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!

Christmas at the Blubaum's

Since we will be in the Northwest on Christmas, we celebrated it early here in Arizona. I wanted to share a couple of pictures from our celebration. Try to ignore the devil eyes that Cole has in the picture with me, I am still trying to figure out the red eye reduction on our camera! You have to love Shawn's hat. He purchased it in October and has been wearing it and drinking egg nog ever since. He's a festive man!

Happy Holidays!

Cole is 1 month old!

I can't believe that a month has already passed since Cole was born! We had a big week celebrating Cole's 1 month birthday and Shawn's 34th birthday.

Yesterday Cole had his 1 month check up and is doing very well! We were happy to learn that he is back to his birth length of 22" (see previous posting re: the incredible shrinking Cole) and he is already up to 11lb! Unfortunately for us his latest trick is his screaming non-stop from 6pm-9pm each evening. The pediatrician informed us that it is colic...could last until he is 6 months old. I think some earplugs might be a good stocking stuffer for the Blubaum's this year!

Cole and I have had fun going to the mall to do some Christmas shopping. On Wednesday we went out and I had so many shopping bags on the stroller I thought it was going to tip over. I am learning how to shop with a baby...it's all about the handicap fitting rooms!

We are getting excited about our trip home for the holidays. I will be in Seattle/Portland for 10 days and am looking forward to seeing everyone and introducing you to Cole. I promise we'll stay away during the 6p-9p screaming hours. Those hours will be reserved for time with Grandma & Grandpa Blubaum. :)

That is what is new with the Blu's this week!

Apple Cup 2007!

Today is Cole's first Apple Cup! Since he is only 3 weeks old today and not yet ready to decide if he should be a Cougar fan (mom says YES!) or a Husky fan, we are making him a baby divided. He is wearing a onesie supporting the Huskies and a hat and socks supporting the Cougs!

The game just started and the Huskies already scored...let's hope it is not a sign of things to come...

Happy Thanksgiving!

I can't believe it's already Thanksgiving! The month of November is flying by. Hard to believe Cole will be 3 weeks old on Saturday. He is changing so fast and looks so different from the baby we brought home from the hospital -- he just keeps getting cuter!

We are having a quiet Thanksgiving at the Blubaum house. We put my mom on an airplane this morning after a 2 week visit. It was wonderful having her here and I know she loved spending time with Cole. We have our first 2 nights alone as a family tonight and tomorrow...then the Blubaum's arrive on Saturday morning and they visit until Tuesday. This will be their first time meeting Cole. We'll celebrate Thanksgiving with them and cook up the big meal on Saturday. Today...Shawn is making Beef Wellington for our feast. I am a little nervous as it's 11am and he's already cracked a beer (to celebrate the day of football, of course!). I really wonder by 6pm if he will be fit to take on something as complex as Beef Wellington? If all else fails there is left over pizza in the fridge. This could be a Thanksgiving to go down in history!

Here is a picture of Cole that we took this morning. He has his festive Thanksgiving onesie on and some cute pumpkin socks. He is ready for the holiday!

Wishing everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving...we certainly have a lot to be thankful for this year!

They ARE related!

I was going to title this posting "Safety 1st" until I found a photo that I thought should be posted along with a new picture of Cole. Each morning I go into his room to get him up for his morning feeding and this is how I find him. The sleep positioner is supposed to keep him sleeping on his back, however as you can see...Cole shimmies his way down so that it ends up being a head blocker in instead! This is not achieving the goal of the sleep positioner.

What is just as funny is the photo below. This is Cole's cousin Lukas, at the exact same age, doing the exact same thing! I guess they really ARE related!

Below is a picture of Cole after his morning feeding (with a little milk on his face!)...we call this the Boobie Coma! He ate 45 minutes ago and is still in it right now in the family room with Dad!

We are calling today Independence Day for Kelli. After 2 weeks of no driving (due to c-section) I am a free woman. My treat...off to Starbucks to enjoy a seasonal Gingerbread Latte. Ahhh!

The first days of Cole!

Cole is 1 week old today! We've had a great week with our little man. We are adjusting to our new schedule of no sleep, lots of poopy pants and warm snuggles with our baby boy.

We had our first pediatrian appointment this week. We discovered our baby is the Incredible Shrinking Cole! At birth they measured his length at 22"...then when they measured him at the doctor he'd shrunk to 20 1/2". Hmmm...

Each day we get to enjoy more and more awake time with Cole and we've discovered he loves his bouncy seat.

Grandma Grentzer arrived today...she will be visiting for the next 2 weeks! Lucky for her both of her grandsons are in town right now so she is getting time with Lukas and with Cole.

Speaking of Lukas...I love to share pictures of my cutie nephew. The one below is him eating breakfast with the worlds worst bedhead!

I hope everyone enjoys the new pictures of Cole. We'll add more as we take them!