Cole is 3 Months!

Technically, today, Cole is 3 months and 1 week. But these photos were taken on the 24th, so this post is still totally legit. The reason for the delay in this post?! Cole. Poor little guy has his first cold and we believe he is cutting his first tooth as well (or he has a runny nose caused by teething). Who knows anymore?! Either way, Cole is not a happy camper lately. He is barely eating and barely sleeping. This is causing a lot of stress on his Mommy! He is currently taking one of his "famous" 25 minute naps right now, so I'm trying to type this as fast as I can!!

Because Cole doesn't have a doctor's appointment at 3 months (he goes back next month), I don't have formal stats to report this month. What I can give you is his height and weight, as measured by Mom & Dad. I also want to start sharing more specific details about his behavior each month, so we can use these posts as references for the future. You know, if we're ever CRAZY enough to bear more children :)

Weight- 15 lbs, 6 oz

Height- 25.5 inches (that's how big he was at 2 months, but by my measurement, he hasn't grown)

Clothing Size- We just packed up pretty much all his 0-3 month clothes, so he's officially in 3-6 months.

Teeth- None, but we think he is actively teething. He is constantly soaked in drool and everything goes into his mouth (hands, blankets, toys, etc.) We finally broke out the Sophie teether from Aunt Nina and he seems to really like it. He has a very small white speck on his bottom gum, so we keep watching to see if anything sprouts up! 

Sleeping Habits- No real pattern/schedule yet. He was a great sleeper around 6-9 weeks, then at 10 weeks, everything went haywire. Now he's up at least once a night (sometimes 2 or 3 times). He goes down for "bed" around 8-9pm and generally wakes up around midnight and/or 2am, but can be soothed back to sleep with a pacifier. He'll wake again sometime between 3-5am and needs to be fed. He wakes for the day anywhere between 6:30-8am. For the last 4 weeks, he's been taking terrible naps (approx. five 25-40 minute naps a day). We were trying to "sleep train", but then he got sick/started teething. I hope to get into some sort of a schedule soon!   

Cole started sleeping in his crib overnight on Oct. 13 (at almost 12 weeks). He had been taking some naps in his crib at this point, but we made the full switch over and I'm happy to report that the Pack 'n Play is packed up and put away. We now have 6 more cubic feet in our room (which surprisingly makes a HUGE difference!)

We went back and forth about whether or not Cole still needed to be swaddled to sleep and decided to stop at 13 weeks. He was fighting us every time we wrapped him, though he seemed to sleep better with it. We made a "soft transition" by swaddling him for a few days with his arms out. Then, we stopped altogether. It took a couple days, but we think that he's settled into his swaddle-free way of sleeping just fine. We do use a sleep sack though, so he can stay warm.

Cole doesn't care much for his pacifier, unless it's time for bed. He seems to soothe himself better when he has his paci in his mouth and his Little Giraffe lovie in his hand. We see him forming the same bond with his blankie as his big brother.

Daily Activities- Cole HATES tummy time. He actually screams at the ground during it! Not in an uncomfortable crying sort of way, but in a "damn you tummy time, arrrrggghhhh!" kind of way. He gives us all a really good laugh when he does it. He'll generally roll himself over about 10 seconds after being on his belly. I have no idea how we'll get him to build up his arm strength!

He is not short on neck strength though, that's for sure. He has full support of his head and can sit supported in his Bumbo. He pretty much refuses to sit in a semi-reclined position and always strains his neck to sit up. He is in such a hurry to grow up!!

Mobility- He can roll over from his tummy to his back. This started about 3 weeks ago!

Vocal Skills- Lots of "oooh", "gaaah", and squeals. He likes to have little chit-chats with Matt and I when he's on his changing table. And giggle!! Cole is great at giggling. No full blown laughing spells yet, but he gives out little giggles every time he is tickled (under his arms and on his belly) and Brady can usually always get him to chuckle with his crazy antics.

So that's what's going on with Cole Bear at 3 months. Stay tuned for his formal stats at 4 months... his next doctor's appointment is on my birthday!

Brady Said What?!

So often Brady says or does things that I say I'm going to write down so we never forget it... but then I don't. And we forget. Before we know it we're going to have two little jabbermouths to keep track of, so I've decided that the blog would be a perfect place to catalogue all these little tidbits, considering this is their virtual baby book. Here are a couple of good ones of late--

A few weeks ago, I told Brady to be careful around Cole. Brady said...

"Yeah, cuz he's made out of glass. And skin."

This morning, Matt asked Brady what he wanted to be when he grew up. Brady said...

"I want to be the government. And a Manager, like Daddy."

Not work FOR the government. He wants to BE the government. And a Manager.

One thing is for sure, Brady is not interested in working for The Man. He's going to be The Man, one way or another.

Then & Now: One Month

Oops! I just realized this post was still in "draft" and that I never published it. I could just delete it, but it's too good not to share...

Sometimes I still can't believe I have 2 kids. It feels like I'm speaking a foreign language when I am talking about Brady and Cole and refer to them as "my children". No longer just "my son Brady"... I have children. Yikes!

I'm sure the first rule of having more than one child is to never ever compare your kids. Ever. I'll try to keep that in mind as they continue to grow, but for now, I just can't help myself. Seeing Cole in Brady's old clothes and in his chairs and swing, I can't help but recall the moments Brady was in the exact same place, at the exact same age. Luckily, I take about a zillion photos of my kids, so I'm able to literally place these moments side-by-side for comparison.

Like this one... of Brady and Cole in the same newborn size sleeper from Carter's, in the blue Boppy chair, at exactly one month.

Cole was only 1 lb 5 oz larger than Brady at birth, and we are amazed at how much of a difference that has made. We had a big box of newborn diapers that we desperately tried to use up, but after the first week, we reluctantly went up to size 1. And while I can still get him in a few of the newborn sleepers, Cole has primarily been wearing 3 month clothes already (something Brady didn't do until, well, 3 months).

If he continues to grow at this rate, he'll be bigger than his big brother in no time. Poor Brady!

Cole's Two Month Stats

Cole had his 2 month appointment on Wed., and because I'm terrible at making appointments, he was actually 2 months and 8 days. Oops. Guess that explains why he tipped the scales... again.

Because I totally underestimated his size at his first month check-up, I was a little more generous with my 2 month prediction, and I was almost spot on. My guess was 14.5 lbs and Cole weighed in at 14 lbs 2.5 oz. This puts him in the 86th percentile for weight, which is something his big brother has never made it to! He also measured at 25.5 in in length (90%) and his head was (surprise, surprise) in the 99%! Hey, at least his big noggin is actually in proportion to the rest of his body!

{We learned just after his appointment that he weighs only 8.5 oz less than his cousin Reese... who is 5 and a half months older than he is. The boy is a moose!}

Cole received 2 shots (4 vaccinations) and the oral Rotovirus. He was NOT a happy camper-- thank goodness Matt was there to help him (and Mom) get through it all. I am such a baby when it comes to shots. But he did fine the rest of the day and even took a 3.5 hr nap.

Our next visit to the doctor isn't until 4 months, but we'll do our own at-home assessment and let you know how he's coming along. My guess is that he's on the fast track to double his birth weight way before 6 months. Size 3 diapers are just around the corner!

Cole is 2 Months old!

Some days, I can't believe Cole is 2 months old already. But then there are other days when I think, "it's only been 2 months?!" Not that I'm not enjoying every day with this little snuggle bug, but because I feel like I've known him forever!

Cole has been very busy these last 4 weeks. Just like his big bro, his mouth is moving a mile a minute! I love our daily "conversations" (and have almost every one on film, no lie!) His sounds of the moment include, "goooo", "gaaaarrr", and "ahhh-ahhh". And, I kid you not, the boy can already say "hi". Pure genius. His vocal stylings really max out during tummy time. He opens his mouth super wide and makes all kinds of noises that I can't really describe. He is having no trouble finding his voice, that's for sure!

Cole is really becoming much more aware of his surroundings and loves soaking it all in. He is also getting more tolerant of sitting in his Boppy chair and "playing" by himself, instead of wanting to be held during all his wakeful hours (phew!) His two favorite pastimes of late are watching his big brother Brady do anything and everything, and sucking on his hands! Call me crazy, but I SWEAR he's teething already. Brady didn't get his first tooth until he was 7 months old, but between the constant hand sucking and all the drool (so much drool already!!), I just have this feeling we'll be seeing some pearly whites sooner than later.

The best news of the last 4 weeks is that Cole actually slept through the night! Yep, he slept from 10 or 11pm until 5 or 6am not once, not twice, but for 6 days in a row!! Of course, that all came to an end last night, but I am so thankful for the break and hope we'll be on course to getting more regular sleep soon! I actually just cracked open Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth and plan to start sleep training him at 10 weeks. Fingers crossed he'll be just as good of a sleeper as his big brother!

Cole's 2 month check up is scheduled for next week, so I will post his stats after his appointment. My guess is that he's weighing in at a healthy 14 lbs, but we shall see! He's a very happy, healthy, BIG boy, but we love every inch of him.

So handsome!

The many faces of Cole!

Legs are getting straighter

One Month/Two Month Comparison

The Great List {9.14.12}

For the last few weeks, my friend Jen at Leilaland has been writing a post every Friday called "The Great List", which highlights the positive points from her week (this is an ongoing meme, started by Betsy at Betsylife). I've enjoyed reading her lists and have wanted to get one of my own up too, so now I am!
It's so easy to get bogged down in all the difficult and not-so-rosey moments of being a SAHM. I could give you a list of 50 things that sucked/went wrong/never got accomplished this week... but let's face it, you don't want to read about them (and I'd reallllly rather pretend they didn't happen). It's nice to take a moment and reflect over the good things that happened, otherwise they could get overlooked altogether.

So, here are a few highlights from our week:

1. This past weekend was the Mountain View Art & Wine Festival. The Fest takes place once a year, every Sept., and is literally footsteps away from our house. It's a really cool all day event that has... you guessed it, art and wine. And beer. Yummy beer! There are kiddie rides, bands, and some of the most delicious garlic fries! The weather was gorgeous (of course!) and it was so nice to get out of the house as a family and walk around and just enjoy ourselves. And drink a beer. Outside. Did I mention that?! It was a wonderful weekend!

2. We got not one, but TWO Bears games on TV this week. Neither game was worth writing home about (one win/one loss), but the fact remains that we got to watch them play TWICE already!! That's definitely a luxury around here as we don't get many Bears games in NorCal. Cole was really excited to sport his Urlacher jersey (hand me down from big bro Brady), even though Dad would have preferred to see him in his Roethlisberger jersey instead. Maybe this Sunday.

3. Papa came to visit! Certainly THE highlight of the week. My Dad was in Sacramento on business, so he rented a car and came to visit us on Wed. night. Even though he was here for less than 24 hours, Brady was over the moon to see him and we were happy to have him here. I was glad that he got to see Cole before he got too big, and hope that he and my Mom can come back and visit sometime in November as well.

Now that the weekend is upon us and we're all ready to kick back and relax, I hope you too can find a moment to celebrate the great things that happened to you this week!

Cole's One Month Stats

Last week we took Cole for his one month well baby check up. This was the first time we'd been back to the doctor's office since he was 7 days old, so we were curious to see how much he had grown.

Given the fact that newborns are supposed to gain approx. 1 oz per day, I assumed he'd weigh in somewhere around 10 and half lbs. Matt thought he would be bigger than that; his guess was 11 lbs even. Imagine our surprise when our little Snogger (rightfully nicknamed, we can all agree now) weighed in at a shut-your-mouth-my-one-month-old-baby-weighs-what?! 11 lbs 14 oz!!!

Almost 12 lbs??

Holy. Moly.

Even more surprising, this only put him in the 86 percentile for weight. I'd love to see what those babies in the 99 percentile look like (and their poor Mamas, for that matter!)

I, of course, came straight home and opened up Brady's baby book, just to see how they compared. Brady weighed 7 lbs 13 oz at birth (1 lb and 5 oz less than Cole) and was only 9 lbs 12 oz at one month (2 lbs and 2 oz less than Cole). And what I found to be even more humorous was that Brady weighed 12 lbs 1 oz at his TWO month appt., only 4 oz less than Cole weighed last week (and as much as I'm sure he weighs right now, if not more).

Ummm, can you say future linebacker?!

I'm happy to report that his other stats are in more proportion to his overall size, which was not the case with Brady. Even though Brady was 21 in at birth, he was only 22 in at one month. Cole was 20 in at birth, but is already 22 3/4 in at one month (88 percentile). And let's all breath a sigh of relief that even though he too has a big noggin, it's only in the 98 percentile (vs. 105% for Brady).

What really matters though is that he was given a clean bill of health! Doctor said he looks great. Only one shot (Hep B) and he only cried for a few seconds. His two month appointment brings a handful of vaccinations, so Daddy better come next time (Mom doesn't do too well with shots!)

Cole was being quite the babbler during his appointment and the doctor said those 7 little words that we also heard from Brady's pediatrician... "He's going to be an early talker!" Boy did that turn out to be true. I guess if you want to hang in this family you have to find your voice and use it!