Cole's First Astros Game!

Last night, we took Cole to his very first Astros game! He was so great and alert for most of the game. We had him in the Baby Bjorn and at first, I had him facing me because I thought he would be more comfortable since he is still a little guy. Boy, was I wrong! He wanted to see everything that was going on around him, so I quickly turned him around. He was so cute with his little hands just propped up on the top of the Baby Bjorn, just chillin'. That's my laid back little boy!

Brent and I also had a first at an Astros game! We went to the game with Dustin, Sarah and Grace and Dustin was offered 4 suite tickets from one of the contractors Costello works with and Dustin invited us to go with them! Thanks Dustin! It was seriously a once in a lifetime deal. It was so awesome. We had all the food, drinks, and dessert we wanted! All it costs us was $5 to park our car!! We just all kept eating. I was able to have everything I have ever craved at a baseball game without spending one dime. Super! Life on a strict budget, you get excited about these little things.

The 3 of us at the suite.

Me in front of the suite. (Brent wanted to document everything,
this was Cole's first game afterall.)



Dustin, the holder of the fabulous tickets!



Us with Dustin, Sarah and Grace



Cole in his first Astros hat. This was what our ice
cream came in (it was a lot of ice cream!), then the waitress
washed it out for us and it fit Cole perfectly!
He will most likely love hats if he is anything like his daddy!

Here are more pictures from the evening:

Newborn Photoshoot

On day 6, Cole's Aunt Larra took his newborn pictures. It was Cole's very first photoshoot! It was so fun and he was so cooperative and awake for the entire shoot. He is absolutely adorable if I may say so, but he is mine so what else am I going to say. :)

Larra took a couple hundred that day, so to see them all or order prints click here. The password is babycole. She also created our beautiful birth announcement at the top of this post. She is so talented and creative.

Thank you Larra for taking these amazing pictures of our son and designing his birth announcement. You are so special to us and appreciate you capturing Cole in his first few days of life. We love you!

Here are just a few of my favorites:

4 weeks and 1 hour, 15 minutes ago...

Our son was born! I can't believe it has already been 4 weeks and I promise that I won't post every week saying he is 1 more week old from the last. It is just hard to believe that's all. He is doing great.

We had a long and fun weekend with Aunt Larra and Brody when we all went to the Beaumont area to celebrate Shelley's (Larra sister) upcoming wedding. She had two showers on Saturday and bridal pictures in between. Both boys were troopers throughout the whole day, but we all were super tired. Yesterday and today have been a bit different with Cole just trying to get back into his normal routine. Yes, routine. It is not a strict routine. I do want him to be flexible but consistency for anyone, especially for a baby/child I think, is helpful and beneficial to them and myself. He can't talk to me yet and tell me exactly what he needs, but by having him on a eat, wake, sleep schedule really helps me learn his different cries. It works for us. It is a flexible.

Here are a few pictures I took this afternoon:

Our baby loves his crib!

Cole spent his first night in his crib last night! He has been napping in it since birth, but sleeping in a bassinet at night in our room. Last night, it was time to move him to his room. He is one noisy little guy. I don't mean he cries, I am not that cruel, but just a noisy sleeper. He makes the cutest noises and some that are a little odd. Some are a little scary so it made me a little jumpy making it hard to really sleep.

We are still going back and forth sleeping well at night. The first 2 weeks he had his days and nights backwards. Then starting day 12, I believe it all turned around, for about a week. Then Sunday and Monday this week, he did not want to sleep at night but was napping 3 hours straight during the day. Not so good. The last 2 nights were awesome. I have feed him about 10pm, he sleeps until 2 or 3 am, goes right back to sleep until about 6am, and then we sleep again until about 9am. He is a great baby, very content and happy. I am not saying he doesn't cry, but when he does, it is because is needs something, not just crying to cry.

3 weeks old TODAY!

Time is just flying. I am trying to enjoy every minute with my son because I have been told several times that he will be grown before I know it. I believe it. He is an absolute joy to be around and I love being home with him each day.

Here are a couple of Cole's very first photos taken shortly after birth:

(day 1)

Here are couple taken just this morning:

(21 days old)

Okay, well I tried several times to post a video. I will have to do some research and figure out what I am doing wrong. I have posted a few others but for some reason it is not working for me right now. Maybe it is my connection. Stay tuned...hopefully it will be up later.

18 days already!

I can't believe our son is almost 3 weeks old already. The time has passed so quickly. I would really like it to slow down a bit, but we have been staying so busy that it is easy for the time to fly by. My mom was here with us for about a week after we came home helping me around the house with cooking, cleaning and Cole. She was a huge help and we appreciate all she did. My dad was in and out of Houston on different business trips, but he was also a huge help to us around the house and giving our dog Maci some much needed attention. Thank you both!

We have also been to the lake to see Brent's family, shopping at several stores, out to eat many times, and church. We want to get him used to traveling and being flexible. He is doing great.

Maci and Cole are getting along great! Maci is so curious about her new brother and just smells him and wants to be near him. She is very concerned and protective of him as well. Any time Cole is crying, she comes running to find me if I am not in the same room. Today, she was outside and I put Cole down for his nap. She quickly noticed he was not in the room with us and went to find out where he went. So cute!

At first, I think his days and nights were reversed, but starting Saturday, August 2nd, Cole started having more wake time during the day. I truly believe that turned it around for him. Since then, he has gone back to sleep after each nightly feeding without a fight! Yay! That was day 12, and at about 2 weeks our pediatrician said he would be awake more and he is. Also I read a great book called Babywise. I know I can't do all things by the book because simply each baby is different, but it was recommended by some good friends of ours and his doctor, so I read it and am applying their principles to Cole's routine. As of now, it is working beautifully and I pray it continues.

He is a great sleeper too! I prayed for that during my pregnancy. Brent and I both love to sleep, so of course I was praying that our son would follow that trend. He is a very content baby right now and I feel very blessed. It is amazing that his cries are different and I am beginning to know what each of them mean and how to comfort him. Motherhood is awesome and amazing!

7 days old!

We have had lots of visitors since Cole was born last Monday evening. I can't believe that was a week ago. He is amazing! I could just stare at him all day long. On Sunday, Brent's parents and his brother's family (Matt, Larra and Brody) came over to see Cole. Well, Larra is an amazing photographer so we had a photo session with Cole. Larra is still working on the photos so I will definitely be posting some of my favorites when she is done, but she did post on her blog a couple of Brody and Cole together. Brody is exactly 6 months and 2 days older then Cole so he is on the move. It was a fast session with the two of them, but oh so cute! Check this out!

Here is a slide show of pictures from Cole's first week:

Cole's Homecoming!

Today, we brought our son home! We are so excited to have him home finally. We called the nursery about 9:30am to see if the test results were in and they weren't so they said they would call and let us know. They called and we picked him up about 2 hours later. YAY! He is so precious and is doing great. Our feeding sessions are only getting better each time, so thank you all for praying for that. I know we were only separated a night, but it was a concerned for us. We do prefer to breastfeed him, but are definitely willing to do what is best for Cole's health. He has not had one drop of formula since we have been home and I know that my supply is coming in. He ate for a whole 25 minutes last time. That almost triples his time on all his other feedings!

His jaundice levels are down, but the pediatrician still requested that we go in on Saturday morning to their office so that they can just take another look at him and make sure it is not returning. Thank you for your prayers. He is doing great!

Here are a few pictures from today:

Update on Cole

Yesterday morning when the pediatrician came by to give us a report about how Cole was doing, he said that his nose looked a bit yellow, but he was not concerned yet. He said that jaundice some times does not show up for a couple days.

This morning with his report, we learned that his bilirubin number was high when they did a skin test, but the doctor said that reading is not the most accurate so it is followed-up with another test. He was at a 10 and needed light treatments. I really am liking his pediatrician group. His regular doctor is out of town, but her associate has been seeing him and giving us these reports. He said that Cole may need to stay at the hospital until tomorrow, depending on how he reacts to the treatments. He is not pushing Cole to be discharged at all and said it would be best to just keep him at the hospital then to send him home today and have to remit him later. I am very thankful for that.

Okay...you can't tell but there was a huge pause in my writing...Cole came to eat and we talked to the nurse caring for him.

He finished his first light session and will stay onto tomorrow to be re-tested. We are able to stay up until a minute before midnight, so we will stay until his last feeding tonight and then the nursery will take over during the night as far as feeding. Please pray that the jaundice will go away quickly and his bilirubin count will go down and stay down. I asked the nurse about the number system because I am not familiar with it, but a 10 is not too much but it is enough to make him stay and get treatments. We want him to go home, but we want him to go and stay there, so we are definitely willing to wait for this to go away and keep him here. Just pray for him and that his counts return to normal quickly.

You can pray for me and that my milk will come in. Right now, I am still trying to feed him each time, but then we are giving him formula because it is so important for him to use the restroom to flush the jaundice out. It is normal for the milk supply to take a few days to come in, but without having him with me to feed him like tonight and when he is still here at the hospital, it could present a problem. The lactation consultant here is great and give me some great tips on our to help stimulate that process, so I am going to have to do some other techniques to help that come in. Just pray that this alternative methods will work and will not hinder me feeding Cole in the future. But right now, we are willing to do what is best for his health.

Thank you all so much for praying. We definitely can see the results of your prayers and God working in this whole process.

More pictures as promised...

proud parents

sleepy boy

Papaw and Bebe (LA's parents)

Mimi and Papa (Brent's parents)

day 2

Aunt Lois and Uncle Gayle (LA's great aunt and uncle)

Aunt Larra and Uncle Matt (Brent's brother and LA's college roomie)

Uncle Dave (LA's brother)