a week of firsts

We had so many "firsts" this week that I don't know where to begin!

We had a fantastic few days at the beach. Cole and I went up on Monday and stayed through Wednesday and then Bill joined us Thursday night until this afternoon (Saturday). The weather was great, the fried clams were yummy and there was plenty of room on the beach as schools started this week. Perfect time to go and we had a great time. We got to see Uncle Jack and Aunt Colette for a night and Uncle Marc and Aunt Tracy for a few nights, too.

Cole was gnawing on me on Monday night (per usual) and I felt a tooth! His first tooth. . .at the beach! Under closer inspection we figured out that he actually has two teeth coming in. . .on the bottom in the front. Almost as soon as we "found" the teeth - Cole started getting very fussy about them. He's been fussing every evening. . .biting on everything and anything he can. . .and chewing his tongue, too! There's a lot going on in that little mouth.

On Tuesday, Uncle Marc and Aunt Tracy and I went to walk the boardwalk for about a half hour. While I was gone I got a phone call from Nana and Pops telling me to come home quickly because Cole was crawling! In a half hour? When I'm gone? He was scooting around the cottage by the time I got back. . .he was so proud to be able to go where he wanted. I wouldn't really call it 'crawling', either. . .we're doing more of a 'scootch'. Either way. . .I need to vacuum more!

And then. . .if all of that wasn't enough for the week. . .he started to say "Ba-ba" and a few other things! Up until now his language skills have been mostly variations of yelling just to hear his voice. But this week he started making actual words. . .sort of.

I've been told this time in baby's life is the most exciting and that everyday is a new one. . .and I believe it! We've had so much fun with Cole this week. . .from listening to him, to watching his face when he had new foods (pears last week and carrots this week!), to chasing him around the floor when he gets going. Here are a few pictures of our mini-vacation:

Playing around with Uncle Jack.

The boys. . .lying around!

Cole's glad Beckett is off the disabled list.

"Scootching" around his sun tent on the beach.

With Dad on the beach.

And. . .a close up of the piggies. . .again. ;-)

sweet potatoes and the guinea pig

Hopefully Cole and I are off to the beach for a few days tomorrow. . .being joined by Bill later in the week. We could all use a little sand and sun. . . even if it is just a couple of days.

Not much to report other than that this week. We added sweet potatoes to our culinary repertoire and Cole didn't seem to mind. Oh. . .quick story. . .I didn't know (no one tells you these things you know!) that I shouldn't give him a spoonful of sweet potatoes without mixing them in his cereal first. I just gave him a big ol' spoon of the orange stuff and I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head! He sighed very big and very loudly. . .and then wouldn't give me the spoon back. So I figured he liked them. He certainly liked them much better in his cereal. Poor kid. . .one of many 'guinea pig' moments for the first born.

Here are some funny pictures I took this week. We'll have lots of great beach photos and stories for you next week!

a little mess

Our week of eating cereal has been going well. Cole has gobbled up his tablespoon of rice cereal in about 45 seconds every afternoon.

Currently I'm reading, "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Yaron and besides great homemade baby food recipes, the book discusses the psychology of eating for babies. I know. . .listen to me. . ."the psychology of eating. . ." Well, it's interesting. To me anyway. So back to my point. . .Ruth says it's important to let babies feed themselves. And I thought - yeah, that is important. . . I'll start doing that. (Let me remind you that I'm a first-time mom and really have no hands on experience behind anything that I think is important. )

So I hand him the spoon. Because Ruth says it's important. Ruth also said it might be a little messy, but it was worth it, and that if I couldn't take a little mess. . .motherhood might not be my bag. And I can take a mess. . .so I put some cereal in the spoon before I handed it to him.

I'm sure those of you that either have children, or thought about giving Cole a spoonful of cereal for more than 30 seconds are already ahead of me on this one. . .and you can imagine the "little mess" that erupted all over my kitchen.

Cereal ended up about 8 feet from where we were sitting in every direction. That includes on the windows as well as the floors, walls, fridge, the mom and a cat that was too close watching the action. Cereal ended up in every orifice of Cole's face. . .eyes, ears, nose. . .not so much in the mouth. Cereal was down his back and somehow mine (!?!) and when I picked him up to take him straight to a bath - there was cereal on his bum, too. And I only mixed up 1 tablespoon of cereal!

Okay, okay - so it was a total mess but once I'd gotten the sticky stuff out of my hair, I figured Ruth was right. Cole had a blast and was really working hard to get the spoon in his mouth. He'd get all excited and start talking when he got the spoon in his mouth (thus adding to a majority of the cereal spitting). So it was worth a "little mess." And about $4 in Lysol disinfecting wipes.

Not too sure I'll repeat our eating lesson anytime soon though. . . so here are some pictures:

a future musican eating cereal

When Cole gets extra fussy, as he's been doing lately. . .Bill plays his guitar and it mesmerizes him. Tonight, Cole was so excited to watch Bill play his guitar he was kicking and waving his arms and legs. I had to take pictures because it was so darned cute.

We got the go ahead from Dr. M today to start Cole on some solid foods, too! We will start with some cereal for a week or so and then slide into our fruits and veggies. The plan right now is to use organic store bought cereal for a bit because of the iron and I'll try to make the rest of his food. We'll see how far I get. . .you know how I get with my 'ideas'.

If there was a small doubt that Cole was ready for food. . .it was gone quick. He practically ripped the spoon away from Bill. Oh, and that is Bill's arm by the way. . .mine isn't nearly as hairy.

I'll leave you with the official 6 month stats and then share some pictures from our first bowl of cereal. There's a video at the bottom, too. . .although you know how I am with videos. . .so it's a bit shaky.

weight: 15.8 pounds
height: 27 inches

6 months already!

Well, the time has come when we need to get rid of Ray. Ray is our 5 year old cat that I picked up from a shelter when we lived in Connecticut. She was riding in the coat pocket of the veterinarian and I just thought it was adorable.

Neither Bill or I are really cat people. Living on college campuses limits your pet possibilities, so we decided we could learn to like cats. Ray has been great. Bill has trained her to be as dog-like as possible. She runs to the door when he comes home at night and even plays fetch! But unfortunately, she's not really into Cole.

Sometime during my pregnancy, I think Ray figured out she soon wouldn't be the only baby in the house. I wasn't able to bend down much and pet or play with her and I started to get cranky with her sleeping on me or near me. . .Bill and I started restricting the area the cats could have in the house. And Ray has fought back.

Currently she is going outside of her litter box, which we think is for attention. You can imagine how that is not okay around a baby. We've tried darned near everything to get her to stop, to no avail. So we've finally made the decision that we have to find a new home for her.

In the past three days I've called every shelter within 50 miles. None have room. I've called Kitty Angels, and Feline Friends and Cat Corners and every other silly little name for places that love taking cats. No takers. I've put ads on Craigslist and fliers at vet offices. Nothing.

So I tried Pet Finder.com. I seriously suggest to any pet seekers out there to stay away from this wacko site. Our ad has been up for less than 12 hours, and here is a sampling of responses I've received: (I have not altered these in any way)

HELLO,
HOW ARE YOU DOING ,I GUESS FINE.
AM DONITA FROM WASHINGTON ..
AM A PET LOVERS AND MY FAMILY,I ALSO HAVE 2 KIDS
WHICH ARE FROM 15YRS AND 18YRS OLD.
AM INTRESTED IN BUYING YOUR PET", .. NOW.

WE ACTUALLY LOST OUR ANIMAL BECAUSE OF HIS AGE BECAUSE WE HAVE BEEN KEEPING HIM FOR OVER 9 YRS NOW AND OUR VET TOLD US THAT HE DIED DUE TO HIS OLD AGE AND WE BELIVE THIS ALSO HAPPENS TO HUMAN BEINGS TOO.

I HAVE A PASSION AND CARE FOR PET.I SPENT MUCH OF MY TIME TAKING CARE OF MY LOST PET AND I LOST HER ON MY WAY TAKING HER TO VET CLINIC FOR NEUTURE, SINCE THEN LIVE HAS BEEN UNBEARABLE FOR MY FAMILY ESPECIALLY MY DAUGHTER WHO CARE FOR PET MORE THAT ANYTHING SHE DOES.

Oh my goodness. I know I want to get rid of my cat but I can't give her to someone who can't speak well. . .or lost their cat on the way to the vet. . .or worse yet. . ."believes" that human beings die, also?!? Who are these people?

We have some fantastic family and friends helping us look for potential new owners too. So that's at least comforting. Hopefully we'll find someone soon because Cole really likes the cat lately. He laughs every time she comes near him and tries to pull her tail when it's in reach!

In actual Cole news. . .we got him one of these exersaucers this past week. This thing had 20 toys that clipped into the top tray. When we put Cole in it, he spun around, looked at all the blinking, flashing, noisy, bright toys in his face and had a meltdown. So we took all but 2 out and he enjoyed it much more. In fact, he spends most of the time trying to grab the little farm characters printed on the seat! Perfect.

Bill said he can't believe how our living room (and every other room, actually) has turned into Romper Room. This kid sure does have everything!

And of course. . .a shot of the piggies. . .

Next week, we see Dr. M. for Cole's 6 month check up. We'll also be getting the green light to start eating! How exciting! We'll keep you posted.

teeth and triathletes

I was going to tell you about the cute, lovable, wonderful things Cole has done this week but then I decided not to lie. He's been an absolute bear all week. . .it's been a tough one. We must be in some phase - I just can't figure out what phase it is.


Our daytime naps are going like clockwork. Every two hours, for about two hours, Cole sleeps. . .and sleeps in his crib! Then, around 7:00 p.m. or so, he takes a bath, has a goodnight story and a bite to eat and is down for the night around 8:00 p.m. It has been wonderful. I've felt human. I've even (dare I say it aloud) slept in my own bed like real people with beds do. I've been able to talk to Bill and not just about Cole's poop. And. . .while we're on the topic . . .when did it become perfectly acceptable for me to talk about my baby's poop to anyone who will listen? I actually caught myself talking to the neighbor yesterday about the lack of Cole's regularity. How does this stuff just creep up on me? First the one piece with shorts and now this. . .


So anyway. . .he's been a total brute. He gets sleepy around 8:00 p.m. and then when I try to put him down, he freaks. Over and over. He absolutely wouldn't let us put him down this week. So I end up bringing him back downstairs where I swear he gives his dad a wink and a high five behind my back on his way by. And then plays. Laughs and giggles and is 100% super cute so I can't get angry that he's awake. Last night, while we were waiting for Bill to get home from LAX, he was giggling at the ugly jewelry on QVC (sort of a new obsession I have going on. . .shhh). I mean, how cute is that? He has fantastic jewelery sense already and can spot the knock off costume stuff a mile away.



Finally he falls asleep out of sheer exhaustion around 10 p.m. and wakes up about 9 times a night! We've gone from sleeping through the night to waking up almost every hour! Cole is also biting onto anything that comes within 6 inches of his mouth. He's drooling and it's given him a bit of a rash on his chin that looks worse than it seems to be bothering him. He's also been grunting. . .constantly. This was yesterday while in his swing -

So I figure we're teething. I haven't heard any stories about this nasty little attitude that comes with teeth. Bill's aunt told me her kids had teeth at 5 months but that they were a little cranky and got over it pretty quick. A friend of mine said (and you know who you are!) that her daughter "was just a little clingy" when she had a tooth coming in. My sis said that at the daycare she used to work at - they would give them frozen facecloths or waffles and they'd be just fine. None of these things are working so well with Cole. But then again, he refuses to be predictable about anything. Keeps me on my toes. ;-)

We did manage to make it to Aunt Colette and Uncle Jack's triathlon though. Of course Cole slept through the exciting parts. Here are a few pictures of the day. . .

Muscles won't help you run, Uncle Jack!

The 'real' triathlete!

This is funny because Aunt Tracy is nothing close to a sprinter. ;-)

And of course, here is Cole enjoying himself.