2 month doctor visit

Can you believe we are already at 2 months?? Nick and I took Cole to his doctors appointment yesterday and it was quite the experience. He has changed so much since his last doctors visit...he is now almost 13lbs and 24 inches long, he has doubled all of his percentiles. For instance, he is in the 91st percentile for height...now that doesn't mean that we are going to sign him up for basketball right away, his height won't tell us anything till he's at least 2 years old. Overall though, he has grown so much and has become quite the chunky monkey!
The doctor talked with us about his sleep schedule, she said that we need to start putting him to bed at 8:00pm, then wake him at 11:00 to do a quick feed just to top him off and she said that he should start sleeping longer and in a few weeks we should be able to drop that 11:00 feeding and HOPEFULLY by 3 months he'll start sleeping through the night. Hopefully this new schedule works!
Cole also got his shots...it wasn't as bad as I was imagining. He was being so good throughout his check up (even though it was right in the middle of his nap time), but he finally had enough and just started wailing so when they gave him the shots, I don't think it even fased him, he was already mad!! ha! I was and still am very nervous about all these shots, it just seems like so many at one time. With the whole autism thing and with him being a boy (boys have a much higher chance of getting autism) of course the shots make me a bit nervous, however our doctor requires that they get certain shots and honestly I don't have the knowledge to back up my fears, so it's not like I can tell the doctor that I don't want him to get immunized...just b/c I'm scared. So for now, I'll do what the doctor tells me and we'll just pray that he remains a healthy, happy little boy!
Ok, back to some more upbeat news....we are headed to Colorado today and I'm pretty nervous about flying with Cole for the first time, but we are so excited to get there so my whole family can finally meet him. Also, Denver is supposed to be getting hit hard with a snow storm today so everyone pray that our flight isn't delayed or cancelled, that would not be a good situation with a new baby!
I'll try to post some new pictures once we get to Colorado...

6 More Weeks!

As of today, I have 6 more weeks left till I have to go back to school....I know that is still a super long time and that's only the amount of time that MOST women get all together for maternity leave, but it makes me so sad that my maternity leave is already half over. I can't even imagine having to leave him with a babysitter and not being with him all day.....so sad!!!

This evening, Nick and I are going to meet our future babysitter. My friend Tracey that I used to work with uses Teresa and she lives very close and she's an in-home babysitter...I'm definitely not ready for day care yet. I guess I'm the typical first-time mom and think that he needs more one-on-one care. We are excited to meet her, she is also the sister-in-law to one of my assistant principal's at work, so it's kind of a small world.

When I do go back to work on May 4th, I think we are just going to use Teresa 3 days a week, and then Nick's mom will do the other 2 days. THEN, the last week and a half of school, my mom is going to come down and watch him. So luckily, he'll only have to go to the babysitter for a few weeks. Then come August when I go back to school, hopefully he will be able to continue going to Teresa full-time. Teresa and her husband have had in-home daycares many many years and this is what they do, so I completely trust them.

I always thought I would be one of those mom's that would have to work, that couldn't stay home full time with my kids...but I have totally changed my thinking on that! I would absolutely love to work only part time and stay home the rest, but Nick has informed me that we won't be able to do that for a couple years. It's funny how you are willing to compromise to stay home...I would totally cut down on our "things" so that I could stay home, but again, Nick says "Not yet"...booooo!!!! :-) Guess the hubby knows best!!!

Anyway, here are a few pictures of the last couple days.

Here is Cole laying on his playyard, he's rockin the baseball outfit today!

Cole working on some "tummy time"

Thinking he's not diggin the tummy time today....poor guy!

My Dad's a Geek

So I thought it was appropriate that since I put a picture of Cole wearing a "mommy" shirt that I should post a picture of him wearing a "daddy" shirt!! Hahaha!!! This fits Nick perfectly because we always like to make fun of Nick for being a computer nerd.
Oh and by the way, am I the only one that thinks Cole's belly looks gigantic in this picture?

My Mom's a Fox

Nick's Aunt Peggy got Cole this shirt and it cracks me up! It's says "My mom's a Fox". It fits him perfectly right now so we took a few pictures of him in it. However, don't mind the spit up that is all down the front of the shirt.

My first outing

Last weekend I went on my very first outing by myself, without Cole. My friend Jenna from work had her bachelorette party and I decided to go for a few hours. I was kind of nervous about going and leaving Cole but it turned out great. Nick took Cole to his parents and hung out with the grandparents and great grandparents, so Cole got plenty of attention.
I really did have a great time being out with my girlfriends. We went to a really cool wine bar and just hung out. One friend Amanda just had a little girl one month before I had Cole, so she and I talked a lot about baby stuff, comparing stories, but it also made us realize that our babies now consume our lives and we felt like that's all we talked about. That's understandable though right....I mean, that has been my life the last few weeks!!!
Now, Nick and I just need to go out on a date, just the 2 of us....maybe one of these next couple weekends we'll recruit someone to babysit for a couple hours and we'll go to dinner or something. Although, everyone says that when you go out on your first date that you need to talk about stuff other than baby...I don't know if I could do that, I don't have anything else going on in my life right now besides him...I know I'm boring! :) I guess we could talk about the dogs...ha!

4 Generations

Last week, Nick's grandparents were in town from Wisconsin. They were able to spend some time with us and with Cole and I think they really enjoyed their great-grandchild. We really had a great time spending time with them but of course their visits always go so fast. Hopefully Nick and I and Cole will be able to make a trip up north to Wisconsin to see them and a bunch of other relatives this summer so they can all meet Cole.

While they were here, we got a 4-generation picture of Great grandpa Ed, Grandpa Dennis, Nick and baby Cole.

Here are a few more pictures from Nick's grandparent's visit:

Nick's Lips

I just took this picture this morning and just laughed...he is completely Nick's child...look at those lips!!

Grammy and Papa Volk

Today is a little sad for me, my parents just left to go back to Colorado. They were here since last Friday and we really had a great time. I always hate saying goodbye to my family, especially because I hate the fact that they only get to see Cole every once in awhile. I wish they could just stop by whenever they wanted and see him. I know my family wished we lived a little closer...maybe one of these days we can move there, although then I would feel bad that Nick's parents wouldn't get to see him as much.

Anyway...my parents had so much fun with Cole and we took lots of pictures. I really wanted my parents to just relax and enjoy their grandson while they were here, so I wanted to have the house all cleaned before they came so they didn't feel like they had to clean. Of course they are parents and still find a few projects around the house. My dad changed lightbulbs and bought us a big ladder and my mom touched up the paint on our walls.

While they were here, I told my dad that he had to help me give Cole a bath. Now, my dad never really gave his own kids baths when we were little, so this was totally new to him. However, I think he really got a big kick out of it. I sat and supervised but he did most of the work. It's so fun to watch my dad hold and play with Cole, he sure becomes quite a softy! :)

Here are a few pictures of my dad giving Cole a bath

Here are some more pictures of my parents visit to Texas

Grammy cuddling with Cole...he sure looks comfortable!

Tummy Time with Grammy

Bath Time

We have now discovered that Cole LOVES baths!! We got the coolest bathtub from our friends the Blacks and it works great for little babies. It has a little hammock that he lays in so he basically lays right on top of the water.

We are trying to keep his baths at night so that once he is all clean, we put his pajamas on, then I feed him and put him to bed. We really are working hard at getting him on a good schedule or routine so that (especially at night) he is used to that routine and knows that after his bath...it's night-night time.