How you doin'?

Apparently Cole is practicing to be a ladies man in the future... Who wouldn't want a guy with a roly-poly belly like that?

The happy little turkey

I was finally able to capture one of our little guy's smiles! Everytime he would start smiling, I would get the camera and he would get camera shy. He is tricky like that. For some reason, the smiles really get going when he is on his changing pad getting his disper changed. I don't know if he likes getting a fresh diaper or if he likes being naked... who knows?

Cole enjoyed his first Thanksgiving at Grandad's house even though he wasn't able to have any turkey. Unfortunately, John wasn't able to join us because not only did he have to work, he ended up having to work late due to the crazy folk in East Mesa. So unfortunately, he ended up having a burrito for dinner and not able to have his Thanksgiving meal until today for lunch.

The Grand Canyon

Last week, we took our first road trip with Cole to the Grand Canyon. Grandma Laura came out to visit as well last week, so she was able to join us on the trip. The Grand Canyon is certainly spectacular. Everyone has seen it in pictures and on TV, but there is no comparison to seeing it in person. I don't think you can really appreciate how large and beautiful it is unless you seen it in person. Cole was great while we were sight-seeing. He actually stayed in his wrap carrier the whole time and just napped, so essentially he missed the whole thing. Because it was freezing cold up there (it actually hit 18 degrees in the morning, but reached the mid-60's in the afternoon) we put him in some adorable fuzzy jammies. As you can see from the picture, he didn't seem to much like the fuzzy white suit, even though he looked adorable. It even had cute little ears on the hood!

What a difference 6 weeks makes!

On October 11th

On November 23rd

Notice the addition of the chubby cheeks and hams for thighs!

Napping with Grandma Laura

Can you get anymore relaxed than this?

Cole is growing like a weed and the proof is in the pictures! As of Friday, he was already 13 lbs, 1 oz . At the rate he is growing, he is going to be enormous! This last week he has started smiling like crazy, but I haven't been able to capture a picture of him yet, except for on my cell phone. Nothing is cuter than seeing his big toothless grin.

Our little porkchop

Cole is officially a chubby baby now. He was 5 weeks old as of yesterday and he has gained 4 lbs since he was born! He is now 12.6 lbs. No wonder he seems so heavy when I carry him in his carseat. I wonder how long it will be before I am physically unable to carry him in there!

Yay for Gilbert!

Our lovely city of Gilbert has been rated the number one place to raise children in Arizona by Businessweek! We had no idea of that when we bought our house almost 5 years ago, but apparently, we picked well. The list was based on affordability, school performance and safety. You can see the article here.

http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/11/1110_best_places_for_kids/4.htm

Thanks for sending me the link, Marilyn!

Up Up and Away!

Our little monkey is already holding his head up like a pro! It's amazing how quickly he is he changing and developing every day. He was officially one month old on Saturday and he is so different already. As of last week, he had already gained about 2 1/2 lbs since he was born. I haven't been able to measure him, but I am sure that he is longer too.

The dogs just love him. They were initially kind of disinterested in him, but now they are increasingly more interested in him every day. They always want to know what he is up to, so Cole gets a sniffdown by one of them at least once a day. Luckily, both of the dogs listen really well, so if I tell them to back up or lay down, they respond immediately.

Next week, we are taking our very first road trip with Cole to visit the Grand Canyon. It is about 3 1/2-4 hours away, so hopefully he doesn't scream the whole way there! It will also be considerably colder there, so we will have to bundle him up. Neither John or I have ever been to the Grand Canyon before, so it should be interesting.

Our New President

Although I haven't been alive for that many elections that I really paid attention to, this election certainly seemed different to me. I don't ever remember seeing people actually be moved to tears like they were when it was announced that Barack Obama will be our new president. We have finally reached a point where Americans were able to look past the color of someone's skin to see what really counts.

John, Cole and I went to vote on Tuesday afternoon after John got off of work. All morning, the news was reporting people standing in line for hours waiting to vote, so I was quite worried that we would have to stand in line and Cole would grace everyone present with one of his meltdowns. Luckily, our polling place was almost empty and we were in and out in 10 minutes and Cole slept through his first experience with the democratic process. Unfortunately, since John and I are at opposite ends of the political spectrum, our votes essentially cancelled each other out, but since Arizona went to McCain anyways, my vote didn't really count at all (darn electoral votes!).

Even though John was disappointed that John McCain lost, even he said that he was glad that our son is going to grow up in a time with a black president and not think it is a big deal. For most of us, this represents a historical moment in our lifetimes, but for Cole, it won't have any real significance for him.

Our Handsome Son

I just love this picture that my friend Lindsey took of Cole over the weekend. Isn't he handsome? Look at those chubby cheeks! Of course, I am probably biased, but I don't care!

5k Race

On Sunday, John ran in a 5k race to benefit pancreatic cancer research. For those of you who don't know, John's father, Urban passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2005. Last year, we discovered this 5k race and decided to do it every year. Pancreatic cancer is the 4th leading cause of cancer deaths in the US, yet it receives the least amount of federal funding for research, so it is important to us to participate in events like this. While I wasn't able to run this year, Cole and I did attend the event. Luckily, John had his two friends Rob and Steven run with him instead.

This year, I also made matching shirts/onesie for John and Cole with a picture of John's father/Cole's grandfather on it from when John was a baby. Both of them wore the shirts to the race.

I'd like to take credit for these pictures but in reality, my friend Lindsey took them, which is why they look so good! Thanks Linds!