. This was fine until Rick started smiling at Cole. Cole instantly starting screeching for dad. Grabbing for him and standing on his tippy-toes. It was adorable but none the less bothersome as it was church! I had to keep distracting him and get him to look behind us or down so he wouldn't see dad and start reaching for him again and get loud. I wasn't really bothered by it because I love to see how much he adores his daddy. Just worried that he would be bothersome to others around us. I guess we have lots of years of that to look forward to!

On a totally different note, while Cole and I were on our front porch waiting for dad to get home I spotted this little critter. I don't know what it is...locust, secada? It was dead or dying but what the heck is on it's rump??? Any ideas??

And finally, I can't believe my little babe is almost ONE! 1! Un Ano!

Getting Bigger

Cole loves to be a big boy. He wants to eat anything you are eating, hold anything you have, be anywhere you are (which often means at your height too...which requires lugging around over 19lbs of reaching, grabbing and turning), unroll the toilet paper like you (except ALL of it), brush his teeth, etc. You name it and he tries it. This is a video of the first time I let him eat a banana without me slicing it. You don't see it here, but he often took HUGE bites and I had to fish it out of his mouth so he wouldn't choke. But no worries, he's got the hang of it now.

Cole is also attempting to stand up without holding on to anything. It's mostly because he forgets and tries to grab a toy with both hands. Sometimes he will be able to balance for a second or two but mostly he falls. He's cruising across the furniture which is normally fine except when he tries to do it along the dining room chairs. They slide so he loses balance pulling up and I'm petrified he is going to fall and crack open his head on the tile floor. We are considering getting a rug for under the table so the chairs don't slide and he can still play on them (because he LOVES the chairs and table).


His favorite toys are balls. He rolls them around and crawls after them. He likes to play catch as well. His second favorite toy is a leap frog pop up toy (as pictured). He would continually go back to it multiple times a day. He also loves big cars. He just started pushing them around. He was getting kind of bored with his toys so Jefra loaned us the bigger kid toys she had that Cannon isn't using yet. He's been enjoying them this past week and I am SO grateful!

I was getting worried about Cole being dehydrated. He started taking a sippy-cup more but it wasn't enough. So I decided to start giving him Popsicles (up to 3 a day) since he LOVES those even though they have lots of sugar. He gets so excited when you pull them out. He and I both prefer the Wyler's Italian Ice Pops. They don't get so messy and they aren't as sweet.


Cole still loves to play in his sink in the bathroom. He now has two bottom teeth so when he sits in front of his mirror he rolls down his bottom lip and wrinkles his nose and laughs at his teeth. He really gets a kick out of his new teeth. He had a few weeks there of waking up at 4 or 5 in the morning. He hasn't done it for a few days now but I'm pretty sure it was teething issues. We also keep him up a little later too. There were a few days we kept him up until 9 or 9:30pm but now it's settled to about 8 or 8:30. I try to go to bed as soon as he does since the napping has been irregular and the night wakings too. I feel so old going to bed so early but it feels so good!


I don't have a lot of pictures lately because this is what most of them look like:

Little man loves the camera now and wants it - BAD. And I don't know what is going on with my camera. It doesn't seem to want to focus anything perfectly anymore...so sorry for the blurries.

Baby News

Nothing really exciting to note but thought I'd fill you in on the new baby. My nausea has now ceased (THANK YOU!) but I'm still so tired and since I'm still nursing I struggle to stay hydrated and nap. I went to the doctor on Wednesday and heard the heartbeat again. The first time we heard it, it was about 154bpm. Wednesday it was 150bpm. I think Cole's was always in the 140's but I can't recall exactly.

We have the next doctor's appointment and ultrasound on October 5th. Yes, we will find out the sex of the baby then as well. Which brings up the next topic and new poll - Girl or Boy?

Chances it's a Girl: I wasn't at all sick or tired with Cole. Different sex or simply second child? Slightly higher heartbeat. Normal or Sign of girl?

Chances it's a Boy: Rick's father only had boys. Rick's Grandfather only had boys. Hmm...

What do you think? I'm excited about either option. A boy would be easier since we have all the clothes and the boys would have so much fun growing up so close in age. A girl would be fun because it would be new and we would at least have one of each already.

P.S. A gender predictor based on the mother's age at the time of conception predicts a girl.

Also, I think I forgot to mention that they changed my due date to February 22 when it was the 16th. I don't mind. The baby will come when it wants to come anyway!

Crying, Napping and Clapping

Well, let me catch you up on the advances of Cole. For weeks Cole was refusing to eat anything but rice cereal or oatmeal. He wouldn't eat it as soon as I would mix fruit or veggies with it either. Little stinker! So for days he was just carbo-loading. He still is hesitant to eat anything else now but I sneak it in. Here's a little clip I took when trying to feed him applesauce (which he previously loved). Such big tears...the crying sometimes gets hysterical and yelling begins. I tried not feeding him unless he ate what I gave him but it doesn't work. Trying to wean him from nursing has been futile as well. I just can't stand to watch him cry and fuss when really is it that hard to give him cereal and nurse him? Nah. So I give in.

Also, his napping is too short and nothing I've tried yet is fixing it and it's getting progressively worse which then affects his moods and his nighttime sleep. Dr. Weissbluth's book (the bible for baby sleep) says this can happen to babies if they start getting overtired and it gets worse until they don't nap at all. He is starting to only sleep 10 hours at night and wake up at 4 or 5 am. I tried pushing bedtime back but that seemed to make things worse, so now I'm trying to move it up (which is what Dr. W recommends anyway but seems totally counter intuitive so I didn't do it). We'll see what happens.

On happier notes:
One of my favorite things to watch is Daddy and "ColiPoki" (a little nickname we have for him thanks to John H. Groberg's book "In the Eye of the Storm") eating a popsicle.

Cole is so smiley now and his laugh is more like a grunt or growl when he is amused but not enough to give you a belly laugh.

Wednesday he waived "Bye-Bye" at the appropriate moment while leaving Jefra and Cannon. He's waived before but never at the right time. He's starting to get the hang of it. When we left the house Thursday I said, "Okay, we're going bye-bye" and he started waiving his hand. SO CUTE!

Another "new" is he started clapping on Thursday. We were snuggled up on the couch chilling out before a nap when all of the sudden he clapped. It took me a second to realize what he did and then I got so excited so he did it more. He has been doing it A LOT since then. He loves it! I sing lots of clapping songs with him so he probably thinks it's the cool thing to do.

He loves to crawl around the house. He still does it mostly on his belly but he's quick! He loves to be in just his diaper but since his skin is so sensitive to the rubbing on the carpet I usually don't let him. I did once just putting on his pooh-bear diaper cover. He was a mad man crawling all around. It was so adorable. I didn't get a clear video of it. Sorry!

But here's another little video of him playing.

7 Month Photos

We had pictures taken when Cole was 7 Months and just now got the prints. He didn't smile for any pictures during that session which is why these are just sweet ones of our boy. I'm sure the photographer wouldn't love me posting scans of her photos, but I just have to share.



We had pictures taken today with the photographer as well and did really well considering Cole woke up extremely early (5:30am) and I could only get him to sleep 20 more minutes after that. We had a tired baby on our hands and getting his picture taken isn't his favorite thing in the world anyway. But Grandma and Grandpa came and REALLY helped out to get some great shots.

Also, FAMILY, if you know you would like a picture from his latest photo shoot, please call us. We only have one opportunity to order photos at a discounted rate.

Baby Adventures

So some may have wondered what exactly is "BIG" on Cole's shirt...so here are a few more pics with a better view of the T-shirt.

It says, "BIG BROTHER, February 2010"

And here are the pics of his little sibling thus far.

(The scary alien picture every baby is sure to love)

The little babes will be about 16 months apart - sure to be lots of fun for mom and dad. On the other hand, the new little baby will also have a cousin born (or is due to be born) about two weeks after!! Yep, Beverly hasn't updated her blog but she and Robert are expecting a surprise 3rd little one. Jade and Jeremiah are SO excited to have a little baby of their own now! There are babies everywhere in this family!

Long Time No Post

So what has been going on the past two weeks? In short, packing for a short trip to Utah to attend the Rees Family Reunion, the trip, then the recovery, then the realization that I haven't touched the camera in over two weeks. Eeek! The photos from this post are from two weeks ago when I was attempting to finish doing laundry before heading out. I was moving the clothes from the washer to the dryer and had another basket of clothes to put in the washer. I set Cole down beside the basket while I transferred clothes. It took all of about 1 minute. When I turned around to get Cole again, this is what I found!


I about died. He was so stinking cute! He obviously can pull himself up to standing and then proceed to pull himself into the basket. He thought it was great fun and frankly so did mom.

In other news, as of this past Friday, Cole learned how to stand in his crib. It was pretty funny because the first thing he did was pull the animals down from the mobile, which I then proceeded to remove. However it has taken him three days to realize he can reach the humidifier on a table beside his bed. Personally, I didn't realize he could. So this morning after his morning nap, I found a pool of water on the table and the top pulled off the humidifier. As I was in a rush to leave after getting him from his nap I was a little frustrated, but honestly, more proud that my son had such guts to attempt to pull this thing off the table. I thought his mattress was pretty low already but maybe not.

Our trip to Utah was fun. Cole was such an excellent traveler. He didn't mind the plane at all and in fact, fell asleep on the the way there and back. We were glad to have a nonstop flight though. I'm not sure we, the parents, could have handled a layover and second flight. We flew in on Thursday and went straight to the Reunion at the Lodge at Camelot. He doesn't sleep well outside of his crib so each day he was more and more tired as well. I was grateful that my parents had him in their room. I get so stressed out when he wakes up and cries because he doesn't like the Pack N' Play. I was surprised to hear he actually slept a couple of hours in bed with Grandma and Grandpa though. He doesn't normally like sleeping in beds.

Friday night we headed back to Provo and visited with some friends on Saturday and finally were able to meet up with Jeff and Kylene. I wish we'd been able to stay longer but it really would have been impossible because Cole was wiped. After being there Thursday and Friday, I think Cole had really had enough of being passed around to a ton of strangers. He wouldn't go to anyone but Mom and Dad after that. He kind of stayed that way much of last week too. Thankfully, he accepts Grandma and Grandpa and warms up to his aunts and uncles quickly. I can't say the same for others. We saw one of my favorite people in the entire world that Saturday in Provo, Marilyn Huntsman, and he absolutely would NOT let her hold him. I felt so bad! By the time we got home both baby and momma took a few days to recover on lost sleep and now we're back on track. He did pick up the sniffles though and a little cough.

And because I was a total slacker and didn't take any pictures (and still haven't since the aforementioned shots) here are pics from the Reunion from Kylene. (Thanks Sis for letting me steal!)

Grandpa Rees and Cole



My cutie Grandpa!



and super Grandma!



I don't really know who this is.



But this is my hunky husband and darling baby-daddy.



Chillin' on the Swing



Cole LOVES to swing. We took him for the first time right before we left for Utah. There wasn't a toddler swing at Camelot but he enjoyed swinging with Grandpa just the same.



He loved the tire swing too.



Cole was SOOoooo tired at this point but was still managing (barely) with Aunt Kylene and Uncle Jeff. (Aren't they cute!)