Getting by...

I hope we're not helping to form a bad habit! Cole has still been quite fussy into this week and sometimes I find the easiest way to get him to settle down during the day is by letting him go to sleep on my stomach (I can use the catnaps too!). I feel so bad for him having to go through teething this young! And to top it all off we're going to be ending the week at the dr's office for him to get his first set of shots. On a happier note he's been doing well adjusting to his crib for most daytime naps... I think the trick there was elevating the head of the mattress slightly (pack of diapers underneath--thanks for the tip Miriam!) and using a rolled up receiving blanket shaped like a "U" at the bottom of his feet. As long as he continues to settle in his crib nicely we hope to have him there for night-time sleep early next week. Well, time for another feeding and then off to bed!

1st Tooth!

Cole cut his first tooth today! Since his teething was discovered a couple days ago we've been using Tylenol and Ora-jel when it seems he's in pain and that's helped out. His other bottom front tooth doesn't look like it's too far behind. Hopefully it's less painful for him!

Teething Bites!

Much to our suprise we discovered yesterday Cole has started teething. It was a bit of a rough week and I was convinced he must have acid reflux or something bothering him, poor little guy was just not himself! Didn't even occur to me to check his gums. Yesterday, Jeff had someone at work tell him he should look in his mouth to see. Sure enough you can see the very tips of the front bottom ones looking like they're about to break through! Although it is a little early at 2 1/2 mths for him to be starting (most books reference start of teething 3 mths at the earliest) I think he was actually a bit more than 5 days overdue when born... the given due date never matched up at all with a possible conception date and I remember feeling naseous earlier and thinking I must be pregnant.
My friend Alison was down this week and stayed with us till yesterday. She's great with Cole and it was such a big help to have her here, ecspecially with the week we all had! We had good news at the end of the week... Windsor's city workers strike is now over! The garbage has been piling up and the grass in the parks really needs to be cut. I know everyone is so relieved. It's been about 3 months since the strike started. Well, another week almost here. The plan is to get started on a baby scrapbook for Cole. Other than that, not too much... just hoping it'll be a less painful week for Cole (and therefore all of us!)

Surviving the Weekend!

Well, the weekend is over and for once that's a good thing! Jeff left Friday at noon for London to be in a wedding and didn't get back till today. I wish I could have gone too but we didn't think it was a good idea for Cole. I wasn't too enthusiastic about looking after him during a crying spell and if history is any indication there seemed to be a pretty good chance of one happening in new surroundings with lots of people. Thankfully, the weekend went well here... my arms just didn't get their usual break!
Cole is doing well sleeping through the night and has been for over a week straight now. I wish I could say the same for myself=/ Jeff and me are both hoping a return to more restful nights as we work on getting Cole adjusted to his crib. We've just started putting him down for his naps there and so far it seems to be going pretty well although he doesn't seem to be able to put himself back to sleep in the new surroundings as easily as he does in our room. Hopefully in a little more time this will become easier for him. Nursing is getting better as Cole is getting a little faster and we're now down to six feedings/day (7a,10a,1p,4p,7p,10p) I'm already looking forward to dropping the dream feed (10p) in a months time. Bedtime is also going better now as I've stopped trying to cluster feed and we've got a bit more of a routine... bath, massage, pj's, song, story then nighty-night.
Well, ready for another week. This week I'm really looking forward to a change of pace (and some champagne... chilling now!) with my friend Alison visiting again. Cheers!

Kisses for Elmo!

Cole loves his book "Giggle with Elmo". We read it at least once a day! Each page has different sound effects to go along with it. The last page (seen here) seems to be his favourite and he knows what to do to give a kiss now because of it--little open-mouthed but that's ok:) Still so, so cute!

S-M-I-L-E

We finally caught a smile on camera! It wasn't easy... although he gives out quite a few these days everytime you get the camera he just stares at it, wondering what it is I suppose.
So far we've had a good week... on our 5th consective sleep through the night. Now, I just need to get back to sleeping through the night myself! Our next challenge will be getting him in his crib... till now he's been sleeping in his bouncy seat next to our bed.
As you can see below he's started to grab at and pay more attention to toys now, making the days a whole lot more fun:)

Bath-time Cutie!

One of the girls from my work had gotten Cole this bathrobe and I kept looking at it and thinking how big it was and that he probably wouldn't fit into it for awhile... tonight after his bath we decided to try it on just to see. It fits! I'm glad we tried it on him because if he keeps growing at this rate he's not going to be able to wear it much longer. Last week at the doctors he weighed in at 14 lbs. As cute as he makes chubby look it's not easy on the arms to carry him around these days... hopefully he gives our muscles a chance to catch up! Our "little" boy is 2 mths old tomorrow! It seems like yesterday we brought him home, and yet life without him is hard to remember.

"WooHoo, Weeeee, Whoooaa... "

This is what Cole's penguin says as you bat him around. He's really amazed both of us over the past couple of days with how much he's started to use his hands, not really controlled yet of course, but he's able to give the penguin a few hits to get him to "talk"! Today, we got out his Bumbo seat... he's been doing really well with holding his own head for a couple weeks now and although I'm not comfortable leaving him alone to do so (was always ready with a hand behind his head) it was fun to try something new!

posing with the penguin...

"muah"

and home to stay... at least for a little while!

The past week and half have been busy! The last weekend in June, friends of ours, Ellen and Mike came down from London to visit with their daughter. Hailey is getting so big... walking and talking a mile a minute! It was their first time meeting Cole, he didn't have a very long awake period but it was a good visit all in all.

Jeff was off work this past week due to shutdown. We decided to take Cole on his first big roadtrip. Off we went to Grand Rapids to visit his aunt, uncle and cousins. He did really well travelling... slept all the way there and back other than stopping for one feeding at a midway point. Caitlin and Mackenzie loved being near "baby", Cole looked a little unsure at first but Caitlin got a bit of a smile at one point! Uncle Matt got to meet his nephew and Jeff enjoyed getting out to play some golf with him. Cole's colic we discovered, although helped by the gripe water, is not gone:( He had a 3 hr crying spell while we were there. It's so frustating not knowing what really causes it and sooo hard to handle hearing his pain for that many hours on end.
In spite of Cole's "episode" at the Flannigans we ventured out again on Wednesday to head up to the farm. Grandma was so excited to see Cole again. We also enjoyed seeing other family while we were there. Once again though it seemed Cole got overstimulated and had another meltdown. Not as bad as the past ones though so maybe the new gripe water that we have now switched to is working better? I hope so...
Now back to routine with Jeff returning to work today. I don't know when we'll be brave enough to leave home with Cole again. Hopefully the colic subsides after 3 mths like most books say. Until then we're doing everything we can to lessen it... swaddling, sound machine, colic hold, vibrating bed, gripe water, keeping him on a schedule and trying to make sure he's not overstimulated. I think this last thing is his biggest issue... some of the books say that it is some babies' inability to block out excessive stimulus that causes colic... I think this is true for Cole. Hoping for a good week!