Cole's new toy!

Well, new to Cole at least. Another fabulous loaner from Cousin Lukas...the activity center! Our child that loved to entertain himself for hours in the bouncy chair has grown tired of the buzzing blue fish. So...we have pulled out the activity center and found a winner! Here are some pictures of Cole playing in it this weekend. It was 77 degrees on Sunday, so we were playing outside (hence the dorky sun hat). You will see he is also a big fan of his Cookie Monster stuffed animal from the Miller's...thank you Mike & Anne!

We seem to be moving forward in some areas with Cole and regressing in others. At 9 weeks he started sleeping through the night. He would sleep a 9 hour stretch and I was thinking it was a little piece of heaven. I was also thinking that it would stay that way. Oh no, not so much. 2 weeks ago we started with the waking up all night again. So...our new schedule seems to be in bed at 8:30pm...up at 2:00am...up again at 4:00am. I have mastered nursing him in bed (while lying down), so that at 4am I bring him in our room and he eats and then we both sleep for another hour. We are making it work for now, but I am hopeful that my good sleeper returns soon.

Grammy Virg leaves next Wednesday to go back to Olympia. Next Friday my sister and Lukas come back to town and will be here for a week, taking care of Cole while I go to San Francisco on business. After they leave on March 1st we will not have visitors again until May, when Grammy comes back to watch Cole while Shawn and I go to Florida for our friend Courtney's wedding. All of the visitors and help from family has been amazing...we are so blessed.

We are taking Cole to the zoo on Sunday and will post some pictures from our outing!

Cole is 3 months old!

We survived a few things in the last week...1) Mommy's first time away from Cole. I had to go to Orange County on Friday and returned Saturday. Then I left again on Tuesday to go back to Orange County and returned this afternoon. The good news is Shawn DID hear the monitor in the middle of the night and took excellent care of baby Cole in my absence (he might have had a little help from Grammy Virg). 2) We survived Super Bowl XLII in Phoenix. No party this year, just the 4 of us and the big screen tv. It was a wild time in the Valley of the Sun and no, we didn't get tickets to the game. 3) Cole is now 3 months old! Super Bowl Sunday was his 3 month birthday. He is such a love! See below for recent photos of Cole. Thank you to Lukas for the bib's...they are definitely a hit in our house!

Daddy...show me how that XBox 360 works...

This has been a rough weekend. My first experience with being sick and having a baby. Ughh...I was fighting a cold all last week and Friday it finally hit me and knocked me out. I am feeling worse each day and will have to drag myself to the doctor tomorrow. I will also have to take Cole to the doctor as I think he's picked up a little something from me. On top of that I am supposed to report for Jury Duty tomorrow. The Chandler Courts will have to forgive me if I am not feeling up to my civic duties tomorrow.

Enough about me...so, as I was lying on the couch complaining this morning, Shawn was playing XBox Live with one of his friends. He was trying to be super dad and take care of Cole at the same time. See below for a picture of what I like to call "Daddy DayCare." I guess it's never too young to teach the child the ways of the XBox?

Speaking of daycare, I think we have found the perfect place for Cole. We are on the waitlist and are optimistic that a space will open up for him by March 3rd when we need him to go. It's a great little place by our house that is small, secure, clean and full of happy babies. This fits the bill for us. Now, will they be ready for my baby boy...this is the real question. The "colic" that Cole had has now turned into all day fits of rage. The child is just not happy! The pediatrician has diagnosed him as having a reflux problem, which would explain him feeling miserable, and so I give him Zantac twice a day. No improvements yet, but she said it can take up to 2 weeks to see a difference. Luckily Grammy Virg is the most patient person on earth and takes wonderful care of Cole all day.

Cole will be 3 months old next Sunday. The time is flying by. Rumor has it he has started rolling over from his tummy to his back. Somehow I have missed both times it has happened! He just started sitting in his Bumbo chair and seems to like it (for 10 minutes at least!).

I am off to California on Friday night to take a certification exam on Saturday. I'll return on Saturday night and then turn around and go back to California on Tuesday, returning Wednesday. This will be my first time away from Cole overnight. What will I do at night without the static noise of the monitor to drift me off to sleep? The bigger question is will Daddy even hear the monitor? Perhaps I need to put Grammy in charge of it. Hmm...things to decide before Friday.

Have a great week!

Cole's Home Video

Here is a video of Cole playing on his activity mat. He is finally realizing that there are toys dangling above! Listen closely at the end of the video (around 17 seconds)...you can hear Cole make a special noise...TOOT! :)

Detroit Rock City

We had visitors this weekend! When we were honeymooning in Mexico, we met another couple (from Detroit) that was also married on April 1st and staying at our resort. We've kept in touch with them the last 2 years and they were visiting Arizona this past week so we had a chance to visit with them! They came to the house and got to meet Cole and we ventured out to one of the local casinos (without baby Cole of course!). Shawn and I managed to lose a ridiculous amount of money in 1 hour. No fun! Here are some pictures of our visit with Andy and Jill (don't mind Cole eating his hand -- he's recently discovered them and wants to eat them all day long. Sometimes he double fists and tries to get both in at once)!

Grandma Blubaum survived her first week taking care of Cole! Monday was a bit rough, but she is really getting the hang of it and I know he is just loving having her here! She has been a great help and I've already told her I might not let her leave! I am back at work now and trying to get back in the swing of things. It's not easy, but I am trying.

We've had a big week -- Cole slept through the next every night this week, with the exception of 1 night. Wow! I only wake up about 4 times a night to check on him -- this is improvement!

Cole is doing great! He's changing and growing up so fast. His neck is so strong...he holds his head up and looks all around. He is very curious and loves ceiling fans, lucky for him we have them in every room!

That's all for now -- more updates later this week!

Cole is 2 months old!

Well, we are a few days past his 2 month birthday, but just had his 2 month check up yesterday. Our little man is growing fast! He is up to 13lb 3oz and is 23" long. He is in the 75th percentile for weight, but only the 25th for height. Does this make him short and fat?

Being a new mom, I didn't realize that Cole was going to get shots yesterday. Oops, a little tylenol before our appointment would have been nice. He got 4 shots and screamed his little head off the entire time. We think he likes needles about as much as his daddy! Overall Cole is doing great and we will go back to the doctor again for a 4 month check up.

We've had a big week at the Blubaum house. 2 nights this week Cole has slept for 8 hours straight. Anyone with a baby knows what a big deal this is. I forgot how good 8 hours of sleep feels! Let's be honest though, I don't really get to enjoy the full 8 hours because I wake up every hour checking the monitor to make sure he is breathing and wondering 'why is he sleeping so long?' You would think I could just enjoy the zzz's!

This is my last week of maternity leave, the party is over starting on Monday. I will return to work on a part time basis for the next few weeks and then will resume full time work, back in the office, April 1. I will work from home a couple of days a week in the meantime. Grandma Blubaum arrives on Sunday. She will be with us until February 20th to take care of Cole. I am relieved to have her help us, I will feel so much better knowing that Cole is with her. Shawn and I have started the daycare search...so far, not so good. We toured one facility yesterday and within 2 minutes of being there I was crying. I am going to assume this is a normal reaction to finding daycare. (Just lie and tell me it is!!)

Here are a couple recent pictures of Cole. His eyes are really taking on a brown color (YIPPEE!). He smiles all the time and lets out little giggles when you tickle his feet and sing to him. He loves it when Shawn rubs his head on his belly...pretty cute! Don't let the cute face fool you -- he will still scream bloody murder for no apparent reason. Ahhh...babies! :)

So, our guest room will be unoccupied starting in March. Just in time for Spring Training! We hope to have some visitors this spring (hint, hint). It's still almost 70 here and sunny, sunny, sunny. After a 10 day visit to Washington where it rained all day, everyday, I would imagine a visit to Arizona sounds good to some of you. We'd love to see you!

That is what's new with the Blu's for now! Happy New Year!

Tour of Washington!

Whew! We returned Saturday from our 10 day tour of Washington. I think we covered nearly every mile of I-5 and possibly half of I-90! It was a whirlwind trip, but so wonderful so see so many people and introduce them to Cole. With the exception of a few melt downs (which the vacuum solved) he did very well.

Christmas was our busiest day starting our morning in Olympia and traveling to Gresham, OR to see Shawn's family. We arrived to Shawn's aunts house and a white Christmas! From Gresham we headed back to Washington to my aunt's house and finally wrapped our evening at my dad's for more Christmas celebrating. Cole was able to meet both his Great Grandpa Harter and his Great Grandma Blubaum during our visit.

Great Grandpa Harter performed Cole's dedication ceremony while we were in town. Poor little guy cried through the entire thing! We decided it was his party and he could cry if he wanted to.

Here are some pictures of our visit...Happy New Year!