Happy Halloween!

Cole celebrated his first Halloween a little earlier this week. John carved his name into a pumpkin and we dressed him up in some Halloween gear. He was not digging on his outfit as you can see from the pictures!

First Real Bath

Since Cole's umbilical cord didn't fall off until Tuesday, he has only been able to receive sponge baths up to this point. Last night we gave him his first real bath and he loved it! I was ready for a massive meltdown, but as soon as we put him into the tub, he was totally relaxed. He looked like he was just lounging at the beach. Of course, the warm water made him promptly pee everywhere right away! It was hilarious! As you can, see he is getting bigger by the minute. I actually weighed him this morning and he is over 10 lbs already!

Grandma Linda left today after a week's stay. I believe that she loved every minute of it, including while he cries. She will be back at Christmas along with Grandma Laura, so we will have all the grandparents together for Cole's first Christmas! Not that he will have any idea what is going on.

Yesterday, my mom and I took him into visit my office. I was a bit worried that he would be on full meltdown mode, but he surprised me by not only being well-behaved, but he was actually awake during the whole visit! Everyone loved him and couldn't believe how much hair he has in person.

As you can see from the picture, Sammy has fully accepted Cole as a member of the family and likes to snuggle with him and John. I thought that she wouldn't care for him at all, but she has warmed up to him completely. She is always interested in what he's doing.

Update on our little man

Lounging around

Playing with Daddy and big brother Leroy

This is our smiling, peace sign waving baby!

Cole is certainly a handful. Most of the time he is a perfect little gentleman, but when he is upset, everybody better watch out! Yesterday he screamed bloody murder at the mall and all the way home until about 3 minutes from the house. Then last night, he chose to only sleep from 1-5am and then fuss the rest of the time. The only good thing was that he wasn't screaming, but he was fussing enough that John and I couldn't sleep at all, which was fun. He finally settled down at around 8am and has been pleasant ever since.

Grandma Linda has been here since last Wednesday and she has been loving on him every minute. She is certainly loving being a grandma, even when does some less than desireable things like spit up or shoot poop out of his rear-end. Cole has been to visit Granddad's house twice now. The first time, he was quite good and this last Saturday, he was a bit fussier and even managed to poop on Granddad's new carpet while Daddy was changing him.

On Wednesday, we went back to the pediatrician for the two-week visit. Our champion eater has already gained another pound and tipped the scales at 9 lbs 12 oz! He is certainly turning out to be a very big boy!

Cole's first week

Cole's first week at home has been quite interesting. He has had a number of nighttime meltdowns even though he is a perfect angel all day long. We think that part of the problem is the fact that when we go to bed at night, that is the only time that the house is quiet. During the day, he falls asleep to us talking, vacuuming, watching tv, etc. So, today Cole and I made our very first mother/son outing by ourselves to Babies R Us to get a sound machine. We will be trying that out tonight so we are keeping our fingers crossed.

We have given him a couple of baths, which he isn't crazy about, but he seems to tolerate and he looks so cute in his little hooded towel! He is also a professional at going through several outfits a day, but that is probably John and my faults due to our apparent inability to always properly get the diaper on him. The future president outfit that he has on in the picture lasted about 15 minutes before it was peed on.

We went to the pediatrician for the first time on Monday to get Cole checked out, as they recommend bringing him in about 2-3 days after being discharged from the hospital. Babies generally lose some weight after birth and then get back up to their birth weight within two weeks. Well, our championship eater was already at 8 lbs 10 oz (one oz less than at birth) already by Monday. Dr. Mike said that is pretty unusual for a breastfed baby to be back up at birth weight so quickly, so apparently I am a professional milk maker! John and I joke that my new main function is being like a gas station for Cole.

Winner of the baby pool!

Congratulations to Marilyn, the winner of the online baby pool! She had the closest guess. She guessed that Cole would be born October 9th at 10:09am and would be 9 lbs 4 oz (thank goodness he wasn't that big!) and 20 inches. Coincidentally, she was also the one that told me about this website.

Cole Urban has arrived!

On Wednesday, October 8th at 6:43pm, Cole finally made his grand entrance! He has been here for four days and he is already the love of our lives, even though it seems like he has completely taken over every minute since he was born. As you can see from the pictures, he was born with a ton of dark hair, we joke that he looks like a little chimpanzee, especially when it sticks up everywhere. Even the nurse at the nursery gave him a little mohawk after his first bath because she said that she couldn't resist giving all that hair a little 'do. We came home from the hospital on Friday evening and most of the time he is a perfect angel, except for the hours of 1-5am when he becomes a wild maniac. He can be pretty fiesty already. Apparently, we are not swaddling him like the nurses at the hospital because he refuses to have his arms confined when we wrap him up in a blanket. He does not like to be contained and usually sleeps with at least one arm flailed above his head.

Surpringly, the dogs have not been overly interested in him. They get a little nervous when he cries, but generally they are disinterested, which is probably a good thing. The cat is a little more curious, but won't get any closer than about a foot away from him. She usually bolts if he makes any noise.

As you can see, the curse of the Cubs fan has officially been passed along, so unfortunately, our son has been set up for a lifetime of heartbreak! Maybe some time in his lifetime, he will actually see the Cubbies make it to the World Series.

4 days left and still no sign of Cole...

We have four days left until the "due date" and still no sign of the newest Lindqvist. I have officially reached the point where I am tired of being pregnant and I am ready for him to get here already! Leroy and I took a very brisk walk this evening hoping to entice Cole along. I'll keep my fingers crossed that it actually works. If not, Leroy and I will probably head out again tomorrow for longer.

Tomorrow, I head back to the doctor for my weekly appointment. Hopefully, they will tell me that I am making some progress. Last week, I was already dilated to 3 cms which shocked me seeing that I have had no other signs of impending labor. The doctor said she thought that he would be coming sooner rather than later. I asked her if she thought that meant I wouldn't make it to my appointment the following week (tomorrow) and she said that was likely, but here we are...

Over the weekend, we went to Costco to stock up on all types of goodies that we knew that we would need while I am on leave and not recieving a paycheck; everything from dog food to laundry detergent to paper towels. We were those people with the overflowing cart due to all the giant items we were purchasing. And Costco certainly knows how to make you impulse buy. Somehow we always end up with things in the cart that aren't on the list, simply due to the fact that it's such a good deal. That's how John ended up putting a box of 700 baby wipes into our cart figuring hey, it's only $15! Although, I am certain that we will go through those in no time!

Being a Cubs fan just equals heartache

As we discovered this weekend, being a Cubs fan pretty much guarantees heartbreak somewhere during the season. Sometimes it's earlier and other times, like this year, it is all the way into October. Cub fans everywhere were ecstatic to see the Cubbies clinch the division early only to watch their beloved team get swept by the Dodgers. For those of you who actually watched the three day massacre, it was pretty brutal. It wasn't even as though we could say "hey, they played great, but the Dodgers just played better". Not a chance: as John put it, "it looked like third grade softball out there."

John has even threatened to become a Yankees fan now. He claims at least this way, he can at least be rooting for a team that not only makes it to the World Series on a fairly regular basis, but actually wins. He even went so far to try and re-name the animals. He told Ryno that he would now be known as Derek Jeter and that Leroy (who doesn't have a Cubs related name) that he would become Reggie, as in Reggie Jackson. I stopped him before he re-named Sammy (the cat) something ridiculous like A-Rod. But as happens every year, I know that when January rolls around, he will start getting all excited again for the upcoming spring training. As they say, "there's always next year..."