Monday, June 7, 2010

June 5 Weekend at the Lake

This past weekend, we traveled to the TN River for a friend's little boy's 2nd birthday. Carter and Gage have visited each other 3-4 times since they have been born, and we were excited to travel to the Paris, TN area to be with him on his special day. Carter and Gage had lots of fun playing together at Ashley's parent's lakehouse. It was both of my boys first time on a boat, and they both did well. Carter got to help drive and honk the horn, which he LOVED!

We had a 2.5 hour drive there on Saturday and the kids slept the entire way. We thought that Sunday's drive would be horrible to make up for how good they did on Saturday, but we were pleasantly surprised when Cole slept the whole way Sunday and Carter did for all but an hour, but was happy that we stopped and got him some popcorn!


Carter & Gage


Looking out the screened in porch - standing on the kiddie table


Cole in his life jacket


Cutie pie!


Carter getting his sea legs


Daddy & Carter jumped in the lake


Cole snoozing on the boat - he did great and didn't cry once


Brothers...wind-blown!


Gage & Carter


Derrick & Carter - I love this picture!


Two of my favorite people in the world


Gage & Carter


Buddies - sitting down to eat together


They were sharing food - Carter took the ham out of Gage's sandwich and Gage took some of Carter's grapes...they were happy little boys :)

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Big Yawn

A few seconds of my little sweet man...so tired from a long day of being snuggled and sleeping!

The Boys

Here's a short video of the boys...poor Cole looks like he's about to get bucked off of Carter's lap, but doesn't make a peep. He loves being around brother and is just mesmerized by Carter.

2 Months

Dear Cole,

At your 2 month checkup on Friday, May 28, you weighed 13 pounds, 5 ounces (and 23 inches long)...that's almost a pound more than your brother did at this stage...he only weighed 12.7, even after outweighing you at birth by 6 ounces. You are a rolly-polly baby who is so sweet to snuggle with and fun to love. You make being a mom even sweeter than I thought possible. Having you has made our family feel complete - one baby for each parent with both you and your brother fighting for my lap.

Carter loves to hug and kiss you, hold you, and occasionally feed you his bottle. Anything he's eating, he wants to share with you, but I tell him you're too little and he just makes smacking sounds to pretend you are eating it. He wakes up every morning wanting to kiss you and goes to bed every night after telling you night-night and he loves you.

You just recently started smiling - just before you hit 7 weeks - and the smiles were hard to come by at first. At 9 weeks, though, you will burst into spontaneous smile when I'm holding you and talking to you or just smiling down at your handsome face. You like when Mama pedals your legs like a bicycle or does the Itsy-Bitsy Spider up your belly. When Big Daddy whistles or sings nonsense words to you, you get the sweetest toothless grin.

Favorite things include being held or laying on your activity mat batting at a hanging toy. You do tummy time and can hold your neck up really well, though after a few minutes, you get tired, give up, and just lay down. Your schedule is very consistent (6:30 am, 9:30, 12:30, 3:30, 6:30, 9:30. 2:30), and we finally have you down to one middle of the night feeding. You sleep in your pack-n-play by mama's side of the bed and don't make a peep until it's time to get up and eat. Luckily, you usually fall back asleep pretty quickly on your own.

You snore when you are napping and have the cutest little snort for no reason at all. Your eyes are big and blue and take in everything around you. Baths have become relaxing things...you don't cry anymore and don't even mind getting dried off. Size 1 diapers are almost too small, and yet, it was just 9 short weeks ago when newborn diapers swallowed you.

I love you more each and every day. I love to hold you, sing to you, snuggle, and stare at you. I just cannot believe my baby is this big and that soon you will be doing all the things your big brother does. How did I ever get so lucky?

Mama

Cole - Week 8

Cole has been smiling since about 7 weeks, but I hadn't captured a picture of until now. I thought he looked so cute in his little searsucker overalls, too, so it was perfect timing!


Come on, Cole, you can do it


Don't fall over, baby


There is a little grin!


There's a big smile, baby

I love my little (BIG!) man

Week of May 17 Continued

Final shots from my last week at home with sweet baby Cole.


Look how chubby he has gotten!


He finally likes baths - or at least doesn't cry during them.


Cole on his activity mat


Close-up Coley man


My heart :)

Last Week with the Boys - May 17

The week of May 17, Cole turned 8 weeks old. This meant that the time for me to get back to work was approaching, so we tried to fit lots of fun activities into the last week. We fed the ducks, went on walks, played with cousins, and went to the park.


Carter doing his favorite thing - swinging, or as he says "singing"


A picture of my two boys - pretty soon, Cole will be up there with Carter


MiMi went with us - thank you, MiMi!


Baby Cole fast asleep

Macy and Carter...we met Amy, Avery, and Macy at Chick-Fil-A for lunch and playtime

Cole - Weeks 7-9

Cole has been an absolute joy these past few weeks. He is alert and finally giving us some smiles these days, which is really rewarding. He cut down to 2 middle of the night feedings and is fascinated with everything big brother, Carter is doing.

Carter still LOVES Cole and wants to do everything with / for him. When he wakes up, he immediately asks for "brother" and always says "Cole tiss (kiss)." It is so fun to watch him be a big brother, especially since he's still a little one himself.


Carter feeding Cole a bottle of pumped milk


I told him to wave, and you can see he's sticking to his task of feeding Cole!


Chubby monkey after his bath


Lots and lots of kisses for Cole!

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Week 6 Continued

Just some cute pics of the boys and a shot of Mother's Day. For Mother's Day, Derrick let me sleep an extra hour, made me cereal for breakfast, and he and the boys gave me a pedicure gift certificate and massage gift certificate. I can't wait to use them! We had my mom, dad, Lindsey, Scott, and Katlin over for lunch...homemade lasagna, bread, salad, and strawberry shortcake. Then, we went to Amy's house for Derrick's mom's dinner. It was a good day :)


Cole in his overalls


Sleeping in his Baby Gap animals outfit


My sweet big boy holding my precious little boy


Love how he's propping his head up - so cute!


Mother's Day after church - we visited mom's church

Cole - Week 6

We haven't done much in May so far...have had lots of bad weather, some really cold days, and tons of rain. Here are some pictures of our at home fun and an outing to Barnes & Noble for storytime.


Carter & Cole - my heart


Playing in our yard while Derrick works on the sprinkler system


About to moon everyone!


Cole sleeping through story time



Carter & Sara on the story time stage

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Cole's Sleep Whine

Carter used to sleep whine just like this...and now Cole does it, too. It is so sweet to hear :)

Weeks 4 & 5 with Cole

Here are some pictures from the last two weeks. Carter enjoyed some sprinkler time, Cole is just getting bigger and bigger, and we had a family movie night on a rainy Friday. Enjoy!


Carter running through the sprinkler


Daddy & Cole watching Carter



My sweet baby boy :)


Sleeping Cole


Carter in his top hat in Derrick's closet


Happy Birthday, Derrick & Shannon


Blowing out their cupcake candles


Carter & Katlin on Derrick's birthday - Longhorn for dinner


Cole looking all around


In motion baby


My sweet boy in black, white, and green


Tummy time


Sticking out his tongue


Family movie night


Carter kicked back with his popcorn watching Alvin and the Chipmunks


Daddy & Carter