Laughter!

Cole is figuring out how to laugh, and I just can't get enough of it! Of course, true to the Butler man code... he is laughing about his stinky poopoo. Oh well, it's still cute! =)

Pre-Halloween Festivities

We took advantage of Murray's rare evening off this month and headed to the zoo for "The World's Biggest Halloween Party!" Even though Cole was too little to really care much or trick or treat, we all had a fun time. The weather was so nice, and Cole actually did seem to enjoy looking around at everything... and chewing on his baby carrier. Haha. Here are some pictures from the big event.


Cole of course was very excited about the zoo...

Just a little annoyed at how dumb mom and dad were for thinking he would fit in his carseat with the bear outfit on...

Like I said, we enjoyed ourselves. Haha.

Cole... give us your best caveman face... well, good try. =)

Cole and the ladies.


It was so neat how they had the zoo decorated to movie themes.

Cole with Daddy, Shrek & Fiona

This pumpkin freaked us out at first because we didn't realize there was a person inside it with a microphone... you just don't expect a big pumpkin to start talking specifically to you! Haha.

And here are a couple extras of Cole & Easton in their matching glow-in-the-dark shirts that Mimi got them. Too cute!

fun with friends...

The ladies at our church have a tradition of hosting a welcoming lunch for new members. Today was the day for mine, and it was so nice! I was really blessed to get a chance to know some of the girls better. Having Cole right when we got here has made it tough to have much hang out time with anyone so it was really fun today. Cole was so good, and, even if he had acted up, it would have been ok. Look at the picture below, and you will know why. Everyone there has had at least one kid and would understand! There were 8 of us there plus the 9 kids under the age of 3. What you are missing are the 7 other kids that are old enough for school now!

This is Davis... one of Cole's best buddies. Murray and I went to Freed with his parents. He is a few months older than Cole, but I know they will be big pals before too long.

Here is another picture of the boys with Slade who is a couple months older than Davis. I see some trouble in the future with these 3!

For a Cole update... He can roll over from front to back and back to front really easily now. In fact he just learned to roll to the right side from his back yesterday. This has made sleeping SO much better. I actually stuck to the back to sleep thing so now that he can get on his tummy on his own, we are having much longer stretches. Last night... 8 hours! A record for sure!!! And today he took a 3 hour nap IN HIS BED?!?! We have been working really hard on this so I am one proud mommy!

He is also loving his hands and chews on them constantly. It's hard to get a picture of him without his hands in his mouth now. He is starting to reach for toys now too, and, if he can get a hold of one, it is immediately in his mouth. He loves tummy time! I can hardly keep him on his back now.

He still thinks that Duke is the funniest person in our family. And we went for our first run together yesterday. He seemed to enjoy it, and, although I'm out of shape, I really did too! Here is a picture of Cole in his jogging stroller. Thanks Mimi & PopPop!

Lots of Pictures!

Fun at Huber's Farm...

Oh mom, how could you? So embarrassing!

He was really into the tractor- ok not really. =)

2 cute bears!

Our sweet family.

Lunch break!

He loves his Aunt Neesh, & Poppy is hilarious!

He loved bouncing with Aunt Kelsey!

Titans!!!

He was so cute that they let us sit in a box! Haha.

3 months old!

Look out ladies!

Bathtime!

2 of his favorite uncles... just didn't have pictures with the other 2.

Gma Sara is so funny!

Cole loves Great-Great Gma Ethel & PopPop!

First time on a big boy swing.

Poppy's carshow...

Cole was his lucky charm!

Cole & Mimi= Happy boy!

What do you think?

Here are pictures of Murray, Cole, and me when we were all 3 months old. Who do you think Cole looks more like?

Murray:

Me:

Cole:

Easton & Cole

As always, Easton is too funny with Cole. I captured a couple of the moments on video this time. Enjoy!

3 months old!

Cole turned 3 months old a week ago. Crazy! He is growing so fast and changing every day. I don't notice it all the time, but sometimes I look at him and think "when did you get so big?!?!" Murray has really noticed it this month because he has been working so much and we have been visiting family in TN.

We have definitely had our ups and downs this past month. Reflux kinda threw us for a loop, but I think that we are straightening things out now. He is getting back to his happy self again. We have even had a couple of nights with longer stretches again, but I think right now we may be in a growth spurt. Haha.

Here are some of the things that Cole has been doing over the last month.

He is getting much more playful. I can tell that he is ticklish under his arms. He occasionally laughs right out loud. It is so cute. He is also getting so much closer to rolling from back to front. He is getting to where he reaches up for things... still pretty uncoordinated, but he is learning. He is starting to hit the toys hanging on his playmat, and he likes to reach up for kisses when he is getting his diaper changed. He is much happier entertaining himself... until he gets tired. Haha. Anyway, there are so many other things too, but he is waking up from his nap so duty calls. Enjoy the videos of his latest tricks.

Happy Late Birthday!

Just wanted to wish Aunt Kelsey and Uncle Joseph a very happy birthday! Murray and I are so lucky to have you for a sister and brother, and of course Cole loves his aunt and uncle so very much!

Reflux Sucks...

So for those of you wondering why I haven't posted in so long... we have been having a couple of hard weeks at our house. It started about 2 weeks ago when we were in TN for the weekend. Cole started sleeping poorly at night and was beside himself Sat. night at my parents house, but we just figured it was because he wasn't used to being with so many people and was out of whack from being in the car so much. Sunday night followed suit, but we thought it was still the weekend affecting him. Well when Monday was no better, I called the pediatrician Tuesday morning but was told to "just be consistent and practice good sleep habits." Thanks a lot! Sometimes the "you're a first-time mom and overreacting" thing is not fair. Haha.

Anyway, nights got progressively worse. I mean, I would see EVERY hour on the clock at night- some multiple times. Murray was so sweet and helped a ton, but he started a crazy busy rotation last Thursday so I knew he couldn't get up with him anymore. Thank goodness my parents had already planned a trip since it was Neesha's fall break. So after my mom was there for a weekend, she agreed something was wrong... he wasn't just being a bad baby or I hadn't just not practiced good enough habits.

Also, Cole was acting really funny about eating. He would latch on for like 2 seconds, come off, arch his back so hard, and SCREAM! Needless to say, this was really stressful for him and me. Isn't nursing supposed to be a soothing, pleasant experience?

I came back to Memphis with my family for the week because seriously Murray is working like a dog... 6am-2am some days and not home before 10 a single night last week. I wasn't going to see him anyway so this was a great chance for some extended family bonding time with Cole... more like a break for Cole's momma, but hey... either way!

When we had another bad night this Sunday night, we headed into wonderful Dr. Bubba. Thank goodness he justified my feelings and informed us that Cole has reflux. Let me pause right here and say... how could I have missed that?!?! I'm ashamed that I'm a nurse- a NICU nurse- and somehow never caught it. Actually Murray asked me if that could have been the problem before we saw Dr. Bubba, and I still didn't think of it really. Daddy knew.

Anyway, since I have been informed of it, I have noticed Cole refluxing all the time. He doesn't always actually spit up, but he does gag, cough, get red & watery eyes, and cry when it happens. It will wake him from a dead sleep and send him screaming instantly. It's so hard as a mom to watch your baby hurt like that and not really have anything you can do to stop it.

The good news is that after 4 days of taking Prevacid, he seems to be feeling better. He is sleeping SO much better at night and was much happier during the day yesterday. He also has nursed better the last 24 hours so we are crossing our fingers that our happy boy is on his way back.

On a happy note, here is the cute rocking horse we got in the mail last week from Cole's sweet PopPop (Murray's dad). I can see many hours of fun on this horse in our future! Thanks PopPop!