My Merry Old Soul

Old King Cole was a Merry Old Soul and a Merry Old Soul was he.

The nursery rhyme fits my little Cole well. Cole is definitely a merry old soul. He loves to smile and laugh, and sometimes, he seems to hold the wisdom of a very old soul. And I think that he looks like a little old man. =) He is now almost ten months old. My baby is getting closer and closer to that one year mark and to becoming a toddler. I'm not sure I'm ready for all of that.

 With Sam, I had wanted to be that cool mom that posts each month about her child and posts a picture of the child holding a chalkboard with the age on it. Sam is two months old...he likes bottles and sleep...I tried. With Mark, I made a couple of attempts. With Cole, well, did I mention that I had another baby named Cole? Don't even ask me about their baby books.

But I'm going to take a minute and write a little about Cole. Let's pretend this is for his nine month mark and that I've been posting little tidbits and pictures all along.
 

Cole is my little runt. He's short and scrawny but not for a lack of eating. He's in the 7th and 10th percentile for height and weight. But he's healthy and growing, and as my pediatrician told me once, I'm not going to end up with any basketball players. Cole has been my little baldy. He actually has a lot of hair starting to come in, but it's really light and feathery and hard to see. He has a lot of fuzzy hair around his ears which only adds to his little old man look. Cole also has five teeth already. He started getting teeth when he was about three months old.

People always tend to comment about Cole the most on two things: one, his piercing blue eyes and two, his contagious smile. Cole has these electric blue eyes that seem to look right through you sometimes. He does a lot of communicating with his eyes. And he has this beautiful, goofy smile to go along with an easy going personality. Cole is generally a happy little guy. Sam and Mark love Cole so much...sometimes a little too much, and he ends up with a brother sitting on him because that's how brothers show love I guess. Cole loves his brothers too. He is always watching them, and I can tell that he's just so anxious to be running around and playing with them. I think Cole will be my youngest to start walking. He's already making little attempts. Both Sam and Mark weren't even interested until they were closer to two than one. Right now Cole does this Shamu/zombie/worm crawl that can get him from one side of the house to the other in no time flat.

Cole loves interacting with people. He loves faces. He loves making new friends with adults and kids. He's a chatterbox. I'm not sure he has an official first word yet, but I think he might be saying mama to me. I've told him that if he will make mama his first word then he'll be my favorite son (both Sam and Mark started out with dada). =)

Cole is such a little character. I often joke that someday I will get a call from the school, and the teacher will say that Sam keeps arguing with her. Then I will get a call, and the teacher will say that Mark popped someone in the nose. They deserved it, but he shouldn't have done it nonetheless. And then I'll get a call, and the teacher will tell me that Cole is being a class clown again and making the kids laugh in the middle of her lesson. He's already such a comedian and loves to distract people during Sunday School.

Despite being such a little guy, Cole is a BIG part of our family. I can't imagine our family without him. I don't know why I'm so blessed, but I'm going to just be thankful and enjoy it!

This is Cole and his little cousin, Erika. I have a feeling those two had a hay day up in heaven together hiding angels' halos and what not.


A proper greeting in baby is too nibble on each other's noses...

Milestones

I haven't been keeping my blog the most up-dated, so here are a few milestones that the boys have reached in the past few months:

Sam

Sam is finally potty trained. I tried all sorts of methods (we read books, picked out cool big boy underwear,went all day for days with no clothes, did sticker charts, reward charts, gummy bears bribes, and much more), but I had finally resigned myself to the fact that he just wasn't ready. Then my good friend, Heidi, gave us a bin of toys for boys (some cars, jets, etc.) She had received the toys but has all girls. So as a last hope, I put all of the toys in a big, clear bag and told Sam it was the potty bag. Every time he went potty in the big boy potty, he could reach into the bag and get a surprise. He started wearing big boy underwear that day, and has only had a few accidents in about five months. He doesn't even need pull-ups or anything at night. Potty training is a piece of cake...ha ha!

Sam can not only sing the alphabet song, but he also recognizes letters. I didn't realize how good he was at this until Nic and I were working on some word puzzles. Sam wanted to play, so I told him to find certain letters to spell out the words I needed. He was able to identify every letter. He can also spell his name. In fact, he likes to get on daddy's Iphone and the Ipad and type his name. At first, he had his letters mixed up a little, and we would get reminders of appointments with 'asm', but he has since remedied that problem and now we receive NUMEROUS reminders about SAM all day long. I feel like I'm in one of the those Mormon advertisements--"Family: Isn't it about time?" Sam makes sure that we remember to spend time with him every day! =)

I hate to admit it, but Sam is also a screen junkie. He can work the Ipad and Iphone without any problem. My dad just got an Ipad, and we like to joke that Sam can go show grandpa how to use his computer. He really could. The kid is very technologically smart. He has his favorite games that he likes to play, and one of his favorite things is browsing apps and picking out new ones that he wants to try. He always wants to know the password so that he can purchase new apps. Sorry, kid, that ain't going to happen! He also has his favorite shows, including: Diego, Dora, Pocoyo, Pingu, Eebee, Yo Gabba Gabba, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. His two favorite movies right now are: Despicable Me and Rio. Some Disney movies are a little too intense for him still (he's a little sensitive to the scary parts like Ursula on The Little Mermaid). And whenever I start feeling a little guilty about how much screen time he has, he does something like acting out an entire scene while inserting himself as a character in the scene or counting to 8 in Spanish. He's learning new things constantly. And we do try to do non-screen things each day too.

He is full of curiosity and imagination. I love it! Sam is also quite the comedian. His two favorite jokes are:
Why did the chicken cross the road?
Because he was walking that way. (This is a Sam original).

Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Boo.
Boo who?
You don't have to cry. It's just me!

As for church, Sam graduated from the nursery in January and is now a Sunbeam. The transition has not been very smooth, however. Sam loved nursery (snacks, toys, and lots of attention, who wouldn't?) from day one and it has been very difficult to let go. He has fallen asleep in class a couple of times and one time he ran away yelling. (After hearing stories of how Nic ran away from school when he was little because he got a new teacher, I'm thinking it might be hereditary). But he seems to be doing a little better and seems to be enjoying class time.

Sam loves being a big brother, if not just for the torture factor. He and Mark are starting to get to the point where they play together for a little bit, and Sam loves helping to take care of Cole (or Baby Mo Mo, as he likes to call him). One of my greatest desires as a mother is that my boys will be best friends. We're working on it every day!

Mark

I didn't think it would ever happen, but in January, Mark finally decided to walk. Mark just never showed any interest in walking. He didn't even like to stand very much. After I had Cole, I couldn't really lift Mark very much at first, but I ended up doing it because the kid just wouldn't walk. And he would start getting really frustrated because he wanted to get somewhere but couldn't. Perhaps he was a little spoiled and got carried around too much, who knows. I kept asking his pediatrician and our Early Intervention specialist if it was a physical problem or had to do with his earlier issues, but it was just the fact that he needed to decide that he wanted to do it. Mark is definitely bull headed, and you don't tell him what to do. It has to be his decision. But once he started walking, he was running. He is constantly on the go now. And he is my little athlete. I think he has daddy's athleticism. He can throw really well, kick a ball, jump, and climb. Sometimes I worry a little because with his shunt he's not supposed to do contact sports, but he's my boy with the build and interest in football. We'll just have to cross that bridge when we get there.

Mark is definitely all boy. It's funny to see the similarities and differences between Mark and Sam. While Sam's cars like to talk to each other, Mark's cars drive. Mark loves to drive his cars all over the place (complete with the car sound effects). Mark loves dirt. We just got a sandbox a month ago, and Mark practically lives in the sandbox. He loves to be outside. Now that the weather is getting warmer, I don't hardly see the kid anymore. He goes outside in the morning and then I drag him back in for meals and bedtime. Mark's nickname is Bonk because he is such a physical boy. He is constantly bonking his head, hammering on something (or someone), or moving my furniture. That kid is crazy strong!

Just last month, Mark graduated from Early Intervention. Melinda, his specialist, did his bi-yearly evaluation and told us that there isn't anything more she can do for him. He is right on schedule for fine and gross motor skills. He is very smart and socially outgoing. You would never know all that he has been through. He's just a regular toddler. While I'm excited for this next step, I'm also really going to miss Melinda. I will post the letter I wrote to my legislators about the Early Intervention program later.

 The only thing that he is kind of lagging with is talking. He can say 'dada', 'momma', 'nan-nan', 'banana', 'gu-gu' (gus), and a few other little words, but that's about it. Lately, he's been making more effort to communicate, but still gets really frustrated when he can't communicate what he wants. He's also funny because, unlike most kids, he says, 'yeah' but not 'no'. If you ask him something and the answer is yes, he'll say, "yeah, yeah!" If the answer is no, he just won't answer you. I can remember a time when I thought 'no' was the only word in Sam's vocabulary! This next month we're going to start working with a speech therapist to help him communicate better. Melinda says that it might just be a defiance issue, and knowing Mark, she might be right.

Mark especially loves being the older brother to Cole. He loves to hug and tickle his little brother. He sometimes needs a little reminding to be gentle, but, for the most part, is super cute with his baby. And he loves all other babies too. He loves to play with babies and bring them toys. Mark has a big heart and likes to share toys and snacks with Cole and with other babies. I think Mark and Cole are going to be especially good friends.

Cole

I like the rhyme, "Old King Cole was a merry, old soul..." because it describes Cole perfectly. He is such a merry soul. He's so good natured and always smiling and laughing. You can say 'tickle' to him and he'll laugh. The only time he's not very happy is when he's hungry. That's a very serious time!

Cole is my rock n' roller. He rolls everywhere. He started rolling onto his tummy pretty early on and now you have to keep an eye on him. Within a minute, he can make it clear across the room. I call him my 'Rolley Cole-y." I wonder if he'll crawl a lot sooner than his brothers did. He is really good at lifting his upper body with his arms. And he wants to be running around with his brothers so badly.

Cole also got his first tooth when he was just six months old. He now has his two front bottom teeth. And that kid loves to eat. He would nurse all day if I let him and loves baby food. The other day we were at the park. I had Cole on my lap and was talking to one of the other boys, when I looked down and discovered that Cole had eaten half of his brother's peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I guess I'm going too slow in introducing solid foods. He's ready for the good stuff! At his six month appointment, he was in the 7th percentile for weight and our pediatrician recommended nursing him more to get more calories for him. Nic thinks Cole paid the doctor to say that, because he doesn't look scrawny by any means. But we've been working on eating more, much to Cole's happiness.

A Baby Story Episode 3

This baby story officially begins on October 12, 2012, but there were many things that happened before that day. As I mentioned in another post, I was not feeling well the last part of my pregnancy. For about the last month or so, I was miserable. I was humongous! I couldn't eat very much, I couldn't stand up for more than ten minutes without getting dizzy, I could hardly move, and I was just plain uncomfortable. I was measuring four centimeters bigger than either of my other pregnancies. Normally, my tummy measured the same as the week of my pregnancy, so at week 35 I would measure 35 cm. But with this pregnancy at week 37, I was measuring 43 cm. I was all tummy. Nic liked to joke that I was losing my super spy sneaking abilities because my stomach would arrive 15 minutes before the rest of me. At my 37 week appointment, my doctor was a little concerned and so he scheduled me for an ultrasound on the next Monday. This was on a Wednesday and my doctor really didn't think I was going to make it until Monday. I was getting more and more dilated and effaced and I was having contractions all day and night, and he kept saying, "If you're still pregnant..." 

Well, much to my dismay, I made it until Monday.

Monday morning I went in and did the ultrasound. I wasn't too excited about it because supposedly I was supposed to drink 30 ounces of water for the ultrasound. My bladder was not at its best, and I could hardly drink a half glass of water without needing to go to the bathroom, so I was a little skeptical about 30 ounces. Let's just say I did my best (around 10 ounces)! The ultrasound was really neat because we've never done an ultrasound when I was so far along. You could actually tell that it was a baby! We got to see little Pumpkin's face and everything. Nic had been teasing me that the original ultrasound was wrong and that I was going to be surprised with a girl, but I was able to reaffirm that I was indeed having a boy. And we reaffirmed that the baby was Nic's kid because we have a picture of the baby flipping us off. It was a fun little pre-meeting with our little boy. From the ultrasound, we learned that the baby's head and chest were measuring big and the baby was estimated to be around 8 lbs 10 oz. We also learned that I had a lot of amniotic fluid. All the joking that I did that Mark had installed an Olympic-sized pool when he was in my tummy, came back to get me. My doctor called me shortly after the ultrasound. He was concerned with the baby's size. I wasn't quite 38 weeks along, and the doctor was worried that Pumpkin could get up to 9 lbs by the time I gave birth. Dr. Smith also worried about the large amount of fluid that I had. Apparently my body was acting like I was diabetic, but all blood tests came back normal. Dr. Smith said that because of all the fluid, if my water broke, it would be like a dam breaking, and could cause some problems like flushing out the umbilical cord or rupturing my placenta. Because of the big baby factor, my history of having some difficulties with the other two babies, and all the fluid, my doctor told me to consider a c-section.

I then proceeded to freak out over the next few hours. I was so miserable and so done being pregnant, but I was also terrified about having the baby. I wanted to do what was best for the baby. We don't know if it was birth trauma that caused Mark's brain bleed (we'll probably never know what caused it), but that was something weighing heavily in the back of our minds. After much trepidation, we decided to do it. We were scheduled for that Friday.  Again, the doctor didn't think I would make it. At my check-up on Wednesday I was dilated to a high three and 70% effaced. But again, we were dealing with one of my boys, and they are as stubborn as their daddy!

Thursday night I had contractions all night but no baby. There were a couple of times that I really thought it was time to head to the hospital, but then every thing would calm down. Early Friday morning we headed to the hospital to finally meet our little Pumpkin. Here I am in all my huge glory:

I have to say, I was really, really nervous! The nurse that first started prepping me for surgery was at the end of her shift, and not the kindest nurse out there, but oh well. We were about to have a baby! I was so done with being pregnant and uncomfortable and so excited to meet my little guy that it didn't matter. The worst part of everything was the IV. The nurse tried three times to do the IV but couldn't do it. According to her, my veins were really small and difficult. She called in another nurse to try who also failed. By that point, just seeing them come at me with that needle would make me cry. I don't like needles anyway and really didn't like being a pin cushion. Eventually, they called in the head nurse who got it on the first try. She couldn't see what all the bother was about. I think from here on out, I will request experts right from the get go.
The nurse who ended up being my delivery nurse was super nice. She took good care of us and was really sweet. The anesthesiologist came in and explained things to us. At first, I was intimidated by him because initially he was all business. We told him how I had passed out previously from my epidural and so he was really intent on that not happening again. I was shaking so bad when I got the epidural. It's actually not that bad (not as bad as the IV, that's for sure!), but I always get so scared. But it's always surprising how fast it takes affect.

My doctor came and spoke with us, Nic got suited up, and then it was time. I was laughing because the nurse asked Nic if he had eaten anything yet. He told her he was fine, and she proceeded to tell him that he was going to eat some crackers or something because she wasn't going to deal with a fainting daddy.
Here's my doctor who delivered all three of my babies:

And here's my sexy husband, suited up and ready.

The procedure actually went really quickly, something like twenty minutes or so. My doctor had another doctor assisting him, and that doctor said something like, "Wow! She has a lot of fluid!" And the nurse said, she has never had to get a second bag for the fluid before me. I was like a queen-size water bed! The nice thing was that I lost thirty pounds in twenty minutes. =)
At one point, I almost passed out. For some reason, when I'm pregnant, I am really sensitive to laying on my back. Pregnant women aren't supposed to anyway because it cuts off circulation and what not, but even a minute or two on my back, and I will get sick and black out. I think when the doctor was trying to draw the line for cutting, he needed me to be flat on my back, and suddenly the room was spinning. The anesthesiologist was right in my face almost the whole time encouraging me and keeping me focused. The c-section is the weirdest thing. They put up a curtain so that you can't see what's going on (I don't know whether or not it would freak me out to see my insides), but Nic was able to watch the whole procedure. He said it was interesting but hard at the same time to think that the person that they were cutting open was his wife. I could feel things but it didn't hurt. It just felt like pressure here and there, and I could feel things being moved around. Oh, they just moved my liver...It was such a weird feeling!
Apparently, the doctor still had to use the vacuum a little. My babies just like to nestle high up right in my rib cage. But Pumpkin finally made his big debut. I was so excited to meet him finally. He was perfect and handsome right from the start. The hardest thing was that I wasn't able to hold him right away, but Nic brought him over and introduced us.

We got to hang out in the recovery room for a little while which was a nice little time to get acquainted with our new little guy. I feel bad because my mom had been at the hospital the whole time and was waiting anxiously in my hospital room. It seemed to be taking a long time and she hadn't heard anything and was getting really worried. But she was very relieved and happy to finally meet her new little grandson.

Nic's parents arrived just as Nic and baby Pumpkin were heading to the room so they got to meet him in the hallway and help escort him to his room. Pretty soon Grandpa Dee, Nanny, and the brothers arrived to meet the newest addition to the family. Sam was really excited about this new baby, which surprised me because he wasn't too excited when Mark came along. Mark was too sure about the baby at all. Whenever he got close to the baby, he tried to give him a good brotherly bonk!

Mark with his new little brother--notice Nanny is holding Mark's hand to keep him from hitting the baby!

Sam with his newest little brother. He wanted to hold the baby and has been fascinated with him from the start.

To make the meeting a little better, the baby brought gifts for his brothers. Sam and Mark both got big brother back-packs filled with toys, books, and treats. They also all got matching brother shirts that mommy made for them. This seemed to help them like the little guy a little more.
Sam's shirt said: Biggest Brother--So good...they gave me another!
Mark's shirt said: Big Brother--Recently Promoted
And the baby's shirt said: Little Brother--Newest Addition

I love these pictures of Nic and the boys. They really capture life at our house these days! In one picture Mark is picking on Sam, in another he's eating a pen. And then you have Sam being a character, and Sam playing on the I-phone!

Mark especially liked the giant drawers in my hospital room.

After a three day stay at the hospital, it was time to go home. Before we went home, our last nurse had to remove my staples on my incision. I was a little nervous. All of our nurses the entire time were super nice and good at what they did. They all took good care of us. We even had the nurse who was my delivery nurse with Mark one day. However, my last nurse was very nice and excited about everything, but she seemed a little dotty. So when she came into the room with a pair of pliers, I was a little nervous (scared for my life). But it went alright, and I didn't die, so kudos to her! =)

As usual, the only thing that delayed us from going home was deciding on a name for our new little guy. We started the three name tradition with Sam, decided to keep it going with Mark, and so had to come up with three names for this new baby boy. Once again, we plastered the white board in the room with name ideas. Nic and the baby had a couple of interviews to try and decide on what his name should be. After a few hours of deliberation, Nicholas Cole Christopher was ready to go home. Nic was excited to share a first name with our little pumpkin. Christopher is the name of one of Nic's really good friends, and Cole was just a good western name that we liked. In fact, Cole wasn't even on any of our early lists of name ideas, but this baby just seemed to be a Cole, and that's what he goes by now.

Here's Cole's first kitchen sink bath at home. He was a little nervous at first, but discovered that a nice warm bath was quite nice. Maybe he will end up being my little swimmer, since he spent the first nine months of his life swimming around in my tummy swimming pool. And I know that they say that babies don't smile at first, that it's just gas, but I don't believe it. This little guy has been smiling since he was just a few days old. Sometimes it's just great big goofy smiles, and sometimes little smirks.

My sweet little miracle--Nicholas Cole Christopher. Welcome to the world, sweet baby!