Time goes by so fast

I can't believe Cole is three and a half months old! He is at such a fun age. He smiles all the time and occasionally will let out the cutest laugh. I love the time I spend with him during the day. He is such a morning baby. When he wakes up he makes noises until I come get him and as soon as he sees me he smiles! I love that he wakes up so happy. He is so alert and definitely hyper. His legs and arms are always moving. He fights naps during the day but we have been working on it and he is doing so well. He sleeps great at night so I can't complain about the naps. He sleeps 10-11 hours a night and normally wakes up once to eat. Last week we actually had one night he slept 10 hours straight without eating. I think it was just an accident because Cole woke up hysterical and scared because he had never been that hungry before!

The doctor says he is in the 10th percentile for his size but the good news is his head has grown 1/2 inch in the last month. He is not a big eater and still nurses every two hours! The doctor thinks he burns the calories as fast as he eats them and that might be why he is so small. You should see how fast he moves his legs, Raelynn says it looks like he is running a marathon in the air! He is such a sweet boy and we are so blessed to have him!

Two weeks ago we took our first family vacation in several years. We went to Cascade, Idaho and stayed with my family. We went skiing and snowmobiling. It was Raelynn's second time to ski and she was amazing. The last day she actually skied down a black run! Check out the link "Our Pictures" and see the Idaho pictures and our new family portraits.

Christmas

This year was our first time to have Christmas at home. We planned family time on Christmas Eve day and a "perfect" Christmas morning.  I was so excited but little did I know that my "perfect" Christmas would be a huge disappointment! I learned some valuable lessons this year! Here's an overview of our "perfect" holiday! 

On Christmas Eve day our afternoon walk turned into a disaster.  First Cole started screaming and then Raelynn had a melt down because our chihuahua wouldn't mind her.  After scolding her for being whiny and inpatient she started crying and wouldn't walk with us! What a great way to start Christmas.  Then we barely made it to church, Cole was fussy and Raelynn was mad at me for making her wear tights with her dress! Hoping things would get better we sat in the front of the sanctuary for the Christmas Eve program. Then Cole decided to start crying at the worst possible moment and the walk all the way to the back felt like it took forever! I thought it was safe to come back to my seat since he was asleep in my arms but as soon as I sat down he started to cry again!!! And to make things worse Raelynn fell asleep during church and had quite a bad attitude when I poked her in the side to wake her up! After church we went to a light show and Cole cried the entire time! By the time we got home, none of us were in the Christmas spirit and I was tempted to skip dinner and head to bed.  After a quick break down in the bathroom, I got myself together and tried to salvage what was left of the evening.  Once we got Cole to bed, we were all able to relax and the rest of the evening went great. Raelynn, Chris and I stayed up late drinking hot chocolate and playing scrabble.

The next morning we opened gifts and as soon as we were done Chris was paged by the hospital and ended up having to work all day! Of course I had planned a big meal but Raelynn and I decided to have a frozen pizza since Chris wasn't home to eat with us.  Raelynn left after lunch and Cole and I spent the rest of the day watching Christmas movies and sleeping!

I learned it is best not to have high expectations, especially with children. I wanted so badly to have the "perfect" first Christmas that I set my tired baby and moody pre-teen up for failure. Most of all I am thankful that my normal dysfunctional family was all together and that the point of the holiday was not about having fun but about our Savior's birth!